The worst traits of human quality have been laid bare during this World Cup tournament. I am sure a lot of people have been saying this WC will be remembered for all the wrong things: murder, retirements, resignations etc, but there is something much deeper that is the cause of all this. A thrashing in a test series never solicits this sort of knee-jerk reaction from every nook and corner of the world, but the ODI game does. Even though all cricketers say that Test Cricket is the "real" game, it seems to be the ODI game that ends their time in the middle. What a shame for a game that is so much greater that just a 100-over duel in the middle.
Eventually, like all wars and crimes, this effect can be put down to commercial reasons and perhaps much more. Human follies like ambition, anger, insecurity and jealousy have come to the fore in this tournament as never before. Expectations are woefully inflated and anything short of reaching the finals seems to constitute failure. Why is so much importance given to this tournament and this form of the game? This is not like football, where WC is the be-all and end-all of the international game. Here, test cricket is the main thing, but still the ODI game is influencing decisions in the test arena. That is quite unpardonable. A 5-0 Ashes whitewash didn't produce such extreme reactions. Perhaps that's why Australia is the most successful team: not only are they the best and most confident, they have the best perspective. They lost the Ashes and haven't looked back since. Other teams have lost test matches (England) and won ODIs (SA, England, NZ) and thought everything would be fine for the WC, but clearly not.
ODI cricket draws so much money for the national boards and the ICC, that it now assumes the centre-stage in the game, at least when it comes to decision making. Failure in this form of the game means it is no longer a sustainable sport and so both the people (who mostly prefer ODI cricket) and the boards think it essential to take action and put undue pressure on the players and staff. This not only affects their performance in the middle but also exacerbates the situation off-field. Players quit, coaches leave and captains resign. The weight of expectation created by the frenzy, hype and commercial aspect of the ODI game brings out these worst qualities: ambition, greed, envy, anger and meekness.
For all of us who truly love the sport, all this comes at a huge cost and big disappointment. We like to watch good cricket and are not particularly phased by who loses or wins. In cricket, what's more important is how you play rather than how you perform. You'd rather see a classy 50 in a losing cause by a team you support rather than a grinding match-winning 100 by another player from the same team. Cricket is much more than a sport where only winning and losing matters. A winner is a winner, whether they win or lose. The only loser in this story are we who enjoy the game, who'll never get to see Lara bat ever again.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Saturday, April 21, 2007
BCL
Read Rahul Bhattacharya's article in cricinfo The last king of Trinidad and not much more need be said on this, one of the saddest days ever in the history of the sport.
Saturday, April 7, 2007
Easter ode to Eden
The World Cup meanders on, one exciting match, but most of the exciting action is happening in India. The BCCI were very responsible yesterday and today by retaining Dravid as captain and making people like Ravi Shastri coach, since he is closely linked with Indian cricket, is a respected critique of it, and will now have the opportunity to contribute to it directly. Whether by selecting a "young side" for the Bangladesh tour, the BCCI mean dropping Sachin, Sourav and Harbhajan we'll have to wait and see.
But today, on this Holy weekend for 2 billion people around the world, I want to address a different issue of the BCCI. Some time last year, the Subcontinent won the bid to host the 2011 World Cup. This was a great source of joy to all of us who may be there at the time and get to watch cricket's next flagship event. Some time in July last year, BCCI secretary Modi suggested that the Finals would be played in a brand-new stadium built in Delhi. That of course excited a lot of people, especially me, as I feel India's Capital needs a world-class and Big cricket venue. This would be the best opportunity and would also showcase India's Capital a year after it hosts the Commonwealth Games. All in all, it would be great for Indian cricket and the World Cup in general. The statement Modi made was very categorical and hopeful.
However, in December the BCCI back-tracked, as is so common these days, and said that the Finals would be hosted in Mumbai. That's one of the most disastrous things I've heard in my life. Since Pawar has come to power, virtually all international cricket matches played in India have been played in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat! What the hell has happened to the rest of India? Here and there some ODI games have been played at Goa and Jamshedpur and Guwahati, but most Test Matches of note and the Champions Trophy were played within these three states; may be a couple of games at Mohali. The rotation policy of venues seems non-existent, and even then, there are way too many venues in the fray. Sure India has 1.1 billion people and so you need to have many venues to take cricket everywhere and make everyone happy. That's fine for ODI matches for touring countries, but I still feel test matches should be circulated within 6 or 7 venues in all.
With no disrespect intended, unless they build a new stadium in Mumbai (there's no space to do so in that city), Wankhede and Brabourne are definitely not worthy of hosting a WC Finals. I have watched Test Matches in all major test venues in India, except Mohali, and can safely say that Wankhede was the worst of the lot. Not only was it the smallest stadium and least impressive of grounds, it was also a horrible venue: broken wooden seats on rusty iron beams, bad access to the ground, crowd that booed its greatest cricketer, and a generally below-par venue to watch a good cricket match; even though Mumbai is the centre of the cricketing universe. It will be a shame if this stadium hosts the 2011 Finals. Brabourne is probably a better venue, but the size of the stadium and quality of pitch remains disappointing. Just because Pawar is BCCI President doesn't mean that Mumbai has to host everything!
