Audience Episode 1 : Fevicol and the WT20 semi final 2014

So yesterday, I had a ball watching  India clinically oust South Africa and clinch a place in yet another world event final. Not only did I enjoy the Indian victory, but more so the humorous circumstances that I found myself watching it in. And before I outline what transpired, it struck me that we all must have our own audience episodes; stories surrounding memorable matches we have witnessed, and they would make an interesting series of blog posts. So here's the first of hopefully many more such stories. Do post your own in the comments.

After spending the afternoon at a friend's place watching a one sided women's semifinal, I decided to step out and visit the spiritual center I frequently frequent before the men's semi started. I knew I wouldn't be able to watch the second innings, as I was slated to meet my mother and brother later in the evening. So I was keen to get back soon and get cozy in front of the tv before my loving (but cricket indifferent) kin gave me a call. It so happened that I stayed in the center a tad longer than I planned, and by the time I left, play had already been called, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar had picked up a wicket in his first over, and my mind was already on my spot on the floor of my friends house in front of her tv. But since I had to meet my folks in an hour or so, travelling to and fro would waste precious overs! It was then that I spotted a tv set (actually five of them) staring at me through the glass of an electronics shop in a mall on my right.

So I took my place on the footpath among the small crowd that had already gathered there and watched a couple of overs. But being the only woman in that crowd which was starting to get agitated (Hashim Amla was on song), I thought why not just go inside the electronics store and enjoy a better view,and some free air conditioning.

Window shopping is always a pleasurable endeavour, and pretending to window shop while watching Ashwin bowl is even better. The delivery he produced to castle Amla was really something else, and my spontaneous reaction to that ball is probably what alerted a shop attendant of my real motives!

Thereafter, said shop attendant stuck to me like she was auditioning for a Fevicol commercial!  Her proximity could have given assisted shopping a bad name!

"What in particular were you looking for ma'am?"

"Umm, just some flute music..", I replied sheepishly, desperately clutching on to whatever was in the cd rack opposite me.

Purely to get her off my back,  I even turned away from the telly for a whole over and pretended to be mentally debating which cd was musically superior, Hari Prasad Chaurasia or some Indo-western dude I've never heard of( not like I know a lot about Hari Prasad Chaurasia; I had to wiki him to make sure he's a flute player, or my musical genius of a brother would never let me hear the end of it.)

But Fevicol wasnt fooled. As I drifted from flute cds to old hindi films, she promptly walked to the counter, furtively picked up the remote, and blanked the tv screens! A collective groan wafted through the glass windows, as the not-so-small-any-more crowd standing on the footpath were deprived of their sustenance. Before they realised I was the cause of their misery, I hurriedly bought myself a pair of headphones, the tv came back on, and sanity prevailed again. (That is until Amit Mishra started bowling; heaven knows what he ate for lunch! )

Then I decided to push my luck. As I was discussing the six month warranty my new headphones came with, I asked the shop owner if I could now hang around and watch the match.  Sure, he says, himself more interested in the game than the customers.  So, after flashing Fevicol a wicked imaginary smile, I enjoyed the free air conditioning for the rest of the South African innings undisturbed.  Eventually I started chatting cricket with the owner, who turned out to be a sweet fellow, and when he found out I had played internationally myself, he ordered me a cup of tea.:)

(Fevicol, if you're reading this,  please note : that's how you treat a cricket fan. Don't worry, I wont stick to my grudge against you; all's well that ends well.)

PS : Although family commitments meant I couldn't watch India bat (criminal, I know), the evening did involve me sneaking away from maternal clutches for a while and landing up in a sports shop in front of their resident tv. That was until my mother showed up to fetch me. Vile of her, pulling a small child out of a candy store like that!

(Incidentally, no one in the sports shop was surprised when I told them I just dropped in to watch the match. I love this country.)

