Practise makes perfect and other subjects

Note from the Sports Editor: On Friday May 7, we had carried a slide show, featuring players from South Africa and Australia, mostly, at practise.

A lot of readers have written in asking for pictures of the Indian team. One reader even called the feature 'racist'. Sorry, that one went over our heads -- if an Indian site were to feature pictures of only India, Pakistani and Sri Lankan players, for instance, you might call it jingoistic, if not racist. But where lies 'racism' in an Indian site showing South African and Australian players?

Rediff has tied up with Allsport for photographic coverage. Which means that during the World Cup -- and, indeed, throughout the year ahead -- we will be able to bring you high quality visuals of cricketing and other sporting action around the world.

The slide show of Friday was based on pictures provided by Allsport. As it happened, the first batch of pictures received by us featured players from Australia and South Africa. So we presented them -- because, after all, the World Cup is about all participating nations, not just one.

However, it doesn't need mentioning that our focus will be -- as it always has been -- on India. To this end, we have requested a special selection of pictures of the Indian cricketers. A comprehensive slide show featuring those pictures will go up on our site next week. As, indeed, will pictorial presentations of players from all participating teams.

Watch for it and, in the meantime, bear with us. And now, over to the readers...

The Harsha Bhogle column:
Madhu Sudan Y R: madhusudan@ppsindia.co.in: Dear Harsha,
I am surprised Aravinda is first down batsman in Donald's eleven. any Indian player figuring in his eleven...
Regards

Sachin versus Bradman:
Madhusudan: madhusudan@ppsindia.co.in: The article is really in a poor taste. Notwitstanding the hype is getting, he definetely is a genius. Otherwise, players like Richards would not have told that he loves watching him playing . ( what ever cost...he will come and watch tendulkar play)


Easy does it for the Indians:
irwin: irwin@batelco.com.bh: read this kev

Weatherwise and otherwise:
rajneesh dham: rajneeshdham@hotmail.com: Dear Prem, Hi! Have joined Indian express online media ltd and am happy that I have access to your column. will keep in touch with you on regular basis. could you send me your email address.

The Harsha Bhogle column:
ravi: ravisrin@in.ibm.com:
as harsha says, there is so much in the newspapers etc. that i have stopped reading them so as not to diminish my enthusiasm for the actual matches. but, then i have to read harsha's column here. the talk in office etc. was so much about india, SA, Pak, Aus that i forgot totally about *Neil Johnson*. and not many have picked him among the top all-rounders. his bowling will be very effective in England and he has big scores at the top of the order too. i think Zimbabwe are the dark horses for this World Cup - and that's bcoz i feel India are better than the equine term given to them.

The Harsha Bhogle column:
NAVEEN: NAVEEN1978@HOTMAIL.COM: DEAR HARSHA,I READ YOUR ARTICLE.IT WAS FULL OF EXCITING STATISTICS.BUT YOU HAVE REALLY FORGOT TO NAME CHRIS CAIRNS AND CULLINAN IN YOUR ARTICLE.BOTH ARE PROVEN MATCHWINNERS FOR THEIR RESPECTIVE TEAMS.AND PLEASE SPARE A SMALL PORTION OF YOUR HEART TO THE INDIANS TOO... AFTER ALL THE WILL BE NOW REARING TO AFTER THE RETURN OF OUR OWN LITTLE CHAMPION,THE GREAT SACHIN.PLEASE REPLY THANK YOU

The Harsha Bhogle column:
mounesh: mounesh@hotmail.com: Harsha, once again very unconventional approach. Good to know of the people to watch out (other than my listed ones...) :-)

