Bouncing Yorker?

It's been an age since I wrote here; in fact I had even forgotten the login & password, and a lot had changed with Blogger since I wrote the last post here...Anyway, I managed to retrieve the blog; hopefully this innings will be a bit longer... [consistency of my writing seems to mirror the consistency of India's performances on a cricket field... ].

Anyway, I am glad Bouncing Yorker is revived/ retrieved----- just a few months ago, I managed to meet up with the long-lost friend in whose 'honor' i had named this blog thus. Despite being in Singapore for almost 3.5 years, we hadn't met till contacts of some contacts on Orkut managed to get us each other's contact details........when i received a call in that typical mischevious tone "Can I speak to Mr.Manoj Aravindakshan", followed by a loud "Munna bhai!!", I was elated. I was back in touch with Yogesh Naik, aka Yogi....wicket-keeper cum opening batsman [for a brief while I partnered him at the top of the order] during the REC Durgapur days back in the 90s..

Yogi was the chirpy wicketkeeper, who reminded me greatly of Sadanand Vishwanath in the 1980s..... Mr.StyleBhai..... I still remember standing at first slip and Yogi shouting out to the bowler... "let's have a bouncing yorker.." (whatever that was... if his intent was to psyche a batsman, I don't think he was successful.....).

Back in those days, I had decided that I had to write something called Bouncing Yorker at some stage in life.......there were times when I allowed myself to think it would be a book by that title.... the book is far from reality... but I'm glad 'bouncing yorker' has been delivered... in some form..

Yogi continues his love affair with cricket and has become an international cricketer --- he plays occasionally for Singapore. As for me, the only cricket bat I have held in recent times is a plastic one to teach my 3 year old son how to hold one. Yogi has promised to let me roll my arm over with my "leg spinners" at the club he plays one of these days........ I can imagine my friends and erstwhile teammates chuckle at the mention of "leg spinners" {it's a little trade secret that I am not in a hurry to give out to the world yet...}

The return of the Calypso Kings?

Predicting the recent West Indian teams is hazardous, but their performance in the one day series against India over the last 10 days or so certainly harbours such notions. But then, it was less than two years ago that they defied darkness and other odds to beat Enland in the final of the Champions Trophy, only to sink into the bottom rungs of the cricketing order immediately thereafter.

For now though, it is time for celebration. Even while disappointed at India's loss, I cannot help feel happy to see the resurgence of the West Indians. From a sloppy bunch in the first one dayer which we had increasingly come to expect from them to the athletic, spirited bunch for the next three-- the transformation was amazing.

It was good to see the immensely talented Ramnaresh Sarwan get those two big scores; Chris Gayle has his own way of making his "lazy" presence felt and then there is Dwayne Bravo, an exciting cricketer in the typical Calypso mould. The chemistry between Lara and Bravo is there to be seen and I can almost sense Bravo putting in a bit extra for his idol from his own village. All in all, there is great promise; will this current crop fulfill it?

Too early for Srinath to be a match referee?

Javagal Srinath had barely moved into his new role as a commentator that he is now offered the 'responsible' position of a match referee by the ICC according to this report on rediff.com. This may not be the end of his fledgling commentating career, but there are certainly questions to be asked about the wisdom of appointing a player whose playing career has ended just a couple of seasons ago as a referee.

It will boil down to the question of fairness and toughness -- can the referee be absolutely fair without being inflenced by personal prejudices and emotions, against players with whom he shared dressing rooms and intense rivalries with? For example, if Srinath has to haul up Rahul Dravid (or in a more unlikely scenario now, Sourav Ganguly) to reprimand or fine or suspend them, will he be able to do it?

Of course, it is not impossible and he may well have the objectivity and mental toughness to handle the tricky moments--- but why create a scenario that could easily have been avoided. A few years down the line, with the clarity of vision that distance from the game as a player will lend, would have been so much more appropriate.

Cricketers from the past generation, such as Dilip Vengsarkar or Shivlal Yadav, both with considerable administrative and management experience would have made better choices at this stage.

Flattering to deceive

During the first test against the mighty Aussies, Bangladesh came so near to creating one of the biggest upsets of recent times; they dominated the test match for close to 2.5 days, but then unfortunately, the game is played over 5 days. So that did not happen. The outcome of the second test was probably never in question but for the prospect of heavy rains that threatened every day in the afternoon.

In the end though, Bangladesh had to be content with -- which they seeemed to take reasonable pride in-- taking both test matches against the Aussies to 5 days.

There is a difference in taking positives out of a bad result in a bid to look forward versus taking being satisfied with a bad result ("It wasn't as bad as we expected it to be" kind of sentiment). Sadly, what came through in the media interviews of Habibul Bashar, the genial Bangladeshi captain was exactly that.

Anyway, the two sides have moved on to the one day games with the indelible memories of that Cardiff shocker still providing the minnows the adrenalin fix if they wanted any. Yet again, Bangladesh had their chances, but in the end it was a familiar story. Bangladesh lacked the firepower to finish Australia off --- and the champions recorded another win, which as those who saw the game will acknowledge wasn't as easy as the scorecard will show.

