Does Sreesanth have a problem or what! If you thought being slapped around by Harbhajan Singh in full view of television cameras was the worst there is, apparently it is not.
Ever since that incident, Sreesanth has been having it bad, this time at the hands of fellow Malayalis it seems. Backstabbing, he calls it, but seems like he has an adjustment problem. Or, could be an attitude problem.
If the entire world is out to get you, then likely the world is not at fault. There could be something wrong with you. Sree maybe should think along those lines and find a solution, instead of expecting the world to stop being nasty.
Meantime, as he sorts out his career woes, here are some alternative things the not-bad-looking cricketer from the land of appams (remember fakeiplplayer’s barb?) and kozhi ishtew could try his hand at.
1. Now that the world is missing the king of pop, Sreesanth, who has paraded his self-taught moves on the floor to a nationwide audience, could maybe start a dance academy beside the backwaters and coach Mallu youth on some mean moves.
2. Open a Malayali restaurant in Mumbai, tap the diasporic youth in the city who suffer missing pangs over barothas and beef fry, and ensure all of us get the best of food God’s Own Country has to offer.
3.Team up with Harbhajan Singh and open a kiosk selling amazing pakodas on Juhu beach. Call it Bhajji on the Beach.
4. Write a bestseller: ‘My experiments with anger management’.
5. Finally, if all fails, go to the Gelf and revive the Sharjah cricket tournament.
Archive for the ‘cricket’ category
What will Sreesanth do now?
June 10th, 2010Sachin vs Dhoni: The debate is over
April 26th, 2010It was keenly anticipated as the clash of Indian cricket’s yesterday and today.
Mumbai Indians’ smooth and clinical progress to the IPL final left no one in doubt that they were the team to beat in the tournament. Chennai Super Kings, on the other hand, had an iffy ride to the semis, making it past teams with an equal number of wins on the back of its superior net run rate. Even in the semis not many fancied their chance against the revived Deccan Chargers, but Dhoni proved that on the day he led a better team. His call of 140 runs being enough to defend proved prophetic.
Sachin Tendulkar, on the other hand, needed no prophecies. The favourite son of Indian cricket, here he was doing what many thought he should have done with the Indian team as well. Not that he was not given a chance; just that he then proved the adage that great batsmen don’t necessarily make for great captains. But with MI, a bunch of talented youngsters, he easily slipped into the role of elder statesman. And given his current form, the captaincy sat lightly on his shoulder – unlike in the first two editions of IPL when it weighed him down.
So the IPL 3 final was all that it was billed to be. Youngistan’s favourite Dhoni vs the record machine SRT. Personally for me, with umbilical links to Chennai and personal links to Mumbai, it was impossible to choose one over the other, all I wanted was a good match, a contest between equals.
Alas, that was not to be. When it came to the crunch, SRT’s team folded up, to the chagrin of thousands of its supporters.
Much has been made about catches winning matches, the point here being that Mumbai lost because they didn’t hold on to their catches, notably of Suresh Raina’s who subsequently went to play a match-winning knock. But that’s only half the story. Mumbai Indians could have still won the day if Sachin the captain had scored over Sachin the batsman.
Dhoni’s claim that 160 was a winnable total on the DY Patil track was open to dispute when MI went on the chase. Sachin the batsman, nursing a split web, was once again in form, playing the sheet anchor to perfection. But it was his captaincy that was in deficit, against Dhoni’s wiles. Anyone could see that it was a crime to send Abhishek Nair first and then Harbhajan ahead of inform bats like Rayudu and Tiwari. Even children watching the telly on the giant screen in my complex were asking for Pollard to be sent up higher, but no, for some strange reason Sachin didn’t/couldn’t make the right call. The match, which was evenly poised at MI’s halfway mark, floundered soon after, as Dhoni had anticipated.
In the post-match conversatsion, Sachin credited Chennai with playing better cricket on the day; that was only half the story. The untold part was that Dhoni played a better captain than Tendulkar.
Which, for those of us not a part of Youngistan, was the real tragedy.
Shashi Tharoor, the eternal outsider
April 19th, 2010When I had started writing for rediff.com many moons ago before coming on board, the column was called The Outsider. That description, I posit, qualities me eminently to write about Shashi Tharoor’s brief stint in the Union council – where, and in politics, he remains the eternal outsider.
If Tharoor’s meteoric rise in politics owes to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his fall from grace too can be attributed equally to the limitations of Dr Singh’s politics.
It is no secret that Dr Singh is no politician. Not for him the hurly-burly of politics. A technocrat, he is at home among like souls. Tharoor is an extension of his persona, so it can be no coincidence that they both have their base in the New, Emerging India. One is an architect of this
I do not know Tharoor, and have never met him. Heck, I am not even among the lakhs of his Twitter followers. So my opinion about him is formed entirely through what I have seen, read and heard about him, helped by some cogitation.
