Australia won the series, India won respect

January 11, 2015

Austrial wins

Jan 11: They huffed, they puffed, they tried all they knew. They created enough genuine chances – and some half-chances, some quarter-, some one-eighth-, some mirages for crazed optimists – but the Australian bowling attack was eventually held at bay by a worthy opponent. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood bowled well enough to fill local hearts with hope for years to come, but fulfilment will have to wait for another day. Through skill, application and the character they have shown throughout, India's batsmen saved a draw that reflected the balance between the teams. Australia won the series, India won respect.

Before taking the field and during their breaks, the Australians were doubtless talking about "creating chances". It's the kind of process-based talk that dominates sport. Rather than focus on winning, football teams talk about their structures, golfers talk about birdie chances (instead of actual birdies), swimmers talk about maintaining form. To concentrate on the end result is seen, with some justification, as placing too much of the wrong kind of pressure on the participant.

What it also does is introduce a kind of fatalism into the game, as if the creation of a certain number of chances will inevitably lead to conversion. But there is no such law. Adam Scott creates as many chances as Jack Nicklaus ever did, perhaps more. But Nicklaus did not concentrate his efforts on getting the ball on the green and letting probabilities take over; he focused on the numbers he needed to beat the other guy.

On day five, the Australian cricketers did create their chances; but they had done this in the first innings here, and in Melbourne too, while lacking the polish to convert them. Staunch batting from India also played a part. When creating chances does not lead to wickets, confidence begins to waver. The belief in that mystical equation – X chances equal Y wickets – is shaken.

By my count, Australia created seven chances of varying feasibility before the tea break on Saturday, of which they converted two. It took 10 overs for the first, when Murali Vijay outside-edged Nathan Lyon over a leaping Shane Watson, via Brad Haddin's thigh. Three overs later, K.L. Rahul advanced to smother Lyon and gloved a catch down the leg-side.

For the best part of two hours, as Vijay and Rohit Sharma dug in, only one more near-chance materialised, Sharma's glove bobbing a ball from Lyon wide of a wrong-footed Joe Burns at bat-pad. While no wickets came, this period produced some of the best cricket of the series. Hazlewood gave up a solitary single in his first five-over spell. Ryan Harris and Starc were similarly accurate, and Lyon teased. The Australian close fieldsmen kept up a steady flow of conversation with the batsmen, leading to the intervention of umpires whose faces could not have looked more helpless if they were the ones being gossiped about.

After 35 overs of Waiting for Watto, the all-rounder came on from the Randwick end and, as so often, brought about the subtle but telling change in the mood of the game. Shane Watson immediately induced false strokes from Sharma, and in the next over, Harris broke Vijay's concentration, a loose drive flying to Shaun Marsh at short cover. Marsh put down the chance, tough but graspable. Was it going to be that sort of day again, when faith in the creative process would only go part of the way to the desired output?

Next over, the Australian captain took the matter into his own hand. Watson got a ball to jump at Sharma, whose intention to guide the ball stylishly to the third man boundary became a horror-stricken edge into a gap closed by the acrobatic Steve Smith. Spidercam hovered at a safe distance as Smith provided the inspiring moment, the difference between chance and dismissal.

Virat Kohli and Vijay then batted from the 39th over to the 61st. They fought to reintroduce another idea of inevitability: the supremacy of bat over ball. No chances came from them, save for one edge from Kohli off Watson that not even Smith's telescoping right arm could reach, and an lbw appeal against Vijay to which Richard Kettleborough gave a rare poor decision.

But when the chances did come after tea, they cascaded. Seven in two sessions became nine in an hour. More importantly for Australia, the conversion rate followed the US dollar. After accelerating from 50 to 80, Vijay, perhaps entertaining his first thought of going for the win, edged Hazlewood. In the next ten minutes, the previously flawless Kohli popped a near-caught and bowled to Lyon, skewed a drive past gully, and finally edged Starc to be sharply caught by Watson at first slip. The hegemony of the bat left the field with the Indian master, and now, not only did chances come, they came with thud after thud like a monster down a staircase: Starc into Suresh Raina's pads, Lyon into Wriddhiman Saha's, Hazlewood into Ravi Ashwin's. Getting behind the line, for the Indian batsmen, now seemed not safe technique but the riskiest.

In the end, fine Indian batting had the last word, a fitting coda to a series flooded with run-scoring. This has been a summer for talented batsmen to fill their resumes with real, meaty scores. Bowlers have had to survive on the thinner stuff of chance and hope.

