The Test of My Life: Yuvraj Singh – Book review

The atmosphere was tense out there on cricket field, and the intensity was felt by all of us watching the match live on television, with the veteran Indian batsmen back, and a novel middle order to cope with against the mighty Australian bowling attack comprising of McGrath, Lee and Gillespie. The day was 7^th October 2000 when Yuvraj Singh, the flamboyant left hander took guard on the pitch for the very first time in an International match that too in one of the most prestigious tournament then, known as the ‘ICC KnockOut trophy’ played in the Kenyan capital city, Nairobi.

Once Yuvraj began to find gaps in the tight Aussie fielding and on occasions found the boundary rope with authority, the smiles began to return on the faces of spectators who till than had pale and sore looks. The batting technique that he possessed would have made him succumb to one of the seamers, yet he fought his way to a match winning 84 and announced himself on the world stage in an innings consisting of classy cover drive, meaty on-drive, a pull and a hook of McGrath that we still savour upon. A crucial air-borne catch later in the day sealed India’s victory as we danced our way out of the apartment on that magnificent day.

Since that day, years have passed and Yuvraj has climbed the difficult mountain in acquiring the heights in International cricket that most dream of, while very few achieve. He’s been part of the team that has won the T20 world cup, have grabbed the first spot in Test ranking and recently have won the 50 overs world cup in which he has claimed the prestigious ‘man of the tournament’ award. He has become a celebrity in India who has been a reason behind the smiles of billion people. His survivor story after being diagnosed with cancer is what his book ‘The Test of my Life’ is all about.

The book begins, as expected, with the story of Yuvraj’s childhood and how he got hitched to playing Cricket. The same has been witnessed by most in documentaries that run on news channel quite often. The beginning of this book is dull and one might be tempted to skip it all-together. Add to it the weak phrases and unstructured sentences which might be the reason behind the bad performance of this book into the market.

But, once you carry on and reach the part where Yuvraj is confirmed to have Cancer, the reading picks up momentum and from there it’s a matter of an overnight that one may relish this book in. In this part of the book, the co-author Sharda Ugra, seems to have taken over much of the workload as the book has a sudden change in tone while the sentences which in earlier part were clumsy, has a swift change in it. The descriptions are clearer and the command over language holds a better grip.

Nevertheless, the book is a must read if you form an Indian audience and are unaware about the hardships a sportsperson undergoes during his playing career. Also, because the wide-spread misconceptions about Cancer are described in a manner that the be-holder of this dreadful disease may get an inspiration to fight and come out victorious.

To summarise, the book shall garnish your bookshelf and make you a proud owner of one as it surely will catch an eye of your guest who invariably pass an eye over the corner where the books seats tall. 

Earlier post on Yuvraj Singh's return:

http://waywardfocus.blogspot.in/2012/09/human-spirit-heavenly-gesture.html

Dhoni’s forte; India’s loss

The climax on the night of 7^th September (evening at Edgbaston, England) was set to favour India in the only T20 International match of the tour with the ultimate finisher of the shorter version, MS Dhoni – Captain, Indian Cricket team, at crease – with his usual ease. Historic figures had made us believe that Dhoni thrives in such hopeless looking situations for others. The scorecard at the start of the final over read: 17 of 6 balls. On most occasions the punters would put money on fielding side, but for Dhoni with strike and a relatively new bowler, the possible result stood at 50-50 chance to each team. The first ball sixer, that too with a Dhoni swagger, shifted the winning pendulum in India’s favour.

But for Cricket’s sake and for the great leveller this game can be at times, Dhoni miscalculated the scoring rate and perhaps the denial of strike to Rayadu played on his game, when he failed to connect at least one of the last two deliveries that were bowled in his arc to execute the famous helicopter shot. India’s loss surfaced the important aspect of Cricket being a team sport and that no individual can ever claim to have mastered it once for all.

Had it been the case where Rayadu would have denied strike to Dhoni, he would have lost the Indian cap immediately for sure and perhaps been blacklisted for his entire life. But such is the aura of Dhoni that non on the expert’s discussed about it, and perhaps added salt to Rayadu’s wounds by sympathising and labelling him “Poor Rayadu”.

