Friday, March 25, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
DEAR GARY
Dear Mr.Gary Kirsten,
Your wards face an epic/titanic clash against the men from the Caribbean Isles on the hallowed pitch of Chennai's Chepauk stadium on Sunday March 20,2011 with serious doubts being raised about their status as overwhelming favourites to win this edition of the World Cup,mental fortitude and toughness to overcome and surmount the pressure of expectations exerted by their legion of expectant fans,stubornness,bullheadeness and egos of the team management and captain with regard to changes of personnel,unnecessary and unimaginative changes in the batting order when least required,the timing of the batting powerplays and last but not the least,the perennial problems associated with an underperforming bowling attack and arguably worst fielding unit in the World Cup.
The pride and confidence of the men in blue must be severely dented by the loss to the Proteas in their last outing and they must be believing their doubts and doubting their beliefs as the irrepresible Sardar Navjot Singh Sidhu is prone to remark.While Messrs Tendulkar and Sehwag have got the team of to a more than reasonable start more often than not, the middle order comprising of the likes of Gambhir,Kohli,Yuvraj,Dhoni and Yusuf pathan has put paid to the effort of the dynamic duo more often than not.
While Gambhir has not exactly set the Ganges on fire as yet with his exploits in the World Cup thus far,Kohli seems to be afflicted with the strange problem of being unsure about his batting position and precise role within the batting set up.Yuvraj has certainly shown welcome signs of returning to his best form with three fifty plus scores on the trot,but the lower middle order has certainly been a cause for concern as both Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan have not fired even once in the five matches played by the team thus far and for reasons best known to the team management, the hapless Yusuf Pathan has been shifted up and down the batting order like a yo yo despite the entire world and it's cousin being aware of the fact that Pathan has been most effective at number 6 or 7 in the batting order and all his sterling deeds thus far have come at those numbers.
So much for the ills that plague the batting,the less said about the exploits of the Indian bowlers thus far the better,while Zaheer Khan has been the only spark on the horizon,Harbhajan's loss of wicket taking form is surely a cause for worry and consternation as Harbhajan has always been regarded as the spin bowling spearhead after the retirement of India's best ever spinner Anil Kumble and his failure to pick up atleast a brace of wickets in every match thus far must indeed be causing sleepless nights for the team management.
Nehra has been an enigma with his blow hot blow cold exploits and tendency to get injured at the wrong time,one surely expected much better from this experienced Delhi pacer who shone on the World stage with his exploits during India's 2003 World Cup outing and on many a subsequent occasion,Munaf Patel has been the epitome of predictability with his stereotyped line and length bowling and his abject failure to infuse or introduce any variations to his repertoire makes him a sitting duck for a marauding opposition batsman who is willing to move about the crease and dance down the pitch when least expected to.
Piyush Chawla has only flattered to deceive thus far,his sterling exploits in the warm up game against the mighty Aussies at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy Stadium did indeed warm the cockles of one's heart and raise expectations that he would prove to be India's surprise weapon in this edition of the World Cup,but, his subsequent efforts with the ball have all but eroded the new found confidence in his bowling abilities but also raised questions about his place in the side as he is keeping a red hot Ashwin out of the side with his pedestrian performance that would shame any two bit leg spinner worth his salt.Pray, can you throw some light on the fact as to why Ashwin has not got a single game so far despite acquitting himself more than creditably in the limited opportunities provided to him thus far.
You are on record as having said that expecting an overnight change in team India's fielding standards would indeed be an exercise in futility and fodder for a fool's brain.You have been around for the best part of three or more years and also had the added support of India's best ever fielders Robin Singh for more than a year and a half as India's fielding coach,yet the team's abysmal fielding standards and less than sterling exploits on the field make us hang our heads in shame and wonder when the day will come when India will be regarded as a safe if not spectacular fielding unit,the fielding is one area that requires maximum attention,and one is sorry to say that you have not paid due diligence to India's fielding.
One can only hope and pray that you and Dhoni get the team composition and batting order right at last and bring Ashwin into the team in place of a struggling Piyush Chawla and rope in Sreesanth in place of a stereotyped Munaf Patel cause one more defeat to the men in maroon might well see the men in blue knocked out well before they were meant to be knocked out of a tournament of this magnitude and importance.
Here's wishing you and wards godspeed and all the best of luck for your fortcoming match against the once mighty West Indians.
Regards,
Sundeep Chopra.
Your wards face an epic/titanic clash against the men from the Caribbean Isles on the hallowed pitch of Chennai's Chepauk stadium on Sunday March 20,2011 with serious doubts being raised about their status as overwhelming favourites to win this edition of the World Cup,mental fortitude and toughness to overcome and surmount the pressure of expectations exerted by their legion of expectant fans,stubornness,bullheadeness and egos of the team management and captain with regard to changes of personnel,unnecessary and unimaginative changes in the batting order when least required,the timing of the batting powerplays and last but not the least,the perennial problems associated with an underperforming bowling attack and arguably worst fielding unit in the World Cup.
The pride and confidence of the men in blue must be severely dented by the loss to the Proteas in their last outing and they must be believing their doubts and doubting their beliefs as the irrepresible Sardar Navjot Singh Sidhu is prone to remark.While Messrs Tendulkar and Sehwag have got the team of to a more than reasonable start more often than not, the middle order comprising of the likes of Gambhir,Kohli,Yuvraj,Dhoni and Yusuf pathan has put paid to the effort of the dynamic duo more often than not.
While Gambhir has not exactly set the Ganges on fire as yet with his exploits in the World Cup thus far,Kohli seems to be afflicted with the strange problem of being unsure about his batting position and precise role within the batting set up.Yuvraj has certainly shown welcome signs of returning to his best form with three fifty plus scores on the trot,but the lower middle order has certainly been a cause for concern as both Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan have not fired even once in the five matches played by the team thus far and for reasons best known to the team management, the hapless Yusuf Pathan has been shifted up and down the batting order like a yo yo despite the entire world and it's cousin being aware of the fact that Pathan has been most effective at number 6 or 7 in the batting order and all his sterling deeds thus far have come at those numbers.
So much for the ills that plague the batting,the less said about the exploits of the Indian bowlers thus far the better,while Zaheer Khan has been the only spark on the horizon,Harbhajan's loss of wicket taking form is surely a cause for worry and consternation as Harbhajan has always been regarded as the spin bowling spearhead after the retirement of India's best ever spinner Anil Kumble and his failure to pick up atleast a brace of wickets in every match thus far must indeed be causing sleepless nights for the team management.
Nehra has been an enigma with his blow hot blow cold exploits and tendency to get injured at the wrong time,one surely expected much better from this experienced Delhi pacer who shone on the World stage with his exploits during India's 2003 World Cup outing and on many a subsequent occasion,Munaf Patel has been the epitome of predictability with his stereotyped line and length bowling and his abject failure to infuse or introduce any variations to his repertoire makes him a sitting duck for a marauding opposition batsman who is willing to move about the crease and dance down the pitch when least expected to.
Piyush Chawla has only flattered to deceive thus far,his sterling exploits in the warm up game against the mighty Aussies at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy Stadium did indeed warm the cockles of one's heart and raise expectations that he would prove to be India's surprise weapon in this edition of the World Cup,but, his subsequent efforts with the ball have all but eroded the new found confidence in his bowling abilities but also raised questions about his place in the side as he is keeping a red hot Ashwin out of the side with his pedestrian performance that would shame any two bit leg spinner worth his salt.Pray, can you throw some light on the fact as to why Ashwin has not got a single game so far despite acquitting himself more than creditably in the limited opportunities provided to him thus far.
You are on record as having said that expecting an overnight change in team India's fielding standards would indeed be an exercise in futility and fodder for a fool's brain.You have been around for the best part of three or more years and also had the added support of India's best ever fielders Robin Singh for more than a year and a half as India's fielding coach,yet the team's abysmal fielding standards and less than sterling exploits on the field make us hang our heads in shame and wonder when the day will come when India will be regarded as a safe if not spectacular fielding unit,the fielding is one area that requires maximum attention,and one is sorry to say that you have not paid due diligence to India's fielding.
One can only hope and pray that you and Dhoni get the team composition and batting order right at last and bring Ashwin into the team in place of a struggling Piyush Chawla and rope in Sreesanth in place of a stereotyped Munaf Patel cause one more defeat to the men in maroon might well see the men in blue knocked out well before they were meant to be knocked out of a tournament of this magnitude and importance.
Here's wishing you and wards godspeed and all the best of luck for your fortcoming match against the once mighty West Indians.
Regards,
Sundeep Chopra.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
BYE! BYE! INDIA
The men in blue have done it again, one may well be forgiven for thinking that the Indian batsmen would have learnt a lesson from their abject failure to optimally utilise the batting power play to their advantage against the Englishmen, well our team did one better against the Proteas and lost four wickets for 22 runs in the batting power play that was inexplicably taken between overs 38 and 43 when both the pitch and pace of the ball off the pitch are at their slowest and run getting more often than not becomes a dicey proposition unless you have two set batsmen at the crease who are going all guns blazing.
One wonders why Messrs Dhoni,Kirsten and the other supposedly wise men did not opt for the bating power play between overs 16 and 20 when the Indian openers had the Protean bowling attack by the scruff of the neck and were literally toying with it, one is sure of the fact that Sehwag would have certainly put the South African bowling to the sword and notched up a further 35-40 runs in the power play that would have made the difference between victory and defeat in the ultimate analysis.
