Not the best day to be an Indian cricket fan - the capitulation under pressure was quite sickening. I feel for the skipper Dravid - his 100th Test (ok, 99 for India and 1 not-so-super Test) couldn't have gone more disastrously for him. He got the decision after the toss wrong (surely it was a team decision with Chappell in tow), and a situation where all India needed was a draw to win the series turned into a series draw that feels like a loss, just like against Pakistan at home.
A positive move to go with 5 bowlers will roundly be criticized, but as Dravid rightly said, that is the way forward if we have to win more Tests abroad. The strategy was right, the execution went horribly wrong. The shakiness at the top of the order is more than worrying now - we need more runs in all conditions from the rest of the top order. Poor Dravid can only do so much!
Freddie must be over the moon at the moment, and it is indeed a fantastic performance. Great spirit shown by England to overcome the injury crisis and a deserving series draw. Debutants were successful, discards returned and shone like they had never been away, and the experienced hands stood up when it mattered. Terrific team performance!
End of the day, spirit was what was the difference between the two sides - England were prepared to fight it out longer than we did.
Ugh, this feeling sucks!
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Selling-out of the heartland
Simon Barnes is one of the best in the business - of writing, that is. His articles on sport in the Times (of England, not the tabloid in India) are great reads. Do read this one on how every sport tries to change its core to attract the 'non-fans', and in the process runs the risk of alienating the heartland (the hardcore fans of the sport), and also the dangers of pandering to a fickle audience who may leave if they find something sexier the next week. He cites examples from baseball (designated hitters in the American League who replace pitchers), football (penalty shoot-outs) and of course Twenty20 cricket.
Hat tip to Cricinfo for the link.
Hat tip to Cricinfo for the link.
Monday, March 13, 2006
March Madness on the Net
Anyone who has been to the US can vouch for March Madness - the NCAA college basketball competition that kicks off every spring. CBS has the rights for this high-profile tournament, and has decided to put the first round matches on the Net, FOR FREE. Currently most online sports are pay-per-view or subscription based. Reason - the number of Net viewers were not large enough to get advertisers to fund the programs. However with the Net growing rapidly as a mainstream medium in the US, CBS reckons there is a sizeable audience out there who will watch matches on the Internet and therefore advertisers will be interested in. Of course, the beauty of the Internet is that viewers can watch the match they are interested in, which works beautifully when there are multiple matches in progress. I remember the NBA launching Broadband TV funded by advertising sometime back. Clearly the US is the best market to launch advertising-funded streaming sport given broadband penetration and Net usage levels. This is more evidence that the Internet as a viable business model is back!
Cricket is wonderful at both ends of the spectrum
Yesterday and today have displayed cricket at its finest - some people just don't get how a game played over 5 days can be terrific, and how a smaller 1-day version can also be breathtaking at the same time. The bottom line is that the game is fundamentally great - it just requires two evenly matched teams giving their best on the field to make for a wonderful spectacle.
I cannot describe SA's successful chase of 434 aptly - it was just crazy. I was thanking SA for letting Ponting score 164, thereby reducing the painful World Cup 2003 memory for Indian fans, but what Gibbs did was outrageous. Some will criticize this run-a-thon as being too batsmen-centric, but don't tell me this was not exciting. Cricket needs to find a balance between bat and ball, but what happened at the Wanderers did cricket great good - no doubt about that.
At the other end of the spectrum was India's wonderful win against England in Mohali. A rain-affected match that everyone expected to end as a draw sprung to life thanks to India's young and old - Munaf Patel and Kumble. India's wagging tail and England's collapse in the 2nd innings left India with few to get, which they did. What was especially pleasing about this victory was that it was achieved not on a dust bowl under oppressive heat and inhospitable conditions. Mohali is one of India's best venues, the weather was more English than Indian, and the pitch had enough for the pacemen to get it to rear and bounce, for batsmen to play their shots and for spinners to get turn and bounce. As David Gower said, it perhaps was as close as one can get to the perfect Test Match pitch - that's what makes this victory special.
Will this win make the Indian authorities realise that India does not necessarily disintegrate on a pitch with some pace and bounce?
434 successfully chased! Still can't stop shaking my head!
I cannot describe SA's successful chase of 434 aptly - it was just crazy. I was thanking SA for letting Ponting score 164, thereby reducing the painful World Cup 2003 memory for Indian fans, but what Gibbs did was outrageous. Some will criticize this run-a-thon as being too batsmen-centric, but don't tell me this was not exciting. Cricket needs to find a balance between bat and ball, but what happened at the Wanderers did cricket great good - no doubt about that.
At the other end of the spectrum was India's wonderful win against England in Mohali. A rain-affected match that everyone expected to end as a draw sprung to life thanks to India's young and old - Munaf Patel and Kumble. India's wagging tail and England's collapse in the 2nd innings left India with few to get, which they did. What was especially pleasing about this victory was that it was achieved not on a dust bowl under oppressive heat and inhospitable conditions. Mohali is one of India's best venues, the weather was more English than Indian, and the pitch had enough for the pacemen to get it to rear and bounce, for batsmen to play their shots and for spinners to get turn and bounce. As David Gower said, it perhaps was as close as one can get to the perfect Test Match pitch - that's what makes this victory special.
