...Huma and her passion for sports

What makes actress Huma Qureshi's journey in Bollywood commendable is that she managed to make a mark despite not hailing from a filmi lineage or having a godfather to make the journey smoother.

Even when it comes to the field of sports, she has pledged her support to the IGCL - Indian Gramin Cricket League, a platform that aims to identify and focus on hidden athletic talent germinating in the corners of the country and bring to the fore, regardless of strata.

Huma reworked her schedule so as to attend the closing ceremony of the league in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. The IGCL was started by the government to promote, support and encourage cricket in rural areas. While Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt attended the opening ceremony, Huma was invited as the special guest for the closing ceremony.

Tendulkar attends Mirzya's special screening

(From left) Anjali Tendulkar, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Sachin Tendulkar and Saiyami Kher at a special screening of Mirzya in Mumbai. Also present were former Indian cricketers like Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar. Mirzya directed by Mehra stars Harshvardhan Kapoor and Saiyami in the lead.

When Madhavan bumped into a legend

Actor R Madhavan is an avid golfer, but never did he dream that the game would facilitate a meeting with his idol former cricketer Kapil Dev. The Bollywood/Southern star bumped into the cricketing legend during a golf match in Pune recently. Madhavan had his fan boy moment when the legend posed for a picture with him  

Behind the stumps, Indian cricket is in a pair of safe hands

Eden Gardens, October 1, 2016: Wriddhiman Saha scores an unbeaten 54 against New Zealand at a time when his team was under pressure.

Nagpur, 2010: Saha's stumps are tumbled by a South African bowling legend called Dale Steyn in his debut innings and eyebrows are raised. Yes, the Siliguri guy is lucky to have earned his Test cap because Rohit Sharma is injured. And mind you, Saha doesn't even keep wickets on his debut because the prestigious place behind the stumps is occupied by the Indian captain MS Dhoni.  In the second innings of the Test, Saha stands his ground scoring a fighting 36 off 101 balls giving ample support to his skipper, Dhoni.

In the presence of Dhoni, Saha had to prolong his wait to make his entry into the Indian team. Despite his heroics with the bat in the shorter versions of the game (IPL final in 2014 among many), he was never taken seriously at the international level. Despite experts showering praises on him and his skills behind the stumps, Saha had to cool his heels on the sidelines. An out-of-the-blue retirement of Dhoni from the five-day-format in Australia in 2014, and the selection committee didn't have to look beyond the Bengal wicket-keeper to replace a legend. Even when Dhoni was at his peak, many experts felt that the best wicket-keeper in India was Saha and not the legend.

Since then, Saha has not only earned the confidence of his skipper Virat Kohli, he has also given us reasons enough to repose our faith in him not just as a wicket-keeper, but also as a batsman down the order who can be looked to under crisis. The world of cricket has seen legendary figures excelling behind the stumps as well as with the bat: Syed Kirmani, Alan Knott, Wasim Bari, Rodney Marsh, Bob Taylor, Kumar Sangakkara, Moin Khan, MS Dhoni, Adam Gilchrist, to name a few. These guys were not only dependable as wicket-keepers but also contributed with the willow as well. And going by Saha's career graph so far, it is a given that he is slowly and steadily embarking on a successful journey as a cricketer.

His 60 against Sri Lanka at Galle (2015), 56 against Sri Lanka at Colombo (2015), 104 against West Indies at Gros Islet (2016) and the unbeaten 54 against New Zealand on his home ground, Kolkata only bear testimony to the fact that here's a wicket-keeper who means business with the bat as well.

Before the emergence of Dhoni, if India had one stable pair of hands behind the stumps and a dependable batsman in the middle-order in both Tests and ODIs, post the Kiran More era, it was Nayan Mongia. In between, India has experimented with wicket-keepers like Syed Saba Karim, Vijay Yadav, Samir Dighe, Deep Dasgupta (also from Bengal), Vijay Dahiya, Parthiv Patel, Dinesh Karthik, MSK Prasad and probably some others (names not worth remembering), but none could cement his place be it in any format of the game. Even Rahul  Dravid was entrusted with the responsibility of handling business behind the stumps in ODIs. But the guy from Ranchi changed it all and ruled Indian cricket as a Test cricketer till 2014 and continues to make an impact in the One-day Internationals and T20s.

But Saha courtesy Dhoni's retirement from Tests, has had a chance to prove his worth as a reliable wicket-keeper-batsman. And he hasn't let this opportunity go wasted. With an impressive record both as a wicket-keeper and a batsman, the cool and sober guy from Bengal can actually aim at replacing Dhoni in the truncated versions of the game as well once the latter calls it a day. And there's hardly any competition apart from Naman Ojha. Even in the modified versions, Saha is not to be ignored keeping in mind his deceptive aggression as a batsman that can take any world-class bowler by surprise.

