The Crimson Tide !!!! రుధిరకెరటం

Shubo Bijoya !!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 19:24:00 +0530

Sachin, For Heaven's Sake !!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 17:15:00 +0530

Sachin,

For heaven's sake, please promote Kieron Pollard to No-3 or no-4

I can’t quite understand the strategy behind keeping Pollard to no-6. Do you expect him to slog in the final overs? Man, he can do much more than slogging in the final overs.

Who is the clean hitter of the ball? Ambati rayudu or Kieron Pollard?

Who betters the unorthodox cricket? Juan Pablo Duminy or Kieron Pollard?

Who is the strong striker of the cherry? Sourabh Tiwary or Kieron Pollard?

Finally, if Pollard would have faced those 32 balls which Rayudu played, and could have been at the crease ahead of JP and Sourabh, see what difference it would have made to the score card.

You paid a whopping millions to get him on board, you gotto use him properly my dear friend. ICL is gone, at least look to retain him in the IPL-4 and use him properly. Promote him to no-3 or no4, give him enough room to work his magic. Even in the club stage cricket one cant start hitting from the first ball he faced, I don’t know where you are losing the trick. A player of his caliber needs more opportunities, more time to spend at the crease. One can’t expect him to steer the wonders with hardly 3, 4 overs to end. Oh no. Come on, the traditional copy book cricketing logic doesn’t work in T20 always sir. It simply doesn’t.

Its not the fielding that had lost you the game yesterday, it’s the strategy. It’s just because you haven't used Pollard effectively. One can’t even quite understand why was he not given more overs to bowl? One over during 16,17,18 and 19 instead of Bravo, Ali Murtaza and Zaheer would have seen a different result. I say this not as a fence sitter, but as an ardent follower of the game.

For heaven's sake, use him properly- One Kieron Pollard playing under Dhonis, Rickys and Jayawaradhane's of the world, shall be a destructive force, impregnable! Undoubtedly.

My Ideas to Chris Gayle

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:19:00 +0530

When I started scribbling this piece, West Indies (Windies) have lost to Sri Lanka in the first game of the T20 world cup Super-8. But now, it was just after the same team beaten India in the second of their super-8 game and kept their chances alive for the tournament.

However, I am gonna keep my suggestions and views intact despite their astounding performance today.

I strongly think there is a problem with the Windies batting order; somehow this Windies cricket team resembles me of Indian cricket team of 2000s. They rely heavily on the three heavy weights on top- Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, as much as the Indian Cricket team used to do on Sachin, Sourav and Dravid in 2000s.I feel that three main players on top is not a good idea in the shorter version of the game.

1) In the pursuit of quick runs on board if any two of the three fall, that is going to put on extra bit of unwarranted pressure on the youngsters to follow through.
2) Losing their most senior batsmen upfront takes experience out of the middle and lower middle order of windies and hence making them vulnerable in dealing with pressure situations.
3) And more importantly, neither Shivnarine chanderpaul nor Ramnaresh Sarwan batting style really helps them exploit the first six over’s fielding restrictions.

Instead of keeping three of your most experienced batsmen right on top and running with a risk of losing them early and exposing the considerably in-experienced middle order to pressure, may be it’s a good idea to spread this experience across the batting order and help them steer through the innings to the end.

I propose Chris Gayle may look at some bit of reshuffling in the batting order to leverage the experience and the technique of these two veterans.

To start with- Chanderpaul is not the right option to take on the fresh ball along with Chris Gayle, I don’t know what the idea behind it was, is he expected to play a sheet anchor role keeping the world's most destructive batsman on the other end. It’s a bad idea! You are forgetting those precious first six overs and most importantly to get a flashy and healthy start. You consider bringing back Adrian Barath or Andre Fletcher to the opening slot even looking at William Perkins considering his Champions League T20 performance is also a thought of worth.

One more serious mistake Windies has been doing is Keeping Kieron Pollard to the end of the innings. Mumbai Indians have done exactly the same mistake. Having Kieron Pollard on your side is only the half, while using him well will be the second half. Remember what happened in the IPL final, by time Pollard started pulling strings back it way too late, Pollard at crease instead of Ambati Rayudu, or Sourabh Tiwary or JP Duminy would have made a difference to the IPL final. Remember- majority of the SMS respondents had faith in Kieron Pollard that he can steer Mumbai to the victory even in the 18th over of the IPL Finals. The Audience, opponents, analysts and virtually everybody around the field seem to have confidence in Pollard except his captain.

Pollard should be in with at least 10 over’s to spare to work his magic-which makes him my obvious choice for 3, 4 or 5 numbers.

I see no place for Wavell Hinds in the team and also look at Darren Sammy only as a bowling all rounder. Replace Wavell Hinds with the next best specialist batsman/ batting all rounder in the domestic season perhaps somebody like, Darren Bravo- who is showing a lot of promise at the international level.

My proposed batting order for first 8 positions.

1) Chris Gayle
2) Adrian Barath or Andre Fletcher or William Perkins
3) Ramnaresh Sarwan or Kieron Pollard
4) Kieron Pollard or Ramnaresh Sarwan
5) Dwayne Bravo
6) Shivnarine chanderpaul
7) Darren Bravo or Wavell Hinds or any other specialist batsmen/batting all rounder
8) William Perkins or Dinesh Ramdin

Chanderpaul at no-6 adds a lot of depth and experience to the inexperienced lower order. Remember, Chanderpaul is also good at building formidable partnerships with lower order batsmen in the other versions of game. Sarwan being a genuine no-3 player may be used interchangeably with Pollard based on the situation.

All said and done- if Windies need to get going the big guns need to fire. Looking at their considerably weak and ineffective bowling attack, they need to lay more emphasis always on putting a healthy total on board and build pressure. I see absolutely no point in keeping players like Adrian Barath and William Perkins who are proven players at the international circuit and also played and performed against most of these folks at the CLT20, so bring them back as soon as possible.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Srikrishna Chintalapati

MOBO Ads in IPL-2- An Analysis

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Tue, 12 May 2009 17:38:00 +0530

One thing in world that I enjoy doing the most is Watching Cricket live on TV. Unlike many others, to me, cricket means not just a GAME but indeed a LIFE- A wanna be profession. And as you all know- as a MARCOM professional, I cannot withstand the tendency to attend and abbreviate each ADVERTISEMENT (AD) that gets played in between and thus ensuring a real band for the buck for my time spent on watching Cricket. I don’t know which inspires what, but I end-up reading equally into the mindset of the players as much as I do with each AD I get to see.

So, courtesy IPL-2, I want to hit the circuit with my analysis on one of the most popular and promising business segment today "The cellular companies-- MOBOs".

Firstly, being a citizen of India- The most Populous Democracy of the world and an acute and fast growing economy of the world- a mobile phone is much more than a necessary commodity. To put this in other (business) words- A lucrative and a most promising commercial market housing the people with world's fourth largest Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Which inevitably makes India as the Darling of the World's Marketers, especially, the mobile phone makers and network carriers, because, all you have to do is- selling to consumers who not only needs it but also capable of owning it. In Dhirubhai Ambani's words - Har Aadmi ke pass Mobile.

So what it translates to the AD world is- you have to sell your message to each and every Indian who is a current and prospective owner of a mobile phone. So, the positioning has to be a very clear and distinct that appeal to everyone in the target market.

Let’s look at the Positioning of the FOUR major Mobile Service Providers of India- Vodafone, Airtel, Idea, and TATA Indicom

Considering the significant number of prospective buyers in India already own mobile phones- now the objective is to "1) Educate them what all they can do with their mobile 2) To sell various Value Added Services which are designed keeping the individual users in mind.

Vodafone- Ever since, Hutchinson Essar has forayed into India, they have always been on the threshold of Creative Advertising Campaign for their products and services. They have handled the Brand identity Transitioning very professionally when they changed from Orange to Pink (when Orange quits Hutch Alliance) and Pink to Red (when Vodafone took over the Hutch).
If you still remember one of the early ads of Hutch with a kid and dog- Wherever you go our network follows, one of the most successful and creative AD campaigns. Both the caption and taking has been a smash hit, as even today, am sure you hear the tagline being quoted somewhere or the other. The sequel campaign with the tagline "Happy to Help" was again set the perfect example of MOBO Branding.

And today, Vodafone chooses the IPL-2 as a platform to launch it's new Brand Identity- The Zoo Zoo ADs. The objective here is to- carry the uniqueness of Hutch ADs yet establish Vodafone as an Independent Brand.

From a Vodafone's perspective a long term investment in building the Brand equity. I believe, the Zoo Zoos is a SUPER HIT idea. The taking of the ADs has been very simple, witty and clean. The Zoo Zoo characterization has been wonderfully hilarious as its tickling the funny bone of each soul that watching the AD. I am absolutely confident that this will boost the numbers by multiple folds in future.

Airtel- This time the story has been the other way round. Airtel for sure is the First Choice for customers when in terms of its connectivity, wide reach and customer service. But right from the day-1, they lacked the creativity in their advertisements & promotional tactics courtesy to their Fuzzy positioning.

This time, they hit the deck hard one more time with same (age) old couple- Madhavan and Vidya Balan. The ADs have passed their prime and now appear rather disgusting and distasteful. I don’t still know why still to bank only the On-Screen chemistry of the (Not So Young) couple to sell your message. Even if you want to do so, why the hell Maddy and Vidya, you have much better looking couple than Maddy and Vidya in Bollywood today, who recently did a lot of PR investment for gossiping around their affairs, Ranbir and Deepika, Kareena and Saif or even the forever young Bips and John. Even if you did so- why the hell only two messages (one message actually)... pyar mein Cut backs nahin hona chahiye, Pyar mein rukavat nahin hona chahiye.

My dear friend, please wake-up. Maddy and Vidya are no more a selling combo. And I am sure people are enough botched with the Tongue-in-Cheek comments and reactions between this couple. And you pouring such money for these ads in a prime time and high profile tournament like IPL is such a waste.

Idea- After running a very emotional and quite a successful campaign built around "What an idea Sirji" idea is now banking on the craze that built around the league stage cricket in India. Sure you want to make the most of being the prime sponsors of Mumbai Indians, but unfortunately no one in Mumbai Indians has the Charisma to carry and present the Brand in its perfect form. Besides, Mumbai Indians themselves looking very tardy this time round in IPL. I come back to basics "Don’t Lay all your Eggs in one basket".

TATA Indicom- What will Hello Hello do it your brand that Ajay Devgan, Kajol and Trisha (south states) couldn't do. I think again the history repeats, they actually claiming something which eventually they do not have, the network connectivity. Right from the day one- Tata Indicom failed to choose/convey what their target market is, and what their selling proposition is. I am not sure how the newly acquired Network coverage Infrastructure concept Works for them, when there is already an established opinion about their dormant connectivity. Tata Indicom although started the same time as others, somehow not captured the reasonable market share partly owing to its CDMA technology and not having the flexibility and portability of in-hand instrument.

That’s it for now, More later
Srikrishna Chintalapati

Aakasamantha ! All Over The Sky !!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 17:39:00 +0530

It is not a great movie for sure... Neither an interesting movie nor a rich movie!

But, it’s a movie that really moved me.. it thrown few emotions, evoked my ego, gave few alarming calls, caught me surprised, got me nostalgic and overall it set the tone for my journey ahead.. as a father, as a learner, as a teacher... enduknate jeevitha lo chala dooram vellali kanuka (as I do have a long way to go)

I will be quoting few quotes from the movie here in Telugu (with due translation in English) such that the theme and tempo are not lost.

The movie starts, steers and stops in an absolutely mesmerizing, picturesque and tranquil backdrop. The director calls its Ooty, and the lead role of the movie (Prakash raj) is a 50 year old estate owner married to Anu (Aishwarya) and has a cute daughter Abhi (eventually becomes Trisha)..Absolutely happy and joyous family with no troubles, hardships whatsoever .. one unique thing about this movie is ..everyone who is shown in the movie is good by heart, has no bad motives, no betrayal.. the taking of the movie is as soft and confortable as a stroll in the smooth turf on a cool evening with both hands in your pocket.

The movie begins as the lead role having a long quite morning walk, he is seemingly happy, stable and making the most of his every minute. There he finds Jagapati babu entertaining his (perhaps a two year old) daughter, pretending that he is as active as her and quitely accepting and succumbing to the acts of the aging body. The silent admirer and a felicitous spectator of this episode, Prakash Raj has a piece of advice to the tired man " ee vayasulo kashtamganu bharamganu anipinche ee panulu naa vayasu vachaka andamaina anubhavalu ga migili potayi" .. "these acts of strain and pain that you do today to entertain your daughter, will be left as sweet memorable moments of joy down the meory line, as you reach my age"...

