Outside the box

When you travel by train in India you sometimes get to open the door and get a clearer view of the countryside. This trick should not be attemped by children or adults incapable of balancing themselves on two feet. Full disclosure - I did not venture anywhere near the open door. I let my stunt double do all the dangerous work!

And then you get to take some nice photographs. Like this, for instance.

Or this one, which happens to be one of my favourite ones.

That's tenacity!

Look closely at this photograph. The tree is actually clinging to the rock, somehow being able to find enough traction and nutrients to keep growing. What looks like a white stream of water is actually its root!

Speechless

Sometimes photographs speak for themselves and saying anything would just spoil the impact. Here are some examples from my recent visit to India.

Fading glory

A few days have passed since India got knocked out of the World Cup. In the days since then the biggest point that rankles me is that the much touted "experience" factor is what led them down.

The flip side to experience is that you also carry with you the feeling of failure and how hard it can be to swallow. The experienced batting line-up showed this in every innings India played.

a) Dravid inexplicably let the situation get to him, dropping himself in the batting order when he would have been just the man to carry India through every time the opening wicket fell quickly (I will not even go into how many times I had said that VVS could have been more useful in this 1-down spot in the World Cup than Sehwag or Uthappa).

b) Ganguly occupied the crease for long periods only to throw it away and did not even remotely look like he was playing to give strike to anyone but himself. Two points that underscore this - go back and look at the number of times the man took a single off the last ball of the over and secondly, if you think I am being blasphemous, look at Hayden's innings today - he did not score off the first 16 balls he faced. Think about that. He reached a 100 in 110 balls and when he got out he had scored 158 in 143 balls, getting out in the 48th over. Now that is how you stitch together an innings even after you start like a tortoise.

c) Which brings us to Tendulkar. 14,000+ runs will be bandied about many times in the next few weeks. Ad nauseam. But that is besides the point. The man is scared of failing. I cannot think of any other explanation for the exaggerated (and I mean predetermined) defensive posture he adopts when he comes to the crease these days. He should be made to sit in a room and watch Ponting's batting. Even the defensive shots that Ponting hits are thumped. The bat is held positively, always looking out for runs. When Tendulkar defends these days he holds it limply and it is not surprising that he inner-edges the ball when it does not hit the middle. Maybe his elbow still hurts, preventing him from gripping the bat tightly, and he is not publicly admitting it. Either way it is time for him to surf on Youtube.com and see some of the clips of his heyday and try to restore his batting to some semblance of that or just follow the Don and let his last international innings be a memorable duck.

I will not go into the bowling debacle. The blame game is easy to play but I feel the three afore-mentioned players cost India a shot at the Cup and I am not going to be convinced otherwise. What I wanted from them was a refined form of the devil-may-care attitude that Aftab Ahmad brings to the crease every time he bats. Watch this Bangladeshi guy and you will know what I mean. He rarely sticks around long enough to post a huge score but as long as he is there you know that he is giving it his all.

At least now I will be able to watch some cricket, good cricket at that, and enjoy the strategies being adopted by various teams, and not pull my hair out the next time I see new batsmen being greeted by only 4 men inside the circle.

A rearguard for the ages

On March 14th, 2001, two Indian batsmen walked to the crease with not many people expecting them to do much. At the end of the day the two were still undefeated and one of the greatest rearguard actions in the history of Test cricket was well on its way.

Six years later, I still get goosebumps when I think of that match. Sadly I did not follow the scores for those two days as I was visiting a friend whose birthday falls during the same time period. When I had last checked the scores, India were 128 for 8 in the first innings. When I opened CricInfo two days later the headline said "Laxman, Dravid seize initiative for India". While the page was downloading (slow Internet connections are a terrible curse to bear during such occasions) I tried to figure out a scenario where the two could have even batted together, let alone seize the initiative for India. As the page loaded, right below it, was an article about Gavaskar congratulating Laxman. I was confused but happy. When I saw the scorecard I was shocked. The rest of the series was followed closely by me, needless to say.

My eternal regret is that I did not follow either of his innings as it transpired over those two glorious days. I just hope that there are more performances from VVS Laxman over the next few years to make that regret a little less pronounced.

Glimpses - I

Here are some more photographs I clicked during my recent trip to India. This is the first of many such (hopefully quasi-regular) glimpses into what I saw.

JM loved watching these lizards in action. Especially when one would encroach on another's territory.A very common sight on the maidans of Hyderabad - multiple games of cricket on a single field. When you are part of the action on the ground it all makes sense. When watching from outside, it seems just a tad above semi-organized chaos.

Paddy fields and palm trees. I took this picture while on the train from Chennai to Bangalore.

This was taken in a changing room at a Raymonds showroom! I can only imagine what the owner's house must be like.

Staying on my nose and eyelashes

Snowfall. Love it. Wait for it. Enjoy it. We recently experienced what may just be winter's last stand in the Northeast US for this season. Here's 3000 words describing its aftermath...

The Mumbai monologue

Opinion about Greg Chappell is sharply divided. Some, like me, believe he is doing a good job with the Indian cricket team. Others, like many persons in my immediate family, believe he should be shunted back to Australia as soon as possible.

One of the many reasons I like him is that he is articulate enough to explain what his vision for the team is (without giving away the exact strategies in place). In an unusually conducted interview, by Rediff.com, Chappell discusses his views on this vision, uninterrupted by any questions. Harsha Bhogle uses this interview as the starting point for his take on the World Cup just before it commences.

(Prem Panicker, who conducted the interview, explains in some depth about the thinking behind this unusual questioning format).

Resolves that dissolve

Nirmal Shekar has 10 resolutions that he would like the World Cup viewing public to consider. Many of them require common sense, nothing more. I doubt whether the media will have anything to write about if the journalists follow them, though.

One of them addresses a phrase that companies trying to sell their products have shoved down the viewers throats - the Blue Billion.

Let us resolve that we will never again say that Team India carries the hopes of a billion people and the prayers of that many are with Rahul Dravid's men. The truth — if anybody still cares for it in this age of ephemera, an age of boosterism and saturation coverage of popular sport in the media — is that a vast majority of that billion has rather more mundane everyday concerns. Their hopes and dreams are not hooked to the fortunes of the men in blue.

Maid in India or Maid for India?

Sometimes it is better to let someone else's words do the talking. Here is Amit Verma's take on taxation and the Government's utilization of taxed income in India.

Commentary by numbers

Amit Verma writes about the influence of television on cricket coverage and presentation in India. He makes a few of the points that I have also often thought about. While it is not up to his usually high standards, it is still worth reading.

Former cricketers have a unique perspective to present since they are privy to what goes on inside a dressing room when situations become tense on the field. Very few of them seem to grasp this concept and instead give us the type of commentary a semi-literate man pulled off the street would give. What is the point in that? Read any column by Javagal Srinath and you will know exactly what I mean.

Bordering on the ridiculous

It is rare that a news article makes me laugh out loud. But this one did just that.

