T-20 Cricket - Pros and Cons - 2 - Bowling

Is it a fact that T-20 Cricket has improved the area of Bowling?

On the positive side, Bowlers are more innovative. Knuckle Balls, Cross Seam Deliveries, Slow Bouncers, Doosras and more use of Yorkers have been added to the arsenal of many bowlers. Some of them transfer these skills to Test Cricket and ODI, and has reaped rich dividends. Jasprit Bumrah is a classic example. T-20 has also given a fresh lease of life to the Wrist Spinners, both Right and Left Arms. Bowlers are careful about bowling no balls, and with harsh wide rules in place, the overall accuracy has improved. Rarely do we see bizarre wides, like the one R P Singh bowled first up on being recalled in England, being bowled in Test Cricket these days.

However, the negatives are far too many. T-20 do not encourage genuine quicks. With batsmen swinging at everything, especially in the first Power Play, and with field restrictions in place, the faster you bowl, the faster the ball will travel to the boundary. This has forced many a genuine quick to sacrifice pace for accuracy, which is a pity. 

The bits and pieces cricketers, who ruined ODI for quite a long time (One of the reasons England never won a ODI World Cup), who bowl at 130's accurately, stump to stump is more preferred that a talented genuine quick or swing bowler.  T-20 is slowly killing the Swing and Seam Bowlers. Most of the pitches are roads, and bowler cannot expect any assistance from the pitch. In addition, the boundaries are so short, when the bowler induces a mis-hit from the batsman, more often than not the ball clears the fence. This has to do with the quality improvements in bats. 

Only the wrist spinner has a role in today's  T-20. Genuine traditional off spinners are not fielded for fear of being cross batted out of the ground. No spinner will dare to toss the ball up, since boundaries are only 60 metres at best. The art of using the flight and drift is history. There are rare exceptions like Kuldeep Yadav, but he is a class apart.

Wicket taking is a secondary objective, with containment the main one. When it comes to Test Cricket, most modern bowlers have forgotten how to plan, work out the batsmen and take his wicket. 

With even good balls being tonked around for sixes, bowlers get disheartened and stops innovating. They are seen more as a fodder for the batsmen.

Finally, with bowlers being allowed only 4 overs per innings, and that too they dont bowl at a stretch, any decent spell is limited to 2 overs at best. The fitness required is to bowl 2 intense overs, and not a 7-8 over spell which requires more stamina. We see more bowlers breaking down at Test level precisely because of this. When you have a 7-8 over spell, you can work on a batsman's weakness, persist with a strategy and get immense satisfaction when you get his wicket. You can have a bad spell in Test Cricket, but have the time to rethink, come back and redeem yourself. This is not possible in T-20.

I would call for more sportive pitches, which gives something to the bowler is a must. I would like to see a 125-135 score with an even contest between bat and ball, than a mindless 200 plus total. The boundary ropes have to be pulled back to at least 80 yards, if not 90. This shall make it difficult for batsmen to get away with mishits. It will also bring back the off spinner into the game, and encourage the spinners to flight more. The absurd leg side wide rule has to go. Batsmen are so innovative today that they are quite capable of handling a ball going down the leg side. We can have the leg side wide defined as one going beyond a further 3 stumps after the leg stump. This should be fair and discourage negative bowling.

Batsmen take too much risk because all the 11 can bat, and it is impossible for the team to be All out in 120 balls (though it does happen occasionally). Just as a bowler is allowed to bowl only 4 overs, the batting team should be allowed to use only 6 batsmen, and Team would deem to have been all out if 5 wickets fall. This should make the batsman think a bit more and not take suicidal risks, as is happening now. The top 6 batsmen should be able to last 20 overs.

T-20 Cricket - Pros and Cons - 1 - Fielding and Fitness

It is 14 years since the first T-20 International was played, and 11 years since IPL started. This format has created lot of spectator/audience interest and brought back crowds to the stadium. The purist, like me, continues to frown on T-20, but it is undeniable that T-20 has revived interest in Cricket, which was facing an existential crisis at the beginning of the century. Let us see the pros and cons.

