Azar to fix Congress jinx

Mohammad 'Fixer' Azaruddin has finally joined politics to serve the people. Ya, u heard me right-- to serve the people, I guess we all know how good he served the nationa and its people during his stint in the Indian team.

There is no question that with his credential as a prolific fixer, he would be a good bet for Congress, who are in desperate need of fixers as apart from Pranab Mukherjee they don't have good fixers who can fix everything, i mean everything (read between the lines).

Azar has said that Cricket is his forte but he still doesn't know what he is good at. Well, for someone who has played 334 ODIs and 99 tests and still doesn't know what he is good at, what can the people except of him.

The former skipper said he wanted to join a secular party. No doubt, who else would have given him a lease of life and a chance to resurrect his lost fame then the most Secular "Muslim-appeasing" party of India. His desperation is also evident when he says that he is ready to fit in any role that the party offers him. Any role, mind it!

The Hyderabadi also revealed his plans of bringing at least five to 10 percent change in the system. Well, I feel we are all aware what he can do, given the reigns. The way he pushed the Indian team in the throes of darkness and shame, with no strecth of imagination we can decipher what he is capable of. Given a chance he would like to change, twist, turn, cut, slice and throw the systems out of gear, to meet his nefarious agenda -- that's all I can atleast thing of.

Well, there is no question of his fixing ability, but there is a serious doubt as how he would interact with the people in a rally because as far as my experience goes, I could never gauge a single word that u uttered or muttered. Perhaps he will take a leaf out of Party President's book.
Watch out for 'Mr Fixer'!

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.

Jyoti comes from no way to go all the way in Bilt Open

GREATER NOIDA: Jyoti Randhawa blasted a sensational final round of eight-under 64 to pip Jeev Milkha Singh and overnight leader Anirban Lahiri and cl
inch the Rs 80 lakh BILT Open title on Sunday.

The Delhi golfer made a dramatic comeback on the edge-of-the-seat final day to break clear off the pack and total 19-under 269 to win by one stroke over Jeev (67) and Lahiri (71) and pocket a prize money of Rs 12,93,200.

Riding on good approach shots and accurate putting, Randhawa clocked a flurry of birdies, starting with a hat-trick from the second to fourth holes before picking up more shots on the seventh and eighth to take the turn at five-under.

While the front nine was a smooth sail, his back nine was not too bad either. He was off the block with birdies on the 10th and 12th before he stumbled on the 13th, dropping a bogey there.

However, Randhawa fired an eagle on the 15th to total 19-under and maintained the lead as he parred the rest.

"It was the 20-footer 15th hole eagle which was the turning point of the day," Randhawa said later.

Randhawa had some anxious moment at the last hole when his tee shot landed on the edge of the hedges but the experienced campaigner chipped it away and then took an accurate approach shot before sinking a 12-footer to par the last hole.

"I am very happy. It was a great win. Since yesterday things started coming together for me. It was since last two days that I gave myself a chance and decided to go for it," Randhawa added.

"I putted like a demon and the holes looked like buckets to me today," he said while explaining his day's performance.

"I feel Indian conditions suits me and I am happy to win here but to tell the truth the feeling has not yet registered in my mind," said Randhawa, who won his fifth PGTI event with this tournament.

Jeev also had a good day in the greens despite missing some close birdie chances just by inches. The Asian number one played some immaculate drives and bunker play to close in the gap with Lahiri.

Playing his front nine first, Jeev reeled off a birdie ha-trick from third to fifth holes before dropping a bogey on the sixth to take the turn at two-under.

On resumption, he gained a shot each on the 10th, 15th and 16th holes to turn 18-under and had it not been for his seven-foot birdie putt miss in the final hole, he could well have forced a playoff with Jyoti.

"I was confident of putting the seven-foot birdie in the 18th hole. I took my time but could not manage at the end," said Jeev, who participated in a PGTI event for the first time.

