joie de vivre

In keeping with the theme of my tryst with destiny...oops, diseases every 15 months, here is the story of what can be euphemestically termed as "an experience which has made me mentally stronger". It started off with typhoid one fine March morning in the year of 2005; a severe bout of jaundice followed last year and then some disease last month too long (Say X) to be committed to memory. In hindsight, I don't know what afflicted me . Not to speak of the various bouts of fever, cold (common and not so common), amoebiosis and you will begin to get the picture of quite an exhaustive list.

Each one has been an 'enriching' and enjoyable period of time where I have had to do nothing sans eat, sleep and of course watch Liverpool get beaten. They have been ominous too for if jaundice struck me on my 20th birthday, my first surgery courtesy Mr. X happened "at the stroke of midnight" of my sister's 16th birthday as Nehru would put it. It has also enhanced my respect for the healthcare facilities in Varanasi. If jaundice made the docs feel that I was having a viral, Mr.X was diagnosed as a petty insect bite. If I were Sir Sunderlal, I wouldn't be visiting Sir Sunderlal Hospital any longer for personal healthcare.

Mr. X was the result of months of perseverance and sweat literally. It was some strange sort of fluid accumulation near my spine which didn't grant me the luxury of sitting, standing or sleeping. Life can be quite interesting in such situations when you spend considerable amount of time trying to optimize posture and pain. When the pain made me wonder whether it was an insect bite or an insect, I made the trivial mistake of visiting some King Edwards Memorial hospital in Mumbai during my Dussehra hols, a hospital which made me wonder whether we still lived in the days of colonialism. I have often believed that Government hospitals are hybrids between jails and asylums. You are held captive and finally you go insane. Much the same happened with me as I was operated upon without getting myself mentally prepared nor knowing about the status of the Liverpool game that night. Needless to say, the operation was an unqualified disaster and all it left me with was an ellipse with major axis far greater than the minor axis with a depth of 5 cms near the bottom of my spine. (I have been reading Geometry of late for CAT).

After two unsuccessful attempts in getting me to sit, my parents decided that home had to be the remedy for this. I didn't mind it too much for this meant that I was going to be able to fly business class at last though I was quite miffed at the choice of airlines.

I am still to fly by Kingfisher.

The flight was the most torturous two hours I had had. I wriggled myself into a ball on the seat and had at least 5 protective cushions. The menu was quite exotic but all I was supposed to have was 'cut fruits'. I tried hard to convince my parents that eating nothing constituted a significant drain of resources, but when pain becomes considerably greater than greed, you are forced to optimize better.

Trivandrum was funny because the doc felt that I didn't require any anaesthasia for my second surgery and I was smiling after my operation much to the dismay of my parents. I bet I woke up everyone in the hospital during that operation. Now this left me with a cuboid with length considerably greater than breadth and roundabout the same depth. Another week passed off in hospital in which I counted 103 injections when I was awake. Worse, the doc kept pulling my leg asking me to quantify my pain. My yells grew progressively shriller as a consequence.

Now, back to campus and the problems are much the same. Attendance, tests and assignments give me a feeling of deja vu. India and Liverpool continue to play poorly; Dravid continues to be treated badly and I am still lazy. But being able to stand, sit and sleep I guess is a considerable improvement. CAT has become an acronym for Come Another Time and I quite fancy my chances of becoming a medico if denied an engineering degree. My senses have dulled; my verbatim is just a fraction of my old self as you would have noticed throughout this post but I still for some inexplicable reason am back to my cheerful best. A word of thanks to all my friends who were with me through what was undoubtedly the toughest 20 days of my life. Meanwhile, I await my next tryst with destiny.

Getting Tagged!

This post was overdue for long courtesy my prodigal namesake (sorry for the cliche, mate) who was desperate to know me better as a person inspite of having spent the best part of 7 years together and had the gumption to tag me. So here are the rules of the tag:

1) Players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2) Players tagged should post these rules and the 8 facts.
3) Players should tag 8 other people and notify them about it.

So, here is an attempt at convincing everybody that I am as weird as it can get. If you didn't know already that is!

1. I am a person who likes to seek everybody's attention though I do put on a deliberate 'fabricated' air of modesty and humility. I hate to be photographed or caught on video. I guess I am not the first 'celeb' nor will I be the last one to have a similar approach.

2. My favourite pastime would be watching Tiger Woods playing golf. I follow all outdoor sport and my friends will second my claims to being a great sports analyst. My recent predictions include India winning the F-50 World Cup and bowing out in the first round of the T-20 World Cup :-) My dream job would be being a sports journalist and going by past record, would make a good fist of it.

3. The only species I hate giving me company are mosquitoes and ants. I don't mind cockroaches, lizards and even snakes and have a fetish towards stray dogs. A tradionalist who believes in the adage "Live and let live", I believe I would have taken to the Stone Age just like a hippo takes to water.

4. I am a bit of a chauvinist in that I do believe that I am right in all my thoughts and actions. Though a good listener, I do get worked up very quickly when there are some thoughts brandished about which are very much against my central beliefs.

5. I am very poor in handling relationships and social networks. My parents consider me to be the worst introvert in the household though my friends will tell you otherwise. I do form conclusive opinions about people quickly and am very shy when it comes to dealing with a peer group of the opposite sex, something I would attribute to my background of hailing from a boy's school :-( However, it has given me a committed friends group whose company I cherish a lot.

