What are the odds that Rafa's time at Anfield is over?

At the beginning of the 2009-10 season, the Liverpool faithful had hoped that their team’s gradual progression back to the top of the Premiership would finally culminate in a league title. Instead it’s turned into a horror story of mammoth proportions. At the time of writing, Liverpool are on a three match losing streak and have four defeats in their opening nine premiership games – a statistic which makes them odds-on favourite not to win the league this year.

They have two crucial games coming up – a Champions League clash against Lyon and a premiership battle against bitter rivals Man United.

If the results in these two games don’t go in their favour, then it will open a whole new world of possibilities at Anfield, most of them frightening for the club faithful.

As a United fan, it gives me great pleasure to think of those possibilities and to estimate their odds. So without much ado, let’s play odds makers – All under the assumption that the next two games are not going to go as per plan for Liverpool.

What are the odds?

That Rafa Benitez is gone in a month’s time?

Even odds. With Rick Parry gone, Rafa has nobody to blame anymore. His stubborn refusal to change his zonal marking tactics will give extra fuel to his critics. His only saving grace will be the fact that the owners Gillett and Hicks are cheapsters who would rather continue with Rafa, than bear the cost of paying out his entire contract and getting a new manager, who would also want a fresh transfer kitty.

That Gillett and Hicks are gone before the end of the season?

2-1. another season without the league title and being forced to start all over again would be too much for the American owners. They are here for purely financial reasons and there is a good chance that Gillett and Hicks will decide to cut their losses and move on. There is interest from the Middle –east and if a serious offer comes through, Gillett and Hicks will take their bags and run.

That the sheikhs will take over at Anfield?

3-1. Just like the bad times will force the Americans to run, it will give the sheikhs a good time to make a move. Liverpool are hugely popular in the Middle- east and the sheikhs are one of the few with the financial muscle to buy a club as massive as Liverpool.  But there is an outside chance that an upstart Russian or someone from the South East Asia will stake a claim. I wouldn’t even rule out a bid from Anil Ambani.

That Torres will be gone by the end of the season?

10-1. depends on who takes over and where Benitez goes. If Benitez ends up at a big Spanish Club (read Real Madrid if Manuel Pellegrini fails to meet the expectations of Florentino Perez), then there is a massive chance that Torres will follow him.  Real can be expected to make an outrageous offer for Torres and in today’s cash-strapped times, few owners can refuse that.

Will they be standing together a year from now?

That Alberto Aquilani will make less than five first team appearances for Liverpool?

6-1. Only Benitez knows why Aquilani was bought and if he goes there will be no one at Anfield to appreciate and understand the Italian. A new manager will be impatient and expect Alberto to make an immediate impression, failing which he will be sent on his way.

What are the chances they are re-united at another club?

That Steven Gerrard will leave Liverpool in a couple of seasons?

20-1.The opportunity to bring back the league title to Anfield is Gerrard’s greatest driving force. With that opportunity gone, at least in the near future, coupled with the possible departure of close pal Torres, Gerrard’s resolve to spend his entire career at Anfield could finally break. But it’s still a long shot.

That Gerrard will one day join Man United?

10000-1. it’s almost impossible to imagine Gerrard in a Man United shirt but stranger things have happened in football.  Gerrard will have no shortage of suitors if he decides to leave and Fergie will be one of them.   It will only happen if he wants to stay in England and Chelsea and Arsenal don’t make a bid for him. A move to Old Trafford will tarnish his status in Liverpool lore and Gerrard will risk that only if he has absolutely no options left.

That Liverpool are the ones to drop out of the top four?

2-1. Liverpool look the most likely ones to drop out and the other three look safe bets to finish in the top four.  Unlike previous years, there are a bunch of strong challengers this year. But if Liverpool are knocked out Europe and the FA Cup early, then there is no way a challenger will usurp them this season.

That Jose Mourinho is the next boss at Anfield.

7-1. Jose’s the only EPL winning manager available and that will tempt Liverpool. If given an opportunity and a decent transfer budget, then the ‘Special One’ will not think twice about returning to his beloved premiership.

That an Italian is the next boss at Anfield?

