Recent Posts
And we thought the previous last ball finishes in this year's IPL were exciting?! What did we know?!
Chetan Sharma gets to smile one more time and chortle to his near and dear - "See, it can happen to anybody...". Last ball, 5 to win, Bravo on strike. And strike he did! All the way for a match-sealing sixer. What was on the line? Chennai's participation in the playoffs! The stakes, as they say, were really high. Bravo...Bravo (pun intended). All said and done, our heart goes out to the KKR team and to Rajat Bhatia. Cricket is the ultimate mistress. Who she smiles at and who is cruel to...is anybody's guess!
There was a promise I had made to myself. I would not write an article ranting and raving about Sachin Tendulkar's hundredth century. Not because I do not like Sachin enough. Or that I do not celebrate these unique milestones which have become his steps ascending to a pyramid whose peak is almost invisible to most. For I do...more than some, less than a few others perhaps. Here is an example - Really Long Link
So why all this ink on paper (or bytes on the WWW) you ask? Well - India has, for way too long, been obsessed with saying the right things. Whenever you encounter a rebel or somebody with his/her own version of truth/art (an M F Hussain, a Taslima Nasreen) we are shocked. Shocked enough that the majority take action to either quell or ignore what in their eyes is nothing short of an impudent uprising. Definitely an uncomfortable one. In a cricket perspective, we have been blessed with a generation of cricketers who have been measured, erudite and utterly diplomatic when it comes to communication. The generation who we now lump together into one amorphous mass and refer to them as 'seniors'. This will not last. A Kohli or a Raina may not choose to lie quiet. May not possess the disarming grace with which Sachin evades the one millionth time that a reporter asks him why he is still playing! May not be courteous and powerful at the same time as Rahul Dravid was when he delivered the Bradman oration. And we must stop expecting them to be so.
Saying the right thing would be that every player has the team's goals on top of his mind and that he always plays for his team. While this facet may be entirely true, this is not the complete truth. Let's face it. Sportsmen are selfish. They are glory-seekers. They live on adulation, spirit, camarederie and the unique 'high' that victory gives them. They lose themselves in those few momemts of sport and luckily get to forget all the mundane worries of life. It is a favour that they do to us fans, for we too share those few precious moments in blissful forgetfulness of reality. Fist pumps, swear words, raised bats, kissed helmets, teary eyes - all of them tell the same story. Personal milestones - even in team sport - are important. Intensely sought after. And yes, even Australians do this, for those who are curious as to whether this is an indigenous Indian phenomenon.
Yesterday, Sachin Tendulkar, after having touched a peak which is higher than what has been defined as cricket stratosphere was asked whether he could have scored a few more runs and gotten 300-320 runs for the team. Fair question that, no? Absolutely. Could he have accelerated and scored more runs? Yes. But if the focus is on that element of the game when finding reasons for India's loss to their neighbour Bangladesh, it smacks of either personal agenda or a profound lack of understanding of the machinations of this beautiful game. In plain words the disadvantages we had was the lost toss, the immense pressure on Sachin Tendulkar and the sluggish wicket. What ultimately lost us the game was the fact that we did not have even one acknowledged 'death bowler'. Praveen Kumar likes to finish his spell off at the beginning. Irfan Pathan's only effective delivery at the death seems to be the slower ball - very predictable. Dinda was playing his first game for India after quite some time. On top of this, the normally miserly Ashwin had an off day. This is the cake. The icing on it was the fact that the Bangla batsmen played as if possessed. And this is not the first time their competitive juices flowed when playing against us either!
Seeing a cricket game is one thing. Poring over statistics is something. Putting it all into perspective is everything! So while match statistics tell you that this was the same Sher-e-Bangla stadium where India sauntered so effortlessly while batting against Sri Lanka, it may not tell you that the pitch used for this game was a different one! One that was drier, dustier and definitely slower. The beauty of the game is such that the game might have played out differently even if the same pitch was used as in the India-Sri Lanka game.
Now let us focus on some discussion surrounding Sachin Tendulkar's 'slowness' when he was in his late 80's and 90's. It would undeniably be so much nicer if Sachin were to listen to his son Arjun and hit sixers to go past these milestones. Alas, he does not believe in them. What does he know? He has scored only 99 of them before this one. In cricket, as in life, everybody has an opinion. The opinion in some circles seems to be that Sachin ended up playing for his milestone rather than just focus on getting runs for his team. Was he selfish in doing that? Yes he was. When was he ever not? Did Sachin score all his other centuries at a canter? The answer tends to be revealing. Mind you - the answer can be different for different people. No denying that.