Sky and Seam : The Dreams of Shikha Pandey

It was Holly Colvin's shock announcement that she would take an indefinite break from women's cricket to pursue other career options that inspired this post. As I was reading it, one name kept reverberating in the recesses of my not so distant memory. That name was Shikha Pandey. Or as she goes nowadays, Flying Officer Shikha Pandey.

Shikha Pandey in action in a domestic match

This is not an attempt at creating India's own Holly Colvin story, although the competitive nature of the game in our country and the secondary role traditionally assigned to women in our society will ensure that we have plenty of those. Shikha's story has its own stand-alone qualities. "Dream on, little dreamer", is what her whats app status said some time back. But what does one do when ones heart and mind is big enough for not one compelling, all-consuming dream, but two?

 Shikha, like Holly, had a strong educational background. While Holly studied natural sciences, Shikha is an engineer. That itself makes her a rare breed in the Indian women's cricket fraternity, and I dare say Indian sports in general. Few have successfully balanced the dual commitments of sports and academics, particularly in India's university culture which is unashamedly in favour of the latter (Anjum Chopra and Anil Kumble are a couple of cricketers who come to mind). But the parallels between Shikha and Holly stop there. While Holly represented England at the record breaking age of 15, and was the cornerstone of their spin bowling department for eight years, Shikha, now aged 24, is yet to represent her country. But that could soon change.

 I digress. Shikha's story lies not in her numerous and commendable accomplishments in the classroom or even on the field, but in the ambitious and limitless scale of her dreams. This young girl, who dreams of wearing the India cap someday, first dreamed that she could fly. Before she wanted to bowl her inswingers for India, she wanted to be a pilot.

Shikha was always fascinated by the thought of the Air Force. The idea of flying fails to inspire no one, and for her, serving ones country was the icing on the cake. The fact that her father teaches Hindi in a Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central School) in Goa, which by and large caters to children of servicemen, on a naval campus no less, could have a lot to do with her patriotic bend of mind. So the little dreamer in her started dreaming, and mapping her life out towards that dream. Engineering was her choice of route, and she was well on her way to getting there, when the audacious happened. She dreamt again. In a cricket mad country like India, thanks to the endless conversations that her father would have with her about the then Indian team, Shikha Pandey dreamt of serving her country by playing cricket.

Shikha only started playing cricket under the BCCI umbrella in the second year of her four year degree. Before that her cricketing encounters had been confined to matches with the boys in the noisy, congested gullies outside her home and on the idyllic, sandy beaches of Goa. When eventually introduced to the Goa Cricket Association, she took to the leather ball game like a fish to water. She quickly established herself as a big contributor in the otherwise small world of Goa Women's Cricket, and a love for the game had been imprinted on her soul (for further proof, see her blog). Her exploits with ball and bat saw her regularly included in South Zone sides and she soon made her first appearance in the Challenger Trophy. 

Things were looking up, and Shikha realised that she had a credible and time bound opportunity to represent the country. Credible, because her potential as a future India prospect had been established, and time bound, because she knew she couldn't play cricket forever. So, after completing her degree, she took the difficult decision of putting her dreams of flying on hold for a year, and threw in her lot with cricket.

 It looked to be the best call of her life. After a good domestic season with Goa, she was rewarded with an inclusion in the top 20 players shortlisted for a home series against the visiting West Indes women. She also played against them, representing India ‘A’. She was just one step away from wearing that coveted India cap.

 In the long off season that followed, she spent her days studying for her Air Force entrance exams, and her nights dreaming of what the future may hold in store. A tour to England was scheduled in the coming months, and her engineering bred logic told her that they would need an extra pace bowler, especially one who could swing the ball. So she waited, and she hoped. So all-consuming was her ambition, that she considered putting all other plans, including her Air force exams, on immediate hold if she was needed in England.

But the uncertainty of sports is supreme. She did not find herself on the plane to England, and the year she had given herself had not yielded the kind of returns that she had hoped for. Fate had told her that her time had not yet come, and perhaps she had deluded herself by dreaming these two compelling yet conflicting dreams. So, she did a Colvin, and hit her books with a determined mind and a heavy heart, knowing that a demanding Air Force career meant she may never be able to play cricket again. 

