Till Death do us Apart ...

When I first had plans to start this blog, I had promised myself tht this would not have anything to do remotely with India's favorite game - Cricket!!!!. However the events over the last 2-3 days have coerced me into writing this blog.

Guess when it comes to brotherhood & brotherly relations, history would not have seen a better pair than the subcontinental gaints (In Cricket of course!!!) of India & Pakistan. Born out of the same motherland & with birthday's just a day apart, these two countries share a tumultous relationship with each other like two estranged brothers fighting it out over ancestral property (read Kashmir!)

The same has spilled over to Cricket. Participating in WORLD CUP 2007, India tipped as one of the contenders & Pakistan being tipped to reach the semifinals, Saturday's events came as a shock to the fans in both countries. Where Pakistan lost to lowly ranked (Do they have a rank??) Ireland, India lost to an effervescent Bangaldesh (another of their estranged brothers!!) & tipped the scales over. Pakistan find themselves out of the premier championship & India too face the daunting task of dropping out at the league stages itself. Even now as debates rage over how India will reach the Super 8's, the path is real tough. They have to rely upon their most favorite ally - NET RUN RATE (NRR) on which they have relied upon for ages together.
India have to win both their league matches against Bermuda & Sri Lanka & with huge margins. The latter is easier said than done. If this happens & Bangladesh & Srilanka go on to beat Bermuda which is a foregone conclusion, the three teams will be tied at 4 points & the NRR will decide upon which two go into the Super 8's. Guess Sri Lanka is sure to proceed. Tht leaves India & Bangladesh to decide on their fate.

Coming back to the India vs Bangladesh match, one can only take remedial measures which can be:

1. Ask Virender Sehwag to hone his skills by sending him to Timbaktu or some other far fetched land & put him on the first flight out of the Carribean. Maybe he can add to his skills & return as Captain of a team from Scandinavia or better may be coach of the Ireland team!!!

2. Hand a certain Mr. Ajit Agarkar the Pink Slip. Its been quite a few times that he has been handed a reprieve by the powers at the top. Innumerable comebacks have not made any dent into the mind of theis bowler bat or batsman bowler or still better a "Confused Cricketer". For a man who started his career in Indian cricket with a reputation of being a good batter & a bowler who could bowl at speeds of 140Kmph, reached a mile stone of being the fastest bowler in ODI's to take 50 wickets ( in 23 matches) which was incidentally overhauled by Saqlain Musthaq (He achieved this feat in 22 matches) a Pakistani, (brotherly love at it again !!!), a man who was labelled the next Kapil Dev the mantle of which presently lies with Irfan Pathan these days, a man who scored a Test Hundred at Lords, the Mecca of Cricket, Agarkar seems to have forgotten the art of batting which seems to have dropped out of his Kit bag many summers ago!!!!!
Now he himself believes that he is just a bowler who can bat a bit. Not tht his bowling has taken the opposition by storm. A wide/no ball, a full toss disdainfully dispatched to the boundary by the batsman, A straight drive for a single, a ball tanatalisingly close to the outside edge form the normal consitutents of an Agarkar over. At the end of 10 overs ( if he does bowl his full quota - GOD save Indian cricket on tht day!!!) Agarkar ineveitably ends with figures of 10 - 0 - 55 - 0.

Now, moving on to problems of the younger brother that is Pakistan, A country which similar to its cricket - flamboyant on one day & absolutely pathetic on the next, Pakistan Cricket has been besieged by problems with the death of the most favorite coach in the world Bob Woolmer being the high points in this sad story.

1. It all started with allegations in the press of Pakistan's ace fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar reportedly slappin Bob Woolmer. Videos of Shoaib pushing Bob are being splashed on news channels across the world today.
2. Then came news of Shoaib & another fast bowler - Mohammad Asif being involved in a dope scandal. The two tested positive for nandrolone when the ICC did a random sampling of urine samples of cricketers before the World Cup. This led to them being omitted from the list of 15 players making the cut to the World Cup squad. It also dealt a severe bolow to Pakistan's hopes of winning the World Cup.
3. Then came news of the players tiff with the manager of the squad & how certain decisions taken by the team management (Read Inzamam & Bob) were being criticised by former Pakistani cricketers.
4. The defeat against Ireland seemed to be the last straw since Ireland are a country playing their first World Cup & lack much match experience.
5. However this was not to be since the final coffin was hit with news of Coach Bob Woolmer being found dead in his hotel room on March 18, 2007 in mysterious circumstances. As per recent reports, the cause of death is yet to be ascertained.
6. In the meanwhile, news has just come in that Inzamam is retiring from International Cricket.

It seems Pakistan is being pulled deeper into the quagmire what with the political situation of the country showing a similar graph. Bush is now at loggerheads with Musharraf over the latter not agreeing to facilitate US troops landing on Pakistani soil in its war against terror.

All this can only tell us one thing. Indian Cricket & Coach Greg BEWARE!!!!. May the same fate not befell you.