Sursuri!

Ajantha Mendis — The Freak Turns It On

2008-07-09T19:08:00.002+05:30

By Venkat Ananth

Sri Lanka's penchant for producing cricketing freaks is not new. Even before they attained Test status, they had cricketers who could do different things differently on a cricket pitch.

Take the case of Ivers Gunasekara – Ceylon’s captain in the 1950s, the man who has been hailed as the original Master Blaster. His cricketing achievements apart, Ivers made a name for himself for being able to whack the cricket ball in the same manner as a Nadal would to that green little thing. He played shots at angles, which around that time was considered taboo than revolutionary.

Then came a Muttiah Muralitharan, whose unique action challenged the guardians of the game and divided the cricketing world. And then, Lasith Malinga – who by throwing the "soft-ball" in practice as hard as he could, turned into an A-grade slinger – flummoxing many a reputed batsman.

Now, at a time when quality in Sri Lankan cricket was in heavy doubt, they churned out a refreshingly freakish talent, who's taken international cricket by storm in his short stint. Ajantha Mendis, who was by and large known as a Sri Lankan Army Private till he wore the Blue (as Lankans call it), has overnight transformed himself into the poster-boy of Sri Lankan cricket.

No sooner did he come into public glare, than the inevitable comparisons to two Aussie former spinners – John "carrom grip" Iverson and John Gleeson already got going. If anything, Mendis has the ability to bowl everything that a spinner technically can – the off-break, the leg-break, the doosra, the flipper, the quicker one and not to forget the wrong'un – with a grip that is rather unique – the ball entrenched above the middle and the ring finger, only to be flicked the way he wants it to go.

What makes him a lethal proposition for a batsman is his ability, in true Kumble fashion, bowl an accurate line and length, with little or absolutely no deviation. Play for the turn, and the umpires if they picked him, might just send the batsman back!

But, for a man who has largely spent his rather short and successful cricketing career in a lesser known environment of a second-division domestic team, international cricket as of now looks like a piece of cake. Sixty-eight wickets in nine first-class matches' reads well in a stats review package, but when you consider the grueling nature of international cricket, that magical tenth over in the final of the Asia Cup left everyone spellbound.

The batsman was in a murderous mood, itching to put the pressure on Mendis straightaway – perhaps an indication of how highly the Indians rated him even without seeing him before. Had Sehwag's intentions come off, Mendis wouldn't have even been a subject of most cricketing discussions today. Mendis' talent was never under question and for everyone who woke up the night to watch Sri Lanka's Caribbean sojourn, it was only a matter of time before he blossomed in international cricket.

But, the need of the situation was temperament and courage. Mendis, had that in abundance and perhaps the hasty see-the-ball-and-tonk-it-to-Quetta strategy used by Sehwag played into his hands. And much more than that, the mere anticipation of the Sehwag gamble, showed that the spinner's maturity was beyond the matches he's played thus far.

In the case of the other batsmen, the set-up by a canny captain in Mahela and a private in Ajantha did the trick. Alas, it took an Ishant Sharma, a team-mate of Mendis in the Kolkata IPL franchise to perhaps pick what was coming out of his fingers (not the wrist).

At the end of it all, what Sri Lanka has manage to unearth in their past two series is a gem of a cricketer, who if guided well by the Muralis and the Sangakkaras will only blossom into something special.

His inclusion in the Test team is only a matter of time, but in his short stint as a Sri Lankan cricketer, he's given them what they needed all along – a quality spinner to support Murali and not just that, a bigger ray of hope and a shot in the arm for lesser known talents in the island-nation.

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Of jocks and jokes

2008-06-08T16:55:00.006+05:30

Note: This interview was done in April 2007 for a Mumbai-based daily that was running a series of profiles of young achievers.

But this writer left the city soonafter, while the features editor of the paper quit. This is how the interview finally sees the day of light.

Name: Vikram Sathaye

Age: 32 years (He is 34 now)

Milestone moment: Comic spots for Extra Innings during the 2003 Cricket World Cup.

Innovation: Stand-up comedy in English — a rarity this side of Jerry Seinfeld. He’s had audiences in splits with his accurate mimicry of cricketers.

Alternative interests: Marketing management, film production.

Profile: MS Dhoni is wary of Vikram Sathaye.

During India’s tour of South Africa last year, Dhoni joked to Irfan Pathan pointing to Sathaye: "Irfan, don’t tell him anything. He makes his money by joking about us."

But cricketers respect Sathaye. His fan list is mighty impressive: among them are Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Akram.

What’s the biggest compliment he’s received? "Someone told me I do better Sachin than Sachin does," he beams.

Then he recalls the time Wasim called him from Lahore. "Wasim used to tell his grandfather how funny my imitation of Inzamam-ul Haq is. So he called to ask me if I would imitate Inzy on the phone so that his grandfather, who was sick at the time, could listen to him and laugh a little. I said, ‘Anytime!’ That was perhaps the biggest compliment ever."

People know little of his accomplishments in marketing management, a career he chucked to be a full-time comedian.

"The year was 1997," he says, "and my batch mates at Symbiosis Institute of Business Management were heading to the Levers and Cokes. I wanted to be the manager of a basketball team — the whole Jerry Maguire thing was in."

An year-long stint at Sunil Gavaskar’s Professional Management Group followed, and then, a four year stay as marketing manager of MTV India.

At MTV, his part-time antics made him as popular as Cyrus Broacha. Then, he was heading a production company — SET’s Metalight Productions — and the talent for clean and effective humour was spotted in 2003 by Kunal Dasgupta, the SET CEO. Extra Innings followed.

