Numero Uno!

"Woh sikandar hi dosto kehlata hai, Haari baaji ko jeetana jise aata hai…" Keeping this song in mind I, and if I am not wrong, every cricket follower stayed awake till 1:00am with the fear of six and hope of dot ball. When the later came true, the surge of happiness flew in our blood and the sense of gratification was enthralling. The vociferous celebration by the team including Dhoni, who is seldom seen pouring his expressions, was indication of the real achievement. Being in a state of positive mind and keeping faith on the available ability helped fight against the adverse situation. That is what Indian Cricket Team showed.

Off the field:

A lot was being talked when Dhoni did not utter a word on the then burning issue of IPL Entertainment Fixing (it is better to name it 'entertainment' only than calling 'cricket'). Speculations were on the high as he was associated with the franchisee whose relative was relishing the bet on his own team. He was being treated as scapegoat for not expressing any views. Many were expressing that he should at least say few lines, the news-starved media was leading this race. Dhoni was aware with the fact, a few lines could be turned into an essay by the media surfing for a 'breaking news', and that could hamper the preparation, distract the players and ultimately halt the team’s prospect. Wisdom lies in silence, keeping it in the mind, Dhoni, with his troops had landed on “the Queen’s land". The alien condition; (the word famously used by Ian Chappel) damp weather, cold waves, moving deliveries, bowler-friendly pitches under which we had lost all the matches during last encounter with the British, had stuck to the tail of the adverse scenario.

The run towards the Championship:

We look at cricket as hedonism, so we were optimistic that Indian team would do well. In most of the ICC events, we relied on the performance of other teams to proceed ahead, but this time we were steps ahead from other participants and marched to the throne, with final battle engaged with The Queen’s Eleven. The reds were preying the blues from all the corners under the worst condition they had faced till date. Ganguly had commented, if India wanted to protect this total, they had to get all ten Englishmen. It looked bleak at 20 runs required in 16 balls with still 6 Englishmen to follow. Under this predicament situation, only faith and motivation of the leader could have helped to transcend. Yes, we had these two with which we managed to transcend and grabbed the throne of championship.

The Stay at the wicket:

For any team to maintain the tag of champions, its top five batsmen need to be consistent in their innings. Under this current lot, Shikhar Dhawan, Kohli, Dhoni, Karthik, and Raina look settled. Rohit, well praised by the cricket greats for his batting style, needs to curb his casual approach. I still feel Yuvraj, Gambhir, and Sehwag would be needed to strengthen the batting. Our bowling unit is progressing nicely to form a reliable attack; just need to sharpen the axe. Sir Jadeja is performing a lot better, at least, for the current period. We have lifted the champions trophy from the United Kingdom, Dhoni needs to keep his kingdom united, if we are to reign for a long period and stay Numero Uno.

Ritesh Kadam
9011020015

The battle of National Jersey!

Vindu Darasingh, Mayieppan, Srinivasan, Jagdale, Shukla, Vyas, interim president, spot fixing, helicopter, model, etc. etc., all these personalities and unusual words had occupied the headlines, news and sports pages in the recent past. Even IPL matches could not receive this much spotlight as these twinkling things managed to attract. These things and the characters out of the ground gave us the lessons how to play (with) Cricket off the field. Hope this episode would be ephemeral. Meanwhile, we came to know the Champions trophy would be commencing from 7^th of June. I checked my mind and with whatever little knowledge available, reviewed the cricketing terms - swing, straight drive, pull, defensive shot, leg spin, off spin. Thank god, I had not forgotten cricket has this core base as its identity.

International cricket, that is what we cricket lovers always loved to watch by heart. IPL might posses the spice and flavor of enjoyment, but international cricket gives the mental gratification. Now, we will be moving from the franchisee pressure to the national commitment, which can be termed as Divided by the franchisee, United by the team. From chhotu entertaining cricket to some serious patriot game. Moving from the batsmen-oriented pitches and condition to the area and environment, which love romancing with the fast bowlers. From the erratic noisy cheer to disciplined, harmonic, synchronized and silent, the British way of enjoying the game. From the game of hard hitting fours and sixes to the battlefield, where we can get some good contest between the quality bowlers and the genuine batsmen.