Though it's too early to say that Dhoni isn't missed in Test matches, what we can harp on is that Saha is here to stay and despite being 31, he at least has five-six years of cricket left in him. Dedication and commitment personify him and let's put our money on him.

As a Bengali this writer may sound biased, but this piece is from an earnest observer of the game and not a proud Bengali.   

These guys exude the zeal to take on the world

Seeing MS Dhoni's boys almost snatching victory from the jaws of defeat against a rejuvenated West Indian side in the first T20 International at Florida was no doubt a pleasant experience. Yes, Dhoni, the finisher may have failed to hit the wining run, but let's not forget that in the 20-over format, chasing such a mammoth total of 245 isn't child's play.

Quite expectedly, experts didn't mine words while castigating Captain Cool and even foreseeing his retirement from international cricket advising him to pass on the mantle to Test skipper Virat Kohli. But amid, the volley of salvos directed at Dhoni, one misses the silver lining emanating from the courageous loss.

Team India is here to stay. Team India has it in it to tear apart any bowling attack in all the formats of the game. Team India shows the zeal not to give up, come what may. Looking back, there's hardly an instance when India braved all odds to come so close to victory chasing such a humongous total. Before the Florida encounter, India's highest total chasing was 211 with a target of 207 against Sri Lanka at Mohali in 2009.

But things have changed and thanks to the increasing number of T20 games played all over the world, there's a lot of aggression that players display, be it in bowling or batting. A Chris Gayle scores tons at ease. Kohli makes it a habit of notching up high scores. The likes of Rohit Sharma, Fa duPlessis and AB de Villiers are superstars in the shortest version of the game. In this context, India's rise in T20s augurs well for the future of the game in the country. These boys do not crumble under pressure and dare to take the game right down to the wire irrespective of the opponents.

India's run chase against the Caribbeans is also a proof of the results the Indian Premier League (IPL) yield.
Written off as just a more-than-a month circus by the conservative critics, IPL has won more brickbats than bouquets. But it's the IPL that brought into the limelight a KL Rahul, earlier ruled out from the T20 format for being a strokeless genius. Rahul's century and his partnerships with Rohit and MS in the first T20 last Saturday cement his place in the side for the time being at the expense of the inconsistent Shikhar Dhawan.

Talking about Captain Cool and his captaincy, it would be unfair on our part to write his cricketing obituary in the wake of India's series loss to West Indies. Little can a captain do when his bowlers and the best in business are hammered and slaughtered by two young batsmen. It was one bad day for the bowlers in the park from both sides. But, it's the Indian bowlers who bounced back in the second match dismissing their opponents for 143. Unfortunately the rain Gods played foul and the match was abandoned handing India a series defeat.

On the leadership front in the modified versions of the game, one sees nothing wrong at this point of time though Kohli is breathing around MS's neck. The current ODI and T20 skipper hasn't lost any of his qualities, both as a leader and a player. Beyond bowling and batting, it's the never-say-die spirit of the Men in Blue on the field that captures one's fancy.

These young guns are raring to go and led by a senior pro with an impeccable record, we are on course. On the Test front, Kohli has emerged as the ideal successor to MS leading his side to victory in the Test series against the Windies. And with a veteran like Anil Kumble playing the role of a mentor and coach, both Kohli and Dhoni are laying the foundation for a successful journey for Indian cricket.

 So, let's wind up on a positive note. Team India has arrived after a process of transition. The likes of Gavaskars, Gangulys and Tendulkars would be cherishing the emergence of a young side ready to take on the world.

We can't afford another Chappell, can we?

When Greg Chappell quit his job after the disastrous World Cup campaign in 2007, he cited personal reasons. Yet, there were stories that in his internal report to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), he questioned the loyalty of some senior cricketers (mainly Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly).

The Chappell episode or to elaborate his stint with the Indian cricket team as its coach, will be etched in our memories for all the wrong reasons. True, he didn’t get along well with Ganguly and most senior cricketers including Tendulkar. But the ultimate victim was Indian cricket.

In Chappell’s case it was ego and his ambition to have the final say that did him in. He was lucky to have an obedient captain in Rahul Dravid who let the former work on his ‘vision for Indian cricket.’ But the Chappell-Dravid era threw more off-the field tales than on-the-field which added grist to gossip mills that all was not well within the team. Ask any cricketer who played under his coaching, rest assured hardly a word of appreciation for the former Aussie great will greet you.

