Sportsnob – Critics Corner

The U.S. hard court season keeps getting better for India’s Sania Mirza who has now made the third round of the final grand slam of the year in Flushing Meadows. Sania beat Laura Granville of the U.S. in straight sets. Granville is currently ranked 60th in the world; 30 places below the Indian. And Granville is no rookie, she was ranked as high as no.9 in 2003. You have to hand it to Mirza, she is continuing to justify her rank, and beats lower ranked players with regularity these days.

Up next- Anna Chakvetadze, the Russian youngster who has already defeated Sania twice this season. Chakvetadze first beat Sania in the Cincinnati Open semifinals and then again two weeks later in the final at Stanford. After quarterfinal appearences in both the Australian and French Opens, Chakvetadze is looking good for a final four appearence at the U.S. Open. Unless, Sania has something to say about that!

La Liga kicked off this weekend and while I was stoked to put an end to my yearning for football, the TV rights snafu meant that I had to rely on Soccernet’s annoying gamecast for updates. Sadly, Barcelona with its fantastic quartet were held to a 0-0 scoreline by Racing Santander who played 23 minutes with just 10 men. Racing could have embarrassed Barca if they had a little bit of luck. The biggest worry for Barca after the signing of Henry was whether the team would be able to defend with such attacking talent on the pitch; few would have thought they would struggle in attack. Granted, the fantastic four didn’t play together but even then, they didn’t create enough to threaten Racing.

Even in preseason the forwards were toothless, only saved by the precocious talent of Giovanni Dos Santos, who was missing today because of typical Spanish Bureaucracy. Henry could have scored today but for the goal post but he still hasn’t found the wavelength to combine with Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho. Rijkaard has a lot of work to do and a few more of these performances will force the faithful at the Nou Camp to take out their white hankies. Ridiculous the amount of pressure managers face these days.
Villareal and Almeria provided the surprise results of the day. Villareal led by Roberto Ayala, who was returning to his old stomping ground at the Mestalla beat Valencia 3-0. This after experts including Sid Lowe of the Guardian tipped Valencia to push Barca to the finish line. Early days I concede but Valencia under Quique Flores have had the habit of disappointing on the big occasion. They just announced the signing of Manuel Fernandes from under Everton’s noses. I wonder if he will be able to change things. Newly promoted Almeria on the other hand beat Deportivo 3-0 at the Riazor.
Real Madrid beat cross town rivals Atletico on Saturday. Real who have formed a habit of scoring late goals in 2007 had Wesley Sniejder to thank for their 2-1 victory.

Here’s hoping they sort out the paperwork in Spain and have some football on the tele soon!!

Justine Henin

Last years losing finalist Justine Henin returns to New York in good form after capturing the Rogers Cup, defeating world no.3 Jelena Jankovic in the finals. Between Wimbledon and Rogers Cup, Henin had a month long break, the time she used well to recover from the shock semi-final defeat at Wimbledon to Marion Bartoli. Henin was up by a set and was on the verge of victory when Bartoli came back strongly to win the match.

The top seed has a very tough draw, she could face the Serena Williams in the quarterfinals and potentially Venus Williams in the semifinals. Her fourth round opponent could be Russian Dinara Safina or Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin.

Maria Sharapova

She won her first title of the year at the Acura Classic, in the process defending her title. Her shoulder seems very susceptible to a recurring injury, and her withdrawal from the semifinals of East West Bank Classic against Nadia Petrova might be an indication of things that could go wrong for the Russian double slam winner.But the Russian world no.2 and defending Champion has a reason to smile. She has an easy draw and her first real test could only come in the quarterfinals where she could meet in-form compatriot Anna Chakvetadze. She is seeded to meet fourth seed Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals.

Jelena Jankovic

The ever-cheerful Jelena Jankovic arrives in New York still recovering from her cold and a bout of flu. She has enough matches under her belt coming into the final slam of the year, after reaching the semifinals (lost to Serbian star Ana Ivanovic 7-5 in the third set) of the East West Bank Classic and the finals of Rogers Cup.

She is seeded to play Venus Williams or Ivanovic in the quarters and Henin in the semifinals.

