World Cup 2011 - Watching Live Cricket in India

Quarter-finals returned to world cup after 15 years. Broad believe before the tournament was that world cup ‘proper’ will only start at quarterfinal stage. I had bought my ticket for Ahmadabad quarterfinal as soon as tickets went on sale last year knowing it will an India game unless they manage to lose unprecedented 4 games in league stage.

Match Day

I arrived at Delhi airport with my cousin in time for my 7 AM flight to Ahmadabad. Airport was buzzing despite the early morning on a week day with many passengers in their Team India shirts. Even before the take off slogans chanting started in flight itself…Indiaaa Jeetega (India will win). If so many spectators were flying in one flight, made me wonder how many locals could get their hands on the tickets.

I missed the fact that I had yet to get my hands on the tickets, and what a nightmare it turned out to be. I was at ticket pick-up counter by 9:30 AM and already there was huge crowd. Not sure if it would have made any difference that my taxi driver first tried to drop us off at old Sardar Patel Stadium in the city claiming that he had dropped passengers there before that morning. Somehow he ignored that my pre-paid taxi receipt had Motera written on it.

There were as many lines, as many people were in the need of a ticket. Many thought that tickets were being sold there and added to the caose. The long line of ‘sharif’ (rules follower gentlemen) people won’t move an inch as everyone had crowded two tiny windows that you can only guess were there since it was unlikely that all those people were just being desperate to try pray against that white wall confusing it with the more famous one in the Jerusalem.

Someone who managed to get deeper into the human bushes tried to scared others away by reminding them of potential police ‘lathi charge’ but of course what kind of Indian cricket fan are you if some stick beating worries you. Some customary fights among fans brought out in the sultry heat and growing frustrations.

At one point frustration got to the Kyazoonga agent who was distributing ticket at the window, as he closed his shop in sudden jolt of anger. I suspect he was just trying to get loo break as he came back after some time. At one point when I felt I had made some inroads I got pushed out to the corner on other side. While I was trying to formulate my strategy on how to safely navigate my way to the ticket window Newton’s 3rd law came true and same forces managed to push me in to the window. So I had my tickets in my hand and miraculously was still safe and alive after 2 hours of freedom struggle.

A hotel check-in and shower later I was back at the stadium. Turns out you cannot take cell phones inside. Now this rule was new. Cell phones were not in the prohibited items list and I was allowed to carry it in Chennai for India – West Indies game. Gujrati entrepreneurship was on full display as most of the shops across the stadium had ‘mobile parking’ signs. You could leave your phone for anything between INR 30 to 60 depending upon how good your phone was. I ended up trusting the auto rickshaw driver and let him keep my phone until the game was over and then drop me back to the hotel.

By the time I got to my seat, well there was not a seat number assigned, most of the stand was full. Few empty seats were all in the sun, among them front row seats. I would have taken the front row seats given a choice anyway but they were all decorated with birds’ droppings. This is for the India’s world cup quarter-final game. I was still lucky to get a ‘clean’ seat but those who arrived after me had to settle with dirty seats. Despite being some of the best seats in the Motera stadium, just under the press box, you couldn’t get the 360 degree view of the ground as roof of the neigbouring stand had taken out a slice of the pie from spectators’ views. Two video screens were also only partially visible. But the view of the pitch from just behind the bowlers arm or from behind the wicket-keeper was excellent.

Match started and excitement took over. India bowled first. Soon MS Dhoni asked for review and I kept shouting, ‘no don’t review, don’t waste it’ as it looked not out to me from my seat. It was a mixed feeling when ‘Not Out’ verdict came out. As Ricky Ponting came out to bat the section of crowd in my stand started to chant, ‘Ponting is a bastard’. How shameful. Is that the way to welcome a legend to the batting crease? Fittingly Ponting responded with a century amid his ongoing slump of form. That group of cricket fans never stopped from bringing shame to the city and the country. Anytime Aussies will appeal or talk to umpires for something, they will cry, ‘Aussies sucks’ or ‘Aussies are the cheaters’. What impressions an elderly Australian couple sitting few rows behind me must have taken home with them?

