Team of decades

While travelling and waiting to catch my delayed carrier few weeks back, i had penned a thought to compare the Indian test cricket teams for last four decades since i have been watching intently the mass opium sport in India for last four decades. I thought why cannot we filed teams to compete with each other and find out imaginary results.  I have divided teams into 80s, 90s, naughties, and 10s. No doubt few players had crossed the decades, few omissions, but i think you would agree to assumption that i have picked up players based on their peaks of career, number of games played and impact they had on final results. There will be many points of debate. But then instead of 11 i have chosen team of 17 based on roles. You may laugh over this indulgence but it just cost me over 20 mins waiting for my carrier. I think that's a good collateral damage for diehard cricket fan.

Finally there is my own team which can win in India and overseas. Pls comment on that as well.

Coming to subject,  i think team of naughties and eighties will be in finals and third will be today's team. Naughties will win thanks to new techniques and discipline. That's why naughties was golden era in Indian cricket since 1932.

Team of 90s here is the best crop we could find outside the legends in 80s and naughties. Thus its called the dark age of Indian cricket when  if a certain player was out we would switch off TV sets. and you know whom i am talking about.

Coming to team of present, after doing great in overseas i am waiting to see kohlis, rahanes unleash upon opposition in last half of decade in India and away. some promising bowlers also there. We have had the transition after 2nd april 2011 and completed by tough Aus series and WC. Time to rise and rise. My only request is to reign administrators.  Maybe i will pen down my musings on 31st dec 2019.

 

Position in team	2010s	Gautam XI
Opener	M Vijay	Sunil Gavaskar
opener	Shikhar Dhawan	V Sehwag
bat	Cheteshwar Pujara	R Dravid
bat	Virat Kohli	Sachin Tendulkar
bat	Ajinkya Rahane	Saurav Ganguly
bat/ar	Rohit Sharma	Kapil Dev
wk	W Saha	M S Dhoni
fast/medium	M Shami	Zaheer Khan
fast/medium	U Yadav	J Srinath
spinner	R Ashwin	Anil Kumble
spinner	Amit Mishra	Harbhajan Singh
12th/reserve bat	A Rayadu	Virat Kohli
reserve op	K L Rahul	G Gambhir
fast/medium reserve	Bhuvaneshwar Kr	Ishant Sharma
fast/medium reserve	v aaron	V Prasad
spinner reserve	R Jadeja	R Ashwin
reserve wk	N Ojha	S Kirmani

Position	1980s	1990s	2000s
Opener	Sunil Gavaskar	S Ramesh	V Sehwag
opener	K Shrikanth	S S Das	G Gambhir
bat	Dilip Vengsarkar	sanjay Manjrekar	Rahul Dravid
bat	M Azharuddin	praveen amre	Sachin Tendulkar
bat	Mohinder amarnath	Vinod Kambli	Saurav Ganguly
bat/ar	Kapil Dev	Manoj Prabhakar	V V S Laxman
wk	Syed Kirmani	Nayan Mongia	M S Dhoni
fast/medium	Roger Binni	V Prasad	Zaheer Khan
fast/medium	Madanlal	J Srinath	Ishant Sharma
spinner	L Shivarama	Rajesh chauhan	Anil Kumble
spinner	shivlal yadav	V Raju	Harbhajan Singh
12th/reserve bat	Ravi Shastri	Ajay Jadeja	Yuvraj Singh
reserve op	N Sidhu	W V Raman	Akash Chopra
fast/medium reserve	raju kulkarni	Atul Vasan	Ajit Agarkar
fast/medium reserve	chetan sharma	D Mohanty	Irfan Pathan
spinner reserve	Maninder singh	sunil joshi	M Kartik
reserve wk	kiran more	M S K Prasad	D Kartik

Mauka to sabhiko milta hain

Cut to year 1998, when life was different, on right side of 20s , I had seen a movie made by Ram Gopal  Varma named Satya. The film was dark based on the underworld of then Mumbai  and was engrossing . RGV used to make good movies those days. The dialogue which was made famous out of that movie  is title of this post. Reason the Mauka campaign of star sports world cup. These ads were funny and really entertaining. And yes ironically it was Pakistan who lost Mauka by dropping Watson off Wahab. Imagine the much maligned fielder taking the catch, Australia 5 down for 70  chasing  220s at that point. Pakistan then going on to win to meet India in semis. and maybe Dhoni lifting cup on 29th and we celebrating on streets again.... so it's not about having a Mauka it's about grabbing it. so as in cricket so in life. All of us are aware of our 'Maukas': some dropped, some taken. But if wishes were horses....

