the brook

The men in blue have achieved what we never thought possible.

For the team that truly gave it their all, the men who played out of their skins, the boys who made us proud to be Indian, and the players who showed what having a heart truly means - You Rock!

There are a hundred different things going on in my mind - but the only thing that matters is a hope that this moment lasts forever.

Chak de India!

With the Twenty20 world cup well underway, I can’t help but feel just that bit concerned that cricket as I know and love it will remain no more.

Clearly, I’m no fan of this version of the game. Cricket is pulled down to two dimensions - slogging and defensive bowling. It’s quite clear that in Twenty20, a batsman doesn’t have to put as high a price on his wicket, which may be putting it mildly. Even if an innings sees a wicket every three overs, a good score is possible, assuming your top seven or eight batsmen can connect ball to bat while swinging wildly. As for bowling, it’s equally clear that there’s little point in experimenting and varying your bowling in the hope of getting a wicket. Setting a batsman up for that wicket taking ball can easily take an over or two and is not always successful, which means that even if the setting up does work and you do get a wicket eventually, the runs conceded while “making the batsman play” will not be worth it. Bowlers, then, will be best served by bowling defensively and trying to save as many runs as possible.

Neither of these approaches are inherently bad; I enjoy run-fests even in test cricket as much as anyone else, and defensive bowling to save an ODI is an art in itself. What I dislike is that there’s little hope of encountering any other strategy in the game - though I suppose one would say it’s too early, and newer strategies might emerge that we haven’t heard of. But we won’t see many batsmen applying perfect technique to stymie the good balls, nor will we see a Shane Warne of the future say of getting 700 wickets, “you tempt the batsman and hope he tries to hit you for six.”

The whole definition of what is “good cricket” will change. It has already started. Consider this quote from a Cricinfo bulletin on the match where Bangladesh beat WI:

The most impressive aspect of the stand was that it was studded with genuine strokes and not ugly slogs or swipes. Aftab in particular used his bottom hand to good effect, picking deliveries from outside the off stump and swinging across the line to square leg.

While it’s possible to play good shots that involve picking a delivery from outside the offstump and using the bottom hand to swing it across to the legs, that isn’t exactly what comes to mind immediately upon imagining an “innings studded with genuine strokes.”

What I love most about cricket is the sense of story. There is a plot to every game, and following the twists and turns of attack and defense in a good game is what I really enjoy. Of course, one cannot hope for the absorbing joy of a test match in a game that lasts slightly longer than one session of play. But I really wish they had done more to bring balance to the game. Something on the lines of fewer overs with field restrictions, or even limiting the number of batsmen allowed to bat. Anything that actually encourages both bowlers and batsmen to make a real choice and vary their approach depending the demands of the situation.

A hot argument right now for 20/20 is that the games are usually closer and there’s a greater chance of causing upsets. No doubt - and the reason is more randomness in the game. You play cricket by making runs using a dice instead of a batsman hitting the shot, and it’ll be even more likely that Zimbabwe beat Australia. Not many tests and ODIs are closely fought, it’s true; but the ones that are happen only when teams happen to be extremely well matched on that particular day and those matches are feasts. In 20/20 virtually every match can go down to the wire just because there simply isn’t enough play to bring out the full quality possible in cricketers.

There is great clamour for a shorter version of the game. It’s possible that this form of cricket will catch on just because there are far greater boundaries in a far lesser amount of time. Comparisons to football abound, some of them ridiculous. Football involves intense continuous sessions of play, because of which the elements of excitement in sport are fully played out. A telling observation is that a major change to the rules of football - the offside - was introduced because it was too easy to score goals, despite the fact that goals technically make a match more exciting.

One benefit of 20/20 is supposed to be the starting of the domestic and international 20/20 leagues which may add a much needed viable layer of cricket, according to Sambit Bal (via). And that’s what I’m actually afraid of. These leagues are supposedly going to be big, with money and corporate ownership. If 20/20 is the wave of the future, and clearly differing skill sets are required for 20/20 vis-a-vis other forms of the game, the older versions may suffer. Although it is also possible the effect will be opposite and all forms of cricket will benefit if there is an increased focus to game. I certainly hope so.

Entertainment is all very well, but I do hope I’m not denied my art a decade from now.

