A new kid on the block may not be only be competitive, but may even give you a run for your money

Many organizations take pride in what they've created and how they've crushed competition in the past to rise to and remain at the top, and how they will remain untouched by the small newcomers.

Cricket today showed how inaccurate that fallacy can be. How it is so foolish to ignore the warning bells and just keep looking within and at big teams like yourself thinking you're away from danger.

Unfancied Ireland today chased a huge 300+ target with exceptional ease and over 4 overs to spare against two-times world champions and one of the ICC World Cup Tournament favourites, West Indies.

West Indies would've surely assumed that they had the match in their pocket after scoring 304. However, a great top order batting performance by Ireland made world class bowlers like Roach, Taylor, and company look totally pedestrian, and Ireland romped home with 4 wickets and 4 overs to spare. This was not just a victory, it was a humiliating defeat beyond comprehension.

Reminds me of 1983 when Kapil's Devils showed to the world that cricket can produce Davids who will not only take on Goliaths but also conquer them.

Today, traditional brick and mortar businesses are facing a similar threat to their very existence due to the growth of eCommerce companies. These newcomers are rewriting every rule in the book - whether it is about range, or about pricing, or about customer service - and are finally making consumer the king. 

Those hit hardest are the traditional trade stores. Whether they're the neighbourhood mom-n-pop stores or whether they're mall-based modern retail chains, the story is the same. These businesses just did not see the snow coming down, and now it's an avalanche that's hit them so hard that they're finding it difficult to even survive. Such is the storm that even huge global brands like HP and Samsung are at their wits end as to how to ensure that their traditional channel partners remain profitable and loyal to them. Their retail partners can't match the deep-pockets of the eCom giants on marketing, can't match their reach, and definitely can't match the prices or the product range & availability given their huge costs for high-street-retail infrastructure, limited shelf-space, limited shop-floor inventory and front-end staff.

While one the one hand it can be said that these businesses did not expect eCommerce to grow so big so fast in India, the truth is that they simply ignored the threat perception and did not prepare themselves for this.

Today, some brands have learnt their lesson the hard way and are quickly making amends. Tatas have already invested in snapdeal.com, thereby ensuring that their brand Croma doesn't suffer so much and, in fact, benefits from the growth of eCommerce. Croma mentions that products across various electronic categories like mobiles, tablets and laptops, that are available at its physical stores will be available for purchase on Croma's brand store on SnapDeal, taking Croma's reach far beyond their 101 stores in just 25 cities.

Other traditional retail majors like Arvind and Reliance have also made forays online. In August last year, retail firm Arvind launched an online site Creyate, which retails customizable apparel. After a quiet foray in eCommerce for their grocery business restricted to Mumbai only last November, Reliance Industries announced its plans to start online sales of mobile phones, laptops, televisions and hope appliances within a month in December, 2014. Finally, the realization has dawned, and big businesses are coming around to the fact that David can beat Goliath with its nimbleness and with public on its side, and they need to move fast to counter them or be left behind.

Guess, it is the season of small guys winning against mighty giants!

Give me a home where no terrorists roam

This poem - written by me in 1984 - is dedicated to the 132 children who fell to the cowardice of terrorists in Peshawar yesterday.

Give me a home
Where no terrorists roam
And the kids can play
On the streets all day

No firing, no gun shots
No killing of tiny tots
No fear in the air
No mothers in despair

No murders in religion’s name
Let’s not make life easy game
Guns are not anyone’s toy
Funerals don’t bring anyone joy

Does it matter which God I pray
Does your God hate mine, I say
Is your blood’s colour different than mine
Is your prayer and temple more divine

So, why are we all fighting each other
And killing one another’s son and brother
Is this what you really call freedom of choice
Where only one religion can have a voice

Let’s make our country, our home a beautiful place
Where peacefully can reside human race
And all of us can live together in peace
May I have my paradise back, please

Give me a home
Where no terrorists roam
And the kids can play
On the streets all day

Oh! Give me a home
Where no terrorists roam
And the kids can play
On the streets all day

Instead of religion, give humanity a chance!

I find it quite strange - and really sick - that some people who claim to be highly educated, wise, cultured, religious, spiritual and helpful to others, jump to attack another religion at the slightest provocation. They do not just condemn the followers of that religion for their misdeeds (which is what any sensible person should/would do), they actually condemn the religion itself for the simple reason that they don't follow that religion. And they do it with complete impunity, without for a moment thinking that it is not the religion that may be bad, it is its misinterpretation by the people who turn evil and commit heinous acts.

Tolerance, compassion, benevolence, humanity - qualities which should manifest themselves much more in such "spiritual" people - seem to have not touched them at all. What's more, they don't have an iota of shame in goading their own religious brethren to put the other faith's followers in their proper place and propagating violence against the followers of the religion that they so disagree with. So much for their wisdom & spirituality!

While I am among the first to condemn the misdeeds of any religion (including the one I follow), I find such partisan & parochial behaviour from the so-called-religious-minded completely obnoxious. I hope and pray that they rise above such intolerance by showing some forbearance and give religious solidarity (I did not say secularism) a real chance.

Curbing corruption and reining in black money through radical reforms in the fiscal and monetary policies

The AAP was sworn into power in Delhi on the 28th of December, 2013. I was left delightfully amazed about this brilliant marketing master-stroke by AAP to be sworn into power at the Ramlila Maidan rather than at the state assembly. Never before has a Chief Minister's swearing-in been such a publicised affair, and even the BJP's PM-candidate Mr. Narendra Modi's very recent 3rd term swearing-in as the Gujarat Chief Minister did not get this kind of media and pan-India attention. Also, if I am not much mistaken, even the outgoing PM, Dr. Manmohan Singh was not accorded this kind of attention at both his swearing-in ceremonies.

The strategy of taking oath publicly was fabulous on two counts. One, it showed the public that the AAP members are one of them, who would much rather take charge publicly in front of the common people than amidst privileged few in the closed doors of the assembly, truly showcasing that this is a "government of the people, by the people, for the people". Two, it allowed all the common people across the nation witness the phenomenal rise of the AAP and its true ability of being able to provide a credible alternative to the thus-far bi-polar politics of India, which the general public is so fed up of. What would otherwise have been relegated to a 60-second news item at best on all news channels, with one master-stroke became the most-viewed event and the biggest discussion point of the nation. Suddenly, without any big announcement or spend from their party, very intelligently, the AAP used the might of the media and went national on a 'zero-budget'. To my mind, this is marketing at its very best.

The AAP had surely played a brilliant opening gambit in its preparation for the forthcoming 2014 general election, and I called up my closest friend and somebody whose opinion I value immensely, Varun Khanna, to discuss the same. Amongst various things, we also discussed that if it nurtured national ambitions (and both of us think it should), the AAP would need to go beyond anti-corruption as its sole/primary agenda and define for the nation its stance on various issues - local, national, and international. On the corruption front and possible ways of curbing black money, we discussed four things which could help the nation weed our corruption - one, doing away with large currency notes at least in the short term; two, land reforms focusing upon taxation; three introduction of a time-bound tax-free/minimal-taxation amnesty scheme for bringing back the black money into circulation; and four, abolition of multiple taxation and replacement of the same with a simple banking transaction tax.

Both of us were extremely surprised and yet glad to notice a similar discussion on two counts (about abolition of large currency notes and introduction of a banking transaction tax) emanating from Baba Ramdev just a week later. Before I go further to define what we feel can work to free the country of black money at a large scale, let me on the outset state very clearly that though my family and I do use Patanjali's products (which we do believe are very good), I have no personal affection for Baba Ramdev as a person or as a protestor or as a politico. At best, I think he is an FMCG major who is providing good quality products. Unlike him, I do not support Mr. Narendra Modi or the BJP; my political beliefs and support are with the AAP right now. To think that Baba Ramdev should define the national politics and play a crucial role in who will become the PM - because of his mass following as a great yoga guru (please don't mistake that for a spiritual guru) or as the principal guiding force of a good ayurveda pharmacy - is immature, at best. Nonetheless, he has enough supporters - many of who are far more educated, experienced and enlightened than me - who can surely help define the discourse for him as a person, and the direction for India as a nation. So, some things that he said recently find complete resonance with me. Having defined my opinion of Baba Ramdev, let me now elaborate upon how the abolition of large currency notes and a banking transaction tax can work better instead of the current multiple taxation regime in curbing black money, and yet generating revenue for the government. And how the other two things that Varun and I discussed can make a huge difference as well.

