tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75475197048483165042024-03-22T12:06:59.349+05:30KARIKADAIBOYKarikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-18282494970806601512022-12-13T19:43:00.001+05:302022-12-13T19:43:24.637+05:30DHANIYĀ IN THE RĀJMĀ<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>dhaniyā/kottamalli</i></span></span> aka coriander or if you're too much of a Peter, cilantro is typically added to most Indian dishes, regardless of region, to enhance the aroma of the dish. It adds very little to no flavour to the dish and most mothers don't fret if they forget to check if it is available in the fridge before the dish is done. Basically it is inessential though most pedantic pseudo-chefs will deny it. If this is <a href="https://www.dnaindia.com/television/photo-gallery-twitterati-make-maya-sarabhai-s-dialogues-viral-as-i-am-so-middle-class-trends-2841702/maya-sarabhai-enthusiast-2841704">too middle class</a> for your liking, it's the Indian equivalent of icing on the cake that I just made up.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For 12-13 years now, people have been saying Messi needs a World Cup to be called the GOAT. It's not enough that he was the best darn player on the planet for 10 years dominating both Spain & Europe. It's not enough that the Barcelona side from 2008 to 2012 under Guardiola played the most amazing football known to hupeoplekind. It's not enough that he absolutely carried an average, ageing team to a near treble single-handedly in 2019. It's not enough that he is the top goal-scorer in the last 10 years even though goal-scoring is far below his skillset totempole. It's not enough that he's the top assist man & not empty assist statpadder (like Fabregas for eg) for the last 10 years. It's not enough that he has the most successful dribbles, chances created, xG etc etc for the last 10 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">One trophy, that comes every 4 years, is the only thing that matters for GOAThood. Well that's just, pardon my French, bollox. Just because Burruchaga was able to coolly finish Maradona's brilliant pass, just because Zidane's teammates comfortably reached the final in 98 with him suspended for 2 matches, just because Brasil of 1962 were good enough to absolutely roll through to title without Pele, just because Pip*ta (*=u cos Higuain is a p*ta) couldn't finish not once, not twice but THREE @#!$ing times does not mean Messi suddenly became meh & those guys attained nirvana.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Maradona never played in a Copa America final. He didn't even play in most editions. Was probably coked out of his senses during the summer. His fans always praise his inspirational efforts with Napoli, a club that had little history before his arrival, but he couldn't even inspire them to a quarterfinal let alone the title in the European Cup. People massively overrate Serie A of the 80s. A team of nobodies won the Scudetto in 1985: Hellas Verona. Milan were in the doldrums for most of it & even after the arrival of Sacchi, they won just <a href="https://whitericevellasamy.wordpress.com/2015/10/09/arrigo-sacchis-milan-revolutionary-or-overrated/">1 league title</a> which was a gift from Napoli's terrible collapse. Inter didn't win a title for 9 long years. So please stop with the nonsense of "Humble Napoli" narrative. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">Messi carried Luis "haven't scored an away Champions League goal since 2015" Suarez, old Pique/Alba/Busquets on his back to 2 league titles & 90 mins from a Champions League final with a 3-0 lead from the semifinal 1st leg. Even in that horrible collapse in Anfield, he setup 3 chances in the 1st half to put the tie to bed. His useless teammates channelled their inner Pip*ta & screwed it all up. All this when he was 32 years old in his 15th year as a professional. So he even has that "carrying" label going for him. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ultimately, moral of the story: with or without the World Cup, Messi is still the Greatest Of All Time. Argentina might win tonight or lose. They might play on Sunday & win or lose that too but it'll merely be the cufflink on a suit, a feather in the cap, an icing on the cake or *drumroll* <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>dhaniyā </i></span></span>in the <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>rājmā</i></span></span>. Haters will anyway hate & find excuses. They can suck on the copium forever. Messi is GOAT win or lose.</div>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-34853929395521995872022-08-01T15:23:00.001+05:302022-08-01T15:43:15.459+05:3041 (57) YEAR WAIT ENDS<div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: justify;">It was the 26th day of July in 1976. Eight days earlier, India had opened the 1976 Summer Olympics tournament with a thumping 4-0 win over Argentina brushing aside concerns of their famed long pass game not being conducive on Astroturf. They were immediately given a reality check as Netherlands brushed them aside 3-1 & Australia destroyed them 6-1. India were in danger of not reaching the semifinals for the first time ever in their Olympic history. They had medalled every single time since they first took part in Pot Town 48 years earlier. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Even though India's destiny was out of their hands, they took <a href="https://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/srimad?language=dv&field_chapter_value=2&field_nsutra_value=47"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>gītācārya</i></span></span>'s message</a> to heart and did their duties to the utmost and won their remaining matches. Netherlands first did India a favour by defeating the Kookaburras by a solitary goal and then Los Leones completely upset the apple cart by eking out a 3-2 win over the Aussies handing India a lifeline. Having finished level on points, India & Australia contested a 2nd place play-off match to determine who would qualify for the semis along with the Dutch. With 2 mins to go for halftime, Ric Charlesworth gave Australia the lead. <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>surjīt sinh raṁdhāvā</i></span></span> equalized almost immediately and the teams would remain deadlocked for another 55 minutes. India lost the penalty shootout 4-5 and for the 1st time ever would finish outside the top 4. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Till hockey was played on grass, India had never failed to win a medal. Played 10, 7 golds, 1 silver, 2 bronzes. Indian dominance had begun to wane 8 years earlier having failed to win both semifinals of the Mexico City & Munich Olympics. Thanks to the entire Western Bloc and its minion Pakistan boycotting the Moscow Olympics, India managed to add another gold to its tally but India kept getting progressively worse at every Olympics before the ultimate humiliation in 2008: failing to qualify for the Beijing Olympics. Somehow finishing last in London 4 years later felt even worse than the failure to qualify for it.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Things didn't get much better in 2014 at the World Cup in The Hague. A very young, inexperienced Indian team finished 9th. The team showed steady improvement in the Asian Games, Hockey World League & the penultimate Champions Trophy, where India played their nemesis, Australia so close & lost a heartbreaker in penalty shootouts. Dare I say, India were the darkest of horses to end a 36 year old medal drought at Olympics & World Cups in Rio. India played well for large parts of the tournament. Lost a heartbreaker to Germany with a literally last second goal. Had 7 penalty corners, at least 3 of them after the hooter, to draw level against Netherlands but failed to power through and floundered into the last 8 after drawing an eminently winnable match against Canada. The up & down form was no more evident in the quarterfinal against Belgium which India lost 3-1 from a goal up.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Few months after Rio, the Colts won the Junior World Cup after 15 years. The previous champions were one of the most talented bunch ever: <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">arjun halappā</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, virēn resquinha</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, jugrāj sinh</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, prabhjōt sinh</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, dīpak ṭhākur</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, gagan ajīt sinh</span></span></i>. They had shown steady progress by doing well in Champions Trophy, winning silver in Incheon Asiad and winning Asia Cup for the first time but due to various reasons, on & off the court mostly the latter, they couldn't kick on to make great things.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">On the strength of another very talented bunch: <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">harmanprīt</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"> sinh, nīlakaṇṭha śarma</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, mandīp sinh</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, simranjīt sinh</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, vikās dahiyā</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">,</span></span></i></span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"> sumit,</span></span></i></span></span></i> kṛṣan pāṭhak, gurjant sinh</span></span></i> and veterans like <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">manprīt sinh</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, sunīl, lalit upādhyāy</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, ākāśdīp sinh</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, śrījēś</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, surēndar kumār</span></span></i><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">, bīrendra lākra</span></span></i>,</span></span></i> amit rōhidās</span></span></i>, 2018 promised a lot and India again played their nemesis even closer than the last time in the last Champions Trophy and again lost on shootout. This was followed by a disastrous Asian Games campaign where India lost in the semis to Malaysia on PSOs conceding a last minute equalizer. Redemption was possible in the home World Cup where India topped the group ahead of Belgium but ended up losing in the quarterfinals (with Yours Truly in the stadium), again from a goal up against eventual finalists Netherlands.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A lot passed between the World Cup & the Tokyo Olympics, not the least the cataclysmic coronavirus that virtually reset the world but India travelled to Tokyo hoping to conquer it and make it 2/2. After a sluggish start against New Zealand due to lack of match practice, India were eviscerated by their nemesis again sowing seeds of doubt. But this team was built different. It had a certain resilience, a belligerence and a never say die attitude. Spain, Argentina & hosts Japan were dispatched with relative ease to finish 2nd in the group to setup a quarterfinal clash against Great Britain.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A pedant would've said it was 41 years since India won a knockout round match in an Olympics but with no Netherlands, no Germany, no Australia and no Pakistan, the reigning World Champions, it was a hollow title. India won a true knockout match way back in 1964 beating Australia 3-1 to reach the finals of the Tokyo Olympics. India began cagily but in control. A few minutes into the game, India started their famed forward press to assert their control. <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">simranjīt</span></span></i> nicked the ball off Ian Sloan just outside the D, drew defenders toward him & slipped <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">dilprīt</span></span></i> in, who showed his striker's instincts to trap the ball with his back to the goal & nutmegged Ollie Payne to give India the lead.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The quarter passed without much incident and just after the second quarter began, India's "<i>Gegenpress</i>" doubled the advantage. <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">śamśēr</span></span></i> pressed Ian Sloan on the wing at the halfway line who had nowhere to go and played the ball to the full back Liam Sanford. Sanford tried to play an outlet pass to the midfielder and the ever alert <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">hārdik</span></span></i> pounced on it and found <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">gurjant</span></span></i> inside the circle marked by Sanford himself. The burly striker spun off his marker and swept the ball through Ollie Payne's legs again to make it 2-0. India were in dreamland. </p><div style="text-align: justify;">The custodian <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">śrījēś</span></span></i> had little to do in the 1st half as India went into the break with no change in the score. Great Britain increased the tempo in the 3rd quarter as India went into a bit of a shell. Just before the end of the 3rd quarter, a sustained period of British pressure saw them win 3 short corners in a row. With 7 seconds left in the quarter, Sam Ward just about scraped the ball over the line to halve the deficit. The final quarter went much in the same fashion. India withstood wave after wave of British attacks. Some defender or the other kept picking up the slack. The Wall stood firm in every set piece situation.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">India were handed a body blow with 6:32 left when El Capitan <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">manprīt </span></span></i>recklessly picked up a yellow card trying to cut off a pass. To add insult to injury, this act even conceded a penalty corner. <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">śrījēś</span></span></i> stood firm yet again and rallied the troops without the Talismanic skipper. Great Britain were relentless. India's shoulders were dropping but the spirit wasn't. With the entire British team camped inside or near the Indian D, <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">vivēk </span></span></i>stole the ball from Wallace and quickly found <span style="font-size: large;"><i>har</i></span><i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">manprīt</span></span></i>. The short corner specialist saw the field open up and slid the ball towards <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">hārdik</span></span></i>. The midfielder went on mazy run with <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">nīlakaṇṭha </span></span></i> pushing up in support in a 2 on 2 situation. <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">hārdik </span></span></i>turned his marker, the British captain Adam Dixon and swept the ball towards the goal. Payne saved with his foot and the rebound fell kindly to <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">hārdik</span></span></i> again, who didn't need a second invitation and tonked it home with 3:25 left. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The entire bench erupted in joy. The Men In Blue withstood a barrage of attacks, a man down for 6 minutes & counting in two sittings and just as it seemed they were running out of gas showed tremendous fortitude to run the length of the field to bury the contest to end a <strike>57</strike>41 year drought of a knockout round win. The goal broke the will of the Brits and they never even had a sniff on goal despite taking their keeper off and playing with 11 outfield players. In their desperation they even had a player yellow carded with little under 2 minutes left. The youngest member of the Indian side, <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">vivēk</span></span></i> had a golden opportunity to make it 4 too but it didn't matter. India wouldn't be denied.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">When the hooter blew many players fell to the ground. The Indian team had endured so many last minute heartbreaks over the previous 3-4 years. They were called mentally weak, lacking killer instinct. They had to train under the cloud of the vile virus. They fought so many demons on the field, off the field, in their minds but ultimately they did it. It was well worth the wait. India were in the semifinals of the Olympics for the 1st time in 49 years. They faced Belgium next and even briefly led 2-1 but the emotional victory over Great Britain was too much to overcome and the World Champions eventually added the Olympic gold to the resume of their Golden Generation. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The team looked physically and emotionally exhausted after the semifinal loss but this was no ordinary team. They were fighters and bounced back like no other and bounce back they did in the bronze medal play-off but that's a story for another day. For now let us celebrate the 1st anniversary of this glorious milestone. </div>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-32942707741881697612022-05-16T22:10:00.000+05:302022-05-16T22:10:43.186+05:30B*LL*CKS CALLED 83 MOMENT<p style="text-align: justify;">Ever since <i><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;">śrīkānt kiḍāmbi</span></span></i> (that's श्रीकान्त् किडाम्बि, not किदम्बि as all naarthies pronounce it) leapt in the air and smashed the shuttle onto the mat, there's one utterly irritating phrase everyone seems to use "This is badminton's 83 moment". </p><p style="text-align: justify;">As usual, this is an extremely narrow view and has very little basis in reality. BCCI hardly was a behemoth that it would ultimately become a decade and a half later. But that's for later, first let's take a look at the results. If winning the World Cup was supposed to be that great of a kick off point giving endless confidence and self-belief to win from any situation, it should have an immediate impact right?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">From the day after winning the 1983 World Cup to the day the 1987 World Cup ended, India played 80 ODIs, won 37 matches and ding ding ding LOST 38 matches. India lost more matches than they won. If one removes the results against the Bangladesh & Zimbabwe of the day, Sri Lanka and....Zimbabwe, it reads: Played 67, Won 27, Lost 36! That's a terrible record for a team that purportedly turned the corner. India had a losing record against every team except New Zealand. India lost ODI series at home to Australia, England, Pakistan & West Indies. Reminder that Australia were going through their worst ever low from 1984 to about 1986 due to the simultaneous retirements of Greg Chappell, Rodney Marsh & Dennis Lillee.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">The reason why this era is fondly remembered is because India managed to win the 1985 World Championship of Cricket, held to celebrate 150 years of White Settlement (Can you imagine such a "celebration" today?) in Victoria. Australians and Englishmen kept <a href="https://that1980ssportsblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/1985-world-championship-of-cricket.html">complaining</a> about too much cricket. One could rightly dismiss it as sour grapes but there is a teeny weeny kernel of truth in it. Even if you reject that kernel of truth, India didn't even face West Indies in the tournament. Asterisk, schmasterisk. This era was bookended by the 1987 World Cup at home which India began by choking in spectacular fashion (207/2 chasing 271 with 15 overs left) to lose by 1 and ended it by choking (51 required in 54 with 5 wickets in hand & <span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>cētan śarma</i></span></span> an ODI centurion batting at no 10) in spectacular fashion.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This is how the white & limited overs red ball cricket went during those 4 years. The record in test cricket was utterly pathetic. West Indies toured India a few months after losing an era defining final and went absolutely medieval on India's derriere. They won the 6 test series 3-0 with each win an absolute evisceration. Marshall took 33 wickets, Holding took 30. 40 years old and with no knees, Clive Lloyd scored 497 runs. The ODI series ended 5-0 in the Visitors' favour. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">India drew 2 series, home & away, against an Imran Khan-less Pakistan. England visited in 1984 and India took a 1-0 lead. That was the last test win the team saw for 18 tests and 18 months. Just like Cook's men turned it around in 2012, Gower's men turned the series on its head to win it 2-1. They also won the ODI series 4-1. India even managed to lose a 3-test series to Sri Lanka away. It wasn't until the summer of 1986 that India saw its 1st ever test win under <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>kapil dev</i></span></span>'s captaincy. When a full strength Pakistani side finally, permanently under Imran Khan visited in the spring of 1987, India saw the ultimate humiliation: losing a test series at home to the most hated nation. India also managed to lose the ODI series 1-5. Do you know the secret of the 1 win? It wasn't a win. It was a tie. Under the rules of those days, the team with fewer wickets was declared winner in case of a tie. Also, when <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: times;"><i>kapil</i></span></span> bowled the last ball, India didn't have the correct field according to the rules. So the umpires should have called a no-ball. It should have ended 0-6. Patrick Stewart facepalm dot gif.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">This was the on-field situation. Off field situation was super funny. BCCI had to, get this, <i><b>PAY </b></i>Doordarshan, India's national broadcaster to telecast cricket matches. The next IPL broadcast rights is expected to fetch nearly fifty, <b><i>FIFTY THOUSAND CRORES</i></b> to BCCI. Just 30 years ago, BCCI had <b><i>PAY </i></b>to telecast India matches. Some moment that, 1983. It wasn't until a <span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>mārvāḍi </i></span></span>businessman (it's redundant but written for emphasis) wearing Safari Suits took over BCCI that it began a monetization program. Another reminder that Ranji Trophy players were paid ₹1500 per match in the late 90s. Today, they get a 7-figure retainer. Wow that 1983 moment really delivered, eh?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Despite the monetization revolution, India still couldn't win a test away from the subcontinent from 1986 to 2000, India didn't even a win a test in Zimbabwe: drawn 1, lost 1. The only World Cup semifinal India made from 1988 to 2002 was at home in 1996 which ended in yet another humiliation. It wasn't until the early 2000s that things started to turn. Yet another reminder that India had lost more ODIs than it won until 2006 and even then it was only level. The win-loss ratio was below 1 for a further 2 years before it finally started an upward tick. India still have not won more tests than they have lost.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">If it takes almost 20-25 years for a sport to become, for a lack of better word, dominant (in terms of results not popularity) after said 83 Moment, I shudder to think what would happen to a less moneyed sport like badminton. Success only in 2100 then.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">1983 was a glorious moment but to credit the successes of 2010s to something that happened 27 years ago, that is not a great moment. It was an ecstatic moment but not a "turning point".</p>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-60641632543219255182021-10-08T09:42:00.001+05:302021-10-08T11:56:02.157+05:30T20 & THE CHUCK LORRE SITCOM<div style="text-align: justify;">May 28th 2011. It had a been a few weeks since yours truly moved to<i> El Ciudad Jardin</i>. I went to a friend's place, who owned a 40+ inch TV, to watch the champions league final between Barcelona and Manchester United. I got there early to have dinner and some IPL match was on. It was purportedly the big final. Between some teams called CSK & RCB. I had to sit through the entire match because of that pesky thing called time zone. It remains till date the only full IPL match I have seen. Other than that I can remember watching one super over by Bumrah, parts of some Bisla innings in a final, a Raina innings, Watto's innings in a final (did he get a 100?), a final between SRH & RCB, some cameos by Jos Buttler. Total overs viewed live would be 75 tops. I did check out Universe Boss' 175 (66) against Pune(?) the day after though. Come on, one doesn't miss something extraordinary like that. Ever.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only times I'm excited about T20 is when West Indies are winning (I'm the fairest of fair weather fans) or when Mah Man Jos is batting. Like Formula 1 racing, I never got what's fun/exciting/entertaining about this format. Universe Boss will vomit his guts if he simply stands in the slips for 1 session in the heat of Chepauk. Not now when he's 42 but for at least six years. Yet he's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/More_popular_than_Jesus">bigger than Jesus</a> in this format. Mystery <strike>chucker</strike>spinner Sunil Narine (test average 8/ODI average 11) suddenly became <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2017/10/indian-cricket-nostalgic-90swith-bit-of.html">Sanath Joy-suri-yah</a> for a while. Simply makes no sense. Until now!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I cannot remember what I did last year when Corona-chan had stopped virtually every sport but this time I simply could not <strike>waste</strike>spend time in any worthy pursuit and I ended up watching IPL matches virtually every night. Not every ball but majority of the matches. This is despite my most favourite white ball batsman Mah Man Jos not even making the trip to UAE. After watching Venkatesh Iyer (FC average 36.33) become the latest sensation I have finally "got it". </div><div style="text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="text-align: justify;">One just doesn't have to spend any thought to understand what is happening. It just helps one while away 3-4 hours before going to bed after a long day's work. T20 is like the end of a Sergio Leone Mexican stand-off scene. Fata-fata-fata and it's over. People find that entertaining and that's okay but the best part about a Sergio Leone Mexican stand-off is the slow, patient build up and the heightening of tension by Ennio Morricone's haunting background score. But one has to realize that it is mentally taxing to watch it everyday. Many times one just needs to decompress. Hence, T20. It is the equivalent of a Chuck Lorre sitcom: absolutely no thought required, 20-22 mins of some canned laughter, go to bed.<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">His 2 most famous sitcoms of this century: Two & a Half Men & Big Bang Theory have collectively run for an incredible 541 episodes. The former was at least tolerably chuckle-worthy till the half man was cute but later on it was plain unfunny. Yet it kept running and running. Even after its star got fired, it ran for, I dunno, 100 episodes. A star recast generally is the death knell of a sitcom and yet this one ran for nearly twice as a long as Arrested Development! An incredible feat of unfunny endurance. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Take the other one: Big Bang Theory. See this "joke":<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote>Howard Wolowitz : [after everyone cheers for him and his team design going to space] It gets better! Someone has to go up with the telescope as a payload specialist, and guess who that someone is!<br /><br />Sheldon Cooper : Mohammed Lee.<br /><br />[everyone's looking confused] <br /><br />Howard Wolowitz : Who's Mohammed Lee?<br /><br />Sheldon Cooper : Mohammed is the most common first name in the world, and Lee the most common surname. As I didn't know the answer, I thought that gave me a mathematical edge.</blockquote><p>This guy, Sheldon Cooper, is supposed to be the smartest man on the planet and he doesn't know Mutual Exclusivity in Probability. The "joke" could have juuuuuuust made sense in a general party or setting where there are "commoners" but this is among fellow nerds. Yet I'm not thinking about this when the setup/punchline occurs. The canned laugh behind tells me to laugh and I laugh. On the other end of the spectrum, take this brilliant setup and joke in Arrested Development:</p><p></p><blockquote><p>Lucille: How's my son?