"By the end of that year, I realised that the response was beyond my expectation. I decided I’ll be a full-time comedian," Sathaye says. Now, he’s on the road about 10 days a month doing about 7-8 shows for private audiences.

"Vikram can see the funny side of things, which seem perfectly normal to others," says columnist and popular blogger Amit Varma, who’s been Sathaye’s good friend from his Fergusson days. "And his humour is always good-natured, never harsh or malicious, and often very perceptive."

This is a country whose people need to laugh more often. Make them, Vikram.

Photo: The Hindu

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Sursuri Quiz 3 — Slay The Clay

2008-06-04T18:34:00.004+05:30

Sursuri presents our Roland Garros quiz.

The quiz rules remain the same.

This is a four-minute quiz; make sure you don't get timed out.

Remember to enter your name or your entry will be rejected. There's plenty of time to do it.

Whenever you're ready, just push play!

Warning: The quiz needs to be guarded against pop-up blockers. For best results, play on Firefox.

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Results of Sursuri Cricket Quiz 2

2008-06-04T03:35:00.004+05:30

The second Sursuri Cricket Quiz is now over.

Here's the final list of quizzers, along with their scores.

1) The list, by Name, Score, Location, Age, Profession.

2) The complete grid of all valid responses.

Let's come to our Sursuri question which was:

“I think mine is the sort of record that won’t be bettered.” — Some good natured humor by a former cricketer, obviously indicating towards a peculiar – and somewhat unwanted – achievement.

Who is he and what is this achievement?

And here are some of the common responses by our quizzers:

Malcolm Nash on being hit for six sixes in an over.
Courtney Walsh/Danny Morrison/Glenn McGrath/Bhagwat Chandrasekhar on scoring all those ducks in Test cricket.
Sunil Gavaskar on his infamous 36 not out.
Chetan Sharma on being hit for the last-ball six.

The answer, of course, was Graham Gooch who played in three World Cup finals for England, losing each time.

Not many got that one right — so kudos to everyone who did.

The second quiz is now closed. But our next quiz, a French Open special, is on it's way soon.

Other quiz statistics:

Total quizzers entered: 407

Total quizzer responses accepted: 328

Average quiz difficulty as rated by quizzers: 6.64/10

Average score per quizzer: 5.98/50

Sursuri also acknowledges the help received from India Uncut and Churumuri.

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Curtains! The Summer Madness Comes To An End

2008-06-02T00:51:00.007+05:30

Third Man writes:

Beginning with a whimper, the IPL ended with a bang. Finally, what seemed like an interminable case of summer madness is over. As the 45th and final day of the IPL produced a Sunday night thriller – a dream, last-ball finish – even the purists must have been drawn into the thrill of the chase.

Though it’s difficult to fathom a pattern in the shortest format of the game – some say the only pattern is its capriciousness – something must be behind the complete dominance of the Rajasthan Royals in the tournament. They frequently found themselves in tights spots in the tournament but, more often than not, they wriggled out. That’s what they did in the final, more than once.

Warne is, by all accounts, a remarkable leader of men – his boys, brothers and sons to him, look up to him. “You walk on the edge, and if you fall off, we’ll hold you,” his coaching assistant, Daren Berry, says of the role Warne sees for himself.

And the Royals regularly walked on the edge; even after the calamitous dismissals of Shane Watson, Mohammad Kaif and Ravindra Jadeja, Warned egged on Yusuf Pathan to keep going for the big shots. When Pathan slipped, run-out with direct hit from Suresh Raina, Warne calmly stepped in and held the team. And the dream endured.

The Royals had men who were supposed to be inexpensive, bargain buys – men who were not a marketing dream; but the team ended up with a remarkably high number of match-winners: Swapnil Asnodkar, Shane Watson, Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan, Sohail Tanvir and Warne himself. The young were fearless, the (cricketing) aged were firm and in body and mind. The result was not surprising. Expected to bring up the rear, they were the favourites by the time they got to the semifinals.

So, thus ended first edition of the IPL – a success, surely, in terms of the hype it generated, and the impossible amounts it brought into the game.

But I suspect there’s much more to IPL than was visible to the naked eye – it could well be much, much bigger. We’ll know in a year or two what the fruits are of what we’ve sown. The fruits of success are not always sweet – if you love cricket, you may not love the taste of things to come.

Modi, the man with the golden touch — and a past

2008-05-30T23:36:00.008+05:30

Third Man writes:

Must a man’s misdeeds, committed in the first flush of youth, come back to haunt him 23 years later? In Victor Hugo’s masterpiece Les Miserables, the protagonist, Jean Valjean, committed an insignificant indiscretion in youth and desperation; he found an implacable enemy in Inspector Javert, who proved an unshakeable foe, the man who gave him a lifelong chase towards a tragic denouement.

Javert, an unyielding agent of justice, drowned himself in the Seine when he could not reconcile his chase with Valjean’s redemption and nobility after very minor brushes with law. For, must a man who’s paid his debt to society forever be thought as the law’s enemy?

Fiction and life imitate each other; it now has emerged that the current darling of the page 3 people, the usher of the new age of billion-dollar cricket, Lalit Modi, was convicted for possession of cocaine, with an intent to traffic it – 400 grams of it – when he was 21.

Hindustan Times carried the story on its front page, just three days after Modi, in a TV interview, said: "It was something that was thrown away by the courts and the judicial system in America and it was something that happened when I was in my teens in college in America."

Clearly, someone is lying. When Mail Today published a story on Modi’s allegedly criminal past, they also printed a document that showed Modi had confessed his guilt. The case was not thrown away – Modi pleaded guilty to bargain a milder sentence. Another point – in 1985, Modi was clearly past his teens. He was also charged with criminal assault, along with three others.

