What slows down our fast men ?

Name : Rudra Pratap Singh
Age : 24 Years
Skill : Left-arm fast medium bowler
Debut : Sep 2005

Current Status : Out of the Indian squad. On current form, he may lose his place in the Deccan Chargers as well !



Name : Irfan Pathan
Age : 25 Years
Skill : Left-arm medium fast, Left-handed batsman
Debut : Dec 2003

Current Status : Has run out-of-favour from the International scene. The more you see him play for the Kings XI Punjab, you know why. For someone who started his career as a bowling sensation, he has now become a batsman who can be used to roll his arm over.



Name : Ishant Sharma
Age : 21 Years
Skill : Right Arm Fast Bowler
Debut : May 2007

Current Status : Keeps moving in and out of the side. Seems to have lost his way. Still remains one of India’s best hopes.



Name : S. Sreesanth
Age : 27 Years
Skill : Right-arm fast medium, Occasional Dancer
Debut : March 2006

Current Status : Can’t say. One thought it was all over, when he made a surprise comeback against Sri Lanka last year, and a brilliant one ! Since then, he has returned back to his erratic, inconsistent ways.



You may add the odd Munaf ‘Lazy’ Patel (once hailed as India’s fastest bowler ever !) or a Lakshmipathy Balaji to this list as well. All of them had shown glimpses of their capabilities at different junctures in time, and had made the cricketing world sit back and take notice. Once regarded as stars-in-the making, most of them seem to have faded away into injuries and oblivion.



What’s appalling is that it’s slowly becoming the trend. How else would you explain the dip in pace, precision and performance of these players, all in their mid-twenties, within years of their international debuts ? Almost all of them started their careers as genuine fast bowlers, bowling consistently around the 135-Kmph mark, some of them even clocking 145-Kmph at times. Each one of them has given more than one creditable performance against tough opponents, which can’t be brushed aside as a fluke. As a cricket crazy Indian, it hurts when I see Irfan Pathan, whose first wickets in International Cricket involved two bowling beauties to Steve Waugh and Adam Gilchrist, who had once made the classy Mohd. Yousuf his bunny, being hit ruthlessly for monstrous sixes almost every time he comes out to bowl; it baffles me when I see Ishant Sharma, whose exploits in Perth are a part of cricketing folklore now, appear guileless, clueless against much-lesser mortals; it annoys me when I see India’s leading strike bowler during India’s T-20 triumph at South Africa, R.P. Singh, bowling gentle medium pacers, with no spark in his eyes and no sting in his efforts. In his twenties, when a fast bowler is expected to be at the peak of his energy and fitness level, most of our young bowlers appear content bowling slower-deliveries and leg-cutters, with the wicket-keeper standing up to the stumps, they look tired and fragile, just a leap or a dive away from the next injury.



As history suggests, India has very rarely produced quality fast bowlers, who have survived the test of times; Kapil Dev and Javagal Srinath being those rarities. Perhaps that explains the excitement that surrounded these men. A nation used to the taunts “India doesn’t produce fast bowlers” had placed its hopes on this new breed of speedsters, and that could have backfired. Just a few days back, the legendary Wasim Akram had mentioned about how Jaydev Unadkat’s appearance reminds him about his early days, when he was just as lean and thin, and the next day the media and the fans start comparing the kid with the great man. Not a long time back, Irfan was called the next Kapil and Ishant the next big thing in Indian Cricket. A little too early, I guess. While these statements and expectations were not baseless, we should restrict our usage of the adjectives when dealing with young, inexperienced blood.



