The way Mr Lalit Modi/BCCI decided to call off the bidding process for the buying new IPL franchises for 2011 season speaks volumes about the unprofessional and haughty mindset that Indian cricket administrators, without any exception, carry.
It's pretty pissing off that at the end of the day, this in-fighting ends up short changing all the stakeholders of the game, more often than not the passionate flag waving fans, and in this case the millionaire investors who would have pumped more money in a game already regarded as "filthy rich".
The BCCI as a body is an assortment of contradictions, held together by few charismatic players who keep on producing magic on the field. Sachin, Dravid, Laxman,Viru are seemingly last of this breed.
None of the batsmen from the "youngistan" brigade have excited me and people like Rohit Sharma keep sending my BP to stratosphere by losing their wicket to more and more supremely idiotic shots. Throughout the 1980s, the West Indies team dominated world cricket like anything and look at them now. They just lost to school boys from Zimbabwe (at home!) and got derided by their captain for "being crap".
This Indian team is nowhere close to what the WI team, led by Clive Lloyd and later Viv Richards, was. The law of averages will catch up with it pretty soon and as one cricket fan sums up at the cricinfo message board, tamashas like IPL will be over:
"Unprofessional and unethical behavior on display again and again. First, was Manohar asleep at the wheel all along and suddenly woke up so that he could throw his weight around? Or did they wake up when they realized that Sahara (from Dalmiya's backyard) was going to be a successful bidder? Having advised Fortune 100 companies in the US on business strategy, I am unsure who is better organized, the BCCI or monkeys in captivity in a zoo - the latter at least adapt to live with each other. And lest we forget, the IPL is an idea and concept borrowed from the ICL who was then hounded out. Indians can do better than throw more money on a sport that will soon turn into a yawn - the day SRT retires, each franchise will lose at least half its value. Modi's contempt for a local fan base is evident from the manner in which he airlifted the IPL to SA - in short, TV revenue is what gets this going not the fans, and that too will fall when SRT retires - we can then watch grown men cry."
March 10, 2010
February 7, 2010
Where did this Pathan go?
In the just concluded Duleep Trophy final, Yusuf Pathan kicked some serious butt that helped West Zone trounce South! In the same match, Yusuf's half brother Irfan took a laborious five-wicket haul in the first innings and with that he claimed the 300th wicket of his first class career in front of empty stands in Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.
To me, it was rather sad to see the guy who was hailed as the next Kapil Dev not too long ago, toiling away on a dead wicket, far away from the gaze of national selectors and in this case spectators as well. After all, here is a guy who has been in the public eye for long, has performed when it mattered the most (Man of the match awards in 2007 T20 World Cup final & the Perth Test in the aftermath of ‘Monkeygate’) and has the figures to show that he is better than his nearest competitors.
Irfan Pathan’s batting average (31.57) isn’t too far from that of England’s talismanic all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (31.77), while his bowling average (32.26) is a shade better than Freddie’s average of 32.78. Irfan has claimed seven 5-wicket hauls in 22 Tests to Flintoff’s three fivers in 79 Tests. When the British media speaks about Andrew Flintoff it almost borders on reverence but Irfan, somehow, has gone off the radar from India’s cricket crazy fans’ collective consciousness. India has desperately looked for an all-rounder and when on song, Irfan has seemed like an answer to the prayers of a billion strong nation. Yes, he has lost his pace but on ‘helpful’ tracks he can trouble the best in business through his movement whereas when compared to the likes of Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Sudip Tyagi among others, his batting ability is light years ahead.
Irfan needs to be persisted with, especially in longer form of the game where perseverance is as important as ability and pace and bar Zaheer Khan, all of India’s quick bowlers fail the test of patience. Son of a poor Muzzein from Vadodara, Irfan came up till the U-19 circuit the hard way and from then onwards he took the highway before making this unscheduled halt. Irfan last played for India in February 2009, while his last Test appearance was in April 2008 (vs South Africa); he is just 25 and has time on the hand, all he needs is an opportunity. It’s time we look beyond the usual suspects.
To me, it was rather sad to see the guy who was hailed as the next Kapil Dev not too long ago, toiling away on a dead wicket, far away from the gaze of national selectors and in this case spectators as well. After all, here is a guy who has been in the public eye for long, has performed when it mattered the most (Man of the match awards in 2007 T20 World Cup final & the Perth Test in the aftermath of ‘Monkeygate’) and has the figures to show that he is better than his nearest competitors.
Irfan Pathan’s batting average (31.57) isn’t too far from that of England’s talismanic all-rounder Andrew Flintoff (31.77), while his bowling average (32.26) is a shade better than Freddie’s average of 32.78. Irfan has claimed seven 5-wicket hauls in 22 Tests to Flintoff’s three fivers in 79 Tests. When the British media speaks about Andrew Flintoff it almost borders on reverence but Irfan, somehow, has gone off the radar from India’s cricket crazy fans’ collective consciousness. India has desperately looked for an all-rounder and when on song, Irfan has seemed like an answer to the prayers of a billion strong nation. Yes, he has lost his pace but on ‘helpful’ tracks he can trouble the best in business through his movement whereas when compared to the likes of Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Sudip Tyagi among others, his batting ability is light years ahead.
Irfan needs to be persisted with, especially in longer form of the game where perseverance is as important as ability and pace and bar Zaheer Khan, all of India’s quick bowlers fail the test of patience. Son of a poor Muzzein from Vadodara, Irfan came up till the U-19 circuit the hard way and from then onwards he took the highway before making this unscheduled halt. Irfan last played for India in February 2009, while his last Test appearance was in April 2008 (vs South Africa); he is just 25 and has time on the hand, all he needs is an opportunity. It’s time we look beyond the usual suspects.
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