INDIAN cricket's oldest bogey is back and how. The shortcomings against the short ball exposed the technical inadequacies of Indian batters during the disastrous T20 World Cup campaign. There was a strong sense of deja vu about the way the top sides attacked India's weakness against short pitched bowling and it sure wasn't pretty. It was sad to see top order batsmen hop and jump…
MANY questions in the Virender Sehwag-Mahendra Singh Dhoni controversy, which briefly threatened to overshadow India’s campaign at the ICC World Twenty20 in England this week, remain unanswered. The biggest question that arose after Sehwag’s shoulder injury was detected was: When captain Dhoni refused to comment on any injury-related queries by the media, why did the…
LAST week, I watched Leander Paes grab yet another Grand Slam doubles title showing the same zeal and eagerness that he displayed nearly 20 years ago. Fast hands, adroit anticipation, stop volleys to finish rallies, kills on the net to stop opponents in their tracks and of course always mind over matter. Paes has played tennis using a cerbral approach, using tactics and strategies…
INDIAN hockey is in a mess and there are enough indications of this morass getting dirtier, filthier and uglier in the coming days and months. Hockey was probably never governed/administered efficiently and in a transparent manner - at least not for the last 20 years – but the present situation has surpassed all previous records of mismanagement.
There are…
SO, Manohar Singh Gill has retained the portfolio of sports minister. Not just that, he has been elevated to the rank of a Cabinet minister. And that is good news to more than most people who have anything to do with sports in India. Anyway, whether or not people like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to retain/promote him, it should augur well for the 2010 Delhi…
I AM a little worried. The crass commoditisation of cricket makes me fearful about the game and the people who play and watch it. Cricket junkies like me can also be afflicted by an overdose. You can argue that if it hasn’t happened in so many years, why should it happen now? Here’s a thing – it is called T20 and its tentacles are quickly enveloping the rest of the formats. The…
SO, finally the IPL is over. Over the last month or so, I have been wondering where the next generation of Indian batsmen are going to come from. I alluded to this in an earlier column where I expressed happiness over the fact that the bowling larder wasn’t bare. With Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman getting long in the tooth, it is time for Indian cricket’s policy…
THE General Elections are over and the public has given the Congress-led UPA the mandate to form the government again. The results have thrown up a few welcome trends like the overwhelming response from the young voter and the change of fortunes in the most politically important state, Uttar Pradesh.
For the sports buff, some sportspersons are among those…
IT is imperative that Manohar Singh Gill returns as the minister of sports in the new Dr Manmohan Singh Cabinet. Gill has proved that he is a doer.
A somnolent ministry, directionless and rudderless, was suddenly metamorphosed by the former chief election commissioner. The problem with Gill's predecessor for the portfolio Mani Shankar Aiyar, who I used to know well when he…
AUSTRALIANS practice a peculiar kind of inverse snobbery. And this is more evident on the cricket field. When the West Indian fast bowlers had the Aussies with their tails between the their legs, this inverse snobbery was beamed up by Scottie to the planet Jupiter, but for the last decade and a half or so since they have ruled the cricket world, it is back and how. In 1981 at…