IPL – Indian Partisan League?

So, the much talked-about IPL auction is over. And the ten franchises have picked their share of players from the player-bazaar! A lot has been written about the auction, and as much as I despise this system wherein teams bid for players as if they were livestock at the Metropolitan Cattle Market in London, I must admit there seems to be no alternative at present. The Draft Systems used in the NBA, MLB and NFL will most likely not work in a competition as volatile as the IPL. But the question that can be, and most definitely should be, raised is – how fair is this auction and the player selection process? Because, on the face of it, the process looks heavily tilted towards the mighty and the influential.

First things first. The most outrageous aspect of the IPL is, and has been since the first edition, the role of a certain Mr. N. Srinivasan – Secretary of the BCCI as well as the owner of Chennai SuperKings. How fair do you think a competition can be if the organizer or facilitator himself is also a competitor? Bernie Eccelstone doesn’t own a team in Formula 1, neither does David Stern have stakes in any NBA side. The newly elected chairman of the FA – David Bernstein – was once associated with Manchester City, but that ended seven years back. Leave aside sports events, as a kid, whenever I participated in cultural competitions, the Terms and Conditions would always specify: ‘Family members and relatives of the organizing firm will not be eligibe to take part’. And yet, Mr. Srinivasan has no qualms in continuing with his dual role! Even after the Supreme Court publicly admonished him for holding on to both positions. I guess virtues like morality and ethics have long since ceased to count for much for our sports administrators.

Chennai are not the only influential side though. Mumbai Indians, with the richest Indian as their owner, have a significant monetary clout and the deepest purse of all the franchises. No wonder then, that the IPL Governing Council gave green signal to the Player Retainment policy even though only Mumbai and Chennai wanted it implemented. Such is the power of money and authority! The decision implied a big blow to the other franchises, especially the two teams making their debut this season – Kochi and Pune. It meant that Kochi and Pune, irrespective of how hard they wished and how much money they had, had no hope of signing the likes of Tendulkar, Dhoni or Pollard who were not released by their team owners. Highly unfair! It was the BCCI that started the league with eight teams. It was the BCCI again that later decided to add two more sides and awarded the franchises to their current owners. And thus the onus was on the BCCI to ensure a level playing field for all the competitors. That, quite evidently, hasn’t happened.

Not only the teams, the selection process also seems prejudiced against the fringe Indian players, or the ‘Uncapped’ players as the IPL calls them. While domestic cricketers from Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka were made part of the auction, and some like Mitchell Marsh and James Pattinson were even picked up for substantial amounts, the Indian domestic players found no place! Even though some of them had played stellar roles for their IPL teams in the last three seasons! Defies all logic! And this again, was a change brought about by the BCCI at the request of the Mumbai Indians, and against the wishes of at least five other franchises! Till a few days back the Sumans, Rayudus and Rahanes were also supposed to go under the hammer. However, a last minute alteration in the rules by the Governing Council now means that while someone like a Saurabh Tiwary, thanks to his two appearances for India, fetched himself a cool million and a half dollars, the equally gifted and equally sought-after Manish Pandey (the first Indian to crack a ton in the IPL) will now have to settle for a maximum salary of Rs. 30 lakhs! That’s the official figure though. This brainchild of the Mumbai management will now kick-off a new war of under-the-table payments to sign these domestic stars – something that can prove to be a major embarassment for the BCCI if they do not keep a tight vigil on it.

And lastly the ‘catchment area’ problem. IPL rules specify that the teams are required to pick at least four players from their neighboring locations, or the designated catchment areas. While the rule apparently looks like one that should help in the development of the game in the adjoining places, there is this small issue regarding the classification of the catchment areas for the franchises. And again, one feels the new franchises have been hard done by! Pune have been allotted two Ranji Trophy Plate teams – Maharashtra and Vidarbha – as their catchment. Ditto for Kochi, as they have three Plate teams – Kerala, Services and Madhya Pradesh. Deccan is the only other side that does not have even one Ranji Super League team in their catchment area.

So, as is evident, the IPL auction is not all glossy, glamorous and clean as it appears on television. But then what else can we expect from an event which, much like the Indian society itself, has become a place for the rich and the powerful to wield their influence? I am sure the Metropolitan Cattle Market hands out fairer deals to the bidders.

