The Demise of ODI

A current wave is flowing among the cricket experts and non cricket experts about discussing the death of the ODI. Now that is a pretty stupid thing to discuss first of all. Come on now how many times would the ICC change its stance or bring circus like innovation to the gentleman’s game to attract spectators. Now firstly I totally disagree with the killing of ODI, no matter what T20 will do. First of all the talks about the demise of ODI is entirely based on stadium revenues. Yes it does play an important part in generating revenue and giving the sponsors good value for their money, but again here we are looking at a very small part of the picture or we are being forced to look upon that small part of the picture. Sponsors and organizers always want a large share of the smallest part of a business unit, no matter what and if they find that another unit is giving that large share of the smallest part it is better to discontinue the current business.

Now take the case of ODI it is true that stadium revenue are low for the ODI games but we do have high TRPs for them. That means viewing is not quite affected due to the longer version of the game. On the other hand for T20 the stadium revenue has huge chunk which maximizes their profit to a large extent. Here is fact to support, the champion’s trophy is slotted to have a higher TRP than the champion’s league although the Champions league is said to have been the event of the year. Moreover CLT20 has done a poor business in terms of viewing revenue even though it was slotted for a higher than 10 TRP.

Another problem with killing ODI is that people do not watch it because they are bored of the long schedule of the match and today in this fast paced world no one has the time for watching all these stuff. But an interesting statistics will show the danger of treading such path. The TRP of last year’s IPL was much higher to this year’s one. Even though some of the biggest stars were roped in to counter balance the losing interest. With the sponsors adding the strategic breaks the pain was turned into agony. This shows as people have lost interest in the ODI format people are getting bored with the T20 format, then we will have cries for Hong Kong Six over games, but then will the cricketing world yield to this also. This could to demise of the pajama cricket itself. All we would be watching is people selected on power and agility and killing the art form of the game. This is more of the American form of playing a particular game.

The I-DAY RUT

Independence Day or the I-day, the hippie likes to call it is here and gone by the night. Yet does it hold a special day for us Indians, especially for our generation who have seen a free India since their birth. Well going by my experience it is nothing but a routine holiday for us where we like to enjoy the day off. Well do not consider me to be any anti- Indian guy because lets face it that’s the truth. We only know the names of the Kranti-veers because we are forced to remember it during our history lessons in school. Its nothing bad because we have not experienced their struggle or shared their passion to see free India. All we have heard is that “"Angrezo ke zamane mein yeh hota tha or woh hota tha par kya hota tha who baad me jaye” Yes that’s true and we have to live by it.

Let me share with you the typical day an average Indian family goes through during the I-day. First of all the father gets up grumpy because he has to send his bloody kids to school for flag hoisting. He hates it because this MNC guy has just got his probably only leave for the year. Why do bloody school people have to open the schools on this day. Probably because they get summer and diwali vacations hence they do not know the value of a holiday . Damn this lazy Indian education system and damn entire academics sector who do not prepare their children for the real world which I am now experiencing.

The child gets up thinking “Shit why do I have to get up on a holiday and why did the bloody principal declare a holiday on this day when they are being called on this day. The kid is right technically. He has to get up go to school on a holiday. Now if you take the typical Indian school I-day you will see grumpy parents taking their kids to school who on this day have to stand like jerks for two hours in the hot sun just to see the flag unfurl (I could do this at home). The two hours at school is total punishment even if you are MNC guy. You have to see your most boring teacher giving the mother of all boring lectures on Indian history, culture and Krantiveer and all that stuff. And if you notice this most damned and unanimously hated lecture is to be given by the most boring monotonous teacher of your school. Then you have some chief guest who would be most probably be a school alumni and who like a college student being ragged wants to inflict the same pain and agony that he had experienced during his school days. He is applauded at his every momentary silence, cough or any sign of emotion or exhilaration that he shows which suggests that he is nearing the end of his lecture. He even points out that he understands that you are bored but somehow he is enjoying your situation.

