Today...

Get rid of leg-byes. That will add to real cricketing entertainment. At the moment, everything is loaded in favour of batsmen who are physically and legally protected. Bowlers are the ones who suffer.

If the game has to survive, the ICC will have to have 40 per cent of rules favouring the bowlers. No fast bowler will be on the scene by 2009 if the present trend continues.

Makarand Waingankar

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is planning to alienate former cricketers who have aligned themselves with Zee Group’s parallel cricket circuit. Former Indian captain Kapil Dev, who along with Kiran More happens to be on board Zee’s Indian Cricket League, might be sacked as the chairman of BCCI’s National Cricket Academy at Bangalore.

K Shriniwas Rao

Former Pakistan fast bowler Wasim Akram has taken up the task of bringing Indian pacer Irfan Pathan’s career back on track after an SOS call from close friend Ravi Shastri.

Shahid Hashmi

"I'm not an arrogant guy - everyone knows that. People are just trying to make me out as . . ." He shrugs. "Sometimes there's a bit of . . . not jealousy . . . but when you do well you have to understand that the better you do the more hated you are. I understand that.

The Michael Vaughan interview

So this Indian team needs more of consultants or specialist coaches, who can work in tandem with senior pros in the team, to fine-tune the juniors to face the battles ahead. These consultants, designed to utilise their expertise only in specific areas, and nothing more, can be the real motivators. Already, India have a bowling and a fielding coach. Adding just a batting coach, rather than a general purpose coach, should help the team fare better.

Atul Sondhi

Last winter's Ashes series provided a £133m boost for the Australian economy and led to the creation of 793 jobs.

Coach II

Our new coach and our Captain will have a stable working relationship for exactly one series, thanks to the shenanigans of the BCCI.

With no other player groomed for the job, it will behoove the BCCI to appoint Rahul Dravid captain through the end of this cricketing season.

Having stability at the top will give the new coach some leeway and latitude to define the ground rules and implement his vision for the team.

It will also afford him the luxury of evaluating the team over a period of 15 odd tests and 30 odd ODIs without having to worry about establishing a working relationship with the new flavor of the season ( read captain) at the end of every series.

It will also give Indian cricket an opportunity to start grooming a worthy successor to Dravid, first in the ODI arena and later, in Test Cricket.

And I do hope that the new coach is not hired on a yearly contract basis - if he has to do the job, let him be evaluated over a period of 4 years rather than on a per series basis.

An article..

Asked if he's getting a sense of the kind of captain he'd like to be, Dravid says it will take time. "But," he adds without cue, "I do have a sense of the kind of team I'd like to have." Which is?

"Which is, obviously, tough, competitive - a team that is looking to improve and have some fun along the way. Not taking things too seriously, as at the end of the day it is sport and we must have a lot of fun playing it and must play it hard."

revisited.

Where is Laxmipathy Balaji?

Coach

"The players have never worked with Whatmore, how can they recommend his name," a miffed Kapil told news channel Aaj Tak.

a super sentiment from India' greatest all rounder. A sentiment that can be extended to all of the contenders for the post of India's next coach.

Unless Paras Mhambrey ( part of the England tour 1996 that included RD, SG, SRT and AK) is a part of the coaching discussion.

So the question is, what are the criteria for eligibility for the post of India Coach?
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A 17 hour journey by coach class finds me in sunny Mumbai on the day India (s)elects its next coach.

And amongst the first news stories that I come across during the mandatory stay-up-the-day-to-beat-jet-lag is this.

Obviously the good gents at the BCCI believe , very strongly, that a five day bowling camp takes precedence over training at the Center of Excellence at Brisbane. Which, of course is dwarfed by the Asia-Afro Cup.. Nothing takes precedence over the Asia-Afro/Afro-Asia Cup.

How else does one explain the absence of Harbhajan Singh ( a bowler who, more than most, needs monitoring and mentoring) missing from the "camp".

One of the many issues the new coach will have to deal with.

Good luck Coach!
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PS:- Was it just me or did any one else see this article bylined Kanishkaa Balachandran yesterday?

Ripe for a divide

So now the FICA has come out and openly called for a player boycott of the Champions Trophy because

Bevan said that the players are concerned with the decision-making process of the ICC, the game’s world body. "Our frustration is that we have 10 Test-playing countries voting politically on some issues such as who will succeed Sonn," Bevan said.

"They take cricketing and commercial decisions that are often not linked with one another. A more independent administration is needed."

O....kay.

So who are contesting for the post of ICC President

Going head-to-head are two candidates who represent the two intractable extremes of the ICC's large and dysfunctional family - the ECB's David Morgan, representative of cricket's old world, and the BCCI president, Sharad Pawar - a busy career politician who has had time to attend just 80 minutes of ICC business in 12 months.

O... kay.

