Controversial selection

The Indian team for the home series against Sri Lanka was announced yesterday. The surprise selection was that of the recall of Sreesanth. What has prompted me to write this piece is the response to this news – especially on the internet. Within hours of the announcement of the team, people have been generous in dishing out their views – mostly slamming the selection. While the forums are buzzing with (personal) views for and against Sreesanth, what is horrendous is the way some news sites have reported the news. Rediff for instance reported it in a very negative way - ‘shocking move’, ‘disruptive pacer’ were the words used in the news item.

First let us look at the selection itself on pure cricketing terms – retaining the right arm quicks in the current squad was not an option - they have not exactly covered themselves with glory in the series against Australia.. Though Sreesanth had an average Ranji outing on a bowler unfriendly track at Thalassery last week, he did reasonable well in county cricket earlier this summer. Why not pick the one proven genuine right arm swing bowler in the country?

Secondly on the attitude aspect – Most of his critics do not doubt his talent, they doubt his mental make up. While it is true that Sree has had a forgettable past, he has been cooling his heels in the shade for quite some time now. In my view, this should be time enough - for someone who has tasted success at the international level and been deprived of it - to learn from the past.

Maybe Sreesanth got a second (or third?) chance because others (Ishanth & Munaf) did not perform but I think this time he should grab the opportunity with both hands. Being in the company of a senior like Zaheer would do him good. The Lankans will be trying to provoke him during the series, hope he keeps his cool and focuses on the job at hand.

Suppose Sreesanth gets a 5 wicket haul in one of the tests, the same people who are out to crucify him now will be singing praises!! What is being described as 'tantrum' now would be described as 'spirit' then.

Road to hell

I did quite a bit of driving around Trivandrum this weekend. The condition of the roads in the capital city seems to be deteriorating with time. Whatever be the reason (electricity, cabling, KWA, Japan water project etc….), work seems to be going on at a snails pace and even when the work is completed, the road is left in a bad condition.

The only chaps who probably are happy with all this would be the manufactures of 4 wheel drive vehicles – for it looks like soon we all would need these kinds of vehicles to navigate around Trivandrum! This might sound like a pathetic attempt at humour but I am half serious - is anyone there anybody out there (listening that is)?

How guys view kids!!

Just a point to ponder – the generalisation below is from my observation of friends and acquaintances.

1) When a chap is single and chances upon a toddler, he hardly glances at the kid. In many cases he will find the little fellow repulsive.

2) Once the chap gets married and has kids (the first said not being a pre condition for the latter), he starts ogling over the new born and feels his kid is the most beautiful thing in creation - and starts appreciating other toddlers also

Case in point – one of my dear friends. He firmly believed that all kids looked alike when they were new born. In fact he thought they all looked like monkeys! Now he is a daddy and hopefully has revised his views. At least I know for certain that he has done so with regard to his child!!!

Krishna’s house

This anecdote is from a couple of years back. My daughter was 18 months old then. We were passing by Pattom and she started praying loudly ..”Kitcha Kithca”. We looked out and could not find the temple she was alluding to. When we asked her – she pointed out to “Krishna’s house” (temple)– it turned out that she had been saying her prayers out loud looking at Pattom post office – which is a good piece of traditional architecture !!

Overdose

No - this is not the title of Robin Cook's novel !

I always was a cricket fan. Of late however, my interest levels have come down. I am not even aware of the different teams playing the Champion T20 league this week. Many of my colleagues in office have also realised that their interests are also waning. The reasons are two fold:

1) The advent of T-20 has made one feel that One day cricket is boring and slow (especially in the middle overs)

2) Overdose of cricket. We just had the one day competition (Champion's trophy) , a week later we have the "Diwali hogi cup-wali !" T-20 championship.

The way things are progressing, the officials will manage to successfully kill the market for the sport.

Happy Diwali

Happy Diwali ! May the festival of lights bring love and prosperity to all.

Linked In !

Though I have joined social networking sites in the past, I never really have been active on any of them.

The past few weeks, I have been hooked on to the magic of linkedin and have been busy finding past colleagues, associates and classmates.

The most pleasing moment was when I got back in touch with my boss from 1994. The last time we spoke was in 1998, lost complete contact after that. I had made just one search for the person and hit bulls eye with the first result. Got the reply in hours and soon we were up to speed on each other's progress on the ladder of the corporate world.

Incidentally the next evening while driving back home from work, I was listening to some old Kenny Rogers hits - these used to be on my favourite list during the 1994 period. The choice of CD was not by design but by chance. This was the trigger for some bitter-sweet memories of my Delhi days.