Take a bow, Murali

Few cricketers polarise cricket world like Muttiah Muralitharan does and now voices would break all decibel barriers as the Lankan maverick joined the 700 Test wicket club, founded by a certain Shane Warne.

The case with Murali has been either you love him or you hate him. There simply is no in between. Bishan Singh Bedi felt Murali is a javelin thrower, a bandit in flannels. Martin Crowe believes Murali should be chucked out of the game. Another commentator opined Murali should figure in dart competitions and not in cricket field.

But there is another school of thought as well. Many a friendship would be strained in debates on whether his freak action is result of an elbow bent at birth or a wicked effort to exploit ICC's ambiguity on the subject. But the fact remains that Murali has curved a niche for himself and is here to make an indelible mark in the game's history.

Isn’t it incredible that in a trouble-torn Sri Lanka, divided deep along ethnic and religious lines finds a unifying factor in Murali?

Murali is set to overtake Shane Warne later this year, right at the leggie's backyard, perhaps amid jeers and cat calls. Lesser mortals could have succumbed to the series of setbacks Murali withstood in a rollercoaster career. Hostility has often brought out the best in Murali. So when he eventually eclipses Warne in Australia, the boos and barracking would only confirm Murali's status as perhaps the best off-spinner the game has ever seen.

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P.S. I take this occasion to share my experience of meeting Murali. I have been to Colombo to cover that ill-fated Unitech Cup last year. Chicken-hearted South Africa had just pulled out following a blast, which meant SAF Games, and not cricket, was my purpose of staying put in the picturesque Lanka capital.

There is a lovely, lively food court at the basement of the Cinnamon Arcade in Colombo and you would be treated to food of every possible kind while local bands belt out old numbers. Born, bred and spoiled by sweet-biased Bengali diet, I found food too hot. I was clueless as I moved from one counter to another.

I had reached the Lankan food stall when I realised that virtually the entire Lankan squad was out there with their family. The guy in the counter asked me what I would love to have and I explained him my problem, also maintaining an eye on the gentleman on my left, with a baby in his arms.

"You should go for plain rice and pulse, that should not be a problem with you," the advice came from the most unexpected corner. Muralitharan had his son in his arms and he too was glancing through the dishes on display.

I thanked him profusely and ordered the one he suggested. "Did you take your son to your in-law's place in Chennai?" I asked.

"No, he has not. But we will soon visit Chennai ," he replied.

As I returned to my table, I could not help but compare Sri Lankan cricketers with their Indian counterpart. Have no illusion, the Lankans love their game as passionately as Indians do. But there is a clear line of demarcation between passion and madness there.

Murali, Vaas, Sangakkarra were not mobbed in the food court and there was not a single security person to shove you aside to make way for them.

As I gulped down the rice with generous amount of soft drinks, I watched Murali, a perfect family man, taking care of his baby and chatting with his wife, just like an ordinary man, after a day's hard work in the office, was out to dine with his family. Stardom often strips you off humility, but again, Murali has often been an exception.

Image: Getty Images

You can't take us for a ride, Kapil!

As BCCI and ICL put on the gloves, now it’s turn of Kapil Dev, a pawn in the war, to take the gullible follower of the game for a massive ride.

Caught in the crossfire between BCCI and ICL, Kapil has made it clear that he would head wherever moolah takes him, which is fair enough. If he decides to swap the chairman's chair at National Cricket Academy (NCA) with the more lucrative one at ICL's Executive Board, BCCI has no business to poke its bloody nose.

It's no secret that BCCI does not like competition and any possible threat to its vice-like monopoly has been nipped in the bud. It was hardly surprising that the Board refused permission to the Essel-group backed ICL and is now up to every dirty trick to deny the rebel league a venue. Former players and state associations have been told in clear terms to steer clear of ICL. Kiran More has already spurned Baroda Cricket Association secretary's post to join Kapil at ICL Board and now the former all-rounder is about to follow suit.

Have no illusion, ICL is Zee's deep pocket chief Subhash Chandra's sly, ambitious project to gain a toehold in organizing of cricket before he can take on BCCI and its misfit chief in their own game. BCCI, always quick on the uptake on issues other than cricket, is quick to sniff the hidden agenda and the first spanner it threw was to allot a one dayer to Chandigarh's Sector 16 Stadium -- last ODI there was held some 14 years back -- to pre-empt any ICL move to host the circus there.

Kapil, being the son of the soil, was entrusted to get the stadium for ICL and he must have thought it was just a matter of approaching the authorities before he can book the stadium. But the officials there told him that they simply can't afford to antagonise BCCI and that’s it.

UT Sports Director IS Sandhu said

Kapil brought up the topic (of having ICL matches at the Stadium) and we informed him of our intent; the Stadium has got an ODI after 14 years (the India-Australia match on October 8), and we don’t want to go against the BCCI. We will only be corresponding with the BCCI on cricketing matters.

