While Ruchir maintains the daily updates, am working on migrating him, and other colleagues on this blog, to the new site. Will take a week, tops. In the meantime, Ruchir, Manish and others will be found here; I meanwhile have as of today begun posting, on cricket and all else, here.

I don't get it -- these guys are playing cricket every day, aren't they? Why then would they need practice before playing more cricket? Humph! These players and their newfangled notions -- I really have no patience with this s***.

'I', here, would be the BCCI, and its response to a request from the players that they would like some time for practice ahead of their Test tour of Australia.

How do you explain to a Niranjan Shah, or a Sharad Pawar that playing ODIs at home against Pakistan doesn't exactly prepare you for Tests against the number one side in the world? That even players who play cricket every day need practice time -- to work on faults that have crept into their game, to fine tune their play, to try new things, to learn, to improve?

Until someone finds a way to make money out of practice, I am afraid the BCCI response will always be the same: sorry, no time.

Since its 'that time' of the year/two-year phase....when we hunt for a coach...and obviously tv channels would have a field day making news for us throughout the hour..

I did say I was taking a bit of a breather from the cricket (which will continue till Monday), but this one seemed too good to pass by.

The algorithm developed by Narayanan and Maini — published in the May edition of the actuarial journal The Actuary — tries to correct this. “The challenge was to somehow incorporate the ‘not out’ innings into the batting average while accounting for the fact that the batsman could have scored more had the innings continued,” Narayanan said over the phone from Singapore, where he works with actuarial multinational Watson Wyatt.

The new method includes the unbeaten innings in the denominator. But to be fair to the batsman, it gives it a fraction value.

This is done by comparing the average number of balls (ANOB) the batsman faced in an innings over his career with the number of balls he faced (NOB) in an unbeaten innings. Divide NOB by ANOB to get the “weightage” of the innings.

“If a batsman faces an average of 50 balls an innings, and faced 25 while remaining not out, this (unbeaten) innings would be considered half an innings (weightage 0.5),” explained Maini, vice-president of Max New York Life India.

If NOB equals or is more than ANOB, the weightage given is 1. The runs are now divided by the number of innings, which include the sum of the weightages for all the unbeaten innings.

You want more? Here is a link to the full article, from the current issue of The Actuary.

Your turn -- what do you make of it all? Will come back here Monday, to check.

Oh, brilliant. I did say I was going to be away from this blog till the middle of next week, but stumbled on this column by Harsha Bhogle, that I just had to throw up here for information and debate.

I am not surprised at all that there are few takers for India’s unnecessary venture to Ireland. If anything, it gladdens me because it suggests, as the financial analysts like to say, that there is a full blown correction on in the cricket equity stakes. Sponsors are asking for quality, they are unwilling to back lame horses, and that is a sign of health, not despair.

Since sponsors speak the language of money, and since that is the language that Indian cricket is most conversant with, they have a vital role to play in regulating Indian cricket. When they rush in, as part of a herd, they inflate prices and anything that is illogical and hasty is unhealthy. There is no doubt that the over-supply of money has fattened Indian cricket, and I’m not only talking of those that play the game but more of those that manage it, and has diverted it from its principal objective of producing winning teams.

It isn’t that the arrival of money is bad in itself but it tends to lull people into thinking that all is well. Indian cricket needs to be marketed too, its image needs to be looked after too especially at a time like this, when fans are feeling let down and the marginal followers have deserted it. This was the time to sneak below the radar and do some serious planning, take some hard decisions. Instead we are playing irrelevant cricket.

It could well be the best thing to happen to Indian cricket in recent times -- sponsors picking and chosing what they will back. Too often in the past, the BCCI has shoe-horned matches and no-account series into little gaps in the Indian cricket calendar, regardless of the damage such money-making exercises do. And they have done this because each series, no matter how stupidly planned and organized, has fetched them an extra few million by way of revenue.

For instance, ask yourself why, with the start of the England tour just a week away from that date, India would want to play South Africa in Ireland? More so as India and South Africa are slated to meet often enough over the next twelve months?