It is absolutely certain that the team has some good talent in their ranks-- the tiny sparks flare up occasionally to give fleeting glimpses of vast reservoirs of potential. Unfortunately, it seems that they haven't reached that tipping point when all of that potential collectively explodes into results.

I believe it took a very controversial and acrinomious tour of Australia for Sri Lanka to reach that tipping point and begin to be seriously considered in the big league. What will it take Bagladesh to make them learn to win?

Sunny Gavaskar & the British Media

Seems like Sunil Gavaskar and the British media will never make peace. Sunny never misses a chance to take pot shots at the Englishmen -- be it how boring their cricket is or the whinging habits of English cricketers and/or media. Here's the latest as reported on the Quote/Unquote section of Cricinfo.
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"There were snide remarks from the British media about some of the hotels in India, very cleverly forgetting that hotels in places like Durham and Derby or Sussex are pathetic to say the least. At least none of the Indian hotels are known to be haunted as the one in Durham is"
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Wonder how Sunil Gavaskar would have gotten along on air with the Sky Sports commentary team, particularly Nasser Hussain, if he had been part of the commentary team for the recently concluded Eng- India series...

A playing field ?

Mike Hussey is a wonderfully exciting cricketer to watch-- his cricket oozes passion, he is incredibly talented and skillful and all those years of waiting for his turn in the sun seemed to have given him a reasonably good (cricketing) brain. So I was dispappointed when I saw this piece on Cricinfo, which reports that he was irked at knowing the stump microphones were not turned off between deliveries during the 2nd test match between Australia & South Africa.

The implication is that the Aussies would like to continue to say whatever they feel ---things that aren't really suitable for kids to be listening at home. They would rather that the microphones be turned off so that whatever 'chat' goes on in the center is not heard in the broadcasting rooms and from there in the living rooms of the watching public. To justify that a lot of things get said in the center in the heat of passion is absolutely ridiculous -- an odd exchange, an occasional taunt or two, the in-your-face glare etc. are integral to the on-field drama, but for some strange reason, Australian cricketers simply don't seem to know where to draw the line.

Shane Warne's penchant to talk dirty...on the phone..is well documented but can't the rest of the Kangaroos simply not give up talking dirty? They'll probably only learn when the others pay them back in kind and hit them where it hurts most, like a diminutive and affable Carribbean cricketer did to Glenn McGrath a few seasons ago (and unfortunately ---I don't condone whatever happened that day one bit)

The wicket keepers' show..

Just a litre of milk every day. Apparently, that's the secret of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's awesome strength and power (and Ravi Shastri cannot help but ask this question on any occasion that he gets to interview Dhoni). Whatever that secret, we were treated to some fabulous strokeplay (i'm tempted to use the word powerplay here, but now that phrase has entirely different connotations!) today as Dhoni tore apart the Lankan attach.

The sting of those blows left Marvan Atappatu speechless at the presentation ceremony--- he admitted that taking powerplays (as in the new ODI rules) wouldn't have mattered at all. He couldn't be more matter-of-fact than that. 10 sixes -- huge ones at that-- to go with some screaming ground strokes to the fence -- it was an exhibition of brute power.

Dhoni has made a strong statement--- and his general demeanour and attitude on the field (at least what's visible to us on the television screens) seems to indicate that a Test place is not too far away.

Let's not forget the effort of the other wicket keeper in the game today- Kumara Sangakkara. He seems to have really hit a purple patch-- ever since he played for the World XI in the Super Series. His knock was special and on nine days out of ten, he would have ended on the winning side with a knock like that. But then Dhoni decided it was going to be his day.

Interestingly, both wicket keepers were on the field for almost the entire duration of the game (Dhoni came to bat in the 3rd or 4th over, while Sangakkara batted the entire 50 and then kept wickets ). Kudos to both of them.

India almost began this series as undergoes, but after three games, it's the Lankans who are trying desperately to find their bearings. After another mauling today, it remains to be seen how much they will be able to lift themselves up in the next encounter in Pune.

Return of the Tendulkar of yore?

A dominant Team India? It's probably been an age since India recorded such dominating wins against any one other than the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. It's definitely refreshing to see and read about such performances..

But without sounding pessimistic, consistency and complacency have been two of India's worst problems, and the doubt is whether Team India can continue with their winning start..

What is most refereshing to see is the re-emergence of Tendulkar to his old dominating best-- the stroke-filled, aggressive Tendulkar that bowlers feared, rather than just respected. May be the six month break has just rejuvenated Tendulkar; the time away from the game, however painful that may have been, has probably allowed Tendulkar to reflect on his game, how his approach may have changed in the past few years, and what the future has in store for him (in terms of the number of years ahead). His batting that we witnessed in the past 2 games against Sri Lanka seems to be a conscious change brought about by some deep reflection.

To what extent Chappell had a role to play in the visible change of mindset, we don't know yet.

If Tendulkar's come back was much awaited -- and he's come back in emphatic fashion-- the comeback of Ganguly is debatable and contentious. One is not sure how welcome Ganguly will be in that dressing room after all the furore that has been created. Yet, if we were to give the benefit of doubt, let's say Ganguly's time away from mainstream action allows him to regain his silken touch and he makes his second comeback to Team India, will we see the devastating Tendulkar-Ganguly combination, arguably one of the best ever in their peak, back again? Is that worth a try?