Wednesday 21 December 2011

Feel the Heat, Feel the Power, Feel the Punch...!

If you people love cricket, you must have seen the promotional advt of India-Australia series featuring Vijay Raj, who explains why this series is always intense. In the end, he says, "Samajh lo ke kudarat ka karishma hai ye series..."

No doubt about it...India-Australia matches have always been intense & intriguing specially after the historic
2001 series. In most of the matches, Australia have maintained upper hand but facing to India was never a cake walk for them. The matches were always close and had nail-biting finish. India-Australia series has the same glamour as "The Ashes..." This time too the story won't be different. The bitterness of last series is still not been forgotten (Symonds-Harbhajan clash, Cheating in the second innings by Ponting, Australia Buckner..sorry Steve Buckner's hopeless umpiring in the Sydney test...) and whenever these two rivals have met, every now and then the glimpses of that event were experienced by India. Though Australia have not remained the mighty and that much venomous, the fighting & never-say-die attitude is still in their blood. Despite the main bowlers Johnson, Ryan Harris, D.Bollinger, Hauritz, and two key players out of action due to injury, Australia have enough fire-power in the form of Peter Siddle, Starc, and the new loaded weapon Pattinson to test the Indian batsmen's true skill on typical Australian hard, bouncy pitches...

And in the batting, best player of spin Clarke, Mr. Cricket Hussey, ageing but still classy Ponting, veteran Haddin and the few gutsy newcomers have the ability to settle the required score on the board...

On the other side, India's famed batting line-up needs to handle the Australian pace heat, and the fitness of fast bowlers to handle the Australian heat to make this series lively one.. Plus they have to absorb the shocks of Mental Disintegration theory laid down by Steve Waugh.

Star Cricket has rightly described this series as "AGNEEPATH". And I don't think this series will be without any controversy or some on-field tussle… because 2+2 = 4, the Sun always rises to the east, King Cobra is venomous, and Australian's are sledgers...these are the universal truths.

First match will be starting on 26th of Dec. The Boxing Day (this is the day after Christmas on which the gift-boxes are kept at a common place for the poor people...the Box-opening Day).

So India, get ready to :

Feel the heat (Australia's weather),
Feel the power (Australia's Batting),
Feel the Punch (Australia's Bowling)….!


Ritesh R. Kadam
Cell:- 09011020015

Steve Waugh's Mental Disintegration Theory..!

Hitler's Quote:-
"Demoralize the enemy from within - by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. In the end, victory matters..."

Steve Waugh was instrumental using this quote for developing his theory - The Mental Disintegration. Bowlers bowl bouncer, slower deliveries, reverse swing, googly etc. to intimidate the batsmen; but there is X-factor which separates the champions from the winners... Australia had and have that X-factor! How and when it started - Australia's Lillie, Thomson, Merve Hughes, were used to bowl quick & fiery spell and mutter few words towards batsmen, to unsettle them. These tactics were being used during the match
only depending upon the circumstances. But it was Steve Waugh, who played it systematically, used it as a planning tool in the battlefield of cricket...and gave it the name:- Mental Disintegration. He says, "Entering into the mind of a player is an art..." Australians are master in this art. So how it works?

Rule No.1:

Distract the opposite team from the core course and make them discuss and think about undue prospects.
When the opposition team arrives, they pass controversial comments and add fuel to it by different remarks. E.g. Sachin is more focused on his records, India's batting line up can not face fast bowling on bouncy Australian pitches. Indian spinners won't get much purchase from the wicket. This is the prelim stage.

Rule No.2:

The next weapon comes out when series actually begins. Two against Eleven on the field. In the initial overs, they prepare for the wickets by bowling bouncers, sharp in & out swingers, and if batsman survives and starts playing some confident shots, then they start twitting some personal remarks.

Rule No.3:

When it seems that the opposition is closing in trying to grip the situation, the main weapon comes out. They start using abusive language, hurling at the batsmen, and provoking them. All these things affect the mind, and batsman commits the mistake...

Australia could achieve this because it had a clever captain in the form of Steve Waugh, Legendary bowlers like G. Macgrath, Shane Warnie, Brett Lee, Gillespie, Kasprowich, who would keep bowling a nagging line and length, not giving any respite to the batsman.