</p><p>Literal Doctor: He's going to be alright.</p><p>[Everyone is relieved]</p><p>Literal Doctor: That's a great attitude. I've gotta tell you. If I was getting this news, I dunno that I'd take it this well.</p><p>Lucille: But...you said he was alright?</p><p>Literal Doctor: Yes. He's lost his left hand, so he's going to be all right.</p></blockquote><p>This is such an ingeniously written sequence of events. When I saw it for the first time, I guffawed. Arrested ran for a grand total of 3 seasons and 53 episodes in its original run on FOX. Timely reminder that 2.5 Men ran for EIGHTY FIVE episodes after its star, Charlie Sheen, was fired. It's a different matter that Arrested's quality suffered in the later seasons but originally it was an <a href="https://www.cracked.com/blog/the-key-to-this-arrested-development-mystery-ostrich">amazingly well written</a> sitcom with its <a href="https://www.cracked.com/article_20763_6-mind-blowing-foreshadowing-hidden-in-famous-tv-shows.html">call backs</a> & <a href="https://www.cracked.com/article_20677_6-insane-easter-eggs-buried-in-famous-tv-shows.html">foreshadowing</a> and yet it never found an audience. Why? Cos people are too tired to spend their minds on what's happening. Like <a href="https://youtu.be/Yrx2bv_LoG0?t=14">Kit Ramsey</a> explains: <br /></p><p></p><blockquote><p>That's too much for the audience to think about. They have to know the guy's name is Cliff, that he's on a cliff, and that Cliff and cliff are the same. It's too cerebral. We're trying to make a movie here, not a film.</p></blockquote><p>Take the Lord's test a few weeks ago. At the start of the day England were the favourites. The Indian tail broke a habit of a lifetime under Kohli and kept wigging and wagging. England then had to bat out two sessions on a fairly good wicket. The all-time great Indian attack reduced the home team to 90/7 with more than 20 overs left. Ollie Robinson resisted and resisted and took the match to the last hour with Jos Buttler for company. With less than 10 overs to go, Bumrah struck with an absolute peach of a slower ball. What was "peachier" was how he <a href="https://mobile.twitter.com/cricketwithash/status/1427861795864186881">setup the dismissal</a> with a mixture of short and full balls. Pure genius.</p><p>Why would or should one care about it? Only the wicket matters. IPL, and by extension, T20 takes this out of the equation. Wicket falls or six is hit and we can all go home. Why discuss such event within events? Booooring. Why would I care about this reference to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleph_number">Aleph-number</a> in <a href="https://theinfosphere.org/List_of_mathematics_references#.22Raging_Bender.22_.282ACV08.29">Futurama</a>? I have to know what Aleph-nought is, I have to then cross-reference it and understand that the movie complex has infinite screens and chuckle at its impossibility. Eye-roll worthy crap. Instead just <a href="https://youtu.be/DxFPmF1puW4?t=52">reference</a> Dr. Who, Game of Thrones, Thundercats, Transformers, Star Trek, Star Wars all in one sentence that would make even Ranjit Fernando* blush, add a timely laugh track and I will happily laugh to my heart's content.</p><p>I finally get it. It took me years to get here but I get it: T20 is the Chuck Lorre sitcom of Cricket.</p><p>*-For those that aren't aware, Ranjit Fernando is a Sri Lankan commentator who had this incredible knack of speaking long sentences, not unlike <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qVuGDrbjy4">Kannamba</a>, without commas or full stops and would, more often than not, do it in one breath like that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHm8VhgO9p4">SPB song</a>.<br /></p></div>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-28852820126421663012020-08-27T15:44:00.000+05:302020-08-27T15:44:46.163+05:30MARRIAGE TO DIVORCE: FROM NAPKIN TO BUROFAX<p style="text-align: justify;">On a cool May evening in 2014, Barcelona kicked off the last match of the season at the imposing Camp Nou. The equation was very simple: beat the league leaders Atletico Madrid and the "steal" La Liga from right under their nose. About a month earlier, Los Colchoneros comfortably drew 1-1 with Barça at Camp Nou and absolutely blitzed the Catalans at home in the return leg of the Champions league. Yet they could win only 1-0 but Barça did not look like getting a shot on target let alone score. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">By week 35, Atletico created a 4 point separation with Barcelona and 5 with Madrid. They needed just 1 win and 2 draws to end an 18 year drought. They say, paradoxically, one wins not by conquering the fear of losing but the fear of winning. Atletico had won some silverware in the previous years but the fear of winning still haunted them. They lost 2-0 to Levante but luckily Getafe scored an injury time equalizer in Camp Nou. Barcelona were held 0-0 by Elche in the penultimate round. Atleti's nerves were still frayed. They fell behind to Malaga but levelled with a little over a quarter of an hour to go. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Injury time beckoned. Atleti's number 7 Adrian dropped his right shoulder and cut inside. Like <span style="font-family: times;"><i>arjuna </i></span>looked at the bird's eye, the top corner was the only thing in his sight. Like the classic Thierry Henry goal, he bent it so that the ball would nestle itself in the top corner. Eighteen years of pain were over. The last <i>partido </i>at Camp Nou is now academic. <i>Cholo </i>would now have an extra week to plan the most <i>Cholismo </i>of his plans to become only the 3rd Spanish team to win the Champions League. Willy Caballero stretched his arm and palmed it away! Atletico had to now gain a point in one of Europe's most intimidating venues: Camp Nou.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Alexis Sanchez broke the deadlock with a fierce strike a couple of minutes after the half hour mark. Simeone was already forced to take Arda Turan and the <i>mala leche</i>-est of their team full of <i>mala leches, </i>Diego Costa due to injury. The capital city side, though, managed to keep the Cruijffian trident at bay till half-time. Whatever Simeone did at the interval clearly worked as <i>El Capitan</i> Diego Godin equalized in the most Diego Godinest fashion: header from a corner. The Blaugrana were now chasing the game.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Just after the hour mark, Messi found himself unmarked and volleyed home from close range but the goal was disallowed for offside. Was it offside? It was not cut and dry but it was not a blunder either. Atletico fans would say it was, Barça fans would say it was not but that was irrelevant. What was relevant that Messi did not even react. He just put his head down and went back without a murmur of protest. It was like he did not even care. It showed the uglier side of Barcelona's greatest player in their history.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Atletico comfortably played out the rest of the match, virtually in cruise mode, to seal their 10th La Liga title, first in 18 years but it was peripheral for Messi. It was his way of rebelling against what he felt was not right. For all his otherworldly abilities of football geometry, assisting teammates, scoring, finishing, this was his big Achilles heel. He started to become bigger than the team. It's almost as if Guardiola saw this coming and quit back in 2012.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A few months later after a loss in San Sebastian, Barcelona, now under another ex-legend Luis "Lucho" Enrique, were on the verge of imploding with rumours of the relationship between Messi & Lucho beyond repair. Xavi, an ex-teammate of Lucho, brokered peace between the two. Messi, now armed with spite, played like a madman through the rest of the season. Nothing exemplified this more than the match against Valencia at home.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Suarez scored in the 1st minutfe but <i>Los Che</i> came back furiously. Their captain Dani Parejo missed a penalty and they kept creating chance after chance. Messi, Suarez, Neymar kept hitting back. It was a miracle that the game was still 1-0 in second half injury time. The entire Valencian side was in Barcelona's half. Messi was up ahead. Neymar hit the ball in the open space. The Flea did not even have one ml of gas left in the tank and yet he huffed and puffed. He tried to chip the keeper but did not have the strength in his legs. The ball luckily fell back to him and he stabbed it past the keeper to seal the result 2-0. He ran behind the goal and fell down on the ground utterly spent.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In this faux author's (fauthor?) opinion, Messi is at his furious best when he's playing the classic right-sided inverted winger. Messi kept switching between wing and false 9 and Barcelona absolutely tore through Spain and Europe to seal their 2nd treble in 6 years. His 3 most memorable goals of the season, brace against Bayern & the unforgettable opener in the Copa Del Rey final came when he was on the wing. The following season began in somewhat of a stodgy fashion, Messi missed a few weeks due to injury but by spring Barcelona looked set to conquer a second treble in a row.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">A combination of travel to South America, emotion of Johan Cruijff's death, lack of bench strength due a transfer ban caused Barça to be knocked out of Europe by their European <i>bête noire</i>, Atletico Madrid and almost lost out on La Liga after 3 defeats in a row. The ship was steadied and a double was sealed by the end of the season. The following season saw another set of seesawing fortunes, though there were a couple of unforgettable moments like Messi standing with his arm aloft after miraculously knocking out Paris St Germain and with his shirt in Santiago Bernabeu. All Culers want to forget what happened in the last 3 seasons.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">In hindsight, the treble was the worst thing to happen to Barcelona. It kept the hopelessly out of depth Bartomeu as president. He's the second coming of Joan Gaspart. They say history keeps repeating itself and repeat itself it did. While Gaspart probably had little to do with Figo leaving for Madrid, the way he wasted the money on the likes of Petit, Overmars, Rochemback, Geovanni etc eerily played out in the same fashion with Bartomeu wasting €222 million received for Neymar, on the likes of Dembele, Coutinho, Paulinho, Arturo Vidal etc. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">The only reason why Barcelona haven't seen a repeat of the very long dry spell (trophy-less between 1999-2005) is Messi. Paradoxically, Messi is also the reason why Barça have struggled in Europe, especially away from home. Messi has two modes of playing. In mode one, he's giving his all. Harrying defenders like crazy, making repeated runs from the deep, sitting deep and hitting runners left and right with a work-rate that would put the likes of Gattuso to shame. Then, there's a second energy conservation mode where Messi doesn't track back, sits in the middle, spreads play and finishes moves.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Most of the last 5 seasons have seen Messi spent majority of time in mode 2 than mode 1. This mode 2 is more than enough to win the league title where consistency is rewarded but in knockout competition, the whimsies take over. No Barcelona manager has managed to convince Messi like Zidane was able to convince Cristiano. Messi needs to introspect and take blame for this situation but his gigantic ego refuses to do so. His situation is exacerbated by the dreadfully unbalanced recruitment by the front office. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">In order to teach Bartomeu a lesson, Messi has decided to quit Barcelona. This is a terrible move by <i>La Pulga</i> for a multitude of reasons. Barcelona have placated him for at least 8 years now. This season has seen the odd mistake here and there but Barça have backed him to the hilt more often than not. He is virtually the sole reason for the massive wage bill that is almost as high as the club's income. Every Barcelona-tard in their hatred for Bartomeu fail to see Messi's culpability in the current state of affairs. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">By the look of things, he doesn't even have a club lined up where he can fit in easily. Is his body of 700+ matches' mileage ready to take the physical beatings by the big English centrebacks on soggy pitches? Or does he want to take it easy by going to Paris and relax before getting knocked out in Europe due to lack of weekly competition? Which team, other than Juventus, in Serie A is ready-made for a 33 year old to instantly win Champions League? All this bitter stuff out in the open, when Bartomeu apparently cannot even run for President in March 2021!</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Messi is the sole reason why Barcelona were so successful in the last 12 years. Unfortunately, his exit with the club in its current state, is all set to make La Liga a competition for 2nd place like Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. He has to take blame for that. Fire cooks tasty meals but it can also burn down houses. That is its nature. One can't wish that away. As a Barça fan who became one in the middle of one of their worst spells, I cannot wish bad things to happen to Messi. Wherever he goes, I want him to be as happy and as successful as he wants to be. This day was always upon us, might as well get over it with. Hopefully one day when the tempers are cooled, Messi and Barcelona kiss and make up like Brett Favre and Packers did. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Charley Rexach signed a 13 year old shy Rosario teenager needing growth hormones on a napkin 20 years ago. Messi has been responsible for 29 of the 94 titles Barcelona have won since he became their franchise player, to quote an Americanism, in 2008. It took Barcelona just 109 years to win 65 titles but just 12 to win the following 29. Ronaldinho left, Henry left, Villa left, Xavi left, Dani left, Don Andres left, Neymar left and the trophies continued unabated. All due to one man. That man has thrown the napkin away and for reasons best know to him, sent the burofax to end things.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Adios y hasta luego Señor Lionel Andres Messi Cuccittini. Te extrañaré.</p>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-12862563948274608982020-08-09T21:26:00.192+05:302020-08-13T15:42:44.965+05:30INDIAN CAPTAIN & HIS (ir)RATIONAL NEED TO BOWL FIRST: EPILOGUE<p style="text-align: justify;">Previous parts are available <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2020/08/indian-captain-his-irrational-need-to.html">here</a> and <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2020/08/indian-captain-his-irrational-need-to_4.html">here</a>.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Not all Indian captains suffered the fates of Kapil, Azhar, Sachin, Dada, Rahul or Virat. There were 3 men who escaped this "curse". Let's quickly take a look at how they managed to survive.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>SUNIL GAVASKAR</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sunil Gavaskar took over from Venkataraghavan. He quickly realized the Indian bowling wasn't too strong and followed a safety first strategy. India won 3 painfully boring 6-test series at home against a Packer-weakened West Indies & Australia and later against England, 1-0, 2-0 & 1-0 respectively. India toured Pakistan for a 6-test in late 1982. After drawing a rain-affected 1st test, Imran Khan went Marsellus Wallace on Zed on India and Gavaskar lost the job to Kapil Dev.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Kapil's Devils did somewhat respectably in West Indies losing only 0-2 but won a seismic ODI in Berbice with the crowd of Indian descent purportedly cheering India. The confidence gained by this win helped India inflict the first ever defeat on the Windies in World Cups. After losing their way a bit, India qualified for the semis and upset the home side. Kapil's Devils made everyone who punted some cash on them richer by 66 times by defending a tiny total of 183 and India were World Champions in any sport for the 1st time in 8 years and only the 2nd time ever.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">West Indies returned to India in late 1983 for a 6 test series. Burning for revenge, they inflicted the heaviest defeat on the home side in almost 25 years, West Indies themselves in 1958-59. Kapil lost the job to Gavaskar and the future Bombay Sheriff held the job till 1985 when the then 7 test playing nations were invited to play the 1985 World Championship of Cricket held to celebrate the 150th anniversary of White Settlement in Victoria.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Gavaskar announced even before the tournament began that it would be his last involvement as captain. Armed with a flamboyant if inconsistent opener in Srikkanth, a strong middle-order in himself, Dilip & young Azharuddin, a string of allrounders in Kapil, Jimmy, Ravi, Roger & Madan Lal and the trump card in leggie Sivaramakrishnan, India had one of the best ODI sides in their history. The large Australian grounds suited the spinners and Gavaskar's captaincy was outstanding. India rolled through the group stages with 3 wins out of 3, bowling out Pakistan, England & Australia in their group matches.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">India faced New Zealand in the semis. Gavaskar won the toss and decided to bowl. The bowlers vindicated their captain's decision and took 10 wickets for the 4th time running and restricted the Kiwis to 206. This was a cake walk to the very long Indian line-up: Roger Binny batted at number 9. Yet Hadlee had Srikkanth in all sorts of trouble. India struggled and were a scarcely believable 46/1 after 20 overs. Azhar & Shastri tried to up the ante but NZ continued to be disciplined. When Shastri fell in the 32nd over, India needed nearly 6 runs an over to win.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Gavaskar made yet another inspired decision in a tournament full of inspired Gavaskar decisions: Kapil came at number 5 instead of his customary number 7. He began like only Kapil can with a flurry of boundaries just like he told W V Raman on the latter's <a href="https://www.buzzsprout.com/1114076/4667348-how-would-you-rate-kapil-dev-s-contribution-to-indian-cricket">podcast recently</a>, (paraphrased) "Plan B & C is loser talk". He survived a difficult catch off Hadlee but kept cutting the Kiwi bowlers fiercely. Vengsarkar also joined the fun. The partnership was best summed up by Richie Benaud, "Tied down by some brilliant New Zealand work at the beginning, they've fought back and are now carving the attack". India rolled to the final with more than 6 overs to spare. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Pakistan upset the mighty West Indies in the other semifinal and we had the first ever marquee India-Pakistan final in ODI history. We all know how that went: Kapil bustled, Siva hustled and Srikkanth muscled Pakistan into submission and India proved the win 2 years earlier was no fluke. Yet it could have all gone awry thanks to that decision to field by Gavaskar in the semis. Thank God for the greatest Indian cricketer of all time: Kapil Dev Nikhanj!</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>SACHIN TENDULKAR</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sachin Tendulkar is quite possibly the unluckiest cricketer in the world. Every failure of his is magnified by his haters and every success of his is waved off as "He's SRT". Indian selectors made him captain whenever India had difficult overseas trips and invariably our batting came up a cropper against superior attacks in conditions aiding them. The gambles he took, though seemingly logical, invariably failed. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">No better example of this than Robin Singh. In late 1997, England-India-Pakistan-West Indies played a 4-nation tournament in the 1st ever D/N matches in Sharjah. India lost their opener to England in a thriller. Sachin scored a brilliant 87 ball 91 with just 6 (4 4s 2 6s) boundaries and yet as is his wont, got out with 18 runs to win. India were a must win situation against their arch-rivals and luckily Sachin won the toss and decided to bat. Ganguly & Sidhu gave India a solid foundation with a century partnership. India were brilliantly placed at 143/1 with exactly 20 overs left. </p><p style="text-align: justify;">Sidhu was unfortunately run out and Sachin sent Robin Singh to get some quick runs. The Tamidadian (geddid?) was out 1st ball and India lost their way. Pakistan, despite a few jitters, won and virtually dumped India out of the tournament. Tendulkar was pilloried for the decision to send a pseudo-pinch-hitter up the order. Weeks later Tendulkar resigned, Azhar was now captain. In the 3rd final of Bangladesh's Independence Cup, with a large total beckoning, SRT went medieval on Azhar Mahmood but was out for a frenzied 41 off 26. Azhar, the Indian one that is, sent Robin Singh at number 3. This time the Tamidadian delivered with an 83 ball 82 as India won a manic, record breaking chase with Hrishikesh Kanitkar hitting, with due respect to MSD's Wankhede 6, the greatest ever boundary in ODI history. Did you observe how unlucky SRT is?</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Anyhow, this Azhar-Sachin carousel meant that Tendulkar never captained India in a major multi-nation tournament. The poor guy was spared from making a decision to <strike>bat or</strike>bowl in a big match that invariably India would have lost and getting another set of brickbats for that.</p><p style="text-align: justify;"><b>MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI</b></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Mahendra Singh Dhoni captained India in 2 50 over World Cups, 3 T20 World Cups and 2 Champions Trophies. India won 1 tournament apiece. Here's his record after winning the toss:</p><p style="text-align: justify;">2007 World T20</p><p style="text-align: justify;">SF vs Australia: Won toss & batted</p><p style="text-align: justify;">F vs Pakistan: Won toss & batted</p><p style="text-align: justify;">2011 World Cup</p><p style="text-align: justify;">SF vs Pakistan: Won toss & batted</p><p style="text-align: justify;">2013 Champions Trophy</p><p style="text-align: justify;">SF vs Sri Lanka: Won toss & fielded</p><p style="text-align: justify;">2015 World Cup</p><p style="text-align: justify;">QF vs Bangladesh: Won toss & batted</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Only anomaly is the Sri Lanka decision but that was because it rained heavily and he thought Indian bowlers could take advantage. Otherwise, MSD knew India's abilities and always chose to bat when he won the toss.</p><p style="text-align: justify;">Smartest. Cricketer. Ever.</p>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-65011868368217942782020-08-06T16:06:00.000+05:302020-08-06T16:06:35.552+05:30PENANCE OF A HALF MILLENNIUM <div style="text-align: justify;">Brasil hosted the fourth World Cup in 1950. Anything less than winning it was a bigger disaster for Brasilians than every other disaster put together. This world cup had a final round robin stage with the team topping it getting to kiss the Jules Rimet trophy. Brasil opened it with a 7-1 win over Sweden and followed it up with a 6-1 win over Spain. Their opponents in the last match Uruguay, effectively the final, trailed 1-2 vs Spain before sharing the honours and again 1-2 vs Sweden needing an 85th minute winner.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A draw would suffice for the hosts but nothing less than a win would do for the football mad nation. A calamitous error by the Brasilian goalkeeper Moacir Barbosa gave Uruguay a 2-1 win and with it their second world cup in two attempts. A man named João Ramo do Nascimento was in tears. His 9 year old son, Edson, consoled him, "Don't worry papa, I will win you a world cup". Eight years later, Edson now known as Pele, scored the only goal in the quarterfinals against Wales, a hattrick in the semis against France and a brace in the final to deliver on the promise he made to his father. Pele could not control his tears.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An eight year effort for what is ultimately just a sport brought so many emotions out. How would a nation, no a civilization react after an effort that spanned at least 15 generations and almost 500 years? This <span style="font-family: times;"><i>tapasya </i></span>was against not one, not two but three powers hostile to Hindus. The first two were foreigners of immense power: the superpowers of their day. The latter were the Congress party, virtually the legatee of the Turkic-British empire, that tried every trick in the book to fool (seemingly) gullible Hindus.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hindus kept chipping away. One does not defy 2 imperial powers: Islamic & European, for nearly a whole millennium just by leaving everything to the Gods. Remember, no other BCE civilization survived the Monotheism virus for more than 2 centuries. These <a href="https://swarajyamag.com/news-brief/after-ram-temple-ruling-by-sc-suryavanshi-kshatriyas-in-ayodhya-and-basti-villages-end-their-500-year-old-vow-and-get-their-turbans-back">villagers</a> refused to wear turbans or leather shoes until temple was constructed for example. The Hindu-baiting media even now continues to ignore this centuries-long struggle and attempts to show this as a 30 year struggle. The first major attempt to reclaim <i><span style="font-family: times;">janamsthān </span></i>happened in 1853.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1990, Mulayam Singh Yadav opened fire on innocent <i><span style="font-family: times;">kār sēvaks</span></i> simply to show solidarity with Muslims. Officially 16 people were killed, unofficial estimates are at least in 3 figures. Any other community would have given up. This was but a scratch. Hindus regrouped and redoubled efforts. People from all over the country defied hunger, pain, cold weather, hostile state and walked 100s of kilometres to reach <i><span style="font-family: times;">janamsthān </span></i>because trains to Ayodhya were suspended. People in and around Ayodhya welcomed their brethren with open arms. There are literally 1000s of stories of <i><span style="font-family: times;">kār sēvaks</span></i> being not fed but overfed. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Our Hindu <i><span style="font-family: times;">itihāsa-purāṇas</span></i> are filled with stories of various kinds of people, <span style="font-family: times;"><i>ṛṣis</i></span>, <i><span style="font-family: times;">manuṣyas</span></i>,<i><span style="font-family: times;"> asuras,</span></i> <i><span style="font-family: times;">dānavas</span></i>, at times even <span style="font-family: times;"><i>dēvas </i></span>themselves performing <i><span style="font-family: times;">kaṭhōr tapasya</span></i> to receive various boons from the <i><span style="font-family: times;">dēvas</span></i>. The <i><span style="font-family: times;">dēvas</span></i>, usually <span style="font-family: times;"><i>indra</i></span>, would even disturb these efforts. These were tests to see the dedication and determination of the being performing the penance. Once they feel the devotee's <i><span style="font-family: times;">śraddha </span></i>is up to the mark, they appear before him/her and give their blessings. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><i><span style="font-family: times;">rāma </span></i>must have decided that it's time to return to Ayodhya. On that glorious day, 450 years of slow-boiling anger and rage broke free and <i><span style="font-family: times;">janamsthān </span></i>was reclaimed. It should have been a piece of cake but He was still not satisfied. <i><span style="font-family: times;">rāmalallā</span></i>, for reasons known only to Him, made us wait a further 3 decades. We waited 470 years, what's another 30? Finally, it's here. The mother of all <i><span style="font-family: times;">kaṭhōr tapasyas</span></i> that spanned generations finally came to fruition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yogi Adityanath's commanding voice was shaking. Narendra Modi's hands were trembling. Tears of joy were flowing through every single Hindu household. Pejawar & Kanchi Swamis provided intellectual cover. Kothari Brothers gave up their lives. Ashok Singhal Ji spilled blood. Kalyan Singh lost his CMship. Thousands were jailed. Their <i><span style="font-family: times;">balidān </span></i>did not go in vain. They have won. <i>We</i> have won. Bhavya Ram Mandir is but a formality now. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This is barely the beginning. As they said and still do:</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">अयोध्या तो बस झाँकि है काशी मथुरा बाक़ी है!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">जय श्री राम मित्रों!</div>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-83350281054626094982020-08-04T19:40:00.005+05:302020-08-04T20:15:13.517+05:30INDIAN CAPTAIN & HIS (ir)RATIONAL NEED TO BOWL FIRST: 00s<div style="text-align: justify;">Part 1 is <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2020/08/indian-captain-his-irrational-need-to.html">here</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new year of 2000 did not just bring the new year but also the new century and with it the new millennium as well. The first month brought many disasters of various proportions for the senior team but an exceptionally talented junior side won the 3rd U-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka. Five of those 14 kids played international cricket for India. The captain Mohammad Kaif was touted for great things as was allrounder Reetinder Singh Sodhi. Both were already world champions at the U-15 level with latter as captain. Neither did justice to their talents. One of those five was a certain Yuvraj Singh.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition to them, there were up & comers like Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Ashish Nehra, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag & a guy with mullet from the cricketing backwaters of Ranchi. The match-fixing scandal gave the selectors the opening they needed to ditch some of the 90s cricketers and blood this talented group of youngsters. India went to Kenya for the 2nd ICC Knockout with what could be called an experimental team. Zaheer bowled yorkers. Yuvi thrashed McGrath & Donald and suddenly India were in the final. Chris Cairns played an innings of a lifetime and India were left licking their wounds.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>SAURAV GANGULY</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There were many highs and few lows before the 2002 Natwest Final. India had lost 9 ODI finals in a row before this. Having dominated the group stages, the bowlers suffered the yips and the target became daunting: 326. Ganguly set India off to a flyer before the familiar script returned. Tendulkar failed and India collapsed to 146/5 needing 180 runs at almost 7 runs an over. The contest was virtually over. Tenth final lost in a row. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">WRONG! In step 20 year old Yuvraj & 21 year old Kaif and India sensationally aced the chase out of nowhere. They went from strength to strength and reached the final of newly christened ICC Champions Trophy. Unfortunately the final was played twice and on both occasions rain played spoilsport and the trophy was shared. As a typical Madras boy, I was more miffed about our boys not getting <font face="times"><i>gāji</i></font> than not winning the tournament outright. I could have let go if it was just the once. But twice? No way Jose!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then came the tour to New Zealand that threw a spanner in the works. India lost the test series 0-2 and ODI series 2-5. Except for Viru, all batsmen failed in the white ball arena. The normally quiet Tendulkar repeatedly bellyached about not getting to open. For the fourth World Cup in a row morale was low. India began in terrible fashion making heavy weather of beating the Dutch, followed by getting thumped by the defending champions. Like Azhar, this result kept eating Ganguly inside.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They say when you are down in the dumps, the only way is up. Which is exactly what happened to India. Zimbabwe, Namibia & England were brushed aside like <font face="times"><i>kabandha</i></font> brushed aside giant trees to setup the first meeting against Pakistan in almost 3 years. India had already qualified for the Super Six stage but how can a game against <i>them</i> be a dead rubber? Pakistan set a challenging target thanks to Engineer-turned-Cricketer-turned-Tablighi Anwar's last ODI 100. Tendulkar's & Viru's pyrotechnics virtually finished the game inside 5 overs. Pakistan never recovered from Tendulkar's brutal take down of Rawalpindi Express.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">From then on, India reached the final on auto-pilot. There were a couple of minor wobbles against Kenya & New Zealand but eventually India won both matches quite comfortably. Australia had similar moments of vulnerability but they reached the final in facile manner. Ganguly called correctly and saw that the pitch had some grass. He truly believed his trio of Zaheer-Ashish-Srinath would deliver and chose to bowl. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">If ever a match was over after the 1st ball of potentially 600 legal balls, this one was that. Zaheer bowled a 1st ball wide, sledged Hayden and conceded 15 runs! Church & Haydos added 105 runs in 14 overs. The spinners pulled it back a bit but Ricky Ponting played one of the all time great innings by a captain in limited overs cricket to push Australia to 359. He was especially harsh on veteran Srinath. It took the gentle giant from Mysore 12 years to learn how to bowl the slower ball. He died by it in the end.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Indian response was over before it even began like Vasool Raja's hostel room. Tendulkar was out in the 1st over. Viru tried his best with some big hitting but he was fighting not a losing but a lost battle. With him ended the Indian "resistance". The only silver lining was there were no Jadeja-Robin Singh to prolong the inevitable. Australia won by 125 runs and became only the 2nd team to defend its title. A rational analysis, with or without hindsight, would have said that Australia were simply too powerful but the heart still yearned for an upset. Twas not to be.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>RAHUL DRAVID</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">For the best part of arguably India's most successful era, John Wright was the coach. Eventually things went stale. A slightly short-handed India, thanks to a combination of weather, Nagpur groundsman and the legendary Indian (in)ability against the tail, were finally defeated at home by the Aussies after 35 years. One of the weakest Pakistani sides visited in the next spring. India ended up drawing the series 1-1 when they should have arguably whitewashed the bitter enemies. India managed to lose the 6 match ODI series 2-4 after going 2-0 up. John Wright resigned and on Ganguly's recommendation Greg Chappell was made coach.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We all know about the spat so I won't go into that but I want to mention a weird obsession the boys of <a href="https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/28967400/was-greg-chappell-really-terrible-coach-india">Cricinfo</a> have with Chappell the younger and Dravid's captaincy. One of my fundamental beliefs is that a coach in cricket is the most useless thing there is. Other than picking a side there is absolutely nothing a coach can do during a match. He/She is basically a redundant selector. A second fundamental belief is that there are no great captains. A captain is only as good as his/her team.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They repeatedly hold on to the 17 odd successful chases in a row but ignore other problems. He was a terrible man-manager. The weird obsession to turn Irfan Pathan into an allrounder made his bowling go to pieces. India couldn't beat a barely above average Pakistan away from home. India drew a test series against England. Commendable no? IT WAS AT HOME! Imagine getting spun out by Shaun-Effin'-Udal! India failed to reach the semis of the Champions Trophy at home. Ironically, India chased once and defended twice. Won the chase but lost both matches when they batted first. Operation success, patient dead. All the chasing bluster evaporated in South Africa where India lost 3 out of 3 batting second.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Despite all that, for the first time in many moons, India's morale before the World Cup was on the uptick. It all came crashing down against Bangladesh in Port Of Spain. The famed Indian batting came a cropper against the Mashrafe McGrath and Abdul Verity. Suddenly India were in massive trouble. What was thought to be a dead rubber when the schedule was made became do or die. After thrashing Bermuda, a match more famous for a <strike>corpulent</strike>thinness challenged guy's diving catch, India faced Sri Lanka in the aforementioned dead-rubber-turned-do-or-die...er. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once more an Indian captain ignored all evidence in front of him and thought like a Vegas gambler and chose to field after winning the toss. Traditional destroyers of India, Jaya, Sanga & Mahela, got out cheaply and yet Sri Lanka made 254/6. As usual India were never in the hunt. The infamous Paper Tigers failed yet again in a crunch match whilst chasing. The skipper even helped old timers remember the glorious days of Jadeja-Robin Singh and delayed the inevitable with a typical Dravid ODI innings. Even a guy like Dravid, touted to be among the smarter analysts of the game, ignored reality. Like that twitter meme goes: Sed Stery.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>VIRAT KOHLI</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The future Mr. Anushka Sharma was the captain of India's 2nd triumph at the U-19 level. He would display his future talents very well at U-19 level. In the first 2 matches, he scored 40 & 25* respectively. Then he got a 74 ball 100 in the dead rubber against West Indies. Post that he did something unthinkable. He actually contributed heavily in a win.....in a knockout match.....with the ball?!? Shocking but true. Coming in as 4th change, Kohli bowled 7 very economical overs and took 2/27. He then scored 43 in the chase as India went through to the final by D/L method.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He was back to "form" in the final scoring just 19 runs. It was just 3 runs shy of his terrific record in finals as a senior pro: 8 matches 154 runs at 22. One could say it was juuuuuust below par for course. Anyhow, Kohli went to establish himself as a master in ODIs. His reputation as a chase-master kept growing like <i><font face="times">vāli</font></i>'s strength when facing an opponent. In this period he became one of the handful of cricketers who had won both the junior and senior World Cups. After a classic Indian defeat in a World Cup knockout match, M S Dhoni resigned from captaincy and the reins went to the best batsman in the side: Kohli.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The (purportedly) last ever ICC Champions Trophy began in a rainy English summer, pardon the tautology, of 2017. India absolutely battered the Arch-rivals at Edgbaston. This was followed by a shock defeat against Sri Lanka as Men in Blue failed to defend 321 an ominous sign for the future. India put away the disappointment and comfortably beat South Africa and Bangladesh to reach the final. The opponents were the Old Enemy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Yet another time an Indian captain thought fielding first in a big match was a good idea. I am starting to think this is a genetic flaw that can never be corrected. Yet another time everything that can go wrong went wrong. Fakhr Zaman, a guy whose name cannot be mentioned without a censor beep in the English world, tore the Indian attack for a 92 ball century. This was after he was bowled off a no-ball for just 3. If that was bad, getting thrashed around the ground by almost 37 year old Hafeez was worse.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nevertheless 339 was not beyond the exceptional Indian batting lineup. India's top 5 was: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh & (arguably) GOAT finisher MS Dhoni. With Pandya and Sir Jadeja for support. As usual all of this was just on paper. Mohammad Amir destroyed the top 3 with a frenzied spell and India were behind the 8-ball. A few balls later Yuvraj & Dhoni went. There was no Jadeja-Robin Singh on this occasion but there was time for an Atul Bedade...on steroids. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hardik Pandya went berserk thrashing 4 4s and 6 6s in a blistering cameo. His innings was cruelly cut short by a run out and India immediately subsided within 4 overs. There are few over-optimistic Indian fans who believe India would have won if not for Sir Jadeja's selfishness. What's so wrong about being positive? Let us believe it would have happened.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There you go. Not one, not two, not three but FIVE captains who thought it would be a great idea to micturate into the wind. One of them even got a do-over but he refused to learn. It's like Roger Federer refusing to change tactics against Rafael Nadal stubbornly believing that his "talent" would eventually win. As things stand there is no cure for this disease for the foreseeable future. Indian fans should pray that an Indian captain should never win the toss on finals day. This way we avoid the hypothetical of wishing away the preordained batting collapse that accompanies the toss win.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are a few men, three of them to be precise, who escaped this fate. The fate of never having to choose whether or not to bowl first after winning the toss in a big match. We'll see about those in the epilogue.</div>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-31106567873229094722020-08-04T13:08:00.001+05:302020-08-04T13:08:38.020+05:30INDIAN CAPTAIN & HIS (ir)RATIONAL NEED TO BOWL FIRST: 80s & 90s<div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote style="text-align: center;">Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.</blockquote><div><br /></div><div>This quote is widely misattributed to skirt-chasing, wife-cheating genius Albert Einstein. This is one of those profound statements that really gives weight to the adage "It matters not who said but what is being said.".</div><div><br /></div><div>Ever since Kapil's Devils massively upset the mighty West Indies on the 8th anniversary of Indira Gandhi's announcement of Emergency, India has had a great run in multi-nation tournaments. India won the World Championship of Cricket, held to commemorate 150th anniversary of White Settlement in the Australian state of Victoria, in comprehensive fashion. In the 5 matches, the now Sunil's Superstars took 49 out of a possible 50 wickets conceding more than 200 just once. They chased in 4 matches and never lost more than 4 wickets to ace them.</div><div><br /></div><div>They have also reached the semifinals of the World Cup 6 times out of 9, winning it for a 2nd time after 28 years. This made them the first "true" hosts to win the World Cup. Australia are the only team to have reached the final four more times than India in this time period. India have been excellent in the ICC Knockout/Champions Trophy as well. Los Hombres en Azul have won the tournament most times (2), joint with Australia, and no team has reached the final (4) more times than them. It is undeniable that, for all its lows, Indian cricket is <i>the</i> most successful sport in the last 40 years. </div><div><br /></div><div>Having said all that, it is also irrefutable that India are terrible chasers in general and dreadful ones in big matches. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Indian captain's predilection is to bowl after winning the toss. It's as if the umpire/match referee asks, "Would you like to bowl or would you like to field?" and the nervous skipper chooses the former because B is ahead of F in the alphabetical order. What is even more problematic is that almost all of India's full time skippers refuse to learn from their predecessors' mistakes. They are like those loser gamblers who sit in front of slot machines with their 20 oz soda cups filled with coins. "I'll be a millionaire with this next coin."</div><div><br /></div><div>So without further ado, let's take a look at what each of our leaders did.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>KAPIL DEV</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Cricket in the subcontinent was fun in the 80s. Captaincy was a hot potato on either side of <i><font face="times">thār </font></i>desert. Imran-Javed on the east. Kapil-Sunil on the west. Both played on the proverbial faultline of cricket. The Lahore-Karachi rivalry in Pakistan and the North Zone-West Zone rivalry in India. By the time the Reliance World Cup rolled on, it was Kapil Dev's turn on the hot seat. India began the tournament with a classic choke that would make even South Africa blush. Chasing 270, India were 187/2 in 32 overs. Billy McDermott ripped out the middle order and yet India needed 15 off 24 with 4 wickets in hand. The defending champions managed to lose by 1 run.</div><div><br /></div><div>The home side managed to put the disappointment away and absolutely tore through the tournament winning the remaining matches in comprehensive fashion. The<i> coup de grâce</i> being the utter evisceration of New Zealand in RSS HQ. Later on Srikkanth mentioned in an interview that before going out to bat Gavaskar told him, "Come what may, I'll score faster than you today." He eventually got to his only ODI 100 off just 87 balls. This also ensured Australia would have to travel across the border to play the semis and India would play at home in front of the raucous Wankhede crowd.</div><div><br /></div><div>Kapil called correctly and invited England to bat. The former rulers began slowly but once Gatting joined Gooch they upped the ante and added 117 in just 19 overs. The kept sweeping the spinners and a flustered Kapil never made any adjustments to the field. Still 255 was not beyond the powerful Indian batting lineup that batted up to number 10. India were in a spot of bother at 73/3 but Azharuddin kept the home team in the hunt with Chandrakant Pandit, Kapil Dev & Ravi Shastri making quickfire contributions. India needed 51 to win in 54 balls with 5 wickets in hand. Azhar as always looked pretty and Shastri was his usual gutsy self. In another choke that would make South Africa proud, the hosts lost 5/15 in 27 balls.</div><div><br /></div><div>Had India managed to somehow scrape through and (fingers crossed) beat Australia for a 2nd time, it would have catapulted them into the most elite territory. They would have won 3 major titles out of 3 and who knows, this quasi-great escape would have given them the mental strength and belief to come out of any difficult situation. We could have maybe even completely avoided the <a href="http://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2018/09/india-pakistan-on-friday.html">mental block against</a> our arch-rivals. Alas, it was not to be.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>MOHAMMAD <strike>FIXER</strike>AZHARUDDIN</b></div><div><br /></div><div><b>1996</b></div><div><br /></div><div>India's greatest cricketer lost his job after the Wankhede fiasco. The job went to Dilip "Colonel" Vengsarkar. He was on his purplest of purple patches. He was ranked the best batsman in the world by the nascent computer based rankings. He began in great fashion scoring a 7 hour 102 against West Indies on captaincy debut and another 100 in that same series. However captaincy became a burden and he lost his job after India were annihilated by West Indies in 1989 losing 8 matches out of 9. </div><div><br /></div><div>The job then went to Srikkanth for India's tour of Pakistan. India did a commendable job by drawing all 4 tests and competing very well in the a weather affected ODI series. However, selectors dropped him for his batting failures. There were also rumours that he was removed to scuttle player power. Azharuddin was the most apposite choice after the CEG alumnus. India were sub par for most of his tenure. <a href="http://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2018/09/india-pakistan-on-friday.html">Friday humiliations</a> in Sharjah became an annual occurrence under him. </div><div><br /></div><div>Nevertheless, he held on to the job for the Wills World Cup. India finished 3rd in the group behind Sri Lanka and Australia. The ease with which the Southern Islanders chased a (then) humongous total of 271 created massive doubts in his mind. The 3rd place meant a QF clash with the arch-rivals in the garden city of Bangalore. Pakistan were slight favourites but India were given a massive advantage when Wasim Akram dropped out injured. 9th March 1996 ended up being one of the most glorious days in Indian limited overs history. Jadeja's late assault on Waqar converted a 250 target to 288. India survived an Anwar-Sohail blitzkrieg (84/0 in 10 overs) followed by the most unforgettable send off in cricket history: Venkatesh Prasad to Sohail.</div><div><br /></div><div>In front of a frenzied Eden Gardens crowd, Azhar called correctly and sent Sri Lanka in. The earlier match was on his mind and he didn't want to expose what was India's weaker suit. But he forgot that this was a day/night match. Srinath removed Kaluwitharana & Jayasuriya with just 1 run on the board and an already mad crowd went absolutely bonkers. Aravinda De Silva played one of the great counterattacking innings before falling to Kumble. Steady contributions from the middle order set India a target of 252. </div><div><br /></div><div>Sidhu fell early but Tendulkar and Manjrekar batted so comfortably that it seemed like India would go across the border for the first time in almost 7 years. Tendulkar especially looked masterful and made things look utterly easy. With the team score on 98, an alert Kaluwitharana pounced on a microsecond of carelessness from Tendulkar and stumped him. He had scored 2/3rds (65) of the team score. A pitch that looked so comfortable for batting suddenly became a snake pit. Jayasuriya ripped through the Indian middle order and at 120/8 the crowd couldn't take it and started throwing stuff on to the field. Clive Lloyd gave the match to Sri Lanka. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>1999</b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><strike>Fixer</strike>Azhar is the most special case among Indian captains. He is the only one who had the opportunity to set things right: a do-over and failed to learn any lesson whatsoever. Azhar-Sachin were the Kapil-Sunil of the 90s. After a disappointing tour to England in 1996, Tendulkar was handed the captaincy. Although Tendlya did quite well as captain, the team wasn't quite successful. He resigned at the start of 1998. Azhar was reinstated and Tendulkar went on to have his <i>Annus Mirabilis </i>in ODIs.</div><div><br /></div><div>India weren't in the most confident of moods before the start of 1999 World Cup. In the opener, India set South Africa a tricky target of 254. The match was on the knife's edge when Zulu broke free and hit Allrounder Agarkar for 4 fours in an over and finished the job with ease. Disaster struck before the 2nd match against Zimbabwe. Tendulkar's beloved father passed away and he left for India. A very good Zimbabwe side set India 253 to win. India huffed & puffed but eventually put themselves in a position where they needed 7 runs to win in 11 balls with 3 wickets in hand. Guess what happened? You know how this goes. India lost 3 wickets in 5 balls to lose by 3 runs.</div><div><br /></div><div>With teams carrying over points to new Super Six stage for defeating fellow qualifiers, India effectively had to win 7 matches in a row to win the World Cup. SRT returned and scored an emotional 100 vs Kenya. Dada-Wall eviscerated Sri Lanka with the 1st ever 300 run partnership in ODI history. In a win & you're in situation, India set England 233 to win. The Poms were 3 down for 70 odd when rain stopped play. Early next day, the Pakistani namesake of Shabana Azmi's husband, gave one of the most egregious LBWs in cricket history in favour of India and England never recovered from it. After looking dead and buried, India avoided the ignominy of exiting in the group stages.</div><div><br /></div><div>India and their equivalent in the other group: Australia opened the newly created Super Six stage at England's most favourable batting wicket of The Oval. Both teams needed to win every S6 match to have even half-a-chance of reaching the semis. Azhar won the toss and chose *drumroll* to BOWL! Junior & Church gave them a great platform adding almost 100 runs in 20 overs. The Aussies kept the scoreboard ticking and plundered nearly 80 runs in the last 10 overs. This looks even worse when we consider the fact that Srinath's figures in this period were 4-1-17-0. He bowled a maiden over at the death!</div><div><br /></div><div>India needed a massive start to even hope to have sniff of reaching 283. They did exactly that except it was in Bizarro fashion. McGrath ripped out the Indian top order with a spell of 4-1-8-3. <a href="http://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2017/10/indian-cricket-nostalgic-90swith-bit-of.html">Jadeja-Robin Singh</a> did what Jadeja-Robin Singh did and India were finished for all intents and purposes. They did score a very very emotional win over Pakistan at Old Trafford thereby beating the Ol' Enemy 3 times out of 3 at the World Cup but were mathematically eliminated when the Kiwis won the last S6 match.</div><div><br /></div><div>The previous millennium ended thusly. The current one began in spectacular fashion. Spectacularly bad I mean. India were thumped 3-0 in Australia, suffering their first whitewash in almost 26 years. The annual tri-series was even worse. Australia was one of the rarest of rare countries where India were undefeated (3-0) against Pakistan. At the end of it, India barely managed to hold on to the head to head (4-3) advantage. The team's morale was in the pits as they returned home. South Africa became the 1st team to defeat India in India for 13 years. It was also the first time ever that India were swept at home albeit in a 2-test series. </div><div><br /></div><div>Tendulkar was emotionally wrecked and he resigned from captaincy for the second and final time. India salvaged some pride in the ODI series by winning it 3-2 under Saurav Ganguly. But this was positively Utopia compared to what was to come. A Match-Fixing Scandal erupted and an already wrecked Indian cricket community became apoplectic. Match-fixing was always in the rumours since the 80s but this single piece of evidence validated all claims of match-fixing since the early days of Sharjah cricket. Every big superstar from Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Tendulkar were accused of taking bribes. Azhar & Jadeja were banned for life. Things could not have been worse.</div><div><br /></div><div>There was light at the end of the tunnel though. The 2nd Golden Generation of Indian cricketers born between 1978-82 were blood. The 1st Golden Generation of Indian cricketers born between 1969-74 were entering their primes. Under Ganguly, India began to finally not just compete but win away from home. Did this new generation learn from their "ancestors"? We'll see.</div></div>Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-83617318942272637852020-04-09T22:36:00.000+05:302020-04-10T23:18:17.980+05:30AN ALTERNATE HISTORY OF THE 1992 WORLD CUP: PART I<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Note: This is part fact and mostly unadulterated, poor fiction. No one should read this.