Now, it's natural for someone in his position to deny the charge now – use of recreational drugs is often looked at with an indulgent eye, but peddling them is far serious business.

Sports journalists say that those documents have been in circulation for years – it's only Hindustan Times and Mail Today who could find the courage to publish his confession.

Twenty-three years is sufficient distance to let a man go, even if the crime were as serious as it seems – if there has been no further suggestion of misdeeds associated with him. However, with Modi, that’s not the case. He's been accused of joining cricket administration through dubious methods; the IPL – as the Indian Express has reported – has become a private money-making enterprise of a select chosen ones.

Modi proclaims his innocence, but it’s clear that he has much to answer for.

What's The Colour Of Money?

2008-05-21T19:03:00.008+05:30

Money may make you class conscious, but it can't buy you class. One aspect of old money that's most worthy of approval is the fact that pecuniary privilege is, frequently, good for artistic taste. Excesses of money are made tolerable by artistic discrimination it can help foster.

That's not happened with the IPL – you could be forgiven if you have fit of apoplexy if you look at the IPL winner's trophy, for it's an eyesore.

The IPL lovingly catalogued the number of rubies, diamonds and sapphires that constitute this frightful atrocity. Artistic taste is both an acquired habit and instinctive fancy; I prefer minimalist, elegant lines in understated hues, rather than gaudy gold, but sadly, no one asks me for my opinion.

The IPL's trophy is what could have been expected – the game being played out is not cricket at all, and it's fitting that the winners take home a confused symbol. The trophy is a jumble of themes – a just prize for the gold-diggers the players have been turned into.

The patriotic theme – the trophy is in the shape of India's map – is both superfluous and apt because, despite the international stars and the money, it's just a domestic tournament. Perhaps the IPL also sought to buy immunity against criticism with this display of patriotism; but patriotism worn on the sleeve must be dealt with caution, especially in an event marked by contempt for sport and veneration for money.

The beginning of the end of the Baggy Green?

What about when you wear patriotism on your hat? Australians love their Baggy Green, but colour-altering attributes are not restricted to the chameleon – money accomplishes that with ease among humans. The Australian players, taking on the might of a Jamaica XI in the West Indies, wore blue caps which happened to have the sponsor's logo on it – just "by chance", according to the team management. Brad Haddin doesn't have a Baggy Green cap because he hasn't played Test cricket for Australia, so the team decided to switch to blue, for the "sake of uniformity".

For some reason, this particular piece of apparel has acquired a halo, a sanctity difficult to understand. The shirts, trousers and shoes have been taken over by the sponsors, but why not the cap? Perhaps it still signifies the primacy of sport over commerce, an obscure throwback to the pride associated with headgear. But the Australians, who talk of their Baggy Green with touching devotion, gave it up for reasons that are suspiciously specious, possibly commercial. Perhaps, in the end, the market forces will buy and sell even symbols of purity of sport. That will be a pity.

Earlier: The IPL trophy and other monstrosities

Photograph via Getty Images on NineMSN

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What would Ramadoss tell Warne?

2008-05-21T18:48:00.002+05:30

Hindustan Times snapped Shane Warne smoking before the Jaipur vs Kolkata match on Tuesday night.

Remember this?

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The IPL Trophy and other monstrosities

2008-05-21T14:07:00.012+05:30

Lalit Modi recently unveiled this trophy for the Indian Premier League. It has been crafted by Orra.

It's a monstrosity.

Bizdom tells us the trophy has:

2,554 round and baguette diamonds weighing 68.77 carats, 4,500 yellow sapphires weighing 218.55 carats, blue sapphires weighing 986 carats and 8 rubies weighing 248.70 carats have been used. The gold weight of the statue is 691.15 grams.

The gaudiness of the trophy is perhaps bettered by the corniness of the concept:

Yellow and blue sapphires make up the map of India signifying the passion for the DLF Indian Premier League that has captured the imagination of the entire nation, while the rubies on the map highlight the eight franchises and cities in which the matches are being played.

The border of the Indian map and the league is highlighted in diamonds, to signify the added dazzle that the league has brought to the game of cricket.

Sursuri scrounged the net and put together a small list of weird trophies.

Here's Mahela Jayawardene all smiles with his prize — the trophy for the home Test series against England.

And here's tennis player Agustin Calleri... with a portable shower?

And here's the lovely prize given to the winners of the Chicago International Documentary Festival Grand Prix.

Presenting the winner and runner-up of the Acapulco Pear Eating Competition. Sorry, we meant Acapulco International Tennis.

Golfer Christie Kerr really seems to like her prize...

... but the clear winner is Novak Djokovic's prize — a luscious, translucent, rosy nipple?.

Honorable mention: The Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which Sachin Tendulkar held aloft in 1996. If someone can find a picture of that, please contact us.

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The Men Who Sold Cricket

2008-05-15T20:45:00.006+05:30

Third Man writes:

All good men who love sport and cricket say privately they don't like the shape of things that the IPL promises. The IPL's biggest success is that it's turned sport into a commodity like never before, and venality into a widespread practice.

Big money, to be made or lost, ensures silence.

Those of you who are going bananas over the Indian Premier League may not like this, but the Third Man has a good mind to don a red shirt and turn into an anarchist. Only the direst incendiary acts against the IPL would satisfy the Third Man. Why? Because this is not cricket – this is ego massage and money-making in the most lurid form.

The cricketers are commodified like never before. The basis of the IPL is not sport, it's money. A team owner like Vijay Mallya can wrathfully declare that "unfortunately, in cricket, unlike in any other sport, the captain is the boss". What, does he pretend that he knows cricket more than Rahul Dravid, whom his flunkeys in the media are slandering for not picking the right team? Dravid's worst cricketing strategy would be better than Mallya's best. It's easy to be wiser after the event – in February, Mallya had declared grandiloquently that he'd got a very good team.

