So finally the 200 has been breached in the odi’s. I am not surprised that Tendulkar was the one who did it. Before you continue reading this post let me warn you that I am not a Sachin fan. I admire him for his passion for the game. He still likes his job and excels in it even after twenty years. I find it difficult to keep the love going after 6 yrs. There is many a lesson to learn from him. But let’s keep it for some other day. This post is more on the evolution of the batting in the LOI form of cricket.
Many batsmen have threatened to breach 200 runs mark, but perhaps got too greedy reaching it. Most recently sehwag and dilshan threatened to breach it in the same match. The advent of T20 has pushed the scoring rates to a new high. But what has made the feat achievable is the powerplays and mandatory changing of the ball after 35th over. The bats have been getting better but still it was difficult to maintain the tempo for 50 overs as the balls used to get softer and hitting 4s and 6s with tired limbs was not easy.
If we study the history of the limited overs game, In the first 20 years only 3 men managed to breach the 150 runs mark a total of 4 times. Twice by that great man Viv Richards, once by Kapil Dev and Glenn Turner. These are remarkable innnings as these were before the era of fielding restrictions, helmets, power-plays front foot no balls, strict leg side wides rules, restriction on bouncers etc.
The 1992 was the dawn of a new era as the 15 over field restrictions was introduced.
However it was not until 1996 that powerhitting caught up. In the next few years the 150 mark was routinely breached, till the bowlers started catching up. The team scores continued to rise but the individual scores started seeing a bit of a slump.
Then came the T20s, power-plays and the ball change rules. These changes have removed the bowlers totally out of the equation. These along with ever shortening length of boundaries have removed any challenge whatsoever the batsman had. Only obstacle a LOI batsman has thesedays is boredom.
Technology is advancing in all sports, but so is the human effort. Bolt still has to run 100m’s. Better shoes and tracks help him, but he still is a cut above the rest.
We love the nadal/federer rivalry for the contest, the rallies. It would have been boring if they had been indulging in a slugfest of aces. Similarly in football people love goals. But we don't remove the defenders and goal keepers and have 90 mins of free kicks and penalty shootout.
I don’t understand these craze for feeding more 4s and 6s. A six used to be thrilling as we never knew till the last moment if it was a six or the batsman was out. These days the moment a ball is hit in air the only thrill is if the ball has been hit out of the stadium or not. Perhaps we should bring the original 6 rule. Award 6 runs only for balls hit out of the ground. Not an impossible feat. I love the game. And want to keep on loving it. But for that, the contest should return back. A few more years of such ghastly innings I am off from this nonsense for ever.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Sunday, February 7, 2010
The Tragedy of Fourteen Eleven
Fourteen Eleven is celebrated as children's day in India. Tragically it(1411) is also the number of tigers left in India . I often wonder what kind of legacy are we leaving for the future. Will we be leaving any at all? What role does mankind have to play as an evolved species. For what do we owe an highly evolved intellectual faculty? Is mankind supposed to be a cold blooded sophisticated predator with an insatiable hunger to kill without any provocation or cause?
It's high time India realizes the havoc it's ever burgeoning population is causing.
We need our country to be as beautiful as our National song Vande Mataram depicts it to be. It is possible, but will take a concerted effort from both the individuals as well as the government.
"Save the Tiger" campaign should not look at the tigers in isolation. We have to introspect and look at how we can reduce the consumption of natural resources.
At individual level I think people need to shift to a more vegetarian way of life. By vegetarian way I do not want to restrict to what we eat, but also what we wear. The next time you lay your eyes on the exotic leather wallet/belt/shoe, pause for a while and think before you buy it.
Companies should not look down upon employees if employees start turning up in sneakers. At the end of the day its the quality of work which matters and not the clothes someone wears. Companies should encourage casual dress code.
Civic authorities should realize their role as town planners seriously. We need to penalize people who crave to dwell in independent houses/bungalows. Living in apartments/multi-storeyed buildings reduces the geographical span of a city. It also makes planning way simpler. Make public transport affordable and practical.
Tier 2 cities like Bangalore have not learnt anything from the experiences of metros. The public transport in most of these cities is unreliable,expensive and use non-CNG vehicles.
