Coffee with Javagal Srinath

What has the former Indian cricket pace spearhead Javagal Srinath got to do with Magma Design Automation? Well, let's just say it's personal. So, if you happen to work in a company where one of the Directors' (Ramesh Javagal) turns out to be the cousin of this charismatic pace bowler, you get this unique chance to have coffee with Javagal Srinath himself.

My chance was on the 6th of January this year, when at around 3pm the man himself strolled into the Magma office, wearing a peach coloured shirt with folded sleeves and a dark grey trouser, along with his cousin Ramesh and a few other friends I couldn't recognize. He signed into the visitors' register and was lead straight to the cafeteria where he waited for the rest of us to gather. He was offered a cup of Magma's delicious hand-made filter coffee and he stood on one side and answered the plethora of questions that were thrown on him.

Q: Can you comment on the state of Indian cricket today? We have now lost 6 test matches in a row on foreign soil?

JS: "Well, I can't say much from here. But I guess the coach and captain know what needs to be done. They have to keep working harder and harder I guess."

Q: How come India is not able to produce good fast bowlers over the years?

JS: "You all know that the wickets here are quite flat and suit spin bowling more. Also, the criteria for getting into any team is to make runs or take wickets. As fast bowlers, if you can't take wickets there is no use. So, the general tendency is for everyone to prefer spin over pace."

Q: Then how come you stuck to fast bowling?

JS: "Fast bowling was always my passion. I somehow, didn't want to change. I frankly didn't care much about selection. I used to just go and work hard on my bowling."

Q: How come Pakistan is able to produce fast bowlers? They also have flat wickets?

JS: "Actually, I think in Pakistan the fast bowlers all come from the Punjab region. And I must not be saying this, but over there the young crickets have no brains (there was grinn on his face)....they don't care about anything else. Simply run in and bowl."

Q: Why can't we have bouncy pitches in India?

JS: "Actually it's easier said than done. Even if we create bouncy pitches, because of the weather and other factors, the pitch will not sustain and go back to being flat. Not many ground staff are willing to experiment with the pitch that they have. Think of why Australia or South-Africa do not have flat spinning wickets like we have here in India?"

Q: What about bowlers' fitness? Why can't our bowlers bowl at 140kms/hr regularly?

JS: "Again, it's go to do with pitches. You can keep bowling on Indian pitches and you will get nothing, so coaches will only give you short spells and spinners get to bowl 10 - 15 overs. I guess one thing we need to do is to encourage our younger players to go play county cricket. We all saw how Zaheer Khan has changed. That should definetely help."

Q: You are now part of cricket Administration in KSCA? Why can't you bring about such changes?

JS: (laughs)...."It's easier said than done.....there is lot of politics and political pressure involved. Even I am learning of all this now. But I am going to try my best to see how I can change things."

Q: What is your take on match-fixing?

JS: (again laughs)...."I can't tell you more then what you all have read in the papers. But yes, it happened and all those who were involved are being punished."

Q: Who are the cricketers you most respected?

JS: (thinks for a while) "I must say Wasim Akram. It was a pleasure to play against him. I think he is one of the best fast bowlers I have come across. And ofcourse, I had the pleasure to play with Sachin in the team."

Q: How is Sachin as a cricketer?

JS: "Ohh, he is very aggressive. I mean he will not punch his fist like Yuvraj or dance like Bhajji (with a grinn), but he enjoys the victories as more than them. He works very very hard and puts in a lot of effort in the nets - batting, bowling or fielding. I mean...his passion for cricket can't be simply explained, but all I can say is he has worked really really hard to become what he is today."

Q: How come you retired early?

JS: "Fitness I guess (laughs). I wanted to retire much earlier, but dada held me back. But I bowled a very bad spell once and then decided it's time for me to go." (smiles again)

Q: How difficult was it for you to take up cricket as a career?

JS: "Ahh....very very difficult. I think we have to blame ourselves for it. It is the society pressure more than anything else. My father supported me, but there is always a tendency for comparisons to be made with peers right."