Mallya lacked sportsman's spirit

In sport, victory is not a given; in T20, no respecter of reputations, iconoclasm is the essence. Mallya, surly in defeat, refused to go the Man of the Match ceremony after the games his team lost. Rich in spirits, he's lacking completely the sportsman's spirit.

All good men who love sport and cricket say privately they don't like the shape of things that the IPL promises. The IPL's biggest success is that it's turned sport into a commodity like never before, and venality into a widespread practice. Big money, to be made or lost, ensures silence.

Media, the tireless crusader of the IPL

The media has turned into a cheerleader for Lalit Modi's money-making enterprise. Newspapers in Delhi devote a good two-three pages to the IPL. Only marginal, weak voices speak of the massive frauds inherent in the concept of the IPL. It's turned into a family enterprise, and contracts and sub-contracts are handed out to cronies and sub-cronies. Indian Express reported this a few days ago, but others just talk in hushed tones – the possibility of loss of advertising has turned editors into submissive errand runners of the marketing people.

The day of the strong editor is long past. Would you know the name of the editor of the Hindustan Times or the Times of India, for instance?

Third Man bumped into the editor of a Delhi paper during a game; the man blithely declared, without a trace of a blush, that the "whole thing (his paper's coverage) is being run by the marketing folks". Perhaps freedom of press is just a joke, and was always a joke – you write what the owner wants you to write, or you buzz off.

Just a carnival

Sombre thoughts, but the way the media has turned the IPL – which is just a carnival with little or no serious cricket – into something massive is just disgusting.

Some of you might say that the Third Man is furious only because no IPL crumb has been thrown at him; perhaps you would be right, for moral resistance is frequently inversely proportional to temptation.

That may be so, but the fact is that any kind of cricket that makes Dravid and VVS Laxman look like fools is not worthy of the serious fan.

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New & Improved! Sursuri Cricket Quiz — 2

2008-05-14T09:59:00.001+05:30

Prepare to play the hugely improved Sursuri Cricket Quiz with great new tweaks.

New Features
- Time limit of 4 minutes to complete the quiz.
- See the correct answers after the quiz.
- See the leaderboard and top scorer's names.

Rules
- There were 11 questions.
- Questions 1-10 are normal questions.
- +4 for correct answers, -2 for wrong/no answers.
- Question 11 is the Sursuri.
- +10 if you get it right, -5 for wrong/no answer.
- You can score a maximum of 50 points.
- You need a minimum score of 30 to win.

Are you ready?

Let's play Sursuri Cricket Quiz — 2!

Warning: The quiz needs to be guarded from pop-up blockers. For best results, play on Firefox.

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Play Sursuri Quiz 1 on Facebook

2008-05-14T09:33:00.003+05:30

The first Sursuri Cricket Quiz — 1 is now available on Facebook.

Here's the link. You need to be logged in to play.

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Results of Sursuri Cricket Quiz —1

2008-05-10T19:20:00.010+05:30

Gentlemen and ladies — yes, all three of you — we announce the winners of the first Sursuri quiz.

Name	City	Profession	Age	Team	Rating	Score
Venkat Ananth	Mumbai	Journalist	21	SL	7	60
Mahek Vyas	San Diego	Student	24	India	6	50
praveen koushik	bangalore	student	18	India	7	50
Avi	Mum	Journalism	25	India	7	40
Devadyuti Das	New Delhi	Journalist	24	India	7	40
ashoke sanyal	Kolkata	Government employee	42	India	2	40
Avik Mukherjee	Mumbai	Student	20	India	6	40
shivani	mumbai	journo	26	NZ	8	30
Pratik TC	Hyderabad	Student	17	India	8	30
Sumant Banerji	New Delhi	Journalist	25	India	6	30
B Shrikant	Mumbai	Journalist	35	India	8	30
Vivek	Chennai	Sales manager	29	India	10	30
indro	delhi	traveller	33	India	1	30
Apoorva Shah	Bang	Entreprenuer	25	India	7	30
nirmal john	mumbai	Journo	24	India	5	30

Congrats, Venkat. Here's what he told Sursuri after his win:

Well I think I batted well, bowled well and fielded well.

As our winner, Venkat gets a free lifetime subscription to Sursuri!

For the rest of you, here's some statistics from the first quiz.

Total quizzers: 74

Total disqualified: 27 (anonymous, repeats, etc).

Total qualified entries: 47 — here's how they fared.

Minimum winning score needed: 30/60 (Or 7 correct answers out of 10)

Average score: 7.91/60

Average difficulty rating: 6.91

Total winners: 15

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Some of you might want to know the answers to the questions. Here goes:

(1) Which batsman hit the most sixes in the last World Cup?
Correct Answer: Matthew Hayden.
Other Options:: Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds.

(2) Born in Ootacamund, where his father was a tea planter, this cricketer was so named to give him the same initials as cricket’s most famous club.
Correct Answer: Colin Cowdrey.
Other Options:: Carlos Clarke, Christopher Cowdrey, Cyril Christiani.

(3) If Allan Donald was called White Lightening, which South African was also known as Black Thunder?
Correct Answer: Mfuneko Ngam.
Other Options:: Nicky Boje, Omar Henry, Makhaya Ntini.

(4) Which stadium is known as “The Bullring” for its electric and sometimes intimidating atmosphere?
Correct Answer: Wanderers.
Other Options:: Beausejour Stadium, Kensington Oval, Carisbrook.