The root cause of black money - as we all know - is corruption, and the ill-gains are mostly taken in cash... cheques and banking almost never play a role in the same. Also, such large funds are normally parked in real-estate though cash deals and benami transactions, and some of this is transferred abroad through hawala transactions. This results in easy give-n-take of money in cash. Now, suppose that the government decided to do away with not just large currency notes but cash altogether to curb such practices! No, no, hold your horses for a minute - what I am suggesting is not a wild fantasy; it is actually feasible, albeit in the long run. Let me first explain how this can happen, and then get onto explaining what could be the road to this utopia. Just remember one word as you read on - 'mCommerce' - and you'd understand everything thereafter.

In September 2013, the active mobile phone base in India was 738.89 million connections - of which 54% were in rural areas. The resultant tele-density (number of people owning mobile phones vis-a-vis the total population) was 70.63% - 137.93% in urban areas and 40.97% in rural areas. Assuming an industry average of 2 connections per user across all geographies, this results in a teledensity of 35% in urban areas and 20% in rural areas. Taking the average household size of 5 members pan-India, this translates to at least 1 mobile connection per household. So, mobile-wise we are already reaching virtually every single household, and can move to mCommerce completely and abolish cash completely. Or, can we? One may argue that there are still some back-of-beyond and extremely impoverished and tribal areas where mobile adoption is very low and it will take a lot of time to reach a respectable threshold level, but the impoverished, dying of hunger types are definitely not the people we need to be concerned about for black money generation, right?

Having defined the mobile penetration in India, let's take this a bit further. In October 2013, the internet users in India crossed 205 million, and in December 2013, the number of mobile internet users in India was estimated at 130 million which is estimated to grow to 155 million by March 2014 and will more than double in one year to over 265 million by 2014-end. This mobile and internet revolution is fuelled by many things happening simultaneously - availability of good quality, cheaper smart-phones (currently at sub Rs. 4,000/- mark, which may actually be available at sub Rs. 2,000/- mark in the second-hand market), cheap and wide-spread internet (a 300MB 3G mobile internet connection is available for just Rs. 100/- per month and rates are rapidly going south every month), quick adoption and penetration of google, facebook, gaming & music apps that are driving smart-phone and internet adoption, and a healthily growing usage of online banking and eCommerce sites (specially from smaller cities).

Given all of the above, India already is - or will surely be - ready for mCommerce within the next 1-2 years. This can eliminate the use of hard currency. Already most people in urban areas - specially salaried employees like me - are using their credit cards & debit cards for virtually every transaction (including grocery purchases at neighbourhood modern retail stores like Big Bazaar or Reliance Fresh). Still, there are those occasions when one needs to take out cash for some payments - grocery purchased from roadside hawkers, salaries paid to domestic help, milkman's monthly payments, newspaper guy, everyday needs like bread and eggs, children's coaching classes, public transport tickets, toll tax, home delivery of various items, et al. Apart from this, one needs to give petty cash to the children for their every needs - canteen, stationery, chocolates, etc. Other than these, I don't see any need to purchase anything in cash. All of these don't require large notes and can be easily replaced by notes with a maximum currency value of Rs. 100/-. In any case, such payments don't result in creation of black money mostly. The rare case being the neighbourhood kirana store owner who gets such notes only and still accumulates huge revenues & profits, and pays virtually nil income tax in most cases. That is something that I shall also tackle a bit later - through tax reforms and land reforms. But the larger picture is that most things can today be purchased using debit/credit card, and I don't really need cash in my wallet. If I take my own example, my salary gets transferred from my organization's bank account directly to my bank account, through which I make most payments using my debit/credit cards or online bill payments - so, for a large part of my needs I never need cash. I withdraw cash just to meet my smaller needs - which I cited earlier - and those can be taken care of through Rs. 100/- notes very easily. My mobile is internet-ready, I have already downloaded my bank's mobile-banking app and - while I haven't used it as yet - I am as ready as anybody can be to shift to mCommerce... just like many others who already have. Doable? I certainly think so!

That can take care of doing away with large currency notes and curbing black money creation to a large extent. The next thing is to announce land reforms. Since I do not know too much on this subject, I will limit myself to professing just one idea here - taxation reform. My advice is to do away with such high registration charges and capital gains tax. A big reason why transaction size is suppressed by both the buyer and the seller is that the buyer has to shell out at least 5% towards stamp duty & registration of the property in her name (if the buyer is a male, this increases by 2%) and the seller has to pay capital gains tax (unless he/she purchases property of similar value within 3 years). Considering that most properties in metros like Delhi or Mumbai exceed Rs. 1 crore in value, this translates into a payment of at least Rs. 5 lacs when a property changes hands. So, what do buyers/sellers do? They simply work on a 50-50 formula - 50% in cheque and 50% in cash, to bring down the transaction value for registration purposes. Also, this is not a one-time payment... every time the property is sold & registered (even if the same is within a single financial year), the new buyer has to pay this 5%! Now, is that fair? I don't think so. How about introducing a simple and small 1-2% tax at the time of registration and a fraction thereof every year thereafter (combined house tax as well as property ownership tax as well as capital gains tax)? Given that this would result in small payment (EMI-like annual payments), one won't mind revealing true value of the transaction and transacting completely in white. Also, if one has already taken step one above (of doing away with large currency notes), cash won't play any role in such transactions. Imagine someone having to pay/receive Rs. 50 lacs cash in Rs. 100/- currency notes - that's 500 bundles of Rs. 100/- notes. An average person would never be able to carry or store it easily and safely (not in a bank locker, not at home). Also, if we look at the seller's perspective, the primary reason why people refuse to sell their properties wholly in white is because of the 20% capital gains tax in long term and up to 30% tax in the short term. If capital gains tax on property is abolished completely, then we won't have a problem of suppression of price by the seller - who would want the entire payment in white only - and we would've nicked the problem of black money transaction in the bud itself. Radical? Yes. Workable? Surely yes!

Next thing to do - announce an amnesty scheme for tax defaulters to bring back the black money. This is not a new suggestion; in 1997, the then-government announced VDIS (Voluntary Declaration of Income Scheme), which was as a very unconventional but hugely successful step in mopping up black money. It provided an opportunity to all income tax/wealth tax defaulters (individuals as well as corporates) to disclose their undisclosed income (total of all previous years) at the prevailing (and till then the lowest ever at the highest slab) tax rate of 30%. 3,50,000 people disclosed their income &  assets under this scheme, and declared assets worth Rs. 26,000 crore which bought an additional revenue of Rs. 7,800 crore to India - a good 20% more than the previous financial year. Introduce the same yet again - either at an even lower rate or, if possible, at zero-rate, to bring back the money into circulation. Also, replace at least 50% of the money thus unearthed with Government of India bonds (since currency notes of large denomination wouldn't be available anymore), to ensure that the general public of India can benefit from the money collected, without causing too much heart-burn to the persons disclosing such income in the scheme. What do you say?

