Clarke and Morals: Extremely Contrasting Entities

I'm not usually into writing gossip, however, this one is about a cricketer whose batting I've liked. And the fact that the whole thing is crazy didn't stop me from publishing this post.
Anyway here's the story.

Michael Clarke has proposed to Lara Bingle with a diamond ring supposedly worth $100,000- an offer the famous swimsuit model just couldn't refuse. From the outset it looked like a wonderful romantic story.

A famous Australian starlet coveted by all and sundry (to say it the Aussie way) is conquered by one of the hottest Australian cricketer of recent times (believe me- Michael "Pup" Clarke's stocks are sky high at the moment- He is tipped to be the next Captain of Australia; his batting career on an upswing; the man who conjured up three wickets to bring a fantastic ending to a highly controversial yet ultimately series deciding Sydney Test against India- Michael Clarke is hot in Australia at the moment)

However, a little probing into the matter and I find its all back to Tinseltown. "All that glitters is not gold, matey" I hear a voice say.
Lara Bingle aint your beautiful, yet not available kind of girl, and Clarke is not the hard, yet good cricketer either.

Lara Bingle has been involved in hordes of controversies, one of which would shame any suitor even though her body looks hot (which she showed nude for all to see when she was just 18. She sued EMAP Australia for publishing those pictures and gaining undue publicity as they had been taken when she wasn't so "famous", or notorious I would say). She had had an affair with Brendan Felona, an Aussie Rules Footballer who marriage broke up when the affair became public. She was also the Face of Australian Tourism until she was removed from it unceremoniously and replaced by Bindi Irwin. She appeared as a bikini clad vixen in Fingal Bay for the famous "So where the bloody hell are you?" commercial for Australian Tourism and the parody of this Ad for 2006-07 Ashes series ad in another bikini, this time on a cricket pitch.

The future Aussie skipper is no saint either. He was been involved in various controversies that clouded the Sydney test, and not surprisingly all of them showed his immorality. How immoral could you get if you wed a girl who has already bedded another woman's husband, and that too publicly. Crazy I say!

So that way, they do make a pair, albeit a pair you wouldn't look up as a divine union, but an unholy one. However, it is not up to us to decide that- its their decision, and that is all that matters I guess. Period.

Australia goes all in... and loses!

The end of a long summer and India have never been fresher than ever. Instead of turning up in the airports as injured wrecks (both mentally and physically), they breeze into it like Gazelles ready for a race. Indeed the much touted tough land of Australia had been left whining while the Indians can chuckle.



From the most inauspicious of beginnings- a drubbing in the 1st test at Melbourne, and a heart-wrenching loss at Sydney that was scarred with controversies, they came back 180 degrees at Perth and made the Aussies tentative and hesitant to make moves in the 4th test and rounded off a great series. If not for the umpiring errors in the dreaded 2nd test, India could well have got a 1-1 or even a 2-1 result in their favor.



The Indians were considered tough opponents in tests- what with three consecutive series victories accompanied by Sachin, Sourav and Laxman stiking form, the emergence of Zaheer and RP Singh to form a strong pace attack, along with the evergreen Kumble's spin they always had a good chance to put up a fight.



But everyone knew that come the ODI series, and the Indians were in for a beating. After all, the Aussies had won the World Cup for the 3rd time in a row in the most facile manner just a few months before. And the fact that the T20 World Champions were crushed like peanuts by a Bulldozer at the one off T20 match at Melbourne didn't augur too well for India.



However, the fact that they came back strongly to finally pip Australia, actually beat them comprehensively in the Finals to win the gruelling CB Series was a fairy-tale turnaround.



India had a lot of positives to take from the tour- both from the tests and ODIs but sadly the Aussies were left with nothing but broken pride. In fact, they are now far from vulnerable- they are only as good as the next team (and by that I don't mean England or West Indies).



Lets look at what treasures the teams unearthed after this tour:

Australia: I'll start with Australia first as they have so little to show. Jacques flaws were exposed- he is a good batsman perhaps, but nowhere near Langer. His dream start of consecutive hundreds was cut short by a sobering slap into reality by the Indian bowling attack. Australia understood that replacing someone was going to be a tough job indeed. In fact, Jacques has so many batting errors that he might not actually fit the bill for an opener. He plays the horizontal bat shots well- the cut and the pull. But his sense of driving is not sound, and he definetely doesn't have the cool head of Langer.

With the loss of Gilchrist Australia find themselves having to rush Haddin into the Tests and ODIs which would be quite taxing on him. He wasn't particularly good in the series against India a few months back, and didnt get to play in the CB series. So he is an untested product.
With the loss of Hogg to retirement, and Mcgill to injury Australia find that hole left by Warne is biggest they would need to fill. Its so huge and gaping that you could send an elephant through it. And with indefinite suspension of Tait, Australia's bench strength doesn't look so strong as it seemed in the Sri Lankan tour.
Only Hopes seems a good prospect for the future, along with Johnson who is consistent. Lee is lethal, and perhaps the best bowler right now, but I wouldn't say he could be as deadly as Mcgrath. As for Bracken I cant think of him excelling in tests. His pace variation and cutters and smart bowling can only get him so far.

So suddenly, after all the raving about how the Australian domestic system produces the best players, and that Australian supremacy will last forever unless other nations adopt this domestic structure, we find that their bench strength is most thin!
So much for crying out loud! The heavier (in the head) they are, the harder they fall!

Part 2 follows- India unearthes riches.

Sane voices in a mental asylum

There's been a lot of bad blood between the two teams this season, unlike any other I've seen.
There have been instances of opposing teams not being the best of pals- recent examples being England-Australia, South Africa-Australia, Sri Lanka-Australia etc (noticed a trend didn't you?).

