Sports boom in India, NBA to arrive next.

In life, there are always some things that are constant (or gradually and slowly moving in one direction) and there are some pulsating events. Like, for example, you are growing up day by day, learning the little new thing every day; and one day you have an adventure and are a singled reason for something great, or something famous, becoming famous.

Similar, are sports. Sports are always there. Every sport is played in one place more than the other owing to diverse reasons extending from the history to weather and, also the physique of the people of the geographical region. But, in recent years, with the advent of radio and later, of television and internet technologies, the following of a game has expanded beyond geographical boundaries. A cricket fan in the USA doesn't have to feel left out, nor should a football fan in Kenya. But, there needs to be something to break the new sport into the newer lands. Something "revolutionary" must happen, which attracts more and more people towards it.

In this post, I will try to put up a few occurrences in the recent history that has attracted a large following towards it, even if there are very few Indians playing it, or very few playing at the highest level of quality. And, predict the next swarm.

1. Formula One Racing.
India had a decent number of F1 followers a few years ago. I used to watch/follow during my school and college days. But it was far less than the number of people who care about, say, hockey. And suddenly, F1 came to India in October 2011. There was an unmatched euphoria that spread across the country like wildfire. People started liking drivers, some suddenly claimed to have known the Vettels and Alonsos since last century, some showered praises and swears like they were best buddies or arch rivals (something you see in sports with cemented fandom base), and people who had dreamt of watching F1 live had now a chance to realise it. The Buddh International Circuit could host nearly one lakh people, all of which were sold! That, brought F1 to India. Should've happened 5 years ago. Late, but never too late. It has happened. Not so long ago, an Indian company started owning a team (Force India), and we also had Indian drivers in the circuit. But THIS, this changed everything.

Click here for the race results.

2. Sania and Saina
Indian sports almost always ignored the performances of women. Even if it was about cricket. The whole nation followed the Indian men's cricket team during the 2003 WC, where it lost in the finals to Australia. But rarely do anyone remember Indian women's team's fortunes, as they traversed the same luck in 2005. But then, two girls, Saina Mirza and Saina Nehwal, swung a lasso and caught the attention of many million Indians towards them.

Sania Mirza raced past expectations to claim an Indian's highest WTA rank (27). Vijay Amrithraj was once ranked 16, Ramesh Krishnan 23. And 22 years since, Sania hit 27. That was when many girls got into tennis. Girls' tennis got more attention, more coaching. Sania went on to win silver and gold in Asian games too. The kick's been given, the result will show. Sania Mirza is the milestone woman to Indian tennis, but not the last one.

Saina Nehwal, a young prodigy, took badminton to another level of fan-following when she took the one way highway up the rankings, and reached her personal best of World Number 2, never before seen by any Indian. She was also instrumental in India bagging an overall silver in the Commonwealth Games of 2010, thanks to her gold medal. To put in a nutshell, she is to badminton what Sania Mirza is to tennis, if not more.

3. Twenty20 cricket
India were wary of the new version of cricket - the Twenty20. Indian ideology is - if you don't know it, don't fiddle with it. Not until India won the World Cup T20 did the think tanks and the people swarm the format of the game and adopt it, such that the world is attracted to the T20 league in India - the IPL, which kicked off on the same lines of the first such commercial Indian T20 league- the ICL (which was then labeled "rebel" league, and shunned). Funny, how things are first termed rebellious, and then taken into practice and termed genuine.

That World Cup drew comparisons to the ODI World Cup win in 1983. We had played only 6 ODIs at home before 1983 victory. We played 7 in 1983 after the world cup win.

These victories, these names, these events... They attract people, and loads of them. Very recently, an Indian company has taken over the ownership of an English Premiership Club - Blackburn Rovers. Now you see players in England, cheered by fans from all over the world wearing a shirt with an Indian's company's name on their chest and the camera flashing across to the club's Indian owners.Whether or not you like the club or not is immaterial, for, I don't even own the football the kids in my apartment play. I can only appreciate them. They even brought the team to play against an Indian club team - Pune FC. Vijay Mallya did similar things when he bought an F1 team and put India on the F1 map.

What next?

NBA

Yes! NBA.
The whole of India is now banking its hopes and expectations into a 15 year old simple Punjabi boy, Satnam Singh Bhamara. He's a giant, measured a whole 7 foot tall figure and had impressed his trainers at an IMG camp in Florida in 2010. He has been attracting many coaches' eyes since his arrival there, and is now in regular training. He has another 4-5 years of good training at school and college level before NBA picks players from the colleges from across the colleges (atleast one year of academics must be completed) and the globe in whole.

