Asia Cup 2018 : India Vs Afghan ~ a Tie

The dress code for  the Noble dinner is  ~ Gentlemen :  white tie and tails, while ladies should be dressed in an evening gown. This is the perfect time to dress up and look like royalty! Wearing your national costume is an alternative to white tie and tails or evening gown. 

A Tie !!  .. .. it was once a rarity – it has occurred only twice in Tests  - the first of its kind between Australia and West Indies in Dec 1960 and the other one at Chepauk Stadium in Sept 1986 when Greg Mathews got Maninder Singh out.   Yesterday at Dubai the score card would read :  Afghanistan 252 for 8 (Shahzad 124, Nabi 64, Jadeja 3-46) tied with India252 (Rahul 60, Nabi 2-40, Rashid 2-41) ~ more than the card, it was   an epic thriller when India's middle order unravelled, leaving them seven to get off the final over, bowled by Rashid Khan, with just one wicket in hand.

After refusing a single off the first ball, Ravindra Jadeja slog swept the second ball over midwicket. It seemingly hit the ad skirting on the full and had Rohit thinking it was a six in the dressing room, but after several replays TV umpire Rod Tucker ruled it a four. Jadeja then knocked the third ball to square leg for a single, leaving No. 11 Khaleel Ahmed, who was only playing his second ODI, exposed. Leaving cover open, Rashid unfurled a googly, which Khaleel inside-edged to short fine leg and hared across to the other end. Then, with one needed off two balls, Jadeja lost his head and slapped a rank half-tracker into the lap of Najibullah Zadran at deep midwicket - the only man in the deep on the leg side. A game of extremely fine margins resulted in the 36th tie in 4046 ODIs.

KL Rahul and Ambati Rayudu had launched India's reply with a 110-run stand for the first wicket. But the middle order tapered off and two incorrect lbw decisions from umpire Gregory Brathwaite hurt them further. When Dhoni wore an offbreak from part-time spinner Javed Ahmadi on the pads, it seemed to be heading down the leg side, but he was given out for 8. Then, just as Dinesh Karthik was bedding in, he was given out lbw, too, for 44. This was a more glaring error from umpire Brathwaite, with ball-tracking suggesting Mohammad Nabi's offbreak would have probably missed an extra set of stumps down leg.

In One dayers there have been 36 and India has featured in 8 of them

Remember the 11^th  match Group B of the WC 2011  - the  match was a real humdinger and went down till the last ball – a tall scoring match at that  676 runs – 18 wickets.  It was rank poor performance by Indian bowlers not able to defend 338.  The ground fielding was poor, slow movers, bad throwing arms, slackened attitude.   With only 12 balls to go, England were 310/7 – tail enders Bresnan and Swann at the crease and 29 required.   It was Piyush Chawla – a dot ball and then second was swept by Swann for a huge six.  The fifth ball Bresnan hoisted him over midwicket for another six.  15 conceded and in the last they required 14 off 6 with 2 wickets in hand.  That match also brought the comic 2.5m rule to the fore.

Earlier on 6^th Dec 1991, at Perth – the falling West Indies with a line of Desmond Haynes, Philo Wallace, Richie Richardson, Brian Lara, Carl Hooper, Keith Arthurton, Malcolm Marshall, David Williams, Curtly Ambrose, Cummins and Big Patterson.. chased 127 – the fall of wickets were to read : Fall of wickets: 1-0 (DL Haynes), 2-23 (PA Wallace), 3-25 (RB Richardson), 4-55 (CL Hooper), 5-55 (KLT Arthurton), 6-61 (BC Lara), 7-69 (D Williams), 8-76 (MD Marshall), 9-113 (CEL Ambrose), 10-126 (AC Cummins)

To those who commented Kapil in making Chetan Sharma bowl that last over to Miandad at Sharjah – it was Perth – 50 over match – Kapil Dev had figures of 2/30; Manoj Prabhakar 1/30;  Javagal Srinath 2/27 & Subroto Banerjee 3/30 (and all of them had completed their quota of 10) – so 41^st over – Sachin was called to bowl by Azharuddin, who had no control on what was happening. Sachin gave 5 in 5 and off the last ball had Cummins beautifully caught in slips by diving Azhar.  A tie at Perth !

On Apr 30, 2014 - Statistically, Rajasthan Royals made  152 for 5 (Rahane 72) tied with Kolkata Knight Riders 152 for 8 (Gambhir 45, Faulkner 3-11) ~ then came the Super Over….. KKR made 12 (yes only 12 in 6 balls) were all out – RR too made 12 – so tie in Super over too. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

26^th Sept 2018.

size does not matter much - tweets Turbonator

‘size does not matter ~ the size of runs does’ tweeted the Turbonator !