By turning an emphatic thumbs down on the series, the sponsors are sending out a message -- one that, hopefully, the BCCI will heed.

Very interesting lineup for the first Test in Bangladesh, I notice: Five bowlers with a three-pace two-spin breakup; no Yuvraj Singh or VVS Laxman (which means the team management, in picking Karthick and Dhoni over the two seniors, decided to go with current form over labels, glory be).

Watching the match, off and on, but not covering it either on Rediff or on here; working, for now, on the project I told you guys about.

Thus far, the domain is up, the blog software I want to use has been installed and is running, and while I haven't begun fiddling around with the look and feel, links, membership and such, I have over the last couple of days, as time permits, been seeding it with the sort of posting that I hope to do much more off when the whole thing is up and running.

This first look at what I am up to is primarily to ask for feedback, thoughts, suggestions, whatever. Do note -- this is a tenth of the finished product; hopefully, by the time it is fully up and running, it will incorporate blogs by various people, on their particular interests.

For now, while working on the back end of this thing, am lining up volunteers: If there is something you follow passionately -- news, either as a whole or some section thereof; current events; movies, sports - again, overall or any particular sport you are passionate about; arts; writing -- heck, if there is anything of interest that you follow with a passion, and want to write about, mail me and let's talk about it -- panix at rediffmail.com or prem.panicker at gmail.com are the ones to use, so my office mail doesn't get distracted with this.

Thanks much and see you guys around; I should be back on the cricket blog here middle of next week, once work on this one gets streamlined.

Let's see -- the latest sting operation "uncovered" the following:

#: Greg Chappell was at outs with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. That is new, from a coach who at the outset of his tenure suggested to members of the media that there were a few "cancers" within the squad, that needed to be surgically eradicated if the team was to function as a team?

#: Tendulkar and Ganguly were both vying for the captaincy, and their route to that ambition was to give the designated captain, Rahul Dravid, less than the fullest cooperation due to him. Simultaneously, they had created their own camps among the younger players -- who, while backing their respective candidates, were similarly at outs with Dravid.

#: Yuvraj Singh was a law unto himself.

#: Sponsors were fiddling around with team selection, in a bid to ensure that "their men" played.

#: The seniors couldn't stand Chappell, because among other things, he was too "big" a player for them to boss around.

That is a summation of the "startling" revelations -- so what exactly is new, or startling, about any of it?

Actually, there is one eye-opening aspect to the whole sting operation: the selectors, all of them, knew.

Yet, if you throw your mind back to the various stories that were flying around in the days before the team to Bangladesh was chosen, the refrain was: How can we drop the seniors? What cricketing ground is there to drop them?

Also recall the official statements being made by the BCCI: Everything was A-okay in the team, there was no dissent, no factionalism, it was all one happy family and no, sponsor pressure was not an issue, we lost in the World Cup because of the format of the tournament.

While all that pap was being fed to consumers, the BCCI knew what was going on, the selectors knew what was going on -- and clearly, there was no attempt to do anything concrete about it. Greg Chappell was offered the NCA. Dravid, who apparently had no control over the team -- seniors and juniors alike -- is still the captain. Rebels in chief Sachin and Sourav were "rested" for three ODI games, with the selectors going to great pains to point out that there was no question of their being disciplined -- they were being rested because there is a great deal of ODI cricket to play still.

In other words, dissent was okay with the board and the selectors; factionalism was okay with the board and the selectors; everything the players did -- all of which clearly undermined the team's prospects in the World Cup -- was okay with the board and the selectors; none of it is deemed worthy of salutary punishment.

So then, why precisely must the rest of us get excited about these "new revelations" that are neither new nor revelatory, since all of it is okay with those who run cricket in this country?

England's former assistant coach Matthew Maynard, now replaced by Andy Flower, is considering an offer from the Board of Control for Cricket in India to work at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore.

"I've been asked to go out to India to work with their academy, and I'm sure there will be one or two more offers coming in," Maynard told BBC Wales Sport.

From this story. Meanwhile, I wonder what the response to Kapil's request was? You really need three guesses?

