Thank You Sachin, again.
After taking time out to play the test series in Sri Lanka, Sachin took time out to gear up for the Mumbai Indians’ to play in the Champions League, (simultaneously taking time out from the one-day series in Lanka); and now that Sachin’s team has been eliminated, he will take time out to gear up for the India Australia series. Sachin is always taking time out to serve Indian cricket, yet he is not called a great servant of Indian cricket, that is reserved for Kumble.
Yuvraj Singh Ltd.
It’s hard to tell whether the news is into Yuvi or Yivi’s into the news, but it’s certain they both get off on each other. It has also been established that Yuvi is a limited cricketer, limited overs cricket is but an ode to his cricket. If he had never played a test match, he would still be playing limited overs cricket. Even when he plays tests, he plays limited overs.
Who is Che Pujara?
Not many know who Cheteshwar Pujara is, so figuring out who Che Pujara is, is doubly difficult. Long time back I wrote Che for Dummies and I had not even watched him bat. This made me eligible to become an Indian selector, for they too had not seen him bat. They were still watching Nohit Sharma bat in the IPL, Yuvi bat in the IPL parties, you know how it is. To make Cheteshwar - Che was a smart ploy – it will be easier for Ravi Shastri to parrot his name. And you know, when he parrots something, something gotta give.
Che has achieved more this week than he will his entire cricketing life. His name made it in the same headline as Yuvraj Singh. “Yuvraj dropped, Pujara picked”. In this post too, we have been respectful of the hierarchy of Indian cricket, and the Yuvi section precedes Pujara.
On Bored: New CSK TVC
Showing posts with label Yuvraj. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yuvraj. Show all posts
September 23, 2010
November 03, 2007
Six and in.
Appeared in the Hindustan Times on 12th November, 2007.
My six-year old friend, Vasudev has taken to cricket. Not in an air-fairy way, but in a possessed by the will of the cricket Gods kinda way. He was not always like this. Earlier, cricket was faddy, almost like something he took to perforce, because among the birthday gifts came a bat and a ball. And like the bicycle, scooter and drums, the seasons changed and so did his curious little interests.
Meanwhile, on my jaunts to his room, I used to request him for the cricket channel. He would almost always comply, but somewhat grudgingly shift from POGO. I would invariably feel the guilt of denying Vasu his daily dose of toons and make a hasty retreat, handing him the baton, the remote control.
Still I felt there was a hidden, almost waiting to be tapped love for the game. On the few occasions that we knocked around in the basement, and the street, he showed enough guile to take the ball on the half volley and smash it past my whirling waiting hands. Yeah, that’s the way you do it. Smash. Boom. Bang. Take no prisoners, kid.
When he was just a kid, (and that is a very small ballpark in kid years nowadays), little man Vasu floored me with his wide, unconventional batsman’s stance. Also did I mention, he was that rare breed – a Left Handed Batsman. Just like his grandpa, who had long given up on cricket’s avarice. However, when I did mention Vasu’s Gangulyesque style, he repeated, not for the first time, that he too was a Left Handed Batsman, and a wicketkeeper too. But that was it. Anyway, that was possibly the longest cricket chat we’d had in a while.
Next came the summer holidays, and Vasu was flung into a cricket camp. And I thought only Sehwag was batty enough to play through the Delhi summer. Evidently not. Yet the fervour was missing – possibly in both Sehwag and Vasu. Summer camp didn’t quite take off. And it looked as if Vasu’s waning interest in the great game was just another fling. You know how kids love to fling things around?
But then came the Twenty20. From no hopers and non-watchers, an entire nation embraced this new idiosyncratic form of cricket. I was glad to observe that Vasu and grandpa were both showing signs of growing up too – they were the new converts, diligently watching matches, lock stock and two smoking barrels.
And by the time India had smoked both Australia and Pakistan out, and won the T20 World Cup, both Vasu and his grandpa were yapping more cricket than me. Almost like Mr. Manmohan Singh reciting more poetry than Vajpayeeji. Hoola! Alaap?
