ICC Super(ficial) Series! – An analysis

The much awaited ICC Super Series turned out to be a much disappointing series, a no contest literally. The players of the world XI turned out to be nothing more than a collection of individual cricketers, lacking concentration, consistency and team work. Full credit to Australia for what they have achieved. By defeating the World team in all departments of the game, they ensured they are the deserved champions of world cricket.

If we analyse the performance of the World players, we must be at sea with the comparison of their performance in international cricket prior to the series and in the series. It was a side fully packed with ‘Stars’, though they turned out to be ‘White dwarfs’ during the course of the series. One has to say it was a good team, but certainly not the best that was available. Players like Sanath Jayasuriya, Marcus Trescothick and Salman Butt were better opening batsmen to have considered for ODI cricket. Scott Styris, Yousuf Youhana (now Mohammad Yousuf), Inzamam-Ul-Haq, Ramnaresh Sarwan were all potentially versatile batsmen minus stardom to have played in the middle order.

The bowling lacked venom. It still keeps me befuddled how Shaun Pollock made it to the side and went on to become the captain of the OD side. He is not the same Pollock he was a few years back though he has some good control over his bowling still. But Irfan Pathan who is basically a swing bowler could have done the job against a side having three left hand batsmen. In Shoaib Akhtar’s case, the selectors should realise that speed isn’t everything. The Australian batsmen are little bothered about the pace of a bowler if he has only pace. It is only foolish to believe that they would succumb to some speedy deliveries. A fast bowler with a lot of consistency would have been Shane Bond. Nobody would have questioned if Chaminda Vaas was selected ahead of Makhaya Ntini.

The test team was no short of surprises. Completely based on his past heroics, Brian Lara got selected. The team should have been selected after considering the performance of the players in OD games. Then Lara wouldn’t have been there and Sangakkara would have. True, the other batsmen also failed in the one dayers, but Lara was lacking discipline and concentration. He didn’t even bother to stay at the wicket before playing his shots. If not as an opening batsman, Andrew Strauss could have been used in the middle order. It is only foolish to say the conventional theory that an opener should always open. A batsman who faces the new ball is as good a bet to bat anywhere in the order. See the examples of Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Adam Gilchrist, Nathan Astle et al. Only the opening and to some extent the one down position is that of a specialist. Graeme Smith could have faced some tough competition from his South African partner Abraham de Villiers. Marvan Atapattu should have been the captain of the side and a strong bat in the middle order. I strongly feel that Shivnarine Chanderpaul should have been playing in the middle order at any cost. Not only can he score runs, but can also resist and keep one end safe.

Bowlers? Again, I would have thrown the ball to Irfan Pathan or Chaminda Vaas, especially the latter to assist Steven Harmison. I was also surprised to see only one specialist fast bowler in the bowling line up. Even those who knew the pitch better than just anybody else used two specialist speedsters in Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee. Andrew Flintoff wouldn’t be used like this even by his English captain Michael Vaughan. He delivered; but that’s a different story. He had a huge workload the whole series. The spin twins were good. Both Muttiah Muralitharan and Daniel Vettroi bowled well. Will the selectors take the trouble to answer why they thought Mark Boucher to be a better Wicket Keeper batsman when compared to either Kumar Sangakkara or Tatenda Taibu? Also Brendon McCullum was a better choice than Boucher.

But there is no point in blurting out all these things as even players like Rahul Dravid and Inzamam-Ul-Haq failed miserably. But the Australians would have been given a tough competition if only in-form players were selected to play for the World team. Even national teams of New Zealand or Sri Lankawould have given the Australians a tough run for their money. But yes; one has to admit and acknowledge the passion and enthusiasm the Australians showed in the entire series. They were there to prove that they were not totally undone by the English in one of their most disappointing Ashes outings, weren’t they? Also some Indian selectors and cricketers can learn a lesson or two from the approach of the Australian selectors in picking teams for both the OD and test matches and the players’ response by proving what they were capable of. They showed no mercy in lopping off Damien Martyn from the test and Matthew Hayden from the OD teams. Both, especially Hayden, responded well when they got their chances. Also the selectors chopped off Jason Gillespie and Michael Kasprowicz from both the teams. Staurt MacGill again proved that he is one of the best in the business and like he has done many times before proved that he was the better bowler when bowling in tandem with Warne.