Sometimes they got too much carried away with it. Arjuna Rantunga, Brian Lara, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Ganguly got the most of the bitter taste of the theory. But again in the end, "Kill, Destroy, Sack, Tell lie how much you want... after victory no one asks why?"


Ritesh R. Kadam
Cell:-09011020015

Monday 21 November 2011

Hum Intezar Karenge….! (99 NOT OUT )


Hum Intezar karenge… hum intezar karenge tera kayamat tak….. Khuda kare ke kayamat ho aur tu aaye…!
This song best fits for the wait of Sachin’s 100th century. All the media, public, fans are eagerly waiting for this milestone than Sachin himself.  Some of the local media have been discussing relentlessly in their own “UNIQUE Style” about Sachin’s missing innings of golden century. “Kya lagta hai aapko kya Sachin dabaaw zel nahi paa rahe apne milestone ka,  ya phir kuch zyadahi soch rahe who apni century ke bare me, Kaise khelna chahiye unko”, aur bahot saare swaal hai hum abhi waapas aayenge ik break ke baad….! & so on.
For Sachin the 100th century will be special one for few moments & then it will be another count. At this phase of his career he also knows that every now & then there will be a record whenever he steps up on the ground. The feathers in record’s cap will get adding.  Right from the start of his career he kept scoring runs with the supremacy intimidating the world’s bowling attack. He didn’t bother about Abdul Kadar’s slogan “Go home & drink milk”, or the giant Merve Hughes sledging in Australia on Perth in the initial age of his play when he was just teen ager. He always loved to play with the style Daredevil Sir Viv. Richards used to play. If the ball is there to hit the Hit will be there for the ball. He loves his bat so does the century scored from that bat.  During the dry days of his career (Note:-In terms of runs…) Bat & music served him as the best friend. He got his first test century against England in 1990 but the one day century made him wait for nearly four years which he scored against his favourite opponent Australia. He went close to century nearly 10 times in his career but the cruel bowlers did not let him meet with it. Now the Golden Century is also playing hide & seek, He has been chasing it since England tour July-11 but still it is eluding him.   Gibson says Sachin is feeling the burden of expectation of 100th Ton. He has been carrying the burden right from the first century & he feels it more whenever India looses the match after his century.  He is used to that burden. The “Poor Burden” sometimes thinks “I am feeling Sachin’s burden.”  Sachin has played the game with passion & dedication  and achieved lots of milestones.  He is on 99 for the next milestone let him get it with his own, till then” Hum Intezar Karenge….!”  
Ritesh R. Kadam
Cell:-09011020015

Sunday 20 November 2011

The Mystery of Match Fixing....!

Yes, I have seen it… It was cited near New York, Himalaya lines is their home, US military and air force have already found the species and government is keeping secret about it. Every now and then we hear these stories and statement, whenever the Aliens, UFO are witnessed confidently narrate the stories. Match fixing ghost, too pops up like the UFO/alien stories whenever someone alleges the charges. No one has ever proved the existence of UFO or Alien on the Earth, but at the same time the fact is also not denied that they do exist and same theory applies to the match fixing incidences. Match fixing charges kept coming, but due to the nature of the game, it always proved difficult to catch. Players like Manoj Prabhakar, Rashid Latif, Dean Jones, were on the top list of different allegations and match fixing stories. Now Vinod Kambli has joined this list.

The 1996 semi-final between India and Sri Lanka… who can forget that match - two wickets in first over; Arvinda Desilva’s counter attack; Sachin’s batting; India’s collapse from 98-for-1 to 120-for-8; 90,000 people in the stadium started throwing bottles; and Kambli’s famous emotional outburst! Frankly speaking, everyone was surprised when Azhar won the toss and selected to field. Even the commentators expressed this doubt... Azhar is defending the fact that Sri Lanka were very good at chasing, but those were day games where Lanka won the matches by chasing target score. We had won against Pakistan by batting first and the history of Eden Garden stadium was also heavily supporting the team batting first at that time. It’s difficult to trust whether Kambli is telling the truth or it is just a show buzz; but even Azhar was throughout suspicious in his career span between 1995 and 2000. Even Sachin was not willing to have him in the team during the Australia series 1999-2000.


