Left field

from India Insight:

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.

from India Insight:

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.

from India Insight:

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?

DRS in cricket…to use or not to use?

By Sudipto Ganguly, India sports correspondent

The inconsistent use of the Decision Review System (DRS) has put the International Cricket Council (ICC) in the firing line once again, strengthening the already popular notion that the governing body is helpless against the wishes of its most influential member board – India.

As the rest of the cricketing world went up in unison in a huge appeal, like a stern umpire, India once again shook its head and refused to budge on the use of technology in the game.

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) remains sceptical about DRS, basing their objection on the ball-tracking technology which is not fool-proof and vetoed its mandatory use.

BCCI convinced ICC to leave it to the participating boards in a bilateral cricket series, thus ensuring DRS, which allows teams to challenge umpires’ decisions, does not feature in any series involving India.

Initially there were concerns about the cost of the technology and whether smaller boards can afford it but BCCI insisted cricket does not require any technology which is not fool-proof.

ICC claimed DRS had improved correct decisions by more than seven percent in the World Cup but BCCI was not convinced.

Wanderers test will not match Newlands. But for better or worse?

Last week’s crazy Cape Town test match between South Africa and Australia, where 23 wickets fell in a day and the visitors narrowly avoided the lowest ever test score, will go down in cricket’s esteemed annals.

They meet again at the Wanderers from Thursday. But would test cricket fans want to see a repeat?

The Newlands match was over in three days and despite all the drama, purists were left wondering whether the flurry of wickets was due to bad batting and a lack of application in the test arena rather than wonderful bowling in conducive conditions.

Australia captain Michael Clarke described his team’s batting as “disgraceful and unacceptable” after they were bowled out for 47.

Players preferring the big-money and rapid nature of limited overs cricket to the concentration-heavy longer format has worried test fanatics for several years, and the five-day game is definitely suffering.

The fact powerhouses South Africa and Australia are only playing two tests in this series adds weight to the argument, as did India’s lack of preparation ahead of touring Engliand earlier this year as the hosts won 4-0 to overtake the Indians as the world’s best test side.

England, who have struggled in 50-over cricket for years, appear to value tests more than some other sides these days as the jailing of three Pakistan players for deliberately bowling no balls for money in a test in England last year shows.

How long can England dominate test cricket?

England have destroyed India to go 3-0 up in their test series and officially become the world’s best test nation having also humbled Australia Down Under just a few months ago.

It’s a new position for England to find themselves in after batting collapse after batting collapse undermined their sides in the 1980/90s and sporadically in recent years.

The great Australian teams of the last two decades managed to keep at the very top for years and their dominance only fell apart because of a lack of talent waiting in the wings once their big guns retired.

England have the advantage that only captain Andrew Strauss (34)  is anywhere near retirement and given he has given up on one-dayers, he can carry on his excellent captaincy for some time yet. Spinner Graeme Swann is 32 but his second wind as an international cricketer came late so he is unlikely to bow out soon.

They have a vast array of seam bowlers with Steven Finn and Chris Tremlett not even playing at Edgbaston and others knocking on the door.

Their batting perhaps does not have the same depth with Ravi Bopara failing again with Jonathan Trott injured but if Alistair Cook can continue scoring double tons for fun, it doesn’t much matter. In any case there are some decent youngsters coming through.

Hunger should not be a problem either given England have craved this sort of stature for so many years.

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

from India Insight:

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.

from India Insight:

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?

from India Insight:

Doesn’t anyone love the underdog anymore?

It is said that everyone loves the underdog. You can't fault Ireland if they disagree.

Days after cricket's showpiece event ended, the game's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced its decision to trim the next two World Cups to just 10 teams and throw out the associate nations from the 2015 edition, featuring only its 10 full members. The 10 spots for the 2019 edition will be determined through qualification.

"This is not a World Cup, it's a glorified Champions Trophy," said Ireland's captain William Porterfield, after the ICC's decision to trim the 2015 World Cup that will see associate teams like Ireland and Netherlands miss out on the chance to rub shoulders with the best of the cricketing world.

Porterfield has a point there. Given that much of the excitement and drama of the initial group stage games of the recently concluded 2011 edition -- hailed by some experts as “the best World Cup of all time” -- was provided by his brilliantly spirited and gutsy  team, it is difficult not to agree that Ireland may have been hard done by. Associate member nations will now have to wait until 2019 for a chance to compete again.

Without Ireland, the 2015 edition could play out rather flatly -- and more worryingly -- predictably. Without Ireland, we would not have witnessed one of the greatest one-day innings of all time in the form of Kevin O'Brien.

Without Ireland (and the other associate teams), the 2015 World Cup will be reduced to the status of a league of extraordinary cricketers battling it out for glory.

In 2007, we witnessed the dullest World Cup of all time. Australia came, saw and conquered. It was a foregone conclusion even before the tournament began. What made it even more unbearable was the fact that the teams had to play a second round of unending, insipid group stage games -- the Super Eights, as it was called, which was anything but super -- after the first round was done and dusted with and the tournament's biggest draws, India and Pakistan, had been sent packing.