Till date, various governments have said it was up to the players; the players of various teams have said it is not their business to decide whether to take a call based on politics on whether to play a decreed opponent or no. And the ICC, typical of a body whose working emblem is the ostrich, has said it doesn't have an opinion about anything at all.

That seems set to change, with the Australian government seemingly on the verge of pulling its team out of a scheduled tour of Zimbabwe, even if means ponying up a sizeable fine.

Interestingly, Cricket Australia had earlier said it cannot boycott Zimbabwe on moral grounds, at a time when Australia's government responded to this appeal by petitioning the UN to call for the indictment of Robert Mugabe for crimes of which this is merely one sampling.

Manish Varma points out that the ICC has weighed in on the squash-ball-in-glove furore with "rare commonsense".

Here is the link.

And there an end? Or will the reply elicit a response that will call for a clarification that makes everything as clear as mud?

In passing, I wonder if our favorite horizontal bat exponent, Virender Sehwag, might like a squash ball? Since the technique is clearly okay with the authorities -- and since it clearly works for the one player who has tried it out -- why not give it a shot?

India will play South Africa in Ireland on June 26, 29 and July 1. On July 7, India will play Sussex in the first of two warm-up games ahead of the first in a three-Test series against England.

Not wondering why we need to squeeze in three games against South Africa who we will play in June in the Afro-Asian Cup, then again in February-March in a triangular series in Bangladesh (Oh, by the way, we are touring Bangladesh again in February-March of next year, so we have another chance to "prove a point"); then we play South Africa at home in March, then we go to South Africa in April, then we again play South Africa in June in another edition of the Afro-Asian Cup...

Not suggesting this is insane scheduling.

Not criticizing either the BCCI or the ICC.

Just saying.

So we have a 'young squad' for the BD ODI series, despite the selectors not 'taking directives from BCCI'. Ah well...we got to the point, no matter what route we took.

So, here's a first look at the squads, and some intial reactions from me. How about you?

ODI: Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid (capt), Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Manoj Tiwary, Dinesh Mongia, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh.

(a) That seems to be only 14 players, so far no reasons given.

(b) We go on a subcontinental tour (even if for ODI) with only one specialist spinner, and that too a rookie! (although my personal belief is Chawla would be a hit in ODI format). Why not pick Powar here as well? Fielding let him down?

(c) Why not 'rest' Sehwag too? Sure he was looking like back in touch (in ODIs atleast) but...umm...maybe he did not invite enough reason to be 'rested' unlike the other 'seniors'. Well...thats ok then.

(d) Pathan is out...which means he wasnt inspiring confidence even in Rahul, so it wasnt just the 'seniors' who were not ready to field him

All in all...as good as it gets...I guess.

Test squad: Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, Rahul Dravid (capt), VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, VRV Singh, Ramesh Powar, Rajesh Pawar, Munaf Patel.

(a) Only one regular opener for a test tour! Karthik must have been consulted, I guess. For he seems to be the other one listed for the slot? Bad move, IMO, unless it is taken from a long term plan. In that case, I dont mind grooming him for a test opening slot, provided he is willing.

(b) The 'seniors' are all there, so not much chance of even getting Yuvraj into the frame. Unless he is the one to be looked at as opener. That would be terrible, IMO, knowing his weaknesses. It may work against BD, but is bound to come unstuck against tougher sides.

(c) Did you notice that only AA and Bhajji from the WC squad have been omitted from both lists. That means they are the ones who are completely 'dropped'. That plus Veeru from tests. He may make tons of runs in ODIs and make the selectors look stupid...but anyway that would be in the long term interest of the team. He can go back and start preparing for the Eng series then...and make a strong test comeback there.

(d) 3 spinners...including Rajesh Pawar the left armer. He is in good form, so for once a good move to give a youngster a direct chance in test matches when he is in good touch. He may have to fight with Powar for a place, though.

But the biggest news from this selection meeting has got to be that Rahul has been instructed not to take a leak during matches!!!...because he doesnt have a deputy..you see :-)

Your turn?? (Meanwhile....I see Prem has already done a short take)

Update: Apparently Powar is included in ODI squad (that makes it 15 players). I got the list from cricinfo, perhaps they have missed out.

