Throwing it away

As quickly as Mohammad Asif has risen, so is he determined to fall. Eclipsing the bewilderment at this latest scrape, the frustration and disbelief, is the incredible sadness. Few matters in life are as deflating as the squandering, willful or otherwise, of genuine talent.

For even if this is all some terrible, disastrous misunderstanding - and the evidence supporting that theory is not great so far - the stigma for one so bright, so young, so early in his career is too glaring.

And this is yet another taint in a career that has so far been loaded with one other drug scandal, a fight with a team-mate, and an unproven slur of ball tampering. Men of all kinds have faltered early in life and career only to reform, and made great tales out of it too. If Asif is going to do it, he had better start soon because Pakistan knows - or should know - only too well what happens when fast bowlers waste their unique gifts.

Let's not pretend that cricketers have not meddled in drugs before, especially recreational ones. Asif's own countrymen have not been averse. In England a number of county cricketers have had problems big and small. One legend enjoyed the green and it didn't prevent him from having a knighthood conferred upon him. New Zealand and South Africa have also dealt with cricketers who, unlike Bill Clinton, inhaled. The former even made one of them captain, in fact their best and one of the best from the modern age.

But circumstances here are particularly disturbing, for if there is substance in the charges, then not just Asif's career but his life may be blotted. Penalties for such offences in Dubai, where he has been detained, are especially severe.

If true, no one factor can explain the stupidity of his actions. Lack of education, grooming and small-town upbringing will be trotted out, but with how much conviction? Cricket in much of the subcontinent is moving to smaller towns and villages. The Indian team has cricketers who are not particularly educated, and most of the Pakistan team is no different. Yet none of them are in the strife Asif finds himself in.

Now in danger of being overlooked and forgotten is his wonderful skill. He is a confident young man - enough for it to be often taken as arrogance and cockiness. He is also a fresh breath of air in Pakistan's pace tradition, for he has defied the modern fashion of bowling as fast as possible. His lineage can be traced to Fazal Mahmood and Sarfraz Nawaz more than the two Ws. If his bowling is anything to go by, he has an alert cricketing brain and Pakistan can ill afford to lose that. To write, think and talk of drugs, fights and bans and not Asif's line, length, bounce and seam movement is debilitating.

to be contd....

Captaincy and IPL part 3

How Sourav Ganguly would wish he had found some form early in the tournament, especially after he inspired Kolkata to two wins late in the piece. Ganguly the captain is usually at his best when his batting clicks. He turned it on when he could with the ball, notably in his spell to thwart Bangalore.
What Ganguly might regret, though, is not getting his combination right for most of the tournament. Chris Gayle's injury was a big blow, especially after Ricky Ponting and Brendon McCullum left, but the amount of confidence reposed in Mohammad Hafeez was slightly baffling. Ajit Agarkar started well but didn't deserve the long rope he got. It was probably in their very last game that Kolkata got their right combination. By then it was just a bit too late.
Dravid, surprisingly, finished among the top 12 run-getters but it was never going to be enough with a faltering team. He did try and put up a brave fight and ended the campaign with a few smiles, but these were just a few positives from a forgettable campaign.
He may introspect on how Bangalore won just one game among the five where he won the toss. He said they were trying to come to grips with the nuances of the format and didn't really have a preferred option at the toss. The selections of a few XIs were puzzling, and they also made a habit of choking when the target was in sight.
Neither VVS Laxman nor Adam Gilchrist will look back on the IPL too fondly. Both watched one close loss after another and by the end one could almost see them coming. Laxman veered from too conservative to too experimental - against Punjab at home no bowler got to bowl two overs in a row - but struggled to strike a balance. Things might have turned around had Warne not smashed Symonds for 17, but when it came to close finishes Deccan were always second best.
Gilchrist couldn't really express himself, with the knowledge hanging over him that a collapse was likely just round the corner. The rest of their overseas players sleepwalked through the series and it was left to Rohit Sharma and Venugopal Rao to earn a few consolation prizes.

