India

Virender Sehwag: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Virender Sehwag Is An Old Man At 33

What he said (via Reuters):

"I’m very tired because I’m a 33-year-old. I’m an old man and my back and glutes are tight."

Virender Sehwag excuses himself from fielding after scoring an epic 219 in the fourth ODI against West Indies at Indore.

Sehwag said:

Everybody was expecting me to score a double hundred and I think I lived (up to the) expectation..

Whenever I wanted to hit a ball, I hit into the gaps and it went for four. Whenever I wanted to hit a six, I just tried to hit it with a straight bat.

I was telling myself and Gautam Gambhir that if we batted with a little patience, we could score a big one here.

Sehwag was grassed on 170 by his West Indian counterpart, Darren Sammy.

Sehwag said:

"When Sammy dropped my catch, I thought God is with me and God is telling me ‘just bat until 45th-46th over and you will achieve your 200’.”

What he really meant:

“Post this knock, I just have enough energy to sit on my a**—literally”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Next stop, the Mumbai marathon.”

Chris Gayle: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Chris Gayle Cannot Mask His Admiration

What he said (via Twitter):

“Well I did watch some of that innings by Viru…. Brilliant striking!! Congrats on ur 219.. That’s child abuse! The Mask would say, Smoking!”

Chris Gayle congratulates Virender Sehwag on his marauding knock in the fourth ODI against West Indies at Indore.

Sehwag’s double ton is the highest individual score in the 50 over format.

Sachin Tendulkar held the previous record having scored 200 against South Africa at Gwalior.

What he really meant:

“Viru, you’re toying with my teammates. Find kids your own size to beat up.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Viru, you interrupted my movie. Which one, you ask? The Mask, of course.”

Ishant Sharma: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Ishant Sharma Negates Team Australia’s Mind Games

What he said (via Espn Cricinfo):

“They (the Australians) are better at playing mind games than they are at playing the game.”

India pace spearhead Ishant Sharma has sensible words of advice for Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav for the upcoming tour of Australia.

Speaking to Mail Today, the lanky fast bowler expressed satisfaction with his performances this year. Sharma missed out on Team India’s ODI World Cup party.

Sharma said:

It has been a very good year for me. I am happy with my rhythm and pace. Even though I didn’t get wickets on some occasions, I am pleased with the way I have bowled this year.But the learning process never stops. Even someone like Sachin Tendulkar says he is still learning about the game after 22 years. So I am always learning to improve. For me, every day is a new day.

Sharma will lead the inexperienced Indian attack if Zaheer Khan does not fully recover from his ankle injury.

Sharma said:

Obviously, having Zaheer would be a huge bonus. But if he is not there, it would be an honour to lead the attack in Australia. It would be a great responsibility. Every fast bowler dreams of leading the attack for the country.Australia is going to be very exciting. But the key would be not to put pressure on yourself. If you keep thinking about results and wickets, it would only add to the pressure. So I would look to just enjoy myself. This time in Australia, patience will be the key.The thing is that Australian batsmen don’t like to be tied down and if you bowl patiently at them, you can pick wickets. So bowling tightly would be the best strategy.

Sharma looks forward to bowling in tandem with pace prospects, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron.

Sharma said:

Bowling with Umesh and Varun is quite exciting. They have the pace and the best thing is they are willing to learn. The more they bowl, they more will learn to exploit the conditions.

What he really meant:

“Cricket’s played more in the mind than anything else and ,boy, don’t the Aussies know it.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Sledge me if you can.”

Virender Sehwag: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Virender Sehwag Advises Against Advising Tailenders

What he said (via Times Of India):

“Whatever you tell No. 10 or No. 11, they always do what they want to do.”

Virender Sehwag is one relieved skipper.

Batting minnows, Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav, knocked off the required 11 runs to secure victory in the first ODI against West Indies at  Barabati Stadium, Cuttack.

Prior to the ODI series, the third Test match between the two sides ended in a thrilling draw with the scores tied. Then too, it was left to the tailenders to complete the job.

Sehwag said:

I was sitting in the same place and not moving! It’s good to win another nail-biter. Whatever you tell No. 10 or No. 11, they always do what they want to do. I just told them to play till the end and whatever happens is fine. Rohit and Jadeja batted really well in that partnership and we should have won it easily from there, but still good to end up winning. We hope to learn from our batting mistakes in the coming games.

Darren Sammy was the disappointed captain—again.

Sammy said:

Everytime you lose it is quite disappointing. We just didn’t have the last spark to take us past the finish line. The opening bowlers did well to give us a start and we fought all the way to the end, but it wasn’t enough. We could have done things differently, we even bowled 23 extras, but I would like to commend the boys. They fought with never-say-die spirit and it is going to stick.

What he really meant:

“When tailenders bat, they do what they want to and don’t want to, too.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Isn’t cricket a game of glorious uncertainties? So what if I’m missing fingernails?”

Abhinav Bindra: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Abhinav Bindra Is Really Serious About Getting Real

What he said:

“It’s time we got real. The concept of honorary posts is rubbish.”

