Cricketing Diversity!

The recent Ranji Trophy triumph by the Karnataka cricket team was an awesome achievement for the young group. Even as the Indian National Team was receiving a pasting in New Zealand, the Karnataka team was making national news. What came out was that the team had excellent spirit and celebrated one another's success on and off the field. The mark of all successful teams. It was also interesting to see, Vinay Kumar, the captain who hails from the tiny town of Davengere, marshaling his troops with aplomb. Incidentally his father is an auto rickshaw driver who went through enormous sacrifice in letting his son pursue his cricketing dreams. However what was not evident was the diversity that this team had. A laundry list: Karun Nair - A Malyalee, Amit Verma - Ethnic UP, Manish Pandey - Ethnic UP, Shreyas Gopal - Tamil, Abhimanyu Mithun - Telugu, Stuart Binny - Anglo Indian, Abrar Kazi - Muslim, This is brilliant indeed and while the rest of the team may comprise native Kannadigas, the diversity is pleasing to see in an India that is starting to get increasingly connected.Bangalore is like a magnet that attracts the brightest and the best and is an extremely inclusive city. It is this that marks the city out as an outstanding one and causes it to be a beacon for the future. It is becoming increasingly evident that inclusive diversity is the path to the future and narrow parochial considerations have little space in a flat world.

The Quiet Bangalorean!

Two things struck me over the last week or so. The first being the fact that men in power clutch at anything and everything including straw when they fear they are drowning and two, the entertainment that the mundane provides.
Both have to do with the Indian cricket team’s performance in England and the recall of Rahul Dravid to the one day team after two years. It is not coincidental that India did not play top class teams abroad during this period and now that they are, performance clearly separates’ men from the boys.
While the cricketing pundits in India do not seem to be overly surprised, the man himself (Dravid) has since announced his retirement from pajama cricket, post the series for which he has been selected. He probably realizes that he will be jettisoned once the team returns to India and its flat tracks where the big boys with bigger endorsements will come out to murder hapless bowlers in the heat. He saved the selectors the trouble of dropping him.
Former India batter, Sanjay Manjerekar was at his best when he observed a few days ago that when people saw the God of cricket, Sachin Tendulkar when he was 14 years old there was no doubt that they were watching a genius in the making. Manjerekar later captained Rahul Dravid and says he never thought that Dravid would reach the heights that he has and the tough bloke that he has turned out to be. In short Dravid has over achieved.
In doing so he has shown us the importance of intelligence, dedication, simplicity, hard work and focus. Characteristics that never seem to go out of fashion, the size of endorsements not withstanding! You can also be certain that he will be there trying to keep the English bowlers out, while the Indian Institute of Management @ Ranchi, India, attempts to map beleaguered Indian captain M.S.Dhoni’s brain, to determine his leadership traits and style.
Slapstick and comedy are never in short supply.The probable reason why we smile amidst our daily chaos and silently salute quiet blokes like the Dravid's who keep us afloat!

Games- On & Off the field!

Mind games are intriguing and extremely effective. In sport, the Brits were past masters and effectively passed on the baton to their cousins the Australians.

It would go like this:

Prior to a cricketing tour to India, the British press, would start talking about, the poor hygiene in India, the lack of cricketing infrastructure, the poverty and so on. This would be followed by, comments that Indians could not play fast bowling and so on. The effect of this would be that the Indian cricketers, uncoached in this area would be on the defensive, even before the first ball was bowled.The battle was lost before it began! An old colonial stunt................

Dale Steyn, the South African quick, was at it the other day, just before, the Indians start their tour of SA. He said the Indians would have a problem, scoring against the South African fast bowlers. I was not surprised.

What surprised me was the Indian response...............because generally we absorb this nonsense. This time, the riposte came from 'The Wall', Rahul Dravid. He said, that the Indians had the necessary fire power, to return the complements and the Africans had better watch out.

Now it is intriguing that this response came from Dravid, because he is the quiet types. The silent types.He is also know the world over, as the 'thinker' and the strategist of the Indian team.When he speaks the opposition listens.In Dravid speaking, a few things have been communicated very clearly:

1. Stop the BS and walk your talk on the field.
2. Dale Steyn & Dravid are team mates for RCB in the IPL, even so............its war now.

Mind games while undesirable are part of the game and I'm glad we have learnt to play them, with finesse!