Though it seems that his career is finally over, you never know with the Pakistan Cricket Board, given the past incidents, and more

What I wanted to talk about is the dramatic way in which the incidents have panned out. Though being nothing new, it sure is surprising. It all started with Shoaib being bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for a huge sum of money. Then he being banned for 5 years for reasons where we are not going right now (he hit a teammate). Then he goes in the press saying that Mr Naseem Ashraf, the Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board vindicated him because he refused to pay him a share of his IPL moolah. Then there is talk of Mr Ashraf suing Akhtar on grounds of defamation.

Meanwhile, the IPL says that it won’t play a banned player. Too Bad. PCB reverts, the ban is on hold for one month. Now, suddenly, the lawsuit has also been taken back. Strange. Maybe Mr Akhtar has realised that paying a part of the earnings is the only way out. Or so it seems.

This is just an opinion. There are many. What do you think?

Photo: Newscom

Post from: EveryJoe

The latest on Shoaib Akhtar! Something Fishy!

Well, this was something really fast. Mr Mallaya seems to think that sacking the support staff is the best way to increase the team’s morale. I think he is wrong. Poor old Sharma, he said on tv the other day that “I want to be CEO of this great team for my lifetime”. Maybe this comment gave it away.

Post from: EveryJoe

Venkatesh Prasad and Charu Sharma Sacked

As a cricket blogger, it’s my obligation to go around the Internet and look for ideas and implementations which impress me. A cricket quiz certainly does. All these years, I was waiting for a cricket quiz which won’t either be too easy (How many centuries has Sachin scored?), or be too tough (Who sold Bradman’s car?). Most of all, I was waiting for a cricket quiz which aims more at letting you know more : It allows for googling of answers.

The quiz has a lot of levels, as well as three broad modes : 2020, ODI and Tests(upcoming). There are a lot of cryptic questions too. All in all a thoroughly recommended site. Go there and have fun. Here are some screen shots: (you can see that I am BAD)

URL: www.thinkgoogly.net

Sixandout Rating: 7 out of 10 (totally recommended)

Later

P.S.: I am really happy right now, for non-cricketing reasons

Photos Credit: thinkgoogly

Post from: EveryJoe

Think Googly : A Review

The bottom-line being,  sometimes people do not realise the prematurity of a situation, and that’s when we get a 3-0 green-wash (Pakistan v Bangladesh ODI Series, April 2008), and lots and lots more similar happenings preceding it. What do you guys think about it?

Image Credit: cricinfo

Post from: EveryJoe

Why do Bangladesh play cricket?

eat Cricket, sleep Cricket, drink Cricket

Other than that he bowled extremely well in the two Commonwealth Bank ODI’s, there’s another important reason why Ishant Sharma is important for India. His presence in the team has raised the average height of players. He and Pankaj Singh can help India shed off their “little boys” tag.

Ishant Sharma is a promising pacer, and he’s only 19. But he must understand that it takes 434 wickets to be a Kapil Dev and 23 years that go into clinching those wickets. He should also understand that anybody could have a series of their life and then disappear like a meteor in the night sky just like Narendra Hirwani. It’s also worth keeping in mind that sometimes you could be talented like Balaji and Ashish Nehra and still fizzle.

For the next three years, let’s:

1) Not Burden him with endorsements. Let him set himself up first and sweat it out on the fields.

2) Keep him away from the dazzle of Bollywood. Bollywood is the sweat poison of Indian cricket.

3) Make him strive for a spot in the team and not just gift it away just because he clicked in a few matches and seems like the next big thing in Indian bowling.

That and a few other things should possibly help him become a real match winner for India.

Just an aside: Since he’s laid the gauntlet down to the Aussies, it’s not going to be very easy for him in the series now.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ishant Sharma: Indian Bowling’s New Pillar

Okay, I am not very clever these days, especially when it comes to cricket blogging, but thanks to the forces that be, my slumber is broken every now and then, and I actually get into the gear occasionally.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not surprised that Sourav Ganguly has been, as a clever reporter would write, sacked. The timing is interesting though. Just when the team is celebrating a thrilling victory. Also, it’s funny that this should coincide with the current poll. The Border-Gavasker series could have done without another scandalous event.

Dravid’s non inclusion is not a surprise at all. Wasn’t he actually culled before the Indian Oil Cup (remember Pakistan? Misbah-Ul-Haq crazy dismissals?)? Ganguly flourished in the Tests, but his ODI stints in the series didn’t particularly bring smiles to faces. Laxman? Oh man. He was never an ODI player!

Sachin stays, deservedly so. But BCCI could have waited until Adelaide, given how fanatic Kolkatans are. Grow up, people!

Post from: EveryJoe

Sourav Ganguly Sacked *yawn*

There is some news that the Indian board will boycott the Border-Gavasker series but looks like they’re still going back and forth with the decision. So we’ll have to wait a day or two to see how things shape up.

Most of the bloggers and newspapers are demanding a  boycott. I might have thought so, too. However, I beg to differ now.

