Dravid rested…

Finally, Rahul Dravid is “rested” in One-day international Cricket for the second time in his life. It is only about 2-3 weeks ago that I had discussed with Nikhil Joshi, and we had concurred that if there is one person who can be sure of his place in the team, it is Rahul Dravid. But, the Indian think tank thinks otherwise. 5 successive failures have put him out of the team.

I still think he is the only one who should be sure of his place. 5 failures is not enough to drop him.

If this is really the case of him being “rested” because he asked for a time out, then I am fine with it. Being the gentleman that he is known to be, he might as well has asked for it!

Else, this is unfair!

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In Comparison…

Rediff has this post celebrating Tendulkar’s 400th One day international. The post presents one of the interesting ways that people use when they try to show that someone excels in comparison to another.

Here is what it says (edited a bit…):

When he turns out against the Australians in the fifth ODI, Tendulkar will become only the second player after Sri Lanka’s Sanath Jayasuriya to reach the landmark. …. Tendulkar is the most prolific one-day batsman in the history of the game with 15,563 runs in his 399 ODIs to date.

He has a world record of 41 centuries in the LOI format at an average of 44.21. He has been also useful with the ball, taking 152 wickets at an average of 44.

In comparison, Jayasuriya has 12,178 runs in 401 ODIs at an average of 32.73 with 25 hundreds.

The article never talks of Jayasuriya’s utility with the ball; the fact that he has taken 307 wickets at an average of 36.31. In comparison, Tendulkar has (as you might have read earlier) taken 152 wickets at an average of 44.

I do not want to say that one is better than the other; however, Tendulkar’s feats do not require one to belittle someone else (especially in such a partial manner!)

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Moderation

I got a question, “What does it mean that my comment is awaiting moderation?” Well, due to the HUGE number of requests (in some cases orders) to determine caste from a certain last name, I decided to moderate the comments.

It was not just the request, but persistent follow-up after I deleted those comments.. in one case, I got a question that said something like, ”why do you delete my comment? Is this something against a certain caste?”

Clearly, moderation is the more difficult way around to resolve the problem. The easier is to just delete those comments; however, by “moderation” I clearly indicate that I decide what comments are accepted on the blog. So, I will stick to this, at least for some time.

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Cricket and Visa

Peter Chingoka, chairman of Zimbabwe Cricket, has been refused visa to enter the UK. It seems his ties with Robert Mugabe is one the reasons. However, he was given a visa last time. Here is what the article at cricinfo says:

In June, the British embassy in Harare recommended that Chingoka be refused a visa to attend the annual ICC get together in London as he was alleged to have close links with Robert Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF party. This block was endorsed by the FCO. However, Richard Caborn, at the time the sports minister, overruled the ban as he felt such a move might have jeopardised the appointment of ECB chief David Morgan as ICC president-elect.

Great! Now, visas are given so that the president of the cricket board can be elected. And, once he is elected …

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You Are Not My Friend…

With reference to my previous post on Orkut testimonials or maybe, the post on scrap vs emails, my non-social-network-friend, Nikhil Joshi sent me a link to the article, entitled “You Are Not My Friend” at time.com

It is worth a read; just small snippets out here:

You message me and comment about me and write on my walls and dedicate songs to me and invite me to join groups. More than once you have taken it upon yourself to poke me…. This is hard to say to a friend, but our relationship is starting to take up too much of my time… But really, these sites aren’t about connecting and reconnecting. They’re a platform for self-branding…

Go on! please read it!

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