Lights, Camera & Its Action !!!

This is what a fan like me always looking forward to; some slam bang matches & lots of glamour around the whole event. Yeah Ladies & Gentleman IPL season 3 is here; 45 days non-stop action and which gradually builds up to World Cup 20/20.

Amid all the speculations of security, players association revolting, terror threats, battle with news channels, battle with estranged state and moving for home games from Hyderabad to some where else. You name it and controversies are up a galore. The moral of the story is Mr. Modi knows his way of getting things done; some might want to call him an arm twister; but these are words for them to eat up coz…IPL 3 is here to stay and make a bigger impact with all the innovation done around.

With IPL in fray; one would want to argue that Tests matches are getting affected as we are loosing manyy greats to T-20. In my view Tests are holding their own fort while ODIs haven’t lost their youth yet but we all are anxiously waiting for IPL for begin as this Cricket’s current future. As this season promises lot of drama, emotions on field and more so off the field.

There will be much innovation off the field: new entertainers, new broadcast ideas. But what matters and would be interesting is the innovations on the ground. The IPL & 20/20 is still a lot of work in progress; which is not as mature as test matches. We all have embraced the scope over fine leg & slow loopy bouncers. Including element of surprise should be the modusoprandy which some time is missing and batters are ready for almost anything which would come out of bowlers hand. I would be watching and waiting for the time when batsmen set themselves up for a slower ball and think of faster ball as a variation; making fast bowling all the more exciting prospect.

Meanwhile the scoop gets even more dramatic, and all those who worried about broken jaws are still being proved wrong. Brendon McCullum against Australia was perhaps the most dramatic of all, playing the falling scoop in a manner that Rohan Kanhai, who played the peculiar but effective "falling sweep", would have been proud of. The scoop is getting finer in placement, now occasionally being played back over the keeper's head and sometimes even to third man. I'd like to look at a wagon wheel at the end of every match, to see whether the new V is outscoring the traditional one.

But there is little doubt that it is becoming important to possess the scoop, or even the paddle. But guys like Cameron white; Keiron Pollard; Yousuf pathan wont mind that as they are capable of clearing the grounds at will. There are lots of things to look forward to during this IPL. Will the Switch hit take the center stage; will batsmen would bat both right & left handed or would the bowlers bowl a ball which would never rise; the list goes on.

With all these things stored in this seasons IPL 3; it’s the uncertainty of this format which defines the more excitement. Game on Mr. Modi.

In Real; I mean in Reality - 'Only God bats better then Him"

Yep folks you all got it correct; its none other than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar; who we are talking about immensely since the day he scored 200; nothing comes to my mind but the days when I was at NDTV studio just after the day when Australia won 2007 World Cup.

We were all discussing why India lost and blaming one player or the other and I was pretty much vocal about Sachin retiring from the game. I was debating none other than Ajay Jadeja & Navjot Singh Sidhu. Rarely did we all envisage that this day would come when he would prove me and millions like me wrong on the statements we made back in 2007. Every body wrote so much about him right from the day he entered International Cricket, World Cup 1992, his heroics in 1996 World Cup, his battle for the lost cause in 1999 against Pakistan at Chennai. His 6 over 3rd man of Shoaib Akhtar at 155 kph + speed; till the time he scored the first double hundred in 2010.

There is a lot to write about him like the way he didn’t play Single Cover drive during his marathon 248* innings against Australia at Sydney in 2003-04. Lot of people would argue with the fact that Sachin has never played a match finishing innings or an innings when his team would require the most of him, but mind you; he has played hell lot of innings where India have won comfortably without any hassles. In short the list of achievements is long and guess I am not qualified yet to even comment on his greatness. What impress me about Sachin is his sheer work ethic and hard work and discipline towards his profession. Mind you the talent in an individual would give you a good opening but from there onwards its just the sheer hard work & discipline which would give you consistency. Its speaks volumes about the individual who peels of centuries with so much ease and when ever he walks out to bat; century is just an incident rather being a milestone.

I would leave you all with the compilation of quote found on facebook guess this would be an apt post after his 200* in a ODI.

Hashim Amla:
“Nothing bad can happen to us if we’re on a plane in India with Sachin
Tendulkar on it.”
Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a
flight

Yaseer Hameed:
“Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and
Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.”