</i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i><br /></i></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>PROLOGUE</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India had been in Australia for 85 days when the World Cup kicked off in Auckland. It had been a miserable 3 months peppered with little moments of joy. Australia thumped India at what eventually became the unconquerable fort, The Gabbatoir, inside 4 days. As was the practice those days, the action shifted to coloured clothing. India kicked off things with a thrilling tie at the WACA against the West Indies and surprisingly thrashed Australia by 107 runs after scoring just 208 runs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After 4 matches each, Australia had 6 points, India 5 and West Indies 0. The white ball took a break now and the pyjama party began. India meekly surrendered, again inside 4 days, in the Boxing Day test. They made a "propah" fist of things in the heavily rain affected New Year Test. At 114/6, still 56 runs in arrears, India appeared to end a near 11 year winless streak in Australia but the classic Indian inability to remove the tail and a classic Captain (not so) Grumpy rearguard saw the home side through before the red ball took yet another intermission.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The three week break had done the Windies a world of good as they took advantage of the fatigue of the 2 teams that had played back to back tests and they duly won 2 matches in a row. Another abandoned match and India's defeat to Australia in the latter's last match meant that West Indies were now 1 point ahead of India in the points table. The winner of the last match between India & West Indies would play Australia in the final. Richardson won the toss and chose to bat but the Calypso Kings were sluggish and the puny target of 175 was comfortably passed thanks to 50s from Srikkanth & Tendulkar. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India were thrashed in the 1st final and Australia won a tight contest by 6 runs to win the Benson & Hedges Tri-Series. The gruelling tour, for one last time, switched to white clothing as Australia & India began the traditional Australia Day Test in Adelaide. India shot out Australia for 145 and managed an 80 run lead after being reduced to 70/6. The last wicket pair of Srinath & Raju added an invaluable 33 runs including an <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LocPCHNjFL4">all run 5</a> thanks to the very long Adelaide Oval straight boundary. The pitch eased out and the home side applied themselves to set India a daunting total of 372. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After a torrid time throughout the tour, the Indian skipper Azhar came to the party. He scored a furious boundary laden 100. At 6/283, India were looking at an outside chance of a miraculous victory but Billy McDermott, aided by the new ball, removed Azhar and Australia scraped through with a 38 run victory and with it sealed the series 3-0. The mentally and physically drained Indians had nothing left in the tank and they simply subsided by 300 runs in the 5th test to lose the series 4-0.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>THE RECHARGE</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There was a 17 day break between the 5th test and India's opening match on the opening day albeit the 2nd match of the 1992 World Cup. The Indian team was not a happy family. There was a North Zone faction, a West Zone faction. Inside the North Zone faction, Kapil Dev & Manoj Prabhakar didn't see eye to eye. The former never rated the latter and the latter practically hated the former. Kapil also gave a cold shoulder to the young tyro Srinath. Except Srikkanth and Tendulkar, most batsmen struggled for runs. All this without even considering the heavy defeats, in both tests and ODIs, in the gigantic, demanding grounds of Australia.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>FIRST HALF</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the opening match of the World Cup, the Kiwis, who had announced their squad more than a year before the tournament, sprang a mini-upset on the defending champions Australia. Later in the day, a couple of time zones apart, Gooch called correctly and chose to bat. After losing Botham early, the captain & Robin Smith added 110 runs for the 2nd wicket. Later at 3/192 in the 42nd over with a well-settled Smith and Stewart, Reeve, Lewis to come, England looked set to post a total in excess of 260. Kapil & Prabhakar hit back in the death overs to restrict England to 236. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Srikkanth continued his good form from the B&H series scoring 39 with 7 4s to give India a solid start but India lost him & Azhar with the score on 63. India were comfortably placed at 2/126 with Shastri & Tendulkar looking very solid. Just like their opener in 1987 when India managed to muck up a chase of 270 from 207/2, India managed a sequel with a series of disastrous run outs to end up losing the match by 9 runs. An utter lack of confidence after repeated drubbings in the previous month.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The action then shifted from the south west corner of Perth to the north east corner of Mackay where the Ray Mitchell Oval was to make its international debut while hosting India play Sri Lanka. India & Sri Lanka had evenly split their previous 6 ODI meetings. Sri Lanka had already played 2 matches going 1-1. Rain reduced the match to 20 overs. Sri Lanka won the toss & inserted India in after a helicopter was used to dry the pitch. India also bought into the pinch hitting fever and sent Kapil to open with Srikkanth. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Using the juicy, overcast conditions Ramanayake & Wickramasinghe reduced India to 2/12 after 4 overs as the Kapil experiment failed. Azharuddin found form and along with young Tendulkar took India to 2/40 at the midway point. The conditions eased a bit allowing the duo to cut loose as they quickly added 50 runs in the next 5 overs. Azhar fell after a well-made 52 with score on 93 in the 16th over. Tendulkar went berserk in the slog overs ending up on 76 off just 44 balls as India piled 55 runs in the last 27 balls. Kapil & Prabhakar bowled tightly and accounted for Mahanama & Gurusinha. De Silva & Ranatunga took advantage of Srinath's inexperience but couldn't repeat Azhar's & Tendulkar's pyrotechnics and India put up their 1st points on the board with a 59 run victory.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India stayed in Queensland but still had to travel almost 1000 km to reach Brisbane to take on the home side. India had won 1 and lost 9 matches across formats against Australia in the previous 3 months. Australia won the toss and batted first. Kapil took 2 wickets in his first spell with just 31 runs on the board. Boon and Dean Jones consolidated with the latter steadily upping the pace. The Aussies were looking ominous at 198/4 with Jones & Moody going bonkers in the death overs but the Indian bowlers made yet another comeback to restrict Australia to 237/9 when a total of 250 seemed easy.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Srikkanth huffed and puffed to a 10 ball duck. Shastri's struggles at the top of the order continued. Rain interrupted play in the 17th over with India on 45/1. 3 overs were reduced but the target only reduced by 2 due to the ridiculous new rain rule, one of Richie Benaud's rare failures in his 40 year career as a cricketer and commentator. Shastri fell as soon as play resumed but Azhar continued his form from Mackay and kept chipping away at the target. Kapil came and went after a quickfire run-a-ball 21. India needed 108 runs in a little over 14 overs. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Azhar & Manjrekar added 66 runs in less than 9 overs as Border ended the partnership with a brilliant direct hit. Azhar fell, cruelly, 7 short of a well deserved 100. Manjrekar continued his cameo but eventually he was also run out with 20 runs needed in 12 balls. 7 off McDermott's last over meant India needed 13 off the last over to beat Australia for the 1st time in 6 ODIs. More clipped the 1st 2 balls of Moody's over to square leg for 4s and suddenly India needed 5 off 4. He tried to repeat it but this time a bit finer and ended up losing his middle stump. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A comical bit of running between wickets meant that India needed 4 off the last ball. Srinath hit it miles in the air and Raju thought it was 6 and started celebrating but Steve Waugh ran around the wide mid-on boundary only to drop the catch but he composed himself to throw the ball wide to the keeper's end. Raju's initial miscalculation meant that he lost precious time and was urgently trying to tie the match and dove into the crease. The pressure got to Boon and he dropped the ball and Raju's desperation did not go in vain and we had the 1st ever tie in a World Cup match! What a thrillah!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After a 2 day break came the most anticipated clash of the World Cup: India vs Pakistan. It had taken 5 World Cups when it should have actually taken just 4 but Australia & England decided to play spoilsport in Lahore & Bombay respectively. Azhar won the toss and India batted. Srikkanth, who had had a very good B&H cup just 2 months ago, suddenly lost form and was out after an uncharacteristically painful 39 ball 5. Azhar, Jadeja, Kambli, Tendulkar all made decent contributions and took India to 148/5 in the 40th over. Kapil joined Tendulkar and made a classic swashbuckling 35 off just 26 balls to add 60 in just 48 balls. Tendulkar made his 1st World Cup 50 and India ended up setting a total of 217 in 49 overs. One over was cut short due to Pakistan's slow rate.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Kapil & Prabhakar continued to bowl probing opening spells and picked up a wicket each to leave Pakistan reeling at 2/17. Sohail & Miandad batted patiently for almost 25 overs to add 90 runs when Tendulkar got Sohail caught off a full toss. Salim Malik came into bat and immediately hit two 4s. The seniors convinced Azhar to bring back Prabhakar and he duly delivered by removing the dangerous Malik for 12. A poor call by Miandad accounted for the run out of skipper Imran Khan and a few balls later Raju beat Akram in flight to reduced Pakistan to 6/141 from 3/127. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Javagal Srinath's searing yorker removed Miandad just 3 balls later leading to 88 crore Indians heaving a collective sigh of relief. The infamous Sharjah 6 was still a wound that did not heal and probably never would. Moin Khan tried to resist but the Indian bowlers, who had bowled wonderfully through out the night, completed the last rites to score a memorable 43 run win in the first ever World Cup meeting against the arch-enemies. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the half-way stage, India were sitting in 3rd place with 5 points behind England & New Zealand who had won all of their matches. Not bad for a very tired and faction filled side. We will see what happened next in Part II of this alternate history post.</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-66292306660139511362020-01-18T18:00:00.002+05:302020-01-18T18:55:39.448+05:30ENTERING THE UNKNOWN<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was there. Two match points. Eight years later, for the second time. On twitter, I wrote, "I LOVE YOU, YOU BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL MAN" aching to hit the leftmost key on the bottom row and the rightmost key on the middle row together.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Poof! It was gone. I don't remember how it happened. I don't want to revisit and see what exactly happened. It was for the first time in many years, ten of them to be precise since that dreaded night in Rod Laver Arena, that I felt numb as a Federer fan. Over the years, I had built up enough resistance to sporting disappointments, not unlike how <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>kauṭilya </i></span>had built up <i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">candragupta maurya</span></i>'s resistance to poison by administering non-lethal doses of it each day. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was but too much to take. A record equalling 9th Wimbledon, a 21st slam. Restoring the 3 slam gap. All. Gone. Like that. Even my current most favourite white ball cricketer, Mah Man Jos Buttler, winning the 50 over World Cup half an hour later was scant consolation. Federer has a history of brushing aside heart-breakers and moving full steam ahead like how <span style="font-size: large;"><i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">kumbhkarṇa</i> </span>brushed aside <i style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">vānaras </span></i>who tried to stop him. 100th title, (near) Sunshine Double, all felt worthless (they are not). One could not help but wonder how, a soon to be 38 year old could recover from (yet) another devastating loss.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2020 is as uncertain as for Federer Nation as 2017 was. Back then, he was coming off of the first major surgery of his career and delivered a season for the ages. Can he, the wounded king lion of the pride, win 21 sets in the legendary heat of Australia with many young lions looking to usurp his throne? Can he push himself one more time on the hallowed turf of SW19, where has suffered back to back losses from match point(s) up, to equal Martina Navratilova? Can he win a 6th US Open, a tournament in which he has reached the final once in 10 editions? Can he win a record extending 7th season ending tournament?<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
"Fight on, my men," Sir Andrew Said<br />
"A little I’m hurt but not yet slain.<br />
I'll just lie down and bleed a while,<br />
And then I’ll rise and Fight again."</blockquote>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There may be a million uncertainties but there's one certainty. Roger Federer will give every ounce of effort to win number 7, number 9, number 6, heck even number 2. His career is testament to this. The man, on average, spends more time in a match he loses than in one he wins. A fifth straight loss to Nadal, who spent in excess of five hours <i>and</i> one less day of rest, would have had a weaker man bursting at the seams. Federer bounced back to win his first French Open title and became the greatest men's singles slam winner a month later.<br />
<br />
Two years later, things had all lined up at Chatrier. The balls were (allegedly) light. Conditions fast...ish. Nadal seemingly vulnerable. From 5-2 up and a drop shot that was a millimetre away from making it 6-2, Federer proceeded to lose 5 games in a row to lose the set. As is his wont, he didn't back off and kept plugging away but 7 tough sets in a row on dirt were too much for the soon to be 30 year old and he missed his last chance to even the score, so to speak. This was followed by his first loss in a slam from 2 sets to love up at his favourite tournament. Another loss from match point up, this time on his own serve, against Djokovic rounded up his slam for the year.<br />
<br />
Another soul crushing year at slam level. What does the 30 year old do? Starting at Basel, he rolls off an 18 match win streak to end 2011. This sequence continues in 2012 and culminates in a record equalling 7th Wimbledon, a month shy of his 31st birthday. Federer went 61-6, winning the Tour Finals for a record 6th time, in this period. Everyone and their mothers were complaining about blue clay but the old man coolly wins & with it became Blue Clay GOAT forever. This powerful run gave him the number 1 rank and allowed him to pass Pete Sampras. An almost 31 year old usurped the number 1 rank from a 26 year old and two 25 year olds at the physical peaks.<br />
<br />
We could go on and one about the year from hell (2013), 2014, 2015, the slip, <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2017/01/bel18ve-to-bel19ve-via-bel18ved.html">BEL18VE</a>, <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2017/07/ro8er-tennis-raga-for-all-seasons.html">RO8ER</a>, 20 but one thing changed in 2019. After 14 years, the slam gap shrunk to less than 3. We can all (try to) wash it away with calling the weakest US Open draws, the bad luck, the poorest tennis generations ever since 1990, and what not but ultimately, facts are facts. The difference is now one. Plus, luck, good & bad, even out over 15 years. Nadal may or may not win a second Australian Open but he's most certainly nailed on favourite to reach lucky 13 in Paris with nary a competitor in sight. The difference could be 0, -1 or, (nightmare!!!) +1 when Wimbledon begins.<br />
<br />
What happens in the worst case scenario? Like George told the executives of NBC: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwapf5DnUrs">Nothing</a>! Yes, it will be painful and difficult to accept that Federer won't be GOAT (obviously it's our duty to not accept this) but the man has made it as difficult as possible, repeatedly fighting father time in staving off not one but two GOAT candidates half a decade younger than him. Remember, it was supposed to be over when Federer was 2 sets to love down and Falla was serving for the match in the 1st round of Wimbledon in 2010! The George Bastl. At 29, it was the age when most great players were virtually done. It was supposed to be over after 2011. Nope. After that, literally, back breaking year in 2013? Still there. Surely after receiving a thrashing of a lifetime in Rod Laver Arena and injuring his knee in spring? Are you kidding me? He turned 18, months before he turned 36!<br />
<br />
So, worry not fellow Fed fans. The <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2017/05/federer-yayati-gordon-gekko-greed.html">greed</a> will never go but we will still have a million moments to remember him by, just from this last decade. The disappointments will never go but the highs were certainly higher than the lows were lower. That epic finger wag. Charlene/Myla clapping in that dotted frock. That genuflection. Charlene (or Myla) making Leo (or Lenny) clap his hands. SABR. Neo-backhand. The shot that almost touched the heavens and yet had Berdych rooted to the baseline. The shot around the post that dropped Bad Boy Kyrgios' jaw. That epic 26 shot rally. Tons of tomes wouldn't be enough to fill "Federer Moments" just from this decade let alone his halcyon days.<br />
<br />
The <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>kurukṣetra</i> </span>war had many a great warrior and many a furious battle yet the <i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">devas</span></i><i style="font-family: times, "times new roman", serif; font-size: x-large;"> </i>came to watch 16 year old <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>abhimanyu </i></span>duel with <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>pitāmaḥ bhīṣma</i></span>. Graham Gooch scored almost 500 runs (456) in the Lord's test of 1990. England scored a convincing and crushing 247 run victory but the Cricket Gods came to watch Azharuddin's dazzling 22 4s, 88 ball 100 and Kapil's 4 6s in a row.<br />
<br />
Grit, pugnacity, determination will never triumph grace, panache, debonair. Nadal, maybe even Djokovic in 2021, may pass Federer on the totempole but the Tennis Gods came to watch Federer play. Nadal/Djokovic can only have one out of one's breath but it is Federer who makes <a href="https://www.espn.in/tennis/story/_/id/18578764/sambit-bal-roger-federer-winning-18th-grand-slam">one feel good about life</a>. Nadal/Djokovic may be greater winners but Roger Federer was, is, and forever will be a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html">religious experience</a>.<br />
<br />
Federer has been asked to <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2017/11/roger-federer-mental-strength.html">meet impossible standards</a> from the moment he beat Pete Sampras. <i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">gitācāryan </span></i><a href="https://www.gitasupersite.iitk.ac.in/srimad?language=dv&field_chapter_value=2&field_nsutra_value=47&htrskd=1&httyn=1&htshg=1&scsh=1&etradi=1">said</a> we only have the rights of efforts and no rights on results. There have been a few missteps here and some mishaps there but it's safe to say that he has met and exceeded many of those challenges and the few that he failed, it wasn't due to a lack of trying. Come hell or high water in 2020, it has been one ride of fantasy so far. As Roger Federer enters the unknown again, the best thing we "Fed-tards" can do is to forget about what others do, ignore the results and simply enjoy the fantastical, the heavenly Roger Federer Show.</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-2333821436689989692019-12-26T18:13:00.000+05:302019-12-27T08:12:43.937+05:30INDIAN BADMINTON IN 2019<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
After the glorious days of 2017, Indian badminton, especially men's singles, went through a little bit of a regression in 2018. Sindhu kept the flame burning with 3 big finals appearances in World Championships, Asian Games & World Tour Finals. 2019 proved to be even worse with even fewer bright moments. As expectation is rising, Indian players are buckling under pressure. With 2020 being an Olympic year, the signs are not encouraging.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Having said that, India are a very young badminton nation. We lack the depth and resources of the more affluent and more experienced badminton powerhouses like China, Indonesia, Denmark, Japan etc. These sort of teething problems are expected. As the saying goes, <i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">tañcāvūr periya kōvil</span></i> was not built in a day. We need to be patient and help our players grow with encouragement along with legitimate criticism. As someone trying to convert to a glass half-full person from a bitter glass half-empty person, I want to look at the positives in a season that had very few of them.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>MOST MEN'S SINGLES PLAYERS IN THE TOP 50</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Indian men's singles players did not win a single Super 300 or above title. In fact, only Srikanth Kidambi (India Open-Super 500) and Sourabh Verma (Syed Modi International-Super 300) managed to reach a 300 or above final. Sai Praneeth's appearance in the penultimate round of the Japan Open (Super 750), was the only appearance by an Indian men's singles shuttler during the weekend of a "big tournament".</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
But! There's always a but. But, Indian men's singles shuttlers still have the most players in the top 50 (8) along with China who also have 8. Srikanth, Prannoy, Sameer all struggled with injuries. Kashyap found form in his mid-30s. Sourabh reached a career high. Despite umpteen problems, Indian men did just enough to stay in the top 50. It is important to have many players in the top 50 and top 100 to keep a culture of badminton alive. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>P V SINDHU BREAKS HER JINX</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sindhu started the year in terrible fashion getting thrashed by every comer & goer. One month before the World Championships, she found form in the Indonesia Super 1000 open. She scored big wins over Okuhara & Chen YuFei to reach the final. At that moment, Yours Truly knew she was going to win gold in Basel. Sindhu is a big tournament player, probably only 2nd to Carolina Marin. She had reached the finals in each of the 3 previous biggest tournaments of the year (2016 Olympics, 2017 & 2018 World Championships) and each one ended in a heartbreak. 2016 loss was down to inexperience & <a href="https://kaykbee.blogspot.com/2018/08/greatest-match-ever-that-seemingly.html">2017 loss</a> was an epic match that could have gone either way. 2018 was the only inexplicable loss. I still don't know what happened to her from 15-11 up in Nanjing. It was most uncharacteristic of her.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
She started her campaign in Basel with a comfortable win over Pai Yu-po 14 & 15. In the 2nd round she proceed to thrash Beiwen Zhang, who always troubled her, 14 & 6. This set up a blockbuster quarterfinal with the mesmeric but mercurial Tai Tzu-ying. The Taiwanese shuttler had won 6 of the previous 7 encounters against Sindhu but Sindhu had won their last meeting in Guangzhou. Tai started in blazing fashion winning the 1st game in just 15 minutes. Sindhu raised her level in game 2 and won a pulsating battle 23-21 in game that lasted nearly twice as long as the first. An epic back and forth 3rd game was won 21-19 by Sindhu to enter the semifinals and with that maintaining an Indian podium finish for the 9th straight year (all by women) at the Olympics/World Championships.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
With sky high confidence after eliminating her nemesis, Sindhu turned on the after-boosters to absolutely pulverize & pound Chen YuFei & Nozomi Okuhara, her conqueror in Glasgow, to pieces and break her gold duck at the World Championships. She became only the 2nd women's singles shuttler to win 5 medals at the World Championships after 2-time Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning. Sindhu silenced her bitterest of critics in resounding fashion. Unfortunately, this took a lot out of her mentally and she couldn't build on it for the rest of the season. As usual she raised her game in the World Tour Finals but a lack of match practice and lesser mental edge saw her drop 2 1-game leads against Akane Yamaguchi & Chen YuFei and her season couldn't end on a bright note. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Regardless, Sindhu proved she's one of the best big match players and 2020 being an Olympic year, I am 1000% sure she'll bring the goods in Japan and deliver a gold. Even Maths is in her favour.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2012 London: Bronze</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2016 Rio: Silver</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
