First off , I’m very disappointed with the Barcelona performance. They played like vagabond school kids, without any plan or design. Their attitude on the pitch also resembled the gypsies- straying away from assignments , losing sight of the ball and most importantly gifting away two goals. Barcelona issued a statement like Liverpool after a week of madness for both clubs, but unfortunately for all the cules out there, it was the wrong kind.

My friend had remarked ‘ Barcelona beat Barcelona, Liverpool just happened to be there’. I don’t entirely agree with this view but it does ring true when you see the goals that were conceded. The defending was god awful and the goalkeeper Victor Valdes had a nightmare game. Valdes was not the only one guilty of dropping the ball, Rijkaard’s over aggression in an attempt to overcompensate for the Samuel Eto’o debacle lost the second half of the game. He brought on Iniesta to replace Motta and that meant that there was no natural holding midfielder, despite the ineffective performance of the latter.I was surprised Crouch didn’t come on at that stage. It would have made matters worse for the Champions of Europe.. At one point Barca had Xavi, Messi, Deco and Iniesta on the pitch. Crouch could have really exploited that. In keeping with the dreadful season, Ronaldinho had a terrible time. Have players sorted out his style? It does look like that. Defenders are not really threatened when he runs at them. Messi was awful too. Not once did he go on those trademark mazy runs which I and the whole of Catalunya had hoped for.

For Liverpool, it couldn’t have been sweeter. Two people in the news for all the wrong reasons were the heroes- Bellamy and Riise. All credit to them. Barca were awful but Liverpool were remarkably organised and took on their more talented rivals to their face, without any acknowledgment of their supposed pedigree. Its not all gloom and doom for the Catalans and good football at Anfield could change the whole equation.

Through the encircling gloom, it must be realised that its just the first leg but few would bet against Rafa and the reds and even fewer after witnessing that disastrous display by the Best side in Europe.

Technorati Tags: Liverpool, Football, Barcelona, Ronaldinho, Bellamy, Gerrard, Riise,

Champions League | 2 Comments »

It looks like the Australian team is a in a free fall! Not long back they were being lauded for the absolute hammering they gave to the Englishmen and yet in a matter of 2-3 weeks they have lost to the same Englishmen (thrice) and now to their neighbors from across the Tasman sea. And how have the Kiwis beaten them! First, by inflicting their first ever ten wicket loss. Then, [tag]Ross Taylor[/tag] scripted an amazing victory as the Kiwis chased down 337 to win the series 2-0. And to show that the 337 run chase was no fluke, the Kiwis went even better by achieving 346 (after being 41 for 4!). Full credit to [tag]Craig McMillan[/tag] and [tag]Brendon McCullum[/tag] for scripting such a brilliant victory.

Make no mistake about it, the aura surrounding the Australian team for the last 6-8 years has now completely vanished. What promises to make the world cup and the next few years more interesting is that teams will now step on the field against Australia genuinely believing in themselves to put it past the men with the baggy green.

The Australians have always been known to fight back when down but can they do it with a bowling line up that seems one-dimensional and totally bereft of ideas and discipline? Add to that the fact that major players like Symonds and Brett Lee will not be close to their 100 percent.

The question remains which team is going to lift itself during the big moments in case this Australian team doesn’t.

Cricket | 2 Comments »

The Australians have been setting a lot of firsts lately; those of the kind they’d rather wish they didn’t. After their first 10 wicket defeat in ODIs in the first game of the [tag]Chappell-Hadlee trophy[/tag], the series defeat has ensured that the Australians have been squeezed out of their undisputed position as the No.1 team in the ODI rankings for the first time since the system was introduced in 2002. Is it the end of an era of the great Australian dominance or is it just a classic case of a burn out?