For that matter, which sportsman is unselfish? We fool ourselves into believing that sacrifice is what makes a human being great. Think about it for a moment - the sanyasi who renounces everything worldly, is perhaps the most selfish of them all. He loses everything because he desires moksha - liberation. Yet we revere him. And glorify his sacrifices. While forgetting his selfishness.
Lets all blame Sachin if he always got to his centuries in a canter but slowed down only in sight of his hundredth. If not, let's accept him as he is. In spite of all his immeasurable achievements and towering talent, he is a human being. Not God! As he so piquantly reminded us in his press conference after the game.
Before this gets into purely moral and religio-cultural areas, the reiteration is that sportsmen are essentially selfish; Because this is what enables them to be successful and remain so consistently, over long stretches of time. That is why a coach tries so hard to keep individual players happy. A happy individual contributes to a happier team. A sportsman willing to sacrifice all of himself and his performance for the good of the team will also sacrifice his pride and confidence. After that, he is no good to the team as well. As in all things, there is a balance in this as well. A Rahul Dravid donning the wicket-keeping gloves is a shining example. A Tendulkar trying out the No.4 position under the 'Chappell-reign' is another. On the flip side, a sportsman so intent on succeeding, on scoring runs, will always be an asset to the team. For he would have contributed to the team - merely by virtue of succeeding himself. By controlling the controllable - again as Sachin said yesterday.
After all, in those 22 yards - even if you are under the burning gaze of hundreds of thousands of boisterous fans, even if you are shining through the eyes of millions of TV viewers - it is an intensely personal battle. None of your 10 other team mates can play that ball. It has to be you. By adding to your personal quota of runs, you swell the team's bank too and enhance its chances of victory. Yes, you can do the former without the latter as well. When you do that, you lose the respect of the 10 others who are battling to take their team to victory. Not to mention the million others watching you in that dastardly act.
And whatever Sachin Tendulkar may have lost over the years, respect among his peers is not one of them. That is all that matters...
The day Rahul Dravid announced a press meet there was no small amount of trepidation in the mind. Was it finally the retirement call? Or was it something else? Perhaps related to the IPL and other related mysterious machinations? The media of course was cruel enough in eliminating all vestiges of doubt that it was indeed what we feared. That Rahul was going to bid adieu to the game and to us - always passionate but occasionally vociferous and demanding fans.
This trepidation, if I dug deeper, did not seem to just be anchored to Rahul's retirement. However much I try to perish the thought, the only way to see this occasion was as the beginning of an end. The end of a glorious reign, the end of an era, the end of a masterful association between mercurial geniuses - disparate in style and methods but joined in purpose. Could it be..I feared, could it be the snowfall prefacing the avalanche? Could Rahul's retirement be the first of a significant few in the near future? We of course know the answer to that question. As modern day master story teller Stephen King proclaims - Everything is eventual. It also raises a few interesting questions about mortality, self realization and the power of Father Time.
Interestingly this question and its poignance did not make itself felt when Ganguly hung up his boots. If we are honest then it has to be said that as much as Ganguly and Laxman have contributed to Indian cricket and to the game itself, it is the two big guns to whom most people measured themselves up to, who mattered in the end. For flair and talent we go for Sachin. For bloody-mindedness, technique and seemingly endless reserves of concentration we choose Rahul. Together these are near-irreplaceable qualities to have in the game.
Given all this, how do we treat this retirement? Do we use this as an example to browbeat those senior Indian players who have not yet announced their retirements? Or do we just take at face value, the performance of a undeniably great hero of the game and accept that he has decided what is best for himself? More importantly that what was (seemed) right for him this day may not necessarily be right for anybody on the wrong side of 35? This is your cue to take up cudgels and stand in the opposing camps.
My job is a more wistful one. It is to reflect on how Rahul's ability to stay in the background, surfaces once more on this day - of all days! Even on the day when he is announcing his departure from the cricket scene, a cricket crazy takes it upon himself to think about what could be in store for some of his other (more illustrious) colleagues. Perhaps that is why I am taking great care in getting a little closer to the man through the conscious use of his first name - Rahul. And that despite him having an absolutely apt last name - Dravid. It is debated among history circles that the term 'Dravid' denotes 'the land or boundary near water'. The mere analogy brings tears to the eyes. How often did Dravid represent the picture of land amidst drowning water all around? How often did he help his rather more illustrious colleagues climb on and dry themselves after a particularly torturous swim?
