INDIAN TEAM IN PURSUIT 

A narrow four runs win in the first one day match at Harare.  The redeeming feature of the match was the chase unsuccessfully made by the Zimbabwe side against all odds.  Team India were tattering at 87 for 5 and the writing was on the wall.  The top order batting failed to come up with good scores and as in the past we need to depend on lower order batsmen to put up a moderate total.  A stand of 160 runs between Ambati Rayadu (124) and Stuart Binny (77) all saved the day for Team India.  Zimbabwe was on course of a stunning victory as C. Chibhabha scored an unbeaten 104.  With Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was bowling the last over, the pendulum was swinging on both the sides, but better experienced Indian side prevailed over Zimbabwe by 4 runs to go one up in the 3 match series.  This is somewhat better show than what was achieved against Bangladesh at Mirpur.

In pursuit of lost glory in Bangladesh, the Indian team is trying all its best to redeem themselves with a second string side in Zimbabwe.  With likes of Harbhajan Singh in the side it is second string side only on paper.  Uthappa and Pandey are on the fringe of selection for a longer time and the long rope Rayadu, Rahane and Harbhajan Singh got in recent times is for them to rebuild their stature as International players of repute with a silver lining in their performances.  The golden opportunity offered to them is to make up the lost time and to rejuvenate Indian Team before the T-20 World cup next year.  We failed build up our bench strength by giving chance to tried and test players and that move backfired in Bangladesh.  Instead of trying new faces in a home series we play with our so called famed batting line up and they let the team time and again.  When there was marked improvement in our bowling department with Ashwin holding the trump card, the batting failed to live up to big matches and there was disappointment with fickle batting line up.  The newcomers should enjoy the fringe benefit and upstage the show of seniors and help Team India make solid side for the future.

Navi Mumbai is Pensioner's Paradise

Seniors in the satellite city are better of than their neighbour in Mumbai.  With lot of space available in the city for seniors to go for a walk, meet the friends during birthdays and spend useful time in the evening with a purpose.  Simple living and high thinking is the motto of the Senior Citizen. The "Helping Hands" of the seniors spread to every nook and corner of the country. It helps to spread awareness about the needs of Senior Citizens and makes them know of their own rights. This includes how to make use of Pension Amount to profitable investments and earning good returns. Such returns earned can be made use for the Monthly Medical Expenses without pinching the pocket.

In Navi Mumbai there are number of yoga centres to spend the fresh morning time doing some useful exercises in the company of seniors as well youngsters.  In every nook and corner of the city there are parks to enjoy the greenery and get fresh air as well. As the city is catering to the needs of pensioners, it can be rightly called pensioner's paradise.  However, the frequency of buses has not increased and the foot board height of the buses gives the seniors a nightmarish experience to climb and get into the bus.  More and more user friendly buses with low foot boards can help out the cause as in the case air condition buses plying in the city with high cost. Co-operative societies should be formed to sell household items at a cheaper rate for 60 plus citizens in the State.

No doubt pension is a great help to the retired. But, in the recent times the house rent, prices of essential commodities, High cost of hospitalisation has harmed the pensioners to a great extent . The value of the pension has been eroded greatly. As a result as a pensioner we find it very difficult to maintain a decent living. The city is not bereft of drawbacks. Footpaths have virtually become extinct due to over height and piling of construction material or garbage. Street dogs pose another problem. One can even see more than a dozen dogs flocking together sometimes. Casualties due to dog bite are not uncommon. Another problem are prices. Everything is costlier than other cities, whether it is house-rent, transportation or fruits and vegetables.  It is time to give pride of place to pensioners in the satellite city.  Further safety and security of the seniors should be ensured as there are number of chain snatching and the lonely senior is a target even when staying at home.  It is a clarion call to bring the problems of seniors to forefront and give them freedom to live rest of their life in peace and harmony.

