wHAT is the moST thankLESS joB in cRikKEt? yeS...it is the mAN standinG in the whiTE coat! ofCourse timES have chanGEd and the fast paced t20 introduced coLOR clothinG to the moST importanT man in the cRikKEt fielD...tHE uMPire.
eveR since the evoluTION of interNATIonal cRikKEt, it is the uMPire that has the sole authoriTY to makE the decisions on the cRikKEt field about the leGAlity of a delivery, the aPPEal of a wicket, conDUCT of the gaME etc....does it look stuPID to make this staTEment? ofcourse things are changing and yes we have the thirD eye looking for us and making the decisions! tHe concePT of introucinG the thiRD uMPire for the first time in an iNDia - souTH aFriCA match in 1992 has changed the way decisIONs are made on the 22yard strIP! cRikKEt never remaiNED the samE and the beauty of the game starteD waNING! tHe beauTY of the genTLEman's game lies in the uncertaiNTy of a dismissal!
techNOLOGY has impacted spoRTS a lot in the last 2 decADEs or so and cRikKEt is no exCEPtion! iF the sCHool of baTTing, bOWLing, fielDING, coaCHING, capTAIning and evEN cRikKEt jourNALism has improveD a lot, uMPiring was always put in the back seat! tHe reasons are manyfold!! theRE was nevER a real bOOSt for attracTING taLENt into the sCHool of uMPiring!!! aParT from the kanGAROO natION, the bRIT isLAND and the cHOKEr land there were never any real good facilitiES or trainING prograMS for unEARthing the neW taLENT in uMPirng. so muCH for havinG to raise youR finGER and walk to the sQUAre leG? iT is infact truE that a lot of fitNESS is required to assiSST the cRikKEt uMPire in foCUS and concENTration aPARt from a keeN aCUMen for the gaME!
a posITIVE proPOSItion was the introduction of the eLITE panEL of uMPires since 2002. currENtly there are 11 members in this panel and for a better uMPiring fuTurE towards an expanDING and demanDING cRikKEt caLENder, this needs to increase manyfold! The fuEL for grOWth has to come from the graSSroot organizations like the sTATe assoCIAtions and the cLUBS. A posITIVE iMPACt should happEN thru' the t20 leaGUEs like tHe iPL, the chaMPIONs leaGUE etc. I doNOT see this happeninG yet, but wisH that drives the growTH of an uMPire!
alAS...and the more woRRyinG factoR is the conCEPt of referralS!!! iF the introDUCtion of the third eYE (I prefer this name to the thiRD uMPire) was absurD, the aDDITion of the team's cHALLEnGe (I prefer this name to reFFeraL conCEPT) suPPOSed to haPPEn sooN is definiteLY aTROCious! This would further reduce the huMAN eLEment involveD in the genTLEMAN's game and the unCErtainitY factor is missinG! moRE thaN this, the depenDANCe on techNOLOGY is redUCIng the perFORMANce of an uMPire on the fielD! Hope beTTer senSE prevails in the cRikKEting fratERNITY beFORE new changes are made. I doNOT say that the cRikKEtinG boDY is duMB, but aLL i saY is to sTRIKE a balanCE between the huMAN elemENT and the involveMENT of techNOLOGY. iF someTHIng is not completeLY fOOLprooF, beTTer noT use it than end UP in unWANTED conTROVERsies!
enouGH has been said and wriTTEn about the uMPiring blunDERs like the sYdnEY fiasCO, the laTEST asHES in engLAND etc.
sTAY tunED for my next artiCLE on the doMINance of SPINners in woRLD cRikKEt!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
Friday, October 9, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
tHe muCH neeDED kicK to cRikKEt
itZZ beeN 632 daYs and 9hrs and 30mins for mE to comE bacK to the bloGGIng world. iF the eFFecTs of controvERSies, heiGHTs of sleDGIng, biASEd umPIRing put me away for a while, the new waVE of t20, IPL, competiTIVE test and ODI ranking chanGES had spur back the lost enthusiaSM!
reWINd back the last yeaR and halF and wE seE a shift in the ODI and the teST supremacy! the kangaroos of the eaST, tHE auSSieS no longer commanD the same respect with the retirements of their greats! noW the playing field is even with the rise of the souTH africans and the Indian tigers of the eaST to compete with the mightY auSSieS.
tHE chamPIONs trophY though depICTs a different picture with the short formAT! It is meant to be a low profile tournament anyways with the amount of cRikKEt being played all around the yEAr. ponTINg is definitely one of the greaTEST players to have played cRikKet but when the chiPs are down, veTTori the most undeRRated player in the woRLD cRikKET stanDS amid the ruiNS to deliVER the neeDED bOOSt!
banDAz picks for the 2009 chAMPS final -> kiWIs 51% and the kanGARoos 49%
waTCH out for ponTING againST boND and veTToRI, mc Cullum anD taYLOR againST lEE!
