Does intuition have a place in Executive Intelligence?

Intuition is a mixture of Executive Intelligence and knowledge. But good intuition is always the skilful application of what one knows in order to identify the most sensible solution.

PS:- Another article that has nothing to do with cricket and everything to do with it.

lol..

Welcome, to the world of made-for-TV news.

PS:- This post has nothing to do with cricket. And everything to do with it.

Rahul Dravid effigy - check

Sachin Tendulkar effigy - check

Saurav Ganguly effigy - check

Ravi Shastri effigy - check

Ravi Shastri hai hai slogans - check

Roll camera, start sound... Action!!!

Today..

The concept of cricket managers or cricket coaches was born out of the compelling demands of modern cricket. The emphasis was on getting the best out of the players through professional man management. The size of the support staff kept increasing as the world of cricket realised the importance of specialised guidance.

writes Vijay Lokapally.

Coaches have been the real losers after the World Cup. No less than six Test playing nations will change their coaches, either because of poor performances in the Cup or pre-determined retirements such as those of John Buchanan (Australia) and Dav Whatmore (Bangladesh).

writes Bob Simpson

Mahendra Singh Dhoni may just have played the innings of his career, on one leg and, given the way Yuvraj Singh, his runner, and the non-striker Dinesh Karthik coordinated, on a prayer.

Sidharth Monga on Dhoni's innings.

India got out of jail today and for all those of us who thought we had finished drinking from the cup of sorrows, well, the hangover continues. India were ordinary, only rescued towards the end by a combination of grit and vitality, normally resident in one person but happily spread out over two fine cricketers today.

Harsha Bhogle on India's effort

There is no manner to justify this, as the tapes do not show anyone doing any wrong. The only thing they might achieve is to strip a few selectors of their job. Or maybe they’ll get away with a few show cause notices...

Vridul Gahlawaton the "sting".

For the cricket lover, a visit to the Bradman Collection housed in the State Library of South Australia is a dream come true.

TANUSHREE PODDER

Assuming both Rahul Dravid and Mahela Jayawardene are available, the Asia captaincy could be split for next month’s Afro-Asian Cup.

LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI

Match Reports of the First ODI between Bangladesh and India - here, here, here, here and here.

Niranjan Shahspeak - here.

Atul Sondhi on India's bowling woes - here.

Adil Rashid, Yorkshire

What Adil needs to think about is what, when and why. What to bowl. When to bowl it. And why he should bowl it. Then it’s a matter of execution.

Shane Warne is pretty upbeat about Adil Rashid's prospects this summer.

I for one, am glad Warne wrote what he did.

There are a couple of things that stood out for me in the article.

1. Yorkshire, a county that can hardly be associated with spin bowling of any kind, actually unearthed a leg spinner and have nurtured him through the various age groups and grade levels and are now in the process of grooming him at county level.

2. The what, when and why that Shane Warne talks about.

From and Indian context, most of the kids who undergo coaching are taught the "What". So, we have a ton of kids who know how to play the cover drive with the high elbow and how to cock the wrist when bowling etc.

The "When" is something we expect to gain through "experience". Sometimes, and this is the exception rather than the rule, "senior" players will share experiences of the "when" - the thought associated with bowling - "leg break, leg break, leg break, get the batsman looking for the leg break, slip in the googly next ball."

The "Why" is non existent in the Indian cricketing vocabulary. Very rarely, if ever, is the focus on

How often does the conversation center around " flat wicket, slight turn, batsman looking settled, creamed a leg break on length through the covers, but in doing so, showed a tendency to play away from the body. Batsman showed a tendency to play with the open face of the bat.Next one, landed it slightly wider, saw the batsman drive again, bat going further away from the body. Seeing this, I moved cover wider to extra cover and brought a point in place - the thinking being that seeing the gap through the covers, the batsman will flail again, if there is a leading edge, the ball will go in the region of gully/point. After this field change, I tossed the ball wider still but at drivable length. the reason I tossed it wider was because I was banking on the batsman to drive".