After the chief guests sits down you have the class topper reading some verses of Khurran, Bible or Gita depending on the level of torture, it has to be just right or else you might die. Moreover adding insult to injury he explains that stuff to you. Then adding injury to your insult you have your parents comparing you with him. After all this you have two words from the principal vice principal the secretary the treasurer the clerk which extends the two hour torture to a agonizing four hour one. You get restless you start making moves , sounds , howls then eventually screams, but to no avail” bolne aaya hoon to bolke hi rahunga” This is where the average Indian starts learning to disrespect other people and starts to strive to be the worst human the world has seen.

After this four hour ordeal, there comes the mother of all ironies. The bloody chief guest gets to hoist the flag. Come on now we are the martyrs here we have spent our blood sweat tears to make this event possible unlike our Lok Sabha members who stage a walk out during such situations. We are the Krantiveers not the damn chief guest, Anyways we are just too happy to revolt like in 1857 so now we are good to go.

Pakistan old script new cover

Last week with the release of the Lakshar-e-Toiba chief Sayeed, Pakistan has once again shown how indifferent it can be on its set of policies. Even after so many attacks by the militants in Lahore and other major Pakistani cities, still it has not learnt the lesson. And the lesson is to stop sheltering terrorism on its homeland. And as it stands the attacks that have been made have been on religious shrines and other such holy places. Just yesterday a bomb blasts in Lahore killed around 40. Capturing of training cadets was another incident of blantant disrespect to law and order. All these attacks are again reinstating that Pakistan as a state is failing. Yes such chaos in a country states its on the verge ending its life.
But does such a state of affairs affect any of the world administration. Already we have U.S. drones attacking the Pakistani SWAT just to flush out the terrorists. The FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) are not in favour of such a move, because in the name of flushing out of the terrorists innocent victims are the one being hit.
Even in such state of affairs Pakistan is releasing international terrorist for lack of sufficient proof. Such blatant disregard to the constant efforts by the Indian government to nail such terrorist are another chapter in Indo-PAk deaing with terrorism.
Instead of looking at this grave situation and the turmoil being built by them, they are more concerned with India's hand in shifting the Champions Trophy from Pakistan and into India. I think they are forgetting the attacks on the Sril-Lankan Cricket team just recently. All and all if such state of affairs continue then it would be not long before we see Afghan like Pakistan.

India defends T20 crown-Analysis

With India reaching England where the men in blue look to defend the title of T20 champions on English conditions. Starting from the first match against the New Zealand, then against the Pakistanis ,we could well say that the Indians are well on the way to defend the title this time around. But think as it happened to Manchester United last week the law of averages will catch up with Team India.

Lets look at the Indian lineup, On paper India looks like a world beater.But as we know cricket is not played on paper but between the 22 yards. It has explosive opening pair in Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag. Both have done well in all forms of the game. And especially both can be devastating on their day. Although gambhir has become a touch conservative but more effective than he ever was. For Sehwag he is the belligerent himself. I think this is the first time since the Ganguly Sachin duo that India is going into the tournament with a steady opening pair. Then comes the middle order with Suresh Raina the natural choice and him being in the most dangerous of the lot.Moreover his bowling exploits in this year’s IPL has made him all the more potent. India surely missed him in the last year’s T20 cup. Then comes the batting God that is Yuvraj Singh.God because on his day he can make hitting seem simple one of the cleanest striker that the game has seen since Gilly. Then comes our Captain Cool MS Dhoni with his uncanny knack of playing crucial knocks at the end and finishing the game with surgical precision. His captaincy has been the most talked about aspect about his game. A canny operator with him at the helm one can feel that India is never out of the game. He has a certain degree of Australianness to his game , is innovative and thinks on his feet which is the most important thing in T20 rather than letting things shape up he shapes things up for the opposition. Then comes the most dangerous finisher in this year’s IPL Rohit Sharma and he like Raina has found his bowling boots on this time and with his much talked back lift could give a real whack to the leather. The middle order ends with Yusuf Pathan as the big hitter taking hitting to another level but should be promoted to No.3 if not too many wickets have fell and less overs are remaining.

