Energy, not excuses, will help Mumbai More

‘’Losers always have excuses, winners always have energy.’’
Who said these immortal words very recently!
If one recalls, it was great Sachin Tendulkar, a winner all his life, in one of the advertisements aired during the IPL tourney.

Sachin is a prove match winner with loads of energy. And he did play a great knock yesterday worthy of highest accoladess. It was remarkable the way he matched traditional strokeplay with slam-bang format. Pity that Mumbai had to lose despite such tremendous fightback. It was indeed a beautiful game of cricket where the team which held its nerves best in the final stages, won. Yuvraj ‘Jhonty’ Singh kept his cool, and propelled his team into the semis.

That is why one can not understand this sudden rush to blame Suresh Shastri for Mumbai’s defeat. Even before Shastri had delivered each of his judgments as third umpire, the knowledgeable commentators on telly had ‘’agreed in advance’’ with him. They were never shocked by any of his decisions, and if some one gets a shock now (be it Mumbai team management, or just Tendulkar), it can only be termed a case of sour grapes.

Surely, the beauty of that one hell of a contest should not be marred by some unnecessary controversy. With reports of criticism coming from the great man, it can only put the umpires under some tremendous pressure. Something surely not good for the rest of the tourney.

All the three matches yesterday (including the Champions League final between Red Devils and Chelsea) went to the wire. It was a veritable treat from 4 PM on Wednesday to three AM on Thursday. Chennai were Bangalored, Mumbai ran themselves out, and Chelsea were done in by destiny. In all the cases, matches could have gone either way.

In jest, Losers too had energy, and lots of it. Just that they lacked the most important thing needed to win. A little dose of good luck.

Vijay Mallya is right, and wrong!

‘’At the end of the day, people need to understand that the IPL has a corporate side to it, and a very definite corporate side. It is not at all cricket in the traditional sense.’’

Vijay Mallya is right here. It is not traditional cricket with reasonable money for cricketers. Mind-boggling salaries and exorbitant prices have been paid to purchase sides and franchises are probably right in demanding positive results. It is like old India-Pak rivalries where captains invariably got a sack after a poor result. Only that it is corporate pride, rather than the nation’s prestige, which is at stake.

Then Mallya is also one of those one billion Indians, who are much smarter than the selectors in terms of picking their dream eleven. At times, he can be smarter than the likes of Charu, Dravid, Sachin, and Harsha in picking his men (after all, Mumbai Indians are also not faring too well despite three in a row while no-hoper Jaipur are on top).

The real problem with this format is that even the best can fail in picking a successful eleven. Else the likes of Marsh and Watson would not have been getting peanuts compared to some of the biggest names who failed to deliver. Probably Mohali and Jaipur would still have been struggling to be among the top four, and not sitting so comfortably, had these two not delivered. Compare that to the likes of Symonds (who would have been expected to win all the matches for his team) and Ponting (who failed so miserably). Even Ishant Sharma, the find of the season and good for all formats, has not been the kind of influence his team would have liked him to be.

So here Mallya goes horribly wrong in blaming Dravid and Charu. Probably, the problem was in strategy. The team needed stabilisers in the middle and attacking batsman at the top of the order as in yesterday’s game. The way they approached their match against Mohali, in a very aggressive mood before that unfortunate and bizarre dismissal of Misbah ul Haq , showed what all was possible.

Then the team also went by reputation. It is not very easy to have the likes of Kallis, Jaffer and Kumble warming the bench. But then difficult decisions have to be taken to ensure a judicious mix of attacking and defensive play. Invariably, there are situations in the middle of the innings when teams need to consolidate. You can’t always be attacking, even in twenty20!

But the biggest mistake Mallya has committed is by publicly airing his disapproval of the way team was selected and shaped up. That seems to have further demoralized an already bruised side. He may be right in what all he said, but the timing was certainly not the right one. With his rapid-fire statements, he has turned sympathy into indignation. No wonder that a headline in Mail Today aptly described the sorry spectacle as ‘’Cry Baby Tycoon blames others for his IPL Team’s losses’’. The flamboyant Tycoon does need to learn a few things from Mukesh Ambani, who must have talked to his team privately after a string of initial losses.