The coaches are liking his skill sets. They are helping him improve his athleticism. I spoke to Daniel Buerge, owner of LakersNation.com, LA Lakers' fan-blog (every NBA franchise has a fan blog, which is like the second place you visit after the official team page, or in some cases the first. And LakersNation was adjudged the best sports blog in LA last year) in December and introduced him to the growing sensation of Satnam Singh Bhamara and asked his opinion. He said that someone as tall as 7 feet with 4 years of growth left and already gaining reputation as a good player with handy skill set will be under the watch of NBA scouts. That, I hope does happen. If his preparations keep the pace, he will get into a good college for his skills, and will go all the way to the big league.
Two articles on him - NDTV, AOL



There is one comparison which I can make to tell you how this can be, if and when it happens. Yao Ming, of China. In 2002, he became the first Chinese player to be drafted into the NBA. What Yao Ming had, was an experience of 5 years in basketball, winning the CBA Championship with Shanghai Sharks, a team he now owns shares of, after retiring from basketball at a very young age of 31, due to a weak knee. NBA, and basketball in general, in China has since become an ever growing market. One of NBA's busiest offices abroad is in China. Chinese basketball improved so much, that when the NBA went into a lock-out, players opted to play basketball in China until NBA was restored, or in some cases, the whole of Chinese season.

Satnam Singh can bring that change to India. He can do what Hasheem Thabeet did for Tanzania, what Samuel Dalembert did for Haiti. He holds Yao Ming as an inspiration, and he wants to be India's Yao Ming. He has all my prayers to accomplish that.

We are waiting by the beach, awaiting the sweet wave to wash our feet, and prepare for a new dawn, one when Satnam Singh Bhamara wears an NBA jersey and stands shoulder to shoulder with other contemporary stars.

Bring it on!

New ODI Rules.

Clearly ODI cricket is on a new low. Viewers aren't watching, sponsors not willing to invest, same bunch of teams taking turns winning, same bunch of teams taking turns not winning, T20s eating into ODIs like Moths, sweeping away crowds like Dung Beetle, and test cricket stomping on it like a Woolly.

I See, see, that One Day International Cricket needs some serious changes. So I took it upon me to save ODI cricket from its early death. My views have been approved by an imaginary board. It's quite the same as imaginary views being approved by a real cricketing board.

Here is the list of a few minor, major and utterly mandatory changes :-

01. The captain who loses the toss, buys the opponent's playing XI dinner on the night of the game. If he loses, it will be good for him, as the winning captain has to sponsor the opponent's XI's lunch the following day. ICC and boards see this as a way to cut their own expenses. ECB were happy at this.

Note - M.S. Dhoni quoted "Well of course, winning is important, irrespective of the toss" in satisfaction of the law.

02. There will be a two minute mandatory break in each innings after the 25th over. This is a dedicated time for the teams to play dodgeball. Fielding XI forms a circle of 15 yard diameter, and the two batsmen who're playing must play dodge. If they're hit in the 2 minutes, they're out. This dismissal will be termed "Hit Out", and will be credited to the fielder who hit the batsman. For a brochure of complete rule-set, it can be obtained from the patent owner, me, upon request.

Note - HotSpot will be applicable here, its applcation will be decided by 3rd umpire. BCCI are not yet happy about this.

03. Each team will have 2 reviews under UDRS, but their request will be put forth only if they can recite a tongue twister 10 times within 25 seconds to the bowling end umpire. The tongue twister will be of the umpire's choice. This is to reduce the number of referrals made, if not eliminate.

Note - Michael Clarke has filed a request to the ICC to not allow Australian matches to be umpired by BOTH Aleem Dar and Asad Rauf.

04. As a step to move forward with the Spirit of Cricket, the captains of both teams in the last match of the series/tournament, must exchange trousers at of toss. An undisclosed spokesperson for an undisclosed team said "They exchange tee shirts at football matches. We just exchange trousers."



Note - BCB announces double money payback to anyone who is willing to return their merchandises, waist below.

05. An innings is for 3.5 hours. Now on, there won't be any fine for exceeding the time limit. Just, the bowlers must bowl with their wrong hand.

Note - E(&W)CB awards permanent contract till retirement to Samit Patel, assuring him a place in the playing XI.

06. As the game has become very colourul, we have decided to add some more colours to the game. Bowlers will now bowl each over 3 different coloured balls. If x,y and z are the colours, the over will be bowled in xyzxyz order.


Note - Batting team can decide the colour of the ball. For England, pink is mandatory.