"I played rock solid this week. Right from the tee to the greens, I have been playing really well all through the week. I had some number in the mind for the final round but I felt short of that. But over all I am happy with my performance," he added.

While his senior pros set the green alight, things went haywire for 21-year-old Lahiri who just could not match up with their experience.

The Bangalorean bogeyed the third, picked up a shot at the fifth but conceded a double bogey on the eighth before making amends with an eagle on the ninth.

His backward journey was equally roller-coaster as he gained a shot on the 15th but dropped one on the next. A birdie at the last hole meant he finished alongside Jeev at the second position.

"I have been getting this top five, top 10 finishes but just could not get that knock-out punch at the end and I hope I can learn from my mistakes here and do well in the next tournaments," Lahiri said.

"It was a pleasure and a learning experience for me to play alongside Jeev and Jyoti," Lahiri said.

Smashing Saina gives a fillip to Indian badminton in 2008

From being just another promising young women shuttler to breaking into the world's top 10, the year gone by has seen the metamorphosis of Saina Nehwal into a sensation, whose exploits saw India rising up the world badminton chart.
Riding on her success story, Indian badminton enjoyed a
steep-rising curve over the past few seasons to leave its mark
on the sporting canvass, which saw some of the greatest battle
of grit, patience and ability en route to some spectular titles wins which made the world to stand up and take notice.
Keeping pace with her dreams, Saina had made her intent
clear at the start of the year when she became the first Indian girl to enter a Super Series semi-final in Singapore Open before losing to Mi Zhou of Hong Kong. She also made it to the last eight of the Thailand open.
With a new found optimism, the 18-year-old then sizzled at the Beijing Games, stunning world number five and fourth seed Wang Chen of Hong Kong in a three-game thriller to become the first Indian woman to reach the quarter finals of the Olympics.
The little Hyderabadi teen soon attained the tag of a 'giant killer' as she galloped her way to an impressive win in the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open, beating Li Ya Lydia Cheah of Malaysia 21-8 21-19 in September.
The National champion also clinched the Youth Commonwealth Games and World Junior Championship titles and was adjudged the most promising player of the year by the Badminton World Federation soon after she broke into the elite bracket of top 10 players.
With the year nearing end, another opportunity came her way when she qualified for the prestigious World Super Series Masters final in Malaysia after two of the Chinese pulled out at the last moment.
However, her fate took a threatening turn when her viza got entangled in a bureaucratic quagmire. But a timely intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs saw her get the Viza on time as Saina emerged as the only Indian to reach the semifinal of the prestigious event, defeating two top level player on a single day.
The Hyderabadi teen defeated World number seven Hongyan Pi of France and world number 11 Mew Choo Wong of Malaysia in the round-robin league before going down to world number six chen Wang in the final four.
Among the men, this year saw the resurgence of Chetan Anand into the forefront once again. The 28-old-year shuttler rose like a phoenix, first winning the national champion for the third time on the trot and then romping home with the Kenya International open, Spanish Open in Madrid and Nepal Open in June.
He then reached the peak of his form, claiming the Bitburger and Czech International titles as his ranking shoot to World number 15. The Arjuna awardee also made it to the finals of Indian Open, Belgium Open and Dubai Open.
While Chetan weaved a web across his opponents in the singles, his wife and national champion Jwala Gutta kept the flag fluttering in the doubles events.
Combining with Shruti Kurian, the Hyderabadi less romped home with two titles, Nepal International Series and KLRC Bulgaria Open Grand Prix, while reaching the semi-finals of the Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix in October.
It was a year of resurgence for the seven-time national doubles champion, who had to go through a bureaucratic hegemony last year along with her husband Chetan as critics started writing their obituary. However, a gritty Jwala shrugged off all criticism and galloped her way to three more titles with partner D Viju in the mixed doubles category.
The world number 38 duo won the Nepal International Series, Bitburger Open Grand Prix and KLRC Bulgaria Open Grand Prix to complete a hattrict of titles.
While, the whole of country was celebrating the winning feats of these shuttlers, one man who sat all alone disappointed was ace shuttler Anup Sridhar.
Riding on his last year's performance, the 25-year-old Bangaorean got a ticket to the Beijing Oympics and soon became the best Indian male shuttler ranking world number 14 but an injury in the first quarter of the year dented his hopes as it kept him out of the court for most of the tournaments.
Sridhar started the year winning the All-India ranking tournament in New Delhi and reached the pre-quarterfinals of the Proton Malaysia Super Series where he lost to Hyun Il Lee, the eventual runner-up.
But after his inury he had to sit out of many tournaments including the Tata Open and the Indian Open. Even in the tournaments he played -- Indonesian Open, Singapore Open and Thailand Open -- he made an early exit.
However, a gutsy Sridhar didn't want to let go the opportunity of playing in the Beijing Games and taking a cortisone shot he took to the court, defeating Marco Vasconcelos of Portugal in the first round before going down to Shoji Sato of Japan in straight-games.
Though Sridhar attained his dream of representing India in the Olympics, the cortisone shots further prolonged his injury lay-off and he couldn't feature in any tournament after the quadrennial extravaganza.
In fine, this year has gone India's way and filled the Indians with a new aura of self-belief which is here to stay. As former All England Champion Pullela Gopichand would put it,"Indian badminton has come at the World stage."