The UDRS Dilemma

It was ironic that the final dismissal of the recently concluded test between India and South Africa involved the TV umpire. Lonwabo Tsotsobe was indeed short of his crease when the stumps were disturbed, but the officials needed the aid of replays to confirm the decision. Ironic indeed, as soon after the match got over Graeme Smith and the South Africans raised a clamor soliciting more involvement of the third umpire, and rooting for the use of the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS). While Smith’s statements after the unexpected defeat does make him look like a whiner and a sore loser (and that is exactly how a part of the Indian media is portraying him as!), we must consider carefully his opinion before labelling him as one. At the press conference, Smith expressed displeasure over a few decisions that went against the Proteas, and also urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to establish uniformity in the usage of UDRS.

Not even the most ardent Indian supporter can deny that at least 3 decisions which went in favor of India in the Kingsmead test were dubious. Steyn had Zaheer plumb in front in the second inning (as I read somewhere, he couldn’t have been plumber if he repaired bath fittings!), but umpire Davis did not think so. And then De Villiers and Boucher were both ruled leg before, incorrectly, in the crucial run chase. Having said that, the Indians were undoubtedly the better side throughout the course of the match and would, in all probability, have won even if the decisions were to be reversed. As for the UDRS debate though, I feel Smith was spot-on in requesting its usage, and in questioning the ICC’s action, or the lack of it, in ensuring uniformity.

Ever since the UDRS was first employed in 2008, the ICC has maintained that the choice of using it lies with the host nation. And so, while countries like Australia and South Africa have used it in most of their recent matches, the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has remained steadfast, unfathomably so, in its refusal to employ the review. Cricket South Africa did want to use UDRS in the current series, but apparently could not convince the BCCI.

It must be said, our cricket board’s apprehension towards the review system is quite baffling. More so, because the first time UDRS was employed was in a series that featured India, against hosts Sri Lanka. It might be that the experience of this first series was what turned the Indians away from UDRS. Without any prior knowledge of the system, and sans any notion of how and when to challenge a decision, the Indians ended the series with just 1 successful challenge. In contrast, Sri Lanka had 11! But what our board and the cricketers failed to realize was that the problem was not so much with the system itself, as it was with the way the Indians used it. Sri Lanka reaped better rewards because they were tactically superior, and not because the system favored them! Also, the technology used nowadays, Hawk-Eye, is a lot advanced and more dependable than Virtual-Eye – the technology used in that series back in 2008.

The Indian board, as well as captain Dhoni, has gone on record saying that the reason for their lack of faith in the system is because they feel it is not completely foolproof. Dhoni even compared it to a life-jacket that did not come with a warranty. Well, nothing, from the electronic voting machines to the airport security check devices, is foolproof these days. Don’t we still use them to make life simpler and more secure? And is it not a better idea to have a life-jacket without warranty that still gives us some hope of staying afloat, than having none and getting drowned? With so much at stake in modern day cricket, I feel any device that helps in decision making should be made use of. Yes, the on-field umpires may lose some relevance, and the game would definitely be depleted of some of its old-world charm, but we will get more correct decisions. And memorable victories, like India’s win in Kingsmead, will no longer bear the scars of umpiring howlers! Come to think of it, even the tv replays aren’t always foolproof! How many times have we seen a batsman ‘out‘ in one frame, and ‘in‘ in the very next, and wished we could view that split-second frame in between to reach a decision?

Individuals and cricket boards are always entitled to have their own views on a subject, but the bigger concern here is the role of the world governing body. It is diffcult to understand the reason for ICC’s reluctance to take a firm stand on this issue. The verdict on whether UDRS should be continued with or discarded should, most definitely, come from the ICC, and should not be left to the participating boards to sort out. That was how the tv umpire concept, as well as the not-so-popular tactical substitute rule, was implemented. And that is how it should be in the case of UDRS too.

The financial clout of the BCCI is probably one reason for the ICC’s lackadaisical approach. As former Indian captain M.A.K. Pataudi recently commented, “The ICC might be the voice of cricket, but the BCCI is the invoice”. Sure enough the BCCI is the richest cricket board in the world, and India contributes almost three quarters of the total world revenues in the game. And that makes it quite diffcult for the ICC to flex its muscles over Shashank Manohar and co. However, let us hope that common sense prevails and that the Indian board and the players realize the benefits of UDRS. They would know very well that not always will the decisions go in their favor. And they would be left to rue their own obstinacy if the umpires fail to detect a Kallis or an Amla edge in the Cape Town test!

