Sixteen and Sachin
I read a recent opinion poll in a newspaper with a tinge of sadness, and a flood of nostalgia. The question posed was on expected lines; Do you support the selectors decision to drop Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly from the ODI team for Bangladesh? A cascading, avalanche response indicated that 80% of readers thoroughly endorsed the views of Dilip Vengsarkar and his enlightened panel. Perhaps Sourav being included in the question may have skewed the result, I thought briefly, considering how the Kolkotta southpaw is the easy pawn for....
Posted by Sanjay Jha at | 198 comments
Will Team India team-up?
Even as every myopic , self-serving BCCI office bearer soundly thrashed the battered Men in Blue since their low-profile return from the West Indies, the erstwhile national heroes kept a strange, mummified silence. Looking a picture of grown-up men who retreated hastily behind closed doors . Who allowed every Tom, Dick , Harry and Niranjan Shah to run them down their screeching tyres, mauling them ruthlessly under their radial weight. No fight-back, no resistance; just a meek surrender. Media gags, reduced endorsements, no player contracts, lesser match fees, the BCCI....
Posted by Sanjay Jha at | 53 comments
Will Team India Team-Up?
Even as every myopic, self-serving BCCI office bearer soundly thrashed the battered Men in Blue since their low-profile return from the West Indies, the erstwhile national heroes kept a strange, mummified silence. Looking a picture of grown-up men who retreated hastily behind closed doors. Who allowed every Tom, Dick, Harry and Niranjan Shah to run them down their screeching tyres, mauling them ruthlessly under their radial weight. No fight-back, no resistance; just a meek surrender. Media gags, reduced endorsements, no player contracts, lesser match fees, the BCCI made them perceptibly....
Posted by Sanjay Jha at | 3 comments
Will Twenty20 destroy Indian cricket?
The resplendent green astro-turf destroyed Indian hockey. On regular grass, the stylish finesse and dribbling skills of Pakistan and Indian players with long sticks was legendary. The two countries met with monotonous regularity in all international championship finals, with score-lines reading a close fought 1-0, 0-2, 2-1 at best. Three goals seemed like a Herculean achievement and signified an exemplary rout of one team by another. Now India gets beaten regularly by South Korea, Britain and Argentina. And Pakistan is a pale shadow of its outstanding regimen of the past,....
Posted by Sanjay Jha at | 46 comments