Will this win make the Indian authorities realise that India does not necessarily disintegrate on a pitch with some pace and bounce?
434 successfully chased! Still can't stop shaking my head!
Monday, March 06, 2006
Indispensable --> bad
Every cricket team needs the ultimate talents - the players who are so good they can win matches singlehandedly, and are talismans for their teams. However, being too good can also be detrimental to the team in the long run. Here's how.
Australia have two absolute gems - McGrath and Warne. One of the best pacemen in the world and the best spinner ever have made Australia the champion team of the last few years. However, they are both in the final lap of their careers andAustralia don't have ready replacements. As India proved in 2003-04 Down Under, England in the Ashes and South Africa now in the ODIs, Australia is eminently beatable without these guys. Since they were the best by far, they rendered themselves nearly indispensable, and Australia are now suffering. The Aussies pride themselves on a strong domestic system that keeps a strong bench in place - in fact it was proved when they dropped Mark and Steve Waugh and kept getting stronger! However, McGrath and Warney are in a different league, and being match-winning bowlers, the task is that much tougher for Australia.
India had one such guy not too long ago. A Tendulkar-less India in the 90s was worthless. Indispensable is too meek a word to describe what he was to the team. However, thanks to a revival under Ganguly and Wright, the emergence of Dravid and now Sehwag, and Tendulkar's own injury problems, we do not collectively self-immolate when we see an Indian XI without Tendulkar. Surprisingly, India has managed to handle the transition better than Australia. It helped perhaps that Sachin is not a match-winning bowler - it is probably tougher to replace champion bowlers than batsmen! Or is it?
The West Indies have the one and only Brian Lara. He is so unbelievably good that without him, the Windies are sometimes worse than India at football! The team even with Lara is terrible most times, but you can't blame Lara for that. They have not found a replacement for him yet, and poor times for the Carribeans seem set to continue.
England have never had that problem for a while. Throughout the 90s they were a mediocre team that had county tigers who got injured if there was a strong wind in the area, and had no super-talents. However, that seems set to change - Freddie Flintoff is the mascot of a new-look England team that can hold its own against all comers. Sure, Harmy can bowl fast and KP can bang it - but if Freddie had gone home before the first Test with the rest, India may have had to just turn up to win the series. Can you imagine a Freddie-less England travelling to Australia and winning a Test? No chance! Freddie has reached indispendable status. How England manage him and without him will determine long term success of the team.
Sri Lanka also have two megastars without whom they are a mere shadow - Murali and Jayasuriya. The back up options for Murali are meagre at best, and the line up without Jayasuriya is still not strong enough. Can Sri Lanka find a few players who can fill in the blanks?
South Africa managed reasonably well without Donald - Ntini and Pollock filled the breach nicely, and the team was always blessed with all-rounders who collectively contributed.
I guess the secret lies in the SA/India method - teams should aim to build a bunch of players who can collectively match the talents of their reigning superstar. To get another Tendulkar is a futile search - but by developing Dravid/Laxman/Sehwag, India have enough batsmen to be prepared for the eventuality. Similarly with SA and Donald. Aus have failed to build back-up bowling options who have the experience and ability to step up to the plate.
Australia have two absolute gems - McGrath and Warne. One of the best pacemen in the world and the best spinner ever have made Australia the champion team of the last few years. However, they are both in the final lap of their careers andAustralia don't have ready replacements. As India proved in 2003-04 Down Under, England in the Ashes and South Africa now in the ODIs, Australia is eminently beatable without these guys. Since they were the best by far, they rendered themselves nearly indispensable, and Australia are now suffering. The Aussies pride themselves on a strong domestic system that keeps a strong bench in place - in fact it was proved when they dropped Mark and Steve Waugh and kept getting stronger! However, McGrath and Warney are in a different league, and being match-winning bowlers, the task is that much tougher for Australia.
India had one such guy not too long ago. A Tendulkar-less India in the 90s was worthless. Indispensable is too meek a word to describe what he was to the team. However, thanks to a revival under Ganguly and Wright, the emergence of Dravid and now Sehwag, and Tendulkar's own injury problems, we do not collectively self-immolate when we see an Indian XI without Tendulkar. Surprisingly, India has managed to handle the transition better than Australia. It helped perhaps that Sachin is not a match-winning bowler - it is probably tougher to replace champion bowlers than batsmen! Or is it?
The West Indies have the one and only Brian Lara. He is so unbelievably good that without him, the Windies are sometimes worse than India at football! The team even with Lara is terrible most times, but you can't blame Lara for that. They have not found a replacement for him yet, and poor times for the Carribeans seem set to continue.
England have never had that problem for a while. Throughout the 90s they were a mediocre team that had county tigers who got injured if there was a strong wind in the area, and had no super-talents. However, that seems set to change - Freddie Flintoff is the mascot of a new-look England team that can hold its own against all comers. Sure, Harmy can bowl fast and KP can bang it - but if Freddie had gone home before the first Test with the rest, India may have had to just turn up to win the series. Can you imagine a Freddie-less England travelling to Australia and winning a Test? No chance! Freddie has reached indispendable status. How England manage him and without him will determine long term success of the team.