Cricket itself was a delight to watch. The sight of stadium bathing in the artificial lights and hordes of birds flying in the sky above the ground, just as Sehwag and Sachin were readying to stepped out is something I’ll not forget. Next three and half hours were tense. After a very good start, India seemed to throw it all away. I must say that from stands Dhoni’s square cut didn’t look like a getting out shot. I was bit surprised to see the criticism in press later. But what an innings Yuvraj and Raina played to bring India back into the game. Raina’s six of the first ball in batting powerplay bowled by Lee was a signal that India is on its way to Mohali. In the end match was worthy of its billing.

It was difficult to hear the post match presentation clearly at the ground. Sunil Gavaskar was busy signing autographs as presentation was going on. The man still generates great respect from cricket fans in India. As I exited the stand I saw Deelip Premachandran busy typing on his laptop in the press box. Riding back to hotel, it was expected to see people blowing horns and shouting on the streets of Ahmadabad. Somewhere I knew that it was only a pre curser of much bigger celebrations on marine Drive in Mumbai eight days later.

A Historic Day

A strange joy in defeat is what I experienced yesterday. Media has tendency to call every performance great and ever victory a historic one but 17 March 2007 was truly a historic day for game of cricket. Ireland knocking Pakistan out of the world cup is nothing less than a fairy tale and Bangladesh’s defeat of India has opened up the group B. This day reminded me of Reliance Cup (World cup 1987) when both Pakistan and India lost their semifinals on successive days despite being the hot favorites with some justification to that tag.

This is not just Ireland’s or Bangladesh’s victory but it’s an important step towards that dream of making cricket a truly global step. Likes of Ricky Ponting may still not be convinced but that’s how teams have always come to the fore. After the Super series test of 2005 I wrote that every team took time to progress. India didn’t win a test for 20 years (and even today don’t win too many) but they are among top teams as well as a past world cup winners. Sri Lanka is an example and so would have been Zimbabwe by now if only things were normal back home. I suggested may be Bangladesh should play 4 day tests instead of 5 day ones. In older days teams like India used to play many 3 days tests which certainly helped them draw few games, a luxury Bangladesh or Zimbabwe didn’t have. If a super test could be played for 6 days why not have 4 day tests for newer nations. I said my dream was to see 100 test playing teams some day.

Those who simply laugh on such suggestions, those who don’t dare to dream, and those who are not willing to make an attempt and use their time only to criticize ICC and their development efforts hopefully will now have a rethink. Sri Lanka beat India in 1979 and didn’t do much again until 1996 edition of World cup. Bangladesh beat Pakistan in 1999 and lost all their games in 2003 including one against Canada. But yesterday proved they are up and coming. They may still not win another match in this World cup (though I can’t see them not beating Bermuda) but they are here to stay and they deserve it.

Kudos to ICC for finally getting their world cup format right. 1996 edition was so planned that all group matches meant nothing as 8 out of 12 teams qualified to knock out stage. Who were missed out teams? Remember UAE? In 1999 it was lot better with only 6 teams going to next round (super sixes) but 2003 was close to nonsense again. With 7 teams in a group there were too many mis-matches. This time minnows don’t need to do more than having one good day in the office to hang the fortune of the fancied teams in balance. Not only they won’t have to get too many hammerings (unless you are Ireland and might qualify for super 8s and then face the might of one big team after another) but also their matches become more important than ever before. Yesterday just confirmed that.

Experts often say 1992 edition format was best when all 9 teams played against each other. With 16 teams neither you can have that nor did you want it. Still there was every possibility of top 8 teams in the world playing against each other and fight for a semifinal berth. At the opening ceremony last Sunday everyone claimed this is going to be best ever world cup. Not sure if in terms of organization it will be any close to that but let’s hope purely on the basis of play on the field and excitement it will be. Signs are there already that it’s going to be.

Different coaches for Tests and ODIs

In a write up earlier this week, Tim de Lisle suggested England to get a new coach for their one-day team and keep Fletcher for test squad. I think it’s a brilliant thought which might well be the case in future. From the times of same teams playing all matches we now have seen specialist players and even different captains for different forms of the game. So why not coaches?