Australia, S. Africa, England, Pakistan, and N. Zeland posses a bucketful of beautiful fast bowlers who have the charm to romance with the swinging condition. Dale Steyn being the most beautiful shouldered by the others, like Junaid Khan, James Anderson, M. Starc, Morkel and joined by supporters viz.- Wahab Riaz, Faulkner, Stuart Broad,  Franklin. For India, apart from young Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav, other bowlers had to improve their skills to impress the moody British weather. Barring some respectable bowlers, the 22- yard strip of British grounds behaves like a step mom with the spin bowlers. Here, main role would be played by the fast bowlers, with the spin bowlers acting in a supporting role; unless, the directors like Dhoni come up with out-of-the-blue idea to accommodate the fringe players. He has the skill to “manage” few players with the “fringe” benefit.



Predicting who will win the series has always been like predicting when the monsoon will arrive. Speculations, team strength, weather condition, weak link, fast pitches, etc. etc. would be added like terms and conditions for the favorable results. We are destitute and inaccurate in predicting the outcome of the match, set aside the series. We believe in parity and respect the efforts of national jersey holders; be it blue, red, green, black, or yellow. One thing is sure, when these jersey holders battle in the middle, the rainbow of cricket will add to the joy of monsoon.

Ritesh R.Kadam
9011020015

IPL, Fixing, and Gangster!

Napkin, wrist band, forehead band, caps, and golden locket were once considered as on field cricketing gears for controlling the sweat, and the fashion icons respectively. Recently, it came to light that these are being used to earn the money between 20 to 80 lakhs. Courtesy, Sreesanth and company. Only thing you have to do is, keep it visible and give away only fourteen runs in an over, which is very much possible in the run-feast series, IPL T-20.

Honey.... it's a trap!!!

Just few days before the spot fixing episode took place, I had read a post on FB: "We are 100 percent confident match fixing does not exist in the IPL, it is a pure and very good entertaining soap." At that point I also agreed to it, because the way things were progressing and games were becoming exciting, there was very little doubt for the scrutiny to be put. Just three days later, the SCC group of three stooges (Sreesanth, Chandila, and Chavan) proved us wrong. Spot fixing, then over fixing, no ball fixing, match fixing, honey trap, mafia involvement, sex video, black money, all this valuable(!) information spilled out during the “AmrutManthan” of investigation.

Guess, what this signal means!!!

The IPL always remained a soft target for the tampering, the reasons: It had the mass appeal, over glamour by the association of bollywood ke sitare, undue number of matches, and lack of control as it is a domestic league. It was considered only as an entertainment tool; by that means we could call it as a three hours live crick-movie. The environment in the stadium was also decorated for the entertainment; in fact the terms were also being used as an IPL match than the cricket match. In future, it would not be surprising, if we saw a notice before the match “All the characters and incidents in this match are 'fix'itious and imaginary, resemblance to any live match is purely coincidental.”

That's called as fair play!!!

As always, BCCI took some time from its busy(?) schedule and conducted a long meeting, though the output of the meeting was futile. We can not control the bookies, a committee will be formed to investigate the episode, if the players found guilty, we would take stringent action on them, etc. The answers were hypothetical, similar to the last years; in that sense similar to the probe they had conducted during the year 2000, the Cronje episode. We all are aware, BCCI does not show any interest in the event from which there is no revenue. But if there were sponsors for the meeting, a short India- Pakistan series to reveal the action plan on how to control match fixing, a tri-series to inaugurate the annexure explaining the sentence for the guilty players involved in the match fixing, BCCI would definitely embrace these things.

The "New jersey"

This entire episode was more depressing, as the players who dared to manipulate their play were captained by the most gentleman player of the game, Dravid. Considering the way things are happening, the length and the depth of this iceberg has been getting broad, day by day. The issue having different names like spot fixing, match fixing, tampering, line and length fixing etc. etc. has been increasing the entropy of Cricket. One reference can be drawn from the movie OMG, where Mithun Chakroworthy delivered a beautiful dialogue: “Ye aastha, shraddha afeem ki tarah hoti hai, ek baar lat lag jaaye na, toh woh aasanise nahi chhutati...” This fixing fiasco has been acting like afeem and the players are getting addicted to it, the means are either the mafia or the money.