When Azhar came back in the team for South Africa series in the year 2000, Sachin resigned from the captainship for everyone’s surprise at that time. Two months later when Mumbai police opened up the biggest match fixing scandal involving Hansie Cronje, the BCCI banned Azhar from playing cricket for lifetime, after the CBI investigation. Azhar says that Kambli’s character and his behaviour in the team was not good; but what about you, Azhar? Especially, when Navjyot Singh Sidhhu returned from the middle of the England tour in 1996, questioning your behaviour and bad treatment?

BCCI and some other officials are asking why Kambli kept quiet for 15 years. Answer is straight forward - ask it to any employee working in big organization. For him, Boss is always right. Even when he (the boss) is doing wrong. Because he (the employee) knows that if he confronts with the boss for any issue, his future career prospects would be in gloom. For Kambli, cricket was his bread-and-butter. And such is the power of BCCI, he knew that if he had spoken during his playing days, it would even end his domestic career! Now that he is retired from all types of cricket, there is no harm giving these statements.

No one, who is active member of BCCI or some or the other way linked with the functioning of it, would express the view in neutral angle, because they know the current affair won’t last for long. Besides, who would like to pinch the shark in deep blue sea?

Azhar-Kambli debate will be discussed for few days, but the question will stay as it is and the mystery of existence of aliens and match fixing will remain a “Mystery”!

Ritesh Kadam
ritesh05kadam@gmail.com
rityakadam@rediffmail.com
Cell: 09011020015

Friday 28 October 2011

That’s The Way… Maahi Way…!

“Kehte hain Agar kisi cheez ko aap dilse chaaho toh poori kaaynaat use aapse milaane ke liye jud jaati hai!”

The same happened with Dhoni. As I had mentioned in my previous blogpost, the series whole-heartedly accepted Dhoni’s bag. In England, India was struggling with injuries and even weather played spoil-sport in every match, which did not allow India to settle. Back in India, with normal working conditions, Indian batsmen pulled themselves out of the socks and gave justice to the ‘World Champions’ tag. For this series, selectors (behaving sensibly) gave chance to new crop that really came to meet the expectations. (For the first time, saw the selectors thinking positively about strengthening the bench.) The duo, Varoon Aroon and Umesh Yadav have very good pace with swing, and need to be preserved, nurtured for the future, especially for the test cricket. These two guys need to understand captain’s call and improve their accuracy to stop the run flow. As in any format of the game, if runs become hard to come, Batsmen tempt to try different shots and commit mistakes, Listen to captain chaps. In this series, batting looked very strong. Importantly, the improved temperament of Virat and Raina not only helped them individually but also to the team management to execute the plan.

What to say about Dhoni… I would say “Kaske pakad Jam ke jakad Lagaa...!” The helicopter shots and the clean hits are back in business again. The same Dhoni with improved version is back again. I think he has used the antivirus of “Keep It Simple”, formatted himself, cleared the infection, and the result working faster than 3-G! What an !dea, Sirji. His all innings were example in themselves. Dhoni in this Avatar is a healthy sign before the Aussie tour. Most surprising outcome was Ravindra Jadeja, whose transformation in batting and bowling was immaculate. In his initial playing phase, he neither looked a batsman nor a bowler. At Times, batted in ordinary manner. Number six and seven are such a slot where batsman cannot afford to settle in or attack on the go. It’s the sense and situation that needs to be judged, and Jadeja managed to handle it.

Though India lost 4-0 in England, the matches were very close. But in India, the Queen’s Eleven looked scattered, especially against spin. And their senseless sledging put themselves in trouble. All English media praising the team relentlessly for giving Team India clean sweep in all formats and dreaming “The Sun Never Sets and shall not set on this new England Team’s Success”, must have come to know that there is no term like invincible in Cricket! Alistair Cook as a captain, looked ordinary running out of ideas in tricky situation, and preferred plain strategy of completing the bowling quota. Cook also admitted that apart from Steve Finn, others could not even perform 10% of the just conceded series back home. If England are to stay in the top four one-day nations for long period, they have to improve their consistency and skill against spinner.

In the end, Dhoni proved the charm of luck and the stars are still with him, need not to mention the efforts he put in. So what’s the way to take the revenge???? hmmmm….

“That’s The Way…. Maahi way…..!”

Wednesday 12 October 2011

(Kya) Hum Honge Kaamyab....

