Thursday, November 26, 2009

Cricket and Life – The seamless Connection!

Cricket has always been such an integral part of my life that sometimes I wonder what my life would be without it. No, seriously, it has made such a big impact on my life, it has taught me so many things that I cannot imagine a life without cricket.
Cricket has taught me so much in life, and at times I feel it is cricket that is responsible for who or what I am rather than my education and surroundings. I know it is hard to believe this but I have instances to prove this.
There are a lot of things that I have learnt from cricket that apply to my daily life. Simple things like, the idea to keep innovating, be it your bowling skills by coming up with variations in pace, to variations in the way you hold the ball and release it, to the way you can deliver it, to keep improvising your shots, to keep innovating and staying ahead of the game to be successful.
It was through cricket that I got to know about my leadership skills or the fact that I enjoyed responsibility, or the fact that I had the power in me to lead a pack without being the leader. I had the capability to get the best out of my team and perform at our best especially when the chips are down.
It is during matches in our complex that I along with my team members I too would get so pumped up when we had only a few runs to defend that we would go all out. It was the belief that we had that we can pull it off that made us win more often than not. It is the same thing that I believe in life, that when the chips are down is the time when you need to work the hardest and keep the belief that you will win in the end!! It is these things, these positive thoughts that have kept me in such goo stead all this while and have made me stronger and helped me come up when I was down in the dumps.
Like the time when I had quit engineering to start a new career in Media and start my journey towards a graduation degree right from scratch that I would think that it is like changing your home ground. The pitch conditions will be new, the crowds will be new, but one thing that will be old will be my spirit, will be my attitude and the strong will to perform and do well that will take me through any situation.
After every match I would come back and analyse my day’s performance and see what went wrong and where did I bowl and why was I taken to the cleaners by the batsmen. Same applied to my work, I would sit down and assess my work, how am I doing, what was my best work of the week and stuff. I was trying to keep tabs on my progress and wanted to see if I was improving and learning from my mistakes or not.
I keep thinking of how to bowl, I practice my bowling action at home all the time and have imaginary situations and then would do the bowling keeping the wall as my target. Similarly, I would do so for my work, have imaginary clients and then think of solutions for them and would come up with new ideas. That is how I would prepare for my work and try and get better at it.
Infact to think of it, my writing skills are also a big thanks to my love for cricket. It is only because of cricket that I even read. I am one of those writers who does not read much. I would read each and every article that would come in the newspaper that would even remotely talk about cricket. My vocabulary and writing skills are all thanks to those beautifully written articles by either Ayaz Menon or Sunil Gavaskar or Harsha Bhogle or Sanjay Manjrekar or one of those many writers on different cricket websites.
I even judge people on the way they play cricket and trust me it is a good scale to judge people on. Like, when we play cricket and the kind of player the other person is tells me how good is he when it comes to his work. For eg: if the person is cautious while batting and isn’t the one who takes risks or goes down the track you know what kinda person he is. Also, is that player good enough to play you or competitive enough on the field tells me how competitive or good he is off the field and more often than not, this seems to work.
It is like if the person is serious about winning he would try and fight it out and not give up easily, in cricket and similarly in a professional life he would be one who does a good job and is the kinds who actually works hard and pays attention to each and every thing and makes sure he does everything well.
The way you approach a sport tells a lot about your personality and your habits. And that is what I feel is the seamless connection between cricket and life.

Don't change!

No, I mean you can and should change your clothes daily, but what I want to say here is purely in cricketing terms.

I do not want to like people to change, be it their action, their attitude, their stance or whatever. Agreed, that if there is a fault you need to rectify it but then again don't they say play your natural game and be yourself.

I would like to argue here that when you were good enough to get chosen for the team with the action or stance or technique you had then why would you make major changes in them? I understand that you need to keep improving and iron out your faults since the opposition is always a step ahead. Then what if the change brought about by you makes you a different player altogether?