Little Master – Hats Off!

Zig Ziglar, an American author and a motivational speaker, had once asked, “Will you look back on life and say ‘I wish I had’ or ‘I am glad I did‘?” Well, not a lot among us can truly eliminate the ‘I wish I had‘ clause when we contemplate on our past deeds. And the selected few who claim they can, will probably be embarrassed when asked if, in the course of their successful lives and many accomplishments, they hadn’t for once indulged in the misuse of power. Power that comes from wealth, social class or a position of authority in an organization. Because power, they say, corrupts! As British historian and moralist Lord Acton said in 1887 – “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men“.

And yet, in this big bad world full of deceit, corruption and fraudulence, we do still find exceptions. Exceptions exemplified by people who have achieved greatness and fame in abundance, and yet are surprisingly honest, unassuming and reluctant to wield their influence to get things done. People who give us joy and happiness aplenty, are role models for the next generation to emulate and are revered by all. It, therefore, was no surprise that amidst all the scams and shams, and with the Rajas and the Kalmadis dominating the headlines thanks to their alleged misdemeanors, India and its populace still forgot everything for a moment on Sunday and rose to salute one such great man, the little master – Sachin Tendulkar.

Ever since he started playing cricket in school, he was hailed as a prodigy. After smashing records in school cricket and after just one full domestic season he was selected for the national side. When he made his debut, I was in primary school and had not yet been smitten by the obsession for cricket, but still have vivid memories of my parents and cousins going gaga about this frail, curly-haired teenager sparring bowlers double his age (and size!). That was just the beginning. The adulation followed wherever he went, and continues unabated to this day. And along the way came success, more acclaim, the weight of expectations of a billion people, endorsements and prosperity. Facets that could, with other ordinary mortals, be considered distractions. There have been multiple examples of new found fame and opulence getting too-hot-to-handle for an individual eventually leading to one’s downfall, none more relevant than Sachin’s own schoolmate Vinod Kambli. Not with a Sachin Tendulkar though. Nothing could lure him away from his single-minded dedication towards his profession and his primary objective, which was to help his team do well.

It probably is his strictly middle-class and traditional upbringing that helps him keep his feet on the ground. His family, be it his parents or his brothers, and even his first cricket coach Mr. Achrekar gave him a sense of grounding during his early years. A lesson that he has never disregarded, not even at the pinnacle of his career. There definitely have been several visible changes. The curly hair and the baby fat from the time of his international debut are gone. He now dresses up in impeccable designer attire and drives around in a Ferrari. What has not changed, however, is the man’s heart. At his core, Sachin is still a chaste teenager with an eagerness to perform and a character of high morality. Virtues that help him refuse mega liquor endorsement offers as easily as he sends a Shoaib Akhtar delivery out of the ground.

When a career starts as early as Sachin’s did, there is always a threat of wearing out earlier than usual. But again, such rules may apply to inferior mortals, not to the Little Master. It is awe-inspiring to hear Gary Kirsten say that Sachin still faces more balls in the nets than anyone else! This, after a two decade long career in which he has achieved almost everything humanly possible. It is this undying passion for the game and his insatiable hunger for runs that wins him the admiration of cricketers, both past legends like Sir Don and modern greats like Lara and Warne, and helps him prove his detractors (which includes two brothers from the South Australian city of Adelaide) wrong. No wonder then, at 37 years now and with most of his contemporaries having quit long back, he is enjoying one of the most prolific seasons of his career!

Another trait that Sachin is widely revered for among his colleagues is his integrity. A man of irrefutable moral and ethical values, his career has been enviably free of controversies. Considering he lives in a country where the media, to a large extent, thrives on controversies and where everything from the names of movies to the attires donned by television anchors creates an uproar, it is astounding that he has managed to stay away from it all. And it was his deposition in the infamous Monkeygate issue that played a major role in getting Harbhajan acquitted of any wrongdoing. The only glitch, though, came in the form of a certain Mike Denness handing Sachin a ban on account of ball tampering charges. A ban that led to widespread protests, and was promptly revoked by the international governing body.

