The Two Towers

Compeletely forgot to write about the ongoing episode between Sourav Ganguly and Greg Chappel. Until now I have not given a serious thought about the matter as I thought such controversies were not uncommon in Indian cricket. But it is very uncommon to have a controversy with an outsider. The Prince of Kolkata not being among the runs since a year or so, getting frustrated with the pressure as a captain of Indian team which is the toughest job in cricketing world as he has to bat well, score runs, also bowl well, motivate the team , have a barrack of strategies against opponents, handle the media, be in the selection committee, and also maintain the committments at the personal level and involve in such controversies everytime. His duty was to bring the team out of the shackles of match fixing and lead from the front which he did so magnificently. He has brought the change that was lacking since a decade. In the last 4-5 years he was the champion of India. Though he did not make much difference in the scoreboard he did make a sea change in the thought process of the BCCI and the team. I would say the 2001 series against Australia has changed the face of Indian team and with victory at the Lord's in the final of Natwest Trophy emerged a team that could beat the invincibles. He was the leader in both cases. His contribution was not by scoring runs or by taking wickets but by motivation and character. In the 2001 series every player of the team contributed, with laxman's 271, dravid's 188, Bhajji's hatrick at koltaka, Sachin's century, Das's 50 I guess and bhajji's turbination at chennai. In the Natwest trophy Kaif and Yuvy reaching home showed that this Indian team has emerged out of the depression that was created when we lost 3-0 againt Australia in 2000 I guess followed by a humiliating defeat at home in the hands of South Africa. Such a change was brought about by him.

Let us talk about the Greg Chappel now. He is considered to be the best and shrewdest thinker of the game. With his book Greg Chappell on Coaching: The Making of Champions he earned the reputation across the globe. He is considered one of the all time best players to have palyed forAustralia. He scored 24 centuries in about 87 matches with an avg 53.84 ranked 18th in the all time list. He scored centuries in his first and last tests bringing him glory.I feel any batsman whose avg is above 50 could be considered as a great batsman.During his regime Australia were mighty with the palyers like Ian Chappel, Jeff Thompson,Walters, Edwards, Rodney Marsh,Dennis Lillee and he had to lead this young side agains the powerful English team that had Bob Willis, Tony Greig, Knott, Fletcher, Mike Denness ,Geoff Boycott, Gower. Greg was a big contributor to his team with him scoring centuries after centuries and saving australia from crutches so many times. However that was his past, at the present he has been involved in helping southwest australian team win the Sheffield Shield trophy. His excellent analysis of the game is itself bringing him ill reputation. Even before Australia lost the ashes he blasted John Buchanan and suggested he be dropped. Earlier in the Ind-Aus 2004 series he criticised Steve Waugh and of late as everyone knows he is involved in the controversy with the GANG.

With him suggesting Ganguly to step down as captain of the team shows that he has not been in good thinking these days as Ganguly just returned from a ban of 6 matches and had a gap in the test matches. How could he say such a thing as a spectator. Though it was Ganguly's mistake to take the dressing room matters to the media, Chappel should have kep from writing tp BCCI. A coach's job is to motivate the team and not criticise it. India has about a billion critics of each and every player. And if he had to say something he should have said it after watching Sourav play a series. He should realise that test is different from One days. He does not know importance of his job and the responsibilities that come with it. He needs to handle the Indian media and he has got to learn a lot. May be we could forgive him as he is new to the scenario, he better take some advise from John Wright. Writing a six page letter to BCCI saying Ganguly is mentally and physically unfit to play would bring him ill reputation. He does not understand the Indian team and the people. Here cricket is not a job it is a religion, he must understand that. With that letter he has shown his anger, I guess he will face the anger of a billion now and with Ganguly having the backing of the hevyweight jagmohan Dalmiya he might even be sacked. I suggest he should not return to india on the 25th sep rather go to Aus for a month and retrospect. Some countries would have destroyed his house by now, but this is India baby we are DVSK's. I think he would have said the same thing even about Sachin as Tendulkar was also not in good form. Hope he learns a lesson from this and would never say anything, varna Chappel ko chappal se maarenge, kyaaa?

