So, whats the rule ICC?

When India was touring Australia, in one of the tests, Dhoni stood leg side to Kumble ( or was it Harbhajan, I forget who).

And the umpires warned him from standing leg side to the spinner ie - he had to stand in line of the stumps or off side. And I recall Ian Healy making a big fuss about it in the commentary box.

Imagine my surprise then, during the 76th over of India's innings when, Vettori, bowling over the wicket , had Brendon McCullum standing well outside the leg stump.

Perusing through the laws ( specifically Law 40),

3. Position of wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper shall remain wholly behind the wicket at the striker's end from the moment the ball comes into play until
(a) a ball delivered by the bowler
either (i) touches the bat or person of the striker
or (ii) passes the wicket at the striker's end

or (b) the striker attempts a run.

In the event of the wicket-keeper contravening this Law, the umpire at the striker's end shall call and signal No ball as soon as possible after the delivery of the ball.

Every single ball of the Daniel Vettori over was, by law, a no ball.. None of which were called.

And then they turn around and say that we have a chip on our shoulder!

Test 2 Day 1 India v New Zealand - Ryder and Taylor set up the Kiwis

351/4 at the end of the days play. Ryder unbeaten on 136, Taylor 151.

While India's catching standards slipped, Taylor and Ryder put on a very good partnership, first counter attacking and then grinding the Indian bowling. Both had slices of luck and both capitalized on it.

India did well to pull back the game in the last session, after being all over the shop floor in the first two. But there is still plenty of work to be done.

Honors with the Kiwis at the end of Day 1, although the ease of scoring makes a result a distant second to the draw.

Stop whining

No really, the Sky commentary team needs to zip it..

50 minutes to go ( including the extra half an hour), 12 overs to bowl, spinners at both ends. And yet the continued whinge.

There is only so much of the whining of the over rate that one can tolerate before it gets boring. And cumbersome.

And now, the other bug bear - fielding.. Yawn!
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90 overs done and dusted. With 2 minutes to spare, no less. Have the discussion on fines and on field penalties and Indian lethargy and everything else in between now, you Nazis!

Snubbed

snub (snb)

tr.v. snubbed, snub·bing, snubs

1. To ignore or behave coldly toward; slight.

2. To dismiss, turn down, or frustrate the expectations of.

3. Nautical

a. To check the movement of (a rope or cable running out) by turning it quickly about a post or cleat.

b. To secure (a vessel, for example) in this manner.

4. To stub out (a cigarette, for example).

n.

1. A deliberate slight or affront.

2. Nautical A sudden checking, as of a rope or cable running out.

adj.

Unusually short: a snub nose.

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[Middle English snubben, to rebuke; akin to Old Norse snubba.]

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snubber n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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snub

Verb

[snubbing, snubbed]

to insult (someone) deliberately

Noun

a deliberately insulting act or remark

Adjective

(of a nose) short and turned up [Old Norse snubba to scold]

Sky TV has snubbed the Board of Control for Cricket in India by retaining former international Craig McMillan in their commentary team for tomorrow's second test at McLean Park, Napier.

Now, as I understand it, there has not been any official ( or unofficial) request by the BCCI or Sony to stand Craig McMillan down.

The only view expressed in this specific matter is an open ended remark by Ravi Shastri ( the context to which is unknown). Yes, Niranjan Shah did express his opinion, but it was the standard by the rote statements the BCCI regularly doles out on all matters ICL.

Which then begs the question - who snubbed whom and when?

The million dollar questions

Will Craig McMillan be a part of the commentary team today?

And if he is, will India stage a walk out?

And where do we stand with regards to Sony's response to the Sky query?

The 160

Naresh asked me about it. I started to write about it. Then I read this piece by Richard Boock

OPINION Cricket has always been hard to define. One of the most difficult challenges in the world is the task of trying to explain the game to an American. I can write with some authority on this because I know at least two Americans and both start clutching their temples and writhing in agony whenever the subject is broached. It's as if they can't stand the sound of my own voice.

Truly, it's one of life's great mysteries. How does one explain cricket in 100 words or less; in a 10 second video clip or with the help of a still photograph? If the world was to be taken over by Americans or another alien species, how would we go about showing them the essence of the game? Robin Williams never understood it, after all. Reckoned it was like watching baseball on Valium. Groucho Marx once watched a match for two days before realising it had started.

A possible answer arrived at Hamilton on Friday, in the simple but near unworldly execution of the Sachin Tendulkar off-drive. Not once, mind you, but on several occasions. The push through the off side that took him from 96 to 99, and within a run of his 42nd test century, was enough to allow one to expire happy, satisfied that perfection had at last been witnessed. It was a piece of art on the move; a masterpiece of timing that summed the game up in a nanosecond.

It's hard to think of a more magnificent sight in cricket than the perfectly-executed, checked off-drive. As a shot it speaks of everything; defence, attack, the ability to process multiple factors in a flashpoint of time, technique, balance. It is a muscle-twitch of knowledge, a sub-conscious adjustment, and no-one in the world plays it better than Tendulkar. If we could just seal a video-clip of his best efforts in a time capsule, no one would ever have to explain why again.

Whatever your loyalties, there's a sense of privilege to be felt in watching the world's greatest living batsman playing so purposefully on his last visit to New Zealand. If there were any criticisms of Brian Lara (and there were a few, to be honest), one was that his commitment seemed to wane whenever the West Indies squared off against less fashionable teams. Tendulkar, on the other hand, allows his rivals no such relief.

Opposition bowlers might have been expecting some deterioration in his game as he moved towards his 36th birthday. But they will have already been disappointed. If anything, Tendulkar's more relaxed demeanour at the wicket, coupled with his vast wealth of experience, has only made him better. His tally of 42 test centuries and 43 one-day hundreds grows by the month. A century of centuries continues to beckon.

Consider this. He has scored three centuries in his most recent four tests, and since the start of the Australian series last October has averaged 64.72. Overall, he has struck 15 international hundreds since May 2007. Given he has previously collected 20 centuries in an 18-month period, the idea of him picking up another 15 before the end of the 2011 world cup seems far from fanciful. Mentally, he appears more composed and unhurried than ever.

Tendulkar might stand just 1.65m but he remains a giant of our time. Apart from his outrageous talent, two aspects of his career stand out beyond all others. One is his durability. When he made his test debut in 1989 at the age of 16, Cliff Richard was still belting out chart-toppers, the Berlin Wall had just been toppled, and George Bush senior had recently been inaugurated as president of the US. Included in the Pakistan side that Tendulkar faced on debut were Imran Khan and Javed Miandad.

He is the longest serving current player on the international circuit by a wide margin, and will soon stand alone as the most enduring, outside those whose careers were either interrupted by war or rejuvenated after a period of retirement. In other words he is a modern phenomenon; a player who has so fiercely guarded his love of the game from all distractions, that he still wants to play it for fun. It is a lesson many of his contemporaries could heed.

The other point has less to do with Tendulkar the batsman and more to do with Tendulkar the man, for you would have to go a long way to meet another sporting superstar with such natural grace and humility. That he has managed to remain largely unaffected in the face of extreme pressure; to live a semi-normal life even though he can't venture out publicly at home without being mobbed, hints pointedly at the steel of his character.

I remember being unfortunate enough to occupy a hotel room directly opposite Tendulkar's when New Zealand were playing at Ahmedabad in 2003. The knocking on his door from folk who had somehow discovered his room number and smuggled themselves past armed guards continued uninterrupted all day. People were knocking on his door at midnight, and again at 7am, but there was never any anger. He remains, quaintly so in these times, a gentleman; an ambassador without even trying.

Sports fans should consider seriously the chance of watching him bat for one last time on these shores. Don Bradman, no less, once said he saw his own likeness in some of Tendulkar's strokeplay. It was also The Don, at Trent Bridge in 1938, who stuck his head inside the dressing room as Stan McCabe was compiling one the all-time great double-centuries and said to his team-mates, "Come outside and take a look at this. You make never see the likes of it again."

It's hard not to feel similarly about Tendulkar.

Says it all!

Setting a precedent

Heaven forbid, but if we are faced with a mid term poll that coincides with the Commonwealth Games of 2010, what will the Government of India do?

If precedents are anything to go by, the Government will probably throw its hands up and state that it cannot provide adequate security to cover for both events.

So, where does that leave tax payer money spent on getting Delhi ready?

I firmly believe that the Government overestimated its position vis a vis the IPL. And not because the IPL is a "shrewd combination of sport and business" but because the IPL presented an opportunity to showcase the fact that India was capable of providing adequate security to all.

Dates could have been juggled, and they were. Venues could have been juggled, and they were too. And yet, the IPL is now going to be played outside the land.

What then, the prospects for the 2010 Commonwealth Games? Another terrorist attack anywhere in India or its neighbourhood and all of the tax payer money pumped into Delhi will come to nought.

And what about the elections themselves? Does the Government's inability to provide security for the IPL then translate into an incident free elections? No pre-poll and post-poll violence? No rigging? No booth capturing?

And what will be the Governments position if any of the above happen?

PS - This survey, if accurate, is illuminating.

PPS =

Exhibit A

The Nano has been launched

The bookings will commence on April 9 and will go on till April 25.

Just ahead of the Nano launch on Monday, Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata told editors that the car, which would have the smallest footprint on the road, will be sold to the first 100,000 buyers at a price to be announced later.

The promise that has been made to sell the car at around Rs 1-lakh would be kept despite the fact that commodity prices had shot up, Tata said, adding that the fall in commodity prices now may provide some cushion.

The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early-July, he said, adding that applications for booking of the car would be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India.

Exhibit B

India will hold general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in 5 phases on April 16, April 22, April 23, April 30, May 7 and May 13, 2009. The results of the election will be announced in single phase on May 16, 2009. ^[1]

Given the buzz, and the hype, and the interest, in the Nano, 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities represent both a logistical and security nightmare. And funnily enough, the booking overlap the first 3 phases of the general elections.

Whither security concerns then?

PPPS -

The termination of the Indian Premier League’s Sony contract has meant that Indian government may lose Rs 1,000 crore in tax through a scheme of complex tax structures using tax havens

Other modes of revenues include sponsorships, entertainment tax, stadium collections and on-ground advertisements. The government stands to lose nearly Rs 1,300 crore on account of service tax alone.

On advertising and other contracts deliverable abroad, transfer pricing and transactions at arms-length pricing basis will keep a significant chunk of revenues away from India. Thus, states are expected to lose out Rs 1,000 crore in tax.

PPPPS:-

Aussies want Davis Cup tie pulled out of India

Citing IPL’s flight, UK pulls shuttlers out of Indian Open