(5) Who is the only New Zealand captain to have positive win-loss records in both Tests and ODIs?
Correct Answer: Geoff Howarth.
Other Options:: Graham Dowling, Martin Crowe, Stephen Fleming.

(6) Robin Uthappa’s 86 against England in the Indore one-dayer in the 2006 home series is the highest score by an Indian on debut. Who held the record previously?
Correct Answer: Brijesh Patel.
Other Options:: Kirti Azad, Raman Lamba, Mohammad Azharuddin.

(7) This cricket ground was originally a lake which, it was intended, should be made into an inner harbour. However, an earthquake turned the lake into a swamp and the local cricketers, who had lost their own ground because of the quake, asked if they could make one out of the swamp – the permission for which was granted. Identify the ground.
Correct Answer: Basin Reserve.
Other Options:: Headingley, Green Park, Queen’s Park Oval.

(8) Which England cricketer is affectionately known as Banger for his love of sausages?
Correct Answer: Marcus Trescothick.
Other Options:: Nick Knight, Tim Robbins, Graham Thorpe.

(9) Vernon Royle, The Mackinnon of Mackinnon and Tom Emmett were dismissed in succession by The Demon Bowler during the Sydney Test of the 1879 England tour of Australia. It was the first Test hat-trick. The question is simple. Name the bowler.
Correct Answer: Fred Spofforth.
Other Options:: Tom Horan, Percy McDonnell, Tom Lowry.

(10) During the Second World War, this former England cricketer was commissioned into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and served with distinction in both France and India.
Correct Answer: Douglas Jardine.
Other Options:: Jim Laker, Bill Voce, Wally Hammond.

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Lalit Modi checking out Preity Zinta

2008-05-09T16:06:00.005+05:30

A friend at a news website wrote in with this photo:

For all the shit he has put us through, we might as well laugh at the man.

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The batting record that isn't

2008-05-08T02:42:00.004+05:30

Geoff Allot was a mighty fine left-arm swing bowler, but he owns a strange world record.

The former New Zealander holds the record for the longest time taken to score a duck in first class cricket – 77 balls and 101 minutes against South Africa in 1999.

After Darryl Cullinan's 275 took South Africa to 621, the Kiwis were a were a wicket away from a 300-run deficit when last-man Allot joined Chris Harris.

The two batted a little over 27 overs for 32 runs. The Wisden Almanac noted:

"It was the best duck I'll ever make" said Allott. The sparse crowd gave more generous applause to his non-batting than to Cullinan's patient accumulation.

Allot's career was cut short by injuries. He finished with 102 First Class wickets, and a mere 105 runs.

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The serve that killed a linesman

2008-05-06T02:04:00.001+05:30

It's a footnote that Stefan Edberg's illustrious career could have done without.

At the Boy’s Singles Final of the 1983 US Open, linesman Richard Wertheim was hit in the groin by a serve from eventual champion Edberg. Wertheim toppled backward, hitting his head on the court. He died in the hospital five days later of a subdural hematoma.

Sportoids showcases rare sport nuggets.
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The Blue Yonder

2008-05-05T02:00:00.001+05:30

Chelsea, after their 2-1 win over Manchester United (on 26th April 2008) are undefeated in 81 league matches at home since Arsenal beat them 2-1 in February 2004.

Their only other defeat since then, apart from a penalty shootout loss to Charlton Athletic in a League Cup match, was to Barcelona in the Champions League in February 2006.

Sportoids showcases rare sport nuggets.
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Boris Becker and the Stern cover

2008-05-03T01:08:00.009+05:30

German tennis star Boris Becker is no stranger to controversy.

In 1993, he and his would-be wife, model/actress Barbara Feltus, shocked the Germans by posing nude for the cover of Stern magazine, as a protest against racism. The picture was taken by an African-American photographer Harlan Feltus, who happened to be the latter's father.

Sportoids is a regular feature on sport nuggets.
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Five Super Flops At The Indian Premier League

2008-04-29T03:51:00.006+05:30

Presenting, the wet blankets, the party poopers, the bank balance wreckers, the Ringos to the Beatles.

Sachin Tendulkar out, Mumbai Indians down

He was in such good form in Tests and ODIs this season, it made fans smack their lips in anticipation of what Tendulkar could have done in the T20s. Instead, he warmed the bench while Mumbai Indians slumped to four straight defeats. There's time for him to get fit before he revisits his rivalry with Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, in the first week of May. But is it too late for Mumbai?

What Spirit of Cricket?

Signed by all IPL captains, the Spirit of Cricket Declaration was reduced to a farce by a stand-in captain. There could be some reason, but absolutely no justification, for Harbhajan Singh hitting a colleague on the field.

Worse, Mumbai coach Lalchand Rajput stood and watched the incident, doing nothing to restrain Harbhajan or console Sreesanth.

And f the allegations made by Mumbai's players were true, then Sreesanth too should have been booked for use of abusive language. All in all, it is an episode the IPL could have done without.

TV coverage that makes want to pull your hair out

Sony's coverage of the tournament has had us cringing, when not frowning upon their intrusive advertisements. The anchors keep fluffing their lines, often looking stiff and nervous. One of their interviewers once excitedly asked Anil Kapoor about his where his loyalties lay --- when the actor was dressed in a jersey that screamed 'Mumbai Indians'.

The commentary is unimaginative. Ravi Shastri can't think beyond "Tracer bullet" and "clean as a whistle" to describe a big hit. If we're lucky, he treats us to both clichés in the same sentence. His partner L. Sivaramkrishnan often sounds like he's on the verge of a cardiac arrest. The idea of wiring players flops too, with poor audibility posing problems.