Encourage sports other than cricket

In the recent Sarita Devi case at Asian Games in Incheon, South
Korea was a travesty of fair play and a blot on the competency of the
judges.  It was a clear instance of partisanship on the part of judges
for depriving a certain winner Sarita Devi in the boxing bout.  It was
her sheer desperation and frustration that prompted her to refuse the
bronze medal. This led to questions of her behaviour and lack of
sportsmanship.  The International Amateur Boxing body declared that an
enquiry will be held  into her behaviour and if found guilty she will
be banned. But why is nobody questioning the incompetency or bias of
the judges.  In fact the enquiry should be directed at the judges and
if  found guilty should be disqualified as they are not fit for the
job. Alas, who will judge the judges! Often it is found that it is the
victim who is penalised and the guilty go Scot-free. The incident is a
blot on the game and sportsmanship. The Boxing body should be put
on the mat for appointing such useless judges for important events.

We are all very proud about the performance of the Indian team in the
just concluded Asian Games.  When our cricket team could not
participate and bring a Gold medal despite being tagged and hyped as
having very great side with very good  bench strength, our Men's
Kabaddi side won the seventh Gold in succession and proved that they
are not second to none.  It was an inspiring show as the match in the
final was a close one against Iran and the score line 27-25 in favour
of Team India tell the tale of a close encounter.  Even our Women's
team won the Gold to keep the Indian flag flying in Kabaddi.  India
thus completed a golden double on the Kabaddi mat for the second
successive edition after the women defeated the same nation 31-21 in
their final  But we witnessed players like Leander Paes and his team
mates skipped the Asian Games for better ATP points tally should feel
ashamed as their absence caused us yet another Gold in Tennis also.
Our cricketers have time to play IPL, CL and Kanga League failed to
show their faces in Asian Games so far.   Team management is helping
their cause to make more money and in the bargain make big booty.
BCCI is money minded and not medal minded.  It is time to encourage
games like Kabaddi in India rather than fostering the Paper Tiger
Indian Cricket Team, who are scared of going out of India and play in
Asian Games as well.  Kudos to Kabaddi team for the stupendous show.


It is heartening to note that Indian team performed very well in the
Asian Games in Incheon and that made us very proud.   Had we put in
some more efforts and played with killer instinct we could have
converted number of bronze medal to silver and silver medals to Gold
and come out with flying colours as the fifth or sixth team in the
medals tally instead of finishing with 8th position.  Fifty seven
medals is not a mean achievement.  The scintillating show of 37 bronze
medals could have been converted to Silver if our stars, showed little
resilience in the end games.  The finishing touch was missing in the
end and we finished with only 11 Gold medals and 9 silver medals in
the end.   There was a chance of finishing behind top teams in the
overall medals tally, but the lack of Gold winning show put paid our
aspirations in the final show down. Hockey Gold and Kabaddi Gold
medals made us proud in the end.  Time to go all out in all such
sports events to make a more meaningful performance than what we
achieved now.

Both English and Australian press are at Dhoni for the way he handled
Indian Cricket at the International level.  The adverse results have
given sufficient indication that the captain seems to have lost the
track and doing whatever thing he like to do and appeared to be in
peril rather than becoming a saviour.  Now Mike Brearley, the best
English captain that the country has every produced talked loud and
clear about the drawbacks in the leadership of Dhoni.  This was
clearly evident from the way we lost series of test matches in
overseas condition for the last 4 years and the trend continued in the
recent English tour as well. Adding to Captaincy woes, Dhoni's
wicket-keeping is also not up to the International level. By simply
missing a runt out chance or a stumping or a sitter we play into the
hands of the opposition thereby lose the chance of getting an upper
hand in all the three formats of the game.  To add to that his batting
against both pace and spin is susceptible and when he score runs in
overseas matches the innings is played in vain and not in a winning
cause. Thus we face series of defeats without semblance of fight and
that gives scope for others to speak about skipper.  But we brush
aside such comments and get satisfied that the skipper is great
motivator, great finisher etc.  In England he hit out hard and high
and finished matches within 3 days and there is a question mark that
whether Team India is good for playing five day test matches.  In
spite of all this BCCI is trying to save his head and bend upon axing
the coach.  Greg Chappell suffered because of the team's failure and
now it is the turn of Duncan Fletcher. A captain has to imbibe many
qualities to become a great leader.  He has to have the nerve of a
gambler, the patience of a saint and the mind of a psychiatrist.  Just
by keeping your collar up you cannot become a great captain.  Dhoni is
just a beginner and learn the art of captaincy before issuing
statements.

