What gives a cricketer the divine right to sledge his opponents - his team being in a winning position or his individual achievement at that moment (i.e hitting the bowler for a few runs or getting a batsman's wicket with an unplayable delivery). Does age give the cricketer the right to sledge opponents younger than him but not someone older or is it cricketing experience?
Irfan Pathan's detractors among my friends claim that it was improper for a 19 year old green-horn like him to sledge an older and experienced player like Damien Martyn in full view of the millions of TV veiwers while Brad Williams was blameless because no one saw him.
For me, sledging is not a team game. It is just one result of the agressiveness inherent to a fierce competitor. While in a introverted player like Tendulkar or Dravid, the aggressiveness results in increased resolve. But in some, like Pathan, it just translates into mirth - mirth that just bubbles over from his heart on seeing the back of his nemesis. I am not a supporter of sledging, but just the fact that age or nationality should not be the deciding factor when we condone the practice.
Some of the same people who were berating Pathan yesterday were also laughing at Zaheer Khan for staring at the Aussie openers at the Wanderers last year when he was being belted all over the park. But what was he supposed to do? Put his head down and kick at the grass and go back to his mark? Isn't "Hold your head high even at the face of defeat" the first lesson any sportsperson supposed to learn? So why are we blaming our own players for standing up to adversity in their own way? Isn't it our duty as their fans to back them up?
Monday, February 09, 2004
Sunday, February 08, 2004
NRIs in India - right or wrong
Few years ago, a mere glance at the "bridegroom wanted" column in the local personals would have been a very good indicator of the IT boom that was sweeping through India. And then the bust heralded a down trend in the frequency of such ads with the foreign returned/settled techie's going down in the charts. This period also saw a marked increase in NRI's coming in droves to India with their investing dollars/pounds etc.
The government soon recognized the spending power of these pseudo-Indian citizens and started several measures to woo them, the annual PBD etc. Of late, the government is talking about giving voting rights to these NRIs, much alike the votes that Americans on national duty are eligible for. This at a time, when even the American government is talking about the (in)feasibility of ensuring the validity of such votes in this age of chads and hung electorates.
I am not degrading the status of the NRI, but a NRI claiming rights in both India and the country of his origin does not appeal to me as morally right. I mean, a NRI has voluntarily left the country of his birth only because he thinks that the conditions are detrimental to his progress or are slowing his progress - the classic case of the other side of the ocean having the greener pasture. So now when you find the grass is dying now, you can come back to the original grazing ground, but obviously you can't expect to get the same territory that you had earlier - meaning you can't demand things that half the people who stayed back and fought against the conditions, who started the gold rush in the first place.
I am not saying that these ppl dont deserve what the government is offering in a platter, but only that these efforts can be worthwhile if the targetted audience is different. Its the NRI's moral right to give something back to India. Not every NRI came abroad as a indentured laborer. So is it proper to leave when the going gets tough and come back only to cash in to a boom?
I think its not and its not becoming of a national government to give out rights like that freely. The situation does not demand that. It's not that NRS's are denied rights like these in the nation of their adoption. So the need to heap it on them in India is just not there. Will saner heads in the Vajpayee government prevail in this issue?
My take on this matter is that, we are in such a position that we can institue a system like the american green card system, for these NRIs. If you want (not that the NRIs are fighting for these rights that the BJP government is falling over to provide) to get some rights in modern day India, move to India for a couple of years, pay the taxes (at least token taxes) just like the average tax payer and contribute to the GDP with not just overseas money but with your sweat and flesh.
It might look like India is persecuting its own kin but it is just fair that we expect them to provide some inputs for the same rights that we as citizens of India get. And the main input for the government is taxes and its just fair that these taxes be paid by every qualified Indian citizen, even if the citizen is an NRI.
The government soon recognized the spending power of these pseudo-Indian citizens and started several measures to woo them, the annual PBD etc. Of late, the government is talking about giving voting rights to these NRIs, much alike the votes that Americans on national duty are eligible for. This at a time, when even the American government is talking about the (in)feasibility of ensuring the validity of such votes in this age of chads and hung electorates.
I am not degrading the status of the NRI, but a NRI claiming rights in both India and the country of his origin does not appeal to me as morally right. I mean, a NRI has voluntarily left the country of his birth only because he thinks that the conditions are detrimental to his progress or are slowing his progress - the classic case of the other side of the ocean having the greener pasture. So now when you find the grass is dying now, you can come back to the original grazing ground, but obviously you can't expect to get the same territory that you had earlier - meaning you can't demand things that half the people who stayed back and fought against the conditions, who started the gold rush in the first place.
I am not saying that these ppl dont deserve what the government is offering in a platter, but only that these efforts can be worthwhile if the targetted audience is different. Its the NRI's moral right to give something back to India. Not every NRI came abroad as a indentured laborer. So is it proper to leave when the going gets tough and come back only to cash in to a boom?
I think its not and its not becoming of a national government to give out rights like that freely. The situation does not demand that. It's not that NRS's are denied rights like these in the nation of their adoption. So the need to heap it on them in India is just not there. Will saner heads in the Vajpayee government prevail in this issue?
My take on this matter is that, we are in such a position that we can institue a system like the american green card system, for these NRIs. If you want (not that the NRIs are fighting for these rights that the BJP government is falling over to provide) to get some rights in modern day India, move to India for a couple of years, pay the taxes (at least token taxes) just like the average tax payer and contribute to the GDP with not just overseas money but with your sweat and flesh.
It might look like India is persecuting its own kin but it is just fair that we expect them to provide some inputs for the same rights that we as citizens of India get. And the main input for the government is taxes and its just fair that these taxes be paid by every qualified Indian citizen, even if the citizen is an NRI.