The Dawn and End of an era

Wow!!! Atlast England won the ashes and after a gap of about 17 years it is more satisfying than anything else. Mmm australia atlast stepped down from their glory. Since the 87' world cup they have been ruling the cricket world with a little scare from the mighty south african Hansie Cronje's team that was heavily expected to do what England has done today. Cronje's team was as superb as today's English, I feel it was more powerful with likes of Kallis, Kirsten, Pollock,Donald, Rhodes, Cronje, Butcher all of them at their peaks. Then what would have been the difference, I think there was nothing wrong on their side but it was Australian side that had the gutsy Steve Waugh and the brilliance of McGrath , Shane Warne and Gilchrist that made the difference. Steve Waugh single handedly saved them from clutches of defeat. However today's Aussie team has the same Mc Grath and Shane Warne who are globally viewed as the all time best bowlers but this time their age made the difference and there was none like Steve Waugh who could have saved the matches for them.

While saying that Aussie lost it we must not forget that England won it. They rightly deserved to win and beating Australia is not an easy thing. They had the hefty Hayden, the lingering Langer , Ricky ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne. Freddie Flintoff , what an all rounder, kevin peitersen a match saver, Simon jones who might have made a difference in his debut ashes when England toured Australia( do not remember when) but he suffered an ankle injury. Then they had the classy Vaughan, trespasser Trescothick, harmer Harmisson and the swinger hoggard who were the envy of any team. Now comes the question whether it is the dawn and end of an era. With the Australia defeated by the Bangladesh team it was said their era is ending and with the loss of the ashes it is for sure they are now a normal team that could be beaten. But to say that English are going to rule the cricketing world now is quite early. Their real test is when they tour Pakistan, India, and Australia. If they manage to win 2 of the series then they are for sure to don the roles of the invincibles that WI and Aus have played.

Pondering over the end of the australian era reminds me of the WI who after their era have been struggling ever since. Would Australian side fall to the same level as WI who after that famous 95' series against Aus have struggled to make any little difference in the test ranking table.

I guess now it is a very good chance for all the teams to prove their worth with demise of rulers. All the teams would fight hard to win against the English and the Australian teams to move ahead of the table and become the rulers. This would make the cricketing contest quite interesting and thus I think that atleast till 2007 world cup all the matches would be the ones to watch. But I regret why I am here in USA where I cannot watch even the matches of WI.

Sachin Vs Sania

Once Harsha Bhigle in his interview for the BBC said that Sachin created an industry in which billions of rupees are involved, he was the reason that cricket has survived. At the age of 16 he started making history not only in the cricketing world but also in the media world, newspapers, televisions, radio were booming during his peak time. Of late without his presence the men in blue are suffering and so is the media what with the trp ratings falling down. But wait no the trp ratings infact have gone up that is because the of the Sania mania that has gripped the nation. She at the age of 18 like Sachin is rewriting records in the tennis world and the media world. Can we say that she is going to create an tennis industry just like Sachin who has been sporting icon of the century. Will the mighty Mirza become the sporting icon of the next century. Already she has won the Arjuna award and there are more to come. However Sachin is not yet gone, he is in hibernation period and when he comes back I hope he would do so with a bang. Everywhere a talk has started saying who is a bigger icon Sachin or Sania? I think the situation is the same in England where a craze has developed for Flintoff what with England on the brink of winning the Ashes after a gap of 19 yrs and David Beckham is nowhere to be found in newspapers. There too a same question may arise Becky vs Freddie. Let us wait and see who emerges out of the hurdles and who would become a folklore.

Super Power hiding inside Super Dome

It was pathetic to watch the American super power to hide inside a super dome. Hurricane Katrina is being labeled as the worst natural disaster ever to hit USA, it has destroyed one of the the biggest cities in southern USA. Was it so devastating? Did no other countries face such a crisis, when the hurricane came about people fled the city, is it the same situation in other countries too? Are the other nations also having super domes? I wonder how USA was so unprepared for it although knowing that New Orleans was below sea level why did it allow humans to live in that place.