Your answer would depend on how much you hate the Australian dominance or how much you enjoy their brand of strong and aggresive cricket. Agreed, it was very much a second string team without players like [tag]Ponting[/tag], [tag]Gilchrist[/tag] and Lee but I belong to the tribe who would now tend to believe that the cricketing world just got level and senses the world cup becoming jucier. A day after the Indian team gave new hope to millions of fans, the Australians planted more doubt and insecurity among theirs. They probably played one too many games. If the India – Srilanka series was unnecessary, the Australia – New Zealand series was a crime. At the rate at which players are getting injured, teams would be struggling to field a fit 11 for the world cup.

More than a blip?

Winning is a habit and so is losing as the Australians discovered at Eden park. After scoring a massive 336, the Australians still managed to lose with 10 balls to spare, to the buoyant Kiwis. That makes it their 4th consecutive ODI loss & 2nd consecutive series loss. Thats more than just a blip dont you think? [tag]Hussey[/tag] now has a rather forgettable record of 3 defeats in 3 matches as a captain. After the first defeat against the Kiwis, one expected the Australians to hit back strongly and in fact, they did. Scoring a massive 336 is a strong enough come back but like in the first match, Australian bowling was again flayed and brutalised by New Zealand.

This should surely provoke some questions against the Australian board for their unforgiving schedules but questions will also be raised about the famed Australian bench strength. If not anything, these defeats will boost the confidence of other teams especially the Proteas who are in the same group as the Aussies. There is no doubt that the Australians will come into the world cup their guns blazing, with their top players back in business and will try to hit their opponents hard. However, two series losses has meant that answering the question of who will make it to the final of the world cup just got a little more difficult. We would probably need a whole new post on that later.

Cricket | 3 Comments »

Usually they come attached with a warning that they might be unsuitable for heart patients and the like. Indian Cricket however comes unattached with any such strings but who’s really complaining? The pieces are slowly beggining to fall into place – ofcourse you never know when they might be rocked again – but unlike the last close loss versus the Windies, this time around India have bounced back strongly.

Often while solving a jigsaw puzzle, all it takes to finish it off is getting that one critical piece in place and the rest takes care of itself. For anyone following Indian Cricket – it wouldnt take long to realise that the most critical piece in this team is the captain himself Rahul Dravid. Over the last year he has batted at all positions from 1 to 7 with varying degrees of success. However the one place where he has had success and more importantly the team has had success has been the no.5 position. Dravid undoubtedly is the best repairman in the Indian team and hence the best guy to go to when we need an innings to be rebuilt – hence the best guy when wickets have fallen cheaply – say a 50/3, Dravid coming in and one would have to feel reassured.

Over the last couple of years Rahul has also developed into India’s best finisher – push the ball into the gaps, run the ones and twos, hit the boundaries and generally either finish off a run chase or end the inning with a flourish. So say at a 200/3 with 13 odd overs to go, Dravid would be a safe guy to have there.

Imagine the guys batting at 1-4 – would you not feel secure if you knew that Dravid was there to watch your back? One cant help but feel that a Dravid at 5 would end up creating a peaceful scenario for all around.

The other pieces have mostly fallen into place – Dhoni has been a brilliant no.6 – he has brains along with the brawn and that makes him really good. Yuvraj coming back to form and fluency basically solves the question of who will bat at 4. Ganguly has come back to international cricket with a vengeance that only bodes well for us. And that brings me to the call to reinstate the old firm of Sachin and Saurav to the top of the order. Their century partnership at Rajkot proves that they still have the coordination and fluency to bat together

A backup of [tag]Karthick[/tag], [tag]Uthappa[/tag] and [tag]Sehwag[/tag] (who should be whipped and caned for his runout today) looks good.

Indian batting will in all probablities continue their round trip from excellence to selfdestruction but in excellence it looks pretty much looks as good as it gets. And by subscribing to the rollercoaster of Indian cricket, one has anyway foregone the risks of heart attacks – statutory warnings be damned.

