clog

It is a self sustaining nuclear reaction now and things can only get bigger in years to come. When IPL came in the first year, it kind of caught me unawares and by the time I could predict or analyze what will happen to it or whether I will like it or not, I got sucked in the whirlpool of DLF maximas, cheer leaders and KKR's mysterious ways.

This time, I got hooked to the auction even though I missed the meaty part due to my uber-lazy Saturday routine. All these years we have seen people changing. We have seen Mandira Bedi turning from a bimbette asking cute questions about cricket to an 'expert' talking about all rounders, consistency and conditions. Gaurav Kapoor and Sameer Kochhar are joining the rank of Arun Lal in doling out bullshit. It was so lame when they would comment for 20 seconds after every auction saying the same things in different words. They were surprised that Ganguly and Lara had no takers even though post auction analysis they shamelessly said that was as they had predicted. They can actually be hired to run some of the corporate meetings, press conferences where they have to talk about the great works of the team and the long way to go and some such.

Neeta Ambani came in her corporate avtaar in her black rimmed padaku glasses to give you an impression that she was the one who developed models to decide on the players to bid for. Siddhartha Mallya was pretty animated in his expressions and was showing surprises at Vijay Mallya's actions as if he was really getting what was going on.

One of the other things I like about IPL is that it puts India at a place it should be, a place of might and power. No longer are Indians at a disadvantage just for being Indian. At the risk of sounding xenophobic, most of us attribute our job to the currency arbitrage or at least that is the perception, but not in IPL. All are paid in the same denomination and yet being an Indian places you at an advantageous position.

The auction numbers reek of a valuation bubble, even more than Facebook :) Not sure when people will make the money they are hoping for. More on that later, maybe. Few interesting numbers that came out of the auctions were for Angelo Mathews and Saurabh Tiwary, who went for more than 60 times their previous prices and Gambhir went for a whopping 11 crores, highest ever in IPL and there are a few more. I am waiting for cricinfo to do some stats pieces on the auction. However, none of this means that Gambhir is a greater player than every other, hell, he is not even in the top 3 in his own team. It's just a matter of chance and reasserts what Warren Buffet has always said -"Tide is always more important than the swimmer"

It is still some time before it actually starts, but it definitely is off to an excellent start, yet again.

Federer in an ad shoot

Found few links questioning whether its real or not, to me it looks real

In a crazy world where you see 16 hot chicks running after a loser like Rahul Mahajan in front of an audience of a billion, some things always make sense. Today Sachin reasserted his status as God. Glad to be born in an era where I could watch him play since he started.

Tendulkar hits first 200 in ODIs

Too much of cricket this year caused me to stay away from the first four matches of "The honour series". But matches like this keep pulling me back. Another ethereal knock by Sachin and India was sniffing the victory. I wish Jadeja had taken a few deep breaths after Sachin was gone. Unable to stand the pressure, he was almost rushing to get out and be gone from the field.

Australia's bench strength is getting stress tested and yet they manage to outperform.

A disappointing loss but a great match.

A leader creates a way when there is none, while managers help navigate a defined path.

Dhoni has already catapulted to the league of the best captains India ever had. In a short career span of less than five years, he has seen fame and glory which can fall short to may be just Sachin Tendulkar. He is considered one of the coolest persons on the field and is counted as one of the best playing captains in world.

There were few times when he went wrong with the media. Extremely frank in his opinions, he is one among the minority in Sub continent players who can speak well (not commentary material but not an Inzy either). He is the man among boys and nobody has (had) any questions about it until recently.

The signs of crack started showing in IPL 2, when he lost his cool and some run out and stumping chances. His batting is no longer what he came in the team with. From a prolific boundary hitter, he became a nudger, a lot many times struggling to get a run a ball. His team went on to do well in IPL 2, but it was largely despite him and not because of him.

World cup started on a completely wrong foot, losing the first warm up match and Times of India making a big deal of something about Sehwag's injury. I still fail to see what the big deal was about (ok, I am dumb). While writing of this post, India is already out of contention in wc 2009 and are struggling in their third super eight game against South Africa with Dhoni and Yuvraj on crease.

And see, this is what happens in T20. not even a minute passed since I wrote my last line and Dhoni attempted an impossible run, Yuvraj was not even looking at the runner's end. Dhoni was duly sent back to the crease first and then to the pavilion. This was pure stupidity or nerve may be.

Back to the point of the post. T20 2009 saw India's early demise and all the fingers are being pointed at Dhoni's captaincy. With a team that is strongest on the paper is still relying on a couple of people to bail them out in every game. Dhoni is not even a shadow of his former self as a batsman. He is jumping, crawling, swinging but reaching nowhere. His lack of confidence showed when in all the chases all he seemed to try was rotate strike and expect the other players to do the heavy hitting. His captaincy has left enough gaping holes and he is being blasted from all the directions.

Is Dhoni really a great leader who transformed a bunch of misaligned players to put up a formidable line up that even Sachin Tendulkar feels is the best ever he has seen. Putting that completely on Dhoni would be gross injustice to the older captains especially Ganguly who actually nurtured a lot of players who are the key stars in the current line up.