"nenu ippatike jeevitham lo chala dooram vachesanu, kanee naa chinni abhi ni na chetulaloki modati sari teesukunna roju inka naaku gurthe, leta gulabi rangulo tana padalu inka naa kalla mundu kadultunnayi, gata jeevitham anta ninna, monna jariginatlu vundi" he looks back into his life. (although I came a long way into my life, I still remember the first day when I took my daughter into my hands, her feet as a pink as the soft leaves of rose are still in my eyes, it appears as if all this had happened just few days ago, as of yesterday)

The lead character takes this man through the early days of his daughter, how he had slogged to get her admission into school. The day when he leaves his daughter for the first time at school gate, and watched her go into the school, am sure it leaves a message for every young father. That will be the day, for your little one, to embark on a whole new journey on their own. From today have don’t have your full time visibility and support but a whole new bunch of little companions wearing the same dress as them and their fresh, little and impeccant baby steps to count on.

Another message from the movie is - As the baby turns to kid and kid turns as child and the child turns as an individual during the course of life, each of this development is packaged along with an unpleasant surprise more often SHOCK to you, the father. As narrated and replicated in the movie "when Abhi wants a bicycle and drive to her school on her own, he realizes she is no longer the kid, when she complains him of a love proposal from a fellow student, he understands she is no longer a child, but now a cute, attractive piece of material that has everything to steel the attention, when she explains him of her desire to do MBA in Delhi, he translates that it is a determined act of a grown up Individual, a quintessential contemporary woman. Who is, in actuality, his OWN little daughter!

But the movie fails to carry this essence as it progresses, the matured man, who can very rightfully advices his daughter to deal with an aspirant of her love, eventually backs out when she speaks of her love and desire to get married to the sardarji. And it was unnecessarily diverted into the elegance of sardars, dominance of moms, generosity of grooms etc .. in the end it comes back to give yet another meaningful message "when you saw your daughter/son, without whom there is nothing left in your life, is now loving someone as if it is the ONLY thing left in life, for sure, it hurts your ego. But you have to realize and internalize that this is a natural phenomena in the regular course of life. I re-iterate “Every development in the life of your little one is pre-packaged with an unpleasant surprise".

I am sure all you young fathers admit this- One fine day a cute little one from nowhere has made you a father. And keeps you immersed in a whole new world of excitement where every day is a new discovery. One fine day, you will discover the gap between the fast aging lifestyle of yours and the hyper dynamic evolutions of your little one. From now on, every day is a new discovery as well, but this time it just the other side of the wind.

And finally, I want to wrap-up quoting an exceptional reality of life from the movie. Oka kuthuru puttinappudu, oka tandri kuda pudatadu, konta mandi tandrulu kothurito pate perigi peddavu taru, kontha mandi peraga kunda alage vundi potaru". When a daughter is born, a father is born as well, few dads will grow along with their daughter, but few don’t.

What an Idea Sirjee !!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:50:00 +0530

In addition to watching and blogging about cricket, I do couple of other things to make a life. I am a Marketing Communications Professional; I live and breathe advertisements, creative campaigns, chasing customers, stakeholders and many other things that connect the entire gamut of Marketing & Communications to business.
I always get tempted to write something or share something as and when I get to see some good/creative ad some or the other uncreative piece of work that turns everyone off. Also, want to pen something about sensations, important happenings be it Slumdog millionaire or Elections 2009 or Traffic in Hyderabad.

http://whatanideasirjee.blogspot.com/ will be the place where I regularly post al my noncricketing blogs. Nevertheless, the same blog is replicated here with the Label "Generic"

Henceforth, I will be using this medium to air my views. My reviews on some of the ads we get to see everyday .. movie reviews .. So as usual .. tuned in and do post your viewes and comments ..we take it from there .....

Just to give a recap (for myself) ...here are the good bad and ugly ads I have come across .. when I get time .. I will surely post more on these ..
Good Ads:

1) Fight for kisses-- Gillette
2) What an Idea sirji-- Idea Cellular and Taj mahal Symbol of Love ..
3) hawells, wires that doesnt catch fire
4) Mentoplus ad .. kahn ja rahe ho sit down .. yehe aam zindagee
5) Airtel-- a kid crossing borders to play football

bad Ads:Ads some one can do more but its no upto the mark

1) Vodafone-- ab sab ko batayein
2) Max Newyork life- retirement AD.. Ab to tumhare liye joyo yaar
3) SBI-- a Banker for every India

Ugly ads:
1) Airtel series of hurrounding ads with madhavan and vidya balan ..it really used to suck
2) Sprite pee sprite ..
3) IPL ad for Kolkata knight rides .. Ouch what did you jusy do??

will post something omore at a later date ..

Let them say I lived in the time of !

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:18:00 +0530

If they ever tell my story
let them say that I walked with giants.
Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die.
Let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses.
Let them say I lived in the time of Achilles.

A stanza from my favourite movie Troy that is played on the screen when the body of Achilles-the Greatest Greek Warrior was being buried after death, few moments after the dealth of Prince Hector.

The story of the City of Troy is built around two fearless, invincible warriors- Prince Hector and Achilles, whose names and traits are echoed as long the infrangible walls of City of Troy are intact. These are the timeless characters that carried the legacy from one generation to the other. Cultures adulterated, Traditions ameliorated, Customs ruffled, Boundaries vanished, Men rose and fell like winter wheat -- but these names are still there. They represented the generations, they inspired the confidence, they enlivened the moments of pride, honor and esteem.

I will connect back to my earlier Blog (Why do I Like Sourav Ganguly?) (If you haven't read it yet, request you to read it right below this)
From 1992 to 2008....from a tiny andhra village to a metropolitan city... from Secondary Schooling to Software Marketing.... being guided by a "Poor Dad" to be able to guide my kid like a "Rich Dad"... as a small kid who understands nothing beyond scorecards to a True Cricket Aficionado today-- in my story, I had my memories associated with Sourav at ALL WALKS OF LIFE. 16 years in life and career I witnessed unrivalled correlation between the game and life. At each life stage, I was privileged to learn something or the other from the game, especially Sourav's approach to the game. In so many words- a simple thing-- "Am Grown-up Watching Sourav" .
As he takes his last walk on Monday, there will be a generation that looks-up to him with grace, thanks him quietly for the memories and perhaps few more extremists like me, may shed a tear or two. Because all along the way, for all of us-- along with cricket, there are emotions evolved, passions prevailed, spirits stimulated.
Sourav belongs to India as much as he belongs to Kolkata. And he belongs to the cricket world as much as he belongs to India. His class, technique and temperament will be remembered and adored by everyone around the world. The persistence and the character he demonstrated will be admired as long as the game lives. he has empowered the game, empowered the nation, empowered the cricket world.
And which is why, these names Sourav, Sachin, Rahul and Kumble they stay on forever, they will stay on the hearts of the mortals who grew-up watching them, who grew-up admiring them and the ones who gonna grow-up reading about them, hearing about them.
These men will carry the legacy of Indian cricket to the next generation. Cultures adulterate, Traditions ameliorate, Customs ruffle, Boundaries vanish, Men rise and fall like winter wheat -- but these names will never die. They represent the generations, they inspire the confidence, they enliven the moments of pride, honor and esteem.
And I am really lucky to belong to this generation.
And that’s why .............
If they ever tell my story
let them say that I walked with giants.
Men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names will never die.
Let them say I lived in the time of Sourav
Let them say I lived in the time of Sachin............::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Srikrishna Chintalapati

Why do I like Sourav Ganguly??

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Fri, 7 Nov 2008 03:52:00 +0530

I will start with a disclaimer -- I am not a BENGALI, neither am blessed like Sourav to born rich. while writing this piece, I promise you I was not influenced by anyone, I have not researched anything into what is happening, I have not at least visited any statistical website .. which is why-- the instances, whatever I quote in this piece are truly my OWN feelings, experiences, and reminiscences
..and everything is TRUE ..by heart

That was early 1990s, I was in my secondary schooling. I hail from a tiny Andhra village called Diwancheruvu, 4 Kms away from a tier-3 city called Rajahmundry. A village that is truly rich for its culture, tradition, fertile land and lush greenery that is inhibited from the patently picturesque Konaseema but sorely poor in terms of the infrastructure, connectivity, indigence and literacy. My dad is a true personification of the character "poor dad" as explained by Robert Kiyosaki in his famous book "Rich Dad and Poor Dad", one who does everything possible to make his son get more marks amongst his peers. Getting a daily news paper and making sure that I read everything that is in between the top most corner of the left hand side of the first page to bottom most corner of the right-hand side of the last page- is one such meticulous activity that he never used to miss in Kith and Kin.

While I do this, sometimes- cursing mostly crying I never used to really miss the last page of the news paper which always used to be the sports page and particularly, anything related to cricket. At the age when nothing really understood more than the number of runs scored by a batsman, scoreboard used to be the perfect hangout place for me to get all the excitement . While I do this, one name repeatedly used to grab my attention in the scoreboard with tons of runs in front of it -- called "Sourav Ganguly". As the time progress, my eyes queerly used to search his name in the sports page everyday.
It was winter 1992, India is combating the whole cricket playing nations to win the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Srikkanth as the opener, Azhar at No-3, Manjrekar and Tendulkar in the middle order and Kapil Dev to start the lower middle we always used to play the copybook cricket, start slowly, get steady in the middle over’s and accelerate in the slog overs. It was a chillingly cool early morning, when India was up against West Indies-and batting first. My mom was busy making a morning coffee in the kitchen, I was comfortably packed into a blanket that exposes only my eyes and some part of my face pointed at the TV. A middle order wicket goes, a young man steadily walks into the crease, the name of the lad displayed on the screen, I tried to read it with a drowsy pair of eyes.. to my surprise .. it was "Sourav Ganguly", I was shocked for a moment, excited for the next moment, elated at the end. He came, he looked around, for a moment my heart in the mouth, I wanted to see how he bats. He took stance, I understood he is a left hander, he was all set to face the ball ........the TV gone blank………power cut, in a poor Andhra village power cut was an everyday reality.

I read in the news paper, he got out for three and the next day he made some 20+ runs. But I never saw him again in the TV, frankly, I never thought why. Maybe, I was too young to get such a thought. Tendulkar stole all our attention as he started making waves across the cricket world., I honestly forgot about Sourav Ganguly, but the rigor and focus I saw in his eyes was still at the back of my mind.

As Tendulkar grown, and Kumble came-in, I too grown and so was my interest in cricket. We lost the 1996 world cup semis. A day when I cried out of frustration. And cursed everyone, Azhar, Sachin, Jadeja, Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad. I decided I will never watch these folks play again. Honestly, I goofed-up my engineering entrance which was JUST indeed few days away..

As my dad wanted (and I unsuccessfully protested) I took-up my Engineering in Mechanical. It was a truly scorching afternoon, also a tiresome posture in the bus returning from the college. I just overheard a lazy talk.."Yesterday at Lords, it seems our guys have done a great job- there were a couple of Young lads called Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly have taken the English bowling for a toss". What?? did I hear something interesting?? Sourav Ganguly??

I went back to home, picked-up the news paper, reconfirmed .. Yes --

Next day, I watched cricket match ..after quite a long time…
Yes again.. it was the same guy .. Sourav Ganguly . This time he is looking more in desperation, hunger and composure. I don’t know why, I like this guy, I want him to stay on for sometime. I love watching him bat....

Starting that day--I never missed a game, never missed his single innings. I did everything possible to make it happen- Hijacking my Neighbor’s TV to Stand next to a TV shop on single leg. I was into my second year, this month's issue on Sports Star Magazine was with Sourav Ganguly on title page -- "Tons of Runs". I tore that cover from the magazine of our college library and pasted it right on top of my wardrobe. I was now into my third year, it became a regular practice for my best friend Vasu to proxy my name in the college attendance register as long as Sourav Ganguly was at the batting crease.