6. I take my reading very seriously and feel very uneasy if I have spent an entire day without learning something new or significant. This reading includes anything but my academic text-books which I shun religiously.

7. I try and enjoy every moment of the life I live and feel very bad if somebody is wronged even if I ain't remotely involved. I consent to most requests made to me and have this annoyingly irritating characteristic trait of being unable to say 'no' to anybody.

8. I like to stay lazy and hence rate myself as being very poor at executing. I generally conceptualise and strategise pretty well and have a pretty good idea about how things should be done. I can give a flawless lecture on how to bowl leg-spin but if you want to see how it is done, look elsewhere!

Vikalp, Ravi, Paddy, Rai, Gopal, Anish, Akshay and Anand...You are at the receiving end of the misfortune!

Democracy or Hypocrisy?

In a couple of days, India's finest sportsperson till date and its only undisputed World Champion will add another feather to his already well-celebrated hat and it won't occupy anything but a passing mention in the remotest corner of the print media.

Viswanathan Anand has done more to Indian chess than Sachin Tendulkar has done to Indian cricket. For a sport that had been the pastime of the intellectual elite in India, chess has gone from being a no-hoper to India's most realistic medal prospect at the Olympics whenever it does get included.

India were already World Champions before Sachin started playing competitive school cricket.

Vishy has been the epitome of anti-Indianism when it comes to sport. Consistency, big-match temperament and an unique humility that has never caught the eye of the millions who lined up Mumbai a couple of days back or the State Governments and the Private Sector whose actions bore greater resemblance to a bidding house than institutions responsible for social development.

One can't grudge the plaudits that have come the T-20 team's way. Sreesanth might have been compelled to go back to his dancing roots had he dropped that catch after an insipid bowling performance. With such stakes and pressure, the rewards have to be commensurate. But rewarding individuals in a team sport? Australia didn't reward Warne even after 700 test wickets. It is quite sad that this idol worship takes place just in India and Pakistan and it is reflected in the fact that neither team has never ever had a truly outstanding year in international cricket. How can there be camaraderie in the team when certain individuals are being openly favoured?

This game of one-upmanship between the State Governments in favour of individuals was anything but in the spirit of democracy. My esteem for Narendra Modi grew when he refused to reward the Pathan brothers, but our cursed democratic fabric allowed the Congress to attach ridiculous communal undertones that forced Mr. Modi to budge. It is a democracy where failed international cricketers become pundits and pour vitriol at the cricketers thus incensing the non-intellectual masses whose memory is shorter than the 'Gobbits'. Koneru Humpy, Sania Nehwal and the shooters take loans to fund their foreign travels and the babudom sees no travesty in this. Even the Marxists don't talk of an egalitarian society and the rights of the 'underprivileged' when it comes to cricketers.

The future of all this? Expect friction to grow between Yuvraj and Dhoni and see India plunge back to its mediocre depths (Read 1-6 against Australia) interspersed by individual brilliance. Sportspersons of the 'OBC ' (others but cricket) category are likely to go on more hunger strikes and we will be celebrating the democracy in all this since our society allows such individuals to have a platform to ask for other rights.

Meanwhile, far off in Madrid, Spain, a mild-mannered champion would be taking off his glasses and telling Aruna Anand, "What a hypocritic country!".

Interview Travails-II

Life of a dummy

Interview Bloopers

Interview Travails-I

Note: The above cartoon has been reproduced from other sources and is not original work.

Spoilt for Choice!

It is one of those phases in life where you are called upon to make one of those decisions which everybody; family, friends and even the guy you meet on the street insists will make or break your life. Rings a familiar echo? Choices were supposed to be made after school and college but in most of our case, deliberately ignored.

Physics states that flow happens from a region of higher potential to one of lower potential. It might have been the flow trajectory that carried us after our higher secondary through our engineering dreams and the inevitable coaching institutes and deposited us as sediment in this beloved abode. Physics also states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This inherent contradiction seems to be too far beyond our grasp; or are we letting things drift by choice?

The greatest civilizations were borne out of these sediments.

The point is are we still not mature enough to make that choice. My time back in the institute has been a far cry from what it used to be. Pay packages, eligibilities, interviews and current affairs have taken over from the uninhibitted joy and gay abundance that used to be available in unlimited quantities. Be it the girl on the street or a batting debacle, discussuions these days have veered towards the intellectual with etiquette given prime importance. There is an uneasy eeriness prevailing just like the calm before a storm.

My experience in HUL was a real eye-opener in more ways than one. It impressed upon me the importance of doing what I wanted and not to be carried by the current. I didn't quite enjoy my time over there and even though I ended up completing my project better than expected and ended up with a fair pay, I didn't leave the place all smiles. I might have delivered but I sure hadn't enjoyed the process. I did drop hints that I wasn't interested in one of the funniest interviews that I will ever come across. I don't think that I would have stood a miniscule of a chance even if I had been interested. Companies' recruitment mantras are simply incomprehensible though this is not intended to be a slight against anybody.

I am delighted with the end result and am proud of my choice even though I don't have the slightest idea as to what comes next. Uncertainty about other options is surely not a good enough reason to opt for superficial fulfilment.

