The Evangelist

Award Swayamvar Finally, policy being twisted again to accommodate an award, this time highest honour “Bharat Ratna”. As if, no other sports person had contributed in the past which would catch the attention of policy makers. Basically, it’s the capability issue of awards selection committee. Nevertheless, change is a constant phenomenon but past sporting icons - Major Dhyan Chand, Kapil Dev, PT Usha, etc - cannot be ignored and the list is long before it reach, the obvious - Mr Tendulkar. Major Dyhan Chand died in 1979, Kapil Dev got the 1st World Cup in 1983 and today it’s been more than 2 decades people have started talking about including their names for the award.   Ideally, Sachin should be waiting at least till 2030. And why not, he is still going strong. What’s the hurry to give the award as sports is being included for consideration. Perhaps, Sachin’s 100 th century is delaying the announcement. Surely, it is a massive milestone to be at, but that’...

Lokpal Bill & Sports Bill has one similarity that individuals in power/position are out rightly opposing the inception. Establishment of transparency and being answerable seems to be denting their egos, as if corruption & creation of personal wealth thru public funds is their birth right. Apprehensive about keeping people informed those who unknowingly got them to the pedestal. 5 Cabinet ministers are associated with cricket are also not in favour of Sports Bill. Have they ever contemplated to be presidents of sports federations other than cricket and show some signs of improvement to the respective sport? Or are aware about technical, strategic aspect of the game on-field? It would be interesting to watch what creative improvements Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh would bring to Mumbai Cricket with his extensive experience.   The fact remains - Cricket is a success story, just get connected & enjoy. On the other hand, so far what has been done by Sports Ministry to promote C...

Sports have been making real great news since past one year. Be it Commonwealth games or Cricket or any other thru their respective sports associations. CWG once again hogged the limelight with all its justified massively escalated expenditures, featuring exceptionally talented personalities who have extensive experience in playing the game. Yoga and walking is also considered sports by few!! Well it’s about playing game to ones advantage and to win, for country/state/club or self. Facts show that priority is in reverse order, that perhaps stops at first point itself. Let’s analyze cwg & cricket recently unearthed equations in positivity. Games of high magnitude were hosted after 2.8 decades and one cannot predict when would be the next honour to host international multi-game event. So, by living in the moment, chance pe dance maar le. For personal luxuries India has supply of public money in abundance. While in cricket even if thoughts are fabricated thru commentators it’s ...

Lord’s. A special turf for every cricketer. On this ground, it’s not just victory but about HISTORY. Well, records are meant to be broken & history gets recreated. For this, most important is Preparation. Some good cricket had been played over past few days and with some men taking charge from forefront. Yet the control was & is with England, because they were looking well prepared. Consistency, systematic approach and a back-up plan were visible on the field, thus performance. As far as Team India is concerned, is there lack of motivation or individual performance surpassing team work? Or brand of the Ball making all the difference, I doubt!! Probably, the way product life cycle behaves, downswing has come!! Means innovative approach required as past glory is already history. Whatever it may “actually” be, it needs to be tackled, urgently.   Not long ago, when Kumble, Ganguly retired, with cricket still left in them irrespective of “hyped” age factor. Assumptions on...

The Evangelist: Power> Politics>Cricket : "Sports have been the buzz since past few months. Be it glory, game or shame (scams)! Cricket has been the favorite even after Delhi someho..."

Sports have been the buzz since past few months. Be it glory, game or shame (scams)! Cricket has been the favorite even after Delhi somehow manage to host XIX Commonwealth Games last year, which perhaps would not happen in next few decades.  There was a point when cricket (on & off the field) was taken forward by the champions & visionaries, as they saw potential of the game getting bigger with time and its commercial success attracted many more in the backdrop of the game to enjoy the benefits with hardly any contribution. Change being constant phenomena, IPL did a massive turnaround in commercial terms and getting glamour quotient to the forefront. Which created desires to enjoy the power of position, visibility thru the game and receive associated numerous tangible/non-tangible benefits. This leads to the thought sports & sportsman being secondary. Basically, piggyback Cricket to have time of your life. Ride on someone else’s success with next to nil contributio...