BALLE! BALLE! 50 OVER CRICKET

The glorious game of cricket was the ultimate victor at the end of a pulsating encounter between the Men In Blue and indomitable English Lions that enthralled more than 40,000+ spectators physically present at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy Stadium and millions more who had the privilege of watching the spectacle as it unfolded on the television screens in their living or lounge rooms.
The reaction of the English captain Andrew Strauss who almost single handedly piloted his team to a memorable victory with an epochal 158 of 145 balls encapsulated the spirit and end result of the match: "We're happy and devastated at the same time, but privileged to participate/play in game like this." It indeed was a game that had it all: ebbs, flows, depths of despair, heights of ecstacy, scintillating strokeplay, a record making and an almost record breaking century, fielding bloopers galore, soaring sixes and scorching boundaries, wickets falling in a heap during the end overs of both innings and last but not the least a dream result i.e. the fourth tie in the history of One Day International Cricket since its inception.
The Indian innings was built around the individual brilliance of one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who sent the crowds into raptures with an unparalleled knock of 120 from 115 balls studded with 10 exquisite boundary hits and 5 sixes which cleared the boundary ropes with consummate ease, this incidentally was his 47th ODI century, 98th international hundred, fifth world cup hundred in his sixth world cup, Sachin  also notched up the honour of becoming the batsman with the maximum number of centuries in the World Cup surpassing his opening partner and close friend Sourav Ganguly. Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh to did contribute their mite towards India's ultimate total of 338 from 49.5 overs, which one felt was atleast 25 short of where they should have been after having been 4/305 at the beginning of the 46th over of their innings however an inspired spell of fast medium bowling from the tall and strapping Tim Bresnan who accounted for the wickets of Yuvraj,Dhoni and Harbhajan in one over put paid to their hopes of amassing a 350 plus total.
Bresnan's sterling effort of 5/48 from his allotted quota of 10 overs stood out like a beacon in an otherwise uniformly dismal English team bowling analysis sheet, their pace bowling spearhead James Anderson conceded 91 runs from 9.5 overs, Ajmal Shehzaad who replace Stuart Broad at the eleventh hour went for 53 from his eight overs, their so called trumpcard and so called best off spinner in the world, Graeme Swann went for 59 of his 9 overs and the ungainly looking Michael Yardy who certainly did have his moments of glory but did go under the cosh in his last two overs ultimately ended up conceding 64 runs from his allotment of 10 overs.
While everybody present at the stadium might be forgiven for thinking that the English batsmen would simply crumble at the prospect of chasing down an improbable 339 run total, the Englishmen were certainly made of sterner stuff and displayed their resolve and intent of making a match of it through a 68 run opening partnership between Kevin Petersen and their conquering hero Andrew Strauss in double quick time before Munaf Patel pulled off a miraculous return catch to signal Petersen's demise. The Englishmen continued on their merry ways despite the early loss of Trott who was palpably in fron to a Piyush Chawla wrong 'un.
The advent of Ian Bell at the crease did only serve to fire up the marauding Andrew Strauss and the dynamic duo did almost carry their team to the threshhold of victory with an enterprising 170 run partnership. The sultry atmosphere and cramping of Ian Bell's hands and leg muscles did certainly contribute their mite towards Strauss's inexplicable decision of taking the English batting powerplay at the beginning of the 43rd over of their chase as Bell would have better served continuing his innings with the help of a runner.
While such are the vagaries or glorious uncertainities of this glorious game of cricket, Dhoni was left with no other recourse apart from turning to his pace bowling spearhead Zaheer Khan who delivered and how. A rejuvenated and fired up Zaheer Khan first accounted for the impressive Bell who fell in an ill advised attempt to clear the mid off fielder within the circle and only ended up skying the ball into the hands of an ecstatic Virat Kohli.  Strauss in turn had no answer to an inswinging Zaheer toe crusher that struck him on his back boot right in front of the middle stump thereby signalling the end of an innings that will be remembered by one and all privileged to witness it for many a year to come.
Zaheer's double strike did certainly provide the much needed fillip to a floundering Indian bowling and fielding effort and the bowlers and fielders were certainly on their toes sensing this to be their best chance of pulling off an improbable victory from the jaws of defeat, but a calculated assault on Piyush Chawla in the penultimate over of the innings (49th) by Tim Bresnan and Graeme Swann all but dashed the Indian teams victory hopes. England began the 49th over of their innings requiring 29 to win of the last two overs.
A six each from the bludgeoning blades of Bresnan and Swann did certainly dent Indian hopes and pride though Chawla got his own back by castling Bresnan on the sixth and last ball of his over and spell. Chawla however ended up concedxing a massive 15 runs from his over leaving England with the improbable target of 14 from the last over, Swann scrambled a brace of the first delivery of the 50th over bowled by Munaf Patel and eked out a single of the second, the new arrival at the crease Ajmal Shehzaad however had other plans and deposited Munaf's third delivery into the stands beyond the long on boundary thereby leaving his team with the task of getting 5 off the last three deliveries of the match, the fourth ball of the over yielded another brace, while the fifth and sixth went only for singles leaving the scores tied when the umpires called time at the end of the fiftieth over.
The English who were called a bunch of no hopers and only given a 20% chance of upsetting the Indian applecart did everything but achieve the impossible and certainly did end up with the bragging rights at the end of a pulsating day's cricket. As for the Indians, it is back to the drawing board for them with numerous debates about team composition, batting order and drastic improvement in both the bowling and fielding efforts being the subject of many an intense discussion within the echelons of the team management.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.    

DEAR MR.SHARAD PAWAR

Dear Mr.Pawar,
                        The shameful,horrendous,horrific,heart rending and barbaric spectacle of the police lathi charging and beating many Bangalorean cricket fans into submission while they were queing up in an orderly manner to procure tickets for Sunday's epic clash between the English lions and the men in blue has once again proved that you indeed are the most sloppy,lethargic,indifferent,unprofessional and apathetic president that the International Cricket Council has ever had in it's chequered history.
One can only wonder and ponder why you in your infinfite wisdom have simply failed to realise the simple truth that it is the paying fan that makes the glorious game of cricket what it is and not you, your cronies, self serving politicians, greedy and unscrupulous bureaucrats, office bearers and self appointed officials of affiliated clubs who merrily indulge in black marketing and profiteering by merrily siphoning of the tickets allotted to them at four-five times their original price, thereby enriching themsleves at the cost of many a fawning cricket fans.
The hackneyed and imbecilic defence provided by the Bangalore Police Commissioner "it is better to inflict minor injuries rather than watch major one's being inflicted later on" did indeed border on the bizarre and made one wonder whether the concerned official was living in Bengaluru or Sir Geoffrey Boycott's "CUCKOOLAND", and pray do enlighten both me and well as the entire world why the ICC wanted 11,500 tickets for itself when it is a pithy body comprising of barely 1,500-2,000 members and their cronies who have assigned themselves the right to govern this glorious game in as amateurish a manner as possible.
Have you lost sight or then conveniently forgotten the fact that it is your three terms as the Vice-President and President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that has elevated you the present position of the ICC president and not any sterling achievements and administrative qualities displayed by you and it is the passionate,paying,patriotic,fawning and worshipping fan who has made the BCCI the most powerful cricketing board within the ICC ranks and not any miracles wreaked by you and your  chamchas.
Pray, do tell us why the so called sponsors are allowed to get away with almost 30-35% of the match tickets as they are not doing anybody a favour by lending a helping hand and supporting this game of glorious uncertainities but their bottom lines increase manifold by the millions of eyeballs garnered by their association with the game and the worldwide visibility that this association guarantees them and their product/range of products so then why are they allowed to enjoy a mammoth share of  the spoils at the cost of millions of  paying cricket fans.
The CEO of the International Cricket Council did indeed display humility, sympathy, empathy and statesman like qualities by accepting that the lopsided,opaque,out dated,out moded  and highly unprofessional methods of distributing/selling tickets at the match venue did indeed need to be revamped,reworked,rethought and restrategised but neither you nor the president of the offending association Shri Anil Kumble had the humility to come out and issue a statement of regret or apology at the reprehensible events that unfolded outside the gates of the KSCA stadium in the glare of  domestic and international television cameras, please remember that you are occupying both your ministerial and gubernatorial positions due to the benificence and munifecence of the public and not because youn have done anything do deserve them.
So do wake up from your deep slumber and start discharging your duties in the manner that they deserve to be discharged before the public takes matters into it's own hands and boots you out of these positions of power and pelf that you have come to believe are your birthright.
Yours Truly,
A Concerned Cricket fan,
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.  