And pray how are countries voting for President

Despite - or perhaps because of - the complicated voting procedure used to decide between the two back in March, the issue ended up being fudged and Sonn was asked to stay in office for an extra term. But it was quite clear how the land lay even then. In a 3-3 tied ballot, Morgan's support came from Bob Merriman (representing Australia and New Zealand), Stephen Camacho (West Indies and England) and John Blair (South Africa and Zimbabwe), while Pawar was backed by Dr AC Muttiah (India and Sri Lanka), Mueen Afzal (Bangladesh and Pakistan) and Imran Khwaja (associate and affiliate members).

O.. kay.

So what are Sharad Pawar's credentials

With the Asian bloc unbreakable, all it would take for a Pawar victory would be a shifting of support of the African contingent, and then Pandora's Box really would be cracked open. For all his faults, Sonn remained a cricket-lover at heart, something that has not always been apparent at the fiscally obsessed BCCI. With Pawar installed at the head of the ICC, the way would be cleared for the takeover of the ICC that has long been threatened by the frustrated Indians, who represent 70% of the game's income and whose early exit from the World Cup conveniently distanced them from most - if not all - of the tournament's myriad failings.

O..kay.

So that means that David Morgan is not commercially driven and has the best interests of the game at heart.

Or does he?

Ireland are prepared to risk being thrown out of next season's Friends Provident Trophy by playing ODIs against India and South Africa in June.

or

There is increasing concern that Scotland might be thrown out of England's domestic one-day competition due to their staging "offshore" tournaments which, the ECB say, "could dilute moneys coming into the game".

O..kay..

So it is about the money.

So the FICA is right then?

Umm, the FICA consists of players from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies.

And the Champions Trophy is going to be held in Pakistan.

And the World Cup is going to be co-hosted by India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

And in the event that Pawar wins, England, Australia and New Zealand will not necessarily lean on their players in case of a FICA boycott, although Pakistan is not unduly worried.

And in case Morgan wins, how much control can he exercise over a Lalit Modi Gone Wild? If India schedules more bilateral tours while paying lip service to the FTP ( 2 tests 3 ODIs in England, 3 Tests 7 ODIs in Pakistan), what can the ICC do about it?

And the thing is, India can defy the ICC.. All it takes is for the cricket team to win a few games and all is forgiven by the fans. And the sponsors.

And here is the fun part - all along the talk was about cricket dividing along racial lines. Hardly!

Its all about the money and the power that one gets to wield as the President of a cash rich sports body.

So much for all the talk of the greater good of the game.

Rahul Dravid v 2.0

"I don't agree with the fatigue factor. Our cricketers don't play more than our tennis players. Even the Australian and English cricketers play more. We are playing the same amount of cricket as in the past. It's just that we have marketed it better,"BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi said.

Modi was reacting to Dravid's remarks in Bangladesh on Tuesday that the schedule for the team was over-crammed.

"With the ICC bringing in a tournament (Twenty20 World Cup), we had a tough time fitting in our programme. Anyway, as professionals today’s players should be able to adjust to conditions," BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah told TOI.

Indian skipper Rahul Dravid, who has already voiced his concern over the tight schedule in the next 12 months, wants the BCCI to seek an extra practice match on the tour of Australia so that the players get a chance to adjust to the bouncy pitches there.

Rahul Dravid is more vocal than any other time in his captaincy. The BCCI honchos are being reduced to blabbering fools.. What a wonderful world !!

R I P Percy Sonn

Percy Sonn, the president of the ICC, has died in Cape Town at the age of 57. He suffered complications following a routine operation on his colon last Monday..

Domination?

Season Host India Australia Draw

1995/96 India 1 0 0
1997/98 India 2 1 0
1999/00 Australia 0 3 0
2001/02 India 2 1 0
2003/04 Australia 1 1 2
2004/05 India 1 2 1
----------------------------------------------------
7 8 3

So, what does one make of this article by Ian Chappell?

In an era when the entire assembly of current Australian greats were in their pomp, the test scoreline between India and Australia is marginally in favour of Australia ( thanks BCCI VP Shashank Manohar) although the series wins are in India's favor.

In the 2003/04 series in Australia, in the absence of Mcgrath and Warne, India scored 2806 runs for the loss of 57 wickets. Australia was marginally better at 2845 runs for the loss of 60 wickets.

This when India was missing both Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh.

Given this premise, and given the fact that India plays Australia at Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth in the latter half of the Australian summer and that Australia will not have played active Test cricket for the better part of 11 months coming into the Sri Lanka series preceding the India series,

India has blown their shot at domination by not capitalising on a golden era of
batting.

will remain to be seen.

Are we myopic?

Are we?

Please bear in mind that Sunil Gavaskar is a member of the 7 member committee set up to select India's next coach.

Remember too that Dav Whatmore is the front runner for the post of India coach.