In the course of this short essay I chose to discuss Sachin Tendulkar the person as against the nuances of his much talked about shot-making, something that has always fascinated cricket lovers across the globe. Because eventually, it is Tendulkar the man that makes the cricketer in him so special. His cricket, be it his surreal batting, his mixed bag variety of bowling or his efforts in the field, is only but a reflection of the man’s honesty, hard work and unmatched devotion towards the game. Attributes that will be with him every time he goes out to bat for his team, regardless of how many centuries he scores. So on the occasion of a half-century of test tons, let us revel in the greatness of the man and rejoice that the best cricketer to have walked this earth, at least in our times, is Indian. And Bharat Ratna or no Bharat Ratna, his name has already been etched in permanent ink in the hearts of a billion Indians. Sachin Tendulkar – I Salute Thee!

Major Boost for Indian Football

It’s raining crores for Indian sports! It started with ‘Brand Saina Nehwal’ touching the crore mark just a few months back. If a badminton star can get a crore in India, cricketers can get a lot more. And so our dashing skipper MS Dhoni created a record of sorts last week by inking a Rs 29 crore deal with Maxx Mobile. And to top it all, the All India Football Federation has now signed a whopping Rs 700 crore deal with IMG-RIL for the development of the sport in our country.

Encouraging news for us football fans for sure! However, I can’t help being a little skeptical about the AIFF deal. A similar agreement had been signed with Zee Sports half a decade ago. While the amount was not as staggering, the promises made were very similar. Promises to promote and develop the beautiful game in our country. Promises that have remained largely unfulfilled till date.

Trying to be optimistic though, the substantial difference in the size and the profile of the two contract-partners is quite heartening. In contrast to Zee Sports, a fledgling television channel struggling to make its presence felt, the IMG-RIL combine brings with it the proficiency of one of the largest sports management firms in the world and the monetary clout of one of India’s largest business conglomerates. IMG, with its experience of conducting the English Premier League and our very own IPL, sure looks like a good bet to revamp the domestic football scene in India. One that is already brimming with tournaments like the IFA Shield, Durand Cup, Rovers Cup, Santosh Trophy, Sikkim Governor’s Gold Cup, Bordoloi Trophy et al. A lot of these tournaments are rich in history and tradition, but sadly are quite irrelevant in the present scenario. While not terminating these tournaments altogether, the AIFF and IMG should ensure that the big clubs and the big players only play in select few competitions like the National League and the Federation Cup.

The National League, or the I-League as it is called, itself needs major restructuring. The league, consisting of 14 teams this year, has been dominated by teams from Goa and Kolkata since its inception. And 9 of the 14 teams this year come from Kolkata or Goa or Mumbai. However, if the game has to be developed in this country, it is essential that we try and make it popular throughout the length and breadth of India. And contrary to what we may think, football is followed by a fairly large number of Indians. Especially the youth in India are crazy about the English and the Spanish leagues thanks to ESPN,  and spending their pocket money on buying cool Man United, Chelsea or Barcelona merchandise has been in vogue for quite some time. However, the lacklustre, not-well-promoted and often-not-telecast Indian competitions do not find favor with them. And that is precisely where IMG can help, in developing the infrastructure and promoting the game aggressively so that the youngsters find it trendy and cool to follow the Salgaocars and the Pune FCs!

Apart from getting IMG to restructure the domestic competitions, the AIFF would do well to tap into the sporting firm’s expertise in providing high quality training facilities. The IMG Academies in Bradenton, Florida has some of the world’s best practice and training facilities and has been the place where several champions spent their formative years. Sampras, Agassi, Becker, the Williams sisters, Hingis, Kournikova and Sharapova in Tennis, Ernie Els, Greg Norman, Nick Price and Nick Faldo in Golf and Landon Donovan, Hidetoshi Nakata, Jari Litmanen, Damarcus Beasley and Michael Bradley in football are only some of the numerous names who learnt their crafts at the IMG Academies before making it big! While building such facilities in India would be tedious and time consuming, sending our brightest young talents to live and train in Bradenton can be a good start. We already have tennis sensation Yuki Bhambri and Indian basketball’s biggest hope, the 7 foot tall teenager Satnam Singh Bhamara honing their skills at the IMG Academies, and there is no reason why budding football talents from our country should not be opportunities to do the same.