I cannot decide what is funnier - that the Swiss army was able to wander off course with weapons that do not even have ammunition or that Liechtenstein-ites seem least bothered that there was a group of 170 foreign military personnel wandering around in their backyard.

The soldiers may not have had any ammunition but I bet their knives are very functional and useful in any crisis!

Nom de plume

Jonty Rhodes exploded onto the cricketing world 15 years ago with his calling card - fielding - in the 1992 World Cup. By the time South Africa played Pakistan his reputation was already being made but the run out of Inzamam-ul-Haq helped revolutionize the way the rest of the world approached fielding and cricket has not been the same since then. (Case in point, people like VVS Laxman, who would have walked into a World Cup squad in the past, are excluded primarily because of their ordinary fielding skills). (Click here to see a video of that runout).

However, one of the biggest influences Jonty had, albeit unknown to him, was on a Hyderabadi lad who eventually went on to use the name as his pen name, after slightly adjusting the spelling!

The anti-Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar biggest nemesis, Glenn McGrath, is the subject of an astonishing statistical profile by Tim de Lisle. My favourite factoid about his batting ineptitude is this one:

He has finished on the winning side 160 times, batting only 14 times, making 18 runs, and only being out three times. If he bats, it means Australia are in trouble; if he passes 5, they lose.

Back in the high life again

After a gap of almost 2 months I am back. Its been a life-changing two months. Those that know me personally will understand what I mean.

I came back from a trip to India. In the coming days/weeks I shall reminisce about the trip and also upload some of the more memorable photographs I took while I was there.

So keep coming back for more and I shall not be gone for long again. Here's a sneak preview of things to come...

"Serving" in solitude

India's most prolific Ranji Trophy batsman has the following scores in the 5 games he has played in this year's edition:

154
71
4 and 62 not out
103 and 49
119 not out

A grand total of 562 runs at an incredible average of 112.40 in 7 innings (3 centuries, 2 fifties).

You will probably never guess that the batsman is Yashpal Singh. He is just 25 years old and will probably never even get a sniff of India colours as he toils for the "Services" team in the Plate division of the Ranji Trophy.

I wonder how good he really is. He couldn't be worse than some of the more heralded names that have played for India in the past decade, could he?

Say what?

In his address to the nation at the funeral service for former US President Gerald Ford, the current head honcho - GWB - said:

He (Ford) belonged to a generation that measured men by their honesty and their courage.

Hmmm, what exactly does that stament say about the current generation then?!!

Living on in infamy

As if being knocked out of the big planets club was not enough, Pluto has now given birth to a word with negative connotations, too! Being "word of the year" is some consolation, I guess.

Being an all-time great is no sure bet

In his latest column Glenn McGrath talks about his last day as a Test cricketer. One snippet in the article should tell you a lot about the man.

Through my whole career I have always felt I needed to keep performing to retain my spot. Just because I'm retiring after the World Cup doesn't mean I'm guaranteed of selection in the squad for the Caribbean. I feel I offer a lot of big-game experience.

Too bad he is not an Indian. Otherwise he could have rested on his laurels about 10 years ago and coasted home till eternity, a guaranteed World Cup spot in hand. If he failed, there would be a thousand souls reminding everyone that he had taken over 500 Test wickets, over 300 ODI wickets, won 2 World Cups, etc., and therefore, was undroppable.

Somebody needs to tell the divas that it is not what you have done for the last 10 years that count, it is what you continue to keep bringing to the table. Without the hunger you are just another mouth that is being spoonfed by adulating millions.

Winners win because they fear failure and are willing to work extra hard to avoid losing.

Final word

All the Indians in the top order (barring Dravid) - Jaffer, Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly - batted as if there was an axe hovering over their necks should they fail.

I was sorely disappointed with the way in which they batted, especially, Tendulkar and Laxman. For extended periods of time there seemed to be no intent to score runs, as if survival alone would do the trick. Buck's comment - Sachin seems to be sleepwalking, playing shots from memory, and defending like a madman when awake - is a perfect description of the fall from grace of a once-great batsman.

If I were the captain of ANY team that next faces Sachin, I would immediately operate with a left-arm bowler from over the wicket, target his leg-stump, and taunt/sledge him endlessly to do something about it. Maybe Greg Chappell should do it repeatedly in the nets until he breaks out of his slumber. If that fails, drop the guy from the Test team. At least in ODI's the rules are designed to prevent teams from doing just that.

What dreams may go

To rewrite a crucial line in LOTR:ROTK - "And so it ends..."

64.1 Tendulkar to Prince, 1 run, THATS IT! A great win! Looped up outside the off stump, Prince drives down the ground, Tendulkar gives a half-hearted attempt to stop it, and the ball runs right through his legs - the Gateway of India, as its called - and thats a smashing win for South Africa! Prince raises his arms in jubilation! Well played!

After Prince hit the winning runs, I shed a few tears. I wonder if any of the stalwarts in the Indian team did. Ironically, and symbolically, the winning runs came because Tendulkar let the ball through his fingers. But that was not when the match was lost. It was lost much earlier when the (once) great batsman let something more important - the game - slip out of his grasp.

When the match-fixing scandal occurred many of my friends told me that they stopped following the Indian team. All these years I've wondered how they could even think of doing something like that. Right now I am distraught enough to contemplate the same thing and I finally understand how they felt.

With India slated to play only three Tests (as of now) next year it will be a long time (June 2007) before I get a chance to have to decide what to do about my feelings for the team.

156 for 5
119 for 5

125 for 5
83 for 5

337 for 5
115 for 5

A much-heralded batting order that comprises Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, and Ganguly provided a good first half only once. But don't get misled by the 337 for 5. In that innings Karthik scored 63 and when Jaffer got out, after scoring 116, the total was 240.

It is time to put aside reputations and runs and decide who really wants to fight it out in the middle. Those are the players I want representing my country in Tests. I don't care if they are not good enough to win. Even if they lose, at least I will not feel let down by them for they will have fought tooth and nail for every inch.

Constricting passages

On the 4th day of the Indo-SA Test match I watched the worst display of batting I have ever seen by any one individual. And the shocker was the identity of the individual -Sachin Tendulkar. His innings was so gutless, defenceless, and irresponsible, that I am still fuming about it a good 24 hours later.

(For more specific details about his (mis)-deeds read this piece by Sambit Bal, the editor of Cricinfo, who feels the same way I do about Tendulkar's second innings farce).

I cannot fathom what the man was trying to achieve. He was facing a debutant and went into a defenceless shell that would not have been acceptable in any era of Test cricket. The man reputed to have given Shane Warne nightmares was not even trying to do anything about the way Paul Harris was bowling, except to occasionally try that paddle sweep of his. Batting as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders he pottered around for a long time and in the end he did not just give the initiative back to the South Africans. He literally threw it back into their laps - gift-wrapped and all.

Rahul Dravid was batting with him and I hold him just as responsible for the display as he did nothing whatsoever to change Sachin's mindset (or at least did not appear to be trying). How can these two batsmen, who are widely regarded as two of the best batsmen in the world, come up with such a spineless display?