Last, but not the least, let's visit my final point - something that Baba Ramdev also propagated last Saturday. Currently, there are far too many direct and indirect taxes - the income tax, the sales tax, the service tax, excise duty, custom duty, entertainment tax, wealth tax, gift tax, corporation tax, stamp duty on property transfer and what not. In 2012-13, the government collected a total of Rs. 10.36 lakh crore through various taxes. Compare this to the Indian banking industry, which has a turnover of Rs. 77 lakh crore for 2012-13. If one were to simply replace all taxes by a simple 10% banking transactions tax, the government would've garnered Rs. 7.7 lakh crores and saved huge monies in salaries, infrastructure and related expenses in collecting taxes. Additionally, assuming that currency transactions are abolished or are negligible and small in nature, all transactions henceforth will be through banks only. One can safely assume that at least 20% more will be added to the current taxes (based on the VDIS learning of 1997), which would swell up the kitty by another 1.54 lakh crore to take tax collection to 9.24 lakh crore (at base value of 2012-13). This is just 1.12 lakh crore less than the total tax collected in 2012-13 (about 10%), and it may be safely assumed that this would be close to the savings in terms of employee and other related costs for tax collection. Now, it may be argued that this would result in taxation of everyone, including those with minimal income who need to be given a respite from taxes. The argument against this is quite simple in my mind. They are already being taxed in any case - through sales tax, through road tax, through vehicle registration tax, through excise, through service tax, etc. - and they will save on those taxes (which will result in bringing down the cost of goods) and end up paying a banking transaction tax only, resultantly having the same spending power. If one still has a problem with this, the government can establish a minimum benchmark for banking transactions which will not be taxed - say, all transactions up to a transaction value of Rs. 2.5 lakh per annum (the current Income Tax waiver limit) will not be taxed. Thereafter, all transactions will be taxed @ 10% flat. Also, all large transactions (say, single transaction value of Rs. 50,000/- or above) should also be taxed @ 10% flat. This should pretty much do the trick, in my very humble opinion.

These are some suggestions from two very humble common people with a slightly more than fertile imagination. We do think they're a good starting point, but don't know how much of this is really workable... economic gurus will need to think this through. Just hope all political parties will at least give an ear and a thought to the suggestions made by two aam-aadmis, and define a road ahead for this country to prosper.

Is it actually a Hindu India?

Of late, I have been hearing too many Sangh Parivar followers, BJP-sympathizers and self-appointed-Hindu-rakshaks talk about how Muslim invaders and Islam have destroyed our country and Hindu culture. How they systematically killed millions of Hindus and ensured that Hinduism crumbled under their tyranny.

There is no denying that Mahmud Ghazni, Qutub-ud-din-Aibak, Balban, Alauddin-Khilji, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq, Feroze Shah, Babar, and God-only-knows-who-else, were tyrants of the worst order. That part is recorded in history, which is being quoted by the safe-keepers of Hinduism. But they forget that such wars and plunders are the history of not just India, but of the entire world. And they are not just of Muslim warriors... historically even Indian Hindu kings were forever fighting wars and killing one-another and annexing lands, men and very shamefully 'women of the palaces'.

Even Emperor Ashoka (who's better known as Ashoka the Great) is guilty of spreading his kingdom through mass-slaughter of many Hindu Kings and their Hindu warriors. He conquered Kalinga, which none of his ancestors (starting from Chandragupta Maurya) had done. The battle of Kalinga resulted in more than 100,000 deaths and 150,000 deportations, and it was only when he was walking through the grounds of Kalinga after his conquest, rejoicing in his victory, he was moved by the number of bodies strewn there and the wails of the kith and kin of the dead. Sorrowed, he embraced Buddhism after witnessing the mass deaths of the Kalinga War, which he himself had waged out of a desire for conquest. So, just saying that Muslims killed Hindus is showing a very selective part of the history, in my opinion.

Let us talk about the Hindu India that so many are dreaming about, and what is the contribution of current day Muslims to the glory of India.

• India's foremost scientist (and an ex-President) - APJ Abdul Kalam
• India's foremost actor - take your pick from SRK, Aamir, Salman or Yusuf Khan
• India's foremost dialogue and song-writer - Javed Akhtar
• India's foremost music composer - A.R. Rehman
• India's foremost female tennis player - Sania Mirza
• India's foremost film director, actor, singer, et al - Farhan Akhtar 
• India's foremost tabla maestro - Ustad Zakir Hussain 
• India's foremost sarod maestro - Ustad Amjad Ali Khan 
• India's foremost shahnai vadak - Ustad Bismillah Khan
• India's foremost painter - M.F. Hussein
• India's foremost author - Salman Rushdie
• India's foremost fashion designer and first to display at Harrod's - Abu Jani
• India's 3rd richest business tycoon, twice been listed among the 100 most influential people by TIME Magazine, and the donor of $2 billion of personal funds for improving school education in India - Azim Premji. Azim Premji has become the first Indian to sign up for 'Giving Pledge', a campaign led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, to encourage the wealthiest people to make a commitment to give most of their wealth to philanthropic causes. He is just the third non-American after Richard Branson and David Sainsbury to join this philanthropy club. As of April 2013, he had already given more than 25% of his personal wealth to charity. Now, show me a Hindu who has done so much for Indians?

Without a doubt, there are many fields where Hindus are at the forefront, and this is not a debate about whose contribution is greater - of the Hindus or of the Muslims? This is just an attempt to show the complete truth. Given that what I have stated above are indisputable facts, I have a very small question of those seeking a Hindu India... "Is it truly a Hindu India? And is such a Hindu India the one that we must crave for?"

Would anyone choose Hitler as a leader just for his development agenda... or should we consider his misdeeds and ensure he doesn't ever become a ruler?

Hitler brought a lot of development to Germany, achieving notable economic successes during the first 5 years of his rule. He substantially revived the industry & economy. Unemployment - so pivotal in bringing him to power - dropped from 6 million (when he came to power) to less than 1 million between 1933 and 1937, at a time when the US was still wallowing in the Depression. 

National production and income doubled during the same period. This was partly owing to Hitler's rearmament policy, but also to more benign forms of public spending. The world's first major highway system, the autobahns, began snaking across the country, and a vision to providing every citizen with a cheap automobile, the people's car, or Volkswagen - gave birth to what is today the world's largest and one of the most respected car-makers.

Nazism took root in the world's most powerful scientific culture, boasting half of the world's Nobel Prizes and a sizable fraction of the world's patents. German science and medicine were the envy of the world. The world's first magnetic tape recording is of a speech by Hitler. While the Englishman, Farnsworth, gets credit for the invention of a very rudimentary television, it was the Third Reich that perfected television and conducted the first television broadcast, featuring Hitler's speech at the opening of the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

On the social welfare side, in 1938, all artisans came to be covered under compulsory social insurance, and in 1941 public health insurance coverage was extended to pensioners. In 1942, all wage-earners - regardless of occupation - were covered by accident insurance, health care became unlimited, and maternity leave was extended to twelve fully paid weeks with job protection.

But does the entire world - and almost every, if not every, German - remember Hitler for his growth agenda or for his politics of hate? Of the 9 million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust, approximately 6 million were killed, including over 1 million Jewish children and approximately 2 million Jewish women. Did Germany (and Germans) not suffer under the Hitler regime because of his supreme ambition of being the supreme ruler of the world, under the pretext of bringing Germany glory.

Should the world forgive Hitler's sins of the holocaust just because he brought development to not just Germany, but many other countries (including foes) who benefited from the Nazi inventions? Should we Indians take a learning from this, or should we be ignoramuses who forget the same while selecting our own national leader in 2014, just for the sake of development? I can't; hope you won't.

The Delhi Rape... awake & arise yourselves; for those who need to take care of us couldn't care less.

Totally pained by the revelations of the rape victim's friend, and the heartless comments by those in power - members of almost all political parties, the police, the so-called moral police and the self-appointed gurus. My heart pours out with these lines...

Jab Duryodhan durachaar ko theek bataye
Jab Duhshasan ka dussahas barhta jaaye
Jab Shakuni har chhal-shakti ka zor lagaye
Tab samjho ki Krishna sabhi ko banna hoga

Jab netraheen Dhritrashtra mook-badhir ban jaaye
Jab daanveer Karna bhee sirf daridrata dikhaye
Jab gyaansagar Kripacharya hee agyaan barhaye
Tab samjho ki Krishna sabhi ko banna hoga

Jab mahaveer Guru Drona bas aankhein churaye
Jab maha-vidvaan Vidur bebas ho sar ko jhukaye
Jab pita-tulya Bheeshm bhee laachaar ho jaaye
Tab samjho ki Krishna sabhi ko banna hoga

Jab rakshak hee bhakshak bankar bas muskuraye
Jab karm naheein, tark-vitark charcha ban jaaye
Jab vivash-laachaar naari par koi taras na khaaye
Tab samjho ki Krishna sabhi ko banna hoga
Tab samjho ki Krishna sabhi ko banna hoga

It's the lack of imagination & courage that will push India out of the World T20

A loss to Australia followed by a loss to West Indies in the pre-semi-final stage has led India to a curious situation. All but out, and praying for a miracle.