Besides, each six is a "DLF Maximum Sixes Candidate", each good bit of play is a "Citi Moment of Success". No, it's not the commercialisation that is crass. It's the constant repetition of these phrases, which assaults the viewer's senses and kills all respectability in the commentary.

Also mention-worthy is the regular scoping of cameras up the skirts of cheerleaders. It is not only ill-mannered, it is unfit for family viewing.

VVS Laxman and the Deccan Chargers

This team has four of the most ferocious hitters ever (Symonds, Gilchrist, Gibbs and Afridi), the finest left arm seamer since Wasim Akram (Vaas), a promising jump-starter (Rohit) and a cool-headed captain (Laxman). Hence it's a surprise that the Deccan Chargers played four times before winning a game.

Before Sunday's win, they had looked listless and there were reports that the team wasn't getting along so well. They started the IPL as perhaps the best side on display. Let's hope Sunday's win isn't a flash in the pan.

Boring, one-sided games

What would have saved the IPL from the constant bickering from Test match lovers was some keenly contested cricket. Instead, only two of the first 14 games were stretched to the final over. In most of the other games, the results became too obvious after the completion of the first innings.

In this sense, the IPL brand of cricket has failed to be different from the predictable fifty-over format. Worse, when there's no national pride at stake, a dead contest would further take away a viewer's interests in a club-vs-club game.

Honourable mention: Two Test match specialists (and T20 misfits?), Rahul Dravid and Wasim Jaffer opened the innings for Bangalore in the first IPL match. Their run rate never got going and the home side folded up for 80 all out in a 140-run loss.

(This piece first appeared on NDTV).

Also read:
- Rants Of An Irate Mumbaikar
- Why Imran Khan Hates Twenty20 Cricket.

Rants of an Irate Mumbaikar

2008-04-28T03:01:00.006+05:30

Dekho Dekho Dekho Kya Hai Mumbai
Rukti Na Yeh Chalte Jaaye Mumbai
Haare Naa Yeh Jeete Meri Mumbai
Lakhon Ko Yeh Paale Aisi Mumbai
Bharat Ki Yeh Shaan Meri Mumbai

This is usually how my day begins, with Taufiq Qureishi's drums and Vijay Prakash's soothing vocals taking over the lyrics. And, if you ask me how it ends these days, "Oh man! Mumbai is a crap team, when we have Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, how the hell are we going to win matches?"

That’s not all, there is a burning desire to just take the next flight from Delhi, land into the newly-furnished Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport and drive straight to the Wankhede Stadium, don the blues and take the field. Even as I am writing this post, and Gilchrist is doing a Barry Bonds by smacking a home run every delivery, there is a resigned fate on the face of the Mumbai "Indians" (as much as anyone, I do not approve of this name). But, it’s now been four times in a row now and for a team that fetched the highest amount in the franchise auction, I must admit, it is turning out to be an investment in vain.

Where are the real Mumbai players?

Is there a connect between the city and the team? How can it be, when eleven of your local stars are plying their trade elsewhere — for example, a Mumbai fan has to take efforts to know who Siddharth Chitnis is, as it appears, nothing more than a rookie offie who hasn't done much to show.

Compare that with the more experienced Ramesh Powar, who is with Mohali these days, unfamiliar territory indeed for someone who's grown up on the docile wickets of Khar Gymkhana. Similarly, Ajit Agarkar — who might well be SRK's best budget buy, and Rohit Sharma, who was himself flummoxed when he was supposed to don the shade of light brown instead of the blues. And who do we have instead? People, who have no association to Mumbai, do not know the city's cricketing culture and even, the spirit of the city.

Harbhajan Singh, who seems like Tendulkar's best-mate after the great man saved his backside following the Symonds issue, and what do Mumbaikars get from the temperamental offie? A slap. Robin Uthappa, a Bangalorean is still okay. You then have an Ashish Nehra, who is still remembered for that one spell and his endless list of injuries. It was a big risk to take, especially on someone who hardly played any cricket all season.

A slap on the city’s cricket culture

Harbhajan Singh's slap on Sreesanth is not just a slap on Indian cricket, but a bigger slap on the city he's representing. Sachin Tendulkar, despite being provoked time and again over his career span, prefers to raise his bat and time it down the ground for that illustration we prefer watching over and over again. Cricketers in Mumbai might have their eardrums filled with "Bat and pad close together", but never with "Haathala Uthavun Kanakhaali De".

In the past, Mumbai cricketers and captains have always felt proud to wear the lion-crest, but this time the sudarshan chakra is flying where it is not supposed to. They ensured that with power and position, came a responsibility, a big one. Harbhajan, with his past carries no credibility in captaining this team. But when you're Sachin's best crony, things become a lot easier.

To blame this team for the depths of insipidity they have achieved would be a little too unfair, but even before things began on the cricket field, the auction room was where the mind-games were won. And to pick a team which consisted largely of Sachin loyalists wasn’t surprising but given that every team in this competition would have picked a winning combine — Mumbai lagged far behind on that front.

A cricket team or a large extended family?

They seemed adept in extending that large pampered family within the national set up, and at the same time picking some strange have-been choices in Sanath Jayasuriya and Shaun Pollock. The affluenza did not begin or end with Sachin Tendulkar, but almost seemed like an epidemic, when Harbhajan did not shy away from bringing down his buddies, Dominic Thornley (Harbhajan’s Surrey team mate) and Nehra. In many ways than once, it was a doomed strategy – one that lacked conviction and smelt of mediocrity at best.

