Showing posts with label ipl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ipl. Show all posts

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Cricket Bluffs

A lot has transpired within the cricketing world in these few weeks. Well, I have been off for more than eternity so the margin or the contours of these 'few' weeks is for u to decide. The good thing for me and the worst thing for you is that I am back, hopefully not to go away for yet another eternity ride. Well, before u start scratching ur hair off in disdain or hurl abushes at me, let me stop my gibbering and get straight to business? Well so here it....

1. Sri Lanka has battered the Pakistani bowlers so hard that they have decided to go on an exile and not to think about playing Test cricket for another 14 months.

2. Intelligence sources say the flat and drab wicket that Pakistan laid for the first test is a ploy employed by the Pakistan cricket board to allure the foreign countries to play in the strife-torn nation as it will guarantee sure win for the visitors.

3. Listening to the news, Australia have already asked Cricket Australia to pitch for a test match series in Pakistan before the South Africa Tour so that they can gather some valuable points winning so as to retain their number one ranking.

4. Meanwhile, Australian players have decided to skip the second edition of the Indian Premier League to take proper rest but insiders say they CA have deliberately asked Ponting and co to stay away from the IPL as they will give away their strategy to the Graeme Smity's men during their stint in the IPL.

5. Kevin Pietersen have burnt his fingers in the Stanford twenty20 winner-lose-it-all, i mean winner-take-it-all series and now he is gearing up to compensate the loss by clubbing his willow in the IPL.

6. Considering Stanford's arrest in the alleged muti-billion forgery and Kevin Pietersen's association with Stanford, the US intelligence authorities will be a scanner placed on Bangalore Royal Challengers' boss Vijay Mallya. So they can sniff another scam.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Butt must be joking!!

Even as India mounts its pressure on Pakistan after the Mumbai mayhem and toys with the idea of snaping its criketing ties with its neighbour country, one group of individuals who stand in the firing line are the cricketers.
Shunning their career and in lure of a better pay cheque, many cricketers across the borders have taken a plunge in the cash-bed of the Indian Premier League and its 'rebel' cousin the Indian cricket League and with the two countries falling out, the PCB has also uppped its ante and is planning to cut short its cricketing relations with India.
The PCB chairman Ejah Butt yesterday met with the president Asif Ali Zardari and has discussed about a possible step to sever its ties with India, which included barring its players to participate in the cash-rich twenty20 Leagues. If this suggestion is materalised into a full-fledged decision then surely the future of these players will be in lurch.
Butt is an intelligent man but such abrupt plans just reflects the immaturity and hollowness of his mind. Being the chief of the cricketing body, Butt should realise that it would be a very short-sighted and parochial approach which is not expected from a man of his strature. Even if he likes it or not, the PCB chief should realise that the wind is blowing in India's direction and severing its ties with India would be suicidal because once it is done, it won't take much effort from the BCCI to use its muscle power and make sure that no one tours the troubled nation.
The PCB chief should realise it is neither necessary nor favourable on their part to take such a decision because at the end of the day, PCB needs BCCI if it wants to continue to fill its coffers and stay in the league of elite Test playing nations. It is a difficult time for both the countries and the best way out would be to understand the psychology and logic behind India's decision and stand by the arch-rivals forgetting old rivalry.