For a few weeks, as the failures have been piling up, I have been supporting Tendulkar, even as AV kept giving me examples of the times when the man has choked in the limelight. And that is the best word I can think of to explain his batting yesterday - he choked. When the pressure built up and it was time to take action he simply froze. Like a deer on the road at night when confronted by an oncoming vehicle.

Halfway across the world I stay awake at night watching the Indian team play. I am not the only one. We deserved a lot better than this. Regular readers of my blog will know that I am an advocate of attacking the bowling as the best form of defence. I do not see how defending our way has helped us either here in the third Test or in the second Test. And when I say attack - I do not mean that every ball should be slammed into the hoardings. Instead it means that you approach each ball looking to score runs and only defend (or leave it) if it is not bad enough to do so. As Kumar Sangakkara says, being positive does not mean you have to hit every ball.

This is not the first time Tendulkar has done this either. At Bangalore, against the Pakistanis, he hung around for 140 minutes, scoring just 16 runs and India went on to lose that Test match, too. Not having learnt his lesson from Bangalore he proceeded to give us an encore performance that has rattled me enough to contemplate not wasting my time any more when he is at the crease. For weeks, I have been egging him along to score more runs, more centuries, even as Ponting is rapidly gaining ground. Now I do not care any more. If anything, he deserves to have his record be eclipsed soon. It is time for him to decide how he wants to be remembered in the waning days of his career - as a man who who stamped his authority on the game or as one who let the bowler dictate the situation to him. A few more such innings from him and he will be dropped, much like GR Viswanath was dropped after the disastrous tour of Pakistan in 1982, never to get a a whiff of the playing field again.

Short-term memory

Steve Waugh is at it again. A few weeks ago he was talking about Ponting and Bradman in the same breath, as I mentioned here. Now he is according a similar status to another Australian - Shane Warne.

It's very hard to judge across eras but Shane Warne would sit pretty comfortably as Australia's second best player ever. The great Sir Don Bradman was the best but after that I believe Shane Warne would slot in pretty nicely at number two.

True Blue

Why do I love Test cricket more than one-dayers?

The second Test between India and South Africa is very intriguingly poised at the end of the third day's play. South Africa are ahead by 152 runs, 10 wickets in hand. They have a maximum of 180 overs to force a result in the Test. But everyday, on an average, about 24 overs have been lost to bad light. So, realistically speaking, they have only about 130 overs to force a result. In their minds anything less than 350 will be too inviting a target. Let's say they average 4 runs per over from the outset on the 4th day. That will leave India about 80 overs to get 350. I think that will be SA's goal today.

But the X factor is the light. No one can really count on it being good or bad, so Graeme Smith has decisions to make about when to declare. The flip side is that India could very well dismiss them within the next 200 runs and, themselves, have to face about 80-100 overs to get a target (350-plus) that very few teams have ever achieved.

All in all I expect it to be riveting stuff. The fact that a draw is also an option makes it even more intriguing. If South Africa tries to force a result and loses the Test, they will lose the series. If they are conservative and do not give themselves enough time to bowl India out, they will not be able to win the series.

So many scenarios, so much to think about. No matter what happens, rest assured, the second-guessers will be out in full force after the action takes place. I shall pre-empt that by putting forward my opinions on what should have been each team's approach before the day's play begins.

So if I were Graeme Smith this is what I would do: Look to score 200-250 runs in the next 50 overs and declare immediately, even if it means that India has the full quota of 130 overs to get them in. Let's review India's batting performance on this current tour:
85 overs 316 for 7 (69 for 5) Tour match 1 - 1st innings
53.4 overs 142 all out (55 for 5) Tour match 1 - 2nd innings
79.5 overs 249 all out (156 for 5) First Test match - 1st innings
64.4 overs 236 all out (119 for 5) First Test match - 2nd innings
77 overs 270 for 7 (205 for 5) Tour match 2 - with 11 batsmen available to bat
77.5 overs 240 all out (125 for 5) Second Test match - 1st innings

A target of 350+ (even if they have 130 overs) would mean that the Indian batting line-up would have to score more, bat longer, and at a faster rate, than it has managed to do during this tour. If they have to achieve it, they will have to take chances and bat more aggressively, therefore giving Smith more opportunities to take wickets and win the match.

If I were Dravid and was given a target of 350 in 130 overs, this is what I would do. I would go for the win not try to settle for a draw (or hope for bad light to help). Expecting to bat out 780 balls (more realistically, about 500 balls) is probably beyond either team on a wicket this helpful to bowlers. Therefore, the prudent thing is to attack. By attacking, the South Africans will be forced to spread the field in order to prevent runs, and thereby, the pressure points will be reduced. If Dravid is really serious about winning the batting line-up should read -
Sehwag, Ganguly, Dhoni, Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Jaffer, and then the tail.

But then I have always felt attack is the best form of defence. I think India needs to go out there primarily looking to win the match and then, only if that does not seem to be happening, think of a draw. If they go in looking to draw, they will lose the match, mark my words. The memories of Bangalore and Mumbai should be too fresh in their minds for them to get defensive.

I cannot imagine a one-day match offering up so many possibilities and chances for changes in fortunes. And that is why I love Test cricket!

Entertainment by stream lapidation

Continuing on the theme of skipping stones, here is a recent addition to my photo album. We were the only persons at a nearby scenic spot and spent almost an hour simply skipping stones.

The undisputed skipping stones champion was BRI, who was able to skip the stones, in some instances, more than 10 times!

The wizard of Oz

What do I remember of Shane Warne?

A ten to fifteen step run-up, more like a walk-up, before a whirl of action slung the ball about 18 yards in the air, seemingly on a string, dipping, drifting, spinning, and usually drawing batsmen out of their shell and onto their doom (well, almost all batsmen).

Once the ball was bowled the real Warne emerged. If the batsman defended successfully Warne's left hand would circle his belly, the right hand would fold at the elbow while he grazed his chin reflectively with his thumb and index finger, his lips circling in a barely suppressed “ooh”. If the batsman was beaten, but not out, the “ooh” was more pronounced, sometimes followed by a brushback of the hair from his forehead. If the ball was convincingly hit away for runs the look stayed but was followed by a glare, as if to say that the batsman was lucky, just barely at that, to get the middle of his bat in the way.

Only rarely, very rarely, did the façade crumble. Such is the aura of the man that the opponents who got the better of him – Tendulkar, Laxman, Pietersen – are remembered for what they did to him and not for what Warne could not do to them.

To me, Warne’s greatness is just this – for 15 years he convinced people into thinking that he was the one in command and not the batsman. You can count on one hand the batsmen who are said to have had the better of him. In spite of all that, no one ever felt that they had completely mastered him

I will not miss his blatant over-appealing, which most other players would have been fined/suspended for. I will not miss his monotonous sledging when things did not go his way. I will certainly not miss his leg-side hoicking style of batting which got him the dubious distinction of scoring the most Test runs without ever recording a century.