If Paddy Shivalkar, while interacting with Iqbal Abdulla, walks him through a match situation, and how he worked a batsman and what was the setup and the thinking behind each wicket that Paddy got in that match, I believe it will go a long way in the development of Iqbal Abdulla, left arm orthodox.

And oh by the way, can we go easy on the hype?

Please read..

Thanks to Chandan, who put together the PIL filed by Rahul Mehra and Shantanu Sharma seeking to hold the BCCI accountable for its actions.

Here it is, in full - 1, 2, 3

Today..

Whether it is endorsements or women's cricket, the approach has not been conducive to cricket. Instead of taking measures to improve the level of Indian cricket, these ambitious members seem to be interested in cricket-politicking.

Another common sense article from Makarand Waingankar who is now the CEO of the Baroda Cricket Association.

Hard-nosed advertisers have hammered out a deal with broadcasters such as Neo Sports and ESPN under which they will have an option to change their ad rates depending up on the Indian cricket team’s performance.

Markets, Correction and all the Jazz.

For the first time in the country’s television sports broadcasting, the India-Bangladesh cricket series will have live commentary in vernacular, except in Hindi.

Did I mention Markets?

But to see it in these terms would be to lose sight of the larger question: should there be any cricket under such taxing circumstances? In which other sport are players made to stand, run, jump under a blazing sun and humidity touching 100 per cent, for close to eight hours?

Sreyashi Dastidar makes some pertinent points.

And the envelope keeps getting pushed..

vide this article in the Australian

The Australian-developed, Smart Cricket Bat, has been patented as the world's first bat with active vibration control, a system already in use in baseball bats and tennis racquets.

The Smart Cricket Bat's key to reducing the "zinging effect" felt by big-hitting batsmen is in its innovative handle.

This is, in my opinion, a wonderful development. The more technology we have in the game, the better for the game as a whole.

And who knows, these technological gains may actually level the playing field.

That said, more and more the focus is on batsmen friendly innovations. Smaller grounds, flat wickets, lighting fast outfields, squash balls in gloves, heavy bats, smart bats .. you get the idea.

But what of the bowler?

Given how lopsided the game has become, can we go back to the days of 6 bouncers an over to level the playing field? Lighter balls maybe? Bouncier balls? More pronounced seam perhaps? A ball change every 50 overs instead of 80?

Or must we rue the decline of the bowler?

Balls..

What lasts for roughly a day of cricket takes over 75 days to create. It is what goes inside a ball that consumes time. The very core of a cricket ball is a grey-brown ball of cork-rubber. Workers, with narrow sheets of cork and string lying about them, create these cores. They wrap small, flat strips of cork around the grey-brown cork-rubber ball, and then a wet wool string around the composition tightly until it is mummified. This is laid in a wooden bowl and pummelled into a sphere with a wooden hammer.

This process is repeated, with further layers of cork and string - five in all.

Cherry pickin’

And yet, it is surely an oddity that failed balls never come back to the manufacturer. Indeed, one might think that this highly regulated professional sport - in such turmoil about the possibility of tampering - would wish to have its officials in charge of the balls from the moment they are released by the manufacturers to the moment they are handed over to the fielding captain.

Cow corner

I asked if there was a limit on how much balls could bounce back. Yes, they said, a foot and ten inches; anything more than that would be deemed illegal. This was amazing, and I told them: pitches in Australia were already the sort that encouraged bounce, and yet their balls rebounded three more inches than an SG ball? The SG ball could bounce seven inches more before it was deemed illegal. So why didn't they use a different material inside the ball to make the ball bounce more?

It is an interesting thought - instead of importing Kookaburra balls (there werent enough last year and they wore out pretty quickly), why not modify the existing SG balls as Rahul Bhatia has suggested?

These new balls will be strictly for domestic cricket (including games between visiting and domestic teams) until they gain currency on the international stage.