Sri Lanka also have two megastars without whom they are a mere shadow - Murali and Jayasuriya. The back up options for Murali are meagre at best, and the line up without Jayasuriya is still not strong enough. Can Sri Lanka find a few players who can fill in the blanks?
South Africa managed reasonably well without Donald - Ntini and Pollock filled the breach nicely, and the team was always blessed with all-rounders who collectively contributed.
I guess the secret lies in the SA/India method - teams should aim to build a bunch of players who can collectively match the talents of their reigning superstar. To get another Tendulkar is a futile search - but by developing Dravid/Laxman/Sehwag, India have enough batsmen to be prepared for the eventuality. Similarly with SA and Donald. Aus have failed to build back-up bowling options who have the experience and ability to step up to the plate.
Online DVD rental in Bangalore
seventymm has launched an online DVD/VCD rental service in Bangalore. On the face of it, it looks like a service that would work in Bangalore - the city has a reasonably young and large Net-savvy population with time and money on hand to watch DVDs/VCDs.
This idea is a straightforward copy-paste of the Netflix and Screenselect model. In fact, their website features look strikingly similar to that of Netflix, whose co-founder is on the advisory board. Further indication there are and will continue to be many more ventures that start in emerging markets that are direct replicas of proven business models in the West. seventymm has got funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the VC firm that has made lots of money from Hotmail, Skype, Baidu and Overture.
Here's what is interesting about seventymm though - the pricing. I am sure they would have done their research, but the pricing looks shockingly high. 200 Rs a month for 4 movies (2 at a time) or 550 Rs a month for unlimited movies seems high enough, but the bummer is the registration fee of 500 Rs and a refundable deposit of 2000 Rs! Whatever the heck is that for???
I think the pricing is high is because of competition. These guys compete with the neighbourhood VCD/DVD rental shop, who merrily rents out pirated stuff for 10/20 Rs a movie. Even though it is for a day, quality is suspect and all the titles are not available, the price difference is considerable. No normal person will watch more than 10 movies a month (even that sounds too high) - which costs 200 Rs. max. There are many such VCD shops who offer free delivery and pick up services as well, so that benefit is negated as well.
In my opinion, if seventymm can shake off the security deposit and reg. fees, the game changes a bit. What are they scared of - someone not returning 4 DVDs?
The other issue is of personal pick-up of DVDs. In the US and the UK, customers have to mail back the DVDs in a pre-paid envelope. That makes it a lot easier to coordinate logistics. In traffic-crazy Bangalore, if they promise to collect DVDs at a particular time of day and don't turn up, that just leads to utter confusion and dissatisfaction.
I hope this works - the convenience is definitely there, but as with most other things in India, price and execution is critical. I don't think they have got it right so far.
This idea is a straightforward copy-paste of the Netflix and Screenselect model. In fact, their website features look strikingly similar to that of Netflix, whose co-founder is on the advisory board. Further indication there are and will continue to be many more ventures that start in emerging markets that are direct replicas of proven business models in the West. seventymm has got funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the VC firm that has made lots of money from Hotmail, Skype, Baidu and Overture.
Here's what is interesting about seventymm though - the pricing. I am sure they would have done their research, but the pricing looks shockingly high. 200 Rs a month for 4 movies (2 at a time) or 550 Rs a month for unlimited movies seems high enough, but the bummer is the registration fee of 500 Rs and a refundable deposit of 2000 Rs! Whatever the heck is that for???
I think the pricing is high is because of competition. These guys compete with the neighbourhood VCD/DVD rental shop, who merrily rents out pirated stuff for 10/20 Rs a movie. Even though it is for a day, quality is suspect and all the titles are not available, the price difference is considerable. No normal person will watch more than 10 movies a month (even that sounds too high) - which costs 200 Rs. max. There are many such VCD shops who offer free delivery and pick up services as well, so that benefit is negated as well.
In my opinion, if seventymm can shake off the security deposit and reg. fees, the game changes a bit. What are they scared of - someone not returning 4 DVDs?
The other issue is of personal pick-up of DVDs. In the US and the UK, customers have to mail back the DVDs in a pre-paid envelope. That makes it a lot easier to coordinate logistics. In traffic-crazy Bangalore, if they promise to collect DVDs at a particular time of day and don't turn up, that just leads to utter confusion and dissatisfaction.
I hope this works - the convenience is definitely there, but as with most other things in India, price and execution is critical. I don't think they have got it right so far.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Test for Dravid and Flintoff
This Test match is turning out to be a classic - at the end of Day 3, England are ahead by 71, and assuming 10 and 11 don't add too many for India, England have 180 overs to make something out of this match. Kumble and Kaif did fantastically well to get India close to the England total after a great swing masterclass from Hoggard to make the match interesting. India's batting collapse was saddening, but the spirit shown by the lower order was heartening.
Now with 2 days to go, Dravid will be tested - how does he set fields for this England batting lineup? Does he defend the runs, or does he attack with his spinners? I guess a bit of both. It will be interesting to observe how he goes about marshalling his attack tomorrow - and whether India will miss another bowler again. Can Kumble and Bhajji run through the England batting line up and give India a smallish target to chase?
