Chelsea making the EPL more competitive than it should be

Chelsea should have sealed the EPL by now - but results like 0-0 v Birmingham don't help. A potential 6+ points lead is now down to 2, and Man U and Arsenal are back in the race.

What doesn't help is the African Cup of nations, and Drogba and co not being available for the month. Arsenal seems to be in decent form, and they can be threat no. 1 to Chelsea this season. You can also never write United off. All in all, good fun for the neutral, but for a Chelsea supporter, this is nerve-wracking after doing so well all this while.

IPL

Lots has been written and said about the IPL. I have been quite closely involved, AND have been going through some life-changing moments (the two are not necessarily linked) to comment here or anywhere else. Suffice to say that "so far so good". crowds are coming, people are watching on TV, city loyalty has come to the fore reasonably quickly, strangers are striking up conversatons in barber shops and bus stops and no one (not yet anyway) is talking about Paanchvi Pass (SRK's latest game show on Star, which was supposed to steal all the thunder).

Early days yet, but as I said, so far so good. I was skeptical, as was, I suspect, most others - but the Indians have loved it so far.

Single most important reason for success - THE CRICKET HAS BEEN GOOD.

Players are taking this damn seriously (some too seriously - e.g. Bhajji and Sreesanth)and it is showing. The cricket has been very good - and some pitches have been excellent.

What would I tweak? No. 1 priority - make all the pitches favour good bowling and brave batting - I would like targets of 120-150 being chased down in the last over. Rest will take care of itself. Oh yes, I wish the teams could do more to foster local loyalty, build fan bases and make the cabbie on the street thump his chest with pride and say he supports the local team.

Peter Roebuck gives four thumbs up for the IPL here.

Last point - and this could be seminal - first time in living memory (well, last 20 years anyway) - that a major tournament in India has become a success without a single shot hit by Tendulkar. India has, indeed, moved on. Who knows, maybe Sachin will recover and take this tournament to another level altogether - but Indian cricket has begun to walk without its favourite crutch - the Tendulkar straight drive.

India - Pak ODIs - ho hum!

Really ho hum wasn't it? Hardly any sparkle, hardly any tension - as Osman Samiuddin of Cricinfo said, India - Pak is supposed to tingle. This ODI series didn't!

What do you remember from the 5 ODIs? For me, the only point of note was Sachin's two terrific innings that ended in the 90s. Nothing else of note happened. Oh yeah, Rahul Dravid was dropped - but that is day before yesterday's fish-wrap if Indian public sentiment is anything to go by.

The biggest rivalry in cricket? Bah!

Test matches coming up!

Yay, the Test series is upon us. Looking forward to the India - Pak home series with definitely more interest than the ODIs! India have acquired a new (or should I say old) captain. Opinion is divided - but most people in the know seem to think Kumble will make a good captain. He is aggressive without being in-your-face, he has a good work ethic and has brains. My worry however is that since he is not in the ODI team, will his word carry full weight with a team that has tasted success recently in the ODI/TWenty20 format? My other issue is that his bowling hasn't exactly set the world on fire - will he have a major impact in Australia, where the pitches are definitely flatter than they used to be, and their batsmen played Murali with ridiculous ease.

However on balance he seems to be the best choice available - warming the seat for Dhoni perhaps.

India - Pak should be easier - India should start favourites. India - Aus should be very interesting - if the Indian batsmen fire, we could be in store for some real massive scoring.

India - Pak - 1-0 India I suspect!

A major miracle

Anything, really anything can happen. Isn't that the precise reason why we all watch sport? After a completely wild and riveting F1 season, it all came down to a miracle that enabled Kimi Raikkonen to clinch the Drivers' Championship by a point from the two McLaren drivers who both finished on 109 points apiece. Who would have thought this possible with 2 races to go and Kimi 17 points behind? He had to win both races (which was the only thing he could control - and he did so fantastically), and hoped that Hamilton and Alonso would somehow implode - which they did, to differing degrees. Hamilton perhaps froze, was perhaps unlucky, it was probably too much to expect of him - but he will think about the last 2 races and say to himself - it was there for the taking. Rookie season notwithstanding. Alonso probably focused too much on what McLaren would do to sabotage his chances, and took his eyes off the Ferrari of Raikkonen. Serves him right for whinging all through the season.