Svetlana Kuznetsova

The former Champion has not been able to recapture the form that helped her to win the title three years back. This year however she is expected to go deep into the draw and justify her fourth seeding. Like Sharapova she has an easy draw and is likely to face Bulgarian sensation Victoria Azarenka in the fourth round and Nadia Petrova in the quarters.

Players with the Best Outside Chance: Serena Williams and Venus Williams

The sisters are seeded to face in the semifinals of the top half of the draw. This is the third successive slam in which Serena and Henin are scheduled to meet in the quarterfinals with Henin winning both times. Serena would love to have her revenge and what better place to do it than here? Her biggest obstacle in clinching her second slam of the year and her third US Open title would be the state of her thumb. The thumb injury contributed considerably in her loss to Henin in the Wimbledon quarters.

While Serena has played no warm-up event before the US Open, Venus played in the Acura Classic and lost to Anna Chakvetadze in the quarterfinals in three-sets after having a match-point in the second. Venus is in a better physical shape than Serena and should have a better shot at the title. Overall, it should come as no surprise to anyone if either of the sisters win the title. A reasonably fit Serena could topple a below par (unlikely?) Henin in the quarters and players in Venus’ half of the draw should start praying that she should not find her form in the later stages of the tournament, which she did on the way to her fourth Wimbledon title.

Justin Henin Vs Maria Sharapova

Winner : Justin Henin

1. Roger Federer

The three-time defending champion and world number one looks to in fine form to clinch his 12th slam and equal Roy Emerson’s record. A win here would mean that Roger would be just two away of Pete Sampras’ record of 14 singles slam titles. Bill Tilden was the last person to win the US Open 4 times in a row (he went on to win six straight titles from 1920-1925).

This year Federer clinched the US Open series by winning the Cincinnati Masters and reaching the finals at the Roger Cup in Montreal (lost to Novak Djokovic). At the US Open Federer has a comparatively easy draw, his first big test could come in the quarters where he could face the American Andy Roddick or the talented Czech Tomas Berdych. In fourth round he could face Wimbledon semi-finalist Richard Gasquet or former Roland Garros Champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

2. Novak Djokovic

The Serb seems to have developed a great fondness for the North American hard courts. At the beginning of the year he won the Miami Masters and then reached the Indian Wells Masters finals (lost to Rafael Nadal). Over the summer, he won the Rogers Cup in Montreal beating King Roger himself in three sets after saving 6 set points in the first set. His performance in that tournament had been nothing short of magnificent- beating Federer, Nadal and Roddick to win the title. Should he face Federer in the U.S. Open final, it is very likely that he would use the same ploy that he used in Montreal- attack Federer’s backhand relentlessly and expect the Swiss Master to falter.

The young Serb however has a tough draw to navigate through before reaching the semifinals. He is very likely to face in-form Lleyton Hewitt in the fourth round and 11th seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny in the quarters.

3. James Blake

This is Blake’s last chance to redeem what has been a very disappointing year. Much was expected from Blake after he reached the year ending Masters Cup final (lost to Federer) and has shown very little evidence of meeting those expectations. He comes into the U.S. open on the back of his best performance this year ( finals of the Cincinnati master) and this week he sees himself handed-over a slightly tricky draw where he is likely to face rising American Sam Querrey in the third round and Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the fourth round. Should he cross these hurdles he could face the fourth seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals.

4. Rafael Nadal

The world no.2 player comes to the Open short on preparation. He retired against Argentinian Juan Monaco in Cincinati after complaining of cramps. In addition to his health-related woes, he has drawn tough opponents like hard-court specialist Dmitry Tursunov in the third round and in-form countryman David Ferrer in the fourth round. He is seeded to face an out-of-form Fernando Gonzalez in the quarters, the man he lost to in this year’s Australian Open.

Should Nadal arrive in New York anywhere near full fitness and play his own brand of tennis, he could be rewarded with a semi-finals clash with Djokovic. Unfortunately, his right knee has been bothering him since Wimbledon and hence Nadal could struggle in the tournament,

Player with the Best Outside Chance: Tony Roche’s new disciple and sixteenth seed Lleyton Hewitt who gave the maximum trouble to Federer in the Cincinnati semifinals is keen to do well at this year’s Championship. The 2001 champion is in the bottom half of the draw and should he beat Novak Djokovic in the fourth round, he has a very good chance to reach the finals and have another shot at the title. Also, the best of five-set matches are exactly what Hewitt is cut out for and relishes to the maximum.

