A Fantastic Tournament

I was not able to watch much of the Women’s World Cup ’17. I watched only about 7-8 games of a languid tournament spread over a period of a month. Luckily though, I happened to see some of the most thrilling encounters. I saw Pakistan take on South Africa and defend a modest target with a lot of heart, applying the skid breaks to the South African innings and almost making them trip before they somehow escaped. I saw England; having fallen in their opening encounter against India, slay everyone in their sights till they met Australia. The two sides produced a last-ball thriller, with Australia managing 2 runs when 6 were needed. England then went on to beat South Africa in another nail-biter in the semis; where the lower order batting helped them overhaul a seemingly gettable but ultimately tough target.

And then, there was the great final. In such tournaments, knockout games are rarely as thrilling and some of the best cricket is often played in the group stages, when there is less at stake and when it is easier to throw caution to the wind. Final games are often found guilty of promising much more than they deliver. Usually, a team could get overwhelmed by the occasion and fail to turn up or another could stamp its class with such force that the game peters out. But the two finalists here were in some mood. The twists and turns produced for a fine contest which could have gone either way till the last ball was bowled. It is difficult to find a game in recent memory to rival this final, in its number of moments where the momentum seemed to shift from one team to another.

England’s slow and steady start, the fall of wickets after the 14^th over, then the partnership between Sarah Taylor and Nat Sciver, the counter-burst from Jhulan Goswami to leave England reeling around the 40-over mark and the final push from the gutsy lower-order pairing of Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn. 228 seemed below par but it was the final and India were up against it. And yet Punam Raut and Harmanpreet Kaur put them in control. Kaur, when asked to knuckle down in pursuit of a tricky chase, responded brilliantly and till she was in the middle India looked good. Even after she fell, Veda Krishnamurthy took India within 38 runs of the trophy with Raut still giving company.

But that’s when the game went bonkers. India lost 4 wickets in the space of 10 runs; the last of them Jhulan Goswami, castled by a ramrod straighter one. Running out of batting partners, Deepti Sharma started to counter-attack to bring India within a sniff of getting the target into single digits. Pandey’s run-out was perhaps the decisive turning point of the game though there was still Gunn’s baffling drop to give Poonam Yadav a life. On another night, it could’ve left her with a lifelong scar but Anya Shrubsole was so consistent with her straigther deliveries that it hardly mattered.

It is safe to say that the Women’s World Cup was supposed to be a rather less attractive cousin of the Champions Trophy, staged in the same surroundings just a few weeks earlier. If you are to compare the tournaments in terms of advertising revenues and gate receipts, it will be a no contest. But there should be no doubt about which of the two tournaments produced better contests on the field. There were some great teams on display in the Women’s World Cup, including England and India, but surely the bigger theme here was the coming of age of a tournament. The women have produced quite the party.

Fakhar Zaman's unlikely heist...

Just how did this happen? Fakhar Zaman was not supposed to do this. Hell, he wasn’t even supposed to be in the playing eleven. Drafted in on the run, after the shellacking Pakistan received at the hands of India, he replaced Ahmed Shahzad for the second match. Shahzad was so bad in the opener; that anything Zaman brought to the table would have been an improvement. To predict that he will play the role that he ultimately did; was quite inconceivable at that point.

Like the hero’s side-kick who - after being drafted in at the last moment by the casting manager - goes on to deliver a cameo to savour; Zaman shone brighter than any other Pakistani batsman at the Champions Trophy. In a tournament where most teams focussed on keeping wickets intact while building a steady base in the first 10-15 overs, Pakistan plumped for an outright pinch-hitter in Zaman. They were perhaps forced to do that, considering the lack of hitting muscle in their lower order. Zaman’s hitting prowess meant that he could ease the pressure on the batsmen to follow. They were, therefore, ready to risk his wicket in exchange of an early tempo to the innings.