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.

MSD's salvo hits hornest's nest; BCCI, ACC indulge in clean up act

Crammed international schedule and players' burn out-- well nothing secretive about it, but yet nobody dared to come out strongly until maverick Indian skipper MS Dhoni cropped up the issue after the India-Bangladesh match in the Asia Cup on Saturday.

Although, he didn't thumb BCCI's nose in particular, the board was quick in their reflexes. Hounded by the omnivorous journos, they quickly ricocheted the salvo back to the players and quickly washed off its hands.

Putting the blame of the international body and the ACC, BCCI tried to clean up its act giving reasons like prior commitment with the ICC and bi-lateral issues. well, I guess they just missed out of the moolah issue. One would surely love to ask the BCCI what was the commitment behind hosting the 44-days Indian Premier League. It was neither a bilateral issue nor an ICC committment but pure lure for mega bucks.

In pursuit of its dollar dreams, they made the players slog here and there and if the IPL was not enough, there was this tournament called 'Kitply' tri-series, but ask them and they have a clear explaination: "No body complained about fatigue." Well, I guess the players are not fool to defy the great BCCI and risk their career and engage in carrying water bottles or cooling their heels all their life. They say they have the right to inform the board about burn out, well yes only on papers, I guess.

The ACC was also quick to react, reluctant to take it lying low the ACC chief Ashraful lashed out saying that the schedule was finalised by Pakistan Cricket Board and the ACC, and all the boards of participating countries had given their approval. Well, as the mudsling continues, the players fatigue issue is once again being brushed under the carpet.

ICC, ACC or BCCI--whoever may be the reason, its the players who are at the receiving end. No doubt, this overload has left the players, "Oh aah and ouch" and converted the Indian team into a virtual hospital with as many as five top players cooling their heels becuase of injuries. Sachin Tendulkar is nursing a groin injury, Irfan Pathan has a side strain, Sreesanth has a shoulder injury and his opening pace partner Zaheer Khan is recovering from a ankle injury--nodoubt the Indian team pace attack has lost its teeth.

BCCI's signs of helplessness doesn't go well with its infamous intimadating image which has so far dimished all other boards in innumerable occasions. So, as the BCCI continues to show its helplessness and accuse the players, the ICC and the ACC for all the wrong, one would like to doubt if it was a lack of committment towards its own players that is stopping the cricketing czars from taking up the issue with the ICC rather then the committment towards the ICC schedule which they want us to believe.

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.