Prediction:

Finals : Roger Federer Vs Novak Djokovic

Winner: Roger Federer

The women’s list is here

Michael Phelps is the greatest swimmer ever born… and the 2008 Olympics haven’t even arrived. Tiger Woods can be beaten, Federer can as well (and even has a nemesis in Nadal), but Phelps is the metaphorical mile ahead of everybody. Watch him win 8 or 9 gold medals next year.

He won only 6 gold medals in the last Olympics, but salvaged his reputation with a mindblowing performance at the 2007 Melbourne world championships in March (keep a close eye on all the red lines in the video, and remember that nobody else in the world, all 100 billion human beings who have ever lived, had ever crossed the line he consistently swam two bodylengths in front of.)

The 2007 US National championships were held in Indianapolis early this month. This event is considered the warm up for the 2008 US trials for Beijing, and Michael Phelps came to the city with a full head of hair and an ugly French beard (which he thankfully shaved off a couple of days into the competition.) He was known to be on a light training schedule at the time: he supposedly was swimming only three times a week, and considering the average number of swims per week during peak training season is about ten, it gives you an idea of how important he considered this competition.

Phelps swam only the events he had no intention of swimming in the Olympics. In the 200 Breaststroke, he came in in a lowly third place… in the B Final. He then dived in for the 200 Backstroke and took it easy, to end up behind Ryan Lochte and the formerly unbeatable Aaron Peirsol. A gold in the 200m Freestyle with the second fastest time in history only meant he was over a second slower than his world record.

He then reeled off an almost-world record in the 200m Backstroke (an event he will not swim at the Olympics.) A quick dive in for the 100 Butterfly (the only ’strength’ event he couldn’t dominate Crocker over… until 2007 arrived), and he won it but without the American or world record. (Ian Crocker pulled off another disqualification in this event after that controversial early dive he pulled off early in the year. The story goes that in Melbourne, after Phelps whipped Crocker in Crocker’s pet event, the 100m Butterfly, Crocker replied by diving off the blocks a tad early (0.61s, to be precise) in the 4×100m Medley relay qualifiers, thus pulling off a DQ for Team USA and thus denying Phelps a record-breaking 8th gold medal at the world championships.)

The 100 backstroke was all Phelps magic, though. He never swims this event since he’s got better things to do, but decided to tread on Peirsol’s and Lochte’s feet for kicks. He whipped off his iPod, dived in, ended the 50m in second place, turned and… finished 0.03s off the world record, with enough energy left to glance at the electronic timing board and then scream in frustration about what might have been. Two days later, he decided to lead off the 4×100m Medley relay time trials for the Wolverines in another highly anticipated bid to break the world record in the last event of the championships, but in spite of timing under WR pace over 50m, he ended with a slow 53.17, almost 0.2s off Peirsol’s record. (Yes, the individual world record counts if set in the first leg of a relay.)

A few other fantastic American swimmers also have to be written about. Dara Torres, a 40 year old former 50m Freestyle world record holder, just came back from retirement (and childbirth) to easily dominate the 50m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle at the Indy championships: the shorter event with a new American record to boot. To put things in perspective, she was 17 when she first swam for the USA in the 1984 Olympics. There are whispers about her being “on the juice”, though…

Erik Vendt, Phelps’ Club Wolverine teammate, is another person to look out for: like Janet Evans, he is physically tiny but really pulls his weight in the long distance events. He used to concentrate on the 400 IM, but sensibly switched to the 1500 Freestyle after coming out of retirement because of the appearance of The Lochte. He dominated the 800m and 1500m Freestyle events over Larsen Jensen and Peter Vanderkaay at Indianapolis, and should be worth rooting for in 2008.