It suited Pakistan all right because unlike the more powerful batting sides in the tournament; their game depended heavily on the bowling trio of Junaid, Amir and the irresistible middle-over threat of Hasan Ali. Their revival began against South Africa in a rain-hit encounter; continued with an error-prone yet thrilling win against Sri Lanka and culminated in two clinical performances against England and India to seal an emphatic comeback. In the first three of those games; they bowled first and restricted the opposition to below-par scores. In each of those games, Zaman came out flailing his sword and played little gems to break the back of the chase and leave the bowling a bit dazed by the time he departed.

He wasn’t always great on the eye; but he scored runs at more than a run-a-ball all the time and he ensured that the opposition bowling – with not too many runs to play with – found it difficult to find their feet. As a result, by the time he was dismissed, the run rate equation was tilted in favour of Pakistan and all that the middle-order had to do was to nudge the ball around and not lose too many wickets. In the final, he went one step ahead, this time setting up the game for his bowlers with a magnificent hundred. Repreived very early in the innings; he was more cautious this time around but after losing Azhar Ali to a mix-up, changed gears spectacularly. The hitting remained unorthodox but the base he set-up meant that Pakistan’s stronger suit, the bowling, had just too many runs to play with.

Like his shot-making, Zaman also looked a bit awkward in his demeanor. It seemed as if he took a little time to feel at home having been rushed into the thick of the action. His smiles were stifled, his celebrations were muted and he was generally a quiet contributor. Unlike the in-your-face running of Amir or the camera-friendly smoke-bomb celebration of Hasan Ali, Zaman shied away from the limelight. Yet, like his skipper Sarfraz, he looked every bit a likeable character.

After the loss against India where they seemed to lose the plot completely, Pakistan almost built a winning side on the go. Zaman and Junaid were drafted in and instantly clicked, Fahim Ashraf played a key role when called in, Rumman Raees ensured Amir wasn’t missed in the semi-final before Amir himself came back to bowl the momentum-shifting spell in the final. Winning global tournaments does not seem to be enough for Pakistan. They are obsessed with creating a compelling narrative along the way. But even in this big story, the mini-puzzle of just how Fakhar Zaman turned up on time, seems to be intriguing. Shahzad’s injury, Zaman’s own illness before the final, Bumrah’s no-ball – all somehow hint that Zaman was destined to play his hand.

Dialog kamti pada kya re? – An ode to Sadashiv Amrapurkar

I saw very little of Sadashiv Amrapurkar’s work. To be precise, I saw two movies he featured in. One of them was Ishq, released in 1997, a movie I saw in a dusty old theater in Aurangabad. Amrapurkar played Ranjit Rai – by all means a typical Bollywoodish dad of the ‘90s. His was a character reeking of stereotypes, as was the trademark of the 90’s. The movie was largely average too, but Amrapurkar’s nasal voice and his quirky sense made an impact and of the few things I liked about the movie, he was one.

The next time I saw him was about a decade and a half later, in 2013. He dazzled in a blink-and-miss cameo in Bombay Talkies. A movie to commemorate the completion of 100 years of Bollywood, Bombay Talkies brought together four fine directors, each bringing to the plate 30-minute mini-films that together constituted the movie. Amrapurkar appeared in Dibakar Banerjee’s ‘Star’, an adaptation of a Satyajit Ray story ‘Patol Babu – Film Star’.

His four and a half minutes of screen time brought Amrapurkar face to face with Nawazuddin Siddiqui, a forceful talent himself, and the acting master-class the two delivered amidst a skyline dotted with Mumbai high-rises was phenomenal. Emerging out of the garbage bin as the spirit of Siddiqui’s ex-mentor and theatre-guru ‘Appa’, Amrapurkar rises above a shoddy make-up job to deliver a life lesson to his protégé, underlining Purandar’s (Siddiqui) failures as an actor and as a human being.

‘Dialog kamti pada kya re tereku?’ says Appa in his trademark voice, telling Purandar how he has always shied away from taking any risk in life; always wanting the ultimate prize without putting the effort it warrants. His delivery of the famous line from the Marathi play Natasamrat leaves you with goose bumps as he attempts to take Purandar back to days of heady success; but he leaves his best for the last, spelling out ‘aye’ in five different ways. Purandar is left spell-bound as Appa asks him why is his character saying ‘aye’?  Is he saying it before or after being pushed? Is he saying it from his stomach, his eyes, his nose? The message is passed on effectively and Appa is free to vanish into the garbage bin again, having done his job.

