I have been away from blogosphere for about a week now. The Champions League Twenty20 has started and is midway through. And sadly, another round of fixing allegations are coming through.
There are allegations being made about the 3rd England - Pakistan ODI at The Oval, London... something about scoring patterns over different periods during Pakistan's batting innings.
I really hope that these allegations are not some cock-n-bull stories cooked up by certain fragments in the media to target Pakistan cricket and gain visibility as a result of it. After the revelations by the British tabloid News of the World (NOTW) during the England - Pakistan Test match at Lord's, I guess many other media and news agencies are vying to be the ones to release the next big breaking news.
When NOTW laid their allegations against certain players from the Pakistan team, they based it on evidences in the form of video footages that convinced more than half the world of the guilt of those accused. Sure, the investigations are still on and there will be more of bureaucracy involved as this matter progresses further. But what NOTW did was bring out their evidence into the open and put it in front of the world... so that maybe, when the investigations begin, the process would be a little more transparent than it usually is in such cases.
Compare to the new allegations coming through at the moment... about the run-scoring patterns. These allegations have not been based on anything that will classify as evidence in a court of law (unless ofcourse, such evidence has not been revealed publicly). In fact, the words used in the news articles describing such allegations is 'suspicious'. They are talking about suspicious run-scoring patterns, suspicious periods of play and more such things.
Now really, this sounds story in itself sounds suspicious to me. I may be completely wrong in my assessment if the allegations are proven to be true. But till then, I will say only this: the media must be responsible in breaking out their stories. By laying such allegations, they have tarnished what was a brilliant victory for the Pakistan cricket team and their hope of revival. This win could have helped them in a huge way to pick themselves up from this bottomless abyss. But now, not even a win for Pakistan will be looked at with any respectability.
Based on factors like pitch, conditions, bowler, batsmen involved, situation of play, etc, even I can predict the number of runs that will be scored in a particular over in most Limited Over matches. Does that mean that a media news agency should report a "Breaking News" because a cricket follower is claiming to make predictions over his blog? If the predictions are correct, will it be a case of "suspicious scoring patterns" for these media groups?
I am not very fond of media in any case and find them a very irresponsible segment of our society. And I do believe that whenever a news agency makes such allegations, they should be held responsible for their views.
I have often heard this phrase: "This was a match worthy of the finals" by many commentators who always fall short of words to describe any moment on the sports field. Its very rare when a match worthy of a finals does actually take place in the finals of a big tournament. There are, in fact, only two occasions that come to my mind - 2007 World Twenty20 Championship Finals and 2008 Wimbledon Finals. You can forgive me for having excluded many other good matches from the list... but then I have high expectations from the finals of any big tournament.
But now, I can add another one to that list. The 2010 US Open Men's Doubles final match contested by the top seed American pair of twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan against the unlikely pair of and Indian Rohan Bopanna with a Pakistani Aisam ul Haq Qureshi... the 16th seeded pair in the draw.
Bopanna and Qureshi have been playing together for quite a while now... and for the past few months, they have the results to show the effectiveness of their chemistry. Their finals match against the best Men's Doubles team of our era (and arguably, all time) was a match to savour. The Indo-Pak Express, as they have come to be known, threw everything they had in them at the Bryans... and the champion pair had to dig really very deep to be able to beat them. The scoreline is the end [7-6 (5), 7-6 (4)] only suggests how competitive the match was... but I am glad that for once in my life, I let go the opportunity to watch Sachin Tendulkar bat against the Highveld Lions in making a masterful 69. I am glad that for once when I voluntarily switched channels to watch some other live sporting event when Sachin was batting, it was totally worth it.
This match had it all... big serves on big points, some amazing rallies, players digging deep into their reserves to eek out a point for their team, booming forehands and smashing backhands (particularly from Bopanna), tremendous net play by all four and above all, there was that adrenaline pump... which excited everyone who had come to witness the match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York. To see diplomats to the UN from India and Pakistan sitting together and cheering for the same team, to see the flags of the two countries together at the end during the presentation and to see the wonderful chemistry between these two men as they played high class tennis against a high class team were delights that are unmatched.
At the end, it was even more warming to hear the words of Aisam ul Haq Qureshi, as he put across a very well-said message to the world on behalf of Pakistan. His country is in strife... the extremist forces trying to invade, the corruption and the flood crisis are making lives of people there extremely difficult. In such a situation, the country needed a few men who could portray them in good light to the world. I thought that they had found a few such men in Salman Butt and Mohammed Aamer and the new, young and energetic Pakistan team that had won Tests against Australia and England in alien conditions. But then, the cricket crisis hit them and the credibility of the people of the country plunged even lower on the eyes of the rest of the world.
So Aisam ul Haq Qureshi comes across as a wonderful ambassador for his country... spreading a message of peace. The standing ovation that he received at the end was to see a reason why I love sport so much. So little needs to be said at the end to spread so big a message.
It was a pleasure to have seen that match live. At the end, as the players met around the net and during the ceremony, it was easily visible that after throwing everything they had at each other... they had come out of it with just one thing - tremendous respect for one another!