At first sight, the scorecard is hard to believe. Scotland made 152 in 30 overs, and yet the target for the Windies was a “revised” 165.

Turns out it’s due to the Duckworth Louis system, as the match suffered from two rain delays and was twice reduced in the first innings, first to 42 overs, then to 30. It does make sense, though - if a team knows there are only 30 overs to bat, they’ll be more aggressive.

As it turns out, the Windies just about survived.

The gentleman’s game just turned ugly. It has been confirmed that Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach was murdered, strangled to death in his hotel room after Pakistan were knocked out of the world cup.

Sport almost by definition is competition sans malice, rivalry sans warfare. We play, watch and love sport because it’s essentially a friendly activity but with intense competition. Our hearts and souls soar and sink with our team’s performance, but either way the highs and lows fade because at the end of the day, we understand that it’s just a game. Unfortunately, that’s no longer true.

The timing and manner of Bob Woolmer’s death almost certainly indicates that it had something to do with Pakistan’s terrible performance at the world cup. Before the murder was confirmed, Sambit Bal wrote an excellent article explaining why the sport of cricket was already in danger of being hyped to the point of fanaticism. With this incident, a very stark line has been crossed. If a sport as a collective (players, sponsors, fans) cannot handle being a sport, does it deserve so high a pedastal? Is the cricket world cup worth more than a human life?

India has a must-win match this evening against Sri Lanka if it must go into the next stage. Normally, there would be nothing else on my mind. Yet right now, I cannot tell if I’ll be able to bear watching the match.

It’s hard to watch a sport when the result may be a matter of life or death. I can only wonder how hard it must be to play it with that at the back of your mind.

Got to hand it to the Kiwis. Chased down 346/5 with one wicket and 3 balls to spare. What can I say?

And I had plans for work this afternoon. Man proposed, McCullum and McMillian disposed, usually to the long-on fence.

We’re proud today to bring you a story that confirms what our most loyal readers have long suspected - we have sources and connections at the highest levels. In our efforts to bring you the best fake but possible news, we decided to follow up on a rumour at the head honcho’s office - thats right folks, we’re talking about Heaven.

According to reliable sources, recent events on planet Earth have tested God’s patience with humanity. Particularly so the actions of a bunch of Nonsensical and Unprovable Theory Creators And Science Eradication Supporters (NUTCASES) who’re preaching to anyone who listens that God created every single organism on the planet in the blink of an eye through some process called “Intelligent Design”. Our well-informed readers, of course, know that God invented evolution to let species create themselves, which saved Him a considerable amount of work, not to mention gave him tens of millions of years of peaceful (human-free) existence - and He’s pretty proud of it. One can only imagine how the big chief must feel to have His intelligence insulted by an allegation of his supposed worshippers that the world and all its creatures were constructed as arbitrary doodles. This, combined with the actions of a class of people we call politicians (and the people who elect them) are causing a major rethink in upper circles as to whether free will should really be extended so far as to allow people to be so stupid.

To cut a long story short, God needed a break. And so He decided to get some invigorating fresh air, revitalizing exercise, and the satisfying pleasure anyone derives from thoroughly crushing an opponent. For reasons we can only guess at, a reliable source assures us that He chose to take over the form of Roger Federer during an Australian Open 2007 semi-final. Perhaps it was because there’s no other human who’s name is more synonymous with “Supreme Being”.

The demolition was clear enough for all to see. While to the average observer, Federer merely played the best game of his life, this tip from the top office makes it quite clear in retrospect that Roger was in fact divinely possessed. We all expected him to win, of course, but nobody expected the contest to be the equivalent of a Formula-1 race between Michael Schumacher and my grandmother. We’re pretty sure Andy Roddick is the number seven tennis player in the world holding a tennis racket, not a newborn babe with a fly-swatter. Careful analysis of the video tapes, we’re confident, will show that space-time (and other assorted dimensions) were being continually bent to the world number one’s advantage.

We came up with the obvious question - is Roger Federer aware of what went on during the match? He did refuse to talk about it much during the post-match talk and kept referring to his experience as “unreal”. The answer, leaked to us by the Department of Heavenland Security, was a categorical “no”. Apparently, the last time God revealed himself to someone about two thousand years ago, the chap insisted on trying to get everyone on earth to be nice to each other and told them what he had experienced. That led to the misled fellow being nailed to a cross among other unpleasantries, and divine revelation to humans has since been considered practically useless and rather bad form.