What I will miss is his ability to put the ball wherever he wanted to. (His mystique is such that even when he bowled bad balls, people were convinced that it was by design). I will miss his (under-rated) slip catching. But most of all, I will miss the fact that when he was at the top of his bowling mark I held my breath because the next ball could be the wicket-taking one, irrespective of how badly he had bowled the previous one.

If the Aussie team since the early ‘90’s has had an unparalleled run of success it is in large part because Warne never felt that he couldn’t win. Warne is one of the few people I have seen who, even when bereft of ideas, did not concede that the cause was lost until it was undeniably so.

Having said that, I wish I could have seen Warne one more time against the Indians, in the very rare, and unfamiliar, defeated pose of his – bent over at the waist, hands on his knees, following the path of the ball as it thudded into the boundary boards. Instead I shall have to settle for watching him gorge on the deer-eyed English batsmen at Melbourne and Sydney.

Thanks for the memories, Warne.

Exercise in futility

JK Rowling likes to leave clues on her website for her young fans to figure out questions they may have about her books. The question whose answer was most eagerly anticipated, of late, was the name of the 7th book in the Harry Potter series. The answer has been revealed. Fans had a chance to figure it out by going to the webpage.

I tried to find out the title before I read about it, but it is a puzzle only in name. There is no rhyme of reason to all the clues, is there? How is a person supposed to decipher how to open the door except to blindly click all over the place until some combination of lucky clicks gets them in? This particular puzzle is not even a test, it is just an exercise in random luck. (If there is a pattern to the clues, please do elucidate).

Anyway, for those that are still flummoxed, here are the instructions:

If you go to her home page, click on the eraser and you will be taken to a room -- you'll see a window, a door and a mirror. In the mirror, you'll see a hallway. Click on the farthest doorknob and look for the Christmas tree. Then click on the center of the door next to the mirror and a wreath appears. Then click on the top of the mirror and you'll see a garland. Look for a cobweb next to the door. Click on it, and it will disappear. Now, look at the chimes in the window. Click on the second chime to the right, and hold it down. The chime will turn into the key, which opens the door. Click on the wrapped gift behind the door, then click on it again and figure out the title yourself by playing a game of hangman.

Viewing displeasure

In the past few weeks I have had the pleasure of listening to the Channel 9 commentary team in action. A few days into the Ashes, the India-SA series began, and the stark contrast in the abilities of the two sets of commentators was on full display.

I had written a fairly sizable diatribe about the banal and cliched phrases that get bandied about in the name of commentary when I ran into this article, that says all I want to say, and more.

Sleepy but happy

After the events of the past few days, I am going to now take a long nap and will be back soon.

Needless to say, I have been smiling ever since about 5:30am this morning.

Maggie noodle Review: Casino Royale

Shaken and stirred

Casino Royale has been widely publicized as a Bond movie that harks back to the way Ian Fleming envisoned the super-spy to be. Actually, what the producers want to say is that this story retains the basic premise of the original novel. The rest of the flesh is cut from a more modern beast, a beast that Fleming would have been astounded by.

First up, the story is set in present time, allowing Bond to jet-set around the globe and go through one muscular chase sequence after another till they all blur together. (I am not a big fan of chase sequences, except in Jackie Chan movies where the stunts make up for it). Bond free-running in Madagascar could have been filmed in Tatooine and it would not have mattered one bit to the movie. By the end of the movie I lost count of the number of times he chases after someone. We know that Bond will not die, therefore, scenes where he is imperiled do not matter any more.

Secondly, this Bond is not the polished uber-spy of the Roger Moore/Pierce Brosnan era. Instead he is endearingly rough and is slowly settling into the cool exterior that characterized the latter-day Bond versions.

Thirdly, this Bond hurts, sweats, bleeds, grunts, groans, and loses. Yes, Bond loses at cards to the bad guy, until a deux et machina is invoked to let him get back into the game. And if IMDB.com is to be believed, this is the first Bond movie in which it rains, which is an odd factoid in itself.

Fourth, in between the action sequences the characters actually converse with each other. Bond and Vesper play verbal volleyball that is heartening because the woman has the more polished lines.

Fifth, this is the longest Bond movie ever. Many of my friends who have seen the movie complained about the length, adding that there wasn't enough action. To them I suggest that they go and see every Bond movie since the mid-70's to get their action fix.

Sixth, the bad guy is not interested in dominating the world, does not have a super-secret lair that could not ever be built in this day and age, or have a henchman who can kick the living bejeesus out of Bond. This is a good thing, and ironic, since if ever there was an actor playing Bond who could duke it out with the baddies, it is the buff Daniel Craig.

What the filmakers have attempted is to reinvent the Bond franchise by starting at the beginning, before Bond even became a full-time OO agent in MI-6. Consequently, Brosnan could not have played this role. It needed a newcomer and it is a clever launch vehicle for Craig. In the third act the movie meanders a little bit as Bond recovers from the trauma of his last encounter with the bad guys. Then there is a twist, and from the wreckage emerges a more definitive Bond. At the very end he walks past a fallen bad guy, the iconic Bond music playing for the first time in the movie, and then he looks into the screen and identifies himself. I do not get goosebumps often enough in a movie theatre these days, but after this scene I was tingling.

James Bond is back, and how!

No mas

Until the 15th of December I shall not have any more cricket-related blog items. My non-cricketing friends are seriously considering boycotting this space if I persist.

So there, here's the first non-cricket entry:

Will they find the remains of the Ancient Mariner nearby, too?

GOAT or goat?

Steve Waught recently proclaimed that Ricky Ponting was the greatest Aussie batsman since Don Bradman.

Four years ago, the very same Steve Waugh was proclaiming that Matthew Hayden was the greatest batsman, barring Don Bradman.

Hmmm, how long will it be before Michael Hussey is annointed the next king by the quote-happy Waugh? Well, it looks like some others are already jumping on that bandwagon.

Yesterday once more

Check out these two scorecards:

The first Test match took place recently, very recently.

The second Test match took place three years ago.

Spooky how similar the two Tests turned out (at the same ground, no less). I'm just glad we were on the winning side on that day.

The crumbling edifice

Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid had a plan when they got together. Accordingly, they worked on systems to identify the best personnel for their plan, thereby jettisoning some established veterans and placing faith in upcoming players.

I first wrote about it early this year (you can see it here).

A brief synopsis of what I think is their base strategy is reproduced below:

The batting line-up is divided into the accelerators (Sehwag, Yuvraj, Pathan, Dhoni) and the anchors (Tendulkar, Dravid, Kaif). These 7 form the central core of their batting lineup.

The manipulation of the batting line-up is based on pairing an accelerator with an anchor as much as possible. Which role-players will go in to bat depends upon the state of the match:

The generic formula:
Sehwag and Tendulkar will open. Sehwag's mandate is to accelerate, while Tendulkar's is to consolidate. If Sehwag gets out early - either Pathan/Yuvraj/Dhoni will go in. If Tendulkar gets out first - either Kaif/Dravid will go in.

I also added:

Naturally, the personnel will change due to injury/selectorial whims but I think the basic principles are in place.

