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Cricket: Trio Of New Coaches For India Raises Eyebrows

2020-06-26T14:20:59Z

EduardoBlais780: Created page with "Ravi Shastri, 55, edged out a host of high-profile contenders for the top job, including Virender Sehwag, Australia's Tom Moody, Englishman Richard Pybus and [http://football..."

Ravi Shastri, 55, edged out a host of high-profile contenders for the top job, including Virender Sehwag, Australia's Tom Moody, Englishman Richard Pybus and [http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family] former India manager Lalchand Rajput A surprise decision by India's cricket board to appoint two high-profile stars to assist new coach Ravi Shastri has some experts wondering how much autonomy the former all-rounder will wield at the helm. The cricket board ended months of speculation Tuesday in naming Shastri to replace Anil Kumble, who resigned as head of the world's top Test side following a bitter fallout with skipper Virat Kohli. Shastri's appointment was widely expected but the board's decision to name ex-players Zaheer Khan and Rahul Dravid as bowling and batting consultants raised eyebrows. Traditionally, the Board of Control for Cricket in India allows the head coach to pick support staff and the break with convention did not go unnoticed. "The coach has now got appendages. The BCCI has added more arsenal to the support staff," prominent cricket commentator and columnist Ayaz Memon told AFP. "The problem could be of too many people." Shastri, 55, edged out a host of high-profile contenders for the top job, including Virender Sehwag, Australia's Tom Moody, Englishman Richard Pybus and former India manager Lalchand Rajput. Speculation had been rife that Shastri, who served as India's team director between 2014 and 2016, would get the nod, especially given his friendly ties with Kohli. "If Dravid batting consultant and Zaheer bowling coach, is Shastri more "team director" again?" wrote leading Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle on Twitter. Cricketer-turned commentator Aakash Chopra suggested Shastri's new role differed little from his old one, saying: "only the designation changes!" A panel tasked by the Supreme Court with overseeing the affairs of India's scandal-ridden cricket board appeared pleased with the selection. "It is a comprehensive recommendation covering all aspects of the coaching requirement of any team," it said in a statement Wednesday. "Now that they have made the choice, we sincerely feel that the new combination will steward the team to number one position in the World Cup." Shastri's first assignment starts later this month when India tours Sri Lanka for three Tests starting July 26. The duration of his post, and that of Khan and Dravid, is two years until the World Cup in 2019.

The Hysteria Of Elections Has Made Democracy Deaf To Citizen apos;s Rights

2020-06-25T01:43:18Z

EduardoBlais780: Created page with "Modern life rebuilds itself on the primordial and the ancient. What Rome constructed around circuses, India builds around elections and IPL. Both appear like staged spec..."

