Month: February 2006

Iraq: Civil War must stop!

It sad that complete out and out civil war has broken out in Iraq. I think the US is not as actively involved in controlling the situation because they expect the “trained” Iraqi forces to handle the situation. I was heard on the radio that these Iraq forces did nothing when Shiites were attacking the Sunnis. Its a pity that country that was invaded by another country is now in the midst of a civil war among its own people. I think what was bad has become worse. I hope the UN or the US or both will intervene to bring the situation under control. Ironically, the common enemy of the Iraqis (the US), has temporarily become the good guy trying to maintain peace!

BCCI Politics

Now that Dalmiya is out of power, Pawar and company are going after him in a big way. Its bound to get ugly, but like most big issues in India I suspect this will be in the news for a while after which we won’t hear anything about the issue. Notice that the Test and ODI veues have started to move towards the West Zone! Tests are in Nagpur, Mumbai and Mohali (this one is for IS Bindra’s support!). The practice match was in Vadodara. There are no ODIs or Tests in Kolkata. Go figure!

Cricket: Indian Team Selection

For once I feel pretty good about the recently announced the Indian Test team.

  • Piyush Chawla was a daring yet sensible selection although a little unfair to Murali Karthik.
  • Gautam Gambhir could have been given more opportunities before being dumped. But it is true that he hasn’t made any big scores of late and Wasim Jaffer has been a prolific scorer in the domestic circuit.
  • Sreesanth was a certainty after his performance in Pak and all the praise from the likes of Waqar and Imran.
  • Agarkar and Zaheer Khan were anyway on their way out and didn’t justify further chances. So VRV is also a welcome addition. With the desi Shoaib Akthar waiting in the wings all these bowlers must be under pressure to perform.
  • Suresh Raina was bit of surprise given that there are many prolific scorers in the domestic circuit. But I guess he recent show in Pak plus with an eye on the future the selectors decided to give him a shot. I suspect he’ll be replaced by Yuvraj provided Kaif plays in the 11 and scores some runs.
  • As for Ganguly, I am glad the selectors finally made the call to dump him. Its time to move on and hopefully there won’t be any further controversies around this issue (what are the odds of that happening! 🙂

With the team falling apart with injuries and other fitness problems, this Test series should be a tough one for England or so it seems at this stage.

Western Countries Are Sending Wrong Messages

Like it or not the world is fast moving towards an “us vs them” dichotomy. Shortly, after 911 the US mantra was “You are either with us or with the enemy”. This rings true even today despite all attempts to forge peace, spread freedom and democracy. With its actions the US and the rest of the Western Countries are continuously driving the world towards a new big divide — “The Muslim World and the Rest”. Here are three recent examples.

Ports Crisis: Just because it is a UAE based company that is going to take over management of port terminals why should it go through additional scrutiny? Its like telling the Arab world we don’t trust you. We suspect you might be terrorists! Btw, I have heard that the Jabal Ali Port in Dubai is one of the finest and best managed in the world.

Palestionian Aid: “The United States is not prepared to fund an organization that advocates the destruction of Israel, that advocates violence,” said Condi Rice. Fair enough. But what does the US expect from Hamas? Turn a new leaf and give up everything they have stood for all these years. Would anyone believe them even if they did? After all they stood for something and the Palestinians voted them to power. The US has been pushing for democracy and free and fair elections the world over. Then it should also be prepared to face the results. I think its important to give Hamas some time instead of “jumping all over them, setting the stage for their failure etc”. The BJP (by no means a terrorist org.) in India (known to include extreme right wing members), made a conscious attempt to make peace with Pak. They even nominated a Muslim to be the President of India).

Cartoon Crisis: The Europeans firmly joined the “Rest of the World” (despite its differences with the US) to appear as one giant conspiracy against Islam. Ironically, the US got some brownie points on the re-bound in this entire cartoon controversy. It wouldn’t be surprising to hear a “You are not the only bad guys, the Europeans are equally bad if not worse” sentiment from the Islamic countries.

There is a nice report in the NY Times (reg required)about differing views o the reaction in the Arab world to the crisis. Its heartening to note that there are liberals and others in Islamic countries who are denouncing the violent reponse to the cartoons.

