Heartbreaking but hardly surprising

The result of the India-Australia match on 29th October could hardly be said to be unexpected. The Aussies, though an increasingly ageing side and no longer invincible, are still the strongest team in world cricket. The Indians, on current form, probably rank just above Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and England.
To any objective observer of the game (unfortunately that seems to rule out a huge percentage of Indian fans) the Indian team's decline in the last 8-10 months has been obvious. Yet, ostrich-like, the great Indian cricket-loving public continued, till yesterday, to bury their collective heads in the sand. After every defeat the captain would claim that 'the boys' had done their best, winning isn't everything, etc. etc. Before the start of each match he'd claim that they'd put the past behind them. Regrettably the past seems to have other ideas and is currently clinging to Dravid & co. like a limpet or a long-lost brother.
Since every cricket-loving Indian has either seen the game on the idiot-box or has read all about it in today's newspaper, I'll skip the match details. (Nobody's paying me to do a report on the match!) Rather, I'd like to put to the blogosphere at large a few questions which have been nagging me since the game ended.

1)How many members of the Indian team were actually playing for India as opposed to playing to secure a spot on the South African tour? Kaif's stubborn refusal to play shots almost certainly forced Dravid to play the horrible stroke which cost him his wicket. Dinesh Mongia's prime concern seemed to be to get to 30-40 odd at any cost, no matter how long it took him. The less said about Raina the better. And while Dhoni managed a run a ball, he seems to forgotten how to hit boundaries. This is no longer the free-spirited Dhoni who used to wield his bat like a mace.

2)Can anyone remember when was the last time Sachin Tendulkar came good when the chips were down ?

3)Why was Kaif sent in to bat ahead of Dhoni when acceleration was the need of the hour?

4)Why does the Indian team always slow down to a near crawl between the twentieth and the fortieth overs thereby frittering away any advantage a good start may have given them? A propos the same point, why does every Greg, Dick and Harry in the support staff have a laptop if they can't do simple multiplication tables to work out when the batsmen should start putting their feet on the accelerator? Rocket science it isn't.

5)Why did the Indian team walk out to field believing it had already lost? Their body language made it obvious that they were simply going through the motions.

There are many more such questions but answers, frank answers, do not seem to be forthcoming. Meanwhile Indian cricket goes round in circles losing on the swings what we'd gained on the round-abouts. "Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose " which translates as "The more things change, the more things stay the same"

The Loneliness of the Long-Ignored Blogger

I found this cartoon at the Geek and Poke blog. It expresses perfectly the feelings of millions of bloggers like me who spend their days waiting for and praying for visitors to their blog.

Friend, bloggers, and fellow manic-depressives - I come not to bury my blog but to praise it...though the stat-counter remains immobile; and the stat-counter is an honourable *#$@&^% little so-and-so. Unread bloggers of the blogosphere, unite. You have nothing to lose except your marbles. Sooner or later(usually later rather than sooner) you'll find your virgin blog gently deflowered by a stray comment. Hey, the guy got lucky. Till that ecstatic moment of fulfilment, carry on writing. And if doesn't happen, console yourself. It's not you. The world is full of barbarians and Philistines.

Champions' Trophy

The Champions' Trophy is gathering steam now. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, who owe their status as full members of the ICC purely to the value of their votes, having been bid a polite adieu, the real fights have begun.

Most of the matches so far have been keenly fought and not without their share of surprises. Pakistan, after all their recent travails, bested Sri Lanka. The New Zealanders beat the South Africans in a tense, low-scoring match. They deserved to win because they held their nerve better than the Proteas. The Australian juggernaut was halted in its tracks by a doughty West Indian performance. Despite losing four early wickets, Lara and Morton took them to a reasonable total. Their bowlers continued where these two had left off. Though the Windies do not have any bowlers who've been hyped up the media, unlike the Aussies ( if I hear any more about McGrath's 'nagging line and length' I'm going to scream!), they believed that they could win this one. Even when Gilchrist and Clarke were looking ominous, they stuck to their task manfully. And when they broke through that partnership, they broke through the Aussies' arrogant over-confidence. Taylor's hat-trick was the silver bullet that slew the werewolf.
To my mind the best feature of the matches so far has been that cricket has, once more, become an equal contest between the bat and the ball. Far, far too often these days the pitches are doctored to be dead as the dodos. The batsmen make merry and the bowlers resemble, more and more, helpless lambs who're led onto the field only to be slaughtered. It may make for a good carnival. Cricket, it isn't. Yet so used have the players got to these one-sided pitches, that as soon as they have to play on one where the bowlers have a fair chance, they start whingeing and whining, as Graeme Smith did after losing. Get real, Mr.Smith. Even in the gladiatorial arenas of ancient Rome, those thrown to the lions were given a few token weapons to defend themselves. In the ODIs the bowlers have none.

Bleak picture

Now why does this picture give me an overpowering sensation of deja-vu ?

The Human Race - or Ostriches ?

I'd rather not know, thank you very much! Now, where's my little patch of sand?

Pop goes the NPT

So Kim Jong Il yesterday proved to the world what everyone knew anyway. The North Koreans have had the atomic bomb for some time now.

9th October 2006 was just the day they made it official. Yet all the big guns have suddenly started running around like headless chickens. The U.S., Japan, China, Russia, the E.U. all making the usual threatening but essentially meaningless noises. The funniest sight was John Howard, the Australian Prime Minister making bellicose statements in the Australian Parliament. Good show, John.I'll bet Kim and his friends were quaking in their boots. Psst, John, it isn't as easy as decimating the poor Aboriginals. Even the Americans couldn't win the Korean war, remember ?
The frustrated Americans can sabre-rattle all they want but the reality is that they can't do much.The military option was ruled out (unless the North Koreans themselves start a war) some years ago when it became evident that the Koreans had developed the bomb. Otherwise George W. would have invaded North Korea instead of Iraq.After all, it was numero uno in his 'Axis of Evil' comprising N.Korea, Iran and Iraq. Since the South Koreans and the Japanese would rather not have nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles raining down on them, Iraq seemed the easier option at the time. As for sanctions, there are already quite a few sanctions in place. N.Korea is economically in such bad shape that things can hardly get any worse for them. Not being burdened with the necessity of having to face elections as the free world knows them, the regime does not have to bother about public opinion. Media pressure pre-supposes the existence of independent media - again, something Kim doesn't have to lose any sleep over. Therefore, unless the U.S.A. can get China to turn off food and oil supplies to its recalcitrant ally there isn't much George and Condi can do but gnash their teeth. Perhaps John Howard got it right after all. Since there is nothing else to be done, chest-thumping at least gets a decent press !