Already international teams are looking to have specialist coaches. England proved last summer how important it was to have Troy Cooley as assistant bowling coach during their Ashes winning campaign. So much so that even Australians had to look beyond much successful John Buchanan and steal Cooley from English to help their bowlers. Pakistan just recently purchased services of great Jonty Rhodes for some fielding lessons to the likes of Inzamam-ul-Haq. India got Australian bowler Bruce Reid to help their pace attack on 2003-04 Australian tour and his efforts were much appreciated. And not to underestimate how past greats have been helping present generations voluntarily for ages.

Today teams have specialized support of fitness trainers, physiotherapists, computer analysts, sports psychologists and what not. It will be ignorant to dismiss different forms of the game not being strategically different. It’s still cricket, calls will always be made but the fact is strategies and planning can’t be exactly same for different versions of the game. May be there are individuals out there who understand a particular form lot better than the other.

It’s worth trying and interesting to see who will take the lead if any? The scheduling of international programs has made it practically possible now. No longer are ODIs and test matches intervened. In 80s and a for a good part of 90s it was all too common for teams to start with 2 one-dayers, then play a test, play another one-dayer, play 2 tests and come back to finish final few one-dayers. Annual tri series in Australia used to be played on either side of test series. New Zealand and Zimbabwe even played an ODI in the middle of a test match in November 1992 in Harare. All this switching from one form to another would have made it impossible to have separate coaches for one day team and test team. Now with one day and test segments of a tour are played after one another and ‘specialist’ players are flying in/out for their segments, different coaches can be tried out.

Will we see anything like that in next few years?

Irresponsible

Drugs?

FICA chairman Tim May’s warning of players might resort to drugs to fight fatigue is completely irresponsible. It’s a threat and an insensitive one. Is he trying to legitimate the use of drug? Will he come out one of these days and blame ICC for handing a ban to Shane Warne for drugs use? If the job pressure or social pressure or any other reasons forces people to illegal activities such as drug use or stealing, who should be punished? Mr. Tim May needs to be told that international cricketers are not the only ones with a demanding job. Billions others all over the world in all kind of professions including sports deal with a lot of pressures and very few get engaged into anti social solutions for their problems.

With the increase in amount of cricket played, a very good support structure also started to appear. From not even having a coach now teams have all kind of support staff to help them with their primary task which is to play cricket for their team. What will he choose given a choice, a 10 year sporting career with enough in the bank to last a lifetime or 20 years career with 20% of matches played by a modern cricketer and still looking for a job after retirement?

One statement where he was spot on was that top players can’t play all the games. And apparently the problem is public wants to watch top players. If this is the case then he or anyone need not be worried at all. If the matches without top stars are not anyone wants to watch naturally they can’t go on for ever. Market forces will settle it down. If ICC is all about money making then these games will loose money and administrators will have to shun those.

So Mr. May please raise the issues for welfare of cricketers but do not legitimize illegal acts such as drug use. It just feels like you need to be in news anyhow all the time. I have lost a lot of respect for you.

Cricket and Soccer

Today soccer world cup kicks off in Germany with whole world watching including fans from non soccer countries. Well there are hardly any non soccer countries so lets say those where soccer is not among top sports. Nine months from now another world cup will take place in Caribbean islands. Sixteen teams will be taking part and don’t be surprised if people of some participating nations won’t even follow their teams’ progress. In fact many won’t be aware that there exist a game called Cricket and their own national team is playing in the finals (a term I borrowed from FIFA).

About a decade ago ICC (International Cricket Council) started to be more professional and consciously or unconsciously started to act more like FIFA. The influence can be seen in many places. Title sponsorship was made a thing of past for cricket world cup and it’s now known as ICC Cricket World Cup much like a FIFA World Cup. A new winner’s trophy every world cup (prepared by hosts) was replaced with an ICC world cup trophy and since 1999 world cup all teams fight for that same trophy. Again it’s clearly a FIFA influence. In some ways these are important steps as all this gives a much better identity to cricket’s flagship event. But the most important change is a dream of making cricket a global sport much like soccer or football as it’s known in most of the world.

Any globalization effort demands money and an outrageous amount of it. ICC went ahead and introduced a lot of programs across the world and to fund all that they acquire complete rights of world cups (until 1996 it was host who had all rights) besides throwing up new tournaments such as Champions Trophy or a misadventure called Super series. The road could never be smooth. The result has been controversies and criticism. Controversy over personal sponsorship contracts of many leading cricketers which were in direct conflict with ICC global partners (read sponsors) is well documented. The latest was corporate sponsorship in some of India’s top cricket centers that couldn’t be honored if they were to host upcoming Champions Trophy in September. The result, these stadiums had to be missed out and remember that includes Eden Gardens in Kolkata. And certainly the most talked about controversy has been overkill of cricket, too much burdens on players.