The man who does not exactly look in great shape or fitness,  was in news yesterday is again in news albeit for different reasons.  Head of International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit (ACU) Alex Marshall confirmed on Monday that as many as five international captains have been approached for spot-fixing in the past one year.  Four  of them are from Full Member countries. Till date, only Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed has publicly stated that an approach was made during Pakistan's tour of Sri Lanka in 2017. "There have been 32 investigations in the last 12 months, eight involve players as suspects. Five of them involve administrators or non-playing personnel. Three of these individuals have been charged. Five internationals captains have also reported receiving approaches to spot-fix," Marshall said at an media event at ICC's headquarters in Dubai.

Before we read further, for those following Australian Cricket – Mick Malone may not be a household name. He played a solitary test and ten one dayers – after that breakthrough into Test cricket, he joined   World Series Cricket and ended up playing only  once for Australia at the end of their miserable 1977 England tour. He did open the attack in 2^nd  ODI, at Birmingham, Jun 4 1977 – when England were bundled out for 171 – yet won by 101 runs.  Read a very interesting statistics today in ‘Ask Steve’ section in Cricinfo.

This was condemned to be a  dead-rubber ODI as the result will not change the fortune of both the teams – India has qualified – Afghan anyway knocked out – yet that would never take away the charm of Afghan innings.  Mercurial  MS Dhoni, having given up India's limited-overs captaincy in January 2017, was given the leadership once again because India rested Rohit Sharma among several other senior players. It then burst into life when Mohammad Shahzad - whose hero is Dhoni - smoked a record-equalling century to lead Afghanistan to 252 for 8. When Shahzad reached the landmark off his 88th ball with a gentle tickle to the fine-leg boundary - a shot that belied the ferocity of the innings - Afghanistan's score was 131 for 4. This was the joint lowest when a batsman had reached his hundred in ODIs since 2001.

Deepak Lokandersingh Chahar made his debut for India in ODI.  He was once rejected by Greg Chappell, who was director of the Rajasthan Cricket Association academy in 2008, Deepak Chahar roared back in style two years later.  I had posted on his extraordinary feat earlier.  At Sawai Mansingh stadium in Nov 2010 – Hyderabad were bowled out for a paltry 21… the score card read : 6;1;5;0;0;2;4;2;1;0;0 (Extras 0) – an inglorious end to a team  which holds record for the highest innings total of 944/6 against Andhra…. Deepak Chahar made is debut –  and the right hand pacer had  a great spell that read 7.3-2-10-8.

The previous Ranji record had been  set in the first season (1934-35), when Southern Punjab were bowled out for 22 chasing 114 against Northern India in Amritsar. Chahar was on a hat-trick once, removing MP Arjun and Alfred Absolem with the last ball of his seventh over and the first of his eighth. Pagadala Naidu, the No. 11, kept the hat-trick ball out but got out to the next one. He was not close to getting a perfect 10, though: Pankaj Singh claimed the second and fourth Hyderabad wickets.

Against England in Nov 1981, when Krish Srikkanth made his debut at Mumbai and was run out in uncharacteristic way, Kapil Dev and Madanlal shared it perfectly with 5 each in 2^nd innings, leading India to win. In ‘Ask Steve’ in Cricinfo – the interesting Q was :  Has there ever been an ODI in which two bowlers from the same side took five wickets?

Steve Lynch answers that this too has happened once in ODIs – and the destroyers are most unlikely pair.  Aussies had Jeff Thomson, Mick Malone, Max Henry Walker and Ray Bright – with 5^th bowler quota to be filled by Greg Chappel and ..  Gary Cosier.  Chappell had figures of 11-5-20-5, while more gentle Gary Cosier had 8.5-3-18-5 !! ~ this is not such a rare feet in Test Cricket and has happened 52 times with   Shahadat Hossain  5 for 71 and Shakib Al Hasan 5 for 62 for Bangladesh against India in Chittagong in 2009-10.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

25^th Sept. 2018.

Srilanka dismal performance ! ~ writing letter to CEO

After blowing away Pakistan on Sunday, India takes  on Afghanistan in the fifth Super Four match at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in UAE today. In the context of the tournament, this match is a dead rubber,  India in, Afghan out of finals.  Team India can afford to make a couple of changes - Deepak Chahar might get a go in place of Chahal or Kuldeep. Shikhar Dhawan might be rested and KL Rahul might get a look in.

Sears CEO Eddie Lampert is suggesting a last-ditch effort to prevent a bankruptcy for the embattled department store chain, according to a proposal by major shareholder ESL Partners, Lampert's hedge fund. It matters a lot.  A debt payment is looming, and Sears is tight on cash. Lampert, whose hedge fund also owns Sears's debt, has a lot on the line should Sears go bankrupt. Chief executive officer (CEO) – in Corporate World is a very important post in most Organisations. CEOs lead a range of organizations, typically reports to the board of directors and is charged with maximizing the value of the entity, which may include maximizing the share price, market share, revenues, or another element.

