Some thoughts on Phil Hughes.

(I am late in posting it here but I posted this as an answer to this question on Quora. The question is "How did you feel after hearing the sad news of the demise of young Australian cricketer Phil Hughes?" )

It felt like being punched in the stomach. And later I was shocked beyond belief. I have never felt this way for any sport-related injury and maybe never will again because somehow now I have come to accept that there is a one in a million chance that someone can actually die not only playing cricket but facing a bouncer. I mean, yes there have been cases like Raman Lamba but I thought that to be a freak incident. This one seemed like a seminal incident to me in some ways. I hope I am wrong. 
A bouncer in cricket is not merely a delivery intended to make it difficult for the batsman to score but it is a weapon to intimidate. It often is a ploy which extends far beyond that particular delivery. You have had fast bowlers proclaiming that they wanted to see blood on the pitch. But they surely didn't want to kill anyone. But now they know that rare it may be, someone can die. In the aftermath of the incident, I have often wondered how it will change the face of fast bowling. 
A few months back, without any second thoughts, I would have said that the most exciting thing to happen in last couple of years was Mitchell Johnson's accurate and relentless intimidation and subsequent annihilation of English and South African batsmen. Now I am feeling slightly guilty for feeling that exhilaration. There were some bruises, some broken bones but at least nobody died. I have high hopes from this generation of Indian batsmen and was so looking forward to facing them against Johnson this December. Now I am not so sure. Will Johnson be as willing? In the light of everything which happened, can he be? 
Like many others, I was reminded of my own cricket playing days and in particular of one incident. I was a so called fast bowler with no promise at all. But matting wickets can often bring out the devil out of any trundler and as it happened, one delivery hit a batsman on his gloves and then the chin on which he got a bad cut. The ball ballooned up and my first instinct was not to go check the batsman but to catch the ball. Normally, it would have been a standard practice. But now I feel so guilty. So many times as a bowler I felt angry on being hit and wanted to respond by a bouncer or worse, a beamer just to send the batsman packing. I now feel so relieved that apart from that cut on the chin, I was never able to hurt anyone. It was not for the lack of trying, surely. And that is such a creepy, dirty feeling. For me, that somehow puts into perspective what Sean Abbott must be going through and just how unfair it is to him. 
So, I am terribly sad for Phillip Hughes. I am sad also because of the deep introspection it prompted and am also sad because just maybe, a tearway fast bowler will think twice before bowling another bouncer.

Thank You Dravid....

Come Friday, and Rahul Sharad Dravid will announce his retirement. He has called a press conference that day with N. Srinivasan. And the press will be filled with celebratory articles about his career as it should be. So I decided to put up what I had to say now before there is a deluge of better articles than mine on my laptop screen and lest they cloud my thoughts about him.

I will just post what I wrote about one of his innings when the year started, but never put up on this blog. It was a part of my list of My Moments of 2011.

I have always loved Ganguly. He was the best Indian captain I ever saw. Yes better than Dhoni. I have always loved Laxman. To me , he was the most elegant batsman of all of them. And I have always loved Sachin. Because well, he is Sachin. You do not have an option. But in strict terms, I never loved Dravid. I always respected him. Perhaps more than anybody else in Indian cricket, save Kumble.

But when Dravid walked out to bat again as opener after India were made to follow on by England having already carried his bat for 146 in the first, it should have embarrassed his fellow batsmen. I don’t know about them, but it embarrassed me. I felt ashamed that I have always prioritized love over respect. His coming out again made me realise that people you love can make you happy , even blissful at times but it is people who are worth respecting who make a difference to your lives, even making it possible to exist . And I was better person for the experience.

And when Dravid spoke at the Bradman’s Lecture, he further enhanced that respect. And he brought one thing to notice. Sachin must be having the farthest reaching voice in Indian Cricket. Yet he has never spoken about the underlying malaise in control of cricket in India (read BCCI). He has never been embroiled in any controversy ever, but that in itself is a sign of aloofness, isn’t it?

I do not want to bring Sachin into this post. When Dravid goes out, he alone deserves to have the spotlight. So when paeans are sung about him tomorrow, please chuck out that clichéd term “overshadowed” from your vocabulary. For once, it doesn’t seem right.

 He needs to be celebrated for what he was because that is a mighty achievement surpassed by no other cricketer I have seen. Because he has taught me and possibly so many others to value “respect”.   Because of all the giants of Indian cricket, he is the only one I can try to emulate in my professional life. Because he is the only one who embodies professional values that go beyond the realms of cricket.