With the placements coming up, here are a few aspects that I felt needed to be shared in making that 'choice':
1) Never shy away from taking decisions. You are the best judge of your abilities and if you can't take a decision about your life, you are going to be doing no better with decisions on wind turbines and distillation columns. Company standing is important but you always have better growth prospects in companies that aren't exactly the toast of the world. There is lots of work to be done in such organisations and it could just provide your pathway to glory.
2) One of the major problems faced by all industries is the attrition rate involved. People are less likely to do well what they don't enjoy doing. You might develop a thick skin now and talk about adapting and developing cross-cultural relations but performance has always been related to satisfaction and external pressure. Pressure might have got us through the initial years but at this stage, satisfaction will supercede pressure with all individuals.
3) Salary packages are exactly that- mere packages. Understand the work profile, development prospects economically and mentally besides compatibility. Company X might be offering you a few lacs less at this point of time but you might be earning more in a year's time. As my friend remarked, "Look at the larger picture. You will get to know the finer details".
4) Start exploring what you would want to do in life. We have been guided by fixed targets thus far like a JEE exam or a four year B.Tech. but now......? The very purpose of existence will cease to exist without those definitive targets.

The above might seem a load of the most sensible crap ever brandished but a year down the line, this could top the charts with most people. After all it is a question of 'to be or not to be'.

T-Raining Jobs

As I embark on one of the more significant assignments of my self-proclaimed professional career, here is wishing everyone good luck in all his/her training assignments. For some strange reason, the melancholy associated with parting has already befallen me after bidding all my seniors an emotional farewell. I have been through all this before in school but since 'we' were entering an exciting phase of our careers with the parting of a more temporary nature, it wasn't something that kept me down for long. I still keep in touch with all my classmates!

The reason why I am doing all this crap is because this is probably the most significant year in our lives (Haven't we heard that before? ). There must admittedly be some nervy people around wanting to crack a CAT, score well in a GRE, get a dream placement and some goddamnit who would just want to get placed. But in all their inner selfs, they would be wishing that college life could go on for ever with the little challenges that life throws up. I just wish all of them good luck especially the ones who have a chance of getting themselves placed by the end of these two months- the ones over at Ashok Leyland, Reliance, GE and Tata Steel. I have had some of my most rewarding moments and some real eye-openers in my life over the last three years and would honestly be the second person to be heart-broken if somebody's plans didn't fructify. I guess it is futile deliberating for 'as you sow so shall you reap'. But sentiments override sensible thoughts and despite all the heated exchanges I have had courtesy a bloated ego, my sense of importance or plain immaturity all I can conjure up is, "All the best, guys. You simply are the very best".

My first crush

Copyright Akshay Rajagopalan.All rights reserved throughout the world

Why India needs Greg Chappell..

A visionary without peers; an objective analyst without a semblance of a bias; a radical mind with an innovative approach...Greg Chappell in an honest appraisal in a soliloquy days before India left. Wouldn't India be better off with such clarity of thought???

Excerpts:

What makes a Cup-winning team?

It basically boils down to the fact that through my 50 or so years of experience of watching, playing, commentating, selecting, talking, living cricket, I have learnt that there are certain things that work, and certain things that don't work, and so we better focus on the things that do work.

So then that was the focus: we said if we wanted to build a team that had a chance at the World Cup, there were certain things that we had to do well - batting bowling and fielding being the basic components of the game.

But there also had to be belief - belief is very important. One of the things that the support staff and the coaching staff and the team management was very much focussed on over the last 20-odd months was that we had to build that belief.

"We didn't have a lot of time to waste"

You know, going back to whatever World Cup it was that Germany won in soccer, where they had this total football, Australia has worked towards total cricket and I think most teams have to build the flexibility, build the depth, have replacements for key players in place.

When we took over -- I talked about where we began -- Ian Frazer has been a very important part of what we have been doing here in India, and one of the reasons why, one of the... from the start is that his training and his bent, if you like, is in how can you train better, how can you develop more quickly... How can you change from doing it one way to doing it another way in the shortest possible time to get the most benefit. And with only 21 months from the time we started to this point, we didn't have a lot of time to waste.

"The best lessons have been when we've done badly"

So we sat down with Rahul Dravid when he took over as captain around July 2005 and we looked at what would the team that won the World Cup look like?

And so we looked at a whole range of things, all of the facets of fielding, batting and bowling. The team that wins the WC will be a good fielding team. The team that wins the WC will have flexibility and depth in batting, and it will have bowling that will also have flexibility and depth, and more than flexibility, you know, the mental creativity to be able to adjust.

So, with Kiran More as chairman, with Rahul Dravid as captain, and with the support staff, particularly Ian Frazer and myself, we sat down and we looked at the components. And each step along the way, we had to review - before each series, after each series, we sat down and said how are we going in regard to this blueprint. And funnily enough, laugh if you like, the best lessons have been when we've done badly.

"We've made mistakes..."

Following the West Indies tour last year was a great time to review where we were at. The Champions Trophy, the Malaysian series before that, they have all had good lessons for us, some of them quite painful lessons, but lessons we had to learn if we were going to get to the point to do well at the WC.

We had fixed views on the qualities that were necessary, but there was no fixed view that we had to have this player, we had to have that player. And we've made mistakes - again, you have to make mistakes to learn some lessons. None of this is a perfect science, development of people generally is not a perfect science. It is a combination of experiences that all come together to develop the individual.

We've had to take risks, we've had to put players under pressure, we've had to give them challenges that they have never had before, you know, if they only think the way they have thought before, then they'll do the things they've done before and they will get the results they got before.

