Dead end for Narain

As Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso battle it down to the wire for the Formula One drivers’ championship next weekend in Interlagos, Brazil, next Sunday, our own speed king -- Narain Karthikeyan – is stranded. He doesn’t know where to look: left, right or straight, which is a dead end.
Stories on Narain have been all over the place in the last one week – web, wires and papers – mostly speculative, but none has understood the nuances of what it takes to just be in F-1. If you ask Hamilton in his first year, he will have great stories to tell, other than, of course, last weekend in China when he drove into a gravel trap.
A DNF (did not finish) for Hamilton meant the whole championship got thrown open, but it left not even a window of an opportunity for Narain, who happens to be Williams’ test driver. I would have hoped that in an action-packed year in F-1, when fans hardly missed Michael Schumacher, Narain would have got a look-in for the last race as Alexander Wurz had retired. No, instead it was a Japanese answering to the name of Kazuki Nakajima who was nominated by Sir Frank for the finale.
I know there is no link between Narain racing in the last race and who goes on to win the title finally next Sunday, but Narain has again hit a roadblock. The world of F-1 is a strange one, where drivers come to know very quickly when they are not needed. If half a decade back, someone like Frenchman Jean Alesi, despite his rich experience saw the writing on the wall, right now Ralf Schumacher knows his continuance in F-1 is jinxed.
So where does it leave our own Narain, who made his debut three seasons back? The moment Narain had a low-key debut with Eddie Jordan’s back-of the-grid team in 2005, tongues had started wagging as to how he had raised the megabucks through his sponsors. Narain, despite all the talk, did as well as he could in a car which was no better than an Ambassador when compared with the rest of the speed demons on the grid.
But, then, just as in any other sport, Narain was also a victim of his own creation, not being articulate with the media, and saying the wrong things to people who had no clue of the sport. The end result, he lost his seat and managed a test driver’s role in 2006 and 2007, which is like being a dummy for some big actor when stunts are to be shot.
In Narain’s case, stunts, too can’t work now, as age is catching up with him and big teams are not looking . The sadder part is Narain does not know where to look and has chosen to move to A-1 GP, which is almost two rungs lower. Narain has confessed his future at Williams is very unsure, and being test driver for another season could be just a waste of time. More so, because under the new rules, the role of a test driver is very, very limited.
Talking about A-1 GP, there, too, Narain has made no big impact and if people close to him are to be believed, whatever he earns just helps him pay loans which have accrued. Loans? Yes, loans, because in motorsport, most drivers’, unless they are performing at the top, keep spending all their lives. In the end, when they turn back and look at their careers, there is nothing but disappointment to reflect on.
Today, despite the dollar becoming cheaper in rupee terms, finding sponsorship for participation in motorsport is very, very tough. It looks very rosy with billionaire Vijay Mallya buying an F-1 team. But don’t get fooled, nobody buys an F-1 team for patriotic reasons, deep down the essence is hard core business.
People have linked Mallya buying the team to an Indian being there in his Spyker team as a driver. But make no mistake, Mallya is not going to have drivers’ in his line-up just because of their nationality or because he happens to know the drivers’ like Ralf Schumacher. In the end, whoever makes it to the team will be there for two reasons: Either he is good enough to put the team at least in the middle of the race or brings in a huge sponsorship package.
In Narain’s case, his ‘racing juices’, as the phrase goes, is not extinct, but at 30, he is not getting younger. He has worked very hard on fitness and endurance, running almost 10km a day in the heat when needed and taken lessons in yoga for better concentration. Yet, in the end, all this means nothing when you are left just watching your teammates race and testing cars for any flaws.
Talking about results, if Narain has been left to cool his heels, another Indian who has made waves is Karun Chandhok. Competing in GP-2, a competition just a rung lower than F-1, he won a Grand Prix three weeks back racing for European outfit Team Durango. So, if anyone is actually going to get a look-in from home for Mallya’s team just on form, it has to be Karun.
The smart, young man has learnt the tricks of the trade very fast. And given his PR skills and dad Vicky Chandhok’s links with F-1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, the day is not far when Karun is seen in the real fast lane.
And what about Narain? Time is running out for the first Indian who made it to the biggest stage in motorsport. Sadly, all that remains now is just a blur.

Spare a thought for other sport..

If Indian cricket could have been listed as a stock in the BSE and NSE last week, it would have further boosted the bull run that now is crossing levels never reached before – be it the Sensex or the Nifty.
But then, just as share prices are not always true reflections of their intrinsic values, to evaluate Indian cricket based on the Twenty20 triumph would be foolhardy. Overall, in the fortnight-long extravaganza played out in South Africa, it was nice to see Yuvraj Singh smash sixes at will, youngsters come up with steely performances and finally see skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni take his shirt off.
It resulted in what is now being termed as the most historic win on a cricket field after Kapil’s Devils won the World Cup at Lord’s in 1983. But was Twenty20 – still not sure whether it was a World Cup or World Championship – such a big event that the nation took to the streets well after sunset to celebrate?
Unlike the United States or China, ours is not a nation that will be counted for in medals tallies at the Olympics or at any other big multi-discipline sporting extravaganza. Cricket is played by 16 countries and, at best, when we win, it makes the public go crazy, and in reply, we have the Board of Control for Cricket in India going bonkers and the rest following suit.
So, just some time after S. Sreesanth takes a catch to get rid of Misbah-ul-Haq in the Twenty20 final on Monday, it’s like Diwali. Just that the bonuses that the cricketers got were so high that even golfing pros are now wondering whether it is better to labour on long courses over 72 holes or play a cricket match that ends in less than five hours.
I am not complaining about the cricketers getting monetary rewards. The BCCI has promised Rs 80 lakh to each player and Rs 1 crore to Yuvraj, the new prince. He is going to get a Porsche as well, and if past examples are an indicator, I doubt if he’ll oblige P. Chidambaram and pay tax on it. Add to it the Rs 4 crore booty from the ICC, the Twenty20 stars are going to be counting their notes for a long time.
But we do need to spare a thought for other sportspersons who also toil. The first to take up the cudgels was none other than Joaquim Caravalho, the Indian hockey coach. He obviously does not subscribe to the view that Indian cricket (Twenty20) is such a good stock that not only the BCCI, even state governments go bonkers and start announcing embarrassing sums as rewards.
Mind you, all this is tax-payers’ money and we have no say in deciding whether we actually want to reward the ‘instant’ cricketers or would be happier to see the hockey players get a bit rich.
So, when the threat of a protest fast was sounded out by Caravalho along with four Karnataka hockey players, it threatened to snowball into a major crisis. Hockey happens to be our forgotten national sport, though the movie Chak De India has made people once again think of the game again.
So, was the Twenty20 win big or Indian hockey winning the Asia Cup in Chennai on par, where the opposition comprised China and Korea? Hockey can never match cricket’s popularity even if we win the Olympic medal again.
But the treatment the sport gets from its own federation (IHF), headed by supercop KPS Gill, the Sports Ministry and the corporate sector reminds us of Oliver Twist getting punished because he asked for more.
Had it been a coach other than Caravalho, he would have probably kept quiet. Way back in 1998, just after India won the Asian Games gold medal in Bangkok, coach MK Kaushik and star goalkeeper Ashish Ballal spoke out and were fixed. I thought Caravalho had shot himself in the foot, but he didn’t care a damn. His philosophy is clear: if the corporate sector wants to woo cricketers, let them do it, but how can state governments have double standards and treat hockey like muck.
There were some people who felt Caravalho was over-reacting but when world champion – in billiards and snooker – Pankaj Advani also spoke out, it was clear there was something wrong with the system. Sportspersons are supposed to be professionals, and with the exception of India and some other regions in the subcontinent, the money they make is through prize money or commercial endorsements.
So had Tiger Woods been an Indian, he would probably be richer than Lakshmi Nivas Mittal! The point is, today when someone as sensible as Jeev Milkha Singh also speaks about wanting some support for golfers from the government, there’s something certainly wrong with the fetish for cricket. And even as the nation celebrates the Twenty20 triumph, those who make big bucks from illegal betting syndicates are scared what is in store for them in the ODI series against Australia having commenced and Pakistan also waiting to come and prove their credentials.
Indeed, testing times are ahead for the Indian cricketers who are now drunk on the Twenty20 success. Good performances in the series against Australia and Pakistan will not be easy as tougher competition and the law of averages are bound to catch up. In the best of times, fans have never been forgiving when it has come to failure on the cricket field.
And in times like these, when cricket is played almost non-stop like tennis or soccer around the globe, Indian cricket under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s leadership needs to keep performing. The same people who come and salute you will bring out the knives the moment there is failure.
And just as the Sensex or Nifty cannot just keep going up, Indian cricket needs a correction, as they say in the bourses. The aberration: Unlike the trading floors, nobody will come to invest in other stocks like hockey, golf, or football.
A pity, isn’t it?