Visible Improvement – Catches, win Matches

On the 29^th of March 2014, VVCL team took a leap forward when they encountered two match series against the local team. Although both teams appeared at par before the match began, the opponents had a slight edge only because they were young and better fielding unit. Each team boasted a strong batting line-up while they had a decent bowling attack too.

VVCL batted first in the initial match. There spearhead batsman Rahul, who was struggling off-let, gathered some form with his intelligent batting and enabled a decent score of 53 to defend in six-overs-a-side match. Others pinched in here and there. The VVCL bowlers, under the flagship of Pradeep, made an attempt to defend the modest total. They were exceptionally assisted by their fielders who grabbed all the chances and made the opponent’s batting collapse in the middle overs. One such catch that Vasant caught near the deep midwicket boundary line was mind boggling and one that would be remembered for years. Once the batting stalwarts of opposite team went packing, the veteran bowlers played ruthlessly with the tail and managed a narrow single run victory adding a feather on VVCL hat.

In the second match VVCL team batted again. The opponents were shrewd and made good bowling changes to go alongside better field placements. The VVCL batters struggled throughout and managed mere 47 in six overs. Alike the first match, the VVCL bowlers expected that their fielding unit put an exceptional show to defend such a small total. And they did oblige; again. The brisk start by the opponents was dented in the third over bowled by Vijay, in which he grabbed a Hat-trick and thus beginning the downfall. The fielders caught each and everything that was struck high in air. Again in the deciding overs, the veteran pacers had to deal with lower order batsmen which they ably did and a single run separated the two teams. Thus VVCL team won the second match too.

And finally after playing consistently for two and half years, VVCL team can now allow themselves a pat on their back for such a high quality fielding display one that has made all the team members and well wishers proud. In today’s times of despair, where the multi-storey structures are guzzling the playgrounds, the VVCL team has kept their fields alive.

Sweet Centre – VVCL Season III

The VVCL team in its third season has at last found its prolific batting performance in today’s game. Their two batting stalwarts; namely Rahul Kamat & Selvakumar P, contributed heavily with the bat to ensure victory for their individual teams. The ball found boundary line on numerous occasions as both made a mockery of decent bowling attacks. Rahul in particular was severe in his inning that consists of 4 sixes, while Selva’s knock came just in time during the final’s ensuring the 2-1 series victory for Chetan’s side. Vijay’s knock in finals was excellent too as he was able to consistently find the sweet spot on the bat and send the ball towards boundary to gather crucial runs. One particular cover drive which enables him to collect three runs was probably the ‘shot of the day’.

The ground fielding continues to be inconsistent which added to the Captains woes, although there was a noteworthy improvement in catching. Bowlers from both sides did a fair job as most were on target except for an over or two. Chetan, the best bowler of the lot continues to struggle with his new bowling action which does not yield him the swing or pace that once use to be his flagship weapon. Even though he did not leak runs in dozens, but the lack of wickets would hurt his claim of being the premier bowler.

This season the players appear fitter with extra loads of stamina filled inside them. The batters have used the long handle well to keep sailing the ball long in air, the bowlers are able to put some excellent over’s and only if the ground fielding improves drastically the team would be ready to put their foot forward and register into their initial tournament.

The hopes are high in some of the players who wish to take this serious bunch of cricketers into the next level.

Horses for Courses

Cricket is such a fascinating game one which provides ample opportunities for an individual to pick and perform from either of three departments; namely Batting, Bowling and Fielding. The game has witnessed some special talents who have been able to play for long time with an exceptional skill in only a single department. Take for example, Jonathan Rhodes from South Africa who with his agile fielding was able to set the ground on fire. He would contribute to the teams cause by cutting down on the opposition runs even more than he would himself score with the bat. Then there was Courtney Walsh whose bowling can make the best amongst the very best batsmen dance even though his nightmares with the bat are well-known. The list of batters with exceptional batting ability is long. Yet there are few who would impress in more than one department and a very little among them who even did performed superbly in all three. Such a batch is badge with allrounders tag. It’s been the subject of debate for years as to what type of players is better, since most of the teams play the combination of all. To sum up, the playing conditions enable the team management to select a particular type which often is the key to success.

