Time for The Master to go?

I read today that Ponting was dropped from the team for poor performance in last five ODIs. In a very light hearted manner, in a sense trying to mock at it, I decided to share that to my wider virtual, social network. One of my friends commented,

something to be sad bout .... people are calling for sachin's odi retirement as well .... all news channels debating this ..... wats ur call on it ???

And this is not the first time I am hearing this question. This is not the first time people are discussing it.

In recent past, I have read quite a lot about Sachin, his form, the 100th century, etc. Read a lot of advices from the Whos and Whos and the Huh? Who The Hell Are Yous of Cricket. Well some (read very few) think he should go on, the majority wants him to retire.

I find it very funny and annoying at the same time. You may now begin to feel that I am biased, but let me make it very clear, though I am a big fan of his like you and the person sitting next to you, at the same time I do try to talk sensibly at times. People who know my obsession for Sachin well enough, also know that I have been very critical too.

Anyways, let me come back to what I intended to discuss - my views, my answer to if Sachin should retire.

Of Course, he should, he has to, there is no other choice. He is a human and the law of nature dictates he age and wear out. This should ideally and most probably will have a direct impact on his performance. He has to definitely retire. 

The worth of that question doesn't lie in the 'if', it does in the 'when'. So as I said earlier, majority of those who can and cannot spell Sachin Tendulkar correctly are of the opinion that he should retire now. There could be quite a few possibilities for their opinion

1. They might be hopeful of getting a chance to play for the country in his place.

2. They are relatives of an upcoming, hard working cricketer.

3. They are totally jealous.

4. They may have retired earlier and so they want to have the esteemed company of The Master.

5. They think that him continuing is not good for the team.

6. They think he is doing bad for the team.

7. They are saying just because everyone is saying - the spirit of togetherness!

8. They want him to score 100th 100 which he has not been able to for quite some time.

Of the 8 points above, I am the most concerned about 5th and 6th because all others are possible reasons whereas these two are allegations.

So for all those who want Sachin to retire now because of any reason other than the 5th and 6th point, well, Sir, I respect your opinion, you are entitled to have one, just that I disagree with yours.

I personally think that Sachin should retire when either

1. He thinks he should retire, or

2. When we are sure that he is the worst in the lot and there are 11 others who can perform better than him and also have the confidence of doing the same.

and not when you or me sit with a group of friends watching a match and coach each and every player on each and every ball via satellites using shouting in front of a TV as the starting point.

I would want each one of us including the cricket legends to answer honestly, if we are being too harsh on him maybe just because our team as a whole is taking a beating? No? Do you really think Tendulkar retiring now will change it? Aren't we expecting more than what one single person in a team of 11 is capable of? He has not been amongst the runs as much as we would have expected to be for quite some time, but then what has Sehwag done in this series? What have the "youngsters" in the form of Raina or Rohit Sharma done in the current ODI series?

Do we suddenly think that none of these three also have any talent or caliber?

Let us go a bit in recent past and then a little more. There has been an axe on the neck of other 2 men that define Indian Cricket, moreso, The Cricket, Test Cricket - Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. We think these people should retire now too. Why? Because they did not perform as expected in Australia, India was white washed. 

This same Dravid was being seen as a HERO when he was the only one who stood tall, as always like a wall in England. I clearly remember that one image of the scorecard doing rounds everywhere on the social network that showed Dravid opening the innings for India in some test match and then going on to play even with number 11. We now want this same Dravid to retire because of not being able to perform in the very next series.

Oh Come On! Be Realistic. Don't just say a 2 digit number, their age, is reason enough to make them retire. Appreciate the experience that comes along and what it has translated into - Class!

The point I make here is that just because Sachin similarly has not been amongst the runs or let me put it bluntly, hasn't been able to score the 100th century you all are looking forward to doesn't mean he should retire now. Sachin, at present, is clearly not the "worst of the lot" and neither do we surely have 11 players who we can be confident, will perform better than if we were to give one of those 11 spots to Tendulkar. Scenario 2 thus, should rest in peace.

