Why Tendulkar is the best?

I read an interesting article today:-
Tendulkar and Richards swap places as best ODI batsmen
More interesting were the comments underneath the article

Please don't do it

Tell me, why don’t you want to go to Pakistan? Is it because you think you will be killed? Yes, I think you will say. Come on, mates. Get out of your living zones, and see the world. You walk on a playing field, but many live on a mine-field. No, no, I am not saying you too take the cudgel and fight the world. But I am just asking/imploring you to show some respect to the lives that fight it out every day.

You were born somewhere which luckily doesn’t face these problems very often. But just think, if you weren’t born there? OK, you are lucky. You aren’t crusaders either. But think seriously, do you actually help the world by not going there? In fact, do you help yourselves by not going there? There may not be anybody who wants to kill you now, but next time, there may be disgruntled souls wanting to bomb you off. Not everybody is strong, just as you are not.

Why don't you realize, that this whole nonsense of terrorism and counter-terrorism which you want to aid is the genesis of itself? There is no solution for it, save cutting off this very genesis of discrimination, hate, suspicion, fear, prejudice etc. See, I didn’t say that you are whites. Blacks, browns, pinks, yellows –all colours if they exist- are equally short-sighted.

So, as cricketers, please don’t exhibit this antipathy. You play cricket which is a wonderful game. It is wonderful for us, the spectators too. It energizes you, but it enlivens us. And what better to give lives to many dormant and distorted souls if you think they really are there? You will never feel better than that.

I will envy you then. Frankly speaking, I am not that strong either. And if confronted with a similar situation, I too will follow the same course as you. But as I say often-“That doesn’t make it right, and in fact, highlights more that only a few strong can follow the right”, the above will come to guide me too hopefully.

Best? My foot ...

Being a passionate supporter of Indian Cricket Team, I don’t feel good when it doesn’t play to its potential. Watching them play in the Asia Cup was as dejecting and dismaying as reliving a spoilt child story. I call it dejecting because this team, despite being the best that India has produced for many many years, fails to win on a consistent basis. And it is dismaying, because if it is the standard of the best, I fear for the day when it will not be the best.

After the much-publicized high of Australian tour, Indian team seems to have struck the old note of mediocrity among the feigned aura. It failed to win the Test series against South Africa at home. The series leveling win in the 3^rd Test at the dusty pitch in Kanpur was hailed as a feat extraordinaire. But Graeme Smith put it in perspective after that, “We would have been disappointed if we had drawn the series at our home.” But this introspection was lost in the frenzy of IPL.

Post IPL showbiz, the team embarked on back-to-back one-day tournaments where it had a grand opportunity to decrease its loss ratio against its old-time nemesis, Pakistan. But it still managed to lose to them, more so in the tournament final at Dhaka in Kitply Cup. How could it? Against a team like Pakistan- a replica of the team of India of late 1990s. As if it was not enough, it lost again to them once in Asia Cup. The final was a Mendis show, which I grudgingly enjoyed, but the team had lost the match when it allowed SL to score 270. Same old story- below-par bowlers, sloppy fielding, occasion-lacking batsmen; and the same grieving spectators and followers.

I had decided not to vent my spleen in any way, after watching the debacle in Asia Cup final. Instead I had wanted to throw encomiums on Ajantha Mendis, who is indeed a breath of fresh air. But as another series against SL arrives, my simmering thoughts need to be outpoured. I want a clean performance from the team- Mendis or no Mendis. But what I can do if it again loses. Probably join the club of hacks who shamelessly conclude, “It is the fault of Indian Selectors who decided to select a coach for India. See yourself- the curse has struck. No win after Gary.”

All is lost

So, they all lost. The teams that I was rooting for exploded at the end. As a cricket lover, I must learn to accept defeat. But it still hurts.

And it hurts more, when you lose to Pakistan and that too in a final, and more so, when you are the better team. It brought back the horrible memories of 90’s when Pakistan took India for caning everytime they clashed. India had done the same to Pakistan in the last few years, but it seems, still a lot is left to be done. Dhoni’s side is young and full of promise. So, let it play with fervour. Hopefully it can bring much-needed near-perfection in its game with time.

NZ were hapless in the last test. They had their moments initially but could not squeeze on the pressure. They allowed England to get to a more than decent total, and then imploded themselves when batting. I wonder how come their batsmen not score even 200 on a docile pitch. They need to get better batsmen; their bowling is OK.

West Indies were the best when it came to surpassing their own expectations. They played valiantly in the last innings but it was too late and monumental to carve out a victory. If only they had batted well in the first innings, after skittling out Aus for a small total. It is good that they are fighting better now, but promise can be measured only for a small time. The real count comes with victories only. They have more than a good chance to score some in the coming one-dayers.

Where does this leave me now? Definitely off from cricket for some time. I want to blend with ongoing Euro. But it has been some time since I followed soccer. May be I can garner enough energy to watch the business end which promises to be interesting.

C'mon, square it up

It was very pleasing to see Windies earn a draw against the Aussies. I always support an underdog, except anyone playing against India, against the proverbial bull, but more often than not, I have to suffer disappointment. But that is understandable, underdogs are meant to spring surprises only once in a while.