Ritesh R. Kadam
9011020015

Merry IPL festival...!

India is no short of festivals, events, melas, and carnivals. We need a reason to engage ourselves, we need a reason to express ourselves, we need a reason to hedonism, and we need a reason to speak and write about. In the month of August, there is Dahi-Handi, September brings Ganpati, October is devoted to Navratra, November shines with Diwali, December provides X-Mas, New Year, Janaury sweetens us with Sankrant, February loves us with lovely Valentine, March baths us with Holi.

But, what about April and May? A notable festival was missing. What to do in these two months with vacation on?

Thanks to God (and BCCI), the biggest festival got introduced in the months of scorching heat - April and May..... yes, The IPL Festival! It has colours of Holi, fireworks of Diwali, Jagran of Navratra (day-night matches), worship of idols, "Merry" of Christmas (I hope you understood what "Merry" stands for), and party of Valentines. It filled the void of our appetite for the festival. Such is this festival, we don’t even realiase that the heat is on. Like other festivals, Government should include the IPL in official holiday calendar and on the IPL final, there should be public holiday.

No one can claim that it is a festival of Hindu, Muslim or Isaai. Whole cricketing world including players, audience, spectators participate in and cherish this festival. In that sense it is a secular event.  Here, there is no me or you, mine or yours, people say it is ours. Genuine cricket lovers, seasonal cricket lovers, filmstars, politicians, everyone loves this festival for their "own" reasons.

Those who are devoted, enjoy this festival on the festival ground, the likes of us belonging to poor class participate in the event through TV sets.

Some social workers, activists, and matured politicians are questioning about the wastage of water and electricity. It is part of their professional life, but these people too check the status of this festival on their android cells. Like Shri Shri Ravi Shankar says "Life is a festival, enjoy every bit of it". Similarly, IPL is a festival, enjoy every match of it.

So, Merry IPL to all…





Ritesh Kadam
09011020015

The Nightmare v/s The Dream

Some news, events, results give us joy. What if petrol prices slashed to Rs.50 per litre, company declared 40% salary increment, share market index crossed 25,000 mark... Don’t know whether it would happen or not, but one thing has really taken place - India conquered Australia in the Test series by 4-0. Most important feature of this victory was “an innings in need, is an innings indeed”. In all three matches, two to three players contributed collectively, either with the Willow or with the Leather. In the first Test with Australia scoring 380 runs and India struggling under predicament situation, Sachin and Kohli played the required solid innings and Dhoni stretched it from nowhere to winning position. In second Test match, the youngsters Pujara and Vijay paved the way for victory, scoring “the Tendulkar” (I had read a post on Facebook that '100' has been replaced by 'Tendulkar' in the mathematics term...).

“You have been suspended for one Test match for not preparing presentation on how to improve the performance.” No, this so called disciplinary action had not been sentenced by any match referee, but the coach Mickey Arthur. There is a phrase in Hindi “Apne Pairon Pe Kulhadi Maar Lena”. It implies, asking for trouble by self. So despite of rain and scoring over 400 runs, Australia could not avoid the defeat in the series-decider third test. The debutant Dhavan took full advantage and scored a fluent century (...his innings reminded of the 100 scored by Warner in the Perth Test against India). In all three matches, our spin charmers attacked Australian 'fresh' blood which looked destitute to handle the turning leather, and put them on the descent (...even Sir Jadeja got more than the required wickets.)

If this series is to be named, it would be “The Nightmare v/s The Dream Series”. Looking at the way this series had routed, white-wash looked expected, if not inevitable. Winning array of four test matches always gives a satisfaction and it’s also a healthy sign for the required balanced team. Australia, a prominent force in the world cricket, can not be termed as a mediocre team looking at its current performance. But it is imperative for them to reinforce its fragmented strength to show the sign of resurgence. On the other hand, though India has won this series convincingly, it has to look ahead for strengthening the fast bowling department. The grit and Virat compressive strength in the batting, much required in the test cricket, looked strong in this series. To cement it properly, it needs the water of consistency. The incumbent Dhoni should now more focus on the rational thinking than the favouritism, especially for building the Test team. Winning all the time is not what all the cricket lovers expect, but we do expect consistency and vigilance in the performance, and approach to make cricket a joy to watch and satisfaction to enjoy...