The World Cup next year is to be played on the flat, placid Indian pitches. Yet, that does not guarantee success for the batting-heavy Indians in such a big tournament. The shorter versions of the game, though skewed in favour of the batsmen, have an irreplaceable spot for the smart, thinking, intelligent, hard-working bowlers. While we have done fairly well in the bilateral best-of-5, best-of-7 tournaments, our performance in the ICC events in the last 6-7 years, barring the surprise triumph in South Africa, has been dismal. This further strengthens the point that the batsmen alone can’t win you trophies. There’s still time and hope. With proper training and mentoring, we can prepare a pool of fast bowlers, who are physically and mentally fit, once the big moment arrives in February next year. With due respect, if we continue to rely on the two perennially unfit left-armers who represented our fast-bowling options in the Caribbean disaster recently, we may be heading towards another year of disappointment and unfulfilled promise.

Q-zically Urs – Part 1

The Quizzer inside me was dying for some action. So, here you go ! Some sitters to start the series. More to follow in the coming weeks !

 

1. John Stephard Barron could easily recall his old 6-digit military card no. However, his wife could not recall a no. with more than 4 digits. What did this eventually lead to?

 

2. Complete the series :-

     

 

                        

 

Hint : The names would have made it too easy ! Hence, the pics !

 

3. BBC has recently reported that the addition of X on Y has resulted in the loss of millions of hours of work time. With the help of a time-tracking software developed by a firm named Rescue Time, BBC has reported that the presence of X on Y has increased the average session time on Y from 11 seconds to 36 seconds, in order to justify its claims.

Identify X and Y.

 

4.  Connect the following pics :-

 

      

 

                      

 

5. Originally created and realized by the American Department of Defence, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive making it  freely available for civilian use, once it was sufficiently developed, as a common good, after the Korean Air Lines Flight 007, carrying 269 people, was shot down in 1983 after straying into the USSR's prohibited airspace,

6. Fill in the blank :-

San Antonio-based market research firm Pear Analytics analyzed 2,000 ________ (originating from the US and in English) over a 2-week period in August 2009 from 11:00a to 5:00p (CST) and separated them into six categories:

• Pointless babble – 41%
• Conversational – 38%
• Pass-along value – 9%
• Self-promotion – 6%
• Spam – 4%
• News – 4%

 

7.  Identify :-

         

 

8. What is the commonly known term for “Pityriasis simplex capillitii “?

 

9. Identify the person :-

 

             

 

10. Identify the book :-

 

           

 

Happy Quizzing !!!

2007 is a distant memory

September, 2007 : A bunch of young Indian men touched the shores of South Africa to explore the uncharted territories of T-20 cricket, the latest experiment with the Gentlemen’s Game. In a format, where the power hitters were supposed to bulldoze the hapless bowlers, an inexperienced team, playing without the trinity of Indian Cricket, under a new captain, was hardly a contender. Two weeks hence, they were the champions.

May, 2010 : The boys in blue are beaten black and blue, once again, and they crash out of the World Cup. As the team heads back home, questions are raised about the players’ commitment, technique, fitness levels and attitude. While the media is busy finding the culprits behind Team India’s unceremonious exit, it’s time to accept that the Cup is not coming back this year either.

Within a span of 30-odd months, we have transformed from being the hunters to the hunted. In 2007, we looked fresh and young; In 2009, we looked tired and jaded. In 2007, we looked hungry for success; In 2007, we could see our star cricketers trying to hide their potbellies. In 2007, the runs flowed, the ball spun and swung, the fielding sparkled; In 2009, we were a distant second in all departments of the game, irrespective of the opponent.

So, what went wrong? Well, let’s go back to 2007. T-20 cricket had just announced its arrival back then. Ignored by the purists, who labelled it as sheer entertainment and not sport, T-20 cricket was a new and different challenge for the modern-day cricketers, who were yet to understand the needs and nuances of the format. This worked to India’s advantage, since they started on a level footing with the rest of the world, despite playing with a young, inexperienced unit. And the young team ensured fresher, fitter, faster legs, many of whom were playing their first World Cup. There was a general feeling that this game belongs to the booming batsmen and the bowlers’ task was to prevent the flow of runs. As the tournament progressed, the Indian performances peaked, as the team focussed on basics, with an even contribution from the batsmen and the bowlers. In a puzzle, where most of the teams were struggling to fit in the right pieces, India got its combination right. And didn’t that work!