Getting high on MSD

Whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was actually looking at the future when it named Mahender Singh Dhoni as captain for the 12 ODIs against Australia and Pakistan is something we will get to know soon. But what cricket fans at home and abroad must know very well is the fact that this decision had to be made as there was no suitable candidate after Sachin Tendulkar said ‘no’.
It is often said that leading the Indian side is not easy, given the pulls and pressures that come from various directions. Most importantly, the captain hardly gets to know if the BCCI will back him to the hilt in difficult situations. Yet, despite these strains, Rahul Dravid marshalled the resources well and also handled two high profile ex-captains – Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly – without any major glitches.
When Dhoni steps out for the toss against the shrewd, calculating and aggressive Ricky Ponting in the first ODI at Bangalore on September 29, he knows some kind of history is going to being made. Flip through the annals of cricket and you’ll find that rarely does a player go on to lead the country within three years of making a debut.
Dhoni played his first ODI against Bangladesh in 2004 and has been a regular in the squad since then, although his keeping came under the scanner on the recent tour to England just before the first Test. There was talk that the keeper had fumbled with the unusual ‘swing’ of deliveries this time in England and Dinesh Karthik could actually be given a look-in.
How times change. Just as we have cricket being played at a fast and furious pace (Twenty20), where bowlers probably need to pop in an Alprax before steaming in to bowl to the marauders, we have keeper-batsman Dhoni now ascending the throne. All right, Dhoni is just the captain for 12 ODIs and not the entire season and that the skipper for the Tests remains to be decided. Still, to have a Young Turk shoulder such a huge responsibility is something that the BCCI think-tank has never done before.
Forget what it will be like to draw strategies to match the Oz firepower in the ODIs, the first bits of homework Dhoni will need to work on is how to handle three former captains under him – Sachin, Dravid and Ganguly, each of whom is keen to play the ODIs, unless, of course, injuries or lack of form are going to keep them out.
When the triumvirate opted out of the Twenty20 World Cup, we knew it was the best decision, given the fitness levels and ages of these three. Ponting was almost a uncertainty for the India tour, thanks to his own fitness, before deciding he is going to come. So, apart from donning the gloves and watching every bit of action from behind the stumps, for Dhoni, the biggest test is man management, which will make or mar his future.
I am not trying to sound like Nostradamus, but Indian cricket is unkind. I am reminded of the oft-used cliché: Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan. For Dhoni to succeed as the Gen Next captain, he needs his batsmen to click, bowlers to be bang on target and the part-timers chipping in with the bat and ball.
Had this been an away-series Down Under, the BCCI perhaps would not have taken this gamble. But these are modern times, where we take the risk of hiring a coach as big as Greg Chappell, who eventually did more harm than good to a sport that is like a religion at home. I firmly believe when they are investing in a captain like Dhoni, the BCCI should put the hunt for a foreign coach on the backburner for the time being. In Chandu Borde, India had a good manager on the England tour, with coaches Venky Prasad and Robin Singh both working hard. The fielding came in for flak, but why blame Robin for it?
The cricket world has seen Dhoni as someone who is daring, flamboyant and ready to play such audacious stuff that it has purists tearing their hair! Captaincy is a burden, as has been described by Dravid and Tendulkar, where anyone and everyone from the panwallah to an MNC bigwig sits on judgment.
Dhoni knows he has to seize this opportunity with both hands, even if it means taking some hard decisions. He’ll have to decide the composition of the team on the basis of form, find the right balance and use the men at right fielding slots correctly. It’s a well-known fact that in ODIs, you cannot hide the bad fielders, and at most, you can put them in the slip-catching region.
But the best thing going for Dhoni now is that his vice-captain (actually his senior) Yuvraj Singh is in the most brutal form now. It is with this big plus and the advantage of flat tracks across the length and breadth of the country, we will see Dhoni lead a side that is a wonderful combination of youth and experience.
The decision which ‘Colonel’ Dilip Vengsarkar and his team have taken has come out of the blue for the traditional school of thought. But these are interesting times for Indian cricket, where the bosses are ready to spend big on domestic cricket, to think of their own Twenty20 and now a young captain whose rock-star looks make him immensely popular.
In a way, for the BCCI, which has handled crises before, the latest after Dravid’s resignation was a tough call. And unlike other captains who came with solid ‘backing’ – how can we forget that Ganguly had Jagmohan Dalmiya supporting him all the time? – Dhoni’s at a disadvantage.
Hailing from Jharkand, where you probably expect hockey players to come from, Dhoni has been a big revelation. For a man who has batted with scant respect for the bowlers and the copybook, captaincy should come naturally after the Twenty20 stint.
Despite the scare which the Oz bring with them, I still think Dhoni’s captaincy will be very innovative. And let us not judge him based on just these 12 ODIs. We need to plan for the 2011 World Cup, by which time Tendulkar and Ganguly should be in the commentary booth.
If we have taken such a big gamble, groom Dhoni for the future. Short-term losses are something that must be overlooked. The big target in sight is the next World Cup to be held in the sub-continent with the final in Mumbai. It’s time Indian cricket gets its high from MSD.

Brick in the Wall

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave us kids alone
All in all you're just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall

It was a must to reach out for the old Pink Floyd CD on Friday night after coming to terms with Rahul Dravid’s decision not to lead Team India again. Somehow, a lot many people like me have got to associate Dravid’s nickname ‘The Wall’ with Pink Floyd’s number.
Perhaps, when the band composed this famous number decades back, none would have even thought of any association with cricket. But as cricket world’s ‘The Wall’ conveyed his decision to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, it was with all emotions in check.
In the past (I won’t mention names) captains in many sport at home have used the media selectively to leak out information that they are planning to quit. One paper’s scoop could well become a nightmare for the rival papers. No, but in The Wall’s case, his last appearance before the media when he was still captain in the Capital on Friday was a quiet one.
Dravid has always known to be a man who maintained utmost dignity, for whom cricket was a canvas larger than life. Perhaps, it was his inability to cope with certain hard realities of being Team India skipper, he decided to walk away from the most demanding job with his head held high.
History is replete with several instances when cricket captains have had to leave only after they were shown the writing was on the wall. Why, even the master tactician and ruthless Steve Waugh had to quietly leave or else the Oz board would have had to say goodbye to him.
This has been a very demanding cricket season. And for Dravid the captain, handling the disappointments of the World Cup in the West Indies was very tough. Unlike many other captains who would have liked to look for excuses, Dravid kept quiet. He had, in fact, told people he was ready to quit then.

After that, The Wall had to go and prove himself in Bangladesh, Ireland and then England. Dravid knew this was certainly his last tour to England, but could there have been anything better than winning the Test series in Old Blighty after 21 years and losing a nerve-jangling ODI series 3-4.
It was just less than a fortnight back, India won that sixth ODI against all odds in England. Dravid knew if he had lost that match, carping critics would have torn him apart for certain decisions. And the biggest of them all: Allowing a part-time bowler like Yuvraj Singh to bowl the 50th over. Yuvi got plundered by an unknown Mascarenhas and India had to chase a mountain of a total. They achieved it. Had India lost that very night, Dravid may have decided to say goodbye then and there.
At a time when time India were doing well in England, Dravid’s own batting has suffered. For a man who has steered India out of troubled waters time and again with his stodgy approach and long stays at the crease resulting in a big ton, loss of form has been worrying.
I reckon, any other captain would have just continued because in India rarely do skippers get questioned unless the performance has been abysmal. Or there are events leading to a situation with a difficult coach like Greg Chappell deciding the fate of Dada.
To be sure, despite scoring just 126 runs in three Tests at an average of 25.20 and 223 runs in seven ODIs in England, had it been a captain other than Dravid, he could have still felt comfortable. Not the Wall, who perhaps has actually realized, rather than wait for the guillotine, it’s better to again work on your footwork and technique and again score runs. That’s The Wall he wants his millions of fans to remember him as.

Last but not the least, Dravid is a shrewd man who knows what plugs and leaks in the media are all about. First, we have a story saying Sachin Tendulkar wants to retire and then the maestro denies it. Perhaps, all this was well-thought out, how to have stories in print which will have a ripple effect.

Just that I did not imagine it would get so serious where the captain decides to move on. It was very different to see Dravid as the man in charge in on tough tours with two ex-captains under him. The Wall has done his bit for regrouping the Indian bunch. Dravid wants to score runs again and he will do it.

BCCI and its ways

When Atlanta hosted the Olympics in 1996, world over the unanimous view was that crass commercialisation of the sport was spoiling the whole spirit of the Games. It was a complaint heard and forgotten almost immediately after the fortnight-long extravaganza. Just that for the Indians, all such talk did not matter. What mattered was Leander Paes winning a bronze medal in tennis, truly an effort which seemed impossible. Yet for all that, he raked in less than Rs 40 lakhs from all quarters.
More than a decade after those Olympics, when we hear of megabucks in cricket -- or to be precise the Twenty20 slam-bang stuff – the commercial world watches in amazement. Less than a month back, it was Kapil Dev, chairman of the Indian Cricket League sponsored by Subhash Chandra, who showed starry-eyed youngsters what raking in the moolah was.
It certainly appeared as if Kapil had become the messiah for fringe players like Hyderabad’s Ambatti Rayudu, who was never going to make it big by playing under the BCCI banner. How soon times change! Today, we have the Indian board ready to take on the ICL headlong by announcing its own Twenty20 league and an international Champion’s League, details of which were revealed three days back in the Capital.
Now, has the BCCI suddenly become concerned about the welfare of players or is it also using this new format as a stunt to parade the “best” names. If you thought Kapil had stolen the thunder by roping in a name as big as Brian Lara, the BCCI, with open approval from the International Cricket Council (ICC), is now going to use star power to showcase the Champion’s Twenty20 league.
Carrying a prize money of $ 5million (approx Rs 22 crore), fans are going to see from next year golden oldies like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath bring on the magic. And at home, in the IPL, players who compete will be sharing booty worth $ 3 million.
But do not get fooled by the ICL or the BCCI, cricket promotion is somewhere low down their priority list. The same set of people who were questioning Kapil’s theory if Twenty20 was actually the way to groom talent find themselves doing something similar and spending big money. Does BCCI’s own event become more special just because it has managed to get the recognition from the ICC or have retired stars like Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne suddenly become young? I would think that using the ICC’s recognition, the BCCI is now in a position to act tough and actually make sure that Kapil’s event gets devalued even before the first over is bowled in the competition.

Just to jog the readers’ memory, when Kapil had launched the ICL, the BCCI’s immediate reaction was to hike players’ fee for domestic cricket and make sure no more players crossed over. By now bringing in a slam-bang format in an already packed calendar, it could be almost non-stop cricket like international tennis.
One does not know how the sport in its newest form is going to get accepted. But if results from the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa are to be taken as a barometer, predictions can go haywire. So apart from the batsmen who are there just to maul the bowlers’, it does appear for the bookies who run the huge illegal betting syndicates, this is another chance to again make it big. Or go bust!
But just as we debate on the riches of cricket, we also need to spare a thought for a poor sport like hockey. It is India’s national sport, and the Chak de India effect was there for all to see in Chennai during the Asia Cup where India emerged champions without losing a single match.
How many people will remember the hockey triumph is a good question to ask because in India public memory is short. For any sport other than cricket, survival is almost next to impossible. Be it Test cricket, ODIs or Twenty20, there’s no dearth of sponsors queuing up to be sponsors.
But in Chennai, it was only after Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) was roped in did the Asia Cup get a title-sponsor. I have nothing against cricket getting sponsorship, even though right now the BCCI has not said anything about who will be supporting its latest venture.