2020 Tokyo: Gold</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Maths never lies!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>BHAMIDIPATI SAI PRANEETH ENDS A 36 YEAR DROUGHT</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sai Praneeth was always considered a great talent. He has silky skills, softest of touches & the creativity on par with almost anyone that has ever picked up a racquet. His biggest enemy is (lack of) endurance and mental strength. Sai showed some good form a couple of times this year. He lost to Momota after saving 2 match points in the 3rd game in Singapore. Before that he had defeated Chen Long in Basel and was 3 points away from Swiss Open title against Shi Yuqi before his biggest enemy, stamina, let him down.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He did not come to Basel in the best of forms but the steady, nearly drift-free conditions St. Jakobshalle arena were perfect for his timing based game. He defeated Canadian Ho-shue in the first round and a very tricky Lee Dong-kuen both in straight games to set up a quarterfinal clash with Anthony Ginting. Sai kept up with the speedy Indonesian for most of the game before the little man created an 18-15 separation. Usually, Sai would fade away at this point but somehow he steeled himself to steal game 1 21-19. Ginting recovered in game 2 to create an 11-8 lead at the interval. Whatever Park Tae-sang told him worked because Sai just dropped 1 point after the break to blaze away to a 21-12 victory!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Up next was another young Indonesia star in the making, the reigning Asian games champ, Jonatan Christie. Sai won a seesaw first 24-22 after missing 2 game points and saving 1. The game took out a lot physically from both players. The younger Christie seemed the more tired of the two in game 2 as Sai just kept putting the shuttle in play and the Indonesian kept making error after error to give Sai the game 21-14 and with it the match to give him a place in the last four. This also meant that Sai Praneeth became the 1st Indian to reach the World Championships since Prakash Padukone in 1983. Unfortunately, Sai was also mentally and physically spent after two draining battles against young stars and was brushed aside with effortless ease by Kento Momota in the semis. Regardless, a 36 year drought was ended and gave Indian badminton fans a lot of joy! The joy was doubly sweet because it was Sai Praneeth who was much derided for his lack of effort and guts.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>TEENAGER LAKSHYA SEN RISES AND RISES</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Just 7 months after turning 16, Lakshya Sen faced the GOAT Lin Dan in Auckland. He raced away to win the 1st game 21-15. The wily veteran wore the boy down to win in 3 games. He faced the GOAT again in Thomas Cup a couple of months later. Again he won the 1st game, again the old man wore the kid down to win in 3 games. Maybe this boy is one to watch out for. Later in the year he won the Junior Badminton Asia Championships, won silver in the Youth Olympics and bronze in the Junior World Championships. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Come 2019, he decided junior badminton was enough. He was now ready for the big boys and targeted a top 30 finish by the end of the year. He reached a couple of finals in the spring but lost his way through the summer and re-calibrated his year end goal to a top 50 finish. By now, Prakash Padukone tied up with his friend and Danish legend Morten Frost to send young Lakshya (and a few others from his academy) to train and play in Denmark.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Lakshya began the fall with a victory in the Belgian Challenge. A couple of weeks later he won his first BWF World Tour title, a Super 100, at the Dutch Open dropping just 2 games in a 48 draw (6 rounds instead of the usual 5) tournament. This win elevated his ranking and gave him a 1st round bye in the Saarlorlux Open. Lakshya won his second Super 100 but this time needed 3 tough 3 gamers to win the title. A tired Lakshya lost in the 2nd round of the Irish Open before regrouping to win the Scottish Open. A jet-lagged Lakshya got a walkover in the last Super 300 tournament at home, the Syed Modi International. He was still jet-lagged when he lost to former World No 1 Son Wan-ho. Later, he entered the Bangladesh Challenge and won his 5th title of the year to end the year on a high. This also meant that Lakshya reached no 32 on the World Rankings. He just missed out on his spring target but bettered his fall target by 18 ranks. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This means that he gets to play in the qualifying rounds of Malaysia & Indonesia Masters in the 1st and 2nd weeks of January. He faces veteran Thai Tanongsak Saensomboonsuk in the former and veteran Dane Hans-Kristian Vittinghus in the latter. Entering the main draw will give him a lot of points to further rise. Who knows he might even steal a 2nd place for Tokyo! He's just ~7000 points behind a top 16 place. To play in Tokyo 2020, after all, was his target when he was 12 years old!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>THE FOALS HAVE ARRIVED</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Bayern Munich have dominated Bundesliga since its inception but it was Borussia Mönchengladbach that was its first superstar side. Led by Heynckes, Netzer, Vogts et al they were 1st team to win back to back Bundesliga titles and the first to win 5 Bundesliga titles. They were called Die Fohlen i.e. The Foals because they were young, fast and aggressive. I named our Indian duo, Satwik & Chirag, The Foals after Gladbach because they are young (19 & 22), fast & aggressive.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This year began in awful fashion for the Foals. Satwik was injured and didn't return until May. They won a Brazilian Challenge and were struggling for decent form as Satwik couldn't find good rhythm. Then, came the Thailand Open. They were in the bottom half with the Daddies (Ahsan/Setiawan) & Kamura/Sonoda as the top 2 seeds in said half. They got a lucky break as both pairs lost in the 1st round. The Foals eliminated the 6th seeds Alfian/Ardianto in the round of 16 and defeated 2 Korean pairs, one of the qualifiers and the other were a veteran pair who had won the 2014 World Championship: Ko Sung-hyun/Shin Baek-cheol, in 3 games. Their opponents in the final were the reigning World Champs, Twin Towers: Liu Yuchen/Li Jinhui.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Foals created history by defeating them in 3 pulsating games, as the Chinese pair struggled to cope with the speed & power of the young Indian duo. They became the first Indian doubles pair to win a Super 500 tournament. They were seeded for the World Championships in Basel, meaning they got a first round bye. Unfortunately, Satwik wasn't fit enough and the pair had to withdraw. Satwik struggled with further fitness issues and it wasn't until Paris that they found form. After a straightforward win in the 1st round, The Foals faced the reigning world champions, The Daddies this time, again and scored a 2nd giant killing win of the season. They went on to reach the final to meet The Minions on <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>dīpāvaḷi </i></span>day. A nervous pair couldn't better their result in Bangkok & lost to 18 & 16 facing a few execution issues during crunch time.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Following their first ever final appearance in a 750 tournament, also the first by an Indian pair, The Foals entered the last 750 tournament, Fuzhou China Open as one of the favourites. They defeated 6th seeds Endo/Watanabe in the 2nd round and set up a 2nd clash with the home team: The Twin Towers. This time the boys had no issues to dealing with the Chinese pair and defeated them in 2 straight games to the reverberating chants of <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>bhārat mātā kī jai</i></span> by Indian medical students. They faced the Minions again but lost an even closer encounter 16-21, 20-22. They saved a match point but it wasn't enough in the end.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Satwik's lack of match fitness was in full view as the Foals ended the season with back to back exits in the 1st round in Hong Kong & Syed Modi. A whimper of a finish notwithstanding, it was an exceptional season for the Foals having played for just 5 months. They reached a career high 7th rank and are currently 12th. The good news is that defend zero points until May and every run will add to their ranking points. Deep runs in a few tournaments could see them be seeded in the top 4 for Tokyo. Plus, India become genuine contenders for Thomas Cup in May where usually our doubles teams end up being our Achilles heel!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
An exciting 2020 awaits. I am sure Guru Gopi has made all sorts of notes to fix the major issues plaguing our boys & girls and we shall find our glorious 2017 form again! Onward and upwards! Keep Calm & <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>Jay Śrī Rām</i></span>!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-64546359264355309452019-05-02T15:10:00.001+05:302019-05-02T15:10:51.919+05:30HE HITS A 600!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Football's just another branch of entertainment which is what Mick Jagger & the Beatles are in and I'm just another entertainer as far as I'm concerned.</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
- George Best</div>
</blockquote>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpatWJWfI1Voq3MNu51DARatQUqg3QcGiLYzWa2cyRjgg42KM8Rgrhvj6bOJ1_MYTI2p_8Eg2VniMQTmgXMHOQxRdqUwS9S53l35O9BppvcpuyX4IOvZXjo2wTHK0Rbnsy00BfLi-Pnk/s1600/Brian+Lara+Backlift.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="675" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZpatWJWfI1Voq3MNu51DARatQUqg3QcGiLYzWa2cyRjgg42KM8Rgrhvj6bOJ1_MYTI2p_8Eg2VniMQTmgXMHOQxRdqUwS9S53l35O9BppvcpuyX4IOvZXjo2wTHK0Rbnsy00BfLi-Pnk/s640/Brian+Lara+Backlift.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The tall New South Welshman steamed in. It was the 74th over of the day, 121st of the innings. His more illustrious fast bowling mate had bowled his heart out. Scores were level. The home side needed just 1 run to win. The visitors, the fielding side, needed just the 1 wicket to tie. The 2 batsmen at the crease, the current skipper and his predecessor, had survived a dropped catch and a yorker respectively. The last quarter of an hour was filled with such tension that lesser men would have retched their entire digestive systems out. It was not a game for boys.<br />
<br />
He crouched back into the crease with an ever so slight shift to the left. As he flexed his right elbow the rapier in his hands was perpendicular to the ground. It was the 355th minute of his innings. He knew the exact trajectory of the ball as soon as it pitched on length and outside the off-stump. The rapier came down in a flourishing arc to send the ball flying through the covers to produce of the most incredible and improbable test victories ever. With due respect to 375, 501* and even the <a href="https://www.karikadaiboy.com/2017/08/ruination-to-resurrection-part-i-of.html">epic 213</a> just a fortnight earlier, this was Brian Charles Lara's <a href="https://www.karikadaiboy.com/2017/03/prodigal-son-turned-messiah-turns-18.html">greatest moment of his career</a>.<br />
<br />
Sports is primarily about entertainment. It is about doing things in style, with panache & glamour. An ugly person would never want to marry another ugly person even though they are in the best position empathize with a fellow uggo. It's unfair but that's how we are wired. It's simply natural to want beautiful things: beautiful spouse, beautiful children, beautiful house. If Humans were fighting Aliens and it was somehow settled via a cricket match, a phlegmatic, unemotional decision would be to pick someone like Steve Waugh to bat. He was as effective as the two darling batsmen of the 90s. He broke the will of West Indies in 1995 in such a fashion that they are yet to recover after nearly a quarter of a century. Despite matching his more glamorous opponents, blow for blow, Tugga never gets the love they get.<br />
<br />
Brian Lara completes 600 months on the planet today. With that in his bag, he's now the only cricketer to have hit a hundred, double hundred, triple hundred, quadruple hundred, quintuple hundred & a sextuple hundred at First Class level and above. Crouch, hop, back-lift, flourish. The bat came from so high up & with such precise timing that even the faintest of blocks would see the ball fly through to the boundary. It was supposedly a technical weakness against the really quick bowlers and yet the exact same weakness produced more than 22,000 international runs and more than 50 international 100s. But the numbers are irrelevant. It is how they were scored that matters.<br />
<br />
What set Lara apart from his contemporaries was his utter refusal to compromise on his attacking instincts. He truly believed in adage of giving the 1st hour to the bowler but he very rarely traded his extravagance for accrual. A bit of pragmatism and self-denial would have produced a 1000-1500 runs more but it would have been less entertaining. We watched Lara because he fought fire with fire. It is what made Lara, Lara. If we wanted see someone to fight fire with water, there's always lesser beings like Chanderpaul, Kallis & co. As great as they were, they are never going to fill stadia like the man from Santa Cruz.<br />
<br />
His last words as an international cricketer were, "Did I entertain?". The short answer to that is:<br />
<br />
YES<br />
YES<br />
A THOUSAND TIMES<br />
YES<br />
<br /></div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-53879788310973927992019-04-27T12:10:00.000+05:302019-04-27T12:10:58.519+05:30RAHUL GANDHI IS MY HERO<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Kramer goes to a fantasy camp. His whole life is a fantasy camp. People should plunk down two-thousand dollars to live like him for a week. Do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbors and have sex without dating; that's a fantasy camp.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: right;">
- George Costanza</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
First read <a href="http://hawkeyeview.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-hero.html">this post</a> by Hawkeyeview. I'll wait.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
You done? Aight let's go.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the eyes of <strike>many</strike>all progressive people of this country, Rahul Gandhi is the only hope against Nazifascistpatriarchalregressivebrahminicalbaniyacalminoritiesgenocideoverseeing Narendra Modi. They'll list 2002 reasons without thinking and in one breath as to why Narendra Modi shouldn't be allowed to live, let alone contest in elections. Hypothetically, if Narendra Modi was to be hanged, Prashant Bhushan & co would have midnight petitions to advance his hanging. He's the anti-Yakub Memon that way.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This hatred comes from their belief that NaMo is an unabashedly undhimmified Hindu. He doesn't do iftar parties. He refuses to wear skull cap. He refuses to be photographed among kullā pōtta sullās to show his "secularity". He dares to go to kumbh melā. He dares to do gangā ārti. He refuses to prostrate before the Temple of Lutyens. All massive blows to the humongous 70 year old Lutyens' ego. It's a different matter that Modi Sarkar has not only not discontinued Congress' sectarian minority schemes but also created multiple new sectarian schemes, some of which he vehemently opposed as Gujarat CM. But that is irrelevant for our High Priests of Lutyens. He must tow their line or else....</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Though I want Congress & its variants to be utterly annihilated, let me state this unequivocally: Rahul Gandhi is my hero. Always has been. He's a rich man's version of the dude in the post I shared earlier. He's the G.O.A.T Slacker. As an aspirational slacker, he's God to me. I mean look at him. He's unqualified to be even a doorman. A job whose literal description is: opening & closing doors and yet literally crores of people think he's worthy of being Prime Minister. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He cannot remove people from an empty room and yet many think he can remove tens of crores of people from poverty. He cannot string two sentences together without lies or errors and yet Lutyens thinks he is Socrates & Ādiśankara rolled into one. He's almost always unstably high and yet he's a stable genius. He's not even a specialist in mediocrity like Shahid Afridi. He's literally a specialist in failure. Even in the stereotypical war torn African country, raging with malnutrition and illiteracy, he would be laughed off into exile but he's still going to be an excellent supremo according to his Pidis.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Jose Mourinho won the Premier League as recently as 2015 with 3 games to spare and an 8 point margin. He won the Europa League just two years ago and yet he's nearly a pariah today. A significant percent of Barça fans want their manager, Valverde who has virtually sealed back to back league/cup doubles, gone because he failed to win the Champions League in his <i>first season</i>! Pep Guardiola has won league titles in every season of management but 2. He broke the 100 point barrier last season and looks good to defend his title. But he's Fraudiola for not having won Champions League for 8 years. Philadelphia Eagles were booed by their fans midway last season. Why is that surprising? <i>They were reigning champions</i>! </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In an increasingly "What have you done for me lately?" World, Rahul Gandhi has failed in election after election for 10 years now with zero damage to his credibility. A BJP leader's grandchild finishing 3rd in class pupil leader election sees a flurry of articles headlined "Has Rahul Gandhi arrived?", "Has Rahul come of age?", "Rahul is Pappu no more". Look at the election results last December. Rajasthan (generally an anti-incumbent populace) & Chhattisgarh (was expected to go in 2013 itself but won in a Modi wave) were expected BJP losses and Madhya Pradesh was an extremely tight Congress win (114-109 with 7 seats having less than a 1000 vote margin). Pappu became odds on favourite to win 550 seats out of 543. Back in 2013, BJP had absolutely pulverized Congress in corresponding elections but it was still a mountain to climb for unknown Modi.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Narendra Modi & Amit Shah have won election after election in these 5 years. They have deftly stitched many alliances. They are working 10 times as hard as Rahul even though they are incumbents and yet they have still not proven themselves. Pappu on seeing the writing on the wall in Amethi, ran away to the comfortable confines of thulukkan majority Wayanad to win with zero effort. He's a genius who wants to include the United States of South India that has been neglected by BJP. His asinine utterances like "every selfie takes a job away from India & gives it to China", "Modi gave 30,000 crores to Ambani", "I want to see Made in Madhya Pradesh coconut" will lead to job creation according his minions. I mean who has this kind of luck bestowed upon them? </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
He's stupid. He's lazy. He's illiterate. He's retarded. He's unqualified. He's downright deranged. Yet he's going to be the best Prime Minister ever. People should spend their entire lives' savings to live the life of Pappu.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
These are reasons why Rahul Gandhi is my hero and my personal God.</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-44936201209943932232019-01-04T23:30:00.000+05:302019-01-04T23:30:05.204+05:30WHO IS ANDY ROBERTS?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Do we really know anything about Sir Anderson Montgomery Everton Roberts? We know he is the first Antiguan to play for West Indies. We know he never spoke a word. We know he showed less emotion on his face than Arun Pāndian in <i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">iṇainda kaigaḷ</span></i>*. Every story about Andy Roberts by any player who has played with or against him is the same story: Andy had two bouncers. One with less speed and a second vicious one. The first one would lull batsmen into a false sense of security but the second would lift from length and simply go for the jugular. What else do we know about Andy Roberts?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
We know a lot about his teammates, especially his fellow bowlers than The Man Who Never Spoke.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Michael Holding. We probably know everything about him. His brilliant bowling on an Oval featherbed. His over-zealous peppering of 45 year old Brian Close at Old Trafford. His devastating spell on a WACA flyer. His kicking of the stumps. Probably the most famous of them all: that scary over to Boycott.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Colin Croft. His spell of 8/29 in just his 2nd test, still the best figures by a Windies quickie. His fierce reputation that he'd bounce his own grandmother if she was batting. His running into the Kiwi umpire. His getting thrown off a Whites-only coach during a Rebel tour to South Africa.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Joel Garner. Just like Andy, he hardly spoke but he's still remembered...better. His gigantic 6'8" frame. His deadly spell that won a second World Cup in two attempts. His toe-crushing yorkers. His sub-21 bowling average. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Malcolm Marshall. Seriously? Do we even have to go through why <i>the</i> <i>Malcolm Marshall</i> was famous?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
We know that, clearly, Andy Roberts gets easily overshadowed by his teammates. Only Croft's 125 test wickets are less than Andy Roberts' 202. His average of 25.61 is highest. At 6'2" he's the runt of the litter (Holding 6'4", Garner 6'8", Croft 6'6") so to speak. Malcolm Marshall (5'10") was shorter but only in stature. He was larger than life in many other ways. One of my favourite features in Cricinfo is <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149126.html">On This Day</a>. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141024144546/http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149807.html">On This Day</a>, on Ian Bishop's birthday, used to incorrectly say that Bishop's 100 wickets in 21 tests were a West Indian record.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3PxtT1uLu2KaB3ykqQPr1BIzG3z5GOKd6PQSkyu0uo8Ob41CsUbJqRcizuewDcfqQzZA60IwdX3ayUrtsU0DPACyU8Lr9YpPltTumUEyOOf49ffxTfchGJtbXg2v9A9oG4BEue1Rtdy0/s1600/Bishop-Roberts-Incorrect.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="643" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3PxtT1uLu2KaB3ykqQPr1BIzG3z5GOKd6PQSkyu0uo8Ob41CsUbJqRcizuewDcfqQzZA60IwdX3ayUrtsU0DPACyU8Lr9YpPltTumUEyOOf49ffxTfchGJtbXg2v9A9oG4BEue1Rtdy0/s1600/Bishop-Roberts-Incorrect.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefSIPV5DYSEdm7zM8I9KVDWhpTQhSQRYdTMLvMAQUK8Vq169TJ75c_hD3bIEzVB9ziHM23VZ5-jVEyQxbOJSm0Cf0e13pJueZ2Uj3Tq8Qj1RoqO0R5RNWbCk3lQVXziiehHmB221zNN0/s1600/adfadsfqwer134.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="710" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgefSIPV5DYSEdm7zM8I9KVDWhpTQhSQRYdTMLvMAQUK8Vq169TJ75c_hD3bIEzVB9ziHM23VZ5-jVEyQxbOJSm0Cf0e13pJueZ2Uj3Tq8Qj1RoqO0R5RNWbCk3lQVXziiehHmB221zNN0/s640/adfadsfqwer134.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
It was Yours Truly's personal intervention on Twitter that ensured the correction of this error. Do you know who holds the record? You guessed it! Andy Roberts! Jointly with Alf Valentine: 19 tests. To forget any spinner is understandable. Alf Valentine was a West Indies spinner. No way he's going to be remembered. But to forget a West Indies fast bowler? That is the degree to which Andy Roberts is forgotten!<br />
<br />
During the span of his career (1974-83), West Indian bowlers took 5 7-fers in tests. One of them was by Lance Gibbs. Spinners are un-sexy. He is out of syllabus here. Four were by fast bowlers. Two of them were 8-fers. Both of them unforgettable. Colin Croft's aforementioned 8/29 against Pakistan and Whispering Death's indelible 8/92 on possibly the flattest ever Oval wicket. Who took the remaining two 7-fers? Come on. You know how this works. Yup. Both were by Andy Roberts.<br />
<br />
The 2nd one on came on a WACA flyer. When Ian Chappell was 8th man out early on day 2, he would have been a proud man. His brilliant 156 held the innings together and helped Australia to 329. A lot of runs for skull crushers: Lillee & Thommo. Little did he know that his innings would be forgotten by lunch. Roy Fredericks hooked the 2nd ball he faced for a 6 and his astonishing assault took WI to 130/1 in 14 (8 ball) overs. He was on 81*. His 50 came off 33 balls. The 100 off 71 with 18 fours and that 2nd ball 6. He "slowed down" to 169 off 145 balls with 27 4s & 1 6. 114 runs in boundaries.<br />
<br />
A little later, the skipper walked in at 297/4. Inspired by his opener's most brutal of batteries, Clive Lloyd blitzed a slightly less manic but equally breathless 149 in just 186 balls. 98 of the runs came in the 1st session of day 3. The innings was studded with 22 4s and 1 6. Against an attack that read Lillee, Thomson, Gilmour, Walker, Mallett. Lillee/Thommo's combined figures read 37-0-251-5. Leading by 256 runs, Roberts went to town on a deflated Aussie team picking up 7/54. West Indies won by an innings to level the series 1-1. Over the years, with a flood in ABC studios destroying footage of the match, Fredericks' innings has acquired a mythical status. Chappell, Lloyd & Roberts' incandescent performances have become mere footnotes.<br />
<br />
The 1st 7-fer came in Chepauk. Andy was purportedly the youngest of his 15 siblings. Apparently, the Knowledgeable Chennai Crowd™ quipped "Machi, if the 15th child is this big, how big will the eldest one be?". But other than Andy Roberts himself, it's unlikely anyone would remember this match for his 12 wickets. Bedi, Prasanna & Chandra took 18 of the 20 wickets to spin India to a series levelling victory in the 4th test of the series. From 0-2 down no less. But this clearly was Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath's match. His 97* being the most celebrated 50 of all time. One of only 2 sub-100 innings that made the <a href="http://in.rediff.com/cricket/2001/jul/30bat100.htm">Wisden 100</a> list at the turn of the century. Overshadowed by friggin' 50! Can you believe that!? It is one thing to be eclipsed by the most audacious innings in cricket history but to be forgotten after 12 wickets just because of a puny 50? Our man from Urlings just can't catch a break, can he?<br />
<br />
Andy Roberts himself is somewhat at fault for becoming a forgotten man. His first 19 tests produced 102 wickets at 21.42. He also had a sub-50 strike rate. Some stunning numbers that. But it took him 28 tests to procure his 2nd set of 100 wickets. It came at a (relatively) high price of 29.89 runs per wicket and a strike rate of 63.2. As Holding/Garner/Marshall established themselves, Roberts faded away. It is a little sad that Andy Roberts has been overshadowed by his more illustrious teammates when in almost every interview Michael Holding says it was Roberts who taught him everything about fast bowling. Sunil Gavaskar has always held Andy Roberts in high regard. The master was eventually surpassed by his pupils. Would they have been as good without Roberts teaching them? We'll probably never know.<br />
<br />
At least in the last year of his career he set up a famous win over India in Kingston. A rain affected match was heading towards a draw with India at 168/6 (165 runs ahead) at tea on the final day. After resumption, Roberts blitzed the Indian tail with 4 wickets in 4 overs and West Indies needed 172 to win in 26 overs. In a microcosm of his career, his blitz with the ball was overshadowed (how many more times will I use this word?) by Viv Richards' blitz with the bat: 61 off 36, 5 4s, 4 6s. At least Roberts won Man of the Match.<br />
<br />
Plus, he'll always have <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/wctimeline/content/story/794447.html">Edgbaston</a>!<br />
<br />