Ajit Mohan, the chief executive officer of Star India's over-the-top video service Hotstar, has been named Facebook India's vice-president and managing director, according to multiple persons aware of the development. The development was announced by Star India CEO Uday Shankar in a company town hall, Hotstar sources told ET. Mohan's appointment ends Facebook's one-year search for an India head, a role which became vacant following former managing director Umang Bedi's departure in October last year.  Public sector Indian Bank on Monday said Padmaja Chunduru has assumed charge as its Managing Director and CEO with immediate effect. Earlier, she served State Bank of India as its deputy managing director (global markets), Mumbai, a press release said here. Ms Chunduru succeeds Kishor Kharat.

~  this post is not about Corporate World, but a letter written to a CEO ! – have you ever had a chance to meet, talk or exchange an email communication with your CEO ?

Angelo Mathews from FB page

Former Sri Lanka skipper Angelo Mathews hit out at his country’s cricket board (Sri Lanka Cricket) accusing  them of making him a scapegoat for his team’s failure at Asia Cup 2018. Stating that he was feeling ‘betrayed and let down’ Mathews also threatened to retire from the shorter formats of the game after being replaced by Dinesh Chandimal as the captain. In a letter published by Cricinfo, Mathews wrote to SLC CEO Ashley de Silva .. .. here is some excerpts of that letter

Dear CEO,

I write to you pursuant to the meeting at SLC premises, which was attended by all the selectors along with the National Cricket Coach Mr. Chandika Hathurusinghe. At this meeting the selection committee and the coach informed me to step down as Sri Lanka's captain of the ODI and T20 team. Though I was initially surprised, it was immediately felt that I have been made the scapegoat in this entire saga of Sri Lanka's dismal performances against Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the Asia Cup. I'm willing to take part of the blame but at the same time, feel betrayed and let down if the blame is solely put on me. As you know all decisions are taken through a mutual understanding with the Selectors and the Head Coach. And though I do not agree with the reasoning that the losses should be accrued single handed to the Captaincy, I however eagerly and wholeheartedly respect the request of the selection committee and the head coach in asking me to step down and do so with immediate effect.

You would recall that I relinquished my captaincy in all formats in July 2017, pursuant to captaining Sri Lanka continuously for a period of 5 years in all formats. During this tenure under my captaincy series wins were recorded against England, we whitewashed Australia 3-0 and winning the Asia Cup in 2014 were some memorable occasions. However in the team's best interest having felt that the time had come for new leadership I voluntarily resigned as Captain from all formats of the game in July 2017.

Thereafter, pursuant to Sri Lanka suffering heavy defeats in all formats and having several appointed Captains, namely Upul Tharanga, Thisara Perera, Chamara Kapugedara, Lasith Malinga and Dinesh Chandimal during the tenure between July 2017 and December 2017 in the ODI and T20 formats, Mr Chandika Hathurusinghe immediately having been appointed as Head coach met with me in person, requested me to reconsider taking up the Captaincy until the World Cup in 2019. Though myself, my family and close friends discouraged me in taking up the mantle, being confident in Hathurusinghe and his plans to elevate the performances of the Sri Lankan team and in the best interest of my country I agreed to do so until the World Cup.

I wish to put it on record that though Sri Lanka suffered these heavy defeats in the Asia Cup, which is shocking to say the least, especially in the backdrop where we had a reasonable series against South Africa, I had no intention to quitting and running way from the issues at hand especially owing to the World Cup being only a dozen games away. Furthermore as an obligation of a player I will keep working hard in all aspects of the game and will be available to represent Sri Lanka at any given time with my fullest. I have played the game true to my conscience and have given my best at all times and have felt that I am fit enough to play the formats and also have performed adequately over a period of time to hold my place in the team. You will know that I was also the overall highest run scorer in the South Africa series from both teams.

In the given circumstances I thus resign as the Captain of the Sri Lankan ODI and T20 team with immediate effect in considering the request of the selection committee and the coach to resign. I thank the selectors and the National Coach for speaking to me in person and conveying your thoughts in respect of the Asia Cup and giving me the opportunity to step down in this manner. I wish all the successes to our National Cricket team and all of you.                                                                  Best wishes, Angelo Mathews

In case you wish to know, the CEO of Lankan Cricket is : Ashley Matthew de Silva, a wicketkeeper, played 3 Tests, aggregated 10 runs and in 4 one dayers made 12 runs  !