She did crack the entrance exams, and although she could not pursue her ambition of becoming a pilot, was drafted into the demanding and technical role of air traffic controller. This was a conscious decision, for after completing a yearlong training programme designed to reinvent cadets into officers, she could have chosen a comfortable administrative role on the ground. This would even have given her some breathing space to play cricket again. But she wasn't the types to take the easy way out. She wanted to be in the thick of things, even if that meant a posting in a busy fighter base in north India; farther from home, with more workload, night shifts, and an almost foreign climate (for someone used to the sun and sand of Goa). But she chose the road less traveled, her choice synonymous with her favourite Frost poem. And so it was, that with her family watching, she was re-christened; and in a way reborn, as Flying Officer Shikha Pandey.

And she wasn't finished yet.

There are bookworms, and there are cricket worms, the latter being the more stubborn of the species. Shikha never gave up on her dream of playing for India, and her kit bag was a queer and conspicuous companion whenever she traveled. Queer, for you rarely see them around Air Force bases, and conspicuous because, well anyone who has seen a cricket kit bag knows what I’m talking about. With the cooperation of the Services Sports Control Board, and guidance from senior officers and other Services sportspeople, she managed enough leaves to play the domestic season. In her first season back after joining the Air Force, her time away from the game was painfully visible. Her second, however, showcased a player posing difficult questions to the selectors.

In the first game of the season in the new Elite-Plate format, Shikha scalped five wickets against a hapless Haryana. And in the T20 leg, she shone with both bat and ball to help Goa qualify for the Plate group knock outs. All season long, her performances had impressed both the selectors and her superiors, and when the former picked her in the probables for the World T20 in Bangladesh, she was felicitated by the Chief of Air Staff on Republic Day, the only lady officer to receive that honour. 

The end of the recent domestic season meant back to work for Shikha; a return to the fast paced and exciting world of night flying and sorties. But she could not get her mind off the upcoming World T20. She yearned to know what cards fate would deal her this time, seeking clarity and perhaps closure. When the call did come, she was thankfully off duty, and didn't have to return to her post. She had been included in the Indian women’s cricket team for a bilateral series against Bangladesh, followed by the World T20 there (Team List here courtesy of Sportskeeda). Her fellow officers shared in her joy as they saw her off, and her parents beamed as she met them in Goa, where she would prepare to help try and reverse India's fortunes in women's cricket. 

This post represents a hope that girls all over the world will learn that like Shikha, and also dual international Ellyse Perry, we needn't bury one dream to chase another. We needn't neglect academics to play sports. And we need not be afraid; the real world is a scary place, but its big enough for all our dreams.

 P.S. : At the time of publishing this post, Shikha has played all three T20 matches against Bangladesh and is now looking ahead to the World T20. 

With her debut, she became the first Goa Cricket Association cricketer, male or female, to represent the country.  It also makes her the first Services employee to play for India, although she has not represented the Services in domestic cricket as they do not field a women's team. Here's hoping her selection will change that. 

Shikha being felicitated by the Goa Cricket Assn.

11 yards down : Womens One Day season review

As I get down to writing this post (finally! ), the women's cricket season is at the half way mark, with the one day matches all concluded. Here's a very quick run down of the highlights!

The season began with a mixture of optimism and cynicism about the new format (see my last post). I for one, am not going to complain. Yes, my team played one match less than we did last year, but we played all our matches against more competitive teams than last year, so quality wins over quantity. The system works well for a team that finishes in the top two of a pool, which isn't a given anymore, as opposed to last season. The competition can only be good for women's cricket. The introduction of Kukaburra balls gave the pace bowlers more teeth (*wide wicked grin), and rarely did a couple of wickets not fall in the first 10 overs.