Let me discuss a little more about the magical figure of 100 * 100. Oh, surely you ought to be obsessed with that figure as it has that single numeral that we Indians discovered, four times out there! Also, the symmetry. That is it. There is nothing else magical about that figure. A 99 centuries is no less an achievement than if he scores another one. Besides it is stupid to add up number of centuries scored in two very different forms of cricket. If you continue adding up like this, I am sure he must have scored a 1000, 99 in international cricket, some in Ranjis, some in school, some in a hostel, some in the gully in front of the house, who knows, maybe some in book cricket? Also, add to it the centuries that he has made in the games that we were playing sitting on our couch, controlling a character with his name via a remote control.

In a nutshell, I say, the obsession with 100 centuries is stupid.

We don't need it, we just want it. More badly than anyone else. And unfortunately, he hasn't been able to deliver what we "want" and so maybe he should retire now. Yeah right!

I agree to one of the points I read in some other post, that post the world cup last year, he is playing ODIs once again, and him choosing to play some and let go of some others. Well I agree, it is not the best thing to do. But at the same time I also feel that maybe the pressure and the hype of the figure I just called 'magical' (because that is what you think of it) has indeed taken a toll on him and maybe, I say maybe he just wants to fast forward from 99 to 101. I may have sounded totally senseless, but then I think it could be, it could be the case. The reasons are best known to him and the team management though.

In the end, a request. Everybody, please leave him alone, we all know what he has done for us and the country, we all know what he is capable of, we all can accept he knows himself the best. Let him decide when he has to retire, because in any other possibility, you have no logical explanation to make him retire now, like in next 5 minutes. Why can't we appreciate that perhaps is presence helps in grooming the youngsters better?

Just because he has not been able to deliver on your expectations, doesn't mean he should go. Go Now. No.

He is talent enabled by sheer hard work topped with confidence personified in a human packaged all over with class. See him, appreciate him, forgive him and for now, leave him!

Sad demise of Indian Cricket?

We are the Champions?

The World Champions?

Also, one of the best Test Teams in the world?

Is it? Obviously Yes! We are. But is it true only for our soil?

Do we fail anywhere outside? Do we fail miserably in our 'tests' on foreign soil?

It hasn't really been the case to this extreme until the recent past.

I was very disappointed when my team, which made me and every Indian proud by lifting The World Cup last year after 28 yrs, was thrashed and could do nothing but submit in England. There is anyways some not-so-soft-corner somewhere inside me for the English, for they ruled us and did what not (according to the History Books I studied in school). And whatever happened in England last year hurt me deep inside.

I was so eagerly waiting to see my favourtie cricketer, The God of Cricket, The Sachin Tendulkar to score The Special Century right there, at The Mecca of Cricket, The Lord's. Sadly, that didn't happen. I told myself, if not first, then it will be in second innings, and likewise, if not this match, then the next. The wait just continued. In any case, I agree, it is just a number. But I still wanted it in Lord's, his first there, if it would have been.

Nonetheless, it is OK, that it did not happen. But what really bruised me was our dismal batting performance. The Batting performance of The Team with not only a strong batting lineup, but applaudable bench strength as well (possibly for the first time ever since I have started watching cricket). And to rub it in, was the constantly publicised, omnipresent fact, that my team had failed to score more than 300 even once! One man stood tall, The Wall, but all he could see from the other end, was one after the other wicket fall.

All over Facebook, Twitter, News Channels, News Papers, and Real World almost everyone was criticising almost everything about my team but honestly, I still believed that they would do better in the next innings and the next, maybe the next after next but that did not happen. This sad chapter is still lying inside me in a corner that I did not wish to visit anymore.

