Cricket - The Gentleman’s Game

Pakistan cricketer Muhammad Asif who was drug tainted after the IPL series last year was heard by the IPL panel in the Wankhade Stadium. Asif who played for Delhi Daredevils in the last IPL series was caught with a packet of opium in the Dubai airport on his way back to Pakistan. Dubai police detained him for a few days after and imposed a life time ban on Asif for visiting Dubai.

Now, IPL had taken up the case and heard Asif’s arguments. The panel of IPL had five members of which three are cricketers. Asif case was argued by a Karachi based lawyer and another Indian lawyer assisting him. After the trial, the panel had decided to defer the decision to a later time.

Meanwhile, Delhi Daredevils canceled its contract with Asif.

Sachin Tendulkar, the man who practically holds every batting record in International cricket is undisputedly the best cricketer in contemporary cricket. With a career spanning more than 19 years, Sachin had been a consistent player. Brian Lara from West Indies is another batsman who is considered to be one among the best. These are players who served cricket for decades and with  consistent form.

However, ICC failed to realize the greatness of these players.  ICC released a list of all time great players with twenty names and to everyone’s surprise, ICC did not place Sachin or Lara in the top twenty. Sachin was given the 26th position while Lara was placed at the twenty third position. This irked many cricket fans all over the worlds who criticized ICC for these unscientific rankings.

The increasing resent from the cricket boards and fans put ICC in self defense which made a statement that their rankings are not a ‘true indication’ of a player’s capabilities and that they only consider peaks in a player’s career. God knows what that means.

Pakistan had suffered a defeat which can be described as one of the most miserable defeats in the history of International one day cricket. Pakistan and Sri Lanka are currently playing a one-day series in Pakistan. In this match Sri Lanka has fared well in all fields and make a considerable score of 309 runs. In their innings, Tilakaratne scored an unbeaten 137 runs which is the best score in his career. In the same match, spinner Murlitharan, took his 500th wicket in One-day Internationals.

In return Pakistan could hardly manage a meagre score of 75 runs. Thus Pakistan suffered a massive defeat with Sri Lanka by a margin of 235 runs. With this victory, Sri Lanka is now leading the series with 2-1. Pakistan could just stay in the field for 22.5 overs. Let us see if Pakistan would spring back.

The top brand of Internet media, Sportzpower has released a list of rankings for the most powerful (richest) sports board and also the most powerful individual. Interestingly, the toppers of both these categories are related to Indian cricket.

When it comes to the most influential sports entity, the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) has topped the list with a massive Rs. 303 crore profit they made in the year 2008. BCCI had been the richest sports entity in India for decades and with the launch of IPL which turned out to be a grand success, the board has strngthened its financial might.

In the most influential individual ‘individual’ category, BCCI Vice President and chairman of IPL, Mr. Lalit Modi was on the top of the list. He was credited for being the architect of the Indian Premier League, marketing the event and attracting foreign players and making it  a huge success.

All in all, the Indian Premier League, has made BCCI even more stronger and mightier in the sports arena in the country.

Gautham Gambhir was in terrific form all through 2008 and gave many match winning performances. He was accredited for his consistent performance around the year. Now that 2008 has come to an end, Gambhir is all set to make the new year even more memorable. This time, for the new year he made a specific ‘new year resolution’.

Gambhir was banned for one test match against Australia for deliberately hitting the Australian pacer Shane Watson with his elbow. Gambhir said that this incident and the ban that followed were the lowest points in his career. He then said that he had taken a new year resolution not to ‘elbow’ anyone on field which is to say that he would be more responsible and sober in field in the future. So, this year, we will see a more dignified and composed Gambhir on field.

Gambhir is currently enjoying the break with his family, thanks to the cancellation of series against Pakistan by the Indian government. Gambhir said that he played lot of cricket last year and badly needed some rest, which he got now.

Charges against Pakistan cricketer Muhammad Asif were proven yesterday and Asif is found guilty of using drugs to enhance his performance. In the last IPL series, Asif was caught in Dubai on his journey to Karachi from Mumbai after playing a match in Mumbai. The Dubai airport authorities caught him with opium packets but was then released and sent to Karachi. Since then, IPL had been investigating the charges.