I was in my final year of engineering, this time, our boys in blue were at England for the world cup. Again, as a poor boy with rich interest over the game- I got into a deal with the Innovision TV Dealer at Sankunthala Complex Vijayawada, for the entire world cup. I bet all my money on Sourav, to my satisfaction, he made 97 in the game against South Africa, A couple of days later, a match against Srilanka in Taunton. We started batting first, we lost the first wicket, Rahul Dravid Sourav Ganguly at the crease, Rahul started firing first, and the score board tickled over and over. 318 runs partnership till Muralidharan got Rahul run out for a generally nothing throw!. Sourav continued, Sachin gone, Azhar joined, he crossed 175 and I released my crossed fingers. A NEW WORLD RECORD. Now my hero will be there in the history forever, I JUST can't express my jubilance. He ended at 183, as true team man--although, he can easily go on to score 200 ..We finished at 373 and I started my marathon walk back to my room to share the excitement with my friends, I met my friend Imran(I don’t know where are you my friend, but I remembered you today) in the midway. He just came in, came closer, put his hands on my shoulders, he hugged me, he hugged me so close to his heart, he was exuberated so was I. He shouted on top of his voice in the middle of Besant Road Vijayawada -- "Boy.. I want to be in Calcutta(Kolkata) now I want to take part in the celebrations". Hearing this, few more joined us, lets do it ..we are no less either. We celebrated, we shouted ...... truly reflecting the spirit of India, at its peak, no contamination, Sourav belongs to India as much as he belongs to Kolkata. He is our man, he is our hero ..we don’t care where was he from, - today he empowered the game, empowered the nation, empowered the country, entertained the world, shown the world what an Indian is capable of -------- A personification of Power

I finished my engineering, got into my Masters in Business Administration. Sourav ODI run count goes 4,5,6,7,8 thousands and the number of cribbers about his attitude, temperament, politics increases ex,, e2x, e3x, . I made it a practice, to debate with the cribbers. I loved watching him play, the 100s he made against Pakistan, South Africa, Sri lanka and England. And the youngsters he discovered, Sehwag, Bhajji, Yuvi, Kaif, Pathan, Zaheer, Gambhir, Dhoni...

It was early 2003, I was into profssionl career, and our boys lead by Sourav were at South Africa for the world cup chase. Sourav at No-3, against Netherlands--a fantastic century that rekindled the spirits in the team mates. Sourav Negotiates Thomas Oboyo to get us into the finals.. Rest ……..Lost …

And there comes Sourav's Downfall, as a batsman-- he lost his sheen, he started succumbing to the pressure, till the time he discovered a new master called Greg Chappell and made an exceptional 144 at Gabba, Brisbane. When I heard Greg was the new Indian coach I frankly thought " Perhaps!Sourav still has a say in the selection"

Well ---- We all know what happened later. The most awful episode in the Indian cricket to the best of my knowledge. All Complaints, Conspiracies and Camarillas.. Sourav was dropped unjustifiably from the team that’s playing against Sri Lanka … And all of a sudden all his cribbers raised their voices.. I was Deprived, Demoralized and Humiliated .. This is, incidentally-a very interesting turn in my life .. I decided .. NOT TO BE A FENCE SITTER .. And allow everyone to take a ride on Sourav .. I sharpened my pen .. I networked with like minded folks, I took advice from the game veterans .. I started Writing .. I started researching .. I started using Stats to bring out the facts .. I even started spying ….. And I quickly recall & thank all my fiends who helped me collect 1000 signatures from Bangalore technocrats in support of Sourav to come back into the team .. Prashanth, Kalyan, Kishore and Madhavi ..

But all in vain, Sourav was made to sit 18 Months out of the game .. Meanwhile, Rahul completes 10000 runs ..

It was December 16th 2006, a big annual event at my workplace, while Sourav playing his comeback innings at Wanderers South Africa. I was training the Anchor of event and rehearsing the key corporate messages we want to enunciate in the evening, in between switching over to Radiomirchi-98.3 FM for score updates. I heard, Sourav completed 50 .. I don’t know what I did .. But rest of the evening, everyone around me were energized and so was the event …

It was a fantastic feeling watching him score 98 in the first ODI after comeback. I still remember Ravishastri-- while presenting the man of the series “ this award means a lot to you, Sourav” ….. Yes it is .. A True warrior never gives up ..
9th December 2007, Incidentally .. Another event at workplace .. Sourav at Bangalore, when he came in yesterday, it was 69/4 or something .. Then Yuvi and Sourav took Pakistan to task .. I was in the middle of the crowd .. Sitting normally with headphones but doing abnormal things .. everyone started aking me .. Sri! Kuch problem hein kya ?…My friend, went one step ahead .. Dactor ko bulavoon? ......30 mins later .. I shouted, I screeched .. Wow .. Man .. Sourav completed 200 …….

Within few weeks, I heard that he was dropped from the ODI side ….. I wanted to protest again .. But honestly, this time, I was tired. And so was Kolkata, no more effigies, no more protests, Bengal was silent and so the Nation …. I confirmed .. NOW WE HAVE GIVEN UP!

Exactly, a month ago, on a quite evening at the office canteen. I saw a news clip scrolling, “This is My Last Series- Sourav”. I understood, it’s the moment. Its all over, ALL OVER ..

18 long years in life and cricket, I bear these memories right across the timeline, at “EACH STAGE OF MY LIFE”. Honestly, I don’t expect more. As a small kid who know nothing more than scorecards and runs to a TRUE CRICKET AFICIANADO today-- It was a truly exciting journey.

Thank you very much Sourav --- For all the memories , the courage you shown to look eye-on-eye with opponents, the youngsters you groom who are all set to take the game to the next level. From the Independence Cup Finals at Dhaka to the Bare Chest Euphoria at Lords Balcony. From an Offside God to Successful captain. From a classy square cut to fiery lofted shot over mid-off…the tantrums you shown to touches you thrown… everything .. Everything touched our heart …stays in our heart, our minds, in the spirit of the game, in the passion of the game…We love you .. We all ………

As you walk into the sunset on the eve of 10th of November 2008, blushing over the wishes, cherishing these memories and bearing these changes, harboring the humiliations….

We wish you a health, wealth and lots of time to do the things that you love doing the most ………..

A Personification of Power !!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Tue, 7 Oct 2008 17:50:00 +0530

Do you know what all it takes to face the power ????

Source: http://broadband.indiatimes.com/

It’s the same aggression, It’s the same focus, it’s the same courage, it’s the same fearlessness, never short of words, never looked back, never scared, never defeated .. yes truly .. never ever defeated ...

He stands high .. he walks tall .. he makes big .. he lives forever .. as long as the field.. as long as the ball .. as long as the bat .. as long as the game ....as long as the love for game

Thats Sourav Ganguly for you !! A TRUE PERSONIFICATION OF POWER !!!

For all you know or (don’t know) ..I trust.. the game is JUST not over .. it just started ..........

Srikrishna Chintalapati

Keep tracking this page for more !!!!!

Changing Colors of Game !!!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 12:11:00 +0530

Just want to pen a quick thought having seen the IPL stuff.

In a mere nut shell -- AAHHH ... I love It .. I am loving the each game played each ball bowled this summer... It's a fantastic feeling... A real treat to watch,

What made this tourney Sooo special??

1) It's been a fantastic exhibition of Quality Cricket, where players are bringing their best in each game ..
2) Irrespective of nation, cadre and experience we are able to see players complimenting and collaborating each other. For example -- Ricky Ponting Congratulates Wridhiman Saha after a stupendous catch at eden gardens. I don’t think ever in his life time, the young lad would have imagined standing next to the legendary Ricky Ponting.
3) Young Guns are all set to make the difference, take a look at Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, Sangwan likes... It’s absolutely brilliant to give this folks a chance to perform at this level .. who has shown some promise and did establish themselves
4) A strange yet innocuous feeling for these legends.. Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Chris Gayle, Stephen Fleming, Mahela Jayawardena.. I want to quote Arun lal . "for a moment Ricky Ponting at slips .. Joins his hands to energize his boys and all of a sudden realizes that he is not the Captain of the day :)"
5) If I were to agree and emphasize with Guru Greg for the first time .. " It's not the Iconic players, nor the super stars .. its the lads on the other level who is going to make the difference" which is seemingly true as we see Pragyan Ojha, Dinda, Shikar Dhawan ... likes making a Real Difference for their respective teams
6) We now know what money makes... (Sorry to sound harsh) -- we now saw how Micheal Hussey, Shane Watson, Gilly and Kallis can turn things around .. Which they never done for quite some time wearing their national cap
7) This tournament unearthed spectacular opportunities for Iconic players to Perform, demonstrate and re-establish... If not anything else, . At least gratify their zest to play on the cricket ground ..
8) In many words and many ways.. This tournament going to excavate astounding talent pool and bench strength... by far and perhaps keeping the perennial problems of Indian cricket, at check ..
9) Very lively atmosphere all around the ground... Which essentially adds an element of glamor to the game .. none the less, the cheer gals and their performances --
10) The opportunities it brought forth to build brands and get the tremendous bang for the buck: The Nokia, Relliances, Spice, Kingfishers and DLFs on the ground .. Vodafones, Max New York Life, Godrejs, Hyundayis off the ground .. good work ...
11) Above all -- here is a game -- that has no politics, no captaincy woes, no bookies, no limitations, no favoritisms, no reprimands... I want to quote Citicorp Chairman Mr. Walton Wriston ..." The Solution to Scandals? Simpler Rules”- The Wall Street Journal, August 5, 2002.
I don’t care who wins ... who loses, it's an unique feast of quality play and entertainment .. A grand regale of Antics and Strategies... a grotesque celebration of game of cricket .. yes .. all set .. A NEW ERA OF CRICKET HAS JUST BEGUN".

It won’t be fair if I end this piece without the mention of two things..

1) The credit should, undoubtedly, be accredited to Mr. Subhash Chandra for being the pioneer of this concept and Mr. Lalit Modi for fabricating such a lucrative revenue model out of the game ..(I am researching more on this revenue model.. keep watching I am gonna bring forth some astonishing statistics soon)
2) I am keen to watch Guru Greg as a designated commentator for the game between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders on Thursday May 8th 2007.

Disclaimer: With due regards to Traditional Test Cricket and ODI… here I just tried to highlight the entertainment aspect of the game and the way the game is changing colors. It’s inevitable that we may invite this change, which is, in so many ways … Present and Permanent.

---------------------------------Srikrishna Chintalapati

Buckenered and Bensoned !!!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Tue, 8 Jan 2008 11:27:00 +0530

---------------------------------Srikrishna Chintalapati

Thanks to the media that never sleeps, journos who never fag, news readers who never stammer, a network that doesn't break. Me, just like any other cricket lover of India, is in receipt of this voluminous uproar, outcry and outburst about being “Bucknored and Bensoned” on the eve of second cricket test match at SCG. And that gives me yet another opportunity to bring forth my paradoxical perspectives right here.

Happy about everything-- Ricky sucks, Symonds stinks, Hogg sulks, Bhujji rocks, RP Rules, Kumble meditates, Dravid is Bucknored, Sourav is Bensoned. Oz is playing with 14 players, India is the only team to exhibit some sportive spirit, and poor umpiring prompts a serious penalization!! Yes, Thanks for everything, great inventions!!!

There are many views floating around, Gavaskar was seemingly furious, Ravi Shastry was visibly tempestuous, Harsha goes one step ahead and says " In my next life, I would like be Andrew Symonds - when you batting, ball nicks the bat and still you are alright, when you bowling, ball doesn't meets the bat still you get a wicket".

True, umpires have defeated India. Incompetent umpires need to be fired out of ICC elite panel. Our 11 heroes are as insurmountable as they are on any given day. Wasim Zaffer did a great favor to team India by scoring 3, 0 runs in two innings, Rahul Dravid did a great job by scoring 93 runs of 44 overs, Sachin fought very hard to throw his wicket again when needed, Yuvi is impeccable, Dhoni is exceptional, poor Sourav tough luck, VVS is unfortunate. Agreed!

Why are we not talking about Ricky Ponting dismissal in the first innings? Why are we not referring to the repeatedly declined appeals for Sachin, Sourav and Rahul? Why do we fail to recollect Dravid being caught on a no-ball time and again? Why can't we consider Dhoni getting caught and given a not out? Why can't we notice the huge hollos and fierce expressions of Kumble, RP, Ishant, Bhajji,. Why don’t we pity the state of an umpire among all this nonsense and their raising blood pressure minute after minute?

Why can't we have a miniscule element of empathy, compassion, understanding for this 61 year old seasoned young man, a true cricket aficionado, standing in his test match of a triple digit number, one of the most experienced & respected member of the elite panel umpires, serving literally the ‘mandatory hour’ of his cricket career! Why can't we look beyond his unusual aberrations? What must have triggered this? Is he going through a bad phase in personal life? We all talk and make noise about player burn-out, isn’t it true in case of an umpire? When a machine it self is not 100% precise, what’s with a human? When we can still warrant and live with errors in software code written by a SIX-SIGMA black belt, why are we so intolerant at this aged, exhausted, ardent servant of the game?

I understand four errors in a single game may be a little too much to accept, when three of them against the same side there is something fishy out of the invisible. But how much sure are you that the simulations are telling the truth? Snickometers are substantial? Commentators are perfectionists? Technology is invincible?

Let’s think this way! Are these opportunities gifted only to Australia and not to India? Symonds is lucky, agreed, what do we say about Brad Hogg’s 79, Brett Lee's 59? How about close to 300 runs they added to the total? A story ranges from 134 for 6 to 463 speak volumes about the character of the team, their physical, psychological and emotional strength & maturity to handle the pressure, isn’t it?