I liked the fact that the top four teams in the Elite group play another round robin league stage (The Super League), but would love for the the winner to be decided by a final rather than points. Not nice to have an annoying thing like net run rate deciding who wins, a final would be a lot cleaner.

Railways came out on top in the Elite division, remaining undefeated, mostly thanks to the efforts of their bowlers. Ekta Bisht (27 wickets), Shubhlaxmi Sharma (18) and Gouher Sultana (28) were the wreckers in chief. Southpaw Shweta Jadhav notched up the only century in the elite division in the league phase, while Anuja Patil and yours truly  picked up five-fors. Uttar Pradesh took the second spot after a three way tie was resolved by NRR.

The Plate division did not have the luxury of round robin matches. The top six teams played each other in knock outs, with two teams getting byes in their quarter finals. Bengal finished winners, leading an East zone 1-2, with Odhisa second.

The inter zonals were held at Baroda, where spinners wreaked havoc on the red soil pitches. Low scoring games, early wickets and late surges were a common feature of all the encounters. Central zone defended their title, winning all their round robin matches. North zone, on the back of some brilliant bowling by left arm spinner Priti Bose, clinched second spot.

Ranchi hosted the Challenger Trophy, marking the first major women's tournament to be held at that ground. This tournament ;which used to be a collection of the 45 best cricketers in the country split into three teams; changed its format last year with an U-19 team replacing India Green (my thoughts on that later). In the final, India Blue chased down India Red's total of 183 easily to win the trophy. The stand out of the tournament though, was India U-19 captain Smriti Mandhana, who roared back into form after an indifferent senior season. Her 91 and 96* guided valiant chases, although both innings ended in losing causes. But they did quash any doubts about her ability to score big at the senior level.

Ring out the old, ring in the new : Women's Domestic Season Preview

Tamil Nadu will miss the services of Niranjana, who will turn out for Indian railways this season.

Change is the flavour of the year it seems, with the BCCI introducing sweeping changes in the women's domestic format. Their decision to conduct all matches with white ball and in coloured kit has drawn wide cheers, and is a step in the right direction, since India do not play tests at the international level. While there is a lot of excitement around this move ('Which colour is your team wearing?'; 'Did they spell my name right on my shirt?'; 'I wanted jersey number eight!') some serious questions are still unanswered. Like why the BCCI has still not adopted the most recent international playing conditions in women's domestic matches? (Still only one new ball, still 5 fielders allowed outside the ring in the middle overs.) Likewise, the new domestic structure has left many disappointed, with the overall number of matches being reduced. It remains to be seen as to whether this new design reaps different results, so judgement shall be reserved (audible sigh of relief from the board :-P).

So this year the regional zone wise matches have been scrapped, with all teams in the national mix, at different levels. The top 10 teams will comprise the Elite division, which is split into pools A and B, and the bottom 15 will make up the Plate division, with three pools A,B,and C. Each division will have separate semi-finals and finals,based on league stage performances. One-dayers will be played in December, followed by the T20s in January. Add only the inter zonal tournament and the Challenger trophy, and we get a much shorter domestic season. The show will wrap up by the end of January, leaving the Women in Blue enough time to prepare for the T20 World Cup in March. Unconfirmed rumours that the T20 leg of the season will be postponed point to the possibility of an international series before the World Cup ( if there were just whispers before, there will be rumours now B-)).

Change is also the buzzword as far as team composition goes. Defending champs Indian Railways have called up new players and will field a young but strong squad, including N. Niranjana and wicketkeeper Anagha Deshpande. The trend of players switching states has grown even stronger this year. Veteran Amita Sharma will be turning out for Assam,and Rajasthan have roped in Jaya Sharma and Rumeli Dhar, both coming back from injury. Maharashtra too have a new look squad and opener Smriti Mandhana will be the cynosure after scoring an unprecedented 1,057 runs in 14 matches of U19 cricket, with four centuries and one double hundred. She also lead Maharashtra U19 to the finals, sharing the honours with Assam, that match ending in a thrilling tie. Maharashtra will be hoping she can repeat her almost Herculean success at the senior level too. Last year's one day runner-up Uttar Pradesh and T20 runner-up Hyderabad will also look to mount strong challenges in the Elite division.