Suddenly, T-20 became the talk of every Indian town (and village, for that matter). The newest trophy offered by the ICC erased the bitter memories of the 50-Over World Cup played earlier in the year. T-20 was now viewed and discussed with greater respect and hailed as the Future of the Game. Cricket administrators in India were quick to notice the potential the game offered and hence emerged the Indian Paisa League. Soon. India became the biggest promoter of T-20 cricket.

While all this was going on, the other teams were slowly moving up the ladder; India’s winning streak came to an end when it was thrashed at the MCG by the Australians. Later, the kiwis defeated us 2-0 at their home. This was a phase, when we were doing exceedingly well in the longer versions of the game, and the dip in the T-20 did not catch anyone’s eye; Even if it did, it was seen as an aberration and not a trend.

We went to England in 2009 as firm favourites to retain the trophy. IPL, a brand name in itself by now, had apparently made us battle-ready. As it turned out, that was not the case. The most explosive batting line-up in the world crumbled under a barrage of short deliveries fired at them by their oppositions. The same batsmen who were churning sixes from their willows during IPL-2 (ironically staged in South Africa) seemed clueless when the ball zoomed past their noses and helmets. The age-old bouncer, which had been the bane of Indian batsmen back in the 80’s and 90’s, born and brought up on flat, low-bounce wickets, , was back to haunt them again. India had been caught unawares. And we paid the price for it.

It’s said that lightning never strikes twice at the same place. In India’s case, however, it did. The pattern of our downfall in the Caribbean was the same as that in England. And that’s what hurts. There were lessons to be learnt in England 2009, and we had enough time to learn them. But, we didn’t. The batsmen made the same mistakes, and lesser we talk about the bowling and fielding, the better. Since 2007, one can observe a stagnation that has creeped into the team, and that’s why we stand where we are today.

The tongues of the Indian Cricket fans are busy wagging. All over India, people are busy discussing the root cause of this disaster. The IPL (including the parties), that all of us enjoyed prior to the World Cup is now under scrutiny and facing severe criticism. A captain, who was the apple of everyone’s eye just a few weeks back, is now seen as arrogant, stubborn and unwanted. Being a primarily one-sport nation, where the game’s passion knows no boundaries, most of the reactions follow a predictable trend (Remember the burnt effigies or the blackened walls of the players’ homes?). While most of them are uncalled for and should be plainly ignored, it’s time we acknowledge we were just not good enough and the officials must address the concerns that Indian cricket is facing right now. We, the Indians, are an optimistic lot. Whatever be the mood of the nation right now, come 2011, an expectant nation would hold its breath and pray for the cricketing glory that has eluded us since 1983. Hopefully, we would be ready this time.

The middle class dilemma

I am sitting inside one of the jam-packed buses in New Delhi (The adjective is anyways inherent: Empty buses don’t exist in India). The bus is crawling its way through the ubiquitous traffic, halting every now and then, to accommodate more passengers, who somehow manage to make their way through the crowd, amidst curses and abuses, and soon become a part of the crowd themselves. The bus stops again; this time, thanks to the glowing red traffic light (These are the moments when I feel Mr. Sreedharan should be conferred the Bharat Ratna). I look outside the window, simply because there are a very few things I can do right now. I can see a family of four (Husband, Wife and 2 Kids – The Perfect advertisement for India’s family planning programme), balancing themselves on a Hero Honda Splendor (which makes me think whether my Boss, Mr. Tata, got the idea of a Rs. 1 Lakh family car at some traffic signal itself?), a couple with the guy showing off his Palika Bazaar sunglasses and the girl hiding her face from the dusty, polluted Delhi air (She has beautiful eyes though), Hawkers roaming around randomly selling magazines, flowers, toys and similar stuff, hoping to make some hay while the signal shines. And now, I see a few destitute kids knocking the windows of a shining new Honda City. I look further- 2 hunks and 2 chicks occupy the car, who seem least bothered by what’s happening outside the boundaries of their air-conditioned vehicle. Now, that’s not an unusual sight in India. Yet, it sends a chill down my spine right now. A set of contradictory thoughts overtakes my mind - I feel jealous and content at the same time. I wish to curse my fate for making me witness to the luxury and comfort I want to enjoy, but I don’t own; Instead, I murmur a silent prayer thanking the Almighty for giving me a happier, safer and brighter childhood than the one in front of my eyes right now. While I sulk at not being amongst the luckiest, I breathe a sigh of relief when I realize that I am not amongst the unluckiest ones either; For I, lie somewhere in between, trying to leap my way to greater heights, maintaining my distance from the ones, who lie a shade below me; For I belong to the fraternity that calls itself the Indian Middle Class.


