WADA, BCCI and the Bad Boys of Indian Cricket

BCCI and some of its players have raised concerns against certain requirements by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) whereby the athlets/players are required to provide information on their whereabouts. As usual the bad boys of Indian cricket and the arrogant association amongst all have started objecting to ICC on the WADA thingie. Let's analyze the problem from the ground up.

What exactly is WADA?

WADA was established in 1999 primarily promoted by the International Olympic Committee. The WADA anti-doping rules and procedures has been successfully in practice for the past 10 years across 190 plus nations. The disqualifications and testing-positive news that we get to hear from time to time in various events are all the results of good efforts put together by this Swiss-based agency.

What makes WADA controversial?
In 2004 WADA introduced this requirements whereby all athlets from the respective sports governing bodies need to provide their whereabouts for the weekdays which help them to test them for drug-usage arbitrarily at any point of time. Further in 2009 they extended this rule for all days of the week. This triggered some controversies however most organizations decided to abide by this rule as there was no other alternatives or proposals available.

ICC & WADA

The International Cricket Council has been practicing WADA regulations for a while. It may be recalled that the big names like Shane Warne, Shoaib Akhtar etc had been tamed under the purview of Anti-dope rules in the past. This essentially is good for the game as well as the long term welfare of the athlets.

BCCI's stand!

BCCI in view of their players' interest has been challenging the ICC for a while and made it clear that they do not want to proceed with the WADA rules. I have the following view on BCCI's decision and some of its spoilt brats' comment in the media.

• BCCI has this dirty habit of challenging anything that everything that the ICC brings forward. This is mainly driven by arrogance and cash that they have. Everytime some controversy has been triggered by an Indian - whether it's for good or bad - the BCCI used to armtwist ICC its way. It's more of an inferiority complex or (old) colonial mindset whereby whatever being said and done by the British is questioned


• A number of other sports bodies in India itself are bound by WADA rules and all athlets respect it. The biggies like Abhinav Bhindra and tennis stars have made it clear that it's good for the game? Cricketers are no exception to any rule and they are not gods as some of them think


• If the game of cricket has to flourish and spread they have to abide by the international rules and otherwise it will be still a game played by 10 or 12 commonwealth countries. Further, if they have to include the game back in Olympics sometime, WADA has to be respected as well


• BCCI has to help ICC in taking a call on WADA rather than objecting it as ICC's brainchild. This is purely shortsighted thinking


• Some of the cricketers feel that it's an infringement to their privacy and security. Many cricketers are already having less privacy when they are escorted by the commandos and security personal. Can WADA's whereabout rules make it worse? Afterall, the whereabouts information is strictly confidential and not shared with anybody other than the testing group itself. Also, when a sportsman play for India, they are dedicating their life to play for the nation. These cricketers are acting funny because BCCI is still not a government body though they claim to play for India

All in all, I feel that all cricket bodies should help ICC to adopt WADA and if there are amendments required that should be adopted at a broader level and not just within the Cricket bodeis. After all, cricket governing bodies have barely any visibility in the global arena of sports!

Ban IPL (Indian Premier League) and Save the Nation!

India has just crashed out of the second edition of ICC World Cup Twenty 20 event. If you ask me whether the Indian team performed to their potential, the answer is 'NO' and the reasons are the following:

• There was no proper opening pair. Basically they did not have a backup for the injured Sehwag and the team composition was wrong here


• Dhoni disturbed the #3 slot throughout the tournament by promoting himself (selfish) on flat wickets and sending in Raina and Yuvraj when the wicket was fast and bouncy. This disturbed the #3 specialist slot. Ideally, he should have stuck with Raina


• Our paper tigers are not well-equipped to play in bouncy tracks. They chased moving and bouncing balls without any clue


• IPL fatigue and Twenty 20 overkill! This was the biggest reason and the topic for today

Is IPL really in the interest of the nation?

