Saturday 19 April 2014

Upside Down World

Upside Down World
The one to depend on breaks your trust
The one you love is not meant to be your mate
The one who truly loves you is misunderstood
The one who believes is misled to believe
The one who is hated by all is the humblest
The one who is surrounded by a crowd is the loneliest
The one who is rich is the most arrogant one
The one who speaks his heart out is just rude
The one who sacrifices everything is always taken for granted
The one who seems to have everything is the loneliest
The one looking innocent maybe the shrewdest
The one who is sugary and polite is just waiting for you to turn your back
The one who seems perfect maybe the most pretentious one
The one who is misunderstood might be the most understanding!

Nothing is what it seems like anymore.

Wednesday 16 April 2014

Introduction to Indian Football

Yes that's right, I just said introduction because most of us in India are probably new to this topic. 

Just mentally answer these questions;

  • Who is the most successful manager of EPL?
  • How many times has Brazil won the World Cup?
  • The most expensive transfer so far?
If you follow football even half of what I follow, you would know the answers.
Now, the next round of this quiz.
Don't mentally answer it, say it out loud. Make yourself proud.
  • Who was the most successful coach for the Indian National team?
  • How many times has India played in a World Cup?
  • Which club has won the most number of I-Leagues? 
Simple eh?

You see a thousand people wearing a Messi jersey but never a dude posing in Bhaichung Bhutia jersey.
You keep track of the number of titles European teams have but you don't know who the last I-League winner was. And we say that Indian football is no fun. 


How can a sport excel without the support of its countrymen? Take for example- cricket; it took off on a bigger scale after 1983. Are we waiting for something like that to happen in football? India won in 1983 with eight nations competing. Well, in football you got 204 nations competing just to qualify for the World Cup.


There are things about Indian football that you should just be knowing as a football fan; inexcusable to be unaware of these facts!



Durand Cup

This tournament, named after its founder Sir Mortimer Durand has been played in India since 1888; making it the third oldest competition in the world. Football leagues were played in India even before Real Madrid or FIFA existed. It was initially started as a competition for the Army- British as well as Indian but later it became an open affair for public teams too. Even today there is army presence in the competition. Army XI last won it in 2005. The Indian Army deserves a lot of credit for keeping this competition alive.

1948  

65 years ago at the London Olympics an independent Indian national football team took on France in the first round of the Olympic football competition. The Indians put on a brave display to win the hearts of the spectators. For 70 minutes the score stood at NIL all. Had the Indians not missed the two penalties, the French would've faced a major heartbreak who ultimately won it 2-1. What highlighted the match other then India's fighting spirit was the fact that most of the Indian players were either barefoot or just wearing socks!


The one-time World Cup qualification

India has qualified for a World Cup; never played in one. The qualification came as a result of the withdrawal of the other Asian countries. And why India withdrew later has a lot of disputed answers. One being that India couldn't afford the trip to Brazil, lack of match practice, team selection issues and the ridiculous one being that we withdrew coz barefoot playing wasn't allowed.   

"We had no idea about the World Cup then. Had we been better informed, we would have taken the initiative ourselves. For us, the Olympics was everything.. There was nothing bigger"
               - Sailen Manna, who could have been the captain of the team

A missed opportunity indeed. (Sportskeeda article)

The golden era - Undisputed Asian champs



India won the 1951 Asian Games which they hosted. In 1952, later, India also won the Colombo Qradrangular Cup held in Sri Lanka. The winning streak continued with India winning the cup again in 1954, 1954 and 1955 which were held in Burma, Calcutta and Dhaka respectively. The Indian national team ended up as runners up at the 1954 Asian Games.

One of the greatest achievements of Indian football was finishing 4th at the 1956 Olympics with the Indian striker Neville D'souza ending up as joint-highest goalscorer who also became the first Asian to score a hattrick in the Olympics and also making India the first Asian team to reach the Olympics semis in the process.

India went on to win the 1962 Asian games and two years later finished second in 1964 Asia Cup. India played in the Merdeka Cup in 1964, 1965 and 1966 where they finshed 2nd, 3rd and again 3rd respectively.


