No, it has nothing to do with India or Kashmir.
There's only one solution for Pakistan cricket: your first name gotta be UMAR.
- via Naked Cricket on twitter
It's not tough, this is how it will be -
1. Umar Butt
2. Umar Hasan
3. Umar Akmal (Sr)
4. Umar Malik
5. Umar Afridi
6. Umar Akmal (Jr)
7. Umar Razzaq
8. Umar Aamer
9. Umar Gul
10.Umar Akhtar
11.Umar Ajmal
Now that's harmony. They'll all be on first name basis again.
On Bored: Read my lips
Showing posts with label Twenty20. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twenty20. Show all posts
July 06, 2010
May 21, 2010
Sway
This wasn’t a game you invest an evening in, and feel bad about later. I invested 4 balls, and I’m feeling bad about it.
The beer glasses swayed, there was hope in them, the peoples felt there was a chance, they swayed. I stood, TV on mute, am on mute, swayed. There’s a chance. What was it 5 of 3? Gayle was still, but he swayed too, that bemused look, we can close it.
That’s the good part of the Windies, the hope, it lingers, it sways, in spite of the cricket. With 2 wickets, 12 of 6, Sammy could have been the man – it just wasn’t his match.
The Windies lost by one run. Botha should be the man of the match; made some runs, got that Pollard’s wicket (if you can bowl slow, call yourself a spinner, you will too).
And I listen to Sway now.
The beer glasses swayed, there was hope in them, the peoples felt there was a chance, they swayed. I stood, TV on mute, am on mute, swayed. There’s a chance. What was it 5 of 3? Gayle was still, but he swayed too, that bemused look, we can close it.
That’s the good part of the Windies, the hope, it lingers, it sways, in spite of the cricket. With 2 wickets, 12 of 6, Sammy could have been the man – it just wasn’t his match.
The Windies lost by one run. Botha should be the man of the match; made some runs, got that Pollard’s wicket (if you can bowl slow, call yourself a spinner, you will too).
And I listen to Sway now.
July 29, 2009
Shahid Afridi, are the teens finally over?
He bats, he bowls, he even wins you matches, let’s make him captain too. That sounds like Shakib Al Hasan’s job profile, so why can’t it be Shahid Afridi’s?
On the face of it, sounds eccentric for Afridi to even have a job profile, just doesn’t sit right. Can Afridi sit? Almost like Jatman-Sehwag and a job profile. Like bottling up dynamite! Listen, no matter how focussed dynamite is, it is still dynamite. For me, Boom Boom is still Bang Bang!
In the T20 World Cup final he was cool like a Collingwood. And he won that, didn’t he? Likewise in the semis. The Boom Boomers say, hasn’t he showed his credentials with Habib Bank, Sind and Karachi Dolphins over the years, and earned this. What, T20, make him captain of the one-day team, test side…ok, he doesn’t play tests or does he? The Boom Boomers will go to the extent of saying, why stop at captaincy, make him President of a political party – his raised arms will be a balm for Pakistan. He’s the real deal, not Imran Bhai.
Also in Boom Boom’s favour is experience and age – he’s been playing for what, 13 years now? He surely has another 13 years in him, and he can’t be more than 13 years’ old himself! Yeah, that’s why he behaves like a teenager every now and then! If Boom Boom had a song it would be, 13 till I die!
But then why try and cajole Younis Khan into captaincy? Is there a plan to make Younis the non-playing smiling T20 captain – handle rough interviews and rough players, is that YK’s job profile?
Still stranger, why appoint Boom Boom captain for the solitary T20 game v Sri Lanka? If he lifts another first ball to long-off, is that it for him? Show some faith, at least make him captain till the 2010 World Cup. It’s not as if it’s 4 years away. And Boom Boom will still be only 13 years’ old then.
But for me, Afridi should be captain because he’s a frigging character. After each wicket the team will strike ballet like poses, raised arms and all. The timing’s spot on, now if only Boom Boom can work things out without the psycho analyst or whatever he was. Else it’ll be, Honey I shrunk the team!
On Bored: Wasim's take on Boom Boom Afridi
On the face of it, sounds eccentric for Afridi to even have a job profile, just doesn’t sit right. Can Afridi sit? Almost like Jatman-Sehwag and a job profile. Like bottling up dynamite! Listen, no matter how focussed dynamite is, it is still dynamite. For me, Boom Boom is still Bang Bang!
In the T20 World Cup final he was cool like a Collingwood. And he won that, didn’t he? Likewise in the semis. The Boom Boomers say, hasn’t he showed his credentials with Habib Bank, Sind and Karachi Dolphins over the years, and earned this. What, T20, make him captain of the one-day team, test side…ok, he doesn’t play tests or does he? The Boom Boomers will go to the extent of saying, why stop at captaincy, make him President of a political party – his raised arms will be a balm for Pakistan. He’s the real deal, not Imran Bhai.