US Open Tennis is into its second week... and I am absolutely ready and waiting to see who reaches the Men's Singles finals. All the eight quarter-finalists are seeded men... the lowest being the 25th seed Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. Here is the quarter finals draw for the last Grand Slam of the year:
1. Rafael Nadal (Spain 1st seed) v Fernando Verdasco (Spain - 8th seed)
2. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland - 25th seed) v Mikhail Youzhny (Russia - 12th seed)
3. Gael Monfils (France - 17th seed) v Novak Djokovic (Serbia - 3rd seed)
4. Robin Soderling (Sweden - 5th seed) v Roger Federer (Switzerland - 2nd seed)
There is no doubt that given the recent history, the last of the quarterfinals listed above... Soderling v Federer... should be the one to watch out for. But then history also suggests that we can expect fireworks from the all-Spanish Nadal v Verdasco quarterfinal... and if it is anything like the semi-final of Australian Open 2009, it will be worth every penny for the spectators that witness it at the Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Nadal's form has been wonderful in this Grand Slam event. Most tennis followers know that both Nadal and Federer are yet to drop a set in their four matches thus far at New York. But here's the clincher: Nadal is yet to drop his serve at US Open this year.
A couple of years ago, I always thought that if Nadal could strengthen his serve a little bit and stay fit, he will be a bigger force to reckon with. And he's showing it now. Despite those biceps, aces at 130+ mph were unthinkable from Nadal a few years ago. Now, they are coming down at alarming frequency.
Nadal has faced 13 break points in his four round matches thus far, and saved each one of them. Federer also has been very good... facing only 19 break points in his four matches and saving 16 of them. But then, Federer knows that if he meets Nadal in the finals, those 3 break points that he is unable to save may well be the game, set and match to the Spaniard!
Nadal has shown consistent improvement and learning in his game ever since he turned pro and then won his first major at French Open 2005. His big serves, his runs to the net for volleys, his fast flat forehands with more power and less top spin are aspects of his game that did not exist in 2005. Not for nothing is he the World No. 1, you know!
If he overcomes Verdasco, he will face an easier semi-final than he would have anticipated at the start of the tournament... for Andy Murray did seem in good form then. But then Murray, like English cricket and soccer teams (Paul Collingwood's victorious men at the Caribbean islands excluded), faltered and fell by the wayside yet again.
Like I wrote on my blog a few days ago, I would really wish to see a Nadal v Federer finals at the US Open this year. And yes, for Nadal to come out triumphant...
The player retention rules for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League are out. So after weeks of speculation, here they are:
A. The maximum number of players that can be retained are 4.
B. The maximum number of Indian players amongst those retained can be 3, and the maximum number of Foreign Players amongst those retained can be 2.
C. Irrespective of what fee is paid to the retained players, the deduction from the total salary budget of US$ 9 million will be in the following format:
1 Player(s) Retained - US$ 1.8 million
2 Player(s) Retained - US$ 1.3 million
3 Player(s) Retained - US$ 0.9 million
4 Player(s) Retained - US$ 0.5 million
So lets say that a franchisee retains just 1 player, then irrespective of what they pay him, they can spend upto US$ 7.2 million at the auction. If they retain 2 players, their spending power will be US$ 5.9 million. It will be US$ 5.0 million if they retain 3 and US$ 4.5 million if they retain 4 players.
So what will be retaining strategy be like? In this post, I will try and look at it purely from the finance point of view (with a little bit of a reference to cricket).
The first major question that will need to be answered is that whether the player who is to be retained is really worth the amount that will be deducted from the team's budget... or whether all the players to be retained collectively are worth the total amount that will be reduced from their spending budget at the auction.
For example, Mumbai Indians should not hesitate in retaining Sachin Tendulkar and Kieron Pollard, for together they are easily worth US$ 3.1 million (if not a lot more). Chennai Super Kings have a similar state as far as the duo of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina is concerned. Well, frankly, I am not a big fan of Dhoni and don't think he is worth much... but there is not doubt that he will be retained for his Brand Value. The entire brand marketing of Chennai's franchisee has been done around Dhoni. He is the poster boy of their team. Therefore, he will definitely be retained.
The problem will occur for the likes of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab... I don't think anyone on their present team is worth US$ 1.8 million. Maybe Yuvraj Singh is, but then he does not want to stay at Mohali (from what has been reported).
The second consideration is that even if the teams do not retain players, they will have to spend upwards of US$ 1 million each in buying at least 2 big names that can benefit their team... maybe, even upwards of US$ 1.5 million. So it might be ideal to retain the old ones as one does not really know how high the valuation for the new ones will be, whether they will be worth it.
For example, Praveen Kumar may not justify a price tag of US$ 1.8 or 1.3 million, but it may be wiser to retain him as his price may well exceed US$ 1 million when 10 owners sit together for the bid - and - buy auction process.
The third major question, as I have already talked of in one of the examples above, is the brand-building. Chennai Super Kings have their entire brand name built around the image of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. There is no way they can let him go. No other cricketer in the league is has his brand so closely associated with that of the franchise as the Indian skipper.
And yes, finally there is the question of whether the entire team can be bought in US$ 4.5 million if a team decides to retain 4 men. We must remember that in the first ever auction, the limit for spending was up to US$ 5 million only. So there is no reason why an entire team cannot be bought for US$ 4.5 million, especially considering that in doing so the teams will be retaining their 4 main old men in their squad.
It would be interesting to see the auction process when it does take place. For the sake of the existing fans, I hope that there is not much of a reshuffle so that fan loyalties towards a particular player can be maintained. And for the sake of the fans of the two new teams, I hope they do get a chance to net in some big names who will perform for them well in the tournament.
