India: Love of Cricket

India loves cricket and they always do. It is a good game and it make the people stand on their feet. I myself love it too. Cricket matches in India is always good and interesting like IPL i have always watched. Here is an interview to a Pakistani former all rounder Azhar Mahmood: Your first IPL is over. A good one for you even though your side, Kings XI Punjab, just fell short of the playoffs. How did you find it? I'm pleased with my performance in my first IPL, but I have been playing good cricket for the last few years now, in England, New Zealand and Bangladesh. You're always learning as a player, and although I'm 37 now it doesn't mean you just stop all of a sudden. You're always finding stuff out about the game. The experience has been brilliant, unbelievable. The atmosphere was great, and everywhere you go - home and away - you're playing in front of full houses. The crowd is always loud and the fans are very passionate. Playing cricket in India is always incredible as they love the game so much. I see playing as a bit like being an actor. As an actor you want people to come and see your film and that's just what it's like as a cricketer. The more people that come, the more it inspires me to do better and better. The packed houses gave me energy, which I thrived on. I play best in that kind of environment. Kings XI's performances picked up once you got into the country after missing the first five games with your visa problems. Do you think about how well the team might have done if you had joined the side that little bit earlier? We could have made the playoffs, but saying we would have if I'd arrived earlier is just ifs and buts - you can't reflect on what might have been. It was frustrating to miss out on a few games and I was relieved when I took to the field in the first game. As a side we played some good cricket and I had a wonderful time playing under Gilly [Adam Gilchrist]. We all know what he can do on the field as he's been a terrific player for many years, but off the field he's a great human being too. He made it a happy team to be a part of and as a group we were very close, which helps when it comes to playing out on the field. You ended up as one of the IPL's best allrounders, with 186 runs at an average of 23.25 and 14 wickets at 23.5. Your economy was under eight too. Your contract was for one year but are you hopeful of getting back out there in 2013? [Laughs] Hopefully, yes. I signed a one-year contract and I think they might want to try and keep me. It depends when we can negotiate a deal but Kings XI have the first right to keep me in their squad. After having such a good tournament, people want me, and I want to go out there and play again as I loved every single minute of it. They seemed to love me too, and I enjoyed being a part of their side. Allrounders are so valuable to the balance of the team, so hopefully we can sort something out. I'm at the age now where I want to be playing cricket. I would much prefer to play and show what I can do than go somewhere and get paid the money and not play any games. "I see playing as a bit like being an actor. As an actor you want people to come and see your film and that's just what it's like as a cricketer. The more people that come, the more it inspires me to do better and better" Chris Gayle made headlines for his batting but you picked up his wicket when you played the Royal Challengers Bangalore. It's the toughest question of all: how do you stop him? He's a remarkable player, and he's shown that, but I know how to dry up his runs. I've bowled against him in the Bangladesh Premier League and in the IPL, and he's hit me for just one four. It's not easy but I know his strengths and I know his weaknesses, and when I bowl to his weaknesses, I know I can win the battle. He doesn't try and hit every single ball. He picks the ones he wants to go for. He doesn't go from ball one, like some of the other batsmen. How about solving one of the IPL's other mysteries - picking Sunil Narine. You didn't get to face him but what did you make of his performance for the Kolkata Knight Riders? I don't think anyone can argue that he's a terrific talent. On a turning wicket he's basically unplayable. I stood behind the nets and watched him and I couldn't pick him at all. He can turn the ball both ways. I'm looking forward to seeing him in international cricket. There's no doubt that he is some kind of special talent who can go a long way in the game. It will be interesting to see how he goes. Some people might think he will fade out like Ajantha Mendis, but I think he might be different. You went over to the IPL as an Englishman but there were relatively few of you out there. Owais Shah and Kevin Pietersen were the exceptions. Do you think more will follow as time goes by? It's a tough one. It'd be nice to see more English players out there but that might not happen because of the international schedule, which is a shame. KP was amazing out in India. He made a stunning hundred, but he's been playing good cricket for a while now for England. The fans love him too.