Now in the West Indies, we saw things we hadn't seen prior to that. You know, we had that run of 20-odd games where we won 18 of 22 or whatever it was, including a world record of 17 chases. That didn't teach us as much as failing in the West Indies. We realized that we were in danger of going down the wrong path here, we need to rethink this and change direction.

"We couldn't afford to have fixed views..."

A cricket team is a work in progress at any stage. At no point can you say, right, this is it. We can't go to the World Cup and say, right, this is it, we've got the format to win us the World Cup. We will have to be flexible enough to change our attitude and our thinking on certain things at various stages during the World Cup. So we, the coaching staff had to be flexible enough to do that, the players had to be flexible enough to cope with.

And I think one of the big things, one of the big challenges for the coaching staff in the time that I've been here is that you know, I think certain players and certain segments of the media had fixed views about the roles for certain players. We couldn't afford to have those fixed views because otherwise, the team wasn't going to progress.

If you only look at wins and losses, and this is something we have had to do along the way, we have had to take the risk of losing a few games to gain some advancement, to be a better chance for when we came to the World Cup.

We threw the batting lineup around, because we had to find out which players had the capacity to cope with pressure, which players had the capacity to perform well in this role, you know, was he better placed to do a role in this position in the batting order or in this position? Was he better placed to bat early in the innings, later in the innings, or in the middle of the innings?

So if we didn't try the different combinations, we wouldn't know what we had got. We have had to risk losing games to get some answers, because you can't get those answers in the nets, you can't develop players in the nets.

You can do a lot towards developing them, but if they can't take those lessons from the nets to the middle, then you haven't advanced them at all. You know, some of the players haven't been happy at times, because it is not the roles that they felt they were best suited to, or that was best suited for them, but we had to find the best roles for the team for each of those individuals, and I think we are as close as we can get to having worked that out.

If two bowlers are best bowling at this period of the game against this type of opposition because they've got a lot of left handers, or they've got a lot of players who play spin well, or they've got players who are susceptible to pace, then we have to change the format of our bowling attack for that particular game.

If we go in and say that this guy is going to bowl at this particular stage of the game in every game, we won't do as well as if we prepare to change that depending on the conditions. And what we have tried to do is give ourselves back ups for key players.

"When we lost Yuvraj, it exposed us..."

And it was nothing to do with - probably the best example of how important players can be and their role in the team can be was when we lost Yuvraj. He was probably one of the best one day batsmen in the world at the point when he got injured. And he was a key component in that successful run of 18 wins. When we lost Yuvraj, it exposed us to what problems we really had.

On Rahul Dravid

So all of a sudden - no, not all of a sudden because we were already planning down that path, and Rahul Dravid has been heavily involved in this from day one; I mean, Rahul Dravid is the captain, we haven't done anything that Rahul hasn't supported, and rightly so because he is the captain, he is the man who has to go out there in the middle. And there have been times when he has said no, I don't think that is the best way to go, this is the best way to go, and that is fine, because again, he is the guy that takes the team out on the field, and as much as he has been criticized at various stages for not being his own man, he has been very strong at various points along the way, because if he is unhappy with the team that he has got, that is going to impact on his ability to lead that team.

But, you know, we've pushed him as well, from a captaincy point of view, you know -- he came into the captaincy without a great deal of experience, I mean, he captained India on a few occasions but it is different being the real captain to the stand-in captain - it's been a huge adjustment for him and I think he has done a fabulous job, to be honest.

His captaincy during that period of 18 wins had a big bearing on us winning those games. And he is learning all the time, he is trusting his instincts better and better all the time, you know, he has had a strong input - for instance, when we came back from the West Indies, one of the areas that we had to change, tackle, was we realized that those overs 20-40, maybe even 15-40 but particularly 20-40, are critical overs in the one day game as it stands today, with the three power plays, and particularly playing on wickets that are less true.

"Sehwag had been struggling at the top of the order"

So we looked at the personnel that we had. It didn't work very well for us in the West Indies, we didn't feel we had the right balance in the middle order for those middle overs, so we looked at who were the best personnel to do it.

We felt that there were overs where you needed power to go through the field rather than just going over the field, you had to have creativity; the one player that we identified during that stage was Virender Sewhag, as one guy who had that power, had that creativity. Sehwag had been struggling at the top of the order, so here was an opportunity to give him a new challenge and learn something about, from two aspects, learn something about batting in the middle overs because for most of his life he had been batting at the top of the order, but also understanding some of the difficulties of the guys batting in the middle order, so that even if he didn't eventually finish up being the man batting there, he would have a different perspective as an opener of how difficult it is for these guys in the middle overs, as the ball gets softer, as the field spreads - you know, it does become harder, and for him to have a proper understanding of that will make him a better opener...

It didn't quite work out because the one series where we wanted him to try out was the in Sri LankaWest Indies. Where we made the mistake was in going to Malaysia and deciding that ah hell, we are running out of time, we'll try it here. We tried Sehwag in the middle order in Malaysia. It wasn't the right type of wickets, it didn't work very well and we had to rethink it. I think maybe the Champions Trophy might have been a better time to have tried it but again, you know, it is difficult, we came into the Champions Trophy, we saw it as an important stepping stone for the world cup, and we perhaps missed an opportunity to keep our development process going. and that series got washed out. They were wickets that replicated a number of wickets we played on in the

We thought we'll go with what we've got, and we didn't do very well. Again, it was probably a good lesson for us. South Africa on top of that, South Africa was always going to be a tough tour

Without Yuvraj again, we were exposed in the middle order so again, it caused us to stop and rethink. And to Rahul's credit, I mean he has been fantastic through all of this, I mean he has been willing to be the one to go to the top of the order, go down the order, go wherever he has had to go for us to find out different things. I mean if leadership is not about leading by example then I don't know what it is, and Rahul's been very good in that respect.