Put yourself in his place. You are born with the proverbial silver spoon, are reasonably young (at least in politics), you have had a good run in the UN (bar that last election), are an intellectual among a bunch of (largely) unread folk, you win your first-ever election from a constituency where not many gave you a chance and that too by a huge margin, are made MoS in an important ministry (how many first-time MPs get this!). It is understandable, perhaps even natural, if all this goes to your head and you think you’ve arrived.
Unlike other politicians, you have also discovered the joys of communicating directly with the people (never mind they won’t vote for you) via Twitter (that great tool of the socially inept), your quips lapped up by a media constituted by people like you.
The tragedy for Tharoor, alas, is that in all this adulation and backrubbing, he forgot the first lesson of politics. Choose your mentor carefully.
Dr Singh, unfortunately for Tharoor, can promise a lot but is hardly in a position to deliver when the chips are down. More importantly, he may have a line to 10, Janpath, but he doesn’t speak for it. Sonia Gandhi, the politician, makes up her own mind, and Tharoor’s exit from the Union Council shows who calls the shots.
Given that the battle that claimed him originated on Twitter, Tharoor can be said to be the first online victim in Indian politics. In all the previous controversies that enmeshed him, he could tweet his out of trouble but not this time – and it is not merely because he was confronted by another tweeter, for the first time in his brief political career.
Tharoor can be forgiven for thinking that the battle would be decided on Twitter, and it would go in his favour given his humongous follower base. Alas, he overlooked another important lesson in politics: always, always choose your arena. While Tharoor was waging war on Twitter, the fight was really on IPL.
I still can’t figure out how IPL Kochi will benefit cricket in football-crazy, infrastructure-starved Kerala, neither can most other people. But still, for Tharoor to cite its benefit for the state as reason for his involvement is nothing but political spin, and he has shown that he may be a newbie in politics but he is a quick learner.
But Lalit Modi’s spin – that IPL is not about cricket alone – is spot on. Nor is it about entertainment. It is actually about money. And that’s the banana skin on which Tharoor slipped. If I were to guess what happened – mind you, it is only a guess – someone somewhere powerful did not get what was due to him/her. Which is fine, but when it was found that Tharoor’s friend could benefit to the tune of Rs 70 crores, let’s just say the excreta hit the pankha.
But still, Tharoor is lucky. If the same drama were to be enacted in another realm, say, real estate, he would have paid with his life; here he has only lost his job, and anyway it is not as if he really needs that money. The temporary loss in employment should leave him with lots of time during which he can rediscover his first love, tweeting, which had suffered grievously of late.
When the Twitterati clash, everyone has fun
April 13th, 2010In the red corner, Lalit K Modi, sultan of the cricket board who is accountable to no one, who has made the BCCI rich beyond comprehension by his league-ification of cricket and who wears his shady past on his sleeve. Active Twitterer, to boot.
In the blue corner, Shashi Tharoor, first-time MP, long-time diplomat who today bosses over his former colleagues as MoS in the EAM, and motormouth par excellence, on Twitter and off it. Appears to have the backing of his party bosses.
That last line, in fact, has saved him the blushes on previous occasions when he has spoken more than he ought to have.
But whether it will now, in this clash of the titans, is anybody’s guess. My own take is that with the latest row he has outreached himself. Sonia Gandhi won’t be blamed if she thinks her ministers need to be seen working, and not heard.
A brief recap of the dispute as I understand it. Of the two new teams joining the IPL fray, more than Sahara India’s bid it was Team Kochi’s entry that took everyone by surprise, and mentored by no less than Tharoor who all through strenuously denied any personal involvement or stake.
The first whiff of trouble started with Modi’s scrutiny of the franchisees’ shareholding pattern. On Saturday, when he was meeting with the fronting shareholders, he received a pressure call from Tharoor, he said, asking him not to seek too many details. Today, Tharoor issued a press release where he did not deny the call, only that it was a pressure call, and said Modi tried to get the winning consortium to abandon their bid for Team Kochi.
The details of the shareholding pattern, put out by Modi, showed that among those given a free tranche by a stake-holder was one Dubai-based Sunanda Pushkar, who has been described in the media as the next Mrs Shashi Tharoor. The MoS has not so far described the relationship, apart from saying he knows her well, although Shobhaa De has described her, on Twitter again, as his next bride.
Since the row began, Twitterdom has been abuzz as both the dramatic personae are big on the microblogging site. On one side is an indignant Kerala lobby aghast that their dream team (never mind there’s very little Kerala in Team Kochi, as is true of most other IPL teams) is being impugned, a lobby that is holding up Tharoor as state icon, and running down Modi’s past involvement with drugs and sentencing for the same.
On the other side is the rest of the world for whom any hint of
In all the brouhaha, a few issues I think need to be clarified.
