Jit jaayenge hum!

The point at which some people give up, actually that's where the good times commence. And that's where the exceptional separates from pessimist/ ordinary.  Perseverance always pays off. "Jindagi, har kadam, ik nayee jang hai, jit jaayenge hum, tu agar sang hai." Team India might have taken inspiration from this lovely song. 4-0 drubbing of Australia, followed by spirited performance to lift the champions trophy, the party continued in the West Indies, and extended to Zimbabwe. Team India is tasting the overwhelming and hard earned success. Rare character of killer instinct, friendship with responsibility, Sir Jadeja alias Rajneekant inching towards lead character from the supporting role, all these material bonded together by Dhoni have helped Indian team to transcend. 

The charismatic captain, though getting critcized for adamant, favoritism, and unfair way of handling players for personal benefit, is getting back to his lucky charm. Khudiko kar buland itana ki, khuda bhi tuzse puche , bata dhoni teri raja kya hai?

After the double century against Australia, Dhoni has made himself so "buland" that even Almighty is fulfilling his all "raja" (wishes). That confidence even reflected in his looks. His luck and look have always been a talking subject. The journey of hairstyle started from the long cut changed to trim-cut, a short period of bald look, and now like Alexander's cap. Well "andaz apna apna".

As India is enjoying the dream run, Australia on the other hand is in contrasting state. It is providing opportunity to every possible player to pull out a rabbit out of the hat, but to no veil. There is no lack in efforts but the commensurate result is very little.Yes, they pocketed the one- day series but that was just the compensation for the Ashes loss. Australia need a solid success to galvanize their team. They would be looking at this India series as a platform to regain the required momentum. The top five in the form of Warner, Watson, Haddin, and Smith along with the fresh blood, Maxwell, Bailey would form the scoring unit.Australian bowlers will try their heart out to get some response from the dry Indian pitches. 

Indian team will embark this series with happy-go-lucky mood. The seven-match series commencing from the eve of Dashera will continue till Diwali festival, which will be a double festival bonanza for the cricket bugs. Fans will also enjoy this feast with no tension and in a relaxed mood, and if tension creeps the song will dissipate it,

"Jindagi har kadam ik nayee jang hai,

Jit jaayenge hum, tu agar sang hai..."

Ritesh Kadam
9011020015.

जिन्दगी, हर कदम , इक नयी जंग है...

"जिन्दगी  हर कदम इक नयी जंग है.

जीत जायेंगे हम, तू अगर संग है.. "हे गाणे गेले तीन-चार महिन्या पासून फार आवडू लागले आहे. आधी  ऑस्ट्रेलिया ४-०, नंतर चँपियन्स ट्रॉफी मधील संघर्षपूर्ण टायटल, आणि लगेच वेस्ट-इंडिजमध्ये सुस्त सुरवाती नंतर स्पीड वाढ्वून शेवट्च्या मिनिटाला जिंकलेली रेस, किमान आंतराष्ट्रीय मॅचेस मध्ये भारतीय संघाचे सुगीचे दिवस चालू आहेत.

विजिगीषु प्रव्रुत्ती, जी जास्त काळ आपल्या टिम सोबत राहत नाही, ती बराच काळ सोबत राहिली, बर्‍याच जणांना जवाबदारी हा शब्द कळालेला दिसला, स्टार रवींद्र जडेजा प्रती रजनीकांत सहकलाकाराच्या भुमिकेतुन लीड कॅरेक्टर कडे झेपावतोय. 

खुदी को कर बुलंद इतना के, खुदा भी तुझसे पुछे , बता धोनी तेरी रजा क्या है? ऑस्ट्रेलिया विरुद्धच्या  द्विशतकानंतर धोनीने स्वतःला नक्कीच एवढे बुलंद केले आहे की सध्यातरी

त्याची प्रत्येक रजा मंजूर होत आहे. २०११ च्या इंग्लंड दौर्‍या मधे मागे लागलेली साडे साती अनेक खड्तर कष्ट देऊन गेली पण, ऑस्ट्रेलियाच्या भारत  दौर्‍यानंतर धोनीने ती उजवुन टाकली. 