Easy does it for the Indians:
SANTOSH PAWAR: santi@mcbl.iisc.ernet.in: Dear REDIFF team, Thanks for the latest info. about the Indian teams' progress with respect to the World Cup preparations. Its very heartening to know that the Indian team is going all out and practising sincerely, getting used to the seaming conditions of England and also using the teams' weaknesses to advantage and working on them. Well, its not just Ganguly or Dravid or Tendulkar which have to excel with the bat but also other batsman, especially Azhar and Jadeja. Its important that at least 2-3 batsman in the middle order strike from and give their best. Fielding skills have to reach near best, if not the best, for saving runs itself puts pressure on opposition into committing rash shots and gifting wickets. It will also be very vital to give batting practice to the tail-enders as well because in case of a top-order collapse, we still can get a formidable total. Look at the South African side when they played West Indies recently. On quite a few occassions, though top order collapsed, the tail really put up fighting totals for the bowlers to finish the job. Though WestIndies was a down and out side then, but it still gives us an important point to ponder and work on. Lets hope for the best for the Indian team. Also in bowling, the best strategy would be to bowl a restricting line and length, make life difficult for opponent batsman and in an attempt to score runs fast they are bound to give away their wickets. Theres' no point bowling short-pitched deliveries and expecting batsman to give wicket each time, it only gives away more runs as we have seen in mnay recent matches. Even if we get wickets we give away too many runs also which makes things difficult for ourselves. Finally its the runs a team has to score to win and not show the wickets lost. So its important to restrict scoring by opponents and for that, no giving away easy runs with that short stuff. Let the opposition fight and take every single run. The wishes of a billion Indians are with the team. So go ahead and make us proud.....

Guest column -- Why India is a favourite for the Cup:
Salman Butt: 02020136@lums.edu.pk: With the sort of humiliation the Indians suffered at the hands of the Pakistanis in the Test Series, the Asian Test Championship, then the Pepsi and the Coca-Cola cups, I think the Pakistani chances of winning the world cup outweigh the Indian chances by far. The problems with the Indian team is that they depend on one player too much. They dont have the diversity which teams like Pakistan, Australia and South Africa do. So if I was a betting man i wouldn't put my odds on India in a hurry.

Guest column -- Leadership is the key:
Vijay: vijayj@hotmail.com: Hey Pal, Good stuff but high hopes!!!Iam Imdian but i feel Australia or South Africa will win the World Cup!!! Luv Vijay

The Dean Jones column:
Kishore: kishorer@usa.net: Hi Dean, Yeah. It does seem like Australia might just make it. But what to do you think of the springboks? They haven't done too badly either, in their recent games. Or for that matter, India's chances, given the way so astinishingly beat the West Indians in 1983 ?
Do reply. It would be great to be in conversation with you.


The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
subrato: subratojm@inf.com: I wished you would concentrate equally on all the sporting events, like the wimbledon and french open of tennis, the European Foot ball championships, and so on. Mundane cricket is not of interest always. Of course, breathtaking actions of world class calibres like the numero uno Sachin are always welcome to be discussed about. Thank you.

The sports editor replies: We have, in fact, only recently put in place a full fledged sports desk, and are currently in the process of planning a complete revamp of the sports section. For now, with the World Cup around the corner, we are concentrating on the planning and designing. The new look sports page, which covers the entire gamut of Indian sporting action, and looks also at major international sports around the globe, will go up immediately after the World Cup, we hope that it will meet your expectations.

Practise makes perfect :
cricket lover: love@hotmail.com: where the hell is INDIAN photos... OR are they all signing and dating to make more money?

Practise makes perfect :
chap: chap7777@hotmail.com: can u do the same photo feature with the indian team thanks

The Sanjay Manjrekar column :
rajesh garg: times@bom6.vsnl.net.in: best of luck to India and dear sanjay how do u rate our chances of winning the cup rajesh

Practise makes perfect :
Thomas Mathew: mathew_t@hotmail.com: A good presentation of what's happening behind the scenes. Can we have some pictures of the Indian team as well?

Practise makes perfect :
Rahul: rajaramr@rocketmail.com: Good Show!!

Practise makes perfect :
Selva: gselvakumar@hotmail.com: Some comments to these slides would have made them better. What happened to the other teams' slides? Good work, over all. Keep it UP!

Practise makes perfect :
Bharadhwaj: bharadh@hotmail.com: It was a racist view of practice. Where were photos of the Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and the West Indians ? Are only Aussies, South Africans and Englishmen playing cricket this world cup ?Is it a triangular tournament, by any chance ?!

