Sachin Tendulkar: from Wankhede to parliament
So it’s just a matter of time, according to media reports, before Sachin Tendulkar swaps his India jersey for starched white and walks into the Rajya Sabha.
While the clamour was growing to honour him with the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian award, few expected him to be nominated to the upper house.
That too when he is not yet done with cricket.
Tendulkar’s meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence on Thursday was probably the early inkling of a new innings and by afternoon, political parties were falling over each other to congratulate him.
In a cricket-crazy country that considers him ‘God’, the reaction was pretty much on expected lines.
Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien said in a tweet that former Hindustan Lever chairman Ashok Ganguly, who occupies seat number 100 in Rajya Sabha, is even ready to vacate it for the 39-year-old Mumbaikar who has scored 100 international centuries.
For a man not really known for speaking his mind out on issues other than cricket, not many are sure how much Tendulkar can contribute as a parliamentarian.
In Dada, Yuvraj finds a way to use his unutilised hair gel
Yuvraj Singh has finally found a way to make sure the hair gel lying unused in his cupboard is not completely wasted.
The Punjab cricketer, known for experimenting with hairdos, has gone completely bald following chemotherapy sessions in his battle against cancer.
In his absence, Yuvraj’s former India captain Sourav Ganguly is leading Pune in this year’s Indian Premier League and the 39-year-old provided what could be the lasting memory of IPL5 after castling Delhi’s Kevin Pietersen at Ferozeshah Kotla on April 21.
Ganguly darted across the field at a speed unexpected of a cricketer never known for his athleticism even in his prime, pumping air and jumping in joy, his thinning hair dishevelled by the evening wind.
“Dada’s celebration took us back to the good old days,” Yuvraj wrote in a column that appeared in Tuesday’s Times of India.
“The only problem was his mop of hair, which was almost blown away by the wind! I suppose, for now, I could be of some help to Dada.
“My hair gel bottle is lying idle and it can surely come in handy for our captain if he wishes to avoid a similar ‘hair-raising’ incident,” Yuvraj added.
Dada Please play Tamim Iqbal for One Match. All Bangladeshi wait for his playing. Please Please.
Sari-clad cheerleaders add Indian touch to IPL franchise
The upcoming session of the Indian Premier League (IPL), India’s glamour-packed cricket tournament, will see a sartorial anomaly come to life — cheerleaders wrapped in saris.
Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s IPL team, the Kolkata Knight Riders, has decided to cover their cheerleaders in one of the most traditional Indian outfits — a marked departure from their 2008 wardrobe when a lot of skin, from midriff to thighs, was on display.
All these sari-clad cheerleaders would be “local hires” and will dance to classical Bengali music in between boundaries and fall of wickets. The team management is of the opinion this will help connect with Bengali cricket fans and improve ticket sales.
This is not the first time an IPL team has shunned short skirts and pompoms for a more conservative costume. Last year, the newest addition to the IPL franchise — Pune Warriors — had classical dancers, called ‘cheer queens’ in ethnic clothes. The owners had said these ‘cheer queens’ would showcase India’s rich and diverse culture on an international platform.
But could it be that this change in attire has less to do with a new-found respect for Indian culture, and more with economics? Since the 1920s, some analysts have believed that during times of economic hardships, hemlines drop dramatically. The theory, known as the hemline index, has been put to test recently. In recession-hit 2008, full-length dresses had been in vogue. In 2010, as stock prices rose, mini-skirts made a comeback.
When the IPL burst on the scene in 2008, it was all about big salaries and high TV ratings. The heady cocktail of high-profile team owners, swashbuckling players, scantily dressed foreign cheerleaders and after-match parties had the nation hooked. For a while, that is. Over the last four years, the league’s image has been tarnished by a series of scandals, TV ratings have dropped and team owners are still figuring out how to make the most of their investments.
So, is this switch to the sari a coincidence or does it reflect troubled times in what was called India’s biggest sporting extravaganza? Will shorts and cartwheels make a comeback if the franchise’s fortunes improve, or will the nine-yard fabric triumph?
Congratulate Virender Sehwag
Virender Sehwag has registered the highest individual score (219 runs) in 50-over cricket, blasting seven sixes and 25 fours during his 149-ball stay to light up Indore’s Holkar Cricket Stadium.