Cricket, Indian Cricket | 2 Comments »

 

Clark must be wondering what more he can do. He has had  a dream run this season during the Ashes, consistently outperforming [tag]Glenn McGrath[/tag]. In the CB series that followed, he picked up 10 wickets in 6 matches, a decent performance. But the reasons offered for him being dropped are: he has been expensive during the ODI games (true, it is unfortunate that he went for over 5 an over against the English team!), he lacks variety and the pace that the man who beat him to the team, [tag]Shaun Tait[/tag], possesses (he actually bowled at 160 kmph!!).

The Windies pitches are not very pacy and bouncy these days. You aren’t g0ing to get much from the wicket and under those conditions, I believe that a person who can pitch it in the right areas and keep the batsman under check is more likely to be successful. But then, that’s why they have Glenn McGrath! [tag]Stuart Clark[/tag] probably missed out because he was too much like McGrath and when you have McGrath, do you want the imitator? He might be more energetic and have a better recent record but McGrath can be counted upon to deliver during the big games. And Shaun Tait is in the team to provide the variety.

In hindsight, the omission was probably not as surprising as news reports made it out to be. Sad for Stuart Clark but he is good and his time will come.

Cricket | No Comments »

I’m surpised we are not having a “Challenger Trophy” before selection of the Indian team for the World Cup. For, of late, the BCCI practice before any big tour or tournament has been to have this mindless tournament, named after yet another of those politician-administrators [tag]N K P Salve[/tag]. A tournament where the “India Seniors” team takes on the supposed second and third string teams, with the intention of providing the 33 best players in the country a chance to show their mettle.

In my opinion, the whole premise of this tournament is flawed. For a start, the national selectors select all three teams, and randomly distribute players among the teams. This means that each time there will be a certain set of players under the radar of the national selectors, and only they are given a chance to perform. Say, if a player is playing really well for Tripura, and[tag] Ranjib Biswal[/tag] (the East Zone selector) doesn’t care to watch Tripura’s games, this player’s career is doomed.

The second problem with the tournament format is the division of players into the three teams. Usually two senior players are picked out of the senior squad to lead the A and B teams, and while announcing the teams, selectors are creating a clear seeding system amongst the teams, and communicates to the players on view that some of them are more equal than others. Also, this leads to a few hopelessly lop-sided matches (though India A regularly beats India Seniors, India B end up getting badly mauled every time).

Thirdly, the format of the tournament is also flawed – with four matches scheduled for four days, sometimes a situation arises that a team has to play three matches in three days, thus ensuring it’s players can’t perform to their potential in the final. Even otherwise, it’s too much exhaustion.

The fourth, and most important problem with the Challenger is that there are absolutely no loyalties – neither among the players nor among the spectators. A player knows that the Challenger is primarily meant to be the basis for selection, and hence plays for himself – the team be damned. This leads to a drop in quality of performances and also prevents the five wise men from testing a player’s commitment, teamwork, etc. The impact on spectators are also significant – the absence of any team loyalty means that you simply go there to watch individual players perform, and this results in massive reduction of spectator interest.

Do you remember a tournament called the [tag]Deodhar Trophy[/tag]? For those who don’t, it is the inter-zonal limited overs tournament. It used to be a major event when I first started following domestic cricket (around 15 years back), with the high point being the presentation of the trophy by the Late D B Deodhar (yes, the tourney was named after him when he was alive) to the winning captain. Those days, it used to be scheduled to enable national team players to take part, and gave rise to some pretty good performances and games.

Why can’t we replace the Challenger with the Deodhar? Have it once a season, and at a time when National Players are available to represent their zones. For a start, there will be five fairly strong (and well-matched) teams. Puts fifty five odd players on display as against the thirty three odd for challenger. Gives a chance to the older players who excel in domestic cricket to show their wares (such people are usually excluded from the Challenger). With zonal selectors selecting the teams, players from the plate states won’t go un-noticed and will play a part.

Most importantly, there will be loyalties. Players will be playing for their zones for what was once a prestigious trophy. For their zones. And beside players they have grown up playing with. And are most likely to play for their teams, rather than for themselves. Will raise the quality of the game by a few notches.