Now, if they are to swim without him, how long is the journey to be? Can another seismic event take place to bring up a land body somewhere near? If not as big and redeeming as Rahul himself, at least a start? These are questions for the game and more pertinently for Father Time. More than questions, these can only be reflections...As Dravid himself said in his press conference, perhaps a day will dawn, 16-17 years later when another Indian batsman earns enough encomiums to be compared to this living, breathing epitome of solidity. Perhaps it may not..
Be that as it may, tributes continue to pour in. His technique and concentration, his humility and groundedness, his leadership and selflessness - all of this and more will be dwelt upon. Much better minds with far greater recollections of having played the game with him will tackle those pithy subjects.
For me, it is enough to know that the man is himself happy with his decision. That he took time away from the game and did not allow critics or fans or even administrators to affect his decision. That he now is beyond petty comments from simple minded (even if well meaning) fans. More than anything - that my memory of his game will take the form of a quality ingrained in his attitude to the game and not just any single shot in his repertoire. Rahul Dravid leaves behind him the consummate grace, discipline and respect for the game that he so showcased. Yes - that is greater than Ricky Ponting's stunningly reflexive pull shot and yes...perhaps even greater than the memory of Sachin Tendulkar's resplendently balanced straight drive - eventually.
Yeah, this is a favourite punching bag alright! But see, nothing prods the good old memory like a repeat occurrence of an already recognized "mistake".
Scenario - 1st Test between Australia and New Zealand, bouncy wicket, Ponting struggling but valiant, New Zealand as always scrappy and resourceful - always punching above their weight.
[ Click here to read more ]
The average Indian does not go about-a-rockin'. No sir. He is brought up on a strict and unvarying diet of melodies - classical and otherwise. Speaking for myself I have no idea about how Rock is different from Rock and Roll, leave alone talk about Progressive or Alternative Rock. You could as well talk in Greek or Latin.
[ Click here to read more ]
September 29th 2011 08:33
Its a long story - about how my search for a fast computer morphed into a search for a reasonably quick ultraportable and from thereon to possibly a netbook, whcih then raised a question in my mind - why not a tablet? Why not indeed! Most of today's computer work is being done on the web through either web applications or through the ubiquitious big G's services.
Not being an Apple person, I delved into the usual choices that Android tablets offer. After ruling out the Motorola Xoom (high price) the battle got close between the Asus Transformer and the Toshiba Thrive. This despite the fact that Xoom is supposed to get the first Honeycomb updates after Google bought them out. My years with technology have taught me to not believe any announcement made by company CEOs well in advance. See it to believe it is a safe motto in the world of technology. Oh and by the way not being a big fan of Samsung's products straight away ruled out the Galaxy tab. Despite the Transformer's IPS screen, the Thrive's chunkiness (in itself a negative for so many people) appealed to me. Having been a Thinkpad user, solidity and reliability are important things for me. And the Thrive ticked the boxes in that regard. Not to mention connectivity and expandability with full size USB ports and HDMI ports. The Transformer's biggest plus was its dock (as an accessory). It not only added a touchpad and a keyboard (laptop style) but also added a USB hub functionality. Over and above this it adds another 5 to 6 hours of battery life. Sounds indispensable right? Thing is it adds cost. With the accessory, the Transformer will cost as much as a more than decent laptop (yes, a laptop and not a netbook) with a dedicated display card and over 500 GB of space! Not cool - despite the portability factor
[ Click here to read more ]
No, the seed for this article was not formed after Sreesanth's fantastic bowling performance in the ongoing 2nd Test against England! But definitely the need to put pen to paper (or, in this case, finger to keyboard) grew after that.
[ Click here to read more ]
A few weeks ago, the ICC framed new rules for the game. Some of the new rules were long pending. Some were even understood and applied without the legitimacy of the ICC ink. But some were, lets just say, strange.
[ Click here to read more ]
|
|
|
Add Comments
Read More
Comments (2)
Comment by Balachandhran S
on Indian Test Cricket - the way forward
Tricolour Prism
No. The seniors do not "need to retire". They are players and human beings and it is but natural for them to continue to have belief in themselves. They are just doing their job and whatever they think is best for the team. The selectors too have the same end result - in this case, I think they are looking at the same thing from a different perspective. If they are not doing that currently, they need to.
And yes, there are one or two other points too apart from the need to blood in fresh talent.
Thanks again.