With the advent of T-20, fielding standards and fitness of players have shown an astounding increase. We marveled once at the frozen frame of Jonty Rhodes air borne to run out a batsmen in ODI and his fielding used to be the benchmark for a long time. But today, there are many who are equal to or even better than Jonty. Some of the catches taken at the boundary ropes are breath taking. Palming the ball up inside the boundary, then stepping out, and coming back to finish the catch is passe. The ground fielding and catching in the deep is excellent. There are very few slouches on the field, and Captains dont have to worry about hiding poor fielders in the ground, as there is no place for poor fielders in a T-20 team. There are a few exceptions like Chris Gayle, but then he is a class act with the bat. Fielding inside the ring is sharper, and pick up & throwing is generally top class. 

The downside to T-20 is the negative impact it has on Close in Catching. Slip fielders are non existent, and we have not seen a Forward Short Leg in a T-20 match for a long time. The quality of Slip catching has taken a nose dive, and this can be seen from the amount of catches being dropped in the Slip cordon in Test matches. 

T-20 has created an awareness among youngsters on the need to be a super fit athlete. Poor Pujara. Despite all his batting skills and exploits, he doesnt find a place in any IPL team. It is not that he is not fit as a batsman, but he is nowhere near the fitness level required for a good fielder. Remember how Kohli benched Sarfraz at RCB for not working hard on his fitness. To his credit, Virat Kohli leads by example, and has created a revolution in the area of team and individual fitness.

For me, this stress on fitness is the greatest contribution of T-20. When I used to attend Coaching Camps in early1980s, our exercise regime included 2 laps around the ground, a few stretching exercises. These days, every aspiring cricketer spends a few hours a day in the gym. He has to, or else he will be left behind. The women cricketers are fantastically athletic too - Veda Krishnamurthy is a classic example. 

T-20 is creating a generation of super fit youngsters, and that is great for the society

Reality stares at Congress

The Lutyens media and the Congress eco system are trying their best to prop up the Party as an alternative to BJP. But the ground realities are different.

Let us look at the last three elections, and seats won by Congress in 3 States, Andhra Pradesh (United), UP and Maharashtra. Together these 3 States (now 4, as AP has been bifurcated to AP and Telengana) send 170 MPs to the Lok Sabha, which is slightly less than 1/3rd of the Seats.

Year                        AP            Maharashtra            UP             Total        

2004                         29                 13                            9                  51

2009                         33                 17                           21                 71

2014                           2**                2                             2                  6

** The 2 seats in AP in 2014 is from the bifurcated Telengana, with Congress drawing a blank in AP.

Come 2019, Congress's best case scenario is,

Year                        AP            Maharashtra            UP             Total        

2019                          0                    2                              1                3

Congress is virtually wiped out in erstwhile AP (now AP and Telengana), with BJP and Shiv Sena on alliance in Maharashtra Congress will struggle to get even the 2 seats, and in UP the best case scenario is Sonia retaining Rae Bareilly. 

Congress has not made any major inroads in any other State to compensate for this. 

As things stand today, Congress will struggle to touch 60, and that too only if they eat humble pie in Bihar and Delhi. I am not sure they will make much headway in MP, Rajasthan and Karnataka. True, BJP almost had a clean sweep in the first two, and this time they will drop seats. But the Congress State Government's performance is nothing to shout about. 

This is the reality. The noise you hear on Media is only optics, nothing more.

Areas for Modi to focus during his Second Term - 1

Now that he has stabilized the Economy, done excellent work on Infrastructure Development and Foreign Policy, Modi has to turn his attention to certain critical issues dragging the Country down during his Second Term.

First and foremost is to clean up the Judiciary. Our Judiciary is the epitome of inefficiency, cronyism and corruption (both moral and monetary). The appointment to SC is opaque, and about 50 families have dominated the SC Judges panel during the past few decades. This is totally unacceptable. Cases take decades (I have a personal experience of a land dispute filed against us in 1998 still stuck in local Civil Court till date). The Conviction rate in Criminal Case is abysmally low, and in cases pertaining to Economic Crimes, almost zero. The drama surrounding  Sahara has made our judiciary a laughing stock. Government has tried to rectify this with the new laws, but that pertains to recovery of money. The fraudsters still can hope to go scot free or be a VIP undertrial. The entire Judiciary should be asked to fall in line or impeached. Courts should start functioning by 9.30 am and work till 5.30 pm. They should enjoy only standard holidays, and no bullshit about Summer Holidays, Vacations etc. The number of adjournments that can be sought should be limited to one or two per plaintiff and defendant. With technology available, if lawyers cant file responses within a week, they dont deserve to be lawyers. The lawyers fee has to be capped, so that the poorest of the poor have access to legal aid. Or alternatively, as part of CSR, Law Firms should be made to do pro-bono work compulsorily for 25% of the cases.