Who is Syed Abdul Rahim?

The man responsible for the ^Golden era of Indian football, pioneer of modern football and the most successful Indian football coach- Syed Abdul Rahim. He is the "Special One" of Indian football. He had the eye to spot talent and make them shine. He was the coach from 1950 till his death in 1963 due to cancer. He would observe day-to-day things, movements of monkeys and drew inputs from them to formulate his game plans. 

“I still remember he was suffering with advanced cancer during the Jakarta Asian Games. But the struggling Rahim Saab never complained and went about his job in a meticulous way. We won the gold. There was tears in his eyes when we won the gold. He died one year later. That was the last big achievement by the Indian football team. It is sad the authorities concerned choose to ignore his unstinting efforts,”
 
- One of the forwards who played under him in the 1950s, Balaram.
Unfortunately, he is an unsung, forgotten hero today.



Tuesday 15 April 2014

Cricket - A Gentleman's game? Not anymore.

Umpire signalling a free hit - Happy sight for all except the bowler
Cricket can be traced back to the 16th Century. It is said to have been played by the British Aristocrats who suggested the game be played in 'a gentlemanly manner' ,which means no sledging, cheating, body-line bowling , temper tantrums or excessive appealing. If the batsman knew he was out, he should 'walk' even if the umpire decided otherwise. 

Well, let's not get into the Aristocrats' meaning of a 'gentleman's game'! We have all kinds of players who would contradict each and every term in that definition!

For me, a gentleman's game broadly extends to rules not favoring one but fair enough for both; batsmen and bowlers. 

Apparently not. The changes in the game over the past few years have made it a Batsman's game. 

About a decade ago, a score over 300 was considered a safe house for any defending team. Getting there was the wish of every team batting first. The psychological edge of having that score was good enough to build an initial pressure on the opposition. 

The advent of Twenty20 cricket in 2003 paved way for explosive cricket in terms of scoring and beating of bowlers all around the park. Even the "Free hit" is an equally demoralizing rule for a bowler.

Bats are getting heavier, broader and bigger. Specials bats; like the Mongoose are being used to improve the six hitting abilities; but never a ball made which will swing, bounce or spin more. 

To furthermore empower the high scoring games, boundaries are being shortened but never came in a rule to extend their lengths! There has been power play (field restrictions) introduced, bouncers disallowed, flat pitches made but never a day is spared to insult and humiliate bowlers who give away a little extra runs! 
 "T20 cricket cannot be stopped. It is a runaway train prepared to kill everything in its way. I am not joking when I say this. If we don't handle T20 cricket properly, it will crush everything in its way, including the Test and one-day formats"
-Dean Jones
The ICC came up with the "Two new balls" per innings rule.That's just cherry on the top for batsmen as the balls won't make much movement.

“I think it’s tough for bowlers. The ball doesn’t reverse much because it’s quite new. The ball is only 25 overs old at the most. Even spinners don’t get that much turn”
Suresh Raina
The above coming from someone who is nowhere near an expert in bowling but true indeed. 

In the latest series between India-Australia (Sportskeeda article), noticed the ball running away for boundaries and wondering "How the hell is he finding every single gap!" Well that's coz there are just gaps now with the new "Only four fielders outside the 30 yard circle" 

Just how much difference can one less out-fielder make? 
 I think captains will have a hard job in setting fields and bowlers will have an even tougher job in trying to restrict the batsmen with all the innovative stroke-play that has come into the game. 

-Kieron Pollard 
"I have this funny feeling that spinners will not have a role to play in the future."

-Mahela Jayawardene
"This rule of having two new balls in an innings and not having more than four fielders outside the 30-metre circle throughout an innings has made life difficult."

-Shahid Afridi 
What more now? 
  • A restriction on the run-up of fast bowlers? 
  • Bouncers up to waist height only?
  • Pace limit to 130 kmph?
  • Under-arm bowling?
It's time to re-think the rules ICC. Make some fair rules. Change the Batsmen's game.


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