The recent 2 match 20-20 internationals between India and New Zealand were a “huge” let down for the cricket crazy Indian fans. Being so used to winning for a long time, the crash landing 2-0 score line had a lot of folks feeling bitter. The old habit of pulling out the daggers when the team does badly did certainly show up and the good old media at it again saying has India lost the plot. Add to this that a section of the media were asking a question saying was it the new uniforms!

What I fail to understand is the fact that that this was no big deal for most of us. These are T20 matches and true to their name, they are really 20-20. A result can go anyway and all that needs to happen to change the course of a game is 6 balls – A batsman can play out of his skin or a bowler can do the same and bingo, the game swings! The connoisseurs of cricket even fail to recognize that T20 is cricket!  To get into a difficult country where the pitches are fast, winds and wind chills have a huge impact and especially to play a game with literally no practice matches in hard.  People lose perspective to the challenges that the boys face when they travel around the world and expect them to perform at the same level always.

I happened to be travelling and caught both the T20 matches on blackberry – What surprised me was the kind of viewer comments that accompanied each defeat. I read all kinds of crap, the saddest being someone questioning Irfan Pathan’s commitment to the country when he bowled the last over and we lost the second ODI. Wasn’t it the same bloke who played out of his skin to win you a match that you had lost for God’s sake in Sri Lanka ? How can memories be so short lived??

I’m so glad the boys turned things around today to go 1 up on the ODI series. They did this with élan and showed that they are truly the team that is on the path to becoming the world’s numero uno. A few defeats here and there are bound to happen and one needs to be patient. This is a good team, not a god team that can win all the time. Winning and losing are part of the game and we must learn to accept defeat with grace. Pulling out daggers and knives is not a solution to an odd loss on the way. The path to greatness is never a bed of roses alone!

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Popularity: 13%

There was a furore in January when the Indian cricket team refused to tour Pakistan for a much awaited cricket series, citing security reasons. While the Indians thought it was absolutely rationale, the Pakistanis didn’t think so.

Their cricketing greats came out in strong opposition of the move saying that this was a black day for cricket. Their former captain turned politician, Imran Khan was the loudest of them all criticizing India and saying that sports was beyond politics and hatred and that India backing out was bad for the game.

He was joined by his erstwhile opening partner, Wasim Akram who too was surprisingly critical of India’s decision. Wasim’s reaction was a bit of a surprise for me as he always comes across as a logical person. The fact that he has logic is manifested in the fact that he is invited to comment on the game across the world. As they started off this India bashing, several other Pakistani players joined in.

I am a patriotic citizen and I completely understand how it feels when someone talks ill of your country. That said, one needs to apply logic to rationalize what is said before you react to criticism. The cricketing greats of our neighboring country didn’t and went out lashing with their loose tongue. In less than 60 days from their claim that their country was safe for cricketers has come back to slash mud on their faces.

A 26/11 style terrorist attack was unleashed on the Sri Lankan team that went to tour Pakistan as a replacement for India.  6 of them have been injured and are in hospital. The tour has been called off.

It’s a known secret that Pakistan is an epicenter of terror around the world. The fact that the Taliban has their government by their b***s and beat them into humble submission to their demand is evidence enough. What’s equally puzzling is the fact that the crickets who spoke so strongly against India’s decision have their residences in the heart of central London and don’t live themselves in their country that they speak so highly of!

While my heart goes out to the Sri Lankan players, I pray and hope that they recover soon. As for Pakistan cricket, this is their Black Day, a day that no cricket playing country will forget. As far as I can see it, the international cricket stadiums can now be converted into play grounds for kids as no team will ever step in to that country to play cricket ever! A decision on whether to convert them into play grounds or training fields will be taken by the Taliban I am sure!

While they say hind sight in 20-20, I am so thankful and glad that our cricketers chose not to go. Thank god for small mercies. Should this have happened to Indian cricketers who are larger than life here, there would have been another war! The result though, very different!

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On February 17, Dr.Subramaniam Swamy, President of the Janata Party, got a taste of the ire of a few pro-LTTE lawyers for speaking his mind. They entered the court room while he was arguing a case, and assaulted him in the presence of judges. The unruly behaviour continued for nearly 15 minutes despite warnings from the judges. They also roughed up a policeman, who was in the visitors’ gallery. Some of them threw rotten eggs at Dr.Swamy, abused him and shouted anti-Brahmin slogans.

Two days later, the battle was truly joined. The advocates protested against the arrest of their colleagues in the Dr.Swamy assault case. They taunted the police and set ablaze a police station in the court premises. Then the pitched battle started. Of course there is no second guessing who won this round. Among those injured in the violence was a High Court judge, more than 50 lawyers and several policemen.

A day later, lawyers all over Tamil Nadu protested and condemned police excesses. In a few places they set ablaze vehicles. Advocates staged protests in almost all district headquarters.

During this year so far, Chennai courts functioned only for 9 days. The lawyers have been boycotting the courts demanding that the Sri Lankan government announce a ceasefire and stop all operations against the LTTE. They know only too well, the Sri Lankan government has no obligation to the striking lawyers. Their campaign does not have anything to do with legal matters and has the look of a politically motivated activity.

