Disappointed Love ?

After last Sunday's match against Manchester United, where as expected the returning Robin van Persie got a little bit booed by the Emirates crowd, Arsene Wenger described it with a typical Wengerism - calling it a case of "Disappointed Love" instead of "real aggression. The nature of sports and fandom is such that some people will be disappointed all the time. So here are three incidents - that could be termed cases of Disappointed Love. Maybe - may be not.

1) India vs Sri Lanka, World Cup 1996, Semi -final at Eden Gardens, Calcutta. India were chasing 252 for a place in the final, but once Tendulkar was dismissed, the team completely capitulated in the Calcutta cauldron and the match ended prematurely with rioting in the stands. This was a case of immense disappointment on the spot from an expectant crowd as their dreams were dashed on a crumbling pitch.

Rioting in the Garden of Eden

2) Luis Figo's transfer from Barcelona to Real Madrid. Football transfers between rivals are always contentious and and create far too much hate and vitriol. As an Arsenal fan, I have looked at both sides of the coin, the signing of Sol Campbell from Tottenham generated incredible hatred from that lot, but Arsenal fans have recently been plenty aggrieved in the cases of the transfers of blokes like Cashley Cole and Robin van Persie. However, nothing quite like this.
Luis Figo was a bonafide hero and legend at the Nou Camp, but then Real Madrid came with an offer that he could not refuse and he went on to join what became known as the galacticos. This betrayal by the Portuguese superstar was not taken kindly as he was greeted with a pig's head on his return to the Nou Camp. The galacticos and the pig's head are all part of history now.

You know it's serious when severed heads of pigs are flying

3) Lebron James leaving Cleveland for Miami: I was a NBA fan, but way back in the 90s. I stopped following it regularly a long time back and my interest in the NBA had waned as  I had become a casual, occassional onlooker. However, when  hometown hero Lebron James decided to make his announcement of his transfer of taking his talents to another franchise, the whole world was made aware of it - s o much so that they created a pseudo reality show out of it. Not surprisingly, the folks in Cleveland, Ohio did not like it much, with this photo summing it up in one word.

Gone Baby Gone

So come on then, let me know of more cases of Epic Disappointed Love ? Or a little bit - real aggression. With the handbrake off.

Klopp, Dortmund and Inspiration

Life Office has been really hectic of late, and despite my best intentions, I was unable to stay awake late and watch the two Champions League semi-finals. My surprise on getting up and checking the score of the Bayern-Barca match was almost surpassed the next morning as I could scarcely believe Dortmund trumping - Real Madrid, no wait - Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid 4-1.
And so, with me having little time to watch live sports on TV, I am reduced to reading (and listening) what I can about it. Germany 8 - Spain 1 - the collective score of the two semi-finals are being looked as as an end of an era and a beginning of a new one. We have to wait and see, but the eye-catching story out of all this has been that of Jurgen Klopp and Borussia Dortmund.
Back in the 90s - I remember watching them win the Champions League led by that striker with that amazing name - Karl Heinz Reidle. After that, they sort of fell off the radar for me - I only recall Arsenal buying a couple of their fine players - Jens Lehmann and Tomas Rosicky.
Dortmund of course came back into prominence a couple of years back winning the league and then defending it. While I have watched them on a very limited basis, but have always been amazed by their football - their matches against Arsenal last season in the group phase of the Champions League - provided me a bit more than a glimpse of what is going on there. A bunch of young, exciting, gifted youngsters playing together at an awe-inspiring stadium with absolutely brilliant fans. (One or two of them have a cheeky side - which makes them even cooler). But perhaps as you already know, what keeps them together at the moment is their manager - Jurgen Klopp - a man as the linked post suggests - works with a personal touch (of genius). And you know he is a fun man, when he gives references like this.
But Borussia Dortmund are not the only thing that is "happening" in German soccer at the moment - Bayern Munich - the uber, mega, superstar filled powerhouse of an European club are going strength to strength this season. They have regained the Bundesliga from Dortmund and quite easily at that. They have just thrashed Barcelona 4-0 in the CL 1st leg, they have appointed Pep Guardiola as coach for next season already, they have a team filled with some of the most exciting players in Europe and just before the semi-finals - publicly announced the capture of Dortmund's most prized player - Mario Goetze. Dortmund have by now of course got used to losing their best players - Sahin to Real, Kagawa to Man Utd, now Gotze to Bayern and possibly their 4 goal hero Lewandowski to Bayern or perhaps even Man United in the summer. There is a possibility that with Pep coming in and the vast difference in the financial wealth of the two teams - Bayern would once again become an unstoppable force, but before that is settled, I would like to believe that Klopp would have a say in it too. As Rafael Honigstein says in this piece, Klopp's inspirational management is reminiscent of a younger Jose Mourinho. He has a massive challenge on his hand - but before next season - there is a job to be completed at Madrid and then possibly at Wembley. I for one am hoping that he and Dortmund experience the glory.