Abhinav Bindra is no proponent of the status quo when it comes to Indian sports and its administrative bodies.

India’s only individual Olympic gold medallist continues his tirade against the satraps plaguing the system in an article in the Hindustan Times applauding Ajay Maken’s National Sports Federation (NSF) bill seeking accountability and transparency in the running of sports bodies.

[Bindra devoted a whole chapter in his autobiography,A Shot At History: My Obsessive Journey to Olympic Gold, to his experiences with Indian bureaucracy.

A sampling (via Deccan Chronicle):

The tone is patronising, the manner feudal, the atmosphere unwelcoming. I am their job, but I feel like their burden. These are bookkeepers, who look like they feel a physical pain in parting with money that is not really theirs, who have little understanding of sports yet will interrogate you suspiciously… It is humiliating, it is tiring.

]

Bindra writes:

Running sports is not a joke and instilling professionalism and passion is what we should be striving for. After all, the ultimate aim is to win medals at the highest level. Keeping aside personal glory, my Olympic gold is embarrassing when I look at the country’s history of participation in the Olympics!

Bindra is all for the provision seeking to limit tenure in administrative posts.

Bindra said:

“At age 70, priorities change. It is a stage in life when one likes to play with grandchildren rather than worry about athletes’ tickets and visa problems. Fair enough, but stop meddling in everything.”

What he really meant:

“There is no free lunch. It’s administrators who enjoy perks of office while they would have sports persons and the public believe that they are doing them and the country a favour by providing their services gratis. It’s just lunch money—from taxpayers.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Gold medals for our officials too when we win. How about that? Do I hear an aye?”

Ravi Rampaul: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Ravi Rampaul Plays Villain To Sachin Tendulkar’s Devils

What he said:

“I got the feeling that I was the villain as soon as Sachin went.”

Ravi Rampaul is anointed villain of the piece when the Indian first innings story in the third Test did not go per script.

Sachin Tendulkar missed his 100th international hundred (once again) caught behind for 94 off Rampaul.

The pacer’s  moment of joy was short-lived as the Wankhede crowd made their displeasure known.

Rampaul said:

I got the feeling that I was the villain as soon as Sachin went. When I was back to the boundary I got ‘abused’ in a way but that’s how cricket goes. I know I have let a lot of Sachin fans down and heart broken. But we can’t just let him go out there and play freely. We had our jobs to do such as he had his job to do.

What he really meant:

“If my job makes me enemy to the crowd, so be it. I play for my side.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Sachin’s my hero. I’d  never plan him out.”

Gautam Gambhir: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Gautam Gambhir Off Breaks Ravichandran Ashwin

What he said:

"There’s nothing to be heartbroken about.A bowler needs to bowl on every kind of wicket. A batsman never says he is heartbroken if it is a green top. They simply play on any wicket."

Gautam Gambhir is unsympathetic to Ravichandran Ashwin’s cause. The Tamil Nadu spinner lamented that the Wankhede pitch for the third Test against the Windies was unhelpful to spinners.

Gambhir added:

There will be many occasions where he will have to bowl on wickets that are more flat than this one. So there is no need to feel cheated.
It is a great challenge and everyone should try to accept it and get the best out of it.
That’s what Test cricket is all about. You don’t get a five-wicket haul or a hundred easily. You have to work hard for it.

The Delhi batsman believes that Ashwin is one for the long haul.

"He has taken two five-wicket hauls in this series and has a great future ahead.” said Gambhir.

What he really meant:

“Good for me ,nine times out of 10, wickets in India are batsmen friendly. I’d be groaning too if every pitch was Mohali.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Ashwin, I’d like to roll my arm over if you’re tired.”

Dow’s Fabric for London Olympics 2012: Is Lord Coe listening?

In August this year, I published an article making the case for Dow Chemicals’ disassociation from the 2012 London Olympics.

The chemicals giant is sponsoring an eco-friendly wrap over the London Games’ main stadium.

However, Dow fail to recognise their liability towards the victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy.

Dow are the owners of Union Carbide, the defendants in the class action suit filed by the Indian government on the behalf of disaster’s victims and survivors.

A letter addressed to the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has yet to be responded to.

Inertia reigns.

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India Cricket: Vinod Kambli’s allegations make him a pariah

Reactions to Vinod Kambli’s match-fixing allegations keep pouring in from all quarters.

Vaibhav Purandare, in a hard-hitting article for the Hindustan Times, points out that Mohammad Azharuddin’s comments deriding Kambli “are in poor taste.”

(The article is not available online—yet).

Though I am not in agreement with Purandare’s professed opinion on other topics (more about that later), I am in sync on this.

Kambli comes from a backward caste; he was unconventional, even Calypsonian, in his approach to the game.

He was once termed the only West Indian in the Indian side.

India Cricket: Vinod Kambli breaks down on national TV shattering fans’ illusions—again

Is Messr Vinod Kambli a liar?

Sachin Tendulkar’s schoolmate did a Kapil Dev on national television venting his angst at the perceived injustices done him by Indian selectors and pointing the finger of suspicion against his teammates for the 1996 World Cup semifinal debacle.

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