Negative effects of IPL

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Poor form in Test Cricket- IPL to blame?

In one of the earlier posts related to Indian Premier League (IPL), we had enthusiastically talked about Positive effects of IPL. Before the start of IPL 2012, India had lost Test series to England 0-4 in England, to Australia 0-4 in Australia and India failed to qualify for the CB Series and Asia Cup finals. After that, the exciting IPL 2012 happened and all of a sudden, everyone forgot about the most depressing season of Test Cricket for India. And then, new season of Cricket started with tours of Sri Lanka, New Zealand followed by T20 World Cup. As if this schedule was not hectic for Indian team, players were sent to the Champions League in October, this year. And now, we have seen what has happened with Indian team versus England in home series.

In the same post, I had mentioned that there are positive as well as negative effects of IPL. Let's try to find out what aspects of IPL are NOT good for Indian Cricket, particularly, Indian Test Cricket, since the time is right to raise some hard questions.

Bad scheduling of IPL?

1. IPL is scheduled in April and May, which are hottest months of Indian summer. Traditionally, these months were reserved for rest to the players before next season of Cricket - domestic and international - begins. If players are made to play 15 high intensity games in 10 different parts of India, the travel and over-Cricket is bound to take a toll on players, physically and mentally. Finally, who wants to work on Holidays, even if one is paid!
2. It becomes compelling for BCCI to organize this event in these months as Indian Team neither travels nor hosts any international tournament in these months. But, this also means, players are overly exhausted, they do not have recovery time, they do not have time to operate themselves on injuries.
3. At the same time, no other international team has compulsion to adjust team's schedule according to IPL. International players have limited presence in IPL, that too, after their Cricket Board's approval.

The point is, Indian players are more stressed up than their international counterparts, which definitely reflects in their fitness levels.

Possibility of deterioration of Cricketing skills?

1. In IPL, if a batsman gets out playing a rash shot, it is NOT considered as 'throwing of a wicket' or 'batsman not putting price on his wicket'. It is accepted in IPL to play brave shots, even if that means wasting your wicket. On the other hand, Test Cricket teaches you to keep your wicket as long as you can.
2. In IPL, a bowler has maximum of 4 overs. How is it possible to test bowler's fitness, skills in these 4 overs? If a bowler has higher strike rate and higher average, it is not considered a guilt, neither it is associated with the bowler's ability in IPL. Further, since batsmen are always prone to make mistakes while scoring quick runs, many of IPL wickets are not bowlers' wickets but those are just batsmen making mistake and bowler getting wickets.

In Test Cricket, no batsman gets to score runs without hard work, and similarly no bowler gets easy wickets; as they might get in IPL. Lac of 'test' of concentration, fitness, temperament, Cricketing skills and mostly ignored - 'Cricketing intelligence' in IPL makes it tough for players to adapt to Test Cricket as it requires all these skills and their application on field, day after day!

Is motivation to play for country/ Test Cricket reduced?

1. If the player has played just one or two domestic Cricket seasons, he can play IPL. It offers huge amount of money in just 2 to 3 months. Good for them, but due to this early money, fame and opportunity, will those players be still motivated enough to play Test Cricket or be part of International Indian Cricket Team? If one calculates, an average player will definitely get more money by playing IPL than by playing whole season of Test Cricket.

In the end, no one wants to take harder route to earn same amount of money. This leads to the further point:

Have priorities of Indian players changed?

Sachin Tendulkar announces retirement

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Oh My God..! Did I just miss 'if' at the start of the post title? Relax guys, Sachin has not announced his retirement, YET. But there are number of experts, bloggers and at random anyone who knows Cricket, is talking about the 'un-talkable' subject of Sachin Tendulkar's retirement.

Let's just imagine (again- the unimaginable), that Sachin Tendulkar has called it a day and has taken the decision to retire from Cricket. What an impact it will have all over Cricketing and non Cricketing world! How media will react to the news? What news-stories will trend all over the media? Let's look it from funny and 'LOL'ing manner.

Presenting, 'the Retirement that wasn't declared': The news spoofs about Sachin's retirement! Read the effects of this biggest retirement of century and start LOLing..!

Cricketing Effects:

Hmm... Let's start news, what Sachin's colleagues say:

Kohli, Dhoni WELCOME Sachin's retirement, stating this would give youngsters a chance.