Smashing Good. Pic: Courtesy: Scissors Kick

The club football landscape is now filled up with these incredibly rich clubs - whether self-financed or oil money fueled. And this money is not likely to go away any time soon. The success of a relatively smaller (less wealthy) club like Dortmund - is the type of thing that would give inspiration to smaller clubs and hope to their fans and is worth applauding as a neutral.
PS: Bonus read  - A wonderful post about the last 2+ years of Dortmund by Pakistani writer Hassan Cheema. 

How much celebration is ok ?

YAAY ! India beat Australia 4-0 ! Can you believe it ? We beat them Aussies 4 NIL.
But, but, this came after we lost 4-0 at Australia. What is the point ? This win doesn't prove anything. We are no better than them - both win at home and lose away.

But still, we beat Australia 4 Nil. That is a BIG DEAL. No ?
No, it is not, because we just lost 2-1 to England. At home. That proves that we are no good.

But, but, we did Australia 4 Nil no ? Surely that must count for something...
No, this is the worst Australian team ever. There really is nothing to write home about.

Oh come on, still we beat Australia 4 Nil - ok it was at home and against a not very good team, but we did what we could - right ?
No, completely useful - because we will get walloped in South Africa....

I don't know man, still winning 4-0 is commendable...
No, no, no - these were on dust bowls and mud cakes, not real pitches....

I give up.....

But hey, at least give credit to our young players please. They did well.
Naah, useless. Doesn't prove whether the batters can play pace and bounce or swing and seam. No good fast bowlers still.. And spinners are useless anyway outside the subcontinent.....

Pup Fiction

pup [puhp]  noun, verb, pupped, pup·ping

1. a young dog, puppy.
2. Nickname of the greatest non retired Australian batsman.

Before Australia came to India, Michael Clarke had scored 1 triple century, 3 double centuries and 1 single century since the start of 2012, in his last 12 test matches. He was in the form of his life and was arguably the best batsman on the planet. He promptly went on to score a fluent 100 in the first innings of the test series at Chennai. 

Since then, something remarkable has happened. He has been dismissed 5 times out of the 6 innings that he has batted, by the same bowler - Ravindra Jadeja. To say that Ravindra Jadeja has made him his bunny would be an understatement.

One of the wickets was extraordinary enough to create some really silly journalism

Not only this, some people have been inspired to create what I might call some fiction on wikipedia.

But jokes aside, what we are seeing is the emergence of an extremely talented all rounder in the test arena. Right now, his bowling is creating all sorts of trouble for the opposition, but as someone who has 3 triple hundreds in First Class cricket, it should not be long before the runs start coming for Sir !

Here is a possible explanation of what has happened - just think of Michael Clarke's innings as bullets :)


PS: Fun Fact: India's favourite ring tone gets its name from 2 characters of Pulp Fiction - Jadeja and Clarke - I mean - Pumpkin and Honey Bunny.

Cricket Australia: Daring to think beyond Test Cricket ?