In the bowling department we have Zaheer Khan leading the attack not sure about his fitness, but if he plays he can be very steady in his attack.And moreover he absouletly loves England ,here is where he reinvented himself as the bowler that he is today.Then we have Ishant Sharma who is young but I think he enjoys the bouncy wickets more than the swinging English conditions where he would have to pitch it up. I think Irfan Pathan would have been a better choice due to his clean hitting but that’s upto Dhoni to decide whom he takes the gamble with. Then we have two spinners Harbhajan and Ojha vying for the single spot but I think the spot would go to Harbhajan with his new found technique in T20 and of course his habit of hitting the balls in the strangest areas in the field.

So unless India presses the self destruct mode I don’t think it will that much of a problem in retaining the trophy. However the law of averages might show its ugly head again. And one more thing please don’t give the silly excuse of burn-out in International stage ,these guys are professionals and not some 19 year olds to talk about their fitness.Moreover its their only job and I don’t think anybody can say tirdness is a factor in your job.

EPL VS IPL

AS we move to the final stages of the UEFA champions League we find that an increasing dominance by the English teams have taken charge of the championships.Take for example since Liverpool had turned the tables on AC Milan on that eventful day at Istanbul when their talismanic captain Steven Gerrard had taken the coveted trophy that had eluded them for so many years.Yes the English had it in 1999 when United beat BAyern Munichen but that was it.This time again last year we have seen an increasing number of English teams clearing the league stages quite easily and securing the semifinal and final spots.But what is the reason of this sudden increase of English teams performance in the Champions League.

One major contributor could be the money involved in the game.It seems unlike the past years where you got star players in mostly a Real Madrid or a AC Milan.Now there is a slow but a very definite shift in power between Europe.You can see top players want to wear the English club jersey come what may.England too instead of taking their old and conservative stand have welcomed players from abroad with open arms.It could be very evident from the RooneyCristiano Ronaldo issue.Moreover Ronaldo staying at ManU dropping Real Madrid,Robinho's concern over Real Madrid,defines only one thing that England is now the strength of European football.However coming to today's tie between Manchester United and Porto ,given the momentum that Man United are riding on they should quite easily put this out of the window.Even though they had survived a scare against Villa last week ,but that in itself shows the confidence that the team is riding on,and of course not to mention the character it has shown during crucial times in the past.

Seeing the success of the EPL over the last few years and the success of it in attracting mass coverage around the world,there is a lesson to be learnt by the IPL,the Indian Premier League that is.For years the ICC has tried to reach out to the other world countries to spread cricket in the even the remotest of areas like Papua New Guinea.But what they are missing here is that they have an excellent opportunity at hand now.They have the most spectacular bonanza that cricket has ever seen starting from April 18,so they could make use of it in a much more efficient.I think one rule that the ICC has to scrap is the 4 foreign player rule.I think unlimited number of foreign players should be allowed to participate in a team,so that teams would go out that extra mile in buying players from lesser known countries but are quite talented.This will lead them toexposure to the international level and such players when they go back they can show a determined fight in the World Cup.Lets face it no country like their players to lose no matter how inconsequential the match is.The case in hand is our national football team.Football is largely not famous because we have not won a major tournament since ages and people really
dont like losers.So if we give the IPL franchisees to take up players from lesser known countries they will learn a lot and will come back stronger and better.Once these teams start giving a tough fight in International tournaments then their respective countrymen would start taking them seriuosly and gradually interests would start growing insuch countries which would take cricket on a different level altogether.