धोनी च्या लक आणि लुक बदद्ल नेहमीच चर्चा होत असते. जेवढ्या लवकर त्याचे लक बदलत नाही, त्या पेक्षा लवकर त्याचे लुक बदलत असते. केसाळ, ट्रिम, चमन, आणि आता सिकंदरच्या शिरस्त्राणा सारखे. असो , असते काही जणांना आवड.

इकडे ऑस्ट्रेलिया बिचारी जमेल त्या खेळाडूला चान्स देऊन चांगल्या खेळाडूंचा मटका लागतोय का हे आजमावतेय. ऑस्ट्रेलियाचा खेळ चांगला होतोय पण, साला रिजल्ट भेटत नाहीए. नाही म्हणायला  इंग्लंड विरुद्धची सिरीज पदरात पाडुन घेतली. पण, धाकट यश  मिळत नाहीए,  त्यात आणि टिम-मधला विस्कळितपणा, वादग्रस्त वर्तणूक यामुळे टिम ची फरफट आणखी वाढली आहे.

टेस्ट सिरीज-नंतर फिरुन ऑस्ट्रेलिया वन-डे खेळायला आली आहे. खेळण्यातला तिखटपणा जरी कमी झाला असला तरी, आक्रमकता आणि लढाऊ  बाणा टिकून आहे.

शस्त्रातील धार जरी कमी झाली असली तरी , वार करण्या ची ताकत कमी झालेली नाही/ टिकून आहे. " This too shall pass " या आशेवरती ऑस्ट्रेलिया परत एकदा वॉर्नर, वॅटसन् ,स्मिथ, हॅडिन, फिन्च  यांच्यावर भिस्त ठेवून मैदानात उतरेल. बॉलिंगचा नेहमी सारखा  ३-१-२ असा फॉर्मुला ठेवेल. ( ३-फास्ट, १-स्पीन, २-ऑल-राउंडर). पण आता बॉलिंग किती जरी चांगली असली तरी, "इंडियन विकेट" ऑस्ट्रेलियन  बॉलर्स साठी दिव्यच असेल. टॉस जिंकून धावांचा रतीब रचणे आणि नंतर  बॅटसमन वर  प्रेशर आणने हीच स्ट्रॅटेजी त्यांना जास्त लाभदायक ठरेल असे वाटते ..

इकडे धोनी आणि कंपनी हॅप्पी-गो- लकी या मूडमध्ये आहे. हात घालू तिकडे सोनं मिळतय. त्यामुळे जास्त टेन्शन नाही. फॅन्स सुद्धा रिलॅक्स मुड मध्ये मॅचेस एंजॉय करतील, आणि, थोडं टेंशन आलंच तर हे गाणं आहेच..

"जिन्दगी, हर कदम, इक नयी जंग है.

जीत जायेंगे हम, तू अगर संग है.."

Ritesh Kadam

9011020015.

England: Third in a row!

We are the Champions!

As expected, England protected The Ashes on its home soil and sowed some seeds to prepare for the return series in Australian summer. Before start of the series, England was definitely favourite contender to win the prestigious titan - The Ashes. Australia, on the the other hand, though not considered to reverse the favourable result was expected to clash with the throne-bearers to create an elusive factor, so that there would be at least a positive gain when Clarke again tosses the coin in the reciprocal series down under in few month's time. But England didn't allow Australia to win even a single match. In a game's perspective, it is mandatory to take twenty wickets, if you desire to win test matches. But it is equally important to score a competitive total to lessen the burden on the bowlers. England did it precisely. Out of the three tests it won, two were close encounters which could have favoured any of the teams, but as England's batsmen contributed cumulatively, the victory along with ashes preferred to stay with England.

Though Cook failed to play notable innings in this series, his other mates, particularly Bell, supported by handy and some crucial innings by Joe Route, Pietersen, Trott, Bairstaw ensured healthy score of the team on pitches that generally pamper the bowler.

