Every once so often we hear about the commentators curse - What should we call this?
Just this morning I read this article on Cricinfo. Just check the Subtitle of the article.
And then this happens - Australia's first Innings Hussey gone for a Duck. :)
As events unfold one by one after the 2nd test at SCG , an interesting angle involving Corporate India and BCCI seem to be evolving as well. With threats of boycotting the tour ( which is absolutely justified IMHO), A lot of companies would be anxiously waiting for the events to unfold.
A whole lot of companies stand to lose if India decides to boycott the rest of the Tour.
ESPN/Star Sports - as the owner of telecast rights- ESPN/Star stands to lose a chunk of money as they lose out on advertisement revenue. Companies that had earlier spent money in buying Ad slots would be reimbused by ESS if the series stands cancelled.
Companies with Australian Cricketers as Brand Ambassadors(Timex,AMP,etc...) would not want to air the ads that have already been created , in light of all the anger that is being shown against the Aussie Players by the general public.
The Australian Players themselves stand to lose as Indian Companies rethink the idea of associating themselves with 'champion' Australian cricketers.
The BCCI has a whole different agenda with its IPL(The 'formal' 20/20 league) and the effects that boycotting of the tour would have on its IPL.BCCI would be trying to maintain good relationships with Cricket Australia in order to woo the Australian Players for the IPL. (Would they still want to have them ?)
With so many people likely to be affected , would the Indian Team be allowed to boycott the series?
It comes down to
Sense of Justness+ Respect vs Cricket - The Money Spinner.
I have been a big fan of Harsha Bhogle ever since I started following cricket. In a very candid interview , he talks about what it takes to be a commentator and a presenter. Some of his statements about Radio commentary and the state of affairs are very candid. One of the things that I have enjoyed over the years in Harsha's commentary is his choice of words. Even in this Podcast - his choice of words to put his ideas across are brilliant. His opinions on Dravid and Ganguly were interesting and it was surprising to see no mention of Tendulkar from him ( or did I miss it?) . All in all a really nice Interview
Link to the Podcast
This clipping is just another piece which proves why Thalaivar is the best. Just listen to the Dialogue delivery in the two videos and see Rajni Punch. Class Act!!!
When Australia was on the verge of losing to Zimbabwe , my GChat status message was - will it be a repeat of 1983? , but I had no inclination of what was to happen with the Indian team. All I had in mind was Zim Beating Aus in a first round match like in 1983. A week and a half later , it was India doing that 1983 Jig. India had beaten England , South Africa , Australia and Pakistan in a series of must win matches to win the inaugural Twenty20 World Tournament.
Some similarities with the 1983 World Cup.
It was a Team performance , with no major person standing out
One of the openers was the top scorer in both the finals (Srikanth and Gautam Gambir)
Just when needed , Yuvraj played a couple of Blinders just like Kapils 175 against Zim when India were down at 17/5
India had batted first in the finals and had managed a below par score. After a couple of wickets early on ,Imran Nazir threatened to get the game away before brilliance on the field stopped his innings short. Similarly - India made 183 in the 1983 finals and after a couple of early wickets - Richards threatened to take it away before , Kapil's Brilliant catch stopped his innings short.
The recent Ram Setu 'debate' is not a debate anymore. It is a public slandering match played out in front of the media and The Honorable Chief Minister of Tamilnadu wins the battle for making the ugliest and most insensitive statements on record. Even for a guy who has thrived on suppressing the Hindus in order to gain an electoral advantage from the numerical majority of the state , the recent statements are insensitive and inflammatory. Mr. Karunanidhi might be an atheist but in a secular country , It is only fair to respect other people's faith - especially when you are in a public position of respect and power.
Every election that he had stood for in his initial days - the promise was for a dravidanadu. He won his elections based on promises that he never upheld. (I am not even for a minute suggesting that sedition was a good idea - It never is and it never will be - a united India moves forward much better than the multiple factions that can be created out of it). The Sangh Parivar has also brought to the attention of the media the foreword written in the Gazeteer of Ramanathapuram district in 1972 by Karunanidhi. Well - Perhaps there was enough scientific evidence for Karunanidhi to change his views. There are multiple cases of his flip flops and one more would be his welcoming of Indira Gandhi to power although he had criticized the establishment of dynasty rule before she came to power (transfer of power from father to daughter - eh? what has he done to Tamilnadu Politics now?).
Perhaps people will start realising that the days of winning people with just words is over and vote them out of power.
Here is the video in which Karunanidhi calls Rama a drunkard and the Rama being a lie
Watching all the matches in T20I World Cup , there is this interesting part of biggest sixes statistic. Misbah-ul_haq has scored the biggest six at 111m so far. How do they measure these distances once the ball is out of the ground? If it is inside the ground , I agree that you know which stand it fell in and you know the distance from that stand to the center of the pitch, but how do you measure the distance traveled by a ball that is hit out of the stadium? - If I had to venture a guess , I would think that just like Hawkeye traces the motion of the ball from the bowler's hand , there would be a technology to track the ball after it has hit the bat and will extrapolate the distance based on the speed and elevation it was traveling, when it left the ground. The commentators at Cricinfo (read people who write the commentary while I keep hitting that F5 button) commented that it might be out of luck. Anyone knows how it is done?
