news from a private correspondent

6th June had marked the start of the Euro Cup 08... its like the matches are being played in my own backyard, with a few matches played in Zürich as well. However, even if there could have been a chance to see a match (considering it a lifetime oppurtunity), I retracted finding the minimum price of the tickets being placed at 1400 Euros... which ofcourse is not natural if tickets are booked a year back.

All the major cities in Switzerland has had a zone (fondly named FanZone) where people can come, have beer (gradually I found out thats what 80% crowd do) and watch all the matches in large screens. The atmosphere is truly electrifying... as if like watching the matches in the stadium... well, almost :). The combination of three huge screens in Zürich has hosted 5000-10000 people every match. Now that the almost month long ceremony has ended, I look back at the whole experience to be real fun...........

On weekends, our gang used to hangout at such a fanzone in Zürich Lake to watch the match... ok ok, to have a good time with beer (strictly beer... no other drinks available) and watch the match. The excitement among the fans was amazing.... because of the matches.. because there they hang up together, meet friends.. because they can follow up the matches with a drink and dance binge in the discs...... Well, I have never been so lucky, after the matches were over, normally I (and the gang) feel pretty exhausted, look to go back to bed after dinner. Once it happened that in a match where Holland had a authoritative victory over its opponent, we found a band playing music at the crossing of a busy road... the clock had struck 12 am by then. The tune of the music attracted even the laziest of us and in no time, the huge crowd was tapping its feet... we were controlled by the band members!! After an hour of super-excitement, we went back to our places with the tune in our minds.

Switzerland has barely managed to do well, but Turkey has a lot of following..... mainly due to the Turkish communities who have settled here over ages and have their own shops. Whenever Turkey managed a win (they managed quite a few), we would see bombs exploding even on the peaceful streets of Zürich...... :-) not bombs per se, they created a similar ambience using car horns...... Car horns, which are barely used on the roads normally, were kept pressed till all in the neighbourhood managed to wake up. And each and every fan would do that... it was fun :-)

All in all, Euro Cup has been a fun experience for me... there have been moments I have cherished and would like to have with me...... (till the next Euro Cup ;-))

Everyone might have seen and been enraged by the theft and dacoity that happened on and off the field in the Sydney Cricket Ground during and post the India-Oz match.

Let me list the problems we had to face... more than TEN wrong decisions (even one by the third umpire!) which cost us the match, Harbhajan being banned for 3 test matches.. which means we will be losing on a tough character on the field. What is more painstaking is finding the Aussies backing the umpires and the wrong decisions, which definitely defeated the spirit of the game.

All we want is the Indian cricket board to use its clout and prestige to stand by the players, stand up against bad umpiring and probably declaring the match an unofficial one... which I believe is not possible. Simply appealing to ICC wont help as it is definitely going to eat up valuable time without any result in the end!!!

An hour back, BCCI decided to suspend the tour and to postpone the practice 3-day match till a fair decision is taken on Bhajji. I, and all cricket watchers, pray unitedly that the wise men of ICC does what is expected from them...

Recent news is... BCCI has the ICC chief agree to our board regarding the removal of Steve Bucknor and let Bhajji play till the decision against him is pending, which ofcourse, is a short term win for us... we need to make sure that he continues playing. If ever this affects Bhajji's future, we need to stand up again and remain standing till ICC feels they need to sit together and solve the issue :).

Let me share with you an email that is doing rounds from today in all channels, guess most of might have gone across it by now, if not, here u go........

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After watching the test match, some rules have to be incorporated by ICC to give the other teams a perfect clarification

(1) Ricky Ponting – (THE TRULY GENUINE CRICKETER OF THE CRICKET ERA AND WHOSE INTEGRITY SHOULD NOT BE DOUBTED) should be considered as the FOURTH UMPIRE. As per the new rules, FOURTH UMPIRE decision is final and will over ride any decisions taken by any other umpires. ON-FIELD umpires can seek the assistance of RICKY PONTING even if he is not on the field. This rule is to be made, so that every team should understand the importance of the FOURTH UMPIRE.

(2) While AUSTRALIAN TEAM is bowling, If the ball flies anywhere close to the AUSTRALIAN FIELDER(WITHIN 5 metre distance), the batsman is to be considered OUT irrelevant of whether the catch was taken cleanly or grassed. Any decision for further clarification should be seeked from the FOURTH UMPIRE. This is made to ensure that the cricket is played with SPORTIVE SPIRIT by all the teams.