But for Indian hockey to resurrect itself and win a qualifying berth to be there at the Beijing Olympics next year now requires luck. Compared to the cricketers, our hockey players do have more dash and play from their heart for the nation. Yet, if one compares what a superstar like Dhanraj Pillay has earned after all these years in hockey with what an Ambatti Rayudu or Dinesh Mongia will make from the ICL would be so embarrassing.
The sad part is however much our hockey players strive and struggle in the quest for Olympic glory, money will never come their way. Even if Joaquim Caravalho’s boys win a hockey medal at the OIympics (I am serious), they will never get to see more than a few lakhs coming their way. After the initial euphoria, it will be back to working in banks or Railways as clerks or being employed with the national carrier as a flight bursar. That is what former stars like BP Govinda do these days, perhaps unrecognized by passengers who never saw him play hockey.
Why, for all the effort which Sania Mirza puts in on a tennis court and earns prize money, she still would come in the middle-income bracket when compared to the projections which a cricketer can make from the ICL or the BCCI’s new events. So even if Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, all on the wrong side of the thirties play Twenty20 at home, they will still be making money. Mind you, all this without having to worry about winning India the World Cup, be it 50-50, Twenty20, or probably another improvised format where you can play four matches in one day at one single venue!
The sad part is, however much we criticise the Indian cricketers or ageing stars like Warne and McGrath, they are rich and will grow richer. It is not just the BCCI, even the ICC is there to ensure that in the name of fierce competition against the ICL, they will loosen the purse strings to any extent.
Should I still talk of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996? Forget it.

Crocodile tears!!

This guy Shoaib Akhtar, you can work him up so easily. I always knew he was a showman to the core and enjoys every bit of what he does -- on or off the field. And as the tear-away fast bowler landed in South Africa for the Twenty20 World Cup, I thought he was going to make waves with his bowling.
No, but before anything of that sort could happen, he decided to use his bat. Just that instead of smashing a juicy delivery, the Rawalpindi Express whacked his teammate Mohd Asif at nets after an altercation and was promptly put on the next flight back home.
How does one describe the latest act of Akhtar? Was it a moment of madness which needed to be hushed up or was it blown out of proportion, necessitating a quick initiation from the team management. In my mind, what the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did was very right. Cricket across the border is passing through turbulent times, just like the whole nation, where uncertainty exists in every sphere of life.
It would be no exaggeration to state that the cricket world missed Akhtar the maverick star at the World Cup in the West Indies where Pakistan made an early exit. And even as the team flew back in shock after the murder of coach Bob Woolmer, TV bytes of an emotional Shoaib weeping and telling the media how close he was to Bob seemed unreal. In a way, Shoaib was lucky he was not sent to the West Indies by the PCB as they knew he would flunk a drug test. That was the reason why he had to miss the Champions Trophy last October.
But was Shoaib honest in shedding tears for the departed coach with whom he had a spat bang in the middle of the second Test in Port Elizabeth which was caught by TV cameras? I honestly feel it is very difficult to predict what Shoaib will do.
Pictures of the quickie steaming in to bowl with his sweat-drenched hair flying is exciting for women who happen to be his fans. But not many would be aware that injury-prone Shoaib had been told by Woolmer to cut down on his run-up when he had frequent breakdowns and would have to cool his heels for rehab.
I feel Shoaib cares two hoots about what the world thinks of him. When the team is competing overseas and he is not part of it, he flies down to Bollywood, has a whale of a time and goes back happy. I have this nagging suspicion if Shoaib really cared about his (bad boy) image, he would one day have actually wiped it out and started afresh.
But as has been the case with him for over a decade now, each time he walks out of one controversy, the next one is waiting for him round the corner! Way back in 1996, when the Pakistan A team toured England and Shoaib took 25 wickets, he was dropped for the ODI squad going to Toronto because of indiscipline. In 2000, he gets fined 50,000 Pakistan rupees for indiscipline. The 2003 World Cup is held in England and just after Pakistan are out of the tournament, Shoaib is dropped and told his career is finished if he does not improve his behaviour.
As if this was not enough, came the doping allegations that the man who has an appetite for a full goats meat was using nandrolene! Had it been any other country, Shoaib would never have got to play the sport. In a way, despite the disciplinary actions initiated time and again by the PCB against him, the bowler has never come back with his head hanging in any kind of shame.
What the sporting world has only got to see is a more arrogant and unrepentant Shoaib, as if he could get away with anything. There is no doubting his talent and ability to bowl fast, which can be very intimidating for the batsmen. But does being talented mean you can get away with any act of indignation?
Being a sportsperson ideally means learning to be disciplined. At least, that is what is taught at the very basic stage by the coaches, irrespective of what arena they are in. In Shoaib’s case, discipline is something which he lacked right from the beginning.
A lot of things are overlooked when a sportsperson is immensely talented and is a match-winner. Had Shoaib been kept under check from the beginning and educated, it could have been a different story. Back home, be it tennis or cricket, superstars like Vijay Amritraj and Sachin Tendulkar have identified themselves as not just brand ambassadors but ambassador of the nation.

Sadly in Shoaib’s case, he can never be seen as a role model. He is a superstar with a king-size ego and larger than life image who has got carried away into an unreal world where discipline doesn’t matter. Yes, he did express “regret” for his team after hitting Asif with the bat, but that was just another statement and not a reflection of his anguish.
Almost twenty years back, when I was a rookie in this profession, I happened to be covering a cricket tournament called the SAIL Trophy finals. And on the last day of the match, there was a brawl between Manoj Prabhakar and Maninder Singh on the field. Manoj hit Maninder with the bat and the match had to be abandoned. It made headlines the next day in newspapers, though there were no private channels then.
But a direct fall-out of that incident was both these Delhi cricketers realised they had done something stupid and never repeated a mistake like that. Today, years after Prabhakar and Maninder’s cricketing careers are over, they are still remembered as game triers who competed at the highest level with a big heart.
I am not saying that Shoaib does not have the heart for bowling long spells and he does not want to win matches for Pakistan. I honestly feel when dusk sets on his colourful career, he will be remembered for the wrong reasons: Not for his ability to send someone like Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket cart-wheeling but a problematic character who made it tough for captains who had to handle him.
If and when he returns to play again for Pakistan, Shoaib will again be scrutinized. Can we expect the maverick who can do magic to turn a new leaf in a few months’ time?
I really can’t see that happening!

Be Arjunas

For all the sweat and toil on the field for Indian athletes, there is nothing more rewarding than getting an Arjuna Award or the Rajeev Khel Ratna. No, it’s not about the money or scroll which the sporting stars get from the President of India. It’s got to do with pride and recognition.
At the Ashoka Hall on Wednesday, as athletes filed to collect their trophies from Pratibha Patil, there was pride in their hearts. And there could have been nothing more real than to see the world champion fly down from Europe just before a major competition to collect the Rajeev Khel Ratna. Who am I talking about? Well, none other than trap shooter Manavjit Singh Sandhu, who in his new chiseled avatar looks a real dude.
He has lost nearly ten kilos and it has got nothing to do with getting married nine months back, but a new desire to shed weight. And for a man who stands well above six feet, Manav, as he is popularly known, was all smiles in the company of his wife Kangan and his parents.
Watching Manav mingle freely with Anjum Chopra, the template of Indian women’s cricket, I was a bit surprised. Guys, do you know each other I asked without batting an eyelid. The two kept quiet for a few seconds, and then let out the secret. “We were in the same school at the same time at DPS, RK Puram,” the duo said.
Come on, as a professional sports writer, I couldn’t have felt more embarrassed, not knowing that two of India’s best sporting stars knew each other well before. But would they have met at any other common venue? Unlikely, since shooting ranges are situated so far away and women’s cricket doesn’t have too many takers at home.
Today, Anjum is a well-known personality because of her TV presence, where she anchors major cricket programmes. But being at the Ashoka Hall, she looked starry-eyed. “Kannan, it’s so special to be here. Winning the Arjuna is like a dream come true,” she said. I don’t think she was exaggerating as having played well over a 100 ODIs and being in the sport for so long, she has got the recognition. Late, no doubt, but still better to be there unlike the men cricketers who are now not even considered for the Awards by the committee now.
The presentation of the awards was a very somber affair, and as has now become a practice, no voluble speeches from the President. Awardees just collect their trophies and make it the dining half for snacks.
In fact, Anjum Chopra was actually pleading with a waiter for some nimbu paani. Why? I guess like well-attended wedding ceremonies running short of food, maybe the chef at the Rashtrapati Bhawan was told to keep a check on consumption of raw materials from the kitchen.
His boss is now a lady!

Slow coach!!!

So, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has finally woken up and decided to advertise for the post of national coach. But what comes as a mild surprise is why did the Board have to put out a press release to the media they were doing this?

Have they, after the ICL onslaught, decided to go in for a change of image and now comes across as “media friendly” all of a sudden? I don’t know what the logic behind the advertisement is, but advertisement, as described in management books in my college days went like this. The objective of advertising is: To attract attention, to arouse interest and to instill desire.

We used to laugh when we heard these lines from our lecturer as it was more than funny. Pray, after more than two decades, when I see a body as big and bombastic as the BCCI placing an advertisement for the coach’s job is a bit hard to digest.
We all know, after the Graham Ford fiasco, the BCCI has struggled to answer questions on the coach. We have heard skipper Rahul Dravid tell us how well Venkatesh Prasad and Robin Singh have worked with the team. So are Venky and Robin now going to formally apply for the job?