As predicted here on this forum Australia ; the firm favourites, won the cup. They were the  team which had great batting and bowling . All players chipped in at different occasions. They ended a tough emotional season which started with sad death of Hughes. The cricketing sense prevailed but i have to give credit to changed rules to help southern hemisphere teams with unequal benefit. Spinners were out of equation due to fielding equations. Reverse swing was out due to two balls. Ground  were smaller at least in NZ and big bats were destructive. I am not whining . It's a truth that team with better bowling attacks survived and ordinary batsmen ran away with centuries. Coming back as Sourav says in commentary about team India, yes we performed as per the expectations and nothing more. Given especially the form carried on in Aus tri series. In fact we fought in first ODI vs aus, other was washed away. But surprisingly we lost both games to England the team which could not make it to WC QFs was an aberration. With this team we can beat Pak, UAE, WI, Zim, Ireland, Bangladesh any day any place but the biggest achievement was to beat SA comprehensively scoring 300 and running out AB, Miller. But when it mattered most we fell short of maybe 20-30 runs in semis. If Johnson had not played that innings we would have been chasing say 290-300 but then if wishes were horses we would have had the Mauka, We started well batting but for some rush of blood. Imagine we had Gambhir instead of Rohit (my namesake is the backbone of two world cup final victories) and yuvi instead of sir jadeja. these two black holes in selection finally lost Mauka for us. But then kudos to bowlers who came after smith 100 and throughout WC to dismiss opponents . Hats off to Dhoni.  On other teams, NZ did well and SA faltered without choking. England have lost it.  Associates need more time rightfully . We saw farewells for sanga, mahela, afridi and clarke. Not a great world cup except first semi and few matches involving associates.

And on to carry on topic based on Mauka, this is time we as a country can really materialize with opportunity to take our country into the next zone. Forget ranting of media which has antinational agenda to continue the erstwhile establishment to comeback. Just to prove my point i can cite the game changers in Delhi who were projected by this media. and how they have failed with regressive non agenda which was funded by anti nationals and those  ultra liberal utopians. Also look at media haste to subside Modi wave despite having a functioning government. and what they all have to claim are non issues. Many will argue that even Modi regime is creation of media. I beg to differ as it was expression of aspiring India who was tired of same old establishment taking away all benefits. Aspiring India is the one which believes that by hard work they can make it good for themselves and for their offspring without deserting India. Carry on good work Mr Modi as we need to en cash the Mauka whatever non issues are created by media for its own survival. It's been a good year . Waiting for summer holidays for children to let the masti begin. Tomorrow is IPLs first match. We the perennial fools will be engaged during the summer.

Full & Final

This is world cup time and Team India's fortunes have changed thankfully for diehard fans aka fools like yours truly, ad makers, channels, sponsors, liquor shops, all and sundry. But then as a preview done earlier this is not review which is promised on this space on 1st April which also is  a fool's day.  Idea is not just to discuss chances to reach final or otherwise or  lifting the cup. On eve of Gudipadwa which traditionally has been a time for a  fresh start, why am i pondering on such gloomy thoughts. May be its midlife crisis or whatever. And stimulant is an idiotic mushy ad where in an old guy is having last day at office and a pregnant youngster  who makes it a big celebration thanks idiotically to a mobile service provider.

Memory flashes back  to 1996 on my first job . It was my second week at new job. Life was good and i was at a plan control room of a petrochemical  company which had hired me at one of the best packages those days. There was an old plant operator who was retiring that day. He had joined the plant when plant was inaugurated. The operators were relatively paid well and were well of in and around Mumbai those days. Must have done well in his life. He was emotional as he said good bye to oldies in room and shook hands with me. That day i had a smirk. This guy had spent whole life here. so unfashionable. How can one work whole life time in one setup. Nahi, No, Never.....