10-1. Capello has turned England around and Trapattoni has worked wonders with the Irish. Previously, lesser Italians like Ranieri and Vialli have had decent stints at Chelsea. The Spanish experiment worked well, so why not try an Italian this time.  There are enough top class Italian managers available. My favourite would be Mancini. He has previously delivered at a league title – starved club.

That the strike pair of David Ngog and Andriy Voronin will start a game in the Premiership?

5-1. will be the poster moment for the slew of mediocre purchases made by Benitez. Wonder how many premiership defenders will be quaking in their boots at the sight of Voronin and Ngog? This could happen very soon if another striker gets injured or if Ryan Babel continues to disappoint.

That Liverpool will make a shock bid for Xabi Alonso?

5-1. they sold him for 16 million but by now they have realized how priceless he was. The chances of a bid depend on Alonso’s form at Real and the state of the Liverpool midfield. If Alonso disappoints, although it’s quite unlikely, then Liverpool might be encouraged to make a bid. It will also depend on whether Aquilani or any other future midfield signing can do all the unnoticed and under-appreciated little things that Alonso did.

That Benitez changes the zonal marking system?

10-1. most people at Anfield are critical of the zonal marking system. Until now Rafa was in a strong position and had his way. But what will he do if the defeats continue to pile on and the bosses give him an ultimatum – change the defensive system or move. Will he swallow his pride for the sake of continuing as Liverpool manager?

That Benitez joins another Premiership Club?

25-1. Abramovich could be tempted if Ancelotti fails to bring home the Champions League. Benitez’ tactical nous in European competition is well regarded. The other candidates could be Man City and Tottenham Hotspurs.  Both have money and ambition. Their current managers can take them into the top four but they will need somebody of the calibre of Benitez to aim higher. Rafa has enjoyed England and might stay back if the right gig came along.

That Liverpool win both games and this entire article is merely a fantasy exercise?

3-1. Liverpool always come through when the chips are down. Plain and simple.

Wonder if these guys ever talk about improving the Ranji Trophy?

The BCCI wants India to play as many international fixtures to possible because these matches net them a lot of money. Subsequently the heavy international calendar ensures that the tired Indian internationals rarely play in the domestic tournaments like the Ranji trophy, unless they have been dropped and are looking to prove a point. This reduces the star quotient of the domestic circuit and dilutes the quality of the cricketing fare and the intensity of the competition. A combination of these reasons ensures that the fans stay away and as a result the state associations and the BCCI make very little money from these games. As a result these bodies take very little active interest in these games. No effort is made to improve the state of these domestic tournaments.

The players who play in these tournaments have a million reasons to feel dispirited. They play in front of nonexistent crowds. They get paid poorly. And realistically speaking they don’t have a great opportunity to make a case for themselves, thanks to the poor quality of the pitches and the lack of quality competition. Runs scored and wickets taken are always taken with a pinch of salt. Players are rarely put in situations which test their mental fortitude and help them mature as cricketers. Most of the players who shine and get a chance to play at the next level are not well prepared to handle the rarefied air of international cricket. And not because they didn’t have the ability but because they have no experience or practise of having played on sporting pitches or against quality opposition or having been in tough situations. 99% of people reading this will not be able to name the top scorer and the top wicket- taker in last season’s Ranji trophy . If you can then may god bless you.

So is it wrong if players are ready to give an arm and a leg to play in the IPL?

The money is important but there are many other reasons why domestic players would be ready to forego the entire Ranji Trophy season to play a couple of IPL games

Prof Ratnakar Shetty and the BCCI are worried about the charms of the IPL but are they doing anything to make the Ranji Trophy exciting.

The Ranji format is flawed and fundamentally prone to produce defensive boring cricket. Borrowing a few ideas from Australia and South Africa will address that problem. But Mr Shetty and gang either find high scoring draws exciting or they schedule their discussions on domestic cricket during the IPL’s 10 minute strategic timeouts.

Seriously , is it absolutely impossible to market the Ranji Trophy in a cricket crazy country like ours?

Will it be difficult to draw crowds and attract sponsors if UP’s pace battery of RP Singh, Pravin Kumar and Sudeep Tyagi took on the might of Gambhir and Sehwag on a bouncy track with both sides playing to win. A few foreign players could be thrown in to add to the competitive intensity and the star power.