Practise makes perfect :
Vibhu Pratap: vibhu_pratap@hotmail.com: Why there's no photograph of Indian Team practicing ? I don't like it. Don't put it on the web site just for the heck of it. -vibhu

Steven Lynch:
Aseem Rangnekar: arangnekar@yahoo.com: Steven Lynch is another one who makes pathetic excuses for England's pedestrian cricketing prowess. The reason England lost in Sharjah is not because Alec Steward lost the toss, not because the conditions were completely disparate from those back home in England, but simply that in terms of cricketing flair and talent, the English cricket team is pathetic. They are a bunch of bits and pieces cricketers who can hold their own neither with the bat nor the ball, but can do a bit of both. I will not call them all-rounders: Kapil Dev was an allrounder, as was Ian Botham. Ian Austin and Mark Ealham have no business to be classified as international class all-rounders. Neither did Dermot Reeve, nor Derek Pringle. England should pick specialists, opening batsmen, middle-order batsmen, a specialist wicket-keeper, specialist opening bowlers and specialist spinners. Their complete inability to do this is symptomatic of the dearth of talent in the country at the moment. As far as the appeal to disparate conditions is concerned, let me assure the England management that facing Shoiab Akhtar at 10:45am on an overcast day, on a greenish wicket will be infinitely harder than facing him under lights in Sharjah. Guys like Steward who couldn't lay bat on ball will be brought up to speed on that fact very very quickly.

Steven Lynch:
krishna: krishnag@prodigy.net: Steven: I am a free lance photo journalist. Could you please direct me to the proper authorities to secure press accreditation?
BTW who has the telecasting rights to / for this World Cup ? TWI ?


Guest column -- :
Aseem Rangnekar: arangnekar@yahoo.com: I strongly believe that South Africa will reach the semi-final and will go no further. Admittedly they are the most professional, disciplined and workman-like side in the competition. But they lack that spark of inspiration, that touch of genius, that sheer natural flair and talent without which one can't lift the trophy. The Aussies on the other hand combine both attributes - they too are very professional, but they also have guys like Shane Warne and Mark Waugh who can touch a game with their sheer brilliance. Hard work and professionalism can get you to the knock-out stage, no doubt, but to get past the finish line you need a Kapil Dev who can hit four consecutive sixes, a Tendulkar who can swing a game after a dust-storm, a Lara who can do the impossible or a Wasim Akram who can take a hatrick when the opposition needs a handful of runs to win. In these poignant instances, playing as per the "instruction manual" will not work.

Practise makes perfect :
Mohinder: mohinder@hotmail.com: It looks great . It would be nice if U guys could tell who's in the pic. Good job.

Practise makes perfect :
Sharad Sharma: SharmaSharad@hotmail.com: Nice pictures. ThanX.

Practise makes perfect :
Ramesh Balan: rbbalan@hotmail.com: Would appreciate a comment or remark under each picture. On the whole the slides were good and expect to see more such features frequently

The sports editor responds: They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but apparently the readers would like a few words tagged on as well. So fine -- we live and we learn, and we've learnt to put captions and names to our slide shows in future. Watch for it.

Practise makes perfect :
Suhrud: suhrudatre@hotmail.com: WHERE ARE THE INDIANS???

Practise makes perfect :
saril: sarilkvp@yahoo.com: The slide show was excellant...loved it Include some of Indian teams pictures also... and it would be nice if u can put some comments below every photo.....

Practise makes perfect :
prabu: jingrekh@hotmail.com: hi why dont i see any indian faces ???

Practise makes perfect :
Suresh: suresh_s172@hotmail.com: This slideshow is a great concept, and it looked great too ! I would be happy to see a few shots of the Indian Cricket Team also !

Practise makes perfect :
Pobbathi: pobbat: I thought there were more than three teams playing in the world cup!! Hope to see the photos of some subcontinent teams as well. That is if you guys dont mind!