Of course, to every Federer there is a Nadal who would be the best in the world… but for the other guy. In this case, the guy’s name is Ryan Lochte. This man consistently clocks world records only to find that Phelps got there first, two seconds before he did. He is going to win 4 gold medals in Beijing: two relays and the two backstroke events as well as a ton of silver medals… and maybe, just maybe, might pull off a victory over Phelps in one of the IMs.

The 2007 US nationals can be viewed online, legally and for free, here. Timed Finals is also a great collaborative blog on swimming, similar to this one. There’s also quite a nice blog about Indian swimming here.

After days of speculation, the initial roster of 50 players who will be in the Indian Cricket League was finally revealed today. It is a good mix of players, probably the best given the current circumstances and much better than what was expected from the league.

The seven international players are Inzamam Ul Haq, Mohammed Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Imrah Farhat, Brian Lara, and Nicky Boje. Notable Indian players include Dinesh Mongia, JP Yadav, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Deep Dasgupta, Retinder Singh Sodhi and of course Ambati Rayadu.

The big signing:

The big signing definitely has to be Mohammed Yousuf, unlike the rest of the international players, Yousuf is in the best form of his life and is as important to the Pakistani team as Dravid is to the Indian team. Despite the fact that it has announced that the players will not be selected, the PCB cannot afford to drop Yousuf from the national squad, considering that Inzamam seems to be on his way out and there is not much talent coming through. Besides, Yousuf made 1788 runs in 2006, the most test runs in a calendar year ever.

This might just create a ripple effect and convince other international players that the ICL might just offer a good opportunity to make some money and play some competitive cricket. And players in countries such as England, South Africa New Zealand and Australia do share a good relationship with their boards, meaning that they could just convince their boards that playing in the ICL is in their best interests. The New Zealand player chief has already called for further support for the Indian Cricket League saying that the comparatively low incomes of their players could mean that they could be attracted to the league. There are talks of Jacques Kallis, Nathan Astle, Chris Cairns, Stephen Fleming joining the league soon.

Anyway, in my opinion the initial list of players looks much better than expected, and the list can only get better from here. What the BCCI does remains to be seen, whichever way, most people are hoping that the ICL can succeed just to ensure that the BCCI is forced into reforming itself.

The full roster:

Ambati Rayudu, Syed Abbas Ali Khan, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abhishek T, Alfred Absolem, Avinash Yadav, Deep Dasgupta, V Devendran, Dheeraj Jadhav, Dinesh Mongia, Hemanth Kumar, Ibrahim Khaleel, Inder Shekar Reddy, Ishan Malhotra, J Hariesh, Jai Prakash Yadav, Kaushik Reddy, Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Manish Sharma, Mohnish Mishra, Puskaraj Joshi, R Satish, Rajesh Sharma, Ranjit Khirid, Raviraj Patil, Reetinder Sodhi, Robin Morris, Sachin Dholpure, Sarabjit Singh, Syed Akhlakh Ahmed, Shalabh Srivastava, Shashank Nag, Shibsagar Singh, Shreyas Khanolkar, Subhojit Paul, Subhomoy Das, Sumit Kalia, D Kumaran, T Surendra, Thirunavukarasu Kumaran, G Vignesh, D Vinay Kumar, and Yashpal Singh

In keeping with this website’s tendency to write about anything even remotely connected to sports, this is a review of Chak de India: a very entertaining movie, well worth a watch even though it stars Shah Rukh Khan.

Based on the life of Meer Ranjan Negi, the movie is about a man’s quest to redeem himself in the eyes of his countrymen. That the medium is hockey is just incidental.

A bunch of women from around the country are coached by a disgraced former hockey star. How he forges the individuals into a winning unit, in the process earning their respect and trust forms the narrative. It is a movie with a standard under-dog winner template: happened in other underdog sports movies, even in troubled high school kids movies in Hollywood.There is a problem with filming hockey, I have found that it is very hard to follow the ball on television. It moves too rapidly and we at best have an approximate idea of its location. And in this regard, the hockey scenes in the movie are handled really well. That many of the members of the team have had an exposure to the sport is evident during the scenes. Kudos to the casting team for their choices. And what can I say about SRK that hasn’t already been said? The role of Kabir Khan only requires the only 2 expressions that SRK seems to possess in his repertoire these days: clenched jaws or a quivering face with glycerine induced tears. He handles both of them with ease.