Ritesh R Kadam
09011020015

Australia " The stubborn Test"

No, till time Dhoni has not demanded for special requirements like “I want rank turner pitch, don’t want Sehwag, Piyush Chawla should be included.” “ Two different pitches for India’s batting & Australia’s batting.” At least he has not cried it before media.

New rejuvenated Australia with some exciting players has arrived.  On target missiles in the form of Pattinson, Starc, Siddle with experienced AK-47 Mitchell Johnson combined with guns like Lyon,  Doharty, and new  billion baby Maxwell are eager to target Indian batsmen. On the other hand, commander Michael Clarke with loads of success in the recent past in association with his other soldiers Warner, Watson, Cowen, and Hughes is ready to confront with his counterpart & enigmatic Mr. Dhoni. (No intention to grovel Dhoni but his recent behavior & tactics on the ground especially in the Test matches has earned him the title “enigmatic”.)

War of words, specific strategy, ground tactics to pinch the opposition players; Australian players learn these things before acquiring the batting & bowling skill. Be it batting or bowling only way Australia know is attack. They uses the strategy of  “resource versus output.” When they are bowling, they focus on depleting the resources than the output. They know if the resources are depleted,output can be controlled automatically.  Here resource stands for batsmen & output stands for runs. And when they are batting it is optimum utilization of available resources. Even their last two three batsmen scores 50 to 60 to stretch the run lead.

Under the current lot of Indian batting Sehwag, Pujara, M. Vijay, Kohli have the caliber of scoring big runs but lacks the ability of taking the advantage of their good start & get out at the critical juncture in maniac fashion. At this phase of their career they need to understand not to throw it against the feisty opposition like Australia. ( The legend Dravid retired by showing the path how to play & stay on the wicket.). “Tendulkar” the emotional factor of all Indian cricket lovers. Considering his last series against the loveable opposition Australia he would be eager to make a big impact. If Dhoni focus on his batting than the pitch it would give some support to the scorecard. (Thank god, IPL auction has already completed.)

    

Our fast bowling department has been discrete in this last year. Right now, it looks decent for the Australia series. Hope  the temperamental Shreeshant, new swing sensation slim trim Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, hard working Ishant & Donald admired Dinda would handle the red cherry to good effect. Our traditional strength spin department has the upper hand compared to Australia. Australia’s beloved friend (!) Harbhajan, Dhoni’s team mate Ashwin, and Ojha has the capacity to trap the batsmen in the so called spin web, if they spun it strongly.

We do like to watch the tussle of India and Australia, be it one day or five day Test. And this time also, it would be hotter and hotter as the series progresses. Let’s see how our Special-11 fare against the Aussies.

Ritesh R. Kadam,

Cell:- 09011020015.

ऑस्ट्रेलिया... "आत्ता खरी टेस्ट!"

चला, अजूनपर्यंत तरी “मला टर्निंग पिच पाहिजे, फ्लॅट पिच हवं, सेहवाग नको, पियुष चावला पाहिजे, ऑस्ट्रेलियाच्या बॅटिन्गसाठी वेगळं पिच, इंडियाच्या बॅटिन्गसाठी वेगळं पिच” असा बालहट्ट धोनीनं धरला नाही. नाही, तसं मिडियासमोर तरी हे रडगाणं धोनीनं बोलून दाखवलेलं नाही.