Dravid was unlucky! Right! But how many of us agree that he can build on the innings and make a big score from there? How comfortable was he on the batting crease? He got out actually and almost in all the innings for a no-ball, and still we agree he was unlucky? Leave alone Sourav, UNLUCKY Dravid, what happened to Yuvi, Dhoni-- who not only likes to ‘bat with each other’ also ‘to be gossiped about the same girl’ ! We spoke a lot about Michael Clarke's reaction after his dismissal in the second innings, then how about RP Singh's reaction after his dismissal, how about Ishant Sharma's reaction?

Finally, in a game that lasted for FIVE complete days, engulfed with so many twists-in-the tale, encompassed everything from spatting to sledging- opportunities have egressed, coherently & consistently. The best team made most of it; where as the other team was so busy in searching stimulus & scapegoats to enshroud their inefficiencies. And they successfully coined two brand new snippets to the contemporary cricket world—confused??? You are Buckenred and Bensoned!

I reckon a golden proverb mentioned by one of the great tragedians of ancient Greece
-- "Chance never helps those who do not help themselves “—Sophocles (496-406 BC)

A Tribute to Brain Lara

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Tue, 15 May 2007 04:03:00 +0530

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: by Srikrishna Chintalapati

A famous line from Mr. Harivansh Rai Bachan's poem reads like "Mitti Ka tan, Masti ka man-- (yahin) mera parichay" (Body that made up of CLAY .. Heart which is full of JOY and that completes my Introduction).

I couldn't put better than this—a very appropriate recapitulation struck my mind at a flashy speed, as I was watching the live press-conference of Brain Lara. As my heart and mind were full of grief and warmth, a heavy heart, teary eyes, an astonied mind, now, for the moment, refuse to move even an inch 'on' ; the insane and errant body repeatedly makes unsuccessful attempts to get tangled back into my television set; only one voice echoes and accompanies my lonely emplacement in my room "Remember me as some one who gone out there and tried to entertain".
D day has come, the legend retires, the master calls it a day, a genius adjourns. BRIAN LARA--the synonym of West-Indian batting, the run-machine, and the soild southpaw will no longer be seen in the International circuit. One short of his 300th ODI game, but never short of love, admiration from millions of fans from all parts of the globe.

A momentary ad-lib gesture at this 5 feet 6inches torso can get no great feels or perceptions but rest of the man does. Sharpy and shrewdly looks, inspiring yet refutable thoughts and tantrums, a high backlift, a strange stance, a bent right knee, brawny limbs, closed fists, eye on the ball, perfect timing and the ball flashes to boundary. Persistent hamstrings, over weight woes never been able to ebb him, though the team dynamics, financial ails, management politics did a bit.

Lara, 10th of 11 children, hailed from the banks and true beach sands of Trinidad and Tobago, moulded at clinic of Harvard Coaching, did accumulate runs and apparently big scores both at the first class and international levels at an unimaginable pace and poise. Implacable footwork, impeccable technique and immaculate adept of the game made him a superstar. Massive totals and torrent of runs not only a fortune, indeed, an essence. Constant denials of victories to strong opponents, single handed up-lifting of the game, standalone match winning ability- made him a CUT ABOVE Sachin and all other contemporaries and audaciously 'The World's Best Batsman'.

His 17 years of floundering was never at any point appeared to be a cake-walk. Plausibly enough, one moment of jubilance was always followed by an inexorable upheaval. Troubles, turmoils and tribulations did create more noise than the loud applauds he heard across the stadium whenever he clears a milestone. He lead the dying horse, threatened his own crew, entreated his own crowd, admonished his arch rivals-- some times, one at a time .. but most of the times .. all at the same time.

Perhaps, a messy run out may turn an ostensibly "emphatic" victory into a narrow defeat, a slump in form put an end to a perpetual vigor for runs, it can't take away the memories he gave us, the courage he shown, the flamboyance he executed. At the end, he is the winner, he won our hearts, and he held our dreams-- A TRUE ENTERTAINER

Ending was bad, yes it was. But wasn't that the unpredictability component of life all about ?? after all, it's a simple surprise that life really obsessed to throw at him. Thankfully, no articulation! Just a happening: Let’s not worry about the sort or state of farewell he got. A little above the kernel, it's all part of game, it's all in the spirit of the game.

At long last- it's a parting, a farewell, the road ends, you like it or you don't --it ends, finally.

Let us wish him a very happy, peaceful and successful post retirement life. Who knows, this could well be a new beginning.

After all, life is oxymoron.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Srikrishna Chintalapati
(Sorry folks, I know I am late .. but too many things in life circuit ..too little time for blogging)

10 Reasons for Team India’s Declination

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 13:47:00 +0530

by Srikrishna Chintalapati

At this hour of deprivation, most of us undoubtedly are not interested in any sort of painstaking introspection. As a sincere lover of the game, I have decided to take some time to think through what went wrong and how can we renovate this? This article gives you an acute overview of ‘what went wrong’ from a 360 degrees perspective. Here are the 10 major reasons why team India had bumbled in the world cup.

1) First and foremost - Captain: Because, leadership often commands more than being NICE!

As I have been calling and cribbing for a long time, the fundamental problem with Team India is this fundamentally inefficient captain. I am one among millions in the world who unanimously agrees that Rahul is "A nice guy (who couldn't finish first), I stand corrected he can never ever finish first.

My dear friend, leading a side does commands more than being NICE, I am Irrefutably confident to throw out a statement- "Good 'people/resource' managers in this world are NEVER nice guys, not at least in CRICKET". Let me recall this sentence from my earlier blogs .. “He was unclear, unstable, uncomfortable and unsecured by virtue of which we were outplayed".

2) Coach: Hard nosed Control Freak!
I am not one among the plenty to irrationally blame the captain and coach after each defeat. But this time, I do. I do it with logic; I am doing it for a right reason. Remember, the photo appeared in all news papers after the first test victory in South Africa. A semi circled posture of Rahul and Greg with their arms crossed and thumbs-up. When one can nemine contradicente to assume the recognition for positive things, negative things are damn no different my dear!

Two years, several millions of money, everyday media appearance, dreadful controversies to raised middle fingers, assaulted journalists to assailable open slaps, leaked e-mails to flaming SMSes, experimentation to blame games, Irfan at no-3 to Dhoni at no-7, nothing, simply NOTHING had worked. Why do we need him here? What else is left to destroy? Reasons are clear, if we still have someone supporting Greg to renew his contact, it just that they are afraid of yet another leaked e-mail.

3) A period of darkness and ignorance: “A Time when everyone flaunted No fear-No failure that’s Team India”

Starting Sri Lankan visit to India mid of 2006, followed by England visit- a period of unimaginable foolishness started in Indian Cricket. Chief architect of this period was Mr. Kiran More with his venomous tactics and lousy tantrums.

Team India had a new captain, babbling and blenching youth crusade, a couple of series wins over effete opponents in the home baked pitches and we have a millions of Indian cricket fans going CRAZY about "No fear, No failure & that’s Team India. Everyday in news we have one or the other cricket pundit thankfully esteeming Team India, its new captain and it's new found treasure chest. Be it a team meeting, a press conference, a one-to-one interview, a news paper article, it never ends without the mention of World Cup. I still remember, even Sehwag with his hard earned (learned) wicked English, mentioning "v r no looockin two win d world cup, Sourav Ganguly is 4gotten istory".

That’s exactly when everything had gone wrong. We are so self obsessed with ourselves that we forgot to improve upon our weaknesses

4) Personal agendas: Just like everyone had a role to play, every one had a goal to reach

Each one in Team India has a personal agenda of his own. Rahul wants to complete 10,000 runs, win overseas and at least get a couple of one day wins more than his predecessor such that his winning percentage looks good and he could be most successful captain. Greg has two fundamental objectives 1) To keep Sourav out of the team 2) Not to forget the 1st objective. Kiran more wants to make money through business nexus, Sharad Pawar wants to gallop Dalmiya. Sehwag wants to work on his in English, Srisanth wants to compose music, Yuvi wants Page-3 coverage, Zaheer wants flying kisses, Dhoni wants more hair and more ads. And so on.

5) Differences: Two power centers within the team

Clearly, there were two power centers in the team. One does what Greg asks them to do and the other does exactly some thing that asked not to do. Sourav who meant for his personal favoritism is never going to stay calm once he finds his way back into the team. Incidentally, he needs no establishment as he has his own crew of boys. And as I stated earlier, (here), differences did perilously fire right back at the right time.

Don't you think there is something else behind loosing 15 and odd ODI finals in the last 3, 4 years apart from collective failures on the respective day??

6) Planning: Too much is too bad

We started preparing the team for World cup 24 months ago, and by the time it kicks of none of the team probables could make it. Those who managed to crawl are down with injuries. Round the clock cricket & rudimentary domestic circuit. Slow pitches, weak opponents and back to back series crowns. Too much of money, too many strategies, too many expectations, too loud applauds and hence too embarrassing desolation.

7) Media: And it’s ‘guns and roses’

Undoubtedly, media has it’s lion's share in this downfall for portraying the players as 'Achilles and Legends' with domestic wins & as 'Clods and Chokers' after the oversea defeats. The comparisons and equations have been as volatile as our stock markets, as irrational as Bangalore climate as uncanny as saas bahu series'. Media had illogically manipulated the expectations in public with lead to insurmountable pressure, & a complete collapse.

8) Lack of commitment: Grab the right one!!

If ever- any player, any official, any level-headed master of the game in Team India would have taken a good look at our itinerary before the world cup, he would have known that ours is the most competitive group with three test playing nations. One would have easily guessed that any slippage in the first game - a virtual end-of-road.
None of the players seemed to have zeal to start with, we beat Bangadesh in most of the encounters we had, and we beat Sri Lanka 8 out 10 occasions in the last 18 months. Yet, winning in right matches at right times is all what matters.

9) Strong and vindictive opponents: It’s your day make it large!!

As stated in my last column, we have two our old true friends coaching our opponents in the group. Who were comprehensively outweighed by Guru Greg earlier? Apart from that, of late we started beating Sri Lanka as easily as drive through Mumbai- Pune express way, it's celestially clear that given a chance and gifted a day Lanka want to gobble out the whole Team India.

10) Corporates: Hoo .. Haa India !! & Ab har ghar mein Sachin

Last but not the least, a little uncricketing reason, yet has got a lot to do with this wrecking. Take a good look at amount of money spinning around any "Brand X (Team India Player)", the traction that it creates, the visibility it brings. They are simply too many, since we don’t have such a multifaceted laddies yet in Team India, all this boils down to a thorough devastation if not anything else.

:::::::::::::::by Srikrishna Chintalapati

Tale of Three Veterans!!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 18:04:00 +0530

By Srikrishna Chintalapati

Some and 20 and something months ago, three veterans of the game, determinedly, ambitiously fought ‘tooth-to-nail’ to get selected for a profession that is - most respected, most challenging, most celebrated and highly lucrative, called “Coaching the Team India” (along with couple of other insignificant competitors), namely- ‘Dave Watmore’, ‘Tom Moody’ and ‘Guru' 'Greg Chappell’. We had a Whiz-kid council to evaluate them, which consists of handful of ‘Indian cricket well-wishers’ who often makes appearances in major commercial sports channels and throws out irrational cerebrations. The council seemingly had a tough job of outweighing one contestant with the other and zeroing on one, who in turn, expected to strategize and drive the Team India to unreasonable heights, for time being, WORLD CUP-2007 .

Firstly, the wise men assembled in a luxurious and expensive Five Star Suit. Systemized a hypothesis and formalized a process of evaluating the contestants, then, called the contestants for an initial ‘face-to-face’ session, followed by a presentation to explain their vision and strategy for ‘Development of Team India’. Media, as always- collected, collated and communicated each moment of this exercise and kept everyone updated from time-to-time.

A set of cricket enthusiasts, Journos, and analysts, opened their laptops and calculators and all major cricket statistics websites. Meticulous forecasting reports and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis reports, followed by synthesizing & analyzing the pros & cons, assumptions & presumptions, rants & raves, hues & hooplas had come out with simply too many speculations challenging the basic conventions of permutations and combinations, which I was taught earlier in school.

Most of them failed but couple of them clicked. The council of whiz-kids had selected Greg Chappell as a new coach to Team India. And here comes the reasons -- Moody lacks PASSION, Watmore lacks PASSION and for Chappell, coaching weighs somewhere above the profession- ‘it is his PASSION’.

Well, as usual, cribbing kicks off- few said Chappell is expensive and speaks only money, few said- Sourav had his mark again, and rest murmured he is arrogant and manipulative. However, the Whiz-kid council and BCCI were in no mood to take a step back as they were sure that they made this choice IN THE BEST INTEREST OF THE GAME. Adding to that, they were enamored by some assuasive, technical and angelical terminology such as 'EXPERIMENTATION, SCHEME OF THINGS, GROOMING YOUNGSTERS, FITNESS REGIME, SOLDIER CAMPS, YOGA, MEDITATION, COMMITTMENT TO EXCELLENCE etc ...