ASSAM BOMB BLASTS

The recent bomb blasts in Assam has proved one thing that India is not liked by any of thier neighbours.India still is being diplomatic about anything and everything.I think India now has to take a stand.A stand against cross border terrorism,against infiltration,against our neighbours,against Pakistan.In the past one year how many times have we heard about bomb attacks,suicide bombers etc.We have heard it so many times on the news that now we dont even care.We are now so used to such things that we flip news channels when we hear such things.I think its time our so called vote friendly stopped giving subsidaries,false promises,and ensuring free T.V sets to voters.Instead its time to become bold.I think a strong concentrated military attack should do the needful.Our forces are ready.They have taken this for too long.Its time we show our prowess and pickup Islamabad.Its time we stopped thinking short term.Its time we stopped hiding behind the fake lame excuse of recession.Because once its done we can have much safer place to live in .Still so many Indian soldiers die just because of cross border terrrorism.They now know that India are not going to attack,and with this confidence they kill with gay abandon.

Taking a cue from the attacks on Hamas by ISarael.Just look at the country and the resilience shown by it.Israel is a country which is surrounded by the Arab League.Once it was even attacked from all its sides ,still is had the guts to stand up to them and fight for something that was rightfully or wrongfully theirs.The whole world knows about the terrorist activities that take place in Hamas.So Israel took the initiative and went for an all out air strikes which crippled Hamas to the core.They didnot listen to the U.N.,not even providing them with the facility to transport food and medical aid to the needy in Hamas.Such bottleneck was created by Israel.People may say that it was politically motivated ,but at least it had a motive ,it had decision and it had action without any excuses.Ther were no threats,no talks,no sittings.That should be the mode of operation that India should follow.Has India not talked enough,sat enough,threatened enough.Its time that U.N. goes to hell and take some serious military action against erring nations.Then and then only will the terrorism will take India seriously.Otherwise now we have people threatening to kill ministers,netas,beauracrats and I dont know who.

The fall and fall of Pakistan

As we move towards the G20 summit we have a grave problem at our hands.The existence of pakistan as a state.What is pakistan as a state trying to do.Let me go through the sequence of events that has led to this pathetic conditions.First was the toppling of the democracy led by Nawaz Sharif.While the former president was on flight under his nose his government had been overthrown and the Musharaff era had begun.He brought in the military rule.From there on the real downfall of Pakistan as state began.Nothing went right from there.He stoped free elections converting himself from a General to a dictator.But only this dictator was not as strong as people thought.He was a pupppet in the hands of Taliban.He was sandwidched between the Taliban and the U.S..

Then under extreme pessure he had to give up his regime.But he made sure that the right person,Benazir Bhutto didnot come to power.Her husband Zardari took power and he also like other ministers didnot last long.Back came Mr. Nawaz Sharif who was on exile and started the long march to throw away the government(dont know why the elections are held).At the same moment days after a terrorist attack on a mosque .The police training centre was attacked.All this has a grave effect on Indians and their neighbours alike.With no end to this mockery of democracy insight,its time that India took some strong military actions,because already India has been attacked numerous times at multiple locations.This is not doing any good to national security.I think that this year the General Elections campaigning would be a lot easier.One just has to promote an attack to Pakistan that's it.Ultimately you have the people's vote .Instead of beating around the bush holding talks,meetings,faking mobilization of the army,take the initiative like Israel and attack.I am sure that the Indian army is capable enough to conquer the Pakistanis.

Because this is the limit we have had enough.Lets not hide behind the lame excuse of recession and not do what we have to do in proper time.This is the time attack Pakistan and let that be a statement to both U.S. and China that India has arrived,who under the veil of friendship supports vehemently the Pakistani armed forces.

OIL AND POLITICS

Oil the black gold of the world today stands at a crucial juncture. No I am not going to blabber about the emptying or the replenishment of the same. But I would like to state its importance in world politics today. For example today just recently Russia had hit a big oil reserve round about the Siberian region. It is more popularly known as the Sakhalin project. Of course it has on its own lead to much controversy. First of all Vladimir Putin’s bold decision to state that Russia would not let anyone have its piece of cake no matter what. That Russia’s in mood to enter into a trade agreement with any of the states. But one thing that Russia forgets here is that for refining the crude oil it has its centers in China, Japan and other such countries. However with Russians planning to get into the Refining business it would be costly decision that Russia has to take, because of the capital intensive market that oil sector currently is.