One, was the IPL commissioner going beyond his brief by asking for Team Kochi franchisees’ details? No, he was not. That he did not ask similar details from other franchisees is no defence, it is at best an excuse to hide something when you have been caught. ‘I did it, but so did he’ may have worked in school, but not in life.
Two, raking in previously-known details from Lalit Modi’s past is nothing but a cheap example of suppressio veri, suggestio falsi. The BCCI which appointed him to the post was fully cognisant of his life. If you think he is unfit to hold the post, take it up with the authorities, go to the court. But don’t use his background to defend yourself. ‘How can such a man question my credentials?’ as an argument doesn’t wash.
Three, and most important, full disclosure always helps. Especially in politics, Mr Tharoor to please note, and well before the facts come out, not after. He would have done his case, and of the team he has been mentoring, a world of good had he volunteered any ‘personal’ information before Modi had to prise it out. And now that the facts are out, not be recalcitrant; a simple mea culpa would sort out things.
To twist around what we were taught 25 years ago, news is what someone somewhere wants to keep out – of Twitter and traditional media; everything else is advertisement.
Chennai Super Kings miss the X factor
March 29th, 2010With seven more matches to go in the IPL3’s league phase, the Chennai Super Kings’s chance of making it to the semis is not all over yet. Though, to edge out other teams in the fray it will have to put up a far superior show than what it has done in the last couple of matches.
Ah well, since I back two teams – Chennai and Mumbai – at the IPL, for my janmabhoomi and karmabhoomi respectively, and given that one of them seems good enough to seal its place in the semis and even to go the distance and lift the cup, I shouldn’t complain if CSK doesn’t make it. In the previous two editions too, only one of my two teams – Chennai, though – looked good.
Still, Chennai’s misfortunes hurt. Obviously M S Dhoni’s absence hurt the team badly in some matches, but when I see CSK’s performance since his return, both against Mumbai Indians and against Rajasthan Royals yesterday, it’s clear the team is missing the X factor. Sure, nothing could have helped Chennai when Sachin plays one of his innings as he did that day, but the defeat against Punjab XI in extra time and to Royals on Sunday was avoidable.
Saurav Ganguly’s team too missed the X factor and he had spoken about it in one of his post-defeat addresses but Kolkata seems to have picked itself up from the bootstraps since. Will they make it to the semis?
At the half-way point it is still all up in the air, that’s the beauty of this game, but if I were to stick out my neck and choose the four teams for the semis here they are:
Chennai Super Kings
Mumbai Indians
Rajasthan Royals
Kolkata Knight Riders
And I predict that the final will be between Rajasthan and Mumbai, with Mumbai taking the cup.
Given my ‘impressive’ record in predicting election outcomes, about which much has been written and commented, have I issued these four teams the kiss of death or will my prediction come true?
Well, I have put my money where my mouth is, if you have another viewpoint feel free to express it!
Future generations will wonder if such a man really played cricket
February 25th, 2010
Is Sachin Tendulkar about talent? Yes, he is, but he is not about talent alone. If talent were the sole yardstick, Vinod Kambli showed in the early days that he lacked none of it.
Is ST then about staying power? Yes, he is, but he is not about staying power alone. Even Kapil Dev stayed on and on, squeaking and grunting till he got to the world record, so it is not the same thing.
Is Tendulkar then about technique? Yes he is, but
Could Tendulkar be about single-minded focus? Sure he is about focus, but focus alone doesn’t make for his game.
Perhaps he is about dignity? Yes, Sachin is about dignity, especially under pressure, but he is not just about dignity.
A cool head, maybe? Passion?
If you carefully study Sachin Tendulkar’s game, you will see that he is a combination of all these factors, and that’s what makes him a player like none else.
I have not seen the legendary Don Bradman play, but if those who have say Sachin is the closest to him in play then it must be true. But I, like millions of Indians, have had the privilege to follow another great Indian batsman, Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, and I am glad if anyone had to overhaul what seemed to my generation Sunny’s amazing feats with the bat it’s Sachin.
Both are very similar. In fact, the criterion I mentioned above all hold true for Sunny as well. And like Sachin, Sunny too was clear in his head that a person who had accumulated broken records like him had to go out on a high, making people ask, ‘Oh, why did he quit?’ and not, ‘Oh, when will he quit?’
A few years ago when it seemed that Sachin’s flesh may not support his spirit’s zeal for the game, the knives were out. Some were out openly, while some were couched in good intentions. After initial rebuttals, Sachin decided to let his bat do all the talking. And just see how the bat has been doing the talking these last few months.
The purple patch he seems to have hit at an age when other batsmen would hang up their boots is testimony to his determination to live up to his word. Sachin Tendulkar will not be a passenger in the team, he will not rest on his vast bank of laurels, he will not wait for the clamour to get out.