They are doing this at a time when there are 406,958 pending cases in Madras High Court. Imagine the plight of the hapless litigants. Imagine the plight of justice in our land. I have to agree with Clarence Darrow, “The trouble with law is lawyers.”

26/11 was a defining moment in the history of our country. This type of terror can be countered.

There is terrorism of another kind, called internal terrorism. It happens when a group of powerful persons join together to steam roller the rule of the law and conscience of the nation. This category of terrorism is even more pernicious than external terrorism because the innards of our society get poisoned and corroded like the annihilation caused by cancerous cells.

Unlike the strong and spontaneous reaction subsequent to the 26/11 attack, the reaction to this internal terrorism is very much muted. The ruling party is afraid of out-staring the lawyers. They want to patch up. They even removed one top police official under whose jurisdiction the violence happened. The opposition parties are fishing in troubled waters and enjoying the discomfiture of the government in power. The general populace is mute spectators to the goings on.

On February 26, the Supreme Court ordered that action be taken on four more top police officials. The Chief Justice asked the lawyers to get back to work. Even that does not seem to have any effect on the striking lawyers. They are adamant they will not return to the courts till more number of police heads roll.

It is fashionable in our country to blame the police for every problem under the sun. They are mostly at the receiving end from the media, from the politicians and the general public. They get shunted from one place to another and from one position to another to satisfy the whims of the powerful people.

To me, the police force in our country is more sinned against than sinning. Whether it is day or night, they stay out in freezing cold, under the spewing fire of the summer sun or in the pouring rain, breathing in the bellowing smoke and fumes from vehicles to ensure that we the citizens can move around in the land freely. They have to stand in between warring groups to ensure that there is no blood bath. They do all this with outdated weapons. At the end, they have to accept abuses with folded hands from every Tom, Dick and Harry. If I were in a policeman’s uniform, I would have echoed Shylock and asked:

“If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?”

It is very tragic when we are not able to distinguish between the villains and the heroes. We all get swayed by perceptions and appearances.

Like Don Corleone said in The God Father,

“A lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.”

And I like to add – when they are in a crowd, they can terrorize and pillage the conscience of a nation.

And we see this menace, more dangerous than the guns and bombs of terrorists and we go on with our daily lives. We need bombs, guns, thundering sounds and blinding lights to wake up our conscience.

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Popularity: 12%

Watching India win the series in Sri Lanka has been a visual treat. The smiling faces, Dhoni’s unwavering focus, disciplined bowling, the proud shoulders and the teamwork have been super to see, barring one aberration. Sachin’s dismissals in all the three matches.

Much has been written on the unfairness meted out to Sachin. Hindi news channels (led by Star News) even attributed Yuvraj’s ton in the last game at the RPS stadium as a befitting reply to the nincompoop umpiring against Sachin, apart from it being one big saazish. I myself thought it was very sad to see human errors plaguing the game even with the introduction with new error-proof technology in the wings. Whatever happened to the third umpire referral system the ICC had introduced not too long ago?

Sachin is the greatest batsman currently playing cricket but remember this: The withdrawal of the referral system has hit him the hardest, he was the first batsman to be declared run-out when the system was outsourced to the third umpire, largest number of times to have gotten out on 99 and many bowlers can claim to have clean bowled Sachin on their debuts. That may be sheer bad luck, but Sunil Gavaskar’s column in Times of India (3rd Feb 2009 edition) made me wonder if indeed it was bad luck that the Little Master is against. In his piece, Gavaskar briefly but succulently mentions that umpires don’t hesitate to give Sachin out because it shows that their decisions are not daunted by the greatness of the batsman whom they are judging. For the first time, I agreed with Gavaskar simply because the facts prove this. Gamini Silva has only just started umpiring and knows that Sachin is too gentlemanly to protest against being given out (unlike a Yuvraj who showed the umpire his bat when he too got an unfair decision).

It is the predicament of the great to forge a path of greatness without harping too much on it. Sachin, as usual has been quiet on this entire matter, letting other greats of the game and his billion disappointed fans do the talking instead. It must surely hurt when you know you can do better than the last time you were here (Sachin had a terrible series against Sri Lanka the last time around) and you are not allowed to do so.

His advancing age and aggravating injuries are signs that the body will give up on him sooner rather than later. A source at the BCCI office at Wankhede Stadium once told me Sachin will not even think of quitting before getting back  the World Cup in 2011. Traces of his fierce competitiveness were on display in the same match when his smile had the same opposite effect of watching Federer cry after losing the Australian Open.

So, what can he do? Since he’s not at fault at here, nothing much. But for starters, he should play along the line of the ball, so as to minimize LBW chances. And keep himself motivated positively. This is a bad phase which too shall pass, as he would well know.

Looking at him, no one ever thinks the amount of burden and pressure he carries. A chat with Ishant Sharma before he departed to play the u-19 World Cup in Malaysia in 2007 gave me an insight into Tendulkar.

“Everybody loves as well as respects him. He rarely gets angry and if he does, he tries to focus his anger on improving his game. Which other player in this age can do that?”

Indeed, who can?

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