Theoretically, India can still make it to the next stage. What they have to do is win against SL either with a margin of 20 runs if India bats first, or with 14 balls to spare if they chase. And then, pray and pray and pray that Australia win their match against Windies.

The second task is much easier, and something that I am sure everyone in India is already doing. For once, every Indian is praying for an Aussie victory.

It is the first task that makes me worried; the task is not just difficult, it also needs Dhoni to really start rethinking about the team needs. So far, at least in this World Cup, he’s lacked imagination & courage, and has to an extent tried to be defensive rather than attacking. None of these have ever been his hallmarks, and therefore it surprises me. If you want to win, you can’t just try and build a cocoon around yourself and hope to win. You have to get out of your safe zone and try to shake things up a bit, so that you can then take strides towards success. Sadly, Dhoni was too concerned about preventing the team from losing, and therefore couldn’t win.

There are many examples of this. Take for instance the fact that R Vinay Kumar is cooling his heels, when he should have been firing down a few in conditions that favour pace bowling. Take for example the fact that yesterday Windies bowled just 3 overs of spin vis-à-vis India which bowled 12 on a bouncy wicket. Another thing to ponder over this is the fact that given that both Vijay & Gambhir are not clicking (especially Murali), it might be a good idea to bring in Dinesh Karthik, who’s equally good at opening the innings, and pairing him with Gambhir, since both play together in domestic cricket as well. And what about playing either himself or Pathan so low down the order at times, that by the time they try to do something, the task is well beyond them.

What a batsman, sirji!

200 runs in an ODI match - that's what teams used to score... and not just in a 50-over match, in the earlier avatar of the ODI, which was 60 overs long. And at times it was good enough to win the match. Why, India won the 1983 World Cup Final against West Indies scoring just 183, before being all out in 54.4 overs (of the allotted 60 overs), and just when everyone and their mother believed that the Windies were going to do a hattrick of world cup victories, bowled them out for 140 in 52 overs.

So, when a batsman scores 200* in a 50-overs a side match, it is a moment to stand up and applaud. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, and as only he could, becomes the first man in the history of the game to score a double hundred in an ODI match. This man has so many records to his name that he possibly also holds the record for holding maximum records, and he still has the hunger in him to keep going on and on and on. And when other around his age (and even much younger than him) are hanging their boots, this man keeps mellowing with every passing day. At almost 37 years, he has today achieved what 17 or 27 year olds have not been able to ever.

I am one big critic of the man, and was specially harsh towards him in the past couple of years, when I thought that his body was tiring and he was no more capable of leading India to victory. My criticism of Sachin became even more sharp after Sourav Ganguly (in my opinion the world's second best ODI player after Sachin) was forced to announce his retirement, despite being in a decent form (and not in any way worse than Sachin) at that juncture. I genuinely believed that having achieved so much, he should have gracefully made way for the others in the team (after all, who can dare tell Sachin to retire).

My friend and co-blogger, Varun, always felt that I was far too impatient with Sachin and a disbeliever (atheist would probably be his chosen word, for the God Sachin is), who did not understand the greatness of the man.

Today, I partly agree with Varun (I still believe that even Sourav should be playing for the team, which he does not), and humbly bow my head to Sachin.

Afghanistan - the new cricketing force of Asia!

The highest 4th innings total by a team winning a test match is 418/7 by West Indies against Australia at Saint John’s in 2003. There are only 3 more instances of teams scoring 400 plus runs in the 4th innings to win the match. South Africa’s 414/4 against Australia at Perth in 2008, India’s 406/4 against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1976, and Australia’s 404/3 against England at Leeds in 1948.

I checked up the record books for all kinds of International matches, where 2 nations played in a two-innings-a-side game, and found not a single team raking up over 500 to win in the 4th innings. Afghanistan – yes, Afghanistan – did that yesterday, when they chased 494 against much more fancied (at least against them) Canada, to hit 494/4, after trailing by over 300 runs in the first innings, and after Canada declared their second innings at 191/4, setting Afghanistan an almost unachievable target of around 500 runs.

All I can say is that it is extremely heartening to notice such big scores being chased down. But I’d also like to add that probably Canada played it too safe by not enforcing a follow-on and resultantly lost the game that they should’ve won.

For Afghanistan, this is a day of reckoning where everyone stands up and applauds them for their heroics. For a country tormented by war and terrorists, this is a shining example of the glory the youth can achieve for their nation by treading the right path.

400-plus scores - what do they foretell about the 2011 World Cup

The 2011 Cricket World Cup, scheduled to start in February, is just about an year away. The cup is going to be played in the subcontinent on pitches in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh & India. Spread over 6 weeks, this is going to be a long & tough tournament, where defending team Australia would be trying to go beyond their hattrick of wins against others. They have defeated 3 subcontinent teams in 3 World Cup Finals – Pakistan in 1999, India in 2003 & Sri Lanka in 2007 – and the fact that this tournament is going to be held in the subcontinent is going to be worrisome for the defending champs.

I think the task is pretty difficult, given that Australia is going to be without some of their biggest heroes of their past wins. But even more so, given the emergence of the Pakistan, Sri Lanka & India teams as extremely strong contenders. A view of what is going to be on offer were visible yesterday in the First ODI between India & Sri Lanka at Rajkot. I’d love to use the phrase “what a match”, except that I am speechless!

Only the second instance of a 400-plus score in both innings in the history of one day cricket. Reminded me, and I am sure everyone else, of the first such match, played between Australia & South Africa, where Australia scored 434/4 to set a world record, and found them on the losing side and robbed of their record 3½ hours later when South Africa pulled out a hare from the hat to score 438/9 with a ball to spare, at Johannesburg on 12th March, 2006. And much like that match, it seemed that the maximum runs record that India had created on Indian soil would be erased effortlessly by Sri Lanka. In fact, they were on the chase till the 48th over, at the end of which they required 15 runs with 5 wickets to spare. Having scored at over 8 runs for the first 48 over, and being ahead of the asking rate, how they could not get 7.5 runs/over in the last 2 overs, and how they lost from there foxes me. Despite being an Indian fan who was cheering all the way for India, I feel for the Sri Lankans and my heart goes out to them. At the end, the only consolation is in saying, “Very well played guys; with 400-plus to chase, you made a match out of what appeared to be a hopeless situation even before you started your batting innings.”

400-plus – what does it mean really, and how often has it happened? Incidentally, all 400-plus scores have come in the 21st century. The first instance being Australia in the match mentioned earlier, and the second instance being South Africa in the very same match. A few months later, the third instance was on 4th July, 2006, Sri Lanka broke the world record by scoring 443/9 against Netherlands at Amstelveen. That is the standing record till now. Other than that, both Sri Lanka & South Africa have one more 400-plus, India have 2, and New Zealand has one. So, in all, there are 8 occasions of such instances – all within the last 4 years. some of them have been hit against minnows, but half of them are against extremely strong oppositions – 1 against South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka & India. Is this where ODI cricket is headed, where even 400-plus may be a par score? One doesn’t know, but numbers do have a story to tell.

If one looks at the highest 25 innings in ODIs ever, 19 of them are in 2000s, and incidentally, every single one of them from 2005 onwards. If one expands this to look at innings of 350 and more, we get 44 such innings. Incidentally, every single of those 19 additional innings were in the 2000s! Does this tell us a story? Sure, it does, and you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to work out that team aggression (or batting aggression, if one may say so more correctly) has really peaked in the 21st century. At the top of this order now are India with 13, followed by South Africa with 9, Australia with 7, New Zealand & Sri Lanka with 4 each, Pakistan with 3, England with 2 and West Indies & Zimbabwe with 1 each.