Having looked at the potential of the deal, I must, beyond all doubts, establish here that neither IMG nor RIL possess an Elder Wand, as in Harry Potter stories, to magically transform Indian football overnight. They would need the support of the clubs to be able to do so. And most Indian football clubs have, for long and for reasons unknown, been very reluctant to embrace professionalism. There has been the odd-and-not-quite-successful instance like that of FC Kochin (estd. 1998, India’s first professional football club), but the largest and the most successful clubs like Dempo, Churchill Brothers, Mohun Bagan and East Bengal are still quite antiquated and amateurish in their functioning. The non-cooperation of these clubs with the current national coach Bob Houghton (a globally respected figure, and a coach with a proven track record when it comes to working with Asian teams) has often resulted in dfficulties during the selection of the the national squad and the subsequent under-performing of the team. No wonder then that we still languish at the 142nd spot in the FIFA rankings. Instead of bickering with Mr. Houghton, or spending millions on sub-standard foreigners, it’s time the clubs started adopting a more professional approach and focussed on the development of infrastructure and of football at the grassroot level.

It is almost absurd to believe that a population of over a billion would have a dearth of talent. It is the same bunch that produced a Mohammed Abdul Salim (a barefooted genious from Kolkata who mesmerized the Britishers when he played for Scottish champions Celtic in 1937), a team that almost defeated mighty France at the 1948 Olympics, and another that beat Korea to emerge as Asian Games champions in 1962. But as the world moved ahead, we struggled to provide opportunities for proper training and development to our players, thanks to a general decline in interest among the people and a lack of capital. Now that the money is back, it will be interesting to see how the AIFF teams up with IMG-RIL to promote and market the game and work towards its development in a country where European football is more popular than the domestic competitions! Even FIFA, the world governing body, has pledged an additional $2 million as part of the ‘Win in India with India’ campaign. The onus is now on the AIFF, led by aviation minister Praful Patel, to make sure that the money is utilised to make India fly high in the world of football, and not by the officials to fly business-class to Brazil to watch the World Cup in 2014!

Qatar 2022, Quite Inexplicable!

The hosts for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups have been announced. Russia has been chosen to host the most widely viewed sporting event in the world in 2018 and the tiny Arab nation of Qatar will do the honors in 2022. And while the selection of Russia as hosts has attracted a fair share of controversy with the English Football Association (FA), shocked at having lost out in the race to host, launching a tirade against FIFA and the selection policy, it is the appointment of Qatar that took me by surprise. And I must say, I am quite disappointed with the selection.

Ever since the first World Cup was held in 1930, the tournament has been one of the most keenly contested events in the world, and hugely popular as well. In fact, the World Cup is almost as keenly followed in countries like India, Malaysia and Singapore (teams that have never come close to even qualifying for the Cup), as it is in the participating nations. And the host countries, besides staging successful events, have often played stellar roles in making the competition stiff. Uruguay, Italy, England, West Germany and France have all been crowned World Champions in their own countries. Even the otherwise moderately successful teams like Chile (Semifinals in 1962) and Mexico (Quarterfinals in 1970 and 1986) managed to perform above expectations when they hosted the event. And that, precisely, is the issue I am trying to raise here.

Since the last few decades, the selection of World Cup hosts by FIFA has been heavily influenced by an attempt to spread the game (USA in 1994, Japan and Korea in 2002) and a little bit of romanticism (first time in reunited Germany in 2006, first time in Africa in 2010). The selection of Qatar sure follows the trend, as it will be a first for an Arab nation. And while I have no qualms about spreading the beautiful game or about being romantic, I definitely have my reservations about how deserving a candidate Qatar was!

A FIFA ranking of 113 and having a zero participation record in earlier World Cups are reasons enough to deem a country ineligible. Even at the continental level, Qatar’s best performance has been only a quarter final showing at the Asian Cup. The only tournament where they have had some success has been the not-so-competitive Gulf Cup of Nations which they have won twice. And a look at the four other bidders for the 2022 Cup further weakens any argument in favor of Qatar, as it clearly appears to be the weakest of the lot. Japan and the Korea Republic had jointly hosted a very successful tournament in 2002, and this time they bid individually. With both nations being continental powerhouses and having performed admirably in the last few editions (Korea reached the Semis in 2002, Japan made the round of 32 in both 2002 and 2010 ), both the bids appear stronger than that of Qatar.

The other Asian country in the race was Australia. And awarding them the Cup would have been a first as well, first World Cup down under! For a country that used to be the only dominant force in the largely amateurish Oceania region till a few years back, and often had to face the much stronger South American teams for a place in the final 32, they have done remarkably well since they joined the Asian Football Confederation in 2005. They qualified for the round of 32 in Germany 2006 only to lose out to eventual champions Italy, courtesy of a controversial extra-time penalty! They are ranked as high as 14th in the world, and have been a constant source of players for a lot of the world’s most competitive leagues for the last decade. Selecting them as hosts would also have helped the development of the game in the region.