The utter spinelessness,lack of imagination, absence of common cricketing sense and profligacy displayed by the middle and lower middle order Indian batsmen has cedrtainly put paid to the sterling efforts of the top three batsmen Sehwag Tendulkar and Gambhir who not only set up a platform on which the remaining batsmen should have raised an edifice of atleast 370-375 runs but also got their runs at a fair clip thereby ensuring that the rest of the Indian batsmen had both adequate time and overs to tee off and amass a mammoth score that would have taken the wind out of the South African sails.
What can one say about a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, here is a man who has been donning the Indian colours with distinction for the last two decades and more, practically holds every batting record that is worth holding and more, is just one century away from notching up the dream distinction of 100 international hundreds after his sterling exploits of 111 of 103 balls studded with 8 fours and 3 massive sixes against the so called best bowling attack in the world, but one may be forgiven for thinking that the rest of the Indian batsmen apart from Sachin,Sehwag and Gambhir have handed the match on a platter to the South Africans who were baying for blood after their comic batting collapse against the English lions in their last outing.
The only thing that can be said with a degree of certainity is the fact that India have ended up atleast 60 runs short of where they should have been as they had no business collapsing from an imposing score of 267/2 when Tendulkar was dismissed after his imperious knock to a miserable total of 296 all out ,what compounds India's misery is the dubious distinction acahieved by this team of losing their last eight wickets for a paltry 29 runs and their utter failure to use up all the 300 balls at their disposal at the beginning of their innings, their less than sterling bowling and fielding exploits leave little room for hope that this indian team would be able to pull out a rabbit from the hat and record another victory against the marauding South African batsmen at Nagpur's Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.
Well incorrigible optimists may say that stranger things have happened in cricket and all is not over until the fat lady sings, the fat lady has already begun clearing her vocal chords as far as I am concerned and may well begun singing with gusto after the twentieth over of the South African innings as the first twenty overs should well be a precursor to India's ultimate fate in this clash that will certainly determine which team will top group B, todays' display has once agin undermined India's potential champions claim and utterly exposed the fraility and spinelessness of the Indian batting line up.
One shudders to think of team India's fate if they run into the mighty Aussies or mercurial Pakistanis at the quarter final stage,will it be a case of Bye!Bye! India thanks for coming, one would certainly hope not if only for the sake of millions of Indian cricket fans who would be desolate,heartbroken and wallowing in the depths of misery if the men in blue were to ignonimously exit the World Cup at the quarter final stage.
Sundeep Chopra.
One wonders why Messrs Dhoni,Kirsten and the other supposedly wise men did not opt for the bating power play between overs 16 and 20 when the Indian openers had the Protean bowling attack by the scruff of the neck and were literally toying with it, one is sure of the fact that Sehwag would have certainly put the South African bowling to the sword and notched up a further 35-40 runs in the power play that would have made the difference between victory and defeat in the ultimate analysis.
The utter spinelessness,lack of imagination, absence of common cricketing sense and profligacy displayed by the middle and lower middle order Indian batsmen has cedrtainly put paid to the sterling efforts of the top three batsmen Sehwag Tendulkar and Gambhir who not only set up a platform on which the remaining batsmen should have raised an edifice of atleast 370-375 runs but also got their runs at a fair clip thereby ensuring that the rest of the Indian batsmen had both adequate time and overs to tee off and amass a mammoth score that would have taken the wind out of the South African sails.
What can one say about a certain Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, here is a man who has been donning the Indian colours with distinction for the last two decades and more, practically holds every batting record that is worth holding and more, is just one century away from notching up the dream distinction of 100 international hundreds after his sterling exploits of 111 of 103 balls studded with 8 fours and 3 massive sixes against the so called best bowling attack in the world, but one may be forgiven for thinking that the rest of the Indian batsmen apart from Sachin,Sehwag and Gambhir have handed the match on a platter to the South Africans who were baying for blood after their comic batting collapse against the English lions in their last outing.
The only thing that can be said with a degree of certainity is the fact that India have ended up atleast 60 runs short of where they should have been as they had no business collapsing from an imposing score of 267/2 when Tendulkar was dismissed after his imperious knock to a miserable total of 296 all out ,what compounds India's misery is the dubious distinction acahieved by this team of losing their last eight wickets for a paltry 29 runs and their utter failure to use up all the 300 balls at their disposal at the beginning of their innings, their less than sterling bowling and fielding exploits leave little room for hope that this indian team would be able to pull out a rabbit from the hat and record another victory against the marauding South African batsmen at Nagpur's Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.
Well incorrigible optimists may say that stranger things have happened in cricket and all is not over until the fat lady sings, the fat lady has already begun clearing her vocal chords as far as I am concerned and may well begun singing with gusto after the twentieth over of the South African innings as the first twenty overs should well be a precursor to India's ultimate fate in this clash that will certainly determine which team will top group B, todays' display has once agin undermined India's potential champions claim and utterly exposed the fraility and spinelessness of the Indian batting line up.
One shudders to think of team India's fate if they run into the mighty Aussies or mercurial Pakistanis at the quarter final stage,will it be a case of Bye!Bye! India thanks for coming, one would certainly hope not if only for the sake of millions of Indian cricket fans who would be desolate,heartbroken and wallowing in the depths of misery if the men in blue were to ignonimously exit the World Cup at the quarter final stage.
Sundeep Chopra.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
CITIZENS MARCH
CITIZENS MARCH
Another day dawns,another citizen's march beckons,only this time around jurists and citizens combined are marching in forty cities to raise their voices against the rampant corruption that seems to be well entrenched amongst our babudom, netadom,mafiadom and every other real and imagined dom in whichever shape,size and form it exists.
Candle light vigils and marches holding up placards and banners seem to have become the in thing ever since Rang De Basanti hit the screens way back in 2006. These vigils,marches begun with the activities involved in ensuring that the killers of Jessica Lall are duly sentenced and get the punishment that they deserved,then came the activities attached with the Priyardshini Mattoo,Ruchika Girhotra and last but not the least the inaction on part of the infamous Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the now eyeball grabbing Aarushi Talwar case.
The crowning glory of them all were the marches organised by various citizens rights groups and Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's) to raise their voices in protest against the apathy displayed towards the victims of the dastardly terrorist attack on 26/11 and to ensure that the perpetrators were bought to justice and were duly punished under the relevant/applicable sections of the Indian Penal Code for their heinous crimes.
But,what boggles the mind is whether these vigils,marches and other forms of protest really have the desired long term effects and force the authorities that be to do a rethink and formulate user friendly policies/laws/strategies/theorems and so and so forth.Lets' critically examine the difference these measures have made/had on the government/relevant authorities.
Vikas Yadav and his co-conspirators,cohorts in crime find themselves theoretically incarcerated within the four walls of the capital's Tihar Jail for life but have already stepped out of the jail premises more than sixty times on one flimsy pretext or the other as a Right to Information query succintly and rather cruelly revealed.The murderers in Aarushi Talwar's case are yet to be identified by the CBI sleuths even after two and a half years of so called intensive investigation,lie detector and brain mapping tests and all the other bunkum and hocus pocus.
S.P.S.Rathore is out on bail and cocking a snook at the law and the citizens who raised their concerted voices against his sins of omission and commission thanks to his being hand in glove with the very authorities who are vested with the powers of investigating his crimes and building up a fool proof case that ensures that he gets the due sentence he so richly deserves.Ajmal Aamir kasab is busy enjoying an extended lease of life in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail, wolfing down biryanis and kababs as if there was no tomorrow, occasionally making highly illogical and absurd claims pertaining to his innocence and his not being involved in the tragic events that unfolded on 26/11 that send the entire law and order machinery into a tizzy and sending out the wrong signals about the inherent weaknesses/loopholes/maladies and contradictions that continue to plague our criminal justice system.
Yours truly is of the informed opinion that the afore mentioned measures though both highly desirable and welcome pale in significance to the right to recall that should be enshrined within our constitution,let's all join hands and force our lawmakers into incorporating the right to recall our elected representatives in the face of non-performance,being tainted by the tinge of corruption or wrongdoing, indulging in any corrupt,immoral or dubious act that serves to undermine their stature as the people's elected representative, or any other sins of omission or commission covered under the various sections of the law.
Let's immediately begin a citizen's movement demanding the right to recall,clamour for an additional choice to be included in ballot papers that gives us the right to abstention in the face of political parties failing to nominate candidates with squeaky clean backgrounds, begin casting our votes with alacrity and due diligence at any and every given opportunity,begin signing and framing petitions with crores of signatures that would go a long way in guaranteeing us the rights denied to us for the last 65 years. Let's amalgamise these measures with the stereotypical marches and vigils and then see what stops us from ushering in an India where anybody and everybody would be accountable and answerable for any and every act.
VANDE MATRAM.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
AN OPEN LETTER TO MR P CHIDAMBARAM
AN OPEN LETTER TO HOME MINISTER P.CHIDAMBARAM
Dear Mr.Chidambaram,
India is burning, the scourge of terrorism is wreaking havoc, threatening to tear the country asunder, traitors like Raj Thackeray and Chandrashekhar Rao are running parallel governments with their distinct divisive agendas, naxalite and maoist cadres are running amok, cross border terrorism has the run of the land within the Kashmir Valley yet you chose to remain a mere bystander.