I have always been a Ferrari fan (thanks to Schumi), and doubly so after the spy scandal. Stupendous result for Kimi - and F1 has probably reached a peak in viewership due to the scandal, intrigue, rookie driver, and an unexpected winner!

Street fighters or superstars?

Ian Chappell and Ian Botham are not on talking terms for many years now. They have had major run-ins in the past, but the latest cheap shot from Chappell in response to apparently what Botham has written in his latest book will make what you hear in gully cricket in every street in India sound like the Gita.

Chappell says:

“There are many skeletons dangling in Botham's cupboard, ranging from stories of drug-taking to general thuggery, and if he keeps peddling his lies, there's every chance more of these stories will emerge,”

“As I said when asked about his recent trip to Buckingham Palace: `Someone is going to regret awarding him a knighthood.”'

Botham claims:

“I gave him three official warnings, all of which he ignored, so the next time he started, I just flattened him.

“He went flying over a table and crashlanded on a group of Aussie Rules footballers, spilling their drinks in the process.”

Read the whole gory thingy here. Two superstars of the game, using the media to demean themselves, their sport, and us.

The lens of partisanship

We are attracted to sport by such things as glory and beauty, usually refracted through the fantastic lens of partisanship. But the thing that keeps us coming back -the thing that keeps us marvelling - is courage, the more vivid when seen through the same lens.

Better words on sport may not have been written. Isn't this exactly what makes us all sports fans? Keeps us awake? Makes us forego productive time to shout at the TV? Isn't the lens of partisanship something we all own? Isn't courage shown by our team and the glory they gather one of the most invigorating feelings ever?

Simon Barnes of the Times in London is a star.

Player columns

Most player columns leave me cold - nothing insightful, nothing new that I did not know already - humdrum and so bloody same - looks like the same ghost is writing every article.

Not this one though from Jonny Wilkinson - writing this after a deadly game which England won against all odds against France in Paris to get into the finals of the Rugby World Cup (again). Give it a read even if you don't get rugby (I don't), even if you don't know who he is, or what he has achieved for his (sports mad) country. His sleep problems, the tension when he is lining up to kick the penalty with 5 minutes to go and his walks to tire himself to sleep - wonderful - things we all could relate to in our own lifes (at a different scale perhaps).

Go on, read it!

PS: had disappeared from here. Hopefully am back for good now. Less of cricket, more of the other stuff - that I am sure of.

Terrific Wimbledon final

What a match it was - Federer V Nadal yesterday was truly awesome. All talk of Nadal being a novice on grass and Federer unbeatable on the surface nearly went out of the window yesterday - Nadal looked the better player for most part of the thrilling 5 setter. Federer was clearly rattled, lost his temper against Hawk-Eye and nearly blew a golden chance to equal Borg's 5 consecutive wins at Wimbledon.

Vijay Amritraj on TV said it best - he said Nadal on grass has done much better than Federer on clay in the French.

By the looks of it, Nadal seems to be transforming into a more complete player and a genuine threat for Federer in all surfaces - he is no longer just the king of clay. As Federer himself graciously said after the match, he had better collect as many wins as he can before Nadal starts winning everything in sight.

Lastly it was very refreshing to see Nadal being utterly gracious and well-mannered during and after the match, crediting Federer as a true champion. Wonderful ambassadors for sport - both these men. Great to watch.

Wimbledon and the rain

Two articles on Wimbledon this year the rain that has plagued it - one superb one on rain affecting sport in general from Simon Barnes here, and one from Martin Johnson - typically ha ha funny. Sample this -

Is it possible that Wimbledon fortnight is now beginning to impact on the British public as tennis does for the other 50 weeks of the year? Judging by the absence of queues yesterday morning, even those people who are prepared to risk lumbago and pneumonia after spending the night on a soggy pavement for the chance of seeing an Ova playing an Eva on Court 17 have given up.

Some good news for Indian cricket at last

Yay, Harmison is injured as well. He is wayward, he is erratic, but he is bloody quick and generates frightening bounce when he is not bowling into the hands of 2nd slip. And we Indians dont dig that too much, no siree! So if Harmy is out of harm's way, Fred is busy collecting "Celebrity Dad" medals and not fit enough to play and god knows what Simon "reverse swing" Jones is upto - India may actually have a good chance in the Test series. Looking forward to it. Hopefully this will be the tour that reverses India's cricketing fortunes, that has got it all sorts of bad publicity.