PROTEAS ZINDABAD

The proteas (South Africans) have certainly arrived and how, the sound thrashing they administered to a hapless West Indian team at the capitals' Feroz Shah Kotla only went a long way towards reaffirming their favourites status and served up a warning with capital letters to the rest of the participating nations regrading the will and determination of this team to shed the "chokers" tag once and for all.
Skipper Graeme Smith and the team management did certainly catch the opposition and media unawares by opting for a three pronged spin attack comprising of the offie Johan Botha,new leggie on the block Imran Tahir and traditional left arm trundler Robin Peterson.Smith's masterstroke of opening the bowling with Johan Botha did also certainly pay rich dividends with the unconventional offie dismissing the uber dangerous Chris Gayle for a paltry personal score of two with the team total also reading the same at the fall of the first wicket.
A century plus second wicket partnership etween the younger Bravo brother Darren and the grizzled southpaw opener Devon Smith did certainly more than steady the West Indian ship and cause more than a furrow or two on the forehead of the opposing captain,while Darren Bravo stroked his way elegantly to a fluent and classy 73 of 82 balls emblellishing his knock with 8 boundaries and a solitary six, his partner in arms Devon Smith was nerves personified alaways looked like a cat on a hot tin roof yet struggled his way through to a personal score of 36 before being dismissed by Imran Tahir for his maiden wicket in South African colours.
The fall of the second wicket did certainly open the floodagtes for a brief while and the men from the Caribbean soon saw themselves tottering at a rather unflattering score of 120/4 and though a resilient 58 run partnership between the older Bravo brother Dwayne and the old warhorse Shivnarine Chanderpaul did indeed provide the Windies with renewed hope it proved to be nothing more than a bried flash in the pan in the ultimate analysis as the West Indian batsmen soon collapsewd like a pack of cards following the demise of Dwayne Bravo for forty impressive runs when he was led up the garden path by his team mate who called him through for a non existent single.
Thinking out of the box,failure to conform to stereotype and a cavalier spirit personified in the form of a bold decision to include three spinners within their playing eleven did indeed pay off for the men in green as their spinning trio ended up ensnaring six opposing batsmen in their web with the lahore born leggie returning the rather flattering match figures of 4/41 from his allotted quota of ten overs in his debut match in the Protean colours while dale Steyn and Johan Botha helped themselves to three and two wickets respectively.
A paltry score of 222 from 47.3 overs was never going to prove a formidable challenge for the marauding South African batsmen and though the West Indian opening duo of Kemar Roach and Suleiman Benn did certainly send a shiver or two up the spine of the South African dressing room by soon reducing them to 20./2, this proved to be the last hurrah for the West Indians as the batsman in form AB De Villiers and skipper Graeme Smith did more thansteady the ship and jitters with a commanding 119 run partnership in quick time.While the indomitable De Villiers did indeed provide a batting masterclass with his unbeaten 107 of 105 balls studded with 8 boundary hits and 2 booming sixes, Smith struggled,edged,nerdled and mistimed his way to a personal total of 45 from 78 balls before his off stump was sent cartwheeling by Kieron Pollard.
J.P.Duminy and the irrepresible De Villiers then saw their team through to a resounding victory with 7 overs and 1 ball to spare and with seven wickets in the team's kitty,with the dimunitive Duminy creditably coping with a barrage of short pitched deliveries unleashed by the opposing speedsters thereby ending up undefeated on a pleasing to eye 42 which did certainly enhance his status of one of the better young batsmen in international cricket anmd though the thrashing at the hands of the South Africans must certainly have dented West Indian hopes and pride, the knee injury sustained by their premier all rounder Dwayne Bravo while horibly slipping in his delivery stride must certainly be causing sleepless nights within the Windies team management as the clouds of uncertainity hang over his further participation in the tournament.
Proteas ki ho gayi balle,balle,balle,West Indians thaley,thaley,thaley.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA. 

RABID DOG KCR

 Dear Mr.K.Chandrashekhar Rao,
                                                    Your mindless antics,ravings of a maniac,theatrical pronouncements,grandiose plans of setting up your political empire at the cost of the untiy and integrity of this much venerated motherland of ours. Your nincompoopish and boorish attitude and self professed Machiavellan antics have only served to whet the appetite and caught the imagination of all the leading cartoonists,lampoonists and caricaturists of this country and reduced you to an object of abject ridicule and endless mirth in the eyes and minds of the intellegensia and all other right minded and thinking people.
While you may have succeeded in capturing the imagination of the fringe elemants who anyway are mindless sheep always ready and willing to be led to the slaughter,you bear the Atlasian burden of the untimely and wasted deaths of the so called "Telangana Martyrs" who knew no better than falling for the eccentricities of a higly deranged mind and left behind  grieving and desolate families torn asunder thanks to your insatiable hunger for power, pelf and the windfall attached to your accession to the chief minister's gaddi of the Telangana state of your Draculian dreams.
Pray, do enlighten us idiots as to how exactly you are going to fill up your coffers and end the imagined discrimination of the Telangana youth in an atmosphere anything but conducive to the inflow of fresh investments,industrial development and consolidation of the already gotten gains thanks to the untiring and ceaseless efforts of the present and past chief ministers who went the proverbial extra mile to establish Andhra Pradesh in particular and Hyderabad in general as a preferred investment venue.
The ground reality is far from rosy, development in the real estate sector has almost come to a standstill for the last 18-24 months and real estate bigwigs are preferring to park both their resources and funds in newer and safer havens like Vijayawada,Guntur and Vishakapatnam rather than Hyderabad and panic selling their already constructed properties in Hyderabad at rock bottom prices in view of the uncertainity with regard to Hyderabad's future.
Narra Chandrababu Naidu's dreamchild, the Information Technology (IT) sector is hedging its bets and refraining from making any new sizeable investements in Hyderabad and many an IT major have already shifted their Research and Development Facilities and creme de la creme of their employees to eithe Pune,Mysore or the Bengaluru in view of the prevalent climate of industrial unrest,uncertainity and anarchy. In view of the preveiling industrial and investment climate pray do tell how you are going to fulfill your technicolur dreams of an era of affluence and self development of the Telangana youth that you repeatedly played out in front of them on numerous occasions.
One can only marvel at your pig headeness and abject failure to read the writing on the wall and learn from the failed experiment of carving out smaller states out of gigantic states in the name of good governance and devlopment ushered in by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government as the same has proved to be an error of boblical proportions with the notable exceptions of a CHHATISGARH where the development can directly be attributed to the tireless and unceasing efforts of the incumbent chief minister Raman Singjh and to a certain extent Uttaranchal which has flourished in the face of growing investments in Dehradun and renewed interest expressed in it's tourist destinations by both domestic as well as foreign tourists.
Do you want to continue with your divisive and secessionist agenda that will only serve to tear this great country asunder what with newer and more vociferous demands for a Vidarbha,Bundelkhand,Harit Pradesh,Cooch Behar and Grokhaland resounding in the states of Maharashtra,Madhya Pradesh,Uttar Pradesh,West Bengal and others of their ilk. Is a fragmented and divided country eagerly awaiting the arrival of it's next foreign ruler who would only want to plunder and exploit it's resources and people for his own good the legacy you want to leave behind or then go down in the annals of India's political history as a leader who led both his state and country to greater good,glory and prosperity,well the choice is sorely yours and you are the only one who can pick up the gauntlet.
Initiate wide ranging and comprehensive talks with the chairman of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Shrimati Sonia Gandhi and apprise her of your long standing dream of assuming the office of the chief minister.I have no doubt whatsoever that she will surely accede to your request and surely anoint you as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in the near foreseeable future provided you merge your party with the Congress and take an oath of allegiance towards protecting the unity and integrity of both the country and the state in full public view and the glare of the arc lights and television cameras.
Your much hyped up and embellished calims of the lack of development and so called plunder of the Telangana region have been refuted,nullified and falsified time and again by the Sri Krishna Committee report and atleast three other expert committee reports expressely constituted to look into this vexed issue. In view of the above mentioned circumstances and a multitude of right and sound reasons,please do come to your senses and start performing the role of a statesman and seasoned leader committed to the noble causes of the unity,integrity and progress of both the state of Andhra Pradesh and country as a whole before the right thinking people who are in an overwhelming majority do an Egypt or Libya on you and your equally mentally unbalanced progeny and family members and tear you'll apart limb by limb. Once again the choice is only yours.
Yours in good faith and thought,
Sundeep Chopra.
        