It either takes a special talent or a big name to leave such an impact in so little time and Amrapurkar had both on his side. His was a case of a special talent, only rarely provided with a special role to showcase the stuff he was made of. Like the character in Natasamrat, Amrapurkar wouldn’t find it difficult to rent a place in the heart of his fans. His memory will live on for a long time to come. 

The World of Sports…

Eight New Zealand wickets are down, Vettori’s team is staring at a 2-0 series loss in Napier, and even as I write this, the dreaded rain has arrived. As the cricketing season comes to an end, Indian fans are getting to witness a memorable series win in NZ. The Indian team, without doubt has given its fans a lot to cheer about in this season. But even as the season concludes, fans of the game are already looking forward to the (Non-Resident) IPL bonanza to be unleashed in the huge green pastures that South African Grounds are.

This is an exciting time in sports, and along with the cricket season, the EPL also enters its final phase as the race to the title starts getting hotter. The top teams are forced with the task of balancing their players between the league and the demanding, tough terrain of Champions League Football.

Amidst all the hooplah on the field, the tracks are also waking up to the reality of the racing world. The lights have already gone out at Melbourne and Sepang (Malaysia) and we are through with two of the races of the F1 calendar. With Jenson Button surprising one and all with his rookie team, the season promises to be nothing less than topsy-turvy.

Economies around the world are hitting rock bottoms, terrorism is constantly on the rise and it is amidst these trying circumstances that India prepares to vote. It’s always good to surround yourself with a little love and hope and Sport, in my opinion provides both in abundance! A look then, at what you can look forward to in the next few months:-

Champions League Football:-

If EPL is ODI cricket, Champions League has to be the test match version of the game. It is here, that the men are separated from the boys. Arguably the most coveted of trophies in club football, the Champions League consists of top teams from every national league in the European Union (UEFA). The teams are divided in eight groups to begin with, with four teams each in a group. The top teams from each group qualify for what is known as the round-of-sixteen.

Teams then play each other over two grueling legs (one home game each) of 90 mins each, and the winner moves on to the next stage. The competition is now at its most enterprising stage, the quarter finals. There haven’t been any major upsets this season, which means we can look forward to mouth-watering clashes between the top sides. Manchester United, who have been handed over a relatively easy draw take on Porto. Arsenal visit the surprise Spanish quarter finalists Villareal, Chelsea take on perennial rivals Liverpool and hot favorites Barcelona play Bayern Munich in a cracker of a contest between two sides with completely different playing mentalities.

The quarter finals, lined up for April 7-8 and then the return legs at April 14-15 start a trifle late for Indian audiences (at 12:30 AM). This though, has never been a deterrent for football lovers in India and as it goes, the tournament has lived up to its reputation by providing some of the most unforgettable moments in club football!

Twenty-Twenty Cricket:-

Even before a single ball has been bowled, the IPL season-2 has managed to capture the people’s imagination. How long does it take for you to shift house? One day, at the most two maybe. What if you are shifting abroad? A fortnight, a month or more than that? In little more than two weeks time, the entire bandwagon of the Indian Premier League faces the unenviable task of transferring itself across the pacific to South Africa.

Lalit Modi was left with two options- either to take the game out of India, or to do away with it this season. Never was Modi going to let go of the golden-egg laying goose, and he has promptly picked up the gauntlet.

One of the major factors the IPL clicked last season was its region-based team format and the fan following each team derived from those particular crowds. This season, as the eight franchisees settle down in alien bases in SA, it is anybody’s guess that the fan following is not going to be the same.

Less following would mean fewer crowds in the stadiums which would in turn hit the franchisees in terms of ticket sales. Though TV audiences across the world would remain unaffected, it is not going to be the same fun watching players against the backdrop of half empty stadiums. Imagine watching Chelsea take on Man U somewhere in Nairobi. Even if I would still be in India, I would definitely enjoy more if the game is played at a packed Stamford Bridge.