Will this lead to revenue generation from the Ranji Trophy and a better lot of players coming out of domestic cricket.

Yes

Is that in the best interests of the BCCI, the state associations, future India aspirants as well as Indian cricket in general

Yes

Does the BCCI control all the variables that are required to make this happen?

Yes, unless they are being blackmailed by someone from another cricketing nation who has a video of the entire board involved in a gay orgy in the middle of the Wankhede

The country is counting on you once again

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) has been worried for a long time the venues will not be completed in time for the 2010 games in Delhi. The organizing committee on the other hand have continued to promise everyone that the nothing of that sort will happen. The media also had chosen to ignore the matter for the longest possible time.

Now things have fallen so much behind schedule that the CGF president wants the prime minister’s intervention to speed up things. That’s just step away from asking for divine intervention.

The Organizing Committee are totally unruffled, however, coming out with yet another statement that Delhi will be ready at any cost.
The ball is now in the prime minister and the sports minister’s court. With the media having suddenly risen to the occasion, the ministers are definitely aware of the gravity of the situation. They can either play the autonomy card a la Mani Shankar Aiyer; claiming that government intervention will be tantamount to a violation of the IOC Charter (which says that sports bodies should be run autonomously) or they can save India from losing face in front of the entire world – something which will seriously dent our chances of hosting any major events in the future.

If no action is taken and the CGF takes the unprecedented step of moving the Games to Australia (which has already been placed on the stand bye) it will be more than the small matter of 12,000 crores going down the drain. These games are meant to showcase what modern India is all about – a country on the rise and on the move. Not being able to put it all together will highlight the exact opposite and jeopardize all our claims to being a new world power.

To the average Indian sports fan, it will hurt as much as the failure to qualify for the men’s hockey event of the last Olympics, if not more. There is so much at stake here.

The sports minister had sacked Indian Hockey Federation chief KPS Gill after the Beijing debacle. But the damage had already been done. So waiting for the present organizing committee to fail will be a calamitous mistake. The minsters need to pre-empt that and take some quick measures.

Disbanding the current one and getting a more professional and capable team will be a good place to start. A leaf can be taken out of the Athens 2004 example, when caught in similar situation, Greece averted a modern day Greek tragedy by getting the best man or shall we say woman to do the job. Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki was brought back to head the organizing committee and she re-energized the preparations ensuring a highly successful hosting of the games.

There is no shortage of capable people in this country who can handle an operation of this magnitude and save India’s blushes. The two ministers just need to put one in charge before its too late.

But do the two of them have the courage to take such a decision. Removing Suresh Kalmadi will not be easy. He is an influential member of parliament who belongs to the same party as the two ministers. It will be a public loss of face for him and he will fight tooth and nail, using all his political clout to scuttle such a move.

Manmohan Singh created a name for himself during the liberalisation process and during the nuclear deal. The fate of another important chapter in the history of modern India is now in his hands. Will he show the same conviction and do the right thing for the country or buckle under political considerations?

The entire country wants to know.

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What the Indian media isn’t telling you about the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games

We can't just count on Vijender every time. We need more like him

First the good news.

Vijender Kumar became the first Indian to win a medal at the World Championships, further consolidating his position as one of the best in his weight category. This will ensure that continues to maintain an impressive world ranking which in turn assures him of a relatively easier draw in the major World events including the 2012 Olympics. This is important because we don’t want our best medal bet to be running into a world champion in the early rounds.

The other impressive performer was Jai Bhagwan Singh who made the quarters. He is coming along nicely and could be another medal contender in London.

Now the bad news

Five others, including Akhil Kumar and Jitender Kumar disappointed hugely, losing comprehensively in the first round itself. The two were quarter-finalists in the last Olympics and won bronze medals at the World Cup. I just hope this is a temporary blip and not the beginning of their decline.

The energy of Akhil Kumar lifts the entire squad and we cannot afford to see him go downhill right now. He has decided to move back to his original weight category and hopefully that will be the panacea to this sudden malaise.

Future Outlook for Indian Boxing

At the Olympics three of the five Indians made the quarters or better. The same number made the last eight stage in Milan but the flurry of first round defeats was a setback.

