RaviSez

This is hilarious:

1983
Siva's debut. The mysterious Indian legspinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was the fifth-youngest player in Test history - and the youngest non-Pakistani - at 17 years 118 days when he made his debut against West Indies in Antigua. He went wicketless here, but when he reappeared against England two years later, Siva bamboozled his way to three consecutive six-fors. A star was born, or so it seemed, but Siva faded again and took only seven wickets in his last six Tests.

I love how the Cricinfo writer differentiates age records with Pakistani and non-Pakistani records. I was going through the age related records on cricinfo and every possible record was a pakistani and one by Ashraful( youngest to score a century, I think) who is from Bangladesh. Hailing from India, I know most birthdays on record in the Indian sub-continent are false, and proud that the birthday on my records is a real one.

Wasim Akram, in his new found role as the guardian of Indian cricket has to say this:

"Sourav has been a great servant of Indian cricket and his contributions to the Indian cricket team in the last five years cannot be denied. Everyone will have to see Sourav's career in 360 degrees before the judgement on his career is passed. And I tell you it is going to be one hell of a decision because Sourav is definitely one of the best Indian cricket has produced."

That is funny; when you turn around 360 degrees, you end up right where you started. Akram probably meant 180 degrees. Or, he must mean, watch Ganguly's career from where he started, up until now. Well it's a small mistake, and I don't want to pounce on him for that. That being said, I still think Akram is a moron, not for that statement but bigger things he had said in the past. I was watching, "Harsha ki Khoj", an American Idol-like reality show, pitting contestents against each other to become Harsha Bhogle, a sports commentator on ESPN India and Akram was a judge on that show. This is how his conversation went with one contestant:

Akram: If you get selected, will you try and get a six pack?
Contestant: Huh?
Akram: Six pack abs man!
Contestant:Huh?
Akram:If you are in sports industry, you got to have six pack abs!

The conversation is not verbatim and only my recollection of it but that was the essence of it. Why a sports commentator needs a six pack( beer, maybe at the end of a rough day with Shastri and Akram in the commentary box!), I did not understand. And everytime stressing his credentials with having taken hundreds of wickets in International cricket, like that qualifies him to pick the right candidate.

I am amazed at the quality of some Indian blogs out there. At the fore front, I must say are Jai Arjun and Amit Varma's India Uncut. I have to thank Amit Varma for introducing most other Indian blogs. It all started with Amit's 23yards. Being a regular reader of Cricinfo, I thought 23yards was a great experiment and Amit made a great foray into non-cricketing blogs that were something to look forward to. His Tsunami relief travels got me hooked and his postings, while travelling to report cricket for the India-Pakistan series, were as compelling as can be. Not having enough to read, I clicked on the other blogs to read, I came across variety of Indian bloggers and Jai Arjun soom become somebody I loved to read on a regular basis. Having read a few interesting articles on rediff by Rashmi Bansal, her Youthcurry looked mouth-watering and her marketing gyan is thoughtful. Amit Varma's middlestage is resurrected by Chandrahaus Choudhary with great aplomb: it might turn out ot be one of the best literary blogs. Great days are ahead for Indian blogs.

At last, the ICC did what the Indian public wanted and the selectors couldn't do. Make Ganguly sit on the bench for a while. The selectors predicament is understandable; Ganguly has done things in the past, both as a captain and a batsmen. But for now, it's best that he sits out the rest of the series. The damage however, has been done already.
But seriously, how can anybody err so much? This is not the first, second or the third time, Ganguly has been warned about a slow over rate. The last time he got away, peculiarly with an appeal. But now he gets to warm the bench for six matches. Last time a few people might have been concerned that he's not playing. This time with so much clamor around for his removal, barely anybody will notice that he isn't playing. India gets an extra batsman, thanks to ICC.