Review of 83- The Film

 Kapil's Devils, as the team came to be known, was not given even an outside chance of reaching anywhere in the Prudential Cup of Cricket. The world cup was considered a West Indian monopoly. Their fearsome pace attack subjugated all other teams then, and made the batsmen's job easy, though they had good batsmen in Richards, Lloyd, Greenidge, Dujon, etc. 

Mostly, it was self-belief after the first two games were won, exemplary leadership by Kapil, and great teamwork with all the members chipping in when it mattered, that got India this cup. It was so unexpected that an English journalist had to literally eat his words!

The film is superb, and recaptures the legendary march to victory over the West Indies, England and Zimbabwe - probably the most important to enable India to get to the semi-final. Ranveer and Pankaj Tripathi are the pick of the cast, but others are very good, and most looked like their counterparts. A good touch to get Mohinder to play Lala Amarnath, his father. Endearing moments with almost all the players captured so well. Man Singh's Hyderabadi was a great top-up to a great movie. Just watch it!

Speculative Blog on India Australia Match in Progress

I speculate. On what will happen post the outcome of today's India-Australia world cup semi-final match (in progress as of now).

1. India Wins

Everyone and his aunt will take the credit, as if they were on the field. Euphoria will prevail, until the nail-biting and (further) speculation on what it will be like against New Zealand in the finals. All the experts on TV will tell you "I told you so."

2. India Loses

Everyone will blame everyone and their aunt for the abject failure, dismal capitulation, match fixing, money driving sport, and every other possible irrelevant evaluations of a simple fact. They will swear off cricket- not to worry, that will only last till the IPL begins, or India plays something, whichever is sooner. There will be calls for ousting Dhoni, Virat, Jadeja, Sharma (all of them), Ashwin, etc. from the team.

May the better-playing team win. I am not an Octopus!

Cups and Saucers

The cup of joy.

The World Cup.

Not your cup of tea.

I cupped my hands around the bowl/his neck.

         Why not saucered? as in

My saucer of joy.

The World Saucer.

Not your saucer of coffee.

I saucered my palm while showing off the tattoo/mehendi, or whatever.

Why this step-brotherly treatment to the humble saucer?
The cup of secrets holds the answer, I am sure.

World Cup- Cricket, I Mean

Today is the anniversary of the first (Prudential) World cup win by India. Kapil Dev was the unlikely guy holding the cup instead of the West Indies or England captains. And what a series of matches it was!

I remember the thrill of watching some of them, the final included, on a TV set (UPTRON, for the brand-conscious), in our common room at the IIMB hostel. Some of the earlier matches I heard on radio because I was travelling for my summer internship with WIDIA at the time. I remember a lot of people played well in a team effort through the series. Roger Binny, Mohinder Amarnath, Sandeep Patil and Kapil himself being some of them.

The final was low-scoring. India put just 183 or so on the board. Then, Balwinder Singh Sandhu created magic by clean-bowling Gordon Greenidge with a beauty that swung onto the stumps. That started the fall in the finals. Kapil had a spectacular catch to get Richards. That was the final nail in the coffin for the West Indians. And the (East) Indians triumphed in style.

Keeping Nerves in Adversity

This is why I liked the World Cup victory of 2011. I had also watched the 1983 finals when in my MBA hostel at Bangalore. This time I was in Bhubaneswar. The difference I found this time was that the team did not let adversity in the form of Sachin and Sehwag's dismissals get them down. Also, the last few overs that Sri Lanka hit out in, did not bother them for too long. True grit, and Dhoni probably should take some credit for inspiring the team by his personal approach. He may have made wrong choices, but he produced a win. No one's perfect, but teamwork overcomes the lack of it.

Yuvraj also played like a champion, and knew what he had to do, and did it in most matches. Raina played very well to get us to the finals. Harbhajan produced a very good spell in some matches, though he was luckless in many. Zaheer was good most of the time. Nehra contributed in the semifinals. Gambhir came out looking very good in the finals. I was particularly happy to see 5 bowlers take 2 wickets each in the semi-final.

I would rate Raina's knock against Australia as one of best in the series for India. Incidentally, Mahela also played like a dream in the finals. What smooth strokes!

India Beats Someone

At last, India beat someone convincingly, with a somewhat large margin. But what a comedown from 1983, when we were absolutely majestic in all matches. including the one with the West Indies-the final. Our current team seems to have an overdose of stars, and that may be its problem. Everyone is a major star, and yet the team falls short of performance when it counts.

A major contrast so far has been Pakistan, with almost unknown names, barring one or two ageing heroes. Just out of a match-fixing scandal involving half their team, and yet, on the field, working as a team. Throwing up surprises, beating the champions reasonably convincingly.

I have no idea why, but I get the feeling that these guys don't prepare well. That they assume they know everything. Like the famous dialogue in The Party, where Peter Sellers, playing an Indian who creates mayhem as an uninvited guest at a Hollywood party, answering a lady who asks him "What do you THINK you are doing?", replies with scorn, "We Indians don't think what we are doing. We KNOW what we are doing.". Well, let's hope these guys know what they are doing. Or find out fast.

World Cup Cricket

Somehow, I am unable to feel the excitement this time around. I can't put my finger on the reason for it. Is it due to an overdose of cricket since the IPL began? It seems as if every other day, there is a cricket match on TV. How much cricket can a guy watch? It is an ideal pastime if you have an hour to spend at the airport, and staring at other bored passengers is the only other option you have. As an aside, the number of people airlines manage to bore in a year would be mind-boggling. You can try calculating the numbers, if you want to get out of your boredom!

But even watching a David Dhawan or a Priyadarsan movie, though both have let their standards slide of late, seems more entertaining to me than watching a Canada Sri Lanka or Zimbabwe West Indies match. Of course, an occasional Irish rope-trick will appear to keep you happy, but there are not nearly enough of them. Even the much vaunted India-England match was quite boring to watch. 600 plus runs on an Indian pitch? That's equivalent of two and a half days of test match batting in six hours! And with hardly a bowler looking like taking a wicket, it was worse than the tests.

Anyway, for the sake of the TV channels which paid millions to ICC, and the advertisers who in turn paid the TV channels, let's hope the situation gets better. If not, I may even consider watching an Exta Kapoor serial, God bless her soul!