*-Arun Pāndian is a Tamizh action star who's very famous for being an actor who's incapable of any kind of expression. This was immortalized by Crank's Corner Balakumar ji in a <a href="https://twitter.com/kbalakumar/status/715573253822021632">tweet</a>.</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-54300949756359784742018-11-27T13:32:00.001+05:302018-11-27T13:32:35.578+05:302018 HOCKEY WORLD CUP: WILL 43 YEARS OF HURT END?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It was the 16th day of the 6th month of 2016. India were losing 0-4 to their nemesis Australia in the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis centre. V R Raghunath & Mandeep Singh scored a goal each, 4 minutes apart, to make it a very interesting last 11 minutes. Australia, though, comfortably held the Blue Sticks at bay. This meant that India would finish their group stage campaign of the penultimate Champions Trophy with 7 points. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Australia were already through to the final as toppers. Germany & South Korea were already eliminated. Great Britain, the hosts, & Belgium could still go through the final. The equation was simple for the hosts: win and you're in. Thanks to Raghu's & Mandeep's goals, India's goal difference was now -1. Had India lost 4-0, Belgium also would have gone through if they had simply won but now they needed to win by 3 goals to enter the final. Every. Goal. Is. Crucial. Belgium went 3-1 up and were furiously chasing a 4th goal. This meant holes in the back & Britain picked them off scoring 2 late late goals in 2 minutes. 3-3 with a minute to go. A goal for the home team would see them through to the final. The longest minute, for India, ended goal-less and India were through to their first ever Champions Trophy final.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A fantastic achievement was awfully described by the dumbasses at rediff.com as a <a href="https://www.rediff.com/sports/report/india-make-back-door-entry-to-champions-trophy-final-first-in-36-years/20160617.htm">back-door entry </a>to the final. How in the hell was it a "back door" entry when India finished 2nd, ahead on <i>points</i>? Utterly poor journalism. Anyway, India learnt all the right lessons from the 2-4 thrashing and re-grouped for the final. P. R. Sreejesh single-handedly kept wave after wave of Aussie attacks at bay. A thrilling match ended 0-0. India were awful in the shoot-out that the Kookaburras won easily 3-1. A disappointing loss yet an exceptionally successful tournament. It was only India's 2nd ever podium finish, the first in 34 years, and the 1st silver medal at the Champions Trophy. The expectations of a first ever podium finish at the Olympics for 36 years were raised.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Unfortunately, India floundered in Rio. After huffing & puffing to beat Ireland, India played very well against Germany only to lose to a literally last second winner. The Men In Blue outlasted Argentina 2-1 surviving by the skin of their teeth. India had 7 penalty corner opportunities to score the equalizer against Netherlands in the last minute but failed to convert a single one. A tame draw against Canada followed which put India in 4th place out of 6. A win would have put India 3rd and avoided a meeting with their 2nd bogey side, Belgium, in the quarterfinals. Belgium duly beat India in the last 8 and thus ended India's 1st knockout match at the Olympics for 36 years.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India followed an eerily similar script in 2018. After promoting Junior World Cup winning coach Harendra Singh as Senior coach, India finished 2nd in the Champions Trophy, losing just once to Australia. This was followed by yet another heartbreaking loss in a shoot-out. A second silver in a row. The 1st silver was a happy silver but this one was painful. At the Asian Games, India scored a barely believable 76 goals in the group stages and were eliminated by our 3rd bogey side, Malaysia, in the semifinals on, you guessed it, a penalty shoot-out. India subsequently re-grouped to beat Pakistan to win the bronze. It was India's 9th win in 10 matches against our arch-rivals. So what if we don't win medals, we keep thrashing Pakistan whenever we meet them. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A somewhat experimental side at the Asian Champions Trophy, comfortably reached the final but the trophy had to be shared with our eternal enemies after Muscat, of all places, saw a torrential downpour. Thus, ended India's final set of competitive fixtures before her biggest tournament in recent years: The 2018 Hockey World Cup at Bhubaneshwar.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Harendra Singh made tough decisions. He dropped the lightning fast S V Sunil due to age and injury. He also ruthlessly dropped India's top penalty corner specialist Rupinder Pal Singh simply because it was possible for him to get injured during the tournament. Biren Lakra was back after a long gap. The great Sardar Singh announced his retirement after not expecting to make it to Bhubaneshwar. Young striker Gurjant Singh was also dropped. So was Fox-in-the-Box Ramandeep Singh. The forward line has the precocious teen Dilpreet, 21 year old Simranjeet & 23 year old "veterans" Mandeep & Akashdeep. A very talented but inconsistent forward line that can break down the best defences.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The midfield is anchored by captain magnificent Manpreet Singh and the calm Chinglensana. Their backups are junior world champions Sumit and Nilakanta Sharma. The central defence is anchored by veteran Biren and probably India's best ever talent in the last 25 years: Harmanpreet Singh. Sure, we had Jugraj Singh back in the early aughts but he lacked Harmanpreet's discipline and drive. The pair are flanked by Kothajit Singh, Surender Kumar and yet another junior champion Varun Kumar. As many as 6 Junior World Champions will play the Senior tournament in Bhubaneshwar.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last but not least is the custodian: P R Sreejesh. India will need him to be at his absolute best for a medal position. After helping India win a podium finish at the 2014-15 World Hockey League against Netherlands in the shoot-out, Sreejesh failed in India's 3 subsequent shoot-outs, twice at the Champions Trophy and once at the Asian Games. Other than that he has been brilliant as ever in regulation, always making spectacular saves and interventions. He's the only member of the squad born in the 80s, making him the oldest player of the squad. His experience will be crucial in guiding what is essentially a very young side. His back-up is 21 year old Krishan Bahadur who has ensured Sreejesh isn't really missed whenever the veteran has been rested.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Finally, a word about the manager. Harendra Singh is one of those obsessed with the sport coaches. He did a fine job at the Junior World Championships. He came up with great game plans with our women's team at the Commonwealth games. He also did a super job at the Champions Trophy in Breda. India lost just the one match to, who else, Australia 2-3 but it has not been smooth sailing since. In both the semifinal and the bronze medal match against Pakistan, the Indian team was strangely subdued and conservative. A bit of aggression & verve would have killed the ties before the 3rd quarter but it's alright. Everyone goes through teething problems. Let's hope the coach has learnt his lessons. Rumours that the whimsical, mad men who run Indian hockey aren't really enamoured with him is making his already tough job even tougher. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India are grouped with Belgium, Canada & South Africa. The group winners automatically qualify for the quarterfinals. The 2nd & 3rd place teams play a round of 16 match. Unless the hosts massively underperform, they should reach the knockout stages with ease. The match against Belgium could be a quasi-knockout match to see who plays one match less. It is quite possible that India might have to face 2 or maybe even 3 teams out of Belgium, Netherlands & Germany, in the knockout stages, to reach the final. If we manage to cross this minefield, the reigning Olympic champion Argentina or the likelier opponent, the bogeist of our bogey sides, 2 times defending champion Australia await us in the final. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
That is a tough tough ask even for a battle-hardened side. It is even tougher for a side whose average age is 23 years and 10 months. Will this talented young side, egged on by the home crowd, match what its Juniors did 2 years ago in Lucknow? Or at the very least finish in the top 4 after 43 years? Let's all hope they do! Keep Calm & Jai Śrī Rām!</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-1338653474795233012018-09-26T14:46:00.001+05:302018-09-26T14:46:09.705+05:30INDIA-PAKISTAN ON FRIDAY<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships.</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As an aspiring Grammar-Nazi of Oxford English, the above sentence offends me. The verb is used to indicate the noun. It is really distressing. Ignoring this syntax error, with a gargantuan effort no doubt, it is common to see Americans regularly use the above maxim to describe great championship winning sides. The NFL, for example, has seen 17 teams score 500 or more points during the regular season but only 4 of those 17 teams won the Super Bowl at the end of the season. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The aphorism can be modified for cricket: "Batting sells tickets. Bowling wins matches." Batting is glamorous and batsmen are, unfairly, glorified. If someone mentions stylish player, it immediately conjures images of a Gundappa Viswanath square cut or a Mark Waugh flick off his hips. It rarely brings up Michael Holding's smooth run up or Bishen Singh Bedi's measured gait. All great teams in test history barring perhaps the teams of Don Bradman were built on powerful bowling. It's not that their batting was weak but the differentiating factor was, without a doubt, the bowling.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India have produced 15 batsmen since 01 Jan 1978 (slightly more than 40 years) who have scored at least 3000 test runs at an average greater than 40. It is 2nd only to Australia's 18 batsmen who meet the above criteria. Yet, Australia have won nearly 100 more tests (213) than India (119). Their win/loss ratio (1.775) is also nearly 50% better than India (1.19). Why is there such a disparity? It is because Australia have produced no less than <i>nineteen </i>(19) bowlers who have taken at least 75 test wickets at an average of less than 30. India have produced just 4. Pakistan have 10 batsmen and 10 bowlers who meet said benchmarks. Their win/loss ratio in these 40 odd years is almost identical to India's: 119/99 to 119/100. Pakistan have played about 45 fewer tests than India in this period. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This seems to indicate that India have overachieved with their substandard bowling for 4 decades and Pakistan have underachieved with bowlers like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar etc. That is a discussion for another day though. The stats seem to confirm the general stereotype that India produce great batsmen and Pakistan great bowlers. For the best of the last 4 decades, Pakistan have had superior teams to India in tests and ODIs. This is evident in the results, particularly in ODIs. India have won 54, lost 73 and 9 matches were either abandoned or rained off. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you were an Indian cricket fan in the 90s, you would know that it is impossible for India to beat Pakistan on a Friday. With regular territorial tensions between the two nations, it was nearly impossible to play in either India or Pakistan. Most matches, therefore, took place in Sharjah, UAE. Being UAE, finals would invariably be played on a Friday. Don't know if it was the proximity to Mecca or the generally holy day for Muslims, India could never beat them on Friday. Even though India had quality Muslim cricketers like Azharuddin or Zaheer Khan, the Friday prayers never did the trick for them. I suppose Allah is a democrat and Pakistan, having the greater number of believers in their side, won the prayer battle with a brute majority.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
29 times India and Pakistan squared off on a Friday. Pakistan won a whopping 23 times to India's 5. One match was abandoned. It was to be the 3rd ODI of a 3-match series but Indira Gandhi was assassinated on the day of the 2nd ODI and the rest of the tour, with a 3rd test to be played, was called off. On the rest of the week, India's record is won 48, lost 50 and 8 no results. That is a great record against a side that was invariably the worthier one. This is the story of those 5 matches in which India managed to pull the wool over Pakistan on Mission Impossible day: Friday.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><a href="http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/64199.html">I. 31st December 1982: 3rd ODI, Lahore: INDIA won by 18 runs (Match Shortened)</a></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This was the 5th IND-PAK ODI played on a Friday. Pakistan had won the lot. This was a 40 overs per innings series. The match was delayed by 45 minutes for some reason. The number of overs were reduced to 33 per side. Kapil removed Mohsin Khan in the 1st over. Mudassar Nazar & Zaheer Abbas added 69 for the 2nd wicket after which Ravi Shastri caught Mudassar of his own bowling. That Karachi Street fighter joined Asian Bradman and went hammer and tongs on the hapless Indian bowling, both scoring 100s in 79 & 73 balls respectively. Kapil ended up conceding 73 runs in his 7 overs and Amarnath 50 in his 5. The final score was 252/3 in 33 overs. The last 6 overs produced 77 runs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India began their reply brightly. Mad Max Srikkanth scored 39 off 29 with 3 4s and 3 6s. Big biffer Sandeep Patil came in at number 3 and added 115 runs with Gavaskar before he fell for a run a ball 51. Kapil was promoted up the order to give the innings some impetus but he fell for 8. Gavaskar was soon out for a 76 ball 69. India were 193/4 in 27 overs when play was called off for bad light. 59 runs were needed in 36 balls. Imran Khan had 2 overs left in his quota. Even though Yashpal & Shastri were capable of some pyrotechnics, this was beyond them. There was no Duckworth/Lewis method back then. A very simple yet crude method was used to decide the winner: Pakistan's score after 27 overs. They were on 175/2. India were declared winners by 18 runs. If Duckworth/Lewis was retrospectively applied: the par score was 185/4 after 27 overs. Ergo, India would have won by 8 runs! All's well that ends well.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Friday Score: India 1, Pakistan 4</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8532/scorecard/65670/india-vs-pakistan-3rd-match-rothmans-asia-cup-1983-84">II. 13 April 1984: 3rd Match, Sharjah: INDIA won by 54 runs</a></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The inaugural Asia Cup and the 1st ever tournament in what would become the first ground to host 100 ODIs in the future: Sharjah. There were just the 3 teams: India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan only for the 2nd time in their history. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 96 and India aced the chase by not losing a wicket. Beat Pakistan and India would be the champions of the first Asia Cup. Pakistan were without Miandad & Imran Khan and India were sans Kapil. There are no Wisden reports of this match so this is just going by the scorecard.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India won the toss and batted. Surinder Khanna's 2nd 50 in as many matches and a 50 ball 43 by Sandeep Patil propped up India's score to 188 in 46 overs. Chetan Sharma & Manoj Prabhakar must have bowled great opening spells because they ended up conceding just 35 runs in 14 overs collectively. Pakistan kept losing regular wickets, four of them to either great fielder or suicidal running or both. Binny & Shastri shared the remaining 6 wickets equally between them. India were always under control and ended up by winning 54 runs with 6.2 overs remaining.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Friday Score: India 2, Pakistan 5</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/60851/scorecard/65732/india-vs-pakistan-1st-match-rothmans-four-nations-cup-1984-85">III. 22 March 1985: 1st Match, Sharjah: INDIA won by 38 runs</a></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
One of the most famous Indian victories of all time: Test, ODI, or T20. India were high on confidence having won the World Championship of Cricket just 12 days earlier. They had twice beaten Pakistan without really getting out of 3rd gear in Australia. Pakistan won the toss and fielded. Imran Khan removed the man of the series in Australia, Audi Car winner: Ravi Shastri off the 1st ball of the innings. He took the 1st 5 wickets to fall and India had just 34 runs on the board. Azhar & Kapil made a recovery of sorts and added 46 runs for the 6th wicket. Wickets kept falling regularly. Azhar was the 9th man out for 47. India were shot out for 125 in 42.4 overs. Imran Khan picked up 6/14 in his 10 overs. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since India were bowled out early and it was Friday, there was a long lunch break to include the afternoon prayers, most of the Indian team had a long nap. Just before they went out to bowl, Kapil apparently said, "Let's make it difficult for them". India, so brilliant in the field in Australia, got the early breakthrough with a direct hit by Jimmy Amarnath. Mudassar went at a run a ball for 18 when Gavaskar, standing at one and a half slip, acrobatically caught him, one-handed, millimetres above the ground. Shastri soon had captain Miandad edging to a 2nd nimble one-handed inches off the ground Gavaskar catch for a 15 ball duck. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Leggie Sivaramakrishnan beguiled Ashraf Ali with a ball that turned and bounced. Shastri caught him at silly point. Four balls later it was Imran's turned to be bamboozled in Sharjah just like Miandad had been in Melbourne and Viswanath whipped the bails off in a flash. Salim Malik & Rameez Raja resisted but Shastri had Malik nicking to Gavaskar again. Kapil polished off the tail as Pakistan lost their last 4 wickets for 2 runs and India were victors by 38 runs. An incredible defense of just 125 runs by a team whose confidence was sky high!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Friday Score: India 3, Pakistan 6, 1 abandoned</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/16760/scorecard/64304/india-vs-pakistan-3rd-odi-pakistan-tour-of-india-1986-87">IV. 20 March 1987: 3rd ODI, Hyderabad: Match tied, India won by losing fewer wickets</a></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pakistan eked out wins by 3 wickets & 2 wickets in the 1st 2 ODIs. The 2nd ODI was played after the 2nd test but the 3rd ODI had to wait till the 5-test series ended. Pakistan won the toss and elected to field in a match reduced to 44 overs. India lost Gavaskar early to Akram and Srikkanth to injury. Raman Lamba's 41 managed to prop up the innings but when he was dismissed, India were reeling at 95/4. Shastri & Kapil added a quick-fire 112 runs for the 5th wicket to give India a fighting total of 212/6. Shastri remained unconquered on 69 of just 74 balls. Kapil's 59 came in just 52 balls. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Salim Malik, whose sensational 36 ball 72 stole the Eden Gardens ODI right from under India's nose, continued his good form and played the sheet anchor role. A quadruple of 20s from Rameez, Younis Ahmed, Miandad & Mansoor Elahi pushed the Pakistani total to 187 when Salim was dismissed by Gopal Sharma. Imran fell 10 runs later. Akram biffed a six and fell for a run out with just 4 runs needed for victory. Kapil bowled the last over. With one ball left, Pakistan needed 2 runs to win. A tie would have given Pakistan victory. By the rules of the day, the tiebreaker was the score at 25 overs. Pakistan were ahead of India at that point. Qadir apparently ran for an impossible 2nd run and was run out. The scores were level but India had placed just 3 fielders inside the 30 yard circle and there had to be a minimum of 4. This meant that umpires should have called a no-ball but they failed to notice the infringement and India had their solitary "victory" in 5 Tests & 6 ODIs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Friday Score: India 4, Pakistan 7, 1 abandoned</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8541/scorecard/65941/india-vs-pakistan-2nd-match-wills-trophy-1991-92">V. 18 October 1991: 2nd Match, Sharjah: India won by 60 runs</a></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The 90s were upon us. Gavaskar had retired and Sanjay Manjrekar was the new Gavaskar. Azharuddin was the skipper but the name on everyone's lips was some 18 year old whose name rhymed with Schmendulkar. India won the toss and batted. Shastri ate up 63 balls for his 22 and Sidhu was no better consuming 66 balls for his 38. India were 93/2 after both openers were dismissed. Skipper Azhar gave some much needed thrust to the innings with a 36 ball 32 with just the 1 four. His dismissal brought said 18 years young Sachin Tendulkar to the crease. Tendulkar took the attack to the Pakistani bowlers. His 40 ball assault, including 14 runs in the last over bowled by Waqar, was his 3rd ODI 50 and India had a strong total to defend: 238/4.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pakistan lost Sajid Ali early but Rameez & Miandad added 76 runs for the 2nd wicket. Kapil swooped in from mid-off and ran out Rameez. Salim Malik added a further 40 runs with Miandad before he was trapped in front by Shastri. Even though Rameez & Miandad had meandered in their long partnership, Pakistan had a fairly long batting to make up for lost time but Salim Malik's dismissal sent them into panic mode. Prabhakar's inswinger castled the Pakistani skipper. Raju's arm ball had Miandad out in a debatable leg before decision. Ijaz Ahmed, Akram, Waqar, Aaqib Javed all managed a smattering of runs but India kept things fully under control getting wickets at regular intervals. Prabhakar's fourth wicket of the innings wrapped things up as India hammered Pakistan by 60 runs.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Friday Score: India 5, Pakistan 11, 1 abandoned</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
On a personal note, match V was yours truly's first ever match, at least the one I can remember, live on TV. What a start to one's cricket viewing career. A win against the hated enemy on "their" day. This remains India's last win against Pakistan on a Friday. India are currently on a 27 year and a 12 match losing streak on Friday. They say there are no such thing as sports curses until there is one. India are cursed when facing Pakistan on a Friday. If Bangladesh fail to beat Pakistan today in the Asia Cup, India will play the eternal rivals on a Friday for the first time in more than 13 years! I have no faith, even with this Pakistan team that can't catch a cold currently, that India can beat them on Friday. As a long suffering <a href="http://www.karikadaiboy.com/2017/10/indian-cricket-nostalgic-90swith-bit-of.html">90s Indian cricket</a> fan, you will never convince me. I am too scarred and too scared.</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-36871870147826244792018-08-27T15:31:00.002+05:302018-08-27T16:11:13.606+05:30GREATEST MATCH EVER: THAT SEEMINGLY NEVER-ENDING NIGHT IN GLASGOW<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
It's one game all! Down but not out!</div>
- Gillian Clark in the commentary box</blockquote>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
37 is the 12th prime number. 73 is the 21st prime number. 21 is the number of points, with a minimum of 2 point difference, needed to win a game in badminton. It was 20-17 in the <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>āndhra</i></span> Amazon's favour. Win the next point and she will have levelled the tie 1-1. The petite girl from Ōmachi, whose stature belied her endless reserves of energy, duly won the next 3 points. The Amazon, the daughter of two volleyball players, arrested the slide to bring her 4th game point of the 2nd game. The match clock read 1:01. Sindhu served from the right side of the court to begin the 82nd point of the match.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The tenth shot of the rally was drop/smash by Nozomi that was dug out by the long reach of the 5'11" Sindhu, 8 seconds had elapsed. 21 shots later the diminutive Nipponese played another drop/smash, this time from the other side of the court. Sindhu got to it again. A full 30 seconds had passed since the point began. Nozomi arched her back like a bow to send the 42nd shot of the rally deep into the forehand side. Sindhu cocked her arm and ripped a cross-court smash. Okuhara swooped through. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The point just refused to end. A heat map of the court would have shone in blood red. A scarcely believable 29 shots later, the 71st shot of the rally, Okuhara got a high, short response: an easy put away. But the punishing rally meant that she couldn't get enough power into the shot. Sindhu's wingspan was just enough to flick it back cross court. Nozomi got to it but her lack of wingspan led her to netting the return. 73 shots. 78 seconds. 1 point. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrilla_in_Manila">Thrilla in Manila</a> seemed positively tame. The point of match....the tournament...the year...ah @#$% it...the greatest point of all time! </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9N_-KhHP1sJFDpZBhd0-GU4wT3-EhCK9Vh_9JSJkenJJv3ddQSC00RFUWuu40U6jZmk0Kx9pcYeI_rt-SAqx0UxUxmLH0eS33y3Jd7Jhx2JI_wg3zqd4xSAtdkBhjliZlreVDD43d1OE/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="1600" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9N_-KhHP1sJFDpZBhd0-GU4wT3-EhCK9Vh_9JSJkenJJv3ddQSC00RFUWuu40U6jZmk0Kx9pcYeI_rt-SAqx0UxUxmLH0eS33y3Jd7Jhx2JI_wg3zqd4xSAtdkBhjliZlreVDD43d1OE/s640/Untitled.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Down But Not Out!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Nozomi Okuhara was the 7th seed and P. V. Sindhu 4th. Both got byes in the round of 64. Sindhu's route to the final was a near breeze. After a straightforward win over Kim Hyo Min, she was made to sweat by Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan Yi for nearly an hour and a half, winning 19-21, 23-21, 21-17. Coming through such a tight encounter gave her great confidence and she used it to crush Chinese shuttlers back to back, 5th seed 6 foot Sun Yu and teenager Chen Yufei, who had upset no 1 seed Yamaguchi & the 2013 champion Intanon, losing just 23 points in each match.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Okuhara, on the other hand, had to sweat in almost every round. She needed 3 games in all but the round of 16 to reach the final. Even in the sole straight games win she had to win the 1st game 22-20, needing 3 game points against compatriot Aya Ohori. Her last 8 opponent was Carolina Marin, who was effectively a 3 time (2014-15 world champion & 2016 Rio gold medallist) defending champion. Okuhara needed 93 minutes to outlast the Screaming Spaniard. Her last four opponent was India's Saina Nehwal. Saina's dreams of reaching a 2nd final in 3 years were dashed when the Nipponese won from a game down & 17-17 in the 2nd game.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sindhu had spent 41 minutes, nearly one full match, less than Nozomi on court. The head to head was 3-3 and Sindhu had won their last two meetings, including a historic semifinal win at the Rio Olympics. From 3-5 down, Sindhu won 8 straight points to go with a 5 point advantage at the mid-game interval. The break came at the right time for Nozomi and she slowly starting chipping away at the lead. From 11-14, she won 7 straight points to move into a potentially decisive lead. It was Sindhu's turn to respond and respond she did with 4 points in a row. From 19-19, Nozomi won both points to take a decisive step in winning the championships. It had taken 25 minutes.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Coach Gopi and Coach Handoyo's pep talk after the first game had its intended effect. Sindhu raced to a 9-3 lead in the 2nd game but just like the first game, Okuhara calmly kept reducing the lead with a bunch of points. Sindhu's lead at the interval was just 3. Okuhara proceeded to win 5 of the next 7 points to tie things at 13-13, briefly even taking a 1 point lead. The resilient Sindhu went on a 7-4 streak to bring up 3 game points. Okuhara saved them all. The 2001 All England Champion, Gopichand's protégé squared the match with the greatest point of all time described above.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
63 minutes had elapsed. If you thought the 1st two games were punishing, the 3rd game made those look like a walk in the park. With all the momentum seemingly with Sindhu, Nozomi opened the decider with a 5-1 lead. The Indian ace responded with 4 straight points to make it 5-5. No player won more than two points in a row until it was 9-9. Sindhu won both the following points to go with an advantage for the 3rd game in a row. Nozomi quickly regrouped after the break to level it 11-11.<br />
<br />
The next 12 points were equally shared. No player won more than 2 points in a row. Each point seemed longer than the last. Both had nothing left in the tank and were running purely on adrenaline. 17-17. Just 4 points away from glory. Sindhu made one push to win the next 2 points. As she had replied in the entire match, Okuhara won 3 points in a row to bring championship point. Sindhu won a 26 shot rally when Nozomi's tired eyes misjudged a deep shot. It was now Sindhu's turn to display weariness as she netted a makable drop shot to give Nozomi her 2nd championship point. After 34 debilitating shots, Nozomi's drop shot was just out of reach even for the long armed Sindhu and she could only net it. Nozomi Okuhara was World Champion 21-19, 20-22, 22-20. The 3rd game alone took a brutal 47 minutes. The match took a whopping 110 minutes in total. The average badminton match lasts about 30 to 35 minutes.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRG98nQ_oT5Q3xR8uIcLgc6KI1_P_rfROm77KRvAjjPZtXJvlUG9jTI_xGrY1eo44niTSbUMP-JuvBZ3n524dXPnT2OTSOwfQxAqAPR5iiQfbiqd-0M6-DfSFJPshCW3zkkKOXGS0rG54/s1600/fad.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="879" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRG98nQ_oT5Q3xR8uIcLgc6KI1_P_rfROm77KRvAjjPZtXJvlUG9jTI_xGrY1eo44niTSbUMP-JuvBZ3n524dXPnT2OTSOwfQxAqAPR5iiQfbiqd-0M6-DfSFJPshCW3zkkKOXGS0rG54/s640/fad.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Neck & Neck</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The word epic, one of the shortest words in the lexicon, ironically means a very lengthy poem. It is also used to describe a long and arduous task or activity. This match was a grade A++++...<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;">∞</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;"> </span>epic. A classic of all classics. It was a match that, genuinely, neither player deserved to lose. It was the match with the greatest rally of all time. It was a match of tournament. It was the match of the year. It was the greatest match of all time...period!</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-47779851061774479982018-07-25T21:33:00.000+05:302018-07-26T11:27:40.055+05:302018 BWF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS MEN'S SINGLES PREVIEW<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