I have a nagging suspicion, the BCCI, well-known for plugs and leaks, will selectively tell journos who all have applied in the coming days. Why am I so cynical about every action which the BCCI takes? It’s like this, when an inert body like the BCCI suddenly tries to get proactive, doubts will arise.

Teams from the sub-continent woke up soon after the World Cup and began their hunt for a coach. And that is why Pakistan could get someone as well qualified as Geoff Lawson to help them out well in time. In India, we believe in doing things at the last minute.

So if the BCCI is releasing advertisements, I bet it is going to take a few months to scan the applications, shortlist them, and then call the coaches for interviews. We would have finished with the England tour by then and perhaps be preparing for another series. But how does it matter. In the present scenario, appointing a coach (desi or foreign) is hardly the priority.

The BCCI has bigger agendas to handle, just that someone out there must have told them about the fact India has no foreign coach!

Turning point

Sixty years after Independence, the Board of Control for Cricket in India continues to function in its own inimitable style -- zero tolerance towards players and scant respect for even an icon like Kapil Dev. Happenings in the last two days clearly suggest that the BCCI, arguably the richest sports body in the country, has taken the formation of the Indian Cricket League as a threat to its supremacy.

And hours after India’s embarrassing loss in the first one-day international to England at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday, questions will again emerge whether the BCCI runs the sport in the best possible way. It is a well-known fact that the BCCI officials – past and present – never bothered about how the sport was doing at the grass-root level. Their sole concern was, and still is, that the balance sheet looked impressive, figures of which we never got to know until of course yesterday.

The world over, sporting bodies are known to fund development programmes at the basic level. Just that in India, for every champion who is born or produced in any sporting arena, it is always despite the system and not because of it.

But the BCCI takes the cake simply because unlike other sports federations viz. the Indian Hockey Federation or the National Rifle Association of India, funds are never a problem. Hockey players are known to last it out a full 70-minute stretch on the turf despite being fed poor diets sanctioned by the Sports Ministry. If hockey players crib about bad diet being the reason for a loss, we will have to stomach it.

So doesn’t cricket, which is not a sport but actually a religion in India, need to be doing better in terms of a structure where players get what they want to excel at the nets? Ask the BCCI, and you will never get a positive answer. And this is exactly why Kapil Dev has come up with the idea of an ICL, where it is not just spent forces like Brian Lara and Inzamam-ul Haq who will rake in the moolah but also players we have hardly heard of. Die-hard cricket fans may recall one Ambati Rayudu of Andhra Pradesh being a bundle of talent, but does anyone care to find out what he has earned from the sport? It is almost a pittance, which is why he has decided to join the ICL.

And what of a thousand other teenagers who sacrifice academics and play cricket in gullies, then parks and make-shift grounds. Does the BCCI even have a list of how many clubs there are in India? No, they don’t unless it is a state association or an institution affiliated with them which will be part of their voting process.

Modern day sport is about professionalism in all forms. Just that in India, our cricket is hardly professional anywhere – on or off the field. We flop at the World Cup in West Indies five months back and put Kapil Dev on a committee to look into what went wrong. And just because Kapil has today dreamt of a good future for talent – around 50 signed till now with the ICL – he gets the boot from the same committee and is also thrown out of the National Cricket Academy of which he was chairman.

Was Kapil going to ruin the technique of players who go to the NCA in Bangalore just because he will now run the ICL? Was Kapil going to poach on NCA trainees which is why he gets thrown out by the BCCI. There will be more questions than answers, but at the end of it we all know Kapil has never been liked or respected by the BCCI despite all the laurels he has won.

There are true stories of how Kapil, who wanted to be part of the Haryana Cricket Association administration over 15 years back, losing the elections simply because he had no clue of the politics being played. Nothing has changed even today and the sport is still run in India not by players who know the sport, but politicians and businessmen. And if you happen to ask any one of them how to hold a bat or show how to grip the ball, they will never last one day at the nets!

Today, it is easy to accuse Kapil of making money from the ICL. Even if he is, what’s wrong, at least he is guaranteeing a player like Rayudu or former international like Deep Dasgupta and Dinesh Mongia a future where they will have decent bank balances and not worry of what will happen in years to come when they cannot play cricket anymore.

Barring a few hundred cricketers who get jobs in public sector undertakings or banks, domestic cricketers have no future. Yes, if you play Ranji Trophy cricket from the 2008 season, you can earn Rs 36,000 per match day. So whether it is a Himachal Pradesh vs Jammu and Kashmir match or Delhi vs Mumbai, players will get decent money.

There are so many success stories of cricketers like Rajinder Goel and Padmakar Shivalkar having been excellent spinners in domestic cricket but never got to do the same for the country just because they were in the sport at the wrong time. But in modern day cricket, players like these can never exist simply because of the rigours of the sport. So, money does become very important.

Take the case of a speedster like Ashish Nehra from Delhi. Having done well in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, where India made the final, he is almost forgotten now and struggled to pay the bills for his ankle surgery and rehab in Australia last year. Was it not the BCCI’s responsibility to handle all this? If this is the plight of someone who has played at the highest level, imagine what happens to the lower rung cricketers if they get injured. They never get treated properly or simply fade away into oblivion.

So, why could the BCCI not have upped match fees for domestic cricket before? Is it because they know the Indians first class cricketers are like Oliver Twist and wouldn’t dare to ask for more. The BCCI’s change of heart will always be looked at as a knee-jerk reaction. Or is it an attempt to stop movement of players to the ICL.




Kapil, you need to be saluted for instilling fear in the BCCI. A body which flexed its muscles and thought they were answerable to none has been woken up from slumber. Looking at the money which can now be earned, youngsters who dream of representing India on the big stage can at least think of a livelihood from cricket if their dreams are shattered.

This is a big turning point in cricket and whether the ICL clicks or fails, fringe players will always thank Kapil for what he has already done. Twenty20 or the longer version, Kapil and his sponsors have started the churning process. And how the International Cricket Council (ICC), which has maintained silence till now reacts will be interesting to see.

The best, of course, is to hope the ICC does not see Kapil and the ICL as villains. It’s cricket after all.

Zak the ripper

It’s nice to know what I write evokes some emotion in people who read and actually respond to what I have written.
I am talking about my last blog and the timing of it could not have been better after what Zaheer Khan said today. The pace ace has said emphatically that he was not tired and surprised at Rahul Dravid’s decision not to enforce the follow-on in the third Test at the Oval.
As it were, almost anyone from the panwallah on the street corner to the better known names like Gundappa Vishwanath and Ravi Shastri have criticised Dravid for his decision. Some people say it was a safety first tactic, but the truth is Dravid did not trust his bowlers.
When you go into a Test match, the captain knows how much pressure he can put on his bowlers. So, if Zaheer Khan has actually said he was not tired, we have to believe him. I am sure, modern day cricketers are a fit lot even if they have stopped walking around at training sessions with old tyres tied around their waist as Greg Chappell wanted them to.
Indian cricket is well-known for having produced fast bowlers who could never shoulder the workload simply because they were not training hard enough at the gym. Ashish Nehra and Atul Wassan are names which readily come to the mind when one talks of bowlers who did not work hard enough on their fitness.

It is only now that we have bowlers like Zaheer, Sree Santh, Pathan and company working hard to stay fit for the grind that international cricket now is. So, if Zaheer has actually spilled the beans (leave the jellybeans aside) he is actually going to stir a whole new debate.
Any single quote from a cricketer today is observed so minutely today under an electron microscope, it can be twisted and turned to any extent. Maybe, Zaheer Khan said he was not tired in a routine matter and it has become a big issue now.
Well, this is cricket, and controversies will always be part of it. Good, bad or ugly!


A

Keep winning

The first day of the week is an important one for all of us. And when you gear up for the grind ahead, getting to hear good news from the sporting arena is a huge boost.

I woke up on Monday hearing the good news that my good friend Mahesh Bhupathi had won his 40th doubles title with a new partner at the Super 9 in Canada, and Sania Mirza had climbed up one place in the WTA rankings. But what fans really were waiting for was the Indian cricket team to win the Test series in England.

All day long, TV channels were dissecting the Indian team, and the ‘gurus’ of yesteryears had their own opinions: Dravid should have enforced the follow-on, RP Singh had been underbowled and Sachin has got to tweak his arm more. And, of course, how Harbhajan would have been useful.

I am convinced about one thing, former cricketers who give opinions don’t usually have the best ones. I think the average Indian cricket fan, whoever he or she may be, understands the sport so intricately, opinions from Jadeja and company hardly matter.

We all know, a 2-0 win would have been better, but if that didn’t happen, do we go hammer and tongs at Rahul Dravid and his boys? I wouldn’t think so, since in what had been a miserable start to the year, getting bounced out of the World Cup early was so damaging. And when we had some needless drama over Guru Greg exiting and Graham Ford supposed to come, cricket was actually taking a backseat.

Luckily for Indian fans, who actually are a forgiving lot, the wins in Bangladesh went down well and Ireland, too, was a happy hunting ground. And what of the Tests in England? Well, we almost lost the first one, won the second and the third was ours, or so it seemed till the weakness in bowling again surfaced.

Yet, the fact remains our bowling -- four seamers and just one spinner -- is not always going to be good enough to take 20 wickets. Zaheer Khan’s burst in the second Test was inspirational, but on Monday, our bowling looked ragged.

Experts talk of Dravid the skipper having a defensive mindset, but heck, what does he do if his bowlers can’t take wickets on the last day? By night, when the third Test was confined to a draw, expert opinions were more pronounced. But I think, realising the next day was a working day, the real fan went to bed happy to know India had won the series, a feat achieved in England after 21 years.

And what of Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania. Well, they have made sure, Indian tennis is now spoken of in cities as far as Canada and the US. Just as we have the one-dayers promising more action, I am sure the US Open, starting in New York on August 27 will also be equally exciting.