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Agencies
January 26,2020

Mumbai, Jan 26: Boxing great Mary Kom has been selected for the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second highest civilian award. Olympic silver medallist and reigning badminton World Champion PV Sindhu has been named for Padma Bhushan as the names of Padma awardees were disclosed on Saturday on the eve of the 71st Republic Day.

Rated as one of the most successful amateur boxers of all time, Mary Kom won bronze at the 2012 London Olympics and has won gold at the boxing World Championships for a record six times. She has won a total of eight medals at the World Championships, the most recent of which came in October 2019 in Ulan Ude, Russia. The 36-year-old is now looking to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Sindhu became the only Indian woman to win an Olympic silver when she reached the final of the women's singles event at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazi. In August last year, the 24-year-old became the first Indian to win gold at the badminton World Championships.

She has also won two silver and two bronze medals at the World's in the past, thus making her only the second woman after Chinese two-time Olympic gold medallist Zhang Ning to win five medals in the competition.

Indian women's hockey captain Rani Rampal, who has been the face of women's hockey in the country and played a pivotal role in the team qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, is among those who have been nominated for the Padma Shri award.

Women's football stalwart Oinam Bembem Devi, former cricketer Zaheer Khan, shooter Jitu Rai, former hockey captain and coach M.P. Ganesh and archer Tarundeep Rai are the other sportspersons to be selected for the Padma Shri award.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

New Delhi, Aug 5: Indian cricketers Suresh Raina and Harmanpreet Kaur were on Wednesday appointed as the global brand ambassadors of the WTF Sports.

Raina is also joining the brand as a Strategic Partner. WTF Sports, a fantasy sports gaming platform, was today formally launched in India and globally.

The announcement was made through a web conference with prominent cricket host, Vikram Sathaye moderating and hosting the webinar and Vinit Bhatia, Manit Parikh and Yash Kadakia Co-Founders - India and Global, WTF Sports introducing the cricketers as the Global Brand Ambassadors.

Kaur said it was a perfect fit for her and she can use her strategy and experience while playing.
"WTF Sports was the perfect fit with me, I can use strategy and my experience while playing, I've actually learnt to strategize better as I've played along. Additionally, when we were under lockdown and I couldn't really practice, it was fun to come on the platform and feel like I'm still playing," Kaur said in a statement.

On the other hand, Raina said, "It is exciting to be a part of a fantasy sports platform like WTF Sports not just as an ambassador but also as the strategic partner, it is everything that I embody and what I believe in, it's fierce, fun and competitive."

The app currently hosts three major sports, multiple playing modes, and exciting contests, ensuring that sports fans can get more skillful by letting them strategize and use their sports knowledge into rewarding behaviour.

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News Network
April 9,2020

New Delhi, Apr 9: The legendary Kapil Dev on Thursday slammed Shoaib Akhtar's idea of a made-for-television three-match ODI series between India and Pakistan to raise funds for the Covid19 pandemic, saying "India doesn't need the money" and it is not worth risking lives for a cricket match.

Speaking to news agency, Akhtar on Wednesday proposed a closed-door series to jointly raise funds to fight the deadly virus both in India and Pakistan. Dev said the proposal is not feasible.

"He is entitled to his opinion but we don't need to raise the money. We have enough. For us, what is important right now is how our authorities work together to deal with this crisis. I am still seeing a lot of blame game on television from the politicians and that needs to stop," Dev said.

"Anyway, the BCCI has donated a hefty amount (Rs 51 crore) for the cause and is in a position to donate much more if the need arises. It doesn't need to raise funds.

"The situation is unlikely to get normal anytime soon and organising a cricket game means putting our cricketers at risk which we don't need to," said the World Cup-winning former captain.

Dev said cricket should not even matter for at least the next six months.

"It is just not worth the risk. And how much money can you make from three games? In my view, you can't even think of cricket for the next five to six months," he said.

Dev said the focus, at the moment, should only be on saving lives and taking care of the poor who are struggling to make ends meet in a lockdown situation.

"Cricket will resume when things get normal. The game can't be bigger than the country. The pressing issue is to look after the poor, the hospital workers, the police and all other people who are on the frontline of this war," said the 61-year-old.

As an Indian, Dev feels proud that his country is in a position help other nations including the United States.

President Donald Trump has thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for helping the United States with the supply of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug being touted as a potential cure for Covid19 patients.

"Helping others is in our culture and I feel proud about that. We should not seek credit after helping others. We should strive to become a nation which gives more and more rather than taking from others," he said.

Like everyone else, Dev is at home and practising social distancing.

Asked how he views the current situation, he said: "Nelson Mandela stayed in a tiny cell for 27 years. Compared to that, we are in a privileged position (that we just have to stay at home for sometime)."

"There is nothing bigger than life at the moment and that is what we need to save."

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