Freddie will be tested like never before as captain. He is surprisingly ahead after 3 days - but does England have the courage and talent to go for the win? Do they have the firepower to get atleast 350 ahead by tomorrow, and then bowl India out in a day or lesser? Will he encourage his batsmen to attack? Whatever target he sets for India, will he back his bowlers to get 10 more Indian wickets on Day 5?
Fantastic Test cricket - any result is possible. More power to the bowlers, I say.
Now with 2 days to go, Dravid will be tested - how does he set fields for this England batting lineup? Does he defend the runs, or does he attack with his spinners? I guess a bit of both. It will be interesting to observe how he goes about marshalling his attack tomorrow - and whether India will miss another bowler again. Can Kumble and Bhajji run through the England batting line up and give India a smallish target to chase?
Freddie will be tested like never before as captain. He is surprisingly ahead after 3 days - but does England have the courage and talent to go for the win? Do they have the firepower to get atleast 350 ahead by tomorrow, and then bowl India out in a day or lesser? Will he encourage his batsmen to attack? Whatever target he sets for India, will he back his bowlers to get 10 more Indian wickets on Day 5?
Fantastic Test cricket - any result is possible. More power to the bowlers, I say.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Sport can change lifes
Oh yes it does!
It can create a sense of belonging and identity among a completely disparate cross section of a country/region/city/family - just observe any public place when India plays cricket (or when England plays football, or the Yankees are in action). Complete strangers get along famously, united in supporting a bunch of athletes giving their best on the playing field. People huddled around TV sets or in pubs and bars, cheering and agonising together - very few other social activities can generate such a feeling.
Sport taught me the value of teamwork. The camaraderie that comes from playing a team sport with a bunch of blokes every evening is irreplacable. The winning feeling and the lessons learnt from losing help me on a daily basis.
And yeah, if you do play sport, it helps combat obesity and shitloads of other diseases.
It can create a sense of belonging and identity among a completely disparate cross section of a country/region/city/family - just observe any public place when India plays cricket (or when England plays football, or the Yankees are in action). Complete strangers get along famously, united in supporting a bunch of athletes giving their best on the playing field. People huddled around TV sets or in pubs and bars, cheering and agonising together - very few other social activities can generate such a feeling.
Sport taught me the value of teamwork. The camaraderie that comes from playing a team sport with a bunch of blokes every evening is irreplacable. The winning feeling and the lessons learnt from losing help me on a daily basis.
And yeah, if you do play sport, it helps combat obesity and shitloads of other diseases.
Freddie as captain
You always get the impression while reading Freddie interviews that what-you-read-is-what-he-really-is. He comes across as a fun-loving beer-swigging typical English bloke, difference being that he happens to be very very good at his sport.
He now has been asked to captain his side in a very tough tour, but there is not much of his team left to captain. Trescothick had to leave for personal reasons (what's with the English and personal reasons?), Vaughan's career is hanging by the thread with yet another recurrence of his knee problem, and Simon Jones goes back to his favourite place - the hospital. With Giles still in England recovering, that's 4 of England's Ashes heroes out without a ball being bowled in the Test Series.
India look overhelming favourites now on paper - but it is not a done deal yet. If Harmison and Freddie can get the ball consistently at throat level - which is a very tough ask in these conditions - I think England have a chance. That, and can their batsmen bat patiently enough and not sweep every bloody ball bowled by Kumble and Bhajji?
I have been waiting to see our batsmen face up to genuine pace at both ends, and I hope the series is interesting. I am frankly bored of India - Pakistan now!
He now has been asked to captain his side in a very tough tour, but there is not much of his team left to captain. Trescothick had to leave for personal reasons (what's with the English and personal reasons?), Vaughan's career is hanging by the thread with yet another recurrence of his knee problem, and Simon Jones goes back to his favourite place - the hospital. With Giles still in England recovering, that's 4 of England's Ashes heroes out without a ball being bowled in the Test Series.
India look overhelming favourites now on paper - but it is not a done deal yet. If Harmison and Freddie can get the ball consistently at throat level - which is a very tough ask in these conditions - I think England have a chance. That, and can their batsmen bat patiently enough and not sweep every bloody ball bowled by Kumble and Bhajji?
I have been waiting to see our batsmen face up to genuine pace at both ends, and I hope the series is interesting. I am frankly bored of India - Pakistan now!
Monday, February 27, 2006
Sky bags it in the UK
I had written earlier that Sky may well lose out on the rights to England's tour to India because of price. Turns out Sky called Nimbus' bluff, and finally managed to bag the rights for apparently 10 million GBP. It does look like Sky had to pay more than they wanted to pay, but they also secured a 4 year deal in return. According to the deal, they get exclusive rights to England tours, and have to share the feed with an Asian population-focused channel like Zee/ARY/Sony for the other tours. Nimbus would have wanted to get a lot more than 10 million GBP for the England territories, but probably got a lot more than that Sky would have offered initially if they hadn't raised the Asian channel bogey! All in all, an interesting negotiation that most probably ended with both being happy and sad at the same time.