Not bad in times when we have the Prime Minister boring us with the N stuff in Parliament!

Good bye Moraad

This guy Moraad Ali Khan, I salute him for being such an honest soul.

I had called him casually a few days back when he said, "did you check your mail." I said 'no' and it was only after I came to work did I realise he had called it quits. Had Moraad been in a sport like cricket, he would have got much more mileage.

But shooting, a sport which still a lot many are struggling to still follow, is obviously not going to generate the same kind of passion among sportslovers and the media. I was, in fact, surprised Moraad has decided to pack his shotgun. I know he has a huge collection of weapons and to be putting the double trap gun into the attic would have been a hard decision.

It seems just like last week when he suddenly came out from nowhere, decided to shoot in the Nationals at the Karni Singh Ranges after a long hiatus and walked away with the double trap title. That 's Moraad for you, an analyst who will go into the minutest of details in whatever work he is doing. And even at that time, Moraad was rock sure, he was not going to be in the sport for long.

He did shoot in an ISSF World Cup three months back, but it was just an aberration. He has decided to work more for Indian shooters, be it raising sponsorship or enhancing their profiles. And if the decision to take up coaching as a new task is true, I think Moraad is making the right decision.

I have seen Moraad at the ranges for long and what impressed me most, even when he was faring badly in a practice round was that he could analyse then and there. But then, for a man who impressed with scores, medals and consistency in trap shooting first, it was not difficult when he moved to double trap. It was, after all, a conscious decision, not because he was going to be booted out of the trap team.

To be sure, not many knew what double trap was till RVS Rathore made that huge mark at the Athens Olympics. Believe me, Moraad had already educated some of his friends like me on what an exciting and thrilling sport it was. Shooting is one sport where age does not matter. You can continue well into your fifities and still do well at the National level, if not the international arena.

But the Moraad I know will never do anything half heartedly, even if it is his dream to raise funds for sportspersons so that they can do well in their quest for Olympic glory. I know for sure, Moraad can come back even a year later, train for a few weeks and again bust the orange clay targets.

Yet, for a man who has an aura, he will never have a myopic vision and will focus on the task of soon becoming the Indian shotgun coach. Where would he he stand when compared to the foreign coaches our marksmen crave for?

I am sure time will tell.

Stock rising

It’s not just the Sensex which can be unpredictable in a turbulent market.

A commodity called Indian cricket, too, has its highs and lows, with the win at Nottingham coming at the right time – even though three wickets were lost chasing a paltry total.

It was just some time back, the Men In Blue almost lost the first Test at Lord’s before rain came to India’s rescue in a big way with nine wickets down. This has been a very wet summer in England, and even the second Test seemed like written off because rains were going to be a menace.

Not only was the weather kind, the conditions were extremely conducive for the Indian medium fast bowlers to succeed, with Zaheer Khan showing the fire is there in his belly. I have always believed this handsome man has it in him to do the damage, especially when conditions are useful. And the way he did it on Monday was worth raving about.

Going back to less than ten days, it was the same Indian bowlers and the famous Indian batting line-up – Sachin, Sourav, Rahul and VVS – who had flopped. But if the second Test has to be discussed in a stock market sense, there were plenty of blue chips for Team India, though Zaheer was the hottest pick.

The record books says that the last time India won a series in England was two decades back. The third Test starts at the Oval on August 9, and I am sure Rahul and his boys should go in with the same positive mindset. I don’t see the Oval wicket being very different, but when you have an Indian battling line-up like this -- class and composure – they can score big again and let the medium pacers take over then.

There may be some who would probably advocate a defence strategy for the Indian team, but I am not one of those who believe in that. This English side has no quality bowler, and someone like Sidebottom is not going to be a menace.

Having said that, I do think a Test series win in England will make some cricket fans forget the agony the team underwent in the World Cup. And last but not the least, is anyone still talking of a foreign coach for Team India?

No.

Hyderabadi zafrani pulao!!

For long, Sania Mirza has been an enigma for Indian sports fans.

The Hyderabadi, blessed with one of the most natural and blazing forehands, once again captured the attention of the tennis globe when she stormed through the draw at the WTA event in Stanford, US, last week. She lost the final to Anna Chakvteadze rather tamely, but the most tangible gain has been a big rise in the WTA rankings.

Sania has often used the phraseology “Ranking is just a number, the real task is to play well” as a defence mechanism when she has been caught in the free fall. But now that she is No 31 as per the latest WTA rankings, she will be hoping this can get better or stay constant so that she gets seeded – again a first for an Indian in a long time – when the US Open starts at Flushing Meadows on August 27.

To be sure, this is not the first time Sania has caused a few ripples in the circuit. Coming as it were in the hard court season leading up to the US Open, there can be nothing better than this in a year which has been pretty wretched for the Indian. Getting injured early on and missing valuable weeks in the clay season meant Sania had a big handicap for the rest of the season.

And unlike just some niggle, this was a major surgery on her knee forcing her to miss a lot of tennis. On return, she was getting bumped out in round one or round two, but her resilience never vanished.

Despite what critics had to say (I include myself in it!) I thought Sania would find it very, very difficult to stay ahead in the last few weeks leading into the US Open. But one thing I knew for sure was all the wins she was scoring in doubles was bound to help her as far as her own game went. The best of pros have used doubles to hone their skills at the net.

And in a way, when you are out of a tournament early (in singles), it always makes sense to be in there and get in as many matches as you can for getting a better feel on the ball. The Sania forehand is now being referred to as oft as the old Jim Courier forehand, who would bludgeon his opponents into submission.

All I can say right now, to borrow some lines from the movie Cheeni Kum, the Hyderabadi Zafrani pulao flavour is there across the oceans. Sania, I hope this aroma lasts well through the US Open fortnight…


+

Perform or perish

I have been getting a few calls from my friends as to why I have all of a sudden stopped blogging. Well, I was in the process of changing jobs and just wanted to take my mind off computers and sport for some time. Now that I have had a decent break, I have joined a new work place where the challenges will be bigger.

Talk of challenges, I guess I cannot really say whether my challenge will be bigger or the challenge for Rahul Dravid and his men in England. I had thought before the first Test began at Lord’s, India would go in as overwhelming favourites against an almost toothless English attack. But the way the famed India batting line-up flopped against lesser-known left-arm seamers like Sidebottom (amusing name isn’t it), I think we were very lucky. Rain did prevent an Indian defeat and the Indians escaped without their pants being taken off!

Having said that, I really wonder what this hype is over the famed stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman coming a cropper against the Englishmen. My point is, if wicketkeepers – Dinesh Karthik and MSD – can bat and save us the embarrassment, what are we going to do with the stars who don’t perform. Are they going to perish for the second Test? I don’t see that happening, and if anyone is going to be made the sacrificial lamb again, I am sure VVS knows it by now!

There was a time in Indian cricket when even if the top order flopped, we had genuine all-rounders chipping in. But I guess after Kapil Dev and Manoj Prabahakar, we really do not have anyone to fill in. Guru Greg tried making Irfan Pathan more than an all-rounder and even pushed him to the opener’s slot. He scored there as well but lost his way with his bowling rhythm.

Right now, it seems like the famed Indian batting line-up needs to be woken up from slumber. Perform or perish should be the mantra for all..

And I believe in it strongly.

Big day for Aisam

We often hear about Indian tennis players lacking skill and substance to make it to the main draws of events as big as the Grand Slams.

And well after Leander Paes stopped playing singles in the Majors, the struggle for a substitute continues. But on Friday, when news filtered in that strong Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi from Pakistan made it to the main draw of Wimbledon by winning his final qualifying round at Roehampton, it was good news.

Unlike India, the tennis structure across the border is almost at a nascent stage. They do have a grasscourt nationals and a few ITF events, but nothing like what we have in India as a far as a professional structure goes.

Indians have seen Aisam play in Mumbai twice last year, first when he almost threatened to snatch away the Davis Cup tie from the hosts. The second time was in September when he paired with Leander Paes at the Mumbai ATP Open. And on both instances, Aisam the charmer was a big hit with women.

I have seen Aisam a few times. He is big, serves and volleys well and has a large heart. And had it not been for the fact he plays in a country where the tennis culture is not strong, he would have perhaps done even better.

I have seen Mahesh Bhupathi, the last Indian to qualify for the Big W main draw in 1998. He was then 24 and went on to play a five-setter against Carlos Moya on the showcourts in the main draw first round.

In Aisam’s case, he is 27 -- certainly a late bloomer. His low ATP ranking does not justify his potential. But the reality is, when you compare Indian tennis with Pakistan today, to see someone from across the border in the main draw of Wimbledon is very big.

I doubt if even in the next five years we will have a gentleman (that’s what they call them in the suburbs of London at SW 19) in the main draw of Wimbledon. Aisam had, in fact, paired with Rohan Bopanna at Challenger events in UK three-four years back.

The difference is there for all to see, Aisam in the main draw and Rohan still far behind…

Kalmadi steps on the gas!

I have often heard of the one-liner: “Pulling cotton wool over one’s eyes.

I actually did not know the precise meaning of it, even though I flipped through several Thesaurus online. Finally, when I bumped into Suresh Kalmadi on Thursday afternoon at the India Habitat Centre, I knew what this phrase was all about.

I have known Suresh the showman since the days he held those (in)famous Permit Meets at the Nehru Stadium in New Delhi, when top-notch track and field stars like Sergei Bubka came and never soared! We also got to see legends like Evelyn Ashford come and never clock the timings in middle distance we had heard of in an era when internet never existed,

And on Thursday, when Suresh Kalmadi waxed eloquently about New Delhi having got the nod to host an Formula One GP in 2009, jaws were gaping. F1 in India, you must be kidding, said most inside the hall. But Kalmadi went on and on, stating that F1 was a certainty.

Hey, was this really some official announcement which Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 circus showman had forgotten to make? Kalmadi spoke of a track coming up on time and a stadium being built for F1, unmindful of the fact that this was not some venue for an athletics event, but the biggest motorsport event on Mother Earth.

