Hitting Below The Belt

Perhaps this is the second time in history when Pakistan, a near rogue country has been hit below the belt by India. The hit has hurt them where they are feeble. The first time India gave them a brutal punch was in 1971 when India brought them down to knee and dismembered the East Pakistan from their map. The recognition for that deed is still remembered by the Indians with pride, and the credit owes to the former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Though the pain to Pakistan was very severe and shameful, yet they did not take the lesson. Over the years they keep shaking the patience of the Indian people by provoking with terrorism in different parts of India, cross-border infiltration and slandering against us in international forums. India, by virtue of their tranquility and tolerance, kept their evil neighbour at bay.

Last week when the Indian Premier League (IPL), a monumental cricket forum, has called up their franchise clubs to restrain from inducting Pakistani players into their clubs, all hell broke lose in Pakistan. The perfect punch was hit at the right place, below the abdomen. The whole of Pakistan has cried together, as if all is lost. The Ministers, the Board officials, the former players and the present players in form of Pakistan have created hue and cry, blaming Indian Government and the IPL, as if India has usurped their wealth. It is the height of shamelessness.

Pakistani government and the Pakistani players-in-form had been dreaming of pocketing around hundred million US dollars by playing for the Indian clubs. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is bankrupt, and so is the Pakistani exchequer. So by snatching away their dreams when they felt they were the most sought after, the IPL has hit in the right place. The bad boys in Pakistan are fuming. This time the honour goes to Lalit Modi. The people of India will surely remember him for his deed, for he knows where to hit at the enemy

Is it White Worshipping or What?

A recent report by former cricketer Ajay Jadeja revealed that the foreign supporting staff members were heard speaking racist remarks on the Indian players, and nothing seems fine in Kolkata Knight Riders' team. A day later the team coach John Buchanan has rubbished the comments.

Just a month before the IPL-2 to begin, Buchanan preached the theory of multiple captaincy in his team KKR only to oust the incumbent captain Saurav Ganguly who could not digest the theory. With it, a brawl began between the captain and the coach. But looking at the public opinion in favour of Ganguly, the owner of KKR, the megastar Shah Rukh Khan played down the incident by suggesting that the issue would be decided before the tournament began. He virtually did what nobody had expected from him by acceding to what the Australian Coach had demanded. Sourav was stripped off from captaincy the moment the venue of IPL was shifted from India to South Africa.

Brendon McCullum was made the captain and Buchanan became the all powerful tyrant master. Shah Rukh held on to the front row to see no ill-will take place amongst the players. The team went on losing match after match. Before the tournament reached its half way mark, Shah Rukh left South Africa in a huff, by sending message to his team, that he would return only when KKR would start giving winning results. By this time, the team was in disarray. It was not in a position to challenge other teams. KKR stands at the bottom of the tally from the beginning, and remained the first team who have lost the semi-final berth. Alas, the wish of Shah Rukh coming back to SA remained unfulfilled.

It is said that being the owner of KKR, Shah Rukh has lost a big chunk of money as his team has been the worst loser. It is also said that he is looking for a buyer of his sick-team, and engaged himself in doing a number of commercials and stage show in order to substitute his recent losses. However, he has not uttered a single word against the die-hard Australian Coach, leave alone taking any action against him. On the contrary, it took him much less time to humiliate the former Indian Captain Ganguly and retort back sharply against Gavaskar who disapproved the theory of multiple-captaincy. We are independent of White rulers for more than sixty years, but still most of us cow down when we face the White skin. The incessant brawls taking place in KKR show that Shah Rukh is no different and it can be said with conviction that he has fallen to the White Worshipping.

Dump the four Captains Theory, Involve just one Indian

The recent furore over four captains in an IPL Team recommended by KKR owner and coach does not sound impressive. The eminent former cricketers Gavaskar, Vengsarkar and recently Glen McGrath and a few lot, have conveyed their aversion on the new theory propagated by cinestar Shah Rukh Khan. It sounds ridiculous having numerous captains in one side. The game of cricket, whichever is its format, needs a captain who commands an absolute respect in the team. Mike Brearley, Nawab Pataudi and Bobby Simpson will always be remembered for their master craftsmanship of the game. But the owner of KKR has explained that being an owner of a cricket company he has every right to play with the constitution of the game. He might have forgotten that bringing in such ideas could enhance feud amongst the players and could jeopardize the interest of the team.

The current popularity of the IPL needs further momentum to increase its grace drawing a parallel with English Premier League. The BCCI has enough grit to endure to carry on with the game as scheduled against the wishes of the government. It is time now to involve each person of the country with the magnanimity of the game. Where cricket is considered as religion, its people must get more from the game, just not being the spectators of it. The IPL may include one Indian, who is not registered with the BCCI, per match into each team. It may sound hilarious, but would create sensation countrywide if taken seriously.

Let us analyse the permutation of IPL in its next session. Of the regular eleven players who would play in a match, one would come from common men in each of the team. In every game, a new look from the people would play. Thereby, each team would have 14 new non-regulars, four more for the semi-finalists and two to add for the finalists. In doing so, out of the 59 matches to be played, 118 non-regular players would get chance to play with their idols and heroes. How would these non regulars come? By paying a nominal fee of Re.1 or Rs.10, any Indian citizen above the age of 14 may respond to the franchise clubs, who would then select their 17 people through computerised lottery. Ours is a country of one billion people. If only half of them respond, it would accrue a simple amount of five hundred millions of rupees, if the fee is Re.1. This new concept would have no precedence and the people of India would be looked upon by other nationals with envy. In a year or two, the IPL season would turn out to be a festival season for the Indians. What a whopping amount would reach in the coffer of each sponsor? Apart from these, people of all ages would attend physical exercise to make themselves fit presuming they could receive calls anytime. Similarly, adoloscents would detest smoking for the similar reasons.

Can anyone convey this proposal to BCCI(Shashank Manohar), IPL(Lalit Modi) and Shah Rukh Khan?