 

Similarly there are gymnasiums with heavy machinery that offers services of exquisite trainer for individuals who wish to develop their bodies with muscular curves. Otherwise there are old-fashioned ‘exercise-schools’ situated at every neck and corner offering light exercising tools for ones who want to stay fit. In spite of all a huge chuck of people simply ignore them. Here the choice of individual matters most.

 

There are professionals who are well equipped in a particular faculty although they would know the subject in and out. There are surgeons amongst Doctors who perform high skill job. The Chartered Accountants are found in numbers who are specialised in offering financial services. Some do audit, some are tax expert while some others restrict to filing Income Tax returns only. There are advocates who perform their practise in variety of fields. Civil, legal and criminal are few most commonly practised divisions. Many of the advocates are specialised in a single field only. Say for instance an advocate who has restricted his area of operations to civil cases and provides his services in matters of property registration, agreements and court matter thereof would be beneficial for one who seeks advice in such matters. If a patron visits an advocate providing services in other area, then only God can save him from taking such a leap as the advocate would net his fish anyway while their client is bound to face difficulties. A prospective client should be street-smart or else the world is waiting to squeeze blood out from his veins. As the case may be in Cricket, the best bait for our veteran customer is to investigate and choose his prospective service provider, wisely.

 

Always find your Horses, for courses.

‘Aunties’ on Business

I have never ever in my entire life finished a book as quickly as I did one authored by a young entrepreneur named Varun Agarwal from Bangalore, India. The book titled “How I braved Anu aunty & co-founded a million dollar company” when flashed in an ad-corner while Flipkarting aroused a bit enthusiasm to add it to my bookshelf. The weirdest of all title, a fascinating caricature on cover page, out of the world font and a Facebook image made me gather more information about the author by Google-ing around. A video link on Youtube about a lecture delivered by Varun aided me to decide on immediately placing a Flipkart order. A couple of days later, as expected, the delivery boy ranged in my doorbell.

Thursday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday was enough to absolutely gulp all the lucid narrations in this book. Although it seems to be five full days, but in past it took me a minimum of a fortnight’s time to read a book of that length. This book has magic which has been skilfully sprinkled throughout and that enticed me to swallow it at such a speed. The freshness of thought, the foreword, the disclaimer, the brand “Anu Aunty” and the business itself has been so artistically penned that one cannot resist the temptation to guzzle it at one go. The language though is frantic and may procure an “F” if used for day to day activities, one which can bring a cardiac arrest to the English tutor, yet the tender freshness & youthful manifesto will allure you for a different reading escapade.

Another book that falls in the same category and class would be “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki as it too has the learnings from real business life. That one is a classic (the sales figure second it) while this book “How I dared Anu aunty...” is destined to be one. Rich dad is a VVS Laxman style elegant leg glance while this one is no lesser than a Tendulkar cover drive.

All I can say is that the book glitters as a blue diamond does, in my bookshelf and I take pride to be an owner of such a fantastic book of my time.

Flipkart Link: Buy the book on Flipkart here.

Sarcasm exemplified!

Today evening when I woke up from deep sleep my back bone emitted immense pain, thanks to the Cricket match played in wee hours at Goregaon. The match ended with a crushing defeat to our inexperienced team that was never in the game right from the initial over I bowled which cost a dozen of runs.

The local team thrashed and toasted us and accumulated a whooping 150 runs in a matter of mere 12 overs. A veteran batsmen named Ganesh, one who was nearing 50 years of age & who appeared loose and laid back punished us for dropping him twice.

Then came our turn to smack few mighty blows and prove our mantle. Our innings begin with total disarray as  the opener lost his middle stick on the very first ball. We could gather only 29 in half a dozen overs and were blown away and out of the match. Only then Rushi & I decided to cut loose and our pull, hook and cross bat heave yielded 75 runs in the next 6 overs enabling us to cross a century of runs. A defeat that was inevitable tasted sweet for the runs we could gather against a far better team.

Almost all defeated team produce inner grudges by intent or unknowingly. Was that the case with us? Can't answer that. When I woke up in the evening I could hear my wife & daughter playing a traditional game which we all have played in our childhood. On hearing the wording in that game I could not control my instinct and laughed out audaciously from the bottom of my naval only to realise that the back is hurt while the possible victim was unleashed that moment. 