(3) While BATTING, AUSTRALIAN players will wait for the ON-FIELD UMPIRE decisions only (even if the catch goes to the FIFTH SLIP as the ball might not have touched the bat). Each AUSTRALIAN batsman has to be out FOUR TIMES (minimum) before he can return to the pavilion. In case of THE CRICKETER WITH INTEGRITY, this can be higher.

(4) UMPIRES should consider a huge bonus if an AUSTRALIAN player scores a century. Any wrong decisions can be ignored as they will be paid huge bonus and will receive the backing of the AUSTRALIAN team and board.

(5) All AUSTRALIAN players are eligible to keep commenting about all players on the field and the OPPONENT TEAM should never comment as they will be spoiling the spirit of the AUSTRALIAN team. Any comments made in any other language are to be considered as RACIALISM only.

(6) MATCH REFREE decisions will be taken purely on the AUSTRALIAN TEAM advices only. Player views from the other teams decisions will not be considered for hearing. MATCH REFREES are to be given huge bonus if this rule is implemented.

(7) NO VISITING TEAM should plan to win in AUSTRALIA. This is to ensure that the sportive spirit of CRICKET is maintained.

(8) THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE: If any bowler gets RICKY PONTING - “THE UNDISPUTED CRICKETER WITH INTEGTIRY IN THE GAME OF CRICKET” more than twice in a series, he will be banned for the REST OF THE SERIES. This is to ensure that the best batsman/Captain will be played to break records and create history in the game of CRICKET.

These rules will clarify better to the all teams VISITING AUSTRALIA.
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Hope the arrogant Aussie fans see this ;)
Cheers.....

World Cup dream fulfilled finally

Its been a long time I have written anything on sports. However, after the Indian victory in the first T20 World Cup, I thought I had to key down my thoughts.
For starters, its the first Twenty-Twenty tournament of such a massive scale organized by ICC. And we could not have a fitting start to this. When we the World Cup campaign, we were very jittery to say the least, because we have not played too many twenty-twenty matches before this. We had no expectation whatsoever. And when we started with a washed out with Scotland and scored a moderate 140 with Pakistan and won in a bowl-out, we thought both of us from the subcontinent do not deserve to be in the next round. Our belief was confirmed when we lost to New Zealand. From then on, it was a do-or-die situation, a position from where we really do find ourselves playing at our best. We beat England, the mighty South-Africans, we reached the semis. There we beat another mighty team, the Australians.
On the other side, Pakistan's journey was also similar. Considered an under'dog' (that too stray), they came very well after the first defeat with us. They defeated the router in the Sri-Lankans, the Aussies and the fighting Bangladeshis in Super Eight, New Zealand in the semis. Hence their journey after their tour started with a controversy, courtesy Shoaib Akhtar and Md. Asif, has been full of positives. However, from the start, they were always rueful about the fact that they have been unable to beat India in any World Cup match. Hence, they were charged up considerably thinking about their first probable win in a World Cup match with us.
Then came the big match on a wet Monday afternoon here in Kolkata. It had been raining cats and dogs for the last two days which gave us a natural excuse of not being able to make it to work that day. Even those who somehow made it to office reached home by time... not a ball could have been missed with arch rivals meeting each other at such a huge stage for the first time. The game was played with the right spirit with lots of good performances from us... Gautam Gambhir - the silent killer, who held the batting together is my man of the match; in the bowling, R.P. Singh, Irfan Pathan bowled really well. Sreesanth had a bad day but thats acceptable keeping an eye on his performance the last match. We all expected Yuvraj to fire, but he was stopped with some handsome thinking from the Pakistani skipper. Rohit Sharma is certainly a find of the series, he has been keeping his head cool even at stressful conditions and has given us runs most of the times. Pakistan also has a cool head in Misbah-ul-Haq, making a comeback to his team after ages. He has played really well under trying circumstances, but just fell short of win in the last over. There is a joke doing rounds in the newspapers:"- Knock-knock- Whose there?- Misbah- Misbah who?- Miss ba 5 runs"
In the end, we as a better team, won the match and the tournament. Though the remark by Shoaib Malik created a furore at the presentation ceremony, the whole tournament has been wonderfully arranged and the cheer boys-n-girls have been a revelation.
The biggest find of the very successful series has been M.S.Dhoni's captainship, which has pleasantly surprised all of us including the experts. Even the great Sachin remarks: "Indian cricket team is in safe hands".
A few facts worth mentioning here:Pakistan has won all the crunch matches at Johannesburg (other than the final) and we won the important matches in Durban.Bollywood Badshah Shah Rukh Khan (as we call him) has become an unofficial brand ambassador to all kind of sports because since his film 'Chak De India' released, as we have been winning every in all kind of sports, be it hockey (Asian Cup), football (Nehru Cup) or cricket (T20 WC) and the title song of the film has become next to our national song, played in every sporting arena.

