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Garry Kasparov: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Garry Kasparov questions Anand’s predatory instincts.
English: Viswanathan Anand, world chess champion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What he said:
Lëtzebuergesch: De Garri Kasparow géint de Computerprogramm Deep Junior am Januar 2003. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
13th World Chess Champion and Chairman of the Human Rights Foundation Garry Kasparov believes that World Championship contender and former champion Viswanathan Anand is not the same opponent he defeated years ago to retain his crown.
What he really meant:
“Anand is not the Lightning Kid anymore. Not when it comes to playing Magnus Carlsen. He still has bite but has to play the waiting game, hoping his opponent takes the bait and is ensnared.”
What he definitely didn’t:
“Tiger Tiger burning bright,
On the chess boards of Sochi:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?(With apologies to William Blake).”
Stuart Clark: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Stuart Clark cares for Test cricket.
What he said:
“The Test series is big but at the end of the day if they do well in the World Cup no one will care about the Test series over there.”
Stuart Clark articulates what every dyed-in-the-wool Indian cricket fan openly admits—that recency and ODI wins count more than any overseas Test results.
The former Australian pacer said:
“I’d suggest India are very, very concerned about the World Cup.That’s a big thing in their cricket calendar, one-day cricket and the World Cup.”
On India’s performance after the first two Tests in England:
“But as soon as they moved to a wicket that did a little bit the white flags went up.”
Clark does not believe that Indian spinners will make a huge difference in the series against Australia Down Under.
He said:
“If India are going to come out and bowl spinners at us I think we’ll come out and smash them everywhere. They’re going to Brisbane first. Other than Shane Warne, no spinner has ever really done a lot there and been overly successful. In Adelaide they’ll be OK, but Sydney the last couple of years has been quite pace-friendly – it’s been carrying through and seamed around everywhere.
They’ll play Ashwin – he’s a good bowler in Indian conditions but I can’t see him being overly successful here.”
What Clark really meant:
“India are the ODI world champions after all. And their fans will not accept anything less than a stellar performance at the World Cup. The Test series? The guys were whitewashed 4-0 the last time around. Can they fare worse? Anything less would be a major improvement.”
What he definitely didn’t:
” But it’d be so nice to thoroughly demoralise the Indian batsmen going into the World Cup. Nothing like another whitewash to do the job.”
Teymur Rajabov: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Русский: Теймур Раджабов (Азербайджан) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Teymur Rajabov clocks in for Magnus Carlsen versus Viswanathan Anand.
What he said:
Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster Teymur Rajabov makes it obvious that he expects partisanship on the lines of nationality in the play-off in Sochi between current world champion Magnus Carlsen and title contender Viswanathan Anand. The former prodigy was commenting on the third game in the series that Anand won to level scores 1.5—1.5.
What Rajabov really meant:
“Time is relative. Indian fans are in a hurry to see their champion reinstated; the Norwegians (and Carlsen’s supporters) are none-too-keen. The winner always seems to have all the time in the world to make his moves; the loser none.”
English: Viswanathan Anand, world chess champion (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
What he definitely didn’t:
“I wonder if Carlsen’s clock is broken. Could we have cuckoo clocks instead for the players?”
Sanjay Manjrekar: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Sanjay Manjrekar perks up the Indian batting order.
What he said:
“Numbers 1, 2 and 3 in the batting order, in One-Day cricket in Asian batting conditions, is like travelling first class. You just get better perks.”
Sanjay Manjrekar makes it clear that most Indian pitches are so docile that batsmen at the top of the order are—for all purposes—handed free tickets to big scores.
The cricketer-turned-commentator was writing about Virat Kohli’s decision to promote Ambati Rayudu up the batting order in the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad. Rayudu made the best use of the conditions to notch up his maiden ODI century.
Manjrekar said:
“Now it must be said here, that there was no cricketing compulsion or logic for such a move.
As we discovered later, from Kohli’s post-match views, it was a move to basically give Rayudu the pleasure of batting in the top three against a moderate bowling attack in Indian conditions.”