Many leading cricket writers have criticized ICC’s global development program. Some argue that Cricket can never become soccer. It can never be popular in new places. One valid argument is length of the time a cricket game takes as oppose to most other sports including soccer. Another valid argument in favor of soccer is that it’s so cheap to play; all you need is a ball. Of course relative simplicity of soccer also helped making it the most popular sport on planet.

Despite agreeing with such arguments I disagree that ICC should not attempt to make cricket a world wide game. Will it happen in next 50 years? Definitely not. But could there be 15 test playing nations in next 50 years? Not impossible. People usually run out of patience too fast. Case of Bangladesh is prime example. Few noticed that any other new entrant would have gone through same series of defeats if they were playing as much when they first arrived on the scene as Bangladesh did. India, New Zealand and West Indies were all granted test status in 1926 and they had to wait years to even play their first test matches. If three nations as diverse as the distances between their national boundaries were made part of the elite, was it not an effort to reach out and make the game more widespread. So why is it wrong now? How long can administrators can sit and just wait for things to happen itself?

There are so many examples to observe. USA where soccer is still not very popular has its team playing in the world cup. Only a decade since they started MLS (Major League Soccer) but already signs of progress are visible. Consider China, world’s most populous nation, was a rather spent force in sports until they decided to do something about it. Today they are not just among top Olympic nations they are coming up in more and more non-Chinese sports.

Sport is part of culture and any new sports require a culture change to be very popular and it will take time, a lot of time. This doesn’t mean though efforts should be curbed. May be it’ll be much easier to spread the game among neighbors of big cricketing nations. So it could be that countries like Scotland, Ireland, Bermuda, Kenya and Nepal etc. graduate to big league before others like Canada. That doesn’t stop from planning and promoting. Almost certainly in our life time we won’t see 50 test playing nations from 6 different continents but our future generations will sure do. After all how many in 1880 envisioned even a 3rd or 4th cricketing nation.

What shoe you are into?

From the moment ICC published their new FTP (Future Tour Program) this week, too much cricket or lack of it (for some teams) is talk of the cricket fraternity. Contrasting views have been aired by present and past players, administrator and fans (like me). What else could remain to be said?

Not much for sure but nevertheless there are different angles to look at it. They say before judging someone, try to be in their shoe for a day. It’s imperative that what your spin on the issue depends on who you are. If you are a fringe player – a player who usually can only expect a chance to play if a more established one is injured out or conditions of particular match/series suits his style of play – nothing will ever be too much. Ask Stuart McGill. If you are tagged as a just one day player or test player, you are not complaining either. Ask VVS Laxman. If you are a leading cricketer of your national team and play both (soon to be ‘all three’) forms of the game yes you are concerned how much your body can take. If you are a national coach you haven’t heard complaining for too much cricket. If you are administrator you wonder what this fuss is all about. And if you are indeed a fan you complain when your favorite players are out due to injury or boring matches are being played against weaker teams but you are ready to watch 20 test matches in a year if they are promised to replicate Ashes 2005 magic.

ICC has called cricket as player’s chosen profession and some fans said if they can work all year on their jobs why can’t cricketers? Fair enough. Question is, are all jobs equally demanding on mind and body? People go on sabbatical when really tired from years of work and they of course switch jobs to refresh themselves. International cricketers can quite the game but can’t switch to a different employer if they want to play at highest level. Unlike in real world cricket playing jobs are always for just 11 or 12 at any given day. This hasn’t changed in last two centuries. Coming back after out of job is so much harder. Don’t we common men too come to work despite a mild sickness to ensure job security? In international sport job security is not easily earned since employment opportunities are limited. The bottom line is if you are absent a replacement has to be there, work can’t wait for you, never.