Coming to India with its nuclear agreement on the right path its time the government took some measures to get into oil sector and sort out the long standing controversy of oil with its neighboring states. First of all India comes after China in terms of oil consumption. Its the sixth largest consumer of oil all over the world.Still India has grave problems regarding this sector which is leading to huge economic losses. First of all the long standing pipeline from Yemen and Turkmenistan which if laid will go a long way in resolving India’s major chunk of problems. But India’s not so good relation with Pakistan leads to a failure of laying the pipelines from Afghan till India through Pakistan. Even though India is ready to pay something around $500 mn in transit fees Pakistan cannot guarantee the transit of the pipelines. The other option that India has is to go around the Pakistani state from the Arabian Sea and enter into India. But that too is a costly affair, which would require huge capital investments which at present would not be feasible.

On the left of India lies the oil rich Burma, but that too being China friendly doesn’t do the situation any good. Even if they do agree there is a problem of Bangladesh flexing its muscles to stop India from getting the crude? Even though an agreement of $125 mn been offered as transit fees were made as an offer, Bangladesh is keener on being China friendly. China on he other hand is on its way to creating a string of pearls all alon from Nepal to Pakistan and back to china.This would be major blow to India ‘s chances of being the Asian supremacy.Anyhow right now with the U.S. nuclear deal being signed chances are there that India might just get to sniff oil after all.

The 2nd Test IND VS NZ

The 4^th day of the India versus NewZealand series saw for the first time in years India’s fighting spirit abroad. Usually the Indians aren’t like this .While not in the sub continent even against lower rung bowling attacks India wilts under pressure.Not so in this case India’s dogged performance lead by the old warhorse Dravid, showed that the famed Indian batting lineup still has the fight in it to claw back in the situation. Not only Dravid the manner in which Gambhir controlled his natural instincts for the team showcased how well the team is right now jelling with each other. At one point of time Gambhir hadn’t scored a run in more than six overs on the trot still he had the temperament to stay cool and not give his wicket away till the end of the day. His concentration levels were really very high. With him coming last evening and staying unbeaten till today evening showed that he has evolved as batsman .That too when the tails of Kiwis were up and running. With both Martin and O’Brien firing on all cylinders he had the patience to stay there and fight it out. Quite unlike his captain who in the end of the day gifted his wicket away to Patel with an expansive shot. However people might argue that it’s the way Sehwag plays .But I like to add that there is little more maturity required over there as he was the captain of the Indian cricket green top and really testing Indians on the turf they are more unfamiliar with, instead of providing with dead flat tracks which is like fodder to canon.

However we might be happy with what the team has achieved so far but there is one problem that we have sought out very fast. And that is we are too dependent on our old war horses. If we look at the series apart from Gambhir no one has played any crucial knock or played a long innings. WE are very good when we know that we can attack but while it comes to scrapping our way out we tend to falter.Yuvraj,Sehwag ,Dhoni can be very good for a flashy fifty but that is not Test Cricket. The essence of test cricket is the ability to pace our innings according to situation demands. That is why Australia is so very good at Test Cricket. If we see they have players like Clarke,Hussey,Katich who can pace their innings beautifully to win their games.

Our gennext has a lot to learn from our senior pros when it comes to Test cricket. The time is short because it will feel a sudden void when all of your defence mechanism has run out. And you have warriors without a back up support. Either all will kill or get killed that is where we are headed.team.

Although we still have a day in hand and anything can happen on the last day wearing wicket .But at least our wheels did not fall off at the finish line, This would be great moral wicket if we can pull off a draw in the last day, The kiwi captain would have to do a lot of rethinking for the last game. Given the situation he is in for the last game I think the ground staff would have to help him out here by providing him with a

KIWI SHUT INDIAN TIGER ROAR

The Indians had come to NZ with the hope of burying their past demons. Sadly Indians could not keep up with their champion image and displayed a brilliant example of how to play cricket invidually.Clearly Vettori had given a brilliant opportunity for the Indians to draw first blood in this NZ tour by sending the Indians to bat first .The reason I am saying this is because the grounds were small and with big hitters in the Indian batting lineup I was expecting a score of about 200.Moreover the kiwis had to bat under the lights and in the windy conditions which was a definite plus point to the Indians while defending the score.

