Thursday, 10 January 2008

The Avil Effect.



This incident happened to me 3 years back. Looking back at my cricketing days is something that i often used to do. It feels good and motivates me to make it big. There is one innings that will always be etched in my memory, for it carried a lot of importance to me and played under challenging conditions. I was in my 2nd year of college and was playing for TNCA 2nd divison. I had played for 4th division the previous season and due to my consistent performances that year I got into a 2nd division side. There is a big difference in the standard of cricket compared to 4th division. The players are of high quality and vastly experienced. The season did not start on a good note. I managed to score only 8 runs in the first match of the season and we also lost the game badly! Going into the 2nd game, there was some pressure on the team to win and get started for the season. From a personal point of view, I had to perform very well in order get to the senior division which will give me a chance to crack at Ranji trophy.
The day before my game, I was returning home from practice and during my travel, I felt a lot of itching all over my body! The moment i reached home, I found that I had been stung by something and that had caused an allergy. My entire body had swollen, and I was suffering with pain and itching!! It was already late when i reached home, as a result of which I couldn't go to a doctor! Took some paati vaithiyam and slept off ;) The next morning when i woke up, there was no improvement in my condition and the pain and itching was still there! I had a match to play, so i took an AVIL (tablet used for allergies) , so that i could play the game. The best part here is, Avil when taken induces drowsiness and sleep!! I realised it only after i reached the ground :P I struggled to go through my warmup routines and was feeling extremely drowsy. we won the toss and elected to bat and i had to open the Innings.
I went out to bat with pressure to perform and I had to fight of my drowsiness too! I was feeling so drowsy that nothing went through my mind ;) I was to face the first ball of the innings... The first 2 balls were short of a length and outside the off. I duly cracked them both to the point boundary. A solid start.. 8 of 2 and the drowsiness was still there!! That kind of a start gave me hope and though i played and missed so many times outside the off stump (Thanks to the Avil effect :P ), I was lucky not to edge one to the slips/keeper ;). I went on to score 89 in that game. This performance gave me the confidence that I can do well in the higher level and my good run continued for the next 5 games as I scored 4 more fifties and got selected to play for the city team. This innings was really significant for me and looking back at it gives me pleasant memories :)










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Tuesday, 08 January 2008

The Sydney Saga

India’s Tour of Australia 2007-2008. The 2nd match of the four test series took place at the Sydney Cricket Ground. At the end of the fifth day with just 8 mins to go, Australia clinched victory. This win is Australia’s 16th consecutive test win. They equal the record held by Steve Waugh’s Aussies and will be aiming to break that at Perth. This match will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. 5 days of intense cricket was spoiled by pathetic and school boy stuff umpiring and off-course the Australian team complaining to the match referee about Harbhajan Singh of accusing Symonds with racist remarks. Before that there were some great performances that need to be remembered.


First Aussies were starring down the barrel at 134/6. Symonds came to the rescue. He went on to score a valiant 162 no along with help from the lower order and hugely helped by disastrous umpiring.(Disastrous for India) He was let off 3 times once on 30, then on 68 and once again on 120!! Boy, it cost India dear. India fought back bravely with Very Very Special Laxman and the sensational Tendulkar scoring hundreds. Tendulkar ended up with 154 no and it helped India a lead of 69 runs. A Placard read “Commit all ur crimes when Sachin is batting because even the Lord is watching” is the best way to describe Sachin’s knock. Aussies played excellently in the 2nd innings with Hayden and Hussey getting 100’s and once again with some umpiring help!! India was set a target of 333 from 72 and India went abt playing those overs!! India were well on their way to save the game when Bucknor struck, once again India were at the receiving end.


The Umpires kept coming with more and more pathetic decisions and unfortunately India suffered the Brunt of these decisions. There was just one decision that didn’t go Australia’s way compared to 8 for India! Symonds benefited the most out of it. Ganguly and Dravid were done in by Benson and Bucknor respectively and at a time when both of them were going well and were on course to save the game for India. India lost 3 wickets in the space of 5 balls to hand over the game to the Aussies!! The Umpiring cost India the game and a chance to survive in the series. The Final day was marred with more controversies as the Aussies showed poor attitude and wanted to win the game by hook or crook, their captain leading the way!! It was truly pathetic to the extent that one newspaper described it as

INDIA C.BENSON B.BUCKNOR.


The Aussies have to be blamed for their unsporting behavior. The way they claimed for catches and didn’t walk for obvious edges didn’t help India’s cause!! The match should have been a draw and the Aussies didn’t deserve to win!! The way Kumble conducted himself after the game was too good and it just showed why he is such a brand ambassador of the game, where as ponting’s attitude left a bad taste in the mouth of everyone. He was arrogance personified! His interviews to the media were so rude that senior and renowned cricket writer Peter Roebuck called for Ponting to be sacked.


Secondly Harbhajan Singh was accused of racist remarks against Andrew Symonds. Ponting launched a complained with the match referee and after the investigation, the match referee Mike Proctor found bhajji guilty and handed him a ban of 3 games. This happened despite the fact that there was no evidence against bhajji using any particular word that was racist in nature. The Aussies are renowned for their tactics of sledging all over the world and are considered the worst sledgers in the game! There have been many instances where they have clearly crossed the line yet managed to go Scott free.


Aussies and sledging always go together and it was really childish on the part of the Aussies to complain against bhajji who also does his own bit when it comes to sledging, but am sure he wouldn’t have gone to the level of making a racist remark!! Ponting sensed an opportunity to pin down his tormentor at least off the field ;) and thankfully for him it has worked… By doing this he has lost a lot of credibility from former players and the Australian crowds, especially people were upset with the way he went on with his press conference insisting that his team played fair and hard but there were instances where they stood their ground even after edging to first slip (Michael Clarke). This is nothing but ridiculous!! Ponting too refused to walk when he clearly nicked the ball down the leg side and appealed for a catch when he had clearly grounded the ball. When he was asked about this he defied saying that a person questioning his Integrity should not be standing there and he was 100% sure that he caught it!


The decision to ban Harbhajan has created a mighty uproar back home and the board and the players are strongly united for a change ;) and backing bhajji to the core. The Board has threatened that they may even withdraw from the tour if the ban is not lifted. I hope this doesn’t happen, because it will have a lot of implications in the future, especially the smooth relationship between the two cricket boards will be spoilt.


Somebody, probably a preschool teacher, needs to explain simply to Ricky Ponting about the damage that has been caused by his team during the Sydney Test. While India burns and fumes over issues ranging from race to umpiring and sportsmanship, Ponting continues to believe his team has done nothing wrong.


It is extraordinary that he doesn't understand the significance of India's threat to boycott the tour or Australia's direct and indirect roles in the lead-up to it. He is as temporarily blind as some of the officials were at the SCG.


All said and done the pressure is now on India to perform. Nothing but a win will make all the cricket fanatics back home happy and a win is the best way to show the arrogant Aussies that they are not invincible. It’s going to be a very tough job, as Perth is going to be the backyard for Aussie quick’s, but we have got the batting firepower, combined with some aggression and a desire to give it back to the Aussies can see us pull of a surprise. All the talking and protesting has been done, Now its time for some action!

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