Also, at the last World Championships, India had finished 21st with the eight boxers winning a total of nine bouts. This time round, the nine Indians won eight bouts and the team finished 24th. Considering, that Vijender himself won three of those, the overall effort was a little disappointing.

We must celebrate Vijender’s feat but at the same time we need to take stock of the overall effort and make plans for the future. Indian boxing has taken a huge leap forward but we shouldn’t get too carried away with that. We need to show more ambition and aim for more boxers winning more medals at top level world meets.

And by more, I don’t mean one more medal. The ambition should be to win three to four medals with atleast one being gold. Our boxers have great potential and we can surely make this happen.

Go Indian Boxing

Betrayed by his wife and betrayed by the judicial system

The Syed Modi murder case is now closed.

A Lucknow sessions court on Saturday sentenced the lone surviving accused Bhagwati Singh to life without establishing any motive for the murder. It also refused to go into alleged links of the murderer with politician Sanjay Singh and Modi’s ex-wife Amita Singh, saying no conspiracy was established by the CBI.

I wonder if this a failure on part of the CBI or a failure of our judicial system?

Why did the judiciary and the CBI spend 21 years playing out this charade if they didn’t have any real intention of bringing the actual perpetrators of this crime to justice? Wonder what they were doing all this while.

How difficult was it to see the actual motive of this murder and to identify the people who had that motive? We all know what happened after the murder.

Were Sanjay Singh and Amita Singh ( don’t think its right to address her by her slain husband’s surname) interrogated sufficiently and rigorously enough by the CBI to get the truth out of them; a confession which would have given the judiciary the much necessary proof.

Did the CBI use any of the new sophisticated techniques like the Polyagraph or the Nacro-analysis in this case?

Now with the case closed, I don’t think there are going to be any answers.

Syed Modi will have no justice and no redemption in this life.

But is it really an edge when Indian sportspersons play in home conditions?

At the ongoing World Badminton Championships, Indian players failed to cause a single upset. Most of them including Chetan Anand and Aditi Mutatkar lost to players they have beaten recently. Saina Nehwal matched up well against her second seeded Chinese opponent and had home advantage but fell tamely.

Playing in her hometown didn't help Dipika Pallikal

Before this, there was the World Junior Squash Championships. Dipika Pallikal had the top billing but was knocked out of the semi-finals and the second -seeded girls team was beaten by lower ranked Hong Kong. Most of the boys failed to justify their seeding losing to lower ranked opponents.

But are these just isolated examples or do they happen to be the latest chapter of a grim tale – one where we have either failed to create the right home conditions or our players have failed to capitalise on them.

First let’s look at more examples from various sports to see if there is enough proof to validate our hypothesis – that we don’t really make the home conditions count.

We will compare the results achieved at home and overseas and see if there is a significant difference in the two.

Let’s start with tennis. The biggest Davis cup wins have both come abroad – over Australia in 1987 and against France in 1994. We have beaten Switzerland and Yugoslavia at home but there is no reason to believe that our players have thrived in home conditions.

In singles, we don’t have enough data, because we didn’t have any tournaments in India during our glory years. Somdev Dev Varman reached the final at the Chennai Open and Sania Mirza won at Hyderabad but both players have achieved similar success abroad as well.

A partisan crowd saw the home team getting thumped 1-7 in the 1982 Asian Games Final

In Hockey, we have never won a major tournament at home. We have hosted the Asian Games and the World Cup but both times we failed to meet pre-tournament expectations. The last major tournament in India was the Champions Trophy and once again the home advantage hadn’t counted for much. Neighbours Pakistan on the other hand have always raised their game when playing at home winning both the World Cup and the Champions Trophy on home soil.

Cricket is one sport where our home record is significantly better than our overseas record, especially in the five day version. But that has everything to do with the nature of the pitch. We perform better when we get a favourable pitch abroad and struggle on pacy and bouncy wickets at home. We fare better in places like Adelaide, Sydney and Guyana as compared to Mohali and Ahmedabad.

We have won the World Cup in England, the T-20 World Cup in South Africa, the Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka and the Champion of Champions tournament in Australia. In the same period, the Hero Cup and the Titan Cup have been our biggest triumphs at home. India has hosted two World Cups and both times the national side was quite strong but we always came up short.

