Was that a Great Advertisement?

Darren Sammy portrayed himself to be most relived man in world today after his team avoided a defeat at the hands of Indians in the third test which was a dead rubber. None would have expected such a finish on the final day after what was dished out on the first four, but that is test cricket as experts would say -where every session is important. The captain of the team which had scored close to 600 runs and had a healthy lead of more than 100 during his post-match presentation said this was great advertisement for game of cricket and which was agreed by many people who would have watched he turn of events through this test.

Great advertisement- was it? No! I would never call this match a great advertisement to the game, instead I would like to point out that the West Indian team is not a worthy opponent against whom we could expect thrilling matches, they despite having first innings lead twice in this series have let their opponent crawl back and secure the series 2-0.Media and cricket board sponsored commentators through their repeated expert view can create a pseudo feeling of greatness about these kinds of matches and sell the game.

Analyzing the history of any competitive sports would point to us that no nation can dominate any popular competitive sport for lengthy time, the decline of one nation has seen the rise of set of other nations which would have enabled that sport to move forward in terms of competitiveness which in turn would increase the passion among fans and thus increasing the popularity. Unfortunately for cricket no new nations have taken the mantle from leaders like West Indies and Australia in moving the game forward. Had countries like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Netherland, Kenya, and Scotland put a strong team which they have failed to do, we wouldn’t have seen a year like this where teams like India and England had to play back to back series against each other. Money generated today have neither being used properly in expanding the game in newer countries nor have it been used to expand the infrastructure of existing nations.

Fatigue and boredom has set amongst the fans watching meaningless series being played by the same set of nations. Excitement would be temporary with small tweaks of changes like introduction of power play in one day games or bowling with different set of balls from two ends, day and night test and test championship which has been proposed would ignite the interest amongst fans for quite a while but cannot sustain the interest unless we see development of game in more nations with the funds being generated today. Boards would not require advertising the game when we see more nations with equal strength competing against each other nor back to back series in the same year.

Who Cares

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I recently read a quote in Facebook on different stages of buying petrol

“1. Denial 2. Anger 3. Bargaining 4. Depression 5. Acceptance ... The 5 stages of buying petrol “

Around this time a year ago, Government of India announced to the citizens of this country that they no longer would be regulating the fuel prices. This bold and historical move was met with hue and cries from the opposition party who claimed that this would increase the inflation rate making the life of common man miserable. Despite all the protest, the government went ahead with the decision and thus the oil companies where given the right to decide their own pricing.

State run petrol companies which supply 90% of the fuel that is being consumed in India have thus so far raised the prices of petrol 7 times in the last one year with the blessings of the government. Every time the prices were raised, we the common citizen got to witness the same drama played by both opposition and ruling party.  Every time there was hike, opposition parties calls for Hartals and strikes which were considered powerful form of protest,which had little or no effect on the government but did/do create lots of inconvenience to AAM JANATA.

Talking of these aam janata, are they really being affected by the price hike?
If you go to any petrol bunk on the day when the price hike is announced you would find huge line of smart commoners awaiting their turn to fill up as much fuel as possible with the intention of saving few precious pennies from their earning. Looking at this scene you would feel pity, but soon this pity would turn into anger and helplessness, as you could find these same people which include the state run transport buses wasting fuel at transport signal. What happened to their smartness? Today, vehicle are technically  so advanced that you just have to press a button to start the engine, despite this  I find the people lazy to turn their engine off at signals where they are brought to stand still for more than 120 seconds.

Despite various efforts taken by NGO’s, government agencies, petroleum companies to educate the public to act smart and save the fuel, their reckless attitude continues.
I have got mails which says petrol are priced cheap in foreign countries and blaming our government on imposing on us this heavy price but have we thought about how much we our self are to be blamed ?

I am not here to give you the gyan on how to reduce the consumption of petrol but here to say that ,there are persons like me  who are bothered by this frequent price rise and its effect on my bank balance.I don’t wish to contribute my earnings for you to waste……

“The Cup that Counts” to the Rainbow Nation.