“To Sachin, the man we all want to be”
- What Andrew Symonds wrote on an aussie t-shirt he autographed specially
for Sachin

BBC on Sachin:
Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there
is something we don’t know, something beyond scientific measure. Something
that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even
those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When
he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their
lives “


“But the finest compliment must be that bookmakers would not fix the odds -
or a game - until Tendulkar was out.”


“Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?” Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq
when the latter dropped Sachin’s catch.


Brian Charles Lara:
“Sachin is a genius. I’m a mere mortal.”

Mark Taylor:
“We did not lose to a team called India…we lost to a man called Sachin” -
Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)
M. L. Jaisimha:
“The more I see of him the more confused I’m getting to which is his best
knock.”

Glenn McGrath:
“The joy he brings to the millions of his countrymen, the grace with which
he handles all the adulation and the expectations and his innate humility -
all make for a one-in-a-billion individual,”

Anjali
“I can be hundred per cent sure that Sachin will not play for a minute
longer when he is not enjoying himself. He is still so eager to go out
there and play. He will play as long as he feels he can play,”

Matt HAYDEN:
“I HAVE SEEN GOD, HE BATS AT NO.4 FOR INDIA”


“Even my father’s name is Sachin Tendulkar.”
– Tendulkar’s daughter, Sara, tells her class her father’s name after the
teacher informs them of a restaurant of the same name in Mumbai


KUMBLE:
“I am fortunate that I’ve to bowl at him only in the nets!”


Shahrukh (quoting Shahrukh from an interview)
“Que: Who do you think as most important celebrity ?
Shahrukh: There was a big party where stars from bollywood and cricket were
invited. Suddenly, there was a big noise, all wanted to see approaching Amitabh Bachhan.
Then Sachin entered the hall and Amitabh was leading the queue to get a grab of the GENIUS!!”


Navjot Singh Sidhu:
“India me aap PrimeMinister ko ek Baar Katghare me khada kar sakte hain..Par
Sachin Tendulkar par Ungli nahi utha Sakte..”


Waqar Younis
“He can play that leg glance with a walking stick also.”
A banner once said-’ I WILL SEE GOD WHEN I DIE BUT TILL THEN I WILL SEE
SACHIN ‘ that quiet defines Sachin-The greatest.


Allan Donald:
“Sachin Tendulkar has often reminded me of a veteran army colonel who has
many medals on his chest to show how he has conquered bowlers all over the
world”And i remember reading in one of Allan Donald’s interview.
This interview was in Cricket Talk 7-8 yrs ago.
“I was bowling to Sachin and he hit me for two fours in a row. One from
point and the other in between point and gully. That was the last two balls of the over and the over after that we (SA) took a wicket and during the group meeting i told Jonty (Rhodes) tobe alert and i know a way to pin Sachin. And i delivered the first ball of my next over and it was a fuller length delivery outside off stump. And i shouted catch.
To my astonishment the ball was hit to the cover boundary. Such was the brilliance of Sachin. His reflex time is the best I have ever seen. Its like 1/20th of a sec.
To get his wicket better not prepare. At least u wont regret if he hits you for boundaries.”


Peter Rebouck, Aussie journalist
“On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations.
The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century.
This Genius can stop time in India!!”


NKP Salve, former Union Minister (This was when he was accused of ball tempering)
“Sachin cannot cheat. He is to cricket what (Mahatma) Gandhiji was to
politics. It’s clear discrimination. “


Andy Flower:
“There are 2 kind of batsmen in the world. One Sachin Tendulkar. Two all the
others.
This brought a tear ..its easy to get caught in the hype and the halo effect and all..but seeing is believing! This are the tributes when he is still playing for India. I shudder to think what will happen if he quits. Not just cricket.

Security Fears, Sachin on Everest - 200, IPL 2010, Hockey world Cup & Budget it’s all happening !!!!

Frankly one of the most exciting times for India. Its all happening here; you name it and that’s here. On one hand country needs to stand up to its reputation of providing secured environment compared to the country in neighborhood. On other we all are celebrating our No.1 Test Status and above all fantastic feet achieved by the only great in the game; that is climbing the mountain of 200* in One-day match. Surely this is the beginning and there are lots of others who would follow him in future but the Sachin is the first one to open the doors. He is in remarkable touch, 4 centuries in last 4 test and 200*; There is no further debate on his greatness – Story ends he is best batsmen to ever set foot on playing field.