I have heard some voices from here and there of late that the concept of Super Series should be abandoned as it turned out be a no contest. But I don’t agree to this. The idea of Super Series is good. This should happen at least once in two years with the best team playing against the best of the rest at home with 5 ODIs and 3 regular test matches. There is no point in a six day super test.

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F1 - Change of rules; and of course winners!

The F1 season was as outstanding as it could have been -- the winning streak of the Ferraris coming to an end and the crowning of new champions, in constructor and individual titles. Fernando Alonso came out to be the best even though Kimi Raikkonen was as good and equal. Juan Pablo Montoya should consider himself the unluckiest. Had there not been many problems with his car, he should have been decisive in the constructor title judgement. There was nothing to choose between Alonso and Raikkonen though the latter was better in crunch situations. Montoya certainly is a better driver than Giancarlo Fisichella. Jarno Trulli and Jenson Button could have done better, especially the former. 'Up to the highs and down to the pits' was Nick Heidfeld. Filipe Massa and Ralf Schumacher were as usual as they are. Jacques Villenueve and Rubens Barichello fought well.

Jordan Toyota’s Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan was the best among the rookies in regular drivers, though some may think it was his team mate Portuguese Tiago Monteiro. But when the new machine was given, it was utilised to the full effect and with a better outcome by Karthikeyan. He gave some tough rides to some well experienced campaigners as well towards the end of the season. He would perform really well if he is put in a different machine, not Minardi.

And Michael Schumacher; he tried and fought hard. As all know, his machine wasn’t the best of the lot this time round. Even before the start of the season, the favourites were McLaren and Renault. Still he gave his all. He is a true world champion.

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One GANG(uly) vs a single CHAP(pell)!

It was really unfortunate to see the latest ‘developments’ in Indian cricket. They are losing consistently; and to add to that, a flame war. The leakage of information, arguments and counter arguments, reprimands, and handshakes have all excoriated the skin of a believed gentlemanly behaviour from Indian cricket. This incident also reveals the upheavals and tension within the dressing room and why some players remain unmovable from the line-up.

To start off, the email sent by the team coach Greg Chappell on the captain Sourav Ganguly, to the BCCI president was intentionally leaked out, so to speak. Otherwise how can it come declassified? Some people may argue that the job of a coach is to coach and do nothing else. But we must also understand that whenever the team keeps losing, the axe is pointed not only toward the captain but also toward the coach. In this regard, Chappell is fully correct in his action. But the immediate ‘melting of ice’ before the presspersons could have been avoided. Who are they trying to trifle with? If the dramatic event before the press in Zimbabwe was a good gesture, why should have they (both the coach and the captain) ignited the prolongation afterwards? Both are guilty here.

The most flummoxing thing comes next. Ganguly even went on to make a statement before the press that he still is an inevitable part of the team! In what respect?! Do we need a player who can fill the gap of an opening batsman in LOIs and that of a middle order batsman in test matches? Of course, his records as a captain are so becharming, but he is in the side primarily as a batsman. One should not forget that. He has been struggling to hit form for the past few years. Still this inevitable man is not understanding, rather facing away from this truth. Thanks to that sluggish innings by him against Zimbabwe where he made a laboured hundred; otherwise we wouldn’t have known about this vile odour that kept snapping the dressing room into at least two factions for quite some time now. India are playing with 10 players and a captain ever since Ganguly lost his form. This should not be left out easily.

The open expressions by Harbhajan Singh made way for a media restriction on all the contracted players. Thereby, the board ensured that the chapter is interred alive. Harbhajan was also berated heavily by both the BCCI and the Punjab Cricket Association for his disclosures. The mighty BCCI once again tried to keep things under control by letting the coach and the captain go of easily. The most discombobulating statement came from the BCCI itself -- “From now on, the selections will be made purely on performance and merit”. It makes one belly laugh for sometime. So, what were the criteria until now? Obviously; not the performance and merit! The latest has been an addition to these comments by the former player Sandip Patil that he also had submitted similar reports to the BCCI when he was the coach of the national team. No doubt; these stinking incidents have disrobed Indian cricket and sickened the followers of it.