SHABAASH INDIA

The Indian team has done India proud. The men in blue kicked off their World Cup 2011 camapaign in style by thrashing co-hosts Bangladesh by a whopping 87 run margin thereby giving the ghosts of their ignonimous defeat at the hands of the same team in the 2007 edition of this premier fifty over tournament a ceremonious burial, the 'men in blue' have triumphed and all's well in Dhoni land.
India did indeed get off to a rollicking start with Sehwag and Tendulkar sharing a fity plus opening partnership in quick time till Sehwag committed the unpardonable crime of turning his back on his opening partner thereby selling him the proverbial dummy,however, the Gauti Sehwag partnership did flourish for a while and did keep the tempo going until Gauti played a rather casual shot and saw his castle disturbed by Shafiul Islam.
The advent of the new kid on the block did indeed herald the purple patch of the Indian innings and the calm demeanour,temperament an ability of Virat kohli to rotate the strike and play second fiddle to a rampaging Sehwag did certainly provide an additional fillip to Sehwag's efforts,not that he needed any and inspired Sehwag to launch a blitzkrieg that will not be forgotten for a long,long time. Sehwag ended up amassing his highest ever ODI score of 175 off 140 balls with the help of 14 crisp and neatly struck boundaries and five massive sixes that had the jampacked stadium marvelling in awe,however the blow on his knee and Gambhir's running the last forty five runs of his innings for him,must indeed be a cause for concern to both the team management as well as the Indian teams legion of fans.
The Sadi Dilli partnership of Sehwag and Kohli did take the Indians well past the 300 mark and though Sehwag dragged an innocuous delivery from one of the Bangla triumvirate of left arm trundlers, Kohli carried on on his merry way and reached his century off 83 balls of the fourth ball of the fiftieth and last over of the Indian innings,Kohli seems to have developed a special affinity for the Banga Bahadur stadium at Mirpur Dhaka as his last innings at the same ground did also see him ending up with a personal score of 102* if one's memory serves one right.
Though the Baroda Basher Yusuf Pathan was dismissed with a pithy personal tally of eight runs to his credit of the final ball of the Indian innings, the Indians final tally of 370/4 did indeed seem well beyond the Bangla tigers suspect batting abilities at the start of their reply.However, a wayward,aimless and directionless spell of medium fast bowling by the chameleon like Shantakumaran Sreesanth did indeed provide the Bangla bandhus with a slender ray of hope as the maverick Kerala pacer did concede 24 runs in the fifth over of the Bangladeshi innings and ended up conceding 44 runs in all in a five over spell.
The Bangladeshi innings was soon derailed by the Baroda Express Munaf Patel who had the marauding Imrul Kayes dragging one back onto his stumps and tied the remaining Bangladeshi batsmen in knots thereby ending up with the rather impressive figures of 4/48 from his allotment of 10 overs, he was ably supported by the equally impressive Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh who ended up with two and one wickets respectively for not too many. The fifth bowling option of Yusuf Pathan and Yuvraj Singh did also perform creditably and Yusuf pathan had one wicket to show against his name in the ultimate analysis.
Though, the Bangladeshi captain and vice captain namely Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal did amass individual scores of fifty plus, tamim's laboured innings did seem to detrimental to his team's cause as Tamim Iqbal could really never get going and repeat his pyrotechnics of 2007 which served as the foundation stone for the Bangladeshi's immortal victory against the Indians and while Shakib did indeed keep up with the striking rate and end up with 55 from 53 balls a burgeoning rate of eight plus runs per over for the best part of thirty odd overs did indeed prove to be an insurmountable obstacle to the finest Bangladeshi batsman of the last decade or so.
The indian ground fielding does remain a cause for concern for the Indian think tank, though the fielding has improved by leaps and bounds in recent times,the Indians profligacv and inherent ability to concede an extra fifteen-twenty runs on the field could certianly end up hurting the team in a really close game against higher ranked opponents.Mr. Virender Sehwag will also need to put in the hard yards and run far more quickly between the wickets as his tardiness between the wickets did indeed cost his team an additional twenty runs if not more.
These minor hiccups notwithstanding,the Indian teams emphatic victory certainly has us holding our heads up with renewed pride and renweing the clarion call of "YEH DIL MAANGE MORE", best of luck for the remaining matches team India and do keep doing us proud.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.        

RENEWED OPTIMISM

Dhoni and his merry bunch of warriors have done it gain,the massive 117 run victory over the hapless Kiwis has only served to whet the appetite and led to our dils saying "yeh dil maange more",Dhoni and his team were clearly the better side on the day and their sterling display on the hallowed turf of Cennai's Chepauk stadium has only reinforced the first amongst equals tag accorded to this Indian team by both cricketing pundits as well as their legions of adoring fans.
DHONI HIMSELF LED THE WAY WITH A SWASHBUCKLING INNINGS of 108 not out off just 64 balls with his final fifty runs coming off a mere 17 balls, the innings in question had it all, the customary swagger,bludgeoned hits that took your breath away,deft touches,brute force,twinkling toes,twitches and quaint mannerisms and most importantly signalled Dhoni's return to his usual run scoring ways just before the commencement of this king of all one day international tournaments.
The Indians ended up amassing a massive total of 360/5 at the end of their allotted quota of fifty overs primarily due to the consistent efforts of their top six batsmen while Dhoni was the king of the roost,Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli were equally impressive in their innings of 89 and 59 respectively and their efforts went a long way towards establishing the platform from which Dhoni and Suresh Raina who ended up with a 26 ball fifty could launch their brutal assault against the insipid Kiwi that conceded a gargantuan 143 runs of the final 14 overs and 62 off the last five.
So much for the sparkling efforts of the Indian top and middle order, the Indian effort though was not without it's eyesores, Sachin and Sehwag were both dismissed with next to nothing against both their individual accounts and team score sheet by this toothless and rudderless Kiwi attack while the three Indian pacers on display namely Ashish Nehra,Munaf patel and Shantakumaran Sreesanth wer mercilessly spanked by the Kiwi opening partnership comprising of Brendon Mccullum and martin Guptill and ended up conceding a gigantic 94 runs of the first 13 overs of the Kiwi innings, the fielding was also not upto scratch and the Indians were guilty of flooring atleast three sitters with Messrs Gambhir and Munaf Patel being the culprits.
The spinners once again came to the party as has become the norm in the warm up matches AND THE TRIUMVIRATE OF SPINNERS Ravichandran Ashwin,Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh were equally effective and potent on a pitch that accorded them generous turn and bounce,but the mind boggles as to how the Indian attack would fare on a pitch that does not accord them the amounts of turn and bounce that the Bengaluru and Chennai pitches did, Bhajji will have to assume the role of the lynchpin and bring to the fore his considerable guile and burgeoning bag of tricks with Piyush Chawla on current form proving to be the ideal foil.
The Indian pace attack markedly resembles a rudderless ship in the enforced absence of Zaheer Khan due to what is being termed as a minor groin strain,while Dhoni has gone on record saying that Zaheer's injury was not a cause for concern and that he will be fit and raring to go against the Bangladeshis come Saturday one wonders whether Zaheer's lack of match fitness and ill preparedness would only serve to undermine the Indian bowling effort and end up proving to be their achilles heel against the not to be written of Bangla tigers who beat them rather handily in the 2007 edition of this very same tournament.
Well, that's it for the match report of the second warm up game or practice match between the marauding Indians and sitting ducks Kiwis,here's wishing Dhoni and his men the very best of luck and godspeed for their first outing in the 2011 edition of cricket's equivalent of the Oscars, the World Cup.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.