The happiest are the English Sky subscribers who were petrfied that they will have to buy some vague channel (Zee/Sony/ARY) they only knew existed, just for this series. Sky seems to have got 4 of their commentators (including my favourite - Nasser Hussain) - so the stage is all set for viewers in the UK to watch their favourite team lose to India:-)
The happiest are the English Sky subscribers who were petrfied that they will have to buy some vague channel (Zee/Sony/ARY) they only knew existed, just for this series. Sky seems to have got 4 of their commentators (including my favourite - Nasser Hussain) - so the stage is all set for viewers in the UK to watch their favourite team lose to India:-)
Friday, February 24, 2006
Stars to look out for
Check this video of the U-19 World Cup finals out (thanks to Manish of Sightscreen) . It is so very refreshing to be able to watch youngsters untainted/not blinded by stardom and international pressures doing what they do best. Piyush Chawla and Anwar Ali Khan caught everyone's attention, and this video clip illustrates why.
These two guys will surely play a huge part in the next few years. I can't wait to see Chawla in action against England - maybe his chance will come in the ODIs. He is also handy with the bat and is a terrific prospect for an Indian team that will have to live without Kumble very soon.
This World Cup U-19 finals really reinforced the old order - India is still capable of generating great spinners, and Pakistan has a conveyor belt of pacemen and swing bowlers. India have taken the 'youth' route and blooded U-19 performers consistently (Pathan, Kaif, Raina and now Chawla) - will Pakistan do the same with Anwar Ali Khan and the left-armer Jamshaid (who was obviously inspired by Mr. Akram)?
Category: Cricket
Monday, February 20, 2006
BCCI TV deal and UK after-effects
Nimbus has bagged the global media rights for Indian cricket for the next 4 years (till Mar 2010) for an unbelievable sum of 612 million $. This article neatly gives us all the gory details.
This deal clearly shows market forces at work (well, mostly). A bidding war was engineered by the BCCI with 'transparency' the buzz word - ensuring that all bidders had to up their bids in the fear that they could very easily screw up their entire business model for the country if they lost! The fear of losing was perhaps just as important as the price of winning. I expected Zee to win the bid, but now that Nimbus has the rights, expect them to sell it piece-by-piece to Zee to start with, and perhaps launch their own channel down the line. In fact, HarishThawani has gone on record saying that all options are open.
Here in the UK, the cat has truly been set among the pigeons, with Sky's so-called monopoly for overseas England tours under serious threat. It looks very likely that Zee/Sony/Ary will bag the rights. Thankfully the BBC Radio deal seems to be proceeding smoothly, with TMS agreeing to pay 1.7 million $ (1 mill GBP) for the series. Thawani has stated that they will grant highlights to either Channel 4 or Five, thereby satisfying the terrestrial lobby. If Sky do lose out, this will be the first time in many years that they are not telecasting a major live cricket series. Unless Sky dig deeper into their substantial pockets and cough up the moolah, my money is on Zee picking up the rights in the UK by paying some incremental money over and above the India rights.
This deal clearly shows market forces at work (well, mostly). A bidding war was engineered by the BCCI with 'transparency' the buzz word - ensuring that all bidders had to up their bids in the fear that they could very easily screw up their entire business model for the country if they lost! The fear of losing was perhaps just as important as the price of winning. I expected Zee to win the bid, but now that Nimbus has the rights, expect them to sell it piece-by-piece to Zee to start with, and perhaps launch their own channel down the line. In fact, HarishThawani has gone on record saying that all options are open.
Here in the UK, the cat has truly been set among the pigeons, with Sky's so-called monopoly for overseas England tours under serious threat. It looks very likely that Zee/Sony/Ary will bag the rights. Thankfully the BBC Radio deal seems to be proceeding smoothly, with TMS agreeing to pay 1.7 million $ (1 mill GBP) for the series. Thawani has stated that they will grant highlights to either Channel 4 or Five, thereby satisfying the terrestrial lobby. If Sky do lose out, this will be the first time in many years that they are not telecasting a major live cricket series. Unless Sky dig deeper into their substantial pockets and cough up the moolah, my money is on Zee picking up the rights in the UK by paying some incremental money over and above the India rights.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Nasser Hussain is fantastic
In my opinion, Hussain is one of the two best commentators in World Cricket.
Hussain understands modern day cricket, thinks and speaks like a captain, and puts the viewer into the captain's mind and tells us what the players out there are going through mentally and physically. We do not want 'star' commentators who tell us that the ball is racing away to the boundary in 10 different ways - we can see the damn thing for ourselves. Nasser adds value, to my viewing anyway.
Today's break-time show on Ten was case in point. His views on bowling coaches was terrific. Everyone and his dog says cricket teams need bowling coaches. But Nasser explained in 2 minutes what a bowling coach can do - with a 'for instance'. Having seen Troy Cooley work, he said that Cooley's role is to track how many overs each fast bowler bowls in internationals AND county cricket. He monitors their body weights, their off-season work, their fitness, their run ups and works out a program to make sure that youngsters coming through (like Freddie, Harmison some years back) peak at the right time for the Tests and important ODIs. His point was that India has RP Singh, Pathan and Sreesanth - all 20-21 years old and promising - but they can so easily go off the boil like Nehra, Zaheer and Balaji did in precisely 6 months.
