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 [...]
This is an excerpt from Geet Sethi’s wonderful book Success vs Joy. An unassuming book with lots of depth - much like the man.
On being highly strung.
There are certain sportspersons who hype themselves up with gestures, punching the air with fists and other such gesticulations, which they think will induce a rush of adrenaline. This [...]
The day one had spent weeks and months waiting for finally arrived this morning.
Boxing Day at the MCG. You can click on the link to study its rich history but the more obvious parts are that the first ever Test match was held here in 1877 when Australia beat England by 45 runs. And then [...]
The good news is that we have some cricket again ! And by that I mean international cricket - the kind that seems to keep our hyperactive minds occupied. Because no matter how much domestic cricket we play (and there has been and continues to be a fair share), it does not seem to stop conspiracy [...]
Today Rahul Dravid resigned as captain of Team India. Or offered to.
Typically I’d wait till the dust settled and things got clarified about what that means before I wrote a post on something like this but I feel strongly about Rahul Dravid. I even thought he was deserving of the highest compliment at the recent [...]
9.30 pm to 5 am.
Those are the timings of the day night games in Singapore. So yes - with a 5 am start to work everyday, I was dozing off just as Matt Prior was walking back to the pavilion. I woke up to India 8 for- and that was pretty much that. The markets [...]
Well done India. For all the BCCI baiters and slow-on-the-coach-bandwagon red rag wavers, this was a truly independent Indian performance. It does not matter that it was 1-0 and could have been 2-0 and it does not matter either that we got out of jail at Lords. All that matters is that we won. Fair [...]
This Oval Test first innings performance is a classic example of what one would like in a batting card. Not just in terms of the consistency, but more importantly because its done exactly what was required. From pace of innings, contributions of all batters, partnerships and contribution to the team cause for the series (and [...]
Luck with the toss and day one conditions notwithstanding (England had the same advantage at Lords), India were comprehensively the better side at Trent Bridge.
Whats worrisome for England is that the weak links from Lords - Bell, Prior and the lower batting order - have stayed weak and a few others have been exposed. The [...]
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 [...]
Am not sure why one reads of this little tour being a waste of time. And that too by some pretty astute thinkers of the game whose thought process one imagines reflects that of the team. Or is it the BCCI ? Aren’t they supposed to be the same ? I digress …
I thought the whole [...]
Its not that we won easily.
To me, the importance of yesterday, was Sachin and Dada as India’s one-two. Its immaterial that it failed.
Sachin Tendulkar back at the top of the order - a desire he’s expressed a few times - is important. In the past, when he said that, it was explained to him that [...]
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, [...]
Lets just get this out of the way.
We went there with our cricket at a pretty low point. Knocked out of the World Cup before the Super 8s, talk of rifts within the team , a coach who we could find nothing right with and Sachin and Saurav “rested” for the ODIs meant we were left to [...]
326-0 after being put in on day one.
There’s Dravid on an “effortlessly brilliant” (Cricinfo’s words) 88 and Sachin at the crease. And yes, thats 3 and 4 batting with the team at “no loss” cos the openers retired hurt from heat exhaustion basically.
The weather forecast (at least at the moment of writing is [...]
In a move which oozes confidence and sneers at short sighted doubters like this one here, Rahul Dravid has announced the 12 for the game starting tomorrow morning at Mirpur.
And no, there is no sign of any pressure of having missed chances or the risk of going home 0-0. What there is , is a [...]
Sun Tzu said ………………..that if you see ground or position to be gained but do not act, you are weak.
I’m a huge Dravid fan. But no matter how I cut it, Day 4 and 5 of the Chittagong Test were not the perfect antidote to a skipper doubtless on the low end of [...]
End of day 2 and we’re 384-6 - its been 97 overs of play when there should have been about twice as many. We’ve got them at about 4 an over. The “rest” seems to have done Sachin and Ganguly some good with both getting centuries. One gets 100, the other gets 101. And they [...]
And so there we have it .
Another sting operation on TV by Aaj Tak And Headlines Today. As of the moment of this post, the only reports I can find are the ones on Cricinfo and Indiatimes .
The “revelations” spoke to four national selectors - Ranjib Biswal, Bhupinder Singh Sr, Venkatapathy Raju and Sanjay Jagdale, [...]
I know I shouldn’t go there again. But its a perspective I want to share.
For those that haven’t read Steve Waugh’s 800 odd page opus “Out of My Comfort Zone”, please do. Its an amazing study into the mind of a cricketer and human being that stretches his boundaries to optimise his potential and live [...]
This is going to be a long post. With lots of stories and lots of links. And thats basically because it confounds me that people doubt the integrity of the guy. I can understand that they sometimes consider him baggage in the fast evolving version of the one day game. But a saboteur? Rahul Dravid [...]
