Champion! Champion!

What an incredible world cup we’ve had. Great sportsmanship by some teams while others(our neighbors in the east) went south. One of the coolest captains loses calm in the post-match media conference and makes fun of a reporter when asked about retirement. The aggressive vice captain of the home team becomes emotional after the win against Australia and slams people for making fun of this past relationship. The middle order Jamaican publicly criticizing one of the legendary leg spinners of all time. And there was more, but at the end, it was the Caribbean nation rolling their chests after the amazing last 4 balls of the tournament.

It is absolutely stunning to see several islanders coming together as a unit and perform in a world’s stage and making their nation proud. We are not talking about a one man stealing the show who opens the batting for Royal Challengers Bangalore but everyone contributing to the success of the team when cricket is being played at this level. Am sure Afghanistan is going to be happy for having defeated the crowned champions but they need to realize that they had missed the boat in the first few weeks itself - no offence to the team.

This year has been great for the West Indies with women, men and the boys winning the title - this is what the legendary pace bowler Curtly Ambrose was hinting when he was showing his three fingers. What was interesting to see was Darren Sammy getting emotional and openly criticizing WICB during the presentation. Feel very sad for team of such a caliber where the manager needs to run around in a foreign country to get their jerseys and make sure that everybody is together in this crisis situation. And we are talking about that team which has won three world cups in the longer and two in the shorter version of the limited format. The whole team was dancing for the champion song but need to watch and see for the kind of music the captain is going to face from their board for that emotional speech.

Being an Indian fan, I was very disappointed with the way Dhoni’s team were knocked out in the tournament but that’s the best the team could do on that day. I strongly disagree with people when they say we were short by 20-30 runs in the semi-final because 192 is a solid score no matter how big players you’ve got in the opposition. Virat Kohli has been brilliant with the bat throughout the series and thoroughly deserves the player of the series title. With no disrespect to the Caribbean team, they are not those smart players who would take ones and twos, they love it huge including their physical personalities, period!

Overall, there were wonderful games throughout the tournament and the most deserving team has won. WICB must go back to the drawing board and get things corrected and give their hero's the respect they deserve.

Management Challenges for the 21st Century

I did not know as to how i have to pass my time and I had to my granduncle's place. We spoke for some time on my plans next and his opinions on them. Then he suggested me to read the book titled "Management Challenges for the 21st Century" by Peter F. Drucker. Normally, I don't read books with a lot of interest. And when I was given this book and after I came to know that it is a non-fiction book, I never thought I would finish reading it and never ever thought that i would write something on this book in my blog. Undoubtedly my sisters willbe surprised reading this.

Well about the book, the intentions of the author are very clear and he mentions each and every point with an example. I took about 3 weeks to finish this book. Its a 200 page book which made me learn what management is. Let it be management of time, work, family, anything. It had to deal a lot on adapting yourself to this rapidly changing world, team work and also how to be a good leader. The end of hierarchy is blatant nonsense according to the author. In any institution, there has to be a final authority, a boss who should make a final decision and it has to be obeyed by the rest. Survival of an institution in a situation of peril clearly depends on command. If the ship is sinking you can not expect the captain to hold a discussion, he has to order. And if the ship has to be saved, everyone has to obey his order.
Also the ability to interact and working in a group is also very important. The author gives an example of an operation being carried out by a group of doctors. In an operation theatre, you will not only have a doctor but a person who will be checking the pulse of the patient, a helper to the doctor and a few more. Now only when all these people communicate well between each other, work with togetherness that the surgery will be successful. Now this skill for a manager according to me stands at the top.
The author also mentions that management and entrepreneurship are two dimensions of the same task and go hand in hand. An entrepreneur who does not know how to manage does not last for long, nor a manager who does not know how to innovate will last for long. The changes in the system and the ability to get adapted to them is also very important. I really loved the book and learnt a lot from the author.

Go CHARGERS!

I am personally a very big fan of cricket and when its the time for the Indian Premier League, i would love to see the scintillating performances of the Deccan Chargers. With Gilly leading the team from the front in the last edition of the event, they had no stopping to sit comfortably on the top of the points table. With the advent of T20 in the yester years, i think the result of the match is mostly depending on the runs being scored by the batsmen in a match, thereby affecting the bowlers unit. They go on to the defensive strategy. If you've got to pick wickets, the ball has to be pitched in the right areas i.e bowl good line and length. In this format of the game, the bowler's intentions are very clear. Its not how many wickets you've taken to win the match but how many dot balls in your quota of 4 overs.

The wickets are being prepared in such a way that the batsmen can get a lot out of it. And similarly, the crowd will not like a match when the team batting first scores less than 150 and then restricts the opposition. They would like it when the team scores a minimum of 200 and then the other team chasing it. So what i would like to mention is that the pitches are being batsmen friendly, which is affecting the bowlers. Imagine an exam where you've been failing consistently. The next attempt, you would not say to yourself that i have to top in the exam. All that you say to yourself is get the passing mark. Your performance here is satisfactory but not good. And your parents will also be contended with what you've done. The same is the case with bowlers in T20, where the coach of the team is your parent. In the first two balls of the over if you are going for runs even after pitching the ball in the right areas, next ball you would try to bowl a dot ball but you wont bowl for a wicket. For this i would like to blame the curators of the pitch. You never want a one-sided game but excitement in a game would make it even more interesting. Remember the thriller when India had beaten Pakistan in the finals of the first T20 world cup? You should be very fortunate to watch a cricket match like that. Last edition of IPL in South Africa was filled with a lot of excitement only because the pitch was favoring both the batsmen and bowlers where fielding will also play a very important role. And if this continues, there will definitely be a show on the bowlers in Discovery channel calling them endangered species. Finally i would like to reiterate that the pitch preparation has to be perfect. The game has to be equally poised, where the batsmen and the bowlers get a chance to perform in a game. This time my favorites are the Mumbai Indians, Super Kings and of course the Deccan Chargers. Though i may sound wierd, I will not be surprised to see the Knight Riders winning this edition too.

