IPL- A dash of bollywood, cheerleading and some cricket

Its here finally. Indian Premier League. Its now official- the final trial of the bollywood gyrations, baseball cheerleading and some cricket is here.

Will it succeed- I would want to say yes. But, logic says no. DLF paid 200Crs for title sponsorship, Shah Rukh Khan, Mallya, Preity Zinta + Ness Wadia combo, etc have spent $100M odd each. Can they recover this all?

I think not. Why- I will give you an example. This is the oft quoted example of 'Law of diminishing returns' in economics. If a person is thirsty- he drinks a glass of water. If he is very thirsty, may be 2 glasses of water. Very very very thirsty? May be a third glass. Can someone drink 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 glasses of water? No. May be if you are participating for the Guinness records :-)

We are a cricket crazy nation. No doubt. But, the question here is - are we that crazy to watch Warne, Mc Grath, Hayden, Kallis, Ntini and co. fight it out day-in and day-out? Will we be as passionate when we cheer them as we usually are when it is Sachin, Dravid or Ganguly? Donno.

This will decide if IPL is a success or no irrespective of the naach gaana, cheer leading and the accompanying dance sequences.. Or am I wrong?

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The art of winning..

The recent India-Australia test series has been really exciting. Since I am one among the herd who likes to watch, crib, cry, laugh and rejoice with cricket.... this was a treat for me.



After the second test at Sydney, I was wondering- what is the secret of winning... what more does one do to win? Why do some teams get all the half chances, marginal decisions while the other always ends up on the wrong side? Why, why... why? May be people who judge are biased or may be one team has the extra special way of appealing (to make it look only logical to lift the finger to indicate consent) or may be it is the home advantage..

I was actually thinking along these lines. But, after watching the third test at Perth, I just changed the reasons to much more intrinsic.. more basic level of human behavior. If you watch the decisions in Sydney and Perth- there were many decisions that were wrongly judged. But, if one watches the last day of each test... surprisingly the marginal decisions went to the team that had the extra bit of 'urge to win'.

Human beings are wired to believe that the 50-50 marginal decisions should always go towards those who deserve that a little more... Somehow, just like in the movie Cinderella Man where the old champion keeps fighting... giving that one last punch to the younger, stronger opponents; or like in Forrest Gump when one man running across the country gives hope to many others spurring them to follow him... It is intrinsic human nature.

It was really nice to see that willingness to give that little bit 'extra' (watching RP Singh fighting to make every run in second innings, Ishant Sharma bowling 9 overs in a row, Sachin Tendulkar chasing the ball from widwicket to long off boundary to stop one boundary, etc etc) to win in Perth. For millions of people who watch the game with religious fervour in India, it gives that little bit of hope... that some day they can have the same winning attitude... may be they are spurred to give that 'little bit extra' in whatever they do....

Ciao till next time...Harsha

The funniest moment in cricket!

As they say, cricket is a funny game. I was searching for some files on the net and by chance came upon this classic video.

There are times when everything goes wrong for the best of individuals. You and me have faced some situations too where things have been forgettable during bad times. Then again, it is fine... one just needs to move forward- make the right moves and take the right turns..

Here's a runout involving the mercurial Chanderpaul and Morton. It's arguably Chanderpaul's worst form in his career (just before the India-West Indies series in 2006 when he turned things around to become the highest run scorer for West Indies in that series) and he is struggling to retain captaincy and remain a leading player in his team....




After this runout, Chanderpaul lost captaincy but regained his status as the most consistent performer in West Indian squad. He tormented Indians, Pakistanis and the Englishmen right through the better part of the year following this incident.

Way to go Chanderpaul....., my money is on you to come up as one of the leading scorers in this edition of the World Cup!

Ciao till next time... Harsha

Cricket saga- A commentary by the pied piper

A T Pierson had commented long back that 'Life is a game' and immortalised himself. Nearer home our cricketers have made foray into all walks of our lives- we listen to Sachin's advice to select the brand of toothpaste one should use, soap which is best for health, that energy drink which will give you and me his power, the kind of hair oil which will make us achieve that perfect shine. Rahul, Saurav, Dhoni, Bhajji are not to be left behind when it comes to selecting the kind of flat TV one needs to purchase, soda that gives a fizz, biscuits that provides super powers and ad infinitum..