Sports Editor replies: No we don't mind, not one bit. After all, this site happens to be developed in the 'subcontinent'. Do note, what went up on Friday was one slide show. It is far from being the only one.

Steven Lynch:
sunil: sunildatta@hotmail.com: Rain will be the biggest enemy of the world cup. Only god knows, why the ICC is conducting World cup in May. They should have choosen July-August. Out of the 6 warm-up games, 4 matches have been abandoned today.
As Steven pointed out, only Duckworth and Lewis will decide the new World cup winner! This world cup may be the worst thing that can happen to Cricket!

Practise makes perfect :
Nikhil Gupta: gupta@lexecon.com: This is a great idea. Thanks for the great pics.

Practise makes perfect :
shivakumar: shivakumar_s@hotmail.com: Want more photos esp. of the Indian team at practice..
Its all pretty good!!...

Practise makes perfect :
Ashish: kabhinakabhi@yahoo.com: Where is India practising. Are they doing anything or not

Easy does it for the Indians:
Ram: ram@teoco.com: splendid and realistic strategy!!! "dropping the ball into the gaps and running the short singles."

Practise makes perfect :
That slide presentation made no sense without captions! Try to make some thing better next time

SE responds: Thanks for the suggestion, it will be implemented next time.

Practise makes perfect :
Neeraj: neeraj@email.com: Want More !!!

SE responds: You got it, Oliver Twist! :-) Watch this space, the coming week...

Practise makes perfect :
bhattm@hotmail.com: Manish Bhatt: NOT COMPLETE

Celebrating Sachin:
prasen: jamming8@yahoo.com: hello readers, this is in regard to the comments mr. ananth has made with respect to my reactions to mr panicker's article. first of all i am NOT a sachin basher and am one of the greatest fans of sachin. i like mr panicker's articles a lot too. i just wanted to encourage a journalist who had a different point of view which was not as absurd as most of the readers who do (seemingly) appreciate proper analysis. should not proper analysis be absolutely unbiased. should'nt we take off our 'sachin-the-god' glasses when we sit down to analyse him?? I AM IN NO WAY SAYING THAT HE IS NOT GREAT..how can i even dare to cast aspersions on one of the greatest cricketing genuises of all times..i just wanted most of the readers to view things under the glow of a very balanced analysis...like for example we have been quoting a lot about his sharjah innings against australia, BOTH OF WHICH WOULD EASILY BE AMONG THE BEST INNINGS I GOT A CHANCE TO SEE, as i was lucky enough to be in India those days, but should we not also take a step back and factor in the absence of glen mcgrath and the flatness of the sharjah pitch....i mean just analysing it like this should not make us eligible for 'crucification'... similarly i saw the MCC innnings in England where Sachin scored 122 and i felt that he was being troubled a bit by the movement glen and alan were generating...similarly it was not a lie and no intention to humiliate sachin ( imean who are we to do that to one of our best players)to mention that 17 or 18 of his centuries have come off flater pitches,...moreover when someone comment on his 'staying abilities they have a point b'coz we have seen that, although on a feew occasions but sometimes on crititcal conditions like the madras test against pakistan....i mean however hard we are blinded by his genius we should also have the courage to doubt the effectiveness of his great innings..like although he was the highest scorer in the last world cup it was jayasuriya and arvind de'silva who effectively won the cup for them....I think sachin is one of the most mature cricketer around and would work on these small things that can convert his 'immense greatness' into 'ultimate effectiveness' and he has given ample proof of this by practicing with L siva rama before facing and subsequently destroying Shane warne who arguably is the best of the leggies around. as for the article thing that mr ananth has quoted i have read all those and much more and on the same token i would say that someone come accross tons of articles by 'experts' on many others like Lara, Anwar, Mark waugh, Kirsten, Arvinda and also sharp criticism against great players.....just for example if you go to the wisden site you would find alan donald has given a world XI which does not even include brian lara and he has even downplayed his talents in one another and it is also known that they are not in good terms...can u find any connection between the two situations....by the way this world XI contains sachin and also contains a lot of praise but he also mentions that he is a great player on flat pitches....YOU KNOW WHAT

Practise makes perfect :
sangmitra: kk2183@netscape.com: BEST WISHES to indian team luv sangamitra

Practise makes perfect :
Bostonian: Gordonian@excite.com: World cup is finally here. I hope that little master can show us that he still is the best batsman there is. He is our only hope in this cup. Indian batting order will have to look for pakistani pacers. I just wish that Pakistan or India meet in the final.