On the contrary, he will go out on his terms, when he knows his body is beyond his control, and he will go out on a high. That’s the message he sent out from
As for me, who holds the 12 photographs that has us both in the same frame very dear (you can see them here), I am hoping he stays in the zone till next year’s world cup. What can give Sachin Tendulkar a bigger high than bringing it home after 28 years! What else can befit such an amazing sportsman!
Genetically Modi-fied IPL
February 9th, 2010It is very clear that Lalit Modi wants to tighten the screws on the media’s coverage of IPL till a time when you won’t find any coverage of it on any media in any form. If you want to know about the matches you will have to either catch them in the stadium or on TV. Otherwise IPL won’t exist for you.
Since the IPL is a purely commercial venture, Modi and his men are driven by the thought of the media minting money through sponsorships etc of its coverage of the tournament and want a share in the pie. I am surprised that Sharad Pawar, who met Bal Thackeray in an effort, he says, to stave off any disruption of the IPL, still has not what the restrictions on the media will do to the tournament.
For the record, here are the latest media guidelines:
1.
1.
(a) they appear as still images (and not as moving images to emulate broadcast);
(b) the still images are published as captured or with adaptation but without deliberately removing, replacing or obscuring any logo of a sponsor of the DLF IPL, a team, a player or at the Match venue;
(c) the still images are used only for bona fide editorial purposes and are not used for any Commercial Purpose (as defined below);
(i) in printed newspapers, sports-related magazines, Bona Fide News Magazines (as defined below) or other magazines with the prior written approval of DLF IPL; and/or
(ii) on a Website (as defined below) provided that such Website is not updated with any photographs (including, for the avoidance of doubt, photographs transmitted from the Match venue by any other employee or agent of the Accredited Party’s employer and/or principal) more than fifteen (15) times per hour (with a reasonable number of photographs displayed at any one time) during play on any one day of any Match.
4.
any calendar;
packaging;
collector cards;
posters;
stickers;
pop-up, stand-up or other cards;
competitions;
recordings;
videos and films;
advertisements, promotional and point-of-sale material;
games (including computer games);
software;
avatars;
merchandise; or
on Websites (other than as provided under these Terms).
(a) promotions or any promotional materials (other than the promotion of editorial coverage of cricket matches and/or series in newspapers, magazines and broadcast and other editorial service, and point-of-sale promotion for such coverage as long as such point-of-sale promotional materials are not sold or distributed to members of the public and provided always that such promotional activity shall not be conducted through mobile devices);
(b) advertising (including advertorials); or
(c) merchandising purposes, including all the activities listed in clause 5 above, as well as animations, avatars and invitations; or
(d) subject to these Terms, any use that generates financial value to the person or organisation using the content solely as a result of such use;
(e) any use that in any manner that suggests an endorsement by or sponsorship of DLF IPL, any team participating in the DLF IPL or any member of a participating team; or
(f) any use in connection with any third party or in any manner promoting or being associated with any third party,
each of the above shall be defined as “Commercial Use”.
Guidelines for News Access of DLF IPL footage (”Guidelines”)
These Guidelines are solely for News Broadcasters registered under the category of “News and Current Affairs” channels under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s “Downlinking Guidelines” (“News Broadcasters”) and are not applicable to other channels including in particular Sports Channels or Sports News/Programmes on Sports Channels.
News Broadcasters may use footage from sporting events telecast live by SET MAX the DLF IPL official broadcaster (”Official Broadcaster”) without payment to the Official Broadcaster, within the following parameters:
(a) the use of archival footage is limited for news purposes and will not be used for any non news or commercial purpose, including by way of special programming created for the purpose of and centered around any match;
(b) News Broadcasters may have normal ad breaks during the news transmission that uses the DLF IPL archival clips / footage in accordance with these terms, and
(c) use of archival clips may be permitted up to a maximum of two (2) clips of 30 seconds each (i.e., not more than 60 seconds per day) for news coverage till the 2011 IPL season.
- whose business solely concerns the provision of news to the public (and not “market/consumer/product/service information” e.g. computer/gaming magazines, travel magazines, contract publishing magazines, food and wine magazines, telecommunications/IT magazines, financial services magazines, pornographic magazines etc); and
- no part of that magazine’s business involves the sale, distribution or supply of any goods or services other than the provision of news to the public (and associated advertising placed alongside that news); and
- that does not promote itself as a magazine containing pornographic, obscene or immoral content.
A Bona Fide News Media Website means a Website:
- that is owned (directly and indirectly), run and managed by an organisation whose primary business solely concerns the provision of news to the public; and
- no material part of that organisation’s business involves the sale, distribution or supply of any goods or services other than the provision of news to the public (and associated advertising placed alongside that news); and
- that does not promote itself as a Website containing pornographic, obscene or immoral content.
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