He then looked at his cousin and continued, "I remember after every semester exam of my engineering, my mother would say....see how Ramesh gets better marks!!" (there was a loud laugh in the cafeteria)

He continued jokingly, "I also remember that when I used to get less marks, I would tell my mother that I was concentrating on my cricket and if I played badly in any match I would tell the coach that I was concentrating on my studies!" (another loud laugh)

We didn't realize that almost an hour had passed by and he excused himself saying that he had to to go else where to meet somebody but promised to try and come back whenever possible.

Before he left though, he waited patiently as almost everyone posed for a picture with him. I wasn't to be left out there - 

Those of you who have seen me, can see the comparison. He easily stands at 6'1" and is quite broad shouldered even now, after retirement. More importantly, he comes across as an absolute gentleman who is firmly grounded inspite of being India's premier fast bowler at one point of time.

- Prasan 'Dundee' Shanbhag

Kingfisher Cup Twenty20 - December 25th

Summarizing the 25th Dec Pre QF match. Excited to write since it was a thriller. Also we had promised Ajay and co that we win this match as a new year gift :) Secondly winning a friendly challenge with Pinky :)

  Hot sunny afternoon, Kaushik went for the toss - unfortunate we lost the toss and fortunate enough to end up batting first :)

   Highlight of our Innings was 52 not out from Bayana, He is perfect middle order bat,just loved his reverse sweeps. Yadav got 42, UP Ajay 20's and me 25 - unfortunate run out with Bayana hitting straight into the stumps :( We made descent 159. 

 First 6 overs belonged to us, Sujith bowled well with the new ball. However HSBC lost only one wicket. The score was 58/1.

  Little complacency creeped in at this stage as the target was way ahead. Slowly but surely HSBC were getting their act together and we were sloppy in the field. Lot of runs leaked between 6 and 13 overs. Last 7 overs they required around 70 runs. The opener still there well set. Every over there was a short ball and sent over the boundary with ease.

 Next 3 overs same story, dropped catches, mis fielding. I myself had a bad day with keeping - had left a Sujith wide ball for a boundary.

  One example of sloppy stuff was Ball hit to Long off and Shashi misses the catch  - if he wouldn't move, ball would have landed comfortably in his hand :) Yadav who was getting irritated all this while saw this and threatened to walk off the field. One thing we had to control was not to shout at each other , made us look silly in front of opposition. We had a talk to Yadav and Kaushik rightly gave few suggestions to Mr. coach :)

   Come 16th over - the game seemed to be slipping away, but somewhere deep inside there was a thought which said 160 on this ground cant be chased easily. Anil who had dropped a catch(again there was a fight for that :)) in earlier over in short fine leg was pushed back to the boundary in long off position. 4 overs and HSBC needed 36 runs with 7 wickets in hand. First ball goes to a boundary uff :( Looked like there are no fielders in the ground - runs all over.

  The next ball hit high and hard and guess what Anil is at long off. I think it was a do or die situation, If Anil takes catch we still had a chance if not its gone. Ball soared high and my heart was thumping for some reason i thought Anil will do a miracle and guess what he did it :) I think one of the fantastic catch he has taken till date - Ajay would be proud of it i guess :)

  We were into final three,18 balls and my thoughts on answering Pinky and Ajay - i felt bad but not down :) Yadav who was expensive till now bowled a half tracker - dispatched for a six. Hopes shattered - its only 15 runs of 12 balls. It was clearly HSBC game - any team would win from here - with 6 wickets remaining.

 There is a small gathering, Shashi had bowled 16th over and he was difficult to pick. Keeping helps to access who bowls well. I wanted Shashi to bowl and there was opposition for that from everyone :)  Yadav was clearly frustrated and i knew that if we lose from here, Yadav may have lots to say :) I believe Yadav and Kaushik spoke that the match was over once Shashi had the ball :).

  In comes Shashi and the field we had discussed well before the match and the end from where he would bowl, he was bowling from the end where it was difficult to hit on leg since it was a bigger boundary and there was grass cover for the ball not to roll over. The first ball - the flighted one batsman swings and misses the ball is as slow as goods train :)
Next ball batsman gets frustrated and takes a step forward and misses it - Stumped :) another ball - Sujith takes a brilliant catch - yo Sujith - he says he never drops catches in matches :) - I am sure he has heard this from someone :)

 Shashi concedes 2 runs only( wides) and takes 3 wickets. Next Over Bayana concedes only 4 runs. Day belonged to Shashi. Man did he rock - he changed the match and won it for us. He won the man of the match - not seen a happier Shashi till date :)

  Men of the Day - Shashi for excellent Bowling, Anil for the catch of the day, Sujith for great opening spell and the catch, Bayana for steering the Innings - excellent batting

 A great day a great game - day to remember.




