Women take to cricket- They have my unconditional support

My mother taught me my basic cricket. Things like where mid off stood were taught to me by her. It went a great way in spicing up the commentary I was hearing.

I was 5 or 6 at the time and I remember being bemused by off-side, leg side and fine-leg. She took the pain to draw an oval outline and define which is offside and leg side and the other fielding positions.

Add a couple of Aunts who used to bet on how much Farookh Engineer would score, you can say that I was always aware of the universal appeal of the game.

Somehow the last 5 years had dulled me into thinking the women did not like cricket. What with a wife, who in an unholy alliance with my daughter always seem to have a monopoly on the remote you cant blame me for thinking so. ( No, a second TV has not helped matters, now the alliance has split and a truce has resulted in each monopolising different TV sets.)

So it came as a pleasant surprise to me to learn that woman above 15 years have been glued to cricket during the Twenty20 semi finals. In fact the TVR ratings for the Twenty20 semifinal registered 12.8 among woman above 15 years, making it the highest rated TV programme in that segment of the audience.

I am all for them taking to cricket. The future looks promising, in another 10 years,I may get to watch a cricket match in full. My daughter will turn 15 then.

Australia eats humble ‘pie’

The Twenty20 semi-final defeat has really got to the Australians. The loss has affected them so badly that they have become introspective and started talking about ‘humility’, a four letter word to the English challenged Australians.

“A BROODING Andrew Symonds has set up a feisty series against India by accusing the Twenty20 world champions of lacking humility in their raucous victory celebrations.”

It is obvious that India has made Australia eat humble pie and like any medicine, it has an after taste, which lingers.

Can a movie inspire a nation?

Karteek wonders whether a movie can bring Good Luck to a nation, and answers his own question with an emphatic NO!

However take a look at the timeline and judge for yourself.

August 10, 2007 - Chak De India starring SRK is
released
August 29, 2007 - Football, India won Nehru Cup
[1]
September 9, 2007 - Hockey, India won Asia Cup
[2]
September 24, 2007 - Cricket, India won T20 World Cup
[3]

Don’t you think there could be something in it?

Will Twenty20 eclipse Bollywood?

In an article, If It’s Hip, Fast and Furious, Is It Cricket? in the New York Times Ayaz Memon, editor of DNA has this to say:

“Sponsors will drool,” he said, “The game has found favor across age groups, and more significantly across genders. It could even emerge as a potent challenge to Bollywood, because it lasts just about three and half hours, provides wholesome entertainment and is a reality show.”

My first thought was that Ayaz Memon was talking through his hat. However on reflection he makes sense but odds are it may not happen in the scale he envisages.

It may happen, provided India plays in all of the matches and consistently whip their opponents, which is highly unlikely.

What do you think; will it be curtains for Bollywood?

Do you call this dedication or plain foolhardiness?

Here’s the story of David Morrison, who has broken every single one of his fingers playing cricket.

Hat Tip: Alex

The Keys to winning Twenty20 World Cup

Scyld Berry, in the Sunday Telegraph lists the ingredients of success in 20-over international cricket.

He says that the one key to winning is, building a partnership. Of nine century stands before the semi-finals, eight went on to win the game.

The other key to winning is to hit sixes. Of the 23 games played before yesterday, with one game abandoned, the side hitting more sixes won 15 of them.

This was closely allied to allowing fewer 'dot-balls': 15 of the 23 matches were won by the side scoring off more balls than their opponents.

Get live cricket score through Google

Amit Bajaj says the fastest way to get live cricket scores on the net is through Google.

Find out how by visiting his blog Cricket Etcetera

Will the ODI’s Survive?

You can gauge the success of the Twenty20 World Cup by how people worry about its impact on Test Cricket.

Surprisingly, everyone seems assured when it comes to the fate of the ODI’s. According to me Test Cricket will flourish, the ODI’s will die unlamented.

The change I envisage will be in the duration of the Tests. With Twenty20 taking the centre stage, Test Cricket will be become more frenetic and batsmen will be hard put to play 3 days.

Two years down the road, 4 days should suffice for a Test Match.

Ian Healy - the last of the great wicketkeepers?

Bob Simpson points out what is wrong with the current crop of wicket-keepers.

Much of the wicket-keeping problems today stem from the 'keepers' desire to take
the ball on the drop below their knees. Great wicketkeepers of the past always
took the ball about waist high on the rise.

