Silly M(a)id-on

I received an email from Nidhi Makhija of Experience Commerce, who are running a competition for Royal Challenger Bangalore.

Experience Commerce is a digital agency in Mumbai, and we’re currently running Club RCB’s Fanatic Fans Challenge. Fans are invited to apply for three positions – Chief Blogger, Chief Photographer and Chief RCB Fan. The winning three will tour Champions League with Club RCB next month and will receive preferred treatment at RCB matches! All expenses (travel, accommodation, incidentals) will be covered.

It’s a great opportunity for hardcore fans to meet the team up close and personal, and for budding sports bloggers, photographers, commentators etc. to get hands on experience and mass exposure! ..

You can apply online at the official RCB site – www.royalchallengers.com/FanaticFansChallenge. The deadline is September 27^th.

So all you IPL fans, here is your chance! If you are in India, go on and take part. Drop me a line and I will be glad to support your application. The only catch is that if you win the Challenge, you will have to get me Rahul Dravid's autograph :)

With all these discomforting talks going on about ODIs being past their prime, I have been asking myself what exactly is it about ODIs that I don't want them to die out. Am I just refusing to give up something I have enjoyed so much for as long as I have been following cricket? Or do ODIs still have something to give to the game?

Shane Warne thinks we don't need them anymore. Harsha Bhogle has a point when he says "If you remove the ODI from the mix, the gulf between T20 and Tests, from a batting point of view, becomes way too vast, and over time you end up with a situation where players are good enough to play either the one or the other."

Peter Roebuck thinks There Is Life In The ODI Yet. While Dileep Premachandran calls for an overhaul.

There has been a lot of talk about ODIs needing "a context". Lots of ideas are being thrown about. No more bilateral series, no phony 4-match triangular series, playing ODIs as a build up to Test matches on tours, splitting each innings into 2 etc. Leela made a point about ODIs series being an interesting watch these days only if there is some off-field drama associated with it, and I find myself agreeing with it. But then there wasn't always some kind of drama associated with ODIs when I used to stay up late and see all those matches, was there? (or was I really fokat those days?)

I mean, all of India's matches were seen simply because India was playing. All of Australia's matches were seen because they were the numero uno team and I wanted to see if any of their opponents were giving them a run for their money. Pakistan's matches were followed cheer the other team because earlier Pakistan losing used to be equal to India winning somehow. All of South Africa's matches were seen because when they were not busy choking, they used to play good cricket. And for Shaun Pollock.

And now when I find myself trying to write a preview for the Compaq Cup, I don't know what to say. I mean yeah, I'm happy that India is finally back in action. And I am super excited to see how Dravid will fare and all. But it's not how it is supposed to be. This series (and the Eng-Aus one) seems so pointless that I am tempted to label it as another Fake ODI Series. As someone commented on someone's blog (and I paraphrase here because I don't remember where I read this)

It takes just 4 matches to decide a tri-series, but it takes 7 one-dayers to conclude that England suck at pyjama cricket.

Indeed.

The Wall Resurrected....
A Dream Comeback....
Rebuilding The Wall ....

No...I haven't not written a post on the greatest news of the month yet b'coz I was busy thinking up titles...

For those interested, I have been waging a lonely battle against crashing servers, helpdesks that have been sneaked off offshore without anyone having a clue and other such things for the last 3 weeks. And then recuperating. (And well, I haven’t really been MIA either. You can find some great works ala Megha here and here.)

IMHO RD should not have been dropped from the ODI team in the first place, but that is perhaps a discussion for another day. I can see a role for Dravid in the team. He can provide the stability that is required when the team loses early wickets. Or he can hold one end while the others have a license to hit away as and when needed. Dhoni can then revert back to his earlier batting days, come in at 6/7 and hit away with abandon. And it’s not as if Dravid cannot hit a few boundaries himself :). Plus you get a good slip fielder, a part time wicketkeeper and all the wealth of his experience on the field. Not a bad bargain, is it?

Those worried about how Rohit Sharma's and possibly Suresh Raina’s career would be ruined by this decision, and how this move is not keeping in mind the WC....well, the WC is barely 2 years away. I believe that both Sachin and Rahul can play in the WC. I assume they will hang up their boots after that. SR and RS are in their early 20s right now. So age is definitely on their side. Abhi nahi to 2 saal ke baad team me aa jayenge yaar...tab tak T20 khelo na...kisne mana kiya :)

When Sehwag comes back, the batting order could look like this -

Sehwag

Tendulkar

Gambhir

Dravid

Yuvi

Dhoni

Yusuf/Irfan (yeah..i still live in hope!!)

4 bowlers

See? It’s not that bad, is it?

And for those of you suggesting that the selectors have given Dravid an opportunity to retire with grace, and he will do so after the Champions Trophy, well...don't say that! That's not gonna happen..

No...that's not gonna happen...right?

For a second I thought my eyes were playing tricks...but it is true...

I need some time to digest this....

Alert - This post might contain a LOT of cheesy lines, "duh" moments and stuff you might've heard and even written yourself already. Blame it on the break...

So, the Great Battle of the IPL is over. To be honest, I wasn't too keen on following the whole thing. The kind of phase 1 BRC had did not help matters at all. Couple of weeks into the league and I had almost stopped the occasional score check, it was getting that boring. And then, this guy happened, there were a few awesome matches, teams' fortunes started fluctuating with every match(except KKR's i.e.), BRC revived under Kumble and what not. What is a girl to do! I had to follow the last few games :)

A few random facts and thoughts -
- Tendulkar is not a good captain.
- I saw the finals live on TV. You would think that having read enough about the atrocious commentary, the fugly trophy, all the Modi fawning etc. I would be prepared. But no sir! I died a little inside every time I saw the trophy or heard Pommie Mbangwa or heard a spectator/commentator singing praises of His Highness Modi. I had a funny vision (at least it made me laugh). People who have seen the movie Mr. India might be able to relate to this. I saw Lalit Modi on a throne, with a shiny black and gold uniform, his loyal soldiers and servants around him telling him just how great and awesome he is and how he will definitely rule the world pretty soon. And Modi is pink with barely controlled glee, muchlike Mogambo..."Lalit Khush Hua!!". (Ya, I know it would be difficult to see the pink, but you know what I mean) Mercifully, I turned off the telly as soon as the match got over, and escaped the Closing Ceremony.
- Robin Uthappa has discovered new high levels of uselessness. Does that need explaining? FOAD Robin!! I never thought it would come to this with this guy.
- Rahul...oh dear Rahul...WTF?! How...I mean just how did you manage to drop that catch off Symonds?? And what about that godawful shot you got out to? What were you thinking? You remember that "not too many dot balls n taking singles" thing we talked about here? That works in T20 too...I swear....
- Some things never change. Hey Symonds, what's with all the chattering on the field?
- Great turnaround for the Deccan Chargers! They did look like a completely different outfit under Adam Gilchrist. And, was AG on song or what..I could literally see the havoc he wrecked on Delhi in the Semi final even though I merely "read" it on Cricinfo.
- And finally, Anusha has dicovered the IPL algorithm. It is called LIFO. So worry not KKR fans. IPL 3 is yours :)
- 430 words on IPL. Wow! Didn't know I cared that much....

Coming up shortly...T20 World Cup.

Update 1-
The move to South Africa was good IMO. I think there was a more even contest between bat and ball. SRK found a legitimate reason to run off to India and not be with his team. But most importantly, in accordance with Murphy's Law, there were a few spots of rain in SA, but the weather in England was fabulous. Lots of sunshine.