Man of the match,

Match highlight in Hindu paper

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-sports/article2753698.ece


Thanks,
Umesh

Vth Division - week of 17th December - 2011

As UMI mentioned it was indeed a great weekend.

We had a great start to league match. Below are the highlights.

Match: Venue: Jnankshi VidhyaPeeth : Opponents : Caravan 11

1. As usual lost and toss and we were put into bat, which we always want as our strength is batting.
 
2. After lot of thought we decided to open batting with swashbuckling opener Dipu and a snail pace batsman Balaji. Their partnership for 75runs proved a match winning partnership as we didn't lose a wicket till 16overs. 
 
3. Balaji continued to hold one end and we kept scoring runs at 4.5runs per over which we thought will take the score to 250 odd runs.
 
4. In between we kept losing wickets but finally we scored 244 runs in 50 overs quota. This is the first time we played full quota. That's an achievement.
 
5. Fast bowling was always a concern and we didn't had any experience bowler to start with. After a lot of thought we decided to open with Sujit and Sanjay.
 
6. Sujit's spell with new ball was an exception. Turn, bounce, good slip catching and backed by very good fielding reduced opponent to 32/6 in 7overs.
 
7. Balaji provided good support to Sujit along with Sanjay...
 
7. We thought we can wind up the match very soon, but lower order started hitting and as ground was small even mishits were going for sixes.
 
8. After a bit of struggle we made them all out for 170 and first win was registered by Palar...Indeed a great start to League....

Man of the Match : Sujit for his outstanding bowling.

week of 17th December - 2011

Match 2 : Practice : Match against Samridhi - we lost against them in ICA :

1. Rakhi opened batting and made quickfire 36, I missed out on 100 and scored 78

2. Admire Ajay's Passion for cricket/Batting :). He drove all the way from Palace grounds to ABR to play a game. He is Mr. Celebrity now however, i heard that Mandira has found a new Fan in Ajay :)

3. We Scored decent 190 of 25 overs

4. Catch of the match - the first one traveled like a bullet and guess what - Shashi takes a stunner in slips - rolls on the ground :)

5. The opponents were cruising along well - 120 for 2 of 12 overs and needed only 71 of 13 overs. 

6. Ball got older and when we batted it seemed difficult to hit the slow ball. Here comes in the nail cutter Shashi - wicket after wicket in each of his over. Believe me it was deceptive bowling. Shashi was the man of the match with 5 wickets and he took the crucial wicket of a well set half centurion :) Shashi and Rahul will do great Job when the ball is old.

   It was a remarkable week end and for few it would be last matches for the year 2011. I think we played some great cricket. 2012 we will rock :)

Happy new year - 2012

Thanks,
Umesh

Week of 17th December - 2011- Shriram Giants

Match 1 : Venue : HMT Watch Factory : Opponents : 2nd Division Jupiters

1.  One of the best catches i have seen from long time - Rakhi took a catch which many would be proud at international level, a one handed catch in third man position. Guys you would have rocked in the PMC sierra party but nothing breath taking compared to our party :). There was similar catch after a while - Rakhi Rocks :)

2. Mr. Dependable, Ajay took 4 wickets in quick succession - a lost toss paid off. Ajay was in hurry and pressure works wonders, he wanted to bat for sometime before rushing to an event. This is hypothetical, I know Ajay will not agree on the pressure part :) His bowling line and length was impeccable

3. Arun hit the scoring runs, one cover drive we will never forget the winning moment - we all ran to ground like a bunch of crazy kids :), nothing is more satisfying than hitting victory run for the team - Yo Arun!!!