There is no doubt in my
mind that there is not a wicketkeeper in Test cricket today who can be termed
truly great, and the question remains, will Ian Healy be the last of the great
wicketkeepers?

As usual he makes a lot of sense, but I find his claim that Ian Healy is the last of the great wicketkeepers, contentious.

For me Kirmani was the last of the great ones.

How do you rate him?

Venkatesh Prasad Talks Science or is it BS?

Venkatesh Prasad reflecting on what went on behind the scene in the selection of five bowlers for the 'bowl-out' talks science.

 

"You see, the idea is to pick guys with the straightest action, as in revolving around the principle of gaining the shortest distance between two points. Sometimes, regular bowlers can get the ball to swing automatically, so I had to take into account even that," he explains.

 

But then why did he choose Uthappa of all people?

 

"Actually Uthappa was the easiest choice for me, he has been consistent in our practice and there was no pressure on him. So it clicked perfectly," he says.

 

He also added that there was planning in the order in which India bowled in the bowl-out— and the parameter was confidence and to that may I add ice water in the veins and pride in playing for the country.

 

 

 

Agarkar – a double agent?

I have always wondered whether Agarkar plays for us in the nature of a double agent. He takes a couple of wickets and lulls us into thinking that he is our man and then when we need him in the crunch he doles out runs by the ladle.

Is he a double-agent?

India -why are we not No.1 in Cricket?

If you take the recent past there is not much to differentiate between India and Australia.

Statistically to they literally stand toe to toe when it comes to both bowling and batting.

With a much better record for the batsmen and
not much seperating their most successful bowlers, India should have been able
to match Australia's record, if not better it.

Then why are we not the No.1 team?

India can be more successful

Don't forget our 'terrific' bowlers

Image flicked from bbc Image flicked from bbc

It is but natural to conclude that we won the match, because we bowled the last five balls precisely.

Surely, that is condensing the truth.

Our bowlers were superb, excepting my pet peeve Agarkar. They fought tooth and nail and brought the match to a great end.

Don't you think our bowlers were great throughout the innings?

Multiple language commentary during India-Australia cricket series

The very thought is disheartening.

Neo Sports, the exclusive telecast rights holders of the upcoming ODI cricket series between India and Australia, will air commentary feeds in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu in addition to English during the tournament.

Somehow, commentators in the Provincial languages struggle to translate the excitement of the game. Whenever I watch a relay with Hindi commentary, I have a feeling that there is problem with the lip sync or worse I get the impression that I am watching a delayed live transmission. Needless to add, I cannot wait for the commentary in English to come on.

What do you feel?

Just read the news that “Geoffrey Boycott was voted as Britain's favourite cricket commentator by the Wisden Cricketer magazine”. Congratulations!

So the fight is not between Gavaskar and Kapil

Rohan Gavaskar , son of legendary Sunil Gavaskar, has joined the Indian Cricket League (ICL), swelling the strength of the rebel group.

 

Hmm.. who is fighting whom?

 

 

One of the best innuendo filled cricket commentary moments

Watch how a double entendre makes everyone else in the commentary box hysterical. One of the best commentating moments.

Shoaib Akthar- looks like he was set up!

Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been sent home from the World Twenty20 following a dressing-room bust up with team-mate Mohammad Asif.

Though my initial reaction on hearing it was that Shoaib deserved it as he had gone too far, subsequent reports on the tele makes me think he has been set up.

Reports now indicate that Shoaib had likened himself to Imran Khan to Afridi, who not only laughed it off but repeated it to Asif, who in turn found it funny. This infuriated Shoaib and he went after Asif with a bat, causing an injury to Asif's thigh.

Now here is where I am intrigued, Shoaib immediately apologised to Asif, but Asif took it up to the team management and as a result Shoaib was recalled back to Pakistan.

Looks like someone manipulated his hot temper and had extracted whatever they wanted.

Sounds a wee bit like a set up isn't it?

Include Uthappa

Its obvious that Sachin and Saurav are struggling to impose themselves in the opening overs.

They start by playing cautiously and then try to open out only to perish.

They seem incapable of hitting the first ball for a six.

To do that, I suggest that we include Uthappa.

Uthappa seems a maverick and seems to be playing cricket for the joy of it.

Lets have Karthick joining him at the top with everyone else following in the batting order.

Obviously, this means Powar has to sit out.