Pitch Fixing

Pitch Fixing !!

A new terminology and new dictionary word coming out of Cricket Textbook, a sad day for cricket for sure.

Media will now frenzy how the curators mint money and try to find out few more curators to make it a point....
Be ready for few more Breaking News 😀

One needs to go beyond and look at the lives of these curators, normally they are the past cricketers who could not make it big in the sports world and end up doing these type of jobs which give them satisfaction to be associated with the game and also ensure bread and butter.

The man at the centre of controversy (don’t want to conclude Pandurang Salgaokar guilty without even knowing the details and background but if it has any iota of truth i would definitely feel sad for such a great cricketer) , though had never seen him play but had heard lots of good stories about his bowling through my old knowledge books and understand he had the misfortune on the lines of Paddy Shivalkar of never making it to the Indian Cricket team .He however remained as one of the stalwarts of Maharashtra Cricket.

BCCI conducts charity matches for top notch cricketers who have earned huge money, have good future as coach or commentators. Instead, Why can’t it come forward and make it a point that each and every Ranji player has some mode of retirement benefits so the old age is secured for the players. It also needs to take care of support staff including the curators . These guys need to be taken care off and well enough to sustain the livelihood. They are the ones who nurture the pitch throughout the year , match or no match and are the background boys for making a success of the match and players isn’t it? They ensure any cricket match happen in the right earnest. Being the richest board, BCCI can afford it without much trouble to its balance sheet !!

Remember one thing , to make it as sports person , one has to keep aside all other goals of life and trust himself/herself for making it to glory and if failure hits badly , then all those goals which had taken a back burner ensure success will elude the person for a long time .

Nonetheless spur of moment for such decisions and greed in any form is not justified !! And instead of Breaking NEWS , one needs to look for the root cause eradication.

- Jayawant

Secret Superstar

After a long time , I went for a movie and this time the 3 generations (my parents, me and my wife and my daughters)  made it to the theatre for Secret Superstar. The excitement was already at its pick with few of the chartbusters by now already making it to must listen list.

The movie picked up the interest right from the word GO and it turned out to be an amazing treat for all of us and the only word which could describes the movie as fantabulous !!

As usual stellar performance by Amir Khan , Zaira Wasim moving one step up towards the category of thinking actresses, Meher Vij establishing herself as the new mom of silver screen and the enite other cast justifying their roles playing it to perfection. The story of a suppressed child and supporting mother is a real tribute to all the mothers and touches the hearts of the audience.

To keep 3 generations of audience glued to the seats need a gripping story and a talented story teller and director.The real secret superstar of the film is Advait Chandan. To start your innings as a writer director believing yourself and following your own conviction has turned out into a truly amazing film on the silver screen.

The movie is worth a watch for anyone who loves to see the movies having a content and Secret Superstar fits it to perfection.

My GOD says ‘Chase your dreams , they do come true’ and I could see this come  very true for Advait Chandan !!

-Jayawant

Anil Kumble - A Jumbo birthday !!

As one of my favorites Anil ‘Saral’ Kumble celebrates his 47th birthday, I go back to a childhood story which my uncle had told me and I always correlated it with ‘The Jumbo’.

Once upon a time there was a sincere medical student whom the college Dean didn’t feel fit enough to be a doctor. Tired enough of this student not leaving the college, the Dean finally offered him the degree on a condition that he will treat every patient through lime juice only and no other medicine... . Years down the line , the Dean fell seriously ill and no one could treat him , then he heard of a famous doctor in a remote town who was the last option left. The Dean met the doctor and within days , was back to full fitness. The Dean asked the doctor who are you and what was the medicine? The doctor disclosed his identity and told the Dean who he was ? He was the same student who was not fit enough to be a doctor and the medicine was Lime Juice. Moral of the story ? “ Perseverance ,sincerity, focused commitment and loyalty to self and the profession always pays and returns the dividends’.

Sounds so close to Kumble who was supposed to be a fast bowler and based on the advice from his coaches , shifted to spin. When he started his Leg Spin , people failed to identify where the ball was turning to? as it always seemed straight (Saral in Marathi). No body treated him as a spinner but could not gauge if he was a fast bowler or slower fast or faster slow. The critics of the game banged his talent and wondered whether he would ever get a chance. I always felt as if ( though hypothetical) , Kumble must have agreed to become a spinner on the condition that he would never spin and would not call himself the master of the art, similar to the doctor above and proved all his critics wrong by becoming the highest wicket taker for India , 619 to be precise and proved the same morals as those of the doctor mentioned.

Jumbo was always a man on mission, still remember him getting LARA out when his (Kumble’s) jaw was broken and he had come on the field with face bandaged. Hero cup final when through his flippers and googlies he had his career best (and the then India best) of 6/12 against the Windies at Kolkata. His 10 in an innings Laker (Jim) phenomenon against Pakistan had brought the whole country to a standstill and who can forget his baby faced jumping in the joy when he scored his only Test century for India against England and remember , in that series none of the greats like Sachin or Dravid could score any. He still remains the only Leggie from India ever to captain a Test side.

Kumble called it quits with more than 900 wickets and had a great run as India coach which had an abrupt end.

Have a great birthday Jumbo and may you continue bringing in laurels to India , albeit in different roles.

- Jayawant