The BCCI could facilitate a channel between the ball manufacturers and the players, thus allowing for enhancements and/or improvements

Now that is a Committee worth constituting :)
--

And on a slightly different note, this

That showed that the first-class players are still scared to voice their opinion in front of others, fearing retribution from their state associations, and even though the administrators present agreed that there are some associations which are being run like personal fiefdoms, there is not much the BCCI can do about it, unless some person uses the PIL method to ensure that there is a regular change in these associations.

Worth a read.

Before I forget..

My team ( given form) for the first Test versus Australia at Melbourne

Akash Chopra
Wasim Jaffer
Rahul Dravid
Virender Sehwag/Sachin Tendulkar
Yuvraj Singh
MS Dhoni
Irfan Pathan
Ramesh Powar
Anil Kumble
S.Sreesanth
Munaf Patel

XII Man - Manoj Tiwary

Today..

But as he bowled just short from over the wicket, India’s most successful batsman on bouncy foreign pitches misread the length. He came forward and then, realising his mistake, seemed to hesitate whether to play the ball or leave it alone. By the time he had decided to move his head away, it was too late.

A blow by blow account of the Blow.

Sharad Pawar, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president, has called a meeting to discuss women's cricket structure in New Delhi on Saturday.

And though the men's player contracts issue is likely to overshadow it, the meeting is likely to have a heated argument over the administrative structure of women's cricket.

About time too.

Thankfully, Team India captain Rahul Dravid’s injury isn’t serious, but there would have been a crisis had it actually been so.

For the want of a vice captain, a series...

“Our treasurer N. Srinivasan and vice-president (Central) Shashank Manohar will form the two-member committee that will look into the contracts issues after the Bangladesh tour,” said Rajeev Shukla, vice-president (East) after the meeting.

Here is a question -just how many committees can our "Honorary" Vice Presidents be part of? Shashank Manohar is on 3 at last count ( including the hunt for India's next coach), ditto N.Srinivasan.

Given that the job profile is "Honorary, how much justice can these worthies do to their responsibilities?

And where does the BCCI draw the line with respect to the number of concurrent committees at any one time?

The Indian team, unfortunately, is an assortment of variegated individuals: most think differently, talk differently, feel differently, and even chase different goals.

Indeed, it is not very often that Team India gets down to chase the same dream. Until that changes, we can only expect sparks of individual brilliance and sporadic victories.

Which does not quite add up.

I cannot quite understand the imperative for everyone to be homogeneous. We, as a nation and as a societ, are a diverse group.

And this is reflected in our cricket.

Our cricketing culture, our approach to cricket, the thought process associated with the game, are all a reflection of Indian society.

India's cricket cannot be divorced from India itself.

And while it is wonderful to think in Utopian terms, reality is a bitch.

We can either sit back and harp on India not playing as a team because of our differences, or we can marshal those differences as a motivating force.

Everybody plays cricket for different reasons. If those reasons can be channeled to drive the individual, and thereby the team, why not rejoice in the fact that we are different but still pulling together?

“Swapnil and Iqbal have the strength to go a long way. Both have variation in their bowling, control in their loops. They just need to be consistent. I will rate Iqbal higher than Swapnil because of his line and length. But Swapnil is not far off the mark. Iqbal has already achieved success for Mumbai, Swapnil may also achieve similar success for Baroda,” said National Cricket Academy coach Padmakar Shivalkar, who was a left-arm spinner himself.

I am impressed and a tad overwhelmed ( tears of joy and all that).

The elder brother also feels that there’s too much media attention on his brother. “It is better for him if he’s not hyped too much in the media. He’s young and you never know but if something unadvisable just pops out of his mouth, he can be in trouble with the Board.”

So young, so talented, so afraid.

For now, we hope that the tall man in Kolkata can work wonders with the Indian team just the way yoga is believed to do in most cases.

I hope not.. An 8 -10 hour Yoga session spread over 4 days is not going to do wonders. What can make the difference is if the players follow their routines regularly and in earnest.