Modern life rebuilds itself on the primordial and the ancient. What Rome constructed around circuses, India builds around elections and IPL. Both appear like staged spectacles and epic in terms of battle. But, both need new scripts. However, there is a fear of new ideas and new scripts. One watches Harsha Bhogle treated literally as anti-national because his commentary was biased towards objectivity. Come election time, everyone gets enthusiastic about prohibition, but all it creates is a hangover called electoral politics. Voters in Hooghly with their identity cards Inspiration Both events are expensive and between the two they represent the idea of fair play in India. Yet of late there is a dullness to both, that is undeniable. IPL no longer provides an epic sense of competition and hysteria and the elections last fortnight lacked a sense of fable or inspiration. The elections in Bengal, Kerala, [http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family] Assam looked like old replays without a sense of enthusiasm. It is as if when politics runs outs of ideas an election loses out on becoming a transformative spectacle to become a deadening pantomime. The cast of characters are old hangovers from an electoral Tussauds - Gogoi, Mamata, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. It appears like an enactment of regional authoritarianism to balance the Modisque anti-drama at the centre. Even the same lines make little difference. Jaya fights Karuna and one can summon little enthusiasm for it. Karunanidhi plays the electoral lion and creates a third rate script. He offers his son Stalin as the possibility of the new and the electorate yawns over it. Stalin will probably be a young leader at 70, before he inherits the DMK mantle. As ancient Rome that thrived on spectacles of Bread and Circuses, politics in Tamil Nadu survives on the dole and the gift as spectacles. Come election time, everyone gets enthusiastic about prohibition, but all it creates is a hangover called electoral politics. There is no sense of a social movement and even Vijayakanth's politics is ineffectual hardly qualifying for even cameo level possibilities. There are no big issues around equality or justice, just the limbo of continuity. Jaya appears to continue like an implacable glacier and the whole electoral battle appears a much ado about nothing. To put it ironically AIDMK and DMK which literally cinematised politics now seem frozen. One is sure that a lot is happening but as far as elections go political ideas seem subterranean. If the Punch and Judy show between AIADMK and DMK appears half dead, the battle between Mamata and CPM looks hysterical. This is partly because Mamata Banerjee's style can turn a morning walk into a crusade and CPM appears bereft without Bengal. Once again the sheer absence of ideas and issues is amazing and Bengal seems caught in the tragedy of non-choice. Politics Any vote for any party dooms Bengal into a tragic non-development for another decade. Politics in Bengal is still hysterical and galvanic, but there is little of the animation of ideas. Assam boils with tension and yet it is clear that elections are not going to create reform. Politics will be the same give or take a Gogoi or two. The American army in World War 2 coined a word for such a situation, SNAFU, for an activity which expends a tremendous amount of energy, but alters the world not even a little. As a spectator and a citizen, I do not deny that elections are important. But, elections which look bereft of ideas, which present the same unpromising alternatives makes one worry about the possibilities for democracy. RELATED ARTICLES [# Previous] [# 1] [# Next] [/indiahome/indianews/article-3555626/Handwara-protests-genuine-expression-anger-Former-J-K-CM-Omar-Abdullah-alerts-government-watchful.html 'Handwara protests were genuine expression of anger': Former...] [/indiahome/indianews/article-3550573/Nitish-Kumar-set-sights-Delhi-PM-Modi-worried.html Nitish Kumar has set his sights on Delhi. So should PM Modi...] Share this article Share Covering this with a sheen is the idea of Nitish Kumar as an alternative prime ministerial candidate. Nitish of course is immaculately hypocritical denying that he has any prime ministerial ambitions. In fact, that one act captures this election drama, where the politics of hypocrisy is presented as the politics of hope. It embodies the conviction that the citizen who is a sucker for democracy will digest anything in its name. Yet one is desperate for a rethinking of ideas and a renewal of political drama. Symptoms How does one look at symptoms of such a disease? Where does one begin a diagnosis as a movement into therapy? I think one can sense three major threats to the democratic-electoral system. First is the fact that civil society is on the decline, that NGOs are under threat and there are no social movements to fight durable battles against the state. It is as if there are few contending structures around the state today and one can sense that all political parties are relieved by the decline of NGOs and social movements. Secondly, media has become dominant in the new middle class view of politics and given its current style highlights the hysteria of the middle class. Deep down that hysteria hides the dullness, the lack of ideas. Finally one has begun to sense, that democracy in India has to go beyond electoralism to wider issues of rights, livelihood, migration and violence and our electoral system seems tone deaf to these issues. May be one needs this sense of ennui to create the new. Let us hope democracy will ambush us with the unexpected. Only that can relieve the tedium of the Jayalalithaa and the Mamatas of today.

FACTBOX-Cricket-How The World Reacted To Smith Bancroft And Lehmann

2020-06-24T12:04:36Z

EduardoBlais780: Created page with " March 29 (Reuters) - Reaction after deposed Australian captain Steve Smith, opening batsman Cameron Bancroft and [http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogl..."