First round of matches of all the nations competing in the Cricket world cup 2011 are over with all the major nations scoring upright win over their opposition, which was expected. The format of the 10^th edition of the world cup is such that we can safely predict the 7 of 8 quarter-finalist even before the tournament got underway. There is a tossup between West Indies and Bangladesh for the final spot in the quarter. So the real competition would start once the quarter final starts.

Let’s analyse the strength of each nations to predict the finalist and the winner of this edition of the world cup.

West Indies/Bangladesh : It is tough to predict the team which would make it to the quarter final, but if the passion and intensity on the field is to be considered then to me Bangladesh should make it comfortably to the last eight. Bangladesh has been improving their cricket steadily and has quality players like shakib and tamin iqbal who for their cricketing talent can make it any top international side, but as a team they would still struggle to beat any top teams.

New Zealand: Men in black have had a poor run of late in the sub continent with their batsman not been able to score big nor are their bowlers been able bowl out the opposition cheap. If they have to progress to semi final they require lots of luck and their star batsmen like Brendon Macullum, Rose taylor,Jesse ryder to score big while chasing. Chasing would be their better option.

Sri Lanka: The champions of 1996, have a strong team who can fancy themselves to lift the trophy this time too. Their batting is full of stars that on any given day can make opposition bowler sweat a lot. This team has in Angelo Mathews and Perera two quality all rounders. The only weakness I see is their fast bowling at death overs, if they don’t manage to take early wickets and put pressure on the opposition batsmen then they would bleed runs. So if they need to succeed they need their slow bowlers to pick wickets at regular intervals.

Pakistan:The team that most of the opposition would like to avoid till the final would be Pakistan as they are the most unpredictable team playing in this competition. Finals of 1992 and 1999 are the best examples showing us the highs and lows they can reach. Akmals,Guls,Afridis,razzaqs can win matches on their own. According to me their temperament and how well they play as team would decide whether they could lift the trophy and provide a soothing touch to a nation which has been rattled by repeated controversies.

England:The team which holds the record for appearing the most number of time in the finals of the world cup. I have always felt that they don’t exert themselves very much and are the most lazy bunch of guys who are just satisfied to make the finals, but the current team by winning the T-20 world cup in caribbeans they have shown to whole world that they have the killer instinct and cannot be taken lightly. This team coached by Andy flower is a balanced team and have players for all kind of situation that would spring up during this world cup.

Australia:Men in gold are unbeaten in  the world cups  for more than a decade and would like to maintain that record for as long as possible, but the current team is on a downward slide for some time.The team have come to this competition with bowlers who could slinge balls at scorching speed, these fellows could bowl out team cheap or could leak runs in plenty . Batting is more stable if the likes of Watsons,haddins,pointings and Clarke score heavily.Only weakness I see is their lower middle order which once belonged to players like bevan and mike hussey who were renowned finishers of the game.

India: Sehwag,sachin,Gambhir,Virat,Yuvraj,Dhoni,Pathan…Wow  is there any other team who could boast of such a batting line? No would be the answer, if one fails then another would strike which is guaranteed. Chasing should be their option if they have to win this world cup for sachin. The bowling attack  is heavily dependent on a fragile zaheer and harbhajan singh,as the rest of the bowlers struggle to pick up wickets at crucial juncture.

South Africa: Chockers, this tag have stayed with this team for a very long time and it is high time they prove to the world that they have the mental strength to win at big tournament. Their batting strength is probably as strong as India with the top 4 averaging more than 50 for more than 2 years and their fast bowling pair is the best bowling pair in the world who could take wickets whenever required, they have come into this tournament with variety in their slow bowling department, a leg spinner, a left arm spinner and an off break bowler.

Looking at the strength and weakness of all the teams I see the men from the sporting nation of South Africa as the clear favourite to lift this trophy. They need to win this trophy for the betterment of this game and for the South African people who  have cheered all kinds of sports and have shown to the world that they are the best sport loving people.