Vengeance, Revenge, Badlaa
Name this series whatever you wish to. Definitely all the fans would have this feeling when this series starts. 4-0, 1-0, 4-0… just like a Tennis match, loss in straight sets. India was comprehensively beaten in the “Queen’s Land” not far ago. Now, the Queen’s Lads have come to India with same intent - to conquer the Team India.

Again our team is missing its star-rated players. England will start from where they had left Team India, with full strength army plus KP, the transformer. Considering the way they have been playing in recent times, and comparing with Team India’s freshers’ group, the needle of advantage is pointing towards Queen’s Eleven. However, as far as records are concerned, The Queen’s Eleven have always struggled on Indian pitches, and with recent hammering, they are aware that India will surely try to fight them hard. All the one-day battles in England were of close finish. Let’s hope the same trend will continue here, with at least one tie…! And this time, rains won’t come to help them.

We have just come out of the ‘Champions League’, marketed as Battle of the Champions. Thankfully, not many of the Indian players were involved till the end. (Dhoni had asked for the rest from first two matches against England. Why didn’t he take proper rest from last two matches of the Champions’ League? (Now that’s a million dollar question..!)) And also have a look at the new blend Indian Team. New bowling unit in the form of fast bowler Varun Arun, Leggie Rahul Sharma will be interesting and good bench strength for the future. Rahane has already proved his talent with gutsy performance in England. Given a chance, Manoj Tiwari will also come to know the difference between League and International fixture. Considering the Big Battle down under starting from the month of Dec’11, it’s a good decision by the selectors because in Australia, one need to be mentally rock-solid, not only to handle the chinnnnnn Music, but also typical Mental Disintegration theory..

For Dhoni, he would like to consider the year 2011 as with 9 months only, because he had never experienced the failure as big as three white wash in single series.

But as Shahrukh says “Hamari jindagi mein filmo ki tarah end me sab kuchh theek ho jaata hai, aur.. agar theek naa bhi ho toh woh ‘the end’ nahi hai…. Kyon ki picture abhi baaki hai mere dost…..!”
Similarly, for Dhoni,
“The series loss in England was not the end ...
Kyon ki Series abhi baaki hai mere dost…..!”


Let’s see “Kya Hum Honge Kaamayab…”

Tuesday 27 September 2011

Yes, Controversially Yours….!

“Sachin was scared of my bowling!”

“Rahul & Sachin were not match winners.”

“All great Pakistani bowlers used to tamper the bowl. I also did it.”

These three statements were given by the speed-star Shoaib Akhtar during the launch of his book. These are also part of his ‘controversial’ book. We only took two statements for the controversy and poor Rajeev Shukla asked Shoaib to say sorry to Sachin. Rajeev Shukla should better focus on his own job.

Every fast bowler takes pride of his bowling, especially when he bowls at 150km/hr. When you bowl at that speed, your body, heart beats, body language, all get used to it. It’s always pumping! And that attitude gets developed as time gets ahead. Ask it to Dennis Lilly, Ambrose, Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, the great Micheal Holding, Imran Khan, or the bodyline bowler Larwood. Aggression is every fast bowler’s inherent asset. That’s what makes him faster and deadlier.

Cricket has always been a batsmen’s game and it will remain so. Bowlers get very few chances to cherish or celebrate. Even during the close calls, batsmen get the favour. When Shoaib was in full flow during the years 1999 to 2003, his spells were really deadlier. It was that era when Shoaib troubled Sachin with his bowling. Remember the fast reverse swing with which he bowled Sachin through his defence in 1999 Kolkata Test. He also took Sachin’s wicket in 2003 World Cup with a quick delivery which bounced from short of a good length though he got the hammering before it. Now if he thinks and writes in his autobiography that he troubled Sachin with his bowling, then why are we erupting so much, keep aside the commercial intention behind. Glenn McGrath, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar & Abdul Razaq - these fast bowlers had upper hand on Sachin Tendulkar, as compared to other bowlers. Not saying that Sachin was ‘afraid’ to face these bowlers; but definitely these bowlers bowled well to him.