Also in Boom Boom’s favour is experience and age – he’s been playing for what, 13 years now? He surely has another 13 years in him, and he can’t be more than 13 years’ old himself! Yeah, that’s why he behaves like a teenager every now and then! If Boom Boom had a song it would be, 13 till I die!
But then why try and cajole Younis Khan into captaincy? Is there a plan to make Younis the non-playing smiling T20 captain – handle rough interviews and rough players, is that YK’s job profile?
Still stranger, why appoint Boom Boom captain for the solitary T20 game v Sri Lanka? If he lifts another first ball to long-off, is that it for him? Show some faith, at least make him captain till the 2010 World Cup. It’s not as if it’s 4 years away. And Boom Boom will still be only 13 years’ old then.
But for me, Afridi should be captain because he’s a frigging character. After each wicket the team will strike ballet like poses, raised arms and all. The timing’s spot on, now if only Boom Boom can work things out without the psycho analyst or whatever he was. Else it’ll be, Honey I shrunk the team!
On Bored: Wasim's take on Boom Boom Afridi
April 20, 2008
Less than 20 words.
3 ball high, 1 ball low. Sehwag’s out. Glad it was a free pass.
more than 20 words
3 ball high, 1 ball low. Sehwag’s out. Glad it was a free pass.
more than 20 words
March 17, 2008
Mad Angles.
Mad Angles.
Appeared in the Hindustan Times on 25th March, 2008
Whilst shaving sharply, Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street, can appear within: look your mirror-eye in the eye, slide that razor down in a single clean swoop, and you can be Sweeneyed too. It’s that look: Take no prisoners. Give no quarter. Whatever will be, will be…
The demon barber, often no different from the unrepentant twenty20 bully – be he from the ICL, IPL, English leagues or from 20,000 leagues under the sea. A Killer Whale of a time anyone?
They are at heart all the same: heartless. They will plunder bowlers as if they were wealthy Indian provinces from the medieval ages. Paradoxically, a T20 player’s innings is fleeting, almost butterfly-like, but far from pretty.
Most shots are on, barring the scoop over short fine leg. That comes with a lifetime of Misbah-ul-Haq’s baggage. But lighten up, it’s T20 - anything goes, and everything has to go. Even Misbah says so, for he’s had other baggage these days, from not being picked first shot at the T20 auctions to that “look, I can ballet” run-out versus India in a test. $125,000 later, is Misbah happy? Or do MBAs have their own twenty20 standards?
But what about cricket’s brand names: too standard? Why twenty20? Why not Six and out? Or Kamikaze. Or even Quickie. Take test cricket. Ok, don’t. Consider one-day cricket. Better than Fifty50? However, T20 sure has a ring to it - almost like T2 –terminator II, the avenging angel.
A vendetta ridden warrior prince, is that the prerequisite for a past master T20 player? Yuvraj Singh hurled Chris Broad abroad for 6X6, after Mascarenhas took him for 5X6. Result: Even better than any 4X4.
Yuvraj is by far, the world’s premier T20 player today. He’s also a very emotionally charged battery. A Duracel bunny, if you please–best left unplugged. Last thing the opposition needs is to get under his collar. Leave that to the lasses. In his neck of the woods, men are Mafiosi movie stars: with v for vendetta vitriol in their veins. They ride Bullets. Mess with them and you mess with the family.
But does every player need a little tickle that fires the imagination – and then backfires, smack into the tickler’s face? Try calling Sachin, elephant - in the wild or in a room. He’ll go smash two ODI finals into oblivion. More than twice the wash-load of a T20 game but very much the desired impact: Dho dala, or taken to the cleaners. A provocation has the desired effect in any language. So, don’t mind your language.
And still they’re talking about putting a lid on sledging, on the field, in the press. What will cricket’s song be- “when the saints go marching in” Err? Not quite human, is it?
In a way, T20 cricket has masala, solid Indian spice to it. Came from England, but so did chicken tikka masala - and you know what inspired that. T20 too, is inspired by the Indian landscape, of Bollywood’s tried, tested, and often testing revenge and relief theme. Yet it works. And almost always plays to packed houses spilleth over. Took Gavaskar to say that, “Hindi films are made by asses for masses”
T20, bees saal baad (20 years too late?), but in time to sign up at R.K. Studios. Another Karz? Om Shanti Om? It’s the remix. DJ is in the dugout. Item girls in the open.
Now, if T20 can somehow capture the energy of an edgy test, then we’re on to something. And though there are just too many nationalities adrift in both the Indian leagues – you’d be mistaken to think, it’s the United Nations; hope they don’t get as diplomatic.
Instead, get in the face, in the farce. Think WWF, hopefully without “the con of man”. Think “The Da Vinci Code” sans the Latin. Think that in spite of critical reviews, hits happen.
E&OE
September 29, 2007
What the flux!
By Gaurav Sethi
Contrary to what everyone and their cricket punditjee may say, Indian cricket is in a heightened state of flux. And regardless of the India-Australia series’ result, flux is here to stay. It started unassumingly with senior players dropping out of the T20 tournament - gained momentum with each subsequent win - and became super-flux with the T20 championship victory.
Flux in Indian cricket is not a bad thing by any means. But it happened, as often does here, by default - with Rahul Dravid’s announcement that he, Tendulkar and Ganguly will not play in the Twenty20 World Cup. One thing led to another, and before we knew, flux had taken over the reigns of Indian cricket. And this is how it unfolded:
1) No captain, M.S. Dhoni takes over.
2) No deputy, Yuvraj Singh takes over.
3) No openers - Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag take over.
4) No Sehwag in finals - debutant Yusuf Pathan takes over.
5) No Gambhir at no.3 - Robin Uthappa takes over.
6) No Ramesh Powar - Harbhajan Singh takes over
7) No Zaheer Khan as spearhead - RP Singh and Irfan Pathan take over
8) No Yuvraj – Rohit Sharma takes over
9) No Ajit Agarkar – Sree Santh and Joginder Sharma take over.
10) No M.S. Dhoni as wicket keeper – Dinesh Karthik takes over
11) No lucky mascot – Piyush Chawla takes over
By the end of the tournament, nobody in the Indian team was indispensable. When did that last happen? For years, Tendulkar’s dismissal made fans dismiss their T.V. sets. Then, when Tendulkar’s star was on the wane, Sehwag was the chosen one. And after Sehwag, Dhoni now threatens to become the man upstairs. Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Saurav Ganguly worked their wonders behind the scenes.
The difference between the first and second lot is overall impact in all forms of cricket along with public and media perception: Tendulkar and Sehwag were impact players in both tests and one-dayers – also, they were perceived as big match winners in both forms. While Dravid’s and VVS Laxman’s impact in test cricket was unquestionable, their reputations as one-day players was never in the same hallowed ballpark. And while Ganguly was a top ODI player, his success in tests wasn’t quite the same. But these lacks were nearly compensated by his captaincy.
Today, M.S. Dhoni is young in both test and ODI years. Yet he threatens to reach cricket’s Everest, where Tendulkar and Sehwag once camped, almost unaccompanied. Two crucial test innings in England plus many more in ODIs and T20 plus a short albeit highly regarded stint as captain. However M.S.D. will do well to take a leaf out of Ganguly’s career book - as they say, the same thing that makes you live can kill you in the end.
Meanwhile, Yuvraj nearly usurped Dhoni’s exalted position in the T20 World Cup. But as in the case of Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, this was only one form of the game – and though Yuvraj gets top billing in T20 and ODIs, he is no cowboy in test cricket.
Ever wonder, why no one speaks of Michael Bevan and Mark Waugh in the same breath? While the short ball kept Bevan out of the longer version, Yuvraj needs to exorcise his spin demons. No accident that the Paki spinners bowled during Yuvraj’s T20 innings in the final.
Even though it is premature to gauge many of the T20 players just yet, by creating a larger pool of 33 players across 4 grades, there will clearly be no one Team India. Especially with the bizarre cricket calendar - an ODI vs. Australia just four days after a World Cup final – two days after returning home - with one day for pre-match conditioning; it’s now realistic to have two-three different teams.
While this could mean the end of the demigod cricketer, it might well ensure that players do not break down mid tournament or in between a series – or an ill-timed T20 World Cup doesn’t short circuit key test players. What if Australia was here for a test series (instead of the seven ODIs) with both Ponting and Hussey injured? If anything, players will have to be smarter about when they play and when they abstain.
Recently, when Sachin Tendulkar cramped in an ODI, barely half way through the innings, it was a strong pointer that enough is enough. According to Tendulkar then, two days recovery time between games wasn’t nearly enough. Even though Sachin spoke of himself and his adding cricket years, even a teenager will burn out at this frantic pace. In cricket, nobody is eighteen till they die. Not when the itineraries are on cocaine.
The India-Australia series has the same punishing schedule as the ODI games in England (with barely two days break between games), yet hopefully, better sense will prevail now. So if in one game Ganguly-Tendulkar open, in the next, Gambhir-Uthappa can kick off. This same logic could have Zaheer Khan make way for Sree Santh and Powar for Harbhajan.
As it was in the T20 World Cup, another player can always take over. Worst case, you lose without a key player. But then, you can also lose with that key player. And it’s better to lose the odd game, then a key player to the odd injury.
The key is not to panic when India loses with new blood. Better to write it off as an investment in future successes. Better to embrace flux today, rather than badly injure Indian cricket tomorrow.
By Gaurav Sethi
Contrary to what everyone and their cricket punditjee may say, Indian cricket is in a heightened state of flux. And regardless of the India-Australia series’ result, flux is here to stay. It started unassumingly with senior players dropping out of the T20 tournament - gained momentum with each subsequent win - and became super-flux with the T20 championship victory.
Flux in Indian cricket is not a bad thing by any means. But it happened, as often does here, by default - with Rahul Dravid’s announcement that he, Tendulkar and Ganguly will not play in the Twenty20 World Cup. One thing led to another, and before we knew, flux had taken over the reigns of Indian cricket. And this is how it unfolded:
1) No captain, M.S. Dhoni takes over.
2) No deputy, Yuvraj Singh takes over.
3) No openers - Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag take over.
4) No Sehwag in finals - debutant Yusuf Pathan takes over.
5) No Gambhir at no.3 - Robin Uthappa takes over.
6) No Ramesh Powar - Harbhajan Singh takes over
7) No Zaheer Khan as spearhead - RP Singh and Irfan Pathan take over
8) No Yuvraj – Rohit Sharma takes over
9) No Ajit Agarkar – Sree Santh and Joginder Sharma take over.
10) No M.S. Dhoni as wicket keeper – Dinesh Karthik takes over
11) No lucky mascot – Piyush Chawla takes over
By the end of the tournament, nobody in the Indian team was indispensable. When did that last happen? For years, Tendulkar’s dismissal made fans dismiss their T.V. sets. Then, when Tendulkar’s star was on the wane, Sehwag was the chosen one. And after Sehwag, Dhoni now threatens to become the man upstairs. Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Saurav Ganguly worked their wonders behind the scenes.
The difference between the first and second lot is overall impact in all forms of cricket along with public and media perception: Tendulkar and Sehwag were impact players in both tests and one-dayers – also, they were perceived as big match winners in both forms. While Dravid’s and VVS Laxman’s impact in test cricket was unquestionable, their reputations as one-day players was never in the same hallowed ballpark. And while Ganguly was a top ODI player, his success in tests wasn’t quite the same. But these lacks were nearly compensated by his captaincy.
Today, M.S. Dhoni is young in both test and ODI years. Yet he threatens to reach cricket’s Everest, where Tendulkar and Sehwag once camped, almost unaccompanied. Two crucial test innings in England plus many more in ODIs and T20 plus a short albeit highly regarded stint as captain. However M.S.D. will do well to take a leaf out of Ganguly’s career book - as they say, the same thing that makes you live can kill you in the end.
Meanwhile, Yuvraj nearly usurped Dhoni’s exalted position in the T20 World Cup. But as in the case of Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, this was only one form of the game – and though Yuvraj gets top billing in T20 and ODIs, he is no cowboy in test cricket.
Ever wonder, why no one speaks of Michael Bevan and Mark Waugh in the same breath? While the short ball kept Bevan out of the longer version, Yuvraj needs to exorcise his spin demons. No accident that the Paki spinners bowled during Yuvraj’s T20 innings in the final.
Even though it is premature to gauge many of the T20 players just yet, by creating a larger pool of 33 players across 4 grades, there will clearly be no one Team India. Especially with the bizarre cricket calendar - an ODI vs. Australia just four days after a World Cup final – two days after returning home - with one day for pre-match conditioning; it’s now realistic to have two-three different teams.
While this could mean the end of the demigod cricketer, it might well ensure that players do not break down mid tournament or in between a series – or an ill-timed T20 World Cup doesn’t short circuit key test players. What if Australia was here for a test series (instead of the seven ODIs) with both Ponting and Hussey injured? If anything, players will have to be smarter about when they play and when they abstain.
Recently, when Sachin Tendulkar cramped in an ODI, barely half way through the innings, it was a strong pointer that enough is enough. According to Tendulkar then, two days recovery time between games wasn’t nearly enough. Even though Sachin spoke of himself and his adding cricket years, even a teenager will burn out at this frantic pace. In cricket, nobody is eighteen till they die. Not when the itineraries are on cocaine.
The India-Australia series has the same punishing schedule as the ODI games in England (with barely two days break between games), yet hopefully, better sense will prevail now. So if in one game Ganguly-Tendulkar open, in the next, Gambhir-Uthappa can kick off. This same logic could have Zaheer Khan make way for Sree Santh and Powar for Harbhajan.
As it was in the T20 World Cup, another player can always take over. Worst case, you lose without a key player. But then, you can also lose with that key player. And it’s better to lose the odd game, then a key player to the odd injury.
The key is not to panic when India loses with new blood. Better to write it off as an investment in future successes. Better to embrace flux today, rather than badly injure Indian cricket tomorrow.
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