Cut to the present from the flashback, life is never dull. Every day is challenge but now whats the difference between that old plant operator and myself who might have faced different challenges than him . Maybe he had different circumstances  which made him do what i thought that day was cardinal crime to be not ambitious. What is ambition? To have good life? Didn't he have one. Now that the time has told lessons to me, I can take an unequivocal stance. Maybe there is someone sitting on a sold start-up at the age of 25 laughing at my choices  which i did in 90s to emulate Infosys's of world than googles.... But then life has been kind and unfair as well. But its been there and done that what was needed. 

At this age, i sometimes wonder what would be my feelings on same date where life (in my case it won't be a company letterhead)  gives you full and final settlement. Or already have i reached that stage. Or its time to take a new guard and hit sixes. and yes there is a confidence of that as well. Hope never dies. Have a great new year ahead. Take deep breath and  take a new start and may we dance on 29th.....(and yes 26th three days before)

 

Cuppa Mania

Three years, Nine months and twenty odd days have gone by since that April evening in 2011.Here comes Kulasekara and bowls to captain cool and it's a six. Nation erupts. I still remember we 30 odd friends in a resort enjoying drinking dancing to glory. Journey back home even two hrs after the final presentation on star sports was amazing. There were people all over. Nation of 120 crore cricket maniacs happily slept late in the night.  It was a fairy tale ending for that  guy who was born same year as me and who had scored many hundreds and tons of runs in both the forms of game. Moreover he had seen glory of that lords evening in 83, disappointment of Graham Gooch's sweeps at Wankhede in 87 as ball boy when another legend had declared his sunset. He carried nation's hope after that long tour in Australia in 92 same like this time. He had seen disaster at Eden, crowd frustration and his best mate crying. He had seen father passing away in 99 and that loss to Zimbabwe in his absence hurt our semi entry though further road could not have been guaranteed but then who knows as even clinical SA ran themselves out comically.  He did not sleep week before centurion match vs. arch rivals in 03 but to be deflated at the final hurdle thanks to superlative innings by then Aussie captain. And he had forgotten the ambush of our Asian neighbours in 2007 in Greg Chapell era.  It was the moment. Still those moments give cricket fanatics like me goose bumps. somehow 2011 was special personally professionally and from cricketing sense.

Come valentine's day another mania will rock India after all hoopla about Obama visit and Delhi elections will be over. So who will lift world cup 2015. It's tough to predict but either SA or Australia and to some extent NZ have it in them. And fight for last  semi final slot will be between stronger Asian neighbours and England. But then once we reach semis , we will be different team. Most worry is bowling especially death bowling in Australia and NZ. But we won champion trophy in difficult conditions in England in 13 which is my only hope as cometh the moment cometh the man. And this Indian team especially batting has that X factor. Hope we reach semis and on a given day few people need to play out of their skins and innings of their lives to advance may to who knows even the cup. But if someone ask me to pick only one team it will be the Australia.

Just to comment on the days which has passed by mentioned at the start, it's been nightmarish time for Indian cricket. Especially on the test side we are heading to point of no return. Does that mean we as a country have lost interest in test. Answer is yes, everyone wants ready to eat food and no patience to see ebbs and tides of opera as they unfold. And there is commercial angle too, who wants to hard labour for five days to get same money be as a player, broadcaster, host association or other stakeholders for just 3 hrs or just 8 hours .  Yes i will stick my head out and say test cricket need innovation. Though well fought draws at MCG and SCG were entertaining so was failed chase at Adelaide. I don't know solution but maybe i can ideate by the time we take up white clothing maybe against minnows or SA this year in more friendly conditions.

But also admit that it's still transition phase to be fair on team India. Big 5 have retired and Sehwag is now history thanks to selectors. i would rather have a failed Sehwag in my side instead of someone say like Dhawan. How we miss Kumble, Zaheer , Bhajji and for that matter even inconsistent but incisive bowlers like Agarkar, Ishant, Shreeshant who have given us good memories of adelaide03 , Nottingham 07, Durban 10, Johannesburg 06, Perth 08 and so on. Its bowlers who win matches. Though fielding has improved in India esp after better grounds started coming up.

let me tell you it's least preferred choice for a person to be a bowler or fielder amidst all cricketing avenues. for eg last weekend we went to trip at a resort where we had reunion of 25 odd boys of my batch . idea was to win the toss, bat and run away to the bar .

