Three Cheers for Cheer Ladies!

In one of HT's supplements today, one saw Kareena Kapoor (hogging one full page) wearing nothing more than what some much more gorgeous Cheer Ladies have been wearing at most venues of the IPL

Wonder what the Moral brigade, which is after the lives and livelihood of the IPL cheer ladies, has to say on the Tassan ad.

Just seeing the juicy supplements of various newspapers (still considered the bastion of media conservatism and noble values) will provide with much more voyeuristic masala than all the antics strung together by the ladies flown in from many parts of the globe.

Hence, one can only describe as pathetic the attempt to take out cheer ladies from the IPL venues. Probably camera angles make them look vulgar at times, but how they are to be blamed for that. Having cameras focus more on their face, and some long shots will do the trick.

IPL is a combination of star power, glamour, and cricket, with cricket taking precedence but star power and glamour not too far behind. Those who do not like it, can simply switch off their TV sets and go for their routine Tests and ODIs. But first, they also need to instruct their newspaper wallah not to give daily supplements, which often has starlets wearing far less than what we have seen in various matches.

As far as politicians are concerned, this moral conservatism looks nothing more than opportunism to settle some political scores.

Cricket's biggest revolution!

Having watched the IPL for last one week, I am getting more and more convinced that future belongs to this version only. Reasons why IPL will be a hit in India, and further promote twenty20 worldwide are.

1) Slam bang is the approach in today’s modern life and the format slips in really well. Then, one does not have to miss office or school to make it to the ground in time.

2) A three-nation tournament (one match against each team followed by the final) can start on Saturday Morning and end on Sunday evening.

3) If TRPs for the initial part of the IPL are indeed what TAM is making us believe, it seems the men are finally getting control of the remote even when mega K serials are on. However, if ladies too are chiping in along with cartoon-crazy kids to see the matches, that shows the real triumph of the format.

4) It provides a unique level playing field. Countries like Holland, Scotland etc will have near equal chance of beating some of the middle level teams. Just one good knock can make such a big difference as shown by some of the IPL matches. It will help promote the game globally as time consumed will be less that two football matches one after another.

5) The Indians are mad only for fours and sixes. One glaring example is that they are not prepared to accept a pitch like the one at Eden, which produced one of the most thrilling low scoring matches. The format provides massive hits in abundance.

6) Like in movies where quintessential villain changing his profile and helping heros at times draws biggest applause (Amjad Khan in Love Story or Pran in Zanzeer), in cricket seeing the Pakistanis and the Australians helping out Indians, and celebrating along with them is a real boost to the sport, and the relationships.

So IPL has unleashed a monster for the other versions, but a messiah for the have nots of cricket. It has shown that twenty20 is the most viewer friendly format ever produced.

Mahanama's Pathetic Show!

To the millions of meek, pliant and spineless character which inhibit this world, there is one more addition – Roshan Mahanama.

Why blame the ICC? As long as there are people like Mahanama to serve its interests in safeguarding the supremacy of a chosen few, it will get away with anything it wants.

Match referee Mahanama’s comments (in his report to the ICC) on a ‘substandard’ Kanpur pitch are all the more disturbing as he belongs to a country (Sri Lanka), which has won most of its battles on tailor-made home tracks with the help of Murali. Imagine the state of Lanka cricket (their win-loss record) if they had to deal with bouncy tracks at homes as well.

Probably Mahanama has forgotten that on a ‘substandard, under prepared pitch’ South Africa had upper hand on most of the first two days and but for a fighting last wicket stand in India’s 1st innings, the eventual outcome could well have been different.

Even on a so called ‘perfect pitch’ of Ahmedabad, the match was over in three days. Then why blame the pitch at Nagpur? Playing on an under prepared track too requires a different kind of skills, which South Africans lacked in the end. Period.

It must be understood by all and sundry that preparing same kind of tracks will take away the home advantage and make the game very dull. It will take the fun out of the game. Imagine a world where all women were blonde! But people like Mahanama, with their playing careers over and refereeing at the mercy of ICC, will forget all that for a cosy job and some quick bucks.

Existential Dilemma (From my other blog spiritualsolace.blogspot.com

To understand the nature of this world is really tough. So our response to it is often confused and varied. Sometimes it (the world) attracts us like a real magnet. And at times, one desires to renounce anything and everything.

This dialectics between affinity and revulsion defines our very existence. Generally our moments of triumph mark our affinity, while revulsion usually comes after some really painful events. Though it is not a set rule, but generally this is the way it is. Only saints can enjoy a feeling of revulsion (renunciation) in their moments of triumphs. But they must surely be on the verge of extinction in today’s world.

The best way to live should be by enjoying both the states of existence. But there is nothing better then enjoying your moments of despair. That only can be done by counting one’s blessings. What’s a bloody life without its share of trials and tribulations. Is not that the reason why rich and famous often perish in pursuit of thrill and adventure? Too good is too bad at times.