DITHERING PRIME MINISTER

Dear Mr.Prime Minister,
The press conference expressely arranged at short notice with the editors of leading television news channels was a golden opportunity accorded to you to come clean on various scandals,scams,corruption,allegations of fuelling the already galloping inflation rates and last but not the least a manic obsession with maintaining the so called high and healthy growth no matter what even though the same is only widening the chasm between the have and have nots and India versus Bharat but your shoddy performance at the said press conference left a lot to be desired and only ended up muddying the waters further and only adding to the confusion caused by a vacillating and highly uncertain government.
To begin with, your body language and postures failed to evoke any sense of confidence whatsoever both in the eyes as well as the mind of the average television viewer,yo constantly fumbled, seemed ill at ease,were shifty eyed and evaded direct answers by couching your replies in inanities and technicalities whenever you felt that the going was getting a little too hot for comfort, your press secretary intervened on more than occasion and reprimanded supposedly hostile editors on the premise that the press conference was not meant to be an interrogation of the prime minister.
Infact, I would venture as far to say that some of your replies raised serious doubts about the efficacy/efficient functioning of your mental faculties as your holier than homilies and unsolicited advice to the editors on avoiding/bypassing the scams associated with and created by you and your highly corrupt and immoral coterie of ministers as the same was lowering the prestige of the government and the nation both domestically and internaionally and raising serious doubts about growing governance deficits, certialnly left me scratching my head in bewilderment and consternation as the media's job is to report the news no matter what in a fair,free and non partisan manner and your homilies only seemed to serve as an impediment or obstacle in the media's coverage of your government and it's repeated bunglings.
To your credit, it must be said that you did make a game effort to defend the indefensible,cover up the sins of ommission and commission perpetrated on an unsuspecting and highly gullible electorate that gave you a resounding mandate to rule the country for a further five years a little over two years back. But, what the stereotyped aam aadmi did not bargain for was a Prime Minister who seemed to be busy playing the flute while Rome was burning, you conveniently deflected the onus/blame for the 2G spectrum scam squarely on the shoulders of Messrs A.Raja and the then finance minister P.Chidambaram,while the fact of the matter is that the very same Mr.Chidambaram had written a detailed letter to you as early as January 2008 clearly outlining his displeasure and discomfiture with the highly abrasive and authoritarian style of functioning of the telecom minister and also raised his doubts about the methods adopted by the telecom minister in the allocation of spectrum,yet you conveniently overlooked the same and tried to sweep it under the carpet by taking recourse to the hackneyed argument of compromises being an integral part of a coalition governments.
Coalition governments have become the norm rather than the exception worldwide Pradhan Mantri Ji, but taking shelter under the coalition umbrella fails to hold water as you are the only one who can decide what is more important to you, your morals,ethics,embellished and much commended sense of personal integrity,personal probity,good governance,a renewed sense of hope and confidence in the heart and mind of the common man or then sticking onto your prime ministerial gaddi no matter what and sacrificing all sense and differentiation between right and wrong,moral and immoral and ethical and unethical at the altar of political expediency and the much abused coalition dharma.
Taking recourse to the villified coalition dharma is no excuse for your dithering,bungling,vacillations,spinelessness,convenient blind eye and a slithering and convenience based sense of integrity and probity that only makes an appearance at highly opportune moments or then you find yourself backed against a wall and are left with no other recourse but retaliation, your so called broad hint that the Bharatiya Janata party's renewed sense of hostility stemmed from a sense of wrongdoing and the governments actions against a minister of state in the Narendra Modi government did you no credit whatsoever and only further fuelled doubts about your much vaunted sense of imagined hurt and personal humiliation.
Why don't you sacrifice your government if you are deeply perturbed by the scams and loot perpetrated on the hapless common man by your coterie,resign,sacrifice your government and come back with a renewed and stronger mandate for the reforms and unparalleled growth that you have publicly committed yourself to on many an occasion publicly or else step down and hand over the reins to a decisive,incisive,strong,highly moral and confident P.Chidambaram as both yours truly as well as the aam aadmi have no doubts whatsoever in their hearts and minds about his ability to lead this emerging superpower from the morass of corruption,nepotism,scams and spiralling inflation that you have plumetted it into.
Bow out an walk into the golden sunset with whatever leftover sense of dignity and personal probity that you can muster from the shambles that surround you before the much abused junta does a Hosni Mubarak and confines you to the dungeons of India's political history for eternity.
Yours in Sorrow,
A Deeply Perturbed and Highly Concerned Indian,
Sundeep Chopra. 

INDIAN CONUNDRUM

The Indian challenge for the World Cup 2011 certainly got off to rousing start with a comprehensive 38 run victory against the defending champions namely the Aussies at Bengaluru's picturesque M.Chinnaswamy Stadium,but the result only served to deepen the conundrum of uncertainity and the underlying feeling about India's preparedness and motivation to launch an all out frontal assault strategically designed with the express design of annexing the ICC World Cup trophy after a rather long and torturous 28 year long drought.
Mahendar Singh Dhoni's ill timed,thoughtless and uncalled for remarks on player fatigue and the team's struggle to mentally lift itself before the practice match against the all conquering Aussies certainly left a sour taste in the mouth as regards the Indian teams preparedness for the World Cup and left one groping in the dark as dhoni's remarks only served to deflate an already deflated team plagued with niggles, the imminent departure of it's fatherly coach and impending retirements of a few senior cricketers in the near future.
The pitch prepared by the KSCA curator Kasturirangan was certainly tailor made for the Indian spinners and only served to flatter the already much vaunted skills of a Harbhajan Singh and served on a platter a golden to Piyush Chawla an opportunity to stake his claim a permanent slot in the Indian playing eleven atleast in their first three to four matches and happily added to the team's think thanks selection related problems.
The absence of the Indian pace bowling spearhead namely Zaheer Khan did certainly raise a few eyebrows though Captain Courageous did try his best to dispel all doubts by attributing his absence to a minor groin strain that should be okay with three to four days of rest and the team management's reluctanced to risk Zaheer in an inconsequential match, the news of his groin strain does again give rise to fears of Zaheer's long term fitness and preparedness for the rigours of international cricket as his being fit and raring to go is an absolute necessity if India is to mount a serious challenge as every pitch is not going to be as spinner friendly as the Bengaluru one, and every batting line up is not going to be as brittle as the Aussies.
Gambhir and Sehwag's lack of match fitness and preparedness was on display for all to see and though Sehwag did ultimately struggle,huff,puff,edge,miss and in patches fluently stroke his way to a fifty the overall display of the so called most powerful batting line up in the World did evoke everything else but a feeling of confidence in the same as all other batsmen with the notable exceptions of Kohli,Pathan and Ashwin failed to create a ripple or leave any kind of impression on one's mind, the sterling display of quality spin bowling did certainly warm the cockles of many an Indian's hearts though the familiar fielding glitches did certainly leave one tearing out one's hair in frustration at timely intervals.
So much for preparatory matches and their related conundrums, Messrs Dhoni and company have to go through the motions in one more such aimless exercise slated for Wednesday February 16,2011 at Chennai's hallowed Chepauk turf,meanwhile Dhoni would be better served focussing his energies on launching a winning strategy and motivating his boys towards greater efforts and Everestian deeds, here's wishing the indian team goodluck and godspeed.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.

DEAR PRIME MINISTER

Venerated Prime Minister,
                                       India finds itself at the crossroads of its glorious history under your leadership and two years into your second tenure,rampant corruption,galloping inflation,separatist tendencies that are threatening to tear the country asunder,growing divide among the rich and poor and India versus Bharat,highest unemployment rates ever recorded and lowest industrial growth rates ever registered have made the already miserable lives of a majority of Indians even more pathetic yet you prefer to turn a nelson's eye and maintain a stoic silence on the ills afflicting the country and its denizens,instead of initiating adequate remedial measures to eradicate these ills,maladies plaguing the system.
The voters of India gave you another opportunity to serve the country in view of the yeoman service rendered by you and your ministerial colleagues during the UPA-I regime and to give you due credit, most of the measures and schemes initiated by your governement did have the desired results and add many a feather to your turban giving rise to a renewed sense of optimism and eternal hope in the heart of every Indian regarding the bright and prosperous future of our glorious motherland, but I am sorry to say that the shenanigans and picadilloes of a few of your ministerial colleagues and wrongly intentioned and executed policies have left the country and system in a shambles.
Galloping inflation,ever increasing food and everday articles of consumption prices are rising by the day yet the economist in you still seems to be grappling with the enormity of the problem,Onions have been selling for as much as Rs.60 per kilo,tomatoes at Rs.40 per kilo,sugar at Rs.35-40 per kilo,milk is priced at Rs.30-32 per litre,edible oils are selling at an all time high and no brand is available for less than Rs.75-80 per litre, no dal retails at less than Rs.45-50 per kilogram, yet you continue to remain in deep and blissfull slumber let a monolith from the past Sharad Pawar lord over the all important agriculture ministry without sacking him forthwith and either donning the mantle yourself or better still replacing him with an agricultural expert of the eminence of a Dr.Swaminathan or other such credible individuals.
You have taken recourse to mouthing platitudes like rampant corruption and governance deficit is slowing down our growth rate and can have disastrous long term consequences in the long run, our international image and standing has taken a beating in the face of this monstrous edifice of corruption yet continue to turn a blind eye to the heinous acts of corruption perpetrated by your ministerial colleagues. You slept over Raja's sins for well over three years despite numerous warnings about his shenanigans and picadilloes from all and sundry and continued to remain in deep slumber over an emerging scam christened the "S band spectrum scam" by the English news channels that emanated from within the precincts of a ministry headed by you namely the Space,Science and technology ministry.
The quantum of this scam which was entered into by Messrs Antrix and a leading private player Devas Technologies Private Limited which incidentally is headed by a group of top ranking ISRO employees is emerging to a threat to this country's internal and external security and abrogates unto itself the inalienable right to allocate to private players the S band, a band intrinsically meant for the use of the defence,home,science,space and technology minstries thereby braising grave security related concerns.The quantum or magnitude of this scam has been pegged well in excess of Rs.2 lakh crore by the nation's leading English news channel thereby making it an even bigger scam in comparison to the infamous 2G spectrum scam,will you now atleast put in your papers owing moral responsibility for the same or then is the lure of the prime ministerial gaddi greater than the dictates of your conscience.
You have gone on record time and again calling the maoists and extremists the single biggest threat to the internal security to the country and promised earth shattering changes in both the approach towards tackling this menace as well as the scourge of terrorism.There was also some amount of lofty talk regarding the modernisation,overhauling of training methods of both our police a well as para military forces as well as the immediate provision of ultra modern arms and equipment to policemen trying to take on the might of AK's 47 and 56 assault rifles with .303 breech loading rifles of WORLD WAR II vintage. Yet your loud proclamations and declarations have continued to remain just that as a parade taken out by the Action Force expressely constituted to tackle the menace of terrorism in the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks cruelly proved.
The separatist,secessionist and splittist leaders from all nooks and crannies of the country continue to rule the roost and threaten to tear the country asunder with their utterances and highly objectionable agendas under both your active and passive patronage and indulgence, the Telangana,Harit Pradesh,Vananchal,Gorkhaland,Bundelkhand,Cooch Behar,Vidarbha and Assam and Nagaland seccessionist leaders and activists continue to have a field day and considerably whip up passions on a daily basis as you seem top be more interested in patronising and hob nobbing with them rather than imprisoning them and trying them for treason as all seccesionists and separatists are nothing but traitors to this divine motherland and ought to be tried for treason and awarded the death penalty for the same as the punishment for treason is death in an overwhelming majority of countries in this wide world.
Unfortunately, the ill gotten gains gains arising from power and pelf and sticking to the prime ministerial gaddi no matter what seem far more important to you in comparison to the unity band integrity of this country and untold sufferings endured by the Aam Aadmi and perpetrated by this supposedly Aam aadmi friendly Sarkar, your ministers do not listen to your sagely advice and utterances continue to remain a law unto themselves and freely indulge in acts of corruption,nepotism,filling the coffers of their political patrons and their own in the absence of an enlightened and well intentioned leadership strong enough to take them on headlong and mete out requisite and timely punishment for their alleged wrongdoings and willfull acts of rampant corruption.
Your actions or the abject lack of action from your end has only served to reinforce the image of a weak kneed,indecisive,spineless and indifferent prime minister who mis only interested in self preservation at the cost of the nation. Go Mr.Prime Minister and walk away into that glorious sunset with whatever left over glory you can muster as the time for your departure is well nigh before the Aam Aadmi decides to take up cudgels against you and your cabinet colleagues and run all of you into the ground.
Go, resign and pave the way for a new highly motivated,committed,inspired and idealistic leadership inclined towards giving this Matrubhoomi the future it so richly deserves.
Yours faithfully,
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
A CONCERNED AND PATRIOTIC INDIAN WHO CARES.