Why IPL Needs Dedicated Space in Cricketing Calender

Let me start with a joke seen recently on net before coming to cricket:
A husband and wife were having dinner at a very fine restaurant when this absolutely stunning young woman comes over to their table, gives the husband a kiss on the cheek, says she'll see him later and walks away. His wife glares at him and says, 'Who the hell was that?
'‘Oh,' replies the husband, 'she's my mistress.'
‘’Well, that's the last straw,' says the wife. 'I've had enough, I want a divorce.
'I can understand that,' replies her husband, 'but remember, if we get a divorce it means that you don't get any more shopping trips to Paris, no more wintering in Barbados, no more summers in Tuscany, no more Ferraris and Lexus's in the garage and no more yacht club. But the decision is yours.'
Just then, a mutual friend enters the restaurant with a gorgeous girl. 'Who's that woman with Jim?' asks the wife.
'That's his mistress,' says her husband.
'Ours is prettier,' she replies.
Now, the joke may not be in very good taste, and a poor reflection on the materialist world, but one can surely find some uncanny similarities with cricket.

Let us assume that the Husband is BCCI, Wife is Traditional Cricketing establishment/purists, and Mistress is IPL Twenty20. The joke perfectly fits into the way cricketing equations have been shaping up. After over three weeks of mindboggling response, it now seems a must for the traditional Cricketing establishment to learn to live with the IPL peacefully. It has become important for them to have a dedicated space in the World Cricketing Calender, which can be used by the IPL and other such tournaments, which may be planned the worldover during this period.

It is highly unlikely that (taking cue from BCCI’s successful foray into the shortened version), other boards the world over will let go of such opportunities to start similar leagues in their own countries. And in all likelihood, few more leagues (Especially in Australia and the UK), could hand out very good financial returns (like in IPL), and the money can then be ploughed back into the traditional cricket.

With a dedicated window, every one will be happy in the long run. Boards will get money, players will get the opportunity to gain more, and viewers will have a veritable treat to look forward to every year. It will be a win-win situation without compromising with the morality of the original joke!

Bangalore Out of IPL

It was extremely disappointing, almost annoying to see how Bangalore were committing hara-kiri yesterday.

A target of 130 in 16 overs was not very stiff by any stretch of imagination but the way they grafted and grafted, before letting loose when it was too late, finally confirmed one’s doubt that they never belonged to this format. Luckily for Charu, he was not there to take the blame this time round!

As of now, Dravid’s vanquished warriors will probably need to win all of their remaining six matches to have any hope of reaching the semis. But that will also mean setting some sort of tournament record as no team so far has managed to win that many in a row, though King’s eleven Punjab need one more to accomplish this feat.

To be realistic, Bangalore look completely out of sorts and at the moment, the battle for semifinal looks to have been restricted to seven teams. Mallya can relax and concentrate on Formula one. IPL title is out of reach.
My First IPL Match
Meanwhile, watched my first match as ‘spectator from the stands’, and not as a journo covering a battle. It was between Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings at Ferozshah Kotla yesterday.

What a match and what an ambience! One refreshing change from the past tests and ODIs at Kotla is that the families are coming in such big numbers to watch the 40-over carnival. It has well and truly become a family outing with one seeing some many groups of ‘girls only’, cheering and clapping after every ball.

Reasons:
- Kotla is much cleaner now with functional toilets
- No boring moments mean people have that much less time to pass comments and harass the fellow spectators
- The format reduces the waste of time, allowing executives to pack up their office bags in time for the match. Female executives, so much concerned about their office work, can now do both the jobs on a given day.
- Last but not the least, the music and the cheerleaders, including Bhangra troupes and bands, usher in the festivities never seen before on India’s cricket grounds. Families just love the feel and the colour splashed all around.

The arrangements for the match were impeccable and ladies were feeling much secure coming to these encounters. These are great times for cricket indeed.

As Charu Packs his bags...

It is not surprising that the sack came. The more surprising thing is that it took nearly three weeks for the first KO blow to come!

Poor Charu. only if he had watched the telecast of few Bangalore matches, he would have seen the ‘clinched teeth smile (!)’ of owner Vijay Mallya with his team perennially occupying seventh or eighth place.

But he is not likely to be alone. Prasad is already inching towards the exit door and the way this Premier League is shaping up, expect few more dismissals (from some other franchisees too) by the time the winners jump atop the podium.

From purely the business point of view, the main reason for the success of top shots like Mallya and Mukesh Ambani is that they are much more concerned with the overall policy making and efficient delegation. They select top pros and expect them to deliver. Take as much resources as you want, but deliver: That is their mantra, time-tested and sureshot roadmap to success.