In terms of positives, it gives an immense opportunity for the Indian youth to ply their trade overseas and prepare themselves for the challenges of international cricket. Though South African pitches aren’t as fast as Australian or English, they still would prove a good breeding ground.

The decision also promises to favor a few teams, one of them being Bangalore Royal Challengers. Four of their players including Mark Boucher and Dale Steyn are South Africans and add to that the newly appointed coach Ray Jennings (not to mention Captain Kevin Pietersen, a South African by birth) gives them the look of a ‘home’ side.

Like every other decision, taking the IPL to South Africa has its pros and cons. If the event happens to be well received in the country, it would give the IPL a huge fillip in terms of global acclaim. At the same time, as Peter Roebuck writes, once the game goes out of India it would be tough to convince foreign boards of the safety of India as a future venue. Whatever it be, cricket-mad that India is, come the 18th of April, and it would drown itself in another fun filled journey of over a month..!

Formula One Racing:-

A wholesome change in rules, couple of new drivers, a brand new team, a race wrecked completely by rain…! It’s all been happening and we are just in the second stop-over of the 2009 F1 season. It’s already looking like a season of upsets and Jenson Button, is leading the way with the new Brawn GP.

Nobody has been able to emerge as a clear favorite for more than two seasons after Schumacher’s (senior) retirement, and though Alonso, Raikkonnen and in recent times Hamilton threatened to dominate the field they have been successfully stopped. Having no potential favorite augurs well for motor-sport, with the fans getting used to surprise champions emerging every alternate weekend. Add to this a new rule which makes overtaking easier, and boy, you have a season on your hands!!

After the drama in Sepang, the race moves on to China and Bahrain in the coming weeks, before it embarks on a long Europe-wide tour till the season finally culminates at the Abu Dhabi circuit on the 1st of Nov. Brawn GP will face immense resistance from the likes of McLaren and Ferrari in the coming weeks and if they are to maintain their initial thrust, Button would have to lead from the front.

All said and done, Formula One has had its share of controversies in the last few seasons. Teams clashing with each other, drivers of the same team competing and blaming each other, massive changes in rules every year, ego issues between bosses and drivers have been a common sight and have done their bit in dampening the spirits of the fans. F1, by nature, is not a spectator friendly sport (unless you loved driving dad’s fiat at 150 kmph) and it definitely cannot afford the controversies and confusion around the game. The fans can only wish for a clean and transparent season with a lot of fun and possibly a lot of rain too, to make things interesting!! 5..4..3..2..1..and the lights go out!!

Sport in Times of Terror

As I was getting ready to leave for work on a bright and sunny Tuesday morning, a feisty Virender Sehwag was setting the tone for a big Indian score in the first ODI against NZ at Napier. I am fortunate enough to have a network of friends who keep providing real-time scoring updates which ensure that you don’t miss a single game irrespective of your level of proximity to the idiot box.
By the time I reached office, my inbox had four messages and to my horror, the topic of discussion had conveniently shifted from Napier to Lahore. The Lankan team bus on its way to the Gaddafi stadium was attacked by 12 armed terrorists near the plush Liberty Market area of Lahore. Terror had once again struck and the PCB’s attempt to revive International Cricket on Pakistani soil had met with a lethal blow.
Terror hasn’t been unknown to Sport but what was striking about this attack was that for the first time, cricketers were directly targeted, unless the previous instances where cricket has been on the fringes. It is only the second time after the infamous Munich saga of 1972 that sportsmen have been the target of a terror strike and unfortunately, it holds the potential to finish off cricket in Pakistan for a long time to come.
It all started with the ’96 World Cup, when the Aussies and the West Indians refused to play their games in Sri Lanka citing security reasons with the ongoing civil war, and in the process gifted SL 4 precious points. Then came the NZ tour of Pak in 2002, where Stephen Fleming’s young side was left shell-shocked when a bomb blast meters away from the Pearl Continental forced them to take the next available flight back home. Australia and West Indies who were slated to tour Pakistan next, played out the games in a neutral venue.
In more recent times, South Africa, taking a very defensive stance, backed out from their Sri Lanka tour halfway through in 2006. Then of course, we had our own version of the story, with the Englishmen returning home midway through the ODI series after the Mumbai terror strike late in ’08, thankfully to return back and play out the test series. The Indian govt. rightly, denied permission for the team to go ahead with the proposed Pakistan tour which was when Sri Lanka was invited and the ill-fated tour happened.
Hillary Clinton, along with the many others who commented on the attack, made a very pertinent comment when she said that "much of the planning" for terror strikes around the world was taking place in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Terror definitely has a nucleus and though it emanates from that nucleus, it ends up affecting a very larger circumference.
Its just the Asian sub-continent that we are talking about today, and thankfully events like the EPL, a darling of the European masses, has till now managed to stay unscathed. It’s just a matter of time though, and if the terror nucleus isn’t smashed, you don’t know who would be the next target.
Skipper Younis Khan, addressing the media a day after the strike, rightly said that with the end of Cricket in Pakistan, he fears that the youth might be encouraged to indulge in immoral activities. With only domestic cricket to look forward to, Pakistan’s future as a strong test side looks bleak.
Shifting focus homewards, the first challenge for the game would be to go ahead and stage the IPL as planned. With Chidambaram at the helm, security concerns should be well handled. The onus lies upon Lalit Modi and his team though, to prove that the IPL, in addition to being recession-proof, is also terror-proof!