In the absence of an obvious common enemy unlike in ‘Lagaan’, the sub-plots and the strong characters of the women provide an interesting back-drop without meandering too much from the main storyline. Though one feels that the occasional digs taken at cricket and the hockey administration should have been more forceful.

Yes, the movie will raise awareness about hockey and give some much needed publicity but it won’t change anything. Lack of encouragement for women’s sport (in fact for any sport other than cricket and maybe chess) will continue. Women will pressured to fall in line after they have got their government grants. Our training facilities won’t improve to the standards they showed in Australia in the movie in the near future. Former hockey stars are hoping that SRK will become a brand ambassador for the sport but I am certain that our officials will squander another golden opportunity to revive the sport. All in all a depressing thought that even Bollywood appreciates the sport more than the IHF.

It was a 177 as captain of the Indian Under 19s in a one dayer against the English Colts in the aftermath of our Natwest triumph in 2002 that brought Ambati Rayudu to national prominence. He had become so popular that everyone on stage (except the quiz masters) could recognize his picture in a cricket quiz held in Anna University a few months later. After being touted as the next Sachin, Azharuddin, Laxman, etc, and a pretty good first season, suddenly he lost his way and dropped out of the limelight. There was a shift to the Andhra Ranji team a couple of seasons back and then a comeback to the Hyderabad Ranji team last season along the way. But it did seem like he would end up being just another Ranji player, he was going nowhere. All this and he is still just 21 years old.

Now he is back in the news as the first current player to sign for Zee’s Indian Cricket League in defiance of a probable ban that might be imposed on him. And supposedly he is not alone. He is joined by the cream of the Hyderabad team, the elegant left handed number 3 Anirudh Singh, the dependable D Vinay Kumar and the keeper Ibrahim Khaleel. TOI has clearly attributed the reason for this “defection” to the monetary benefits that the new league would offer. Ofcourse money is a major motivation, but I believe that there is another equally important reason as to why it was a group of Hyderabadis who were the first to join the ICL. Something that I (and some friends) term the quota system.

The quota here refers to the selection of sons of ex-cricketers in the teams that matter at the cost of other arguably more talented players. The ex-cricketer and son that I am referring to are Shivlal Yadav and his son Arjun Yadav. In the last season, Arjun Yadav hadn’t done anything of note and yet was rewarded with a place in the India A team. He also finds a place in all the South Zone teams. There cannot be any other reason for such a mediocre achiever to go places other than the power his dad wields with the Hyderabad Cricket Association. And incidentally, Shivlal Yadav’s previous claim to fame was the selection of Noel (who?) David.

Given that one guy who has performed as well or as badly as the others is preferred shows that it is not meritocracy at work. And as a result the entire middle order except Arjun has decided to quit putting their entire careers at risk. Or probably there was no chance they could have a decent career.

It also seems to me like Arjun Yadav was also responsible for Ambati Rayudu’s sudden and unexpected shift to Andhra. And there is some colourful history also between the two where Arjun Yadav ran behind Ambati Rayudu with a stump in hand at Anantapur two seasons back due to allegations that Yadav was a quota candidate. And it could very well have been pressures such as these that have had a big role to play in Rayudu’s decline.

ICL has hit the Indian cricket administration at the right weak point, the quota system. something that is obvious to even a casual follower of domestic Indian cricket. There must be other such affected and disgruntled cricketers. And there is no reason why someone who is kept out by say an Udit Patel or an Anirudh Srikkanth will not join the ICL. ICL has found quite a fertile ground to target. Good strategy and I seriously hope this will pay off.

See the complete roster of players here- ICL Player list

The Indian team which looked so out of sorts in the first test match and survived only because of the weather, came back to win the series 1-0 giving them their first test series victory in England in 20 years. The series was a great advertisement for test cricket, say what you want about one day cricket but nothing compares to a great test match played between two good sides on a sporting wicket.
We definitely could have won the Oval’s test but good batting displays from Pietersen and bell ensured that England saved the match. I still believe Dravid made the right decision in not enforcing the follow on- he must have felt that Kumble would have a better chance of getting wickets on a crumbling fifth day wicket.
Anyway, we won 1-0 and here are the series ratings:

Wasim Jaffer 6

Jaffer’s biggest contribution of the series undoubtedly came in the second test at Nottingham when he and Karthik put on 147 for the first wicket and squashed any chances of a English victory. He had starts in one inning in all three tests (58, 62 and 35) but never went on to make it count. But he has done enough to ensure he pads up in the first test match against Pakistan in New Delhi on November 22nd.