And Thank You, Rahul  Dravid for that.

RAH RAH SACHIN

Chota Munh Badi Baat...........................

 A few days ago while watching T.V I suddenly felt that the purpose of my life has been fulfilled. For him even the thought of being greater than the game is a sacrilege, but what can he do when it is thrust on him.  It was like an orgasm of happiness and nostalgia.That was when he score that 175. It happened again yesterday.  A low rung writer like me can do no justice to what happened yesterday lest the images get vilified, memories get sullen. So, here I will post the related articles from net from far more accomplished and articulate writers. On my part I will shut my eyes and reminisce in my mind and only say, Wah Ustaad......

About Sachin- Kambli( A tale of two terrors) 

Prem Panicker follows some tweets

GreatBong on that 175

Harsha Bhogle on 13 year old Sachin( A must read)

John Stern- Tendulkar, A thank you. 

Just read this forum 

Thank God it is Tendulkar- Sharda Ugra 

Sachin Proves that you can be a sporting icon without being a sporting monster

The old Scahin radiated heat. The new one gives light.

But he remains the sun.(www.greatbong.net)
The cricinfo editor is sorry , or is he sweet? 
Aakash Chopra - Breaking down the double

I will keep updating the list as and when I come across other noteworthy articles

Auction again......

In a surprising development, HUL which manufactures Ponds’ age miracle cream has announced its new brand ambassadors. Till yesterday the speculation was rife that the brand will sign the eternal beauty Rekha or Hema Malini for a humongous sum as actresses are generally reluctant to accept their old age, more so publicly. But surprising everybody, the company has decided to sign Pakistan cricketer Shahid Afridi for a sum of $850,000. And not only that, he will be the global brand ambassador for the product. Reports from Pakistan state that ever since being signed, Afridi has cut his middle finger and stuck it on the top of Burj Khalifa , with the background saying, “F**k IPL.” Apparently after the snub from IPL, Afridi thinks that his middle finger is of no further importance to him and could not have been put to a better use. Moreover, he has been saying anybody who cares to listen that, “Chehra dikhane ke paise nakhre dikhane se jyaada milte hain.”
Elaborating on the perceived eccentricities of the choice, the CEO of the HUL clarified, “The selection was quite a fair and a competitive process decided by a novel bidding process between our major shareholders. For the record, Rekha , Hema Malini, Amitabh Bacchan or even Marilyn Monroe did not receive any bids at all. Whereas, Umar Akmal , 17 year old prodigy had a bid of $510,000, Abdur Razzak, a bid of $650,000, but the winner hands down was Shahid Afridi with a winning bid of $850,000.The price war is reportedly triggered by the entry of the Pakistan U-19 team into the world cup finals for the third consecutive time. There must be something right with either their genes, their creams or their birth certificates. But, being less than 19 years, they cannot sign contracts , so we had to settle for Afridi. But they are our next major targets. As for Afridi, even after hitting the fastest century , fathering two daughters, being dropped and picked numerous times, he has magnificently managed to stay rooted at 29 years forever. If this is not a age miracle, what is? And we at Ponds’ age miracle are proud to be associated with another age miracle. An intelligent person once said, “The more the things change , the more they remain the same.” Nothing exemplifies it more than the age of these Pakistani prodigies.”

An on field incident is shown in pictures below which further confirms the Afridi’s credentials to be quite apt for the brand.

From another file photograph of ours we show you another example of the kind of fan
following Afridi has. Just note that everybody in the family looks so young, howsoever bored, even the dog.

P.S-
As per the breaking news the company has grand pans to bring about an age miracle cream for the dogs as well, for which also Afridi will be the brand ambassador. This decision was taken after the company ,management came across the above photograph, highlighting the adulation Afridi enjoys even among the canine community.

(On all photographs, please click to enlarge)

NO 1

Yay, we are the no.1...... NO.1 NO.1 No.1. And if I couldn't believe it yet by now, every English , Hindi, Urdu, Bengali , Marathi, Bhojpuri, etc etc news channel has strained every nerve and sinew to infuse my mind , body and soul with this earth-shattering, zamin-hilaoing bit of information. Everyone. probably except CNN . They care as much about cricket as we do about global warming. But we are NO.1. Australia teri monkey(or maa ki) , POM POM POM, you baby bums. And Proteas.... unko karo khallas.

We are the NO 1. So what if they had Kangaroo curry in Kangaroo land and after all the bandar shorba we tried, all we were left with was maa ki, behan ki and Irfan Pathan's fiancee. We are the NO 1.

