In the career batting records of a batsman Wasim Akram, Sunil Joshi, Charu Sharam, Kapil Dev and Shane Lee appear before Sachin Tendulkar.

With what parameter am I sorting (descending) the list?

India Vs Susex, Last day of 4 day test

39.4 Sreesanth to Saqlain Mushtaq, no run, Saqi is at it again. It was full and outside off and he backed away a touch in an effort to slog it over cover. The bat hits the ground and there is an appeal. Sreesanth points to cover region and asks Saqlain to have another go

39.5 Sreesanth to Saqlain Mushtaq, no run, ah! here comes the bouncer. Saqi ducks under. Sreesanth gives a icy cold stare, Saqlain smiles back at him.

39.6 Sreesanth to Saqlain Mushtaq, no run, This is fun. Saqlain charges out again, Sreesanth hurls another bouncer and the ball climbs over the flashing blade. The batsman and the bowler have a chat.

41.1 Sreesanth to Saqlain Mushtaq, no run, length-delivery on the off stump, Saqlain gets right behind it to defend to the off side.

Saqlain walks towards the bowler and says, “tu ka Shoaib Akhatar hai ka?” ( Are you Shoaib Akthar?!)

41.3 Sreesanth to Saqlain Mushtaq, no run, More chatter. full and outside off, squeezed out to point

Saqlain to Sreesanth.” Chahe out ho jaaon, main tero ko chakka maroonga!” ( Even if I get out I will hit you for a six! He said smilingly.

41.4 Sreesanth to Saqlain Mushtaq, OUT, Oh … the fun ends. Saqlain gets out without hitting a six. It kicked up from a length, on the off stump line and Saqlain dropped his wrists and got his bat out of the way. It appears as if the ball thudded in to the elastic strap of the left glove and flew to second slip. Saqi is not happy with the decision. Did it hit his forearm. The replays are not conclusive

PS : watching it live was fun, same as we saw Sreesanth’s dance during SA tour.

“The panel has decided that we will invite for further discussions Graham Ford and one more person whose name I am unable to disclose at this moment because we have not been able to establish contact with him to ascertain his availability. The duo will meet the committee in Chennai on the evening of June 9 for discussions, after which we will take a final call”
-N Srinivasan, BCCI

What happened to Whatmore? It was just the media who created hype about Whatmore or BCCI has taken a new guard?

update : Guess who is the other contender for Coaching team India?Graham Gooch? Mike Gatting? John Emburey? Duncan Fletcher? John Wright?

This Friday (25th may 2007) was a very special day for me. I had a chance to meet one of the greatest cricketers, Sunil Gavaskar or popularly known as Little Master. He had come for the promotions for a bank, and I was one of the lucky winners to get an autographed bag from him. I was sitting in the first row with Manish. He started with a good speech and thanked for introducing properly, he does not want to be introduced like “Here is Mr. Sunil Gavaskar, and he needs no introduction”. Told a story about Clive Lloyd about how cricketers do not like runs to be reduced even in informal talks.

After that there was a Q&A session, which went very well and I asked a question too. He was very comprehensive in answering all the questions. It went for more than an hour. After that he presented the bag. And then we took his autograph and photographs with him too.

Photographs

Sunil Gavaskar – Q&A Session

Presenting autographed bag

All Gavaskar Photos

Had a chance to meet Sunil Gavaskar, it was a great opportunity. I got an autographed bag and an autograph. These are the questions asked by different people and answers by SG.

Q: What takes a good/great cricketer to become legend?

A: It is not about just playing cricket, it’s about the commitment and dedication that makes legends. He talked about the three DDDs which are the differentiators. Dedication towards the game, sacrifices you make to achieve goals for example you might have cramps and team needs you on the field, you have choice of either retiring fighting out in middle and convert doubles to triples. Discipline is another key factor, discipline not in the way that we should go t bed at 11 if we have match next day, but discipline in learning, improving the game. If coach suggests something, try to improve on it. Determination to succeed, to fight, to accept challenges.

Q: BCCI has any vision or not?

SG: Yeah definitely they have vision, but very short vision, might be till 2008 or shorter. Then he discussed about what is the main problem, and he feels selection the issue. He feels selectors should look at the potential in the player; they should be able to figure out how committed player will be. Selectors should not be statisticians. A player might not hit the century, but someone else’s 65 or 3 wickets can convince selectors.

He feels for improvement in Indian cricket, we should have better selectors. Better selectors at junior level, under-19 and India-A have an important role to play than national selectors as they groom the players.

Q: will India reach in semi-finals in 2011 WC or not?

SG: yeah, most probably, as we will have good mix of young and experience, and Indian conditions suit us.