If life is understood as one small stretch between two infinite existences which one is not yet aware of, it can be led in a much better way. Unfortunately, most people are too much obsessed with the present to lose the very sight of the pleasure that must come along with it.

Intrigues for fast bucks and cozy life, as well as their insecurities, dominate their existence, which can spoil the very idea of a perfect life.

A life time of Ten Days!

Remember April three? It was just ten days ago, when everybody was gunning after the Indian cricketers, lambasting them for a meek surrender at the Ahmedabad greentop. http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2008/04/just-one-bad-day.html

Today, after a commendable show in the last two days when they fought against all odds – loss of toss, loss of Kumble, a very good start by the South Africans, and a very dismal start by their own openers – things have changed so much! In few minutes from now, they will be fighting a battle, which once seemed lost for all practical purposes. Just ten days, and four playing days was all it took to get them back to where they belong to – the very top.

If the visitors manage a reasonable batting score, South African can still win this match and the series. But if it is anybody’s game now, it is only thanks to some stupendous display by India. They would certainly have been out of the equation but for tremendous bowling by Harbhajan, Ishant and Chawla, and some gritty batting display by their middle order spearheaded by Sourav Ganguly.

In the process, India also showed the world that they can come back from any situation. They may not yet be the World's best team (they still need the winning consistency of South Africa and Australia), but for an average Indian fan who wants his team to fight till the very end without caring for result, they are a special bunch. Our sentimental number one.

Just One Bad Day

Each one of has one bad day in office once in a while, and this Indian team is no exception.

It is not that suddenly this bunch has become a gathering of cricketing novices. On the contrary, most of them are cricketing greats whose records and accomplishments will be fondly remembered decades after they are gone.

So it was amusing to see/read/hear so much, and so scathing, criticism of the team for just one bad session of batting. They were dubbed the greenhorns on a greentop while their Series victory in England on seaming tracks, commendable performance in Australia especially the win on Perth’s bouncy track, and authentic win over Pakistan was conveniently forgotten. The problem was not with criticism, but with the overdose of it.

To be fair, after the World Cup this team has lost just one test series (courtesy the likes of Bucknor and Benson) and won a rare tri-series and a twenty20 world cup. So one disastrous day was always in the offing and it came at Ahmedabad.

Today, a Harbhajan delivery hitting Kallis stumps without dislodging the bail symbolized India’s plight more glaringly than ever. A team, with all the greatness at its disposal also needs some luck, and a few umpiring decisions, to make it count. India never had that in this test and that is the crux of the matter. It is not just the pitch.

Approaching tea on day two, with South African leading by a good 300+ runs, only one result looks likely. Unless Weather intervenes in a big way.

Do not blame it on Sachin's absence

With just two wickets to go and lunch still half-an-hour away, it does look disastrous. But it will be most unkind to South Africa to suggest that the absence of Sachin Tendulkar has got anything to do with India’s massive collapse on the Indian Soil. He could have suffered the same fate as the rest of the specialist batsmen. After all, all the score that India had made at Chennai had come without a single run from the blade of this world’s premier batsmen. If’s and buts never solve the cricketing zigsaw.

Not only the South African bowlers looked to be in great rhythm today, but they were also helped by some misjudgments from the Indian batsmen. Of the first six batsmen, only Jaffer and Dravid were authentic dismissals. Laxman was a victim of his own poor judgment, Dhoni failed to keep his head, and bat, down, while Ganguly and Sehwag just played on to the outbound deliveries.

As the situation stands now, there is a real danger that South Africa may bat India out of the match by tomorrow evening (if they survive that long). But looking at the positives, India have one additional bowler and with five-men attack, they might be able to restrict the visitors to a manageable lead.

As things stand now, India can only hope and pray that the South Africans too suffer from the same series of misjudgments, which plagued them today morning. They will certainly need some luck as bowling alone may not be sufficient to get them back into a match, where result looks a certainty after less than a session of play!

India Selections and Global Warming!

There was a very interesting item in the Times of India today, which talked about the potential of laughter towards increasing global warming. That’s a rather grim warning, especially to those who take interest in, and tend to give some serious thought to the BCCI selection policies.

One can still not stop laughing, and contributing to the global warming, when thinking about Kaif coming in place of Tendulkar in the Indian team (unless the idea is to promote the stock of Kaif and his team just before the prestigious IPL). He may have been doing well in the domestic cricket, but when you are looking forward, it appears to be a big step backward.

Leave aside a waiting Yuvraj (the natural replacement if India still go in with the same batsman-bowler combination), there have been batsmen like Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir, who have done wonders in the last few months in international cricket. They should have been rewarded first.

But more importantly, with talks already on about having five bowlers on Indian pitches, it would have been prudent to include a bowler to have more options just before the final selection. So that was an opportunity missed.

The only positive of having Kaif as of now is that if India chose, they can afford to go in with an additional bowler without too many protests. Probably, the selection was also made keeping that in view.