Author: Pran Kurup

Pran Kurup is founder and CEO of Vitalect, Inc.

My Thai Has Some Competition

The My Thai restaurant has a virtual monopoly, especially over the desi crowd in the Fremont area. The food is good and the decor decent, though the service is quite slow. For many years now, My Thai has been a very popular place, frequented largely by the Asian Indian population. We recently discovered another restaurant, comparable on all fronts to My Thai named Simply Thai located in Newark (border of Fremont and Newark, cross street newark Blvd., and Jarvis Avenue). Its been around for just three months, so its unlikely that many have heard about it. Worth visiting for sure!

Team India: Might Just Be a Slow Start

Team India has been struggling on this tour. With the Tests just round the corner there is plenty to be concerned about for the team management starting with repeated failure of the batsmen. The good news is that the team has shown through its only two victories on this tour shades of what it is capable of. Dada’s performance and the late order fight back lead by Pathan in the tour match is a sure sign of depth in the batting. The bowling meanwhile has been good for most part in comparison to the batting.

The long break seems to have done Zaheer a world of good. He is back in full form and defaults to being the spearhead. VRV had a good match in the victory against Rest of SA and being the quickest of the lot is very likely to play in the first Test. Given the green tops in SA, India could do well to play three seamers and one spinner, with Pathan as the all rounder and fifth bowler. With Dravid likely to play in the first Test, Jaffer might have to sit out while Dada opens the innings with the eternally out of form Viru. After so many failures, the infamous law of averages and the return of Dravid should ensure that at least one or two of the top Indian batsmen do fire in the first Test! With a decent bowling attack to back it India might actually surprise SA, especially if they take their opposition lightly.

Adjusting to the conditions in SA after playing for an extending time in the sub-continent has been the challenge faced by team India. With the ODI series behind them and a morale boosting win in the match again Rest of SA, the Test match might just be the start of the turn around.

Pyaar ke Side Effects

If you are looking for an easy going light film, Pyaar Ke Side Effects is a good choice. Rahul Bose and Mallika Sherawat are in the lead. Rahul Bose’s acting, the comedy and the fact that its a simple and fairly believable theme together makes this a worthwhile film. Mallika is minus the usual glamor except for one needless song.

Open with Ganguly

With Ganguly back in the team the next round of speculation over whether he would make it to the playing 11 is just round the corner. If Dravid misses out on the first Test due to injury then Dad’s place in the 11 is guaranteed. On the other hand, if Dravid does play in the 11, India has to make the call of playing both Jaffer and Ganguly or drop one in favor of a bowler/all rounder. Given the flaky form of India’s bowlers it makes sense to play 5 bowlers with Pathan being the all rounder-bowler in the 11. At the same time going into the match with 6 batsman as opposed to seven is a debatable issue considering the dismal failure of India’s batting. The alternative might be to stick with 5 bowlers and open the innings with Dada. If he flunks he should pack his bags for good. If he scores big, hats off to him.

The practice match that’s due to begin tomorrow should give some fresh insight about whom might be close to striking some form!

Robert Gates Hearing: Welcome Change!

Wow! It was kisses all over. Bob Gates Senate Confirmation hearing was a refreshing change. For once you got an insight into the candidate. He spoke candidly and without being evasive. It was a refreshing change to the conventional senate confirmation hearings which are boring and long drawn out and provides little insight. The Republicans were ready for a change after the election debacle while the Dems were happy to have anyone but Rumsfeld.

Bollywood: Better Adaptations

Copying Western films and adapting them to suit the Indian mindset is not new. Three relatively recent films Salaam Namaste (Hugh Grant’s Nine Months), Zinda (Korean film Oldboy) and Taxi 9211 (Changing Lanes) are a few examples of “shameless” Bollywood copies. Interestingly, of these Zinda and Taxi No 9211 appear to be better than the originals. Salaam Namaste was a huge stretch for the Indian audience. So the film makers based the film in Australia and added the usual Indian masala resulting in a film far inferior to the original. Zinda (starring Sanjay Dutt) and Taxi 9211 (starring John Abraham, Nana Patekar) on the other hand are far more watchable.

Team India: Pressing the Panic Button?

Dada: Another Chance to Sign-off?

Its official. Dada is back. Its a joke to say there wasn’t any political pressure. Given Dada’s track record in recent years its unlikely that he will be able to pull of some good scores and if he does he fully deserves to be back. Else its best if he treats this as another opportunity to sign-off in style.

VVS: Talk About Changing Fortunes!

The other change in the team is the return of VVS Laxman. What a dramatic change of fortunes! He has been in and out of the team, even dropped from the Test 11 in favor of Yuvraj Singh, and virtually written off from the ODI team and now the man is a heart beat way from the captaincy! Given that Dravid might not be fit for the first Test, he could now be captaining the side! Wonder what his astrologers had predicted! This was not a bad move considering Viru’s dismal show in recent years(!). If the selectors were looking for a short term change it might have been a safe bet to appoint Kumble the Vice-Captain instead. The guy is still doing well, is close to the end of his career, has nothing really to prove as a player and is a sure member of Test 11. But now VVS now has a golden chance to cement his place for good and possibly gain the Test captaincy at some point!

Youth vs. Experience

There is no question that India’s batting has failed consistently in the recent past. But the “preference for youth over experience” direction that Chappell had set for India was the right one for the ODIs. Relying on the experienced players for the Tess is a welcome strategy. Nevertheless Dada’s place in the playing 11 is bound to bring back a host of new discussions! (hopefully not on the boundary line a la Pak tour)

Its best to treat ODI team selection with a different mindset. If experience works for Australia it does not mean that it will work for India. An experienced Aussie batsman or bowler automatically comes with a certain standard of fielding ability which is not true for Indian players. All of India’s experienced players are not the best fielders. Kumble, Ganguly, VVS, Dravid are all experienced but far from good fielders. In a team of 11, four such players plus an out of shape Viru, an ageing Sachin and a 124-year old Munaf leaves just 4 slots to make up for the fielding. ODIs are as much about fielding as they are about batting and bowling. It will serve India best to focus on tweaking the current Chappell strategy by fundamentally relying on youth but reinforcing the batting with some class. For starters, this could mean dumping Viru (whose slump in form has been at the forefront of the teams failures), bringing in VVS and Yuvraj and perhaps pushing Dhoni to open. The rest can stay as is for the ODIs. Trying to change the ODI team composition drastically will be huge mistake.