Last year I had written a post about the potential threat that IPL was posing then and most of it has come true already. The players (and even BCCI) is purely after money and once they have it with IPL, there is no interest to play for the country. If you remember, last year our skipper had skipped the tour following the IPL citing the need for rest. If he really wanted to rest, he should have taken rest during IPL and not while playing for the country.

BCCI cheating the country?

I would think that the selectors and the management must have known about Sehwag's injury but they didn't want to admit the fact that IPL caused the problem (which was the actual reason). By sending an unfit team, they did not really put country's interest ahead of their money minded IPL.

BCCI is an autonomous private body. If they want to play more IPL and make money, let them but then representing the country's cricket should not be in their agenda. The government should probably take over that part. At the moment, IPL is only benefiting the franchisees, the players and BCCI but not the country!

For this edition of IPL, it was actually an irony to see that teams like Rajastan or Chennai is playing abroad with a fake fan setup around. Even more ridiculous was the way in which BCCI and IPL was pouring out money to support schools in South Africa and acting like big bosses there. Can't they do the same kind of charity here in India?

Ban IPL or make it short!

Ideally, they should make IPL only a within-India affair. Also, they should cut down the duration to something like three weeks to save our cricketers to play for the country. Also a shorter duration would make sure that a billion fans who are country's future - in terms of valuable human resource - will not waste their time by watching just cricket.

Let's not overdo Twenty 20 and kill our country's pride! (Please note that it's not an emotional outburst from me due to India's exit from the Twenty 20 World cup. I have written about the Twenty 20 overkill many times in the past)

Twenty 20 World Cup feels better than IPL

It feels like a decade since I last posted on this blog. However, I have a topic now in the form of the Twenty 20 World Cup that is taking plaec in England.

Sandwiched between the IPL and the Ashes, the timing of the World Cup seems right. It is not particularly hot or cold at this point of time though the mood and interest have been a little bit timid as compared to the IPL. This is because, of late - thanks to the IPL - all of us have consumed an overdose of 20-20.

The format is interesting and is at its best when countries play the event rather than cooked up teams as in the case of IPL. Also, the shorter schedule/duration makes it more interesting. For example, in a matter of five or six days a few teams have already been eliminated unlike the IPL where the fans need to wait for a whole month even to figure out which is a good team.

A couple of facts about the Twenty 20 World cup and the twenty 20 game in general:

• Teams like Australia are yet to figure out what Twenty 20 is all about


• Teams that are bad at longer plans but can perform in quick bursts are doing great here e.g. West Indies


• The teams that have maximum number of 'generalists' than 'specialists' are likely to do better


• The formats can be made more exciting with more rules like 'free hit'

I am looking forward to the super eight league. I personally feel that either West Indies, India or Sri Lanka will the second World Cup Twenty 20. England may not be at its best and New Zealand & South Africa are good at goofing it up towards the end of any series. The days ahead are interesting!

Hopefully, Lalit Modi may take a look at the scheduling of this event and make IPL a shorter event next time.

IPL 2009 (IPL 2) is a commercial joke!

The IPL 2 (Indian Premier League), which is being held in South Africa is becoming a big joke this time around. Though Mr. Lalit Modi and co put together some good effort to make it colorful and guaranteed on time delivery of the tournament, the undertone now is MONEY and not cricket!

The South African cricket board has done a wonderful job by hosting the tournament at such a short notice. However, there are some things about this edition of IPL that makes it less attractive for the cricketing world.

First of all, the game rules were changed to make money for the advertisers and Sony Entertainment Television. It is really pathetic that a prolonged and so-called strategic break (10 mins break after 10 overs in an innings) is taking the momentum and steam away. Sometimes I felt that they are using much more than 10 minutes. This break has nothing to do with on the field strategies but to stuff more ads for the Indian spectactors watching it on the TV

Secondly, I am really getting irritated with SET MAX's 'technical difficulties' at key moments during the game. This usually happens during the toss and I get a feeling that they are intentionally doing it.