07. For the first time in any sport than includes hurling a ball at someone else, there will be the introduction of the concept of "Money Ball". Inspired and adapted from the NBA, this gives you double benefits. Each bowling team gets two Magic Balls each innings, the captain is free to opt for it any time in the innings, but they must be exhausted in the 50 overs. If the bowler picks a wicket, the next batsman on the officially declared batting order is Magicked Out, and cannot bat. Two wickets. One ball. You only dreamt of it. Batsmen will similarly double whatever they score off the Magic Ball.

Note - Lasith Malinga is smiling now.

08. Any commentator who gets a feeling of any kind while on air will be given free treatment at a local hospital far away from the ground for 6 months, and be sanctioned medical-leave for the period. This is to let the world knows that ICC cares for the welfare of their presenters.

Note - We thank the students of KMC (Kilpauk Medical College), Chennai for suggesting this very noble idea.

09. ICC has recruited and contracted Russel Peters to every possible ODIs that are played around the world for conducting the presentation ceremony. An office bearer said "We want the people to stay for the presentation ceremony. The people who conduct it now are so predictable. My dog knows what lines are coming up." Russel Peters is ready for the task. He said in an exclusive interview, "Each player summoned to the dais must start with a 'Your momma is so fat..' joke."

Note - ICC mentioned that it will impose a fine of upto 1 match ban on players who opt for "Well of course, your momma is so fat."

10. As many incidences have come up, and many have mentioned the need for it officially, since it is unofficially happening anyway, we have decided to legalize ball tampering. Ball tampering has been defined as a "one time 30 second long act in making allowable alterations to the surface of the ball, without disfiguring the shape of the ball, with whatever means possible, in front of both field umpires and under the vigilance of a spider camera". It will be allowed only to those bowling teams who employed only fast bowlers in their first 15 overs, with a second slip always present during the period, and no player making a visit to the dressing room until the point of time when the allowance is made by the on-field umpire (only after 38th over). This is to make sure that the fast bowlers are sufficiently utilized at the beginning itself, and also that nobody brings in extra tools for any disfiguration.

Note - "fast bowlers" is a list of literally fast or medium fast bowlers, and does not include Keiron Pollard or Paul Collingwoord. Jade Dernbach has been sent a list of rules to abide by for the first 15 overs to help his team avail this offer.

Let Glory Be Restored To ODIs

Cricket Commentary. Time for radio again.

We have moved on from gluing our ears to radio sets to sitting comfortably on the couch in-front of television sets to watch games. Our eyes saw what was happening in the latter, but our ears were hungry for running information coming in.

The only difference between the two audio commentaries, is that, for TV, you can see what is happening, and the description required can be minimized. Thus, television commentary allowed room for expertise and opinions on air. You could see the shine on one side, and someone would tell what that would do. On a radio, there isn't enough time to describe all of it. Description - necessary, explanation - bonus.

Of-late, cricket commentary on television has been a joke. From needless promotion of sundry tournaments to verbal fights to a complete vomit of mis-information, one is tempted to turn the volume down to mute, or go for new-age audio commentary.


Most commentary teams comprise of ex-cricketers, or famed cricket journalists, with varied experience on the microphone. If not for a few good blokes, telly commentary could've been a non-mandatory option for viewers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I say commentary, it ought to mean description of the game going out in the ground. 3 out of 5 times, the commentator is either talking about birds, or praising the local government for hosting the match, or talking about the fellow commentator's age old experience from 20 years ago, or worse, hair on their head. If I wanted all that, I would go to a theatre.

As a kid, I would love to hear Tony Greig go "Sauchin Taendulka" and Gavaskar and Shastri talk... For, I only had eyes. My ear would sense cricketers' names and excite me. Today, when I hear Shastri, I turn the volume down to mute. If a man with only so many lines as a back-stage actor can be paid so much, I fail to see the purpose of being called a "commentator".

The verbal diarrhea that is involved is just too much to handle. And gosh, what levels of pointlessness are poured into the commentary by some examples like Arun Lol, Atul Wasan, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Russel Arnold, Ranjit Fernando, Danny Morrison, Amir Sohail, Brad Hogg and other forgettable names. Ranjit Fernando changes his views every 17 minutes, 17 seconds if we are talking about a close run out. Arun Lol talks about the birds on his tie, while LSK hasn't understood what reverse swing is.

Maybe the country with the best commentary team would be West Indies - Cozier, Bishop, Holding. England has Bumble, Botham, Gower, Hussain (I miss Boycott). Indian subcontinent has no good commentator. Australia has Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell, Slater, Taylor (not great, not bad). Mark Nicholas adds a bit of excitement, cricket-ingly so.