Pak must look beyond Inzy

Pak were trounced by India in the ODIs. India was clearly a far superior side to Pak. The absence of Afridi and Shoaib made a huge difference to Pak and the final result. On the other hand, India won in style without three of their top players, Sachin, Viru and Pathan.

I think its time for Pak to think beyond Inzy for the ODIs. Even with the return of Shoaib and Afridi, I think Pak will enhance its chances in the World Cup if it can forge a new team without Inzy. This is in no way a reflection on Inzy’s form.

One day cricket has become extremely competitive. Fielding standards have improved dramatically. Batting demands adaptability, and often requires unconventional approaches. Inzy is no longer the devastating player he used to be. Besides he is a horrible runner and a below average fielder. One is tempted to compare him to Sachin, but lets not forget that Sachin is a very useful bowler, a decent fielder and excellent runner between wickets.

All rounders are the first preference when it comes to a place in any ODI 11. Specialist bowlers and batsman are very few and almost all of them are exceptionally good in their core competency area (e., batting or bowling) and are far above average in the fielding dept. if not exceptional.

I think a team under a Younis Khan makes sense though many question his presence in the team. But I think he has the potential to be Pak’s Rahul Dravid. He is an excellent fielder and good runner between wickets and appears to be a good captain. I think Pak’s team should be as follows:

Kamran
Shoaib Malik
Razzack
Younis Khan
Mohd Younus
Faisal Iqbal (or someone who is an excellent fielder and batsman)
Afridi
Naved Hassan
Shoaib Akthar
Sami
Mohd Asif

Its a tough call, but if Pak have to stand a chance in the next world cup, its time for them to take a bold step forward.

No room for Dada

I agree with Ajit Wadekar’s view on Ganguly. Its time to bid him goodbye from Test cricket as well. There is way too much talent available in India for his spot in the team that it makes no sense persisting with him. He had a golden opportunity to redeem himself in Pak but managed only a few 30s and 40s. Dravid went out of the way to accomodate him in the team by opening the innings while two of India’s openers were warming the benches. This can’t go on. But I think it will 😦

Ganguly will find a place in the 15 thanks to all the polictics involved in team selection. (Btw, Yuvraj needlessly raked up the issue again with his needless comments)

With both Dhoni and Pathan proving to be quite capable with the bat I think India must go into the first Test against England with an attacking bowling combination. One could argue that it was India’s batting failure that resulted in the third test defeat against Pak. But unless the groundsmen can gurantee a turning track, I would opt for five bowlers instead of four.

My playing eleven for the first Test would be as follows:

Sehwag
Gambhir
Dravid
Sachin
VVS
Dhoni
Pathan
Kumble
Bhajji
Sreesanth
RP Singh

If a turning track can be more or less guranteed, then it might be ok to drop a seamer for a batsmam (Mohd Kaif).

Movie Review: Anniyan

Title: Anniyan
Language: Tamil
Starring: Vikram, Sada, Vivek, Prakash Raj

If you are in the mood for a masala film this is a perfect one. This is a film with a lot of technical pizzaz, innovative direction, good photography and excellent acting, especially by Vikram, the hero of the film. The songs are nothing great but blend reasonably with the film. The Director seems to be very much in tune with the times — there is refence to Internet, IP address (!!), Cappauchino Coffee and all the latest “in things”. Prakash Raj who plays the role of a cop is brilliant especially the scenes where his own brother is murdered. Vivek plays the hero’s friend (as usual) and does the comedy piece with ease.

The sub-titles are very poor. There are typos and plenty of dialogues that have been completely ignored. A number reviews have been written about this film so I am going to avoid repeating the story line. Just like another recent Tamil blockbuster hit (Chandramukhi), this movie also deals with split personalities. This gives the hero plenty of opportunity for histrionics and he makes full use of it.

An out and out entertainer which is different and enjoyable.

Harvard President to resign

Wow! That’s quite a fast exit. Larry Summers the high profile Harvard President is quitting a week before his no confidence vote by faculty. A former US tresury Secy in Bill Clinton’s Govt., he has always managed to remain in the news for good and bad reasons. Businessweek covered him a few times during his brief tenure at Harvard.

Here is a detailed article on Mr. Summers career/life!