If they do, we may see some changes over the next year. If they don't, its business as usual. Either ways, the onus is on the players.

And can the Indian media please get off the "wonders" bandwagon. ( our approach to cricket anyone?)

Sharath's career spanned 15 years and he was the first Tamil Nadu player — and so far the only one — to have played 100 Ranji matches.

S. Sharath retires.

"It's difficult to say. I'm 35, I can go to 37 and then I may think I'll push it for one more year. I'm not thinking far ahead, just about one or two years then if everything goes right I'll just keep on playing. If everything goes wrong, I'll say `Thank you very much,"'

Murali talks retirement.

After having taken one step forward, under John Wright and Chappell, Indian cricket has just taken two steps backward. But who cares, as long as we play with josh.

Gee.. This is constructive.. Damned if you do, damned if you don't?

Young Ishant Sharma, the tallest man on view, was clearly having a problem in bending down in time to pick up the ball.

On a couple of occasions, he took his eyes off the ball, resulting in misfields and his throwing technique was so poor that the ball mostly eluded the wicketkeeper.

Ishant tends to throw the ball with a high-arm action and as a result fails to get any real power behind it. He needs help to rectify it quickly.

Now, this is constructive.. A problem identified, a solution proposed.

Also, and this is important, I have met Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid personally for an astro-numero-dice session. From their physiognomy (a person’s features, expression, facial characteristics), lines on the palms, shape of fingers and Western astrology (I know their birth data), I confirmed that they would do well. I still stand by it. Therefore, at least till 2008, there should be no question of retirement. However, 2009 is a different matter.

Astro-numero-dice session? Please, sir, can I have some more?

One of their overseas players hails from the north-west frontier of Pakistan; that is Younis Khan, who not only scored 308 runs in the match, but yesterday achieved a career best with the ball;

Younis Khan Superstar.
--

Finally, an Ideas Exchange with Ramachandra Guha - fascinating read.

All of you have a wonderful Weekend. Tally Ho!

Friday levity..

This column by Malcolm Conn.

What starts off as a comment on the choices facing Cricket Australia vis a vis the Zimbabwe tour becomes a no holds barred attack on India.

Which is a bit rich given that Australia continues to have diplomatic relations with Zimbabwe and had no qualms in previously hosting Zimbabwe, despite Mugabe's excesses.

But what tickled my funny bone most was this gem

Only last month, that nexus was graphically highlighted again when India walked away from an agreement with Australia to play three one-day matches in Ireland next month.

India will now play South Africa in a meaningless match worth millions in television rights.

I suppose the three ODIs would have been a lot more meaningful if Australia was party to those millions in TV rights eh?

Today..

The World Cup could not have gone to any other team but Australia, the untouchable, the unbeatable, the unplayable, the unbelievable, which has emasculated its rivals and exhausted the vocabulary

Rohit Brijnath runs out of adjectives to describe the Australians.

Poor attitude doesn’t mean hoping your team loses or, to give it a more sinister motive, conspiring against your team. It means you are not willing to go that extra mile, extra yard sometimes; that the extra effort is not attractive enough.

Harsha Bhogle on attitude.

In effect, what this means is that the BCCI feels it can bribe their way to a better-performing team. If they do perform now, and we hope they do, all the fingers can wag at them and say: ‘they play only for money’.

Amit Gupta on the new contracts.

It was almost like those days in the pre-Greg Chappell era when fielding and catching drills were a euphemism for going through the motions.

As reported in these columns, the players have strong reservations and most are probably looking to the Big Four — captain Rahul Dravid, senior-most pro Sachin Tendulkar, former captain Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble — “for guidance.

Meanwhile, in an interesting development, Tendulkar has chosen to go back to his old style of playing with a heavy bat in a bid to bat his way out of rusty form.

Day 2 of the 5 day camp.