On condition of anonymity a source in the team said that the real reason to welcome retirement is because many of Tendulkar ad brands are going to come their (Kohli/ Dhoni's) way.
See... How concerned our team icons are about new comer lads ;-)

Moving on,

Shane Warne- finally able to quit daily dose of sleeping pills

We heard he was prescribed the pills after Sachin started to appear in his dreams- hitting him all over ground nonstop for last 16 years- making it a nightmare!

Indian Test Cricket team to keep number 4 spot vacant as a mark of respect for Sachin Tendulkar!

Our well-placed sources confirmed the real reason being-- NO ONE ELSE TO REPLACE HIM..!!! Vacancy..!! Urgently Required..!!! Apply Now..!!!!

Steve Buckner to restart his umpiring career.

Says, now his umpiring can be impartial! Hmm.. True... No Tendulkar, no need to be partial with opponent team!

Further on,

Sachin to become selector, coach, remote-controlling-captain, mentor and motivator of Indian Cricket Team- OFFICIALLY

Asking how? Yes, he was in these roles 'unofficially' till now, hereon, it will be official role!! No big deal... is it??

Further in spoofs,

Ganguly is made the captain of retired Indian Cricket players (age above 37), the team beats Dhoni's team 3-0 in a "T20" domestic series.

Sachin gets man of the series award for his 3 consecutive centuries. Dhoni blames 'the turning pitches' for the defeat!!!
T20- pitches, Mr Dhoni, are you all right???

13 Cricketers on ground refuse to play Cricket, as crowd INSULTED them.

Crowd stars shouting: 'Sachinnn... Sachin... dhann dhann dhann... Sachinnn... Sachin... dhann dhann dhann... Sachinnn... Sachin... dhann dhann dhann...' when they saw Sachin coming as a commentator in commentary box! Players hurt with this insult, as no one to cheer them.

(News in year 2020) Sachin's unbreakable record of 34000+ international runs and 100 centuries is finally broken, by---

combined efforts of all international batsmen after 7 years of performance in all formats of the game! ICC to facilitate all involved in the effort..!!!

Social Effects:

You can no more commit all your 'sins' as God will no more be busy watching Sachin play!

So... be a good guy/ girl that you are.. and don't commit any sins that you used to :-P

Mumbai and entire Maharashtra along with Sydney to remain shut for entire week to mourn retirement of Sachin Tendulkar.

Extended Christmas Holidays, you know! 

Bloggers, newspaper columnist, statisticians loose their jobs due to slow-down in 'market'

Yes! The most iconic, the most written about, the most talked about Cricketer is no more in action! On whom to write, talk!!! No job, sit idle :-)

Sachin's critics desperately in search of another bread and butter

Ohh.. How can you forget them! They had a very secured job for last 23 years...

Moving on,

A crazy Sachin fan names his twins as:- 1. Sachin, 2. Tendulkar.

We learned both of them are-- baby GIRLS!
Crazy fan perhaps mad too..!!!

Sudhir Kumar Chaudhary changes his appearance first time.

After... about.. many years. Yes, for the first time! You know him... He paints his body in tricolor, writes Tendulkar-10 on his back!

Further in the news,

Arjun Tendulkar files application for changing his name to:- BharatRatna

making his full name read:-- Bharatratna Sachin Tendulkar
Hmmm... Now that's a very smart kid...

Suddenly, half of grounds in India are to be named after Sachin Tendulkar, and we heard those are football and hockey grounds.. not cricket..!

How strange..!
In fact, terrible... because Cricket in India is run by full time politicians.. how can they give anything to anyone except between themselves, even names!

As soon as Sachin's retirement news broke, 5 people reportedly died out of heart attack, 13 tried to set ablaze themselves

RIP Sachin fans!

News and Media Effects:

Why Cricket is not part of the Olympics?

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But at first place, what makes the Olympic Games different than other sports events?

Why Cricket is not part of the Olympics?

The Olympic Games are one of the biggest sporting events of our time. Athletes from the entire world take part in this traditional event. Their achievements are watched from both near and far by hundreds of millions of spectators and the Olympic medals become Country’s status symbols and athletes’ pride. The Games are held every four years. They are the largest sporting celebration in terms of the number of sports on the program.

