He is like this only

Sachin Tendulkar was in Pune for laying the foundation stone for a hospital. Answering a query on whether the parties should be blamed for India’s debacle at the T20 World Cup, he said:

While the issue of IPL parties being a reason for the poor performance of the team is debatable, we all know that as players we need to be more responsible and get our priorities right… I cannot speak for others…I didn’t attend any of those parties, because for me it was more about focusing on the next game. Maybe that’s how I am.

Source: IndiaExpress.com

O Bowlers, Where Art Thou?

The fact that India could not defend a reasonably good score of 285 against a weak Zimbabwe team proves one thing that the followers of Indian cricket have long been aware of – the scarcity of match winning bowlers in the Indian set up. The ease with which Zimbabwe chased down the score was very uncomfortable to watch. Agreed, India was playing a second unit team and the three pace bowlers used in this match were all making their international debut, but for crying out loud, its Zimbabwe, a Zimbabwe that is shorn of all their major players due to Mugabe’s politics and are on the mend.

Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra who would’ve been the first choice seamers have been rested and so was the first choice spinner, Harbhajan Singh, for this rather meaningless tri-series, also involving Sri Lanka. The recent Twenty20 world cup debacle, rightfully, exposed the shortcomings of the Indian batsmen against the bouncing ball (yet again) but an important aspect that was missed by all and sundry amongst all the finger pointing and brawl gate, was that the Indian bowling could not restrict the opposition in any of the matches (except against newbies Afghanistan). The pace bowlers looked toothless on the same pitch where the Jerome Taylors and Shaun Taits of the world were making the Indian batsman hop around like cat on a hot tin roof. Even the medium pace of Dwayne Bravo and Darren Sammy was making the Indians feel extremely uncomfortable, which shows how ineffective the Indian pace attack was. [The only bowler that looked reasonable – and he was a spinner – was Harbhajan Singh but even he did not look like taking wickets, although he restricted the batsmen almost always, except in the all crucial do-or-die game against Sri Lanka.]

Fan unfair

While being at a bar called “Shirley Heights” in Antigua and ordering a few shots of Bacardi 151 rum, my friends and I were pleasantly surprised to see, Adam Gilchrist was only at arm’s length, standing at the bar, ordering a few drinks himself. This was during the 2007 World cup. We were, of course, thrilled by the opportunity and to see a super-duper star so up close, was goosebumps inducing. We gathered up enough courage to actually ask him for a chance to get our pictures taken with him, which he flatly refused, very promptly. “Sorry mate! Can’t do it.” One of my buddies (you know who you are) with a couple of 151 shots in him by now, was dejected but well within Gilly’s earshot, bitched about this uncaring, un-fan-friendly attitude of Gilchrist and throwing in a asshole or two as well. Now, that’s just rude, isn’t it? We proceeded to take a picture or two of him anyway (as you can clearly see Gilchrist wasn’t comfortable with his pictures taken at a bar).