The battle in the Plate division will be keenly fought, with many teams getting their first taste of national exposure. With no clear favorites, all the teams have everything to play for.

White ball cricket tends to throw up more than a few surprises, so this season will be one to watch out for. Besides the players, this new structure is also being tested. It's not all good news, but some of it isn't bad at all.

Let's play (white) ball.

Stats courtesy Sudhir Aly @ Cricket Archive

Women's cricket Inter Railway : Knock out phase overview

The semi final line up of the women's cricket inter railway pitted hosts Western Railway (WR)  against North Central Railway (NCR) and South Central Railway (SCR) against Southern Railway (SR). Both encounters turned out to be low scoring, one sided affairs.

WR bowlers made life tough for the NCR batters, finally restricting them to  a painstaking 90 in 50 overs. WR opener Punam Raut stayed unbeaten to guide her team home.

Southern fared little better, being dismissed for 125. South Central made short work of that total, opener M. Shalini scoring a half century. The win set up a mouthwatering clash between holders WR and challengers SCR in the final.

Before that though, NCR and SR locked horns for third place, in a rematch of their tied league encounter. The first half proved to be an balanced contest between bat and ball, with NCR opener Chitra  Singh scoring an impressive 70 , and SR spinners Anusha and Salma picking up three wickets each. NCR finally managed 164  in their 50 overs, which proved to be enough. SR struggled to get partnerships going as the spin trio of Poonam Yadav (4 wickets), Neetu David (3 wickets) and Ekta Bisht (2 wickets) did the damage. SR were eventually bowled out for 109, handing NCR the third place honours.

Finals day dawned with SCR fielding only one pace bowler in their starting XI, Gouher Sultana coming back into the team. On a pitch that would likely take spin, WR captain Reema Malhotra had no hesitation in electing to bat. Her openers provided a sluggish but steady start, until Anagha Deshpande dragged a cut shot onto her stumps. After that, wickets falling against the run of play seemed to be the order of the day, as most WR batters got in, got set, and then got out. When Punam Raut and Veda Krishnamurthy fell in quick succession in the batting power play, WR seemed to be struggling. But Reema Malhotra (29) stuck around to give her bowlers something to defend, WR finally scoring 184.

SCR's reply began in dramatic fashion with opener Rewati being dropped at gully off seamer Snehal Pradhan's first delivery. The batter got another reprieve in the third over and seemed to be living a charmed life, as she and her partner Shalini scored steadily. Spin made its appearance as early as the ninth over, and the breakthrough came when offie Lalita Sharma had Rewati caught at slip, bringing Mithali Raj to the crease. The SCR skipper batted freely and built two solid partnerships, first with Shalini and then with Shravanti Naidu, which took SCR to within striking distance of the WR total. However, good fielding accounted for both her partners, Shalini out to a stunning catch by Pradhan, and Shravanti run out by a diving Krishnamurthy. A re-energised WR tightened the screws, and Sharma and left arm spinner Priti Dimri bowled some miserly overs. With the run rate climbing above five an over, Raj started running out of partners, as WR claimed  three more middle order wickets. Shortly after getting her half century, Raj holed out at long off off the bowling of Dimri, virtually sealing the game. SCR finally fell 10 runs short, handing a relieved WR their fourth straight championship.

Women's cricket inter railways : League stage overview

The league stages of the women's cricket inter railway tournament did throw up a few surprises, with last year's runner-up Northern Railway (NR) being eliminated, losing two of their three games. The squad, strengthened this year by the return of Rumeli Dhar and Jaya Sharma, would have expected a better showing but were beaten  by Eastern Railway (ER) and Southern Railway (SR). They managed a consolation win against North Central Railway (NCR) though. Neha Tanwar (74*) and Amita Sharma (65*)batted out of their skins to rescue their side from a shaky  30 for 5,  to eventually chase NCR's total of 193.