Secondly, Rahul & Sachin were not match winners or finishers in that very sense. Every player’s ability in Test cricket is tested in the fourth innings - be it winning the match or salvaging a draw. In the initial phase of his career, Sachin was really lacking the finishing touch. It is the last three years that he has honed the skill of finishing act. If we consider all the cricketers from the world, then this fact would get clear. In this category, Brian Lara, Steve Waugh, Javed Miadad, Micheal Hussy, Atherton, Ricky Ponting, VVS Laxman, Sunil Gavaskar, Hansie Cronje, Jack Kuallis were (are) the better. No one will deny the greatness of players like Sachin and Rahul. Sachin is a great player all round. With his shots, technique, timing, power, dedication - one of the all time best. I love Sachin’s batting like all other people do. But we get so carried away and used with the praise & the greatness of the individual, by the media & the surroundings, that we forget about the other factors & fair judgment. (Remember the match against South Africa last year, when Sachin, after getting his fiftieth century, didn’t try to manoeuvre the things which he could have done? We didn’t notice it because of his personal milestone!)

Everybody comes in India, showers relentless praise on our players, and achieves the commercial campaign for what they get paid. One thing we need to remember that Shoaib could have easily done the same in India, and would have given the remarks on Sachin & Dravid in other countries, to achieve the necessary target readership. We didn’t notice his other remarks like Ganguly’s aggressive captainship and praise for his efforts to give team India a new look.

“All Pakistani bowlers tamper the ball I also did it.”

Mates, no one is perfect here. There is a flaw in every player and if someone has surfaced it out, accept it. That’s why Shoaib has named his book - “Controversially Yours…!”



Ritesh R Kadam
ritesh05kadam@gmail.com
rityakadam@rediffmail.com
09011020015

Saturday 3 September 2011

Dhoni Come On “Make it Large”

Dhoni  Come On “Make it Large”

When we stepped in  England the talk was about  interesting &  competitive  series , of course  Sachin’s  100th century  equally attached to it. As the  series progressed  nothing  went  right for Team India, Dhoni  & Sachin also.  It has continued till one off T-20 match.  All our  stars crumbled  step by step  either by injury or by English batsmen and bowlers. The last  piece in the  form of One day series is opportunity  for  the Dhoni’s Team.  One Day  matches played in England has always been close encounters - the famous 2002 natwest  Final, in 2007 also  there were nail biters  when  Uthappa, Yuvraj  played  well to win the close matches & recently  the famous world cup tie though it was in India. 
So from where we  should start to think- Accept the fact that we have low scale bowling attack, batting is as always strong point when we step in for the batting  & fielding is better than the test team.  100th Ton will ‘BOOST’ the confidence of Sachin , Let Ajinkya  play his own game in initial over, thank god we have Rahul Dravid who can dig the ‘ANCHOR’ in difficult situation. He understands his role very well. Kohli  need to put himself on ‘ FAST- TRACK ‘ , Rohit Sharma has to perform to prove himself as ‘NO.1 CHOICE ‘ to be in the team , Dhoni & Raina has to  stay at the crease  & one of the two has to carry himself  till 50th over  and ensure we bat  50 over to ‘MAKE  IT LARGE’ ( The score).  
Pravin Kumar & Munaf can bowl  well in English condition,  R.P. Singh need to just  up his pace to  135-138 km/hr  which will give his deliveries sharpness as he uses the seam very well,   R. Ashwin suits  to One dayers  as he has more variety & control. Dhoni can himself bowl with Virat Kohli to mange the quota & If gamble is to be played then Mishra is a very good choice as he can even bat sensibly than our other lower orders. In first one day Dhoni has to go with five bowlers considering the lack of sting in our attack.   There is no point in crying that our players are injured, & we have depleted bowling attack.  There will never be an ideal situation, Select the available players & have some creative game plan to adjust the team line up.  Most importantly do not skip the fighting heart.

Now it’s time for Dhoni to  ask & answer himself  Have I Made It Large?”

Thursday 25 August 2011

"Keep It Simple Silly"

“Keep It Simple Silly”