As the date for the selection of Team India’s new coach draws closer, BCCI needs to have a look at the past and then decide on the name. Captaining and coaching the Indian cricket team are the most arduous jobs in the country apart from the Indian Prime Minister’s. With constant media vigilance and the passion associated with the game, grey hairs are an inevitable by the time one calls it a day.

It’s important that the coach knows where to draw the line. By meddling in everything in the team, he only draws his own nemesis. What Chappell did, his predecessor John Wright didn’t, neither did the former’s successor Gary Kirsten. Both Wright and Kirsten knew what was expected of them and commanded immense respect from the players. Though Wright was more vocal than Kirsten, yet the former developed a great working relationship with the then captain Ganguly. Kirsten on the other hand hardly spoke to the media and concentrated on his job. He brought to Indian cricket a breath of fresh air that was missing during the Chappell era.

When one says, never cross the line, he harps on the importance of sharing of responsibilities that the coach and the skipper need to follow. The job of a coach is to train the boys and advise the skipper on the shape his players are in. Yes, he is part of the team management, but a coach can never ever impose his thoughts on the team something which Chappell did. At the same time Indian cricket will ill-afford another Duncan Fletcher whose baffling ways did more harm to Indian cricket than good.

Both Wright and Kirsten were accomplished cricketers during their days, but never did they coerce their boys into emulating their feats. They played to the strength and weakness of their players and shared excellent rapport with superstars like Dravid, Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, MS Dhoni and Ganguly as well as newcomers (during Wright’s days) like Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan and others.

BCCI president Anurag Thakur stresses on the knowledge of Hindi as one of the criteria to be India’s next coach while the Indian skipper in the truncated versions, Dhoni is of the view that the coach should understand the diversity of Indian cultures. It’s not a question of the language barrier, but the latter which should be of foremost importance. In Virat Kohli and Dhoni, the country has two leaders who earn utmost confidence from juniors and seniors alike. Both are great team-men with impeccable leadership qualities and adept at handling adversities.

It is here that the next Indian coach’s role becomes crucial. Going by the stature Kohli and Dhoni enjoy, the next coach must not be over assertive. He shouldn't intervene unless required. A good coach should know that it’s the captain who calls the shots on the field and not him.

Coaching Australia or England is far easier than coaching a team on the sub-continent where the passion runs high. Coach-captain fall-outs are a common feature in India and Pakistan.

As Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman get ready to go through the rigorous process to pick the next Indian coach they need to look into this aspect before choosing the man for the coveted job. It doesn’t matter whether he is from India or abroad, a healthy equation with the skipper and the rest of the team is what will guide Team India to greater heights in the future.

“I am your elder brother who is with you through thick and thin,” let these be the assuring words from the next coach to his boys. We can’t afford another Chappell.

The Virat show

As a Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fan, you prayed he was dismissed early. But on May 16, 2016 at the Eden Gardens your prayers were not supposed to be paid heed to. The reason is simple: a twenty-something guy was at his best smothering the KKR attack to take his team home. But is it really unnatural of Virat Kohli to single-handedly take the responsibility on behalf of his team? Time and again he has proved his worth as a match-winner under the worst of situations.

You may dislike him for his exaggerated aggression, you may hate him for the expletives he hurls at his opponents, but if you are a cricket fanatic, you have to acknowledge the gifted cricketer Virat is. Give him any kind of track, he will emerge out of it unscathed. Look at his perseverance: he is oblivious of the word “give up.” No matter how tough the circumstances are, Virat will never let you down. After ages (yes even keeping in mind the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly & MS Dhoni), here comes an Indian batsman who dominates bowlers at ease. Yes, he is in a different league. The very sight of Virat walking down to bat, makes millions shed pessimism and crave for success.

Be it for India or Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), Virat means business. His relentless determination to get his team home in all forms of the game has made him a bigger match-winner than even Dhoni. If Tendulkar got the team off to a flying start, it was left to the rest to take the team over the finishing line. But here’s a cricketer who doesn’t believe in doing his bit and leaving the finishing job to his teammates. “If you have been given a responsibility, discharge it fully,” is Virat’s mantra.

World cricket has seen monsters like Viv Richards, Javed Miandad, Krish Srikkanth, Virender Sehwag, Chris Gayle among others. These are batsmen who hated leaving an inch to bowlers, but with due respect, none of them displayed the brilliance Virat does. In terms of technique, you hardly find a fault in him. And following the manual, he adapts to the changing circumstances.

