The Level Playing XI

You’ve been a spectator

You’ve been a cheerleader

You’ve been a critic

You’ve been a commentator .Now..

Feel what it is to be an owner !!!

Yes,i have been all these and now I had also  experienced what it is to be an owner. The Level Playing XI was the team which I had owned in this IPL(obviously the virtual team) and it was indeed a new way of looking at the game. Selecting the playing eleven , making suitable changes –some risky ,some assured while keeping an eye on budget and the franchise and overseas limit so as to make a balanced team use to be my pre match activities .For the first time I had watched cricket from a different perspective of taking care of who is going to earn more points for me irrespective of the quality of their cricket. Analyzing players statistics and guessing game were part of my team making strategies. However the real fun use to be once the match get started .The entire process was just like you are having full course with you and you are sorting out the important topics which can come in exam and what marks they can fetch for you .Just like when paper get handed over to you in exam hall you first scan for question you have prepared ,I use to look for the players which I had selected in the team ,whether they are actually playing or not and yes we do have surprises as we use to have in actual papers some unexpected or some may call out of syllabus question .Well nothing can be done at run time and the best we can do is look for what marks we get in this paper after attempting , including the maximum marks for the question which we had written best .In my case this task use to be of power player i.e. the player which you think will perform best on that day from the two or four teams playing on that day.            

It was tough ,but I am happy that I had almost selected the right set of players on many occasions. But the difference between almost winning and actually winning is that the former doesn’t count . So that’s how my team campaign ended performed and played well but could not quite win the title just like all other eight teams in the actual IPL .

All in all that was a great way of knowing players and teams much better and a all new way of following and watching cricket for me but I doubt I will give a second chance to it because I actually enjoy the spectator , critic and commentator part more than getting stressed by owing a team.

The Stolen Time

The role of a coach is not only to train players but also to teach them how to behave in a team and it is his duty to take care of the f act that the dressing room controversies should not be made public either by him or by any other players. But what if coach himself is the reason of all the controversies .Their was a time in Indian cricket when coach was responsible for the controversies and a world cup 2003 runners up who were considered biggest threat to Australia were degraded to such level that it  got eliminated in the next edition of world cup. So what actually went wrong .

India’s most successful captain Sourav Ganguly  has taken a stronger move by opting for an Australian coach just for the betterment of his team Greg Chappell was the chosen one but similar forces repel each other and that repulsion started within few days after he joined .For the first time coach became more important than players and most importantly it was because of controversies the team was in headlines rather than play .Seniors were  clearly the target of him which include the likes of  Sachin Tendulkar , Rahul Dravid , VVS Laxman , Harbhajan Singh , Zaheer Khan , Virender Sehwag and of course Sourav Ganguly or in other way we can say the key players of 2003 world cupsquad .The downfall of this players started from there  only and it was after  his resignation that these players have made a comeback with a bang .  

The period itself have many unanswered questions but one fact that Greg Chappell should accept that team was actually against him and he should stop giving his analysis even after so many years that it was players who were wrong .

"Sadly the success of the team was not universally enjoyed within the team. Some individuals felt threatened by the new world order and appeared to work against Rahul , had he been given the same wholehearted support in the role that he had given others, I think the recent history of Indian cricket may have been very different and he could have gone on to become the most successful Indian captain ever" Chappell has written in his book 'Rahul Dravid - Timeless Steel' –is the latest controversy which he has ignited .Well ,all I can say is it was  Dravid’s bad luck that he was captaining India during that time and  second to Sourav Ganguly’s reaction to this that “ Chappell ‘s remarks do not bother any one “.However he might be right because the reason for Dravid’s resignation from captaincy is still a mystery but its better if such things are answered by the concerned person . The controversies which he creates are the unsupported ones and its better for him to learn from the other successful coaches like John Wright and Gery Kristen who commands respect in India.

Greg Chappell  just cant appreciate Indian’s with clear words even in his articles which are published in ‘The Hindu’ and his piece in the Timeless Steel is one in the series.    

Cricket Has The Ability To Inspire

For me cricket is life and life is cricket !!!!! You have action, emotion, drama, success, joy, failure ,hard work, management every thing involved in cricket as we have in  life . In cricket each and every match teaches you a lot .