The most deserving bid, in my opinion, however came from Uncle Sam! Football (or soccer as the Americans call it) in the US has come a long way since they first hosted the tournament in 1994. Unlike then, the game now has a decent following in the country. And the national team has been doing quite well, stringing together impressive performances in the Copa America, the World Cup and the Confederations Cup. They are now the top ranked team in their region, and with the kind of infrastructure they possess, I strongly felt they deserved another opportunity to host the event and let the world know about their progress.

FIFA however, thought otherwise and so, the World Cup will come to Asia a second time in 2022. There should be no questions about infrastructure though. Qatar definitely has the financial clout to pull off a spectacular event, and they have already started talking about futuristic ideas as climate controlled stadia to combat the heat players and spectators are expected to face at the time of the tournament. However, the FIFA rule that provides for automatic qualification of the host nation means that Qatar, only a moderate continental force, will be one of the 32 teams competing in the World Cup of 2022. And that in turn implies, the highly competitve Asian confederation will have one less deserving candidate representing them at the event. Unless of course FIFA foresees exponential growth in the standard of football in Qatar, and the country establishes itself as an Asian powerhouse by the third decade of this millennium. And if they can actually do that, I will be only too happy to eat my words and salute the tiny emirate and its people!

Return of the Indian Express

On the last night of the 2010 tennis calendar, as a packed house at London’s O2 Arena patiently waited for the Nadal-Federer duel to start, four players were playing their hearts out on the court, vying for the doubles title. And at the end of a keenly contested match the Canadian-Serbian pairing of Nestor and Zimonjic prevailed over the Indo-Belarussian team of Bhupathi and Mirnyi.
But more than the result, what made this match special for the players was that all four were playing with their respective partners for the last time. While Mirnyi and Nestor have decided to pair up for the 2011 season, Zimonjic joins forces with Frenchman Michael Llodra. And Mahesh Bhupathi, part of the once-successful but short-lived team nicknamed the “Indian Express“, joins his estranged partner Leander Paes to try and bring the derailed Indian Express back on track.

Ever since they split, almost a decade back, both have managed to find success as doubles players on the tour. While Leander has had successes with his Czech partners Martin Damm and Lukas Dlouhy, Mahesh has been more of a “Ladies’ Man” forging successful mixed doubles pairings with the likes of Martina Hingis, Mary Pierce, Daniela Hantuchova and more recently Sania Mirza. In fact, Mahesh is one of the rare few to have completed a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles! Leander too, has had success playing with the ladies, especially when pairing up with Lisa Raymond, Martina Navratilova and Cara Black. Yet, in spite of all their successes, what the Indian populace has always longed for is to see them on the same side of the net. To their credit, Lee and Hesh have always joined forces when it came to representing India, be it at the Davis Cup, the Olympics or any other multi-discipline sporting event. But their differences and ego clashes have constantly been at the forefront of media speculation.

So what brings them back together now? The only fathomable reason at this point seems to be the desire for an Olympic medal. The London Games are less than 2 years away, and though they have won numerous matches for India in the Davis Cup and won gold at the Asian Games, an Olympic medal has still eluded them. The closest they could get to a medal was in 2004 at Athens when they lost the bronze medal play-off to Ancic and Ljubicic of Croatia. Now, Leander, 37, and Bhupathi, 36, realize that 2012 will surely be the last time they get to have a go at the coveted medal. And unlike the previous years when they had reunited merely days before the big event, this time they are giving themselves ample time to prepare. A full season on the tour will definitely help them get ready to conquer “The Final Frontier“.

It won’t be easy though! The tour is as competitive now as it ever was. That 3 teams shared the four Slams in 2010 shows the level of competition there is! And while some of the top teams in the world consist of players from different nations, there are others consisting of compatriots. The Bryan twins (probably the most feared doubles team today) and Isner-Querrey from the US, Poland’s Matkowski-Frystenberg, Benneteau-Llodra from France, Melo-Soares from Brazil, Schwank-Chela from Argentina and Robredo-Granollers from Spain are teams that have done quite well on the tour in recent years. Their presence in the main draw of the Olympics, along with other not-so-regular yet very strong pairings like Federer-Wawrinka from Switzerland (the defending champions), the Murray brothers from Great Britain, Lindstedt-Aspelin from Sweden, Erlich-Ram from Israel, Dlouhy-Franticek from the Czech Republic, Serbia’s Djokovic-Zimonjic and Petzschner-Kohlmann from Germany means there would be no pushovers in the fray, and that the road to the medal rounds will be strewn with thorns!

