Stop the attacks, for cricket's sake!

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I am appalled by the rise in attacks against the Indian community in Australia, of late. There might be some stray incidents of crime, too. But the recent ones are evidently racist attacks. The claim of 'urban violence' do not hold any truth after the brutal treatment by the Australian police against the peaceful Indian demonstrators who were asking for justice only. Aussie cops' resort to use of force is enough to express their anger against the Indian community. Any lay man can make out how the police were out to suppress the racial attacks and avoid any international attention. Australia's 'zero tolerance' towards racism snowballed a minor on-filed spat between Andrew Symonds and Harbhajan Singh into a major controversy which, even once, had threatened to abruptly end India's Test series against Australia which has been regarded at par with the Ashes series Down Under. The spat....

BJP to blame, not politics of terror

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The third consecutive victory of Congress in Delhi under Shiela Aunty's leadership has prompted many to say BJP lost the battle for trying too much to politicise terror? L K Advani and Rajnath Singh, champions of BJP's campaign against UPA government for going soft on terrorists, had chosen not to attack the government during the Mumbai mayhem. Rather, they had stood beside the government on the poll eve. Is the poll verdict a mandate in favour of Sheila's good governance? Many will agree there were severe discontentment against the government for many reasons. Be it for the fast reading electricity meters, failure in tackling price rise of essential commodity, poor law and order, or BRT corridor. The popular poll planks of bijli, sadak, paani have become no better in the gullies of Delhi. People are still disgruntled for the lack of basic amenities in most parts of....

Team India must win the 'trust' after Govt

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By the time India's first Test match against Sri Lanka begins in Colombo on Wednesday, the Manmohan Singh government's fate would have been sealed in the Parliament. Whatever the outcome of the floor test, democracy and decency have suffered. Open horse trading, defections, deal brokering and downright vote buying throughout last week reflects the image of Parliamentarians, which was never very good but has plunged to greater depths. Even the image of the Prime Minister, an honest economist-turned-politician, has been dented after his party's abject surrender to JMM chief Shibu Soren. Singh had ruled out a few days back any bartering of Cabinet berths as a means to bolster his majority. But in the lust to stick to power, the UPA managers have done everything that they should not have done. The NDA is no different. The government may or may not win the numbers game. But most....

Let Sachin, Sourav play only Tests

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It was the evening of October 29, 2004. A bunch of Oz cricketers were punching the air, embracing each other at the Vidharba Cricket Association stadium in Nagpur. Brett Lee was screaming for an Australian flag while Matthew Hayden was lying on the grass with beer in hand. They did what Steve Waugh's world conquerors failed to do in 2001. The Final Frontier was conquered. Australia won a Test series in India. Adam Gilchrist, who was leading Australia in the absence of an injured Ricky Ponting, said: "It [the series victory] is very pleasing. The Australian team had started preparing for the India series from Chennai 2001. John Buchanan's mind had started ticking from then." It speaks about why the Australians are world champions. They started preparing for the series form the day they failed to win it. And finally, won the feather that was missing from....

Lust for money will only ruin cricket

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After a controversy-ridden sojourn of Australia, Indian cricket lovers were happy to watch the three-Test series against South Africa. A triple-century by Virender Sehwag, South Africa's victory in Ahmedabad and India's comeback in Kanpur... the series was so lively except the last two days of the first Test in Chennai. There was much talk about the wickets, mind games played by coaches and the seniors of both teams. But never was the spirit of the game at stake. Rather, it brought glory back to the game. The onset of the Indian summer has been pleasant. There is promise of more excitement with the one-and-half-month long Indian Premier League, Asia Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and so on. With a packed Future Tours Programme, it is time for cricket lovers to rejoice. But suddenly, the organisers of the cash-rich IPL are out to play spoilsport with certain restrictions on coverage of....

India consistently inconsistent

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After producing 627 runs in Chennai in an innings a week ago, all eyes were on the second Test in Ahmedabad. The hosts entered into the match with high in confidence. Skipper Anil Kumble chose to bat first after winning the toss. But to utter disappointment, India were dismissed for a paltry 76 in 20 overs, couldn't stand even for one session! There was a little bit of grass on top of the wicket. But so what? We have just defeated the world champions in their own den. And nowhere than Perth, one of the fastest wickets in the world. After the day's play Harbhajan came in to the media conference to take the flaks. "Everything went wrong for us. It was not the bit of grass to blame but the absence of red clay. Our strength lies in spin. We have a bunch of upcoming seamers who....

ICC must earn the trust of people

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The International Cricket Council (ICC) did not take easy certain comments by the legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar. What provoked the world governing body at its working committee meet in Dubai last week was Gavaskar's criticism of certain decisions during the Sydney Test between India and Australia in January. ICC argues one man cannot hold two posts - that of a journalist to earn his bread and butter and an honorary post in ICC. The top bosses feel both do not jell well. Is it because they are scared of the truth being revealed to the world by none less than an ICC official who is in-charge of modifying rules for better governance of the game? Or is anyone in such a position not allowed to vent his ire publicly? If an honest commentator cannot become an ICC administrator, how can a public leader or lawyer, or....

Rahul's misdemeanour at whose cost?

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Rahul Gandhi is not only the member of Parliament from Amethi but also an AICC general secretary, son of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, grand son of former prime minister Indira Gandhi, great grand son of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and what not... He is being projected as the future prime minister of India by the Congress party and claimed to be the most charismatic young leader in the country today. The bigger personality you are, people expect you to be more humble and responsible. Going by what happened last week in Orissa, a lot remains unanswered. India, emerging as a superpower, has even today above half of its population languishing in poverty. Rahul could not have found a better place than Orissa to kick off the "Discovery of India" campaign. Rahul visited many places in Orissa, went to a number of houses too, tried to know as....