Windies could have won the first test in Jamaica, if they would have wrapped the Aussies second innings under 100, or even 50, however monstrous a task it sounds. Remember they had Australia reeling at 17 for 5. Then they allowed Symonds and Co. to set up a score which was always going to be beyond their reach in the 4th innings. They lost valiantly though, and did bring some succour to their supporters. The 2nd test in Antigua seemed to be another losing prospect for Windies after the Kangaroos had notched up a big first innings score. But thanks to rain and gritty batting displays by Sarwan and Chanderpaul, they were able to salvage a respectable draw. I say more than respectable, even though Vaneisa Baksh completely disagrees with me.

I cannot say with the same respectabilty about the Kiwis show in England. They had a wonderful chance to win the 2nd Test at Old Trafford, but they muffed it up badly. They had done a similar losing exercise versus the same opponent during their home series in the early part of this year. Sometimes the prospect of winning doesn’t sit too well on the teams who don’t win too often. These losses are actually more demoralising than the big ones.

Anyway, my teams, perk yourselves up. Bring down the Goliaths in the 3rd Test. Even a squared series will do a world of good to you, and ultimately cricket. I will be supporting you as I will be supporting my team, India, which too will resume service on International Cricket very soon.

Brilliant !!! Rajasthan Royals

Kudos to Rajasthan Royals! They were the deserving winners of the first edition of IPL. Even though I was supporting Chennai Super Kings during the final, I have to admit now that the better team won. And they were better throughout the whole tournament.

But the biggest victory was not achieved by them, but by the age-old sports aphorism of a sincere team, even though unrated, being capable of achieveing even the unthinkable. Everyone, including me, had not given them a smidgeon of chance to go all the distance, but the victory is now for everyone to see.

Somebody had said, a sport doesn’t make a character but reveal it. Such characters when revealed become the soul-inspirers for all self-doubters. IPL’s winning team story will definitely be told and retold in many sporting pep talks.

A share of that awe and adulation should also go for the the tournament, IPL, itself. No topic other than that debating the league’s success and impact has garnered as much limelight. After 44 days of extravaganza, eveyone would agree though, that it has been an unqualified success. Problems still are many: the long schedule, inadeqaute foreign representation, inconcomitant hysteria outside India, the overlapping international calendar etc just to name a few. But nobody should fight an idea whose time has come. Leave aside the ‘Doubting Thomases’, and bring in the ‘Charmed Romanticists’.

The right side of it

I certainly don’t belong to the club of these two gentlemen supporting their team-mate in bad times. But I do identify with their feelings towards the plight of their man. Another person whom I rate very highly expounds this aspect in a very different way, and actually endorses the act of Vijay Mallya. But this time I don’t agree with him fully. And I have my reasons ….

Cricket, and for that matter, any form of sports is not something where one should put one’s life, or even an alternative to it. A sport runs on emotions, but ironically, prior to or after it, it is the emotions which one should fall into. For a victor, there is always a vanquished. For elation in one camp, there is always despair in the other. And that is the beauty of it, which every sports-fan must learn to appreciate. This has been my synopsis of watching sports over a period of time, and it has come handy in not only riding over tough times of watching my team lose, but also analyzing the reasons and finding the ways to improve.

Mr Mallya will do well to heed to at least a part of this, even if I am a trifling in front of him. It serves no purpose in publicly criticizing the captain, Rahul Dravid, for his seemingly poor team-selection. I don’t see much wrong in his firing of the CEO, Charu Sharma; for every failing employee must go. I again won’t raise an eyebrow if he fires even Rahul Dravid in the next edition, or may be even the current one. But by publicly stating that his advice and words were not adhered to, he is acting like a deserter of the party, when he is actually at the helm. No doubt, Bangalore Royal Challengers team looks like a Test Team pretending to be a Twenty20 one. But if team composition would have the only parameter of success, Rajasthan Royals would not have been in the lead and Deccan Chargers would not have foundered like a pack of cards. By saying, “It was I who brought Misbah in the team”, he is uttering in the public tone. What Misbah has done in the tournament (he too has actually failed) is not relevant. But above all, just consider how debilitating it would have been for the captain, Rahul Dravid.

I am not a fanatic supporter of Rahul. But I do appreciate what he has done for the country. When he became captain of the Indian team, I thought him to be at-par, if not better captain than Saurabh. He achieved the unique success of triumphs in West Indies and England in the same year in 2006, just as that achieved in 1971, still considered one of the finest moments of Indian cricket. My exalted view of his captaincy skills was nevertheless brought down by his inexplicable decision of not enforcing the follow-on in the Headingley Test. I consider this as his most ignominious captaincy moment, even worse than the World Cup debacle.

The above is not to put up a litany of Rahul’s captaincy records but to highlight it as a mere series of results seeing both success and failure. So, the current result in the IPL is not a contrived one on his part. There are several other reasons, the prime being the inability of the local Indian players to rise to the ranks, the lack of good openers and the lethargy on the field. Better work on these; and those who don’t adhere, liquidate them. But not by this subterfuge of blaming the others.

Mr Bhogle probably missed this point when he became overexcited with the accountability aspect of it. The idea is laudable, but the means is not. Mr Mallya, there is indeed a corporate side to it, but it has a cricket side too which still, in reality, is the most important side.