Unfortunately for the think-tank, the worst possible thing happened. Sehwag's ODI form hit rock bottom and, soon, Pathan joined him there. Yuvraj Singh hit a purple patch of form and India rode the crest of his, Dhoni's, and (for some time) Pathan's feats to the tune of 18 straight successful chases (oh, how easily the media forgets this astounding feat). But then Yuvraj, a vital cog in the scheme, was rendered hors de combat, and Raina/Mongia could not fill his void. Eventually the scheme was adjusted to try to fit the personnel available and this coincided with the clamouring for all experimentation to stop. (Ironically, this is the time when they needed to experiment the most to find the pieces to replace the cogs that had begun to malfunction).

Anyway, with 8 ODI's to go before the World Cup it is back to the drawing board. Though with the off-field pressures showing no signs of abating and the controversy-hungry media waiting for the chosen ones to falter, I fear that we may be in for some more strife.

My 90.6 paise

Amidst the gloom and doom that follows every Indian loss in the cricket arena a simple truth is often forgotten - The players aren't all world-beaters.

Years ago Daniel Laidlaw made an observation that still rings true: The Indian team is not a great team that frequently underachieves. Rather it is a merely good team that occasionally overachieves.

When you keep that hypothesis in mind, it becomes clear why the team plays the way it does. So trying to deify the players for skills that they only occasionally exhibit is the big blunder of the fan. Its no mystery really. The same point is made here, albeit more directly and differently.

The Brook

Many years ago, so long ago that it seems like just yesterday, my best friend moved to a different town. While the move was just physical in nature, and our friendship was no less stronger or weaker for it, I felt like a piece of me had gone away for good. On the drive back from the airport I cried all the way home. I do not really know the exact reason for the flood, but it ran its course and more. A friend, riding shotgun, tried to console me telling me that as the tears shed I would feel better.

Years have gone by but it has not gotten any better. I miss not being able to turn around and speak my innermost thoughts as they occur to me. There is something artificial about reaching out to someone through a telephone. Something indelible was inexplicably erased that day but it had nothing to do with our friendship. In this instance, out of sight is definitely not out of mind, but it is a whole lot worse than being in the person's presence.

I have been in one place for a long time, surrounded by a transient group of friends who have acquired skills needed to join the work force and move on. Repeatedly I am reminded of Lord Tennyson's words:

For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

Falling behind or staying ahead?

Brian Lara is 37 years old and Ricky Ponting 31. And they are in the midst of a purple patch of frightening proportions. Lara scored his 34th century and Ponting his 32nd, within a day of each other. They are fast approaching Tendulkar (33 years old) who is atop the list with 35 centuries.

Do Ponting and Lara represent two peaks with Tendulkar the valley in between, age and hunger-wise? Or is Tendulkar at a point just as high as the other two? The three Tests that India play in December will tell us a lot about it.

What do I think? After watching the Aussies beat his bat repeatedly in the Champions Trophy I had my doubts. But after watching the tiny adjustments he made on the bouncy track at Kingsmead and the ease with which he handled the pace attack, I think the man is ready. His cover drives were of the top-shelf, vintage Tendulkar category.

Ponting will eventually be the leader, but he has a lot more work to do than he probably thinks he has to. Hopefully, Tendulkar will see Lara's productivity at 37 and continue to keep playing as long as he can.

We are in for a treat in the coming months. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride as the three of the batting titans of the game today launch an assault on the record-books.

Will IT repeat itself?

Not to belabour a point, but after the Indian 91-run debacle yesterday against South Africa, I find it ironic that today is the 10-year anniversary of a famous Indian triumph over the very same opponents.

Check out the scorecard and notice the irony in light of yesterday's meltdown. 22 batsmen came to bat in this match, and only one recognized batsman scored a 50. (The other 50 was from de Villiers, who in his entire career scored just 4 first-class 50's and was just throwing his bat around in this innings). With India tottering at 91 for 5 in the second innings, VVS Laxman shepherded the tail in his debut Test match, eventually being 8th out at 180. The margin of victory? 64 runs.

Once again, when an early Indian wicket falls in an ODI, and the bowlers are breathing fire and lightning, would you rather see Laxman or Kaif/Rainia/Mongia? I hope we don't need a 0-4 drubbing from SA to drive home my point.

Al dente

Last night I saw Casino Royale, the latest James Bond caper. A detailed review will follow in a few weeks as I do not want to reveal plot elements just yet.

I have seen all the Bond movies (except the original Casino Rayale) and, for now, all I will say is this - the last 15 seconds of this movie leave an indelible mark.

Best ending for a Bond movie...ever!

Switching to success

Peter Roebuck writes well, needless to say, but he also knows how to drive home his point. Here, he discusses semi-ambidexterous cricketers.

Like all good writers, he drives home his point (pun intended) with his last paragraph. 'Nuff said.

Shouting from the rooftops

When it comes to the the issue of selecting (or not selecting) VVS Laxman in the World Cup squad I shall scream myself hoarse.

INDIA NEEDS LAXMAN!

Consider the alternatives who are being tried out because they supposedly have other skills (in most cases - fielding abilities) that are markedly better. Here are Laxman's career stats:
Laxman: 82 innings, 2338 runs, 31.17 average, 6 centuries, 10 fifties

Compared to other incumbents (also filtered to their last 85 innings where applicable):
Sehwag: 156 innings, 4727 runs, 31.72 average, 7 centuries, 24 fifties
Sehwag (filtered): 85 innings, 2441 runs, 29.76 average, 2 centuries, 13 fifties

Yuvraj: 159 innings, 4286 runs, 34.84 average, 7 centuries, 25 fifties
Yuvraj (filtered): 85 inings, 2613 runs, 37.32 average, 6 centuries, 13 fifties

Kaif: 122 innings, 2725 runs, 32.83 average, 2 centuries, 17 fifties
Kaif (filtered): 85 innings, 2008 runs, 32.91 average, 1 century, 14 fifties

Raina: 33 innings, 585 runs, 27.85 average, 0 centuries, 3 fifties
Mongia: 53 innings, 1154 runs, 28.85 average, 1 century, 4 fifties

The others being tried are not really that superior to him in terms of statistics, but the middle order lacks that crucial ingredient - a #3 unafraid of big moments and menacing attacks. Of ALL the players that have donned India colours over the years ONLY Laxman has multiple centuries IN Australia. And this against arguably the greatest ODI team ever.

Hmmm, what about comparing him to "superior" contemporaries?
Dravid: 82 innings, 2939 runs, 40.81 average, 4 centuries, 26 fifties
Tendulkar: 85 innings, 3387 runs, 45.16 average, 9 centuries, 18 fifties
Ganguly: 85 innings, 2465 runs, 32.86 average, 4 centuries, 14 fifties

Well, he pales in comparison with the first two, and rightfully so, while he is fairly comparable to the third. The above-mentioned trio are among the greatest ever in ODI history and his record compared to everyone but the top duo is comparable, if not much better.

When one of the openers gets out quickly, which of these names do you think is most likely to comfortably fend off the fast bowler breathing fire and sending down thunderbolts - Mongia, Kaif, Yuvraj, Raina or Laxman? Hmm, deep down even you know the answer to this one.

