XYZ Newswire: May XX 20xx
Doctor Vijay Mallya hit the nail on its head, pierced the bull’s eye and put his finger on the problem all at once when he commented, “At the end of the day people need to understand that the IPL has a corporate side to it, and a very definitive corporate side [...]
Its not just a game, they say. Its an artefact which we must preserve. And they’re right, of course. Cricket is a game of immense skill and strategy. Of ebbs and flows. The essential cricket battle is not just about which side scores more runs - but the manner in which innings are constructed and [...]
This is the best of times. That was the worst of times.
Indian cricket had let the nerves get the better of them. Pragmatically, winning the World Cup had been a fanciful dream - but a shock first round exit was an unjust blow. As those seniors sat looking into the distance, disconsolate and depressed, tied [...]
Childhood was a wide eyed concept of reality. Every thing was 70 mm. Every thing was magic, everything was fantasy.
By the time one entered ones teens, one was still starry eyed about love, longing and life in general. Being a 17 year old was a challenge in itself. Being realistic [...]
With all the IPL auction dust settling down, the per ball income for Ishant Sharma calculated, the anguished cries of non Indian socialists the world over (How can a nation with so much poverty, display such obscene wealth) heard politely, reasons for the success / failure of the league analysed to bare bones, Ricky Ponting’s [...]
October 14, 2007 - About 4 months ago - This was Andrew Symonds.
The feeling has come from the carry-on that surrounded India’s Twenty20 World Cup win. When we got here, it was just everywhere.
Our blokes thought it was over the top. Some of the things their players have been given and the way they are [...]
Lets get this off to the realistic start it deserves. 4 matches into this series, we’re 1-2 behind and although we’ve won 1, it was our first win since 2004. Of the last 25 matches that we’ve played Australia, we’ve lost 17 (3 were No Results). Yesterday’s loss was Australia’s first in 15 games.
Now for [...]
Its not a prompt start to the Trent Bridge Test and sure enough the discussions wander off to the topic thats always kept on simmer these days. The fab four.
Ten days ago, just ahead of the Lords Test they were singing praises of Sachin Tendulkar again, for instance. ‘The Second Bradman says Tony Greig’ kind [...]
Call it the love of the underdog if you will. Or the sheer amazement that the superpower is the underdog. But I love it when the BCCI wins little battles. Even more when nobody acknowledges the victories.
Make no mistake about it. Its not like the BCCI is above reproach. I just think we sometimes rap [...]
This day in 1983.
Indian Cricket changed forever.
And I know what you’re thinking. There are better photographs that capture the moment. Here’s the thing though. There are a few guys missing from this picture.
One of them - Kapil Dev - was the captain of the team. Another - Sandeep Patil, played an important role right through. This week, [...]
Graham Ford’s Runaway Bride act (for thats the politest one can be) has done this. Its turned the focus solely on Rahul Dravid. This is going to be his summer. It will have to be. It had to be that way the day he reconciled it all by saying “Coming to a place like India, [...]
I’m beginning to lose count and will admit that I’m confusing ODIs and Tests - but lets see now … India’s list of vice captains in the not so recent past - Sachin, VVS, Sehwag, Yuvraj and in the Bangladesh series - Nobody. Somewhere Kumble and Ganguly felt good about it for a session or [...]
I’m speechless.
We’ve come up with Chandu Borde as the answer?
72 years young and long may he live… (Take care, sir. The game’s changed a fair deal and they say that the schedules are a bit tight these days. Apparently / Ostensibly that was a reason that the 46 year old extremely fit Mr Ford did [...]
Model T’s broken down !! Graham Ford’s turned down the BCCI offer ….
This is what the Kent website carried yesterday …
FORD RETURNS TO THE NEVILL
Following reports suggesting that Kent Director of Cricket Graham Ford has been offered and has accepted the role of coach to the Indian National side, Kent County Cricket Club can confirm [...]
After my last I-wish-I-wasn’t-so-clever post about the BCCI choosing coaches, I’ll limit this one to someone else’s silly points …
This is from the Telegraph in India and its Pat Symcox on Graham Ford - who, says Pat, doesn’t believe in frills.
On the other side, in a number of ways, is a small excerpt [...]
In all the debates about the roles about a coach in a cricket team, Shane Warne is associated with the prosecution’s opening remarks.
Do we need a coach at all.
Shane Warne - always good with the wrong ‘un - said this. “I’m a big believer that a coach is something you travel in to get to [...]
Even if one ignores all the events of the past few years, and just looks at the past few weeks and the frenzy thats been whipped up, its hard not to get the feeling that there’s a strong possibility of a chapter in cricket history books about to be changed somewhere.
I’ll tell you where I’m [...]
I mean seriously ! Don’t numbers count for anything anymore?
So I went to the Cricket Australia site this morning. And somewhere in the middle of the homepage is this User Poll.
“Which Team are you most looking forward to seeing in Australia next summer”
Sri Lanka
India
New Zealand
And I’m thinking, these Aussies love their cricket. And [...]
The BCCI now says, (drumroll please) that the ICC is becoming “more and more bureaucratic” and costing its members money by “unnecessarily employing so many people”.
This after all the shot in the dark fiasco on the finals night.
I was kinda hoping that Ravi Shastri would stay on as coach or manager or whatever nomenclature they chose. Considering that the BCCI has appointed yet another committee, this time with 7 members and it has that pundit of the game, Niranjan Shah as convenor, and Shastri as a member, its unlikely that he’ll vote [...]
Last night, the BCCI working committee selection committee, announced the team for the Bangladesh tour. Three ODIs and two Tests.
Here it is.
ODI Team : Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthapa, Virendra Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwari, Dinesh Mongia, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.
Test Team [...]
The way we see it, its half full.
There is a lot that ails Indian cricket but there is also a lot that it has going for it. And it bothers us when things get either all rosy (”so-and-so is the right person”, “such-and-such is the right way” 
or all bleak (”we’re barking up the [...]
Speaking at a function to announce the dates of the Afro Asian Cup (Cricket for Unity, if you please), the very honourable BCCI Vice President Mr Rajiv Shukla says that no directive has been issued to the National Selectors about team composition for the tour to Bangladesh.
Indeed.
And this was the BCCI press release after their [...]
The big weekend is out of the way and what do we have ? More questions than answers really.
This whole seniors issue which is as much media created as it is real though promises to be the biggest firecracker this coming week. On the 11th, the selectors will come up with the team for Bangladesh. [...]
Mark Waugh, says the recent initiatives to set up parallel Twenty-20 leagues is a bit like junk food.
Among the things he says there..
its only a novelty and will wear off.
its not the real thing
the best team doesnt always win
players are contracted with the boards (well done BCCI by scrapping those contracts - and [...]
So the BCCI meet is over .. and this is what we have as a statement from them. A lot of it is the blueprint they look for which one can revisit as the days go by.
Important near term features tho..
Dravid is skipper for the tours of Bangladesh, Ireland and England.
The BCCI working committee have [...]
Day one of the BCCI review committee is out of the way. This is what it seems like for now.
Dravid to continue as Skipper.
Greg Chappell took no names in his report. (hmmm). Oh, and “he has a lot to contribute yet”(hmmm), so he’ll probably stay on with the NCA. In any case, he isnt [...]
In his wonderful book The Market Wizards and its equally worthy sequel, Jack Schwager interviews a few top traders of the times.
In one such interview, William Eckhardt talks about a fascinating, if somewhat basic premise that governs most traders..
“The call of the countertrend”
There’s a constellation of cognitive and emotional factors that make people automatically countertrend [...]