So, I guess that the next world cup is going to be a very exciting one for everyone, and one-day cricket, if it keeps going vertical, has its place despite T20s. For it offers the thrill of the unknown like never before. Because if a team has scored 200-plus in T20s, we still believe it is chaseable. But a 400-plus in 50 overs? I’d still like to believe that there is a huge element of doubt there. And that element of doubt along with the subcontinental teams’ abilities to knock up huge scores, coupled with the batting-feast supporting wickets are going to make it some task for Australia to retain the crown.

Let umpires & referees not become the hand of God!

Two incidents happened yesterday, across two continents and across the world’s two most followed sports – football & cricket – that made me wonder what the role of the referee or the umpire really is. How important are they really in determining the course of a match, and how important is it for them to have the final say.

In the first incident, Thierry Henry, the captain of France, in a play-off between France & Ireland for a place in the 2010 FIFA Cup Finals, handled the ball before passing it to William Gallas to head in a crucial 103-minute goal, scored in extra time, that helped them level scores & grab a final spot in the cup, robbing Ireland of a well-deserved win. Henry knew that he had handled the ball, and in a post match interview said, “Yes, there was a hand, but I’m not the referee.” He further added, “Of course, I kept playing. The referee didn’t whistle for hand-ball. I was behind two Irish players, the ball bounced and it hit my hand.” The evidence was there for all to see in television replays, but the referee missed seeing it. There have been protests by Ireland, including even their prime minister throwing his weight behind this and asking for a rematch. However, FAI has refused to let a rematch happen, citing rules that say that a referee’s decision is final, despite their statement earlier in the day: “The blatantly incorrect decision by the referee to award the goal has damaged the integrity of the sport.” It is, after all, a judgment error by the person in-charge of judgments, and more than anything, it is the governing body’s unwillingness to correct the error citing outdated rules, that is causing more heartburn than Henry’s non-sporting spirit.

In the second incident, Rahul Dravid was adjudged LBW in the ongoing cricket test match between Sri Lanka & India, whereas television replays showed that the ball would have missed the leg-stump. With India fighting with their backs to the wall, the last thing they needed was a wrong decision going against them, and that too against a batsman of the caliber of Dravid, who India desperately needed at the crease. However, nobody is a culprit here (unlike Henry in the first incident), and it is truly a case of judgmental error on the part of umpire Daryl Harper, who declared Dravid out. One does not know as yet what the outcome of the match will finally be, and whether even Dravid could have made a difference had he not been sent back to the pavilion, but clearly India have suffered.

In the context of the above two, let us examine the role that referees & umpires are supposed to play.

First, they are supposed to be guardians of the game, and ensure fair-play between the two teams playing the match.

Second, they are supposed to be disciplinarians, given absolute authority, who ensure that each member of both teams follows the rules of the game at all times.

Third, they are supposed to be unbiased in their approach irrespective of which side their loyalties may lie with as a fan/countryman.

So, let us examine what went wrong. In both the instances, I think the referee and the umpire followed all three true to their heart & their profession. Still, wrong decisions happened. Human error, surely, that could be taken as just a human error, and we get on with the game. However, such errors were acceptable in the good, old days, when there were no means to check if there was any error, and you had to accept the referee’s/umpire’s verdict, come what may. Today, with technology like instant television replays, hawk-eye, snick-o-meter, etc. available, which help in minimizing human error, why should human error be acceptable at all? After all, the ultimate objective of refereeing or umpiring is to give fair decisions in case of dispute or doubt. And in the interest of that, if technology can aid, why should we shy away from that?

Cricket has evolved to a certain extent with third-umpire referrals, and the world’s most famous, loved & record-holding cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar, became the first player to be declared out by a third umpire. Howsoever the Indians may have rued that incident, it was a step in the right direction. It does away with ambiguity and it does away with cheating. After all, Henry is the captain of his national side, as was Diego Maradona of Argentina, when he became the ‘Hand of God’ in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. So, we know, that even the best are prone to a little cheating to win a match.

Cricket, has its own instance of infamy with batsmen refusing to walk, especially in caught behind decisions, unless given out by the umpire. However, Adam Gilchrist of Australia always went against his team’s policy of remaining standing at the crease unless given out (as per the game’s rules), and always walked magnanimously whenever he thought he was out, without waiting for the umpire’s decision. More recently, there have been very sporting gestures by captains that are unprecedented, and show that cricket still has some gentlemen left. In a recent match between England & Sri Lanka, England’s captain Andrew Strauss recalled Angelo Mathews of Sri Lanka, who had been stranded after a mid-pitch collision with Graham Onions and run out, and asked him to bat on despite being declared out. Even more significant was a decision by New Zealand’s captain Daniel Vettori this year, when he spared Paul Collingwood of England, after he strayed out of his crease before the over was called and was run out by the wicket-keeper McCullum. According to the rules of the game, Collingwood was out. But Vettori went with the spirit of the game, and allowed him to bat on. This despite a similar incident happening a year ago at The Oval, when Collingwood himself, as captain of England, had disallowed New Zealand's Grant Elliott a reprieve, after he had been run out after a mid-pitch collision with England’s Ryan Sidebottom. The umpires were obliged to rule him out, and Collingwood's refusal to withdraw the appeal had infuriated Vettori.

Next week, cricket takes a giant leap in ensuring correctness of decision making and therefore, in fair-play & results. In the three test series between New Zealand & Pakistan, ICC will introduce a new system to review umpire’s decisions, the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), using ball tracking technology. This is indeed the right and a very welcome step towards making the sport error-free, and I guess football can also take some lessons from cricket. Otherwise, the umpires & the referees may continue to become the hand of God, and continue to deal cruel blows.

The Wall grows taller

Rahul Sharad Dravid was born on 11th January, 1973 at Indore in Madhya Pradesh, 103 days before Sachin Tendulkar was born. However, he made his debut 6½ years later than Sachin in Singapore against Sri Lanka in April, 1996. His initiation into test cricket happened at the Mecca of cricket, Lord’s in June, 2006 against England, during the second test of the series. In his debut innings, he came out to bat at number 7 and scored 95 runs in India’s total of 429, second only to Sourav Ganguly, who scored 131, and incidentally was also a debutante on the test. It was the 2 young men, brought into the team after the first match loss, who kept India’s hopes alive by playing majestically and drawing the match, when all others around them failed. Interestingly, Sachin was the third highest scorer for India with 31 to his credit. Despite playing just 2 of the 3 tests, and despite batting in only 3 innings, Dravid scored a total of 187 runs (including two 50s) and was the 6th highest scorer in the series, and the 3rd highest for India, after Sachin & Sourav. With 62.33 runs from the 3 innings, he was the No. 5 on averages for both teams combined.

Thus began the journey of a man, who is arguably the most technically-correct batsman in world cricket, and who is a heady mixture of substance & style. A classical stroke-player, with a quiver full of delectable shots, Dravid is always a delight to watch. He has that amazing ability to play with a calm head, and play himself slowly in, even on extremely testing wickets and in very difficult situations, and carve a brilliant innings and suddenly take command without anybody noticing. Over the years, Dravid has withstood every single challenge thrown at him, and has always stood tall, even if there are ruins all around him, earning an early nickname, ‘The Wall’. And like a man who is true to anything associated with him, he has, on countless occasions, proven that he is indeed the Great Wall of India, who none can breach.

Yesterday, Rahul Wall Dravid, scaled new heights and reached 11,000 runs in test cricket, becoming only the 5th cricketer in the world to reach this summit. Forever living under the shadow of the more celebrated, loved & revered Sachin Tendulkar, Dravid has still managed to stand tall and earn millions of diehard fans. With 27 centuries to his credit, he shares the 9th slot of all-time century records with Allan Border, the man who is next in his sight, being the 4th highest run-getter of all time. Though, Border has played 31 more innings more than Dravid’s 234 to get those records.