WITHER INDIAN JOURNALISTS

There was a time when Indian journalists ruled the roost, colossuses of the likes of Kuldip Nayyar,Inder Malhotra,Dileep Padgaonkar,Praful Bidwai,M.J.Akbar,Rajan Bala,Chitra Subramaniam,N.Ram,R.Mohan,S.Gurumurthy,Tavleen Singh,Bachi Karkaria and others of their ilk strode the national stage in a manner befitting their rather exalted status, people or more specifically their devoted readers dedicatedly lapped up every word that poured out of their acerbis pens dipped in the ink of truth,morality,ethics and above all the dictum that the truth shall always triumph no matter what.
Sadly, Indian Journalism like many other professions and walks of life has fallen prey to the lure of mammon as the natural progression of father time has heralded a changing of the guard. The sacred guiding lights of personal integrity,morals,values and ethics have fallen by the wayside and reduced to the level of relics from the past and off late have even become objects of ridicule, every two bit journalist worth his/her salt is out to make a quick buck,grab every possible eyeball through any means fair or foul as long as it fattens their already burgeoning bank balances and to hell with outmoded dictums like Satyameva Jayate and Sachai Ki Taqaat.
The sensational leak of the Niira Radia tapes unmasked many an exalted journalist who donned the garb of crusaders for the cause of truth and fearless,favourless journalism as long as it suited them and served their best interests. Journalists of the eminence of a Vir Sanghvi and Barkha Dutt were exposed for the frauds, charlatans,self seeking power hungry favour seekers and brokers that they really are and while an apology was forthcoming from Vir sanghvi's side for his alleged misdeeds and committing the cardinal sin of betraying his dedicated readers and legions of followers,one is still awaiting a similar gesture from her royal highness,the self styled empress of Indian visual journalism, Barkha Dutt.
So much for the sins of omissions and comission of the high and mighty,their humbler counterparts hailing from downmarket climes and running weekly/fortnightly/monthly journals from within their backyards and nondescript business premises have not remained immune to the lure of the lucre and sold their souls for paltry sums like Rs.25,000-50,000/-curried favour from unscrupulous politicians and tom tommed their nefarious deeds and unsavoury acts whenever and wherever wads of currency notes,plots or then any other political favours were dished out to buy their saleable loyalties.
The uncrowned emperor of these dalaals,favour seekers,pimps,charlatans,frauds,two faced abject apologies for journalists is a gentleman(if one can call him that) by the name of N.A.Choudhry who claims to run a fortnightly paper for the last decade and a half.Yours truly came across this unscrupulous and highly self seeking apology for a journalist in the press room of the Vidhana Soudha way back in April 1994 and soon associated himself with this dalaal as he was taken in by his lofty sounding proclamations of wanting to change the world and set the Indian journalistic scene on fire through his pen and unimpeachable conduct.
Yours truly dedicated himself to the cause espoused by this two faced charlatan and fraud and soon immersed himself in the noble task of writing five-six articles for every edition of his fortnightly paper then christened Waiting News, while the infamous N.A.Choudhry kept himself busy with wheeling,dealing,seeking political favours,black mailing influential people with threats to expose their darker deeds and unseen faces and considerably enriched himself in the bargain through these reprehensible and heinous acts.
In the meanwhile,yours truly was accorded the golden opportunity of working of a premier Indian construction company in Libya and proceeded to accept this opportunity with due haste.Choudhry promised to get a an AC 2 tier seat and berth for yours truly through his good(?) offices and alleged contacts with the chairman of South Central railway and asked yours truly to reach the Bangalore city Railway station two and a half hours before the departure of Karnataka Express, to my horror and consternation the said Choudhry failed to materialise and his lofty promises ended up collapsing like the proverbial pack of cards as a result of which yours truly ended up enduring a truly horrific 42 hour long journey between Bangalore and New Delhi thanks to the machinations of his unscrupulous so called friend.
Yours truly also endured the ignominy,mental trauma and sheer agony of being ensoned within the precincts of the J.P.Nagar Police station as Choudhry entrusted yours truly with the onerous responsibility of delivering a letter meant for his then sworn enemy Puttaswamy Gowda the then Circle Inspector of J.P.Nagar and yours truly was only allowed to proceed after the timely intervention of the DCP Bangalore South. The same Choudhry also got a series of articles entitled Puttaswamy Gowda police ofiicer or pimp by yours truly exposing his numerous alleged and real misdeeds and then conveniently kissed and made up with him as and when their mutual interests were best served.
The villainous Choudhry was also afflicted by the roving eye and Road Romeo syndromes and hounded out of his so called business premises in full view of quite a few residents of Shamanna Garden J.P.Nagar Vth phase by the very two people, a Mussulmani garment exporter and a Bengali retired gazetted officer who supposedly were his closest confidantes and friends in J.P.Nagar on alleged charges of casting a covetous eye and making lewd advances on the lady's daughter and elderly gentleman's daughter in law where were his espoused causes,ethics,morals,and impeccable standards of integrity at the time.
The entries into the journal or accounts ledger of this satanic manifestation of a journalist continued unabated,
he sttoped so low as exploiting the sheer helplessness of a grandmother unable to cope with the youthful vigour of her ward and grandson and shamelessly exploited the gullibility of both the grandmother and innocence and trusting nature of the grandson Viswanath to his benefit, the villainous Choudhryn used Viswanath unabashedly as his personal errand boy for well over two years in the presence of yours truly again without rendering any monetary remuneration in return and always placated him with false promises of getting him some job or the other in the software field as the boy was on his way to completing a three year specialised course in computer applications from Brilliant Computers and also usurped undisclosed sums of money of from the parents of laggards who floundered badly in their qualifying exams and thereby failed to land an admission into one of Bangalore's elite colleges.He claimed to use his good offices with the authorities in Vijaya College and get the laggards admitted while pocketing undisclosed sums of money from the hapless parents and greatly inflating his already burgeoning bank balance in the process.
One can go on and on talking about this fraud,pimp,charlatan and two faced self seeking and self obsessed abject apology for a journalist and his katha of unsavoury dealings and nefarious misdeeds,but the fact of the matter is that sixteen (16) years and 118 articles later,yours truly is still awaiting the first RUPEE for favours rendered to this self styled editor who is woefully incapable of penning a single word himself and wholly dependent on the Press Information Bureau and gullible fools like yours truly for running his so called fortnightly News Age Herald.
Do please feel free to contact me if you personally know or know about the misdeeds and sins of omission and comission of such frauds and charlatans so thjat we can umask them and highlight their misdeeds in full public view and through this god send medium.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.   