Captaincy and IPL part 2

Shane Warne imposed himself. While hailing his leadership skills nobody should forget the value he offered as a player - no other captain played as many match-winning hands. More than one Rajasthan player has spoken of the boost the side received after Warne's sensational finish against Deccan Chargers, when he carted Andrew Symonds for 17 off the final over. One team-mate has said how his faith in the captain increased ten-fold that evening. Warne was in the middle in the final too and the crack through covers in the penultimate over, when 12 were needed off 7, set up the finish.
Rattling the Bangalore top order with a bouncer barrage on a lively Chinnaswamy pitch was a classic case of astute planning coming off. The sight of Warne alerting the fielders at fine leg to anticipate a catch will stick in the mind. So also, Warne giving his faster bowlers one-over spells against Chennai, in the second match between the sides, was another one of those little surprises that had a big impact.
Warne was also blessed with that enviable quality good captains usually need - luck. He won 10 of his 15 tosses, and even when some of his gambles misfired - like the promotion of Sohail Tanvir up the order - it didn't cost them too much. The punt on Swapnil Asnodkar came off spectacularly. And whenever a match went down to the wire, Rajasthan found that extra bit of magic to pull it off.
Dhoni was the other captain team-mates swore by. His batting made a difference in a few games but it was his ice-cool demeanour that stood out. His side were unstoppable at full-strength, but even after their Australians left, Chennai continued to upset strong teams in close finishes. The decision to hold back L Balaji for the final overs in the second game against Punjab proved a masterstroke, and the faith he placed in Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over in Chennai's first few games never backfired. Maybe he missed Joginder in the final over of the final too.
One wonders how things would have panned out if Dhoni had kept wicket in the second half of the tournament - he has admitted he leads better when he keeps, standing in a position where one can read the game best. He also might just have been more efficient than Parthiv Patel behind the stumps, especially when it came to batsmen taking off for byes to the keeper.
Yuvraj never really inspired with the bat but was fortunate to have Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene by his side - two allies he regularly turned to. Where Yuvraj did inspire, though, was in the field - he was at the centre of the cliffhanger in Mumbai, lambasting his fielders for every minor lapse. He bowled a tight over and clinched the win with a diving run-out straight out of the Jonty Rhodes album.
The decision to give James Hopes the final over against Delhi - in the rain-curtailed game - was a brave one, and one that made the eventual difference. And the continued faith Yuvraj reposed in VRV Singh was as surprising as it proved effective. Yuvraj was also fortunate to have the most balanced side in the tournament - one where overseas batsmen and Indian bowlers went about their jobs efficiently. Rarely did Shaun Marsh let them down, and the rest of the order always had a launch pad in place.
Early in the tournament Virender Sehwag appeared to have netted the best side among the eight. He had a new-ball pairing to die for and a top three that fired in every match; Sehwag could really run the ship on auto-pilot. But things started getting tough when Plan A didn't fall into place.
His move to bowl Amit Mishra in the final over against Deccan was inspired, and produced a hat-trick. While a smile was never too far from his face, even when the rest were suffering palpitations, Sehwag might look back on a couple of key moments - giving Shoaib Malik the final over against Chennai and bowling himself, instead of Glenn McGrath, in the crunch against Punjab. Both games slipped away and the road to the semi-finals got rougher.
The excessive faith placed in Malik was intriguing, especially when there was Tillakaratne Dilshan waiting in the wings. Sehwag could possibly have rejigged the batting order once it was clear that the middle four weren't striking the high notes.
Mumbai's three captains came with contrasting styles: Harbhajan Singh impulsive, Shaun Pollock measured, and Tendulkar fidgety. In a team with a number of unheralded players, Pollock and Tendulkar were figures to look up to. Abhishek Nayar and Rohan Raje spoke about how eager they were to pay back the faith that a legend like Tendulkar had placed in them.
Close finishes, though, were a bugbear for Mumbai. While Harbhajan entrusted bowlers who appeared off-colour - his confidence in Ashish Nehra proved costly against Bangalore - Tendulkar occasionally also under-used those who appeared on song: he didn't bowl Nehra in the final over against Rajasthan. "We didn't show enough common sense" was how Tendulkar summarised the last-ball defeat to Rajasthan. The same could have been attributed to several other close misses.

to be contd...