He added:
“I thought this was a tremendously selfless move by Kohli the captain. I have seen many stalwarts of Indian cricket who never let go of such an opportunity , an opportunity to score some easy international runs. Virat, being the kind of player that he is, it was like saying `pass’ to an international hundred.He forsook his own hundred so that Rayudu could get his first one. What that has done is, it’s lifted Rayudu’s confidence sky-high. I don’t see him as a regular No. 3 for India, but whatever position he bats in now, he will be bursting with self-confidence.That’s what a 100 does to a batsman that a 50 or a 60 never does.”
What Manjrekar really meant:
“Numbers are very important in Indian cricket especially in Indian conditions. Get your eye in and you can bully your way to a flat-track century in the blink of an eye (if you are the cashing in kind).”
What he definitely didn’t:
“I shouldn’t be saying this. I was a No.3 batsman myself.”
Rahul Dravid: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Rahul Dravid relives a tale of Multani Mitti.
What he said:
“If I charged a penny for every time I was asked about the Multan declaration, I would be a multi-millionaire by now.”
Rahul Dravid responds to yet another query about the controversial declaration against Pakistan when he was the stand-in skipper that left Sachin Tendulkar stranded on 194. “The Wall” was present at the release of Sachin’s autobiography, “Playing it my way” together with Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman.
Rahul added:
“My greatest memory of that Test is asking Sachin to bowl the last over of the day after the declaration. He got Moin Khan out and he was visibly overjoyed because he was again doing what he did so many times – helping India win. We walked off as a team.”
What Dravid really meant:
“I’ve been asked this question so many times now that I ought to just pen an autobiography myself and put all questions to rest. I’m sure it’d sell at least a million copies.”
What he definitely didn’t:
“It was a collective decision; we knew Sachin was no Sehwag to bring up his double ton with a six.”
Sachin Tendulkar: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
English: Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar Wax Statue in Madame Tussauds London (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Sachin Tendulkar: The 100 percent man.
What he said:
“I think whatever things I knew 100 per cent I have revealed because I back up those things. But the things I am not aware of fully, it would be unwise to comment on those.”
Sachin Tendulkar refused to address match-fixing controversies in his much-awaited memoirs, ‘Playing It My Way’.
The Little Master clarified:
“I should have some evidence, I should know something in detail to talk about it because then it makes sense and it will be appreciated by people. But if I just start talking then it will not have any value.”
English: Mohammad Azharuddin Sangeeta Bijlani (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Mohammad Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and Nayan Mongia were summarily punished by the BCCI with bans of varying durations in the aftermath of the match-fixing scandal in the 90s.
Asked whether some players deliberately performed:
“No, I mean the guys fail, but who doesn’t fail in life, everyone fails. It would be unfair to just pinpoint at someone and say that he was under-performing, didn’t try his best, I can’t. I have played the sport for 24 years and failures do happen.”
On why he never took a stand on major issues:
“If you see in my book, issues on which people believed I should have taken a stand, the only things which I was 100 per cent sure of I stood for that in my book.
If you have read some of the articles I have expressed myself whole-heartedly but on things which were not first-hand information, it is unwise to do that, it is (like) a loose statement and I didn’t want to fire loose statements.”
“Difficult, because there were times I felt like talking. I felt like I should focus on my game because one article would be followed by another article and I didn’t want to get into that tangle. It was always wiser, I thought, that I follow up with bigger scores rather than better articles.”
English: Image of Australian cricketer Ian Chappell. Courtesy of the National Archive of Australia. The NAA has given permission for the image to be used under the GDFL license. Confirmation of this permission has been sent to the OTRS system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
On Ian Chappell’s comment that `Sachin should look at himself in the mirror‘:
“I don’t think much about him. I showed him the size of the mirror in the VB Series in 2007. He has got nothing do with Indian cricket. Sometimes I feel people are given too much importance.