For India to be winning consistently, Nasser made the point that come Nagpur 1st March, if England win the toss and bat, India want these three bowlers fresh and raring to go, not tired and sluggish due to workload in Pakistan and improper recovery in the gap between series!
Now that put things into perspective for me like no one else had. You do not need 1000 word articles and countless interviews by ex-cricketers extolling the virtues of fast bowling coaches - simple, clear and articulate thinking is what is needed. Hussain provides that to the cricket viewer.
Oh, and Ian Healy is the other one who does this to me - and entertains while at it.
Category: Cricket
Hussain understands modern day cricket, thinks and speaks like a captain, and puts the viewer into the captain's mind and tells us what the players out there are going through mentally and physically. We do not want 'star' commentators who tell us that the ball is racing away to the boundary in 10 different ways - we can see the damn thing for ourselves. Nasser adds value, to my viewing anyway.
Today's break-time show on Ten was case in point. His views on bowling coaches was terrific. Everyone and his dog says cricket teams need bowling coaches. But Nasser explained in 2 minutes what a bowling coach can do - with a 'for instance'. Having seen Troy Cooley work, he said that Cooley's role is to track how many overs each fast bowler bowls in internationals AND county cricket. He monitors their body weights, their off-season work, their fitness, their run ups and works out a program to make sure that youngsters coming through (like Freddie, Harmison some years back) peak at the right time for the Tests and important ODIs. His point was that India has RP Singh, Pathan and Sreesanth - all 20-21 years old and promising - but they can so easily go off the boil like Nehra, Zaheer and Balaji did in precisely 6 months.
For India to be winning consistently, Nasser made the point that come Nagpur 1st March, if England win the toss and bat, India want these three bowlers fresh and raring to go, not tired and sluggish due to workload in Pakistan and improper recovery in the gap between series!
Now that put things into perspective for me like no one else had. You do not need 1000 word articles and countless interviews by ex-cricketers extolling the virtues of fast bowling coaches - simple, clear and articulate thinking is what is needed. Hussain provides that to the cricket viewer.
Oh, and Ian Healy is the other one who does this to me - and entertains while at it.
Category: Cricket
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
World class sports stadiums
Breathtaking stuff here - a Businessweek slideshow of some of the best stadiums in the world. I personally loved the Allianz Arena, the Cardinals stadium in Arizona and the Beijing Swimming Center. Of course, Dubai being Dubai - anything is possible, including snow and ice in the middle of the desert! Amazing stuff.
Unfortunately I haven't been to any of these stadiums - more entries in the to-do-before-I-die list!
The best stadium I have seen so far is the Cardiff Millennium Stadium. Amazing design, easy to access, awesome atmosphere inside (a Wales home rugby game is an experience) and bang in the city center. The MCG is just awesome and imposing - but I haven't seen a game there, so I can't rate it. 100,000 people on Grand Finals Day or Boxing Day is something I don't want to miss.
Category: Sports
Unfortunately I haven't been to any of these stadiums - more entries in the to-do-before-I-die list!
The best stadium I have seen so far is the Cardiff Millennium Stadium. Amazing design, easy to access, awesome atmosphere inside (a Wales home rugby game is an experience) and bang in the city center. The MCG is just awesome and imposing - but I haven't seen a game there, so I can't rate it. 100,000 people on Grand Finals Day or Boxing Day is something I don't want to miss.
Category: Sports
Friday, February 10, 2006
The National Lottery in the UK
The UK has a great way of funding "good causes". The National Lottery run by the Government (Department for Culture, Media and Sport) has raised over 50 billion GBP (!!!) since its conception. The way this works is that people buy tickets, a draw is made, and winners get windfall money announced on TV and other media.
Everything is above board, and the funds raised by the lottery is used to fund "good causes". The Government has set up a list of independent distributors, who grant funds to organizations who satisfy a bunch of criteria. They have granted a staggering 18 billion GBP to causes in sport, art, heritage, voluntary organizations, charities etc. Stunning, isin't it?
The England Cricket Board is a recent recepient - it was sanctioned 10.7 million GBP over the next 3 years to fund grassroot development in schools, clubs and within local communities across all backgrounds. Sport England is the distributing body for sport, and they were satisfied that the ECB met the criteria laid down, and would use the funds for grassroot cricket development.
Sport is a serious matter in the UK, seen more as a great way to keep the nation healthy and develop valuable life skills of teamwork and stuff like that. The Government and the public give it the repect it deserves and treats it just as they would public health, education and defence. Good stuff!
What chances this can be implemented in India? Very bleak, I must say. Political pressures, moral breast-beating about corruption of social values, scams, siphoning of funds to hoax causes - ugh, the list is endless. Not that these things are not happening in the UK, but the sheer extent of the damage that can be done in India with an idea like this is scary!