While moving in circular motion my daughter followed her mother who was narrating:

"डोंगरा ला आग लागली, पळा-पळा"

(Fire on the mountain; run, run, run.)

Now few of you would realise the rational behind this blog and might have a little pleasant smile deep inside your heart.

Virus Installation Successful-Dale Styen

The  Indian Batsmen, who until landing in South Africa for the 2013 bilateral cricket series were rich & fat, both; in form & class need to be flatten at the initial round itself. Dale Styen began the campaign with an outstanding spell of fast & furious seam bowling to Rohit Sharma in the Johannesburg one dayer.

Rohit Sharma who landed in South Africa with a circle of cricketing excellence around him & prime form, struggled to connect a single delivery from Styen up until the 17th ball one which he edged. That hostile stuff from Styen has dented the confidence of Sharma and has shattered his batting skills to such an extent that he is found himself into a black hole of cricketing prodigy.

His dismissals in the recent Test innings has raised questions over his ability as a front line batsman in the team & that his exceptional debut century against the West Indies seems to be like a forgotten dream.

The need of an hour for South Africa was to install a self-doubting virus in the strong Indian batting line up. Styen with his fabulous seam bowling that not only has pace but also has vicious swing was able to grab his kill in those initial 17 balls to Sharma.

If weather permits the second & final Test match is slowly moving towards an anti-climax where each team has enough of a chance to get better over other. The question is which team takes that initiative and who chocks under pressure first.

Tame thy beast!

Whole of India, and it's numerous die-hard Cricket followers would stay awake and wish good luck to the national team that would take on mighty South Africa in their own backyard in the most anticipated test series of the season that begins on 18^th of this month. They call it ‘entering the Lion’s den’ here. And never has Indians survived the brutal assault of the beast and have always returned gruesomely injured if not killed.

 

Dhoni and his warriors have already lost battle in the one dayers; dreadfully to be honest and the wounds have puke blood ferociously. The entry of young blokes into the national team, and since being inexperienced, is expected to continue bleeding during the war of test matches. Africans have, and wisely choose, the tallest amongst the tall lethal fast bowlers that can fright the opposition camp even before the battle begins. Although their batting line-up remains circumspect to post huge scores, but they would rely on the fact that Indians have carried a rigid pace bowlers in their camp.

 

Clearly the strength of Indian team lies in their batting, which in the last decade or so has been the reason behind their overseas success. Dhoni with all his experienced mind and cunning utilisation of resources would like to turn table on the African’s through shrewd yet hostile ways. The equation of ‘Win the toss and bat first’ would come-in handy since their lies the strength of Indians.

 

Open with Vijay (as he is the only option) alongside Dhawan; Pujara next followed by Rahane and the burden of scoring huge numbers to be carried by the young shoulders of Kohli and Sharma assisted by Dhoni and Ashwin in that order. Zaheer, Ishant and Yadav must accept the responsibility to bowl out the shaky batting line up one which Africa posses.

 

The encounter between Zaheer-Smith and Steyn-Sharma appear to bring crowds inside the stadiums in the sport savvy country of South Africa, while we would cheer for team India seating far away here in India. 

 

Although it appears tough but I would put my money on India’s win!

My Guru – Vishwas Karulkar

I have been living a life of influence. All the decisions in my life so far have been affected directly or indirectly under an influence of a person or two. One such person who has directly strike imputes on my personality through enriching my thoughts is Late Mr. Vishwas Karulkar. He was in his retiring years when we came in contact of each other. He lived a simple yet fulfilling life that is reflected in strong bounds of his family and the circle of influence he was able to generate around his charming personality.

His two most out-spoken ideologies were ‘Self-appraisal’ and astute belief in ‘Dharma’. On the subject of religion he preached that the ‘Dharma’ is a theory that explains to an individual the ways to live human life. Do no harm; accept no harm were his two principles that were installed slowly but steadily in all his disciples. He devoted his entire life for the holy work of ‘Dharma’, which included the Godly work done by ‘Vishwa Hindu Parishad’ for the educational wellbeing of the deprived teenage children. Our annual share in this gigantic work was mere a monetary help that couldn’t even help an individual to buy a Burger in a multinational’s outlet. He gleefully accepted that without any complaint and always bowed for our contribution.