As the new coach takes over and so many nasty episodes follow and Sourav ecstasies into darkness for whatsoever inexplicable reasons. And Indian cricket started seeing flowage of lots and lots of PROMISING TALENTED YOUNGSTERS such as Venugopala Rao, JP Yadav, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, RP Singh, VRV Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Wasim Zaffer, Hemang Badani, Jogindar Sharma, Peeyush Chawla(none of them made to the World Cup) ... At this juncture, rather amidst this turnaround, Team India had seen some dramatic changes, as IRFAN turned All-Rounder, Dhoni and Yuvi turned game finishers, Ravi Shastry turned as a third party endorsement in every day media, Sunny Gavaskar turns Strategic Advisor, and RAHUL emerged as a proud owner and savior of this treasure, A CAPTAIN, A LEADER, A GENIUS.

And, above all... The entire CRICKET WORLD in INDIA then started revolving around "THE WORLD CUP".

On Friday, 23rd March, 2007- A sunny, warm evening in Caribbean Islands, all these strategies, vision, planning and propaganda headed to a heavy-hearted abeyance as TEAM INDIA now comprehensively defeated by two unrestrained, energetic teams trained by "Dave Watmore" and "Tom Moody"- our old friends, the same disdained contestants we underweighted against Guru GREG.

Now, let’s take a holistic view- whom should we blame? The whiz-kids who selected him? The crowd that cheered him? The players & officials who supported him? The captain, who worshipped him? The board, that trusted him? The media, which heralded him? The Journalists, who endorsed him? The country, that paid him? The bureaucrats who would help him to renew the contract again??? ………………. Think …Think ……and Think again ….

I leave this question to you!!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Srikrishna Chintalapati

World Cup-2007, a prognosis analysis

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Sun, 4 Mar 2007 04:48:00 +0530

Srikrishna Chintalapati

Less than 10 days to go and the players and officials of contestant nations have pulled up their socks, geared themselves up for yet another exhilarating experience in the Caribbean Islands, as the world getting entrapped and entangled into this Olympian cricket excitement, here is a thoughtful forecast of how things could perhaps, shape-up in the forthcoming tournament.

While, assessing the result in a cricket match is as impractical as foretelling the future, I believe, that one can explicit the prevalences and instances to arrive at what could potentially be the final result. Considering all the test playing nations- my expected teams to reach out to the Semi Final are Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies. It could be any man's game thereon. Bisecting all rants and raves take a quick look at the insightful analysis of each of these teams...
Australia: DOWN but not OUT

All said and done... there has been too much of speculation. Whether they make it or they can’t? Brett lee's absence gonna stuck them? Will Symonds come back? Can Clark perform again? Will McGrath shine again? Some body say's yes, while many of us respond ‘probably not’. What I feel is, inevitably, YES...

I am sure Australian batting attack armored by Ricky, Gilly, Hayden and Hussey is going to be as insurmountable as ever and the bowling department lead by McGrath, Stuart Clark, might catch a couple of slaps initially, but going to turnaround at a right time and at right moment. Fielding is going to as immaculate as ever and no doubt in spite of not having few big-wigs, this is the team that we all should watch out for.

Australia could certainly be one of the final contenders of this world cup, but getting it there again highly depends on how Ricky, Mathew Hayden and rest all bowlers do on D day.
New Zealand: Vibrant, Confident and raring to Go!

Here is a team that never in the history of cricket had a Sachin Tendulkar, a Sourav Ganguly or any other equi-hyped celebrity and neither an expensive and EXPERIMENTAL coach nor a lucrative and alluring yearly contract system. On any given day, those 11 best fit players, who represent this country, perhaps all they know is to play with the team spirit, live up to their best on field, give their last ounce of energy to bring home the victory.

Black caps are well equipped with batting resources handy all-rounders and a knowingly dreadful bowling attack. Stephen Fleming with the bat and Shane Bond with the ball plays a major role if the team need to cruise through the finals. The team's major strength is again going to be their evidently impeccable lower middle order.

Had I wrote this article a month ago, I would never have picked this team to reach the semis. Owing to their current form, I wouldn't be surprised if this team runs away with the trophy.
South Africa: Thwarted by "THE REAL THING"

A bunch of fearsome fighters but cheeky chokers would get yet another opportunity to earn more sympathy than they ever did in all previous world cup tournaments. Again ‘Proteas’ will play an implacable game right through the tournament until they collapse due to a factor that is out of their locus of control (THE REAL THING) on the judgment day.

Mark Boucher, Ashwell prince, AB Devillers and Justin kemp might hold the credits for bating departments, while Pollack would again going to be the kingpin of Proteas with the ball. While rest of the teams busy making strategies to negotiate Ntini and his swingers, it would be interesting to see if Gream Smith survives those good length over pitch deliveries being shot at him or still prefer to make more noise with his fizzy comments. Kallis and Gibbs would bring forth a lot of experience and variety to the batting but at many of the vitals times they prove themselves to be liabilities to the team than of any value.
West Indies: "Unpredictable Underdogs"

I might sound weird, but am sure this is going to be the team that one would like to bet as much price as they do with any other best team.

Lara & co heroics & demonstrated virtual obliteration of Team India, which was, at that time, flying 2 miles above cloud-9 with all their cricket kits full of jubilance resulted out of the eradication of a couple of debased teams, is still not blanked out. The way a set of promising youngsters navigated their team to the finals of ICC Champions Trophy is still hulking at the backburner, the team west Indies is getting ready for yet another encounter at their home at conditions which are more familiar to self than any one else.

Although, the recent match-fixing hullabaloo did create a couple of hiccoughs, it is expected to create no harm to Windies cricket and show no derogatory effect on the overall moral of the team as 1) BCCI won’t probe too much into it, as there is a potential hazard of losing support from Windies board which is essential for them to grab the power at ICC 2) Marlon Samuels is any way a proven heavy duty liability for team west-Indies at time when team needs him to perform.

Their chances of winning are extremely dependant on how Sarwan, Chanderpaul, Lara and Bravo reacts to the challenges thrown at them, how many times will Gayle gets the blessings of almighty on a particular day and how many times does Runako Morton, Samuels and Ramdin justifies their daily share of bread and breakfast. However, it's quite inspiring to watch promising fast bowlers like Jerome Taylor, Powell and Bradshaw, trying hard to re-instate the West Indies glory of generating horrific pace battery overtime.
Sri Lanka: "Leading the way to LET-GO"

This side has everything, except the zeal to win. One thing that separates this team from 1996 Sri Lankan team has been their instincts and their fighting spirits. Ranatunga lead (by example) Sri Lankan team had put down extreme spirit of fighting and sweat down enormous energy levels to clinch the title. While Jayawardene lead Lankan side reeks of killer instincts and seemingly not interested in winning as it was made clear from the recent matches.

Sangakkara, Jayasurya, Jayawardene, need to, and ONLY need to do a lot, if they want their team to win. Handy and enthusiastic alrounders Dilshan and Arnold are sure going to do their bit as they did always, which is again not enough to get them there. It's due to watch how players negotiate Murali and Vaas, however for sure that Fernando, Maharoof, Bandara and others going receive a 'rub-a-dub' drum beat.
India: Thank you, Greg! Thank you, Rahul!

While, the team is unduly divided by groupism, favoritism and selfish motives, the differences going to perilously fire right back at the right time.

Let me write down the perceptible reaction of a media bewitched common cricket lover of India, post world cup. ..

Pakistan: Scandals, Beatings and a Bit of Cricket!

If ever, there requires a live example of digging their own grave, one should look at what has happened with Pakistan cricket for the past 3, 4 months and what's going to happen for next couple of months with in Caribbean islands.

Inzy had faded out, Yousaf has been charted out, Younis can not win matches and Kamran can not take catches. One smacks the coach and other wants to bang the spectator. The bowling department had an embezzlement to sustain and fielding had a serious embroilment to refrain. Certainly, this is not the team of Bob Woolmer standards, can't represent a nation that hosts the likes of legend Imran Khan, Wasim Akram either.

They have to do a lot to survive in the tournament, although, if the big guns fire and young folks supports it's not that difficult as it appears either.

England: For a Change! Call it Bad Fate!

A bunch of proven, branded and esthetically embossed underdogs of the tournament. While, no one including English team captain expects them to win the trophy, it's more than uncertain that whether one get to watch them win few games.

The side has few talented players to count on. Collingwood is being one among them, extremely energetic and vibrant young cricketer, unfortunately, made a very wrong choice to host his career here. Flintoff had banged the team standards to extreme abysms, being ably supported by Strauss, overly hyped Kevin Pieterson, Cook and rest...Vaughn had little or nothing to influence or do; bowling department had a series of serious fumbles and nothing great to say in fielding apart from Collingwood again.

It's interesting to see what England does post world cup. It's evident that if they can’t recuperate and re-instate the redolence of cricket in the nation, chances are that they never get there again. They need a severe turnaround and at a very short time. Finding the replacements for players like Tresocothik, Darren Gough is not easy, On the contrary, while you have dozens of county teams playing round the clock cricket, it's doesn’t seems to be that difficult.
Bangladesh: Make more out what you receive!

I am sure they want to and going to give a strong fight before loosing out in the tournament, one should watch out for a couple of match winning performances from the players like Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Rafique and Mashrafe Mortaza.

I am not surprised, even if they start their worldcup campaign with a win against their enamoring neighbor.
Zimbabwe: Comprehensive Chaos!

Little said is better said about this side, as they themselves need to figure out where collectively the cricket in the country is heading, and how to come-up with an executable strategy to keep the game alive in the country and the team itself, in the beholds of world cricket watch dogs.

“This is Sachn's 5th world-cup; if time permits we could see him bat in the next world cup also. He stood next to making another history, but, pzzz, not really there. Dhoni should have been given much heavier bat, I think Dravid getting too much into his own shell. It's too early to expect Greg Chappell to produce results, we should give him another 4 years and allow him to do more experiments, show all his rest 9 fingers to crowd, command hefty remunerations, get the media coverage everyday and finally get off from everything saying " I can't be true in India" .. I think the serious problem is with Sourav Ganguly, Viru Sehwag, Yuvi and Bhajji, they didn't do well, they come late to field, they faked injuries. they had Devil-May-Care attitude and we have lost. ...”

Rahul Dravid going to come up with a couple of positive take aways as always and Greg Chappell throws out of a couple of statements, sulking over either experience or youth which is purely solicited and subjected to the situation that particular day. And rest. left to Ravi Shastry and Sunny Gavaskar to fill-in the blanks... The Indian cricket wiz kids...

Nevertheless, Mandira bedi's cleavage & Siddhu paji's rampage are all set to create yet another mockery.

SHOULD WE STILL CALL IT CRICKET ?????????

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:43:00 +0530

Thanks to Guru Greg! Rahul! Kiran More! Manya Shri Sharad Pawar ji & a bit late to join the party, Vengsarkar ji !!

No surprise at all!! Just go back to the archives ! Try and recollect what all of us have been screaming, sulking, hollering and crabbing all these days. We did anticipate this downfall... we did caution this diminution... we did communicate this calumny... we never got carried away by all this brouhaha...we won plenty of enemies... we earned ignominous malediction.

And here we are. The bubble burst... experiments are back-firing... groomed youngsters are now poaching... suave leader flunking... Guru Greg is gasping... where are you Mr. Kiran More? Thank you very much...

All said and done. I will not talk any more on what went wrong. We all know that few shameless species of Indian cricket have materialized their personal agenda at the cost of our emotions, demolished our self respect against their veins. But what kinda embracing to my woes is “are these men not ashamed?? Are they not god-feared? Do they not have an infinitesimal respect for the nation?? An atom like to accountability to this blue billion for who cricket goes beyond the blood, nerves, life, fun and daily bred butter...

If at all these extroverted, insane, unblushing and braindead blighters ever bothered to do a paltry piece of introspection at this dire hour. This time, for a change, keeping, the nation, game and profession on top of their favors, prefers and senile they wouldn't have made yet another ludicrous decision by sending this kooky and whacky VVS Laman to South Africa.

It's clearly evident, that Guru Greg has sullied the basic doctrines of Indian cricket those kept us alive and active in the game since ages!! And we just got an enlightenment of the basics of cricket, which preaches us to reinstate the experience when the stage is all set for the virtual obituary of our heroes, the multi billion brands, at overseas bouncy tracks. As always, when it comes to experience, two names pop-up in our mind-- Sourav Ganguly and VVS Laxman. But what intriguing here is the how and why the later become an obvious choice compared to the former??

1) Sourav is a proven one-day performer. Tons of runs, load of records and innumerous match wining performances will add up to it. Of course, excellent batting record against South Africa in South Africa is an astonishing credential to his profile. Almost certainly, no contemporary cricket lover would ever like to compare VVS with Sourav at least in the ODI format.