Categories: UK, sport, Government
Everything is above board, and the funds raised by the lottery is used to fund "good causes". The Government has set up a list of independent distributors, who grant funds to organizations who satisfy a bunch of criteria. They have granted a staggering 18 billion GBP to causes in sport, art, heritage, voluntary organizations, charities etc. Stunning, isin't it?
The England Cricket Board is a recent recepient - it was sanctioned 10.7 million GBP over the next 3 years to fund grassroot development in schools, clubs and within local communities across all backgrounds. Sport England is the distributing body for sport, and they were satisfied that the ECB met the criteria laid down, and would use the funds for grassroot cricket development.
Sport is a serious matter in the UK, seen more as a great way to keep the nation healthy and develop valuable life skills of teamwork and stuff like that. The Government and the public give it the repect it deserves and treats it just as they would public health, education and defence. Good stuff!
What chances this can be implemented in India? Very bleak, I must say. Political pressures, moral breast-beating about corruption of social values, scams, siphoning of funds to hoax causes - ugh, the list is endless. Not that these things are not happening in the UK, but the sheer extent of the damage that can be done in India with an idea like this is scary!
Categories: UK, sport, Government
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
No more texting CRI to 1234
Mobile users in India are used to texting CRI to any four digit number you fancy to get instantaneous cricket scores - a very convenient way to keep track of the game in the middle of a boring afternoon Quality Training session! Texting is unobtrusive, simple and cheap. No wonder every telco, media company, cricket portal, and aggregator has a service like this in India. SMS revenues go through the roof when India is playing - and even though SMS prices in India are very low, sheer volumes generated good revenues for everyone concerned. Everyone that is, except the cricket authorities!
Well, the Pakistan Cricket Board thought otherwise, and apparently had farmed out "exclusive" SMS rights for their matches to a company called Vectracom. However thanks to the afore-mentioned players already offering these services in India, Vectracom could not monetize the rights they paid for in India. They moved court, and the Madras High Court has ordered a bunch of companies in India to stop offering these services.
Where does one draw the line on what the cricket board controls? Will they now prevent TV channels from reporting live scores? NDTV, Aaj Tak and everyone else has tickers running with live scores when the match is in progress. Does that infringe upon the rights of the broadcast rights holder (Ten Sports in this case)? The SMS guys claim that are similar to news channels and are just disseminating news, and are not infringing upon any rights. Truth be told, they get their scores from third-party providers like Cricinfo - who publish scores on the Web and is hence public domain.
Obviously the cricket board and Vectracom are unhappy because these services generate real revenue, unlike the tickers on NDTV which can't be directly translated to rupee value. However, such technology is impossible to legislate and pragmatism should be the name of the game. The PCB was perhaps naive in offering these rights on a global basis to Vectracom - after all, how can Vectracom or the PCB or whoever else control what gets published on the Internet/sent across mobile phones/put on TV/read on newspapers across the world? Very flimsy legal ground on this one, methinks. If one of these companies offering SMS turns around and says that they are picking up the scores from TV/Internet (public domain) and relaying it with their own value adds to their customers, what rights do the PCB have to prevent that from happening?
What is the way out? It is clear that the PCB and other cricket authorities want to make money out of this. The best way to do that is to appoint a service provider who can provide such official services 'legally' to all interested players and consumers. This has to be publicised in advance so everyone is aware. All interested telcos can then take the feed from them for a fee, and relay the same to their respective consumers. Of course they cannot completely prevent Mom and Pop Telco in Timbucktoo from doing their own thing, but they can potentially cover the major players and convert this into a win-win situation. Pricing has to be right, and content has to be compelling. If the 'official' content is good and not easy to replicate (read star cricketer comments, live comments from the ground, player reactions etc) - a majority of the consumers will demand and pay for that content - as long as it is priced the same as before. You charge premium rates, and the consumer will go for a free/cheaper alternative.
New technology throws open new revenue opportunities, but along with that comes fresh challenges. This is just evolving - the big bang will happen when there is real serious money to be made through mobile phones for sports authorities. Fun lies ahead!
Update:
The Madras High Court has lifted the stay for the ODI series, but has told Vectracom and Marksman Services that they may still be compensated after the series is done and dusted. So text away guys!
Categories: Mobile, sport business, technology, cricket
Well, the Pakistan Cricket Board thought otherwise, and apparently had farmed out "exclusive" SMS rights for their matches to a company called Vectracom. However thanks to the afore-mentioned players already offering these services in India, Vectracom could not monetize the rights they paid for in India. They moved court, and the Madras High Court has ordered a bunch of companies in India to stop offering these services.
Where does one draw the line on what the cricket board controls? Will they now prevent TV channels from reporting live scores? NDTV, Aaj Tak and everyone else has tickers running with live scores when the match is in progress. Does that infringe upon the rights of the broadcast rights holder (Ten Sports in this case)? The SMS guys claim that are similar to news channels and are just disseminating news, and are not infringing upon any rights. Truth be told, they get their scores from third-party providers like Cricinfo - who publish scores on the Web and is hence public domain.