Lets deviate a little from the Sourav Ganguly issue...

now its football frenzy all over the world, in India, more so Calcutta,
because this is considered the temple of Indian football which actually
eats, drinks and breathes football as much as it does for cricket.

As one caught in the World Cup fever, like many other Calcuttans, I have
always supported Argentina in the World Cup. The day of the
Argentina-Germany match, I was really tensed... the match was being
touted as a potential semifinal, as the team winning it is eventually
expected to win the Cup.

I sat to watch the match with the never-dying hope that my team will
finally make it to the top four. What followed next was 120 mins of
riveting action on the field, in which Argentina had been ahead in all
quarters, be it ball possession, skill and the few other nittie-gritties
that I dont even understand. Eventually, after playing well for most
part, leading the scoreline for 80 mins was not enough as once Germany
found a way to their goal, Argentina failed to return the favour once
again... and the match went to extra time and to penalty.
By then a few hazards had taken place in the Argentina team...
substituting Riqlame, Crespo, NOT PLAYING MESSI and the goalie getting
injured... were disasters and spelt doom for Argentina before and during
the penalty. On the other hand, the German goalie did a marvellous job
by making two saves.

So, thats it... the dream of one more Argentine World Cup remained
elusive. The absence of Argentine football messiah Diego Maradona from
the stands also startled me... though later I came to know the reason
for his absence has nothing to do with sports.

Now that the quarter finals are over, the road to a German World Cup
victory looks to paved. With Brazil gone, not able to play upto
expectation, and France improving in every match, lets see what the next
few days have in store for us.

Its Sourav Ganguly in discussion again..... The latest news is that he has left to play county cricket for Northamptonshire; we all hope he will do justice to what he is capable of.

However, the issue today is not what he is doing or what he can do... I would like to share a piece of email written by a person who is NOT a Bengali, yet like many others (to which critics may disagree) likes Ganguly, the leader; to none other than our present Indian coach, Greg Chappell. This was an email written to an esteemed English daily of Mumbai when England came here with a depleted side... the piece goes like this:


Dear Mr. Chappell,

How are you? Sure you must be enjoying the heat which Andrew Flintoff, the Captain of depleted English team is facing this season. The weather is very hot, but Mr Chappell you must be really chilling out in the company of the young and energetic Indian Cricket Team, hand picked by you, with the help of Indian selectors or should I say a selector in particular.
I am not denying the fact that your team has done well to win the One Day Series against England and I must say, this authenticates all your theories and experiments on Indian Team , but do not forget Mr Chappell, not one win came easily. But of course, you believe only in winning, and if the team is winning , then the rest is not important, as this saves your job. Isn't it Mr Chappell? No wonder you started playing smart from the very beginning and did everything possible to have all good cards in your hand, after all to win a person must have all good cards in hand. Is it not so Mr Chappell?
Well, this is where our thoughts do not match . I am a teacher, and I believe that for any competition to win, my team should comprise of few tough nuts to crack, who I can make use of when time demands. You see, unlike you, I am very sure of my inter-personal skills Mr Chappell. I like to deal with difficult people, but I am sorry to say , you were not game enough to take up the challenge in this regard. Your dislike of Sourav Ganguly , the most successful cricket captain India has ever produced, has proved one thing to me, you do not like challenges . You cannot handle strong personalities, and you cannot manage a person with an attitude. So with the help of few people, who claim to be well wishers of Indian cricket you decided to get rid of the person unceremoniously Were you so scared Mr Chappell? What kind of a coach you are, if you cannot handle one strong personality in your dressing room? You couldnot respect the Indian captain who took over the reins of the team when many stalwarts were not willing to take up this challenge, as they were more keen on sharpening their batting prowess. But now, I see, many want to cash in the glamour, which maligned Indian captain has brought to the post! Why did you not stand by the same Indian captain who stood by Yuvraj and Sehwag when the whole media and selectors were gunning for their heads? Is it not the same Yuvraj who is
winning you games now Mr Chappell? And who can deny your unflinching support to Sehwag, in whom you have found your captain courageous, despite all misgivings? Mr Chappell, all said and done, you have brought a lot of pain to the heart of emotional cricket fans of
India, Win or lose, we would rather enjoy an animated Ganguly on the field than a robotic another person.
I would end my letter by wishing you and the Indian team many more wins in the future. After all " win " is what you want all the time. No matter what . Is it not so Mr Chappell?
May God bless you in your future ventures as well and your luck does not run dry on you.