On the leadership front, Mumbai were found wanting again. Tendulkar’s groin injury has not helped their cause, but it is his smart way of dealing with the situation that has. When Niranjan Shah, the BCCI Secretary, proudly announced that Sachin will not be fit for the Kanpur Test, but will play in the IPL – the buzz-birds had their final say. But, with four games in, Tendulkar has defied the worst conspiracy theorists. It was the moment for him to come out, and battle hard, but he chose to stay away to prevent further damage.

Too late to recover from injury, Sachin?

If not now, then when? If Mumbai are out of title contention by mid-May, will we be in a position to put up with the “He was preserving himself for the international commitments” crap? MS Dhoni, displayed better leadership when he chose to keep wickets to Murali and Jacob Oram despite a bruised finger. He meant business.

At the end of it all, Mukesh Ambani must realize that money cannot win you trophies. Money could have done something only if he invested it in the right players. Let’s admit, Mukesbhai, you were wrong this time. No one will remember if Mumbai or the then Bombay won 37 Ranji Titles, for it fails to match the aura of the IPL. Mumbai fans will ultimately come to terms with the fact that, their team was not built for winning, but to keep two men satiated.

(This piece is by Venkat Ananth. He blogs at Cricket Journal).

Also read: Why Imran Khan Hates Twenty20 Cricket

Harbhajan slapped 'abusive' Sreesanth

2008-04-26T02:17:00.014+05:30

Scyld Berry's prophecy has come true.

A fortnight ago, the Wisden editor had warned how high-profile, televised cricket events could soon witness on-field violence.

Now comes the news that Harbhajan Singh allegedly slapped Sreesanth during their IPL match on Friday night.

Several Mumbai players have spoken off the record against Sreesanth. They said the Kerala pacer was abusive throughout the game and it irritated them, as well as their captain Harbhajan.

PTI reports:

Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh and Kings XI paceman S Sreesanth were on Friday involved in a bitter row, following which the fast bowler was seen crying bitterly on the ground at the end of their IPL match.

Harbhajan allegedly slapped Sreesanth after the paceman said something to Harbhajan which offended the off-spinner.

The off-spinner however had a long chat with Sreesanth in the dressing room of the Punjab team and even believed to have apologised for his behaviour.

Sreesanth has confirmed the incident to Cricinfo.

HT reports that there are two versions to the incident.

An eyewitness confirmed to HT that Bhajji did slap Sreesanth. But there’s more than one version. One version said a friendly tap on Sreesanth’s cheeks triggered an altercation. Another said Sreesanth repeatedly abused Bhajji provoking him.

Harbhajan later turned up at a press conference and asked the questions be strictly on cricket.

Meanwhile, Kings XI captain Yuvraj Singh has trained his guns at his Punjab statemate Harbhajan, calling the incident "ugly and totally unacceptable."

It brings to mind Berry's words from the edit pages of Wisden's 2008 edition:

I fear the day is approaching when a high-profile, televised cricket match will see an outbreak of physical violence on the field - and nothing could be more injurious to all concerned.

Shall we say, welcome to the future?

It's not the least bit ironic that the two characters involved have had a history of flare-ups with international players. Now, they've taken it a level higher, messing up their own house.

Update on Saturday: The BCCI have issued a press release saying that Harbhajan has been suspended. The statement in full:

Based on prima facie video evidence as seen and reviewed by the match adjudicator and referee Mr. Farokh Engineer from the tapes provided by Sony & TWI. A decision has been reached to suspend with immediate effect Mr. Harbhajan Singh of the Mumbai Indians pending the inquiry into the incident on Monday, April 28th 2008.

The inquiry into the incident at Mohali in the game between King’s XI Punjab and Mumbai Indians will now take place at the Maurya Sheraton, New Delhi on April 28th 2008. A final verdict would be announced by the adjudicator Mr. Farokh Engineer post the hearing at New Delhi.

EyePL TV

2008-04-25T01:26:00.008+05:30

The Kolkata Knight Riders' website offers a hilarious take on the Indian Premier League through a cartoon strip called EyePL TV.

A sample:

There's more of this at the EyePL TV Archive

Sursuri Cricket Quiz—1

2008-04-20T08:08:00.001+05:30

Get your stance right, adjust the box, hold the bat tight and prepare to take on that vicious Sursuri. Here comes our first cricket quiz. Are you ready for it?

Before you proceed, read the rules and the Dummy's Guide.

Results and names of top scorers would be announced shortly before the next quiz, in two weeks.

What is your full name?

Which city are you from?

What is your profession?

What is your current age in years?

Which Test cricket-playing team do you support?

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An easy one to start with. Which batsman hit the most sixes in the last World Cup?

Born in Ootacamund, where his father was a tea planter, this cricketer was so named to give him the same initials as cricket’s most famous club.

If Allan Donald was called White Lightening, which South African was also known as Black Thunder?

Which stadium is known as “The Bullring” for its electric and sometimes intimidating atmosphere?

Who is the only New Zealand captain to have positive win-loss records in both Tests and ODIs?

Robin Uthappa’s 86 against England in the Indore one-dayer in the 2006 home series is the highest score by an Indian on debut. Who held the record previously?

This cricket ground was originally a lake which, it was intended, should be made into an inner harbour. However, an earthquake turned the lake into a swamp and the local cricketers, who had lost their own ground because of the quake, asked if they could make one out of the swamp – the permission for which was granted. Identify the ground.

Which England cricketer is affectionately known as Banger for his love of sausages?

Vernon Royle, The Mackinnon of Mackinnon and Tom Emmett were dismissed in succession by The Demon Bowler during the Sydney Test of the 1879 England tour of Australia. It was the first Test hat-trick. The question is simple. Name the bowler.

Here comes the Sursuri question.
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During the Second World War, this former England cricketer was commissioned into the Royal Berkshire Regiment and served with distinction in both France and India.