From the spectator point of view also it is better. Now it is easier for you to choose a team to support. The teams are more balanced. And it is more competitive. With day-night matches and colored clothing etc. it should serve up a treat! And bring in the much-needed crowds into domestic cricket.

There will also be those little little battles. For example, we might get to see Laxman and Dravid testing their mettle against Zaheer, Agarkar and Munaf. Or Sehwag and Gambhir and Chopra take on the firepower of Bose and Mohanty. Should definitely bring in some revenue for Neo Sports

Of course there do exist a couple of roadblocks. Firstly, with five zones, we need to come up with a tournament format which won’t last for more than ten days, and not exhaust the players before the tour. Next, we need to find a slot for this in the annual calendar and make sure that all the National Team players take part. Thirdly, what happens to Shri N K P Salve, the great politician-administrator? Getting rid of the challenger means one less tournament which can be named after a politician. A solution for this would be to name the stadium in Nagpur after him (it is a test venue and still unnamed, and unimaginatively called “Vidharbha cricket association ground”).

Is anyone in the BCCI listening?

Cricket, Indian Cricket | 3 Comments »

It’s not always I use [tag]David Beckham [/tag] in a footballing comparison. Although he has achieved a lot of success in his [tag]Manchester United[/tag], the coverage and the press he received were not reciprocal to his performances. He was the poster boy, who defined the word ‘metrosexual’ and a marketing team’s dream. On the pitch, his career had not met expectations. As captain, his team always fell short of the target. His career had stagnated after his move to [tag]Real Madrid[/tag] and his only option was to take the 250mill $ sinecure that the idiots in LA had offered. But one aspect of his game and his personality merits respect. It was evident in the last month and for his entire career and that has been his impeccable sense of professionalism. When lesser players would have taken offense at the demotion to the reserves, Becks took it as a challenge to prove his coach wrong. He appeared everyday for training and not once did he complain about the treatment. He has since earned his recall and looks set to leave his club with his head held high.

But over the weekend, arguably the the best striker in the world showed why, it’s not always the talent that wins you admirers. Prone to the usual fit of rage, Barcelona striker [tag]Samuel Eto’o [/tag] lashed out at his coach [tag]Frank Rijkaard[/tag] for being labeled a shame. Well, to be frank, your behaviour over the weekend was a disgrace. It doesn’t matter if there are only 2 minutes of playing time, when the manager asks you to come on , you do it. When the manager asks you to play blindfolded, you do it. It’s as simple as that, as long as he gets paid the big bucks and is held accountable for every wrong turn he takes, the manager is the Big kahuna.

This is just one of the many incidents that have littered Eto’o’s career. The man can turn a match on its head with his feet, but can also divide a club with his vicious tongue. Some criticize Rijkaard for coming hard on his leading striker in a press conference. This was aberrant from a man, who prefers to dish it out in the privacy of the locker room. But in this case, the reputation preceded the person. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Eto’o went as far as revealing divisions in the dressing room between the Rosell (ex vice president, Sandro Rosell) group and the Laporta clan and how the ‘gentle’ African had been made the scapegoat. But honest to god, what the hell has that got to do with you not wanting to play?

It also is very clear that Rosell sympathizers will be leaving the club soon, whether that includes Ronaldinho is anyone’s guess. Although the club is indebted to Rosell for his masterful engineering of the Ronaldinho transfer, his shadow has hung over this team for too long.

The one club that will be celebrating this are the Merseysiders. This couldn’t have come at a better time for them and the controversy looks set to rock the Catalan club for a few weeks. Expect a major clearout in the summer at Barcelona, starting with the African striker.

For now, Eto’o can learn a thing or two from David beckham 23.

Spanish Football, Transfer Talk | 3 Comments »

Colour is doing the rounds as one of the most talked about aspects of the 2007 season, even after discounting Lewis Hamilton from the headlines. Car launches have been revealing liveries ranging from the innovative to the ghastly. Liveries have been as much a part of a formula 1 car as its design and performance is. So what paint job does the machines of 2007 boast of?