4. Time for some self pat :) - When i went into bat we were looking down, 40/4 or something. We fought hard, but i couldn't finish the game. This has been a problem for me from sometime - I hope to be the finisher someday :)

5. Balaji went into bat when we needed 15 of 18 balls, and he hit a four took off the pressure. We had a good lower middle order in Balaji and Arun to finish it off

   The difference was the catches, we did not miss a single catch and other team missed couple of them - very costly - catches win matches - very simple. Also i think the best improved catcher and fielder of late is Anil - Jonty Anil.

 Winning matches against 2nd Division gives a high and talks about team capability :)


Man of the match,

Thanks,
Umesh

Wonderful Weekend

The past weekend saw two matches being played, which involved cricketers belonging to the Palar Cricket Club:

Match1: (Saturday) Open-Silicon winning by 1 run @ Railways Ground. (Kinvah Corporate Cricket Challenge)

Match2: (Sunday) Indiranagar Cricket Club winning by a huge margin @ REVA Ground (Division 4 League match)

Apart from my blog below, we also saw the following comments come from the captain and the man of the hour - Umesh!!

 - Comments from Ajay S:

"This is good stuff J thanks Prasan, Rahul….

Couple of moments:

1. Catch at short covers was “catch of the year 2010”!  Needs to be rewarded…..U are a champ Umi !!!!!! 

2. Sujit seemed so scared about re-injuring his ankle while stopping the ball with hand!  How is that logically possible?? Finally due to confusion he let the ball go for a boundary costing 4 runs! I had to tell him that there is no ankle in either hand….and he accepted J J

Umi, may be we should add something for league match yesterday!

Some moments I enjoyed:

1. First hundred for Indiranagar this season. That means I need to give first Rs 2000 to Ashfaque (115)…which I am very happy about. Indiranagar recorded highest score 372 for year 2010. Umesh 76, Anuj 49, New chap rajendran 50 runs contributed to make that happen along with Ashfaque. Jr Vikam (Age 14) took 6 wickets for 45…another left arm spinner in making to replace Bhagwan Singh…Indiranagar winning 5 out of 5 matches at league stage! 

2. And here is the best Moment: Manohar bowling….Umesh comes at first slip with great confidence…ball edges towards point….Manohar yelling at Umesh for not diving in the point direction from slip…ha ha ha…..next ball Umi promptly asking Prithwi to take slip position…and going to short third man position himself…We all can understand Umi..don’t we?"

- Comments from Umi:

" :) Wow i enjoyed it - I am on high with compliments from the Captain on the catch - great feeling !@!#@#$@$

Yeah it was a great week end altogether on Sunday included.

Few of things i remember was the new Guy - he was struggling to touch the ball first few overs - it looked like he never batted before and then he went on to make 50 !!! Also every over i have told him while batting not to change the end - lot of tennis ball cricket i believe :)

Manohar standing next to me in Slips and Jealous about Ajay's bowling - saying he is still figuring out how Ajay can get more wickets...and the next ball ..Guess what Ajay takes wicket next ball - uff...

Enjoyed Ashfaque hitting big ones....and first time in my life seeing the other Guy hitting century batting opposite side and the Joy that he experienced...."

Well...I am really not sure what Umi meant when he typed - '!@!#@#$@$', but I am sure it is just pure happiness. :)

Keep the comments coming guys and hope for a even more memorable weekend to follow.

Cheers,

Dundee

The Sweet Revenge

Yesterday, when Rahul came up to me and told me about the next match of the 'Kinvah Corporate Cricket Challenge', I didn't know that it was actually the semi-final match. Infact, it was only when I got to the ground that I realized that we were playing this semi-final against rivals - Cap-Gemini. 

The reason I mention our opponents so clearly here, is because the previous two encounters between our teams have always yielded very tight results. The first happened in the BGS ground, where I was told that the 100 run partnership between Umesh and Ajay B sealed the match for us. The second, and obviously more infamous, meeting happened at the RSI ground for the 'Royal Challenge Corporate Trophy' where we were chasing and had to score 2 runs of the final over, but ended up loosing 4 wickets for nothing and lost the match!! (for more details on that match, please refer Rahul's blog below)

This time around, however, things were much different. This Saturday, we decided to go out there and "play our natural game". Here, let me say that whenever you here any International or Domestic cricketer say the above phrase, what he actually means is - 'We had no strategy!!' or in many cases - 'Our strategy was so pathetic, that I prefer saying that we played our natural game instead!!'.......In our case though, the reason we had no strategy was mainly because, we are all too lazy!