Yes we have lost 4-0 to England. Why ???  The obvious question every body would ask.  Few of the reasons I have tried  to explain ---
If we have watched the series  there was no lack of effort  or commitment from the Indian bowlers , they always  stayed in the hunt  but  the English cricket  which  always gave importance to Test cricket  & put hard work  paid them good returns. In 2010 Ashes  also England Team looked integral,  well prepared , & more importantly  mentally  tough.  Apart from the Perth test   England team  showed their class,  grit &   literally outplayed Australia in their  home soil  despite  the likes of Peter Siddle, Johnson,  Bollinger  bowled their heart out.  The reason for transformation of the England team  who were used  to loose  6 out of  5 series  they played every year  is the preparation, attitude & binding as  a team. Apart from the Ian Bell incident there was no nonsense  cricket  or incident associated with England through out.  Their bowlers used the pitch with command , swung the ball with classical English swing & bowled  the bouncer when required with fruitful result. At situations  when  India  had upper hand someone like Broad ,Bresnan or swan  came with spirited spells  & turned the  momentum and outcome of the match in England’s favor  example second & fourth test  of the series. & batting …. After South Africa  England team  looked  with depth in batting as even  No. 9 scoring more  consistently. Three double centuries in one series that too on friendly pitches shows the class of  English batting.  Most of the England batsmen played to the delivery, rarely tried to force the shot ( exception being Pieterson who has his own style of  playing  using the crease  according to the bowler.) forcing the bowler to bowl at them, make him  tired  & score runs.  
If we look at India’s struggle in all the four tests we hardly played 90 over,  Saving a test match on fifth day  looks like mounting  Everest.  Sachin, Dravid , Laxman  are just  few steps  away  from the retirement door & still Yuvraj, Raina ,  Dhoni  Murli Vijay   not finding the way to   fit  in the slots.  New  players don’t want to come out of  the glamour of IPL & Champions league  which are played on the dead wicket. Our fast bowlers  were  not willing to bowl  above   135 km/hr  mark.   We have to nurture at least  6 fast bowlers  with long term plan if we are to become a good Test side.    
Everybody laughed at Shane Warne when he predicted that England would win the series 3-1. Having played  so much  matches against England & also in the county cricket  Shane Warne ‘s  experience  & his opinion  should not have been neglected. 
No tag of star player,  No  discussion of  records,  Not relying on single player,  not  rushing half  fit player . Just select 11  good players  as per the requirement&  condition  plan  for the day , focus to achieve plan versus actual  & carry on.   That’s the success story of England’s  24 carat performance.
 Most of the time we ignore simple things & try to solve the complex.
Moral of the story  :--à     “Keep It Simple Silly.

Monday 8 August 2011

So called "Spirit of The Game"



Did Dhoni take the right decision to reverse his run out appeal against Bell..?  Third test is around the corner but still the memories of that incident are not forgotten.  What influenced Dhoni to reverse his appeal is not the question of debate.. But had the same thing  happened with India 90% of critics &  former player would have blamed  the player for his casual behavior  & lack of basic knowledge of  the rules of the cricket.

Technically speaking  Bell was out as the umpire declared him rightly & England as well as Bell should have accepted this  & resumed the play. David Lloyad the former umpire, cricket player & commentator  wonderfully explained the rules, & the player’s mistake in this particular incident. If we are speaking about  the spirit of the game  then where it was when the same Ian Bell threw few  pieces of jellies on the pitch when Zaheer came to bat in 2006 series, Matt Prior of England claimed that Johnson was bowled despite the fact that he removed the bails with the hand against Australia ,  Andrew Strauss claiming the bump catch in Ashes series,  In 1999 series  Sachin collided with  the bowler & was just short of the ground  when the ball hit the stumps during taking third run,  Akram didn’t reversed his appeal. Many incidents area associated with Australia the great cheaters of the game –

Trevor Chappel bowling underarm against Newzeland,  Steve Waugh pretending to claim the catch when it was clear that he fumbled & took it on one bounce in 1985 World Championship series, the famous Sydney Test of 2008  series against India & Australia, Ian Healy deliberately clipped the bells by hand &  successfully appealed for the hit wicket against  South Africa.

It is always India  who is supposed to play in the spirit of the game,  & when other teams violate the so called spirit  then they give it the  polishing  name like  Mental disintegration,  in the laws of the cricket, part of the game, heat of the moment, umpire’s decision is final, Human error.