You assumed charged promising the sun, moon and earth, nay the dawning of a new era free from the demons of corruption, favouritism and nepotism, within the police, intelligence and paramilitary forces and cadres, made a time bound commitment regarding the implementation of the long delayed police reforms, dissemination and discussion of the Sri Krishna committee report pertaining to the aftermath of the Mumbai 26/11 attacks and initiating the era of modernisation within the police and paramilitary forces alas these and many others have continued to remain mere promises.
The recent Varanasi terror strike has once again underlined India’s sheer lack of collective will and sheer ineptitude towards nipping the heinous designs of terrorists and their indigenous and foreign sponsors, a eleven month infant and sixty year old senior citizen lost their lives due to the sheer indifference and callousness shown towards the due discharge of their duties by the forces entrusted with the onerous responsibility of protecting the life and limb of the common man.
The blame game is afoot once again, the concerned state government blames the centre for its abject failure to provide precise, concise, clear and time bound intelligence inputs pertaining to the designs of the terrorists and turning a blind eye towards its oft repeated demand for adequate funds to train and modernise the state police force thereby enabling it to act as a suitable deterrent.
The centre on its part blames the state government for its failure to act upon adequate intelligence inputs, lethargy, somnambulism and insomnia towards the maintenance of law and order within its boundaries, lax and Nero like attitude towards the sanitisation and combing of the ghats that were targeted by terrorists on two earlier occasions in 2005 and 2007 thereby causing a massive loss of innocent lives and paranoia about the abject security failures in the minds of the denizens of this hallowed city i.e. Benares or Varanasi as it has come to be known.
Your dilly dallying attitude towards the initiation of sedition and treason proceedings against the likes of Raj, Uddhav and Bal Thackeray, P.Chandrashekhar Rao, Arundhati Roy, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and other separatist elements has seen a quantum leap in their highly desirable and divisive piccadilloes, utterances and theatrics which continue to threaten the unity, integrity, ethos and secular fibre of this hallowed land.
Respected Home Minister the hour of preaching, sermonising and chastising is well past us the need of the hour is for a concerted effort by both the centre and states towards ridding us of this scourge once and for all, the common man is more than willing to be your foot soldier in this epic battle but are you willing to summon up the will and fortitude to tackle the terrorist, separatist and Maoist menaces?
STOP SERMONISING AND START ACTING BEFORE THE SCEPTRE OF TERRORISM ANNIHILATES THE BLESSED VIRTUES OF INNOCENCE, TRUST, FAITH AND GOODWILL TOWARDS MANKIND.
WE THE CITIZENS OF INDIA SOLEMNLY AFFIRM THAT WE SHALL ACT AS THE EYES AND EARS OF OUR INTELLIGENCE FORCES PROMPTLY REPORT ANY UNSEEMLY ACTIVITY OR INCIDENT TO THE CONCERNED AUTHORITIES, ISOLATE,INDEMNIFY AND IDENTIFY ANY INDIVIDUAL, GROUP OR ORGANISATION THAT THREATENS THE UNITY, INTEGRITY AND SECULAR FIBRE OF OUR GLORIOUS MOTHERLAND. ARE YOU WILLING TO EMPOWER US AND CREATE A CONDUCIVE ATMOSPHERE, Mr. HOME MINISTER.
YOURS FAITHFULLY,
A CONCERNED INDIAN.
MAGIC OF CRICKET
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.
ON MIGRANTS
ON MIGRANTS, REFUGEES AND INDIANS
Our irrepressible home minister namely P.Chidambaram has done it again, his recent remarks on Delhi being India’s crime capital primarily due to its’ migrant population has given a fillip to the utterances and shenanigans of separatist and diversive elements of the likes of Raj Thackeray, P. Chandrashekhar Rao, Vatal Nagaraj and others of their ilk and also opened a pandora’s box regarding the status of Indians within their motherland.
Who is a migrant, the Chamber’s dictionary defines a migrant as a person who wanders from place to place in search of refuge, livelihood or then simply a place to live in. India’s migrant population has mainly been shifting from place to place primarily to provide a better standard of living to their families and brethren back home or then because of the nascent fear of persecution be it religious, social or any other kind.
The insiders versus outsiders debate has been repeated ad nauseam and even gone on to become the bedrock on which many a political party has pitched its tent be it the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) which styled itself as the self proclaimed defender of the Dravidian identity, the Shiv Sena which gave us the clarion call Mumbai is for Maharashtrians and MEE MUMBAIKAR or then the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) which is hell bent upon dividing the burgeoning state of Andhra Pradesh in two to fulfil the repressed chief ministerial aspirations of its founding father.
If being a refugee or migrant within one’s own country is a disqualification, then the whole of north India would fall foul of this reprehensible tendency as more than 97% of the population of north India comprises of Indians who migrated to the northern climes to escape from the persecution that threatened to befall them had they remained back in Pakistan. In fact, a majority of Delhi’s colonies comprise of migrants from Pakistan and yours truly is sorry to put paid to the foot in the mouth syndrome afflicting our home minister by pointing out or reiterating the fact that a majority of Delhiites do not look upon their brethren from Bihar or Uttar Pradesh as a nuisance but somebody who has an equal right to share in the spoils.
The solutions to this perennial problem of migration afflicting most of our prosperous cities lies within our midst and someone just needs to attune one’s finer sensibilities in conjunction with the silent pleas of these so called migrants who are crying out for the basic necessities of Roti, Kapada aur Makaan or then Bijli, Sadak aur Paani as our apologies for leaders like to put it. One fails to understand why these basic problems have not been addressed even after 64 years of independence. Is it simply because we lack the requisite political and economic will or then because these so called backwards or deprived sections of our society constitutes a bludgeoning vote back that can be exploited by our politicians to quench their insatiable thirst for a share of the gargantuan political pie.
Our glorious motherland was built brick by brick on the sheer dint of the blood, sweat, tears and the selfless spirit of sacrifice exhibited by the generations that preceded us. One just has to look back in history to sight upon the sterling sacrifice of SHAHEED BHAGAT SINGH who smilingly embraced the gallows at the ripe young age of 23 as he was convinced that his sacrifice would not go in vain but prove to be a cornerstone ion our freedom struggle and can any self respecting Indian forget the sacrifices and struggle of Gandhiji, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Lala Lajpat Rai and others of their ilk.
Why have we conveniently forgotten the travails of our predecessors and reduced ourselves to a squabbling multitude of self serving apologies or then caricatures of self serving human beings who cannot look beyond our own narrow sectarian ends. Whatever happened to the concept of a glorious India wherein all Indians would live forever in peace and tranquillity with their heads held high.
LET US ALL SET ASIDE OUR PETTY DIFFERENCES UNITE AND STAND FIRM AGAINST ALL ILL TIMED AND INTENTIONED ATTEMPTS TO DIVIDE US ON THE BASIS OF CASTE, CREED, SECT, RELIGION, REGION OR LANGUAGE. INDIA IS FOR INDIANS AND NOT FOR ANY REGION SPECIFIC CITIZENRY. MESSRS CHIDAMBARAM, THACKERAY, RAO, GEELANI, MIRWAIZ, ROY AND NAGARAJ ARE YOU LISTENING.?
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
ON REFUGEES
ON REFUGEES
There has been constant talk off late within the print as well as visual media about the rather alarming trend of many a regional leader threatening to label non locals (so called outsiders)as refugees and calling upon their followers to turn out such citizens from within the city's/state borders as these so called outsiders are usurping the jobs meant for'insiders'and thereby proving to be the biggest impediment in the economic progress of the real populace of the state/region/city.
Have these very same leaders conveniently sidestepped the fact that we are all refugees in the real sense of the term and will have to vacate our respective abodes whenever the lord of death knocks on our doors."Zindagi Ek Kiraaye Ka Ghar Hai, Ek Na Ek Din Badalna Padega,Maut Jab Tumko Awaaz Degi Ghar Se Bahar Nikalna Padega". Well the fact remains that a majority of us are refugees who migrated into India after the tumultous events that unfolded in the name of the partition of India and Pakistan.
Who is a refugee? any body who migrates/wanders from one place to the other seeking avenues of livelihood and better living standards is a refugee, however what yours truly fails to understand is how one can be labelled a refugee when the Indian Constitution guarantees all it's citizens the right to own property, reside,move and take up livelihood within the territory of this gargantuan monolith called India.
This meaningless debate about insiders versus outsiders primarily seems to have arisen in the face of a paucity of issues and newer and better governance related ideas that could fire the imaginations of the electorate within a constituency,city, state and also serves to keep the divisive fires assiduously stoked by many a two bit politician alive in tha face of rising unemployment,inflation and a sense of insecurity amongst the citizens regarding their bright and prosperous futures.
Yours truly is off the view that each of us gets as much as he or she deserves,"Waqt Se Pehle Aur Muqadar Se Zyada Kisiko Nahin Milta", so then are we always clamouring for more,why bdon't we take a leaf out of our animals friends books or then bother to observe those who are lesser mortlas and learn the nuances of the sublime art of sharing the spoils equally.
