The changing face of India’s ‘domestic’ circuit

A lot happened in the media over the last week. Top of mind is the celebration of the silver jubilee of Kapil’s Devils  conquering of the cricketing world – the unmistakable glint in the eye of every cricket lover of old (or not so old!) is all too evident when this topic comes up for discussion.

A thought about the changing face of Indian cricket has been swarming my mind all along, which I have discussed with a few already but thought it needed penning down. The changing face of Indian cricket I am talking about is the ‘domestic’ circuit – not Ranji trophy or Deodhar trophy or Tendulkar trophy or Lara trophy - It’s street cricket or more affectionately, galli cricket that I am referring to.

First, things that havent changed about galli cricket – The same old unbiased team selection procedure - Hold a small stone in the hand; show it to both captains; do some magic with it and ask ‘in’ or ‘out’ and the captain who calls correctly gets the first pick at the talent pool standing in front of him/her (yes, ‘her’ also!!!) – Just before the game is underway, rules are quickly drafted (ICC should take a leaf out from here as to how quickly ineffective rules are chucked out and new rules brought in!) full toss into the house is out, if the ball hits the boulder on the other end of the street, it’s a declared two – Game underway, you have the full talent on display, 5 different bowling actions (some chuck, some intelligently bend their elbow before delivering the ball, some have a longish run up, some generate amazing power on the ball standing still) , 10 different batting styles and stance (some have a front on stance a la Chanderpaul, some lean onto the bat as if they are hanging on to dear life, some have a stylish checking- elbow-angle-with-ground-first stance) –The sight screen disturbance comes in the form of a car or bike that passes by, which inevitably leads to stoppage in play for those brief moments and disturbs the three carefully arranged stones that serve as stumps at the bowlers end. There is always a scorer on the bowling side who keeps asking the score at the end of each over and the batting side, more often than not, overstates the score by a run or two and then you have a nice action sequence with both sides carefully recounting how each ball was played and then a satisfied conclusion on the score arrived at – Finally, one team wins and then you have all kinds of accusations and explanations from the losing side – probably the adaptation of a post-match presentation

Now, what has perhaps really altered the flavour of galli cricket – Nobody talks Gavaskar or Tendulkar anymore, it is Dhoni all the way!!! You have all kinds of hair styles and colors out  - Some Dhonis, some Uthappas (yes,with the ‘ghazni- like’ hair style). I watched a player in a street match in Bangalore who was even mimicking Dhoni’s adjusting-all-guards-and-helmet-20times batting. Today’s galli cricketers are far more talented – they generate amazing bat speed and thwack the ball hard – at the same time, they suddenly seem to realize the importance of singles, so they drop their wrists on the ball,sense the opportunity of a quick single at the vacant short leg position and sprint and their partner (yes, these days a non-striker has become mandatory, unlike the old!!) responds. No one wants to play longish matches these days. I recount a tale of how my father and my uncles used to play a test match in their front yard over four days every evening (and how one of my uncles who scored 210 and 210 not out in consecutive matches was made a permanent wicket keeper after that!! – Even we, cousins, used to play test matches over 4 days with 30 overs bowled a day).

Perhaps a sign that galli cricket is changing – or perhaps a realization that it has always kept pace with modern day cricket as was the era in which it was played. There’s a new format of cricket that becomes popular at the international level and the ‘administrators’ of galli cricket quickly lap it up and it becomes the norm. These things always pass your attention- unless pictures thrown at you like the one above make you sit up and reflect...