Sadly, I did today. What made me do that is perhaps a pessimist view of the near future when, hope-not, we fail that bad or even worse, again. Everything now seems to be exactly the same - My expectation of The Master to score The Special Century at the MCG, then if not in first innings then maybe the next, then maybe the next match, and here I stand in the present. Another batting collapse in the first innings at the SCG, where The Cricket God averaged 221 before this match (making me all the more excited in anticipation of witnessing history being written).

You ask me again, and I will again say, it is not the failure to reach that magical figure by The Sachin that is bothering me. I will be brutally honest, it is what is happening, the collapse. OK, I can accept Sehwag doing only what he has managed to do, I can accept Gambhir going through a bad phase perhaps, but it is very very hard for me to hear, see, digest the failure of The Wall and The Very Very Special Man in Australia.

How are we managing a batting collapse yet again? Bad pitch, unfavourable conditions maybe, but then how does one of the weakest Australian side in 15 years pile up runs on the scorecard, that including a century and a maiden test double hundred. It is frustrating, upsetting, disappointing to say the least.

Well of course, there are positives that even I see in this series like our Captain always does. For one, The Master looks in good touch. And then, Ashwin knows how to use the bat.

But isn't it time to seek answers to reasons for failure overseas and do something about it, rather than just keep "looking at positives" and "not being bothered about a loss or two". Of course, I believe my team is already doing that and are perhaps also trying out things but after seeing today's play there are bad visuals haunting me.

Someone like Ponting who was going through, perhaps, the worst phase of his batting career quite recently, is standing strong, playing better and better and better in every knock, while I sit and see The Wall not having reached even 100 in the 3 innings and The Laxman who has a history of giving sleepless nights to all Australians, having played a prank on them thrice, scoring a total of 5 in this series till date.

I hate myself today for even accepting that we are good, perhaps the best, only on our soil and that I accept defeat already. "Hate" because, after all I should support my country, patriotism, etc. But then, of course this is the outcome of what has happened since the England Tour. It is the heart vs. mind game, wherein my heart overruled all that my mind said during the England series. Of course, the outcome of that series has subdued my heart to an extent that it is not even contesting and standing up against what my mind is saying now.

And now for the icing on the cake (read: rubbing salt into wounds), one of my friends who is in Australia gave me an account of what he is going through - being mocked at on the streets. Not only this, he says, at times when he calls up his manager at work to say "application is down" he gets a reply saying "wall is down.. so is tendulkar" (sic).

Sigh, let me try and end this frustration and disappointment initiated chain reaction of blabbering with my Heartadramus prediction - The Heroes will Rise, it will get better, this match ends in a draw and it improves exponentially from there on.

Sorry to break it for your hearts, I am laughing at what I wrote in the last line. We are all set to lose this one.

And yes, maybe I am taking all this too seriously and making a big deal out of this, but well if you don't, I am sorry you wasted your time reading this, it wasn't for you.

HT Summit - Rahul Dravid & Michael Vaughan : Control Agents

So here comes the 250th post on this blog.

I was following the summit to some extent and but to my bad luck missed listening to two great stalwarts of test cricket Rahul Dravid and Michale Vaughan. It was different look all suited up with many sportsman in the audience also including gold medalist Rahul Bindra.

They both expressed their concern in the growing commercialization of twenty20 and danger of test cricket loosing its identity. Vaughan was the first to start and he said that there is a need to modify the rules of the test cricket so that its supremacy can be preserved.

"Youngsters these days are more committed to Twenty20, I feel," Vaughan said.

Dravid was not concerned about the present generation regarding the twenty20 cricket as he said we all have grown up watching test matches so deep in our hearts we know this is real cricket but the worry is about the coming generations say 4-5 years down the line.

Dravid said that

There'll be many choices and it'll be interesting to see youngsters' choices and decisions then. That is why the decisions we take now will tell the fate of Test cricket in years to come,"

Dravid also raised the point of growing role of agents or scouts in cricket. He said that though most companies help a player concentrate on his game, but influence of some unscrupulous ones needs to be checked.
He said we need to do something on the patterns of English premier league so that youngsters are not brought into the commercial cricket at very young age and that may divert their area of focus.