Thirdly, the weather, which was cited as the prime reason for moving IPL to South Africa (and not England) doesn't seem to behave as predicted. Half the matches so far have been shortened or wiped out due to bad weather.

As I mentioned in the last post, I was hoping for really fiery pitches so that some of the Indian batting heroes in dead rubber gets to reassess themselves. Definitely the pitches are much better than those in India but somehow not as pacy as expected.

I am also disappointed due to the fact that only 4 foreign players can be used in the 11 member team. Probably this number should have been 5 or 6 as the match is being played abroad. Talking about the game abroad, we are also missing the noise and buzz in the stands that you get to see in India.

The missing real fanbase is another issue. Since there's no concept of home and away matches for the local teams (Chennai, Delhi etc) some part of the excitement and fan support is missing.

The money aspect is visible in every stage of the tournament. Several teams have sent back their under performers ruthlessly to cut cost. The emphasis is always on how much the broadcasters and team owners can make.

The only positive so far is the older stalwarts who are proving their points. Anil Kumble, Muralidharan, Shane Warne, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman are just proving the fans that with technical perfection the problems with age can be offset. Many of the young batting heroes and young bowlers have already failed miserably.

I hope that the situation improves as the tournament progresses and weather gets better. But certainly, since IPL first edition had set a lot of expectations, this time around it is turning out to be a less exciting event.

IPL: Saurav Ganguly should join politics

The IPL is still called the Indian Premier League but this time around it will be conducted in South Africa - thanks to those terrorists in the sub continent. At the outset, I would like to appreciate Mr. Lalit Modi's proactiveness and immediate actions to move this edition of IPL out of the country as there's been political issues over the security in this country. By taking such a bold decision on a short term basis saved the franchise' and several international players' interest. After all, this year probably will be Modi's last chance to prove that IPL and Twenty 20 success can be carried forward further as his @$$ is on fire after loosing in the Rajasthan Cricket Board elections.

Ganguly plays politics again

When Rahul Dravid lost captaincy of the Indian team or even most recently that of the Bangalore Royal Challengers nothing really happened in Bangalore or Karnataka. But the case is different when Saurav Ganguly is stripped off power. The ever innovative (and sometimes lunatic) John Buchanan, the team coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders, suddenly had an enlightment that his Twenty 20 team needs three or four captains this time. This is mainly to ensure that just in case Saurav Ganguly didn't figure in the scheme of things, he needed somebody else to lead the team. As usual Dada didn't take it quite well. Just like the times when he was dropped from the Indian team, he played all his 'hinting' statements in the press that he is unhappy. Finally Mr. Shah Rukh Khan, the team owner, got involved and he ensured Dada's crazy followers that Dada will be consulted on the captaincy issue. According to Buchanan he was already consulted.

The following are my views on this issue:-

. If Buchanan and Shah Rukh Khan didn't want Ganguly in this edition of IPL, they should have told him that directly and dropped him rather than coming up with this 'Panel of Captains' theory.

. Not just Ganguly but even people like Rahul Dravid should stop playing Twenty 20 cricket as this version is not meant for people in their late 30s.

. Dada has not been playing competitive cricket for quite sometime now that he will be a burden to the team.

. Ganguly may stop playing politics and if he wants to do so he should actually join Indian politics as he has been a shrewd thinker off and on the field.

. Shah Rukh Khan should stop behaving diplomatically if he really wants his team to win. The contracts apart, the Twenty 20 format is so dynamic that, today's hero is nobody in a few months time.

Fortunately, Buchanan was much more diplomatic and composed than Greg Chappell and hence he's still with the team.

Looking forward to the IPL

I am really looking forward to this edition of IPL mainly due to the quality of pitches and grounds in South Africa. Moreover, these bouncy tracks will definitely prove too good for many Indian heroes but I expect a couple of adaptable youngsters to emerge to replace some of the old faces in the current Indian ODI and test teams. Though it's a fast and short format, those who can play in bouncy pitches can be easily spotted and picked!

Let's wait and see how it goes.