The Prison system, allowing rich and powerful criminals to misuse the parole and medical reasons, has to be demolished and reconstructed. We need to have more open prisons for not so hardened criminals, that gives them a real chance of reforming themselves. The prisons for hardened criminals should ensure they get no special privilege whatsoever. We have a situation in Kerala, where criminals convicted of Political murders are enjoying their life in Prison, and get Parole at will. Lalu Prasad Yadav is having field day running his party from the Prison. Whether Sasikala is actually confined to prison or is living in a hotel outside no one knows. Once criminals lose the fear of prison, they and others will continue to defy law at will.

The great shake up has to be in the Police Department. Our Police Force is a joke. No one has faith in them. Their ability to solve crimes in a time bound manner is questionable. In most States, the Police Force is highly politicised, unfit and corrupt. They are abusive to boot.  We also need a modern Police Force at the Centre like the FBI in USA, that has the powers to investigate on all cases that has inter-state ramification, without having to being requested by the State Government. The focus should be on prevention of crime rather than detection, post crime. The conviction rate has to increase, targets fixed. The Police has to be made accountable for the law and order in their area.  They should be protected from Political interference. All appointments has to be made by the Policemen themselves, and should not be influenced by Politicians. A classic example is how the Armed Forces handle this issue. It is why they are head and shoulders above everyone else, and trusted/respected by common man

Technology pertaining to Crime, Detection, Punishment has grown by leaps and bounds. Our system is still in medieval ages. We desperately need a state of the art Justice, Police and Prison System that is futuristic in thinking..... to be continued....

Modi vs XYZ - A No Contest

The Opposition has got it all wrong.

Not a single electorate will concur with their slogan that Modi is Corrupt. Even the die hard 'so called intellectual' Malayalis, or Bengalis, or people from Minority Communities who have an axe to grind, may blame Modi for many things, but will never accuse him of Corruption. 

We have just witnessed 5 years of major corruption free Governance. And this has come after the disastrous UPA 1 and 2, which was mired in scandals after scandal. People have not forgotten about the loot of Sonia Gandhi, Robert Vadra, Chidambaram, A Raja et al, and are relieved to have someone like Modi bring in a whiff of fresh air, and restore their faith in Politicians.

All the attempts by Rahul Gandhi to somehow find out corruption in Rafaele deal has fallen flat. The deal is clean as a whistle, and this has been ratified by CAG and Supreme Court.

By raising this issue in every electoral meeting, Rahul Gandhi is only drawing attention to his party's poor track record with respect to corruption and making Modi a taller figure.

The opposition just do not have a narrative. Their only objective is to target Modi personally, which is not working.

We have not seen an alternate vision of Governance or Concrete policies that will be put into place if UPA is voted back to power.

All we hear is X, Y , Z wanting to become the Prime Minister with outside support, for none in the opposition hopes to get a majority on their own.

Only BJP has the capability to get more than 250 seats in todays scenario.

Congress's best case scenario is 60-75, and every other opposition party expects nothing more than 25 seats on their own. How do you cobble up a majority of 272 with that?

Demonetization is long forgotten, and though many lost money during note ban, the silent majority is thankful to Modi for at least making these black money hoarders sweat and squirm for a few days.

GST has been a reasonable success, and people have begun to find out that they have more money at their disposal post GST implementation.

Swatch Bharath, 100% Electrification, Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme, Support income for farmers, Road laying has all produced visible benefits to the poor.

The disgruntled middle class, who were unhappy with Modi, is pacified with IT exemption till Rs 5 Lakhs.

And finally, Modi's strong stand against terrorist attack by Pakistan, and the Airforce strike deep inside Pakistan, has made Indians look up at others with Pride. 

Nationalism and Patriotism is such an emotive issue. And the electorate view Modi as the ultimate Nationalist and Patriot, while sniggering about the anti national stand taken by the opposition, who made the cardinal sin of questioning the Air Strikes and its efficacy.

Modi is a master orator and BJP is quick on its feet. See how the Mein Bhi Chowkidhar was launched which took the sting out of Chowkidhar Chor Hai campaign of the opposition. He will dominate the air waves, and will dictate the Agenda during the next 45 days.  No one in the opposition is a match for him. They can at best whine and take potshots.

As things stand today, I expect Modi to win seats comparable to what he did in 2014.

And that will be a big achievement in the absence of a wave.