Woolmer - rest in peace, finally!

Bob Woolmer and his family was not granted a minute of respect, space and decency by the media, the police and the general public. 2 months passed since his death in a hotel room in Jamaica, and all sorts of theories abounded - worse than in an Agatha Christie whodunit. Finally the smug police chief from Scotland Yard recently announced that it was not a murder after all! Something that was leaked (like many other theories) in various English and Pakistani newspapers few days back.

Peter Roebuck summarizes the situation best, painting a grim picture of prejudice and rash judgement that possibly rests in all of us. Poor Woolmer was a forward thinker, and genuine contributor to the game of cricket. I hope the ICC recognizes this and institutes a scholarship/award/something to keep him in public memory for all the good things he has done for the game.

Anisuthide yaako indhu

What a sakkath (fantastic song) this is. I watched the movie Mungaaru Male recently, and the two things that took my breath away were the songs (which are truly awesome) and the locales/cinematography. Coorg and the Jog Falls have never ever looked better than in this movie. Simply spectacular. Every Kannadiga who cares enough about the language and cribs like hell that our movie industry is pathetic (my hand is up as well) must definitely watch this movie. It is a whiff of fresh air, really. More about the movie maybe later, but this song is beautiful. I have been humming this all week. Now thanks to the power of the Internet, I have access to the MP3, the video and the lyrics. Mano Murthy, the music director - take a bow. I wish I could meet him/get to him somehow so I can thank him for a marvellous effort. I always used to be extremely envious of my Tamilian and Hindi friends who got decent quality movies and top quality songs in their native language. More power to Mano Murthy and the Mungaaru Male team - thanks to people like them I have something to fall back upon which is contemporary and classy at the same time and not go back to 1972 to get quality Kannada music.

Bahala chennagidhe sir, thumba maja banthu namge nimma hadugalanna keli - innu heege hosa songs create madtha iri - guarantee Kannada industry kooda chennagi mundhe barathe. Kaitha idhivi navella.

Here is the video of the song (click here if you can't watch it):


Here's the MP3.

The lyrics are below:
Anisuthide yaako indu..
Neeneyne nannavalindu

Maayadaa lokadinda Nanagaage bandavalindu

Aahaa yentha madhura yaathane

Kollu hudugi omme nanna, haage summane

Suriyuva soneyu sooside ninnade parimala
Innyara kanasulu neenu hodare talamala
Poorna chandira rajaa haakida..
Ninnaya mogavanu kanda kshanaa…
Naa khaidi neeney seremane

Tabbi nanna appiko omme…. haage summane

Anisuthide yaako indu…

Tutigala hoovali aadada maathina sihiyide
Manasina putadali kevala ninnade sahiyide
Haneyali bareyada ninna hesara
Hrudayadi naane korediruve
Ninagunte idara kalpane

Nanna hesara kooge omme… haage summane

Anisuthide yaako indu….Neeneyney nannavalindu….
Maayadaa lokadinda Nanagaagi bandavalindu
Aahaa yentha madhura yaathaney

Kollu hudugi omme nanna, haage summane…

Thanks very much Shashidhar Desai for all these links.

No one bloody knows!

That's the beauty of sport, innit? For all the punditry, all the analysis, all the damn experience and been-there-done-that of the experts and ex-players and commentators, beyond a point, in competitive sport (where two teams/individuals have reasonably evenly matched skill and ability), anything can happen. OF course, in this time and age, another caveat we need to add is the absence of dirty money and fixers!

That is precisely what makes us all so attracted to sport - an underdog can win (India v WI in 1983), a superstar can just as easily fail (Augusta this year - no one expected anyone else but Tiger to win on the last day), strange results do happen (India in Aus in 2003-4, India V Bdesh in WC 2007) - that is why for me sport is the supreme entertainment form, not films, not music, nothing.

You don’t know, I don’t know and, more to the point, experts don’t know either.
No one can ever truly be certain about the immeasurable and indefinable stuff
inside. John McEnroe had a flawed technique and a flawed temperament, but he
wasn’t going to let things like that hold him back. The truth is not in our
backhands, but in our minds.

Read Simon Barnes on precisely this subject. Aah, looking forward to Indianapolis and the US Open this weekend. No one can say for sure who is going to win. I am as good at predicting stuff as the experts in the respective sport.