One thing I never understood why these people construct their houses with wood, when it is safe to make concrete houses. If the houses were concrete atleast half of the houses could have ben saved. Now people dont have homes to stay, where would they go now? I understand if there are wooden houses in the north but why in south?

Intelligent Idiot Box

Television which initially has made everybody wonder at mankind creation, showing life inside a box. Everyone was amazed at its ability but in the 80's it showed its true color when the TRP ratings were at the peak, it started ruining the lives of the people. Now people realised the consequence in getting addicted to it. Similar to the idiot box is the computer. People now are awestruck at its ability as a complete package. They can work on it, play games on it, shop on it, watch movies on it, listen to songs, manage bank balances,talk on it, attend conferences. They dont need to go anywhere. Its ability to connect people across the globe has made it one of the greatest inventions of mankind.

But, there are always critics and so I am here to criticise it in some aspect. I feel that it is spoiling people more than anything today. It is the most anti social element in the society for people are going out less are becoming less sociable. The trp ratings are falling down, the entertainment industry, movie industry has been suffering losses to the tunes of crores since past 5-6 yrs. It is like giving a child a bat in one hand and a pen in other hand and asking him to chose one of them. He would obviously chose bat for it entertains him. Similarly we are providing people with a computer where in he can watch movies, involve in conversations and also work, study. So what does he chose? I dont know about the level of intelligence today but surely many students are using computers for playing games and watching movies, listening to songs. And with the broadband era coming to the fore I predict there would be more number of drop outs. Successful students are the ones who use the system less and would rely on books more. The problem with a computer is similar to that of TV. Watching Tv is only input,taking in, we dont think on anything we just watch it, there is no output. Similarly while studying on the computer we tend to only read and not think on the subject we are reading. Thus the brains get rusted. I think it should be like we read through the books and produce the results on the system.

So the most intelligent invention of man might become another idiot box with additional qualities added to it. I guess man should stop trying to invent something that looks like a box. I could not express it effectively but I hope u got a view of what I wanted to say.

Nature's Terrorism

In the previous tenure of president Bush there were about 3000 deaths due to the WTC attack by Mr.Laden. In reply the republican party waged a war on Afghanistan and are still on with it. In the present tenure the death toll is even more, it seems there might be more than 10,000 deaths. Now what does the bush administration has got in its kitty. Does it plan to go and wage a war against nature, it was nature's terrorism isn't it? Can we call this nature's attack as NO( New orleans) attack. Can the Bush's war be successful against the nature?

Beauty and the Beast

The other day I was sitting at home and watching the movie Maina Pyar Kyu kiya and was amazed by the beauty of Katrina Kaif. I was like wondering how come there could be such a perfect face so sensuous and at the same time being so innocent looking. I was in some other world for the three hours of the movie enjoying the beauty that GOD has created.

After the movie I read the news, Katrina devastated New Orleans, I wondered how come american people know about katrina kaif but then realised it was Hurricane Katrina and not the beauty. I immediately searched for more info to see whether it was heading to Starkville,Mississippi where I had lived for about a year. Initially I thought it was just a small hurricane that would subside into a tropical storm within hours but I was wrong when I heard that it has devastated the whole of Gulf Coast and has taken thousands of lives. I thought a beast has been unleashed. It has affected the global oil prices and countries are a lot worried. however we need to thank europe for digging into their emergency reserves and rescue the world economies.

It again proves that against GOD's fury the super power like America could only be a mere spectator although it had the best weather prediction system and it is not like it was once in a lifetime occurrence, America battles with hurricanes every year but I guess this time nobody saw the beast coming and thereby were left completely unprepared. Katrina reminded me of the Supercyclone that hit Orissa about 7-8 years back. I remember it because I was completely awestruck to look at what nature's fury could do. Even India suffers with cyclones every year and was a prey to that cyclone.

Let us pray to GOD that no more such beasts are unleashed from HIS palm and please HIM with him the beauties. See I am trying to bribe HIM , the basic nature of mankind.