Take for instance, a Sehwag - he never made any change to his technique nor his mindset and now he is one of the most feared batsmen of the current crop. And now contrarily look at an Irfan Pathan, when he started off, he was a swing bowler with decent pace and with every outing for India his pace seemed to be increasing. There was a time when he would bowl at 140 kmph and around. And now? The case has reversed...he is out of the team, scratching his head to find form, lacks pace, lost his swing and is not even a mirror of what we knew Irfan Pathan was!!

And there are several such cases I can list out, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Balaji, Munaf Patel, for bowlers and for batsmen - Mohammad Kaif, Hemang Badani, Dinesh Mongia, and lots more...who seemed good enough and were performing handsomely for their domestic teams but it was only after their stint with the Indian team that they somehow lost the touch and seemed out of form for months together!! and also never made it back to the Indian Team...the list is endless, these are just some of the names that come off the head.

So my simple suggestion to these guys would be to not listen to too many people and not change too many things and try and keep the basic structure same and only then will you find success.

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Tendu...Ten don't!


The headline inspired from an Amul ad from the 90's is the perfect line that beautifully summarizes everyone's feelings.

It took me a while to sit and write down a post since I could not get out of the whole depression. As Yogesh pointed out in his log how I had lost my cool and was on the look out for Jadeja and would probably kill him, I think I would 've been juatified!
My only question was - how many matches will India have to lose for our youngsters to understand how to keep their nerve under pressure. And more importantly what guarantees that after playing a few such matches they will learn and not make the same mistake again. I mean didn't Jadeja commit the same mistake in the previous match? Hasn't Virat failed to grasp his chances given time and and again to him? How many times will thee tail enders need to be told and shown how to hold a bat and infact how difficult it is to just try and rotate the strike. It is more important to try, success attained or not is secondary.

I will definitely not feel as bad when a Munaf or a Nehra try to steer the ball down third man and miss it or edge it as when they try to hit the ball out of the ground when all you need is a run a ball. And as records show Nehra has played more than a 100 matches, he still did what a usual Indian tail ender would do, they want to become heroes!!!

Then again, who doesn't! But you can become a hero doing what you can do best, right? Wrong, you can become a hero trying to do what you did best in your gully and not in the international arena!

So flabbergasted was I when I saw Jadeja, Nehra and the likes play those shots that I almost abused them in front of my dad!! Then i thought of the plight of the master. Just imagine what he must be going through, we just saw the innings and were so disappointed and heart broken, what about Sachin?

Trust me, if I was Jadeja, I would not have the courage to even go back in the same bus as him nor stay in the hotel, I would rent a car and just roam around the city and see the disappointed faces to get motivation for the next match and definitely stay away from the media or Sachin. Maybe the next day go to him and actually apologize and promise a much better more defined performance. I sincerely hope Jadeja does make amends for this and all the other 9 guys go out there and win the series for his one Herculean effort of Sachin.

Forget the 20 years of cricket he has played for the country and the numerous times he has been disappointed, this one series victory will bring him some solace.

This one loss really hurt and infact made me think and wonder - what would I rather see - in the case where an Indian loss is inevitable - would I rather see a one sided match and see the Indians go down without a fight or see them come so close and see the most breathtaking innings of 2009 ( if not anything else) and the player end up on the losing side as what happened with Sachin - really there is not much choise there - but then I say - I'd rather see them lose without a fight - coz you know why - coz this hurt....very very badly and an injury such as this leaves a permanent scar, one that will not go away even after surgery...

To leave on a positive note, I would like to say that hope the Indian team does a turnaround from here on and go on to win the series, here's wishing them loads of luck and a few lines that may be Sachin could identify with -

Mujhe baarish achi lagti hai, haan mujhe baarish achi lagti hai, kyunki ek wo hi hai jo mere aansuon ko apni boondon mein chupa sakti hai!!! - Yours truly!

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Nothing hurts as much today!