Dinesh Karthik 8

Undoubtedly the biggest surprise of the series- what were the odds that Karthik would finish the three test matches as India’s highest run getter. 263 runs in 6 innings at an average of 43.8 showed that the faith that Dravid has in him was not unfounded. Had a terrible start in Lords when he dropped the sitter of all sitters off the bat of Strauss, but came strongly in the second innings to post a fighting 60. Scores of 77 and 91 in the second and third tests show that this youngster has both the talent and the drive to thrive at the international level. And I must add, almost all English pundits were singing his praises through the series.

Rahul Dravid 5

A very poor series by Dravid’s high standards- scores of 2 and 9 in Lords, 37 and 11 in Nottingham and 55 and 12 in Oval are a total contrast to his achievements in the 2002 series. And the 12 (of 96 balls!) must rank his worst batting display ever. A good series as a captain, how will he work with the new coach remains to be seen.

Sachin Tendulkar 7

Sachin deserved a century in this series, too bad he fell short on two occasions with one of them thanks to a terrible umpiring decision. His determination to put runs on the board didn’t go unnoticed. If his body holds up, we can definitely hope to see the little master for another two years. But he will definitely have to cut down on some meaningless one day internationals.

Saurav Ganguly 8

Ganguly’s knock of 57 in the second innings of the Oval test must rank as his best knock since the famous 144 at the Gabba. Much like Tendulkar, the sheer will to make runs was all too apparent over the course of the test matches. 249 runs at an average of 50 from three test matches will hold him in good stead in Australia. Now, if only he could something about his running between the wickets.

VVS Laxman 6
To his credit, Laxman made runs in all three test matches. And two of the knocks came in very trying conditions. But unfortunately for him , he couldn’t come up with a big one. Laxman ended up with 205 runs at a very respectable average of 51. However, it seems to me that the man can never cement his position in the final XI!
MS Dhoni 7

If Dhoni was under pressure from Karthk for the slot of the wicket keeper, he certainly didn’t let it show. Two very crucial and contrasting knocks capped off a good series for Dhoni. A very uncharacteristic and fighting 76 at Lords saved the test match for India (with a little help from the weather) but a belligerent 92 off just 83 balls at the Oval just showed why Indian fans are crazy about the man.

Anil Kumble 7

Anil Kumble may have ended up with 14 wickets in the series but it certainly wasn’t one of his better performances. But then with Zaheer and RP Singh in fine form , he certainly didn’t need to be at his best. He will always remember this series for that fine 110( a knock which helped him go one up on Warne). But the good thing is that Kumble is bowling a lot slower than before, and certainly one hopes that he can produce the goods down under.

Zaheer Khan 8

18 wickets. Man of the series. Comparisons with Wasim Akram. Life cannot get better for Zaheer Khan. And a lot of his success has to do with his stint in the county circuit. Now, if only we can find out who threw the jelly beans in the second test. Indian cricket will always thankful to that cricketer for firing Zaheer up! Zaheer’s second inning performance at Nottingham must rank as one of the best performances by an Indian fast bowler.

RP Singh 7
12 wickets at an average of 28 meant that RP Singh had a reasonable series. Plus, his name will go up on the Lords honours board for his 5 wickets. Something that Sachin has never been able to do. His dismissals of Pietersen and Prior in the second test were something to remember.

Sreesanth 6

A lot of talent but at times during the series, I felt Sreesanth had absolutely lost it. I don’t see why he has to abuse the batsman after each delivery. Aggression is fine but this is carrying it a bit too far. Will need his head sorted before he plays Pakistan and men like Prasad and Srinath will certainly help him. Did bowl extremely well in the second innings of the Oval test though.

P.S: Just realized that both the teams only used 11 players in the series. This must be a new record!