Throughout his life he advocated the importance of accepting the self with all the shortcomings and being loyal to once strengths. Being a simple man, his example too were lenient and one which we could easily relate with. To simplify the concept of self appraisal he utilised the example as follows. He would say “when we expect a guest in our house, we generally make our home appear beautiful. The corners are cleaned, the furniture and rubbed, the curtains are washed and the bed sheets that recline on our beds are colourful and new. On other days they are shoddy, shabby and are torn in places.” He continues “for the guest who visits our house once in his lifetime, we transform the appearance of our house to make him feel pleasant, while we spend our entire lives in an untidy, perhaps tattered condition in our own house. We do this as we think that we do not deserve to live in a better house.”

How else can one justify the reason behind an individual’s low self esteem in our society today?

The great soul passed away exactly two years ago on this day. I am and will always be loyal to the teachings of my Guru, Late Mr. Vishwas karulkar.

Save a dime now, loose dollars later.

Wise man advises that 'if you are about to buy a shirt, you must always stretch your limits and reach deep in your pocket and spend a dollar extra and purchase a better brand'. Few days back we understood the rationale behind this holy message and chiseled the learning deep into our hearts.

In March this year we renovated our newly purchased flat. The colouring overshot the initial schedule by couple of months squeezing the already tight budget. We began to cut the corners on other least priority things. Electric wiring faced the initial jolt as we decided to ignore the expert advice and bought the cheap material for it. The electric boards hung attractively over the newly coloured walls and made there presence felt with switches that would glitter. We felt happy for 'saving a dime'.

Few months down, on an August rainy day,  the switches that glittered over one of the attractive electric board suddenly refused to obey our order and revolted by not allowing the fan, the tube light and the night lamp to function for us. This helpless situation attracted immediate attention and monetary means to attain resolution. This happened again in chilled December on another attractive board hallowing us with 'few more dollars'.

One cannot reap long-term rewards if the aspect of 'quality' is ignored either by choice or due to lack of foresight. The lesson is learnt once for all.

Quinton DeCock – Emergence of a quality batsman

In our age of Cricket, the cricketing prowess of a batsman is established by his hitting powers while the skills such as temperament, determination appear to have become a distant history. In such times of fast-food Cricket the heart of an ardent cricket fan that looks for quality softens a bit when he/she sees the emergence of a batsman who satisfies his inner thirst which defines the very purpose of his existence. The 20 year old South African wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton DeCock has acquired the focus of that keen follower who is craving to watch quality over quantity in this fast paced world.

DeCock’s recent centuries in the one day arena has proved that he posses those qualities required by a batsman to climb steep mountains in his international cricketing career. Couple of things that stand out in his batting are; a) his technique & b) his heart.

In the technical department DeCock has exhibited maturity above his age. The most difficult stroke to play technically is the cover drive that requires a fabulous hand-eye co-ordination besides a steady head and exceptional body position through nimble foot movement. In his short international career which span about a year or so, he has shown that he belongs to the class of Tendulkar and Richards while playing the cover drive. Also his wrist that generates enough power allowing the ball to gather momentum towards reaching boundary line has all but class written over it.

Although the inner mantle i.e. ‘Heart’, of DeCock is yet to be tested as the Indian bowling attack is not the one which can prove his competence in this area and also he needs to establish himself in test matches too. Still one can credit him for the matter that the South African team is going through a rough patch that has now lasted for more than a year and DeCock has answered all the critics in the best possible manner. 

Coming years would prove whether this little cricketer who has raised high hope in the mind of the astute cricket follower will acquire higher lengths in his cricketing career and while doing so would be a blessing for the cricketing fraternity itself, or else would be lost in the ‘speed of lightening’ like cricket played in his generation.

We await and wish Quinton DeCock to become and be known for the former.    