When a player is coming back from injury or after being dropped due to poor form too much cricket is not an issue. May be its nature’s way of balancing things that when you play beyond a human body can allow, an injury force a break and much needed rest. Central contracts have contributed in a big way in providing much needed job security. Higher match fee and other perks have made it rewarding to be an international cricketer. Just like Human Resource departments in corporate world, team staffs are now equipped with excellent support to help cricketers being match fit (both physically and mentally) as much as possible.

One more major issue needs to be touched upon here, living away from family for long period of times. Yes it is tough but some players have gone overboard with it. It’s not just cricketers but people from all walks of life go through it. Soldiers serving their nations on borders or being abroad on UN missions in hostile conditions actually deserve far better support. Cricketers are often allowed to keep their wives and girlfriends on tour with them. Even in civilian world living away from family is not so uncommon. All the kidnapping and killings of foreigners in Afghanistan and Iraq can point to how many of us live away from family for assignments much like a cricket tour. My housemate has not seen his wife and son for over a year now working in another part of the world. Cricketers do get to visit home every couple of months at least.

Each and every job or lack of it brings challenges with it. It’s almost a human nature to never be happy about what you have got. To gain something you got to loose something. There is no easy solution. I sincerely feel the onus is on cricketers. Even in the past demand on the body was significant for a leading cricketer. Kapil Dev played 18 tests (besides 18 one-dayers) in calendar year 1983 and keep in mind his burden was no less than of today’s Freddie Flintoff. Not to mention there wasn’t even a coach in that era with the team. Rotation is only answer today whether forced (by injury) or planned (team policy or player requested rest). World is not perfect and it will never be. Enough said, now let’s get on with the game if you are fit and not feeling homesick, else see you in next series.

So now what shoe you are into?

Playing For (just) Pride

What it means to represent your nation in a sport? And how important is money for you? It’s amazing that in different contexts these perennial questions have resurfaced again. It started with ICC chief executive Malcolm Speed responding to players’ complaint of too much cricket. He said that they (players) were in their chosen profession and no one forced them to play cricket. It’s not too surprising either to see players playing club or country cricket while complaining of too much cricket at the same time. Shahid Afridi is a very good example. Just days after retiring from tests in the name of too much cricket he is playing in England now.

Ex Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar also disagreed with notion of too much cricket and said he was willing to work hard 365 days of year for India. Gavaskar is a proud Indian and his nationalism is well known for years. Another Indian great Tendulkar was rather diplomatic two days ago and asked for balance. So does it make him less patriotic? Ex Pakistani captain and coach Javed Miandad also rubbished the call for less cricket and claimed in his days they wanted more. West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding (who played against both Gavaskar and Miandad) and now a reputed commentator has views in sync with modern players though. He thinks there is too much cricket and he couldn’t last as long as he did if he was to play today.

Is there really a connection between nationalism and playing day in and day out? West Indies cricket is in turmoil for a number of years now and one of the reasons for that is constant dispute between WICB and players. West Indies remain only international team without retainer contracts for its players and negotiations never seem to be over. Richie Richardson (who captained West Indies in 1996 world cup) criticized that present generation takes no pride in playing for their team but only worry about money, unlike (obviously) his generation and the ones prior to that.

Wondering why these past players often don’t agree with present crop? It seems like a generation gap struggle often seen in families, between a father and a son. With all due respect to Gavaskar’s patriotism (And I am one of his biggest admirer) it’s not directly convertible into physical limits a body can extend to. As a matter of fact if only a will to win can do everything no batsman will ever get out due to exhaustion or cramps. No soldier will die on a battle field for reason other then getting shot at the temple.

It’s always important to be in others’ shoe before making a judgment and I have little doubt if these past players were to play cricket today, they would have been feeling the heat too. Coming to Richardson’s remark it’s also not in tune with time. There was a time when there were no radio, TV or even newspapers and generations lived through it without complaining. In Richardson’s era no international team had retainer contracts and most didn’t have coaches either. You demand things when they are available to your contemporaries but not you. True West Indies players despite being best in the world were not the richest but that’s a generational thing. 80 s team was surely better paid than 60s team. Even today West Indian players won’t be richest but they too deserve a decent retainer contract as is the norm in this 21st century for international teams.

With pride alone you can sacrifice your life for your country but to continue living and serving it you will need to keep giving your body rest as needed and make some money to give a life to your family. And this wouldn’t mean that pride is missing by any degree of imagination.