Next is Who?

There was a time when most of my generation dreaded even the thought of this...Sachin Tendulkar retirement!

'Sachin ka score kya hain' reverberated through millions of Indian homes for most part of the last 25 years. TV sets felt relaxed to see him get out...they might get rest after all! Schools and offices wore a deserted look when Sachin's at the crease. He was simply irresistible for the cricket loving and god making Indian fraternity. He was their lord of dreams...one who would paint their dreams blue on the cricket field.

Was his retirement as big a shock to the Indians as was expected, probably 5 years back? I seriously doubt! The emergence of the next gen players (read, Virat, Rohit, Dhawan) coupled with his prolonged form loss made him, for the first time in his life, a disposable asset. I am an unabashed Sachin fan(atic) but even I felt he was dragging his career a little.

But, as they say, the value of something gets into fore only in its absence! The true value of Sachin may be rearing to show its colours in the upcoming overseas tours. Are we braced for this? Will this generation be blessed to see another 'Sachin'?

The answer to the first is relatively easy. The advent of new talent and the improved professionalism in matching talent to opportunities in the Indian cricket makes me feel that we are transition-ready. It would not be immediate, neither would it be smooth...there could be road blocks, there could be morale-shattering losses; but, players like Virat Kohli, Cheteswar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane are ready to make a mark. And I certainly believe that we are better placed for post-Sachin era now than 5 years back.

Will we see another Sachin? A plain answer would be 'No' but a diplomatic answer would be 'Very difficult'/ The advent of cash-rich T20 leagues and the fast pace of the modern game may not see someone loving his country for so long in all the formats. We may see an ODI Sachin (Virat may be the one) and a Test Sachin(Alaistair Cook may be the one) but the overall package of Sachin Tendulkar is difficult to be seen.

The transition is on, for the Indian team and the fans alike!

Overdose?

There already is lot of cricket around. One team or the other plays an international match every day of the year. If you take out some of the inconsequential games or the minnows' matches, there would be around 200 playing days. And add to it, the new bee IPL and you have a congested calendar.

Indian market is such an overwhelming one for ICC. The TV channels and the viewership issues control the ICC's coffers and the Indian market decides the issue for the channels. How otherwise could you explain the Indian matches in the world cup starting at a more convenient 7 PM?

Indians are bombarded with enough cricket. We already play the maximum number of ODIs. Add to it the recent thrust of tests to protect our Numero Uno ranking and the dose of domestic T20, we have our eyes full...

Is the average enthusiast complaining? Well..not yet. But, the adage the more the merrier doesn't fit this. The threshold is on the anvil and it would not be long before the viewer gets bored with the overdose. But for now....carribean calls!

Old is gold

...they really are! When T20 was invented, it was supposed to be a young man's game. You need to run more, field great and more often than not bowl some which inadvertently meant that you need to have bundles of energy. But someone forgot to tell this to the pros!

Look at the oldies of the tournament. To be frank to every one involved, it is they who are setting the tournament ablaze. Look at Kallis, Sachin, Ganguly, Gilchrist, Symonds, Murali...the list goes on. None of them are on the right side of 30. But, they are putting every inch of their sport wisdom to good effect. And how! It is no exaggeration to say that it is only because of these that their respective teams are in the hunt for glory.

What is it that's adding skates to these oldies? One common thing in all these greats' DNA is the will to prove detractors wrong. Someone told Ganguly he's not fit in the scheme of Indian team. And he proved them wrong. Someone told Kallis, Sachin that they are not made for T20. Result? All those are now busy eating their own words.

Does this prove that there is room for any one as long as he can showcase his worth? The answer is an emphatic yes. How otherwise could you explain the so-called young game of IPL watching many of the energetic youngsters steamrolled by the golden generation? I would like to stick my neck slightly out and say that the orange and purple caps might end up in the laps of the oldies. Watch out...

T20 - pleasure or pressure?