Captain let down the team

Captain Dhoni has let the team down with his poor captaincy.  By opting to bat first we were threatened by medium fast bowling of experienced English bowlers.  The move diminished our chances of putting up even a moderate score in the first innings.  Thanks to Ashwin we could cross 150 runs mark and brought some respectability to the score. Dhoni's bowling changes were also were questionable.  Again, Ashwin should haven been used when there was shine in the ball to get extra nip and to get rid of left handed batsmen quickly. Dhoni's flamboyant batting is good for shortest form of cricket. His decision to go for helicopter shots work in our pitches. He does not have the technique to combat genuine pace and clever spin bowling.The less said about his keeping,the better.  His reluctance to dive for the ball also sees many edges go begging.  He do not want to get injured in any way and stick to his role as captain.  Our slip fielders are really slip fielders. They let everything slip through their fingers.  The catch dropped by Jadeja when a Cook was batting at 15 cost us the third test and now the test series is slipping out of our grasp.  Coming back to Dhoni,it would be ideal if he plays only 20-20 and retires from test cricket and one day cricket.Dinesh Kartik could be the keeper in tests and Saha in one dayers.  We cannot also depend on over rated cricketers like Virat Kohli, Dhawan, Jadeja, Rohit etc.How long can we tolerate the statement that form is temporary but class is permanent? Who cares about class and their ICC ratings when one does not score runs. To think of Kohli as a future captain is frightening. We have a captain who makes wrong decisions. To bat first on a cloudy day on a green top was a recipe for disaster. To categorise Jadeja as an all rounder is a joke. He does not merit a place in the team. Pankaj Singh bowls military medium and does not have the pace to trouble batsmen. Varun was not given a chance for the first three tests even though the England players did not have a clue to the bouncers and fiery spell of Ishant.  The faith of the captain on Dhawan,Kohli, Rohit and Jadeja is simply favouritism. None of the four have the technique to play seam and swing. Kohli is basically  backfoot player and even a mild swing is enough to take the edge as his tentative forward push is not enough to negotiate swing.  Moreover,he does not gave a clue as to where his off stump is and the way he shouldered arm to expose his off stump shows his inherent weakness. Shikhar Dhawan plays all types of cricket in his so called offensive style. This could be great if you play in sub continent pitches where the ball does not do much. Pujara has looked good in patches but all at sea against seam and swing bowling. India should also play with English cricket balls than the Kookabura ball. Dhoni has been found wanting as a wicket keeper.The selectors should have persisted with Dinesh Karthik and he is ignored for no valid reasons.   Rahane should be at number 3 with Pujara at 4. Pragyan Ojha should be in the team and it is time to discard Jadeja. Ashwin seems a better bat and should bat higher and give Lion's share of bowling to get rid of southpaw as the so called medium-pacers struggle to adjust to the line and sparay the new ball.  Left handers develop good partnerships against India and that ultimately put paid our hopes. Thus the captain let the team down.