And all hail the Almighty and omniscient BCCI ,who of course foresaw it years back when it designed the FTP for India. After all, you remain champions until you lose to any other team .And in order to lose, you have to play. And since Bangladesh has been begging us for a test series for the last 4 years, lets us oblige them then. Since it wouldn't be the world cup, it is rather unlikely that we would lose. Damn those ICC rankings which will automatically dethrone us in time to come. This is the BCCI way of setting benchmarks. Anybody who becomes No 1 , we would snicker and mockingly say them ,"But you haven't played us, we suppose!!!!" And also officially at last we have something we are better than China at. Given the fact that they have started thrashing us in hockey and have taken a liking to learn English as well.

We are the best . Even as I write this , a T.V. channel is going bonkers about this at 12 at midnight. Yes, after we were thrashed in a 20-20 just a couple of days ago , which the captain described as a practice game . How one can regard a game in which he is representing his country at par with a game between Board President XI and Timbuktu XI is of course rather beyond me . Perhaps representing India Cements (CSK) is more Indian for our captain than representing India itself in an admittedly hit-and-giggle format.

But what has been rather surprising for me has been the general surprise and shock that has preceded happiness and satisfaction displayed by Indian media. Reminds me of India playing tests in South Africa in 2007-08. By winning the first test they surprised themselves so much that they promptly ended up losing second and third . As they say , winning is a habit. But as much winning is a habit, losing is also one. It has taken more than a quarter of a century to lose the habit of losing. Losing the habit of winning can be much easier and can be rather swift. Specially when confronted with spiteful Australian and South Africans on their home turf.

But then after all it remains rather debatable that how much importance need be attached to the rankings of a system which until recently ranked Nuwan Kulasekara as No1 ODI bowler, Sri Lanka as No.2 ranked test team , and Gautam Gambhir(though rather good, but....) as No1 test batsman. The same council, recently adjudged on its "All Time Great Bowlers List" that Dale Steyn is No.22 on the list and one highly ineffective , inconsistent bloke called Wasim Akram whose 900 + wickets chiefly consisted of the tailenders only, be rightly placed at 59. The same system on the batting list opines that Mat Hayden be at No.10 and a certain flat track, small ground bully called Sachin Tendulkar be languishing at no.26. If a drunkard like Shane Warne puts him at No1 on his list, lets punish him by throwing him off at no.15 on bowlers list. Is it that important? Blogs like Greatbong or Amit Verma don't even consider it important enough to even post about it. Sections of Indian media has been honking about it and I wrote a post. But then some people are rather less occupied and rather less important.


P.S--- Icc is considering introducing two balls from either end in ODIs thereby effectively eliminating reverse swing as each ball will be maximum 25 overs old. As Dennis Lille once said," Maybe they will ban the yorkers next." But probably, next may be they will ban bowling itself, installing a bowling machine instead which can be adjusted as per to the whims and fancies of ICC.

Raja Ki Aayi Hai Baraat

Kings XI , Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals, Royal Challengers, everybody is a raja these days, even those who might not have the name tag to proclaim. KKR have the maharja and the king of bollywood rolled into one, Delhi have their own nawab of najafgarh to flaunt and Mumbai has always had sach a prince. The only one, sans any royal blood, Deccan Chargers(huh...) were quite aptly beaten black and blue to the last place in the inaugural edition. Raja se panga!!!! Huh.... And that too with so many of them being around!!!! Wonder what Dukey Banna was crying himself hoarse over in Gulal?? Rajputana?? Welcome to India.

Bloody game..... has a bloody habit of biting you in the wrong places. Otherwise Rajasthan who should have called themselves zamindars in he first place, would have been demoted to being dewans , and a certain test team( I love Dravid though) the good times would have been a reality rather than a mere tagline. IPL2 might be a little different though. After all Dukey Banna wanted a Rajputanaa out of India. South Frica might be a little trickier. NRIPL might turn into Non- Raja IPL soon enough. Now, now the closest thing SA have had to do with royalty have been with an angrez mahrani . Raja????? What's that? A mere sidekick for South Africans . Early indicators seem sure enough- Deccan , Delhi and Mumbai ; the teams sans any royal calling have called early trumps and princes are fast turning into paupers . Dukey Banna!!! Welcome to South Africa. Welcome to non-rajsi honeymoon abroad. Rajputanaa can wait for IPL3.

For now, let the praja have some fun.