I don’t want his sorry . But in Durban, in 2010, when I was working out in the gym, we just bumped into each other and he said, `This is the secret of your success.’ I said, `You have conveniently changed sides.’ “
What Tendulkar really meant:
“In life, unlike on the batting pitch, I have to be on a strong ton before I start playing my shots.”
What he definitely didn’t:
“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”
Greg Chappell: What he allegedly said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Greg Chappell is ringmaster to Sachin, the Lion.
What he allegedly said:
“Together, we could control Indian cricket for years.”
Sachin Tendulkar dropped a bombshell in his autobiography, “Playing it my way” charging former coach Greg Chappell with playing politics and plotting to depose Rahul Dravid from Team India’s leadership in 2007.
Extracts from the maestro’s memoirs were released by his publishers, Hachette India, to the Press Trust of India on Monday.
English: Sachin Tendulkar at Adelaide Oval (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Tendulkar wrote:
“Just months before the World Cup, Chappell had come to see me at home, and to my dismay, suggested that I should take over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid. I was surprised to hear the coach not showing the slightest amount of respect for the captain, with cricket’s biggest tournament just months away.
He stayed for a couple of hours, trying to convince me before finally leaving.
Sachin added:
“I suggested to the BCCI that the best option would be to keep Greg back in India and not send him with the team to the World Cup. That is not what happened, of course, and the 2007 campaign ended in disaster.”
On Chappell’s equation with the other senior pros:
“Chappell is on record as saying that he may have got the job be cause of Sourav but that did not mean he was going to do favours to Sourav for the rest of his life.
Frankly, Sourav is one of the best cricketers India has produced and he did not need favours from Chappell to be part of the team.
Chappell seemed intent on dropping all the older players and in the process damaged the harmony of the side. On one occasion, he asked VVS Laxman to consider opening the batting. Laxman politely turned him down, saying he had tried opening in the first half of his career because he was confused, but now he was settled in the middle order and Greg should consider him as a middle-order batsman.
Greg’s response stunned us all. He told Laxman he should be careful, be cause making a comeback at the age of thirty-two might not be easy.
In fact, I later found out that Greg had spoken to the BCCI about the need to remove the senior players, no doubt hoping to refresh the team.”
On Chappell’s love for the spotlight:
“I also remember that every time India won, Greg could be seen leading the team to the hotel or into the team bus, but every time India lost he would thrust the players in front. In general John and Gary always preferred to stay in the background, but Greg liked to be prominent in the media.”
Greg Chappell responded to Sachin’s allegations in a statement released to Cricket Australia.
Chappell said:
“Whilst I don’t propose to get into a war of words, I can state quite clearly that during my time as Indian coach I never contemplated Sachin replacing Rahul Dravid as captain. I was therefore very surprised to read the claims made in the book.
During those years, I only ever visited Sachin’s home once, and that was with our physio and assistant coach during Sachin’s rehabilitation from injury, at least 12 months’ earlier than what was reported in the book. We enjoyed a pleasant afternoon together but the subject of captaincy was never raised.”
English: Indian cricketer Rahul Dravid (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Rahul Dravid, in an interview to EspnCricinfo, said:
“I haven’t really read the excerpts of that book. Also I am not privy to any private conversation between two individuals. I have not heard about this before and I have no idea what happened and I would not want to make any comment.
It’s been a long time and it does not make much of a difference to me now.
Not looking forward towards reading this but yes anything that Sachin writes on batsmanship and things like what made him the best in the world. I am more interested in reading those parts.”
What Greg Chappell (allegedly) really meant:
“Allow me play kingmaker to the uncrowned king of Indian cricket.”
What he definitely didn’t:
“Cricket’s a team game and we should all work together to move Indian cricket forward.”
Deepika Padukone: What she said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Deepika Padukone is a sports lover, biopics or no biopics.
What she said:
“It’s nice that so many biopics are being made, and they are leading to more awareness. But why do we have to wait for a movie to learn more about the sportsperson or sport? It just shows that we don’t encourage our athletes enough.”