Just about 17 years ago to the day, Australia were coincidentally also in Mohali. On 14th March, 1996, Australia and West Indies played one of the best ever World Cup Knock out matches - with Australia winning the semi-final by just 5 runs. It was a game, that I watched a little bit - with eyes red from the soul crushing disappointment of the previous night.
17 years later, Australia cricket provided me (and many cricket fans), a rather interesting event of dropping 4 players from their squad from the next test match on account of not completing certain presentations (apart from other things). Well, much amusement was had at the Aussies expense today - on twitter. I for one generally don't believe in kicking a man when down, but hey - who can let go of such opportunities. 
Nevertheless, while the postmortem of this rather bizarre event will no doubt remain ongoing for the next few days and weeks, I found a couple of rather interesting news articles in the Aussie newspapers.
The Australian carries the article: 

Youth focus, lack of experience, poor advice, weak Shield 'all point to Ashes debacle. 

A certain domestic cricket coach is mentioned there - who appears in another story as the main subject. But before that, another headline - this time from the Herald Sun:

Australia's cricket mismanagement has created an unmitigated disaster, writes Gerard Whateley

And finally, the aforementioned coach has generated the following headline: 

Phil Hughes's coach accuses Cricket Australia of denying him preparation time ahead of India tour.

Take all this in together and you have a cricket side, which to an outsider like me, appears to be in disarray. And while it is all good fun to see the once all conquering Aussies - a little down, a weak Australian team cannot really be good for a cricketing universe, which has barely a handful of countries who take the game seriously.

Coming back to today's events, going by the standards of journalism set in the summer of 2011, I could accuse Cricket Australia of arrogance today. They are probably denying the paying Indian cricket public of seeing the best Australian cricket team in the next 2 tests. Perhaps they just made a mockery of test cricket with their complete John Buchanan-isation of selection. Note: They have had problems in the past, but they were dealt in a different way perhaps. Nevertheless, these are their internal matters. But just one last point before I end. If you read Clarke's statements from the interview, the below paragraph struck out for me.

"We can't accept mediocrity here. This is the Australian cricket team. Maybe I am biased [but] there is a big difference between this team and other cricket teams. If you play for Australia there is a lot that comes with that and standards, discipline, culture that is all a big part of what we are talking about here."

I wonder what he meant, when he said, there is a big difference between this team and other cricket teams. Was he implying that Australians happen to have a superior cricketing culture, tradition etc etc compared to everyone else ? Perhaps they do. But how did he come to this conclusion ? What did he mean when he talked about standards, discipline, culture ?  Not that it matters, but just for the record, the last Australian cricketer who played in such a manner (with their standards, discipline and culture) that I became a fan, made his test debut way back in November, 2005. Since then, I haven't really been impressed by any of their lot. But then, that's just me.

On Wenger

Is Arsene Wenger still up for a fight ? Does he look motivated enough for his job ? Does he want to make Arsenal win trophies ? Does he want it bad ? Like, Real Bad ? Does he think he can turn it around and make things right ? DOES HE WANT TO WIN ?
The answer to all these questions in my opinion is YES. Like a very big YES.
However, is he capable of turning this around ? Is he capable of motivating his players to do greater things ? Does he make the right decisions in the transfer market anymore ? Does he still have the knack of unearthing gems and making them world class players ? Can he still get Arsenal to play great football ? Can he make Arsenal successful once again ?
The answer to all these questions in my opinion is NO. Sadly, NO.
My lack of faith in him for the present and the future does not mean that my gratitude for what he has done in the past is any less. These are two different things. Just like what he feels he can do and what I feel he can do.
These are my opinions and only my opinions and I state it respectfully. 