There was more to follow as Kalmadi spoke of F1 being an event which would generate revenue for Indians athletes to do well in Olympic sport. You rubbing your eyes in disbelief at what I am writing?

No, this is the cotton wool effect of Kalmadi which people were reeling under on a muggy afternoon. As the mind wandered, images of Michael Schumacher came to my mind. Had Schumi, in his chequered career, ever heard of something as preposterous as this. I know Schumi had parted with mega bucks when his personal guard got killed when the tsunami hit Phuket three years back.

But this was bunkum. F1 and Olympics in a land where the Commonwealth Games are going to be held in three years. Mate, you never know. Perhaps, this is one mix where Kalmadi may have got it all right and Sports Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar will be just a bystander.

Like you and me.

Westward ho!

It’s funny this name BCCI. It stands for Board of Control for Cricket in India but if anyone has been following the happenings in the last few days, they have done everything other than keeping things in control.

I go back to the old issue of India coach after Guru Greg went (or was he asked to leave?) after the World Cup fiasco. It seemed, time was too short to find a coach for the Bangladesh tour. And it also seemed, a ‘phoren’ coach would be found before the tours to Ireland and England.

When I first heard the name of Graham Ford, I was a bit taken aback. Hey, was this some custom-built product from the Ford factory which (sorry who) would go on to engineer India’s rise in the world of cricket. Well before Ford could turn on the ignition, there was a problem with what they call the self-starter. Ford himself was not ready to crank, so for Indian cricket to burst to life was just not going to happen!

I think this is the biggest embarrassment India could have faced in any field – sporting or otherwise – where the coach-designate walked away coolly saying he was not interest in the job. Hey, is this what the Indian coach’s job is worth, where a white man walks in, gets the job and flies away. And what does he do, says he can’t take the job because of family compulsions blah blah…

Come on Graham, yes, I am going to take the liberty of addressing you by first name, could you not find a better excuse of shying away from a job which perhaps is as demanding as what our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does?

People never knew what you were when you were deputy to Bob Woolmer. And I doubt, if, after this, you will ever get a chance to prove yourself as a cricket coach. Being cocooned in a job as comfortable as director in Kent may give you the comfort of megabucks. But will anyone other than the counties ever get to know you? No way.

I guess you chickened out even before you wore India colours. But let me tell you, this is something which will be remembered for a long time of how a “phoren” coach ran away just like a batsman scared of an Allan Donald steaming in to bowl!

Coming back to the BCCI, they must take full flak for the way the whole coach issue has been handled. It was with much fanfare and in full view of the media glare they saw Ford and John Emburey come and present their credentials. Both flew back to England after that, so comfortable to be away from India.

Come the selection meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday, the next sacrificial lamb is waiting to be offered. First he was bleeted and then his head put on the chopping block. Ok, if you have still not got a hang of who I am talking about, it’s none other than Virender Sehwag.

I believe Rahul Dravid tried to present his vice captain’s case before the selectors, but it fell on deaf ears. And when Dravid realised he was batting, or taking guard for a lost cause, he decided to keep mum. And with that, a great batsman’s career was shovelled into the grave.

So what in the first place was Sehwag’s fault? Was his triple ton and then a 250-odd against Pakistan forgotten? Was Sehwag the dashing stroke-maker not thought fit to play ODIs or Tests ever again? Or was it that Colonel – Dilip Vengsarkar – yes, the chairman of the selection committee trying to prove his point that he never wanted Sehwag to go to West Indies for the World Cup.

Whichever way you look at it, the ugly head of regionalism in cricket selection has again raised its head. And I guess as long as we have a Maharashtra strongman as the BCCI chief, nobody is going to look north, south or east, it will be just West!

Hesh turns 33

Happy birthday Mahesh. As you blow out the 33 candles on your cake in Paris today, I am sure, like most people, you will reminisce on the year that has rolled by.

But I guess this birthday becomes even more special as it has seen you do well in doubles with Radek Stepanek this fortnight at the French Open. I know the world of tennis does not care too much about doubles, but I guess old timers like me (should I really be calling myself that?) do understand, realise and appreciate what you have achieved as a tennis professional and overall in life.

I have often heard stories from tennis pros (you included) of how tough life is on the Tour, wherein you virtually live your life out of suitcases and travel so much. I guess, unless you enjoy doing that, you would not be in this business at all. I still remember, the first time when people saw you play at home, way back in 1994 for the first time, tongues were wagging that you had no footwork and would never make it big!

I am tempted to mention some of the names of people who said that, but I guess I will stop myself simply for obvious reasons. Actually Mahesh, your birthday has kind of woken me up because I am on a holiday and have not bothered to go anywhere near a computer the last six days. But I promise myself, I will not go back to the PC after this again till my vacation ends.

Coming back to your 33 years gone by, I do not know how you would analyse it. But I guess, you have had great moments on and off the court, and most important, you continue to work as hard as you did when you were a teenager slugging it out with your dad in the desert heat of Oman.

They say, the last phase of a sportsperson’s career can be really tough. I guess, in your case, 2007 was a mixed one, where you chose a new partner in Radek and kept waiting for that “one big break” to borrow your own phrase. It was in 1997, you won your first Grand Slam title with Rika Hiraki. Maybe the time has come for you to again get a big Cup for your showcase.

And even if you don’t, I guess there is nothing to feel bad about. People have said Radek is reeling under the curse of the Black Widow, just because he is dating Martina Hingis. I am sure, you have been lucky for him in a few ways, as his singles results have not been too hot off late.

There is plenty of tennis left in this season and 2008 becomes special as it is the Olympic year. OK, I will stop here, as if I talk more on Beijing, I will be tempted to write about the great ‘Indian Express’ which stopped chugging long back.

Enjoy yourself mate…

Game, set and loss to Sania

It doesn’t make for great viewing when the Hyderabad Queen is at the receiving end. On Thursday, the tense look on Sania Mirza’s face got magnified as she was up against World No.7 Ana Ivanovic, who hails from Serbia.

We did not get to see a battle at the French Open which could have been compared any way to what has happened in Ivanovic’s country in the recent past.

But what really caught the eye was Ivanovic’s cool demeanour on court. Her face was cold almost right through the one hour plus contest, and I had this nagging suspicion the Serbian was expecting Sania to throw up some surprise stuff.

Sania has done that in the past against the bigger players, but when you have been on the Tour for a few years, people start reading your game. I am not saying that Sania played junk tennis, but for someone known to come up with the laser-sharp stuff on the forehand, she wasn’t hot today.

She looked tentative and was not relaxed in the match, which suggested she was feeling the pressure of playing at a high level. I had written just yesterday, Sania looked composed and cool. But 24 hours is such a long period in a player’s life, it can make you look so different.

The Sania we saw on Thursday was very different. I know it is very tough to comer back from a first-set thrashing. Yet, if Sania was nursing hopes of staging a fight-back, she would have had to come up with the big stuff.

Big stuff? The only thing which grew big was the unforced errors. The forehand was spluttering and the backhand a shot with which she could not have got winners. So what does one do in a stage like that?

Sania, perhaps, had no answers while thinking on court as Ivanovic stroked with purpose and covered the court with grace. When it came to Ivanovic’s serve, she was almost invincible. The first serve was smart, and if she was getting to hit second deliveries, Sania was not ready to test her with the returns.

It was almost like a waiting game for Ivanovic in the second set, which is what most professionals do. She waited for her chance on Sania’s serve -- the ninth game – and pulled the trigger.

Sadly, Sania slumped into errors and the contest was almost gone. The crowd which turned up to watch this match was sizeable. For Sania, it’s back to doubles and mixed doubles.

Two Grand Slams of the season are over and Wimbledon looms large. Sania has to work hard on her serve and get consistent if she plans to beat the tougher pros.

Easier said than done?

Trigger happy guys

This guy ‘Goldfinger’ has finally proved to critics that his performance at the Commonwealth Games last year was no fluke. OK, in case you have forgotten who I am talking about, it is none other than bulky Samresh Jung, who finally clinched an Olympic quota place in Munich today.

I had actually begun to think that with seven shooters already having made the grade for Beijing 2008, Samresh would have just lost the quota battle. More so, after he failed to come good last December at the Doha Asian Games.

One thing I can say with certainty is, if anyone is really relieved, it can be none other than the ever-smiling Samresh himself, his wife Anuja and the Jung family members. To be sure, Samresh’s showing at the ISSF World Cup in Munich wasn’t about winning a medal.

The Delhi-based shooter, who toils as hard as a beaver, finished fourth, but as the others ahead already had a quota place, he got through in the slow-fire air pistol. I had spoken to a lot many shooters and those connected with the sport last year as to why Samresh was struggling to get a quota place. Most of them had one thing to say in common: Samresh was putting too much pressure on himself trying to qualify

In modern day sport, it is impossible to realise your dreams unless you enjoy it. Perhaps, had Pete Sampras enjoyed clay, he would have won the French, had Ivan Lendl not looked at grass with suspicion, he would have been champion at Wimbledon.

Why go that far, I guess, today, even Sania Mirza is enjoying herself on clay. She won a round at the French Open beating an old Italian pro, where the Indian’s tenacity was there for all to see.

If anyone reading this blog thinks I am digressing from what I had started with -- Samresh Jung -- let me make it clear Sania also needs encomium. In a way, for both Samresh and Sania, the period behind has been one of agony, though in different ways.

I can well visualize Sania brooding in the last two weeks, not having won one round in singles. So when you come out firing all of a sudden, it does immense good to the confidence. And sport is all about confidence, where on break of serve does not mean you lose the match.

Similarly, Samresh knows if he squeezed the trigger right today, everything was fine. His breathing, his concentration, his focus and his sight.

For once, this was a day when Indian sportspersons were not blaming bad luck. Don’t we hear that excuse over and over again?

No guesses for right choice

Don’t mind this topic reappearing in my blog within a week, but the fact is the Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi love-hate relationship will make news as long as they are alive.