Whatever happened to India's, and perhaps the world's, greatest venue, the Eden Gardens? 110,000 fans, beautiful outfield, outstanding pitch, fantastic stadium set on the north side of the world's largest urban park, overlooked by the imperious High Court, attended by among the most knowledgable and passionate of spectators. EG provides it all: it is the obvious venue to host a WC Finals in the subcontinent. However, according to the BCCI, it won't even be fortunate enough to host a semi-finals in 2011. What a shame! OK, fine, Pawar hates Dalmiya and so Calcutta will get nothing (there's not been a test match there since March 2005), but Dalmiya is no longer at the helm. What's the problem now, revenge? Mumbai still got its fair share when Dalmiya was in power!
In my mind, there are only three world class venues presently in India taking everything into account. Eden Gardens easily takes the cake, but Mohali and Bangalore's Chinnaswamy are the other two that come 2nd and 3rd. If they built a new stadium in Delhi, I'm sure it would be equally worthy, but sadly neither of the Mumbai stadiums nor the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai are as good as they should be, let alone as good as the ones mentioned above. Being a half-Bengali, half-Punjabi from Bangalore, I may be considered biased, which I'm sure I am, but you only need to visit (or even see on TV!) matches at these various venues to realise what I'm trying to say. I hope the BCCI changes its mind some time in the next 3 years.......
Not knowing how many teams will play in the next World Cup and what the format will be, it is too early to speak, but it has already been decided that the Opening Ceremony will be in Dhaka, the two Semi Finals in Colombo and Lahore and the Finals in Mumbai. What kind of games, if any, will Calcutta, Bangalore, Mohali and Chennai host? May be Ireland vs Bangladesh!
But today, on this Holy weekend for 2 billion people around the world, I want to address a different issue of the BCCI. Some time last year, the Subcontinent won the bid to host the 2011 World Cup. This was a great source of joy to all of us who may be there at the time and get to watch cricket's next flagship event. Some time in July last year, BCCI secretary Modi suggested that the Finals would be played in a brand-new stadium built in Delhi. That of course excited a lot of people, especially me, as I feel India's Capital needs a world-class and Big cricket venue. This would be the best opportunity and would also showcase India's Capital a year after it hosts the Commonwealth Games. All in all, it would be great for Indian cricket and the World Cup in general. The statement Modi made was very categorical and hopeful.
However, in December the BCCI back-tracked, as is so common these days, and said that the Finals would be hosted in Mumbai. That's one of the most disastrous things I've heard in my life. Since Pawar has come to power, virtually all international cricket matches played in India have been played in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat! What the hell has happened to the rest of India? Here and there some ODI games have been played at Goa and Jamshedpur and Guwahati, but most Test Matches of note and the Champions Trophy were played within these three states; may be a couple of games at Mohali. The rotation policy of venues seems non-existent, and even then, there are way too many venues in the fray. Sure India has 1.1 billion people and so you need to have many venues to take cricket everywhere and make everyone happy. That's fine for ODI matches for touring countries, but I still feel test matches should be circulated within 6 or 7 venues in all.
With no disrespect intended, unless they build a new stadium in Mumbai (there's no space to do so in that city), Wankhede and Brabourne are definitely not worthy of hosting a WC Finals. I have watched Test Matches in all major test venues in India, except Mohali, and can safely say that Wankhede was the worst of the lot. Not only was it the smallest stadium and least impressive of grounds, it was also a horrible venue: broken wooden seats on rusty iron beams, bad access to the ground, crowd that booed its greatest cricketer, and a generally below-par venue to watch a good cricket match; even though Mumbai is the centre of the cricketing universe. It will be a shame if this stadium hosts the 2011 Finals. Brabourne is probably a better venue, but the size of the stadium and quality of pitch remains disappointing. Just because Pawar is BCCI President doesn't mean that Mumbai has to host everything!
Whatever happened to India's, and perhaps the world's, greatest venue, the Eden Gardens? 110,000 fans, beautiful outfield, outstanding pitch, fantastic stadium set on the north side of the world's largest urban park, overlooked by the imperious High Court, attended by among the most knowledgable and passionate of spectators. EG provides it all: it is the obvious venue to host a WC Finals in the subcontinent. However, according to the BCCI, it won't even be fortunate enough to host a semi-finals in 2011. What a shame! OK, fine, Pawar hates Dalmiya and so Calcutta will get nothing (there's not been a test match there since March 2005), but Dalmiya is no longer at the helm. What's the problem now, revenge? Mumbai still got its fair share when Dalmiya was in power!
In my mind, there are only three world class venues presently in India taking everything into account. Eden Gardens easily takes the cake, but Mohali and Bangalore's Chinnaswamy are the other two that come 2nd and 3rd. If they built a new stadium in Delhi, I'm sure it would be equally worthy, but sadly neither of the Mumbai stadiums nor the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai are as good as they should be, let alone as good as the ones mentioned above. Being a half-Bengali, half-Punjabi from Bangalore, I may be considered biased, which I'm sure I am, but you only need to visit (or even see on TV!) matches at these various venues to realise what I'm trying to say. I hope the BCCI changes its mind some time in the next 3 years.......
Not knowing how many teams will play in the next World Cup and what the format will be, it is too early to speak, but it has already been decided that the Opening Ceremony will be in Dhaka, the two Semi Finals in Colombo and Lahore and the Finals in Mumbai. What kind of games, if any, will Calcutta, Bangalore, Mohali and Chennai host? May be Ireland vs Bangladesh!
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