Take a look at this snap.

That is Laxman in ODI gear, playing a short-pitched ball with minimum fuss. The man can do it and do it better than any of the players taking up his spot in the team.

If Laxman is not in the World Cup squad India will not win the World Cup. More crucially (for me, at least) I shall not watch the games.

And I am not the only person who feels this way about Laxman, here is a noted columnist who shares my view. To add insult to injury, Yuvraj Singh failed a fitness test and in his stead the wise selectors have sent a back-up keeper! Grrrr.

A state of mind

Bob Woolmer, who has a slightly more difficult task than Greg Chappell in pure cricket-coaching terms, talks about the language (and other) boundaries that he has to cross in coaching the mercurial Pakistani side.

Number crunching

Whichever way you look at it, Roger Federer is having a season for the ages. And anytime Lendl's and Borg's names get mentioned in the same breath, I am happy.

Double-take

I couldn't resist stopping on the road, backing up, and taking a snap of this sign for a pizza place. The picture says it all!

Shaking a leg or two

Every year the end of October signals the organizing of a Diwali bash by the Indian Students Association. After the cultural programmes and dinner, the real fun begins. Chairs are removed from the ballroom, Indian music of all types blares from the speakers, and inhibitions are thrown to the wind as dancers of all skill levels converge onto the dance floor.

Three hours go by in a blur of movement. Most of the songs are, by now, totally unknown to me but the beat, the rhythm, and the sensation are still the same. Everyone's feet and hands move on their own accord. Each of us dances to a different drummer, and semi-organized pandemonium of the best kind follows.

Drive-by sightseeing

Every so often I get into my car and drive. My favourite time of the year for such drives is during the Fall. The idea that trees are busily chugging along, breaking down foliar pigments, reabsorbing nutrients, getting ready for winter while still showing a pretty face, is oddly reassuring. If you haven't experienced a drive through fall foliage, a field trip should be on your travelling agenda for the future.

Once in a while, I stop the car and walk by a lake. Leaves of all sizes, shapes, and colours peek back at me. Where will they finally end up, I wonder?

In the evening, as the sun goes down and the world begins to settle in for the night, everything becomes calm. The sheet-like surface of the lake, transparent and unrippled, invites me to go back in time and become a child once more. Much joy is achieved by simply counting the number of times a stone skips off the surface.

Some days are just perfect. The rest are there to let you appreciate them when they do come by.

The Sports Guy remembers

Bill Simmons, of ESPN.com, wrote a loving obituary-type article when Red Auerbach passed away recently. I had heard of Red but did not know much about him, except for some of the major details of his accomplishments as an NBA coach and General Manager of the Boston Celtics.

As BD will no doubt attest, Simmons writes so well that you feel you know almost as much about Red as you would by reading a complete biography of his.

Something to Crowe about

Take a look at this scorecard. The opening bowler for the losing team, who also batted at #7 and was the second-highest scorer, is more famous for his exploits in another field.

His cousins did not do too badly for themselves on the cricket field either.

The distant dream

Harsha Bhogle recently wrote an article in the Indian Express wherein he argued that there were (realistically) only two batsmen who could vie for the last batting spot in India's World Cup roster, a position currently occupied by Dinesh Mongia.

He wrote: Match it with your own but I had Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Ramesh Powar, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra. That is seven batsmen, a wicket keeper and ten bowlers. It means there are a few options going around with the bowlers but we have very few degrees of freedom with the batsmen.

He then ends on this note (which, as my regular readers will know, I concur with thoroughly): For India to be serious World Cup contenders they need runs and I’m afraid by the look of it they will have to hope that these very batsmen do it for them by playing the way they did 12 months ago. The only player who can complete that short list, as of now, will therefore have to be VVS Laxman.

But I doubt that the selectors will go that way. I write this blog the evening after India lost a game to West Indies because no one in the much-vaunted batting line-up withstood the tight bowling they came up against. The current incumbents for the middle-order batting spots are Raina, Kaif and Mongia (in that pecking order, it appears). The biggest negative against Laxman is his perceived weakness as a fielder. But since Dravid has become skipper, he almost always operates with a slip. Surely Laxman, one of the best Indian second slip fielder ever, can cover that slot that people like Sehwag and Tendulkar have filled in the recent past.

A point that I have been trying to make, in vain, was lucidly pointed out by Dileep Premachandran of Cricinfo, while delivering his verdict on the India-WI match: The cameo is something that comes naturally to Suresh Raina as well these days. If he wasn't making a run, you could just write it off as bad form, or bad luck. But when a batsman manages to get a start, and then throws it away in a variety of ways, it reveals a deeper malaise (. . .) A batsman of the calibre of VVS Laxman has been excluded on the grounds that his fielding isn't up to scratch, but when those that replace him aren't worth more than 15 or 20 runs with the bat, it makes you wonder about the wisdom of sidelining a man who has one-day hundreds against Australia and Pakistan.

Will common sense prevail or will Laxman once again have to bear the ignominy of being excluded from the World Cup?

66% of the truth

JO recently showed me this snap of what appeared to be a mutant leaf that had begun changing colours. (Yes, it is one leaf). We spent a great deal of time looking at this interesting leaf and marvelling about it.

I then showed this photo to SM and she burst my bubble in about 2 seconds when she pointed out that it was just a sugar maple leaf that had lost its right lobe! Oh well, so much for that, but it still is a pretty picture.

(Here is an image of what a complete sugar maple leaf looks like).

Tête - à - tête

During his heyday as the world's best golfer, Nick Faldo was known for his dour personality. Faldo's sense of humour has become more visible in the recent past, especially since he took to his role as a TV analyst as easily as a duck takes to water. Here in an interview with Sports Illustrated's Michael Bamberger, Nick reveals a little more of his persona.

Subtle humour - just the way I like it.

Take me home...

I spent a major part of this summer on the road. Or so it seemed to me. Driving on the interstates in and around the state of West Virginia is not as taxing as driving elsewhere because of the sights you get to see.

Sometimes, however, an act as simple as overtaking a truck can become a beautiful experience. Luckily I had my camera with me, and as the traffic was light, I was able to capture this nice shot of the sun rising on the highway.

The Drifter

When you read books of all shapes, sizes and genre's, as I do, you come across a multitude of characters, most of whom inhabit the pages and then pass from your memory. Once in a while, a rare character comes along - one who may not be what you are or what you want to be, or even what you stand for - but when you read about this character you want to know more and understand what drives him/her.

A few weeks ago, while sifting through the thriller section at a bookstore, I saw a book that featured a character named Jack Reacher. The book (Persuader) was the 7th in the series. I confess that I am a big fan of mindless action thrillers, but I was stumped as I had never heard of either the character or the author - Lee Child. The only reason I picked it up was because it was the 7th in the Jack Reacher series, and I am a sucker for recurring characters.

Just one sentence into the novel, I was hooked. So much so that I then bought 8 other Jack Reacher novels the next day (there are a total of 10 in the series so far). The latest book - The Hard Way - has not yet been released in paperback and I could not get myself to pony up the big bucks for the hardcover version.