2) Sourav got 10, 123 runs in 279 ODI with 40.65 average including 22 centuries and 60 half-centuries at a strike rate of 73.79. VVS got 2338 runs in 82 innings, with an average of 31.17 including 6 centuries and 10 half-centuries at a strike rate of 71.26.

Now tell me, in who is superior here, in terms of, a) Number of runs scored b) experience c) Number of centuries d) half centuries e) strike rate f) bating average

3) Here are the statistics of Sourav performance against South Africa in South Africa-- 9 matches, 9 innings, 1 century, 2 half centuries, 391 runs at an average of 43.44 (In fact, it's one of the best performance by an Indian player in SA).Where as VVS played ONLY one match, faced 10 balls, scoring FIVE runs before getting caught by Ntini in the bowling of Lance Klusenar.

4) Sourav has played 7 ODIs on Indian Soil Vs South Africa where he scored 370 runs with one century and 3 half centuries with an excellent average of 61.67, where as VVS has NEVER FACED A BALL IN INDIAN SOIL FROM ANY SOUTH AFRICAN BOWLER YET.

5) All of us know Sourav can bowl a bit and could be very handy in South African conditions where pitches relentlessly exercise seem and pace. His gentle medium pace bowling can definitely compliment the pace and spin bowling tracks and brings more options and variety to our bowling attack... We all know where VVS stands when it comes to adding value to the team as a bowler.

6) Lets consider their recent form before Guru Greg has written them off! Sourav played 44 matches and scored 1156 runs where as VVS played 27 matches and scored 866 runs in their last two years of international cricket that is in 2004 & 2005

7) Let’s compare the performance of both in the recent the domestic season...

a) Sourav played 3 innings in 2 matches and scored 159 runs with one century and an average of 53.00 in Duleep trophy, where as VVS has played 4 innings in 2 matches scored 113 runs with a petty average of 28.25
b) Sourav has played and tried to prove his form & fitness, with a little or no success in the Challengers Trophy 06-07 where as VVS pulled himself out of it with a hamstring Injury.
c) Consider other series’ we never miss out to understand that none of them had outplayed the other.

8) Team India now desperately lacking a good opening partnership. Having tried many combinations with Wasim, Rahul, Sehwag, Gambhir with Sachin, no wonder to say that Sourav’s Left handed bat would be a perfect fit to the bill. Which would not only be a most appropriate opening partner combination for Sachin, which also can take on the pace bowlers in the first 15 overs? Of course, both of them share the laurels for being the best opening pair for India.

9) Laxman apparently agreed in an interview that he is not a correct fit into the scheme of things for ODIs in Team India as far as the dynamic fast changing game demands are concerned.

10) While, these simple and little facts raising apprehensions about VVS Laxman's fitment measures for the ODI side & tackling the African challenges, one can never decipher the OBVIOUS reason for his selection overriding the most treacherous and prolific batsman of One cricket ever, Sourav Ganguly. If we have any heartfelt graceful for Sourav, lets feel sorry for him... “He is the master of this format of the game and he is not being allowed to take part in the game ... Just because of PETTY POLITICS”...

Now think -- Do we still need to see some more evidences to understand this tricky, wily and knavish treatment of BCCI towards certain players? Do they not have any selfish motives and obsessions behind this?? All this is happening for team benefit?? Is this a way to protect the values and beliefs of the one (blue) billions cricket buffets?? Do we still believe that cricket is a team game?? Should we still respect our think-tank as immaculate honkies of all time?? Should we still stake our blood, nerves, and lives to stand-up and cheer-up this bunch of vicious and venomous thickos ?? Think again ……………..

And above all!!! SHOULD WE STILL CALL IT CRICKET???????

:::::::::: Srikrishna Chintalapati

A simple way of undoing Noodles !!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:42:00 +0530

(Rahul Dravid rings up to Greg Chappell)

Rahul Dravid: Sir, Chappell Sir ! I want to prepare a cup of Noodles for today's breakfast
Chappell: Hey Rahul ! How are you !! How co-incidental!! Just having a sight at my sidewall and "The wall" had called me !!
Rahul: Sir, Chappell Sir, It's my pleasure!!! I need your advice for my noodles venture.
GC: OK, Beta !! now first thing to do is " draw a game plan !! Define a strategy with clear goals and objectives !! I will take care of it, don’t worry !
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! You are great sir.
GC: OK, Now please proceed to the city market to buy a pack of Noodles ! Please call-up Kiran More. He is good in selection!! Make sure that the pack of noodles fits into ‘our scheme of things’!! Also don't forget our formula of "Grooming youngsters"
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! lekin Noodles & how youngsters !!
GC: Lookout for something that is fresher!!
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! Ok, Sir !! I am leaving now...
GC: Haa !! Rahul !! Also ring-up Dilip (Vengsarkar) !! He needs some guidance for selection process!!
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! Sure sir

At City Market Bangalore:
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! I am with More Ji & Dilip ji in City Market, Bangalore. Looking out for Youngster noodles!! More Saab had few doubts !! He wants to discuss with you
GC: Shoot !!
KM: Hello Chappell ji !! Kaise ho aap !! There is a brand here that has come from Kolkata !! What is your take on it?
GC: Hey Kiran !! Well, u know my take on that part of India right? Or you want my middle finger to do the talking?
KM: Haa haa !! Right ji !! There is another brand here from Baroda, which has gone to Australia for some final patch-up and come with a lustrous packaging, I am taking it!
GC: Well, you doing it right!! What Rahul Gotto say !! Just check with him, of course he need it at the end of the day!
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! I agree with you !!
GC: Rahul ! Also involve Viru Sehwag and Mahindra Dhoni in making!

At Rahul's kitchen
RD: Viru ! So long I was enjoying whatever my predecessor makes! I don’t know how to take it from here!!
VS: Chappell sir se pooch lena !!
MSD: Abe !! Don’t talk about predecessor with Chappell Sir
VS: HAAN!! dontu ask himm abot dat persoan, just askim ho to mek Noodis !

RD calls-up Chappell

GC: Yeah ! Rahul !
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! More sir gave me good pack of Noodles ! I have also called-up Viru and MSD, we are not able to figure out know how to use this
GC: Very simple beta !! Switch on the speakerphone, ask veeru to take these minutes and document them in Hindi, we need to train other boyz Bhajji, Yuvi, RP and Raina
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! sure sir,
GC: MSD ! Now the whole game plan lies with you. You need to use your POWER to break these Noodles into small pieces of 1 CM each.
MSD: Theek hein Sir !! Breaking is my passion and I trust only SPEED!!
GC: I know, I know !! Only thing is your fans doesn’t know, what say Rahul!
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! I agree with you !!
MSD: Chappell saar !! I broke them now what !
GC: Rahul ! Now fry them on a pan with low flame !
Viru: Chappal jee !! I theenk we ned to boil water forst !
GC: I know ! that’s traditional way of doing ! But we are now Experimenting!! We will fry the noodles first and boil in water later
Viru: I dont theenk dis wil workot sir !
GC: Viru ! We have defined a role for you ! Do it with perfection, involvement and concentration don't distract yourself ! What say Rahul
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! You are right sir, I agree with you
GC: Yeah ! now keep the flame low and fry them !
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! If this experiment doesn't succeed, I am afraid of aftermaths
GC: Don’t worry about that beta ! Actually, you know? You should learn to be shameless but pretend to be Impervious!
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! You are right sir, But I am still afraid! Already (Ravi) Shastry started cribbing!
GC: Don’t care him, he is jealous of you as you are still performing at 33, where as he made himself history @ 33
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! You are great sir ! Now I will proceed to the frying pan.
GC: Hold on Skipper! Let youngster take the challenge. Give it to MSD
MSD: Chappelll sir- actually- vo kya hein ki !! I have some opening problem
GC: You would learn from your mistakes Boy !

After 2 mins
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! It's started ashing!
GC: OK, I think MSD is failed to deliver! Lets give next chance to Viru
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! What should I ask him to do?
GC: Ask him to put that in water and boil them together!
Viru: Chappell saab !Ho much water?
GC: Vice- captain! You should learn to take some ownership ya ! Put water in 1:1 ratio
RD: Viru ! zyaada sawal poochchoge to Chappell sir ko gussa ho jayega!
GC: If you guys are not able to deliver we have so many youngsters being trained in myway I need to look at them
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir !I agree with you !

After 1 minute
Viru: yeak kya hua yaar !! it's come-up nat eetabul
GC: I think, we need to move on ! It's high time for us to lookout for a replacement for Viru ! I shall take the onus of locating a dynamic CHAP from CHAPpell way.
Viru: Rahul! Kuch Bol na yaar !
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! I agree with you! We should move on, that’s called sport! We don't need people whose own problems, whose own worries spoil the spirit of the game !
GC: Rahul! don’t get verbose without checking with me OK?
RD: Sir, Chappell sir, effective this moment I forgot English!
GC: OK Guys ! I need to leave now !
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! Please carry on! See you soon !
GC: SO, Rahul and MSD the learning for the day is ‘simple way of Undoing Noodles’
RD: Sir, Chappell Sir ! Yes sir, I agree with you
MSD: I agree with Rahul
Viru: starts to say .. haan haan yaar , I wantu agree with Dhoni .. But no one hears that as both left already!!

!!! End of another chapter!!!

And all we have in our team are heroes!!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:41:00 +0530

Well done India, Tough luck Lara. All in the midst of this prideful triumphant I might sound a little too much like a spoiled sport. For all you flying on high on the sense of relief having seen the abysses of one-day series, it may not be preferable to read further.

Just to summarize, an outing of 45 days, a bunch of experiments, followed by a humiliating loss. Then comes the realization, filling the gaps by reinstating the experience, unreasonable tantrums, and unexplained outlines. All putting together first win in 35 years, first major series win in 2 decades, and first win after 1971 and Anil Kumble is 35 years old. However, we did it again. Right from the moment the luckiest captain of India won yet an other important toss, which at that moment sounded more soothing than hearing that Wayne Rooney and Beckham collectively warming the benches, somewhere away from the action.

Let me recall an extremely wispy and shadowy reminiscence, which I was mush obliged to capture from an ubiquitous media coverage quite some time ago, Sunil gavaskar was celestially motivating the boys as his voice resembling an irradiate emerging slowly and invariantly through window of wisdom saying “guys, you gottto win this time, if you can not win this time, you can never win again”. Not sure how many have seen this, but, I believe this has made an impeccable impact on the way the series was carried on. You may not need a degree in statistics, perhaps, to decode this. 15 best bets grappling up with the phoxinuses of the world cricket at the moment, who were comprehensively bereaved at all walks of the game. And foretelling becomes much easier and glamorous than rapid fire round of ‘Coffee with Karan’.

All this is fine, what seriously perplexed me was what made this victory special and followed by the overly tawdry jubilance going around. Being affiliated with a bunch of statistics like first victory after 35 years, first victory after 1971 first major series win away from the sub-continent after 20 years, one wicket away at Antigua, 3 wickets away St Lucia, his 100 has made difference, his 200 has done all the trick and this and that……

Is that so?? Is this a major achievement?? A great series win?? A flamboyant performance ever?? A fantastic display of cricket?? Excellency personified?? And all we have in our team are heroes??

Those all says, why not!! Your option is still open. For rest, I would say, “it is an unpardonable disparity virtuoso”. Ask me why???

Do all remember the clean sweep in Zimbabwe about an year ago? A series that has unearthed the nastiest episodes ever in any professional environ. A series in which a couple of forgotten men of Indian cricket have tried their last bit of luck to make an impact. A victory that has been overshadowed by the discombobulating aftermaths. A fugitive rejoice that was assassinated by inexorable statistics egressed as it was up against perceptibly forsaken underdogs at no-8 of the world cricket. And those who got themselves fabricated to the most southernmost parts of the ranking tables for more than a decade. Yes, agreed, the win deserves nothing not even a momentary recapitulation at this delirious hour, at least.

One year has passed since, and now we have cleverer think tank ever. A most formidable leader who not only 'performs' but also ‘wins tosses’ and ‘LBW appeals’, when needed. A more aggressive coach, who experiments more than Albert Einstein. A more conducive environment where anything against it, can be handsomely made as a history. An infrangible supply chain that starts right from Baroda and leads to Australia and takes a U turn from Australia and finishes right in front of the gate of Indian Cricket team. Most magnificent strategies those can encompass ‘remarkable underarm’ to ‘over the wicket’. And exceptionally lucrative yearly contacts those can at least help them not hang-on for the sake of finances tomorrow, if the need be.