Crowd support and home conditions count for a lot in football especially at the club level. Even the weakest sides prove quite a handful when playing in front of their fans. The Indian national side have largely failed to raise their game while playing at home but they did make an exception in the AFC Challenge Cup. The club sides have fared better but foreign clubs have not been daunted by the challenge of playing an Indian club in India. All in all we have largely failed to drive home the home advantage.

The only other sport in which we regularly host international tournaments is golf. This is a sport where familiarity with the course is a massive advantage and Indian players have made it count. Foreign players held a stranglehold over the Indian Open for a long time. Then Ali Sher broke their monopoly and local players have dominated the tournament ever since. SSP Chowrasia continued the home domination by winning the inaugural Indian Masters.

Having looked at these various sports, we can say with some measure of confidence that the home conditions or home advantage haven’t been enough of factor in Indian sport.

So the next questions is why

Have we failed to create the right home advantage or is it because our players don’t know how to make it count?

I think it’s a little bit of both.

We are a country steeped in the tradition of ‘Attithi Devo Bhava’, meaning the guest is like god. We have never tried to intimidate the visiting players or indulged in planned psychological warfare like most other countries do. We have often seen how the foreign media gets behind a player’s back. Our media on the other hand pays visiting players to write columns where they criticize the home team and their tactics. Players are often advised not to read the local papers; but visiting don’t need to take such precautions in India.

This is the kind of crowd we need to be

Then there is the role of the fans. Our crowds cheer for our players for sure as we saw during the recent badminton championships and the squash tournament. But there is a long way to go before they can start getting into the heads of the foreign players. We mostly fail to create a charged atmosphere which makes the visiting player feel almost threatened; as if he is surrounded by a vicious enemy from all sides. The same energy drives the adrenalin level of the home player and he or she just takes their game to another level. We need more incessant flag waving, drum beating, wild cheering, singing and booing.

And what about the players themselves – are they able to thrive in the home conditions or do they crumble in the face of heightened expectation?

Most of the evidence points to the latter.

We have a long history of losing close encounters; of failing to give our best in pressure cooker situations. And playing at home definitely creates additional pressure. This additional pressure can get cancelled out if the impact of the other home factors is strong enough. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to be the case in India.

While the negative impact of home conditions gets enhanced in the case of an Indian player because they aren’t good at handling pressure, the favourable conditions are not exploited sufficiently enough.

Together they have ensured that Indian sport in general has failed to make the most of the home advantage.

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This line-up ain't interesting enough

This article was written long before  ‘Ek Khiladi Ek Haseena’ happened on Indian Television. The writer had long wished for a program like this and had put together his dream line-up of stars.

This week I was tormented by an episode of ‘Nach Baliye’- a dance competition involving celebrities. The format is interesting but I cannot say the same for the participants. Most of them were small-time TV stars – celeb quotient too low to create any buzz. Then the competition was not gripping enough, in spite of all the snarling and put-on intensity. Not good enough. So what should be done, given that it’s a format with potential? Well, just bring on the real ‘competitors’ and the real ‘celebrities’ – the sports stars.

There is no denying the competitiveness of a sportsperson; it’s also all-encompassing. Trust them to fiercely compete with their five-year old in a game of criss-cross. And even the biggest film stars play second-fiddle to them (remember SRK not being his usual narcissist self at the Pepsi gold world cup launch)

For those of you doubting their dancing skills, here are some hard facts. The British equivalent – ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ has been won by Darren Gough and Mark Ramprakash in the last two editions. Even the American ‘Dancing with the Stars’ has had a Footballer and an Olympic Champion Marathoner as two of its four winners. Other sportspersons like boxer Laila Ali have also figured in the top-3. All these non-dancers have come out on top against a largely filmy opposition – people who dance as part of their profession. Talk of competitive intensity. And before you mention Ajay Jadeja’s disappointing performance, please note that he didn’t have Waqar Younis’ presence to get his competitive juices flowing.

Rather than have more players on ‘Nach Baliye’, I think it makes greater sense to have a full-fledged competition for the sporting fraternity.

So, let’s go ahead and lay down the ground rules, identify the participants and have our own ‘Dancing with the sport stars’.

