Monthly Archive for July, 2011

BCCI has always been transparent about team selection

Published on July 29, 2011 in Latest. 34 Comments

Originally published in the Mirror – Mumbai, Bangalore Click here

Cricket Australia (CA) is being praised for their transparency for explaining in detail reasons for each player’s selection for the Sri Lanka tour. What very few people know is that the BCCI has been following the exact same process for years without making a big deal of it. Just to prove it, a source close to the BCCI recently leaked the selection committee dossier explaining the Indian team for the England tour.

Excerpts from the leaked dossier below.

A half-fit Virender Sehwag

Cricket’s version of a nuclear deterrent, Viru’s selection is a direct result of having Sharad Pawar at the helm of affairs. During his stint as defence minister in the early 90s, Pawar truly understood this concept when Pakistan kept India from attacking them for the fear of a nuclear retaliation. Only later did he find out that their nuclear weapons were actually purchased from the diwali market at Chawri Bazar in Old Delhi. Just the fear of Viru would stop Strauss from declaring with anything less than a 600 run lead.

Abhinav Mukund

Replacing Sehwag is difficult. To look good while doing so is next to impossible. What works in Mukund’s favour, though, is that it’s hard for him to look any worse. Plus, he’s scored heavily in domestic cricket and is a proud citizen of Sriniland. On top of that, Murali Vijay does make him look like Brian Lara.

Sreesanth

Given how India played in the West Indies, it’s clear that Sreesanth was sorely missed there. History has proven that Indian batsmen tend to spend a lot more time in the middle when Sreesanth is in the dressing room. Unfortunately, so do the fielders and bowlers resulting in a slow over-rate. But, the BCCI can be expected to take care of that.

Harbhajan Singh

Sorry, no more jokes about ‘making it large’ please. Bhajji is in the side on the back of some great performances in test cricket. The average cricket fan wouldn’t know that he has scored more test centuries in the last 18 months than Dhoni, Raina, Yuvraj and Mukund. His fastish, off-break action, straight bowling is a bonus.

Yuvraj Singh

If you help win the world cup, you deserve an easy ride for a series or two. And, in the reality show Emotional Atyachaar, he has not only shown great self-control by not laughing at the contestants but also accepted that he is a ‘player’. Who are we to argue against that?

Wriddhiman Saha

Look, the reserve keeper’s slot has to go to a CSK player. Period!

Munaf Patel

Primarily in the team to appease the Patels of England, Munaf’s fielding also makes the rest of the team look brilliant in comparison. And, if he performs well and is invited for an interview, it’ll make for great television viewing.

Manjrekar moment of the week

The first thing Sanjay Manjrekar did on landing in London was to go shopping, a habit he shares with Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani. The second thing he did was tweet about it.

“Often happens in desi shops in london. Owner refused to take money for items bought from a corner shop…very sweet of him,” he tweeted. When asked why he refused the money, the owner said that it was his way of thanking Manjrekar for retiring from cricket.

He also said he’s ready to offer more if he retired from commentary too.

You can hear Anupam’s live commentary of India vs England on www.pitch-invasion.in

Why Sachin would rather not get his 100th at Lord’s

Published on July 22, 2011 in Latest. 33 Comments

Originally published in the Mirror – Mumbai, Bangalore Click here

In all the talk about the 2000th test match, the 100th test match between India and England and Sachin’s impending century of centuries, the one statistic that’s getting lost is that India’s Big Three of Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman, with 32, 51 and 16 test centuries respectively, are on the threshold of their own century of centuries. Their combined centuries tally currently stands at 99.

Sir Aggie, the lord of Lord’s
The three have secretly admitted, though, that they wouldn’t mind not getting to the landmark in the first test as that would get them spoken in the same breath as the last Indian centurion at Lord’s – the great Ajit Agarkar.

It’s a Catch 22 situation for Sachin Tendulkar. If he doesn’t score a century at Lord’s, people would question his big stage temperament. And, if he does, people would ask what the big deal about it is given that even Sir Aggie has one to his credit.

Sachin’s taking no chances


Sachin, though, has been working at his game like only he does. He’s been living in his Regent’s Park home in London, a stone’s throw from Lord’s, for the last one month and has been having two-hour net sessions everyday with Alan Duncan, a staff coach at the MCC Academy, who’s been doing the throw downs. While

Duncan’s arm feels like it’ll drop off any moment, he thinks it’s all worth it as this may get him to be India’s next coach because he’s heard that throw downs is all what Gary Kirsten did as coach of India.

Superstitious man that he is, Sachin has asked for Glen McGrath’s lucky chair at Lord’s. McGrath had to have the same chair every time he played at the north London ground after he took an eight-for in his first Ashes Test here. The chair treated him well as he made it to the honours board every time he played here.

Although the MCC graciously allocated that chair to Sachin, when he reached Lord’s yesterday he found MCA president Vilasrao Deshmukh was already sitting on it.

The bizarre Englishmen
The English cricket team had a minor scare when emergency medical services had to be called to check on their bowling spearhead Chris Tremlett after he said that Indian batsmen are boring and play attritional cricket.

The medical staff believed that the 6 feet 7 inches tall Tremlett’s temporary insanity was caused by altitude sickness and lack of oxygen. A closer inspection revealed that the real cause was prolonged exposure to Jonathon Trott’s batting.

The incident comes days after Graeme Swann said that England’s batting is stronger than India’s and that Alistair Cook and Jonathon Trott are the best batsmen in the world. That comment had attracted the attention of WADA officials who are currently investigating if Swann was under the influence of any psychotropic substances.

Yuvi’s wardrobe malfunctioning
In a move that’s sure to reduce television ratings, the MCC has asked members not to show their cleavage during the Lord’s test. Consequently, the Indian team has asked Yuvraj Singh to wear a polo neck tee-shirt under his shirt.

Manjrekar, the legend
Sanjay Manjrekar tweeted that he worries about the first two sessions of India’s batting and hoped that it would come on Day 3. The man who was once tipped to become India captain probably feels India’s best chance of winning is if England bat two days and have 650 on the board. The fact that he never did become captain should prove the existence of God.

You can hear my alternative commentary of India vs England on www.pitch-invasion.in

Return of the prodigal son

Published on July 16, 2011 in Latest. 20 Comments

Originally printed in the Mirror – Mumbai, Bangalore Click here

Last week, a chance meeting with the chairman of selectors Krish Srikanth at the opening of an India Cements showroom in Chennai, where I had gone scavenging for a free lunch, led to the most enlightening conversation I’ve had this year. It was about the Indian Emerging Players team.

To give a background, the Indian Emerging Players team for a tournament in Australia was announced at the same time as the Indian team for the England test series. The selectors probably hoped that the Mukund vs Vijay, Yuvraj vs Kohli and Sehwag vs Sehwag debates will camouflage the selection of S. Anirudh, prodigal son of the chairman of selectors Krish Srikanth, in the Emerging Players team. They almost pulled it off.

In the few minutes we had, I posed some questions at the honourable chairman.

AM: Sir, how do you defend Anirudh’s selection in the Emerging Players team given that in eight years of First Class cricket, he still has an average below 30?
KS: Why else do you think we haven’t selected him in the Emerged Players team?


AM: Have you not noticed that he wasn’t even in the top 50 run scorers in domestic cricket last season? Even Piyush Chawla scored more runs than him. (Piyush: 305 runs @ 33.38. Anirudh: 251 runs @ 31.37)
KS: I know that. We also considered Piyush. But, given what happened after his selection in the world cup team, we thought it’s safer to go with Anirudh.

AM: But sir, what special talent has he displayed?
KS: Of course he has special talent. He is the only cricketer in the country who can touch his nose with his tongue. Try it. It’s not as easy as you think.
(It’s really not that easy)

AM: I was asking about cricket talent…
KS: If you look at it, even Don Bradman hasn’t scored as many runs in T20 cricket as Anirudh has.

AM: Don’t you think his selection stinks of nepotism?
KS: I don’t understand why you people go only after us cricketers. Did anyone accuse Yash Chopra of nepotism when he cast Uday Chopra in Dhoom and Dhoom 2? His son is no better than mine.

AM: Aren’t you scared that he will fail in the tournament?
KS: I am sure he won’t fail. With Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Saurabh Tiwary, Manoj Tiwary and Ambati Rayudu in the side, do you think he’ll even get a chance to play?

Minutes later, security guards threw me out of the premises.

Testing times
Darren Sammy’s most testing time came hours after the test series against India was over. At the post-match conference, Sammy said that he would go down in history as Darren Sammy, the one who always smiled. His West Indian teammates decided to put this claim to test.

At the customary beer drinking session after the series, his teammates made an unsuspecting Sammy drink 10 bottles of beer and then locked him up in a room with no access to a bathroom.

What followed was predictable. There was much pleading, screaming, threats and pounding on the door for almost half an hour. After which, everything went quiet inside the room. Thinking that the captain was trying to bluff them, they kept him locked inside for another 30 minutes. When there was still no sound of life inside the room, they opened the door fearing the worst.

Inside, they found Sammy on the bed watching TV. He was still smiling and the ten beer bottles, neatly placed along the wall, were full again.