While I write this Organizers of two major sporting events in India currently have to live up to the standards expected of them. It is the matter of building a reputation, which becomes the benchmark. Accordingly the IPL is surrounded with a variety of issues, from threats of disruption to threats to life. We all know let it be EPL or Champions league – Man U would play Chelsea or Liverpool would play to AC Milan in 2011-12 season. But people down there in Europe don’t realize how blessed they are to have reached this benchmark that no one can threaten to cancel these scheduled events. Less than 10 days before the IPL opener there could still be changes to the schedule as political turmoil and the inevitable whiff of terrorism come calling. It is an unhappy situation and calls for different approaches.

Even as you read this, a terror outfits is probably planning to target a Soccer World Cup in South Africa or Football in the United States. Once you face up to that reality, then it's easy to see why the Indian Premier League won't be moved out of India this year. These threats cannot be taken seriously as it may be one outfit threatening to disrupt the events today or it may be another sleeper cell targeting another sporting event tomorrow; we cannot surrender to these threats and eventually succumb to them. But we can do here is to learn out of this and try and have Plan B or Plan C or even Plan D if required to counter these threats. The idea is as simple like a T-20 game; Think on your feet and get something working out of this. In a way I like Mr. Lalit Modi my first impression was that he was acting as a Dictator during his days of conflict with ICL. But I do respect him a lot today because of his Management Skills, Financial Acumen and above all he is the man to look up to in the times of Crises. He did prove his Crisis Management skills when Indian government wasn’t able to guarantee security to IPL and he within no time moved the whole tourney to South Africa; just too- good that’s the definition to Modi’s Heroics; no body matches him on this front of Administration.

Indian Government should think of hiring Mr. Modi & Mr. Shahrukh Khan to revive Indian Hockey; whereas former is a fantastic Administrator (unarguably the Sachin of Sports Administration) and later is good at mentoring and motivating players; this killer Combo would bring Hockey back to its Old Glory days.

First, Modi correctly points out that "Nobody in the world can safeguard the safety of the players in any tournament. All we have to do is ensure we are putting on the best security". Indeed, there might be arguments over this but there can be no guarantees about the player’s ultimate safety. Unless Mussad from Israel is there to guarantee one for the visiting players. Secondly foreign community needs to realize that it is an Indian Tournament and needs to be staged here. If you look at the advertising promos for the third season of the IPL which starts on 12 March, the emphasis is very much on the Indianness of the event. Modi mentions very correctly that the replacement list with IPL is long in case any of these players plan to drop out. Modi has done all he could do. Burning Midnight oil to make sure everything is in place. One should look at out for Late night tweets from Lalit Modi & Sudar Raman (CEO of IPL) shows how committed these guys are to make this whole event a hassle free affair. Behind the scenes, negotiations over the player’s security demands will carry on.

In spite of it all, sport needs to exist, to flourish because it is one of the few things that bring a smile through honest efforts; The IPL seeks to entertain, and that is why it needs to be strong. Cricket must evolve and the IPL, and the Indian consumer, is at the heart of this evolution. As a part of this evolution I do like the innovative strategy breaks and different nomenclature assigned to boundaries to name a few. But eventually it brings a smile. I hope it is not disturbed, for the sake of Game, Humanity & greater feel-good factor in the world we are in, and are heading into.

Threat perceptions are different from individual to individual. If a player decides not leaving a young family behind him so be it and I am sure lot of us would respect this gesture. On the other hand if we all gave up to these threats and danced on their tunes it would be unfair and injustice to sporting community and fans across the Globe. As its rightly mentioned in Holy Gita that “it’s a sin to commit Terror, Injustice and Violence on the innocent but it’s a bigger sin to accept these atrocities and do nothing about it”. I would want to follow this and so is Mr. Modi following it. More importantly if something does go wrong with IPL this year then the belief of international community would be vindicated but above all most importantly Innocent individuals would lose their lives. We as a country are ready to take this risk as we are brave enough to face it.

Last but not the least; Please save paper and save trees. This is my contribution towards the environment we live in. All these efforts of IPL to be staged in India would go in vain if we don’t protect our nature. We need good pollution free environment to apprecaite sports as the game would be more visible in Pollution free environment.