DADA'S OPTIONS

An era has ended in Indian cricket with the premature and hasty retirement of the iconic Sourav Chandidas Ganguly from all forms of the game w.e.f. February 7,2011.Piqued and chastened by the inexplicable actions of the franchise owners with regard to the issue of his participation in the forthcoming Indian Premier League season 4, Dada announced his immediate retirement from all forms of the game with immediate effect as he saw no point in continuing with his participation in domestic cricket as the doors of the IPL had been firmly slammed in his face.
Announcing his future plans of getting into cricket administration in the near future and his ultimate goal of filling the Indian coach's shoes one day, Dada said that he was actively contemplating contesting for one of the administrative positions within the Cricket Association of Bengal echelons in the next elections and ultimately working his way up and occupying the much coveted post of the state unit's president.
Dada's decision to run for the post must have come as manna from the heavens for his legion of dedicated followers including yours truly as the only way of initiating the long pending reforms within the Board for Cricket Control in India(BCCI) and cleaning/divesting it's augean stables of all the muck that it finds itself quagmired in can only become possible with the active of both active and recently retired cricketers in the day to day functioning of this personal fiefdom of politicians and their cohorts.
Every Indian cricket fan must be ardently hoping that Dada will succeed in carrying forward the flame of "operation clean up"initiated by Messrs Kumble,Srinath,Patel,Prasad and company within the Karnataka State Cricket Association ranks and stables and thereby provide the much needed new direction and momentum to the BCCI's triumphant march into the second decade of the twenty teens.
So much for Dada the administrator, now let's our attention to Dada the prospective Indian Chief Coach, Dada will bring with him a new found aggression one that does not take a backward step in the face of any provocation whatsoever from the opposition,undisputed leadership and man management skills that made Dada the most successful Indian captain in the history of the game and last but not the least a range of scintillating off side dominant strokes that provoked Rahul Dravid's immortal comment,"on the off side there is god then there is Sourav Ganguly" high praise indeed coming from a counterpart not exactly renowned for his hyperbole or repartee.
Infact, the powers that be within the Board would be best served by sounding out Dada with regard to his readiness to don the mantle after Gary Kirsten's imminent departure after the completion of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, the grapevine has it that Kirsten has already informed the BCCI mandarins of his decision about not extending his coaching contract beyond the World Cup and also accepted the Director of Coaching's position within the Mumbai Indians Indian premier League Franchise at the behest of one Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who is supposed to share a cosy rapport and camraderie with Mr.Kirsten.
Just imagine an Indian side led by captain cool Mahendar Singh Dhoni and fuelled by the unbridled passion of Sourav Ganguly, this heady and intoxicating mix will certainly catapult the Indian team to the top of the heap in all three forms of the game as the desi combination of hosh and josh will definitely not be replicated by the other teams on the horizon and also have the selectors copnceding to the captain and coach's choice of players at any and every given occasion as tinkering with a winning combination goes against every laid down rule of cricketing wisdom.
Will the BCCI mandarins set aside their king sized egos and ask Dada to don the mantle of India's cricket coach after Gary Kirsten's departure,let's all wait,watch,hope and pray for this minor miracle with bated breaths.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.      

CAN INDIA WIN?

The World Cup fever's in the air and it is highly contagious everybody young,old,middle aged,slim, large,petite and obese,stinking rich or filthy poor are going around town making their Cup related predictions and spouting new found cricketing wisdom, but the question uppermost on everybody's mind is whether or not the present lot of Indian cricketers can annex the World Cup for a second time after an interminably long wait of 28 years.
The selectors have done their job by picking up the best fifteen cricketers who they think are capable of delivering the goods in their infinite wisdom and it is upto the team now to don the mantle of fulfilling every Indian cricket fan's dream by winning the World Cup for a second time in their own backyard, but all said and done doubts still linger in one's mind as to whether or not the present team has what it takes to win a trophy of this magnitude.
Strength and depth in batting will once again prove to be this team's Fort knox with arguably the best opening partnership in World cricket Sachin and Sehwag beginning the onslaught, Gambhir embellishing it at the crucial number three position, Virat Kohli consolidating the gains at the pivotal number four position, Yuvraj launching a frontal assault on the oppositions in conjunction with Dhoni at the number six slot and taking the opposition bowlers to the cleaners with Yusuf Pathan providing the cherry on the icing with his swashbuckling blade guaranteed to send a shiver or two up the spine of any and every bowler in the World, the much vaunted batting line up sure looks formidable on paper at least.
Add to this the enormous advantage of playing an overwhelming majority of their matches in their own backyard in extremely batter friendly conditions, it is a well known fact that the ball more often than not struggles to rise above knee level on sub continental pitches and that the batsmen can have a field day dancing down the pitch with impunity and hi the ball on the rise and through the line as if it was their birthright,bullies at home lambs abroad did someone say?.
The baying,cheering and boisterous home fans will proverbially prove to be the Indian teams trenchant ally and the opposition's bette noire with their constant refrain of go India go, east or west India is the best and so on and so forth. Most Indian grounds have seating capacities well in excess of 50,000 and the enclosed arena can be an intimidating enemy to palyers from most countries other than the might Aussies as their cricket grounds can only hold crowds ranging from 15,000-25,000 respectively, the Indian team should make optimum use of this twelfth man by constantly asking their boundary riders to jee up this mass of humanity and intimidate their opponents to the extent that they start making elementary errors on the field of play.
The noisy and cauldron like atmosphere could however prove to be a double edged sword for the bowlers of all the participating teams as the on field umpires could struggle to hear and pick up fine edges and knicks in this bullring like atmosphere. Batsmen could also be inconvenienced as they would find it impossible to hear their partner's call unless they are resoundingly loud and filled with resonance, ask Javed Miandad for confirmation on the intimidatory home crowds and share his experiences of the crowds in Bangalore during the 1996 World Cup quarter finals and as to why he had to appeal to them with folded hands.
So much for the team's perceived strengths or strong points now let's critically appraise their Achillees' heels or weak points: the much maligned bowling attack will continue to be the biggest chink in the Indian armour with only two bowlers out of the chosen four having the innate ability to run through an opposing batting line up with the other two being stock or run restricting options at best, while the pundits may argue that the accent is on restricting the opposition in fifty over cricket, every argument falls flat in the face of the irrefutable dictum of constant wickets being the mightiest restrictor.
Zaheer and Harbhajan are the proven articles and should prove to be more than a handful for the opposing batsmen in familiar territory but there are question marks about their match fitness with both suffering niggles during the recently concluded South African tours, while Harbhajan has time and again shown the resilience and resolve to overcome all such obstacles with his inherent Punjabi grit, Zaheer has shown a remarkable propensity towards breaking down time and again at crucial stages of tours,matches thereby letting down his team repeatedly.
The less said about the two other components of the Indian bowling quartet the better, Messrs Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra are the blow hot and cold kind of bowlers, proven match winners on their day and driving their captain to despair with an errant performance on off days. Nehra again is as injury prone as Zaheer and one always doubts his ability of remaining unscathed through a month and a half long tournament. Sreesanth certainly would prove to be a more than adequate replacement for any of the baove mentioned trio what with Praveen Kumar pulling out with a persistent elbow injury, but can one say the same about Messrs Piyush Chawla and Ravichandran Ashwin if the doughty Sardar were to break down at any stage.
The absence of a genuine fifth bowling option and the presence of atleast six laggards on the field would only serve to drag India down into the dumps as the days of hiding a laggard or two on the field are well past us and our Captain Cool has to shoulder the onerous responsibility of hiding atleast five to six extremely slow movers on the field as one is more than willing to agree with the argument put forth by Steve Waugh about the best fielding side winning the World Cup in the absence of an overwhelming odds on favourite.Fielding has always proved to be India's waterloo and the think tank will have to devote considerable time and energy towards surmounting this herculean obstacle.
The batters will have to win the World cup for us all said and done, the top seven will constantly need to deliver three hundred plus scores in case of the Indians setting a target and overhaul whatever score the opposition puts up on the board if the Indian team wants to make it big in this tournament. Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir will have to provide the foundation on which the monolith of a formidable total can be raised day in and day out and the middle order will have to bat as per the needs of the situation and also have to provide the fianl impetus that could end up determining the difference between success and failure.
While yours truly does definitely see the Indians making the semis, it will be a battle of attrition and mental fortitude thereon, here's wishing the Indian team all success and praying that the team succeeds in bringing the cup back where it belongs.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.     