Ishant's greatest trick

Ishant Sharma is playing his 48th test match for India. He has137 Wickets at an average of 38 and a strike rate of 67.6. At the moment, among bowlers who have bowled more than 9000 balls in test cricket and one who plays as a specialist bowler, he is probably the worst pace bowler and one of the worst bowlers ever. Go through his records series by series -  a few good one-off matches or series thrown in along with a lot of poor returns. What is worse is that his record is not getting any better - it is becoming worse !
I have nothing personal against him. His spell at Perth will forever be a part of Indian cricketing lore. But the guy is literally - learning to bowl at the highest stage. He is not good enough for test cricket at the moment. But it is the selectors who need to be questioned for giving him 48 test matches (and counting). Maybe we don't have better options but till we try newcomers we will never know. Why does he keep getting chances over and over again and others don't get a game ? Is it because he is still perceived to be "promising" and "talented" ?
It is all very confusing, but I think Mr. Kevin Spacey sums it up very well. The bloke has gone under the radar.

Vernon Philander: The Template

49 All out. Pakistan have just been decimated by Dale Steyn and company. Right now, South Africa have one of the best pace bowling line ups of the last 30 years. Steyn, Philander and Morkel are quite a trio.

As an Indian fan, I look at them with a great deal of envy. I mean look at them - Dale Steyn is a magnificient athlete. He runs in beautifully - possibly the most beautiful to watch fast bowler since Michael Holding, bowls at a terrific pace - almost always above 140 Kmph, and he swings the ball at that pace. It is quite simply a lethal combination - one that has taken him to be an all time great. Ladies and gentleman, we have a living legend in our midst here. 

Then I look at Morne Morkel and I see a really tall, hostile fast bowler, who is damn awkward to handle. He is a great foil to Steyn, asks different questions to the batsman and what is more, he is getting better and better.

So, as I said I look at Steyn and Morkel, with a sort of envy, and realise that it is almost impossible to see fast bowlers of their style playing for India. I just cannot imagine seeing an Indian fast bowler that quite bowl with both the pace AND swing of Steyn. I also can't imagine too many bowlers with Morkel's build being found in India - the closest we have seen recently is Ishant and well we all know how he has gone.

Vernon God Little

Then I look at Philander and I say - hang on - this guy is not THAT big and tall. He is not that quick also - generally bowls in the 130s, we can do that you know. I can see he is extremely fit and all that - but as a physical specimen, he is not quite outside the realms of possibility for an Indian pace bowler. But as you all know - he has one of the most staggering records in world cricket right now ! 74 wickets @ 17.40 in 13 test matches ! And he has already toured England and Australia. Yes, he will tour the subcontinent and yes, his bowling average will go up eventually, but despite that we are seeing a miraculous test match career developing.

So, what is it that makes him so special ? Well, experts have analysed and questioned him, but he seems to be doing a fair job in continuing to take wickets with his methods. Which are : Bowl from close to the stumps (without running down the centre of the pitch in his follow through), bowl an extremely tight line and length with metronomic accuracy, swing the ball at a decent, not sensational, but decent pace, make the batsman play often, aim to hit the stumps often etc etc. Most good bowlers have some of these qualities, but only the very good are able to consistently deliver them - over and over again.

Philander's success doesn't mean that it is the only method to succeed for a pace bowler - as I have written before - Steyn and Morkel are different but successful pace bowlers. However, to me, Philander provides the best, most likely to be replicated template for an Indian pace bowler. To me, there is much to learn and copy from this man's bowling for Indian pace bowlers. A Steyn or an Akram might be great role model to have, but I believe that in Philander, a lot of India's young pace bowlers can find a bowling template to follow. I am not asking those blessed with the gift of pace - Umesh Yadav or Varun Aaron to go out and become medium pacers, but a number of our other pace bowlers such as Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashok Dinda, Shami Ahmed or even a Praveen Kumar can look at Philander's success and take the right lessons from it. 

Vernon Philander's skills have been developed by playing a lot of good, competitive - first class cricket and bowling a lot of balls on sporting pitches. One would hope that our young fast bowlers get similar opportunities in our domestic cricket and go for the odd county stint as well, because for most, there is no substitute for bowling a lot to become a very good pace bowler.

Pic: Courtesy - Supersport.com