Unwarranted Change

Back in 2004, when Irfan Pathan entered the International cricket arena, the entire Cricketing fraternity cheered as they saw in him a rebirth of ageing Wasim Akram. Irfan was deemed to be the incarnation of the master. He briefly lived to the expectations and performed exceptionally with the swinging ball as well as with the handy bat lower down. Irfan was India’s answer to world as a genuine fast bowler who would swing the cricket ball on will, left or right, with pace, during day or night, on hard or crunchy surfaces. One did felt that the next Kapil Dev, who can contribute to Indian cricket for years as an allrounder was unearthed.

The in-swinging yorker which uprooted Adam Gilchrist’s stumps in Irfan’s debut test played at Sydney has made a permanent place in the memory store of an ardent Indian cricket fan. Then came his magical first over hat-trick against Pakistan which demonstrated his control and command over the cricket ball. Meanwhile he gathered few important runs lower down and his crucial cameos did provide India some historic wins against better nations.

A lot changed for India during the regime of Coach Greg Chappell who believed in squeezing more out of every individual, sometimes more than he could offer. The ill-effects of Chappell’s theory deteriorated the Indian team and hung the cricketing careers of some exceptionally talented blokes in jeopardy. Ganguly resisted. He was shown the door soon. Dravid followed coach’s advice; reluctantly. Irfan’s performance took a toll as he was burdened with batting responsibility up in the batting order, a load which his shoulders could not sustain long enough. Step by step his performance with the ball began the troublesome march towards south. Soon it reached the tip and the name of Irfan Pathan, who was here to entertain Indian fans with his magical swinging deliveries that lured the batsmen to drive only to fall in his trap, vanished away.

A seed that was supposed to become a giant tree in years to come was destroyed by the infertility of the soil around. A change in action, a drop in pace, teachings from Wasim Akram and the TV serial entry which broke his Cricketing focus did not help him either. The injuries kept following that worsen the matter. The Cricketer who was destined to become Great; one who had the ability to become ‘The Best’; slowly and steadily was put to disturbing Rest.

Irfan Pathan lost his focus on the thing which he could do best, i.e. swing the leather ball at pace, and didn’t resist the outside forces that damaged his entire career. The Indian Cricket fan has sobbed during many restless nights while this all was happening.

Have we learned anything at the cost of an exceptional talent?

Carver’s Learning’s

George Washington Carver, an American scientist and botanist was born to a slave mother during the dreadful years for the black Americans when the entire community was exploited by the Whites’ and were treated as another animal working on their farmlands. The father is unknown while his mother was separated from him forever during his infant days. The owners of his slave parents were his guardians and have passed on their family name to him. His early education came from nature and he was fond of maintaining flowers & gardens since his childhood. The struggles he faced to get himself the highest degree from college is a story in itself. Throughout his life he remained faithful to the lord, his mother earth and the Godly-work that he took as a mission “to uplift the mankind”.

He stayed simple and protected himself from the worldly desires of monetary gains and sacrificed his life to the benefit of his people; the poor and hopeless black farmers of South America. In his later years he received felicitation from the American government for his contribution towards the betterment of society and the natural ways to produce hundreds of things from plants, herbs and soil. To top it he educated the poor to make a commercial use of their produce and helped earn a respectable status in the society.

The almighty has time and again chosen individual to accomplish his task and save the entire society from destruction. Carver was the one chosen during those days.

Birth: 1864, Diamond Groove, Missouri, USA

Died: 5^th January 1943, Tuskegee, Alabama, USA

Things to learn:

• 1.   Live and lead a simple life.
• 2.   Work is worship.
• 3.   Nature has all solutions. Believe and have faith in it.
• 4.   Self discipline.
• 5.   Attain mission of life.
• 6.   Sustain through difficult phase.
• 7.   Love thy nation.
• 8.   Demonstrate gratitude.
• 9.   Focus. Avoid meaningless distractions.
• 10. Assist the development and growth of mankind through self sacrifice.

You can gather more information on this great human being in detail by reading the Marathi book “एक होता कार्वर” authored by Veena Gavankar.

Australia’s Ashes

The Kings’ amongst the Test series will begin in few days time in the very country that incepted the game of Cricket; England. The name itself, when heard reminds everyone about the Royalties and their Capitalist colonisation that robbed more than half of the wealth available across the whole world. For the very same reason, the blood of the shrewdest & proud country lover boils and erupts. Yet each one has their aspirations to visit the country of Britain at least once in their lifetime.