A good performance from the respective national teams contributes to a feel-good factor; an air of general malaise hangs after a bad show

Vijay Parthasarathy finds parallels between Indian cricket and English football.

Friday, April 27: The diary chances upon an article on Glenn McGrath. Written by Steve Waugh, it's 11 things you didn't know about Rhino a.k.a. Ninger a.k.a Nuff Nuff. For one, Pidge loves the Lord of the Rings trilogy — see, fast bowlers can be discerning — and he "gives the choc-top ice creams a real touch up." He likes creepy-crawlies, and likes them better when he can slip 'em down a neck or two: the diary always wondered if Michael Bevan's jerkiness at the crease had entirely to do with getting in position. Number 11 is particularly good: "Regularly wears cricket whites that are short in length prompting Allan Border to say to him in one of his first games, `What are you waiting for pal, the floods'." Waugh's writing is often gawdy: his autobiography is sprinkled with wildebeast and headless-chook similes. But, mitigatingly, he has an eye for detail.

His description of McGrath arranging his breakfast is why former cricketers must write. Writes Waugh: "Eats the same breakfast each morning on tour. He places his two fried eggs on separate pieces of white toast before making sure the yolk is perfectly positioned in the middle, before trimming the overhanging egg white edges with surgical precision. The contents are then cut into quarters after being doused with a three-second barrage of salt. It's a real shame to see him eat it such is the masterpiece he creates."

S. Ram Mahesh's Caribbean diary.

So the contention that ICC should have its best umpires (Taufel at least) for important clashes goes bust in light of some past decisions.

Atul Sondhi on neutral umpires.

Here's a thought

for the BCCI honchos to make a quick buck and also settle the monies owed by the BCCI to the players -

Every day of every game that Team India takes the field, the BCCI should organize a running race - between the President, Vice Presidents, Honorary Secretary and the Chief Administrative Officer of the BCCI.

The race will entail a run along the perimeter of a cricket stadium.

The race can be organized at the Wankhede itself, thus saving valuable money in petrol and other charges.

Neo Sports could sell this as a PPV event.

Ad spots could be sold at a premium.

Tickets could also be sold at a premium for spectators at the Wankhede .

Willow TV can be given the overseas rights to this event, thus bringing in revenues in $$.

For entertainment ( as if the sight of Sharad Pawar racing Shashank Manohar and IS Bindra and Lalit Modi was not entertainment enough), we could have the respective local association heads with pom poms in their hands, cheering on the runners.

Think about it - India plays 3 ODIs and 2 Tests in BD - a grand total of 13 days of competition between the BCCI honchos.

And it gets even better - The England series has 28 playing days which translates to 28 days of racing.

and Australia - could we extend the CB series by 30 more games please?

A welcome side effect of all this running ( in addition to the moolah raked, that is) will be that the BCCI honchos will get slimmer, svelter bodies ( that are sure to elicit cat calls at Mount Dubai).

Its a win win situation for all!!

Har har!!

PS:- Too much time and a little angst can drive people potty.. For an example, see above :)

Those cheap bastards..

Cash-rich BCCI has not paid cricketers for last 7 months

This is a Board that "walked away" from a deal worth 50 crores because it did not want to get into "all these sort of things".

This is a body whose President hand delivers a check worth INR 8.02 crores to the CAB after it deposed of the incumbent ( who, incidentally was opposed to the said President).

This is a Board that came down heavily on player endorsements while it itself is not averse to signing mega deals.

When it comes to making money and flogging the cricketers to death in this pursuit, the BCCI is second to none.

But God help us all if this Board will release the monies it owes or has promised the players.

What will Pawar do?

Strong evidence to frame Narvekar, rules JMFC

After clipping the players wings and talking tough with the ICC, I would expect the Maratha strongman to behave likewise with one of his own.

Will the BCCI President ask the BCCI Vice President to step down?

And will the players politely tell Mr. Narvekar that while it is not criminal to smoke cigarettes at their age, perpetrating and abetting in fraud is.