However, there has never been animosity between Australia and India- only respect, or even awe to great performers on either side. Harbhajan was not the obnoxious weed when Hayden toured in 2001, or 2005 (except perhaps when he kept picking his wicket!), and Symonds wasn't even in the fray to be provoked- he hadn't even established himself. (He's a weed who has taken root pretty recently). So there had been no problems for the Aussies with the Indians (of course, they are not absolutely in peace with anyone, but well...). And if at all there had been any, the media knew nothing about it, until this summer.

It has been one of the most controversial of the last decade. Something new springs up at every step. At the drop of the hat you have the media ready to gobble anything new to grossly magnify, prevaricate and "sell" to their eager ardent readers (of gossip).

At this juncture, Hayden's comment was entirely unwarranted. He knew the delicate state between the teams, and was it absolutely necessary to give a comment from the heart? It would have been better, and fitting in fact, had he hit Harbhajan for a few sixes and give vent to his feelings in the pitch.

Whether they do it unwittingly or as part of a strategy to incite and provoke the Indians, we may never know. The problem lies in the fact that the Australians are weeds who are unwilling to change. And the new Indian team, filled with hot blooded youngsters finds it hard to bite their teeth and tolerate such cocky behavior, like their illustrious peers, who kept the action on the field, and within cricketing limits. After all, the Aussies are the ones being beaten! So why should they be the arrogant brats! The whole idea of the Indians is ironical. They must just let the losers whine while the winners shine. Even the level headed Dhoni speaks about teaching the "art of sledging" to Indian youngsters, so that they may give the Aussies a taste of their own medicine.

They mustn't forget one thing-there can be good friendship between the members of these two teams, if they make an effort. Neither a (humbug of a) public apology (Not that anyone is willing to do that), nor will handshaking and hugging in front of the media would help amend relations.
Only shifting the attention wholly to cricket is the need of the hour.

Just look at the way the two great warhorses of either side- Lee and Sachin conduct themselves, and you have a ready made solution for this problem.
Lee had just sent in a life-threating beamer, of course unintended, and immediately apologized, Tendulkar started walking towards the leg side to regain his concentration (he was on 98 at that time); Lee walked further upto him and offered his hand and Tendulkar duly obliged by putting his arms into Lee's. Both were in smiles.

The apology was so truly genuine, and Sachin happy, even bemused at Lee's gesture. In fact, he wouldn't have called Lee "a bully" hadn't he persisted with the apology. Because both of them knew each other. It was a glorious moment. I must say each and every guilty party who watched that- the likes of Sreesanth, Harbhajan, Symonds, Hayden, etc. must have been shamed by the kind of friendship, kind of mutual respect these two have, the kind of friendship they could have only in the dreams of fans like us.

Not only that incident, these two have been far away from all this filth right from the start. In fact, Lee and Sachin are two names to come out of this untarnished, and that's a miracle, considering the way they have performed in this tour.
Both have excelled everybody in their respective departments, played hard competitive cricket, and duly respected the achievements of the opponents.

Whenever Lee sent a bouncer or a good ball that unsettled Tendulkar, he would nod his head acknowledging the good effort. And we all know Lee's felicitation of Sachin after the magnificient hundred in the Test at the same venue- Sydney, by patting Sachin on his helmet.
Why don't the players look at Sachin and Lee and learn from them, or why doesn't the media talk extensively about how such a friendship (the way it clinically dissects every controversial incident to the minutest detail) can stand unfettered by the fire that rages around them?

Fans like me who love Hayden's batting and Symonds all round skills, Bhajji's tweakers, and Sreesanth's fiery bowling can only dream of the day when Sreesanth would put his hands between Symond's.

Such a moment may not arrive at all, but if ever Bhajji and Hayden wanted to know what it is to play good cricket and chill off with your opponents after the game, they needn't look far- Lee and Sachin are having a drink (non-alcoholic perhaps, how would I know?) right beside their brawl.

The evolution of Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has been in the Indian for quite some time to be an easily recognised batsmen- much more than Manoj Tiwary, or Rohit Sharma. That in itself is reason enough that he is not a newbie or freshman anymore, and although he is still a youngster, one must understand that he has had enough opportunities to prove his worth, and he has come out of all the tests with improving performances. His heroics beside Sewhag in the T20 World Cup are now part of Indian folklore, but apart from that he has gotten not too many good innings to show to cement a place, and not too few to completely forsake him.
Although he has produced a brilliant hundred against Sri Lanka of recent, it doesn't tell us a lot about him.
Only his consistent performance (or not) in the series can have the final say.
Not to discourage or downsize the wonderful effort to rescue India beside his captain, one must understand that he hasn't solved his age-old problems in batting.
He still gets out LBW while playing across the line and still gets out (or comprehensively beaten) by fishing for the ball outside the off stump.
However, he has evolved from his early days. He is arguably one of the best players of spin in this side next only to Tendulkar. Dhoni, Sewhag and the others can negotiate spin well just like any Indian batsman can. But Gambhir's technique is solid- he uses his feet immaculately, while he cuts and pulls with ridiculous ease. His inside out shots are as good any you shall see in the international arena.
The way he picked Murali's doosra in the last game shows the kind of player he becomes when he is full of confidence- which he was after scoring an enterprising 70 (till then). His six off Malinga shows that he has the power to clear the ropes, which was sadly devoid of some Indian batsmen who have graced the stage.
It can be safely said that he is the best No.3 in this side. I'm absolutely sure that it is time to say goodbye for sure to Dravid- his slow accumulation has been a constant bane to the side, and with Gambhir now finding his destiny, India can forget those bad days.