Rule no 1 – The celebrity participant has to be a renowned sportsperson
Rule no 2 – The partner will have to be someone who has been in some kind of relationship with the player. We will also consider ‘rumoured’ relationships for the sake of all the paparazzi in this country. They need to make a living too.
Rule no 3- At least one member of every team has be an Indian national

And here are the participants. I have taken into consideration the dancing ability of the couple, chemistry, masala news creating ability, popularity (to get enough viewer votes) and finally their competitive spirit. They are in no particular order. In fact, I would request you to rank them and we can have our very own iSport Reader’s Choice Awards. Other than the first prize for best dancing couple we will also have a special prize for the most entertaining couple.

Sourav Ganguly and Naghma – have we ever had a more competitive captain in this country? I guess not. Has no ‘footwork’ to speak of but I am sure will overcome this deficiency. Has an acclaimed dancer for a wife; but I will still go with Naghma. Dona Ganguly is too ‘technically’ correct for Dada’s good. And Naghma’s no slouch as a dancer having matched steps with the great Prabhu Deva. Sourav’s controversial partner and expected victory celebration (taking his shirt off, a la Lords) should have enough fans rooting for him.
Leander Paes and Sania Mirza – Leander’s got great feet and great hands. On top of that, he’s a master of ‘mixed doubles’. Will pick Sania to partner him over ex-girlfriends – actress Mahima Chaudhary and model Rhea Pillai. Sania’s got more glam and the double whammy from the world of tennis opens up interesting possibilities (a tennis based routine perhaps). They have a proven track-record (the Asian games gold) and extra motivation to give every tennis supporter in this country bragging rights over the cricket fanatics. Competitors beware.

Mohd Azharuddin and Sangeeta Bijlani – Here is a man looking for redemption and with no chance of returning to cricket, will make do with whatever he can get his hands on. Azhar’s supreme fitness and athleticism coupled with Sangeeta’s acting experience will make a heady combination. Expect some energetic performances. As for wristy stroke play, he’ll find Sangeeta too heavy to handle. Not to worry. A stint in Azhar‘s gym and she’ll be light as a willow. That should send the competition on a leather hunt.

MAK Pataudi and Sharmila Tagore – This is a special couple. A cricket playing Maharaja and a Bollywood queen from the great Tagore family. Pataudi’s educational stints at Winchester and Cambridge would have given him a thorough grounding in ballroom dancing – a form which will bring out their timeless grace and be further accentuated by their understated romantic chemistry. This older couple will have strong fan following (even splitting the Bengali votes) and will not go out without a fight (remember that Pataudi was the first captain who taught Indians to stand up and fight)

Sanjay Kapur and Karishma Kapoor – Sanjay Kapur is one of India’s foremost polo players (before you open your mouth in surprise). He has also been voted one of India’s most well dressed (check out the first Indian edition of the Vogue magazine). Karishma and her dancing abilities need no introduction. This is a strong team from a purely dancing stand-point but lacks the over-all star quotient and will start as underdogs. This situation might work to their advantage

Imran Khan and Zeenat Aman – The now single pair would look to re-kindle the passion of 1979. (When they first became an item). The best looking couple in the event; the besotted audience (and even the judges) will keep bringing them back for more. Imran’s a born winner and proven motivator of men (and women). Zeenie baby sure knows a thing or two about dancing (think Qurbani). As for Imran; even his walk to the bowling mark was languid grace. Will have support on both sides of the border.

Bipasha Basu and Cristiano Ronaldo – The competition will lose an Indian viewer (John Abraham), but this pair will add an international touch and bring international audiences in droves. Ronaldo’s deft footwork will leave the audience dizzy with delight. It would be the second coming of Super Soccer. Bipasha will have a lot of man-marking to do. But I am sure this Bengali damsel knows her football pretty well.

Ravi Shastri and Amrita Singh – the last time they were together, he won the Champion of Champions in Australia. Shastri is well known for punching far above his weight and an encore cannot be ruled out in this competition. Will have to avoid the ugly ‘Chapatti shot’ though. Amrita has made a return to acting and will be in fine shape for this competition. She will have extra motivation to beat her former in-laws as well. Their favourite dance form – a fusion of Koli and Bhangra styles.