Why have we become so self centered and obsessed with oneselves all of a sudden whatever happened to the dictums of Atithi Devo Bhava or Jyot Se Jyot Jagate Chalo, Prem Ki Ganga Bahate Chalo, Raah Main Aaye Jo Din Dukhi Sabko Gale Se Lagate Chalo. If this is what so called economic prosperity and better standards of living reduce us to then we are better off without it. The Lord sent us down here as his/her manifestations, is this how the manifestations of the good lord conduct themselves, we should be ashamed of ourselves,introspect,meditate,seek salvation and find a new meaning and substance that would better our spiritual lot and bestow upon us the divine right of calling ourselves "HUMAN BEINGS".
The uncrowned king of psychologists/philosophers, Bertrand Russell succintly remarked,"Man is a dangerous animal and an educated man is even more so",why are we hell bent upon proving Bertrand Russell right and reducing ourselves to mere caricatures or abject apologies for the glorious human beings that the good lord meant all of us to be.
In the meanwhile, let's all take a leaf out of the books out of our progenies books and beging to learn the arts of sharing and co-existing in relative harmony with our neighbours, no matter whatever be their caste,creed,sect,religion,or last but not the least whichever nook and cranny of the country they belong to.
The creator didi not differentiate between each one of us while creating us so who has bestowed on us the right to differentiate between each other and draw up artificial borders and abrriers where none exist?
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
OPINION POLL ON INDIA
OPINION POLL ON INDIA’S CHANCES IN SOUTH AFRICA
ANOTHER LACKLUSTRE,SPINELESS AND ABJECT FAILURE TO COPE WITH THUNDERBOLTS DELIVERED AT 140+ kmph SPEEDS HAVE MARKED THE BEGINNING OF THE INDIAN CRICKET TEAMS SOUTH AFRICAN SOJOURN. NEWS AGE HERALD GOT DOWN TO BANGALORE’S STREETS AND ASKED ITS CITIZENS TO ASCRIBE REASONS FOR INDIAN BATSMENS PRONOUNCED INABILITY TO HANDLE SHEER PACE.
DEBASHISH DASGUPTA: SOFTWARE PROGRAMMER; To be blatantly honest and forthright, I don’t think any other batting line up with the notable exception of the West Indians during the heady seventies and eighties has shown any kind of marked consistency in the face of a constant barrage of leather whizzing around your ears and throat.
I would blame the rotten system for India’s debacle for India’s failure rather than pointing fingers at our batsmen. As the great Aussie Ian Chappell once said it is always easier for a batsman accustomed to high bounce pitches to adjust to a lower bounce environment rather than the inverse. The abject lack of bounce in India’s pitches render our batsmen impotent against pitches that are conducive to fast bowling. India will always continue to struggle abroad unless we start producing fast and furious pitches in our own backyard.
NEETU DHADWAL:CENTRE HEAD :A surfeit end surplus of T20 cricket is to directly blame for India’s rather sorry state of affairs on its current tour to South Africa
While T 20 cricket may provide an impetus to innovative and breathtaking stroke play it has sounded the death knell of the old fashioned virtues of grit, gumption, dedication, perseverance technique and temperament .The current lot of batsmen with the notable exceptions of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar do not have the requisite techniques and mindsets to cope with a sustained barrage of short pitched deliveries .One shudders to think of the fate of the Indian team once the above mentioned stalwarts hang uo their boots for good
SHIRAZ MOHAMMED IBRAHIM: ENTREPRENUER : I think we are making a mountain out of a mole hill ,one failure does not mean that the Indian batsmen do not have the where with all to cope with an all out pace attack.
India has started promisingly in its second innings and managed to reach a score of 190 odd for two at the draw of stumps on day three .I have no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Messrs. Tendulkar , Dravid ,Laxman and Dhoni will be more than successful in pulling India’s chestnuts out of the fire and succeed in drawing the test match currently underway at Super sport park , Centurion.
SHWETA SHARMA : HOMEMAKER: I am more at home in my kitchen, supermarkets or malls rather than in front of the television watching the trials and tribulations of our cricket team.
Yes , I did manage to catch a few fleeting glimpses of India’s subjugation in the face of the unrelenting South African pace attack and the monkey like attacks of our woeful apologies for batsmen did certainly make me hang my head in sorrow and shame.
PRADEEP KURUP:FORMER FIRST CLASS CRICKETER: Our batsmen have more often than not found themselves reduced to sitting ducks in the face of a fast and furious pace attack that allows very little respite and space for comebacks.
While the utter lack of application and abject surrender of our batters in the face of what is basically a two man South African pace attack did catch me unawares. I think it would be totally unfair to apportion the entire blame at the doorsteps of our batters as some amount of blame needs to be apportioned to a system that continuously fails to produce fast and bouncy pitches in our backyard despite numerous warnings to the contrary.
HANAN ANDRABI: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT; I have always believed that this exotic game of cricket is more or less a mirror image of our lives. This glorious game of uncertainties has its ebbs, flows, vicissitudes and high points a la life. While the Indian team finds itself down in the dumps right now, I am more than optimistic about its ability to rise from the ashes sooner rather than later and deliver the death blow to the domineering South Africans in their own backyard.
So there you have it folks, Bangalore’s denizens have expressed a range of divergent views on the fates awaiting to befall this Indian cricket team. Will India rise from the ashes like the proverbial phoenix, let’s all hope and pray that this miracle does occur during the course of the second test match of this tour.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
World Cup Team
WORLD CUP TEAM
The five wise men, namely the Indian selectors have done their bit by picking a team that they firmly believe will be more than able to bring back the World Cup to our shores after a rather long interim period of 28 years.Is the selectors new found confidence in the fifteen selected by them in their infinite wisdom sheer bravado or total balderash, let's pick holes in the arguments tendered by them and find out for ourselves.
Eleven out of the fifteen cricketers selected by the men in the hot seat would walk into any team or rather be automatic selections in any Indian One Day International squad, it is only the four diputed or unwise selections of Suresh Raina,Praveen Kumar,Ravichandran Ashwin and Piyush Chawla that raise the hackles of yours truly and coerce him into questioning the cricketing wisdom of the so called five wise men.
Messrs Srikanth and Company have so far been basking in reflected glory thanks largely to the inspired leadership of Mahendar Singh Dhoni ,indubitable and rather impressive man management skills of Messrs Gary Kirsten and company and last but not the least the irrepresible team spirit and self belief displayed by the Indian team over the last three odd years. A period where we assumed the mantle of the best test team in the world and the number two ODI team in the world.
The nagging feeling that something seems lacking in this mix of fifteen players selected to represent our motherland in the World Cup 2011 in our own backyard yet continues to persist and seems to be gnawing away at yours truly innards akin to a rather virulent form of cancer.The contestable selections of R.Ashwin and Piyush Chawla seem to have been made to please their regional satraps rather than really reinforcing the bench strength of the present team as one fails to understand the cricketing rationale behind these two selections as the Indian team management has always favoured a three seamer and one spinner formula and these two afore mentioned gentlemen seem to lack the wherewithal to step into Bhajji's shoes unless in the case of a debilitating injury or prolonged illness.
If picking a second spinner in the spin friendly conditions prevailing in our backyards was an absolute necessity, then pray why did the selectors overlook the claims of an Amit Mishra who has wonderfully acquitted himself in the limited opportunities accorded to him in the longest version of the game.Apart from being the best leg spinner on view by far,Mishra is safe fielder and a more than useful lower order batsman who would have ably complimented the off breaks and doosras of Harbhajan Singh.
Praveen Kumar seems a luxury in these rather seamer unfriendly conditions.Praveen's forte is swing rather than seam bowling and the fact that he struggles to exceed the 130 kmph mark regularly at his best reduce him to nothing more than cannon fodder for the marauding batsmen of the opposing teams who must be licking their lips in anticipation at the very thought of mauling a bowler who struggles to swing the ball at speeds not exceeding 127-28 kmph in fast bowler unfriendly conditions.
One fails to understand why the selectors choose to overlook the claims made by Shantakumaran Sreesanth, he was the best bowler on view by far during the New Zealand and South African series succeded in picking up a handful of wickets at the time when the team most needed them,was constantly at the throats of the opposing batsmen and proved to be more than a handful for them on most occasions ,more than proved his value on the field with some breathtaking stops and acrobatic catches and last but not the least consistently swung the ball at pace exceeding 135 kmph per hour more often than not,what more does poor Sreesanth have to do to en-sure his longevity within the Indian ranks.
The now more or less automatic selection of Suresh Raina in very form of the game continues to baffle both conventional as well as cricketing logic, here is a man who has struggled for form in all forms of the game after his sterling exploits In Sri Lanka six-seven months back.His struggles against short pitched bowling are well documented in the minds of the opposition bowlers and captains and one can be sure that he will receive more than his fair share of "parfum"balls whenever he comes out to bat,his technique and temperament are highly suspect and his rather innocuous off spinners would put many a club cricketer to shame.The mind boggles as to why the indomitable Manish Pande who has strode like a colossus on the domestic cricketing stage for the last two seasons and shone like a beacon in the Indian Premier League seasons two and three in the thankless role of an opener was not considered in Raina's place. It is clearly evident that Raina has the backing of a few sugar daddies both within the selection committee as well as the team management.