So coming back from South Africa, we weren't sure still at that stage whether Yuvraj would be fit for the World Cup. So the one thing that we've been working the hardest on, we being the playing group and the coaching group, is to find a solution to our middle order if Yuvraj isn't fit.

Sehwag probably wasn't that comfortable with the idea of batting in the middle order; so we talked to Sachin about it. By this stage Sourav had come back, so that had given us another opening option and a very good opening option, because he has had a good record as an opener.

So we asked Sachin to try it. I think it is fair to say that he wasn't, you know, that he preferred to bat at the top of the order, but when we explained to him the reasons and the need from the team point of view, he was prepared to try it and I think he has done a wonderful job with it so far.

A lot of people look at Suresh Raina as a failure. I don't see it as a failure at all, in fact, the kid's got a lot of talent, and if you have a look at the stats on Cricinfo of the last couple of years in one day cricket, his record in partnerships, in different areas, has been fantastic. He has been a good cricketer for India in the past, unfortunately for him there wasn't room in the 15 for this World Cup.

The good news is that he was forced out by others that brought things to the group that we could use. You know, Robin Uthappa has been a godsend, that's not probably the word I would like to use, he's been a blessing for us anyway, you know, he's a good field, he's a good thinker, he's an impact player that we can use at the top of the order, so he gives us backup.

"Yuvraj is on the way back and ready"

So we were looking for backups for key players, Sachin has provided us some back up for Yuvraj. Thankfully, it looks like Yuvraj is on the way back and ready. Rahul coming down the order also gives us some flexibility in that middle order

At this stage, we've had the bonus - Yuvraj is back and he is looking good. Dinesh Karthik has been sort of misunderstood, the flexibility he brings to the group is slightly misunderstood. We - and I use the royal we, Rahul Dravid, Ian Frazer, the selection panel, myself and others are involved in it - we played a couple of trial games in Chennai before we went to Malaysia and Dinesh played in the opposition team and opened the batting and played a couple of brilliant innings.

So all of a sudden we saw him in a different light. We saw him as an obvious backup for Dhoni in the sense that we've got a wicket keeper, a designated wicket keeper, not having to again cast Dravid into the sort of role to give us the balance, and he has the flexibility to bat up the order or low down the order, and as we saw in Cape Town, he has a great temperament, and he can fit into the fielding side very well, so he is an all rounder.

"We put a lot of faith into Irfan"

You know we put a lot of faith into Irfan because of his all round status. The potential that he has to make a big difference to our group - and again, the flexibility; if we want to go with five bowlers, five specialist bowlers, he is the only one that gives us that flexibility because he can bat. And again he can bat at the top of the order, he can bat down the order.

You know, I think he is best suited as an impact player at the top of the order and that is how we've used him, and with some success. Nobody factored in that he would lose confidence and form with his bowling, but he's been through that before and he's come out of it, and who's to say that something on the lines of the World Cup isn't going to bring the best out of him, because one thing we've found with him is he's got an amazing temperament -- we threw him into roles in batting that challenged him enormously, and he came through nearly every time.

It's been a challenge; it's been an important part of the development process of the group to get them to understand. I mean, we broke them up into small groups, because leadership in the field is critical to the development of a team, and what we found was that in the meetings, the senior players spoke and no one else spoke, because of the hierarchical nature of India and all of that stuff.

Munaf's been a very important part of that development; Zaheer coming back in the form and the mindset that he has had has been fantastic. Harbhajan has done a wonderful job for us in the middle overs; we are getting better at bowling at the death though we can always get better with that - again, you know, we've tried different combinations and for different situations and different conditions we've got a bit more flexibility. If we could get more flexibility it would be great, and Irfan coming back into form would be an important part of that; it would give us a bit more flexibility.

But we've got Sehwag and we've got Sachin and Yuvraj and we've got three pretty useful, you know, Sourav is medium pace and we have got three useful spinning options, I mean, Sachin can bowl seam up if he needs to or he can bowl off spinners or he can bowl leg spinners or a combination - very clever. So I think again, we have the flexibility to allow us to play to our strengths, and that is all we can ask for.

The End

The carnival has begun!

A week in which I had the party of my life at The Ramada; a week in which Muckshay (Mr.Shell) complimented me twice for the content on my blog and then linked all this crap on his blog; a week in which my academic output touched a nadir and then the icing on the cake-The commencement of the IXth Cricket World Cup.

Even though the Opening Ceremony lacked the pomp and colour of the previous one in South Africa, the way of life in the Caribbean was captured impressively and as is the case with everything else associated with this World Cup, people were willing to accommodate all the little glitches for this is the place where the Calypso style took its roots.