Hyderabad Today...

The image of hyderabad especially that of Osmania University has come down very badly. Now whom do we blame this for? The government or the opposition or the students? Right from 10 years i have personally seen the fasting till deaths by many politicians, but i have never seen a climax like this before. K. Chandrashekhar Rao, the president of TRS has been struggling hard for the cause of telangana. This time he has done it again. There were agitations by his supporters in OU and they were lathicharged. The situation then was not in the hands of the politicians but in the hands of students. They had to deicide on the fate of this burning issue. Now as usual KCR was about to break his fasting, and then students were shocked because they had got beaten up badly for him and now he breaks it? So because of the pressure of the students, he had to continue at any cost atleast for his image. And then there are resignations in the assembly and the formation of the Joint Action Council by the MLA's from Telangana region. Finally the centre has come up with an idea of forming of a committe which will consult with people in the state and then come up with something conclusive. If necessary, a seperate state will also be declared. Now the committee has to submit its opinion by 31st of december,2010.
Now this is what has happenned in the last 6 months after the demise of the former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Dr Y.S Rajashekhar Reddy. Let me tell you his loss for the state was very costly. After that unfortunate incident, the race for the next chief minister and now the telangana issue. In the year 2004 when congress was in power, the TRs was in allaince with them. Inspite of being with the party in power, the TRS dint deliver asmuch as it was expected. This time when the elections were held in the state, they were in an alliance with TDP. Crictics say, only because TDP had TRS, CPI in tieup with them that the former have lost the elections. Inspite of Congress voted back to power this time, it has not performed well. Let it be because of the loss of YSR or the disturbed situation today.
Now where do we see the future of the first linguistic state in our country? Though there is an advancement in the centre, after the formation of Committee, for looking into the matter, i see many loop holes. Now the group is 5 in number. Not even a single member who is from Andhra Pradesh. Secondly, the meeting that was held by the centre regarding the seperate state also did not consist of any member from the state even though the state and the centre is led by the same party. I understand to the fact that the members of the panel are highly reputed people, but what if they have no knowledge of the state? There are 33 congress MP's from AP in the parliament and you have only one union minister from the state? And this is the second consecutive time that congress has swept majority. Today, all the Indian Premier League matches have been taken off from the state because of the tense situation in the state including the inaugral ceremony inspite of the Deccan Chargers winning the title last year. And the funniest thing is that some of the matches were transfered to Mumbai where there is a threat to the Aussies from the Shiv Sena. Inspite of the JAC and the Chief minister writing to the centre that they will ensure a foolproof security, they had nothing left to be happy about.
I personally think there is a lot of work to be done. Instead of the formation of a committee by the central govt, they should have asked the people and allow polling do be conducted in the Telangana region. Let the people of the region decide on the fate of the statehood. A few taps on the key board later, i want a decision made in the favour of people but not the government's own benefits. If this does not happen, there will be people skeptical about the democracy prevailing in our country as a whole!

Innocence, Ignorance is BLISS

One of my friends said "Commit all your crimes when Sachin is batting, because the almighty is not watching you". Scoring a 200 n.o is only what people are looking at, but just imagine batting for 50 long overs especially when its the era of T20's! Sir Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar becomes the first person on the planet to score a 200 on 24th Feb, 2010. 20 long years of his contribution to cricket and still so innocent, passionate, jaunty and so humble even after adding another feather to his cap is simply amazing. He is one person who shows his class in his performances and every time he dedicates it to his country. 

I have personally been inspired by a few people in this densely populated country but this person has taught me a lot. He does not react to people who are speaking nonsense about him, but yeah he definitely replies with his performance. There was one question in my mind about his batting in the 2003 world cup final against the Aussies. There were 360 runs to chase and Sachin played a bad shot to get out in the fourth ball of the first over. When I was watching his interview to Harsha Bhogle, he answered this question. Sachin and Sourav had to open the innings, and if it was one person who can take the attack to the opposition, it had to be this little master. So before going to bat, he said to himself, "360 runs to get in 300 balls. Every four in one over will make it 200 runs in 50 balls. Now how much is remaining? 160 runs in 250 balls, possible?" This is the kind of attitude that everyone of us should have in ourselves. All of us might not be cricketers, but every difficult situation that we encountering the world has a solution. Its just that you have to think beyond the four walls of your room, but not by committing a suicide which has become a fashion these days.

The master blaster from India has silenced the critics about his retirement from the game. Now why are people so anxious about his retirement? As long a he plays well he will be in the playing 11. At the end of the day it is he who is going to take a call on his retirement. But i can assure you one thing, on the day Sachin retires the world is going to pay a tribute to him for having such a successful career in cricket.It is going to be uneasy for me to see the absence of the master in the playing 11 after he retires. I am sure many people who are waiting for his retirement will have to repent. Yep, as an Indian i can proudly say today that "Cricket is my religion and Sachin is my God!"