The most absurd of them all was the selection of Piyush Chawla here is a man who has been languishing in the cricketing wilderness for the last two seasons,not exactly set the stage aflame with his sterling deeds in domestic cricket or the IPL and is still selected overlooking the claims of a Parthiv Patel who performed creditably in the rather unfamiliar role of an opener in the two opportunities that were provided to him against the black caps and all this when Dhoni's acute back and finger related problems are the subject of many a national debate centering around the glorious game of cricket, strange are the ways of our selection committee.
ell, our Five Wise Men? have made their choices logical or not and it is our sacred duty as Indians to unconditionally back and support the team through it's two month long campaign to regain the World Cup, Hail Team India, may all your world cup related dreams come true.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA
WHAT PRICE HONESTY
WHAT PRICE HONESTY???
Well, we are over and done with the pomp, pageantry,ceremonies synonymous with the Republic Day Parade and last but not the least, the undertones of superficiality and arrogance that has come to be associated with our so called "Aam Aadmi" friendly sarkar.
One wonders whether the military might,pomp,new found bonhomie and spirit of superciliousness which was on blatant display this morning was the harbinger or portrait of India or the dastardly and ghastly attacks that were perpetrated against three civil servants who dared to discharge their assigned duties in a manner deigned to be true to the latter and spirit of their respective codes of conduct over the last two days were the mirror image of India in the 21st century?
The Additional District Collector of Nasik(Maharashtra)paid the ultimate price and made the supreme sacrifice while discharging his laid down duties.His only crime being the fact that he had the moral fibre to question the shenanigans of the ruling 'Oil Mafia'within the state and put paid to their nefarious activities solely initiated with the express purpose of looting the exchequer to the tune of crores of rupees with the active collusion of the ruling party within the state.
Yeshwant Sonawane was burnt alive by a band of nine goons identified by his driver, he was accosted by three of them,beaten up, publicly humiliated, doused with a 20 litre jerrycan of kerosene and then set alight as he had committed the heinous crime of filming them in the act of pilfering petrol with kerosene.
Two other civil servants were respectively attacked by the goons of the cement mafia and errant electricity bill paying citizens for commiting the sacrilege of collecting the dues payable to their respective departments.One has not yet forgotten the supreme sacrifice made by Manjunath and other whistle blowers like Amit Jethwa while exposing the sins of omissiona and commission of the high and mighty.
yours truly would like to ask whether honesty has become a crime today? is being honest a boon or a dastardly sin? why are brave sons od this glorious motherland paying with their life whenever they summon up the courage to question the wrongdoings of a callous few who have abrogated unto themselves the right to supercede all laid down laws,systems and judicial practices and precedents.
Are we living in a democracy which swears by the supremacy of the laid down laws in our constitution or then in a banana republic where the rights of a few are seen to be the rights of the silent majority as they wield the reins thanks to the might of their money,muscle and political power.The new found bonhomie between the various mafias and political dispensation while not exactly an overnight phenomenon is even more disturbing as the display of the same was not so blatant and disgraceful as it has come to be today.
This rather sorry state of affairs has carried on for too long and the country is crying out for a revolution that will set things right and usher in the rule of law within our motherland once again. Please join me in being the harbingers of change and initiating sincere,time bound and relevant efforts in the direction of a new and brighter future for our progeny.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
WHITHER NATIONALISM
WHITHER NATIONALISM
Friends,fellows and my dear countrymen, our glorious country finds itself at the crossroads on the eve of it's 62nd Republic Day as the events that unfolded earlier today on the Kashmir-Punjab proved.
The reprehensible events of this afternoon have once again given rise to the highly relevant question of whether a handful of seccesionists and separatists can hold a country of the magnitude to ransom, where were the reactionary tactics, new found love for law and order and fear of a bloodbath when the Yasin Malik's and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq's of this world unfurled the Pakistani and Chinese flags on more than one occasion at the highly combustible Lal Chowk, why didn't Omar Abdullah and the home minister display the same alacrity and alertness at that time?
This rather sorry state of affairs is a direct fallback to the policy of appeasement being practiced by this Congress lead UPA government and every other Congress government that preceded it, the Congress has always believed or rather conformed to the sectarian idiom of equating minorityism with secularism, while any two bit rationalist worth his salt would be well versed with the fact that the two idioms are as different from each other as chalk is from cheese and the two cannot even co-exist with each other in mutual harmony.
The country finds itself being broken upto into smaller parts and principalities as the present day regime believes in bending over backwards and letting matters come to a head before reacting and nipping all separatist and nocturnal tendencies aimed at dividing and subdividing this glorious country of ours for their narrow sectarian needs and insatiable lust for enjoying the spoils of power any which way they can.
Friends our leadership has woefully failed in discharging the onerous task of keeping this country together and it is high time that we the common citizens of this country took up the cudgels of putting paid to the nefarious thoughts and deeds of the Yasin Malik's, K.Chandrashekhar Rao's, Raj Thackeray'a and all other so called leaders of the same flock let's all stand together on this Republic Day and send out an unequivocal message saying that this country will remain united come what may.
Please join me in redeeming our pledge towards our loyalty to our motherland first and strengthen my hands by posting your invaluable messages of support on my blog, JAI HIND and thank you for your unstinted support.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA
INDIAN WOES
The Indian team did register it's third win of the ongoing World Cup 2011 at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla stadium against minnows the Netherlands, but what must be worrying the legions of Indian cricket fans is the pronounced inability of the frontline spinners to come good and capture wickets by the bushelful even against the so called weaker opposition and the marked tendency of the batsmen to tie themselves up in knots and contrive newer and more unique modes of dismissal.
Dhoni and his band of merry warriors ended up losing five wickets against the fighting Irish while chasing down a modest total of 208 and they did a Houdini again against the Orange Brigade from the Netherlands and were reduced to 99/4 and 130/5 at various stages of their run chase, now this is not what one expects from prospective world champions who ideally should not have lost more than two wickets or at best three in a 190 run chase and the runs required should have been notched up by the end of the thirtieth over.
It again took a mature knock by the pied piper of Punjab Yuvraj Singh to save team India the blushes and guide them home, Yuvraj's measured knock of 51* of 73 balls studded with 7 exquisite boundaries is incidentally his second fifty plus score on the trot and also his second man of the match award in succession. While Yuvraj's much awaited return to form does augur well for the team in it's battles ahead against much tougher opposition, the repeated failures of the top four batsmen to come good must indeed be causing the team management a sleepless night or two. Messrs Sehwag, Tendulkar and Kohli have struggled to repeat the heroics of their hundred plus knocks registered against the Bangladeshis and Englishmen respectively and the trio have failed to notch up even a single score of 35 or more after their afore mentioned sterling exploits.
Their repeated failures must indeed be a cause for concern as the the top four batsmen more often than not are expected to contribute more than 50% of the team's ultimate total in a fifty over game.Gautam Gambhir has been contriving newer and more innovative ways of getting himself out and his new found penchant of getting bowled round his legs with a helpful nudge from his protruding thigh pad must certainly have come to the notice of opposing captain's and bowlers by now and they surely must be devising newer and more innovative ways of exploiting this nocturnal tendency to their advantage in time to come.
Harbhajan's failure to turn the ball in spinner friendly conditions must indeed be a huge cause of worry to the Indian team management as Harbhajan was widely expected to don the mantle of the spin bowling spearhead in the spinner friendly conditions prevailing in the subcontinent but his wicket taking form seems to have deserted him all of a sudden and his meagre returns two wickets from four matches are definitely not commensurate with a bowler of his abilities, Harbhajan seems to be caught between two stools or so it seems when viewed from the outside he seems to be in a conundrum as to whether he should flight the ball and tease and tantalise the opposing batsmen before luring them to their doom or then bowl a tight restrictive line denying the batsmen from the other side the much sought scoring opportunities.
Cricketing experts have been unanimous in their opinion that while Harbhajan has not been bowling badly his inability to impart sidespin on the ball instead of the considerable amount of overspin being imparted by him as of now is reducing the revolutions of the ball in the air and spin of the pitch, Harbhajan needs to go back to his old ways of flighting the ball varying his trajectory and speeds in order to regain both his lost form and wicket taking abilities according to former spinning legends and one can only hope and pray that the doughty Sardar does pay heed to the invaluable advice rendered by erstwhile spinning legends and starts picking up two wickets or more in the remaining matches.
The less said about Piyush Chawla and the Indian team's profligacy on the field the better, here is a bowler who was picked up by the five wise men(?) namely the Indian selectors on a whim and a fancy after languishing in the wilderness for the best part of two years or more and while his terling deeds on the pitch in the practice match gainst the mighty Aussies did seem to vindicate the selectors decision, his subsequent forays on the field must surely have left the selectors falbbergasted and ducking for cover, his meagre return of 2/47 against a team of minnows who are supposed to be clueless against the ball turning away from them does certainly not inspire confidence in the hearts and minds of the Indian supporters.
Dhoni's implausible explanation of including Chawla in the side to give him confidence seems laughable to say the very least as Chawla's exploits must only be serving to dent his confidence rather than reinforcing it and Ashwin';s ouster from the side despite his noteworthy exploits in the limited opportunities accorded to him certainly seems to be stretching the limits of credibility a little too far. India needs to be utterly ruthless in both matters of selection and exploits on the field if it wants to harbour any hopes whatsoever of winning the cup after a lengthy twenty eight year interval.