Thursday, February 05, 2004
Nipple-gate!
Terminology catches up fast. Lazy Geek writes about possible actions that the FCC is considering for live events - major being a 5 second lag. So all those live matches would be "Deferred Live" - as we were informed during the soccer world cup last in 2002.
Well, as one of the comments on Lazy Geek's post, echoing the Geek's own post, mentions, this system would not work with games like cricket where, thankfully, the game is not affected by TV coverage. In fact in Australia, Channel Nine and other stations regularly cut from live cricket to their regular programs.
Quite the opposite here in America, where, yesterday, ESPN deferred the start of its 11:00pm Sports Center till the end of the Cavs home game against the Lakers, which went into overtime, maybe due to the wastage of valuable seconds by LeBron James till he went off balance trying to beat the shot clock and break the tie with a huge 3 pointer.
The comedy of errors that this "clothing malfunction" has degenerated too, has every captivated cartoonist in America. Daryl Cage's Professional Cartoonists Index (on Slate) has 12 pages of Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl. Some of them even feature Mr. Phil of Punxsutawney, the groundhog weatherman who signals the advent of spring every year on the 2nd of February (GroundHog Day)every year, which this year coincided with Super Bowl Monday and the day after the most talked about expose in America after the Woodward and Bernstein's expose of the Watergate Hotel break-in in 1972. Depending on which source you would believe, Mr. Phil has been left deeply scarred or deeply scared by the sight of Ms. Jackson's right mammary that he has said that winter would last for another 6 weeks for sure. Well, isn't that what he says every year?
Well, as one of the comments on Lazy Geek's post, echoing the Geek's own post, mentions, this system would not work with games like cricket where, thankfully, the game is not affected by TV coverage. In fact in Australia, Channel Nine and other stations regularly cut from live cricket to their regular programs.
Quite the opposite here in America, where, yesterday, ESPN deferred the start of its 11:00pm Sports Center till the end of the Cavs home game against the Lakers, which went into overtime, maybe due to the wastage of valuable seconds by LeBron James till he went off balance trying to beat the shot clock and break the tie with a huge 3 pointer.
The comedy of errors that this "clothing malfunction" has degenerated too, has every captivated cartoonist in America. Daryl Cage's Professional Cartoonists Index (on Slate) has 12 pages of Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl. Some of them even feature Mr. Phil of Punxsutawney, the groundhog weatherman who signals the advent of spring every year on the 2nd of February (GroundHog Day)every year, which this year coincided with Super Bowl Monday and the day after the most talked about expose in America after the Woodward and Bernstein's expose of the Watergate Hotel break-in in 1972. Depending on which source you would believe, Mr. Phil has been left deeply scarred or deeply scared by the sight of Ms. Jackson's right mammary that he has said that winter would last for another 6 weeks for sure. Well, isn't that what he says every year?
A World XI to face Australia without Mr. Special !! Is this a joke?
Trevor Marshallsea, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald about the ICC's reported proposal for the Super Series between Australia and the Rest of the World, puts forth a likely eleven using the PricewaterHouse Coopers ratings for the top batsman and the bowlers in the world today.
Here's where Marshallsea stumbles. Now his top six of the Rest of the World team comprises of six of the top eight non Aussie batsmen who make up the top 10 (the two Aussies in the top 10 being Ponting and Hayden at positions 2 and 4 respectively). The team's wicket keeper would Kumara Sangakkara (the highest ranked wicket keeper on the batsmen's list after Gilchrist) with Pollock, Murali, Ahktar and Ntini rounding off the eleven as the team's bowling attack.
Now why is this team a joke (even though it is pure conjecture), even if the availability of these players for a still to be announced series is uncertain? Because, of one absentee in the list. Because the absentee's boasts of an average of 63.52 against Australia at a strike rate that would make any modern batsman proud. Because he is one batsman that the Aussies would not want againt them. And we all know who he is.
Now the inclusion of Mark Richardson (who's ranked one spot above Laxman currently) defies logic, because Sangakkara, who makes it in as the wicketkeeper is Sri Lanka's opener too. So substituting Richardson with Laxman and asking Sangakkara to open with Gibbs would do this team a lot of good, in every sense of the game.
I am still laughing. Well, it is conjecture at the moment and in all probability, this series will be still born, but Marshallsea's Rest of the World team is still a joke.
Here's where Marshallsea stumbles. Now his top six of the Rest of the World team comprises of six of the top eight non Aussie batsmen who make up the top 10 (the two Aussies in the top 10 being Ponting and Hayden at positions 2 and 4 respectively). The team's wicket keeper would Kumara Sangakkara (the highest ranked wicket keeper on the batsmen's list after Gilchrist) with Pollock, Murali, Ahktar and Ntini rounding off the eleven as the team's bowling attack.
Now why is this team a joke (even though it is pure conjecture), even if the availability of these players for a still to be announced series is uncertain? Because, of one absentee in the list. Because the absentee's boasts of an average of 63.52 against Australia at a strike rate that would make any modern batsman proud. Because he is one batsman that the Aussies would not want againt them. And we all know who he is.
Now the inclusion of Mark Richardson (who's ranked one spot above Laxman currently) defies logic, because Sangakkara, who makes it in as the wicketkeeper is Sri Lanka's opener too. So substituting Richardson with Laxman and asking Sangakkara to open with Gibbs would do this team a lot of good, in every sense of the game.
I am still laughing. Well, it is conjecture at the moment and in all probability, this series will be still born, but Marshallsea's Rest of the World team is still a joke.
Wednesday, February 04, 2004
Preview!!
This blog is approaching a major milestone in the next couple of days and what better occasion to introduce that inevitable factor called change. Well.. spew forth ur suggestions and I shall be glad to try to make your experience on this blog as better as possible.
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