As he remains defiant to BCCI diktat that you can’t be with BCCI and ICL at the same time, Kapil’s version as to why he is siding with ICL is naive to the point of being hilarious.

Kapil insists he wants to serve the game and the nation and that’s why he is with ICL. One understands his fascination with words like "the game of cricket" or "serving the nation" but sadly, Kapil is no more the same simpleton he was. Fame and fortune have transformed him into a 'show-me-the-money' guy, who can go any extent to milk his playing day reputation for money-mileage, which is again, I fear, fair enough. But what is grossly unfair is the trash about serving the game and the country. Nobody, even if you are country’s lone World Cup winning captain.

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Sadistic ICC free-hits bowlers for a six

A bloodbath is on the cards. ICC’s glib-tongued megalomaniacs in pin-stripe suits, aided by a handful of former players craving for the crumbs, have done enough damage to cricket and the latest decision to allow free-hit is yet another step that is abysmally sad, and sadistic as well.

Cricket has been reduced to something as unfair as a Spanish bull-fighting with ICC playing the picador’s role. Bowlers are the bulls, weakened by lances the Picador has thrust into its back and neck muscles. Constant bleeding leads to a dizziness and comes the banderilleros to stab the banderillas and run the poor creature in a few more rounds, until the bull stops chasing.

Then enters the matador to finish it off and walk away with the plaudits, leaving the bull, sword buried deep into its flesh.

ICC’s sadism can match only the Franco regime, which had hailed bullfighting as the fiesta nacional. Ill-advised by its Cricket Committee -- two former Caribbean pacers are a minority in the body -- the ICC declared after its recent Annual General meeting in London that if a bowler bowls a front foot no-ball in a one dayer, the following delivery will be deemed a free hit and the batsman cannot be dismissed by the bowler from that delivery.

ICC’s blatant batsman-bias is not baffling though. The sight of flogging the bowlers has been a constant source of joy for the sadistic ICC, which cocked up changes after changes with the sole ambition of making a monumentally mismatch between the willow and the leather. One day cricket has been the ideal platform where bowlers have been reduced to second class citizen and their role has been limited to play the canon-fodder.

Dennis Lillee fears, ICC would next ban Yorker, banish out-swingers and prohibit slower ball. ICC is a blindfolded donkey, which heads to wherever the radish in moolah leads it. In their next meeting in Dubai, they might altogether come up with the decision that bowlers simply have no business in the game of cricket. Instead, bowling machine would be installed at the bowlers’ end. No chucking controversy, no need for a flexion rule, no overstepping…ICC can keep pampering its spoilt child, the batsman.

Wanted: Fit NRIs, holidaying Indians to join Men in Blue

These days, it’s not really safe for an NRI in the United Kingdom. Laid low by cold bug, Team India is struggling to put 11 fit men in the park and any holidaying Indian or NRI run the risk of being kidnapped and transported to Ireland to prop up Rahul Dravid, bowling his running nose, and his ailing team play South Africa.

S Sreesanth, MS Dhoni, Ramesh Powar, RP Singh and Ajit Agarkar have been worst hit by the bug, while Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer – count Robin Singh too – are also not keeping well.

Rakesh Patel and Arjun Yadav simply could not believe their luck when they got SOS from the Indian team to join the ailment-hit squad. For a breakthrough, you have to be at the right place at the right time, and UK is surely the place for paceman Patel and all-rounder Yadav, son of former offie Shivlal Yadav.

Patel was playing for St Helens Club in Liverpool and Yadav was closer to the Team India base at Eglinton, Ireland. It’s a life-time chance for the duo and their best chance to make an impact at this level.

It was learnt that Monty Panesar was being persuaded to join the squad, after all it's the country of his origin. In case Monty declines, his brother Isher is a certainty. BCCI, however, assures it can also pencil in Samit Dravid and Arjun Tendulkar, if needed.

Back home, pace duo of Ishant Sharma (Delhi) and Ranadeb Bose (Bengal) were also handed over their plane tickets for Ireland.

The dressing room resembles a medical ward and Dravid seemed to be reading out a medical bulletin in his pre-match press conference. It’s an awkward situation for Team India and obviously Jacques Kallis is not perturbed.

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Geyser pays price for World Cup malfunction

(Barbados Bungle artists: Billy Bowden, Steve Bucknor)

Justice delayed is justice denied, alright. But in an imperfect world, two months is not a big deal. Hence, ICC's decision to suspend the disgraced quintet behind the Barbados Bungle deserves kudos.

Steve Bucknor comes across as an affable Jamaican. Aleem Dar looks unruffled under pressure. Rudy Koertzen probably deserved a Chevalier de Légion d'honneur for refusing to be bribed before the Coca-Cola Cup final. On his part, Billy Bowden is cricket's answer to Jim Carey.