With 5 double hundreds, 4 of which he scored in a space of 15 tests, he is the 7th in the world, and holds the Indian record jointly with Virender Sehwag. With 4 consecutive centuries, including one double century, Dravid is 2nd in the world, and the only one, amongst those who’ve got 4 or more consecutively, with a double. with 84 50-plus scores, he is the 4th most successful batsman after Sachin, Ponting & Border to reach 50s maximum number of times. With 78 century partnerships, he also holds that world record, ahead of Ricky Ponting with 75. Incidentally, Rahul & Sachin also hold the world record for most century partnerships, with 16 such partnerships, alongside Hayden & Ponting (Australia) and Greenidge & Haynes (West Indies). He & Sachin have together scored 5,511 runs in partnership, the world’s 3rd highest runs as a pair. All these are demonstrations of how solid ‘The Wall’ really is. With all these good records, however, he also has a blemish – with 10 dismissals in the 90s, he holds the world record for most nervous 90s, alongside Steve Waugh.

As the number 3 batsman in world cricket, he is par excellence, and has proven his value at the position so many times, much to the agony of opposing teams. Dravid averages around 55 at his favourite position, more than any regular No.3 batsman in the game’s history, barring the one & only Don Bradman. Needless to say, he is second only to the greatest.

Since his debut, Dravid’s genius blossomed over the years, and finally came into his own probably in Kolkata in 2001, when he played a sheet-anchor role to score 180 in supplementing VVS Laxman’s classic 281 against Australia. As a batsman who knows his craft all too well, Dravid has always raised his hand to be counted every time his team & country needed him. Even donning wicket-keeping gloves in one-dayers, where he again has 10,765 runs with 12 centuries and 82 half-centuries, he has proven that the wall is impregnable in more ways than one.

With each outing, Rahul continues to enthrall and grow taller & stronger. One wonders, how he managed those 11,000 runs in just 13 years, as compared to Sachin’s 12,773 scored in 20. And one also wonders, where he would be today had he made his debut at the same time as Tendulkar? Surely, history has done injustice to Dravid by making him play in the same era as Sachin. Otherwise, who knows, he might have been the most loved son of India!

Sachin, the Superman

Today, it’s 20 years to the day the man we all adore wore the India colours for the first time. Playing his first test match against arch-enemy, Pakistan, in the 1st test match starting on 15th November, 1989, the man who will eventually hold almost all batting records, actually had his first initiation as an Indian player as a bowler – bowling a solitary over in Pakistan’s first inning for 10 runs at National Stadium, Karachi. He got to bat in only the first innings, coming in at no. 6, lower than Manoj Prabhakar!

Blooded into his first match in the august company of past, present & future captains like Kapil Dev, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, Mohammed Azharuddin & Ravi Shastri, he managed just 15 runs in India’s first inning before being bowled by Waqar Younis. He bowled another 4 overs for 15 runs in the second innings, and didn’t get a chance to bat again, in a drawn match. With those humble beginnings began the birth of a cricketer, who has not looked back since. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, as his parents named him; Genius, as he’s fondly referred to by the other biggies of the game who know their cricket all too well; and God, for the millions of adulating fans across the world; did not take the world by storm on his arrival. But over the years, he’s marvelously demonstrated what a whirlwind he is.

Boring as it may sound, two decades of being at the top does merit a look at the man’s (or more appropriately, the Superman’s) achievements & records till date.

The man has 12,773 runs in test cricket from 261 innings in 152 tests, with 42 centuries to his credit. The most runs and the most centuries. The nearest, Lara with 11,953 runs & 34 centuries has retired. And the only one who can probably stake a claim to at least the test records is Aussie captain, Ricky Ponting, who has 11,345 runs from 229 innings in 136 tests with 38 centuries and has at least 1-2 years’ age benefit over Tendulkar, being younger to him by 1½ years. At 95 fifties, Sachin is also way ahead of Ponting, who’s at 86. But theoretically speaking, at the rate he is scoring, and if he keeps going on for those 2 extra years (even though he made his test debut exactly 6 years later than Sachin), Ponting should overtake Sachin. But whether he is mentally & physically as tough to keep playing till the age of 36 and beyond (or even 38, if Sachin continues to play till 2011, as is popularly believed), needs to be seen.

When it comes to ODIs too, Tendulkar is unparalleled. Though he began with a golden duck in his very first ODI, he now has 17,178 runs to his credit, and is almost 4,000 ahead of his nearest competitor, Sanath Jayasuriya, who has actually played 4 matches more than Sachin’s 436. And he is 5,000 ahead of the next man, Ricky Ponting, though Ponting has played only 330. Compare his 45 centuries to the second best 28 by both Jayasuriya & Ponting, and you know how far ahead Sachin is of those two, who can only marvel how he has managed so much. Most would not know, but Sachin has scored 9 ODI centuries against Australia, which is the highest for any player against a single team. He also occupies the second place with 8 hundreds against Sri Lanka. Sanath Jayasuriya, with 7 against India, and Saeed Anwar, with 7 against Sri Lanka, come in next. And, Sachin’s the only cricketer in the world to have scored over 3,000 runs against a single country, with Australia being his favourite punching bag, and also is the only player to have scored over 2,000 against 3 nations – Australia, Sri Lanka & Pakistan.

Huge as they without a doubt are, Sachin has never let any of those achievements go to his head. The man, who has enthralled millions for the past 2 decades, not just with his batting & bowling, but also with his well-behaved, gentlemanly manners on & off the field, is truly a statesman of cricket, even at a time when most would not call it a gentleman’s sport any more. With his mild manners, and his not so mild batting, this 5’5” tiny giant has proven that the best way to earn respect is by commanding it with his bat, not demanding it because of what his status as the world’s top batsman is.

With 2 decades of cricket behind him, there have been times when he’s not been at his very best, and age obviously has played its role. There have been those occasions when many have dared to clamour for his head when he’s failed to live up to the expectations of his fans, citing age, lack of performance, young blood needed, etc. However, every time there is a call for his head, he comes back stronger, proving to all his critics (including me) that form is only temporary, class is permanent.

With the likes of Geoffrey Boycott, Graham Gooch & Clive Lloyd playing well into their early 40s before finally going into retirement, Sachin would appear to be a good 4-6 years away from retirement. If he does play on till that age, he should have scored at least 15,000 test and 20,000 ODI runs, benchmarks which may remain unbroken forever. Who knows, maybe we will see that day. Till then, we can continue being amazed every time he steps out to bat, and wonder – “Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Superman.” Sachin, the Superman.

Two decades of being at the top of world cricket - what it means

In the last one month, and much more in the past one week, there has been a huge wave of euphoria in India. And, while the character & origin of the wave is pretty much Indian in all aspects, it touches not just India, but goes well beyond its shores to every single continent – Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, America.

What’s this huge euphoria all about? Don’t ask as if you didn’t know and didn’t experience it firsthand. It’s about an achievement by probably the most celebrated & loved son of the soil, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, completing two decades of domineering batsmanship – a definitely giant landmark, which he reaches tomorrow, on November 15, 2009. A giant effort, by all means, and something that is extremely rare – after all, how many cricketers last that long at the top level? Made even more special by the fact that Sachin is already 36 years of age, an age by when most other top league cricketers have already retired, and are doing other not-so-demanding-duties, either as a cricket administrator, or as a commentator for a TV channel, or as a cricket celebrity with his own television show, or as a sports writer for print media, or as a guest cricketer on a cricket show, or, most arduously, as an umpire in the middle of the field. Isn’t it incredible that Tendulkar has lasted 2 decades at the top, despite an ageing physique? Of course, it is humongous & worthy of all the accolades, and even more. Made me wonder if there were any others who were even half as close, and the researcher in me decided to go to work. Here’s what I learnt.