In football, the commentators announce the goal, wait for a few moments, then describe the celebration and a little snippet, and then explain the goal on the replay along with expert comments.

In NBA, there is a play-by-play who describes every pass, every drive and the attempt, while an expert describes the tactics and science. And they are legends, honoured for their careers as commentators. In NBA, last minute plays and highlight plays are not commented for a few seconds until the audience's volume comes down. Half the way across the world, it is a hair-raising experience to listen to Kevin Harlan, Joe & Stu (Lakers, you see), Mike Breen call the play-by-play. Experts are a whole different set of people.

Tennis commentators don't even talk when the ball is in play. They start only after the audience is mid-way into their clapping.

There, that can be applied to cricket. I'm sick and tired of "the ball is up in the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair" followed by "taken" or "dropped". I can see that. You can do the "swiveling in the air" and "white back-ground" or "lost in the crowd" part, after the ball has come down. After. But no, they have to squeeze in their lines while the ball is up in the air, because once it lands, it is time to call it a "Karbonn kamaal catch, or "car crash broken bone drop".

And I pity these Hindi commentators, who have NO CLUE what-so-ever about the field placement because, obviously, they aren't there at the ground. They're commentating off their own TV sets.

I may not be any great commentator, but I'm no idiot to accept what they all serve as commentary. They're paid to commentate, we pay to hear them.

Gavaskar will tell you about his amateur commentary days alongside Richie Benaud... Once, while the two were commentating in the box, the batsman had scored his century. Young commentator, Gavaskar, reached for his mic in excitement and let the world hear it, and Richie Benaud put his hand on Gavaskar's arm, silently prompting him to quit it. It was to let the viewers watch the batsman's celebration, engulfed by the appreciation from the crowd via claps, whistles and praises, before the commentators can come into the scene and add their inputs to it.

With all the bizarre commentary on television, internet radio has become one viable option. Groups of individuals have taken it upon themselves to entertain the world of cricket. Test Match Sofa covers up all English games, and Pitch-Invasion covers all Indian games (IPL included). They serve good commentary, which is informative, interactive and enjoyable. Reading your tweets on air, interacting with a group of listeners, freedom to make sarcastic comments, unbound by contracts to hail something...these networks are giving the television commentary a bit of a competition.

With more people turning to such media, one doesn't mind turning off the volume. So one wouldn't care a rat's ass about Ravi Shastri's feelings, or why Gavaskar is unhappy about being finger-pointed about his "DLF Maximum" trumpets, or Danny Morrison's description of the cheerleader on the dais.

We are going back to the radio days.

Arouse Interest in Domestic Cricket, Airtel!

Today, one of Indian domestic cricket's biggest problem is that it isn't attracting enough attention or viewership or interest of the general public. The fandom is limited, and almost all of them would be "die hard" fans, branches of families who have had big interests in their local team, passing on the passion from generation to generation. In India, the best such association of fans to their domestic team can only be seen in Mumbai, and traces in maybe TN, Delhi, Bengal, UP etc. My dad tells tales about the Gopalan Trophy...such was the following of the local team in those days.

Nowadays, people don't know much about their local stars until they make an appearance on television in coloured clothings. The NEO network's two channels have helped televise some domestic games. The Challenger Trophy brings the best few in the country in a round robin league, which is probably the most viewed domestic tournament in India. Yet, Ranji trophy, or even Duleep trophy doesn't attract half as much attention of viewers or followers alike.

There has to be ways to get over this. There is.

Yesterday, while watching the channel 'NEO Cricket', I learnt that Airtel sponsors all domestic cricket leagues and tournaments in India.

Airtel is one of the leading telephone, cellular, broadband and DTH television service provider in India, with nation-wide coverage in all aspects.

I believe that this link between Airtel and the domestic cricket can help bring the cricket closer to people. Airtel can be the mediator to bring the happenings to the people.

Airtel services include packages for cricket, wherein the subscribers would get score updates and news from international games and events. Such services can be extended to the domestic set-up too.

Airtel can allow its customers to subscribe to packages for any Ranji team (extend to Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali trophies). The subscribers would then be given information at toss (toss, teams) and score updates at lunch, tea and stumps for all days of play. And at stumps on each day, update all subscribers with scores from all the games being played across the country.

All subscribers can be allowed to follow other non-state-specific tournaments without hassles, meaning, without any further subscription procedures. This would involve coverage of Deodar, Duleep and Irani trophy.