But does that mean they would go scot-free after spoiling the summit clash of cricket's greatest extravaganza?

Make no mistake, Australia deserved to win and win in broad day-light. Semi-darkness suits pilferers and cat burglars, not world champions. Bucknor & Co clearly lost the marbles they were supposed to count in Barbados.

Now whether it was Koertzen, who sowed the seed of doubt or not, that’s irrelevant. Mired in controversy, murder theory, upsets, low turn-outs and mediocre displays, the World Cup desperately needed a final to salvage some of its reputation in the spiritual home of the game. And Australia-Sri Lanka showdown meant two best teams had reached the summit clash. But the ill-fated event concluded in the shoddiest manner.

"The umpire at cricket is like the geyser in the bathroom; we cannot do without it, yet we notice it only when it is out of order." So said Neville Cardus. Fair enough. But then it was not just another Tom-Dick-Harry memorial tournament after all.


Image: BBC

Return of the Rogue

Poor Shoaib Malik must be a tense man. His blue print for a revival in Pakistan’s fortune has been jolted with the selectors bringing back the rogue called Shoaib Akhtar. Malik can’t be blamed if he files an affidavit tomorrow, seeking a rechristening. After all, the Shoaibs are, to borrow the cliché, poles apart.

Under Malik, Pakistan cricket seemed ready to shrug off the baggage of its past and the nightmare of a World Cup, in which they lost personal and collective reputations, apart from their coach.

Akhtar’s return is enough to upset any plan whatsoever. With him in the ranks, no total is enough to defend and in ODIs, he means swelling extras and the risk of slow over-rate, thanks to his spectacular run up. As batsman and fielder, Shoaib means the think-tank would have the additional work to hide him in the batting order or out there in the field.

Akhtar has been an incredibly selfish player, who never hesitated to put his personal goal before team’s interest. Seduced by the speedgun, he refuses to shorten his almost never-ending run-up, throwing team interest out of the window. He is there only to put up a show and throw his varied tantrums. He is like a corn that pains Pakistan cricket in every step and hampers its progress.

A rogue with scant respect for others, Shoaib is not the cricketer any coach would want his wards to idolize. He is so enamoured by the show that he forgot substance. Everything he laid his fingers on, turned a huge mess. His presence is often disturbing and he has, time and again, vitiated dressing room atmosphere.

If Malik’s appointment was a step in the right direction, Pakistani selectors undid the good work the moment they thought about Akhtar’s comeback. Malik has seen his tantrums from close quarter and deep inside, he must have abhorred the idea of sharing the dressing room with a teammate with the mindset of a street urchin.

Even his staunch critic can’t accuse Shoaib of being disciplined and the “Rawalpindi Express” always considered himself larger than team, and occasionally, than the game itself.

Cricket in general and Pakistani cricket in particular will be well off without pretenders like Akhtar. Malik is expected to do a Hercules and clear the Augean’ stable called Pakistan cricket. Going by his potentials and temperament, the youngster would surely give it a best shot. But the mere presence of Akhtar is enough to scuttle any such bid. High time Pakistani selectors realized that Akhtar is not worth his tantrums.

Image: AFP

Team India coach: Much ado about nothing

When Shane Warne said the only coach he needed was the vehicle that took the team from hotel to ground, he was not just taking a swipe at John Buchanan. It was actually an Ian Chappell chesnut and the brouhaha over Team India's new coach has again irked Chappelli.

Chappell warns India should not simply crush the new coach with the burden of expectations. A reneissance can come only via "proud and spirited players" led by a "strong coach", he asserts.

Sanjay Manjrekar, one of the rare sane voice in the mad melee, harps on the same issue. Coach has a very limited role to play and it's the players who would have to go out and actually play.

I think Greg Chappell's tenure proved the point beyond doubt. Chappell exceeded brief and encouraged by the coy captain in Rahul Dravid, he became larger than the coach. And it clearly backfired.

Chappell was calling the shots in each and every aspect and Dravid's diminishing stature, especially among the senior teammates, undermined his authority. Chappell did tried some new ideas but his growing stature came in the way of its fruition.

Chappell succeeded in convincing Irfan Pathan that he could bat. And every time Irfan scored, Chappell got unfair share of the kudos. By that time, the coach had outgrown the players, and it was never going to augur well for Team India.

Ian Chappell cries hoars to convince us that coach's can be instrumental behind a revival of fortune but they can't be the instrument. He cited the best example of John Buchanan.

Buchanan's exit did not make Australia a weaker side but if Ricky Ponting is not able to skipper the side, it would well create a problem, he said.

BCCI roped in Chandu Borde to prolong the stop-gap arrangement first made for the Bangladesh tour. Hoping the septuagenarian to free Team India of all its ills would be unfair and brickbats or bouquets -- depending on how the side fare in England -- should be addressed to Dravid and Co. only.

Image: PTI