The tournament got off to a cracking start with two evenly matched sides on one of the finest one-day wickets I have seen. West Indies outplayed and outclassed Pakistan courtesy the 'Dwaynes'. The performance convinced me even more that Brian Lara is the most under-rated captain in World Cricket and that the West Indies will go a long way as predicted in http://adidasaddict.blogspot.com/2007/03/world-cup-swat-west-indies.html

This is a side that understands its limitations and Lara demoting himself was not a defensive move as suggested but an aggressive one giving sufficient leeway to the prodigal Samuels and attractive Sarwan to dominate. Gayle's sudden propensity to get himself out within the first couple of overs should be rectified with the minnows up next. Even though the bowling is considered to be their achilles' heel, what one saw was nothing short of world-class. Powell, Taylor and Colleymore constitute a high quality combination of pace combined with swing and accuracy. They have options and variety in the form of Bravo, Smith, Gayle and Samuels and an astute captain. If West Indies are able to hold back Smith as effectively as they were able to do while batting against Pakistan, expect some carnage.

Pakistan surprised nobody with their performance and tactical ineptitude. They continue experimenting with their openers thus depriving themselves of some well needed depth in their cricket. Inzy batting down the order is a decision taken out of fear for he is one of the finest players of fast bowling going around. Younis Khan needs to open the innings along with the talented Hafeez who should be told to curb that rush of blood. That would mean Shoaib Malik doesn't always fight out a lost cause as has become the case. Azhar Mahmood could add some tooth to an attack short on penetration. Their bowling is at best disciplined with the outstanding Gul their only real wicket taker. Naved's selection is bemusing to say the least. Akmal bats as if he needs to head to the loo real quick and the less said about Pakistan and its fielding, the better.

India needs to take in some lessons from the Pak. match for its side is structurally very similar to the Pakistan one, admittedly with more spine in the batting department. The way West Indies were able to wriggle their way out of trouble against Kaneria and Hafeez (read Harbhajan and Sehwag) should serve a reminder to Dravid about the need to play Pathan be it as opener. Spinners the world over are no longer a major wicket taking force and Pathan bowling cutters and opening the innings would not be a very bad idea against Bermuda and Bangladesh. The Bangladesh game will be a close one and will be watched with great interest. India struggled against Samuels and Gayle the last time they were here and coupled with India's inability to deal with left arm spin of late, it will be interesting to see whether Tendulkar and Sehwag in the middle order can deal with the impressive left arm trio of Rafique, Razzak and Saqibul. Aftab and Ashraful are the two match winners with the bat and Harbhajan and co. will have a contest on hand. India should win a close encounter.

England continue to be nothing but an over hyped side with its contingent of coat and tie commentators inculcated in the MCG manuals and their defeat against New Zealand highlighted the lack of depth and quality in their cricket. Kenya will trouble them on a slow track as will Ireland trouble Pakistan on a quick Sabina Park track.

Snapshots of something by the name of Opulence

The stage is set (literally) !!

n
Short Nap Underway!

Hehe! Food up for grabs (FOR FREE)!!



We ain't too far behind!!




Mother of Big Arguments






"........with engineers let us have sex".

Does Kota get a quota here too??

MBA or not, too young to be marrying........





And the perception is that 4th yearites are a lazy lot!!






And some most photogenic faces !!

Leveraging the 'spotLIGHT' !

The magnum opus!!

And I thought Opulence was the Annual National Management blablabla

MANAGING with bare minimum necessities??

A house packed! Or shall we call it 'Kakared'??





Some are a bit hard to please.....

In NAPt attention!!




Even Prahlad Kakar goes around with 'Black Cats'!!






Czar of the War finalists
Prisoners of War???




Star-gazing for 50,000 in cash...

Czar of the War finals in progress




The Czar of the War
Anwesh (IBMT, Bangalore)

Brimming or rather Grinning with cash

Winding up....(yawn)

The Opulence report by co-convener Ravi Bansal

P.S. All characters appearing in the above work of art are partly fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living,dead or sleeping, is not entirely coincidental. The author disclaims any responsibility in case of copyright infringements or violations and has hence deliberately not included himself in any of the snapshots inspite of being the chief protagonist, planner, schemer and executionist par excellence of Opulence 2007.

The above was just a snapshot of Opulence 2007. In case you want the complete collection of Opulence 2007 photographs for free, mail the author at varun.adidas@gmail.com

* Shipping charges and service tax rates apply

The World Cup Swat- West Indies

WEST INDIES

Strengths: On paper, possess all the virtues of a good one-day unit: a free flowing top order; a stylish middle order; a dangerous lower order; a fine fielding unit and some attacking fast bowlers. Sarwan's return will supplement Lara, Samuels and Bravo. In Powell, Taylor, Colleymore and Bradshaw, the Caribbeans possess an attack that is penetrating but at the same time accurate.

Weaknesses: A long tail and an erratic wicketkeeper prone to rushes of blood. Inconsistency has been the bane of West Indies cricket with collapses having become routine. Very suspect temperament of the younger lot. Gayle, Sarwan and Samuels are not success stories against the best in the world.

Opportunities: Playing hosts. West Indies is unique for the conditions you get across the various grounds during different months of the year. First time international cricket is being played here so early in the season. With the spotlight on them, there is very little opportunity for players to wander into forbidden pastimes. Brian Charles Lara is in his last ODI series and he is special! An easy opener against a depleted Pakistan

Threats: Pressure of being hosts. A very demanding population. Likely to win their group emphatically and so complacency could creep in which is so typical of them. The curse on the host nation!

Counsel: Be ralaxed and enjoy the experience. Use Sarwan lower down the order and Ramdin higher up. Play just one of Taylor and Powell. Lara should come in no higher than 5.