Has Dhoni gotten far too much credit for the recent successes where he was leading team to victory just because he got a good team who could win matches without much needed from the captain. Has it been the case of a good manager, with a pretty strong team where all he needs to do was juggle them around. Taking this a bit further, is this the case of a 'wily' manager who actually removed all the uncomfortable elements (read Seniors) one by one so that he can reign supreme. While playing under other captains (Kumble) his performance seemed to dip considerably while it picked back up pretty well soon after he got the captaincy.

A lot of people in my generation would hate Dhoni for actively trying to drive seniors (trio) out of the team. I think they were on their way out anyway but he gave that slight nudge to initiate the fall. Of course, we still have Sachin playing because no one can drop him from team in India and expect to breathe easy next morning. However, this is a thing of past and he now has a new set of challenges to tackle. This is the first time since he took over as the captain when he is under pressure to perform as a player and as a captain. How well he comes out of it will define what he becomes in long run, a flash in the pan or a legend.

(India needs 25 off 10 now with 3 wickets in hand)

After his Australian open loss this year to Nadal (yet again), I wrote a piece about Federer and the ghosts of Nadal in his mind.

While Federer was climbing the stairs of glory, French open remained an anomaly in his otherwise perfect script. Losses to Nadal in the French weren't probably as biting to begin with. But the sting kept getting nastier with every loss. Initially Federer could dismiss it as just the surface. But then came the Wimbledon scare where he narrowly defended his title (07) and Nadal seemed that much closer to usurp all the he had. French open final of 2008 was extremely humiliating, but that still was Nadal's turf. Soon after, an epic loss in Wimbledon 2008 would have started ringing the death knell. It was a proclamation by Nadal, do what you can in the best way you can, I will still kick your ass. An Australian open defeat which saw him break down, choked on the podium, prompted me to write the piece I mentioned earlier.

All these losses one after the other cemented a belief our rather disbelief in Federer. Shades of that disbelief keep coming back to haunt him. The final set in Australian open 09 saw it. It seemed as if Nadal became his Kryptonite.

The ghost of Nadal is still out in open, but having conquered one of the ghosts (French open), that will be one less albatross while playing. I think this would bring a lot of self belief back. Not sure, enough to beat Nadal convincingly though. Here is what I think can be the ideal script for him. Have Wimbledon (preferably against a lesser player) and then face Nadal in US open final and crush him like he could in the days of yore.

However, Nadal's form is far from over. I always thought Federer has great strength of mind, but I got to concede Nadal might have greater. The way he got back to Federer after every loss is much better than what Federer could manage after his.

As I have always said, these are the folks I watch tennis for despite being in a cricket crazy nation and spent a sum total of 30 minutes on tennis court in my life.

This may be one quote that Federer would regret making. Not that not making it would have changed things.

"He (Nadal) is a fantastic player and is going to be around for so much longer so I am happy with every one I get now before he takes them all." -- After Wimbledon 2007

The Australian open loss this Sunday acted like the last straw that broke the camel's back. He just wasn't prepared for a defeat, like so many of us. He was waiting to make history, like so many of us. But his perfect script like his perfect rhythm was spoiled brutally and disappointed him deeply and broke him, like so many of us.

Now, this may be too early to right obituaries, I will be the last person to do that. Consider this - Federer has reached a male record 19 consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals and reached the finals of the last 4 grand slams. By any standards, this is exemplary performance, but the fact that it is being moaned tells you that he isn't (never is) judged by any normal standards.

Only after the loss of Sunday did I realize how big he had become. Even if he stops playing right now, he will probably end up with more records than anyone else in the history. I can't even imagine what would have happened, had Nadal not been around in this era. To get an idea sample some of these quotes:

By Him

It's just unreal, I'm shocked myself. I've played good matches here, but never really almost destroyed somebody.

It's a match for him to forget and for me to remember.
After defeating Andy Roddick in the Australian Open 2007 semi-final

On him

For me, in my prime, I felt unbeatable. In Roger's days, he's unbeatable. It's really hard to put one guy over the other. Having said that, I think Roger is dominating the game much more than I ever did. I think he's going to go on and pass 14 and win 16, 17, 18 majors. I think he's going to break all records.
Pete Sampras, before playing his third exhibition match with Roger Federer, Macau, China, Nov. 23, 2007.

He can beat half the guys with his eyes closed!
John McEnroe, BBC Wimbledon 2006 live broadcast

If he is playing very good, I have to play unbelievable. If not, it’s impossible, especially if he’s playing with good confidence. When he’s 100 percent, he’s playing in another league. It’s impossible to stop him. I fight. I fight. I fight. Nothing to say. Just congratulate him.
Rafael Nadal, after losing to Federer in the Shanghai Masters Cup semifinal, Nov.

And fight he did and look what he has done to someone who was (almost) invincible if there is any such thing. The ghosts of Nadal in Federer's mind are/have taking/taken concrete shapes. A win this Sunday could have taken care of them, but alas that wasn't to be. It pushed the knife even further and I wonder how hard it would be for him now to come back up and vanquish the one who has beaten him time and again.

Leaving you with some more quotes here and the following two pictures: