What's all the fuss about

Everytime there is a list made about batting and someone is ranked above Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian media gets fodder that can last a week. Retired "experts" (that's what Arun Lal and Maninder Singh claim to be anyway) get to make a presence on one news channel or the other and the highly patriotic kinds get to do the "white bashing" although I am sure at least some of the formula makers for any cricket list are Indians.

So here is the one that is causing the current uproar in the media. Frankly the list has existed for many months now and I have seen it a few times in the past. As many batsmen have recently gone up in the 930 points zone, I wanted to see where they stood in the all time list. I heard somewhere that the ICC in some press release mentioned about the recently retired Matty Hayden being the 10th best batsman of all time according to this list. That's where our journalists got into the act and picked up the gun, bashing the list left, right and center for Sachin Tendulkar being ranked 26th. A news channel went to the extent of creating a story that I am not sure was melodramatic or inflammatory, flashing names like Clyde Walcott, Everton Weeks and Jack Hobbs amidst bang bang music and then asking the viewers if they know such peasants. If you ignored the content, you would be excused for mistaking the story for something about 26/11 instead of a futile cricket list. My answer to such channels is that they have no right to do cricket reporting if they haven't heard these names.

The ICC page states what the list is about, The ratings shown are the highest points totals these players have attained and no player is allowed to appear on the list more than once. In other words, it tries to identify which player's most purple patch was more purple than others'. If that wasn't simple enough, it tries to rank the most prolific run scoring times of a player, not the players themselves, with the condition that no player can appear more than once. It works over a sliding window, with more recent performances getting significance and performances going out of the window getting less weightage. The player's rating decreases with every failure. You even lose points for missing matches. So if you had a couple of seasons where you scored prolifically with very few low scores and stayed fit, you are bound to zoom to the top.

So let's see where Sachin Tendulkar stands now. He has been an unfortunate batsman in test cricket. Unfortunate because during the distinguished 20 years he has spent on the cricket field, our equally distinguished BCCI has not been able to afford him a single 5 test home series. When he was at his very best, the time between 1997 and 2001 (culminating in him reaching his top ranking on 21st Feb 2002), India played one series that lasted more than 3 matches. That was right at the start of his peak in 1997 against WI. By the time they played their next 5-tester, against the same opposition at the start of 2002, his peak had began to wear off. During this time, he took on the likes of McGrath, Warne, Akram, Younis, Saqlain, Murali, Donald, Ambrose, Walsh and Pollock, bowlers made of real stuff (which makes him and Lara the 2 best batsmen of modern era). But even after such an illustrious career, his highest series aggregate is a not so earth shattering 493, that he got during the last Aussie summmer. This illustrates his batting has remained consistent over an inhumanly long period of time, but always above that 400 nanometer wavelength range, a spot that could qualify as violently purple.

Sample this against the heights some of the recent batsmen have concurred. Since England's 2005 ashes battery started breaking a bone in their own body instead of the opponents' and with the Warne-McGrath era over, there has been a sharp increase in test match bowling impotency. The recent arrivals of Steyn and Mendis are good signs but batsmen have made merry in the meantime. Ponting, with a highest series aggregate of 706 (which was pre 2005), has led the charge with Yousuf (highest series aggregate 665), Kallis (highest series aggregate 712), Sangakkara (highest series aggregate 428) and Chanderpaul (highest series aggregate 562) all more or less managing a Viv Richards of 1976. It doesn't make their contribution any less heroic, but just adds a perspective to the situation.

If you had to debate where Tendulkar lies on the all time test list minus Bradman (he is unanimously number 1), I would definitely put Lara before him. Steve Waugh and Rahul Dravid would follow on Sachin's heels. And although he has struggled against quality spin, Ricky Ponting has been so rich at other times, that only an inexplicable soft spot in my heart for Sachin and an equally inexplicable hard one for Ricky makes me put Sachin ahead. I haven't watched the likes of Sobers, Richards, Gavaskar, Hobbs, Headly and Hammonds to be able to pass a judgement, but it would be extreme bias to take Sachin out of the top 10 if not the top 5.

What is more baffling though is his twelfth position here. There is no match for his extreme run-making of 1998 and he has been peerless in that format. No amount of Viv Richards or Kevin Peterson or MS Dhoni can match what he has achieved in ODIs. What's equally baffling is Michael Bevan's 13th position for he should be the 2nd best ODI batsman of all time and has had equally intense run zones during his career. So after all, the hyper Indian media might have a point, maybe there is a chink in the formula.

Am I allowed clothes inside

We have always heard what a nightmarish experience watching cricket in India is. The whole experience I had today, just reiterated the fact that the most important stakeholder of the game in India - the cricket crazy audience - is the most ignored as well.

The setting was for the Ranji Trophy finals between Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. I am currently working in the Hitech city area, that's near Kondapur, a good 30 km from the stadium. During my whole trip to India, I have been trying to catch a cricket match of some sort live at the stadium. I realized yesterday that today was the Pongal holiday, and this being a fairly big festival down here, the business would be slow in office. So I made plans to come to office early and then catch the post lunch session at the stadium. I figured out the buses I had to take, number 122K to Koti and then 115 to Uppal, both about 45 minute rides.

I remember watching South Zone take on North Zone in Deodhar Trophy, the inter-zonal ODI tourney down at Nehru stadium in Pune four seasons ago. It was a fairly friendly affair then for the spectators. You had to show up at the ground and were allowed free entry. But considering the tighter security measures these days, I decided to be more vigilant. I wanted to click some snaps this time, but wasn't sure if I was going to be allowed a camera inside. So I decided to call someone. But I had to decide who that someone would be. I figured out that it should be the Hyderabad Cricket Association, to whom the stadium is affiliated. Here is where I got the number. I must say someone has done a decent job over there. So I kept dialing the whole evening yesterday and in the morning today. I thought I wouldn't get to them due to the Pongal holiday. So then came the next one in the hierarchy, the legendary BCCI. Well this is how the contact us page of the world's richest cricket board looks like. Since it is fairly synonymous these days with Mumbai Cricket Association, I decided to try them. They are here. I went through the whole list of honoraries, (yes everyone is honorary, the only executive is right at the bottom) and not a single one picked up at 10.15 am. I managed to get through at DDCA (Delhi and District Cricket Association) and the voice over there told me that they generally don't allow cameras for international games, but no one cares about Ranji Trophy. He asked me to confirm with the Hyderabad Cricket Association.

Finally I got through to HCA at 10.30am, and confirmed that cameras and cellphones were indeed allowed inside. He also informed that the entry was free and I expected it to be as friendly as the one in Pune. So there I was, all pumped up with my 10x zoom, hoping to frame the glimpses of a Zaheer Khan swinger, or maybe a wave by the maestro towards attention-hungry fans. Having taken a one and half hour journey through two typical Andhra Pradesh transport buses (buses in Maharashtra are luxury rides in comparison), I met a queue outside the stadium. And what does the cop tell me? That everyone with a camera or a cellphone should get lost. I pleaded on, told them that they could scan my items and then let them in. But he just wouldn't budge. The official from HCA recognized me over the phone again, but his only explanation was, "they did allow everything inside till yesterday, they might have changed the rules today.", basically just washing his hands off it.

Imagine a game where Patriots take on Giants in the NFL finals, well probably not a fair comparison, as the money involved and the stakes are way higher. But that's the irony in India, the higher the stakes, the more unfriendly and high-handed the authorities. We just keep killing a fan's ability to have some fun, for our inability to handle them. And I am not even touching upon more basic needs like shelter from Sun, water and sewage facilities. Some say they have improved, but a lot more needs to be done. And it won't be done unless the richest board in the world cares more about its biggest stakeholder.

Well you would think I would be angry as hell after this, wouldn't you? But I have spent more than a month now in India. I don't know if it is that or the "without lemon without ginger without ice" cane juice I had, I have just lost my ability to be angry, it just is a quiet frustration at the helplessness. Probably that is what is called "Spirit".