On final analysis, Chappell is right in his outward findings and assessments on Ganguly the player. But his accusations that Ganguly is unfit physically were already proved wrong, though those on his mental state remains valid as is apparent from his appearance and innings. Whether Chappell has any part in the leakage of the mail has to be investigated. Ganguly was thoroughly wrong and self biased in his self impressions. Both Chappell and Ganguly are responsible for the media melodrama including the ceasefire declared twice. Harbhajan was brave to divulge his views. This also helps the outer world to perceive things better though everybody knows that he is a staunch Ganguly loyalist. It also gives a clear indication that the BCCI is not taking things seriously; otherwise Harbhajan wouldn’t have made his statements public. There is a total mayhem in the proceedings. The complaints if any, should have been discussed within the team meetings and at best lodged confidentially to the authorities. The statement by Sandip Patil needs more clarification; otherwise he shouldn’t have declassified something he thought very secret. The selection criteria adopted until now still keeps one in the same dumbfounded outlook!

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Mission Netaji – To unfurl the disappearance mystery

The disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose still remains as one of the biggest mysteries in the history of independent India. ‘During his fight against the British in order to free India, Netaji died in a plane crash at the Taihoku airport in Formosa (today’s Taiwan) on 18^th August 1945’ is still the popular belief in India about this quandary. But controversies over the credibility of this news always existed. The investigation teams appointed by Mountbatten and McArthur, and the British American Counter Intelligence Service (BACIS) have all snubbed this information. With this, another belief that Netaji might have migrated to the USSR for more preparednesses after the fall of Japan in the Second World War became stronger. We can naturally suspect that the plane crash tale was a cover-up in this regard with the know-how of the major Indian politicians of that time. So far so good; but then? The mystery begins here. Gradually, Netaji disappeared from all news.

After almost a decade of sustained pressure from within the Parliament, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru was haled to install a commission under Shah Nawaz Khan in 1956 to probe into this. But the Indian government did not countenance the commission to visit Formosa! Nonetheless, the commission submitted a report stating that Netaji had died in that plane crash! Then in the 1970’s, the GD Khosla commission of inquiry that was installed during the Indira Gandhi regime also gave the same verdict. But due to the resultant upheavals from in and outside the parliament, Khosla was forced to apologize and subsequently the Indian government scorned both the commission reports. Afterwards, the striking similitude of the saint Gumnami Baba who lived at Faizabad near Ayodhya until the mid 1980’s, to Netaji became cause for more hunches.

After many more years, in the 1990’s, the Indian researchers on Netaji in Russia, Dr Purabi Roy, Hari Vasudevan and Sobhanlal Duttagupta were able to divulge some documents pertaining to the stay of Netaji in Russia post 1945. Later the Manoj Kumar Mukherjee commission of inquiry was put in place in 1999 after a court order during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee regime. After the death of the sanyasi Gumnami Baba, his belongings were bought out by the commission and the above mentioned suspicion sprang up further. In 2005, the Taiwan government deponed before the commission that no plane crash occurred in their country on or around 18^th August 1945. This marked a major watershed in the inquiry log. Though the call for a probe in Russia grew stronger with this revelation, the Indian government abnegated it because of unassailable ‘inconspicuous’ reasons. It was at this time that many avid Indians from all corners of the world, who wanted to know about the wispy upshots behind all this united under the roof ‘MissionNetaji’. The design of ‘MissionNetaji’ is to help the inquiry to unfurl the disappearance mystery with a shibboleth “we want nothing else but truth”. In this respect, the honourable members of ‘MissionNetaji’ were able to pass on certain important documents to the commission, depose before it, file PILs, create cognizance among the populace through newspapers, television and internet, publish books on this enigma, and exchange views with far-famed historiographers. At long last, the commission got the nod from the Indian government for an official visit in Russia from September 19^th to the 30^th. But since the Indian government did not try to make sure that the commission would get its chance to study the classified KGB documents, it is now searching in the dark.

At present, there are many vital documents pertaining to Netaji within the hold of the Indian government itself. But the government gave the voice that these cannot be handed over to the commission due to ‘national security concerns’! How can something that happened a full 60 years back still raise ‘national security concerns’! Reading together all the latest developments -- the BBC report on the 15^th of August 2005 that Britain had planned to finish off Netaji in 1941 itself, the official British word that the documents pertaining to Netaji could be declassified only after 2021, the demur to the requests to give access to the KGB records and trace out some key testifies by both India and Russia, the latest revelations by the former Soviet KGB agent Vasili Mitrokhin that some closet files had leaked out during the incumbency of Indira Gandhi in power – would give a more or less clear picture. But all the doors are made shut before the commission. The disappearance of one of the greatest ever patriots must not remain a tarradiddle before us anymore. ‘Mission Netaji’, without any religious-racial-political or economical favouritisms keeps fighting with this objective upfront.

For more details and falling in this noble venture, please look up www.missionnetaji.org

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