Captancy and IPL

The irony was striking. The IPL was supposed to symbolise cricket's future, but the winning captain openly sniggered at laptops. Twenty20 was supposed to be an instinctive form that didn't offer much time for thought, but the finalists were led by the two most charismatic leaders.
"If you walk up to a bowler and look worried, it gets to him," said Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the second semi-final. "So I act as if I'm not." At once it conjured up images of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar - anxious, nervous and hoping for the bowler to hold his nerve while appearing to be losing theirs. There was Yuvraj Singh, who seemed to holler louder as the tension increased, and Harbhajan Singh made a habit of chewing his fingernails.
Dravid made an interesting point after the daylight robbery Bangalore pulled off in Chennai, when an inexplicable collapse helped his side to a win against the odds. When asked about how well he had led, Dravid blushed. "When you win, every captain looks good. When you lose, whatever you do appears wrong."
Admittedly a lot of analysis of captaincy relies on hindsight, but the IPL made one thing clear: the shrewdest survived. Kolkata's John Buchanan wanted his side to approach every game as if they were confronting 240 individual battles, one for each ball. The depth of the planning was evident. Added to that was a demand for quickly adapting to the conditions and changing plans

to be contd....

Rajasthan champions in IPL

League or knock-out there was only one champion. It was fitting that the most consistent side in the tournament held their nerve to clinch a thriller. The Chennai Super Kings summoned every ounce of their reserves to take the match to the wire but a calm swat from Sohail Tanvir, when one was needed off the last ball, sparked some heady celebrations in the Rajasthan Royals' dug-out. The least expensive side in the league had completed the coup that had them winning 13 of their 16 matches.
A galaxy of international stars might have added fizz to the IPL but it was India's most improved domestic player who sparkled in the tense final at the DY Patil Stadium. Few outside India might have heard of Yusuf Pathan before this tournament but he imposed himself on the grand stage, snaffling three wickets before smashing a scintillating 56, setting the stage for the inspirational Shane Warne to pull off the last-ball nailbiter.
Chasing 164 wasn't going to be easy on the slightly two-paced surface and Rajasthan were hobbling at 42 for 3 but the 65-run stand between Yusuf and Shane Watson provided the impetus. Another mini-collapse put them in a spot but Warne and Tanvir put on 21 in a harum-scarum final leg. Chennai's sloppy fielding didn't help but the batsmen ensured they didn't lose their head.
L Balaji, who got a pasting in the first three overs, was brought on with eight needed off the final over. Three tight deliveries piled on the pressure before a costly wide, which also produced a bye, tilted the balance. With three needed off 2 balls, Tanvir hurried two to deep midwicket before settling the victory in the final ball. The best bowler of the tournament did his side a big service with the bat. Warne's mighty embrace suggested much.
The base was set by Yusuf's ballistic, yet fortuitous, fifty. Chennai will rue the chance they missed in the 11th over - Yusuf tried to loft Muttiah Muralitharan but Suresh Raina, one of India's best fielders, couldn't latch on to the skier after running from mid-on. With the asking rate approaching 10, that could have been a big blow. Murali had no answers against him in the next over, though, when he was blasted for two successive sixes over wide long-on.
Yusuf soon pounded Balaji, backing away and blitzing thunderbolts down the ground, and looked more like a veteran accustomed to such high-pressure situations. He looked set to run away with the match but Raina's dart-accurate throw from gully added another twist.
Yusuf was instrumental with the ball too. Just as Chennai appeared to be building partnerships he pegged them back with his fastish offbreaks. S Vidyut holed out to deep midwicket, Parthiv Patel snicked to the wicketkeeper, and Albie Morkel top-edged towards short fine leg. Not only was he the most effective of the bowlers but also the most economical - showing the ability to raise his game at the crunch.
Chennai weren't outclassed, not by a long way. Against an efficient bowling attack, with a slow outfield to consider, they strung together a fighting total. Raina and Parthiv, the duo who took them to victory last night, put on a useful 25-run stand through accumulation rather than attack, ensuring that the platform was laid for the rest of the order.
Morkel's two sixes injected some verve into the innings before Raina and Dhoni upped the ante. What could have cost them is the decision to send Chamara Kapugedera ahead of S Badrinath. Kapugedera pottered around for a 12-ball 8 and it was left to Dhoni to up the rate. The 17th over, bowled by Watson, where he conceded just three and picked up a wicket, appeared to tilt the scales but a few mighty hits from Dhoni pushed them to 163. It was the highest total at the DY Patil Stadium but only for a couple of hours.