Yes, the Indian Middle Class: The not-so-thin layer lying between the poor and the rich, which includes the normal 9-to-5 office going junta and small businessmen (and their immediate families). These are the people who have a home, perhaps one of those little family cars as well; Just that they pay an EMI to maintain the ownership of these entities. These are the people who can afford to be extravagant once-in-a-while, which invariably means the beginning of the month, when most of them receive their limited salaries. We are the people, who lead a plain, simple and calculated life, where we have to plan every new event just to ensure the calculations don’t go awry.


Of course, there is always a way out. And nobody prevents you from exploring them. But, growth is always accompanied by pain, with a certain amount of risk associated with it. And that’s where we fail. While the rich has enough to invest some part of it into risky ventures and the poor can play fearlessly with a nothing to lose attitude, the middle layer wants to play safe and hold on dearly to whatever it has and that’s what makes them a stagnant set of people. We tend to follow the tried and tested paths, not because they are the most rewarding ones, but for the fact that they usually do not lead to failure. The mind of a middle-class child is shaped and nurtured in such a way that he/she rarely looks beyond the obvious and joins the same rat race that his/her previous or immediate generations had followed. A middle-class Indian is expected to study hard, work harder and make his/her way up the financial ladder, following the educational model. National level entrance Examinations to prestigious courses and institutes are the ways suggested by our parents to grow in our lives; that may be a safe route, but the starry-eyed may not be satisfied by the return on investment and the growth rate. The corruption that exists at the lower and middle levels of management in the service industry is a consequence of dissatisfied individuals and unfulfilled dreams. To satisfy his/her own ego, the middle class Indian has defined sub-layers within the layer, namely the Upper middle class and Lower middle class, but that can’t hide the fact that the group, as a whole, hardly progresses financially in one’s lifetime.


Please note that I have no complaints against the system as such. Not everyone can be a billionaire and I completely understand that. But I would like to question the thought process of an average middle-class Indian. Why aren’t his /her children allowed to dream and follow their own destinies? Very few middle-class parents encourage their children to take up sport or entrepreneurship, despite the fact that some of the richest, respected and most successful people in India belong to the two mentioned domains. One may argue that for every Ambani or Tendulkar, there are hundreds of unsuccessful stories as well, which most of us don’t even know about. But why should we be so negative? Instead of looking at the failures, should we not look at the success stories that serve as an inspiration to one and all? As kids, when we made our progression from being crawling infants to toddlers, we would have fallen more than once. But, that didn’t stop us from trying again, did it? So, what stops us now? Thankfully, such questions are being asked these days. The surge in the number of young entrepreneurs in the recent past, coincided by the emergence of sportsmen from the smaller towns of India (and I am not just referring to Cricket here) reflects a slow, but evident change in the mindset of Youngistaan. Hopefully, the change is here to stay.


The bus has reached its destination, but I haven’t. In a few moments from now, I shall join another crowd, rubbing shoulders with the pedestrians, avoiding the honking cars and passing the odd beggar on the street. The journey of life continues. The question is: How am I going to complete the voyage? Will it be the creaky bus? Or will it be the dream car I mention in everyone’s slam book? For the time being, let the walk begin.