Pakorakorner

The recent controversy that has arisen over the Kochi franchise has brought to light a number of issues. The IPL has become a billion+ industry in a short span of 2-3 years. The promoters led by Lalit Modi have been subject to very little oversight let alone any degree of scrutiny whatsoever. So the ruckus over the Kochi franchise is a blessing in disguise. The coming together of big business, Bollywood and cricket with no formal mechanism for checks and balances has ...

Life is about to come a full circle for former Indian cricket captain, Mohammed Azharuddin, as efforts are underway to revoke the lifetime ban imposed on him by the BCCI. After attempting for years to get his ban revoked, Azhar seems to have found the route to redemption in politics. In the caste ridden politics of Uttar Pradesh, Azhar turned out to be at "the right place at the right time". Joining the Congress was a master stroke far better than ...

There seems to be plenty of press about Rahul Dravid being dropped from the ODI side for the home series against Australia. "He got a raw deal", "this is weird", "It makes no sense" etc.  seems to be the common sentiment and understandably so.  Rahul Dravid was brought back to the ODI team after the young turks in the Indian team where found wanting when it came to negotiating the short pitched delivery.  Dravid played the series against Sri Lanka ...

India failed to qualify for the semi-finals in two major back to back tournaments -- the World T20 and the ICC World Championship. While the first had a lot to do with fitness (and fatigue following the IPL), the second was mostly due to poor performance, particularly by the bowlers. With a year long cricket season having become pretty much the norm, its impossible for players to perform continuously over a long period without succumbing to injuries or by simply ...

There has been plenty of analysis and theories about Rahul Dravid's returnto the ODI team. Shouldn't the selectors look to the future? What if he fails? Is this his ODI farewell? etc. As cricket gets more and more commercial and players end up with a near 12-month cricketing calendar it is next to impossible for any player to perform consistently over an extended period of time (not to mention challenges posed by frequent injuries).  It is just too demanding and hard ...

The BCCI canceled the Deodhar Trophy for 2009-10 season because of a tight schedule. Its an interesting move and a sure sign that with the rise of T20 cricket something has to give. The big question is whether this is an isolated instance or a sign of trend that the 50 over game is slowly making way for the more trendy and fast paced T20.

Team India crashed out of the T20 World Cup. Dhoni and his boys have gone from being superstars to failed stars overnight. Here are some thoughts on Why India failed and some possible solutions. Players Hiding Injuries Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan were not fully fit for this T20 World cup. Between the BCCI, the team management and the players themselves, their lack of fitness was allowed to be overlooked. There should an investigation, followed by some firings. The players themselves ...

After a couple of weeks of the IPL in its new avatar in South Africa it is hard not to admit that it is far more exciting than the inaugural version held in India last year. If there is one glaring downside it is the size of the crowds.  A match played in front of 20,000 people is very different from  one played in front of 80,000+. Barring the size of the crowds IPL 2.0 is definitely far more exciting. Bowlers ...

The selectors in a surprise move replaced the injured Munaf Patel with the "smiling assassin" Laxmipathi Balaji. This move is no doubt remarkable for so many reasons. Most importantly, it is a sign that domestic performances count for selection to the national team. Balaji has performed exceptionally in the domestic circuit and has worked his way back to the team. Secondly, its a welcome sign than those who have performed at the highest level of the game are not ignored when ...

It is not a mere coincidence that Dhoni lead India in both the Tests that India beat Australia in the recent cricket Test series. As one avid Indian supporter rightly said, "Dhoni made it happen". Dhoni has already displayed captaincy skills thus far not seen in Indian cricket. Comparing his captaincy style to that of Ganguly (as Dada says himself) would be a disservice to the young man. He absolutely leads from the front unlike most other Indian captains. In his ...