Stay tuned for my next impendinG article on uMPirinG anD thE huMAN eleMENT!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
reWINd back the last yeaR and halF and wE seE a shift in the ODI and the teST supremacy! the kangaroos of the eaST, tHE auSSieS no longer commanD the same respect with the retirements of their greats! noW the playing field is even with the rise of the souTH africans and the Indian tigers of the eaST to compete with the mightY auSSieS.
tHE chamPIONs trophY though depICTs a different picture with the short formAT! It is meant to be a low profile tournament anyways with the amount of cRikKEt being played all around the yEAr. ponTINg is definitely one of the greaTEST players to have played cRikKet but when the chiPs are down, veTTori the most undeRRated player in the woRLD cRikKET stanDS amid the ruiNS to deliVER the neeDED bOOSt!
banDAz picks for the 2009 chAMPS final -> kiWIs 51% and the kanGARoos 49%
waTCH out for ponTING againST boND and veTToRI, mc Cullum anD taYLOR againST lEE!
Stay tuned for my next impendinG article on uMPirinG anD thE huMAN eleMENT!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
Friday, January 11, 2008
tHe auSSie pRIDe...thE iNDIan rePLY.
It is hard to noT notice the fact that the auSSie pRIDe has been dented! The aussies were always known for playing it hard and playing it with the utmost clinial professionalism. The current aussie team is no less in that regard with the aussie teams of the past! The only additional factor which fuelled the current SYNDEY FIASCO is WIN AT ANY COST. This has really made things worse for the aussie pride!
Let us rewind and go back in the past. It was in the 1930s when there were only 2 teams competing for the best, the auSSies and the engLISH! The other teams were still learning the naunces of cricket! The bodyline series of the 1930s can never be forgotten when the auSSies were at the receiving end from the english! Things never remained the same!
It was during that time the auSSie mind set has changed and kept on changing to the better. The 1950s saw the greats like the Sir Don Bradman and Neil Harvey and the others who had instilled the never say die attitude in the auSSie blood and win from any position. But sledging was never encouraged. The great Don once replied to a question posted to him what he thinks of sledging and he shot back saying that I never approve of it. He said "I would tell him once not to sledge and if he still continues, I would make sure he's out of the team". Such was the attitude of the auSSies of the 50s!
Things changed differently in the 70s and 80s and we can never forget the famous underarm bowling episode of the Charming Chappell brothers against the Kiwis! Though it was not appropriate, it was acceptable according to the law books!
Later came the invincible auSSies of the late 90s and 2000s under the inspirational leader Steve Waugh. Waugh came up with his own concept of "mental disintegration" called sledginG. The rest of the world did not agree but had to accept it since the law books did not talk about it!
It is good to have the attitude to win at any cost but it should not drive the whole cause. The current auSSie team under Ponting has gone up another level in notching up the wins with their WIN AT ANY COST!
It is not wrong but is it ethical? Is it really needed? Alas it is just a sport...not WAR!!! Where can we have a STOP on this? There is a saying, "YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE". This leads to the question...are the auSSies noT capable of taking the talK from the oPPositioN? I don't care who is the culprit Bhaji or Symonds! It is always the game which is greater than the individual! So leave the crap and MOVE FORWARD. Do whatever it takes to resolve the iSSue at hand in the mosT aMicaBLE way! GROW UP FOLKS...CRICKET IS A LOVELY GAME!
Let us think about the days of the greats like Sir Don Bradman, Tiger Pataudi,the great Colin Cowdry, Sir Gary Sobers when crikKEt was played like a real GENTLEMAN's game!
Stay tuned for my next article on uMPirinG anD thE huMAN eleMENT!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
Let us rewind and go back in the past. It was in the 1930s when there were only 2 teams competing for the best, the auSSies and the engLISH! The other teams were still learning the naunces of cricket! The bodyline series of the 1930s can never be forgotten when the auSSies were at the receiving end from the english! Things never remained the same!