Now how well we have managed transition. We now have troika of Rahane, Kohli and Vijay who seem to have it in them. Need an opener, no 6 and now wicketkeeper batsman  . After many years  our search of genuine all rounder still revolves around Pathan brothers. Our spinners have struggled even in home conditions as we saw another frontier broken by England in Mumbai and Eden. How we will miss Kumble. Fast bowling cupboard is bare and there is no quick fix. Till we get that solved winning tests will be a dream but can we produce good test bowlers  willing to grind of bowling 20-25 overs in a day? 4-0 losses in England Australia ended the golden generation of Indian cricket who made India a good visiting team as compared to earlier decades despite few individual brilliances by spinners, Gavaskar , Kapil , Vengsarkar and few gutsy batsmen. Then came last two overseas seasons on the road. We fought hard be it Jo'burg where we were denied by SA batters . We  had one bad session dictated by Steyn at Durban. In NZ we fought but had no answer to McCullum. In England we did miracle at Lords and then lost steam to play remaining three tests in five match series. Who wants test cricket? In Australia 1-1 score line would have done justice to Indian batting superlative performance. But for few rash shots at Adelaide.  But again you don't expect to win with this bowling. Only bright spot was 4-0 drubbing of Aussies in Indian in 13  which gave us bragging rights that we do same thing in our backyard as you do. And then there was that speech in wankhede when we all wept in Nov 13.

On ODI front, we had success of Champions trophy, we did well in England 14 , home series and in 12 tri series despite odds. We seemed to be well oiled ODI team but very recent ODIs down under makes one feel unsure. On t20 we did again well in one WC to reach final . Yuvi in 11 and in 14 were in different zones.   His personal health fight remains exemplary. Few good players like Gambhir, Pujara, bhajji, ishant have faded. In short search for bowlers and bowling allrounders continue if we really mean business in tests especially. in Limited overs we have a future.

Main gossip issue is why did MSD retire? If one removes conspiracy theorists suggesting IPL scam or fixing angle, he had made clear his priorities. so be it and that's my sense throughout this musing.  IPL phase 2 came and went by creating furore, scandals, litigations, politics, underworld, films etc.  Finally Mumbai Indians won giving comfort to disappointed diehard fans in phase 1 and to HIM. My own city failed to get as team on and off the field. But then one idiot film star has two trophies in his showcase. it's all happening as Bill Lawry used to say while we woke up at 5am in Australia to see coloured clothing white balls since 80s. No one blamed Kerry Packer then so why blame IPL.  But from plain consumerist point of view , i enjoy those May evenings when there is a match going on compared to silly soaps with bitches and Arnab's screaming. Only solace is good old Hindi music in absence of any  sporting  or personal agenda. World cricket remain focussed on minting money without solid reforms or expansion plans. T20 is only way we can build 20-30 good international teams which can then really constitute real world cup.

But then till then lest this cup come in and mania begin. We are ready....

 

Year of Hope

This forum has termed the year 2013 as half cooked. But as we end the year 2014 and as i cerebrated at self chosen intriguing place with family, the broth was fully cooked resulting in various changes that have created hope all around while there are still challenges of unknown and evil lurking around. But surely this year 2014 can be termed as a year of hope.

Most important of those changes was the installation of Narendra Modi at control of executive matters of India with absolute majority and old corrupt, inactive regime was removed. Without any bias one can say that the first six months of the new regime were heavier on decibels and less on contents.  But intent seems to be there and that has created hopes. Of course six months versus 10 years of misrule cannot be compared but still there is hope all around. I agree that in the  global context it’s just one of the developments but what matters  most for maybe one fourth of world's population, it is significant one despite  all the other sensational news breaks in the so called first world countries.  And yes its china is where the action (and reaction) still is and US being US its always deserve respect. Europe has its own welfare, immigration and productivity challenges.  Africa is unstable with regimes, wars and viruses. South America still flatters to deceive and then you have area from Israel in west and India in the east which for all the reasons still remains challenge to rest. We had seen many international crises in Ukraine Vs Russia, ISIS Vs humanity, China Vs others, India Vs Pak. Terror, unstable regimes, natural disasters have added to the misery. Climate changes have impacted life in form of droughts, floods. But despite there is hope as we see incidences and movements led by people like Malalas, Satyarthis, Amtes and many unsung people working for others.