Beaten in the Mind…

One of the best ways of spending a Sunday is to laze around at home and catch up on some scintillating live sporting action. Lawn Tennis comes in a close third on my list after football and cricket and the top two seeds taking each other on in the final at Melbourne Park was enough invitation for four of us to gather at a friends place to witness the proceedings.
The last time I saw Roger Federer; a player I would back any day, take on Rafael Nadal was on the last day of my induction program with two fellow trainees who happened to be die-hard supporters of the Spaniard. The occasion was the Wimbledon final and the result was a match that pundits worldwide termed as arguably the best tennis match ever!
The support for Federer-Nadal was 3-1 amongst the four of us watching the game and all 3 of us not only wanted Federer to win and avenge the loss at Wimbledon, but also equal Pete Sampras’ long standing record of 14 career grand slams. Federer finally won his 13th with the US Open in 2008 after being twice denied by the same man, his nemesis.
All the ‘experts’ had predicted that a tired Rafa, coming on the back of a five hr marathon semi-final against compatriot Verdasco would be blown away in three sets by a fresh and raring Federer. Even Nadal himself, after his semi-final had acknowledged that Federer was the favorite for the title.
I was watching Roger after a very long time, but it was clear with the start of the match, that it wasn’t particularly one of his best days. Even Nadal was looking circumspect and both went on to break each other in the initial games making it look more like two rookies fighting it out. Nadal, the more aggressive and confident looking of the two took the first set before Federer made a slight adjustment in his game which denied Nadal time, to take the second and tie it at 1-1.
It was in the third set that Federer twice had the opportunity to break Nadal but spurned it, to finally lose the set in the tie-break. The tie-break was a clear sign that when it comes to Nadal, Roger Federer is a different man. His calmness under pressure seems to desert him and he makes nervous errors at crucial times. Display of emotion doesn’t come naturally to him but for anyone watching him in those crucial moments it is clear that a lot is going through his mind.
The fourth set finally gave a glimpse of the sublime tennis he is known for and he easily steered the match into the deciding final set, much to the joy of the three of us and to KG’s despair. In the decider, Nadal, who was ‘supposed’ to be tired, looked fresh and mobile as ever and broke Federer early on. Serving at 2-5 down in the final set, Roger committed a double fault and an error to hand Nadal two championship points. He then saved them promptly, only to delay the inevitable, and finally gifted the championship to his nemesis with another error. He was denied the elusive 14th third time consecutively by the same man.
Called upon at the presentation ceremony, he could muster just a few words, pointed at Nadal signaling it was his day before he said “God, its killing me” and went on to weep profusely. Undoubtedly, he was dearly waiting for the 14th and being denied must have hurt tremendously. But, it is being denied by the same man, and having absolutely no clue on how to overcome him is what must be a deeper wound.
Every Daryl Cullinan has a Shane Warne, every Anand a Kasparov. At times, a player manages to overcome his nemesis and wins the mind game, at other times he just hopelessly fails. It doesn’t matter if the game is on a clay court, a grass court or on a hard court. Nadal has beaten Federer in the mind and if the next game is played on ice for the matter, even my granny would be right in guessing who has the edge.
As a Roger Federer fan, I just hope his mind isn’t clouded by self-doubt, and as he himself advises youngsters, is able to enjoy his tennis while facing Nadal. No player is unbeatable, and in the recent times Federer, after an extended run at the top has been reminded that he is very much human, by Murray, Djocovic and Gilles Simon apart from Nadal.
A champion that he is, the onus now lies on him to solve the puzzle in his mind and ride back to winning ways.