What is new in it? Well, it was just last week, Mahesh, when asked specifically if he would pair up again with Leander, had said he would do it with the 2008 Olympics in mind. Five days later, Leander reacts in a very terse manner that he has options other than Mahesh for Beijing 2008.

It is the choice of any professional in any sport to choose where and with whom he wants to play. It may be recalled, last summer, too, when Mahesh was launching MBTA (Mahesh Bhupathi Tennis Academy) in Gurgaon, he had talked on the same subject and he did not got a very encouraging response from a partner with whom he has created magic in the past.

The timing of Leander’s interview to a TV channel is very clear: The French Open is on and if he is going to be asked for his opinion, he will air it loud and clear.

My point is, what are the options which Leander is talking of? I, for one, know that the AITA ‘talked’ Rohan Bopanna back into the Davis Cup squad after he had missed the tie against Uzbekistan earlier this year. Choice No 2, Prakash Amritraj. Given Prakash’s suspect fitness and low ranking, would Leander pair up with him? No way.

If one wants to take names just for the heck of it, I can talk of even Harsh Mankad, a man who long back made it clear things between him and Leander were not fine. Unless, of course, Leander had also spoken of other choices being rookies like Vivek Shokeen.

Olympics is serious business and nobody knows it better than Leander himself. He has seen the highs and lows in it from 1992, when he first paired with Ramesh Krishnan in Barcelona. In Atlanta, Leander won singles bronze in 1996, though a lot many have forgotten he did play doubles there with Mahesh.

The period between 1996 and 2000 was the golden one. The duo won, fought, quarrelled, regrouped… The biggest mistake was when they joined back for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, their own doubles rankings had dropped. They went into the draw unseeded and ran into the famed Woodies in the second round. Everyhting ended there.

History repeated itself between 2000 and 2004, and when they went into the Athens Olympics, they came short in the bronze medal playoff. Still, it was a much better performance than Sydney. At this stage, Beijing is still a long time away.

And Leander is perhaps justified in saying he is now looking at doing well in the remaining Grand Slams of 2007. What happens in 2008 is hard to predict.

As I see it, Leander and Mahesh will strive to keep their individual doubles ranking as high up as possible. So is Mahesh going to be at Leander’s mercy next year. I really do not think so.

If there are going to any negative vibrations emanating, I know Mahesh will not even go to Beijing. He is far too mature to risk anything like playing in an Olympics just for the sake of being there on the world’s biggest stage.

Having said that, I know Leander, too, will not go to Beijing for fun. He wants another Olympic medal. And Leander knows with which partner he has the best chance.

Is your guess as good as mine?

He is no longer V V S

I pity VVS Laxman. Not long ago, VVS meant very, very special. Right now, I feel the stylish Hyderabad batsman is anything but special as far as Indian cricket is concerned.

For long, I have been fascinated by Laxman’s style of batting. I remember, when I was in school and Mohd Azharuddin got into the team in such a forceful manner in 1985, banging three Test tons in a row, it was sheer joy.

And when from the same city, VVS emerged as a class act, I knew he had the style, substance, and stamina to battle the best of the quickies in the world. VVS came across to me as someone very level-headed but never got his due.

People have been talking for years, how he is not good for the ODIs because he is not a natural fielder and so on. All that is bunkum. It is not as if we have a Jonty Rhodes in every Indian who fields.

So when VVS was dropped for two successive World Cups, I was even more annoyed. When the Test team for Bangladesh was announced, I felt happy VVS was back. But what has Rahul Dravid done to boost his ego/confidence? Nothing.

I get this feeling VVS was better off in the ‘scheme’ of things when Dada was the captain. I am sure, when the team for England is chosen, they will look at the performances in Bangladesh. A certain Virender Sehwag, yes the same Najafgarh nawaab who scored a triple hundred and then a double ton against Pakistan has been finished in Test cricket.

I can see the writing on the wall. Not just Messrs Dravid and company, even the state selector Venkatapathy Raju does not seem to be speaking up for VVS. As for Dravid, he says: "Laxman has been picked as a middle order batsman. We felt that on this tour especially in these conditions we are very keen on playing five bowlers. So he is fighting for one of three slots in the middle order. Between myself, Sachin, Sourav, Yuvraj and Laxman, we are fighting for three spots.”

What fight are you talking of Mr Dravid? Have you guys not dug the grave for Laxman? I am sure the epitaph will also be written soon.

Not again please

This is one soap opera which will continue as long as these two guys are standing on their legs. You still haven't got it? I am talking about the derailed Indian Express which now and then wants to be back on the rails, even if they fight and cry like kids who have lost their marbles!

I had this strong feeling, after what happened at the Doha Asian Games, when Mahesh Bhupathi swore he would never ever play with Leander Paes again, he would stick to his decision.

First, in Mumbai last month, and today in New Delhi, Mahesh has again said he would be willing to play at the Beijing Olympics with (old foe) Leander. Now, what is it that these two, who cannot stand each other, want to be playing again and again after dramatic verbal volleys have been exchanged.

Not just that: Back-biting, bad mouthing and much more, both have been guilty, as it takes not just two to tango but it also takes two to quarrel.

Both are approaching the twilight of their careers and if anything, they should simply be enjoying whatever tennis is left in their system. But as I see things pan out, I would not be surprised if next autumn, we get to see Leander and Mahesh flying to Beijing for the Games.

I can even read out the lines which you will hear from them "It's an honour to be representing the country. An Olympic medal is the ultimate honour. We are professionals, we put aside differences when we play for the country. "

It is said, at Doha, Leander had told Mahesh on his face he did not want to play with him. That they got together was at the insistence of the All India Tennis Association secretary Anil Khanna. The Olympics is about the right spirit, and competing fair.

I guess there's been so much bad blood between these two guys, Beijing can become a joke for them.

No, not again please..

Get well Kumble

You need to take 20 wickets to win a Test match, even if the opponents be a team as inexperienced as Bangladesh. As the rain-battered first Test ended in a draw, two things stood out clear: The elements had their say and India sorely missed Anil Kumble.

Bangladesh’s Test (in)experience is something the whole world knows about. Yet, after losing the ODI series 0-2, they would have been worried what to do in the longer version of the game.

In an age where instant cricket is the flavour and even Twenty20 will become more and more popular, Test matches are special. The Ashes series produced thrilling action two years back, though the last series Down Under was just too predictable.

For long, India have experimented with going into a Test match without five regular bowlers. More often that not, they have had someone chipping in, instead of having a fifth bowler.

So this time, when Kumble and Ramesh Powar were also in, I thought we were in for a lot of spin. Sadly, even though the hosts were struggling at 149 for eight in the first innings, they managed to slip to safety as Kumble spent the better part in the dressing room after being laid low by fever.

The point is, in a Test where the old guard – Sachin and Sourav -- helped themselves to hundreds, it would have been good if the remaining four bowlers could have struck. In the end, when Rahul Dravid made a ‘bold’ declaration and gave Bangladesh a total to chase, it didn’t look too exciting.

I am sure, had Kumble been there, it would have been worth watching. More so, as Sachin Tendulkar’s mixture of deliveries did see plenty of lateral movement.

Young faces and new talent is something nice to talk about, but I still think if you talk of bowlers who can win India a Test, Anil Kumble is still the flavour.

Anil, I do hope you are fighting for the second Test starting in three days time. The Bangladesh batsmen must face the music!!

What more does the Board want?

Now that the high priests of the Indian cricket board have met Dav Whatmore in Bangladesh, I wonder what all this fuss is about that they will soon finalise the India coach.

I am actually a bit fascinated by the shrinking of his name, because when he played, he was called Davenell Whatmore. In the last 11 years, he has become Dav, a popular man who guided Sri Lanka to the World Cup title in 1996 and is now remembered for moulding the Bangladeshis into a good one-day unit.

It was a bit strange when four teams from the sub-continent were there at the World Cup in West Indies, three teams had coaches from Australia – Greg Chappell, Tom Moody and Whatmore. I was sure, given the madness that was the World Cup, not all four teams from the sub-continent would be in the semi-finals!

Yet, after having seen Guru Greg go out so unceremoniously, what is it that has made Whatmore fall in love with Indian cricket. Perhaps, when he was coaching Lanka, he would have had few hassles coaching a side which had such a profusion of talent that the ‘superstar’ nuisance value did not exist.

And when he moved over to Bangladesh, Whatmore was a glorified coach, a man who had done wonders. So is Whatmore wanting to come to India hoping that India go on to win the World Cup, when the final is held in Mumbai in 2011.

I really do not know whether Whatmore will get the same freedom in India which he got in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The Indian cricket team has not star value but superstar value. The Board may have kept Dada and Sachin out of the ODI series in Bangladesh, but they are still in the Test squad and ‘performing’!

The things is,when you have a raw side, it is very easy to mould it as the players will listen to you and there will be no conflict. But if in the coming future Whatmore has to handle THE Indian Test team --- Dravid, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman and the rest -- how is he going to do it?

Bloated egos, stars with swagger and style, I would shudder to think how Whatmore would deal with them at practice sessions and on the field. If someone like Guru Greg failed, is Whatmore going to be more successful and rule with an iron hand? I do not know, as a lot will depend on what the Board expects from him and what power he gets.

My personal feeling is, Whatmore will be a much more mature coach than Guru Greg. Maybe, a man who will stay low profile like John Wright and got the job done.

All I can do is wish Whatmore good luck. He is lobbying for the India coach’s job and is bound to get it.

81 and finally out

I am not describing a cricket match, but the end of Rafael Nadal’s winning streak on clay which seemed rolling towards the triple digit mark.

The fan following of Nadal, and then man who snapped it, Roger Federer is very sharp and divided. But what came as a revelation in the Hamburg final was Federer’s aggression on clay.

He was not born for this surface, yet seemed so well in control of the proceedings, it did not appear even once this man has gone through tough times of not having won a title in his previous four tournaments.