But what kinda gravelling me unfathomably is why at all this ballyhoo has boiled down only to a wacky 49 run victory against a team that is scrambling pathetically for the survival of the game in it’s own country. A team, which is unceremoniously beaten up by almost all tidy cricket-playing nations of late. A side, which is so precariously bankrupted as it cannot provide full-time contacts to their own team members. A team, which is ruthlessly ruled out of any home advantage to be given. A team that is cowering miserably at petty number 7 in ICC cricket rankings. A team, which is just one rank ahead of the most depleted Zimbabweans, whom, we, of course, gives a damn of the dead at any given point of time. I repeat, Just ONE RANK AHEAD of Zimbabweans, crushing whom, credits nothing.

And finally, here we are. The experiments, so called suave leadership, tons of remunerations, merciless selection policies, utterly exaggerated 'scheme of things', diligently built brand identities, retrospectively composed media statements and intriguingly auditioned team compositions have finally earned us a goofy 49 runs victory, for which we should be very grateful and obliged and gotto be loyal to the captain and rest of the team for at least a couple of series’ to come. These simple statistics, elementary analysis helps us understand that all this extremely apocalyptic when compared what they achieved without all this brouhaha. Period.

And of course, there are more to be added to this befuddlement? No one knows a reason why the windies selection squad has ignored Lara's pleas to select one genuine fast bowler? Why the home advantage was completely ignored at the crucial parts of the series? Why did they drop Dave Mahammod and made them handicapped of one genuine spinner in the team?? Why there were 5 LBWs in the Windies second innings?? Why Pedro Collins was given a chance almost after one year of no international appearance?? Why Fidel Edwards was completely forced out of series, when it was just a minute hamstring strain?? Why at all the vitriolic Antics of young Sreeshanth were continued to be ignored???

And there are few more surprises. Remember blaming the lack of experience when team was consistently outplayed. Observe this, half of the team members deployed in the game for India on any given day were with more than 100 ODIs and 50 tests experience individually. On the contrary, half of the West Indian team members capped on any given day have not even played as many matches as equal to the age of youngest Indian lad capped in the same match.

May be a good time for us to recollect the famous quote of Navajot Sidhu “Statistics are like bikinis… what they reveal is suggestive, what they hide is essential”. While, our heroes are very busy signing new ads, building new brands and making new friends, numbers will do the talking here.

And finally, here is a much-deserved “short cut to fame”, just win the first game and the last game of a month and a half series. You are made as a celebrity by fire.

And all we have in our team are heroes!!!

Mr. Skipper !!! Get a Life !!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:40:00 +0530

Way back in early 1600s, there lived a philosopher by name 'Rene Descartes'. Who thought something phenomenally unnatural to come-up with a most respected and debated philosophy called "Methodical doubt"; to address the uninterruptedly unearthing plethora of questions he was facing in the search of 'The perfect thing’.

At first, he thought of inventing the fundamental cause of any experience, in the due course, there is another doubt aroused as what is the stimulus of this cause. From there on, he went on to think about the actual thing that instigating all these events. Which is, in other words " The real thing". Which is believed to be the cardinal of these phenomena and upon knowing which everything else can be implied. Going forward, the mystifier started spreading it's roots deeper and deeper to overwhelmingly bewilder him. While, it could not help him solve the basic puzzles laced around the laws of nature and the oppressively hypothecated "The Real Thing", served to excavate an exceptionally prodigious philosophy called "Methodical Doubt". A philosophy, which virtually doubts everything including their own ‘senses’ to ‘thoughts’ and up to the ‘existence’. A philosophy that persuades one to, not to accept anything unless emphasized with a genuine amount of certainty. Yet, the fundamental cause for these phenomena was almost seemed impossible to decipher.

Unfolding the enigma, ‘Rene Descartes’ finally interpreted that there is an unknown Demon that deceives one’s senses and is capable of comprehensively bulldoze the entire thought process. Engulfed by the Omnipotence of the Demon, one pretended to go against his own mind and trust everything that enforced on him by the Demon. He concluded that the unidentified Demon is nothing other then "The perfect thing", in other words, "The GOD". The theory, as a whole named in Latin as "Cogito Ergo Sum" I THINK, therefore I AM).

Although, the theory was utterly faulted and virtually ruled out by almost all of his philosophical contemporaries and their enthusiastic counterparts. It has done some good to the mankind, as it at least evoked a couple of fundamentals those embodied the strong foundations of Modern philosophy.

Be it the way he looked so clueless on the field, or the way he deployed his resources in the game, the way he struggled as fish out of the water, the way he let things go, the way he ran between the wickets, the way he shuffled the batting order, the way he fielded, the way he chased the wide balls, the way he gave away the winning runs to Ramnaresh Sarwan and the way he came out with comments after each match, our skipper masterly rendered a much deserved, though delayed resurgence and revitalization for this Cogito Ergo Sum theory at his best.

It ostensibly testified that he was never comfortable. He was in doubt. Doubting virtually everything, right from giving the new ball to Sreeshanth or Agarkar, to keep 2 men or 3 men in the catching positions, to take power play now or later, should I catch this ball or not, to open or not, to send Raina or Dhoni at no-3, to play yuvi or not, youth or experience ...oops ...the list is end less...Clearly, he was in two minds. One says right the other says left, one prompts do other suggests don't. One shows the way the other digs a hole, one woo's in vigor and the other boo's at the boner.

My suspicion was reinforced by hearing his comments after the second one-day, saying “Sachin and Yuvi’s 450 matches of EXPERIENCE was missed”. I guess, it's not even a month since the last time we heard him saying "we are building a team for the future, grooming youngsters for the world cup". Which has not only catalyzed the demolition of a thinly ray of hope that remained in a couple of connoisseurs but also accentuated his increasing faith on youngsters. Which clearly, he, him self had opted for and also a slice of strategy on which " THERE IS NO LOOK BACK". If grooming youngsters has been the foundation on which the rejuvenated Team India has been uplifted, then what is this disenchantment up to????

Secondly, I am quite confident that our skipper is aware of the fact that more than half of the players of our side are with more than 100 matches experience each. And he, him self is the most experienced warrior out there of the two teams. If we still feel experience is missing, then, emphatically, he must not only be doubting his own men, also his own self. By declaring these statements he negating with the ontological fundamentals of his own thought process. Perhaps, to a significant degree, veily, within him self, there should have been an unobtrusive debate between his mind and body. In short- he is in a "Methodical Doubt".

Over and above, trust me, all these actions, are just the descendants of this cyclorama. He was unclear, unstable, uncomfortable and unsecured by virtue of which we were outplayed. It's a high time for him to get engulfed by "The Perfect Thing" and get enlightened. While doing this, He must, rightly, keep telling to him self -" Yes, I think; I am still in the game; I can still think about it; I can feel my thoughts; As only the living things in this world can get the thoughts; I am still alive; yes I am;……………………… I think, therefore I am.

Mr. Skipper……………… Get a life ...............

Couple of Analogies of this story, were inspired by the following books of Rene Descartes 1) Discourse on Method 2) Meditations on First Philosophy.

Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, Therefore I am)

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:39:00 +0530

A STORY THAT NO ONE WANTS TO READ !!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:38:00 +0530

Well, here is a story that no one wants to read. No one wants to think over. Something, that has passed its sell by date. Something that cannot make any difference. Something that is as normal as normal can be. On top of it, if ever there has been a wrong time for any author to bring out his/her story, I would say, this is it.

The fact is, nobody wants to look back and brood over the events that have seduced him or her to poke into. This is a time the team India flying high on the wings of success. The ostensibly panoptic white washes of debased opponents, have earned a virtual cloud-9 for our cricketing barons. All is well with our Captain, people are with him today, and he has been cuddled by the luck factor as tightly as a piece of wood glued by Fevicol. Strategies succeeded, experiments worked out, versatilities exposed, efforts are applauded and in a nutshell, did everything right. Yes, everything indeed. Apart from all that which is, said read and tattled, this 'everything' encompasses a couple of unnoticed Melodramas,.... read on ..

The origin of this story refers to an incident that caught in middle of Lahore cricket ground a couple of months back on the dawn of opening test match between India and Pakistan, the much speculated animated discussion between current captain, Former and the coach.

In fact, none of us know what has happened there. Inevitably, the incident has occupied the headlines of all newspapers across the India the next day. Some of them stated that the former is willing to open but captain says NO. And rest of them sulked that the former is unwilling to open, while captain says DO.

There were entirely different versions of the issue. But for a normal cricket lover, the dilemma bequeaths only with two options. Yes or No, Willing or Unwilling, protect or desert. For now, lets not drudge the unknown, lets limit our imagination only up to observing how it was portrayed.

It was evidently testified that the former is not agreeing to something, which was enforced to him, thus proving himself as a bad boy again. And the explicit implications of this depiction are 1) It reinforces the ever conflagrating glitches of his attitude. 2) It successfully helps him win several more haters around. 3) It provides the beholders enough room to speculate. 4) It helps the rainmakers of the game to cook-up a beautiful story and ebb his advancement forever. Yes, the plot has paid its dividend, we have seen an irrepressible out loud clamor the next day. The first part of the gizmo has been impeccably executed.

Now lets come to what actually happened there. If we were to believe, the news and respected Rajbhai- It was an issue of who has to open. While both the former and the current captain were more than keen to fill-up the slot. The day-3 of the same test gave us the answer with captain padded-up as the opener. And the point to be noted here is "despite all the heat it generated, the captain had the final say and everything went according to his own conviction. Only difference is, during the due course of action, the former was left with an irrecoverable tag of being complicated. And it is to be noted, that all this melodrama has nothing to do with the game plan as it was predefined. Then why at all this entire circus?........... Here it comes the second part of the maneuver, which was again immaculately executed.

The logic behind this move was explained to us like the below. The captain did not want to make the former a scapegoat. This invokes one clear, just one clear strike at the bull’s eye? Who are we dealing with; "professional talent" or "school boys?” On the contrary, a small but sensible piece of hunch has been lingering at the back of my mind for a long time that-" was the skipper apprehensive of 'former being succeeded at the opening slot and earn a permanent place in the team; as opening slot in the test team was always being debatable. For all practical possibilities, incase the former has been successful as an opener, the question of where to accommodate him would never arise again.

At the outset, the entire scenario and its consequences have left a couple of questions unanswered;

1) Why do they need to have this discussion in front of the camera, in the middle of the ground, that to, knowing that the former is a media ICON now and his every moment will be tracked? Being in the drivers seat, what on the earth stopped the captain or the coach to pause the debate right at the moment and continue offline.
2) To which degree it deviates from "exposing the dressing room issues in front of the media?” Is this not an explicit attempt to give enough idea of whats happening behind the screen to all game spectators? Even if partly- Yes, what’s the penalty for the people who involved in that?
3) Mr. Skipper, who are you decide what the former has to get out of his life? It seems you are more worried about the world that says that ‘you made a scapegoat of the former’, rather than the game plan.
4) Why don't the team management treats the former like all other in the team? Why always there is a conflict and associated ambiguity around his role?
5) Just like all the others, why can't you communicate the former's specific role and responsibility in the game in advance? Why do you need to wait till the nick of the moment? Don't you think that this creates a severe sense of insecurity that in turn affects the moral of the former? Is this a fair treatment?
6) Who should be held responsible for the brassy outcry resulted against the former without knowing the he has been methodically trapped into a venous plot that has only one mission of demolishing him.

I don't think that a tired but outworn appeal from a non-entity like me would make any significance. When you are swayed gently to a cool but strong pre-monsoon zephyr, you never like to recall the scorching summer that irritated earlier. Identically, when the team is winning and the winning has been consistent, no one likes to bother about a piece of incident that deserves to be ranted. Convincingly, we all have mastered the art of MOVING ON with our lives.

And that how I would like to end this incomplete story- that NO ONE WANTS TO READ.

LET OFF LOBBYING !!!

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:38:00 +0530

The message from Gandhian legacy, and the famous turn-the-other-cheek attitude seems to have penetrated to somewhat more than expected abysms of modern day cricket in India. His most respected ethos of ‘showing passive resistance to injustice’ has been successfully put down as now days, our spirits are impounded by fatigue and the aversion towards the undecipherable. The ethereal doctrine that enkindled energy and vigor into our souls has been broadly manipulated and transformed to the other way round, as we are relentlessly motivated at every walk of our life to LET OFF and Move on. This piece of work is just to recollect a couple of such incidents that makes you nod your head in acceptance.

1) John Wright worked with the team India as a coach for a significant period of time. It was conflux of successes and setbacks right across his tenure. He commands the heaviest share of respect from the entire country for sailing the team India successfully out of the turmoil waters of match fixing to opulent display in the world cup 2003 and up to the historical 2004 series against Australia. All is fine until he muttered something like this at the fag end of his tenure- "some senior players of the side have misbehaved with me". Except a couple of unheard jabberings from few former cricketers, none of us bothered to know who are they?

Who ever they were…. we successfully LET-them-OFF.