No Blame for Wrong in IPL

It is a good response by Sanjay because of the people who starts to blame of a gentlemen game like cricket is ruining due to Indian Premier Leaque. Like much of pop culture often does, the IPL too has renewed the age-old division between the classes and the masses. So while the masses endorsed the fifth edition of the tournament by filling stadiums match after match, the league was viciously attacked by some of most credible voices among the Indian intelligentsia, and they found vigorous support from voluble cricket fans on social media networks. What I am about to say is not going earn me popularity among this section. I have learnt from recent experience that criticising the IPL can give you a certain halo. I am going to do the opposite: defend the IPL against some unfair criticism. And I want to make it clear that while I worked as a freelance TV commentator on the IPL, I am not on the payroll of the BCCI or the IPL. These views are those of a neutral viewer of the game who genuinely likes the IPL and is a strong supporter of it. Also, I adore Test cricket, have always done. I loved playing it and I now love watching it. I believe it is the highest and toughest form of the sport, and the yardstick with which to judge the greatness of players. Given a choice between watching a Test match featuring two evenly matched teams and an IPL game, I would chose the former any day. But having said that, I love the IPL too. The first and most common kind of attack on the IPL is that this it (and T20 cricket at large) will destroy the traditional forms of the game. Good supporting arguments are put forth to back the claim - or perhaps fear. I find this mindset to be no different from those of the traditionalists of the late '70s, who were up in arms when Kerry Packer barged into their world and switched on the lights so that his band of "big boys" could play at night. He even got them to wear tight, bright-coloured pants. Thirty-five years later, Kerry Packer is gone, and perhaps we did not thank him enough for the good turn he did the game. The IPL and T20 are helping the sport in an area where Test cricket and now even 50-overs cricket have generally failed: to hold mass appeal. If the IPL is bringing new fans to the ground (and yes, some of them do not even like cricket that much) why do the traditionalists have a problem with that? They have the choice to switch channels and watch West Indies play England in Tests. What caught my attention amid all the criticism was the suggestion that IPL 5 had taken sleaze in cricket to new heights. This is unfair and untrue. Let me refresh some memories. I've never heard the media call the private parties that cricketers go to during, say, a World Cup, "World Cup parties" Player misdemeanour has always been part of the game. Long before the IPL, an international player was accused of rape. There have been allegations of molestation levelled against cricketers a few times, and most times the matter has been hushed up. Players have been caught smoking marijuana while on national duty. Match-fixing slapped the administrators in the face and disillusioned them. There have been plenty of cases of administrators siphoning off funds meant for the betterment of the game. And finally, in a first-class match that I played in, I watched as a player ran after another with a stump to assault him. All this was a part of the game before the IPL was even conceived of. And now comes the bizarre charge that IPL 5 has taken sleaze in cricket to new heights. The truth is that the IPL is a long way behind in catching up with the sleaze we have already seen in and around the more established forms of the game. It was amusing to read about the "IPL parties" and the incidents around them. The fact is, the so-called IPL parties are now a thing of the past - they went out with the exit of Lalit Modi. The parties now are private ones that players attend on their own during the IPL season. I've never heard the media call the private parties that cricketers go to during, say, a World Cup, "World Cup parties". The incident with Luke Pomersbach was also blamed on the IPL. Why wasn't international cricket and its culture blamed when an international player was accused of rape in the '90s? The focus then (as it should have been) was on the individual. When India played badly in England and Australia, the IPL again became everyone's favourite target - not so much the players, it was the IPL that was held responsible for India's problems. I concede that the IPL could hamper your Test match preparation if you are not smart as a player or your cricket board isn't. But those who believe the IPL will destroy India's Test cricket strength in the future can take solace from this fact: in the five years of the IPL, South Africa have had their core players playing in the IPL, and in that time South Africa has only grown as a Test team, with most of their IPL players having enhanced their reputations in the long format. Yes, there are valid long-term concerns about kids - specifically about whether they will have the desire to play Test cricket anymore when an easier pursuit is more lucrative. To this I will say: as long as cricket remains a popular sport in the country, for every *Saurabh Tiwary there will be an Ajinkya Rahane or a Cheteshwar Pujara who will emerge from the same generation. There may be fewer Test aspirants to choose from than during, say, my time, but can you blame kids when the purest form of cricket is struggling to draw audiences? The greatest high for any performer, more than money, is performing in front of a massive audience. Let's hope something miraculous happens to Test cricket and it starts drawing big crowds to the grounds again. Like everything around us, the IPL is not perfect - but to hold it responsible for all the evils in and around the game is illogical and smacks of prejudice.

Sri Lanka is developing quickly

I am pleased to hear and see many development in Sri Lanka. A country that is full of nice and kind people. I just read an article which shows this. A foundation stone calls it a “Gateway to Miracle”. Quite often, the quality of roads and highways is seen as an indicator of a nation’s development. If that yardstick is applied to Sri Lanka as well, then the Southern Expressway has given everyone a good reason to brag. And why not? The swanky highway makes it possible to zoom from Colombo to Galle in just one hour, perhaps even sooner, if you’ve got the right wheels. It siphons off at least two and a half hours off the regular journey via the old Galle Road, which is very much in use and remains toll-free. Inaugurated on November 23, 2011 by the president Mahinda Rajapakse, the expressway begins at Kottawa, a Colombo suburb, and ends at Pinnaduwa, after bypassing Galle town centre. For a country that survives largely on road transport, this project would come as a blessing for the time-conscious traveler. Work is underway to stretch it to Matara and the upcoming international airport in Mattala, near Hambantota. Having made several trips to Galle, the charming drive by the old road made the trip all the more worthwhile. The old Galle Road begins at Galle Face in Colombo, cuts through the bustling business district of the city, passes the sea-facing suburbs of Dehiwala and Mt Lavinia before hitting the outskirts. A good chunk of the journey runs parallel to the sea, with the waves kissing the tar. The railway line too adds to the allure. The journey is dotted with beachside resorts with varying degrees of luxury, beachhouses, souvenier shops on the roadside, fishing villages, commercial towns, railway intersections etc. The temptation to stop at every vantage point and take pictures could add another half an hour to your journey. The expressway, though, doesn’t run by the coast, as I had imagined. The sea surfaces only at the end of the journey. I decided to shell out the Rs 400 toll charge to see what the fuss was about. Having been used to the traditional, narrower inter-city highways, including a backbreaking pot-holed journey from Habarana to Trincomalee (in 2002), this expressway was unlike anything I’d experienced here. The six-month old highway still had the freshness of a brand new car. What was bizarre, though, was the lack of life on the surrounds. The road cuts through trees and rock faces on either side, there are no villages, no vehicles parked on the side with tired travelers having a stretch to get the blood pumping, no roadside motels or restaurants. The lack of traffic was also puzzling, even in the wee hours of the morning. No surprises though that I reached Galle in an hour. It was surreal. Would I zip down this road again? Certainly, if I was legally allowed to get behind the wheel here. But for old time’s sake, if I had time to kill, it’s the old Galle Road for me.