The cricket package for international games was priced at Rs 30 for 30 days. Airtel would know best on how to price the packages for the domestic games. Ranji season would see atleast 4 games every month for each team. There will be one-dayers and T20s too.



Marketing this is simple too. As of now, the BCCI is able to promote its domestic leagues only on its channels - NEO Sports and NEO Cricket (both paid channels, require set-top-box or DTH). With Airtel involved, there are no boundaries. Advertisements on all local channels can catch the attention of target audience better. Print media in each region can advertise for subscription of their local team's cricket update service pack.

This has multiple benefits :-
1. More people can now follow their local cricket team in the domestic league. One large step in creating a larger fandom for the domestic teams.
2. Airtel will have more revenue, might also generate more customers if the venture is a success.

A win-win situation? Yes!

I want to see that day when a Yorkshire fan would be jealous of the fandom of Jharkhand.

Autopsy of India's loss to England.

India traveled to England from West Indies with a crop of new cricketers, seasoned travelers, some passengers and a large kit full of bandages, relief sprays, magic sprays etc. The series started with a Panther coming out to play for Somerset, who ended up lifting the trophy after whitewashing the opponents whiter than the kit he was wearing.

This may be one of India's worst defeats in history. But India fought for 17 days of the series, and lost only 4-0. Spare a thought for Natasha Zvereva, who was crushed 6-0 6-0 by Steffi Graf in 1988 French Open. Lasted only 32 minutes, shorter than India's 7 man tail lasted in the last test.

I look at some major reasons why India lost the series to England.

1. That Blimp
Right from the start of the series, the television presenters were hell bent on giving more importance to the floating piece of clueless hot air balloon than what was happening down in the cricket ground. The cricketers had to do something crazy enough to attract the attention of the 7 month old baby which would otherwise have been gazing at the blimp.

It is also believed that Lalit Modi lived in that blimp, preparing to unfurl his IPL-IS-GOD nuisance as soon as India would win a test. The needless and pointless ZanduBalm Pressure became a huge Vicks 500 Headache for the Indian team, and like all humans they suffered from fatigue from the over expectation generated from the man in the MRF Blimp.



That blimp...

2. Snapping Samson's Hair

Never change something that is going well.

Ishant Sharma was the leading wicket taker in the WI series. He had the most wickets for an Indian in a single tour of WI. And within a couple of weeks of landing in England, he becomes a cropper. His hair was cut. Along with the length of his hair, went his powers. Ishant, is Samson.



Ishant's form dipped, injured himself, and is now back home.

3. The Rise of the Barbie

Before the series started, Stuar Broad was a man going nowhere with his form. He was spraying the ball all around for an year. His enforcing abilities had diminished to near nothingness. It took him three and a half ODIs to pick his first wicket of the series against SL, preceding the IND series. Such was his plight, fighting against Bresnan for a spot in the playing XI.

And on 21st July, as England started their campaign at Lord's, a sad thing happened in California, USA later that day. Elliot Handler, the co-inventor of Barbie Dolls, passed away due to heart failure at the age of 95.

The spirit of Barbie seems to have returned to the sole owner of the name - Stuart Broad.

We all saw what happened next - a few match turning innings with the bat, a series of destruction of the batting line up with the ball and with commanding assurance, owned the Man of the Series Award.


(Elliot Handler, RIP. This world got a lot from you. Barbie and HotWheels to name two.)

4. Denying the Battle

When Andrew Strauss opted to play for Somerset on loan to improve his batting (not sure how much he did...), Marcus Trescothik made way for Strauss for the one-off practice game vs India. This meant there was no Trescothik vs Harbhajan face-off. One of the most fun-filled pocket of rivalry was denied bluntly.

I'm pretty sure that Bhajji would've nailed Tresco atleast once. And then he would have that spring in his step. And he would spring on that board for the whole tour.



Well done, Tresco! You've eliminated one bowler off the Indian ranks right off.

5. The Lucky Fellow

And yes, Tim Bresnan played for England. There. How can a team win against England when they field Tim Bresnan in the XI?

And such was the luck and plight of the series, that nothing would put India back on track in the series. India ended up losing 4-0, a whitewash that painted the Indian team whiter than England's whitest white Adidas test kits.

Congratulations to England, the new no.1 in test rankings. Strauss does like the mace. Good luck with it! It seemed like he used it on the Indians to reduce them to rubble.

And as I type, India slip to no.3 in ODIs too, to go along with the no.3 in tests, courtesy SL's victory in the last ODI vs Australia.

Why so serious?