With each story, Reacher gets some more layers, his compulsions get more clearly defined and, oddly, he gets more intriguing. I think, somewhere deep down, I have a latent wish to be like Reacher (without the guns, the guts, the girls, and the gory mayhem he usually find himself in). Reacher is as independent a character as you'll probably get and, in many ways, reminds me of Howard Roark, another drummer who marched to his own beat.

In the end, maybe it is all about wanting to be independent, isn't it?

Just a little bit longer

JAN complained today that my blogging has become very infrequent of late, and that he rarely visits my site as he doubts he will see anything new.

Mea culpa.

On the weekends, I have been playing cricket in Pittsburgh for a few months now. Wait, let me rephrase that. On the weekends, I have been a member of a cricket team that is participating in the Pittsburgh Cricket League. Yes, yes, I do play, but it would be exaggerating if I said that the team would do worse without me in it.

Our regular season ended yesterday and we stormed through to the playoffs, which will held in less than a fortnight. I do not want to jinx our team, so I shall refrain from talking about it, but as soon as the season is done I shall give you a long re-cap (with pictures, of course) of what has kept me occupied these past few weeks.

As Jack Bauer would say, "I promise you."

Hurting in the shadows

Regular readers of my blog would know by now who my favourite baseball player is. I shall write more about him in a couple of days.

Today I want to focus on the person who is second in my esteem. The Big Hurt, as Frank Thomas is also known, had the misfortune of having his best years overlap with another Chicago sports figure (Michael Jordan). Now many years later, in the autumn of his career, Thomas is having a resurgence that is bringing him back into the limelight.

In the late 1990's I watched him play at Comiskey Park (as it was then called) and even from a distance his size (6'5", 250+ pounds) stood out. For years he has been a vocal presence in asking for rigorous steroid testing in baseball. Many of his exceptional deeds on the baseball diamond have been overlooked because they paled in comparison to the behemoth numbers put up by suspiciously large individuals.

Breaking down his many accomplishments, Andy Behrens of ESPN.com makes a case that Thomas's fans have had the previlege of watching, arguably, one of the (if not the) greatest hitters the game of baseball has ever seen.

Elimination by alteration of definition

It appears that it is not just human beings who are being targeted for downsizing. Hard-working bodies of aggregated matter are being relegated to secondary status, too.

As most of you are probably aware of by now, instead of increasing the number of planets in our solar system as I had written about in an earlier blog entry, the total number has been reduced to 8, with Pluto ending its 76 year run with the big boys this year.

But the decision is not set in stone, as only a small proportion of astronomers actually voted on it. Pluto has its followers and they do not intend to go down without a fight.

So don't rewrite your high school astronomy notes just yet. As far as I know, Pluto is still merrily spinning away in the outer reaches of the solar system, oblivious to all the discussion ocurring on a planet far, far away.

For better or verse

Running, jumping, sprinting
Shuffling, walking, striding
Trotting, cantering, galloping
Slipping, sliding, falling.
Is this
Poetry in motion?

Why Irfan Pathan has lost pace

Swing bowling has come under intense scrutiny in the recent past due to the expertise of the Pakistani bowlers. Rabindra Mehta, a NASA scientist and former club fast bowler, has done a fair bit of research over the years to understand what it is that affects the movement of the cricket ball.

His findings are presented in a simplified manner in this very engrossing article, in which everything you wanted to know about swing bowling is explained. For instance, I found out that there are three types of swing bowling - conventional, reverse and contrast!

To me, the most interesting aspect of his findings is presented in the following paragraph, quoted verbatim from the article, which may help explain why Irfan Pathan has "lost" pace, and Mohammad Sami is only able to reverse-swing the ball and has to rely on seam movement when the ball is new!! (The emphasis on some phrases using bold type below is all mine).

So what happens at speeds above 70 mph? The boundary layer on the bottom side....begins towards transition, the asymmetry is reduced and so is the swing such that at around 80 mph there is no swing. So if you are unfortunate enough to bowl at around this critical speed, the ball will not swing, no matter how perfectly the ball is released. In a recent conversation with Mike Hendrick, the former England fast bowler, he revealed to me that he always found it very difficult to swing the ball and after all these years, he finally figured out why when he saw our data. Of course one solution is to slow down a bit.

I bet you did not know..

I have followed Andre Agassi for years. When he retired, a long-forgotten nugget surfaced in my brain when people started talking about his career. It took me some time, and lots of digging around, but my memory did not fail me.

In his first tournament, Agassi lost to Mats Wilander, then ranked #3 in the world. However, in his very next tournament in Schenectady (New York), he reached the finals where he lost to the #33rd ranked player in the world.

The person who defeated Agassi in his very first tournament final was none other than Ramesh Krishnan! If you do not believe me, check out this link!

So long, farewell...

At the US Open, minutes after losing the final professional tennis match of his career, Andre Agassi spoke to the crowd. For a man who never completed high school, the guy is pretty articulate. Journalists around the world came to appreciate him because he responded with more than just the generic soundbyte when he was asked a question. In the wake of his retirement, many people wrote articles of the times when they crossed paths with Double A, one of the best ones I read was written by his former roommate.

Here is the full text of his final speech, which brought a lump to my throat, and a tear (or two) to my eye when I heard it during a highlights show.

The scoreboard said I lost today, but what the scoreboard doesn't say is what it is I have found. And over the last 21 years, I have found loyalty.

You have pulled for me on the court and also in life. I've found inspiration. You have willed me to succeed sometimes even in my lowest moments. And I've found generosity.

You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you. And I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life.
Thank you.

Dying on the job

Steve Irwin, more famously known as the Crocodile Hunter, was an energetic pursuer of exotic animals and interesting organisms, both on land and in water. He died a few days ago, aged 44, while filming in the Great Barrier Reef.

The highly energetic Aussie, with a penchant for chasing after dangerous animals, perished while doing what he did best. In a way, I guess, if he had to choose a way to go, this would have been it.

Agassi Unplugged

Gary Smith, of Sports Illustrated, recently wrote an in-depth, revealing article on Andre Agassi, touching upon the various forces that drove the man and, in turn, were driven by him.

It is a long article, at times rambling, but in the end it is a touching portrait of the man. A must-read, especially for those that want to know more about how he pursued and wooed one of the most dominating tennis players of all-time - Steffi Graf.

A night to remember

On Monday, the 4th of September, I took the subway (#7) to Flushing Meadows. The subway was on a local schedule, meaning it stopped at every station, and it kept getting fuller at each stop. People of all ages and sizes - some in tennis gear, some just carrying tennis paraphernalia, others carrying just cameras (like me) - rubbed shoulders with baseball fans (the NY Mets were also playing a night game at Shea Stadium which is located by the same station as the USTA National Tennis Center…I mean …the newly re-named United States Tennis Association Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (try saying that rapidly three times in a row!)).

