Winds of Change blows across Hockey

Chakde Patte!!...Hip Hip Hurry...!!!, one of my friend exclaimed, flooded with exuberance. When I enquired what was the reason of his enthusiasm, he said,"Oi yaar, we have lost the Azlan Shah cup against Argentina in the extratime ....Isn't it great?.
His reaction summed up the feeling of a nation who has for years been waiting for such an occasion. It was like a man in the middle of Sahara was expressing his enthusiasm after seeing a drop of rain, which just touched his lips. Although it was not enough to quench his thrist, he was happy atleast there was a sign of winds of change.
Indian Hockey has been in the throes of uncertainty for too long. The disgrace that the team faced in all these years, especially after dominating the world for so many decades is a sore that can never hailed.
Its unfortunate that India's glorious past had actually preceded the television live coverage era, so nodoubt this generation doesn't have a clue about the illustratious time that India had enjoyed. But that was then.
At a time when BCCI, fighting over mega bucks are bullying around other sports, reluctant to share their dollar dreams with any other sport, it is heartening to see the young bloods nurturing the game with their heart, soul and blood.
India's last championship victory, was the Kuala Lumpur World Cup in 1975 and barring a couple of wins in between, the win against South Korea in the 7th Asia Cup in september last year was something to cheer about.
Plagued by a corrupted administration and handicapped by poor infrastructure and also the parochial approach of the authories in power, Hockey has been languishing in the ruins of its past glory for too long.
So given in this context, when a resurgent team, backed by a new ad hoc committee, went to the finals of the Azlan Shah tournamnet,it was enough for the lovers of the game to feel happy and on top of that, when India put up such a brilliant fight against one of the toughest teams, it was reason enough for some like my friend to break into a dance. No doubt, even the purveyor of the game showered praise on the team and hoped for the revival of our National game.
Well, if it really revives the sagging status of the sport in the country or not that is a different and too far fetched for the moment but atleast for the moment lets swing in the winds of change that has atleast started blowing across the horizon.

IPL Controversies

Indian Premier League has been smeared by controversies be it on the field or off the field. While criketers continue taking potshots on rival players in press conferences and on the field, the players not only took resort to war of words but also got into many a scuffle physically too. Temper soared high as the race between the willow and cherry heated up and turned ugly, with both young guns and old horses taking on each other unwilling even to give an inch away. While Harbhajan's faced 11 IPL match ban and 5 oDI ban for slapping fellow team mate Sreesanth, Ganguly-Warne got into a tussle over the former's appeal to the TV umpire over a catch during the Kolkata Knigh Riders and Rajasthan Royal's match. Not lagging behindis Sehwag aka Viru who faced the ire of Gilly over the former's frequent fielding of substitutes. When the players were getting ugly in the field, the franchises decided to make it uglier and take it to another degree. So so have Mallya sacking Bangalore Royal Challengers CEO Charu Sharma and replacing him with Brijesh Patel. And if that was not enough we had both charu and Mallya openly getting involved into a series of mudslinging. And now we have another controversy hitting the big screen. This time it is the lesser known pacer Praveen Kumar, who rose to glory after his successful stint in the IPL. The 21-year-old lad bashed up a doctor in Meerut for allegedly splashing mud water on him and his friend. For this pautry reason, the bowler along with his friends not only beat up the doctor then at the moment but also followed him to a shop and went on a rampage. Well, some may argue that these incidents shows that the players and the owners are really serious about the game considering that the players have nothing to gain apart from some lucrative moolah, others say it just means that we have lost not only the essence of the game but also have brought the game to disrepute. But who cares?