This is quite a formidable line-up. I have purposely not given my rankings as they will create a bias. Please play judge and vote for both categories. Best dancing couple and most entertaining pair.

This article was originally published on iSport.in in September 2007.

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Ever since I started blogging, I have enjoyed writing two kinds of posts. One which are detailed, involve research and are fairly long. These are generally planned out and are exhaustive. The others are the short ones, which more often than not happen on the spur of the moment. You see or read something and that sparks a though leading to a post. Until now, both have featured prominently on ACF, with the second variety usually appearing under the Quick Quips section. An example being the post about umpires in cricket needing helmets. For a while, I have been struggling to maintain a balance between the two; trying to ensure that I have fair mix of both. For obvious reasons, it is easier to come up with posts of the second type. They take less time and time happens to be an invaluable commodity in my life today. So in trying to ensure a balance, I have not written a few Quick Quips. But now after having seen Rick Reilly’s ‘too short for a column’, I was inspired to do the same. I tried using Twitter for the short posts for a while but it didn’t work due to the 140 character limitation. Reilly’s idea was perfect. These posts are too short to be called an article and a tad too long to be called a tweet. An idea was born and we are now ready to change. The shorter posts will now appear on a new page – Sports Quotient, but the old ones (about 45 of them) will continue to reside in the Quick Quips archives on ACF. And the longer posts will be continue to appear on ACF. Request readers to send in interesting sports links, stories or simply any random sports thought that they have. We will try to feature them on the new section. Cheers.

Is Ibrahimovic 46 millions euros better than Eto'o ?

Ever since the Eto’o – Ibrahimovic deal happened, I have been trying to think of a more lopsided transfer.

Finally, I have to accept that I have failed.

If I were Inter, I would take Eto’o and 46 million euros in exchange for Ibrahimovic, eleven times out of ten without as much as batting an eyelid.

Assuming we put a value of 35 million euros on Eto’o (the same amount that City paid for a far less accomplished striker in Carlos Tevez), this puts the value of Ibrahimovic at 81 million euros, which technically is more than the value of Cristiano Ronaldo (80 million euros)!!!

Does that mean that Barcelona have pipped Real in making the biggest transfer splash of the season, in terms of signing the player with the highest transfer value?

You can make the argument that Eto’o’s tempramental ways was good riddance for Barcelona (and hence we can discount his transfer value) but what about Ibra’s sulking ways and his poor reputation as a team player.

And while both strikers have been feared hitmen in their resppective leagues, Eto’o has proven to be the more reliable goal poacher on big match ocassions. That should accord some premium on the Cameroonian’s market worth.

That, we can actually debate who is better is the reason this transfer is such a shocker  – if the difference in value of two players is 46 million euros,  the possibility of the debate shouldn’t even exist. Normally you would assume that they are on a different plane altogether.

Its baffling because Barca found David Villa’s 50 million euro price tag too high. Even a 20 million booty for Eto’o could have reduced Barcelona’s net outlay for the Valenica striker to far less than the 46 they paid for the Swede.

The big winners in this transfer are Inter Milan and some praise is due for the usually much maligned Massimo Moratti.

He usually ends up on the wrong side of any transfers involving big-name players.

But this one makes him look like a genius.

What does it say for Barcelona if they can make you say that for the Inter chairman!!!

There are a lot of new countries which play the game but it looks unlikely that the game will really take off there.

The reasons for this not happening are manifold

There is little or no financial security for a player from one of the emerging countries. This is a huge deterrent and creates a multitude of other challenges. It stops people from taking to the game in a big way – The players are largely restricted to expatriates from the major cricket playing nations. Few native residents take to the sport and as a result there is a small pool of players available and the country cannot improve as a cricketing nation.

There are other issues for the lot who take to the sport braving the financial uncertainties. They need to play against better opposition on a regular basis to improve their game. They require exposure to top quality coaching and cricketing stratagem. For lack of all these, even the most talented cricketers from a lesser nation cannot realise his full potential.

As the sport isn’t very popular, the country lacks for funds and can barely develop any kind of infrastructure or run coaching and scouting programs for young players.

Other than international cricket, opportunities to play cricket exist in the IPL and the domestic leagues of England, Australia and South Africa but they are extremely limited. When a clutch of established players can go undrafted in the IPL, what chance does an unheralded player from a developing cricketing nation have?