P.S: It is amusing to see Opposition leaders helping each other only in the Constituencies they contest. SP-BSP supporting Sonia and Rahul in Rae Bareilli and Amethi, and Congress offering not to contest in the seats where SP-BSP leaders and their family is Contesting. This is the true face of dynastic politics.

This is possible only in Bharath, moulded by Hindu Culture

The McCaulay Putras/Putris who adorn the Luteyns wont understand this. They have a sense of entitlement and look down upon the common man from the "Bharath". 

For them, the achievers have to be English/Convent Educated, and studied abroad/JNU/ St. Stephens, speaking flawless english, and maintaining protocol that is approved by Western Countries.

Simple Indian gestures hold no meaning for them

It is why this is a great sight.

Saalumarada Thimmakka (Alada Marada Timakka) is an Indian environmentalist from Karnataka, noted for her work in planting and tending to 385 banyan trees along a four-kilometre stretch of highway between Hulikal and Kudur. She has also planted nearly 8000 other trees.

Thimmakka's story is that of grit and determination. She reportedly wanted to commit suicide when she was in her 40's as she was unable to bear a child. With the support of her husband, she found solace in planting trees.

She received no formal education and worked as a casual laborer in a nearbyy quarry. She was conferred Padma Shri by Government of India in 2019.

There is one minor point more - She is all of 107 years old.

The above is a wonderful sight.  The poor, weather beaten,  107 yrs old wisened, Padma-Award-Winner giving blessing to President of India in a public function, and President is accepting wholeheartedly and in a humble manner disregarding Protocol.

Her innocence is heart warming. She is not overwhelmed by the occasion or the fact that the person she is blessing is the First Citizen of India. It comes naturally to her to bless him, and the expression on the President's face clearly indicates how much he is moved by this.

This is the real India. This is the Hindu Culture. This is what is getting destroyed.

And it is possible only in India and with a Hindu President (from BJP/RSS background)!

Same Data, Different Interpretation and Contrasting Outcome

Sometime 1990's, the two major Aircraft manufacturers in the world Boeing and Airbus took major strategic decisions on the way forward. Both based their decision on the same traffic data and projections.

The outcome was interesting.

As any seasoned Air Traveler is aware, the Airlines fly on a hub and spoke model. There are flights from hub to hub,  then a changeover to the hub to spoke flights, and vice versa. Some of the major hubs are Dubai, Singapore, Colombo, Addis Ababa, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London to name a few. 

Airbus interpreted the data and concluded that the future lies in long distance hub to hub flights, that can carry more number of people in a single flight, to reduce cost. They came up with Airbus A 380, the biggest Aircraft manufactured ever, that can carry 525 - 800 passengers depending on the configuration, with adequate comfort suitable for long haul flights. The first flight was in 2005, and the Aircraft was inducted commercially in 2007.

Boeing had a totally opposite view point. Their take was that the future of Airlines is in hub to spoke, or spoke to spoke short flights, and decided to go for lesser capacity, fuel efficient Aircraft - Boeing 787 Dream liner, which can carry 230-290 passengers. The test flight was in 2007, and the first commercial flight in 2009.

I remember discussing this as a case study in 2008 while teaching Strategic Management to MBA students. We had a healthy discussion then.

A decade down the line, Airbus has found out that their strategy was horribly wrong and decided to stop the production of A 380 from 2021. They sold just 234 A 380s, and once Emirates, their major customer decided against long haul flights, the goose was cooked.

Contrary to Airbus forecast, the customer preferred direct spoke to spoke flights, even if the flight were to be smaller and less comfortable. No one wanted 3-5 hours transit in another hub, but rather wanted to get to the destination ASAP.

A costly mistake for Airbus, as it takes 20 years to develop an Aircraft, and another 20 to recover the cost. They projected that 270 Aircraft was required for Break Even in 2005, and the market size was 1000 plus. Production delays, technical glitches, inadequacy of Airports capable of handling the giant A 380 all meant the break even figures went up to 420, which they never achieved. A 380 was perhaps the Ford Edsel moment for Airbus.

Boeing, on the other hand, is doing well with 787. They have already sold 789 Aircraft. Their Break even is slightly over 1000, which they are expected to achieve. They too had a host of issues, ranging from technical problems, faulty wiring to fuel leaks to fire. And delay in production. They have appeared to overcome these issues and should at least break even in the long run.

As I mentioned in my lectures way back in 2008, an interesting case study of interpretation of data.