In the end dravid praised Bindra for being so level headed in victory which every one should learn.

Dravid quotes-

While everybody was going berserk, when the interviewer asked you why aren't you more excited by your achievement, you merely said, 'what's to get excited about. I was excited when I shot the gold.' That was so right, you made us all proud."

I enjoyed listening to great people from Sanjay dutt to Dravid.

Fab 5 of Indian Cricket

I started watching cricket during the 92 world cup and right now i have very hazy memories of those years. Those were the days of Jim Courier, Agassi and Sampras was also rising fast. I grew with watching Sidhu hitting sixes and watching Venkatpati raju and kumble bowling in tandem. Just like any other Indian sachin became my favorite and when the 96 world cup came in our subcontinent I was 12 years old and I keenly followed the cup which gave many famous moments ranging from jadeja firing on all cylinders and kambli and raju crying in the semi finals at eden gardens. Those were the days of agression of Venkatesh Prasad and Abhey Kuruvilla if you guys remember.

India was opening up as in liberalizing it self after the debacle in the 91 and confidence was coming in the Indians also. But on cricket field the aggression was not much aggression was only
visible when a team player was scolded by another member for misfield.

Then one day at lords the mecca of cricket rose two stars Ganguly and Dada. One very aggressive and other composed. They joined my list of fav players gradually which already contained Kumble and Sachin and Sidhu also.

I have grown up watching Sachin, Saurav , Dravid , Kumble and Laxman and they all are my heroes. I relate to these players more compared to Kapil Dev to whom our fathers relate as a fighter who won us the cup in 83.


To be very frank from the fab 5 my favorite is dada for various reasons. Sachin is sachin he is so perfect making mistakes seldomly , he is god gifted but saurav is like common people, life is full of ups and downs.

He is my idol he inspires me that one can achieve what he dreams of, and even when you are hit it you have confidence in you your time will came and he came back after being kicked out . I remember many arguments I had with non dada supporters regarding his form. My moron friends said that dada only hit centuries against weaker nations like bangladesh and kenya , we defended it by saying that many players take these teams casually and give away their wickets so its an art to hit century agianst weaker cricketing nations also :) .


All of these fab five have given a one memorable moment which we all will remember througout our lives :

Laxman the historic 281 in the famour follow on test. The test which gave us the Indians the
confidence that any thing is possible if you dream.

Kumble bowling with plaster on his head a spirit of a fighter man which inspires many Indians like me is saying never say die.

Ganguly two events shirt waving in lords signalling to the world that we have come and we are not even afraid of our collonial rulers and we are ready to give a fitting reply to any one be it
Australia or England. Another was famous century in Adelaide which gave india the confidence that we can win in Australia. We went on to draw the series 1-1.

Dravid the wall has given us famous double century in Australia in Adelaide where he made 233
highest oversees score by an Indian and gave india a famous win. 270 in Pakistan and many more double centuries. The Wall saved India many times and is truly mr dependable.

Sachin the legend from Perth to Sharjah to thrashing of Shoaib Akhtar list is endless and words are less to define such a genius player.


Perhaps with these players the era of long careers in cricket will end also as 18-20 years long careers in cricket will be hard to imagine now.

The Lord of off will be missed by all of us. 2 stalwarts have gone and now 3 are left and its hard to imagine of a day when we 20-30 years fans will watch the game without these icons who changed the way cricket is being loved in India.








But the big questions is will we be able to watch cricket?. Ya life moves on and great people come and go.

How strange is it that without touching us how much they affect our lives and leave a big mark on our hearts.