Verdict: Their brand of cricket plus their familiarity should find them a spot in the semis. The pressure of the big situation will get to them after that. Expect Taylor and Samuels to establish themselves.

The World Cup Swat- Sri Lanka

SRI LANKA

Strengths: The islanders arrive into this tournament with a formidable top order, a solid middle order and an effective lower middle order. Jayasuriya, Tharanga and Sangakkara are in scintillating form. Murali makes Sri Lanka the only side in the tournament which can attack in the middle overs. A pair of promising quickies to boot. Can compete with the best in the field.

Weaknesses: Overseas record; the form of Attapattu and Jayawardene; a longish tail; a waning Chaminda Vaas and a couple of profligate fast bowlers.

Opportunities: The venue for the Group Matches, Trinidad resembles the Premadasa as far as nature of the pitch is concerned and should ease them into the tournament. Haven't locked horns with the major powers for some time which gives them scope to surprise.

Threats: India in the Group Stages who have had the Mickey on them of late. Their three major role players still nostalgic and overcome by the '96 experience. A good finish would please most.

Counsel: Assign roles to batsmen. Too many similar batsmen seeking identity in the middle order. Be selective with the bat. Attack with the ball and use Fernando and Malinga. Lay emphasis on wickets with Murali. Don't be the usual defensive self on the field.

Verdict: Will push hard but just miss out on the semis. Lack of ambition amongst many members of the team and a general easy going nature of team evident in India. A star will be born in the form of Upul Tharanga. Vaas, Atapattu and Jayasuriya will quit in unspectacular fashion.

The World Cup Swat- South Africa

SOUTH AFRICA

Strengths: A well oiled machinery and an impeccable fielding unit. Great depth in batting with effective finishers like Kemp, Boucher and Pollock to supplement the flair of Kallis, Gibbs and Smith. Fiery fast bowling unit.

Weaknesses: Suspect mental temperament and an unnerring ability to choke. Bowling attack one dimensional with negligible slow bowling options and a batting line-up that is vulnerable to high quality fast or spin bowling. A captain who loses his cool when the going gets tough.

Opportunities: The game against Australia could be the springboard for a great campaign. Have the best record in the Caribbean of all the teams. With boundaries likely to be at a premium, their fielding could shut teams out. Teams will be wary of the numero uno.

Threats: Sense of complacency. Their run in recent times has been at home where they are pretty much invincible. Seamer friendly conditions back home have blinded them of the lack of variety in their attack. A single defeat and it could all unravel.

Counsel: Hit the ground hard and aggressive. Try and dominate the opposition thus leveraging your opposition. Make others fear you and therein lies your best chance. Use Andrew Hall and Pollock judiciously with the old and new ball respectively. Kallis should bat at 3 and told to play aggressively.

Verdict: See them losing to Australia in the Group Stages and things going badly thereafter. Too much sameness in the bowling attack will see them clobbered by good batsmen. Top sides will sort their top order out. No semifinal berth.

The World Cup Swat- Pakistan

PAKISTAN

Strengths: A vastly experienced middle order with Younis, Yousuf and Inzamam besides Mr. Bang Bang, Afridi. Exciting young fast bowlers and a high quality leg-spin bowler in Kaneria.

Weaknesses: A top-order that excites none but the opposition; a prodigal wicket-keeper; a highly immobile fielding unit; a long tail and a bowling attack high on quality but very low on form. Akthar and Asif were touted to be the remedy for their ills but without them and that wily customer, Abdur Razzaq, their attack is pretty uni-dimensional.

Opportunities: Pakistan's cricketing history is replete with heroics when least expected and to call the current situation a crisis would be an understatement. Inzamam and Woolmer will find the squad easier to handle without Akthar. Inzy and Yousuf in the twilights of their career. Complacent opposition.

Threats: A tough opener against West Indies especially without Afridi. It could all go wrong from there. Expect some interesting comments by Akthar, Imran and Miandad to fuel the situation.

Counsel: Stick together and be aggressive with the bat but very disciplined with the ball. Cut out the flair play. Maintain a low profile.

Verdict: Difficult to see them make much of an impact. Just too many things weighed up against them. Super Eights is as far as they will get.

The World Cup Swat- New Zealand

NEW ZEALAND

Strengths: The most lethal fast bowler in the world, Shane Bond; a most consistent and effective lower middle order; the best spin bowler in world cricket; an astute captain; a great backroom staff but most importantly something quite foreign to New Zealand cricket- some top order batting of note. Like the Proteas, the Black Caps are quite out of this world when it comes to fielding and in Ross Taylor, they seem to have unearthed a gem. Watch out for the old firm in the form of McMillan and Styris.

Weaknesses: Abyssmal history of fitness. Shane Bond is odds on to break down and Jacob Oram might not be the same force irrespective of the number of fingers that he decides to bring along. Lack a central inspirational figure like Chris Cairns; have a poor record on slow tracks; and have very little ammunition in their bowling but for 007. A suspect top order and Kyle Mills' absence might hurt.

Opportunities: With England in the group, an opportunity to coast to the Super Eights. Unknown exciting commodities in the top order and with very few sides having depth in their bowling in one-day cricket, a batting line-up that runs deeper than the Pacific could drown a few teams.

Threats: Very few stand out batsmen or bowlers which could send them burying for cover in the face of quality. They don't go into this tournament as the 'usual' dark horses but as one of the leading contenders and hence, teams are unlikely to be complacent.