15, yes, 15 players have played for 20 years or more at the international level, before Sachin. However, none of them is an Indian. So, Sachin has created a record – but, it’s not a world record; it is an Indian record. The earlier record was held by the celebrated Lala Amarnath, who played for exactly 19 years; not a day less, not a day more. The list of 15 contains a few players who we’ve seen playing & probably loved/idolized in our own times. Traicos, who played for Zimbabwe & South Africa; Imran Khan of Pakistan, first of the two Asians in the list; Bob Simpson of Australia; Cowdrey for England; Sir Garfield Sobers of West Indies, and last but not the least Mushtaq Mohammad for Pakistan. Great names, as we all know, who’ve done so much for cricket & became legends in their time. By joining the 20 years’ league, Mr. Tendulkar surely is in august company. The legendary batsman who Sachin is often compared to, Don Bradman, himself lasted 19 years and 262 days, and if we were to include 19 years’ cricketers to this list, it suddenly jumps to 26 including Tendulkar. Other noteworthy players who we’ve seen playing, who join in now are Graham Gooch & Sachin.

Incidentally, at the top of this list sits a certain Wilfred Rhodes of England, who played for 30 years and 315 days, appearing in 58 tests for his country. He started playing at the turn of the 19th century in 1899 and continued till 1930. Not many international matches were played at that time, and just his stamina to last so long, shows his class. Rhodes' achievements can be gleaned from the fact that he was an all-rounder, who made 2,325 test runs with 2 centuries and scalped 127 test wickets during his career. As one looks at his first class record, this becomes even more phenomenal – 39,969 runs and hold your breath, 4,204 wickets! He was, without a doubt, probably the best all-rounder born in the 19th century! Or, is he probably the best cricketer ever in the history of the game?

As I was looking at statistics, my eyes fell on the man at the top of the table of those who completed 18 years, but didn’t reach 19 – W.G. Grace of England. I was immediately reminded of two things I knew about him. He was the first man to scalp 10 wickets in a single innings. But wait, that’s not all. I also knew that he had also hit two triple centuries before donning the whites for England. That much I knew about him, and with that I went to work. The man played for 18 years and 270 days, and what I discovered was mind-boggling.

Grace played 22 tests in the almost 19 years long period. He made 1,098 runs with 2 centuries to his credit, and took 9 wickets. Not mean, you must be wondering. Wait, this is where the fun begins. What do you think he did during those 19 years when tests were not being played? He played first class, of course, scoring a staggering 54,211 runs with 124 centuries, and scalping 2,809 wickets! Whoa. If he had lasted those 30 years that Rhodes did, statistically he would have gone beyond the 4,204 wickets mark, and his runs would have been over 80,000!!! Now, I am seriously beginning to wonder if Rhodes was the best cricketer born ever. Coincidentally, Grace’s last match was Rhodes’ first. So, from where he hung his boots, Rhodes took over.

If one has to look at age-related capability, any comparison with Grace pales. He opened for England at the age of 50! But, let’s leave his cricketing achievements aside, and look at some others things. At the age of 18, he scored 224 not out in a match, and then left halfway through, in order to participate in a 400 meters hurdles championship, which he won! He was a fully qualified, practicing doctor by profession, and a cricketer just for the joy of being one. Though, he was also the most handsomely (and obscenely handsomely) paid cricketer. During his first tour of Australia in 1873-74, he took home 1,500 U.K. pounds as fee, an amount that far exceeds 100,000 U.K. pounds at present value. In Indian Rupee value, he got almost Rs. 1 crore for a single season tour of test cricket, at a time when cricket was in its infancy and definitely not even one-tenth as monetarily rewarding as today. He was, by far, the highest paid cricketer even on his very first tour itself. His career earnings are considered to be over a million U.K. pounds at present value – that’s Indian Rupees 10 crores. Whew, what a man!

When I realized that Grace had played till the age of almost 51, I decided to look up cricketers who played beyond 40. The list is huge, and features 102 cricketers. Grace is 3rd oldest on the list, and surprise, surprise, the top slot goes to by now familiar, Mr. Wilfred Rhodes, who played on till the age of 52 years and 165 days. Old men, should I say? Maybe yes, but old men with awesome abilities. In comparison, Sachin is just 36½, and a kid by that comparison, who’s still got 16 years to go if he wants a shot at that record. In any case, just to reach the top 100 (and be at the bottom of that list at position 100) of oldest players, Sachin will have to play till he is 40 years and 13 days old – into the first week of May, 2013 (another 3½ years from now). Will he last that long? One doesn’t know. He has already done enough and reached more milestones than any single man can dream of holding. However suddenly, in comparison, the 20 years looks like it’s too early to celebrate.

The God is human after all...

Sachin Tendulkar became the first man in the history of cricket to hit 45 ODI centuries. And, in the process, also became the first man to hit 17,000 runs. And, as if that was not sufficient, he also became the first man to hit almost 3,000 runs (he’s just 5 short) against a single nation. Surely, signs of greatness that is unparalleled. As one of his greatest fans, I am elated. However, as one of India’s supporters I am hugely disappointed with what happened at the end of that marvelous innings of 175 runs.

Sachin did all the hard work single handedly, taking India to the brink of victory in a match that seemed a hopeless cause even before the Indian batting innings began. After all, when a team scores 350 runs, and that team happens to be Australia, you’ve already lost the match before you step out to chase. And if all your batsmen, barring a couple, fail, then you can say goodbye to any high hopes of an upset win. However, one man and his determination stood between Australia and a sure win – Sachin Tendulkar. A man who’s without a doubt a worry for any side till he’s on the crease.

In India, the most dangerous thing is not the Bengal Tiger or the Gir Lion; it is a marauding Sachin Tendulkar. And when he’s on the prowl, you don’t know where to hide. And he showed more than his fangs yesterday, despite his age, and waged almost a solitary battle to try & win the match. Sadly, he failed to finish the task, and just when it seemed that India had got the better of Australia in an epic battle, his wicket changed the game totally.

As a Sachin fan, I am delighted by his innings under such tremendous pressure. With most of his team members failing, it was all left to Sachin to chase down the target, and he single-handedly almost carried India home with an authoritative 141-ball 175. However, he fell at a crucial juncture, with India needing 19 runs off the last 18 balls. What more can you ask of the man, many ask? I humbly would like to answer by saying, nothing more than victory for my nation. After all, personal magnificence can never be greater than national glory, and no personal achievement is bigger than national triumph.

I am reminded of what Sachin so often says himself, “No record is good enough, if we can’t win the match”. Either I, as his fan, go by what he’s been saying for so many years, or I assume that those are just good sounding statements that don’t mean anything, and laud Sachin for a great innings and his records, forgetting that he did not finish the task and win the match, and virtually threw his wicket away when there was no need to play adventurously. What saddens me the most is not the loss; it is the manner in which Sachin fell. When there was no need to press the panic button, he decided to play an unnecessary cheeky shot and, in the process, lost his wicket and cost India the match that he almost made us win.

What I say is a resonation of what MS Dhoni also said – “India lost the mental battle, falling at the last hurdle. You work so hard to get to a well, but then you have to drink the water yourself.” To further quote Dhoni, “I think it was the mental part, where you know you can play a big shot and you back yourself to do that. At times you just go through the motions, you don't know if such a shot is needed or not.” That, to me, is what happened to Sachin, and that is where he failed to be the God that all of us make of him, and showed that like us, he too is human, and prone to ill-judgements & wrong-doings.

Aussies claim the Champion's Trophy... but others also demonstrated their might

Aussies are the world champions, and there's no denying that fact. New Zealand would have loved playing against their frenemy in the finals, but they were clearly outclassed in the game. Sure, they would have missed Vettori and many others who could have contributed, but for their injuries. But that does not take anything away from the victory that Australia etched out.

Teams like South Africa, India and Sri Lanka didn't make to the semis despite being great on paper and being in form. The 'play a game, win you're in, lose you're out' format didn't do them any good, but the same held true for other teams as well.

Pakistan - the pariahs of cricket - played well as a unit and demonstrated their capabilities to the hilt, but coulddn't make it to the last stage. A lot has been written & discussed about umpiring decisions that probably cost them the right to play the finals, and a chance at winning the trophy. Right or wrong umpiring decisions are a part & parcel of the game and there shouldn't be any bad blood over that. You win some, you lose some.

For me, the two teams of the tournament have to be England and West Indies.

England surprised one and all to set up a semi-final clash with the Aussies, which was great on their part. Coming from a horrible 6-1 beating in ODIs at the hands of Australia, they really regrouped well to play a great tournament, without betraying any lack of confidence.