Playing his 240th one-day international, the 33-year-old right-handed batsman overtook compatriot Sachin Tendulkar, a player he was often compared to early in his career.
Here’s your chance to congratulate Sehwag. Post your messages in the comments below.
Congratulations Sehwag. I thought, it will take sometime to undo Sachin’s record of 200ton in ODI. Sehwag: you rock buddy.
“Controversially Yours”: More marketing than malice
Never far from controversy in his playing days, Shoaib Akhtar has kicked up quite a storm in India with his autobiography “Controversially Yours”, questioning the integrity of most players he came across.
And one of them happens to be India’s favourite son Sachin Tendulkar, owner of virtually all batting records worth owning but still not a match-winner in Shoaib’s book.
Also, the “Rawalpindi Express” claims Tendulkar, at one stage, was mortally scared of his raw pace.
Much to his delight, the Indian media seem to have swallowed the bait.
They have reacted with baffled fury, wondering how the erratic speedster can point an accusing finger at someone like Tendulkar, whose integrity remains beyond doubt even after two decades in international cricket.
Cricket is often called religion in an otherwise secular India and Tendulkar is its presiding deity.
Even the local media treat him like the sacred cow, completely untouchable. With his harsh views of statistically the greatest batsman ever, Shoaib has clearly touched a raw nerve in India.
Shastri, Gavaskar paid to preach BCCI gospel?
Going by this Mumbai Mirror report, the world’s richest cricket board has two of the most silver-tongued player-turned-commentators on its payroll to spread its agenda.
The report claims the Indian cricket board (BCCI) pays former captains Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri 3.6 crore rupees each year to defend its stance, often debatable, on controversial issues like the Decision Review System (DRS).
According to the report, no channel can broadcast an international match on Indian soil if the commentary team does not include the Mumbai duo, who have served BCCI in various capacities.
There is no denying the fact both the retired players have been quite close to BCCI administrators and served the board in various sub-committees and elsewhere.
Both Shastri and Gavaskar were influential, and paid, members of the IPL governing council, along with another former captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.
In fact, many wondered what Gavaskar and Shastri were doing when IPL commissioner Lalit Modi was allegedly bending every rule in the book that eventually led to his ouster.
Shastri has recently been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate which is probing financial irregularities in IPL.
For the BCCI it is all about “Control”.
If these two expect us to believe that they are free to criticise the BCCI and get paid for doing it, they are insulting our intelligence.
Take Shastri’s spat with Hussain, is it true that when the DRS was being discussed Shastri actually backed it to the hilt in one of the meetings? Or is this a rumour?
Of Tendulkar, Bharat Ratna and populism
It’s rare for politicians to be of one mind in the world’s biggest and arguably the noisiest democracy.
The government is about to tweak guidelines to make sportspersons (read Sachin Tendulkar) eligible for India’s highest civilian award — the Bharat Ratna.
That too without a murmur of protest from main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which otherwise has made life difficult for the Manmohan Singh-led government on various corruption scandals.
BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi and V.K. Malhotra were among the first to demand the honour for “India’s favourite son” who is said to be, at least statistically, the greatest cricketer of all time.
So it was hardly a surprise when Sports Minister Ajay Maken recommended a change in existing guidelines to include sports for the prestigious award, which till now was for “exceptional service towards advancement of art, literature and science, and in recognition of public service of the highest order”.
This is not the first time the government went out of the way to reward the Indian batting maestro and indulge in populism.
In 2003, it had promptly agreed when Tendulkar asked for a waiver of customs duty on an imported Ferrari which he got as a gift for equalling Don Bradman’s 29 test hundreds.
Sachin is a Sports person. He chose cricket as his proffession, and life line. He has been amply rewarded his effort, He is recipient of the Rajiv Gandhi Khel ratna Award, the highest award to be awarded to the Persons excelling in the field of sports. As a professional cricketer he has earned enough money for his life time and to his coming generation. His performance got over publicity to the extent of euphoria due to the electronic media. Judge him with the earlier recipients of the award and then demand an award for him.Do not be Biased with the regional politics and the politics of one upmanship. here is the list of 41 awardees in the past.