Also, it would be far-fetched to believe that the duo would be able to recreate the same magic they had shown as twenty-somethings! Though both are still quite fit and haven’t been away from the game, age does take a toll on the body. What also worked for them ten years back was the chemistry the two shared. Leander and Mahesh were close friends off the court and that showed in their game. It showed in the famous chest bumps, and in the way they played the big points. The situation now, however, is totally different and it will be very interesting to see how the two stars, almost perennially at loggerheads since they split, put aside their differences and perform as a team.

Difficult, yes, but certainly doable. Remember the Woodies (Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge), the best doubles pairing of the 90s, were not even on talking terms for a large part of their careers. But that did not stop them from winning titles on the court! So Lee and Hesh can take a leaf out of the Woodies’ book and concentrate on their on-court duties. The better they handle their differences, higher are the chances of hearing our National Anthem being played at the medal ceremony in London! GO Leander and Mahesh!!!

Hail the Swiss Master

The finale couldn’t have been any better! It was only fitting that the last act of the 2010 professional tennis season saw the two best players in the world fight it out at a smashing venue! London’s stunning O2 Arena, with a spectacularly lit centre court, and a packed audience consisting of stalwarts like Mick Jagger, Diego Maradona and Thierry Henry provided the perfect setting for the duel everyone was waiting for – Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer. The clash of the titans! Or, El Clasico, as Nadal’s countrymen would call it!

And the Swiss maestro it was who ran away with the title and the cash, and ended the season on a high. A season that has been quite a roller coaster for him. Federer started the year with the Australian Open title, but subsequently failed to even reach the final in the remaining Grand Slams! Not something we see very often. 2010 also saw Roger, the once invincible Fed-Ex, lose to an ageing Lleyton Hewitt for the first time in sixteen meetings, almost go down to little known Colombian Alejandro Falla at the All England Club, and actually lose to Latvian youngster Ernests Gulbis in Rome. And for the first time in nearly seven years, Federer found himself at number 3 in the world rankings!

Nadal, on the other hand, had a dream season coming into the year ending championships. By his own admission the season had been the most emotional of his career as he won 3 Slams and completed the career Grand Slam. The boy from Majorca had come a long way from being touted as a one court wonder even a few years back. And he had clinched the year end number one ranking even before the start of the Tour Finals.

Both players had managed to win all their matches en route to the final, and so the stage had been set for a thrilling epilogue. After the first set started with both players holding at love, it the Swiss master who looked more commanding of the two, winning the set with a single break of serve. Nadal, however, started the second set with a lot of aggression and managed to break Federer’s serve, and then served out the set to take the match to a decider. The final set, however, turned out to be a damp squib with Federer steamrolling the Spaniard to win the title.

What was very evident was the confidence with which Federer played, something that he had been lacking for most part of the year. The forehands were booming, and the oft-attacked backhand looked as solid as ever. In fact, it was the sharp-angled backhand crosscourt that worked wonders for him, and he caught Nadal stranded every single time he played the shot. Hiring Sampras’s old coach Paul Annacone was a wise move and it seems to have brought his game back on track. Not that much was wrong with his game earlier, but having a coach to concentrate on the finer nuances makes a big difference at this level.

Nadal, on the other hand, looked jaded and exhausted, probably still reeling from the after-effects of his marathon semi-final against Murray. The fiery aggression, which we so relate to with his game, was missing and the manner in which he surrendered the final set was quite unlike the Rafa we know. He shouldn’t be too hard on himself though, he has had a fabuluous season and can afford a long vacation. That will charge him up both physically and emotionally for the next year. And with Federer almost back to his best, Djokovic and Murray playing solid tennis, and the formidable Del Potro returning from injury, the season up ahead promises to be an absolute slugfest!

A New Beginning

2 articles in nearly 3 years. Forget what the “About Me” page says, that is definitely not aspiring journo-like!

Well, all I can say at this point is if that was the first half, we are now ready to kick off the second session of this game, after a rather long lemon break! And unlike the first session, this one promises to have a lot more action. So sit back and enjoy! Happy blogging and feel free to send your valuable feedback.