A lucky general who rides on the fall of oil prices globally has helped Indian economy more than policy reforms which India Inc waited for in the post election era. Removal of subsidies, clearer policies for investors still elude us. Drastic reforms have been delayed but then intent is the word be it presentation on governance or cleanliness or be it make in India plan. 2015 will be landmark to see if electoral gains are capitalized or squandered upon. Opposition with as fringe element like TMC at helm (my favourite quiz master heading same ironically), is nonexistent. People of one state after another wanted strong leader and decisive governance.

On world stage ISIS and missing planes grabbed limelight, with US recovering under Obama and facing internal bickering be it healthcare, immigration or war on terror. Europe being as un-innovating, theoretical and welfare driven ageing economy as it can be has failed modern world. China continues to remain dominant but yet vulnerable,. Japan is taking on its rivals despite economic and geo-political challenges.  On this forum I said India has key role and it’s time to rise as i said on this forum, which has been endorsed by planned Obama visit on RD parade in 2015.

India is cauldron but politically it is much matured than what estimated by some established views. Old divisive politics does not matter. Now despite the established view creating much ado about nothing out of so called fringe elements focussing on conversions or an idiotic film or whatever 9 pm TV warrants for its trps, people don’t fall for such gimmicks anymore. We the people want change in day to day lives and we have hope. And most of states including Maharashtra endorsed similar trend where old divisive politics based on caste and religion have been ignored.

Maharashtra is also facing hope on its new CM. Families and casteists who have plundered Maharashtra since ages were shown the door. But then lack of absolute majority, caste driven politics are still challenges here. We had disasters like Malin and draught remains a big challenge along with farmer suicides. Most comforting fact is decline of so called barons and theirs clooneys, across right, left and centre.  Real hope for people of Maharashtra

In Pune we now have 2 MPs, 8 MLAs (100%) of same party which rules state and Delhi. But still we need a strong leader to solve civic issues be it BDP, metro, water, electricity, PMPL, roads, housing, crime control  and so on. Rains created panic but finally they made up the average numbers. Let’s hope we have intent in 2015 to resolve Pune Problems.

In world of business, recovery of US and oil price war eased the matters but still there is a threat of derailment of the recovery and there is terrorism. Technology has seen lot of investment in new game changing start-ups. FB and whatapp merging has unleashed upon us an evil of voyeurism, and ego which we have to guard our next gen.  But then we also have CSR growing and solutions for real problems of the world. Mobility also saw acceptance of standardization but interesting to see how Microsoft goes from where they were.  Apple seems to have lost its way a bit in the race with Google, Samsung. Cloud also got a move to serious business users finding their way. India was able to attract good confidence from FIIs resulting in good market returns. Also New government policies helped.  It will be really interesting to see if Make in India can be a reality not just a day dream.  India Inc and people have suffered a lot. Now there is hope.

On cricket, sudden retirement of the most successful captains has created turmoil at the yearend but once you remove conspiracy theories of match fixing and court matters, same incumbent made it very clear which form of cricket he prefers. I also have a question for Indian fans. Do we really care test cricket?  And yes whatever the purist in India, England and Australia say, the limited over is future and there is no harm in saying so especially if cricket needs to move from 8 teams to attest 30 40 good teams globally. Test cricket needs innovation to be spectator friendly. Though personally i love same in its current form it defies conventional wisdom. Thus we had a flop show in tests especially abroad. Younger generation don’t have hunger to toil for 5 days for same returns that they get playing for say 4-5 overs.  On world stage many promising cricketers have emerged raising hope for 15 when we have another big world cup event to look forward to. Time flies, it was just yesterday that we danced after that Dhoni’s six.

Marathi films had a great year with lots of takers to pay and watch at the theatre. The content ruled with some honest and some stereotype efforts.  Hindi films were disasters at least from my point of view. Apart from Queen the content was missing. They just used formulas. Though they might have raked 100 crore mullahs (I have real doubts on the collections numbers) but still we hope better movies in 2015.

On drama and music we had lot of hope as we saw many talented new comers.  