The West Indies, the second rung team that was hastily put together by their board, came into the tournament as babes in the woods, but held their heads high all through. They fought bravely, ignoring the pressure of many giants of cricket who they were up against, and gave their fans a lot to cheer about.

Other than the Aussies, who finally won the trophy, the tournament has thrown up many likely champions (teams as well as individuals) that cricket fans the world over will look out for in the future. All in all, it was good cricket and a great tournament.

WADA... let some good sense prevail!

Sachin Tendulkar is arguably the most popular cricketer in the world. He also is the most threatened. He enjoys ‘Z-class’ security, provided by the Indian government to leading politicians, a chosen few business leaders and a very few select others, who are considered extremely valuable for the nation and are also on the target list of terrorist groups. M.S. Dhoni is another cricketer accorded such a status. But that should not flatter Dhoni… the fact that this security cover was given since he was threatened by terrorists should not make him a happy man. It is evident that terrorist organizations would like to plan an attack on both Sachin & Dhoni (both national heroes and India’s pride), and deal a severe blow to India. Providing them Z-cover security is just one way of ensuring enough protection is available to the two to negate any nefarious plans that the terrorists may hatch. This also means that it is absolutely critical to ensure that their whereabouts are not easily known, and most definitely not much in advance, making them vulnerable to terrorists who can have the luxury of time & knowledge to plan & carry out an ambitious attack. And should such big national heroes with a fan-following that is unparalleled be subjected to such ‘audits’? Is this not atrocious?

I am referring to the new clause by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) that requires all sportsmen globally to declare their whereabouts at least 3 months in advance to the anti-doping authority. The ‘whereabouts’ clause makes it necessary for the players to give details about their availability for one hour every day between 6 am and 11 pm for random ‘out-of-competition’ testing by WADA officials. This is to check & ensure that sportspersons are not planning & doping during non-competition days to gain an edge during competitions, without the fear of detection.

What the clause proposes as penalties is that if the sportsmen are not found at the place on the first occasion and the test can’t be carried out, a warning is served. A second occasion means that they can be severely reprimanded. And, according to WADA rules, any sportsperson who misses 3 tests in 18 months faces a two-year sanction. Now, isn’t that harsh? How could anybody – you, me, anybody – know exactly where they will be over the next 90 days during a particular hour, each day of the 90 days? And then ensure that nothing, absolutely nothing, comes in the way of their being present at that location at that precise hour. Everyone has several family, social and work commitments that can create emergencies warranting the change. Don’t we all take vacations on a spur, without any planning and suddenly embark on a journey to a location which was not even in our remotest thoughts 24 hours ago? Cricketers are no different, and have various personal & commercials commitments off the field that can’t be finely planned or revealed 90 days in advance, and should be allowed their privacy. The clause is too invasive & restrictive, to say the least. Surely, our cricketers, our national heroes must be spared of the abuse through such draconian laws!

Now, I am not a supporter of drugs – in sports or otherwise – and I would definitely want that they be banned from international competitions, and those breaking the rules be severely punished. Three sportsmen who I really admired were Ben Johnson of Canada, the sprinter who broke Carl Lewis’ record & monopoly in the 100-200-400 meter events and created a new world record in 1988; Florence Griffith Joyner, the US sprinter and new world record holder for 100m & 200m in the 1988 Olympics; and Marion Jones, another American sprinter who won five medals (an astonishing feat which had never been achieved by a female athlete before) at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Before Ben Johnson, Carl Lewis was the king of track and his supremacy was unchallenged. Johnson arrived on the scene, and quickly started pipping Lewis at various track & field meets, finally beating him in the 1988 Olympics 100m dash, creating a new world record of 9.79 seconds. However, Ben’s sample tested positive for banned substances and he was stripped of his gold medal 2 days after creating history, his record was rescinded, he was banned from international competition, and Lewis proclaimed the winner. A shameful end to the career of a hero, who set many a pulse racing.

Florence Griffith Joyner was a triple gold medalist at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where she set the 100 & 200 meter world records and also helped the US team win the 4x100m relay. Lovingly known the world over as Flo-Jo, she captivated the world with her phenomenal speed and flamboyant style. However, her near-masculine physique & vast improvement over a very short time fuelled rumours about performance-enhancing drugs. These became even more vociferous after the 1988 Games, and she announced her retirement immediately thereafter. Doubters said that she announced her retirement to beat the drug testers, specially after the Ben Johnson episode during the same Olympics. Again, a shockingly early end to what seemed a very promising career.

Marion Jones passed 160 doping tests before finally admitting in a U.S. court in 2007 that she had taken the banned substance Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) before the 2000 Olympics. The admission, after years of denial, came as part of a plea bargain agreement with prosecutors, who charged her with lying about her steroid use. She was then stripped of her 5 Sydney Olympics medals, all her competitive results since September 2000 were annulled, and she was banned from the sport for two years. She retired from athletics immediately thereafter. On January 11, 2008, Jones was also sentenced to 6 months in jail. A huge disgrace for a person who was a national treasure till then.

Cricket has its own shameful stories, and Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar & Mohammed Asif have been accused of taking drugs and PCB awarded punishment to both and kept them out of the sport. A cricketer of the stature of Shane Warne, who was a world record holder, a global idol & a role-model for millions of budding cricketers, was dropped from the Australian cricket team and sent back from the 2003 ICC World Cup because of a banned drug being found in his sample, despite his unsurpassable importance to the Australian campaign in winning the champion’s crown.

Nobody can deny that doping is present at various levels in sports, and specially at the top it becomes a huge problem that needs to be tackled with a firm hand. Not just because it means that sportsmen playing by the book are robbed of their rightful status by cheats, but also because these cheats become heroes & role models for youngsters the world over, who follow & copy them. The fact that world record holders have tested positive and finally admitted to their guilt is something of great concern.

All these examples, where leading, reputed sportspersons were found guilty & punished severely, have proven to be huge deterrents for other sportsmen harbouring hopes of going scot free. Clearly, there is a need to regulate, check & punish the guilty ones, and create an example for others, so that nobody ever tries to cheat. So, this hue & cry that the Indian cricketers are raising about privacy concerns is so very narrow-minded that it is hard to digest.

World over, many champions, bigger names than the biggest cricketers, have gone ahead and agreed to co-operate. Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Andy Murray have marked their protest, yet signed on the clause. Champions like Roger Federer & Lance Armstrong have welcomed it, knowing that it is not a witch-hunt and it will help weed out such practices & make sports clean. Ricky Ponting & Andrew Flintoff are also signatories. Don’t they all have security concerns, or do they not lead a life that is not 100% regimented and 100% pre-determined? So, what is so special about our cricketers and BCCI? FIFA, which has more muscle than any other sports body in the world, has also refused to sign the clause in its entirety. They have also expressed concerns of their players, but unlike the BCCI, they have not rejected it altogether. Instead, they have proposed to WADA that only players they deem high-risk should be part of the ‘whereabouts’ clause. Obviously, they understand & agree with the greater objective & its merit, and treat the proposal as a necessary evil on the path to glory.

The public at large wants to see their heroes perform wonders every time they step on the field. But more importantly, they want clean sports and clean heroes. If our cricketers think they are holier than thou and above reproach, incidents that I pointed out earlier are testimonies that this may not be absolutely true, and in any case needs to be thoroughly guarded against. If Indians are not ready to adapt themselves to global norms, they cannot hope to be seen as a part of the global sports world. Being a top athlete has its joys, but it also has certain responsibilities, which by their very nature of being responsibilities are not all that easy to live up to. Our cricketers and our board will have to learn to abide with them and live as one with the world. Their current stance has put the Indian cricketers’, the BCCI’s & the ICC’s reputation, and even cricket’s future, at stake. Howsoever much may I admire them, I cannot help but find fault with Indian cricketers’ stance on this issue. With their current decision, they will only end up alienating themselves, and doing great injustice to those who like to play the game fairly. Hope some good sense will prevail over the men in blue, and they will finally emerge from this crisis as real heroes.