It’s a Deutsch Party at Wembley

Nothing seems to be going right at the moment for Steve McLaren and his English team! They are currently fourth in their Euro 2008 qualification group, which puts them in danger of not qualifying for the event to be held next year in Austria and Switzerland. They have not played well over the last few months and now, they have lost at home to a severely depleted German side!

It is difficult to figure out what is going wrong with a team that has some of world football’s finest and most hyped talents! They did show signs of returning to form in their match against Brazil at the newly constructed home of English football – the Wembley. They played well and although denied victory by a late Brazil equalizer, they did look the better team. And last night against the Germans they seemed to have started from where they had left off against the Latin Americans. The 80000 strong crowd must have been mighty relieved when Frank Lampard’s thumping shot from inside the box gave England the lead against their arch-rivals!

The Germans however have always been tough opposition for England, especially, and surprisingly, on English grounds! The last time England won a home game against the Germans was 3 decades back! And the Germans were keen to maintain that record. They were shaky at the start, but Lampard’s goal seemed to have provided the ignition they required! Missing almost all of their regular players in the midfield (captain Ballack, Frings and Schweinsteiger) and up front (Klose and Podolski) they still managed to play some very effective football.

In fact, such critical was the shortage of experienced players, that coach Joachim Loew had to field left-back Phillip Lahm in the centre of the midfield with debutant Christian Panders taking Lahm’s original position. And Panders, after a nervous start when he struggled against the pace and power of young Manchester City right-back Micah Richards, repaid his manager’s faith by putting up a more solid show at the back, and, more importantly, sending a screamer past hapless England goalkeeper Paul Robinson to score Germany’s second goal.

Both the goalkeepers had torrid times under the bar. While Jens Lehmann (having already made 2 blunders playing for Arsenal in the English Premier League) was easily beaten at the near post by Lampard, England’s Paul Robinson totally misjudged Bernd Schneider’s cross and presented Kevin Kuranyi with a simple tap-in opportunity. David James, who replaced Robinson in the second half, had a better match, although that can be attributed to Germany playing with just Kuranyi up front after having taken the lead. Kevin Kuranyi here deserves a special mention. It is not easy to play as the lone striker, and the Brazilian-born German forward did more than a reasonable job out of it. Not only did he score Germany’s first goal, he also got himself into scoring positions a few more times.

England, on the other hand, sorely missed the services of Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves. While Rooney up front would have been a handful for the German defenders, Gerrard and Hargreaves could have provided more stability to the midfield. Michael Owen, back from an injury, missed two sitters and will probably take some more time to get back to the lethal Owen of old. Owen’s Newcastle teammate Alan Smith wasn’t really impressive, and his replacement Kieron Dyer showed that just having pace without the ability to finish does not make you a striker. David Beckham, too, was disappointing.

The Germans were the last team to beat England at the old Wembley, and they became, even with a second string side, the first to do so at the newly constructed stadium. After a few years of slump, this football powerhouse is back and is playing as aggressively as ever. English fans, however, must be worried about their team’s future. It will indeed be interesting to see how they perform in their coming European qualifiers against teams of the caliber of Croatia, Russia and Israel. An Euro Cup without England is not what football lovers would like to see!

Kick-Off!

Hi friends,

Welcome to My Sports Journal!

Finally, I get to write on Sports! Sports – my passion, my life!

Ever since I had declared in my introductory post on “The Fourth Dimension” (in case you didn’t know, that’s my other blog!) that it was not a sports blog, I have spent several sleepless nights. My fingers itched and on multiple occasions I found myself writing, be it on the cricket team’s World Cup debacle or the growing rift between Alonso and Hamilton. Only to refrain from posting it on “The Fourth Dimension”!

Well, now that I finally have “My Sports Journal”, I can sleep well . And with Sania Mirza playing arguably her best tennis of late, the All India Football Federation reviving the Nehru Cup after a hiatus and the Indian cricket team standing on the verge of a series win in England for the first time in 21 years, I don’t think I could have timed this any better! The perfect time to start a sports blog!

One last thing. Unlike most of my countrymen, I have always loved sports like Football, Tennis and Formula 1 more than Cricket (which I believe, is no longer a sport in our nation, rather it’s a religion!). And thus you will probably find me a bit “irreligious” at times, but that’s not to say that I won’t ever write on Cricket.

So Happy Reading, Happy Blogging and as always, do feel free to comment on the articles.