We all know Eng was mauled yesterday, and most of us agree that they deserved it. But one point made by the Eng captain (who, in my opinion by the way, should absolutely quit ODI cricket) stood out for me:

This is what Vaughan said at the PC :

In an achingly honest press conference afterwards, Vaughan admitted that, with the final rays of the Ashes afterglow fading, things have gone badly wrong, and not just in the World Cup. "It's a very sad day for English cricket," he said, admitting it was the first time he'd been booed off as an England player. "And rightfully so, given the performance we put in. I've been a supporter in a stadium and done exactly the same."


And contrast this with what Sachin had said for being booed (along with the whole team getting same treatment by the end) at the Mumbai test against Eng - that I have done so much for the country...I deserve to be treated better!!!!

And this is Vaughan...the captain who won the Ashes back for Eng. And Eng fans care absolutely nothing about WC compared to Ashes, so he could still ride on that high horse if he chooses. In fact, I am sure he would still be the popular choice (amongst the crowd) for retaining the captaincy, atleast in test matches. Unlike Sachin...who would be hardly anyone's choice today for winning a game for India (although they would still all want to see him play)

Now, I don't want to get onto Sachin using every damn incident in cricketing world as an excuse, but this, to me, was a prime example of how personality driven our whole cricket is...and how the players get caught...and become a part of it.

So, we go home. And as many said, rightly so. My verdict is pretty similar to what most of you were thinking.

But for me, the time for dissection, and decisions (big and small) is now, not later, when we overanalyze to justify everything.

And my go-forward scenarios are very simple. We need to build the team for the next world cup, because in One Day cricket, that’s what matters. And we have 4 years for it. As Chappell said in his post match conference, 18 months is not enough to make that kind of a bold move. If we start now, even if boldly, we would have enough time to re-build.

So, my take:

Following persons should be tapped on the shoulder to indicate its time to go (from ODIs): Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, Anil. I know, some would say Sachin is too great to be treated thus (and I agree), or that he can still contribute more than many others (again, I agree). But for me, that is not the point. We are talking of building a team for next World Cup. And if you don’t give youngsters time enough, then you’ll once again have a Raina scenario at the last minute. Surely, no one can say that Sachin would still be contributing as much 4 years later? And then, being great (or even a genius) doesn’t mean you play till you drop.

And anyways, he has the time for his chosen departure from test cricket – where there is no equivalent of a World Cup to prepare for. He, along with Saurav, Rahul, Laxman and Kumble, would have a tough test season coming up (we visit England and then Aussies, with Bangaldesh in between). That would anyway give enough chances for them to show if they belong.

And lets face it – what more has Sachin to achieve in ODIs? I mean another couple of centuries, another 1000 runs added to that mountain, what difference does it make? Either to him, or to the long term cause of the team?

Choose your captain and vc from Sehwag and Yuvraj (I prefer Sehwag for his brains, or else Kaif). Bring in the Kaifs and Rainas and Chawlas (yes, he is an excellent ODI prospect for me) and Powars - give them enough opportunity to establish themselves without the fear of a ‘senior waiting in the wings to pounce back’. Drop Harbhajan and ask him to come back with a better approach towards his game (aka – ready to bowl round the wkt at the drop of a hat!). Play Pathan in EVERY game from now on, unlessl his BATTING form is bad. That is the whole point of being an ‘allrounder’. You don’t always have to excel in both forms of the game. Look at Freddie’s batting form in ODIs!

On the coaching front – I’m sure Chappell would love to continue with the above scenario – a team of youngsters that HE gets to build. But he also needs to commit towards being more flexible in his approach. A bowling coach may be needed, despite what he feels. I am personally not a fan, but from what I’ve read and heard, the man has good cricket brain. The crucial issue, as he himself said, is that we cannot expect a major chance in 18 months. So if we need to choose a new coach, it has to be now.

Finally, on the Test front, we can still continue with the current team – but as I said, the upcoming tough season can be a make or break for many. And we should be ready to tap the gentlemen on the shoulders here as well.