Other than the task of growing the game in the developing nations, the ICC also needs to arrest the slide that the game is facing in countries like Zimbabwe and the West Indies. These countries are also suffering from lack of sufficient funds

Many these problems could be addressed, atleast in large part, if there were a few more professional leagues on the lines of the IPL.

Before we explain how, we first need to confirm if cricket can accommodate more such leagues.

In terms of availability of players there shouldn’t be a problem. There are enough international players without IPL affiliations to support atleast a couple of more leagues. Then there are the first class players from other cricket playing nations. And finally there are the players from the lesser cricketing nations – atleast a few of them will find a place if there were more leagues.

Finding sponsors is not a problem. And as far as markets are concerned, India itself can accommodate more than one league. The last IPL showed that even a country like South Africa can support a league like this. All in all there shouldn’t be a problem in having more than one league.

There could be questions about whether the new leagues would be as popular as the IPL. After all spectator interest is driven by marquee names and currently the IPL seems to have all of them. This issue will automatically get addressed by market economics and player preferences as it happens in the case of football. If there was a league based in Australasia, then a lot of players from the southern hemisphere could gravitate there. Team owners from different leagues could outbid each other for the big names.

A Champions League amongst teams from different leagues will also make more sense.

Scheduling shouldn’t be a problem. The ICC is anyways trying to set aside a window for the IPL. The other leagues could be held around the same time as it happens in football or even basketball.

Now to understand how it will help the ICC in promoting the game in the newer cricketing nations and rescuing it in the West Indies.

More leagues will mean more requirements for players. Today’s IPL teams have a choice of plenty when it comes to foreign players and are hard pressed to find good Indian ones. The good teams are slowly realizing the merits of scouting and player development. The proliferation of leagues will take this to the next level. Today an IPL team based in Rajasthan goes and scouts for talent in the states of Gujarat and M.P. Tomorrow they could be headed to Barbados and Western Australia and even Harare. There will opportunities for talented players from the lesser nations as well. Countries like Trinidad and Tobago and Wales are nothing in international football. We would have never heard of the likes of Dwight Yorke and Ryan Giggs if there was no premiership. We wouldn’t have heard of Hakeem Olajuwon if there was no NBA.

American baseball teams run full-fledged programs in the Central and South American nations. These programs help in identify and training future stars. Lots of European clubs do the same in Africa and South America. This way the clubs help build the infrastructure and run the youth programs – things which the poorly funded national association cannot do most of the time.

The Pittsburgh Pirates recently found two Indians with the physical tools to become top class pitchers. They took them to America and offered them professional contracts. They are currently playing in the minor leagues and are being top class training. If one of them could make it to the top then the Pirates would do more for the game of baseball in India then the Baseball Federation of Indian could have ever done. A team like the Delhi Daredevils could do the same thing in cricket for a less endowed cricketing nation.

The professional leagues will offer financial security to a talented player from a lesser nation. A player with potential will have all the motivation to actively pursue the game. Playing with the best in the business will help them realize their full potential. These players will learn a lot from playing in the leagues and that will help them when they play for their national sides. Other players from their countries will also benefit from the experience of these players. Some of them could learn enough from the experience to eventually become scouts and coaches – they will help in finding and grooming more talent. These guys could serve as great role models inspiring to induct a whole new generation into the sport.

Most of these benefits could apply to a country like the West Indies as well. The drying talent pool could be reinvigorated if more cricketers could make a good living playing abroad. Jamaica made it to the World Cup of Football, thanks to the bunch of players who play in the lesser leagues in England. Would these players have had the same appetite for the game if they had to do a day job to support their families and playing for the national team was the best they could do.

Would this reduce the importance of international cricket?

No, because International cricket would still serve as the best platform to display your talent to the clubs. Players with international experience will always be more sought and better paid. The ICC could do a few things to ensure that the sanctity and popularity of international cricket remains intact – Like defining some quotas for international players. They will also need to handle the scheduling of the international and league calendar in a manner that players don’t get burnt out and there is minimal conflict of interest.

In twenty -20, the ICC has discovered a format that they can market to the world. Creating more professional leagues will go a long way in making the game truly global.