How about we stay and punch the opponents in their nose with two straight, ruthless victories? That, in my opinion, is a better way to answer them back.

If the tour is called of, the BCCI will have to pay a whopping sum as fine, and boycotting would only severe the already sour relationship between the two teams.

Boycotting is really the easy way out. Let’s just stand our ground.

Break their a leg, Men in Blue.

Post from: EveryJoe

Break a leg, Men in Blue

Journalists are quite fond of finding new angles to old, beaten-to-death topics. These so-called slants come in handy when you’ve few important things to report, or to be very, very concise, your team is slipping off the pedestal.

Andrew Stevenson, Sydney Morning Herald correspondent, alleges, based on his research from secondary (as opposed to primary and authorized) sources, that Indian cricket team’s selection is caste-based.

By chance or fate, he chose to visit the baby twice in Dr Purandare hospital noticing, to the horror of all on the second trip, that it wasn’t the same boy.

The tiny hole in the boy’s left ear – still visible today – was gone. A panicked search confirmed his judgement: the boy had been swapped with the son of a fisherwoman.

Gavaskar, from a proud, wealthy Brahmin family, the highest caste in the Hindu social order, had an uncle, Madhav Mantri, who played for India. It’s one of the great imponderables, a classic recasting of the nature-nurture divide to speculate whether Gavaskar, raised by a fisherwoman, could have played the game.

He might have had the eye and the dexterity to star in backstreet games, but would a fisherwoman’s son have played 125 Tests and scored 34 centuries? The chances may not have been great. The Brahmin caste, which forms only a tiny fraction of India’s population, has always dominated the national cricket side.

Don’t get me started on neuroscience. It’s my major. This is nature vs. nurture. Let’s leave it to the experts, Andrew.

“Why do their fielders not chase the ball to the boundary? Why do Indian batsmen rarely run for singles, apparently preferring to hit the ball to the fence or amble through for two runs in no obvious haste?” Anand wrote. “Having too many Brahmans means that you play the game a little too softly, and mostly for yourself.”

That sounds like some sort of conspiracy theory!

Despite his talents, Kambli was always booed and mocked at his home ground, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Observers believed it was because of the dark colour of his skin. Not so, says Kambli. “I think it’s because of my caste.”

“I think” signifies you are opining. Facts please?

SECOND TEST SIDE

Castes among the Indian team’s Hindus:
Brahmin
Anil Kumble
Rahul Dravid
VVS Laxman
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
R.P. Singh
Ishant Sharma
Jat
Yuvraj Singh
Rajput
Mahendra Dhoni

Of the team’s non-Hindus, Wasim Jaffer is a Muslim and Harbhajan Singh a Sikh.

Ow. I never knew about players’ castes, really, except for Harbhajan and Zaheer’s, obviously.

This is just very, very disappointing reporting from Sydney Morning Herald. Does anyone here actually believe this baloney?

Photo Credit: SMH

Post from: EveryJoe

Caste Apart: Australian Media’s Soft Journalism

There were loads of good performances that we could applaud here, but when it comes to “making waves” these are the five events that I think qualify best.

The Return of Dada: After the World Cup debacle and the youngsters’ winning performance in T20, everyone was talking about culling the three Indian seniors. Ganguly was on the edge of everyone’s sword and we believed, even hoped, that he’d get the pink slip first. But that was just too much for the man who is worth 17000 runs in world cricket. “Don’t provoke the tiger,” he roared as runs after runs  poured into his basket during the India – Pak fixture. He is finishing the year with more than 1000 calendar runs– his best ever. For me, he’s one of the players to watch out in 2008.

Bob Woolmer Murder: This issue, unfortunately, is still unresolved and most likely we’ll never know the truth. First it was a murder, then a suicide, then a natural death– they’ve tried every thing. Pakistan team has always been strife with conflicts and this incident added another blot on the Eustachian. In fact, this event drew lots of unwanted international attention to the sport.

Murali 709 wickets: This is one man who spurred the most heated debates everywhere. As he inched near the figure of 708 wickets, the debates were revived, but he transcended the record nonetheless. You can hate him, call him whatever you please, but he’s got himself up on the cricket records as the highest wicket taker, a record that won’t be broken anytime soon, not unless someone with hypermobile joints turns up.

Yuvraj sixes: The T20 World Cup was a news maker in itself, but what caught everyone’s attention the most were Yuvraj’s six straight sixes off a Stuart Broad over. This one event was probably the most watched video footage on YouTube and other video sites. It sums up all the T20 cricket is about: excitement, nerve, verve, and curve (uh, the cheerleaders, guys!)

Sreesanth – The Angry Young Man: This man alone took on the number one side in cricket, verbally. Call him a freak, a jerk, but he did what no one has ever dared doing, and that’s not it. He injected adrenaline into the whole team– and just see the results. They might have lost to Australia, but their tongues won’t stop wagging.

Did I miss anything substantial? What was the biggest news maker in your opinion?

Post from: EveryJoe

Cricket News Makers 2007

Post from: EveryJoe

Shaun Tait too quick for New Zealand