Now Dhoni wants to draw inspiration from Kapil’s Eleven for the 2011 World Cup…

 

The simple joy of 'coming home'

One of the primary reasons I am writing this blog is because I feel there is a large section of the readers who will relate to this  (and this is not to let u turn green with envy!!!)… and of course the other primary reason is to find an outlet to the range of emotions (mostly of joy and nostalgia) I  go thru whenever I visit home. One of the first things that is noticeably different on the day you leave for home is the sense of joy and the making up of seemingly valid reason to not work that day (and it almost always is a Friday, which simplifies things). So you tend to reach office a little later than usual and try and do a lot of things which you wouldn’t have done otherwise on a normal working day (like having lunch for 45 mins… having an extra coffee break at 3pm and howling to the whole office that you are leaving today and hence need to head for an early coffee break)

You trundle out of office, reach home and stuff two pairs of clothes for the weekend (not to forget the toothbrush… which you remember only when you ve packed your bag and reach the main door, which is quite annoying because your mission is being delayed by a further couple of minutes). Your bus or auto journey to the railway station or the bus station is spent absent-mindedly gazing out of the window thinking of all possible ways to plan the weekend (sleep first on ur bed… wake up and be pampered with home food… go back to ur playful ways with siblings… meet some friends). Different thing that none of these plans materialize. For me the best part about going home is the tryst with the Bangalore of old. The narrow, crowded lanes of majestic and gandhinagar is a different feeling altogether and is in stark contrast to the otherwise swanky commercial buildings in the new city. The best part about the old Bangalore is the food. You walk into a roadside sandarshini kind of joint and order a set dosa and that’s where the difference screams at you. You get three nicely puffed up (and well oiled!!) dosas in fine dough with a spicy curry and a tangy chutney as accompanying dishes. Its finger lickin good (now don’t file an unlawful usage of tagline lawsuit!!) all for an ‘eye-popping’ price on the 10-15 rupees band. So much for the company foodcourts.

Now comes the best part… u get on the bus (or the train!) making a mental estimate of the time its going to drop you in your hometown the next day (this is a very bad thing to do because every minute it gets delayed beyond your estimated time, you give half a dirty look to the driver and half a dirty look to the cleaner next to him!!) I wont go into what happens at home (because I do not wish to impose upon everyone what they should be doing in their visit home!!)  except the common.. mom sets all the pickles on the table, dad puts your favorite soap in ‘your’ soapbox. But one more thing that happens very often is that you are dumb-struck by how clean your room looks as soon as u reach (and u leave ur parents and siblings dumb-struck at how dirty it becomes by the time u leave!!) you get time for that little net practice in your backyard (or front-yard in my case!!) and keep resolving to yourself that u will start a fitness regime the moment u go back to ur place of work. And the other alarming aspect is the realization that time just seems to be flying double quick the moment you are at home and you are almost tempted to have a

If ever you were to plot your mood over this weekend on a two-axis graph, it will resemble the stock market crash of last week with the lowest point representing the time u settle down in the train (with a scowl on ur face which makes the passengers around u think u ve just been beaten up for stealing candy!!). You look too miserable for words and keep looking back longingly at Friday evening when u boarded ur train or bus for home… Ah! If only I had a time machine! Not for anything am I trading these two days…. Not even for a Ferrari F2008 test drive around Indianapolis

Why all of us are formula one drivers..

Before I begin let me confirm to all of you that this is not another sports post… although it has some references to formula one.. and the idea for this post came from watching the Canadian grand prix.. it was amusing to watch the Canadian grand prix for more reasons than one…. The track was wearing out and breaking up much like a monsoon-ravaged Hyderabad (or for that matter, Bangalore!!) road. And it was the best teams that were struggling to find grip on those sections of the track.. This set my mind ticking on how there is a hidden Michael Schumacher in all of us road drivers ( or should I say road ragers!!)

Picture this… you are behind the wheel of a Maruti Zen on Bangalore roads ( easy for me to relate this way!!) but you are only behind the wheel physically.. and u seem to have time for the whole world in this brief stint (although bangaloreans will tend to argue that a stint behind the wheel on Bangalore roads is anything but brief!!) you are on the phone… either with the hands-free or the loudspeaker.. or are holding it to ur ear in one hand and controlling the steering in the other.. (sometimes I wonder why automatic transmission is not the norm here, given the heavy self-imposed multi-tasking requirement!!) you are processing what the guy (or girl!!) at the other end is speaking and are replying… all the while with an eye and half an ear on the road (the other half opens when the stupid Tata Sumo driver behind falls off to sleep on his steering and consequently, horn!!)