Bollywood actor, Deepika Padukone, feels that the big screen should not be the sole medium via which sports stars are lionised for the public.
Padukone said:
“If we start writing and talking about them early in their careers, it will be much easier to create awareness about various sports and their champions. Also, I feel the media has a huge part to play in making people aware of our champions. It’s not just cricket, we have so many other sports.”
Deepika is the daughter of former shuttler, Prakash Padukone, the first Indian player to win the All-England Open. He is widely rated India’s best male badminton player ever.
On the Mary Kom biopic:
“But people didn’t know who Mary was. Four-five years back, I think she was a three-time world champion. Now, she is four- or five-time world champion. So, when Priyanka (Chopra) did the film, I thought it would be great as everyone would get to know her.”
What she really meant:
“I’m not just a pretty face, you know. I have sporting genes. That I chose to become a model and actress instead is beside the point.”
What she definitely didn’t:
“Now if I’d only known that I wouldn’t have to wear prosthetic makeup for ‘Mary Kom’, I’d have done the picture in a blink of an eye.”
Virat Kohli: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Virat Kohli is not even remotely concerned about his batting form or technique.
What he said:
“Either they think I don’t deserve to be in the bad phase or they think I have a remote to score runs in every match.”
Standing in as skipper for MS Dhoni in the first three ODIs against Sri Lanka beginning today, Virat Kohli believes that his travails in England in the Tests was about lacking confidence against the moving ball rather than any failings in his time-tested technique.
Kohli answered his critics thus:
“Talks are for people to discuss. I mean there has to be something for people to talk about. I’m not really bothered.
I don’t know how I got 25 hundreds with the same technique, you can start a debate on that as well. I worked on my fitness. It’s not a nice thing to break down the whole batting when something has been working for you. Something that I’ve done is to work on my confidence a lot rather than going into technical stuff.
I don’t know why there’s been so much of hype about my bad phase. Either they think I don’t deserve to be in the bad phase or they think I have a remote to score runs in every match. I know what all I’ve learnt from that phase. I take everything normally, good or bad performance. It’s just a day in life.Yes there’re some things that I felt personally to work on. It’s just been a process to get my confidence back.
It’s much about mentally and not much about technique as otherwise you start spoiling your game.”
What he really meant:
“I’m quite disgruntled with my disgruntled fans. Do they think that Virat Kohli’s bat has a remote control switch that can be turned off and on at will and the runs will flow? Am I a run machine?”
What he definitely didn’t:
“I’m a confidence man.”
Yuvraj Singh: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t
Yuvraj Singh is healthily out of the Indian squad—for now.
What he said:
“Playing on one lung and playing on two lungs are completely different.”
Dashing left-hander Yuvraj Singh has never felt better in his life. The southpaw believes that he is currently at peak fitness.
Yuvraj said:
“I’ve trained quite hard. It’s been two years of hard work. I’ve never felt so good. I’m in much better shape than I was when I played the 2011 World Cup. I promise you that. Playing on one lung and playing on two lungs are completely different. As I said, I’ve given my comeback my best shot and I’ve never given up on anything. I have to keep fighting and keep believing in myself even when others don’t believe in me. That’s what I’ve always believed in.”
The 2011 World Cup man-of-the-series added:
“Of course, there is a possibility that I may never play for India again. I have considered that. But there is also the possibility that I might play for India again, and as long as I believe that I can come back and I have it in me, I’m going to keep pushing myself.”
On his recovery from lung cancer:
“This is definitely a second chance at life. Maybe I was destined to come back and play for India, and that’s why I’m still alive. I don’t know what the reasons are. There are times when I go to a YouWeCan event, I talk about cancer and awareness and early detection, which is important. But also, sometimes I do wish people understand that it’s also important for me to just focus on the game and playing it. When people come up to me and say ‘Oh Yuvi, what happened to you …’ and that kind of thing, I understand the emotion, and it’s great, but I also have to be positive and think about the future.”
What he said is what he meant.
What he definitely didn’t( Do we need this?):
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Make Time For Sports. 