They have something or the other to recommend from our birth to death. Your and my choices are closely governed by a bunch of cricketers who have consistently managed to beat bangladesh, kenya, zimbabwe and lesser known countries in their own chosen profession- cricket. It is funny to note that one takes Sachin's, Saurav's or Dravid's choices into consideration when purchasing a toothpaste, TV, washing machine, electric blade (and what not) when they among all the other people would be the last authority on such matters (let alone cricket where they have failed to win a series abroad excepting the sorry shores of West Indies recently)!

I was watching the cricket match yesterday- the last one day match between India and Srilanka
where our Indian players managed to beat the Lankan team comfortably with all batsmen managing to toy the bowling at will (which was sans Muralidharan and Vaas who have featured in more Lankan wins together akin to Mc Grath and Shane Warne for Australia). But like always the world cup is around the corner again and the experts and punters are here to make their comments. Expectations as they say is lowest since 1983. Yet it is likely that by the time India beat Bermuda and Bangladesh in their opening matches jingoism and patriotic fervour would have been whipped up by the usual parties (advertisers, media, former players and our very own idol worshippers).

Winning the world cup we would be made to believe is just one step away which is a mere formality for our stars to achieve. And this is how gullible you and me would be wooed by our Ad-men to buy more soaps, electronic gadgets, moisturizers, health drinks, biscuits, etc etc..

With all the sponsorship deals hailed as a mental victory and just a step away from victory on field, one just hopes that our stars re-discover their fluent cover drives and mesmerizing googlies and not just be satistied with practising the silken signature on the many cheques that are coming their way!

In between all this, here goes an ode to the Indian consumer- 'We buy things we do not need, with the money we do not have, to please people we do not like. This is consumerism at its best and this is what drives the modern economy'.......

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Ganguly- "A paper tiger?"

Was just watching the first test match between India and Zimbabwe at Bulawayo. Ganguly laboured away to his 16th century from 262 balls. It was a pain to see him score his runs in an 'un-gangulish' fashion. One really felt if it is the same Ganguly who scored back-to-back test hundreds in his test debut, one who created the record for getting the most number of back-to-back 'Man of match' awards(5).....
The once feared Ganguly is no longer feared by most of the teams, except for Zimbabwe and Bangladesh! His only centuries have been against teams like Kenya and Zimbabwe in the recent past... The only notable aberation being the one against Australia, and that too 2 years back.

It seems a pain to watch him trudge back towards the pavilion every so often getting out to silly shots which even our "galli" cricketers are averse to play.......

So, all that people like me can do is... hope the man retires early enough to maintain some sort of credibility and remain in our memories as a daring captain and a very good batsman in the One-day format.

PS: For stats about Ganguly please visit these sites:
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/6820/ganguly.html
http://www.yehhaicricket.com/india/Sganguly/sganguly.html
http://content.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/28779.html

Ciao till next time...Harsha

Well cricket is the world's best game!

Yeah...i seriously think that cricket is the world's best game...it uses the complete body and mind in every sense....well was having an argument with a friend of mine just now, thought i will jot that down.

1. Football is a rough game, Criket is a gentlemen sport: I totally disagree on 2 counts- 1. Criket is played for atleast 8 hours(equivalent to 1 days play..) whereas football is played for 2 hours only.... more entertainment to the viewer and more value for time and money!. 2. It demands more of a player than any other game...a bowler not only bowls, but also fields and bats! do you see that in any other sport??

2. It is a mind game too....not for fun do we see the field changes and bowling changes every so often in the game....all planned right from what tactics one employs to what would be the venue selected by home team to suit its players best!!

Well.....gotta run now..hav some urgent stuff to omplete....but the argument continues.

Ciao till next time...Harsha