Harbhajan making up!!

After the acrimony at MOhali, Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh engaged in a public display of affection during the announcement of adjudicator Farokh Engineer's verdict in New delhi. Harbhjan was banned by the Indian Premier League for the remainder of the Twney twenty tournament for slapping Sreesanth. And we thought Cricket was a gentle man's game. There was no reason why Harbhajan had to slap Sreesanth. The records say that Sreesanth went to say "hard luck mate" to Singh and I dont think there is nothing provacative about saying HARD LUCK MATE?.

But anyway harbhajan Singh whatever he did was done is a fit of rage and there was nothing intended in what ever he did. Anyway the matter is closed right now and Bhajji cant play the rest of the Indian Premier League matches. And the biggest surprise was when Lal Chand rajput was also fined for not preventing Harbhajan from hitting Sreesanth. What ever has happened. All we can do is to look out for the rest of the matches and have awesome cricket played. And there is no reason why we should all be sick or sad about bhajji's ban. After all Mumbai has won their match against Kolkata Knight riders without the turbanator.

Awesome match!

Today was the match between Chennai Super Kings and the Punjab team and this was an awesome match. The teams were literally hitting out and crowds completely went crazy. The match completely belonged to Hussey who took the match away from the Kings 11 punjab headed by Yuvraj Singh and brought by PRiety Zinta along with Ness Wadia. Dhoni dint fire today but the captaincy was commendable. The bowling attack was ruthlessly attacked by agressive batsman on both sides of the game. Then there were the beautiful cheer leaders. I guess they went tired dancing to almost every other ball bowled as everything was hit to the fence. Indian premier League has lived up to its name and is definitely more exciting and interesting than the INdian cricket League. Kudos. I dont know what, but these pitches used for the Indian Premier League seems to be pretty short in size. Either that or it is the batsmen who have tunrned exceptionally aggressive. It remains to see if the Indian Premier League is going to be a success story after all the initial critical comments on it.But no one gives a damn about it now. The matches are cool and the players are providing awesome entertainment.

IPL starts!!

The long hyped and made a big deal about Indian premier league has been kicked off and the first match was played between the royal challengers and the Kolkata Knight riders. Before I tell you about the match, I wil tell you about the teams. The first team is the Royal Challengers form Bangalore. This is the team headed by Rahul Dravid, Former captain of the INdian cricket team nad is being sponsored by liquor barron and darling of models, Vijay Mallaya. Since the Kingfisher group is involved there is a lot of money that is being involved and the team is expected to do excellent work on the field. Then there is the Kolkata Knight Riders that is headed By Sourav ganguly the prince of Kolkata. The team is being sponsored by Badhshah of bollywoof. Shah Rukh Khan. Now that I have told yo about the teams, the match started at 8 in the evening and I am not even interested about talking about the match mainly because it was a one sided match with the Royal challengers completely surrendering to the great talents of the Knight riders. Mc Cullum had earlier devastated the bowling attack and that was the end of it. So we will talk about the other match tomorrow. Until then See ya.