In Cricket, the Australians have demolished the Englishmen historically. The greatest of the great Test series have been witnessed amongst the two sides, in both the countries alike. For those who haven’t seen the 2005 Ashes played during English summer, has missed the cream of Cricket that was played during our lifetimes. The mightiest Aussies were brought down to their knees by some wonderful reverse swing bowling, exceptional catching and aggressive batting from the Englishmen.

 

In the forthcoming Ashes episode the times have changed with the English team enjoying the onus of being the best Test sides of the world currently. Ably lead by Cook and having the players like Trott, Pietersen, Bell, Prior, Anderson, Swann with Bairstow and Root as fresher’s, there is no doubt whatsoever in an Englishmen’s mind that the Aussies are here to be toast and fried and to be enjoyed with beer throughout the English summers. The experts too have decided the fates of the Kangaroos and have predicted a white wash at the hands of Englishmen. The articles written on the leading sports websites by the globally acclaimed columnist would add to the worries of the struggling Australians while the war of words initiated by the ex-English players would have added salt to the ripe wounds and exaggerated pain.

Knowing Australians and the way their Captain; Michael Clarke, leads, they would be eager to respond on field while staying away from mike and cameras. They do inherit the killing instincts and are culturally rude and have taken on the challenges bigger than their size. And to add some respite, they do have ammunition to combat the better English side. Glance at the Aussies on paper and you would find that the players like Watson, Warner, Hughes, Smith and Haddin can anchor alongside Clarke to post a formidable score allowing the fast bowlers trio; Pattinson, Siddle and Starc to ball their heart out.

The summers in England are pretty warm with clear skies and bright light allowing the perfect recipe for playing cricket. The extreme swing and bounce that can be seen during other season certainly vanishes and getting the runs becomes lot easier. With the armour of aggressive batters Australia would score their runs much quicker against the seamers and although the quality off spinners of Swann would trouble them, they are in with more than a chance of turning the tables on Englishmen. English seamers when compared are more rigid and less versatile on their offering. Whereas the Aussie pack has the dreadful outswingers of Starc, ruthless pace of Pattinson and faithful hardwork of Siddle. The team that everyone has decomposed, the one which has few heroes would fight eye-to-eye and would stag a fabulous Test series against the far better opponents. In the times when Test matches are struggling for their sheer existence the Ashes in England, by far the only Test loving nation, will provide an exceptional experience of Cricket to the extreme fan of Cricket who still believes that the longer format is the best of all.

If Clarke keeps winning the toss and if the batters gather form and collect huge numbers against their name and if the pitches don’t turn ferociously then Australians are in England to win this Ashes by two games to one.

Stay awake. Keep watching!

The Best Match of my Life

Date 9th March 2013
Place Virat Nagar, Virar West

What a Match! 
Jaw-Breaking; Nerve-Wrecking; Heartbeat-Exploder; Cliff-Hanger; Nail-Biter say whatever you have heard about the Great matches from the best of commentators, we had it all on 9th of March 2013 at Virat nagar, Virar West. Two Captains; one me and second Ankit divided equal number of players with different abilities to combat in the first ‘Two Innings’ match. The occasion was special as the veteran; Rajesh Narvekar visited Virar to takepart in this encounter. He accompanied his son who recently featured in daily newspaper Mid-day for smashing a century in Giles Trophy match. Ankit selected Rajesh while his son played under me. The toss was won by Ankit who decided to chase. Although the teams appeared equals in all aspects but Ankit’s team was more bowler heavy while my team had power hitters of the cricket ball.

The Teams:
My team: Me, Dinesh, Santosh, Selva, Vinay, Ajay, Dilip, Amogh, Sagar, Santosh (Security) & Tanay. 
Ankit’s team: Ankit, Vijay, Rajesh, Nilesh, Sanjay More, Rahul, Sanjay (Security), *, Sandeep, Nandu & Guru.

Rule: 2 innings per team; 1st inning consisting of 10 overs while the second inning of 5 overs. The team scoring maximum runs combining the two innings will win. A bowler can bowl maximum of 3 overs in first inning and 2 in the next.