Saw the Aussies smash us all over the park - took it with a pinch of salt.
Saw the hitters Sehwag, Yuvi and Dhoni not fight hard - told myself don't worry.
Saw the ever so calm Gautam Gambhir lose his head - thought it happens very rarely, forget it.
Saw Sachin play one of the best innings of his life according to me and enjoyed every moment of it - infact was thinking he might make a double hundred today!
Saw Jadeja run - THEN I GOT UP AND TOLD MYSELF - WHEN WILL THESE GUYS LEARN.

The question that came to my mind wasn't oh god, why us? But rather, I ask how many games will India have to lose for youngsters to understand simple things, for them to understand how not to panic under pressure.

Jadeja did it twice in two games. Can understand he is young and new and stuff, but look at the way McKay caught the ball White threw at him and calmy whipped the bails? For your information, it was his first match!! Imagine, making your debut and bowling to 'The Guru' of cricket and almost see your team losing after scoring 350 runs and yet have all the sense in the world to know when to strike back and how to not lose hope.

What is it that hits us more - complacency? panic? not being able to hold our nerves? What is it? And why does it happen with Indians only, why didn't Hauritz not throw right at d base of the stumps, why couldn't have Manou dropped that catch, how come McKay had the courage to bowl a slower ball on the legside with his fine leg up!!!

It's all in the head. And yet somehow we keep failing, we lack the temperament.

I have played a thousand gully cricket matches, but seldom have I lost my cool to do such stupid things. I might have played bad shots, but do not end up doing such stupid and silly mistakes, especially when such a big match is at stake.

And for God's sake, really God here means - Sachin Tendulkar - for his sake, the guy just played the innings of his lifetime, win it for him!!! Stay there, be cool.

This was the first time that such a close match almost made me cry. it literally had me in tears when I saw the screen show 'Out'. The look on PK's face said it all, but I wouldn't blame him much.

For me the culprit was Jadeja, for the rest of my life I will have a grudge against him!!!!

If life had background music!

Ever thought about this? What if, whatever your mood was could be reflected in the background music? It would save so much time and we would have so many less fights. Come on, remember the last time you tried to get a little annoying with your friend and she bashed you away from her that instant? And it was only later that you found out that it was all because she was not in the best of moods!!!
In your defence, you had no clue she had a rough day and you could even argue that all you were trying to do was to cheer her up!! But don’t worry, it’s all in vain, as am sure she would have a million others who would support her on this.
So yeah, that’s why this thought. Only if there was background music in life would we be able to tell in what kind of a mood the other person is and start the conversation accordingly or behave in a certain manner.
Just imagine this, you have just given your last exam paper and are on your way home, what is the song that is playing in your head? May be the Pepsi slogan – Azaadi, dil ki, freedom to be heee..Azaadi..dil ki...or may be if you’re the old song liking soul then - panchhi banu udti firun mast gagan mein... aaj mein aazaad hun duniya ke chaman mein.

Or just imagine this, its’ one of your first days in college and you see that cute little girl around the corner and your heart goes – Pehla Nasha, Pehla Khumar, naya pyaar hai....am sure thousand and thousand of you’ll can associate with this one moment. I can bet, all o us have had this moment in our life!
The time when our crush looks at us, or the time when he/she is wearing our favourite colour and by mistake he/she happens to look in your direction and give a smile....oooohh...that’s it!! She’s made our day!

Or imagine this, you’ve just go to know that your one time love has just got someone in her life and all you want to do now is dig in deep into some real soulful songs or may be if you are one of those metal head then may be something real heavy to get rid of that argh feeling and move on.

There are many of us who like to listen to those old sad hindi film songs, or may be one of those Atif Aslam songs...personally I hate that guy and I think he’s just a desi version of Enrique Iglesias and all he does is cry and not sing...Anyway, that aside, the song we want to hear is – Tere bin kaise jeeya....and we feel much better.