You drive around with the phone call done and u need a new distraction to keep u engaged while u drive… so u start fiddling with the radio stations… (sometimes with the foot firmly on the accelerator pedal!) You need to turn right at Marathahalli bridge towards airport road.. the signal has turned green… u r on the leftmost lane and u turn all the way crisscrossing thru traffic that is needlessly honking from behind (hell, man!! U r the boss.. how dare they honk when u r changing lanes without indicating)

and then u come cross marathahalli bridge and stop at agra chat (u know this is supposed to be famous chaat from north india…. And all of the south Indians in bangalore come here every evening!!) .u pull over to the left (without signaling, of course) and head off for a quick bite (like Schumacher leaving his car in the middle of the Monaco track and walking away with the steering!) .satisfied with the snack, u finally resume ur “race” ( having counted the number of minutes for the pit stop) and then make ur way into bumper-to-bumper traffic on airport road (some say no longer bumper to bumper because the airport has shifted to devanahalli)… and u have this amazing knack of being able to sway around from the left most lane to the right most lane all in a matter of half a kilometer as if looking for a perfect chicane (corner, for the formula one ‘fans’) to overtake the train of cars in front.. and then u reach ur destination … Inox in Garuda Mall and drive into the parking lot (with the look of a Schumacher who has just driven a grueling race!!) The only thing missing is the podium presentation and the national anthem… which by the way, Lido Cinema plays these days… so next time you want that sense of achievement, head to Lido… J

And then the five lights illuminate (steve slater style!!)... and the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours has begun..!

Afridi - The saif ali khan of pakistan

Now that the IPL is finally done and dusted, its time to take a look at the lighter side of things...i like to start with things bottom up so that the root of the problem is always analyzed at (or attempted to be analyzed at :) ) Deccan Chargers was a team to watch out for.... and was favorite to hold the tournament by the scruff of its neck and wring out opponents which were all 'piece-of-cake' (atleast on paper!! .. that reminds me.. one of my colleagues coined this abt DC during the season... DC is the strongest team on paper since it is owned by a newspaper!)... but then, starry tantrums and hairy displays aside, there was really nothing that the team did noteworthy (except losing 12 of its games, royally!)..

Afridi was one of the 'stars' of the Deccan Chargers... Whenever I look at this guy on the field, I am only reminded of Geoffrey Boycott's now notoriously famous " if afridi is 17, i am 21" comment, eh! how many years back??? and one of geoff boycott's recent taunts at afridi has prompted me to write this piece.. boycott said " He can't change his game because he is a hitter of the ball. He is a wonderful hitter and I think he is one of the biggest hitters that the game has seen. He has a wonderful physique and is a strong lad. But he has no brain. He can't think. He can't stop swiping even if you stood on his shoulder and told him not to hit the ball before the bowler bowled."

To put it in plain words, i think afridi is such a talent lost... still not lost by some standards...! how many times have u seen this guy on the field and thought abt the mouth-watering prospect of seeing some big hits when he comes in to bat.. and thinking wat a dumb little score the opponent has left for this guy... and how many times have u kicked urself for thinking like that... after seeing him madly charge at a good length ball, testing Newton;s laws of gravity.. .trying to deposit the ball in the income tax building or the press box or the sydney clock tower depending on the ground he is playing in... and finding the bowler adjusting his position some 10-12 times, almost in impatience and frustration, for the ball to come and land safely in his palms... !

Afridi has been that kind of a guy throughout his career... but one real source of comic relief when he is fielded (if at all) in a test eleven is his absolutely crass and inelegant back foot attempted defensive shot... he seems to be in pain either from a constipation or a bad meal when he tries to play that shot... getting himself into all entangled knots.... holding out the bat... crisscrossing his legs... and then meeting the ball to the bat facing covers and the elbow pointing towards the bowler...

For all his idiosyncracies, he still seems to be the popular pathan from pakistan with his filmy looks... and his free flowing hair... so here's to the saif ali khan of pakistan...!