June 4th couldn't come sooner :)
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PS:- Today marks the start of the travel season in this part of the world, and I will be doing just that. Hence, blogging will be sporadic over the next 3 weeks.

In the meanwhile, all of you out there, stay safe.

Cheers

Check out

Cow Corner

Today..

I must confess I have been a bit bewildered by some of the statements appearing in the papers and on news channels (one of which, an exclusive, I know to be patently false!). A lot of names of former cricketers are being thrown around and while that is not bad in itself, the reasons are strange, even poor. The two attributes thrown up most often are that a player has a good record and therefore commands respect. Neither of those is too useful beyond a point and if anything, deserve to be minor qualifications.

Harsha Bhogle on India's next coach

Anyway, let’s get the skipper to do the explaining himself: “We have gone down that road and we have tried that a little bit in Pakistan, but we have seen that sometimes it doesn’t really work for the team. Having me in that number three position seems to work a lot better for the team, especially in some of the big games and away from home.

“So yes, I could have done it (opened) here in this situation but would that have solved the problem for us for the England tour? Probably not. We would have probably gone back to me at three in England. So at least here, we can give someone else an opportunity to try and stake a claim. If he doesn’t, then somebody else will be given an opportunity.

Rahul Dravid speaks

Manoj Tiwary, who was operated upon by Dr Andrew Wallace in London on Wednesday, was discharged from the King Edward VII Hospital on Thursday.

“He is fine. According to Dr Wallace, he has made good recovery. His hand has been put in a sling. He will undergo a check-up after a couple of days,” a family member said.

Yay!!

This is what grooming new talent means to me. If we are to look for suitable replacements for Kumble, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Dravid, this is the policy we need to adopt.

India will find the going tough in England if the best team is not picked. And that means picking a player like Laxman, at the expense of dropping the superfluous elements.

Mohinder Amarnath

Ireland is more famously called the Emerald Isle. And that is because incessant, unpredictable rain is ubiquitous to the country that helps greenery stay all year round and manages to keep the locals tucked under the umbrella for most of the 365 days.

If this piece of information isn't bothering the BCCI yet, there's more specific information on way. It is precisely in June and July that the most fickle part of the year — in reference to rainfall — begins.

Eat that, Lalit Modi.

What has Virender Sehwag been doing ever since his quiet return from Bangladesh? Well, he’s been busy, manoeuvring his gleaming BMW through the lanes of Vikaspuri for daily practice at his alma mater to various grounds in the capital to play club cricket.

In between, he attended a meeting with his employers, ONGC and ensured five promising players — Ishant Sharma, Mayank Tehlan, Suhail Sharma, Sumit Nehwal and Joginder Sharma get full-time jobs.

G.S. Vivek reports

Today...

Simply too timid

Zimbabwe and World Cup format dominate troubled ICC’s horizon

Flintoff's career at crossroads after pulling out of Test

Schofield report recommends cut to volume in bid for enhanced quality

BCCI to Dravid: Fatigue? What fatigue?

It’s pouring cash

Free falling

Try Indian math to beat Aussies

- Formula adds unbeaten innings to correct batting average anomaly

BLACKED OUT IN BANGLA

- The cricket fan is cheated by Doordarshan’s double standards

Future holds cup, buys in-stadia rights for 4 ODIs

Munaf can return to bowling in a fortnight: Dr Joshi

NCA presents: Dr Sandy Gordon, Indianised !

Maninder - hooked, caught and bailed

Today..

Ranji bad run makes Gujarat cricket body put on its thinking cap

Rs 100-crore Eden project: CAB to pick from Ahluwalia, Larsen

Board wakes up, orders sporting wickets

There’s a selector in the nets

From crests of fame to the nadirs, Maninder has seen it all

Tiwary leaves for London

ICC president Percy Sonn ‘extremely critical’

Lehmann unwell

Wright to be head coach at CoE

Back to the drawing board

Draw Deal

Edged & Taken

A two-Test series achieves little

Skipper speak

India skipper Dravid said that they were never under pressure in the game but the record ninth-wicket partnership (77) between Mashrafe and Shahadat Hossain in the first innings dented their hope of winning the game.

"During that ninth-wicket partnership they were playing really well. That was probably the period of the game when they controlled the match more than we did. But I don't think we were under any sort of pressure," he observed.

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'If I was in place of Rahul (Dravid) I may have declared too,' he said after the five-day match in which well over two days of play was lost to rains.

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Our captain admits that his team lost control of the game during the 9th wicket partnership between Mortaza and Hussain.

Their captain is cocky enough to admit that he would have considered declaring against India if he were in Rahul Dravid's position.

Really? With his bowling attack and our batting lineup?

But here is the real unfortunate part- Bashar can state, and proudly too, that his team averted the follow on after being 149/8 and took 6 Indian wickets for 100 runs despite not having played Test Cricket for 13 months.

Here is the unstated part - We let them because we were not good enough.