He was pretty convinced for the win this time too, because of numerology than confidence. Like Kapil Dev’s last name’s last character matches with Rahul Dravid’s, both captains share the same sun sign, both took over captaincy from SG (Sunil Gavaskar and Sourav Ganguly). But at last he said, “Thank You Bangladesh”

Q: If you feel some current cricketer has a scope of improvement and you can help with it, will you go and help?

SG: If I feel that my comments/suggestions would be taken in positive way and will help in improvement I will definitely go and help. We will have a small chat/tip/suggestion and will ask to try it. He can try it out on nets first and then take it to ODIs. If he is comfortable with those changes he can take it to Test matches too.

Q: Why we had only one triple century? (Manish)

SG: We don’t have many triple centuries in world cricket too. Anyways the number of centuries is reducing now, it’s because the playing style has changed. Now players do not leave balls moving away from them. That helps in faster scoring but is risky too.

Q: Is 20-twenty cricket ruining test/one day cricket? (Veetrag)

SG: No, actually it helps in improvement. The same things were said when One day cricket came into picture, people used to say that no one with watch test matches. But nothing like this happened, the playing style of crickets changed and it helped Tests. Previously test matches were mostly draws now you don’t see that many draws and most of the draws are result of bad weather. Scoring rates have changed; batsmen have started taking more risks.

Same will happen to one days too, now one days are too predictable. We know batsmen will come and hit for first 20 overs and then last 10 overs, I hope with 20-twenty we will see a change in style of playing and that would reflect someday in ODIs too.

( here, I wanted to ask another question, don’t you think cricket is becoming more and more of a batsmen game than bowlers, with scores like 434, 402 and all there is nothing much a bowler could do when complete power game is on)

Q: Why don’t we have crickets as administrators/coaches in BCCI?

SG: It’s very hard for crickets to go around and win elections. BCCI has a lot of politics and to gain every post there in an election. If we take example of Mumbai where all clubs affiliate vote to select the representative. But clubs prefer to select their ‘own’ people rather than test crickets as they feel there people would be easily accessible when needed.

Q: Tendulkar should be there in team or not, just answer in Yes or No?

SG: Yes. (The expected answer was no)

Q: Tendulkar should coach after retirement or not?

SG: He should coach, if he feels like coaching or umpiring. But he should take a break of few years before doing that. Always there should be ‘cooling off’ period otherwise at later stage it might create controversy.

Q: Is it justified to have non cricketers in BCCI?

SG: Actually it’s very hard for crickets to get into administrative posts in BCCI. As it is completely elections based. As Sharad Pawar has once said “there is more politics in BCCI than in Politics”.

Q: Cricket, a game played by 11 players attracts so much attention is this country. Do you think the same dedication required to play this game to meet the expectations of the nation, can be delivered by a workforce of 75000 odd people?

(I don’t remember the answer now)

Q: Economy is growing at 7-8% why cricket is not growing at same rate?

(I don’t remember the answer now)

Gavaskar also asked us one question: What’s the score in today’s match? Who all are playing?

PS: Thanks Sumitha and Mks for contributing the questions.

Disclaimer: These questions were asked to Sunil Gavaskar at Infosys, Bangalore on 25^th may 2007. Answers presented above are recreated by me with my limited retention power.

I knew about BCCI and its role in Indian cricket, but was not aware of the fact that BCCI holds no relation/recognition from Government of India. Yesterday while going through ‘revamping Indian cricket’ after first round exit from World Cup, I figured out about no connection. Now my question is, How can we call ‘team India’ as ‘Indian cricket team’? Isn’t it another club like numerous football clubs across Europe?

If someone does not take grants from Government of India, does that mean they won’t have any affiliation with Government? If they dont hold any connection then how are they answerable to Indian public who is crazy about Cricket. or They are not answerable to anyone except there CEO? If this is so, Why can’t someone start another Cricket Club in India? How can BCCI stop us, only by threatening by the fact that ICC won’t approve them? Other teams (South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanks) also have the same kind of structure?

I am shattered beyond words and I feel helpless. I’ve never felt so bad in my entire career. World Cup was our passion, our collective dream… I’ve given my heart and soul to Indian cricket for 17 years. No coach has ever mentioned, even in passing, that my attitude was not correct. Cricket has been my life. Tell me, even as the world goes on talking about our defeat at the World Cup, has anyone spared a thought to ask what we are going through? Again, it’s not that we are defending ourselves. We do realise that we played badly and, as a team, we take full responsibility for that. But what hurt us most is if the coach has questioned our attitude.

– Sachin Tendulkar

I am just wondering, the most responsible player, the person who never comments, spoke these words, what is he going through? Where is cricket heading to in India? Or it is just a matter of one more tournament and we will be back in form? Where is the problem, coach, attitude, form or experimentation? Will we have a foreign coach next time? Will we stick to conventional cricket?

But I am sure of one thing; the judgment is out, Mr. Chappal, pack your bags.