Turbunator banned: Justified vs Unjustified

BCCI's latest decision to invoke its own regulations instead of the ICC's code of conduct, and slapping a ban of five ODI to the tempermental spinner Harbhajan Singh for slapping his India team mate S Sreesanth has opened up a can of worms.
We have two school of thoughts in this case, while some feel that Harbhajan has got away with a lighter punishment which in no way covers the humiliation that sreesanth had to go through and then there is another set of people who feel it has been rather two harsh on his part because punishing a person twice for a crime can never be justified.
In the later school are the people who are close to Harbhajan like his family, coach and etc while the former consists of critics and some former cricketers.
Well, skirmishes, hurling abuses and taunting or mocking or in a word sledging has always been a part of cricket but what happened in between the duo is much bigger than one can even imagine, it crossses all boundaries of civility, sociality and gentlenesss which the game was once associated with.
But having said that it is perhaps not the first time that we have seen something of this sort, In the recent past, in our neighbourhood Pakistan we had such an incident which has taken a toll on the career of one of the most promising cricketer. We are talking about Shoaib Akhtar.
The tempermental pacer have been in news more for wrong reasons than good. Generally known in the media circle as a spoil brat and an unusally aggressive snob, Shoaib once couldn't control his anger and hit his teammate Mohd Asif with his bat--a move which has almost brought down the curtain on his career.
But wisdom prevailed and Shoaib came knocking on PCB's door, pleading, apologing and what not but still the sword is hanging over his head and he himself doesnt know when all his hopes comes crashing in. The PCB, which sentenced Shoaib to a life ban, will be hearing his case next month.
In comparision to Shoaib, Bhajji has been rather lucky at least he has not been handed out a life ban. Rather the BCCI took a lenient view of his case and did not give the ruling based on ICC code of conduct. According to ICC's scheme of things, a player found guilty in level four offence, which Bajji is, should either be banned for life or a minimum of 5 test or 10 ODI ban should be given.
Ever since his debut in international cricket, Harbhajan has been involved in many tussles in his career and thus remains one of the most controversial figure in Indian cricket history. He has been in a war of words against the Australian players like skipper Ricky Ponting, Mathew Hadyen and Andrew Symonds in more than one occasion but this time what he did was certainly uncalled for because firstly it was a physical assault and secondly it was against his own India team mate. Moreover no one has the right to being disrepute to the game.
However, taking a different perspective on the whole issue, we will find that ever since the slapgate row came to light, Harbhajan has never tried to contradict the allegations imposed on him, rather he admitted his fault and pleaded for mercy. Unlike Shoaib, who had initially taken resort to war of words with the PCB, Bhajji has maintained a very low profile. He apologised about his behaviour and also asked the BCCI to take a considerate view on his case. So from that point of view he has done enough damage control to earn this lenient ban.
Justified or unjustified-the debate will continue but the man in question Harbhajan singh should remember one thing that if he does not want any more trouble in his career than he should be more careful in dealing with people and should have a control over his temper because if this time he fails there will be no looking back as he will surpass the point of no return.

IPL MANIA

Glamour and fervour are an all time high as the battle between the leather and the willow get past the half way mark. The slam-bang game stirs up the heat further, as some teams to blow up the storm while others get blown over.
While the Deccan 'unstoppables' Chargers get stuck in the quicksand of uncertainity and seem to have no charge left in them, especially, after losing seven games on a trot, the Royal Challengers are also losing its royality as their challenge continues to sizzle out with each day.
Then there are the knight Riders, who went under the shadow of many a gloomy nights after their initial gallantry. But the riders claimed their knighthood with two straight wins riding on Saurav Ganguly's blitzkrieg batting and brisk bowling. The Knight in shinning arms backed by his 'too hot too cool' guys have once again lighted their charge brigade.
The Daredevils should take a piece of advice from these guys as their daredevilry have fallen straight on their face with they now being pushed on their backfoot after they vowed to be on 'front foot' always.
Close on their heels are the Mumbai indians, who lost first four matches amidst a lot of Bollywood tamasha, which left their non-mumbai Indian Harbhajan Singh cooling his heels after being slapped an 11 match ban by IPL. But the 'world shakers', although they themselves are on a shaky ground, have done some damage control winning three consecutive matches and now with the true mumbaikar Sachin making a comeback, they can hope to shake the world in the truest sense of the term this time.
However, the Kings XI, which is on a 'Chak de' mode winning five matches on a trot have high hopes. With the priety-Ness's team wriggling out of their initial mess, it seems they are really emmerging as the real kings.
But one team which really raised the 'clarion call' are the underdogs Rajasthan Royals. While MSD's Chennai super kings became the first team in the tournament to win four matches on a trot, they were pooh poohed by the Hollywood's Royals who are now placed on the top of the table claiming five wins on a trot. A bunch of unheralded players, groomed and nicely shaped together by their Coach and captain Shane Warne, Rajasthan royals has really been the highlight of this IPL.
And not only this, MSD who was considered to be the best captain in the IPL also bowed out as Royal's skipper shane shinned his way to clinch that title. Something which left MSD crying 'mind it! on national channels.
Well, with so much drama, including the cheers and leers, and the controversies it has been a fantastic first half so far, and if this is anything to go by then the second half, unlike a bollywood potboiler which disappoints in the second half, will hopefully have much more in store for the masses. However, one note of caution: Don't follow the cliches coz its IPL...MIND IT!