As a fiscal policy it's high time the government removed the subsidy on Petroleum-products. The prohibitive prices will drive down the demand for petrol, create demand for products consuming alternate/clean energy. As the demand for petroleum products decrease the prices will go down.
We need to realize that Tiger as the king of jungle is not of mere symbolic importance. It will accelerate the vanishing of forests. Without forests our country will cease to exist as we know. We will be a vast barren desert. Save the Tiger, Save INDIA.
It's high time India realizes the havoc it's ever burgeoning population is causing.
We need our country to be as beautiful as our National song Vande Mataram depicts it to be. It is possible, but will take a concerted effort from both the individuals as well as the government.
"Save the Tiger" campaign should not look at the tigers in isolation. We have to introspect and look at how we can reduce the consumption of natural resources.
At individual level I think people need to shift to a more vegetarian way of life. By vegetarian way I do not want to restrict to what we eat, but also what we wear. The next time you lay your eyes on the exotic leather wallet/belt/shoe, pause for a while and think before you buy it.
Companies should not look down upon employees if employees start turning up in sneakers. At the end of the day its the quality of work which matters and not the clothes someone wears. Companies should encourage casual dress code.
Civic authorities should realize their role as town planners seriously. We need to penalize people who crave to dwell in independent houses/bungalows. Living in apartments/multi-storeyed buildings reduces the geographical span of a city. It also makes planning way simpler. Make public transport affordable and practical.
Tier 2 cities like Bangalore have not learnt anything from the experiences of metros. The public transport in most of these cities is unreliable,expensive and use non-CNG vehicles.
As a fiscal policy it's high time the government removed the subsidy on Petroleum-products. The prohibitive prices will drive down the demand for petrol, create demand for products consuming alternate/clean energy. As the demand for petroleum products decrease the prices will go down.
We need to realize that Tiger as the king of jungle is not of mere symbolic importance. It will accelerate the vanishing of forests. Without forests our country will cease to exist as we know. We will be a vast barren desert. Save the Tiger, Save INDIA.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Mumbai for ALL, But No One for Mumbai
Mumbai belongs to everybody? Really, or is it that everybody wants to belong to Mumbai?
Experts of all hues say that the constitution bestows a right to seek employment anywhere in India. But most importantly the constitution is mum on dignity of a citizen. Shouldn't the right to live with dignity be of paramount importance.For long Mumbai has been the land of dreams and opportunity. A significant chunk of India is spread across the failed states of central and northern India. Millions from these states flock to Mumbai every year. They slog hard and lead a piece meal existence. In a way they are like birds who fly to warmer climates in winter. But unlike the birds they cannot get back. Millions of such birds keep flocking to Mumbai every year. But the truth is the warmer lands are harsher than the cold climates.
Mumbai has become unsustainable. There has to be some kind of censorship to control its inorganic growth. I dont condone the sena, I care for Mumbai.
But I would like to put a question to all the Non-Mumbai intellectual crowd who proudly say Mumbai belongs to all. How many would agree for a National tax for Mumbai. It pinches right? If Mumbai belongs to everybody, everybody in India has to contribute for it. A healthy Mumbai is necessary for a healthy India
Experts of all hues say that the constitution bestows a right to seek employment anywhere in India. But most importantly the constitution is mum on dignity of a citizen. Shouldn't the right to live with dignity be of paramount importance.For long Mumbai has been the land of dreams and opportunity. A significant chunk of India is spread across the failed states of central and northern India. Millions from these states flock to Mumbai every year. They slog hard and lead a piece meal existence. In a way they are like birds who fly to warmer climates in winter. But unlike the birds they cannot get back. Millions of such birds keep flocking to Mumbai every year. But the truth is the warmer lands are harsher than the cold climates.
Mumbai has become unsustainable. There has to be some kind of censorship to control its inorganic growth. I dont condone the sena, I care for Mumbai.
But I would like to put a question to all the Non-Mumbai intellectual crowd who proudly say Mumbai belongs to all. How many would agree for a National tax for Mumbai. It pinches right? If Mumbai belongs to everybody, everybody in India has to contribute for it. A healthy Mumbai is necessary for a healthy India
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