The times are a changing. Vasu now fixates on even re-runs of antiquated games. We sit and watch no-brainers like India Blue vs. India Red. We chat up on Uthappa, MSD, Yuvi and Irfan. I sense the pulse and impatience of young Indian fans. If a savvy six year old city kid (already a captive market for advertisers) has forgotten about Sachin and Saurav, what will happen in a few years? How many heroes can the Indian cricket assembly line produce? Boy, it’s going to be tough capturing the ever-changing imagination.
Meanwhile, a minor setback. Vasu has not made his cricket team – he informs me cheerfully, as if he’s on the T20 victory parade to Wankhede. At first I don’t get it. Shouldn’t he be upset? And then I think about Uthappa and Gambhir – who in spite of their setbacks have only came back stronger. I smile. And ask him my pet cricket question, “ Who is your favourite cricketer today, Vachi?” Won’t you just love to know what he says?
Also in the same series: Cricket Santa!
My six-year old friend, Vasudev has taken to cricket. Not in an air-fairy way, but in a possessed by the will of the cricket Gods kinda way. He was not always like this. Earlier, cricket was faddy, almost like something he took to perforce, because among the birthday gifts came a bat and a ball. And like the bicycle, scooter and drums, the seasons changed and so did his curious little interests.
Meanwhile, on my jaunts to his room, I used to request him for the cricket channel. He would almost always comply, but somewhat grudgingly shift from POGO. I would invariably feel the guilt of denying Vasu his daily dose of toons and make a hasty retreat, handing him the baton, the remote control.
Still I felt there was a hidden, almost waiting to be tapped love for the game. On the few occasions that we knocked around in the basement, and the street, he showed enough guile to take the ball on the half volley and smash it past my whirling waiting hands. Yeah, that’s the way you do it. Smash. Boom. Bang. Take no prisoners, kid.
When he was just a kid, (and that is a very small ballpark in kid years nowadays), little man Vasu floored me with his wide, unconventional batsman’s stance. Also did I mention, he was that rare breed – a Left Handed Batsman. Just like his grandpa, who had long given up on cricket’s avarice. However, when I did mention Vasu’s Gangulyesque style, he repeated, not for the first time, that he too was a Left Handed Batsman, and a wicketkeeper too. But that was it. Anyway, that was possibly the longest cricket chat we’d had in a while.
Next came the summer holidays, and Vasu was flung into a cricket camp. And I thought only Sehwag was batty enough to play through the Delhi summer. Evidently not. Yet the fervour was missing – possibly in both Sehwag and Vasu. Summer camp didn’t quite take off. And it looked as if Vasu’s waning interest in the great game was just another fling. You know how kids love to fling things around?
But then came the Twenty20. From no hopers and non-watchers, an entire nation embraced this new idiosyncratic form of cricket. I was glad to observe that Vasu and grandpa were both showing signs of growing up too – they were the new converts, diligently watching matches, lock stock and two smoking barrels.
And by the time India had smoked both Australia and Pakistan out, and won the T20 World Cup, both Vasu and his grandpa were yapping more cricket than me. Almost like Mr. Manmohan Singh reciting more poetry than Vajpayeeji. Hoola! Alaap?
The times are a changing. Vasu now fixates on even re-runs of antiquated games. We sit and watch no-brainers like India Blue vs. India Red. We chat up on Uthappa, MSD, Yuvi and Irfan. I sense the pulse and impatience of young Indian fans. If a savvy six year old city kid (already a captive market for advertisers) has forgotten about Sachin and Saurav, what will happen in a few years? How many heroes can the Indian cricket assembly line produce? Boy, it’s going to be tough capturing the ever-changing imagination.
Meanwhile, a minor setback. Vasu has not made his cricket team – he informs me cheerfully, as if he’s on the T20 victory parade to Wankhede. At first I don’t get it. Shouldn’t he be upset? And then I think about Uthappa and Gambhir – who in spite of their setbacks have only came back stronger. I smile. And ask him my pet cricket question, “ Who is your favourite cricketer today, Vachi?” Won’t you just love to know what he says?
Also in the same series: Cricket Santa!
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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