Of the Englishmen, the Taj and Cricket!

England arrived on the Indian shores in the first week of November to partake in what I very wrongly predicted would be a forgettable series coming after a legendary smashing of the Aussies. And make no mistake; the Englishmen (of which yours truly is an ardent supporter) made all the efforts to ensure that the series would be forgotten even before it got over. At Rajkot, a belligerent Yuvraj reminded them of what it takes to play India in India, at Indore they did start well before faltering; at Kanpur they were undone by Dhoni’s smart reading of the D/L and it just went on. Frankly, even a Tim Henman stood a better chance of winning at his game but certainly not this team. I remember watching Freddie Flintoff celebrate an Indian wicket early in one game with his shoulders drooping and absolutely no confidence in his demeanor whatsoever. That spoke a lot about this team. Without Flintoff, without Pietersen they are like a rudderless ship. And a rudderless ship was exactly what KP’s captaincy was like. I would leave the topic as to why and how I started liking England and KP to be discussed for some other time but for now, I would certainly like to concede defeat to all my friends and fellow Indian supporters, and would also make it clear that I do not have a clue as to how England are planning to survive over the 10 days of cricket to be played at Chennai and Mohali!!
Coming back to the story though, it was after the rain hit game at Cuttack that things took a different turn, cricket took a complete backstage and a different species of sportsmen decided that it was time to play their game in a playground called Mumbai. I remember the ‘Shiv-Sena’ once dug up the Ferozshah Kotla in their bid to avoid the Pakistanis play on Indian soil; I wonder why they dint do the same to Mumbai on the 26th. The players who had arrived in Mumbai went on a Sehwag-like rampage hitting the Mumbai Police for a few sixes and fours. The city was taken hostage for a whole of 72 hrs and nobody, I repeat; nobody spoke cricket. 72 hrs without talking cricket is a long time in India and you really need to hit us hard for us to do that. England immediately made their way through to Cuttack-Bangalore-London and to safety.
What followed was an almost week-long round of negotiations, security checks, assurances to the players by the ICC, the BCCI, and the ECB amidst other things. The media channels as usual went into all kinds of speculations saying they would never come, they would come but without Flintoff & Harmison (I really doubt if the tests would have even lasted for 3 days in that case!) etc. etc. Finally, a full-strength (if you can really use that word) England took the flight to Abu-Dhabi still unsure of whether they would land up in India.
And now it’s over to Chennai. The first test starts Thursday 11th Dec; 15 days after the ghastly attacks on Mumbai. Pietersen and his men definitely deserve to be given the credit for what is a very bold decision on their part to come and play. Especially when they could have very easily opted out of what seems to be another disaster on the cards.
I guess though, and I think most people would agree, that it’s not anymore about cricket on this tour. Its definitely not. I am just waiting to see the two teams do a lap across the Chidambaram stadium once the test match is over and for me, that is going to be the moment of the series, leave aside anything dramatic. We aren’t bothered about whether it is Sehwag or Flintoff who get the century, the century is either ways gonna be dedicated to a Karkare or an Unnikrishnan. Let’s hope that someday, the champions of terror are successfully dissuaded against it. Till then, lets go on with the game. Let’s get back to what is our LIFE.