2) The new coach- literally with ZERO credentials apart from the hubbub about the wretched under-arm caper, done absolutely nothing great as a couch so far, accompanying the team for a petty less than a month, alleged the Most Successful Captain of India as "Mentally and Physically unfit to lead", with a surprising resemblance to a veridical perception that "If you wanna kill a dog-call it mad".

For whatsoever reasons we chillingly LET-him-OFF.

3) To discus these foggy allegations, a committee comprising six former cricketers, those believed to be the well-wishers of Indian cricket was constituted, and the issues were duly discussed. At the end of the day, we learnt that the coach has amorally lied and the many of the allegations were far from truth. Hence proving the nefariousness of the senior member of the side who, on the other hand, conjectured to posses the high integrity levels. Exactly a day down the line, the same guy was busy coaching our chaps for the forth-coming champions trophy- leaving us baffled about who was wrong? Who was the culprit? Six-member panel? The coach? The captain? Or, the board it self?

Whoever might be the culprit ... we blindly LET-them-OFF.

4) And here is the most boisterous event- "The Finger Gesture".
Some body said Chappell shown the finger to the whole India. Other lad prompted that he has shown the finger only to Kolkata. Another guy stood-up and said he has pointed the finger only at those, who making ruckus. One Media vehicle enounced that Chappell said, "yes I did." Another one insinuated that he "vehemently denied". BCCI media manager said, "He was attending to his injured finger". Charu Sharma said, “there is a provocation”, Kirti Azad said, “it is unbecoming to his stature". Hearing all these, Sharad Pawar said, “It’s insignificant”. And that’s the end ... No one knows what does he mean by this act???

Whatever he might have meant... we ignorantly LET-him-OFF

5) Saurav Ganguly was ousted from the team that playing Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad test. The reason explained as young lads were given preference. No team member was even bothered to say BYE to Saurav. Rahul Dravid come-up with a celestial and scornful grin to say, " that's the way cricket is". Though, this move justifies neither the performance measures, nor the winning combination logic.
And far off, what hindered the rest of the team to at least to say BYE to him? Is this the way to treat a senior member of the side, who successfully lead the team for almost 5 years? Youngsters those coiffed under him lacked even an atomlike courtesy? Or otherwise, does any one in the team asked them not to? On the contrary, was his inclusion such an awful move that demoralized the team? What has he done so badly to deserve all that? Don’t you think we owe the answers?

Whatever might have triggered this… we, of course, reluctantly LET-that-OFF.

6) An utterly preposterous cyclorama in the Gadaffi stadium. A lamentable documentary of a most frolicking event ever in the Indian cricket. An invigorated showdown of three ikons, former, skipper and the coach. Some one wants to open, another one doesn't want to be bullied by the world and the third doesn’t like to dilute the game plan and this and that…As usual, we were so much prized and privileged to receive yet another sluggish explanation, “we were talking about cricket”!!!! Thank god for not talking about union budget-2006. Pranks aside- actually no one knows what was that for?
Through, one thing is clear, there was a disagreement, which is not good for the game and not good for the team ...what was that????

Whatever might have been the basis of disagreement...... we uninterestingly LET-that-OFF

7) One fine day, we all learnt something new about Saurav Ganguly, in spite of knowing him for almost 10 years or so. That he was hanging on to the captaincy for the sake of finances. Thanks to "The Guardian". Though, making such scandalous avowals against any specific member of a side is clearly offensive and deserves a stern penalization....

Whatever it might have deserved.... we mercifully LET-him-OFF

8) John Wright was consulted twice for a couple of issues post his tenure with team India. One, when the leaked e-mail states that Saurav's vicious ism of divide & rule was allowed in his regime and the second time when, Raj Singh Dungarpur, reportedly commented that Saurav is Lazy and he had had repeated pleas to get him out of the team. Both the times, the former coach declined the allegations against Saurav. But, one doubt remained unsolved- if Saurav is Mr. clean then why are these allegations? If he is not, then why are these denials? It's evident that some one among this ‘league of extraordinary gentlemen’ was lying....

Whoever might be the liar.... we handsomely LET-him-OFF.

9) Just ahead of the April Fools day, there was a news item that has practically proved us- It’s need not only be April 1st to make us fools, any day is OK. Inevitably, that has created waves across India. Yes, I am referring to “The depraved business nexus between the selector and coach”. To place it more prominently, ‘a mutually beneficial, clandestine, reprobate and lucrative business nexus between two most responsible pros of Indian cricket.

One guy went one step ahead in the production line to pick the boys whom he wants to be coached and the other went one step back in the production line to coach the boys whom he wants to play. Altogether, the syndicate formed “end-to-end solutions” for the place in team India.

The question here is, was this not unethical and immoral? Why the public kept unaware of this unless there was an investigation? Why was this not revealed to BCCI earlier? Does this justify the roles they play? Can we believe that this relationship got nothing to do with Saurav’s saga?

Whatsoever the arguments were… we comfortably Let-them-OFF

10) Sometimes, I feel my self hounded by a bunch of high-sounding words ...Experimentation, Grooming Youngsters, Flexibility in the batting order, Fitting into the scheme of things, making better use of power play, stroke makers, game finishers ... blah blah blah ...and surprisingly, and not so surprisingly, all this tumult will finally links up to the WORLD CUP 2007. In the last 6 months, we have heard these sentences some thousand and odd times through Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid. It’s really good to see that our team has a clear vision for a major tournament coming up.

And boy!!! How many of you believe that we can win the world cup-2007? You think all these brouhaha could pay the dividends? Can these multi billion commercials deals, immensely lucrative yearly contracts be justified? All these experiments work at all times? The strategies can be succeeded on any circumstances??? Can everyday become a Sunday???

What if not?? What if we cannot win the world cup 2007? Can they rebuild the careers of those whom they are destroying today, under the tag of building a team for world cup 2007? Can they wipe-off those allegations, which they thrown against few players, who are otherwise, believed to be the pride of India? Can these accusations allow our children to flaunt about Indian cricket in future? Where do we see Saurav Ganguly then? What should Rahul Dravid do? Where should Greg Chappell go? What happens to Kiran More?

The Answer is Simple ……………

We will ……….. happily…merrily … joyfully….. LET-them-OFF.

The Most Luckiest Captain of India

srikchin@gmail.com (Srikrishna Chintalapati, శ్రీకృష్ణ చింతలపాటి) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:28:00 +0530

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." -
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

Since assuming fill-time captaincy for Team India

1) First of all he captured captaincy at a right time. When lot of matches were lined up either at home or at sub-continent. And the decision to make him as a captain was never debated albeit, it's successful declaration of a mantra, which has been uninterruptedly recited by our think-tank over and over and again-" Grooming Youngsters" and blah blah blah, as null and void.

2) Tri-Series in Sri Lanka was ended on a sad note, where we had moderate success winning 2 matches out of 5 played. There affected a captaincy change that has surprised many of us, while team India busy in making preparations for their travel across to wild waters of Zimbabwe. Reportedly, this is the kick-off for the "operation tiger-out". We have seen a hue and media vociferation in support of the ever glistening " good boy of India cricket", and there by pushing him deep into the soft-corners of game enthus across the globe.

3) We won 3 out of 5 games we played in Videocon Triangular series under the former's captaincy. Almost all of them were comprehensive victories. Simple common sense tells that we have relatively fared better than the recent series in Sri Lanka. To top it off, we won the first ever test series away from the sub-continent in almost 2 decades, whitewashing the underdogs in both the tests. Despite all that, the one who led the team achieve this, has been handsomely ignored and ignominiously expelled out of the team.

4) Neither it justifies the universal logic that Leader should lead from the front. As in the entire series our current captain had scored 61 runs with 12.80 average at a strike rate of 56.63, where as Former captain scored 77 runs with 15.40 average at a strike rate of 69.36. Assuming that the former was given a chance purely on the performance, how could this little piece of statistical data help you underrate one compared to the other? Now think, what makes you become the captain of Team India, Performance or ..…..
It also calls forth to yet another perspective, " Is this a part of ' Carefully articulated, viciously orated venous game plan to make the former a scapegoat and destroy gradually?', trust me, here I am not mentioning any thing about the recently enkindled saga of ludicrous business nexus.

5) In the same tour, the former's 101 of 262 balls in the first test, has attracted a brassy outcry around the world with media depicting it as the most painstaking and colorless innings. The same set of media and public applauded the current captain scoring 98 out of 237 balls in the next match. Before, dwelling into hidden statistical realities, kindly understand that it was a do-or-die show for the former and he has wasted 30 and odd balls in desperation to snatch his 12th 100.
· Total runs scored in the first test are 1018 in 297.5 overs at an average run rate of 3.41 per over. Where as In the second test, 769 runs were scored in 209.1 overs at 3.67 runs per over. Basic mathematics again helps us understand that the second match was played on a relatively better batting conditions and those could inevitably help one to score runs at a relatively faster pace. Reversing all these facts, our captain has scored almost as slowly as the former did. Yet, he has been portrayed as a hero, the innings was described as a quintessential one that helped us win the game, while the former's has been utterly criticized and hissed across top to bottom. What a disparity?? May be 'Antonio Banderas' would have felt 'J' at the newly emerging "Legends of Zorro".

6) Lets come to the home series against Sri Lanka. We have outplayed them with 6-1 and 2-0 in both formats of the game. Apparently, this is the series that has catapulted the thoroughly consummate concept called EXPERIMENTATION. Intriguingly, each and every experiment made by our think-tank in the series was a thunderclap. You know why??? ............ that is LUCK.

7) We have seen everything in the one-day series against South Africa. Right from Wankhede at 'west-coast' to Eden at 'east-coast', finger gestures to vitriolic antics, mighty drop-offs to heroic ascents, low scoring last out to Ten wicket triumphant. A little consideration and a couple of wild-guesses and vague considerations help us recall the fact that the guests were without their front-line batsmen called "Harshalle Gibbs" and a flamboyant match-winner called "Nicky Boje". Having both of them in the team, invariably the pendulum would have swung in favor of the guests. By all means, it's a perfect show of contemporary cricket. None of the team has fared better than or worse than the other. By all virtues, it's an equivalent performance between a team with a power of X and the other with X-2.
Yet, one man has emerged as a champion, propelled as a power, limned as a legend, depicted as a true leader, with one good innings, just one good innings. His apocalypse in the previous matches was successfully ignored. And all these miracles happening on a 'home made, delicious, south Indian 'medu vada' pitches mind you.

8) Much has been said and read, about the former and his boys. Some of them were blisteringly accused of deliberately under performing under the present captain. In fact, here are storming facts those unveil the truth for us
· Yuvraj Singh who believed to be the formers' best disciple has won the player of the series 2 times out of the three concluded and on the verge of winning another.
· The remaining one series award has been captured by another innovation of the former "MS DHONI".
· Yuvi, Dhoni are the highest run scorers in all these tournaments. While Pathan has been the most wicket taker of two of the three tournaments.
· Harbhajan Singh hails as the most economical bowler in three of the four tournaments (including the current one)
· While Yuvi occupied the second slot in the current series as a most run scorer. It is notably obvious that he has played a lot of match winning knocks.
· Pathan, Yuvi, Dhoni and Bhajji shares 11 out of 20 recent ODI Man of Match awards, which is 55% of the total. Out of the nine left 3 were taken away by the opponents, leaving 6 behind. Altogether, it's evident that in case the former's men did not perform, we might have seen a different result in 7 out of 10 games.

Having said this, It's undoubtedly acceptable that a captain who has been gifted by the players of this caliber is certainly a LUCKIEST one. Who cares about the one strived upside down to bring them into the team, back them when they needed support and groom them as they are today.

9) Look through the Length and Breadth of Indian cricket history. Two recent happenings in the contemporary version of the game in cricket India, would leave you on a most perplexing and flabbergasting note. One, none of the Indian captains was speared after loosing in Pakistan. None of them was assured of their captaincy for the next series before leaving to Pakistan. Unlike this time, we had our captain announced for both the Pakistan and it’s follower England series on a single instance. Two, none of them have been promised of their captaincy for a span of more than one year. Unlike this time, the so called, consistency of winning against the demoralized teams on favorable conditions has been rewarded with a commitment to lead the team till the world cup which is still an year and something away.

However, none of these logics could actually justify the extremely ballyhooed thought process of our cleverly think-tank. It's absolutely blatant, when nobody defines a performance metrics tool for you, you have been advisedly asked to enjoy your omnipotence. Then what else, you are the LUCKEIST.

10) Last but not the least, when everything is in your favor you get support from such a corner which none of us have seen and known, no wonder ALMIGHTY helped him win 15 tosses out of 29, bettering his predecessor. And most importantly, 6 times loosing toss actually earned him a win, as against 2 times winning the toss costs a defeat.

Apparently, it's clear- when you are unrealistically lucky, you get in your way- 'good things to loose'.