March 29 (Reuters) - Reaction after deposed Australian captain Steve Smith, opening batsman Cameron Bancroft and [http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family] coach Darren Lehmann held news conferences in the wake of last week's ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town. MATT PRIOR, former England wicketkeeper "Fair play Bancroft and Steve Smith taking it head on and fronting up. That was hard to watch and can't imagine what they're going through. People make mistakes but being able to own up and take responsibility takes guts." HERSCHELLE GIBBS, former South Africa batsman "Hard scenes watching the interviews with the 2 ozzie (sic) blokes. Having been through it all, take it on the chin and live with the consequences but remain true to yourself." MICHAEL VAUGHAN, former England captain "'Good people make mistakes'.. I honestly think Steve Smith & Cam Bancroft are decent guys who had a moment of madness.. they deserve a 2nd chance and hopefully get the right support around them now ... Takes a lot guts to do what they did today." MITCHELL JOHNSON, former Australia bowler "Tough to watch Cameron & Steve go through the 2 statements they just made. They will learn from this & be better in the future I'm sure!" MARK BUTCHER, former England batsman "Just watched Smith presser. Hope everybody has had their pound of flesh now." KEVIN PIETERSEN, former England batsman "Just seen @stevesmith49's press conference. As a parent, I'm gutted for him & his family! Shout me down if you want, but I'm speaking as a parent! It will get better mate!" MICHAEL CLARKE, former Australia captain "DEVASTATING!" HARSHA BHOGLE, Indian cricket commentator "Haven't Australia made enough of a spectacle of Steve Smith? I'm blown by what he is being put through." RYAN HARRIS, former Australia test bowler "So very hard to watch, well done Smithy and Bangas, horrible to see the pain they are in! They did wrong but will be back bigger and better! #goodyoungmen" MOHAMMAD KAIF, former India batsman "Feel the pain he (Smith) is going through. Waiting for him to come back soon and cause delight to fans across the world with his supreme batsmanship. Remember Warne served a 1 year ban for a banned substance and came back with 26 wkts in 3 tests against SL." MICHAEL DI VENUTO, former Australia batsman "Absolutely shattering watching these press conferences. Not hard to tell what type of people these guys are. Cricket Aus losing some great people through one poor choice. #human #forgive." SACHIN TENDULKAR, former India batsman "They are regretting and hurting and will have to live with the consequences of their act. Spare a thought for their families as they have much to endure along with the players. Time for all of us to take a step back and give them some space." SHOAIB AKHTAR, former Pakistan bowler "At least Steve Smith has the courage to admit like a man but absolutely gutted to see Steve Smith breaking down... and also the way people (are) treating him @ Airport & in Australia. It's sad, leave that poor chap alone now." (Compiled by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

Cricket-How The World Reacted To Bans For Australian Trio

2020-06-24T05:38:23Z

EduardoBlais780: Created page with " March 28 (Reuters) - Reaction after Cricket Australia (CA) banned sacked captain Steve Smith and [http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family footbal..."

March 28 (Reuters) - Reaction after Cricket Australia (CA) banned sacked captain Steve Smith and [http://footballncrickethub.website2.me/blog/harsha-bhogle-family footballncrickethub.website2.me] vice-captain David Warner for 12 months and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft for nine months for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town. MICHAEL VAUGHAN, former England captain "Steve Smith I think is a good guy who made a huge mistake. He needed punishing but I think this is too harsh. Bancroft who I don't know was led astray but deserved punishing but again too harshly IMO (in my opinion). The other guy I really don't care about." TOM MOODY, former Australia all-rounder "What happened in South Africa is incredibly sad on so many levels but what appears clear in my view is the punishment certainly doesn't fit the crime." HARSHA BHOGLE, cricket commentator "I honestly do not believe any other country would have handed its captain and lead player a 12 month ban for attempted ball-tampering." SHANE WARNE, former Australia spinner "We are all so hurt and angry and maybe we weren't so sure how to react. We'd just never seen it before. But the jump to hysteria is something that has elevated the offence beyond what they actually did, and maybe we're at a point where the punishment just might not fit the crime." JOHN HOLDER, former test match umpire "The problem with cricket is this perception that cricket is a gentleman's game. Cricket is not a gentleman's game... as you get more and more money in cricket the pressure to win big money increases. Cricket now is about winning and players will cheat... do whatever they can get away with." SANJAY MANJREKAR, former India batsman "As expected, CA have been very strict in their punishment to the offending players. The major take away from this is how critical your track record is." MOHAMMAD KAIF, former India batsman "So with the one year ban on Smith and Warner and also a two year captaincy ban on both, think India will be favourites when they tour Australia later this year. Wonder, who will captain Australia at the World Cup. Aaron Finch?" (Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru Editing by Christian Radnedge)

User:EduardoBlais780

2020-06-24T05:38:21Z

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