IPL has opened up too many discussion topics...freelance cricketers, separate window for IPL etc. But one issue that always has been at the forefront, ever since T20 came into existence...Is T20 the pleasure version or the pressure version?

We often hear cricketers saying that they enjoy playing out there and try to take things easy. I very much doubt it. Because, what with the intensity in the middle plus the pressure to perform or perish, more often than not cricketers are under pressure.

T20 was supposed to be the pleasure version of the game. This shortest version is a pure treat for the tv viewers and spectators alike, however, is it so for the players? May well not be the case...

Test matches are won or lost in a session. There is pressure in a test match to not lose an upper hand in a session lest you shall be playing catch up. One-day Internationals are won or lost in a passages of play. Initial 20 or the middle overs or the slog overs determine the result of the match. And when it comes to T20, it boils down to every over, if not every delivery. We have seen how a big over or a maiden over or even a couple of dot balls have changed the complexion of the game.

What does this mean? The intensity is so huge that what feels like pleasure for you and me is doubly pressurizing for the players in the middle. That could well be the reason why we see seemingly simple mistakes from the players. T20 isn't about power plays...it's about pressure plays!

IPL teams and the formation 4-3-2-2

It certainly isn't soccer but no less than that. Every team in IPL has to look at all the pieces and play the puzzle to the best. And guess what, the team that has the best formation looks, at least on paper, set to go.

IPL3 has seen the likes of Mumbai and Bangalore set the tempo. Though a bit inconsistent, Delhi seems to have found the momentum at the right time. Being someone interested in numbers, I was wondering what thoughts went through the franchisees and the coaches before getting to the field.

Coming to the formation...it is common knowledge that you can have only 4 foreigners in your team. Every franchise has loads of foreigners to fill this and in fact, abundant riches to fill this quota. Next come the 7 slots for Indians. More or less, each franchise has 2-3 Indian players and 2-3 upcoming stars. This leaves us with 2 slots for the unknowns or the players in wilderness.

This means the sector combo of the rising stars plus the local unknowns make up the important chunk for the teams to perform. If you look at the various teams and have a look at this segment you would find that this is what differentiates the teams:

Chennai: Jakati, Tyagi, Badrinath, Gony, Parthiv, Ganapathy, Joginder Sharma

Bangalore: Manish Pandey, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar, Uthappa, KP Appanna, Mithun

Hyderabad: RP Singh, Mohnish Mishra, Suman, Venugopala rao, Jaskaran, Anirudh Singh, Rahul Sharma

Mumbai: Rayudu, Tiwary, Dhawan, Sathish, Murtaza, Tare, Nayar

Rajasthan: Trivedi, Naman Ojha, Munaf Patel, Jhunjunwala, Dogra, Raut, Narwal

Punjab: Piyush Chawla, Bisla, Kaif, Shrivastav, Powar, Sodhi, VS Malik, Luv Ablish

Delhi: Mishra, Sangwan, Umesh Yadav, Dheeraj Jadhav, Mithun Manhas, Rajat Bhatia, Ladda

Kolkata: Monoj Tiwary, Saha, Pujara, Agarkar, Kartik, Shukla, Vignesh, Iqbal Abdullah, Parmar

If you see the trend, the teams that are doing well (Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi) have some deep pockets of reserves. And more so, the players in the differentiating pool have performed admirably well for them. If you look at the teams vying for the wooden spoon or the ones struggling for consistency, you find that the pool itself is inconsistent.

No wonder, Sachin insisted on investing in Indian youngsters in IPL2. Mumbai are reaping good benefits already. Interesting to see if this pays off till the end!

Killer combos in the box

The world of cricket has thrown some great partnerships...Sachin, Ganguly; Hayden, Gichrist; Wasim, Waqar; Warne,Healy...there are all types there - bowlers, batsmen, bowler-fielders... there always was a synchronization between all these pairs. To say the least, it was a treat to watch them.