However as a tradition India never starts a tour on a happy note.Same was the case the Indians came to the field as they had already won the match.True they got off to a flying start with Sehwag clearing the MCG inner circle(NZ boundary) four times before trying a Nadal like smash through midwicket only failing this time.Credits to the young O Brien for having a big heart.Then it was Yuvraj,I think its time somebody told him that he cannot sweep a part time spinner leave alone a Vettori.After which Rohit as usual came with lot of flair pushing a ball to six and then again trying to clear the ropes and scooping it in the air.Yusuf was batting like in the nets that is with gay abandon.With already hitting three sixes he again tried to flat bat the ball out of the ground only this time N McCullum was smart this time giving it huge air time and landing it almost out of the playing area.Pathan tried to heave it from outside over long-on ,only to find Oram at long-on doing a Voges.The only positive was even after 96/6 India had Raina a man who has truly come of age and score a brilliant 61 unbeaten to lead India to 162.

With the Kiwis needing 163 Ishant struck first taking out Jesse Ryder and a near shout for Guptill.He was equally supported by Zak on the other end with a brilliant spell of controlled aggressive fast bowling.But only the score was too small for the small grounds and McCullum showing immense maturity to guide NZ to victory alongwith comeback man Oram.Although Indians were outplayed in this game I do like to stress a point here that India is going to get back.Mark my words kiwis Sehwag and Yuvraj are going to hammer the kiwi bowling next T20. NZ doesn’t have enough teeth in their bowling attack to really stop Indians ,it was Indians who gave away the match instead of the other way around.

One more thing I would like to comment on is the ridiculously small grounds.The ICC should maintain some standards which every country should follow .I think the optimum ground size should be 90m radius in which I think spinners can really bowl without sending in rockets at the batsmen legs.Anyhow lets wait and watch as Indians make a mockery of the kiwi bowling next T20.

INDIA'S TOUR OF NEW ZEALAND

India is about to leave for New Zealand in order to erase all the bad demons they had kept in within himself for years.The Kiwis have always been a difficult opponent not surprisingly India have never won a test series there for last 45 years.But I think all that is about to change as India is now under a captain who believes that they can do it.It would be a tough task for Dhoni and his men as the conditions are not much in favor of the visiting team.But I still think missed a trick here.

For the tests I am predicting a 2-0 victory margin in favor of India.Given that India has their Awesome Threesome with Sachin,Laxman and Dravid in the batting department and of course with the coming of age of Zaheer and an equally impressive Ishant under his wings ,India has got their combinations right for the Tests.Of course I still think a fit Sree would have been a better choice because of his deadly swinger's that he possess on the Kiwi wickets he could be a handful.

A look at the Indian one day team and one finds that India still doesn't possess a quality medium pacers.Compare that with the NZ who have the dibbly dobbly bowlers who can hit the seam and get wickets at regular intervals.The likes of Elliot,Styris,Guptill may not be stars but as a unit they can be lethal.As we had seen their recent trips to Australia and England.India should know that this is not subcontinent wickets where a slow Yuvraj can stem the flow of runs and get important breakthroughs.The grounds in NZ are small and with the likes of Fulton ,McCullum and Co. clearing Yuvraj out of the grounds wont be a difficult task.As for T20 I would suggest an Uthtapa would have been much better than the out of sorts Rohit.Although I am very much interested to see how he deals with the foreign conditions as I believe he likes the ball coming onto his bat and is in the same league as laxman.

And lastly about India's colours it was refreshing to see that the BCCI decided change the Kit.I think with the money that the BCCi possess we must follow the Australian model of having a different for each home away and T20.Anyhow alls well if you perform on the field.So best of luck Men in Dark BLue.