Captain Saga

Rumors are rife in the market regarding Sachin being made the test captain and dhoni the ODI captain. Captaining the Indian cricket team is one of the toughest job in the world because of the pressure it brings with it.
Dravid has resigned and I respect his decision a lot, infact it is a good slap on the mismanaged BCCI. They might have kicked him after a year or two, so a good decision time for him to enjoy his game and try to win the series downunder.

So now what options we have

Saurav Ganguly : Both for ODI and Test
Pros : One of the most successful captain of India
Very aggressive
Experienced

Cons: Captaincy can effect his form
Fielding
Doesn't have the respect from the players which was there 3-4 years earlier

Should say no for captaincy if offered and let his record of most successful captain stay intact


Sachin:

Pros: Has huge respect from the team
Experienced
Can lead from front with his fine batting

Cons: Past 2 failures

He has said no to the ODI captaincy but I think he is ready for Tests captaincy. In the past 2 occasions this role affected his batting, he should not take the role of captain and with the last tour of Australia of all the three stalwarts he should try to end on a winning note i.e a series victory in Australia.

Kumble : For Tests

Pros: Real Fighter bigger then the above three you all will agree
Team man
Has not been given his due for the services he has done for the Indian cricket

Cons : I don't find any

Kumble should be made the Test captain in my opinion

Laxman can be the dark horse but his batting form is a big drawback

Now ODIs'

Dhoni :

Pros: Age .. can lead India for the coming 6-7 years

Cons: Inexperience (though Smith was also made when he was 21)
His batting (I doubt he can win matches for India outside India)

Yuvraj:

Pros: Age
Batting.. for the past 1.5 years he has shown fine batting display so can lead from front
Aggressive

Cons: Not a permanent player in test side ... but we should understand that when the stalwarts
will retire he will be the backbone of India in Test cricket

I am not able to understand why his name is not being considered



Yuvraj for ODI and Kumble for Tests from my side

Share your views ...



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Hooo Haaaaawwwwwww :O Indiaaaa :'(

Being a whole-hearted India fan, yesterday night was very disappointing for me as was for many other fans like me. I don't want to say much about what happened yesterday because it makes me even more upset. When I browsed through the gallery at cricinfo.com today I recalled all the moments during the match, that made me happy and then left me disappointed. I would not say much and would let the pictures do the talking. All pictures I put on here focus on the Indian Cricket Team. Before we begin, I would like to say two things that come into my mind after yesterdays match :
1.) India did not deserve to go into the next round of the World Cup (something that Rahul Dravid accepts)

We did not play well in this tournament and did not deserve to go into the second round.

(Read this for what else he had to say.)

2.) I think Sachin Tendulkar should retire just as Shane Warne did at the peak of his career. I am and have been his fan since I have started watching cricket, but with all due respects to Sachin...Its Time..

Thats all I wanted to say, lets look at the pictures now.

FANS (Before)

GOOD START

AND THEN

LAST MAN STANDING

FANS (After)

And that is the end of the Innings.. :(

For all the optimistic India fans, yes right India still have a chance of going into the SUPER 8 stage if Bermuda beats Bangladesh. India's future in the tournament will be decided by other two teams because all that was in our control we let it slip through. :P

All the best INDIA. Once again HOO HAA INDIA...

Image Source : cricinfo

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Its Prayer Time...!!!

No pre-match discussions, no predictions, no prophecies, its time to pray
Let us pray so that we don't become Sri Lankan Lion's prey;

A prayer from heart is what they say, will help the Men in Blue save,
but don't let the prayer be too strong,
as the Blue may become darker and the colour a lil wrong;

The last one for Dada, Dravid and Tendulkar,
the first one for Dhoni and Pathan,
Let all the firsts lasts and middles go on,
Not tumble upon and fly back home so torn;

Somehow I feel the prayer will succeed, as will our team,
but we are habituated to hiccups and our team to indigestion,
even if they win it will be surreal and even if they loose it will be quite away from real;

But still let come together and Pray,
as I, we and everyone from India doesn't want this to end up as a messed up fray.

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