C.K. Subramaniam A-8-1-5 Millennium Towers flat 5 Sector 9 Sanpada Navi Mumbai Mob 9820359436

MAULED AT MANCHESTER
WAKE UP TIME FOR TEAM INDIA

By underestimating an English professional side, Team India was mauled
at Manchester. At Southampton we lost all the 13 sessions of the test
match, but in the 4th test we lost the game in the first hour only. We
played pathetic cricket to finish the game within 3 days and that too
in rain spoiled match.  As usual Dhoni blamed his batsmen for the poor
show, but his decision to bat first back fired in the end. After
winning the Lord's test we failed to play as a team and the absence of
Ishant Sharma played into our minds. Complacency put paid our hopes
and now we are one test down with one to go.  Team India played like
an one day side and could not last even 50 overs in both the innings
of the match.  Moeen Ali made the ball to talk and the mauling was
complete and the team doomed to dust.  The redeeming factor of the
Indian innings was the confidence displayed by R. Ashwin as a batsman.
He sounded his confidence as an all rounder and he can form nucleus of
future Indian Team. From 21st July to 9th August, the team nosedived
lost confidence and surrendered meekly.  India out batted, out paced
and now outs pinned also in overseas conditions. It is indeed a wake
up time for Team India.

Team India's pathetic show with the bat continued and the main culprit
was the key player Virat Kohli.  He could not stand up to the test of
fiery fast bowlers of England and at times failed against spin as
well.  Kohli did not score a single run off Anderson in three of the
six innings he faced him. Overall, Anderson has dismissed Kohli five
times and only conceded 30 runs from ten innings.  How long we can
depend on such a scratchy player and made him to occupy the key spot
and fail repeatedly.  The batting line up need drastic changes from
top to number seven. All round capabilities of Ashwin should be
explored and he should be promoted in batting like Joe Root to see how
he perform consistently at the highest level. Thus we make mess of a
situation and from a position of strength we lose out without a
semblance of fight.  If Dhoni is to be continued as skipper he must be
made to toil for his place in the side as he misses easy chances
behind the stumps and play like a tail ender in front of the wicket.
We need a stable bat at number four and depth in batting to face the
second new ball with some confidence. Infuse young blood to the
batting line up and experiment bowling combination to achieve desired
results.

India's tour of England shows that Indian team just lack the will to
stay longer and that put us in a fix even to last long enough for 3
days. Now the question arises, whether Team India is good enough to
play five day test matches.  We were scared for genuinely fast wickets
on pacy tracks but never saw a team capitulate so easily against spin
from a good start of 53 for one to 66 for 6, thereby handed the Leeds
test on a platter to England and surrendered meekly.  The team think
lost out in the race to select a balanced side and exposed passengers
in the side after winning the second Test.  After winning the test the
onus ought to have been to press home the advantage and make the
English side to pay for their lapse in Lord;s test.  Instead we were
found wanting.  We lost the third test by 266 runs and the fourth by
an innings and 54 runs and now on the way to losing the series.  It is
our own making as the team selection was not up to the mark.  We do
not have a quality left-arm spinner like P. Ojha (Like R. Herath) to
pin the batsmen and get some useful wickets.  Team selectors even
waited to long to include Ashwin and when selected also used him
occasionally as a change bowler and not the mainstay of our attack.
Aaron was also made to wait for a long time and others were given a go
before bringing him.  Leeds debacle gave us a chance to change the
composition of the side and do some drastic changes to clear off our
overseas blues once for all.  Team India in tatters for the time
being. It is indeed wake up time for Dhoni and Company.