It is like the famous Hindi phrase :-  “ हमने   आह्ह  भी  भरी  तो   हो गए  बदनाम ... उन्होंने  क़त्ल  किया  तो चर्चा  भी नहीं  होती ....!“

Ritesh R Kadam
ritesh05@gmail.com
rityakadam@rediffmail.com
Cell:-09011020015

Thursday 21 July 2011

The Lord’s” The lord of the grounds”



When we discuss about the cricket grounds for the pitch, outfield, facilities, stands & the history 10 out of 9 people would choose the name The Lord's as the first choice. The oldest & if I am not wrong the first ever official Test match between Australia & England was played on this very ground (Around 1884). Every player dream to play on this ground to make himself a part of the history. It is motivation & also the pressure that sometimes gets good out of a normal player & below par performance from a great player. The Great sunil Gavaskar could not score century on this ground even Sachin have not scored half century on this ground but the Mumbai duck Ajit Agarkar holds that privilege of scoring the hundred (109 ) on Lord’s though we lost that match.

It is said that 3 W’s of London shall not be believed ( Wine, Woman & Weather.), add to it the nature of Lord’s pitch. This ground has seen the lowest scores as well as mammoth totals. The lowest team score on this ground is 42 by India !- 1974. & the highest being 729 by Australia in 1930. (In most recent 682 by South Africa in 2003). This is the same ground on which Graham Gooch murdered Indian bowling during 1989-90 series scoring triple century & century in the same match. & Glenn McGrath took 8/38 in 1997 to bowl out England on 85 odd runs.

Generally Lord’s pitch does not offer much to the swing bowlers after the first two hours of the game unless the weather is cloudy & breeze flowing across the ground specially from pavilion end as the Lord’s has the slope on one side of the wicket. The genuine fast bowlers in the likes of Brett Lee, Andrew Flintoff or the spin bowlers like Shane Warne , Muralidharan can extract good out of it.

India does not have the good,,, it’s better to say bitter memories on this ground. Out of 15 matches India have lost 10 & managed to win only one in 1982 thanks to Kapil Dev’s all round performance in that match. Be the 100th test match between India & England at Lord’s bring luck to the lucky captain Dhoni or the Ashes winning team keeps their good record against India at Lord’s….. I expect the close encounter, as close as the World cup tie match……

Ritesh R. Kadam
9011020015
rityakadam@rediffmail.com

Monday 4 July 2011

West Indies - “The Lost Glory”

What we remember when the name West Indies comes ahead. Blue seas, beaches, Pineapple and.. and The legends… The Richards, the Gary sobers, The Clive Loyad along with the fierce bowlers The holdings, the Garners, The Marshal ,The Ambrose. The late 70’s, 80’s & some part of 90’s known as the reign of West Indies. These legends had the impact on world cricket. Be it Gary Sobers all round Performance, Clive Loyads effortless elegance, Viv Richard’s dashing & powerful hits aligned with the whispering death Holding’s bouncers, Garner’s teasers, &  swing bowling of Marshal. This team played like  “the dada” but at the same time gave respect to the cricket & stayed in the code of conduct. Their batsmen always believed they are in the middle to score runs & the bowlers always remembered they are bowling to take the wickets. The world of cricket always remembered the team as the fearless performer…….& the honest players.

But what is the current status. The team west indies is now playing as the individuals from the various Irelands jamaika, Tobago, Trinidad… The batsmen are lagging the then player’s fearless attitude, focus & technique, though the bowlers have shown some promise in the likes of Roach, Rampaul, Edwards & the new leggie Bishoo , they are not able to click as a unit consistently .  Unlike other teams the players in the middle look casual in their approach, down shoulder body language, & lacking in determination, the conflict between the players & the board is not helping the cause either.  The lone Gladiator Lara tried to lift his team leading from the front  in his playing days but could not go far ahead. The second stream Indian team beat them in their own den. Though they went on to win the last two matches it did not bring any difference in the series result.

As a die hard cricket fan & passionate about fast bowlers I always had a special place for the west indies in my mind. It gives the pain when  Sir Viv Richards says that West Indies is going through the bad patch or build up phase just to hide their disappointment or in a hope that West indies would bring the lost glory.

The likes of Gayle, Pollard, the bravo brothers, the veteran Chanderpaul, Sarwan,  has the ability to present west indies as a respectable team if they give their combined efforts towards the team ‘s goal. Oteis Gibsson need to bring these individuals together , Inculcate the importance of playing for the nation, introduce the new ideas , & bringing the discipline. And the last (need not to say the least) players has to understand it’s not the individual but the efforts of the bunch that will lead the team to the road of success. Let’ see how the three test match series undergoes. 

Ritesh R. Kadam
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ritesh05kadam@gmail.com
rityakadam@rediffmail.com