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi (2008)
2. Kumari Lata Dinanath Mangeshkar (2001)
3. Ustad Bismillah Khan (2001)
4. Prof. Amartya Sen (1999)
5. Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi (1999)
6. Loknayak Jayprakash Narayan (1999)
7. Pandit Ravi Shankar (1999)
8. Shri Chidambaram Subramaniam (1998)
9. Smt. Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (1998)
10. Shri (Dr.) Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (1997)
11. Smt. Aruna Asaf Ali (1997)
12. Shri Gulzari Lal Nanda (1997)
13. Shri Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhai Tata (1992)
14. Shri Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1992)
15. Shri Satyajit Ray (1992)
16. Shri Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (1991)
17. Shri Rajiv Gandhi (1991)
18. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1991)
19. Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedakr (1990)
20. Dr. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1990)
21. Shri Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran (1988)
22. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987)
23. Shri Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1983)
24. Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu) (1980)
25. Shri Kumaraswamy Kamraj (1976)
26. Shri Varahagiri Venkata Giri (1975)
27. Smt. Indira Gandhi (1971)
28. Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966)
29. Dr. Pandurang Vaman Kane (1963)
30. Dr. Zakir Hussain (1963)
31. Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1962)
32. Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy (1961)
33. Shri Purushottam Das Tandon (1961)
34. Dr. Dhonde Keshav Karve (1958)
35. Pt. Govind Ballabh Pant (1957)
36. Dr. Bhagwan Das (1955)
37. Shri Jawaharlal Nehru (1955)
38. Dr. Mokshagundam Vivesvaraya (1955)
39. Shri Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1954)
40. Dr. Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (1954)
41. Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan (1954)
So judge for yourself.
from Left field:
ICC name best test team of all time. Right or wrong?
The ICC has unveiled the best test team of all time as voted for by fans on the governing body's website. The ICC offered a shortlist to choose from.
Here it is:
Virender Sehwag
Sunil Gavaskar
Donald Bradman
Sachin Tendulkar
Brian Lara
India to embrace DRS after Sabina Park experience?
Australian umpire Daryl Harper might have done what months of persuasion could not — to make the Indian cricket board see logic in the Decision Review System (DRS).
The elite cricket committee of the International Cricket Council (ICC), which includes the team’s former World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten and former captain Ravi Shastri, recommended mandatory use of the technology in all three formats, a suggestion that seems to have the backing of most boards.
Even Sachin Tendulkar, though still apprehensive of the ball-tracking technology, came out with the clarification that he was not altogether against DRS.
But nothing would convince the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), seen by some as luddite to oppose the technology that ICC claims has improved correct decisions by seven percent.
Harper’s three dubious decisions in Sabina Park may finally convince the world’s richest and most powerful cricket board to embrace technology.
India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, another familiar DRS sceptic, sounded clearly peeved with the dubious umpiring in the Sabina Park test which his team won by 63 runs.
“If correct decisions were made, the game would have ended much earlier and we would have been in the hotel by now,” Dhoni rued at the post-match press conference.
It’s great thing to hear that India see the logic in the Decision Review System (DRS). I think its the right time for them to embrace the new set of rules for the game.
Power flushing
An Indian cricket coach for team India?
The Indian cricket team has not had a full-time local coach in over a decade since John Wright took over possibly the second most challenging job in world cricket in 2000. Barring the Greg Chappell debacle, the two other foreign coaches the team has employed have delivered.
India made the finals of the 2003 World Cup under Wright, and Gary Kirsten signed off after the team were crowned world champions in 2011. Interestingly, both Kirsten and Wright had inherited a team full of superstars low on confidence.
Wright took over the reins in the aftermath of the match- fixing crisis of 1999, and Kirsten after the 2007 World Cup disaster (though a victory in the inaugural T20 World Cup under an interim coach, Indian Lalchand Rajput, somewhat satiated fans).
Chappell, though, had a team that could potentially be world beaters — eerily like the batch of 2011 — but his tenure was hardly the golden age of Indian cricket.
That’s why it’s important to not miss a step here. In the world of Indian cricket, dreams can easily turn into nightmares.
And now with the euphoria of the World Cup victory over, a country of a billion armchair critics awaits the next appointee. Chances are it might be another foreign assignee. But for a reasonably settled team, that needs tips to handle pressure more than batting advice, the question begs to be answered — why not an Indian coach?
Dears
Yes, Why not ? also, why only one ? we have great living legends – we can have 3 all-rounders yet each specialised in batting, bowling and fielding respectively – to pick a trio who can work well as a team, to give excellent morale booster to the currently excellent cricket team on the globe !