The league match between SR and NCR also provided ample excitement. After bowling NCR out for , Southern crumbled under the pressure of some accurate spin bowling and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. With things looking bleak, Salma Banu, coming in at number nine, looked to be steering her side to an unlikely win with a calm 20*. With one to win off  five balls and one wicket in hand, her partner spooned a simple catch to square leg and handed NCR a tie.

The tie meant Eastern Railway had an outside chance of qualifying for the semi finals. Despite good performances by seamer Shubhlaxmi Sharma (six wickets in three matches) and Priyanka Roy (one half century), they were eventually pushed out on net run rate. NCR and SR  qualified for the knockout rounds, with SR topping the group.

In the other pool, holders and hosts Western Railway (WR) dominated both their encounters. They stumbled in their batting against an inexperienced Central Railway (CR) team, courtesy CR captain Nidhi Buley's four wicket haul, but their bowling attack never let the CR batters get going. They eventually won by 76 runs. Against a South Central (SCR) team that rested Mithali Raj and Gouher Sultana, WR seamers Snehal Pradhan and Kavita Patil delivered telling blows on a wicket that offered some assistance, snaring the top four batters in their opening spells. They reaped the benefits of bowling within the stumps; all four wickets were either bowled or LBW. SCR folded for 120 allowing WR an easy win.

WR will now host NCR while SCR take on SR in the semi finals.

The Other Domestic Title : Women's Cricket Inter Railways Preview

The women's domestic cricket season is about to begin, but as a precursor, an equally high quality tournament will commence in Mumbai. 7 women's teams will vie for the coveted Inter-Railway trophy, a prize that for some is as big as winning the domestic title in itself.

The women's cricket inter railways have never been short on quality. Just to give you an idea, out of the 15 women who represented India in the recent Women's World Cup in March 2013, 10, including the captain, are employed by the Railways. Even a look at the most recent India camp tells the same story: 15 out of the 25 girls draw their salaries from the Railways.

The Indian Railways has emerged as almost the sole employer for talented women cricketers since the BCCI took over women's cricket in 2006. Previous to this, Air India was the other company that employed women cricketers, although largely on yearly contracts. Bowling spearhead Jhulan Goswami is one of the few who the airline offered permanent jobs. But post 2006, when Air India no longer found a place in the BCCI's yearly domestic tournaments, the team disbanded. This meant that most young talents, whose skills were good enough to earn jobs, were absorbed by the Railways. Which also gives the Indian Railways a deep and diverse talent pool to pick from, making the Indian Railways team the team to beat on the domestic circuit. Indeed, post 2006, the Railways team has lost only one final, winning all other titles across all formats, every year till date.

Which brings us back to the this year's edition of this battle for pride and glory among 7 of India's many Railway zones. The hosts Western Railway will start as favourites, having won the last three consecutive editions. With young, high quality batters like Punam Raut and Veda Krishnamurthy and  veteran Sunetra Paranjape in the ranks, they will look to cash in on any loose bowling. Despite strength and depth in both departments, the Reema Malhotra led side will need to use the home ground advantage to the fullest to stave off likely challengers Northern and South-Central Railway. South-Central, led by Indian skipper Mithali Raj, boast a strong batting line up and a bowling attack comprising 3 talented left-arm spinners, including Indian team regular Gouher Sultana. Northern will rely on veteran Amita Sharma, whose shrewd captaincy is to be looked out for.  Southern railway, who finished an unexpected third last season,will look to continue their upward graph.

 Even without the ever present chance of an upset, the inter railways provide many reasons for cricket aficionados to tune in to the scores,even in the week when Mumbai will bid farewell to it's favourite son. New stars often rise over the same horizon into which a glorious sun sets.