- FBPNN (the Fake But Possible News Network)

One of the books that I’m really thankful I’ve read. Without doubt, a wonderful read for any Indian cricket fan. John Wright describes his whole stint as Indian coach; starting from his selection as coach to finish.

Few can argue that since John Wright, Indian cricket has improved in a number of ways - professionalism, fielding, team spirit and so on. One of the major contributions of Indian summers is exactly how this was done. Wright’s before and after descriptions of team training methods, activities and Indian cricket politics are quite startling. Equally insightful are his personal dealings with players, his perspective on the relationship between players themselves, and how they saw themselves at home and away.

Then, of course, there’s the cricket. Wright describes many of the series that the team went through and includes most of the important ones - Australia, the World Cup, Pakistan and so on. He makes the reader relive moments that have to be etched in the memory of any Indian cricket fan - from Laxman and Dravid’s brilliant stand at Calcutta to save the series, to Dravid’s declaration when Sachin was batting on 194 at Multan and so many others. Sometimes I think I’ll just love any book about Indian cricket because recalling those moments is always so poignant.

Also discussed are Wright’s impressions of India and Indians and many of these are heartwarming. I guess being an Indian I can’t help but feel happy and proud that a total stranger coming to my country can find it so endearing. The book includes a very nice collection of his own photographs, mostly of cricket, but some of his memories of India as well.

Rating - 4.5/5

One word: glorious.

This book is a memoir of the 2003-04 Test series. Rahul Bhattacharya poignantly describes every aspect of the series, along with his own experiences and interviews as a freelance journalist.

One of the things I really liked about the book was the description of the Pakistani atmosphere and culture around the matches - the crowds, the gullies, the people. I especially loved his enquiry into what has been a piercing question for most Indians - how are the Pakistanis able to produce such amazing pace bowlers, when we can’t? The unlikely answer - the practice of tape-ball cricket in the streets was quite insightful.

But of course, the best part of the book revolves around the cricket - not only the play, but all the chaos generated by the play. Starting with Dravid’s heart-breaking dismissal on 99 in Karachi, going through Sachin’s lone stand in vain for 141 at Pindi (and Inzi’s 123 two matches later), the whispers of match-fixing, Sehwag’s brilliant 309, the antics of Shoaib, match declaration on Sachin’s 194, Balaji’s wonders with the bat and ball… this was a series positively brimming with tension and excitement; and Rahul Bhattacharya manages to bring it all back.

I was transported to my first year in Masters, packed with so much work; and yet I managed to watch every ball that wasn’t invaded by a class. Of course each class consisted of one hour and about two hundred SMSes about the score (didn’t have a laptop at that time, sadly). A time when nothing else mattered, every waking thought was simply, magically, inevitably transfixed on the what was sport at its absolute best.

For anyone who’s glued to the screen when a ball is being bowled, this book is simply mesmerizing.

Rating: 5 / 5

I don’t think anybody will disagree: the situation at the 4th test between England and Pakistan can only be labeled ridiculous. If you weren’t aware of the circus show, there’s no dearth of places to read about it.

At the end of the day, the fourth umpire communicated that there would no more play today. No word on whats happened to the match or if there will be any play tomorrow. Meanwhile 20,000 people are at the ground who were told nothing of what was happening and another 20,000 are probably due tomorrow. And millions of followers of cricket are completely confused about the game.

Forget about whether what happened and who was right or wrong. This is a sport, governed by rules and adjudicated by a match referee; yet what’s happening here is that officials are “locked in talks” to try and get the match to resume - and have been doing so for a couple of hours now. Since when were decisions in sport debated upon and decided during the course of the game? Just decide whats to happen already by the rules applicable and then deliberate later on who did the wrongdoing and pass appropriate judgments.

I certainly don’t know all the facts (no one does except the people involved) - but I think - fine, if Darrell Hair says the match is over, so be it. He’s the controlling authority for this match. Ask for evidence of ball-tampering later and if there is no satisfactory evidence, charge and punish him as appropriate later. But please, do not make this a standing joke on Test cricket. The game is slow enough as it is without having to take time off in between the game to solve individual ego clashes. Right now, the whole game of cricket is being made to look more immature than kids playing hide-and-seek.