It was during that time the auSSie mind set has changed and kept on changing to the better. The 1950s saw the greats like the Sir Don Bradman and Neil Harvey and the others who had instilled the never say die attitude in the auSSie blood and win from any position. But sledging was never encouraged. The great Don once replied to a question posted to him what he thinks of sledging and he shot back saying that I never approve of it. He said "I would tell him once not to sledge and if he still continues, I would make sure he's out of the team". Such was the attitude of the auSSies of the 50s!
Things changed differently in the 70s and 80s and we can never forget the famous underarm bowling episode of the Charming Chappell brothers against the Kiwis! Though it was not appropriate, it was acceptable according to the law books!
Later came the invincible auSSies of the late 90s and 2000s under the inspirational leader Steve Waugh. Waugh came up with his own concept of "mental disintegration" called sledginG. The rest of the world did not agree but had to accept it since the law books did not talk about it!
It is good to have the attitude to win at any cost but it should not drive the whole cause. The current auSSie team under Ponting has gone up another level in notching up the wins with their WIN AT ANY COST!
It is not wrong but is it ethical? Is it really needed? Alas it is just a sport...not WAR!!! Where can we have a STOP on this? There is a saying, "YOU GET WHAT YOU GIVE". This leads to the question...are the auSSies noT capable of taking the talK from the oPPositioN? I don't care who is the culprit Bhaji or Symonds! It is always the game which is greater than the individual! So leave the crap and MOVE FORWARD. Do whatever it takes to resolve the iSSue at hand in the mosT aMicaBLE way! GROW UP FOLKS...CRICKET IS A LOVELY GAME!
Let us think about the days of the greats like Sir Don Bradman, Tiger Pataudi,the great Colin Cowdry, Sir Gary Sobers when crikKEt was played like a real GENTLEMAN's game!
Stay tuned for my next article on uMPirinG anD thE huMAN eleMENT!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
fAtE oF uMPirinG anD the ausSie cheAtinG.
Its been a longtime that I have blogged on cricket. Now I feel it is the right time to get back to blogging. The Cricket arena is never the same. The once so-called GENTLEMANs game is no longer supposed to be...i would rather call it the mightY cheaters game. Yes, that is true. The team who has the might to sledge and cheat has a bigger say in the things. It also looks like such teams even bribe the umpires in biased decisions.
For a longtime, I had such a respect in cricket that I donot have in games like the NBA,NFL and MLB in the USA since in these games the home team always has the advantage in the umpiring (referee) decisions. But atleast in these games,you have the option to challenge a decision but..alas in our biased game of cricket we donot have this!!!
I agree the aussie team was good in the early 2000s...but now that after the retirement of the greats like Steve Waugh, Justin Langer, Mc Grath and Shane Warne, the ausSie team still wants to live that dream despite unhealthy measures and the one form they have adapted is to bribe the uMPires. This is such a big scam that the whole of Cricket Australia is involved and the stupid idiotic BCCI just keeps quiet! The ICC is driven and controlled by CA and only GOD can save the cricket world!
I hope the cricket GOD SACHIN TENDULKAR comes out and makes a statement both with his bat and mouth!!!
BAN playing in australia...and ban the corrupt uMPires.
Hope the Indian team comes back from the 0-2 loss and make it 2-2.
GO INDIA GO.
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
For a longtime, I had such a respect in cricket that I donot have in games like the NBA,NFL and MLB in the USA since in these games the home team always has the advantage in the umpiring (referee) decisions. But atleast in these games,you have the option to challenge a decision but..alas in our biased game of cricket we donot have this!!!
I agree the aussie team was good in the early 2000s...but now that after the retirement of the greats like Steve Waugh, Justin Langer, Mc Grath and Shane Warne, the ausSie team still wants to live that dream despite unhealthy measures and the one form they have adapted is to bribe the uMPires. This is such a big scam that the whole of Cricket Australia is involved and the stupid idiotic BCCI just keeps quiet! The ICC is driven and controlled by CA and only GOD can save the cricket world!
I hope the cricket GOD SACHIN TENDULKAR comes out and makes a statement both with his bat and mouth!!!
BAN playing in australia...and ban the corrupt uMPires.