Ferrari
Rating: 9 / 10

As far as liveries go, [tag]Ferrari[/tag] continues to rule. The designers have gone all red obliterating whatever little white that remained before. The F2007 is all Ferrari although the ‘Vodafone’ logo is conspicuous by its absence. However the Ferrari livery loses out on the ‘best looking’ livery on the grid to their main rivals. 

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Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

A very very special player, one who has at most times dominated the best team in the World, one who engineered arguably the biggest turn around in the history of the sport and in one fell swoop stopped a seemingly unstoppable juggernaut, one who despite all this and much more has never been sure of his place in the team, but has delivered consistently will never play a World Cup.

A travesty, something that does happen often in football, whose World Cup hasn’t seen the likes of a di Stefano or a Best or a Giggs display their wares. But it is rare that something similar is happening in cricket. The only other guy who comes even close is Justin Langer, but it can be explained by the fact that the Aussies have always had a comparative abundance of talent during his time.

Look at the players who have represented India at World Cups, lesser talents like [tag]Sadagopan Ramesh[/tag],[tag] Dinesh Mongia[/tag], [tag]Aashish Kapoor[/tag],[tag] Parthiv Patel[/tag],[tag] Chandrakant Pandit[/tag],[tag] Salil Ankola[/tag] have been part of World Cup squads but never him. Ofcourse this year was not his best chance, it was the 2003 edition. He was cruelly dropped after a dismal New Zealand tour, where everyone except [tag]Sehwag[/tag] failed and he ended up with better averages than Kaif, Dada and Mongia. But in his place played [tag]Mongia[/tag], who apart from a six off Murali, just free-rode throughout the tournament.

Post the World Cup saw him in his best form, saving a test match against the Kiwis at home before unfolding in totally majestic glory down under. The Aussies had no answer for him. They won a test only when he failed. The ODIs saw even more majesty, three centuries in a week.Now that the Indian team has been announced, all I hope for is a good performances from our boys. At the same time, an encore of his 2003-04 performances in the tours to England and Australia that are lined up would be even sweeter. VVS Laxman its upto you now to prove the selectors wrong.

Cricket, Indian Cricket | 1 Comment »

Well, here are the 15 men who are going to be boarding that plane to lovely West Indies for the [tag] 2007 Cricket World Cup. [/tag]

1 [tag] Rahul Dravid [/tag] (capt), 2 Sourav Ganguly, 3 Robin Uthappa, 4 [tag] Sachin Tendulkar, [/tag]5 Virender Sehwag, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, 8 Dinesh Karthik, 9 Irfan Pathan, 10 Ajit Agarkar, 11 Harbhajan Singh, 12 Anil Kumble, 13 Zaheer Khan, 14 Sreesanth, 15 Munaf Patel.

I don’t think the selectors had too much of a choice really. There might have been a case for an additional middle-order batsman (Laxman, Raina or Kaif) in place of either Uthappa or Karthik but the fact is that each of those three had something going against them.

Laxman is a big liability on the field, Raina has not grabbed the opportunities given to him and Kaif has not not really given too many reasons for the management to continue sticking with him. I still feel that Laxman should have been on that plane to the World Cup (what happens when Ganguly or Dravid or Tendulkar gets injured? and Yuvraj hasn’t fully recovered anyway) but he will end his career without having played in a single world cup.

Powar has to be very unlucky to miss out, I don’t see the need for 5 pace bowlers considering the pitches you have in West Indies but again Powar didn’t have a spectacular case for his selection. He was always going to be back up for Kumble and Harbhajan anyway.

The big questions remain:

1) Who is going to open the innings with Saurav Ganguly? Tendulkar or Uthuppa or even Sehwag?

2) Will Pathan recover form and confidence to warrant a place in the starting XI?

It’s going to be interesting to see if the Indian management gives away any indications regarding the final XI over the next two one day internationals in Margao and Visakhapatnam.

Cricket, Indian Cricket | 7 Comments »