As I said in the beginning, for me the time for analysis is now, not later. Because then we get clouded by the ‘contribution’ of the modern ‘giants’ of the game, and tend to justify matters to the extreme.

Righto...back from the holidays...nice break this, hopefully for the team as well. And here's to further hoping that we get in another good performance today.

As per reports, the pitch looks delicious for the pacers, once again. And with Munaf back, for the first time in recent memory, we are going into a game with all 4 bowlers having the potential (and perhaps recent form as well) to win the day single-handedly. Now if that's not exciting....then maybe there's not much that can excite an Indian cricket fan!

So...here's an early open thread....post in your thoughts...and comments during the game. Hopefully Prem would be back here during the game, with his thoughts and posts.

Aha...here's the most important accolade that our team would have ever won in their lives

"I congratulate Sreesanth and the Indian team. I also congratulate Sourav Ganguly and V V S Laxman and Zaheer Khan," he said responding to sentiments expressed by the members over the team's performance in South Africa.

So the Indians finally did it....great win indeed. To me, what's most important is this one's been earned not on the back of the 'much vaunted Indian batting lineup'...as had almost always been the case in recent times. The batsmen made a mountain of runs, then one bowler came to the party. Nor has this one rested on the lone tireless shoulders of Rahul Dravid, as have most recent victories been (Multan being the exception). This one's been a team effort...everyone (barring Jaffer who had a horror game) contributed in some way or the other, and each of these contributions had some or the other defining impact in this collective win.

Right...so we savour the win for a long long time....this tour has already met its purpose, for me at least. Of course I'm hoping we can keep it up and fight for the series. If Munaf is fit for the return, and with most of our batsmen looking to get back into nick, the next one already makes for exciting anticipation.

I'll come back with more later....but for now....lets enjoy the win.

Oh and btw....wonder what our MPs would be saying now??? ;-)

Here I am...back from a heady weekend...ofcourse too engrossed, nails bitten and all, to post anything. Would we do it today?...can we? I hope so!! Just like Saurav said, in his post match conference yesterday, they shouldn't return to the dressing room if they cant seal off this one!

But surely they can't lose from this position. It can turn out to be a much painful win if SA resist strongly (or rather, if India bowl poorly), but it still shouldn't happen for them.

And as Sunny said, this would rank right there with Adelaid, Multan, Faisalabad (of recent times) and probably Oval of 1971 (which I cannot comment on ;-)

But lets hold on to our breaths a little longer, shall we please?

Right...big day is finally here....match start delayed due to damp pitch..which was intentionally done by groundsman to prevent the pitch from cracking...now clearly thats a move to prevent the Indian attack from getting any spin assistance? I'm not complaining...I personally feel this is the prerogative of the home side (did you read how it was openly, and matter-of-factly reported that Smith and co have clearly instructed groundsmen on what kind of pitch to prepare?).

Its just that when its happening in our home matches, the touring party often complains that Indian management doctors its pitches to suit themselves. And our media, never to be left behind when it comes to kicking the home side, merrily joins the chorus.

Ahh well....thats how things go around here....lets enjoy the game. Leave your comments here during the progress of the game...I would try to chip in as much as possible, unfortunately I'm not watching it live, being at work right now.

The English bowlers have the Aussies on the mat, allout for 244, in the third test at WACA. Monty gets a look in and bags a five-for on first day! Thats some accomplishment for a spinner on any track. Also proves that its Fletcher's stubborn selectorial attitude that really pushed England to lose the Ashes (surely they cant rescue this series?..or can they!!!).

As for India...well the preparations are all in place, another column speculates that Pathan may miss out. And the pitch, as per reports, is pacy with decent bounce. But no grass, and some cracks that should open up by day 3. Actually the Indians should not mind batting on this, if only they can get through the initial tough periods. Pace alone doesnt trouble our present lineup, is what I feel...somehow (maybe its just hope).

Meanwhile the Aussies have sniffed out a quick couple of wkts, Eng 38/2 with 8 overs to go for close. If they can hold it even from here, they should rest rather satisfied tonight.