Santosh and Dinesh opened the innings steadily. Santosh made a brisk start while Dinesh was solid and usual. Selva turned the match heads-on with his uncanny stroke play. The drop catch at long on was followed by 3 consecutive sixes of Vijay’s bowling. The scoring rate gather momentum till the time he was on crease. Vinay supported him ably. While the rest made ample use of the limited batting opportunities.

The first innings total of 88 proved huge for Ankit’s team in initial overs till Rajesh bought time to settle; Sandeep struggled; Vijay caught brilliantly by Dilip and Guru by Vinay; until only Rahul and More took attack and got close to be separated by just 5 runs.

The second innings was hit and go for us with contributions coming from here and there. The skiers caught by Vijay and the dive from Sanjay insured we were short by atleast 5/6 runs if not more. More and Guru had a brilliant bowling spell which kept the chasers in the game. Ankit was terrific in his field placing and bowling changes and kept on trying various combinations while the odds were against him.

Came the fourth inning and a target of precise 50 in 5 overs with Vijay opening alongside Rahul, and a bowling opportunity trusted to Amogh. And the gamble that went horribly wrong with lots of wayward bowling and drop catches enabling a glimpse of victory to chasers for the first time in the match. I had no option but to bring myself on and leaving the final over to be bowled by Selva. Hold on, the wickets tumbled meanwhile with Rahul, Vijay, Sandeep and Nandu returning back that swung the pendulum in our favour once again. With 23 in 2 overs the match was tight in our clutches till the man of the moment Rajesh took command and demolished my penultimate over for 10 runs with his chips, pushes and cunning running between the wickets. Poor fielding although was a significant factor too. 

The betters when saw Selva bowling the final over and 13 to get would have still gone with the bowling side but little did they knew about the ability of Rajesh who was supported well by More. A boundary, cuts and glances made the equation of 2 runs to get of a final ball with Rajesh on strike. Such situation demanded more of a Captain’s interference and intuition and I did receive it when I changed the entire fielding pattern. As Rajesh was scoring more freely on the off side I stationed myself on the cover boundary and prayed that Selva would ball short and wide of off stump. And yes he did. Rajesh applied a fierce full cut that landed the ball mere 10 meters in front of me. The spin took it away on my left which I covered, gathered and threw back in a flash aiming directly on the wicketkeeper’s stumps. It happened quickly that in no way in this entire world could Rajesh complete the second run in time as I was stunned to see Selva running from the bowling mark only to obstruct the throw which he failed to gather. Did Rajesh complete the run? Yes he did. A narrow victory for Ankit’s team. Cheers followed from behind with shouts and dances. And a snake-bite stunned silence for us.

That ended the best match I have ever played and Captained. The climax of Rajesh hitting the winning run and Selva making a mockery did flashed memories of the 99 World Cup semi-final match between Australia and South Africa. On this occasion the team chasing won. The handshakes, congratulations and commiseration followed by Vasai special Banana’s thus ending the energy sapping cricket match.

Sanjay More was my Man of the Match.

Cheers for VVCL.

What to write?

My Pen & paper haven’t met for some three-quarters of a year to make a purposeful writing. Or you may say the Keyboard and MS Word for that matter. The question that kept the drift was not the quality of the written notes but was more serene as what to write about? The decision to pick up the pen was paralysed by the reason ‘what to write’ on most occasions. After all the motivation were available thick & fine. There was politics, IPL was always here, financial crisis or the natural disasters.

To summarise it I recalled a tale from the epic teachings between Akbar-Birbal in which the minister explains the king that the desire is key to all tasks. The episode moves like this. The King had arranged a feast for all ministers with all kinds of worldly delicacies on offer. The best amongst the best cooks had prepared it to honour favours. The King acknowledges all the ministers to begin. Everyone except Birbal jumps on the food. When inquired he says “Hope she was here”.

The news reaches the ears of the Almighty. He comes forward and gently asks Birbal to reveal the reason that each one is curious to know. They all have circled Birbal by know and were eagerly waiting to know the reason that has kept away Birbal from such mouth-watering food. Instantly with his usual flair, Birbal replies "Hope she was here. Hunger; I mean”

How beautifully this describes my fate for staying away from MS Word.