India are one of 4 countries (China, Denmark & Japan are the others) with the possible maximum 4 of players in the draw for the men's title in Nanjing. India had a fabulous year in men's badminton last year. At point we had 13 men in the top 100. Out of the World Championships, Asia Championships and 13 Super Series titles, India won 5 titles. Four of them by Srikanth Kidambi and the fifth was the 1st ever All-India Super Series final contested by Srikanth & Sai Praneeth with the latter winning his 1st Super Series title in Singapore.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNch-A4rxw9voofox9D-qzuqaFUFMmRgh_UG3F78ifhPkXRoaGtLlgd3u4XL-ZBHbW8OldnYyJPogOIAiS075dpuNa-Rt8giziybGv8Oc6rDRWJ_UYPZDJ6i-nLMKBoAs2WS_74jEW670/s1600/Untitled1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="758" data-original-width="1256" height="385" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNch-A4rxw9voofox9D-qzuqaFUFMmRgh_UG3F78ifhPkXRoaGtLlgd3u4XL-ZBHbW8OldnYyJPogOIAiS075dpuNa-Rt8giziybGv8Oc6rDRWJ_UYPZDJ6i-nLMKBoAs2WS_74jEW670/s640/Untitled1.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The BWF has changed the season format this year. Instead of Super Series, Super Series Premier, there are Super 300, Super 500, Super 750 and Super 1000. It has been an extremely disappointing season thus far. The boys are going through a proper sophomore slump. Our two biggest hopes, Srikanth & Prannoy, have serious fitness and/or confidence issues. Sai Praneeth has made just 1 semifinal since winning the Thailand open last year. Sameer Verma is the only player with a title this year. A title in the Swiss Open Super 300 with wins over the hottest player of the year: Kento Momota and Jan Ø. Jørgensen.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Players (Seed):</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Srikanth Kidambi (5)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
H. S. Prannoy (11)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
B. Sai Praneeth</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sameer Verma</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Potential Draw:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Srikanth Kidambi (5):</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R64: Nguyen </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R32: Penty/Abián</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R16: Jonathan Christie (13)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
QF: Anthony Ginting (12)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SF: Son Wan-ho (4)/Kento Momota (6)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
F: Viktor Axelsen (1)/H. S. Prannoy (11)/Sameer Verma</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>H. S. Prannoy (11):</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R64: Manota</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R32: Wong W K</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R16: Chou T-c (7)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
QF: Shi YQ (3)/Lin Dan (9)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SF: Viktor Axelsen (1)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
F: Son Wan-ho (4)/Srikanth Kidambi (5)/Kento Momota (6)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Sameer Verma:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R64: Corvée</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R32: Lin Dan (9)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R16: Shi YQ (3)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
QF: Chou T-c (7)/H. S. Prannoy (11)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SF: Viktor Axelsen (1)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
F: Son Wan-ho (4)/Srikanth Kidambi (5)/Kento Momota (6)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>B. Sai Praneeth:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R64: Son Wan-ho (4)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R32: K Sakai</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R16: T Sugiarto (15)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
QF: Kento Momota (6)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SF: Srikanth Kidambi (5)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
F: Viktor Axelsen (1)/H. S. Prannoy (11)/Sameer Verma</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sai Praneeth & Sameer are unseeded and unsurprisingly they have a tough draw. Sai Praneeth has been on a complete downward spiral since winning the Singapore Open last year in a historic first over Srikanth Kidambi. He starts against the very defensive Son Wan-ho. He has never beaten the Korean but will draw confidence from the fact that he won his 1st game in 4 tries earlier this year in Birmingham. He has the issue of starting well and fading away as he gets into rallies. Even if he gets past Son Wan-ho, it's unlikely that he'll beat the player of the year so far: Wild Thing Kento Momota.<br />
<br />
Sameer is the only Indian of any gender or discipline to have won a title this year: Swiss Open. He should very likely beat Lucas Corvée in his opening round. Next up is the badminton GOAT Lin Dan. Lin Dan injured himself in USA and he is 1-2 since then. Sameer will not get a better opportunity to join Srikanth & Prannoy in the select club of Indian shuttlers who have scored a win over the GOAT. If he gets past that giant hurdle, he faces the reigning All-England champ, Shi Yuqi. An All-India quarterfinal meeting with Prannoy seems unlikely given his tough quarter.<br />
<br />
Prannoy begins his campaign against Indo-Kiwi Abhinav Manota which is followed by Hong Kong's Wong Wing Ki. The Delhi-born Mallu shouldn't have much trouble dispatching the duo. The round of 16 is where the heat picks up: Chou Tien Chen. Prannoy trails the head to head 1-3 but defeated the Taiwanese no 1 in England earlier this year. The last eight will bring Lin Dan or likelier Shi Yuqi. Prannoy <i>leads </i>the H2H with Super Dan but has lost the last 3 meetings to the young Chinese upstart.<br />
<br />
Defending champion Viktor Axelsen will be his semifinal opponent if all goes to plan. Prannoy has lost all 4 meetings with the Big Dane but hasn't faced him for nearly 2 years. The draw is difficult but Prannoy has the talent to create history by becoming the 1st Indian male to reach the medal round at the World Championships. How many people can lay claim to have beaten Lee Chong Wei & Chen Long back to back?<br />
<br />
Last but not least is Srikanth Kidambi. BWF's restructuring of its premier tournaments and 2018 being both a Commonwealth Games & Asiad year meant that Srikanth Kidambi became World No 1 for one week due to scheduling quirks. Clearly, it was a deserving reward. After all, he won a tour leading 4 Super Series title last year. A feat only 4 other players have achieved. Yet it felt hollow because Srikanth's form this year has been very iffy. He scored his 1st ever win over his nemesis: Lee Chong Wei at Gold Coast in the the team event but went on lose, from a game up, in the individual event to the Malaysian legend.<br />
<br />
He has only one semifinal appearance in 2018. A match in which he was thoroughly outplayed by the Wild Thing Kento Momota. Their next meeting was better, Srikanth lost from a game up in 60 minutes. With Lee Chong Wei's withdrawal due to respiratory issues, Srikanth's draw is wide open till the semifinals. Jonatan Christie (H2H 2-2) and Anthony Ginting (H2H 2-1) are solid players but Srikanth should defeat both even if he's playing at 80-85% of his abilities. Even though Son Wan-ho is the higher seed, Kento Momota will be the likeliest semifinal opponent if Srikanth gets there.<br />
<br />
The Nipponese shuttler has won the last 4 meetings between the two and will surely have the upper hand given their respective current forms. But Srikanth is a resilient player. He is 5-2 in his last 5 semifinals and 4-1 in his last 5 finals. Admittedly, many of them came last year but as they say form is temporary, class is permanent. At this point in time, even a semifinal appearance will be historic but given Srikanth's talent and the easy draw, it will be a gigantic disappointment if he doesn't win a medal.<br />
<br />
It's <a href="http://www.karikadaiboy.com/2017/09/indian-mens-badminton-make-or-break-time.html">make or break time</a> for the Indian men. Let's hope the boys begin their campaign to conquer the world in Nanjing!<br />
<br />
JAI ŚRĪ RĀM!<br />
<br />
JAI HIND!<br />
<br />
BHĀRAT MĀTĀ KĪ JAI!<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-89297759466263073992018-07-25T14:15:00.001+05:302018-07-26T11:32:50.160+05:302018 BWF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS WOMEN'S SINGLES PREVIEW<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
So it's back! The BWF World Championships. A month earlier than last year presumably because of the Asian Games due to begin in the middle of August. Last year's final was a 110 minute epic that Sindhu lost to Okuhara 19-21, 22-20, 20-22 having held one match point. It was one of those "where were you when" moments in sports history. If you thought last year was tough, this year is even tougher for our shuttlers.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxrDUWsHHzXRReCwYza-zNblsDmAF0v736IbhDxbX5zKM7Hew8AyKDdHRnE5yVWKp8qUNUKX8SVWPRnr-KwKUEY0b86FEZTu4uRokTPT1WHJaMpXG9zLtGtfnUfdXEQXDEqxqRA2A6be4/s1600/20170827_1700_WorldChampionships2017_BPRA0418-638x551.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="638" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxrDUWsHHzXRReCwYza-zNblsDmAF0v736IbhDxbX5zKM7Hew8AyKDdHRnE5yVWKp8qUNUKX8SVWPRnr-KwKUEY0b86FEZTu4uRokTPT1WHJaMpXG9zLtGtfnUfdXEQXDEqxqRA2A6be4/s1600/20170827_1700_WorldChampionships2017_BPRA0418-638x551.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Will the girls go one better this year?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Players (Seed):</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
P. V. Sindhu (3)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Saina Nehwal (10)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Potential Draw:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>P. V. Sindhu:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R64: Bye</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R32: Fitriani/Zetchiri</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R16: Sun Ji Hyun (9)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
QF: Nozomi Okuhara (8)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SF: Akane Yamaguchi (2)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
F: Tai Tzu-ying (1)/ Saina Nehwal (10)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Saina Nehwal:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R64: Bye</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R32: Jaquet/Demirbag</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
R16: Ratchanok Intanon (4)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
QF: Carolina Marin (7)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
SF: Tai Tzu-ying (1)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
F: Akane Yamaguchi (2)/ P. V. Sindhu (3)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Last year India had 4 women in the draw, Tanvi Lad and Rituparna Das in addition to the two queens. This year we have just two usual suspects. Good news: Sindhu & Saina are in different halves of the draw. Bad news: Sindhu & Saina are in different halves of the draw. Not many realize how close we were to an all-India women's final in Glasgow. Saina, after a long injury layoff, rolled back the years and defeated no 2 seed Sun Ji Hyun, Kirsty Gilmour and faced Okuhara in the semis. Okuhara was coming off a 93 minute battle with Marin. Saina won game 1 21-12 and it was 17-17 in game 2. Okuhara dug deep and won the game 21-17 and the final game 21-10 to storm into the finals. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It will tough to repeat last year's heroics for Saina because her draw is absolutely brutal. Intanon in the R16, Marin in the QFs and <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>yama kiṅkari</i></span> Tai Tzu-ying in the semis. If she somehow miraculously pulls it off, I doubt she'll have enough left in the tank to overcome Sindhu or Yamaguchi in the final. She hasn't been half bad this year, having made the finals of Indonesia masters, won the gold at Gold Coast, and lost an epic battle (25-27, 19-21) to Tai Tzu-ying at the Asia Championships. We all know how resilient the girl from Hisar is. Even if she goes down, it won't be without a fight. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Sindhu is the higher seed, therefore her draw is relatively easier....only on paper. If you thought Sun Ji Hyun, with whom she has split her last 4 meetings, is a tough R16 opponent, then how much tougher is it to face the defending champion as early as the last eight? The semifinal will be another repeat of last year's Super Series Finals final that Sindhu lost from a game up to 21 year old Akane Yamaguchi. If she gets past this murderer's row, Tai Tzu-ying awaits. Sindhu has not defeated the Taiwanese ace since the Rio drubbing (21-13, 21-15), having lost 5 matches in a row. Tai Tzu-ying has won 5 titles this year, including the three big ones: Asia Championships, All England Open and Indonesia Open. Sindhu will draw confidence from the fact that she stretched TTY to 3 games in their last meeting in Malaysia.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Saina and Sindhu have ensured that India have won at least one singles medal since 2012 (in the Olympic year, the Olympic medal doubles as the World Championship medal). A streak of 6 consecutive podium finishes, 3 silver medals and 3 bronzes. We were so close to winning gold <i>and </i>silver last year but ended up with silver and bronze. This year the competition has gotten tougher. We are likelier to end up with no medals than two but both our shuttlers are resilient and fighters par excellence. Others will have to play at the proverbial 110% to beat our girls. They. Just. Do. Not. Give. Up.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Best of luck Saina & Sindhu!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
BHĀRAT MĀTĀ KĪ JAI! </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
JAI HIND!</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-38218152475064752942018-07-25T13:08:00.000+05:302018-07-25T13:08:11.777+05:30THE 1980s CRICKET TEAM YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Pop quiz: There were two teams in the decade of 1980-89 that did not lose a test series at home. Who were they?</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A) West Indies & Pakistan</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
B) West Indies & Australia</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
C) West Indies & India</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
D) West Indies & England</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you had said any of A, B, C or D you would be wrong. The answer to the question is West Indies & New Zealand. Tiny New Zealand with a population less than Chennai. A country that generally loses its best athletes to rugby, somehow went undefeated at home during which they faced the team of the decade twice and came out unscathed.<br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Test match results of all Test playing nations in the 1980s</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 653px;"><colgroup><col width="42*"></col><col width="25*"></col><col width="28*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Team</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">Span</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%">Matches</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Won</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%">Lost</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Tied</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Draw</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm;" width="13%">W/L</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">West Indies</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
82</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
43</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
31</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
5.375</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Pakistan</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
80</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
23</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
13</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
44</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1.769</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">New Zealand</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
59</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
17</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
27</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1.133</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Australia</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
97</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
27</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
31</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
38</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.87</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">India</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
81</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
11</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
21</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
48</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.523</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">England</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
104</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
39</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
45</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.512</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Sri Lanka</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
29</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
2</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
16</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
11</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.125</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
The Kiwis were one of only 3 sides that won more tests than they lost. The Kiwis won 4 tests against minnows Sri Lanka but continue to stay in 3rd place behind West Indies and Pakistan. West Indies are the only side whose ratio remains unchanged because they never faced Sri Lanka until late 1993.<br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Test match results of all Test playing nations in the 1980s bar Sri Lanka</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 653px;"><colgroup><col width="42*"></col><col width="25*"></col><col width="28*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Team</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">Span</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%">Matches</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Won</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%">Lost</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Tied</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Draw</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm;" width="13%">W/L</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">West Indies</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
82</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
43</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
31</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
5.375</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Pakistan</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
71</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
18</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
41</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1.5</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">New Zealand</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
53</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
13</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
25</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.866</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Australia</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
93</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
24</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
31</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
37</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.774</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">England</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
101</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
18</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
39</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
44</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.461</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">England</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
74</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
9</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
44</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.45</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
The Kiwis were more than formidable at home in the 1980s. The trailed in a series only once when the Caribbeans visited in 1987 and won a home series against every other team at least once. No other team managed to do this, not even the mighty West Indies.<br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Home test match results of all Test playing nations in the 1980s</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 653px;"><colgroup><col width="42*"></col><col width="25*"></col><col width="28*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Team</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">Span</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%">Matches</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Won</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%">Lost</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Tied</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Draw</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm;" width="13%">W/L</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">West Indies</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
30</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
18</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
11</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
18</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Pakistan</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
43</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
17</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
2</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
24</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
8.5</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">New Zealand</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
28</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
10</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
2</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
16</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
5</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Australia</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
54</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
19</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
15</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1.266</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">India</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
42</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
9</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
24</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.888</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">England</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
57</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
13</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
22</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
22</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.59</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Sri Lanka</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
2</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
5</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
7</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.4</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
What is the big deal about home record you ask? The Kiwis still stay in 3rd place when you take into account their record away from home. They won historic series wins in England and Australia. They managed to square the series 1-1 in India before being spun to defeat by Arshad Ayub & Hirwani. They matched West Indies toe to toe in the 1st two tests in Viv Richards' debut series as captain before the Caribbeans raised their level a few notches to win the 3rd & 4th tests.<br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
Away test match results of all Test playing nations in the 1980s</div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<table cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" style="width: 653px;"><colgroup><col width="42*"></col><col width="25*"></col><col width="28*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col><col width="32*"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Team</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">Span</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%">Matches</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Won</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%">Lost</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Tied</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%">Draw</td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); padding: 0.1cm;" width="13%">W/L</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">West Indies</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
52</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
25</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
7</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
3.571</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Pakistan</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
37</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
11</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
20</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.545</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">New Zealand</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
31</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
7</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
13</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
11</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.538</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Australia</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
43</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
8</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
16</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
1</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
18</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.5</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">England</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
47</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
7</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
17</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
23</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.411</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">India</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