Guest column -- Leadership is the key:
Pungi: Pungi@msn.com: Kedar-bhaiyya, I am sorry to say that I totally DISAGREE with your opinion that Srinath and Agarkar should open the bowling in helpful conditions. I think Prasad becomes a more potent weapon that any of the other bowlers, and secondly how can't one ignore the fact that Agarkar has conceded too many easy runs (which helps to skyrocket the confidence level of a batsman !). You may be in for a surprise that Mohanty, in my opinion, may turn out to be a better bowler than Ajit ! Also you say "Thus, India's success depends equally on their bowling as well as their batting." But you ignore fielding, the MOST important element of one-day cricket....

Practise makes perfect :
Masood: mdmasood@emirates.net.ae: It was pretty good to see the teams getting in shape. But I was quite surprised not to find any Indian or Pakistani players flexing themselves. Can we have their snaps as well?

Practise makes perfect :
Phani Kumar: phanikola@hotmail.com: This is really a excellent collection but i would have loved to see some pictures of Indians. If possible try to post some of them.

Practise makes perfect :
Satheesh: gsat@evl.uic.edu: Hi,
Kudos to the photographer and the web team at Rediff. Great scans of great photos. But a small write-up of who are the players in the photo and what they were upto when it was taken would make it much more interesting
Waiting to see the Indian team at work!!!


Practise makes perfect :
Arun. S: arunsubbu@hotmail.com: Great work. Keep it going. Would be more happy to see a couple of snaps of the Indian side.

Practise makes perfect :
ashwin: ashwin@g-c-i.com: aren't the indians practising?

Practise makes perfect :
Krish: krish@htomail.com: No photos of indian team??

The Michael Holding column:
Srinivas.Paidi: srinivaspaidi@hotmail.com: I believe in Holding logic.

Practise makes perfect :
PATRIOT: PATRIOT@HOTMAIL.COM: WHY ARE THERE NO INDIANS IN THE PICTURES....??

Practise makes perfect :
Santa Singh: santa@hotmail.com: why only south africa and australia?

Practise makes perfect :
Gulzar Ali Jessani: jessani@hotmail.com: What happened to the pictures of Pakistani Team

The Sanjay Manjrekar column :
Upen Patil: udpatil@yahoo.com: Hi Sanjay I came across your article in rediff and was wondering if you could help me. I am a Student of Exercise Science in San Francisco. I am originally from Bombay and has been trying desperately to get in touch with someone in the Indian Cricket Association who could guide me on how I could be a part of Indian Cricket Physiotherapist team. I am gaining great experience here in the field of Kinesiology and sports. I would be glad if you could help me on this.

Uden, your mail will be forwarded to Sanjay Manjrekar. You might have to wait a while for his response though, as he is en route to England and will return only after the World Cup.

Easy does it for the Indians:
K. Nandakumar: bodhisatva@hotmail.com: I guess this would be a general email not particularly related to this column alone. I found it a slight irritant that I found no date as to when this report was filed. I would assume it is normal practise to do so on any news article or report. Not to harp on minor things, but I am checking out world cup related news after almost a month (me not being in India and such). I just wanted to know how recent this report really is. I haven't looked to see if this is the case with all the news articles on this site, but just wanted to say date of filing the report is normal jounalistic practice.
Thanks for a great site though. Keep up the good work :).
Nandakumar, thanks for the feedback, in general, our articles are dated, the omission in this instance was in error: Sports Editor

Practise makes perfect :
palani: palani@hehe.com: practice, perfection,commitment, sportive =worldcup

Practise makes perfect :
Govind: gover@hotmail.com: Where are the Indians? Are they practising?



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