I feel proud and powerful. I feel on par with everyone else. Cool!

Martin Johnson makes me chuckle

I love this guy's writing - he is really funny in that typical Brit way - makes me choke on my coffee and 'chortle' (another typical British word!). I have refered to his articles a couple of times here and here.

His latest take on the Vaughan 'fredalo' incident - no, I was misquoted, complete misrepresentation of facts etc etc when the damn interview audio was right on the Internet for my granny to download and listen to if she cared - is something else.

If England had collapsed yesterday, as they at one stage threatened to do,
Vaughan could simply have said: "I was totally misquoted by David Gower when I
won the toss. There was one phrase in particular which changed the whole
complexion of what I said.
"The phrase was: 'we'll bat first.' I never used
that phrase. I am not pointing the finger at any one individual. Me and Gower
are good mates, but unfortunately the media have seen fit to blow this whole
toss business out of all proportion."

Or this gem about cricketers' columns in newspapers, ghost written with content fit for ghosts:

However, what really made the hackles rise was the way some of Vaughan's
team-mates, with little or no idea of the facts, used their vacuous newspaper
columns - all of them written under the Geneva Convention directive to reveal
nothing but name, rank and serial number - to instinctively suggest that the
cricketing media had nothing better to do than make up mischievous stories.

Priceless!

London 2012 logo cockup

Preparations for London 2012 (the Olympics, for people who live under a rock) have been on for over a year and more now, and Seb Coe, the architect of the winning bid for London has been feted as a superstar. They recently released their logo - which looks undescribably disastrous.

Predictably, reactions have been critical. I cannot believe (like many others) that a design firm was paid 400,000 GBP for this logo design. Am I missing something creative- is it really any good? I think not. They apparently had an animated version of the same, which if shown on TV would trigger epileptic fits! And you thought logo designing was a simple affair. Well, it should be - says Seth Godin, in this lucid post.

I find it hard to believe that a committee would actually approve of this. Imagine the sales pitch by the creative brains of the design agency behind this to the London 2012 committee. Words like futuristic, contemporary, zestful, youthful, vibrant etc would have been used many times over in various combinations.

Will be interesting to see what they do with this now. Will they backtrack and discard this - or put their heads in mud and refuse to see reason?

Long time no write

Apologies to the millions who keep visiting this site - have been AWOL, caught up with work, family, kiddo and general inertia - in the reverse order. While I was away, lots happened in the cricket world - India lost the Test series in SA after threatening to make a fist of it with a historic win to only chuck it all away ridiculously, then won two ODI series at home, and promptly did the unthinkable and got knocked out of the World Cup well before time. DISASTER!

Well, shit happens - but nothing more depressing than Woolmer's death. How SAD is that? I truly hope that the culprits are caught, and then made to suffer a horrible death themselves.

The World Cup was a major fiasco in many ways - and not only because India didn't bother to turn up. Read Simon Barnes for a wonderful summary of what went wrong.

Where do India go from here?

The ODI series lost 4 zuk, and everyone expects the Tests to be a lot worse. What can India do from here? Is it time to play Lele and say 3-0? I hope not, and I don't think so. India have some things going for them, and if I can wear Chappell's hat for now, here's what could and should happen:

a) India have struggled on this tour because of the batting blow outs. For us to do well in the Tests, the no-longer-the-most-powerful-batting-lineup-on-paper should fire. Realistically, only Dravid and Tendulkar have the goods to consistently deliver. But you cannot rule out Laxman and Sehwag coming good in one-off innings. Remember what happened in Aus in 2003-04 (the series Kumble wants India to replicate here) - Dravid and Laxman got runs, Sehwag scored in 1 match and Tendulkar scored in 1 - and we drew the series that we could have won if Bhajji was around in Sydney. In short, what we need is for Dravid and Tendulkar to score 350 runs each in the series, and for Laxman and Sehwag to score atleast 300 runs put together. If this happens, India can provide their bowlers with a target, and set up matches for draws and wins. Don't expect Ganguly/Jaffer/Dhoni to bail you out - these 4 guys need to score. If they don't, we will be mauled.

b) Can Jaffer and Sehwag do what Akash Chopra and Sehwag did in Aus '03-'04? If these two guys can together play out just 1 session every match (yes, just 30 overs combined will do for now), that will go a long way in helping India draw. If they take the shine off the new ball, India's middle order gets that platform to take on the Nels and Steyns of the world. It is bloody critical!