Now it is clear that the only reason for the Dubai authorities to release Asif are political and diplomatic pressures. It is now revealed officially that Asif carried a packet with 0.24 grams of Opium. It is also revealed that the government of UAE has imposed a permanent ban on Asif from entering their country again. In spite of all these developments, Asif still maintains that he did not use drugs and that he never knew that he was carrying Opium. Asif is arguing that he thought the packet had some kind of herbal stimulant!!!

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson has decided to opt out of the IPL auctioning as he believes that playing in IPL might affect his long-term future as a cricketer in the Australian team. Johnson is a successful test and one-day bowler in Australian cricket and is also making some runs for his team. This has attracted the attention of the IPL team owners who were willing to get him into their teams, ready to pay a huge amount. However, Johnson decided otherwise.

Johnson did not participate in the last IPL season on the same grounds saying that he needs to concentrate on his career.  At that time he was not selected to test cricket in Australia and said that he would consider IPL only after getting a place in Australian test cricket. He indeed achieved his goal over the last year and is selected for test cricket. So, he conveyed his interest to participate in IPL in 2009. However, he suddenly changed his mind and said that, given his hectic cricket schedule playing for Australia, he needs to rest for some time. He felt that playing in IPL will deprive him of any rest and would ruin his body. He acknowledged that he will be losing a huge amount of money by opting out of IPL but preferred his long term career over the monetary gains through IPL.

An year back, there was no doubt as to which team is the best team in International test cricket. It was Australia and the answer was unanimous. But the situation has changed and the Australian wall was weakened by many cracks and the two teams which are now in the race for the No.1 position are India and South Africa. Over the last year, these two teams have out performed Australia in International cricket and Aussies who were once invincibles are now clearly a ‘not-so-strong’ team.

Though Australia retained its position by the recent victory over South Africa, the margin between the nations is not as wide as it was a few years ago. The points of Australia, South Africa and India are 126, 121 and 118 respectively which indicate that there are high chances that Australia will lose to one of these two teams in the near future.

There is a test series in South Africa in the month of February against Australia and if Australians lose this series (they did not win the last two test series), they will lose the No.1 title in the test cricket for the first time in the last ten years.

At an age of 34, Little Master Sachin Tendulkar holds practically every batting record possible in International Cricket. In the recent series against Australia, he crossed Brian Lara as the highest test run scorer and this stands as the highest run scorer in the history of cricket. The Indian cricket board has decided to felicitate the world’s greatest batsman for his extraordinary achievement.

The function was organized by state cricket board which was attended by most of the top brass of BCCI, local Ranji players and few politicians and general public. Sachin came along with his family to recieve the honors. After recieving the felicitation, Sachin spoke a few inspiring words.

“Everybody has a dream, every sportsperson, every businessman. It’s important to chase that. I have heard somewhere that dreams come true only if you are awake. You dream when you are asleep but you have to be awake and on your toes to realise them. That’s what I am a firm believer of. I think you need to dream big” 

–Sachin

Amid high drama over the past few days, the dust in the England cricket team appears to have settled, at least as of now. It is known that the captain of England cricket team, Kevin Peterson and the coach Moores resigned in a single day after their relations reached an irretrievable breakdown. Both of them felt that they cannot stay in the team together. Peterson went to the extent of issuing an ‘ultimatum’ to the ECB to send away Moores. However, the Board and other seniors did not back Peterson nor the Coach. This finally led to the resignation of both the Captain and coach.

After a day of resignations, England Cricket board has decided to name Strauss as the captain of the team. To be noted that though Peterson resigned as Captain, he is still continuing in the team and the cricket board believes that he is a valuable addition to the team as far as the sport is concerned. So, Peterson will be flying to the series with West Indies starting in a few days which will be captained by Strauss. It is a very bad start in the new year for the England cricket, but now that everything is settled we can look ahead for some good cricket.