A 6-0 whitewash in the final set in a 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 win for Federer would have seemed alright against any other opponent. But to do it to Nadal was nothing short of humiliation in a season where the numero uno’s emotions have oscillated between the crest and trough.

It was just last week Federer said he was firing Tony Roche and going to do things his own way for the time being. I am not saying that firing Roche was the best thing to do, but the way Federer played in the final, there was something refreshing about it.

His movement was slick, and to see him slide on clay was a revelation. If Federer’s strong legs are going to be doing exactly that at the French Open, his opponent’s better watch out. Past stars have often suggested that for Federer to win on clay, he needs to play his own game. And that is being aggressive and not trying to beat Nadal at the baseline game.

So to see Federer volley and hit some smart, hard groundstrokes was nothing but a clear intent of his hunger to break the jinx. And in that process if he has spoilt Nadal’s party, people should not be complaining.

Records are made to be broken, but the one which Nadal has set will take a long time to be wiped out. It requires a superhuman effort not to lose 80-odd matches on clay and keep that streak going for two years.

Any solace for Nadal?

Yes. He lost to the best tennis player in the world on Sunday and not some Tom, Dick or Harry.

Stop the slide Sania

I do not know what to make of Sania Mirza’s ‘stay-positive-all-the-time attitude’; whether she is winning, losing, or slipping down the ranking ladder.

It has become almost a habit for the Hyderabad queen to be laid low early in the season when players should be fit a fiddle. The end result, Sania misses vital tournaments after the Australian Open and is under-prepared and rusty for the challenges which clay pose for her.

Yet, even after her first round loss to an unknown player in a Tier 4 WTA event this week, Sania has not sounded despondent. To be sure, I am actually surprised she has started talking to Indian wire services even after a first-round loss.

For long, Sania has kept the media at a safe distance. She sees journos as a major irritant, and I guess I also fall in that category? There is this famous story about Mohd Azharuddin in his heydays, when he ignored the media at home. And when bad times came, the knives were out for Azhar.

I am not wishing Sania ill-luck, but I am just happy she has become mature, and is now speaking to the wires. They are the ones who carry news to the world.

But this is just one part of the story. Talking about her attitude, it is good to have a swagger, or almost be arrogant when playing. But there does come a time, when one has to temper oneself, a stage which every superstar goes through.

I know this is a season when it is not our own Sania who is struggling but also Roger Federer. Well, the similarities end there, and I am sure FedEx will devise a way to get out of the rut.

As for Sania, I am still waiting for that day when she gets more consistent in her game, because even the men with the biggest and boldest groundstrokes have not won points on clay without working for it.

This clay season is as good as over now for Sania, and an early exit at the French Open will mean, changing shoes and apparel quickly for the grass season. I think the rust will be out of her game by then and she will play with less inhibition.

But what has happened to her personal coach? I have not heard of a single name in all these months, and I do hope she will look into it. A coach does not just organise practice sessions and travel, he/she does a lot more than that to shape a player’s career.

Sania certainly cannot stay without a coach for long. The comeback trail is going to be very, very tough in 2007.

Men who love hockey

‘Forgive me, Amma’. What kind of a title is this for a book on one of India’s most famous sporting stars? I have not yet read the book, but the title itself is so thought-provoking, I am sure people will find time to pick it up and flip through the pages written by my former colleague Sundeep Misra.

If you think I am attempting a book review of what I have not read, please, that is not the case. But I do think if an emotional and temperamental character like Dhanraj has spent time with Sundeep and this book has hit the stands, it is something to feel excited about.

Sundeep’s love for hockey cannot be described. It was not just the clamour for international matches, but 15 years back, when sports pages carried local sport big, Sundeep actually had a column called ‘Academia’ running in Indian Express. And that, after being pushed and provoked by sports editor Suresh Menon. If memory serves me right, Sundeep was not too keen on getting into writing a column then. Well, he has grown.

Back to the book and the man being portrayed, it is not as if Dhanraj has been forgotten. For a man who served Indian hockey with heart and soul, he never got the best treatment. Be it the Indian Hockey Federation, or players from the North or even past national coaches, Dhanraj was hated.

I have seen matches where players just would not pass the ball to him. Pray, for someone with a body as flexible as rubber yet as sturdy as a rock, he could torment rival defenders. Yes, like Mohd Shahid, he was a bit selfish, holding onto the ball too long and then losing possession.

But could any coach have changed Dhanraj? No, never. The hockey he played was from the heart, and quite often, despite being less than fully fit, he took the field. This time, let me tell you, not for selfish reasons but win matches for India.

The title of the book has obviously come, as the author tells us, from a conversation he heard on phone when India blew it against Poland at the Sydney Olympics. I was lucky enough to be in Sydney when Malleswari lifted bronze. And I was also a tormented soul seeing India botch up against Poland with hardly any time left for the hooter in that unforgettable (for the wrong reasons) hockey match.

After that match, Dhanraj wept like a child. Tears flowed in a torrent down his cheeks, and no consoling could help him. He knew, this was one great chance gone, where India could have made the semi-finals and a possible contest against Pakistan.

Well, that was not the end of Dhanraj’s Olympic career. He went to Athens in 2004 and the less said about it the better. Talk of playing for the country and winning, there is a huge similarity between Dhnaraj and Leander Paes, another emotional man who used emotion to psyche out opponents’ on the court.

If you ask me why I am trying to make a comparison it is just because at 33, Leander is talking of playing his fifth Olympics in 2008. So unless, you happen to be in a position to know these two men well-enough, you can’t figure out what drives them to go on and on in search of Olympic glory. Down South, ‘Forgive me, Amma’ could well be mistaken as some AIADMK psycophant pleading with J. Jayalalitha!

But if 38-year-old Dhanraj, a man loud and clear has suffered in life , it is because he chose a team sport. Given his creativity, eccentric genius and speed, he would be a winner if he could be reborn and play an individual sport.

I know Dhan, as friends call him, today plays from memory on the field. Would he be ready to go for the 2008 Olympics (of course if India qualify and the IHF selects him), I am ready to beat my wallet, he would say ‘yes’ even though he is past his prime.

That is the problem with Dhanraj, he never knows where to stop. His unfulfilled Olympic dream will disturb his sleep for many more years to come..

This Armando is no Diego!

You have to grant it to Armando Colaco. Sitting in Goa on Tuesday evening, the thinking coach was not exactly chewing his nails when East Bengal were playing Mahindra United in the City of Joy.

When word trickled in EB had won, Colaco and the bunch must have celebrated because the win in this edition of the NFL is very special. When you talk of Indian soccer , sorry football, it always has had to do with the Kolkata giants.

This time, there has been such a dramatic change in the script, and none of those teams from the Maidan looked capable of coming big in a competition which obviously is a blue-riband event at home.

I am no great follower of Indian football, but let me tell you, whenever the Kolkata teams have done well, it was not because of talent they raised on their own. It had to do with the moolah being shown to ‘star’ players from outside the state or even overseas.

Perhaps, in this edition of the NFL, names like John Dias, Clifford Miranda and Climax Lawrence have been heard so well – all from Dempo – we have not had to worry about getting the names right of the Nigerians or other foreign imports!

What good is this win going to do Dempo? I, for one, think, their win this time was more forceful than the one in 2005, and Kolkata clubs really would like to begin the post-mortem(s) rightaway.

And for coaches who make their living from Kolkata soccer, I bet the days ahead are going to be real tough. We have had someone like Sukwhinder Singh (JCT coach ) being thrust as national coach now and then. He has perhaps made more ‘comebacks’ then players.


My question to Priyaranjan Dasmunsi and other AIFF dadas is , will Armando Colaco get some recognition? I am not saying sack Bob Houghton, but let’s give this man Colaco something to do.

No?

Pity Federer

This is the story of two men who play tennis: One enjoying the most exalted status of his career where winning a match can be taken for granted. And the other is the numero uno going through the most wretched time of his career.

Alas, of what use is an ATP No.1 ranking when you slip on clay like a novice; where even a nobody called Filippo Volandri becomes a somebody just because he is kicking the backside of Roger Federer.

This is, perhaps, the craziest way the two gun-slingers could be heading into French Open in less than a fortnight’s time at Roland Garros. I remember these two men playing the final the last time, but so pathetic is Federer’s mental state at this time, he is bound to feel pressure like a wild card being told to play on the show court.

Tennis players are a volatile lot. Manifestations of temper and fury can be very different, from smashing a beautiful racquet to sacking a coach. I guess, Federer won’t break his racquet as yet, but sacking Tony Roche did come to me as a surprise.

I have seen Roche at work in my city – New Delhi – and overseas. He has moulded the careers of superstars and was perhaps unlucky he could never make a Wimbledon champion out of Ivan Lendl. Lendl never held that against Roche, an Oz who even at this age works like a beaver.

But the fact is, if Federer, who has so many ranking points, can stay No.1 for a long time, he has lost it in his mind. I remember, for Pistol Pete, the clay-court season had almost become an obsession in the twilight of his career. And each time the media wrote about “Who is the greatest” with a reference to Pete not having won French, it became clear the debate would never end.

Watching Federer struggle today, it is clear the weaker side of him has now come to the fore, where he has lost faith in not just his own abilities, but also coach Roche. I am no shrink or psychoanalyst, but I am convinced Federer will take some time to come out of this rut.

The thing is, when you keep winning, deficiencies, chinks and minor glitches are forgotten. I am not suggesting that Federer had a host of problems to deal with as in an erratic serve, wrong timing in backhand or some footwork delay. Just that, he has become vulnerable, which should not be the case when the chips are down.

I know, even if I ask Federer to SMS Roche and ask him to come back, it will not happen. But given the gap between French and Big W and the time it takes to settle down with a new coach, Federer has made a mistake.

Look at Nadal, his career seemed almost over last year with that foot injury. He has come out well, even though he had a shaky start to 2007 in Chennai. I guess, this is the kind of turnaround Nadal needed.

And for the tennis world, the human side of Federer has come to the fore: Fire coaches!!