WIll Messrs Dhoni and company diplay the much needed ruthlessness on the field against the proteas come Saturday or then continue with their profligate ways and nocturnal tendencies, let's all wait and watch.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
Dhoni and his band of merry warriors ended up losing five wickets against the fighting Irish while chasing down a modest total of 208 and they did a Houdini again against the Orange Brigade from the Netherlands and were reduced to 99/4 and 130/5 at various stages of their run chase, now this is not what one expects from prospective world champions who ideally should not have lost more than two wickets or at best three in a 190 run chase and the runs required should have been notched up by the end of the thirtieth over.
It again took a mature knock by the pied piper of Punjab Yuvraj Singh to save team India the blushes and guide them home, Yuvraj's measured knock of 51* of 73 balls studded with 7 exquisite boundaries is incidentally his second fifty plus score on the trot and also his second man of the match award in succession. While Yuvraj's much awaited return to form does augur well for the team in it's battles ahead against much tougher opposition, the repeated failures of the top four batsmen to come good must indeed be causing the team management a sleepless night or two. Messrs Sehwag, Tendulkar and Kohli have struggled to repeat the heroics of their hundred plus knocks registered against the Bangladeshis and Englishmen respectively and the trio have failed to notch up even a single score of 35 or more after their afore mentioned sterling exploits.
Their repeated failures must indeed be a cause for concern as the the top four batsmen more often than not are expected to contribute more than 50% of the team's ultimate total in a fifty over game.Gautam Gambhir has been contriving newer and more innovative ways of getting himself out and his new found penchant of getting bowled round his legs with a helpful nudge from his protruding thigh pad must certainly have come to the notice of opposing captain's and bowlers by now and they surely must be devising newer and more innovative ways of exploiting this nocturnal tendency to their advantage in time to come.
Harbhajan's failure to turn the ball in spinner friendly conditions must indeed be a huge cause of worry to the Indian team management as Harbhajan was widely expected to don the mantle of the spin bowling spearhead in the spinner friendly conditions prevailing in the subcontinent but his wicket taking form seems to have deserted him all of a sudden and his meagre returns two wickets from four matches are definitely not commensurate with a bowler of his abilities, Harbhajan seems to be caught between two stools or so it seems when viewed from the outside he seems to be in a conundrum as to whether he should flight the ball and tease and tantalise the opposing batsmen before luring them to their doom or then bowl a tight restrictive line denying the batsmen from the other side the much sought scoring opportunities.
Cricketing experts have been unanimous in their opinion that while Harbhajan has not been bowling badly his inability to impart sidespin on the ball instead of the considerable amount of overspin being imparted by him as of now is reducing the revolutions of the ball in the air and spin of the pitch, Harbhajan needs to go back to his old ways of flighting the ball varying his trajectory and speeds in order to regain both his lost form and wicket taking abilities according to former spinning legends and one can only hope and pray that the doughty Sardar does pay heed to the invaluable advice rendered by erstwhile spinning legends and starts picking up two wickets or more in the remaining matches.
The less said about Piyush Chawla and the Indian team's profligacy on the field the better, here is a bowler who was picked up by the five wise men(?) namely the Indian selectors on a whim and a fancy after languishing in the wilderness for the best part of two years or more and while his terling deeds on the pitch in the practice match gainst the mighty Aussies did seem to vindicate the selectors decision, his subsequent forays on the field must surely have left the selectors falbbergasted and ducking for cover, his meagre return of 2/47 against a team of minnows who are supposed to be clueless against the ball turning away from them does certainly not inspire confidence in the hearts and minds of the Indian supporters.
Dhoni's implausible explanation of including Chawla in the side to give him confidence seems laughable to say the very least as Chawla's exploits must only be serving to dent his confidence rather than reinforcing it and Ashwin';s ouster from the side despite his noteworthy exploits in the limited opportunities accorded to him certainly seems to be stretching the limits of credibility a little too far. India needs to be utterly ruthless in both matters of selection and exploits on the field if it wants to harbour any hopes whatsoever of winning the cup after a lengthy twenty eight year interval.
WIll Messrs Dhoni and company diplay the much needed ruthlessness on the field against the proteas come Saturday or then continue with their profligate ways and nocturnal tendencies, let's all wait and watch.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
DEAR MAHI
Dear Mahender Singh Dhoni,
Congratulations on the second victory registered by your doughty warriors against the fighting Irish during the course of the World Cup 2011 at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy stadium, while any victory is worth its weight in gold and always serves as a booster dose for the team it is the post mortems and critical analysis in its wake that causes many a team untold grief and consternation.
The performance of both you as well as your fellow team members has been inconsistent to say the very least, there have been sporadic moments of brilliance that have taken one's breath away and left one gasping at the audacity of the men on the field, but these have been few and in far between. The team has vacillated from the sublime to the ridiculous for at least 38 out of the the 50 overs allotted to it, Harbhajan has been obsessed with containing the batsmen rather than trying to bowl them out and the same is duly reflected in the returns in terms of wickets.
Zaheer was brilliant in the power play overs bowled by him against the Englishmen and in the first over that he bowled to the Irish openers where he cleaned up one of them with a brilliant inswinger, but to be brutally honest, a bowler of Zaheer's pace requires the assistance of either the elements,pitch or atmospheric conditions as the case may be to be at his most potent and is rendered toothless in the absence of any assistance,Munaf Patel again is a bowler who bowls at 132-135 kmph at his best and is more of a restrictive rather than wicket taking bowler who looks to bowl within the stumps and curtail the shot making of the batsmen rather than trying to dismiss them with subtle variations of pace,swing and trajectory.
The fourth bowler in the side Piyush Chawla has been an absolute disaster to say the very least and was taken to the cleaners by both the English as well as Irish batsmen, strangley here is a leg spinner who struggles to turn the ball square and is more adept at bowling googlies rather than the flipper top spinner and leg spinner that every leg spinner worth his salt relies on, the exclusion of by far the better leggie Amit Mishra continues to baffle every right thinking cricket analyst and the reluctance displayed by the team management as regards Ravichandran Ashwin's inclusion in the playing eleven has led to considerable heartburn and exasperation to say the very least.
It is high time you took a leaf out of Graeme Smith's book and tried out the option of opening the bowling with a spinner a la Robin Peterson, either Yuvraj Singh or Yusuf Pathan's services can be requisitioned for this endeavour considering Bhajji's reluctance to either bowl with the new ball or the first fifteen power play overs,Yuvraj would be the better choice simply because of the fact that his confidence must be sky high at the present moment after his sterling efforts with both bat and ball against the fighting Irish.
Fielding continues to be the team's achilles heel as predicted by all and sundry before the first ball of the tournament was delivered, the antics and exploits of the Zaheer Khan's,Munaf Patel's,Harbhajan Singh's and Piyush Chawla's on the field have been the unwitting cause of many a moment of mirth and unintentional comedy and the primary cause behind the team's magnanimity with regard to gifting the opposing team an additional ten-twelve runs with their sheer laziness and ineptitude, this world cup is going to go right to the wire and the best fielding side might well end up annexing the game considering the bowler unfriendly conditions and this is where India's profligacy might end up costing it a game or two when push comes to shove during the knockout stages of the tournament.
Your nocturnal tendency to persist with seven batsmen when even six seem one too many has indeed left yours truly scratching his hair while trying to fathom the cricketing logic or reasons for the same,the number seven slot may well be occupied by Ravichandran Ashwin who is a more than capable batsman in his own right and with the doughty sardar following him at the number eight position, the team is certainly bound to be better than all right in the absence of a bowling all rounder at the crucial number seven position, one feels that you would be best served by instilling the much required confidence in his own abilities within Irfan Pathan and stilling the demons who have begun plaguing his mind as he was the only kid on the block who has the potential of proving an adequate replacement for the great Kapil Dev.
Six batsmen and five bowlers' is the formula that will win you the cup and not the seven batsmen and four bowlers you continue to persist with as the duo or triumvirate of bits and pieces players who combine to make up the fifth bowler will be taken to the cleaners more often than not by the marauding batsmen within the opposition, anyway, here's wishing you and your men the very best of luck for the remainder of the tournament,may you succeed in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of millions of your countrymen by bringing the cup that unites home after a long and arduous twenty eight year long wait.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
Congratulations on the second victory registered by your doughty warriors against the fighting Irish during the course of the World Cup 2011 at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy stadium, while any victory is worth its weight in gold and always serves as a booster dose for the team it is the post mortems and critical analysis in its wake that causes many a team untold grief and consternation.
The performance of both you as well as your fellow team members has been inconsistent to say the very least, there have been sporadic moments of brilliance that have taken one's breath away and left one gasping at the audacity of the men on the field, but these have been few and in far between. The team has vacillated from the sublime to the ridiculous for at least 38 out of the the 50 overs allotted to it, Harbhajan has been obsessed with containing the batsmen rather than trying to bowl them out and the same is duly reflected in the returns in terms of wickets.
Zaheer was brilliant in the power play overs bowled by him against the Englishmen and in the first over that he bowled to the Irish openers where he cleaned up one of them with a brilliant inswinger, but to be brutally honest, a bowler of Zaheer's pace requires the assistance of either the elements,pitch or atmospheric conditions as the case may be to be at his most potent and is rendered toothless in the absence of any assistance,Munaf Patel again is a bowler who bowls at 132-135 kmph at his best and is more of a restrictive rather than wicket taking bowler who looks to bowl within the stumps and curtail the shot making of the batsmen rather than trying to dismiss them with subtle variations of pace,swing and trajectory.