39</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
3</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
12</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
24</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0.25</div>
</td></tr>
<tr valign="top"><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="16%">Sri Lanka</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="10%">1980-89</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="11%"><div style="text-align: center;">
17</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="12%"><div style="text-align: center;">
11</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: none; border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
6</div>
</td><td style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-left: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-right: 1px solid rgb(0, 0, 0); border-top: none; padding: 0cm 0.1cm 0.1cm;" width="13%"><div style="text-align: center;">
0</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<br />
The Kiwis did not have a great batting line up but it was of the solid quality. They had just one excellent batsman in Martin Crowe. He was ably supported by grafters like John Wright, Bruce Edgar, Bruce Reid, Andrew Jones & Jeremy Coney over various periods and a lower order pest in Ian Smith. Richard Hadlee, talented enough to score an 88 ball 100 vs Roberts/Croft/Garner/Holding, completed a solid if not spectacular top 7.<br />
<br />
The bowling was led by the irresistible Sir Richard John Hadlee the only active player to have been knighted. He was ably supported by solid seamers like Ewen Chatfield, Martin Snedden, Lance Cairns and the spin of John Bracewell. Hadlee took 289 wickets in just 53 tests at an unbelievable average of just 19.28. The highlight was the near selfless act of catching Geoff Lawson and thereby giving Vaughan Brown his only test wicket. Why was it selfless? Hadlee had taken the 1st 8 wickets to fall and the last wicket to give him 9 wickets in the innings. His 15 wickets in the match gave the Kiwis their first ever test win on the other side of the Tasmanian sea.<br />
<br />
The Kiwis had the 3rd best record of the 8 test playing nations. They were spectacular at home and a bone-in-the-meat type of side away. Given their meagre resources they massively overachieved and were the only team other than Pakistan to stand up to the fearsome foursome that was the pace attack of the West Indies. If we take the small population and the presence of All Blacks into consideration, it is safe to say that pound for pound New Zealand were the best team in the 1980s.</div>
</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-54766455454023066742018-07-17T17:10:00.001+05:302018-07-17T17:10:34.073+05:30WORLD CUP 2018: MY LIST<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A very short post on the recently concluded FIFA World Cup.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Best Match: </b>Belgium 2-1 Brazil</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Lots of great candidates. Spain-Portugal, Japan-Belgium, France-Argentina, Russia-Croatia, France-Croatia but I think Belgium-Brazil was the best of the lot. Martinez clearly outwitted Tite with a back 4 and Brazil were overwhelmed in the 1st half by waves of Belgian counterattacks. Miranda-Lukaku battle was a throwback to the days where hard-men centre-halves went toe to toe with burly number 9s. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Tite adjusted at half-time and it was the turn of Brazil to dominate the Red Devils. They were under the cosh for a long time but held out quite somewhat comfortably in the end. Brazil clearly missed Casemiro and a midfield conductor like De Bruyne. Hope Arthur Melo solves that problem in the Copa America next summer. Hazard and Lukaku were outstanding but the man of the match was Courtois.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Best Player: </b>Luka Modric</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Modric is under heavy scrutiny outside the pitch. He was charged with perjury in March but he's blanked that from memory to lead Real Madrid to their 3rd Champions League title in a row and was even better in Russia. <a href="http://twitter.com/zonal_marking">Michael Cox</a> was right when he said Modric is playing the Xavi-2010 role to perfection. No one ran more. No Croatian played more passes. No Croatian played more through-balls. Too bad Croatia were bushed by the time the final Sunday rolled on. They had played a full 90 minutes plus injury time more than France and it showed in the end. France's greater squad depth meant they were doubly fresh and in the end coasted to their second title.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Best Goal:</b> Nacer Chadli vs Japan</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Many candidates again. Nacho's vicious snake-bend, Cheryshev, Cheryshev, Cavani-Suarez's 100 yard 1-2, Quaresma's most Quaresmatic goal, Mbappe's 2nd against Argentina, Messi, Inui's thunderous strike, Pavard, Angel Of Mary but I choose Chadli's winner in injury time against Nippon. KdB's lung busting 50 yard run, Lukaku's bending run to split the Japanese centre-backs and then dummying Meunier's cross for Chadli to finish low with his left foot. Breath-taking counterattack. MSN would have been proud of that goal.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>World Cup XI:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Self-explanatory.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfn01GzL0F-4OHraRfuriVvyBYaS6JbayHGM4kPprGq6QNWH3-gzfDoEClNUFG4EKU5O3ybtBBnMbI44qK5ualSSZvjdsG-3npxX6SLgz9SYzeR4xXITaq2h2gAV_b07uS3NptCQtrOk/s1600/adfadf.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyfn01GzL0F-4OHraRfuriVvyBYaS6JbayHGM4kPprGq6QNWH3-gzfDoEClNUFG4EKU5O3ybtBBnMbI44qK5ualSSZvjdsG-3npxX6SLgz9SYzeR4xXITaq2h2gAV_b07uS3NptCQtrOk/s1600/adfadf.png" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In summary, it was a fun world cup but very low on quality. Too many own goals, too many cursory errors, poor dead ball defending. Despite the poor final, France 98 is the best world cup since I started watching in 1994.</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-52445019395225724932018-07-16T21:14:00.000+05:302018-07-16T21:18:59.055+05:30HARDEST TO DEFEAT: CRICKET'S OVERACHIEVING XII<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: right;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When you want a good team, you need at least two midfielders who'll never score lower than a 7 (on a scale of 10).You don't need the best players, 8s and 9s are not necessary. Because these players can also score a '4'.</div>
-Johan Cruijff</blockquote>
<br />
One of my daily rituals on the internet is to read "<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149455.html">On This Day</a>" on <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/">Cricinfo</a>. 13th July was Hilary Angelo "Larry" Gomes' 65th birthday. In a team filled with flair players like Greenidge, Richards, Lloyd, Richardson, hell even Dujon batted with derisive flamboyance, Larry was a calm, steady presence in the West Indies' top, top-middle order for nearly a decade. His average and strike rate hovered in the 40s for most of his career. He was the perfect epitome of Johan Cruijff's above quote. On a scale of 10, he'd very rarely score 10 but at the same time very rarely would he score less than 6. Gomes' sheet anchor role let the more powerful batsmen go wild.<br />
<br />
This got me thinking, how about an entire XI (with a 12th man) of "overachievers". Men, who depended more on discipline and self-denial to achieve greatness. For various reasons, either for the greater good of the team or simply that they just couldn't, they just cut out most of their attacking abilities and just ground the opposition to dust. I decided to go with 12 men to have the flexibility of having 2 spinners, 2 pacers just in case the match takes place on a dust bowl. Without further adieu, let's go to the XII.<br />
<br />
<b>1. Alastair Nathan Cook</b>: 156 tests, 12,145 runs at 45.65, 32 100s, 162 catches<br />
<br />
The quintessential <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>azhukku </i></span>(dirty) player as described by <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>tamizh </i></span>people who never sweat even after batting for 4 minutes shy of 14 hours in the sweltering heat of Abu Dhabi. One of the finest cutters and pullers in the game but Ali Cook simply wouldn't play those shots unless it was aching to be put away. Bowlers know this and try to keep it in the corridor but Cook would just let it go. His supreme powers of concentration meant that he knew no matter what he's not going to blink first. Bowlers rarely maintained this discipline for more than a session and Cook would be ready to pounce for that slightly off-line ball on either side and get his runs. One of the best players of spin. He has the most runs and most 100s in Asia. That always scores highly in my book. He is also a fairly good slipper to have in the side.<br />
<br />
<b>2. Geoffrey Boycott</b>: 108 tests, 8,114 runs at 47.72, 22 100s<br />
<br />
Cook's bespectacled fellow countryman who could be described as the Alastair Cook of his time. Dogged, disciplined and determined. One of only 2 men to have scored 20+ 100s and never been part of a losing side in a match in which they have scored a 100. He has been dropped for slow and selfish batting but on the flip side, he played crucial roles in England's overseas victories in the West Indies and the Ashes. One of the grittiest batsmen of all time. Can't think of two more stubborn, unyielding men to blunt the new ball and make the bowlers' lives miserable even on the juiciest of pitches.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Rahul Sharad Dravid</b>: 164 tests, 13,288 runs at 52.31, 36 100s, 210 catches<br />
<br />
The Wall. 'Nuff said. There's a bit of irony in his nickname given that he was bowled or leg before in nearly a third of his dismissals (89/286) but that doesn't change the fact that he was indeed a Wall for India. Just like Larry Gomes, he batted in a team filled with talented stroke-makers (SRT, Azza, Dada, VVS, Viru at various times) and was a serene presence in the middle that allowed the dashers to their thang. Tendulkar was without a doubt the greater of the two but every famous Indian victory (Eden Gardens, Headingley, Adelaide, Rawalpindi, Jamaica) of the era had the inimitable Dravid stamp. No way India win those matches without the genial Bengalurian. He is also one of just 3 men to have caught more than 200 catches and holds the record for the most catches by an outfielder (210). Cook & Dravid make a mighty fine slip pair.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Jacques Henry Kallis</b>: 166 tests, 13,289 runs at 55.37, 45 100s, 292 wickets at 32.65, 200 catches<br />
<br />
The designated (batting) all-rounder of this side. The Wall of Sathafrika for nearly 2 decades. Had all the shots in the book but cut them all out to forge a career of tough runs. His 45 test 100s are second only to Tendulkar. He could never impose his will on test like a Lara or a Ponting or a Tendulkar but my word he could be irremovable from the crease. In addition to his rock-like batting, he was a fabulous 3rd seamer who could keep things exceptionally tight with disciplined bowling. He also had decent pace and a fine short ball to keep the batsmen on their toes. A man that simply won't beat himself. He was also a safe pair of hands as his 200 catches attest.<br />
<br />
<b>5. Allan Robert Border (c)</b>: 156 tests, 11,174 runs at 50.56, 27 100s, 156 catches<br />
<br />
Allan Border is the captain of this nitty-gritty XI. A reluctant captain after the retirements of Lillee, Marsh & Greg Chappell and the forced removal of Kim Hughes. He lifted Australia from their then toughest period (AUS didn't win a test in 20 matches and lost to NZ home & away for the 1st time) and brought a culture that was taken to the next level by Mark Taylor and the stratosphere by Steve Waugh. Captain Grumpy inspired his teammates by the sheer weight of his runs. His slow left-armers would be a useful change of pace when nothing works. He was also a fantastic all-round fielder who held the record for most catches by an outfielder when he retired.<br />
<br />
<b>6. Steve Rodger Waugh</b>: 168 tests, 10,927 runs at 51.06, 32 100s, 112 catches<br />
<br />
Tugga! The man described by Nirmal Shekhar as "When there is no need to fight, there is no need for a Steve Waugh. Lesser men can take over." One of the most underrated batsmen in my book. Yes, he played in a loaded side but how many times did he bail them out with a sturdy knock under pressure? The number of his epics outnumber Lara's & Sachin's but he never captured the imagination like the aforementioned duo with pyro-techniques. The quintessential get the job done guy. His gentle medium pacers brought him 92 test wickets. Another useful option when the main bowlers tire.<br />
<br />
<b>7. Ridley Detamore Jacobs</b>: 65 tests, 207 catches, 12 stumpings, 2577 runs at 28.31, 3 100s<br />
<br />
A somewhat left-field choice perhaps but it feels quite apposite. Jacobs didn't make his debut until he was 31 and he managed to even top the charts for West Indies in what was their most disastrous tour in history until then: 5-0 drubbing in South Africa. You could even say he came with his reputation enhanced. Lara's <a href="http://www.karikadaiboy.com/2017/03/prodigal-son-turned-messiah-turns-18.html">GOAT innings</a> got all the plaudits but it was Jacobs' 153 run partnership with 1st innings centurion Sherwin Campbell that gave WI a chance to even stay in the match after they were reduced to 98/6. His work wasn't too shabby behind the stumps. His 1.795 dismissals per test being better than Ian Healy's 1.763.<br />
<br />
<b>8. Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chaminda Vaas: </b>111 matches, 355 wickets at 29.58, 12 5 w, 2 10 w<br />
<b><br /></b>
When he retired Chaminda Vaas was comfortably the 2nd greatest Sri Lankan bowler after <strike>chucker</strike>birth defected Muralitharan. One of the best left arm seamers of all time, Vaas played the Statham to Murali's Trueman with aplomb with his tight bowling and regular wickets. He is one of only 5 pacemen to take at least 14 wickets in a test in the last 50 years. His batting wasn't half bad. 3089 runs with a test 100 to boot.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>9. Anil Kumble</b>: 132 tests, 619 wickets at 29.65, 35 5 w, 8 10 w<br />
<br />
Jumbo couldn't turn the ball, didn't have a great googly, hardly varied his pace but he turned all those negatives into his strength by bowling marathon spells with a heart of a lion. Who can forget his dismissal of Lara with a broken jaw? He simply didn't know when he was beaten. There is a case for him to be the greatest overachiever in test cricket. He is still one of only 3 bowlers to breach the 600 wicket mark. A remarkable feat given his limitations. Late in his career, he managed to do something his more flamboyant Aussie rival could never do: score a test 100. A 100 that effectively shut out England from squaring the series, giving India her first test series in Ol' Blighty after 21 years.<br />
<br />
<b>10. John Brian Statham</b>: 70 tests, 252 wickets at 24.84, 9 5 w, 1 10 w<br />
<br />
The ultimate support bowler. The ultimate "you-miss-I-hit" bowler. Statham's job was to simply bowl niggardly and endlessly from one end so that his more flamboyant teammates like Typhoon Tyson or Fiery Fred could go medieval on the batsmen. In the Lord's test of 1955 was South Africa, Statham bowled unchanged for figures of 29-12-39-7 in defending a low score of 183 as England won it at a canter by 71 runs. A true epitome of this side.<br />
<br />
<b>11. Courtney Andrew Walsh</b>: 132 tests, 519 wickets at 24.44, 22 5 w, 3 10 w<br />
<br />
Courtney Walsh made his debut on a WACA flyer. He was part of a wolf pack of Marshall, Garner and Holding. He never even got to bowl in the first innings as the trio shared all wickets and Australia were bowled out in just 31.2 overs for 76. It wasn't until 1992 that he regularly became the new ball bowler. Marshall, Holding, Garner had all retired but Ambrose and Bishop were now the rage. The story of the gentle Jamaican giant's career. He had his moments. 13 wickets in Wellington, the ball that got Billy out in Adelaide, breaking Prabhakar's nose in Mohali, and the greatest innings of them all: the marathon 5 ball 0 not out in <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/15847/scorecard/63839/west-indies-vs-australia-3rd-test-australia-tour-of-west-indies-1998-99/">Kensington Oval</a> that saw West Indies home with juuuuuuuust a little help from Lara in the greatest test of them all! He was probably the least talented fast bowler of the West Indies pace battery in the 70s and 80s but he outlasted them all with his grit and indefatigableness.<br />
<br />
<b>12. Herath Mudiyanselage Rangana Keerthi Bandara Herath</b>: 91 tests, 423 wickets at 28.10, 33 5 w, 9 10 w<br />
<br />
Rangana Herath is, if I'm not wrong, the only active cricketer who made his test debut in the last century. It wasn't until Murali's retirement that he could regularly play but he quickly made up for lost time. Not a big turner of the ball like his more illustrious mirror image, Herath has almost single-handedly kept Sri Lanka competitive with his wile and guile for the last 10 years despite next to no support from his bowling mates. Brian Statham will make way for Herath if there is a test on slow turners of the subcontinent.<br />
<br />
<b>HONOURABLE MENTIONS</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Shivnarine Chanderpaul: </b>164 tests, 11,867 runs at 51.37, 30 100s<br />
<br />
The Crab. When asked what you do for a living, Chanders' curt reply was "I bat.". A two word sentence that is so profound if you saw him bat. He simply batted.<br />
<br />
<b>Kenneth Frank Barrington</b>: 82 tests, 6,806 runs at 58.67, 20 100s<br />
<br />
A dasher who cut down his shots to have one of the highest test averages for a batsman. Barrington vs Nadkarni. 131 dot balls in a row. 'Nuff said.<br />
<br />
<b>Makhaya Ntini:</b> 101 tests, 390 wickets at 28.82, 18 5 w, 4 10 w<br />
<br />
Ntini wasn't as talented as Donald or Pollock but he bowled with a lot of heart and was a tireless servant for the Proteas. He also broke the colour barrier in the Rainbow nation.<br />
<br />
<b>Adam Parore</b>: 78 tests, 197 catches, 7 stumpings, 2865 runs at 26.28, 2 100s<br />
<br />
The archetypal New Zealand cricketer. Hard working, disciplined & resolute. Made a fabulous 100 at the WACA against one of the greatest attacks assembled.<br />
<br />
What is your Overachiever's XII? Name them in the comments.</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-5012789570639109662018-07-07T17:59:00.001+05:302018-07-09T12:05:45.219+05:30SIX PACK AMBI: MY COLLEGE PANTS (ALMOST) FIT ME AGAIN<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I tried fitting into my 32" college pants just a fortnight into the <a href="http://www.karikadaiboy.com/2018/04/six-pack-ambi-reboot.html">reboot</a> of <a href="http://www.karikadaiboy.com/2017/08/project-six-pack-ambi-at-next.html">Project Six Pack Ambi</a>. It was easier to make two supercharged magnets' like poles touch. Three months later, they fit....well almost. Have to breath out and hold my breath to put the button on and it's still not very comfortable. Regardless, I have gone from a 39-40" inch waist to 33-34" in this intermittent period and have lost 14 kilos (31 lbs). All I'm doing is following this <a href="https://www.bbc.com/sport/get-inspired/43501261">BBC Couch-To-5K</a> program. I haven't exactly dieted or exercised in the alternate days I didn't run. Everyone that has seen me after a long while has been putting <i><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">dṛṣṭi </span></i>like anything. I have never done drugs but I presume the high would be similar to what I felt when people said I've slimmed. A grade 1 ego boost.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Since tis the age where reading a couple of books by Dawkins makes you smarter and more authoritative on "organized religion" than <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>vēdik</i></span> scholars who have spent decades honing their craft, I thought it'd be nice to summarize and give a few pointers on what has worked for me. Usual disclaimers apply: what has worked for me may or may not work for you. I'm the kind of guy that doesn't gain weight that easily and loses it quickly upon exercising. My sister puts 10X the effort I do but she doesn't lose weight as fast as I do. Each individual is indeed very unique that way.</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If you follow these SIX things, you'll do just fine:</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Targets</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Targets</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Targets</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Routine</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Routine</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Routine</li>
</ul>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
When I restarted running, I ran in a haphazard way. Without any targets or a routine. My target was to run 100 m more, then 2 minutes more than the previous day. If I missed a day or two, I would struggle to keep the pace set earlier and get disheartened. By following a solid plan, I was able to build on my stamina piece by piece. I'm currently in week 5 of the program and finished the 1st run yesterday. So far no run has exceeded 5 minutes but in the next run I have to run for 8 minutes. In the run after next, it's for 20 minutes! </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I did run for 20 minutes earlier but I have my doubts whether I would be able to do it 3 days from today but that doesn't matter. All I'm going to do is give my best and trust that the work done in the previous month will see me past the finish line. To those that say rituals are pointless, I can only say "Y'all totally wrong". A quasi-ritual has seen my lose 6 inches of belly and 14 kilos of weight. I can only imagine if I had been a stickler for routine like my grandfather. I'd already be posting photos of my six pack.</div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I am planning to add some exercises in the alternate days I am not running from Monday onwards for a more holistic approach to fitness. I still can't do more than 5 push ups and I can't even bring my elbows to 120 degrees let alone 90 when doing a pull up. Hopefully, when I write my next post I'll be up to 20 push ups and 5 pull ups in addition to running for 30 minutes nonstop. </div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
P.S: The app is not available on Google Play Store. You can download it from <a href="https://apkpure.com/one-you-couch-to-5k/com.phe.couchto5K">here</a>. I use the baritone voice of one of the greatest short distance runners of all time: Michael Johnson to advise me. Obviously it's psychological but it works for me!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
P.P.S: In my opinion, one of the biggest reasons for weight gain is snacking at random times. I'm not the biggest snacker but I feel it easier to avoid snacking by having a self-reward system. What I mean that is that whenever you feel like eating some <span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><i>norukkuttīnī</i></span>, tell yourself that you won't eat that cornflakes mixture packet unless you finish a small task or a module or even a household chore. It could be something as simple as cleaning and rearranging your cluttered desk. This way you can either put off snacking or you have done something positive to reward yourself. It goes without saying that you need to gradually reduce the quantity of your mini-meals. </div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7547519704848316504.post-66662879553075890902018-06-24T09:52:00.001+05:302018-06-24T09:52:30.174+05:30STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN: THE MOST OVERRATED SONG EVER<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
There.<br />
<br />
I said it.<br />
<br />
You heard me right.<br />
<br />
Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin from their fourth album titled <b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: start;"><img alt="the Four Symbols logo" data-file-height="172" data-file-width="744" height="13" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Zoso.svg/55px-Zoso.svg.png" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Zoso.svg/83px-Zoso.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Zoso.svg/110px-Zoso.svg.png 2x" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="55" /></b>, commonly known among rock music aficionados as Led Zeppelin IV is the <i>MOST OVERRATED SONG EVER</i>. It had some all time great tracks like Black Dog, Rock and Roll (one of the great drum intro songs), Misty Mountain Hop and the true standout track of the album: When The Levee Breaks. Despite such great songs, the album is mostly remembered for Stairway to Heaven. The song neatly splits into a decent melody section followed by the famous solo and ending with the coda.<br />
<br />
Why is it overrated? That's the wrong question to ask. The correct question is: Why isn't it overrated? It starts with Robert Plant. Plant is <i>THE </i>worst singer of all time. He has absolutely no range unlike other great singers of his era like Freddie Mercury, Ian Gillan, Ronnie James Dio or Rob Halford. That is no big drawback. Ozzy didn't have that much range but he knew his limitations and sang within that. Plant never did and his high pitched shrieks made Sharapova seem mute as mice. On top of that his voice was awful and produced blood from the ears like Surthee did to Steve Wik in <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqp9laulHHU">manadai tiruḍi viṭṭāḷ</a></i></span>. There is no explicable reason for a band with GOAT candidates for drummer, bassist & guitarist to have such a dummy piece for a lead singer.<br />
<br />
The song begins with an acoustic riff which is very "meh" to say the least. Imagine the song didn't end with <i>that</i> solo. The riff's very ordinary now, innit? It's like Cristiano's prowess from free-kicks. The free-kick he scored against Spain was his <i>first </i>in <i>FORTY-FIVE</i> attempts in <i>EIGHT </i>international tournaments. The free-kick was absolutely brilliant but Jatti-tards forget how awful he was earlier. The opening 5:55 of the song is exactly like those 44 misses from the dead ball. The 40 second solo covers the weakness of the earlier part of song.<br />
<br />
Then, the lyrics. Ye Gods, what utter tosh they are! "In my thoughts I have seen rings of smoke through the trees and the voices of those who standing looking". What the hell does that mean? And this "When she gets there she knows if the stores are all closed with a word she can get what she came for"? Another verse full of banal gibberish. Even Rajini <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>machchinan piḷḷai</i></span>'s gawdawful <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ogKpj5QuSY">ālumā ḍōlumā</a></i></span> makes more sense. The song is littered with tripe like that. I'm not saying rock songs should have "Wordsworthesque" poetry but come! On! Stairway To Heaven is the lowest of lows in the rock song lyrics world which is already nether.<br />
<br />
When The Levee Breaks is a much better song from start to finish. The drum intro, the harmonica riff, the rhythm track. It's top-drawer stuff. So is Rock & Roll. And Black Dog. None of the songs have great lyrics but it's Robert Plant. That is his level. It will be like expecting Sujith Somasundar to score desert storm 143. Not. Gonna. Happen. Ever. Can you visualize how good Led Zep would be if Freddie Mercury was their frontman? Goosebumps. The only plausible explanation I can come up with is that Robert Plant is the <span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>dṛṣṭi pūśnikā</i></span> of Led Zeppelin.<br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong, the song ain't half bad but it's so feted that it's overrated. It's the Sachin Tendulkar of rock songs. </div>
</div>
Karikadaiboyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14875751721490797135noreply@blogger.com0