Yours truly,
Mr. Shukla.

It was 12th March, 2006...
While England were struggling to 112 for five in 51 overs against India in the Test Series in India, the Australians had made an astonishing 434 for four in their allotted 50 overs - 36 runs more than had ever been made in one innings of an international limited-overs match. That is a feat of amazing proportions …

But the most extraordinary aspect of yesterday's game was what happened after half-time. South Africa roared back and, impossibly, unthinkably, they won, scoring 438 for nine.

How much I desire that I should have seen this match... these matches of such epic proportions dont happen so easily. Hats off to all the 22 players for playing their heart out (ofcourse in batting).

At the same time, bowling did disappoint. After all, records tumbled at the bowling department as well. After all the bowler Lewis also set a record, he wont be happy about.

In the end the Proteas did prove that they are shredding of ftheir tag as the choker.

The Indian Board's power base has shifted to Mumbai. And the Mumbai boy Wasim Jaffer made a wild card entry. Sourav Ganguly had been made a victim of BCCI politics. The talented left-hander's removal from Test squad was 'motivated' and 'guided by reasons other than cricket'. It won't be an exaggeration to say that this decision is unfortunate and irrational.

Ganguly paved the way for an Indian win in the Delhi Test by batting responsibly and forging good partnerships in both innings - with Tendulkar in the 1st innings and with Yuvraj in the 2nd innings.When Ganguly was kept out of the one-day squad, some people put forth the argument that a winning combination shouldn't be disturbed. Then how come Ganguly has been axed only hours after India won the Test? Experts say performance has not been the criterion for his removal. There is something other than cricket behind this decision. It defies logic. And there is more to it than meets the eye.The Prince of Kolkata has scored 5,150 runs at an average of 40.87 and led India to 21 Test victories in five years as captain.

On Tuesday, India's coach Greg Chappell has hailed former skipper Sourav Ganguly's role in the team. "Like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav has a role to play as mentor in the team," he said. Chappell also expressed satisfaction with Ganguly's form in the Test series against Sri Lanka. He said: "I am happy with his form and some good scores will bring back his confidence."
'I am Chappell, Greg Chappell and I have the license to call the shots in Indian cricket'. This silent message has brutally killed so many in Indian cricket - Sourav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan, three former national selectors and so on. Yes, on what grounds has Zaheer not been picked up after his powerhouse performances.

Sourav Ganguly's innings of 40 and 39 in the second Test against the islanders fail to convince the selectors. With Pawar phobia in heart and dirty politics in mind, the wise men picked Wasim Jaffer in the squad for the third Test against Sri Lanka in Ahemedabad. In Tests, Sourav Ganguly - who supposedly can't move his feet and hence, is vulnerable to swinging or seaming deliveries - averages 40.87 with 5,150 runs and 12 centuries. In one-dayers, even his harshest critics have to accept that with 10,123 runs, an average of 40.65 and 22 centuries, he has been one of the best in the last decade.Ganguly is the most successful Indian captain in both forms of the game, by quite a margin. There were the series wins against Pakistan and Australia, successes in important one-day tournaments like the world cup and the Champions' Trophy, and the scintillating drawn series in Australia.Cricket is one game where the captain plays a very special role. Without an able captain, a team rarely performs. Ganguly is one captain who handled his role with a natural flair. He helped the boys to become men, ask Yuvraj, Kaif, Dhoni and so on.

Sourav has been a great servant of Indian cricket and his contributions to the team in the last five years cannot be denied. Everyone will have to see Sourav's career in 360 degrees before any judgement is passed. In Pawar era, Mumbai will get precedence over India. Greg Chappell is very much in the loop as far as Board politics is concerned. The selection committee has also decided to take his word, also by giving him a long rope and continuing with his bunch of players.

May God give the board the virtue and retain him for the next series.