The excitement in the air was palpable and as my friends and I got off the train station onto an elevated walkway we could clearly see in the distance the entire tennis facility. As we approached the center the crowd seemed to be in no particular hurry to get anywhere.

The reason is that while about 20-odd thousand get to see the games inside Arthur Ashe Stadium (the biggest tennis arena in the world) the rest of the folks just hand around the sprawling complex taking in the sights, having an extended picnic and catching all the show-court games on big screens located at strategic points. We did not get a chance to see the famous globe, up close and personal, but we did get a good look at it while taking the escalator to the upper-deck. (Those of you that watched "Men In Black" will remember these structures from the fight sequence at the end of the movie).

Having paid big bucks for our tickets we ventured into the arena and climbed all the way to the top – our seats were in Row Z in the upper-most tier of the stadium! The view from there was quite awe-inspiring.

While you can easily follow the progress of the ball and the players themselves can be seen clearly, you cannot discern their faces all too well. Not to worry, two giant screens located at opposite ends let you follow the action as it unfolds, and also shows replays of the exciting points.

The first match, at 7pm, was between Serena Williams and Amelie Mauresmo. With fake French accents, my friends and I lustily cheered on Amelie as she shrugged off a 6-0 shellacking in the second set to prevail over the visibly out-of-breath younger Williams sister. Around this point in time the stadium was filled to the brim and sometimes the view could get obstructed (but with so many lovely ladies to look at instead, it did not matter one bit!).

The second match of the day featured Lleyton Hewitt and Richard Gasquet, the 19 year-old Frenchman (Frenchboy does not roll off the tongue as easily). For the first two sets Hewitt’s quickness was just too much for Gasquet and he easily won 6-4, 6-4. Anticipating a quick finish, many members of the crowd began to leave and something magical happened. The noise level increased as the audience that was left behind was interested in watching more tennis.

Gasquet looked a different man with the crowd thoroughly behind him and began to display some of the magic that have people talking about him as the next big thing to hit tennis. The USTA prides itself on being “fan-friendly”, a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but I think in this case they actually mean it. As the crowd dwindled with each passing set, the officials started letting people in the upper reaches of the stadium move down and occupy the lower levels (more likely to ensure that the television coverage did not show too many empty seats in the crowd). So we bid adieu to our lofty perch, and moved down to the second tier of seats and got more engrossed in the match.

Gasquet continued his resurgence and forced a fifth-set. More people left probably as it was approaching midnight, and they had to go to work the next day. We moved further down and sat really close to the action. The intensity in the player’s faces was clear and sitting this close to the action one thing stood out more than anything else – the speed. I have watched tennis on TV for years, played off and on for decades, but none of that prepared me for the pace at which the ball goes back and forth and the speed with which the players cover the court.

Hewitt glides across the court, retrieving balls that would have been winners with most other players. I have read reports that talk about his counterpunching prowess, alluding to a lack of attacking ability. Those reports do not do justice to the guy. He hits winners just as frequently as the other players. It is just that in his case he has to play a long point to set it up, as he does not have the variety some of the other players do. When he sees an opening he is quick to pounce on it and pound a winner.

But this day Hewitt had his hands full. If Gasquet can have a long career he will definitely win majors, and if he has an upper-echelon career graph, his backhand will be admired for decades. His backhand, for want of a better word is exquisite. He has three variations – the traditional slice when the ball keeps low, a top-spin thrust when the ball bounces above the waist and a flat slap-like hit when the ball is at waist-height, reminiscent of the fierce square-cuts that Sehwag likes to hit. At one point I was involuntarily yelled, “C’est magnifique” after a stunning on-the-run top spin backhand winner from off the court. The Aussie fans in the row ahead of me turned around and agreed, saying, “Oui”!

In the end, as would be expected, the superior conditioning of Hewitt won over. Gasquet started cramping and his mobility was severely hampered. He gamely fought on but the writing was on the wall. He still found the reserves to pull off some desperate winners but in the end Hewitt prevailed, closing out the match after losing some match points.

It was close to 1am in the morning when we trudged out of the stadium, but on our way out we stopped to soak in the sights, taking pictures of past champions, paying tribute to the Center. By the time I reached my friend’s house the sun was beginning to rise but it was worth the lack of sleep.

I shall return to the US Open next year and spend at least a whole day at the complex, not just a few hours. I look forward to that experience.

The long goodbye

At Wimbledon this year Andre Agassi announced that he would retire from professional tennis at the US Open. Soon after I heard this I booked tickets to watch the US Open on September 4th, the second Monday of the tournament. If Agassi survived 3 rounds he would be playing a fourth-round match that day. Agassi survived just two but gave enough glimpses of his skills to keep his admirers happy and hopeful. In then end, his back could not hold up much longer and he lost to an unranked German named B Becker. It was an oddly fitting way for him to go.

I missed seeing him in person by a day, but that did not stop me from paying tribute when I came across a life-size photo of his!

Flying high

Televised sporting events and live webstreams have allowed me to watch some of the greatest players to have ever played in sports arenas – people who do not need full names to be identified. People like Gretsky, Montana, Tendulkar, Woods, and Federer. But the very first person to capture my imagination after I crossed the proverbial seven seas, is simply known as MJ – a man whose silhouette is just as famous as his face.

When I moved to Chicago, one of the primary motivating factors was that I would be able to watch Michael Jordan weave his magic on the basketball court. Two months after I arrived, he announced his retirement from the NBA at the young age of 31. A few weeks later, Michael was honoured by his organization by having his number retired and a life-size statue placed in front of the United Center (a building that was made affordable by the money that had poured into the city because of Jordan’s influence).

Seventeen months later, the Chicago Tribune received a two-word fax – “I’m back” and NBA was back to being Jordan’s turf. Three glorious seasons followed and the man actually played in an arena that had his life-size statue right outside it!!

He no longer plays in the NBA but his statue is still there, along with a listing of some of the stellar accomplishments of his glittering career. This time, during my Chicago visit, I took some time out to pay homage.

The City of Big Shoulders

Of the cities I have visited around the globe, the one I like most is Chicago. It has its share of everything (as most cities do) – tall buildings, famous landmarks, historical sites, museums, shopping districts, theatre, playing fields, zoos, parks - and an awesome lakefront setting (not common fare in most other cities). The best part is the fact that the metropolis is not squeezed into a tight spot (say, like Manhattan Island) but is spread out. When you walk between the buildings, the space between them allows you to appreciate how majestic and tall these structures really are; imposing feats of architecture as dreamed of by their designers.

The views from the upper floors of these tall buildings are just as spectacular to behold.

Ironically, the best view of the entire city is not from Sears Tower, the tallest building, but from the observation deck of the John Hancock Building on the north-side of the city. Not only do you get to see the cityscape but you also get some nice views over Lake Michigan. I was fortunate to go there on a gloriously sunny day as the pictures will attest.

In his footsteps

I thought my days of watching a willowy Hyderabadi elegantly flick bowlers to the fence were in the past. But, as a profile by my namesake reveals, there is still hope for me as a son steps into the huge void left behind by his father. I hope the boy succeeds where so many other famous sons have failed.