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?
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Sunday, September 23, 2007
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.
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.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
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.
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.
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.
Friday, September 7, 2007
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!
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!
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