The fourth bowler in the side Piyush Chawla has been an absolute disaster to say the very least and was taken to the cleaners by both the English as well as Irish batsmen, strangley here is a leg spinner who struggles to turn the ball square and is more adept at bowling googlies rather than the flipper top spinner and leg spinner that every leg spinner worth his salt relies on, the exclusion of by far the better leggie Amit Mishra continues to baffle every right thinking cricket analyst and the reluctance displayed by the team management as regards Ravichandran Ashwin's inclusion in the playing eleven has led to considerable heartburn and exasperation to say the very least.
It is high time you took a leaf out of Graeme Smith's book and tried out the option of opening the bowling with a spinner a la Robin Peterson, either Yuvraj Singh or Yusuf Pathan's services can be requisitioned for this endeavour considering Bhajji's reluctance to either bowl with the new ball or the first fifteen power play overs,Yuvraj would be the better choice simply because of the fact that his confidence must be sky high at the present moment after his sterling efforts with both bat and ball against the fighting Irish.
Fielding continues to be the team's achilles heel as predicted by all and sundry before the first ball of the tournament was delivered, the antics and exploits of the Zaheer Khan's,Munaf Patel's,Harbhajan Singh's and Piyush Chawla's on the field have been the unwitting cause of many a moment of mirth and unintentional comedy and the primary cause behind the team's magnanimity with regard to gifting the opposing team an additional ten-twelve runs with their sheer laziness and ineptitude, this world cup is going to go right to the wire and the best fielding side might well end up annexing the game considering the bowler unfriendly conditions and this is where India's profligacy might end up costing it a game or two when push comes to shove during the knockout stages of the tournament.
Your nocturnal tendency to persist with seven batsmen when even six seem one too many has indeed left yours truly scratching his hair while trying to fathom the cricketing logic or reasons for the same,the number seven slot may well be occupied by Ravichandran Ashwin who is a more than capable batsman in his own right and with the doughty sardar following him at the number eight position, the team is certainly bound to be better than all right in the absence of a bowling all rounder at the crucial number seven position, one feels that you would be best served by instilling the much required confidence in his own abilities within Irfan Pathan and stilling the demons who have begun plaguing his mind as he was the only kid on the block who has the potential of proving an adequate replacement for the great Kapil Dev.
Six batsmen and five bowlers' is the formula that will win you the cup and not the seven batsmen and four bowlers you continue to persist with as the duo or triumvirate of bits and pieces players who combine to make up the fifth bowler will be taken to the cleaners more often than not by the marauding batsmen within the opposition, anyway, here's wishing you and your men the very best of luck for the remainder of the tournament,may you succeed in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations of millions of your countrymen by bringing the cup that unites home after a long and arduous twenty eight year long wait.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
BILLY DON'T BE SILLY
Dear Mr. Billy Bowden,
One has always had the greatest regard for you and accorded the respect due to you on account of your being one of the finest umpires in the world. Your antics have been imitated nay even become part and parcel of many a cricket fans bag of tricks, but, your actions and bull headedness during the India-England group A World Cup 2011 encounter at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy stadium did certainly end up raising more than an eyebrow or two and also did raise questions about your abilities and judgement as an umpire.
You were certainly guilty of committing atleast two if not more bloopers during the game in question, firstly you did not rule Andrew Strauss out caught behind off the bowling of Munaf Patel when he literally hit the cover of the ball with his individual score on 21 at the time, one must grant you the fact that Messrs Dhoni and company certainly did not bring the roof of the stadium down with vociferous appeals and theatrical antics and the only visible reaction from both Dhoni and Munaf Patel was a muted cry of anguish at what might have been.
Dhoni and Munaf might have failed to hear the snick or nick as it is called in different cricketing nations, but you had recourse to the stump microphone and must have certainly heard the same on it, the deviation of the ball from it's original trajectory after passing the bat should also have been a dead give away and prompted you to lift your crooked finger in affirmation of the snick, you might well argue that the Indian players did not vociferously appeal for the same, but one does certainly recall an appeal being made by Virender Sehwag who was stationed at the mid wicket position at the time and the cries of anguish of both the keeper and bowler.
So much for your first blooper,your second blooper of not ruling Ian Bell out leg before the wicket to a Yuvraj Singh delivery that pitched in line with the off stump and straightened to hit the middle of the middle stump with the batsman's individual score reading 25 for the flimsy reason that the point of impact was beyond 2.5 metres from the stumps and that the ICC rules clearly specify the fact that any decision made beyond a distance of 2.5 metres from the stumps lie purely in the domain of the on field umpires.
Billy you should have first and foremost taken cognisance of the fact thay you were officiating a game on an Indian pitch and not one on an Australian or South African one where the ball would have most comfortably have bounced well over the height of the stumps more often than not. Secondly one wonders why you did not take into account the significant fact that the ball pitched in line with the stumps and there was little or no deviation from its original patch after pitching.
While sticking to the letter of the law is indeed an admirable quality, any eminent jurist worth his/her salt will tell you that it is the interpretation of the spirit of the law that marks the difference between a run of the mill and eminent jurist and the same holds good for umpires as well, you should have been the first one to take cognisance of the fact that there is no scope whatsoever for personale prejudices and idiosyncracies in this era of instant replays,mats,hawkeyes,snicko megters and so and so forth where every error or mistake made by the umpires is magnified to the extent that it becomes the hot debating subject for the next week or two.
This is not to say that your umpiring bloopers ended up costing the Indian team the match, but the mind boggles to what if, England would have certainly struggled to chase down the mammoth Indian total if both or even one of the above mentioned two decisions would have gone in favour of the Indians and ended up with two point in their kitty rather than the one that swelled their kitty at the end of the match.
One can only hope and pray that you will henceforth base your decisions on the prevalent playing conditions and due diligence rather than an archaic law that was drafted by so called men of infinite wisdom without failing to take different playing conditions in different parts of the world into consideration and last but not the least, BILLY DO STOP BEING SILLY.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
One has always had the greatest regard for you and accorded the respect due to you on account of your being one of the finest umpires in the world. Your antics have been imitated nay even become part and parcel of many a cricket fans bag of tricks, but, your actions and bull headedness during the India-England group A World Cup 2011 encounter at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy stadium did certainly end up raising more than an eyebrow or two and also did raise questions about your abilities and judgement as an umpire.
You were certainly guilty of committing atleast two if not more bloopers during the game in question, firstly you did not rule Andrew Strauss out caught behind off the bowling of Munaf Patel when he literally hit the cover of the ball with his individual score on 21 at the time, one must grant you the fact that Messrs Dhoni and company certainly did not bring the roof of the stadium down with vociferous appeals and theatrical antics and the only visible reaction from both Dhoni and Munaf Patel was a muted cry of anguish at what might have been.
Dhoni and Munaf might have failed to hear the snick or nick as it is called in different cricketing nations, but you had recourse to the stump microphone and must have certainly heard the same on it, the deviation of the ball from it's original trajectory after passing the bat should also have been a dead give away and prompted you to lift your crooked finger in affirmation of the snick, you might well argue that the Indian players did not vociferously appeal for the same, but one does certainly recall an appeal being made by Virender Sehwag who was stationed at the mid wicket position at the time and the cries of anguish of both the keeper and bowler.
So much for your first blooper,your second blooper of not ruling Ian Bell out leg before the wicket to a Yuvraj Singh delivery that pitched in line with the off stump and straightened to hit the middle of the middle stump with the batsman's individual score reading 25 for the flimsy reason that the point of impact was beyond 2.5 metres from the stumps and that the ICC rules clearly specify the fact that any decision made beyond a distance of 2.5 metres from the stumps lie purely in the domain of the on field umpires.
Billy you should have first and foremost taken cognisance of the fact thay you were officiating a game on an Indian pitch and not one on an Australian or South African one where the ball would have most comfortably have bounced well over the height of the stumps more often than not. Secondly one wonders why you did not take into account the significant fact that the ball pitched in line with the stumps and there was little or no deviation from its original patch after pitching.
While sticking to the letter of the law is indeed an admirable quality, any eminent jurist worth his/her salt will tell you that it is the interpretation of the spirit of the law that marks the difference between a run of the mill and eminent jurist and the same holds good for umpires as well, you should have been the first one to take cognisance of the fact that there is no scope whatsoever for personale prejudices and idiosyncracies in this era of instant replays,mats,hawkeyes,snicko megters and so and so forth where every error or mistake made by the umpires is magnified to the extent that it becomes the hot debating subject for the next week or two.
This is not to say that your umpiring bloopers ended up costing the Indian team the match, but the mind boggles to what if, England would have certainly struggled to chase down the mammoth Indian total if both or even one of the above mentioned two decisions would have gone in favour of the Indians and ended up with two point in their kitty rather than the one that swelled their kitty at the end of the match.
One can only hope and pray that you will henceforth base your decisions on the prevalent playing conditions and due diligence rather than an archaic law that was drafted by so called men of infinite wisdom without failing to take different playing conditions in different parts of the world into consideration and last but not the least, BILLY DO STOP BEING SILLY.
SUNDEEP CHOPRA.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
DEAR RAVI SHASTRI.
