Blog Posts by Venkat Ananth

I began writing this even as the unflappable VVS Laxman, yet again, demonstrated his uncanny ability to rise to the occasion, to shepherd the tail, and to win for his team matches that were written off as lost. The backdrop to my piece, therefore, is yet another come-from-behind win scripted by this most unassuming of cricketers - a great climax, a photo-finish ending, and yet another compelling chapter in the history of India-Australia Tests.

Not to rain on this parade, but mixed in with the euphoria of the win and the manner of it is a sadness that so few people chose to come to the stadium to watch the drama unfold. There was a time when Tests filled stadiums in India; today, unfortunately, there are very few takers for this format.

While researching this column, I stumbled upon a few interesting backgrounders that help understand this phenomenon better, and that lead to the conclusion that the BCCI should take the lion's share of the blame for this public apathy, which owes to

The tragic story that is Indian domestic cricket (and I am not referring to the IPL) is sadly not about the sport itself, or its desperately appalling standards, but one that reminds us all about the power of that elusive 'vote'. And this quintessential vote is exactly what I think stands between a system that continually thrives on perceived mediocrity, zero-reforms and a hushed status-quo, that promises much, delivers little and one that is at least seen to evolve keeping the best interests of Indian cricket at its very heart.

It is that vote that will quintessentially prevent Indian cricket from taking decisions which, in doing so might displease lobbies but in its quiet little way, ameliorate the appalling standards that exist. That one vote could well determine the way the direction in which the larger powerplay threatens to play out within the board-games at the BCCI, and it is that very vote that somewhere is preventing Indian cricket from taking that next-big step in

I confess I haven't watched much of Champions League T20 tournament, except a few overs here and there. 

There is an air of triviality about it all, right from the format to the marketing and even the cricket. I flip through television channels at random, and invariably see a Bollywood A-list star make grotesque statements like 'Cricket ka Asli Muqabla' -- and the perversity of it all makes me laugh.

I've often wondered how we can take this format seriously, given that it's a game of hits and misses, with no clear pattern or overarching narrative during a particular match. It makes for great viewing, yes, but to over-analyze and give it pretentious connotations would be doing this epic game a great disservice. Sadly, we've chosen that path, you have commentators going ga-ga about the "successes" being scripted by nondescript teams. 

My problem with the Champions League begins with the concept. Memory being notoriously short, here's a quick history lesson: In 2000-'01, you had a

Speaking as someone who loves the game of cricket more than anything else, I am yet to recover from the events of August 29, 2010. The News of the World video – its content, its seeming veracity – has shaken the game's soul, its credibility, its veracity.

But what enrages me even more than the seeming proof of malfeasance contained in that video is the role of the Pakistan Cricket Board, which has embraced the national societal and political virtue of denial, defiance, inaction and resistance.

That more people do not seem to be focusing on this aspect is surprising, and sad. The then BCCP (Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan) was a leading voice of Asian cricket in the 70s; what we see now when we look at the institution is a precipitous decline that parallels the decline of Pakistan's cricket and, indeed, its state.

The history of the PCB makes it clear that somewhere along the line, it acquiesced to functioning as an alternate source of power for corrupt politicians/Army

Sunday, August 29th, 9:30 am: I wake up, turn on the phone, check my twitter timeline, and I see that almost everybody is tweeting about one topic.

Just to be sure, I click on the link, and read the News of the World story. And I say to myself, 'Bugger off, cricket! You've lost me again.' 

My visceral reaction was one of disgust. News of the World is a paper I tend to rubbish for its shady reputation, but this story was too fact-driven, the proofs within too clear-cut, to be ignored.

So, I am disgusted – but at what, or whom? At these fixers, who roam the world, corrupting whom they may, never mind the cost to the players, the fans, the game itself? At the players, who prostitute their god-gifted talents for the sake of a few dollars more? Or at myself – the 'cricket writer' who chose to ignore all the hints and the clues and to cling to my naïve belief that the sport was clean again?

I felt cheated, sullied. You probably share that feeling. I felt shocked – but not surprised,

Not so long ago, the predominant narrative in the cricketing discourse revolved around "player burnout" or what is now today called as "exhaustion". It took the BCCI to splash some cash around to silence it and somewhere, the focus through the Indian Premier League (IPL) went towards "creating a global Indian product" at the cost of its content - the players.

Now, in the typically circular fashion of cricket debates, "burnout" has resurfaced, with some Indian cricketers apparently upset with the calendar thrust on them -- a calendar driven not by sound logic but by the greed of those who matter,  leaving the poor player with no choice except to follow the diktat. This re-visiting of the topic has predictably resulted in pro forma denials and a studied silence on the part of the Board -- a technique that body has perfected over the years.

Player welfare

In the modern era, given the way cricket is played and administered, player welfare becomes a critical, if not the most important

After play ended on day four of the recently concluded second Test between India and Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club, Lankan coach Trevor Bayliss delivered the most scathing indictment of the wicket in use, saying "Even Murali would have struggled to get wickets on this strip."

Fair assessment, and the game provided Sri Lanka with an early, unnerving insight into what its future holds in the wake of Muttiah Muralitharan's retirement and for that matter even the exit of Chaminda Vaas. Equally, that statement points to the need, at some point in the immediate future, for Sri Lanka has to introspect and come up with a complete overhaul of a home strategy that has in the past contributed more wins than losses.

At one level, wickets like the one we saw at the Sinhalese Sports Club are killing Test cricket, especially in a country where the format is not exactly the most popular - but that said, you can see where the urge to produce such wickets is coming from. For the Sri

India's bowling performances in the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka have made for  depressing viewing - and it gets worse when you consider the pedestrian stuff is being trotted out by a side that parades itself as the number one Test side in the world.

Injuries to Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth aside, the current lot of bowlers look anything but a world-class attack; bereft of skill, lacking in confidence, abdicating on intent, the bowling 'attack' has consistently looked incapable of taking 20 wickets. It is easy enough to blame the conditions, and it is not my argument that the conditions have been uniformly helpful - but that said, the attack led by Ishant Sharma has mentally surrendered  mentally surrendered not to the conditions, but to their own self-doubts, their own lack of confidence in their abilities as pace bowlers.

On the spin side, Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha look like human bowling machines - their bowling is mechanical, their intent is non-existent, and