This fact was quite obvious because when the organizer called our captain for the toss, we looked at each other for 5 minutes, wondering who will be the captian today, before Ashfaque obliged with the honours, won the toss and decided that we would bat first. To follow that up, Ajay B had absolutely no idea untill the last moment that he was actually opening the batting with Ajay S and soon we had 2 other batsmen padded up not knowing when they had to go bat. Eventually, it was decided that Umesh would be the captain and after that he did a wonderful job of marshaling the troops.

The lack of strategy from our end, was more than made up by our opponents, who ran a full round, warmed-up, got into a team huddle and opened the bowling with a spinner. A strategy that worked beautifully, cause our ex-captain Ajay S was back into the dug-out in the first over itself, to give Anil company with a little chai cutting.

Our other main stream batsmen tried to up the tempo, but managed to regularly leave their stumps open or find the fielders. Umesh and Puneet tried to build a partnership, but Puneet succumbed to a suicidal run. Pinkesh and Rahul lost their wickets trying to score a few quick runs and it was left to the tail enders to play out the stipulated 20 overs. Anil (8 runs), Sujit (3 runs) and me (2 runs n.o), somehow managed to stretch the innings to the last ball and we ended up being bowled out for exactly 100 runs in 20 overs. 

As we took to the field, we hardly had any scope of winning. Infact we were all looking forward to finishing the match and having some sumptuous snacks at Shri Krishna Bhavan at the earliest. Our opponents, however, had different plans. Again their opening batsmen strolled out with a pre-defined strategy and smashed their way to 48 runs without loosing any wickets. Eventually, it took one of Ajay S's super-flight balls to get us our first wicket. The next batsmen lost his stumps to Yadav and the suicidal runout in our innings was complemented by an even more suicidal runnout in their innings. Soon they found themselves at 50 odd for 3 wickets. 

At this juncture, we still did not have any hope of winning, but kept our cool and encouraged the bowlers to keep bowling the good balls. It was at this time, that captain Umesh pulled out his trump card - Spinners.

Ajay had already picked up a couple of wickets, Sujit and Pinkesh picked one each as well, which included a brilliant catch taken by Umesh. The target wasn't too high and the runs kept coming and soon we were in a situation where the opposition need only 5 runs from 6 overs, with 3 wickets remaining. 

Enter Pinkesh who bowled a straighter delivery to get rid of the left hander. A tight over ensured that 3 runs were needed with 2 wickets remaining. Sujit bowled, what was to be the last over of the match. He bowled a short ball first up, which the batsmen pulled and the ball traveled in the air in the direction of Ajay, who took a superb catch running to his left. 

3 runs and 1 wicket remaining. Sujit tried a straighter one, which slid down the leg slide and was given a wide. 

2 runs and 1 wicket remaining. The pressure on the batsman was clearly visible. Sujit bowled the next ball. It was a straighter one, which the batsman did not pick up. The ball skipped the bat and hit the pad in-line with the stump. All of us let out a huge appeal and as the umpire started raising the dreaded finger, our celebrations had already begun!!

It was yet another close encounter and this time around, we emerged victorious. It was a great come back for our team and we did not even try to hide the joy on our faces. 

Sujit, who picked up 3 wickets for 16 runs was adjudged the Man of the Match, but the bottle of red Kinvah wine was enjoyed by the whole team. This was a momentous victory for us and as I recollect, it was the first time that we had emerged as winners in a closely fought battle.

Cap-Gemini was quite stunned with what had happened and it was the sight of them, huddled  under a banyan tree, outside the ground, still wondering what really had hit them, that made this a very sweet revenge. 

The score now stands at:

Open-Silicon 2 - 1 Cap-Gemini

Now, as we look forward to yet another final, I would summarize yesterday's match by saying that it was the 2 crucial runs that I scored in the last over that made the difference in the end.

Ok, I know all of you will oppose this, but what the heck - this is my blog. If you think otherwise, write your own!! :)

Cheers

Dundee