That is the time when you need someone close to cry into or to talk to. But may be sometimes that person is not around or is in the middle of something and hence cannot come to you and handle tis situation with you.
That is the time when you wish these kind of tunes play in the background or may be even have the instrumental version of those songs play so that people around know the kind of mood you are in.

That is when you ask god, why doesn’t life have background music??

Champion's Leak


While my friends watched the Champions League T20 in an ordinary pub or on TV, I won a contest and found myself not only watching the action from the players’ dressing room… but also having meals with the legends themselves. Such as breakfast with Glenn McGrath and dinner with Anil Kumble. Thanks to my rahu stars and the generosity of a certain liquor baron, I was appointed ‘Chief fan’ for the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Donning red and gold

Imagine attending team meetings, giving them high-fives after jokes or er, knowing their kamina sides – the enormity of the experience started sinking in as I checked into a room next to Gibbs and Duminy, at a Bengaluru hotel. Next morning, I had breakfast with my heroes - Kumble, Dravid, Kallis, Boucher. I was initially edgy, but it took simple moments (such as Kumble playing with his daughter or Pravin Kumar raving about chhole-khulche of Meerut) for me to be one of them - I’d already donned the red-and-gold RCB jersey.

The tourney kickstarted, and so did the time of my life. First up, it was exciting to meet the team behind the scenes. Apart from the squad, the team bus would comprise of the coach, manager, team analyst, physio, trainer, masseur and sometimes, even the COO. While the times on field were anxious, the times off it were something I’ll report to my grandchildren: Praveen Kumar suffixes every sentence with the choicest north Indian abuses; the team is shown motivational videos (which we often see on Youtube) before a game; Kumble loves chatting on his Gmail; Ross Taylor can cook parathas and that Kallis doesn’t smile even when he’s not playing… not even on his birthday.

Games people play

Intriguingly, I got to see how some sportsmen had scored offfield. While Kallis’ stunning gori wife got all the stares, a particular hunk of the team had a PYT hanging around at practice sessions, hotel room et al. Not to forget, the lesser fortunate ones tried their best to score. One, for instance was seen flirting with the hotel receptionist several times.

The young team was also high on fun, especially of the legpulling variety. I was once audience to Pravin and Virat taking a dig at the TV media: in the middle of a conversation about how good the kulfis in Kanpur are, Kohli broke into a sensational commentary, while Pravin played the interviewee, a kulfi-seller. “Dil thaam ke baithaiye, agla item aapka dil dehla dega,” Virat went, “Malai kulfi ke saath extra toppings yukt kaju kulfi aapke poore parivaar ko achambit kar degi!” All this was, by the way, in the team bus.

Dinner with Jumbo

Though my most memorable experience would have to be the dinner at Jumbo’s place. The occasion was worthy – a combined celebration of Kumble’s and Kallis’s birthdays and of course, Diwali. Having the legendary leg-spinner I have cheered and cried in joy for all these years — show you around his house was inexplicably moving. Not many know that the former skipper is a nature lover, and this was apparent from the pictures (all self-shot) which adorned his rooms. It was thrilling to visit a special room which flaunted only his trophies – Arjuna award, the ‘perfect 10’ trophy, et al. The tête-à-tête was vibrant too: I came to know that Kumble is the new vice-chief of the Karnataka Wildlife Board. (Bet you didn’t know that!) I also stole a moment to quiz him about one mystery the world has had – why on earth couldn’t he turn the ball? He couldn’t help laughing before replying, “I didn’t want to lose my line-and-length at the cost of spin.” Case rested.

RCB’s campaign ended prematurely after two defeats. Worse, news of Dravid’s ouster from Team India was a dark cloud. (Rahul himself, after long, anxious moments of tracking cricket sites on his laptop, resigned to his room on learning the news.) The 11-day-trip cost me my job (yours truly went ahead even after his leaves weren’t approved) but as they say, ‘some things in life are priceless’.