Counsel: You have got most things in order, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to play Patel, the off-spinner too, for very few teams do so. Don't play Bond against the minnows and build your campaign around Oram. Make more use of the power plays while batting.

Verdict: Would be a shock if they don't reach the semis and might just creep into the finals but shouldn't win. Rely too much on McCullum and Oram who aren't very effective against spin. Quality teams will take note.

The World Cup Swat- India

INDIA

Strengths: Possess the form batting order heading into the tournament. An assortment of contemporary greats, useful fast bowlers with the ability to strike early and high quality spinners; on paper, India look to be a major threat. Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Dhoni in the middle will supplement a dangerous top order; Munaf and co. will form a probing seam attack and Harbhajan will keep batsmen honest with his tweakers.

Weaknesses: An aged side coupled with Harbhajan's inability to bowl batsmen out means India will struggle in the middle overs. This will be the worst fielding side in the competition with only Pakistan and England for company; bowling at the death has also been an area of concern besides an unsettled opening combination. Question marks persist over Sehwag and Pathan.

Opportunities: The toughest group in tough batting conditions might prove to blessing in disguise. India's record over Sri Lanka has been exemplary and individuals desperate to prove their mettle might just make India an irresistable combination.

Threats: Individuals in the dusk of their career with a weight of achievements behind them. Side too pedigreed and succeptible to major shifts in form & performance. No major expectations within the squad.

Counsel: Forget Sehwag and Uthappa; think of Pathan to partner Ganguly and bowl cutters on the slow tracks. Think of Dhoni as an option in the top order while batting first. Get Kumble playing as second spinner as his intensity would be welcome in the middle overs when India get insipid.

Verdict: This is more of a gut feeling which cannot be rationalised. India look odds on favourite to reach the semi-finals after which individual masterclasses are going to win them the competition. A fitting riposte by Greg Chappell!!!

The World Cup Swat- England

ENGLAND

Strengths: For the first time in its history, England goes into a competition on the back of its batting. Bell, Pietersen, Collingwood and Flintoff represent a potent middle order. Flintoff is probably the best third seamer heading into the competition and Panesar has already established himself as an effective spinning option.

Weaknesses: A bowling attack comprising Lewis, Plunkett, Tremlett and Anderson shouldn't make many batsmen lose sleep especially on some of the placid tracks. A below par fielding unit and a succeptible top order plus a captain whose chances of turning up twice in a row is only slightly better tha England's chances of winning the tournament.

Opportunities: The easiest group in the tournament. Have traditionally done well against the Kiwis in one-day cricket and a victory could give them a directional impulse. Opponents might take England a bit too lightly.

Threats: The innate feeling in the side that test match cricket is more challenging. England's team is nothing but a motley crew whose primary idea of a World Cup is a good time in the Caribbean.

Counsel: Keep the beer cans out of bounds and have Michael Vaughan as non- playing captain.

Verdict: The Barmy Army will create more of a flutter than this English team. Will cause an upset or two courtesy Flintoff and Pietersen but the beaches are where you will find the English cricketers during the semi-finals. Duncan Fletcher will bow out with ignomity.

The World Cup Swat- Australia

AUSTRALIA

Strengths: The most versatile batting line-up in world cricket; an opportunistic fielding cordon and mental fortitude without parallels. With Ponting, Hussey, Symonds and Clarke, Australia can attack, slaughter and decimate. A bowling attack that can leave out the two best test match bowlers in the world speaks volumes of their depth. There is no evident weakness in this unit.

Weaknesses: The bowling attack wears a non-penetrative look in the absence of Brett Lee; Andrew Symonds is the most valuable one day cricketer in the world and question marks over him aren't bound to fill them with confidence. Lack of wicket taking slow options in the middle overs have seen Australia struggle to defend totals. Brad Hogg is short of match practice and Johnson and Bracken have petered away after impressive starts. They are no longer an intimidating force.

Opportunities: A victory against South Africa and Australia would be on its way. The format of the tournament gives Australia time to set its house in order. Australia don't particularly like losing and canalizing this anger could imply dire consequences for other teams. Ask England.

Threats: A difficult clash against South Africa in the Group Stages who have had the better of Australia in recent times. A loss there and teams are going to relish the challenge thereafter. Australia's big three rivals have had the better of them in recent times and they don't possess the aura about themselves any longer.

Counsel: Since bowling is your grey area, go in with the extra bowler which means that Shane Watson gets the nod for opening the innings ahead of Mattie Hayden. Bank on Tait and Hogg for Carribbean wickets are conducive to wrist spin and reverse swing. Chase when you win the toss and give the new cherry back to the 'Pigeon'- Glenn McGrath. Your most important match in the competition is South Africa in the Group Stages.

Verdict: Nobody is going to stop the Kangaroos from getting to the 'Last Four' but the absence of Brett Lee means that this won't be a third consecutive World Cup victory. Hussey, Ponting & McGrath will have huge tournaments whereas it is going to be no fairytale ending for Gilchrist and Hayden. Expect the next generation of cricketers to leave their stamp.

Building up to the World Cup

This promises to be the most intensely fought World Cup ever. The Pontings, Flemings, Dravids, Jayawardenes, Vaughans, Inzamams, Smiths and Laras of this world will their teams to do battle in this cricketing extravaganza. Will Ponting and company emulate the Windies and make it a hat-trick of World Cups or is the Australian supremacy a thing of the past?


Next up, a SWOT analysis of all the major pretenders.