Obviously the cricket board and Vectracom are unhappy because these services generate real revenue, unlike the tickers on NDTV which can't be directly translated to rupee value. However, such technology is impossible to legislate and pragmatism should be the name of the game. The PCB was perhaps naive in offering these rights on a global basis to Vectracom - after all, how can Vectracom or the PCB or whoever else control what gets published on the Internet/sent across mobile phones/put on TV/read on newspapers across the world? Very flimsy legal ground on this one, methinks. If one of these companies offering SMS turns around and says that they are picking up the scores from TV/Internet (public domain) and relaying it with their own value adds to their customers, what rights do the PCB have to prevent that from happening?
What is the way out? It is clear that the PCB and other cricket authorities want to make money out of this. The best way to do that is to appoint a service provider who can provide such official services 'legally' to all interested players and consumers. This has to be publicised in advance so everyone is aware. All interested telcos can then take the feed from them for a fee, and relay the same to their respective consumers. Of course they cannot completely prevent Mom and Pop Telco in Timbucktoo from doing their own thing, but they can potentially cover the major players and convert this into a win-win situation. Pricing has to be right, and content has to be compelling. If the 'official' content is good and not easy to replicate (read star cricketer comments, live comments from the ground, player reactions etc) - a majority of the consumers will demand and pay for that content - as long as it is priced the same as before. You charge premium rates, and the consumer will go for a free/cheaper alternative.
New technology throws open new revenue opportunities, but along with that comes fresh challenges. This is just evolving - the big bang will happen when there is real serious money to be made through mobile phones for sports authorities. Fun lies ahead!
Update:
The Madras High Court has lifted the stay for the ODI series, but has told Vectracom and Marksman Services that they may still be compensated after the series is done and dusted. So text away guys!
Categories: Mobile, sport business, technology, cricket
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Bedaginarasi baare
Got up today humming this song - and wanted to listen to it. In another time and age, would have had to search for the damn cassette, hope that it would play etc etc. Thanks to the good old Net, a quick Google search got me here. A click - and SP starts singing.
Beautiful. Song.
Note to self: Must buy iPod.
Category: Kannada, music
Beautiful. Song.
Note to self: Must buy iPod.
Category: Kannada, music
2 wheels are good, 4 wheels are better
Everyone knows Valentino Rossi - even in India where coverage of MotoGP is very limited, the one person who is known in the sport is Rossi. He has pretty much won everything in his sport many times over. So what does the champ do? Switch sports - he is now test-driving to get into the Ferrari F1 team - no less! Even though he has not made any overt statements to the world at large, he is making some pretty bold statements behind the steering wheel of the 2005 Ferrari. He was apparently quicker than 7 other seasoned drivers in a test drive in Spain.
Man, he must be immensely talented to be able to be that good (we are talking World Champion level) in two different sports. Imagine the media publicity if he does make it to Ferrari sometime soon - an Italian, a World Champ in another sport, a famous man already - he will be prefect for Ferrari and F1.
Category: Formula 1
Man, he must be immensely talented to be able to be that good (we are talking World Champion level) in two different sports. Imagine the media publicity if he does make it to Ferrari sometime soon - an Italian, a World Champ in another sport, a famous man already - he will be prefect for Ferrari and F1.
Category: Formula 1
Monday, January 30, 2006
The mockery of cricket on TV
Rahul Bhattacharya is India's best cricket writer. Just read his take on the crap being dished out on Indian TV channels in the guise of cricket. It is so bloody true, it is sad! Anyone who has seen NDTV Cricket Controversies once cannot forget it - that show haunts me when I sleep at night. NDTV is one of the better channels, so God save the shows on Hindi channels like Star'sMatch Ka Mujrim (catering to the so-called LCD) . Ugh, I cringe at that title. Enough said!
Category: Cricket
Category: Cricket
Thursday, January 26, 2006
A peek into the Sehwag mind
Cricinfo is generally very good and their WAC magazine was even better. Mercifully they have resurrected it in a new avatar - Cricinfo Magazine. This article from that magazine examines what went through Sehwag's mind when he played a classic innings of 155 in Chennai when Aus was visiting India in 2004. This article gives you a wonderful idea of what batsmen are thinking, why Sehwag is different, and what you are missing with bad commentary on telly!
I think this is a brilliant idea - to get the cricketer to talk through the innings/bowling spell with the video running - this gives me more insights than the million other star-written articles that tell me the bleeding obvious.
I hope Cricinfo does more of this - like getting Sachin to talk through HIS 155 in Chennai against Pakistan (sad end to the knock,but fascinating nevertheless), Dravid on his 233 in Adelaide of the 140 odd in Headingley, and Srinath on his match-winning spell in Ahmedabad, or Ganguly on his 140 odd in Brisbane. Good fun can be had!
Category: Cricket
I think this is a brilliant idea - to get the cricketer to talk through the innings/bowling spell with the video running - this gives me more insights than the million other star-written articles that tell me the bleeding obvious.
I hope Cricinfo does more of this - like getting Sachin to talk through HIS 155 in Chennai against Pakistan (sad end to the knock,but fascinating nevertheless), Dravid on his 233 in Adelaide of the 140 odd in Headingley, and Srinath on his match-winning spell in Ahmedabad, or Ganguly on his 140 odd in Brisbane. Good fun can be had!
Category: Cricket
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