c) The bowling is looking just about ok. Sure, they are inexperienced, but what to do - we are like this only. I would, for the first Test, pick Pathan, Sreesanth, Kumble and Zaheer. Hard on VRV, but we need batting depth please, and there is no guarantee VRV will be the same bowler in the Tests that he was 1 week ago in the practice game. Can these 4 guys pick 20 wickets? Maybe, maybe not - but there are in with a chance. If India get the runs on the board, Kumble can come into play on a hot day, and Zak and Sreesanth can be useful with the new ball. Of course we are risking Pathan as 4th bowler, so that means Ganguly, Tendulkar and Sehwag have to bowl 20 overs for no more than 70 runs. Tough ask, but no choice, really. Once the batting settles, we can then drop Pathan for VRV (a better wicket taking option), or even go for Bhajji.

d) Catch anything that comes your way, please! The one thing Chappell can control directly - please ensure that this is pukka. If it is not, we are finished. Dropping Kallis on 10 can be dreadful.

e) Their batting is weak - except for the last game we had them struggling in every ODI. Smith is struggling against Zaheer, the middle order is not in great form, and only the lower order (Boucher/Kemp/Pollock) are scoring. Hopefully Kumble can account for them. Make early inroads, and we can put pressure on their batting.

f) We need some bloody luck. No shoulder before wicket decisions against Tendulkar please, and please let it rain now and then, especially if we are struggling. If there is no rain, let it be so bloody hot that any moisture and grass disappears quickly, so India have only the bounce to counter, and not the movement.

g) Back to Tendulkar - I am sure he has taken Lara and Ponting's recent scoring achievements on board, and can feel them breathing down his shoulder in the century making leaderboard. If he can score 400 runs in the series, how cool will that be? The pressure from the media and BCCI will reduce dramatically, the mood of the nation will lift a lot, and the coffee will taste a lot better. Tendulkar may never tour SA again - that should spur him on to show them why he is the world's best batsman.

Are the above probable? Sure they are. If they do happen, India can come back with a decent result. If they do not, finis.

Ok, so where's my money? SA to win 1-0. Hope I am wrong, and we can win a Test atleast.

England and what might have been

Couldn't stop myself from repeating "what might have been" and "if only..." a 100 times today while watching Monty and Harmison dismantle Australia with some good Test match bowling on a flattish first day wicket. Of course I am referring to that damn blow out in Adelaide, where England did worse than India could ever manage, and got bowled out for cheap on the 5th day after dominating 4 days, and then letting Aus rattle up 5 an over like they were sucking on an icecream!

If only England could hold their nerves on Day 5, if only they did not allow Warne to swarm all over them, if only KP restrained himself from playing that sweep so early on...

It would have been 1-0 going into Perth, and all to play for, especially with Aus bowled out for 244. Anyhow, all is not lost yet - if England can win this one (they have given themselves every chance), it sets up Melbourne and Sydney beautifully.

But I love the English fans - some of the comments on the Guardian/Telegraph blogs are hilarious. Here's one super pessimistic fan:

If we manage to score 400 quick runs in our 1st innings, and bowl out the Aussies cheaply on day 3 to give ourselves a 150 run chase in two days...

... we will still have 6 sessions left in which to humilate ourselves with a dreadful batting collapse.

Still, got to be optimistic.

Fantastic stuff - but can't blame him after Bizzare-O day in Adelaide.

Dream day for Monty

Very few days can be as amazing for a cricketer as Monty had today.
Imagine the backdrop to this - you are not picked for the first two matches of your first Ashes series, even though the entire world thought you deserved a place ahead of Giles. The coach is perhaps the only one against you. The clamour is so loud for you to come into the team, it almost feels like Superman being kept out of the team. It adds so much unnecessary pressure on you, and this is still your first season in international cricket. Finally the team management picks you, but on a pitch that was not so long ago known for pace, bounce and 6 byes!

You see the pitch, and you think - of shit, this is batting paradise and Ricky Ponting's lip smacking can be heard in your dressing room. What do you do then?

Why, go out there and pick 5 wickets, of course! What amazing stuff - fairytale innit? Speaks a lot for his temperament, his ability, and above all, sheer bloody luck. He has the mojo now - send him in next to bat I say!