ON ALL ROUNDERS

All rounders are fast becoming an extinct species within the annals of Indian cricket as we have struggled to find an all rounder worth his salt since the retirement of Manoj Moolchand Prabhakar in the early 1990's what are the contributory factors? are the dead as dodo pitches responsible for the premature demise of these icons, or then are the current leanings of followers towards a Tendulkar or Sehwag rather than a Kapil Dev or Roger Binny responsible for the absence of a genuine all rounder from the Indian ranks for the last twelve-thirteen years.
Irfan Pathan was the last ray of hope on the horizon, this son of a Baroda muezzin did set the cricketing world on fire with his exploits against the mighty Aussies and mercurial Pakistanis in their own backyards and on the rather familiar Indian climes, alas!this son of the soil faded away into cricketing oblivion almost as fast as he streaked across the Indian cricket scene like a meteor,he suddenly lost the ability to swing the ball both ways at a robust pace of 135+kmph, his batting also began to fall away, his more than useful fielding skills began to desert him, he could not hold onto his place within the Baroda Ranji ranks, on saw him venturing into the alien world of reality dance shows and tele serials as an alternative and his injuries beacame the subject of many a crcicketing debate rather than his sterling exploits on the field of play.
While Pathan did achieve the equivalent of an athletic gold by amassing a little more than a thousand test runs and a hundred test scalps before losing himslef in the cricketing doldrums, one only hopes and prays that the 950,000 dollars paid by the owners of the Delhi Daredevils Indian Premier League franchise to sign him on spur him onto greater deeds and provide the much needed impetus for him to stake his claim to the much coveted all rounders slot as many a wise man have said that money makes the world go around and one ardently hopes that the same holds true for an Irfan Pathan too.
An all rounder adds the much needed depth and stability to a team with the rare ability to add a quickfire thirty five or forty odd runs in double quick time when most needed, sound the alarm bells ringing in the opposition ranks with an incisive spell that ensnares two or three victims into his net or then pulls out an amazing catch out of thin air that turns a match on it's head as Kapil Dev did with his stunning running catch to dimiss a rampaging Viv Richards in the 1983 Prudential World Cup finals at Lords cricket ground London England.
The presence of a genuine all rounder within the ranks provides the team management with the golden opportunity of tinkering around with the teams composition by adding an extra bowler or batsman to the mix depending upon the conditions,opponents and thinking of the team management at the time and the absence of one often time leads to a rather lopsided team composition that provides the opposition with the much needed edge and psychological advantage even before the first ball is delivered.
The Sri Lankans have an Angelo Matthews and Thisara Perreira within their ranks, the mighty Aussies have a Shane Watson,Steve Smith and last but not the least a Cameron White within their ranks,the mercurial pakistanis have a Shahid Afridi and Mohhamad Hafeez in their arsenal,the English have a Paul Collingwood, Stuart Broad and Ravi Bopara adding the much needed zing to their ranks as and when needed while the Kiwis have the best left arm spinner and now formidable left handed batsman Daniel Vettori adorning their team sheet.
While the Indian ranks have boasted of a Virender Sehwag,Suresh Raina,Yuvraj Singh,Virat Kohli and Yousuf Pathan off late all the afore mentioned players are batsmen who can bowl four or five overs when needed rather than genuine all rounders in the humble opinion of yours truly and while the media and some cricketing pundits have gone to town tom tomming the irrepresible Sardar Harbhajan Singh as India's next all rounder after his back to back centuries against the black caps on Indian soil, the man himself has his feet firmly planted on the ground and remains steadfast in his stance of seeeing himself as a bowler who can bat rather than a genuine all rounder.
One only hopes and prays that the ensuing IPL season 4 throws up a few surprises and either leads to the rebirth and resurgence of an Irfan pathan or then throws up an unheralded and unknown cricketer who can emulate the sterling deeds of a Kapil Dev Ramlal Nikhanj and end India's quest of suitable succesor to this greatest all rounder of all time or then one wishes that the much needed wisdom dawns on the Indian teams think tanks and they goad Yuvraj Singh to take his much underrated bowling that much more seriously as the infamous pie chucker has it in him to step up to the plate and end India's all rounder related woes.
Will IPL 4 provide the much needed answers or then will the pied piper of Punjab, Yuvraj Singh step upto the plate, let's all pray,wait and watch with bated breaths.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA 

DEAR YEDDY

Dear Mr.Yeddyurappa,
Let me begin off by wishing you on your party's success in the recent zilla parishad and local body elections where you won with a convincing majority,but is the win reason enough to celebrate uproariously,indulge in an ugly spat and unwelcome war of words with the governor H.R.Bharadwaj,accuse your political opponents of trying to cause grievous harm to you by taking recourse to the reprehensible practice of black magic and last but no the least simply glossing over the fact that your dubious land allotments to your kith and kin still continue to hang around your neck like the proverbial albatross.
Your tenure begun with a lot of fanfare and goodwill on all sides as it heralded the Bharatiya Janata Party's maiden successful attempt at forming a government sout of the Vindhyas and you were entrusted with the rather onerous responsibility of consolidating your party's gains and ensuring that your "good governance practices" and efficient administration heralded the rebirth and the laying of a firm foundation for future BJP governments in the other four southern states.
Though you begun your tenure with a lot of promise and made the electorate believe in your ability to deliver on your poll promises for a brief while, you soon found yourself embroiled in a rather unseemly war with the Reddy brothers over who deserved a greater share of the ill gotten gains from highly dubious and illegal mining operations in the Bellary area and areas adjoining the Andhra-Karnataka border, the same soon escalated into a major embarassment and your first real challenge as the Reddy brothers raised the banner of revolt against your fledgling leadership and it took the proven firefighting abilities of a Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to pull your chestnuts out of the fire.
Rather than consolidating you gains and giving the citizens of Karnataka the good governance that they so richly deserved you soon found yourself in the dock again over allegations of favouritism and undue favours shown towards your kith and kin in the area of discretionary land allotments out of your discretionary quota, then began a rather unfavourable period of allegationa and counter allegationd from all sides of the political spectrum which subsequently snowballed into a major political controversy.
The afore/above mentioned controversy threatened to sound the death knell of your chief ministerial aspirations and the high command was even contemplating the option of asking for your resignation for a brief while,to your credit it must be said that you materfully played the lingayat card and threatened to pull the rug out from under the high commands feet and wreck the government if forced into tendering your resignation.
You did the right thing by returning the land allotted to your kith and kin unconditionally while constantly harping on the fact that you had done no wrong as all your prdecessors were equally guilty of having indulged in the same practice,while one is ready to accept your submission at face value, but since when have two wrongs made a right Mr.Chief Minister.you own MLA's and MLC's soon raised the banner of revolt against you on the above mentioned and other corruption and graft related issues and the entire nation saw the ugly and heinous spectacle of marshals and cops unceremoniously shepherding out your opponents from the assembly premises.
Yes,the courts did come to your rescue and uphold the veracity and legal standing of your government,but the final word on the disqualification of the errants members is awaited eagerly as the esteemed high court is still to announce its final verdict on the validity or otherwise of the speakers actions.Matters have indeed come to a head with the governor sanctioning your prosecution for the sins committed whilst alloting land to your near and dear ones from the CM's discretionary quota and you find yourself being hauled over hot coals with two enterprising advocates filing corruption and other related cases against you.
All is not Mr.Chief Minister, tender your resignation forthwith until you are exonerated of all charges and redeem yourself in the eyes of the electorate in general and the Christian community in particular that is up in arms against your government after the submission of the one man Justice Somashekhar Committee report expressely constsituted to carry out an enquiry into the unprovoked attack on churches and other religious shrines during the early days of your regime. Please consult his excellency Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee on immortal lessons pertaining to one's conduct in public life and the discharging of Raja Dharma before you are booted out unceremoniously by the aam aadmi and confined to the dustbins of our glorious nations political history.
Yours Truly,
Sundeep Chopra.        