Hope the Indian team comes back from the 0-2 loss and make it 2-2.
GO INDIA GO.
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
Monday, September 24, 2007
bAndaz columN -> thE ePic fiNaLe...
iT is beeN close to 5 mOntHs thaT I havE stopPed blogGing on criCket...onE of the main reasonS being the mesSed uP forMat of the ODI WC whicH hapPened in the first quarter of this yeaR!!!
iS iT surpRising to seE the sub-continenT teaMs iNDia and pAkiStan play the finals of the first ever twenTy20 world cup? nO...nOT really. It was due to the messed up ODI WC format that these 2 teams did not get into the second round. noW that we had the ePic final, it is very much clear how much a format plays into a big tournament!
the wHole criCKeting worLd agrees thAt the better teams made it to the finaLs.
i herebY comE out of my bloG sTrikE and stAy tuNeD for more.
onCe aGain the betteR teaM woN...if it was the invincible ausSiEs who had the last laugh @ the 2007 ODI WC...it is iNDia in the 2007 tWenTy20 WC!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
iS iT surpRising to seE the sub-continenT teaMs iNDia and pAkiStan play the finals of the first ever twenTy20 world cup? nO...nOT really. It was due to the messed up ODI WC format that these 2 teams did not get into the second round. noW that we had the ePic final, it is very much clear how much a format plays into a big tournament!
the wHole criCKeting worLd agrees thAt the better teams made it to the finaLs.
i herebY comE out of my bloG sTrikE and stAy tuNeD for more.
onCe aGain the betteR teaM woN...if it was the invincible ausSiEs who had the last laugh @ the 2007 ODI WC...it is iNDia in the 2007 tWenTy20 WC!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
bAndaz fiNaL '07 picKs -> reMatcH oF tHe niNetiEs...
tiMe flies by faSt...it stiLL seEms very freSh in soMe of the minDs about the banNEd semi-fiNaL at the eDen garDens when a weEping Kambli had to be guided ouT of the ground with iNDia well in dumps @ 120/8 and the crowD tRoUnble not letTing any play posSiblE. iF that maTcH had a dramatic start with the laNkAns down by 2 wikKets for no score on the board and later a controLLed knock by Aravinda and Ranatunga piLe uP a healtHy 251 and the litTle masTeR in cRuise mode on 65 with iNDia on a healtHy sCore of 90/2 in 15 oveRs, what foLLOweD this was equaLLy dramatic with iNDia losing anoTHer 6 wikKEts for 30 runS!!! yes...tHis was the unForgetTablE iNDia - laNkA semiS at the edEn gaRdeNs in '96. wHat foLLowed this was one of the besT fiNaLs ever witnNesSed baRRing the '75 final when the caRRibeAns sneakEd home by a mere 17 runs oveR the ausSies, and in '87 when the ausSiEs ran homE with the tropHy beating the enGlisH by a mere 7 runs! thE '96 fiNal was difFerent in the senSe that no teAm has won the trophY chaSinG tiLL theN! thE laNkAns with their new eXplosiVe branD of crikKEt had re-wRitTen the recoRd boOks all oVer again!!! iT is interestinG to noTe that the ausSiEs figured ouT in all thosE 3 inTerestinG finaLs!
11 yeaRs is a lonG time in crikKEt and a loT of thinGs chanGeD. eVer sincE that deFeat, thE ausSiEs emeRged the unheraldeD and unChallenGed champions by crusHinG the paKisTan suLtaNs in '99 fiNaLs and the iNDiaN lagaAns of 2003! laNkAn crikKEt has takEn a beaTinG in the meanwhile with theM not makinG to the second round in '99 and loosinG out in the semiS to the unstopPablE ausSiEs in 2003. bUt the laNkAn reviVal has starTed with their appoinTment of the new coaCH Tom Moody in comparison to their iNDiaN counteparts where the iNDian team has lost a good 1-2 yeaRs witH their appointment of the "greaTer than liFe imaGe" coacH Greg Chappell. Watch out for an articLe eXclusiVe on Coaches in the may 2007 with your favoriTe blogGeR!
aLL saiD and doNe let us now anAlyse in a difFerent perspEctive about the prosPectiVe winNer of the debatable 2007 eDitioN of the cUP!