On personal note this year i lost personally many members in first family, which has been sad but then one has no control over such tragedies. Let’s hope our family has strength to absorb loss in 2015. On other side, it’s been a real happening year. I have fought with many people on social media forums this being election year but let me assure you that it was nothing personal and if have offended anyone hope to rebuild bridges in 2015. I did second leg of Wari as documented on this forum, worked on few personal goals successfully; I retired from round table but continued the work on education. I also had great time at some great locations, read few good books, and had gala time with old and new friends. Three were some changes personally and professionally and also my daughter turned into a teenager this year. Thus am gearing up for challenges in 2015.

Thanks 2014 for reviving hope and let 2015 realize them into reality.

2015

Its been  the year of change. There is a hint hope  as well as the challenge of unknown simultaneously.
Time to assess, analyze and move on to turn around hope into reality.
Its time to rise and make everything better around us.

Lets plan and succeed in 2015. Wish you happy new year 2015.

Nayak

Ganagot: a verbal portrait: Sabne Kaka

I had read a book named ‘Ganagot’ which were biographies of people who PL met in real life.  Being an ardent fan of PL, I had this idea to pen down some characters in real life like PL. Hope I create that generic feel out of personal experiences as in the original book.

SabaneKaka

Every night after 9 PM few music channels on TV and few FM channels play old songs.  Whenever I hear the eternal songs from films like Anaadi,  Madhumati, Chori Chori, my mind rides upon  a time machine to  reach a house very close to the foothill of Parvati (Those outside Pune will not know that there is a small hill which is used for exercise purposes for ages named Parvati. There are few good temples and views on the top of the whole city.) Those were the early 80s. DD was just gaining popularity. Households were buying black and white TVs from companies like EC, Dyanora, Crown.  Every Saturday they used to play a Marathi movie and on Sunday a Hindi movie. Those Marathi movies were either old mythological movies or musical dramas which we used to hate then, or biographies of the saints of Maharashtra, family drama, movies based on local dance called tamasha, few great comedies. We also had few great programs like Gajra: a collection of good literary pieces. But the star of the show was a Sunday movie invariably an old one. As a child, I  loved contemporary Amitabh or Mithun movies with customary fight sequences. Never then I realized that it's impossible for a single man (that too having lean physic of Amitabh) to defeat 20 odd villains in a fight to win over a lady. Maybe that's why we really believed that to win a lady you need to hit 20 people at a time when you grow up. Old movies were boring and that too if you were asked to walk say about 4 km from Sadashiv Peth to Parvati, it was a tough ask.  But then it was an incentive to visit Sabnekaka’s home as we had a separate room there where we could watch Parvati,   while elders saw the movie in the hall. But then you got to get interested in movie plots if you had to see them. I remember being perplexed by Vyjayantimala's double role in Madhumati while I enjoyed songs. I found Raj Kapoor funny.  I was impressed by Devanand in Guide and Jewel Theif  (never believed Ashok Kumar to be a villain at any point till it was exposed in the plot) But the darling was Kishore Kumar with comical presence and voice. The road from Sadashiv Peth to Parvati had another incentive of the detour to Saras Baug to play and eat bhel. We were promised a return journey by auto which depending on movie length was fulfilled when it was really late (late meant 9 30 then). But then we used to enjoy the whole Sunday movie experience thanks to the warm hospitality of sabne kaka and kaku with great food and comments. Sabne kaka is a gentleman personified. He is a professor in Maths and statistics. He had written many books. Very soft spoken quite contrary to the image of maths as a subject and that too as a teacher. I really wish I attended his class at Garware college where he used to teach. Later when I grew up, I came to know the trustee role he played in helping us grow in modernized housing. I don’t want to elaborate but that itself was rare those days. As we got our own TV, these sessions ended. In fact, since the mid-80s  to early 90s DD viewing was another experience as we all know. Sunday movies were shifted to Saturdays. Then in the 90s private channels and satellites entered our living rooms. Rest as they say is history with the explosion of entertainment and media. But still, whenever I hear a song from Madhu Mati or Chalti ka Naam,  I still remember those Sunday evenings.  The other day, I had a chance to meet Kaka. Kaku is no more. Sabne kaka is still the same as in those memories. Look forward to his blessings as always...