Charu (along with Dravid) failed to deliver a team which could succeed. It looked more suited to 120-120 format, than 20-20! That diluted the Brand Royal Challenge beyond permissible limit, which could never be acceptable to Mallya. Even the replacement choice, Brijesh Patel, shows the vengeance of a seething Mallya, than some well thought out plan. After all what can Brijesh Patel do as CEO, which Charu could not have done! If Royal Challengers start winning after this shocking change of guard, it will more be incidental!

Mumbai are in a smiliar state of dismay and despair. Now, if one of pre-tournament favourites lose few more, one can expect some similar turmoil among their ranks. After all, did not a big Reliance functionary on cricket controversies programme on NDTV, say that their target was at least reaching the final. As of now, even a semifinal spot looks woefully out of reach. The richest Indian in India will certainly not like it.

In fact, one can expect more and more bad blood between the owners and the players/management as tournament gets into the business end. As Shahrukh famously said a few days back ‘’failure is not an option for me, or my team.’’ Though the evergreen hero might still take it sportingly if Nightriders fail to deliver, same can not be said of many other franchises who have too much pride, or money at stake.

Hum Chloremint Kyon Khate hain!

What is life without some humour. And a spectator did manage to find it in an encounter involving Mohali and Knight Riders few days ago.

The reason for the slap Sreesanth received (as shown in a banner held by him) was not related to cricket in anyway (Well, that is news!).

Actually, Sreesanth received the slap because, during the handshake, he had the audacity to ask Harbhajan ‘’Bhajji Bhai, hum chloremint kyon khatein hain (Dear Bhajji, why do we have chloremint).

Coming to that match, it also showed why Twenty20 will continue to capture the imagination of the nation for years to come. After losing their top-five for 50, KKR’s never looked part of the match up. Still, it could not be decided in favour of Kings Eleven Mohali until just two balls remained! That is the thrill of this instant cricket.

So far, 24 matches have taken place (six involving each team) and there has been just one encounter where a team looked finished even before the second innings started. And that was the 24th match involving the Mohali outfit and Super King’s Chennai, where Tanvir’s brilliant spell on a batsman friendly track decided the match in the first innings itself. In all other encounters, things could have gone either way until the last few overs.

Even two-weeks into this format, boredom has not set in. Every thing is boisterous. Right from the first ball to the last strike. Batsmen chancing their arm at every opportunity, Cheering spectators, and cheer leaders – all have combined to make it a thrilling spectacle.

Meanwhile, the performance of Indians (as skipper) is along the predictable lines in this format. While Dhoni, Yuvraj and Sehwag are on top with some remarkable leadership and imaginative display, teams lead by Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly have been struggling. It clearly shows where our future should be headed!

God Bless Twenty20!

Despite the tremendous success of Twenty20 cricket – highlighted by the September World Cup, confirmed by the ICL, and then reconfirmed as a smashing hit by IPL, there are still people believing, and trying to force others into believing, that this version trivializes cricket!

They cry hoarse about the decline of their beloved cricket, played in traditional way. Suddenly, even ODI cricket has become a traditional fare, whose ’’imminent demise’’ has to be bemoaned in every possible way.

They decry that the like of Vijay Mallya and Mukesh Ambani, and their big corporations, are out to enslave this beautiful game.

Take a break mate. And use some common sense. Even before IPL came, big corporations were controlling cricketing stakes the World over. Wills, Sahara, Pepsi, Coke – these are not your neighbourhood kirana stores after all!

And when was cricket without its share of glamour Sir. Who were the subcontinent girls dying for in cricket heydays of 70s and 80s – Mudassar Nazar or Imran Khan, Bhagwat Chandrashekhar or Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi!

As Mandira Bedi said in one of the programmes, stars were always present in such big number at places like Sharjah to watch the ODIs, then called pyjama cricket. Only that they are paid much more now to be brand ambassadors, with few even mustering up the courage to buy teams.

Those who have witnessed their cricket from close quarters, understand that in course of time all forms will survive. Test Cricket did not die because of ODIs, and Tests and ODIs will not die because of Twenty20.

Rather, Twenty20 will help batsmen discover and master few more strokes, which will enable increase in scoring rate in all the versions.

Besides, this version has created so much more employment opportunities for some promising cricketers.

Gony is no longer a badly spelled Dhoni and God Bless twenty20 cricket for that!