Deviation or Curve

I messaged a friend late last night saying that I was at an inflection point. For the first time it seemed that I finally had begun to truly understand and internalize the fact that our cricket team and Indian cricketers in general are among the most poorly equipped to compete outside the country or under pressure. This may not be news and many may scoff but somewhere, somehow I always felt that a "new generation" would eventually spring from the reeds; a generation that would walk out to bat, display technique on bouncy & seaming wickets, handle pressure with the aplomb of a Hussey or Pup Clarke, bowl with the control required at international levels and pick teams based on a system of meritocracy, captaincy that was ruthless, fearless and imaginative....and many other things. Of course time and time again, these hopes were left empty but somewhere there was always a little flame that burned bright...our boys were as talented as anyone else, it was just a matter of time.

However, after much reflection I realize too much is wrong with our cricket & cricketers. I will not dissect that now as I am sure the following weeks will be full of ex players preaching. What I will say is all that is wrong cannot be righted in 2 weeks, 2 months or even 2 years. It will be a long slow process. They say once you hit rock bottom the only way left is back up; I don't think team India has hit the bottom yet. This is not about bitterness but the fact that I reached an inflection point with Indian cricket last night and I took the curve. I will still watch cricket as always...anyone who's spent time with me will know my adulation and love for the Australian team. That will not go soon nor will my love for good cricket. But as for the men in blue....there will be a long hiatus until the next time I write about them here or pay too much attention to their deeds in coming years. Its been a great ride but it had to end some time.

half a pill

There's a show on NDTV right now called ''Pitch Battle'' which has Sir Barry Richards (legend), Ajay Jadeja, Dean Jones (good to have him back!) & Imran Khan.

One of the topics being discussed was how one calms himself before an India Vs Pak game. Imran Khan had this to say (more or less),

''I used to take a sleeping pill every time before an India Pakistan game because sleep is essential! Without sleep, you can't function the next day and its almost impossible to sleep before a game like that. I used to make sure every player on the team would take half a sleeping pill the night before the match. Unfortunately they've banned that pill now because it became widely used as a date-rape drug.''

I guess Asif and Shoaib weren't the first to discover pills...although with them I think it was more syringes than pills. Poor old Warnie...sitting out a WC and a year...what a price to pay for vanity. Warnie you legend. (Yes out of context but you have to agree no).

Improving productivity at the work place

If you haven't already done so, download the Cricinfo Desktop Alerts tool right away and install it onto your PC or laptop - at home and work. It comes with a slick, cool interface; a live scrolling ticker at the bottom of your screen and well designed pop up alerts for breaking news & latest score updates.

Thank you Cricinfo.

What's he doing here?

After recent discussions, it seems unanimous that as good a bowler as Munaf Patel may be (is he really?), he is simply not good enough as a cricketer to be playing at this level. He cannot field. He cannot bat. And especially in today's one day game you need to be good in at least 2 departments or exceptional in one and ok in one or two of the others. Drawing a zero next to your name in 2 aspects simply doesn't cut it. Pick Agarkar, Sree & Zak. That's our pace trio. And after seeing the first game against the Dutch, I doubt if the wickets this WC will encourage any team to pick more than three quicks.

Oh and if you saw IKP bowling in the warm up game you'd feel a little embarrassed that he may open the bowling for India in a WC.....I know I am.