Dear Mr. Ravi Shastri,
,The last ball tie against the English lions in an epochal clash at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy Stadium has once again highlighted the Indian teams perennial bowling and related problems and raised serious doubts in the minds of many fawning fan regarding their teams overwhelming favourites status and more importantly begun raising questions about the Indian bowlers ability to adequately defend three hundred plus scores on a regular basis.
As chairman/chief patron of the Bengaluru based National Cricket Academy, you must be well aware of this age old problem which began plaguing the Indian team ever since bowlers of the incomparable quality of Kapil Dev, Roger Binny, Manoj Prabhakar, Javagal Srinath and last but not the least Anil Kumble hung up their boots for good thereby creating a void that yet remains to be filled and one can only wonder why you and the powers that be in the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) have not yet taken cognisance of this alarming issue and initiated the requisite remedial measures.
The average cricket fan and follower has still not been able to understand the rationale behind the rather abrupt decision to dispense with Messrs Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh as the Indian bowling and fielding coaches when they were doing a middling to good job in their respective roles. The decision to appoint South African Eric Simons as the Indian bowling coach out of the blue did certainly raise more than a few eyebrows and the sultan of pace and swing Wasim Akrams' reaction to Eric Simons appointment says it all, "Kaun Hai yeh banda Eric Simons, maine naa iske baare main suna hain aur naa isko South Africa ke liye khelta dekha hain."
Would both you and the powers that be within the BCCI echelons condescend to explain the thought/thinking that went into this decision of appointing an obscure and largely unknown South African as the Indian bowling coach, why were the claims or pedigree of two noteworthy Indian bowling coaches namely Paras Mhambrey and Subroto Banerjee conveniently overlooked. While paras Mhambrey is the only other Indian bowling coach apart from Venkatesh Prasad to have successfully completed level two of the three internationally recognised coaching levels, Subroto Banerjee has now been succesfully associated with the Australian pace bowling academy in Adelaide for the last decade or so.
The Indian pace and spin bowling cupboard indeed looks bare with Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha being the only notables on the horizon and this certainly does not augur well for future Indian teams as both Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra seem to be on their last legs or at the fag end of their international careers and one cannot see them continuing beyond the next two-three years. Anil Kumble's retirement did certainly come as a body blow to Indian cricket and forced the doughty sardar Harbhajan Singh to don the mantle of India's spin bowling spearhead, a role that he has been struggling to come to terms with and while Messrs Kumble and Harbhajan used to hunt their victims as a pair, Harbhajan has certainly suffered in the absence of a reliable spin twin as the present incumbents Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra have only shown sporadically and are yet to show any remarkable measure of consistency at the highest level.
Irfan Pathan and Rudra Pratap Singh did sparkle on the horizon for an all too brief period and seem to have fallen by the wayside as far as posing claims for selection to the national side go, Munaf Patel has always been plagued by injury and fitness related concerns and Shantakumaran Sreesanth has been a liitle too inconsistent,profligate and sporadic in his efforts towards reposing the required confidence in the minds of the national selectors and legions of cricket fans. One can only begin to wonder why the services of Messrs Maninder Singh, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Narendra Hirwani have not been engaged as spinning coaches and why the Board in it's infinite wisdom has failed to recognise the crying need for the establishment of a spin academy at Chennai's Chepauk stadium with Anil Kumble as it's chairperson and the above mentioned three gentlemen as it's full time coaches.
A fast bowlers/pace bowlers academy could be established at Mohali's Punjab Cricket Association Stadium with the irrepresible Jat Kapil Dev as it's chairperson and Messrs Venkatesh Prasad, Paras Mhambrey and Subroto Banerjee as full time coaches their efforts could be supplemented with the appointment of a full time fitness trainer, physiotherapist and last but not the least nutritionist/dietician. Fast bowlers of the pedigree of Glenn Mcgrath, Allan Donald, Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Wasim Akram could be approached and sounded out regarding their availability and willingness to conduct pace bowling clinics at timely intervals.
Fielding related issues need to be addressed at the under 15 and under 19 levels and India's greatest fielders in recent history namely Messrs Robin and Yajurvindra Singh should be entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring their wards battle readiness to shine on the field at the highest level as and when they get their opportunity, the fifteen-twenty runs saved on the field make the difference between winning and losing more often than not in today's cricket and it is high time that the BCCI recognised this problem for what it was and initiated the required measures towards surmounting it. The proposed fielding academy could be set up as an arm of the National Cricket Academy.
Mr. Shastri kindly take cognisance of the humbly offered suggestions, pay heed to them, remodel and revitalise them as and how required but do act upon them as time is indeed running out for team India.
Sundeep Chopra.
,The last ball tie against the English lions in an epochal clash at Bengaluru's M.Chinnaswamy Stadium has once again highlighted the Indian teams perennial bowling and related problems and raised serious doubts in the minds of many fawning fan regarding their teams overwhelming favourites status and more importantly begun raising questions about the Indian bowlers ability to adequately defend three hundred plus scores on a regular basis.
As chairman/chief patron of the Bengaluru based National Cricket Academy, you must be well aware of this age old problem which began plaguing the Indian team ever since bowlers of the incomparable quality of Kapil Dev, Roger Binny, Manoj Prabhakar, Javagal Srinath and last but not the least Anil Kumble hung up their boots for good thereby creating a void that yet remains to be filled and one can only wonder why you and the powers that be in the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) have not yet taken cognisance of this alarming issue and initiated the requisite remedial measures.
The average cricket fan and follower has still not been able to understand the rationale behind the rather abrupt decision to dispense with Messrs Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh as the Indian bowling and fielding coaches when they were doing a middling to good job in their respective roles. The decision to appoint South African Eric Simons as the Indian bowling coach out of the blue did certainly raise more than a few eyebrows and the sultan of pace and swing Wasim Akrams' reaction to Eric Simons appointment says it all, "Kaun Hai yeh banda Eric Simons, maine naa iske baare main suna hain aur naa isko South Africa ke liye khelta dekha hain."
Would both you and the powers that be within the BCCI echelons condescend to explain the thought/thinking that went into this decision of appointing an obscure and largely unknown South African as the Indian bowling coach, why were the claims or pedigree of two noteworthy Indian bowling coaches namely Paras Mhambrey and Subroto Banerjee conveniently overlooked. While paras Mhambrey is the only other Indian bowling coach apart from Venkatesh Prasad to have successfully completed level two of the three internationally recognised coaching levels, Subroto Banerjee has now been succesfully associated with the Australian pace bowling academy in Adelaide for the last decade or so.
The Indian pace and spin bowling cupboard indeed looks bare with Jaydev Unadkat, Umesh Yadav, Abhimanyu Mithun, Ravichandran Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha being the only notables on the horizon and this certainly does not augur well for future Indian teams as both Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra seem to be on their last legs or at the fag end of their international careers and one cannot see them continuing beyond the next two-three years. Anil Kumble's retirement did certainly come as a body blow to Indian cricket and forced the doughty sardar Harbhajan Singh to don the mantle of India's spin bowling spearhead, a role that he has been struggling to come to terms with and while Messrs Kumble and Harbhajan used to hunt their victims as a pair, Harbhajan has certainly suffered in the absence of a reliable spin twin as the present incumbents Pragyan Ojha and Amit Mishra have only shown sporadically and are yet to show any remarkable measure of consistency at the highest level.
Irfan Pathan and Rudra Pratap Singh did sparkle on the horizon for an all too brief period and seem to have fallen by the wayside as far as posing claims for selection to the national side go, Munaf Patel has always been plagued by injury and fitness related concerns and Shantakumaran Sreesanth has been a liitle too inconsistent,profligate and sporadic in his efforts towards reposing the required confidence in the minds of the national selectors and legions of cricket fans. One can only begin to wonder why the services of Messrs Maninder Singh, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan and Narendra Hirwani have not been engaged as spinning coaches and why the Board in it's infinite wisdom has failed to recognise the crying need for the establishment of a spin academy at Chennai's Chepauk stadium with Anil Kumble as it's chairperson and the above mentioned three gentlemen as it's full time coaches.
A fast bowlers/pace bowlers academy could be established at Mohali's Punjab Cricket Association Stadium with the irrepresible Jat Kapil Dev as it's chairperson and Messrs Venkatesh Prasad, Paras Mhambrey and Subroto Banerjee as full time coaches their efforts could be supplemented with the appointment of a full time fitness trainer, physiotherapist and last but not the least nutritionist/dietician. Fast bowlers of the pedigree of Glenn Mcgrath, Allan Donald, Curtley Ambrose, Courtney Walsh and Wasim Akram could be approached and sounded out regarding their availability and willingness to conduct pace bowling clinics at timely intervals.
Fielding related issues need to be addressed at the under 15 and under 19 levels and India's greatest fielders in recent history namely Messrs Robin and Yajurvindra Singh should be entrusted with the responsibility of ensuring their wards battle readiness to shine on the field at the highest level as and when they get their opportunity, the fifteen-twenty runs saved on the field make the difference between winning and losing more often than not in today's cricket and it is high time that the BCCI recognised this problem for what it was and initiated the required measures towards surmounting it. The proposed fielding academy could be set up as an arm of the National Cricket Academy.
Mr. Shastri kindly take cognisance of the humbly offered suggestions, pay heed to them, remodel and revitalise them as and how required but do act upon them as time is indeed running out for team India.
Sundeep Chopra.
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