MAGIC OF CRICKET

Few things unite India like cricket,bollywood,,politics and the big fat Indian wedding. What is it about cricket that has us tearing our hair out in consternation everytime a catch is floored or a run our opportunity goes abegging,roaring our lungs out with unbridled gusto everytime an Indian batsman either reaches the boundary or then clears it with consummate ease,appeal in unison with our bowlers at the faintest chance of eking out an opposition batsman's wicket and last but not the least break out into an impromptu jig every time our national team betters it's opponents,if you're seeking the right answer then kindly look up your friendly neighbourhood cricket fan.
Cricket has been a unifying force ever since India made it's maiden sojourn on the international cricket scene under the able stewardship of the indomitable Colonel C.K.Nayudu,we have spent sleepless nights in front of television screens whenever India is playing Australia or New Zealand at home sat up cheering our boys exploits well into the wee hours whenever we either play the Proteas or the English in their respective backyards,we conveniently bypass all artificial or man made distinctions between rich and poor, caste,sect and creed,language,region or last but not the least the divide as wide as the grand canyon that exists between vegetarians and non-vegetrarians and come out as one to celebrate on the streets every time our national team notches up an epochal triumph.
One of my earliest memory is that of my grandfather distributing baskets of motichoor laddoos when India notched up it's maiden and only Triumph till date in the 1983 Prudential World Cup,my grandfather was primarily a wrestling fan and far more well versed with the Dara Singh's and Randhawa's of this world rather than the Kapil Dev's, Jimmy Amarnath's,Sandeep Patil's and Roger Binny's of this world, yet I distinctly remember him waking up our neighbourhood mithai wala at the unearthly hour of one in the morning,placing a massive order for five basketfulls of motichoor laddoos and then parking himself in the shop till seven a.m.in the morning so that he could collect the delivery and subsequently distribute the laddoos to all and sundry with his own hands.
Another distinct memory uppermost in my mind is that of the sheer frenzy that enveloped Bangalore's streets when the Indian team notched up a memorable triumph against the arch enemies,namely the Pakistanis in the quarter finals of the 1996 cricket World Cup.One could well have been mistaken into thinking that India had at long last annexed the World Cup after a long and rather unseemly wait if the spontaneous celebrations that broke out in every nook and cranny of the garden city at fall of the last Pakistani wicket at around 10:45 p.m. were anything to go by. Yours truly headed for the safer and familiar shores of his home at around 12:30 p.m. after duly having filed all the relevant match related reports was stopped and fed sweets on atleast three separate occasions during the tumultuous ride of eleven-twelve kilometres between M.G.road and C.V.Raman Nagar where one used to reside during those intoxicating and heady days and only ended up reaching home after a good 55-60 minutes after having stepped out from the office.
The Indian cricket team embodies the very spirit of the Indian pathos of "UNITY IN DIVERSITY", the team more often than not comprises of Hindus,Sikhs,Muslims,Christians,Jats,Marathas,Iyers,Iyengars and Agarwals coming together with the common cause of uniting as one in the face of all odds thereby ensuring that India rises above the rest of the cricketing fraternity more often than not and this irrepresible spirit of unity in diversity is solely or then largely responsible for our having achieved the glorious heights of number one in the International Cricket Council's Test rankings and occupying the much coveted number two slot in the ICC's ODI rankings.
Why don't we then remain united everyday of our rather mundane,dull,dreary and rather menningless existences rather than wasting our precious time,energy,spleens and minds on quarelling with all and sundry on the flimsiest of pretexts,breaking off long standing relationships at slights more imagined than real,drawing artificial boundaries between ourselves on the rather silly grounds of caste,creed,religion,sect,language and economic status.Let's all resolve and take a pledge to take a leaf out of our cricket team's book and remain united in the face of unsurmountable odds thereby putting paid to the nefarious tendencies of the K.Chandrashekhar Rao's,Raj,Balashaeb and Udhhav Thackeray's,Vatal Nagaraj's,Syed Ahmed Shah Geelanis' and others of the same hues misplaced and rather heinous attempts at dividing us in order to stoke their own political fires.
Let's all stand united like the mighty Himalayas behind the Indian team no matter whatever the provocation render a resounding slap ion the face of the separatist elements that exist amidst us and begin praying to the almighty for India's World Cup after a rather lengthy interval of twenty eight years.JAI HIND, MERA BHARAT MAHAAN.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.     
        

DREAM TEAM

Every cricket enthusiast worth his/her salt always salivates over the possibility of creating his/her own dream Indian World Cup Winning team atleast once or more during his/her lifetime, yours truly also thought of availing of this golden opportunity with the World Cup being only a little more than a fortnight away, so here goes.
Before we go any further, one needs to get the following formalities out of the way:
1. This prospective team only comprises of individuals/cricketers who have represented India between 1983 till the present as the 83 World Cup was the first witnessed byt his correspondent.
2. The below mentioned dream team is being expressly constructed keeping sub-continental pitches and conditions in mind. The composition of the team would have been marginally different had the World Cup been held outside the sub continent.
3. This team will only comprise of 12 individuals the playing eleven and a twelveth man, the writer will then ascribe the reasons/logic applied behind certain cricketers not having made the cut.
4. The team that will be thus compiled is purely based on this writer's flight of fancy/cricketing logic and informed choices and the same does not purport to be the official or any other journal/publications dream team that is published before the first ball is delivered in the World Cup 2011.

So let's get on with the fun and games and begin discharging the rather onerous responsibility of picking the twelve cricketers best suited to fulfilling every Indian's dream of wrapping his hands around the trophy for the last twenty eight years.
The opening combination without any shadow of doubt would be the indomitable/irrepresible duo, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, these two individuals would simply make the cut based upon both their individual and collective deeds as an unparallelled opening combination who's sterling deeds are yet to be sublimated by any other opening combination, couple their more than useful bowling skills with their uncomaparabl batting feats and you are sure to end up with a combination guaranteed to set the Ganges on fire.
Navjot Singh Sherry Sidhu would be an automatic choice for the much coveted number three slot, Sidhu possessed the rare twin skills of playing bothe searing pace and the turning cherry with aplomb, he was more than capable of holding his own against the Wasim Akram's and Waqar Younis's of this world if his sterling deeds during the World Cup quarter final at Bangalore are any yardstick to go by, his penchant and inherent ability to tonk the twirlers over the straight field had many a twirler contemplating a premature retirement and many a captain tearing his hair out in despair. Kindly refer to Messrs. John Emburey and Shane WArne for affirmation of his six hitting abilities against the spinners, add to this heady concoction his safe ground fielding and catching and you have the mirror image of a cricketer specifically meant for the one day or rather fifty over version of this great game.
Virender Sehwag would be yours truly's choice for the number four slot as Sehwag initially began his international sojourn as a number five/six batsman who could deliver five to six overs of more than useful off spin. Yours truly is of the informed opinion that Sehwag seems to be a little confused about his exact role as an opener within the present dispensation and ends up gicing away his wicket rather cheaply by playing one shot too many more often than not, one feels that Mr. Sehwag would be worth his weight in gold to the Indian middle order as he will have the licence to unleash from the word go as he would most often be coming in around the 25th over or so add to this desi combination his bowling and robust fielding skills and you would probably end up with the premier number four batsman in the world.
Yuvraj Singh would be an automatic choice at the number five slot with his scintilatting,sublime,brutal yet silken batting skills can anyone forget what he did to Stuart Broad during the 2007 twenty20 World Cup.His ability to rotate the strike and steal singles from under the very noses of his opponents along with his undisputed boundary hitting abilities make him the quintessential number five batsman who would more often than not stick around till the winning runs were hit. Add to this his world renowned pie chucking skills a la Kevin Peterson and his blinding fielding skills and you end up with a man for all seasons and all the right reasons.
Ajaysinhji Daulatsinhji Jadeja would be my nuber six for the simple reason that I am yet to see a better number six batsman in the forty odd years of my existence on planet Earth. Ajay Jadeja was a delight to behold on the cricket be it while batting,bowling or fielding, his murderous assault on Waqar Younis during the 1996 World Cup Quarter final in Bangalore is still fresh in the mind of every cricket enthusiast who had the privilege of watching the events live as they unfolded on that memorable evening. Jadeja was the best finisher the game has seen with Michael Bevan being the other one, his highly underrated bowling skills and undebatable fielding skills would make him an automatic selection in any Indian dream one day international team.      
Mahendar Singh Dhoni would be the first and only choice for the wicket keepers slot in view of his murderous batting skills. While there is no denying the fact that his glovework does not measure up to muster against that of a Kirmani or Sadanand Viswanath, but his batting and leadership skills put him leagues ahead of the afore mentioned duo in the humble opinion of yours truly, his cool headedness,astute observations about the game and his brutal batting would make him any and every Indian captain's dream keeper who could be accomodated in any and every batting slot between number 3 to number 7 depending on the match situation.
Messrs. Kapil Dev,Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan would be the automatic choices for the three fast bowling slots on the basis of their sublime skills,magical wicket taking abilities, more than adequate and adequate fielding skills in tha case of Srinath and Zaheer, their individual abilities to swing and seam the ball at more than a useful pace under any conditions and Kapil Paaji's hurricane like batting abilities would make the afore mentioned trio an automatic selection in any Indian dream ODI team.
Harbhajan Singh would be the sole nominee for the solitary spinners choice in view of the fact that he is simply the best spiiner to emerge on the scene during the last 25 years or more,is the only Indian spinner who has amassed more than 350 test wickets and close to 250 ODI wickets,is more of an asset rather than liability on the field adds value to the team with his unbridled aggro,comic antics and nasty ability of geting under many an opponents skin thereby making him a man for all seasons and for all the right reasons as well.
Mohinder "Jimmy"Amarnath would be yours trulys choice for the twelveth man's position in view of his ability to anchor an innings and up the ante as and when the situation so demanded. He was amore than useful fielder/catcher and his dibbly/dobbly medium pacers put many an opponent to shame,ask Jeffrey Dujon,Malcolm Marshall and others of their ilk for confirmation,his man of the match exploits during the semis and finals of the 1983 Prudential World Cup would guarantee him a slot in any Indian ODI dream team.
So there you have it folks, an Indian dream team raring to go and ready to take on all comers.
THE TEAM: SOURAV GANGULY (CAPTAIN),KAPIL DEV(VICE-CAPTAIN),MAHENDAR SINGH DHONI (WICKET KEEPER),SACHIN TENDULKAR,NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU,VIRENDER SEHWAG,YUVRAJ SINGH,AJAY JADEJA,JAVAGAL SRINATH,ZAHEER KHAN,HARBHAJAN SINGH AND MOHINDER AMARNATH(12TH MAN).
Please feel free to debate,disseminate,trash the above team and conjure up your own winning combinations of all time.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.