Any topic on Captain getting dropped would refer to that great Cricketer Srinivasan Venkatraghavan and the ignominy handed to him.  His  credentials stretched from 1965 – 1983 as a player  -  57 Tests – 156 wickets  - a brilliant close-in catcher,  was captain in five Tests and the first two World Cup competitions, a manager who doubled as a coach on the tours of Australia in 1985-86 and West Indies in 1989, was secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association from 1986 to 1989, a national selector in 1991-92, a regular and respected columnist for newspapers and magazines for many years, expert commentator for television for innumerable Tests and one-day internationals, ICC match referee in the 90s, and ICC panel umpire from 1993 till date.  A man with resume straightaway qualifying for the topnotch CEO.

When Ajit Wadekar quit, he was the right man but when WI toured India in 1975, it was Pataudi – but for Delhi Test,  with VC Gavaskar too out with an injury, he was made Captain.  India lost that test by an innings (perhaps the result could have changed if Viv Richards had been given out !) – next Test, he was the 12^th man.  India’s 1979 WC campaign was disastrous and returning after that Oval Test, media reports suggest that he came to know of his removal through an  announcement made on the flight.

Tidbit 1 :  In  1958-1959 Home series India versus West Indies:  India had 5 captains : First Test: Polly Umrigar;             Second Test: Gulam Ali; •     Third Test: Polly Umrigar;     Fourth Test: Vinoo Mankad;  Fifth Test: Hemu Adhikari ~ with D K Gaekwad as the captain for the England series that followed India had six captains in just over a year.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

25^th Sept. 2018.

Schizophrenia ~ SYMA Growth students hear on 'mental health'

In Mar 2016  Chief Minister Ms  J Jayalalithaa announced that Dr M Sarada Menon (92) was  chosen for Avvaiyar award of Tamil Nadu government ..  The award carries `1 lakh, a gold medal weighing eight grams, a certificate of merit and a shawl. (heard of her ?)

Srinivas Youngmens Association (popularly SYMA) has been running a full time tuition centre for X & + 2 students since 2008 and this is our 11^th year of operation.  Almost all our students are from ‘economically suffering class’ and most of them are first generation students.  In the modern day World with rising prices, intense competition, not so conducive atmosphere for studies at home, the students are always under immense pressure.  Added could be peer pressure, sometimes not so well treated at school by teachers and fellow-students, parents being too harsh or not caring at all; parents who often compare and put their ward down – life is always challenging for some.  Today after an 1 ½ hour session, most students felt happy and thanked those 2 who spoke them passionately.

Not so easy to answer a simple Q ~ when physically ill – say, continued headache, fever, body pains, stomach disorder and anything similar, one would immediately rush to a Doctor – but what happens in the society, when for some reason, one is not too comfortable with their mental health.  ‘Mental health’ itself is seen as an ‘oxymoron’ !  ..

Random Harvest  - released in 1942 was based on  James Hilton novel of the same name, directed by Mervyn LeRoy. It starred Ronald Colman as a shell-shocked, amnesiac World War I soldier, and Greer Garson as his love interest.  In Tamil tinseldom, mental disorder is shown in very negative manner most times.  In ‘Deiva Thirumagal’ – Vikaram starred in a role of mentally disabled whose peaceful life in Ooty undergoes change when his daughter is born and wife dies during childbirth.  In Tamil movie, ‘Thillalangadi’ – Santhanam as Dr Paul an amnesiac is made to believe that he is a Doctor and starts diagnosing falsely.   

Mental health is a level of psychological well-being or an absence of mental illness. It is the "psychological state of someone who is functioning at a satisfactory level of emotional and behavioural adjustment.  The state of a healthy mind could include -  emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. 

Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of one’s  life, if one experiences mental health problems, thinking, mood, and behavior could be affected. Many factors contribute to mental health problems, including: biological factors, life experiences and family history.

The word dreaded – ‘Schizophrenia’  is a chronic and severe mental disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. People with schizophrenia may seem like they have lost touch with reality. Although schizophrenia is not as common as other mental disorders, the symptoms can be very disabling. The symptoms of schizophrenia fall into three categories: positive, negative, and cognitive.  There are several factors that contribute to the risk of developing schizophrenia.

SCARF is the acronym for the Schizophrenia Research Foundation, a non governmental, non profit organization in Chennai, founded in 1984 by a group of philanthropists and mental health professionals led by Dr. M.Sarada Menon.  Today Dr R Padmavathi, Director  and  Dr D Vijayaraghavan, Psychiatrist,  were at NKT National Boys High School and spoke to our SYMA Growth tuition centre students (only X standard students.) it was a very interactive session, with students raising some doubts on the state of mental health.  Dr Vijayaraghavan & Dr Padmavathi patiently encouraged to understand these more, making them much relived of their stresses.

SYMA thanks SCARF, Dr R Padmavathi & Dr D Vijayaraghavan for their visit and time in talking to our students, which would change the life of students in a better way. SYMA is planning couple of more sessions for our + 2 Science & Commerce students as well.  Here are some photos taken in my mobile .. ..

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

23^rd Sept. 2018.