नव्या दमाचा ऑस्ट्रेलियन संघ आला आहे. सिडल, पॅटिन्सन, स्टार्क या तोफा घेऊन, जोडीला जोन्सन नावाची अनुभवी एके-47 आहेच, सोबत दिमतीला लायन, दोहार्ती, मॅक्सवेल या नवख्या गन्सही आहेत. स्वतः शस्त्रसज्ज होऊन मागील काही मॅचेसमध्ये भीम-पराक्रम गाजवून क्लार्क आपल्या पराक्रमी सैन्यासोबत टेस्ट क्रिकेटचं युद्ध खेळण्यासाठी संपूर्ण रणनीतीने सज्ज आहे. आता बाकीच्या गोष्टी म्हणाल, जसं की शब्दांची कूटनीती, वाक्बाणांच्या चाली, मैदानाची रणनीती, या गोष्टी तर ऑस्ट्रेलियावाले क्रिकेट खेळण्याआधीपासूनच शिकलेले आहेत.

बॅटिन्ग असू  दे नाहीतर बॉलिन्ग, आक्रमण करत राहणे हे ऑस्ट्रेलियाच्या रक्तातच आहे. बॉलिन्ग करताना त्यांचा एक फंडा असतो - "रिसोर्स विरुद्ध आउटपुट". ते आउटपुटवर जास्त लक्ष देत नाहीत, तर रिसोर्स कमी करण्याकडं जास्त लक्ष देतात. म्हणजे, आउटपुट आपोआपच कमी  होतं. (इथं आउटपुट म्हणजे रन्स आणि रिसोर्स म्हणजे बॅट्समन!) हाच फंडा बॅटिन्गसाठी - आहे त्या रिसोर्सेसचा जास्तीत जास्त उपयोग करून जास्तीत जास्त आउटपुट काढतात. अगदी शेवटचे दोन-तीन गडीसुद्धा नाही म्हणत म्हणत पन्नास-साठ रन्स जोडतातच.

इकडं आपले गडी सेहवाग, रायडू, पुजारा, कोहली आहेत दमदार, पण चांगलं खेळत असताना मधेच काहीतरी उरफाटा शॉट खेळायची हुक्की येते त्यांना आणि नको त्या वेळी विकेट देऊन बसतात. निदान ऑस्ट्रेलियासारख्या संघाविरुद्ध तरी त्यांनी थोडं शांतचित्तानं खेळावं. (द्रविड बिचारा विकेट टिकवायचे धडे घालून गेला, थोडंफार तरी शिकावं की...) तेंडूलकर! जिव्हाळ्याचा विषय. आपली ताकद आणि अनुभव या सिरीजमध्ये त्याच्या कट्टर संघाविरुद्ध तो दाखवेल याविषयी मला आशाच नाही तर खात्री आहे. (कदाचित ही त्याची शेवटची सिरीज असेल...) धोनीसाहेबांनी थोडं आपलं लक्ष पिचपेक्षा बॅटिन्गकडं दिलं तर टीमला तेवढाच हातभार लागेल. (बाकी 'आयपीएल'ची बोली आधीच झाली आहे, हे नशीब!)

आपली फास्ट बॉलिन्ग इंग्लंड सिरीजपेक्षा थोडी ठीक वाटते. (आपल्या स्वभावामुळे!!) मैदान गाजवणारा श्रीशांत, नवीन, हातभर बॉल स्विंग करणारा स्लीम-ट्रिम भुवनेश्वर कुमार, जीव तोडून बॉलिन्ग करणारा आमचा इशांत आणि उंच उडी मारून बॉल टाकणारा दिंडा, सुरुवातीला 'रेड चेरी' (इथं मला नवा करकरीत लाल चेंडू म्हणायचंय) सांभाळतील असं वाटतंय. तसं आपलं वंशपरंपरागत स्पिन डिपार्टमेन्ट जरा वरचढ वाटतं. त्यामध्ये ऑस्ट्रेलियाचा जिवलग मित्र(!) हरभजन, धोनीचा खास मित्र आश्विन, आणि ओझाभाऊ स्पिनचं जाळं का काय म्हणतात ते टाकून कांगारूंना जाळ्यात ओढतील अशी अपेक्षा आहे…

पण काहीही असलं तरी, ऑस्ट्रेलियाविरुद्ध क्रिकेटचं द्वंद्व पाहण्याची वेगळीच मजा येते...

आता प्रत्यक्ष मैदानावर आपले स्पेशल-11 काय करतात ते पाहूच...!

तमाम क्रिकेटप्रेमींसाठी एक छोटासा लेख,

रितेश कदम

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