Australia, a team known for its deligence few years back is facing a steep challenge to maintain even its average performance. The aura has faded away. (Transition-phase, they name it as to the current dubious performance.) Yes, if we look at the leadership aspect of Clarke, he was up to the task, strategically and tactically, but the resources which were expected to implement the plan could not stretch themselves enough to touch the benchmark set by the English players.

How to come back on track??

This series has also put DRS under scanner. Manipulation, or say ambiguity in using DRS marred this series as both the teams received shocking decisions at the key point, but Australia paid a heavy price of it. DRS has to be continued by removing some flaws in it, as it helps to control some errors made by umpires. It should be used just like the third umpires giving their decisions for run out and stumping. Decision should be displayed on the screen independently.

In this series, Cook's defensive approach was also a talking point. His strategy - 'If you can't control the game, don't let the opposition gain control over it', was bit negative. Spread-out field or playing dead overs while batting was indication of go-safe. He had used it in India too, when they toured last year. But ultimately, captain judges the situation and has the onus of extracting the best result.

The proud captain

After every match, Australian supporters and former players kept giving the past Ashes references and hoped for the rise of the Australian team. All this could not prevent the third straight Ashes defeat. But again they can hope and say - come down under Australian summer, we will continue.

To be continued...

Ritesh R. Kadam
9011020015

The myriad WAR: The Ashes!

The British are known for preserving their culture. They have the history of dominance, the history of reigning the world, the history of being the best. One more history they posses, and that is, the game of Cricket. This history has one important chapter, very important; The Ashes. The Ashes is itself a sub-history of cricket battles between two top rivalries, England and Australia. Every cricket lover knows the fundamental of the Ashes. These two teams consider regaining and retaining the ashes as the prestigious battle. The teams disperse and excel, players’ career gets deteriorated or sets on track by the results of this battle.

This ashes journey has provided many players, records, new tactics, and strategies to tackle with the best players of opposition. The thread for England starts from Jack Hobbs, Dennis Compton, Douglas Jordan, Larwood, Fred Trueman, Bob Willlis and extends to Botham, Gooch, Gatting, Atherton, Caddick, Freddie, Vaughn, Cook. Australia’s list starts from Sir Don Bradman, Miller, Richie Benaud, Lillie, Thomson, Border, to the legendary players like Steve Waugh, Ponting, Macgrath, Warne, Hayden, Brett Lee. Such is the importance of this chapter; some of the series have been named after the highlight or notable performance of players. e.g. The Body-Line Series, The Botham Series, The 2005 Series.

History tells that Australia has been the dominant side to control the ashes. But in the recent past, England, with its classical cricket, has outplayed Australia on its home turf as well as their backyard. In the last series, 2011-Australia, we all have seen the gutsy performance of England and frustrated, desperate attempt by Australia. The Victorians were, of course, the England side. This time too, the odds are favoring England. England batting has been performing with solidity, with the Cooks, the Bells, the Trotts, being the genuine test match players, have the capacity to play inexorably with consistency.

The new lad Joe Root has also shown his class during the series, in India. Under the crisis situation, Matt Prior is the man who has saved England more often than not. Under the typical English swinging condition, Anderson, Finn, Stuart Broad could prove lethal. The spell from Anderson in the Melbourne match back in 2011, in Australia, was exemplary, where he showed how to use new ball to get batsmen out with swing and seam movement.

Australia’s current “grahadasha” is only worsening its prospect to think about regaining the Ashes. Considering the recent performances, Australia’s batting looks feeble. It is nowhere near the mighty line-up that used to control the game all the time. Clarke, Watson, Cowen, Warner have to buckle down with the intent to match with the class of the Englishmen. If any chance Australia could create, that would be from their bowling unit. Siddle, Johnson, Pattinson, Starch, the big hearted performance from this foursome can give Australia a glimmer of hope. Nevertheless, it’s a real pleasure to watch the war of test match between two classical and “ancient” sides. The battles would be won by one team or the other, but the fire would be long lasting, the ashes would be ever burning, the war would be myriad!!

Ritesh R Kadam
9011020015

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