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On a scale of 1 to 10—1 being the easiest—how would you rate this quiz in terms of difficulty?

'I only value those who perform in Test cricket'

2008-04-20T07:50:00.002+05:30

Imran Khan would have been the ultimate Twenty20 hero, the embodiment of all that the briefest form of cricket stands for – allround cricketing abilities and a dash of glamour. Ironically, Imran doesn't look with favour at T20 cricket. He says it can destroy the skills that are essential to become a good cricketer.

Excerpts from an exclusive interview with Sursuri.com's Third Man:

What sort of impact will the proliferation of T20 cricket would have on the game?

Imran: If it's restricted to just a month in a year, the effect would be very limited. But if it's overdone, it will definitely impact the standards of Test cricket, which are already declining.

Not enough T20 cricket has been played, but One-day cricket has already taken a toll on fast bowlers because of the stress it puts on them, and due to the frequency of One-day competitions. The playing spans of fast bowlers have shortened. You just look at the number of fast bowlers who regularly break down. That's the stress One-day cricket puts on the bowlers.

Then the travelling it involves, and there's not enough rest like there used to be in my time… You end up playing with niggles, which get accentuated when you're playing if semi-fit. Now, if you increase T20, the quality will go down further.

And it will affect batting techniques too…

Imran: Well, one impact is that the batsmen have greater number of strokes – the sort of shots they play, we never saw in my playing days. On the other hand, the defensive techniques have been (adversely) affected.

T20 cricket was invented just to make money, and with big businesses getting into it, can it have a negative effect?

Imran: Money is important in cricket, but unless there is a balance, the game is going to be affected and it already has been affected by One-day cricket, especially fast bowling. Their careers have been cut short. And on top of it, if you have T20 cricket, it won't help.

Basically, it's not much of a test of a player's skill and temperament. It's basically about talent with a big element of chance in it. While it's a spectacle, people enjoy it, it's not a great test of cricketing abilities.

Put it this way – if a team wins a T20 competition, I won't necessarily consider it as a quality team, because any team can win such a short competition. Test cricket remains the true test of a cricketer.

Unless a balance is struck, and if Test cricket gets affected, then standards of the sport all over are going to get affected.

What could be the role of T20 cricket, then?

Imran: In 1989, I had recommended that T20 cricket be taken to America, because I'd played a few exhibition matches there. I suggested to Kerry Packer that we should have T20 matches in the US, and on TV, to introduce cricket to American audiences.

I still think that this is the best way to introduce people to cricket in, say, China and the US. But if you play it too much in Test countries, Test cricket will be devalued.

Would you have enjoyed playing T20 cricket?

Imran: I think I would have enjoyed it in the middle; players are entertainers as well, and when you have huge crowds watching you, of course you get into it. But I really value only Test cricket. Players I value are the ones who perform in Test cricket.

If you want to make a list of great cricketers, you don't do that on the basis of their One-day performances, you do it on the basis of their Test performances.

But people do want to watch T20 cricket, how can it be denied to them?

Imran: You can't put more value on what people want than on the quality of cricket being played. If you do that, people won't watch even 50-over cricket, they'll watch only T20 matches!

The man who never played a western shot

2008-03-01T22:14:00.012+05:30

Batting for the Empire: A Political Biography of Ranjitsinhji

Mario Rodrigues | Penguin | Rs 299

The dark sides of legends always make for interesting reads, as do the shattering of well-known myths.

For long now, the cricketing world has known, loved and revered Ranjitsinhji, the myth of the graceful leg glance overshadowing the cricketer and the person.

Mario Rodrigues in his new book explores Ranjitsinhji as a political figure with a looming presence in cricket, and in the process uncovers a man who fought on the side of imperialism and took his royalty for granted. The book opens with a chapter profiling Ranjitsinhji's cricketing abilities as a man 'who never played a Western shot' in his life. But its in the chapters that follow that the real essence of the book lies.

Rodrigues draws on solid historical sources to bring to light a new picture. The man who was popularly credited for being India's first magician on a cricket field was in fact a despot.

The Jam Saheb of Nawanagar took over the kingdom thanks to a friendship with the British. His lavish lifestyle was to prove too costly for his people, though, as nearly all of the tax payers money was spent on entertaining British guests at his durbar. As Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes, Ranjitsinhji advocated imperialism in the face of the growing nationalist movement, and did little for the people of his kingdom, even as he stayed away in London for most of his life.

The book is easy to read, and the language flowing, though the pace dips slightly. Rodrigues also succeeds in presenting the period where the book is set, the English-dependant princes and their excesses and their refusal to see a united India are facts we already know, but it still makes for an entertaining read.

Rating (out of 5):

Sursuri!

Ajantha Mendis — The Freak Turns It On

Of jocks and jokes

Sursuri Quiz 3 — Slay The Clay

Results of Sursuri Cricket Quiz 2

Curtains! The Summer Madness Comes To An End

Modi, the man with the golden touch — and a past

What's The Colour Of Money?

What would Ramadoss tell Warne?

The IPL Trophy and other monstrosities

The Men Who Sold Cricket

New & Improved! Sursuri Cricket Quiz — 2

Play Sursuri Quiz 1 on Facebook

Results of Sursuri Cricket Quiz —1

Lalit Modi checking out Preity Zinta

The batting record that isn't

The serve that killed a linesman

The Blue Yonder

Boris Becker and the Stern cover

Five Super Flops At The Indian Premier League

Rants of an Irate Mumbaikar

Harbhajan slapped 'abusive' Sreesanth

EyePL TV

Sursuri Cricket Quiz—1

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'I only value those who perform in Test cricket'

The man who never played a western shot

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