The Games are also part of a broader framework which is that of the Olympic Movement. The purpose of the Olympic Movement is to:

- Link sport with culture and education

- Promote the practice of sport and the joy found in effort

- Help to build a better world through sport practiced in a spirit of peace, excellence, friendship and respect.

The obvious question comes to a Cricket Lover’s mind is why Cricket is not a part of the historical Olympics?

And that brings us to the basic question as to what are the criteria for a sport to be part of the Olympic game? After thorough search, I found official explanation from none other than the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Explanation offered:

...The IOC sets the program and decides which sports will be included. The IOC also has the right to accept or refuse any proposed new sport, discipline or event.

Sport - For a sport to be made an Olympic sport it has to be governed by an International Federation recognized by the IOC.

e.g.: Swimming at the Games is governed by the International Swimming Federation (FINA)

In case of Cricket, it is International Cricket Council (ICC)

Discipline - an Olympic sport comprises one or several disciplines.

e.g.: Water polo and diving are disciplines of swimming.

In case of Cricket, Twently20 makes the optimal choice

Event - a discipline includes one or more events or competitions. An event gives rise to a result for which medals are awarded.

e.g.: The 10m platform for women is a diving event; the men’s 500m is a speed skating event.

A football style or Cricket World-cup Cricket format can bring a winner to whom medal can be presented

Above basic notions are to be followed by IOC for selecting a sport. In addition, below criteria should be met by the sport itself to push its case forward to IOC:

World Cup T20 2012 and other tour schedules

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Which is the the next (exciting) Cricket series?

After the glamorous, noisy, controversial and thrilling IPL season 5 got over, cricketing fields are empty, stands are uncrowded, TV channels are running soccer news in otherwise "only cricket" news hours, facebook cricket pages, groups, blogs are not finding anything substantial to comment on, offices are no longer following cricinfos and all the Cricket Lovers are getting bored without any magnificent battle on cricket ground. And then one colleague asks me, 'hey when is the next match?'

Thus, comes this post. Following images are the schedules of important international series that would take place in coming months. Following list of schedules contain the important series like Aus vs Eng, Ind vs SL, NZ vs Ind, Eng vs Ind and perhaps the most awaited event - T20 World Cup schedule. Let's check in chronological order.

(P.S.: Please click on the image to view them to the original size, and yes, you can download them to your device and share with your friends)

1. Australia's Tour of England : June - July 2012

Australia's Tour of England : June - July 2012

2. India's Tour of Sri Lanka : July - August 2012

3. New Zealand's Tour of India : August - September 2012

New Zealand's Tour of India : August - September 2012

4. T20 World Cup 2012, Sri Lanka Schedule:

Cricket Rules - No Ball

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Know, if you know the No Ball!

Do you remember the second last over of KKR vs CSK IPL 2012 final, when Bisla –after scoring blitzkrieg and Kallis – were back to the dugout. CSK had a real hope to win the title clash. Ben Hilfenhaus was bowling the crucial last ball of 19^th over – 7 balls remaining, 16 still runs required. Tik tik – tik tik and he bowls a ball which Shakib ul Hasan plays in the air – gets caught – and meanwhile umpire calls it a NO BALL for ball above waist height. Between all these commotions, batsmen completed 2 runs. Then, equation became 7 balls remaining, 13 runs to get (1 run of no ball + 2 runs that batsmen ran). The extra ball that required to be bowled fetched another 4 runs for KKR thanks to Shakib for that leg glance, simplifying the equation to 9 runs from 6 balls. Rest is history now!

No Ball Signal

The NO BALL was, in effect – 1 delivery bowled and 7 runs scored! This was, for me, the one of the costliest errors made by CSK bowlers. The No Ball can be this much harsh. What are the different scenarios in which an umpire can call a ball- No Ball? What do the rules say? It is simple, is it? Are you sure about the simplicity? Let’s check it out!

The 7 laws of a NO BALL

1.       Right hand – over the wicket!

  A.      Oh Yes, the umpire shall make sure whether the bowler intends to bowl right handed or left handed, over or round the wicket, and shall so inform the striker. It is unfair if the bowler fails to notify the umpire of a change in his mode of delivery. In this case the umpire shall call and signal No ball.

  B.      Underarm bowling shall not be permitted except by special agreement before the match.