The immaturity is gone. Yes, the aggression remains, but it is complemented by sheer guts to live up to the toughest of challenges. And this is what makes the Delhi boy special. Forget the statistics, just look at the way he handles adversities both on and off the field and comes up trumps.

Yes, it’s a one-man-show or to put it differently a VK show. Come let’s enjoy it even if he is playing against your favourite side. Troll his girl-friend! Blame his love life for the occasional mishaps, but Virat is not the one to throw his hands in despair.

A true champion and an icon!

Thanks Azzu for the memories

“Those who saw this supreme batting artist at his peak will never forget him - sinewy wrists transforming a slender piece of willow into a magician's wand,” is how cricinfo.com begins its profile on him. One couldn’t have asked for a better introduction. That’s Mohammed Azharuddin for you. When the term class in Indian batting was confined to Sunil Gavaskar in the mid-80s, arrived the lanky Hyderabadi who combined elegance and aggression to stamp his authority on bowlers.

While watching the trailers of Azharuddin’s biopic Azhar that releases this Friday, one is pleasantly hit by a bout of nostalgia. An illustrious career that was brought to an abrupt end after the match-fixing allegations surfaced, the former Indian captain’s legacy though can never be forgotten. Somebody who has grown up watching Azhar’s skills with the bat would admit he was in a different league.

If David Gower’s England faced Azhar’s brilliance in 1984, it was Javed Miandad’s Pakistan which witnessed his craftsmanship at Melbourne in the Benson & Hedges World Championship in February 1985. Thanks to Azhar’s match-winning partnership with his captain Gavaskar, India weathered the initial storm unleashed on it by Imran Khan to romp home. India maintained an unbeaten streak to eventually win the trophy --- a much-needed impetus the team needed after losing the Test series to Gower’s England.

Azhar in his early days was compared to GR Vishwanath, the legendary former Indian cricketer whose prowess over his wrists is still talked about. But Azhar carved a niche of his own despite the comparisons.

His love affair with the Eden Gardens where he played his first Test is part of history. With three tons in his first three Test matches, Azhar had announced his arrival. Recall some of his memorable knocks in the five-day format---- 179 against England at Manchester (1990), 106 against Australia at Adelaide (1992), 109 against South Africa at Eden Gardens (1996) and 115 against South Africa at Cape Town (1997) remain special. Many wouldn’t know that he also scored a hundred in his last Test match (99th) at Bengaluru in 2000 against the Proteas. Sad, he was denied the chance of playing his 100th Test match.

In One-day internationals (ODIs) the stylish right-hander’s  average of 36.92 may not justify his talent, but his attacking batting has been an asset for his team on several occasions. He had the distinction of making the fastest ODI ton when he hammered a 62-ball hundred against New Zealand in 1988. Who can forget his 93 against Australia in the 1992 World Cup at Brisbane though for a lost cause?  With 22 tons in 99 Tests and 7 in 334 ODIs, Azhar’s achievements cannot be put on the backburner.

As a captain, his statistics are ordinary as compared to Sourav Ganguly’s or MS Dhoni’s, especially in Tests. Nevertheless as a leader he has served Indian cricket in his unique way. An Indian whitewash against Graham Gooch’s England in 1993 after the disastrous tour to South Africa brought Indian cricket back on track. Azhar also led India to the Hero Cup win in 1993. He spotted a match-winner in Anil Kumble who has won innumerable matches for India. It was under Azhar’s captaincy that Sachin Tendulkar took the first step towards greatness and Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made their Test debuts. Javagal Srinath became the leader of the Indian pace battery under the watchful eyes of Azhar.

We talk of Ganguly’s Team India’s historic Test series win over Steve Waugh’s Australia in 2001, but we are almost oblivious to Azhar’s boys beating Mark Taylor’s Aussies in 1998. True, Azhar may not have tasted much of a success as a captain abroad, but he still remains the only Indian to lead India in three consecutive World Cups (1992, 1996 and 1999). His record of 14 Test victories at the helm was broken by Ganguly.
Beyond bating and captaincy, Azhar changed the face of Indian fielding. What former Indian captain MAK Pataudi conceived, Azhar, himself being an outstanding fielder, transformed it to practice.

And yes, he also brought attitude to Indian cricket. The collars up, a style Azhar had emulated from his idol and another cricketing great, the late ML Jaisimha, also from Hyderabad. Azhar’s fashion statement has been the talk-of-the-town.