SURRENDER AT SOUTHAMPTON

Sloppy fielding can take out the sting of a bowling attack and the way
Jadeja dropped Cook on 15, we lost the way and finished losers even
before lunch on the final day at Southampton In Ishant Sharma's
absence, the bowlers were flat. Forget 20, they didn't look like
picking up 10 wickets. India's shoddy slip catching contributed to
debutant Pankaj Singh ending up wicket less. T.A. Sekher from Tamil
Nadu suffered like him in Pakistan went wicket less in the entire
series. The opening partnership is yet to add 50 outside Asia. This is
a very old weakness. Most of the Indian players have weakness playing
the balls pitched outside the off stump.  The middle order got in and
fell to soft dismissals. As we lack a quality off spinner in the
playing XI, left handed batsmen in the English team got a good look at
the military medium pace bowling and part-time spin bowling to
accumulate at will and at a faster pace. Seven batsmen strategy
boomeranged as Rohit Sharma showed dismal form in both the innings
with his lazy approach.  England batsmen struck to their task and
punished poor length bowling.  On the other hand English bowlers meant
business as Dhawan could score only 6 and the wickets fell at regular
intervals and even avoiding follow on appeared very difficult.  In the
second essay the so called star batsmen in the side succumbed to the
pressure without semblance of fight and the team was in shambles on
the fifth morning.  Moeen Ali taking six wickets against accomplished
players of spin was the perfect riposte to Ishant's bouncing out of
England's batsmen at Lord's.  Surrender at Southampton was complete
and lost the vice like grip after the Lord's test win.

Cricket is sideways game and the team should learn how to come out of
woods. But the Indian Team failed to maintain the lead the bowlers won
at Lord's. Southampton show was not only shameful but disastrous.
From the day one the team was under pressure despite getting a dubious
decision in their favour when Ballance was ruled out by the field
umpire. Still the lower order batsmen plundered runs and the English
Lions feeling pressure of not winning a single test in the last 10
outings tighten the screws on Team India and made a match of it.  As a
matter of fact, Dhoni and his bowlers failed to dismiss English Team
even once in this test match and the declaration saved the team from
further embarrassment. The bowling side appeared very weak with the
absence of Ishant Sharma, the hero of the first test with an inspired
spell of bowling.  After losing the toss, there was no plan to upset
the English batting line up and the poor catching added salt to the
wound.  The spin department lacked bite and Jadeja was just going
through motions and the dubious decisions helped him to get some
wickets.  He gave away 156 runs in the first outing and added another
52 runs in the second innings to add to our woes. It is time to play
with a regular off-spinner.  The move to drop Ashwin in South Africa
and then in New Zealand put paid our winning hopes there but Lord's
test win pinned hopes on part time spinners.  They proved neither good
in bowling or in batting resulting in a huge loss.  Southampton defeat
showcased our inability to play long innings in the conventional form
of the game and hence the defeat was not a surprising one.  Dhoni
lacks imaginary captaincy and it is time to go for a change of
leadership if we wish to outdo teams on overseas tours on a regular
basis.

Coming back after being 1-0 down is not so easy but Cook made it right
after promising to do well after the Lord's loss.  He batted well
upfront, used his bowlers cleverly and fielded very well in the slip
region to hit a purple patch at Rose Bowl. Captain should lead from
the front and Cook did it in style in the second test.  He gauged
India's weakness against a pace cum spin attack and proved his worth
in the 11th game as captain.  Indian team on other hand capitulated
and failed maintain form and complacency struck hard to play poor
cricket even after having an early lead in the series.  The same thing
they did after the Ahmadabad test and lost the series 1-2 to England
at home. Winning is a habit and team selection play a crucial role in
helping out a winning cause.  By picking Pankaj Singh and Rohit Sharma
both batting bowling were exposed and England edged out India in the
end. Out of 13 sessions of play in this test match, England managed to
get 100% record which is a unique one in the conventional form of the
game. Anderson proved that he is son of the soil with superlative
swing bowling and Moeen Ali proved an admirable foil in achieving an
emphatic win.  Moeen Ali claimed six wickets as England beat India by
266 runs to win the third test and level the series at 1-1 with two to
play. Spinner Moeen took six for 67 - the first five-wicket haul of
his test career - as India were bowled out for 178 in their second
innings. England took the remaining six wickets they needed in the
morning session on the final day to secure a first test win since they
beat Australia at Durham in August of last year, ending a run of 10
matches without victory. The fourth test starts at Old Trafford on
Aug. 7.