How about the ones with the microphone? We almost always end up talking about the action in the middle but what about all those who make it interesting with their talk. Ever since I woke up to the graceful voice of Richie Benaud, there have been so many greats who made cricket what it is. Tony Greig, Bill Lawry, Ian Chappell, Ranjit Fernando, Harsha Bhogle, Michael Holding, Rameez Raja for one reason or the other made commentary exciting.

Which brought me to an interesting thought...who in the current set are a good pair at the box and conversely who are the dreaded pair. Since IPL is hogging the lime light now, let me restrict to the pairs in the box in this tournament.

Interesting Pairs

Harsha B & Danny Morrison

Harsha, for me, is one of the best commentators around; probably because he brings a whiff of fresh air with his view in a non-international player angle. Speaks from the heart and almost always makes it interesting. He would gel with a dull Ranjit Fernando (one gets a feeling...) and a mystique Rameez Raja(lovely hitter of the cricket ball) as well.

But what makes Harsha's pairing with Danny exciting is the energy they bring to the box. You can feel the action right in the middle of the room. And more often than not, they follow Pommie Mbangwa and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan...do I need to say more?

Harsha & Sunny

Harsha again features primarily because he leaves his witty conversations with Danny and puts the introspection cap on. With Sunny around, there is no fooling! But Harsha does get away with some subtle niceties and ends up extracting every pound of Sunny's wisdom.

Sunny, to his part, makes sure that there is enough fodder for Harsha to make it exciting...be it the misthi doi in Kolkata or the nostalgic Brabourne at Mumbai...One thing's for sure, with this pair around, there never is a dull moment!

Now, to the easier part...choosing the dull pairs. For me, there is a unanimous choice.

Pommy Mbangwa and Laxman Sivaramakrishnan

Pommy has proven that he always sticks to his line...he has been a boring bowler (I used to wonder if batsmen actually felt sad hitting his lolly-pops) and carried that tradition to the box. LSK, on the other hand, is wonderful at killing the interest.

Simple example...in a match at Mumbai a banner read "Sachin...turning people into atheists since 1989" If you ask me, this is one of the best we have seen for some time. And what does LSK interpret this as..."1989 is the year Sachin made his debut"...can you have a more lame comment than that?

Yes, you can...proved Pommy. He, at the same time, was talking about two ways of getting a good start in T20s. According to the professor Pommy they are "scoring runs and not losing wickets"...Richie Benaud and Bill Lawry would have been happy not to be associated with them!

In cricket parlance

For all those who follow cricket as religiously as I do (and am sure that there are more of followers than otherwise), one thing is common...to hear all those cliches. I sometimes wonder if I hear them often than the normal things. To cut the message short, let me get straight to the point.

(In no particular order...just the top-of-the-mind recall)

Cliche 1:He is a wonderful hitter of the cricket ball!!!

I hate this cliche as much as I hated my math classes. Come on...can someone be a wonderful hitter of the tennis ball and then graduate to being an international batsmen. And what else do you hit if you are a batsman (of course, on the ground).

Agreed that people like Inzy, Afridi made it difficult to predict if it is the ball or the head that warrants a hit with...but still...

Cliche 2: Last thing they want now, is a run out!

Okay, I've never graduated beyond the college cricket level but can somebody explain me when the first thing that a team wants is a run out?

Except of course if you are working your way through a 20 ball 45 and have Jeffrey Boycott replica at the other end! But still....

Cliche 3: This is such an important period of play

Hmm...oh yeah....the first five overs are the not-so-important period followed by a medium-importance period followed by this very very important period.

Give me a break...completely agree that some periods are important for building the base to a big score but seriously...isn't every phase important for the team?

Cliche 4: He is a quick runner between the wickets

Oh yeah...we were actually looking for someone who is a wonderful runner in the outfield regardless of the ball coming in his direction...

Guess this came as a solace to all those who played in the Inzy era to distinguish that Inzy actually is not around and there is some good running in the middle...but still, it is a cliche for me

Cliche 5: There is some swing in the air

Really??? I mean, really real??? And I was looking for some swing in the pitch...how bad of me!

And the list goes...