True the match-fixing scar on the maestro will be difficult to erase. The Andhra Pradesh High Court may have removed the ban imposed on Azhar by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), but he has lost the trust of many of his fans and former teammates. Tendulkar’s two tenures as a skipper were reportedly spoiled frequently by Azhar’s lack of commitment and the distance between the two has only grown over the years. But even Tendulkar wouldn’t turn a blind eye to Azhar’s class as a cricketer. Ask VVS Laxman (also from Hyderabad) and he would have the answer. The impeccable wrist work is a legacy that Laxman inherited from his fellow Hyderabadi.

As senior sports journalist Rohit Brijnath had once written, “Much of what is said about Mohammad Azharuddin is true and a lot is not. But where myth met reality was hard to say, for he was hardly willing, or able it seemed, to bare his soul. For a so-called “simple” fellow, a defining term in his young days, he would become the most complex of cricketing creatures.”

A captain who never hesitated to gift the costliest of watches to his teammates, it’s shocking that he allegedly shunned ethics for money. Azhar has never ever given his side of the story. Perhaps his biopic will divulge many secrets.  Even if he is at a fault, he has faced hardships as well--- dropped from the team after 99 Test matches, two divorces and sad demise of his son. But he stands tall. From our side, we can only say, “Shukriya miyan for the memories. You are an inspiration despite the controversies.”

End of an era? Fingers crossed

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly wants the selectors to take a call on Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “Does he have the ability in the next four years to see India into the World Cup in 2019?” Ganguly asked. Is The Prince of Calcutta the only one raising questions about Dhoni’s future? No way! Going by the Indian limited-over captain’s recent run of form in the Indian Premier League (2016), there are others who don’t see Dhoni carrying on for long.

Megastars feel the heat after a prolonged run of success. Look around, and you get the answer. Be it a film star or a cricketer, a time comes when critics cash in on the slightest of opportunities to write their obituary.
Dhoni who carries the reputation of being the world’s best finisher seems to be a pale shadow of the superstar he was. As he fails to take Rising Pune Supergiants (RPS) home against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Tuesday, May 10, even a Dhoni fanatic might reconcile to the fact that he is entering the twilight zone of his career.

Of late, the best finisher in the world hasn’t been in his own self be it as a captain or a player. As of now he has 212 runs in 10 innings at an average of 30.28 in the IPL. Bowlers he would have toyed with in the past are getting the better of him. The age-old ploy to drag the game to the last over is not paying off. With 8 losses in 11 games, RPS’ hopes of a play-off berth are smashed.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say Dhoni got a long rope. After the 7-0 loss to England and Australia in 2011-12 under his captaincy, any other skipper would have been fired. Yet, Dhoni got away thanks to his Godfather N Srinivasan who was helming the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).  As per reports selectors wanted Virat Kohli to take over, but it was vetoed by Srinivasan. And nobody dared to question the BCCI president.

Not too much to boast in Test matches after the 7-0 mishap, Dhoni sparkled occasionally in the truncated versions of the game till late 2015. Defeat to South Africa in the One-day and T20 Internationals at home and drubbing at the hands of Australia in the ODI series earned him flak, but the T20 series win Down Under and the Asia Cup triumph courtesy Kohli’s one-man show added to the list of India’s victories under Dhoni.

However, post India’s semi-final loss to West Indies in the ICC T20 World Cup, there are speculations that the person who got India two World Cups might be counting his days in international cricket.

The IPL, 2016 would have been the perfect occasion for Dhoni to prove his critics wrong. But with his team being out of contention, the worrying signs on his face are visible. Kohli who took charge as the Indian Test captain after Dhoni's retirement from the five-day format, is in the form of his life. Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), the team Kohli leads in the IPL isn’t out of reckonings yet and even if it fails to make it to the play-offs, Kohli’s acumen as a leader shouldn’t be written off. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Kohli, the captain has come of age. He shows aggression and has the ability to carry the entire team on his own shoulders, something he has proved over and over again.

A genius like Dhoni is born once-in-a-blue moon. True, the former ticket collector’s rise to the top is a rags-to-riches story. But Mahi as he is nicknamed should introspect lest he throws himself at the sympathy of experts and cricket fans. Knowing him, he can still pull off a miracle or two, but for the first time in his career, Dhoni is looking vulnerable and helpless. The fire in the belly may still be there, but one dreads the sight of India’s most successful captain being forced to hang up his boots. Doesn't he deserve to go on his own terms?

Samuel Ferris must have been wondering whether he committed a sin by asking Dhoni about his retirement plans after India’s exit from the T20 World Cup. But more than a month down the line, he must be smiling sitting back in his room. By the way, who is Ferris? He is the Australian journalist who was ‘casually’ confronted by Dhoni for mooting the ‘all-important’ question.