Cricket is a team game where individuals work together for a common goal. You can not see a best example of team work anywhere other than cricket where a bowler bowls to a batsman and all fielders are ready to back him for a wicket to his name, when a batsmen throw his wicket for the sake of other batsman and most importantly for his team, when a batsman come as runner for other batsman just for the sake of team .Probably that’s the idle team work which every one wants to look for where everyone contribute to their potential only for the sake of his team without any personal interest .

I live cricket because I learn a lot from it. How to be in a team, how to be disciplined, how to be focused towards your goal, how to do hard work, how to manage thing, how to think, how to take decisions, how to handle failure and almost everything, and that’s the reason I like all the cricketers for their some characteristics  and different teams for their strengths. For instance I like  Pakistan for its never say die attitude whatever the situation may be, Sri Lanka for as a perfect gentlemen’s team, Australia for their attitude and of course India for everything!!!

It is being said that “inspiration is sports primary purpose and sportsman are the  actual real life heroes who have to learn from his failure and keep on improving himself each day and  always try to be get better and better each day. Sachin Tendulkar even after completing over 22 years in international  cricket says he is still learning cricket!!!! That’s the spirit  which one should keep alive in his life  to enjoy it to the fullest. Cricketers teach us how one should take care of what they like and constantly do hard work to achieve that. They teach us that there is no short cut to success, and one should  learn from failures and not get run away by success  because both are not permanent. One should believe in its capability and try to improve himself .

Cricket teaches a lot to me and probably that’s the reason I enjoy watching it with the strong belief in this statement - “Form  is Temporary Class is forever”  !!

Only Australians Can Do This

Michael Clarke declares an inning behind opposition score…! Yes, you heard it right he did that .You might have seen team batting first declare their innings but this time Australians breaking the shackles declared their inning when the team still trail by 43 runs .In cricket it is considered a matter to respect to play full quota and play until your all wickets fall ,declaring by the one who is setting the target is justified it can be seen as a challenge and an attitude of winning in a five day test match but when a team chasing chasing down declares it can be taken as a counter attack and proper answer to the challenge when the team doing this is Australia.

Now this decision shows a lot about character of Australians . A champions like attitude with self belief in themselves ,taking a decision and then proving it right with their performance and always playing for winning ,they never give up until the last moment of match .If we take this decision in consideration then as usual Australians are now in the commanding position as their bowlers have backed their captains decision .Whatever may be the result of this match they have created history by taking such unorthodox decision and set and another example for other teams of how to pick the right moments in the match and turn it to their side and has proven once again that a contest between two unequal sides cannot continue to be close for long ,when the stronger team plays to its potential ,the difference is for the world to see.

Captain Cooooooooool

World Cup Winning Shot

A perfect captain ,a great finisher and a very cool personality who do not express his feeling – whether his team lose or win ,for other it may be a matter of joy or sorrow but for him every match is just a another day in business .

If you are successful then every thing you do is considered right and  Mahendra Singh Dhoni is one such successful man who take unorthodox decisions and then try to prove it right !!! Yes he takes a decision and backs it either by the players performance or by his own performance .A willing, desire ,and  belief in himself is what takes out best from him .His track record in every format of game is superb ,he has taken India to the top ranking in test cricket ,India became world champions after 28 years under his captaincy  ,he converted two successive IPL title for his team Chennai Super Kings and also made it to grab the Champions League T-20 title .From cricketing point of view one would surly doesn’t recommends anyone to follow his technique but the success rate is very lucrative .He has the capability to bring out the best from any given bunch of players by sheer belief .”Belief” that’s the golden rule with which team India enter into ground and are ready to face any pressure situation and in fact that’s what making a great impact because handling the pressure situation is one area where this team has shown tremendous improvement and the belief always acts as catalyst for players to give their best.

No doubt Sourav Ganguly has given new heights to India cricket ,in fact he is the perfect one to be recommended to look for .His leadership skills ,aggression ,confidence ,team spirit are ideal for any leader .He has given new heights to Indian team and started off with scratch  for the team and made India’ s presence counted .

Well India surly enjoys the history of two successful captains who has given new heights to the team  but both different in technique ,different in approach and it is very difficult to pick the best .Both are effective and both are successful but for now enjoy the super cool one for some more years..!!!!