tHe ausSiEs play thEir crikKEt with a metHodicAL aggresSion. This has been the strOnG point witH their teAms of the pResenT and the paST! miXinG systematic approacH with calCulaTed agGresSion leaDs to good resulTs! This approach makes a player think with a cooL heAd and go forward. heaD plays a main paRt in this kind of approaCH and would yield good results 95% of the times! conSistenCy is the keY here!
on the oTHeR hanD the preSenT laNKan bRanD of crikKEt has a lot to do with unBriDled enthusiasM bundled with a calcuLated approacH! This makes the players give their hearT out while playinG for thEir country! This kind of approacH miXed witH some calCulateD risKS does make the teaM reaLLy danGerous! This approacH yielDs very high resulTs 70% of the times! tempERamenT is the key here!
this is the niNTh eDitioN of the cUP and onLy twicE (the iNDiaN teaM in '83 caMe ouT of nowherE to wiN the cUP and the paKisTani teaM in '92 caMe ouT of nowherE to win it aLL) tempERamenT has takeN over conSistenCy in the paST.
thE lankAns have a chanCE to topPLE the ausSiEs if they baT fiRsT!
i haVe 2 kinDs of pickS this timE!
bAndaz (conSistenTaL)picKs witH the heaD ->
ausSiEs : 56%
laNKans : 44%
bAndaz (tempERamenTaL)picKs witH the hearT ->
laNKans : 50.5%
ausSiEs : 49.5%
waTcH ouT for Jayawardene, Murali and Chamara in the laNKan teaM!
X-faCTor : Malinga special!
waTcH out for Ponting, Mc Grath and Symonds in the ausSie teaM!
X-faCTor : Hayden special!
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
bAndaz picKs for the seMiS of '07
iT has beEn a rolliking month and a halF and we are reaching the enD of the so-calleD worLD cUP! The cUP started with gReaT expectations but did not liVe up to them. iN many waYs this eDition of the cUP is a biG faiLurE!
anyWay the teaMs in the seMiS are very much wortH of their seMis berth!. The 4 best teams at the moment in the order of their form are the ausSiEs, the kiWis, the laNkAns, the pRotEas.
thE fiRst sEmIs betweEn the laNkAns and the kiWis should be a closely fought game. aT the enD the laNkAns would just sneaK thru'!
laNkAns -> 51%
kiWis -> 49%
waTcH out for the laNkAn captain Jayawardene and Murali.
waTcH out for the kiWi captain Fleming and Bond.
x-FacTor -> Malinga and Styris.
thE seconD seMis betweEn the rampanT ausSiEs and the chokErs pRoteAs is interesting for many reasons. There are a few eGos hurT, a feW things to be proVen, sweEt reVenGe, priDe @ stAke! The tosS coulD be a vital thing here! Both the teams have very good batTing line-ups. The teaM that baTs first should win it aLL! the pRoteAs might just sneak thru'!
pRoteAs -> 53%
ausSiEs -> 47%
waTcH ouT for Gibbs and Hall in the pRoteAs team!
waTcH ouT for Hayden and Bracken in the ausSiEs team!
x-Factor -> Smith and Symonds.
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
anyWay the teaMs in the seMiS are very much wortH of their seMis berth!. The 4 best teams at the moment in the order of their form are the ausSiEs, the kiWis, the laNkAns, the pRotEas.
thE fiRst sEmIs betweEn the laNkAns and the kiWis should be a closely fought game. aT the enD the laNkAns would just sneaK thru'!
laNkAns -> 51%
kiWis -> 49%
waTcH out for the laNkAn captain Jayawardene and Murali.
waTcH out for the kiWi captain Fleming and Bond.
x-FacTor -> Malinga and Styris.
thE seconD seMis betweEn the rampanT ausSiEs and the chokErs pRoteAs is interesting for many reasons. There are a few eGos hurT, a feW things to be proVen, sweEt reVenGe, priDe @ stAke! The tosS coulD be a vital thing here! Both the teams have very good batTing line-ups. The teaM that baTs first should win it aLL! the pRoteAs might just sneak thru'!
pRoteAs -> 53%
ausSiEs -> 47%
waTcH ouT for Gibbs and Hall in the pRoteAs team!
waTcH ouT for Hayden and Bracken in the ausSiEs team!
x-Factor -> Smith and Symonds.
uNtiL laTeR... gOod morNing and goOd luCk!
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