Yuvraj in Tests: A Worthy Selection or Survivor's Sympathy?

Before people start badmouthing me after reading the title to this discussion, let me declare that I am a big Yuvi fan. Yuvraj Singh is one of those rare cricketers who exude passion and panache in a perfectly-blended concoction to win a fan's heart. However, there are some facts that need to be addressed albeit without reading too much into what might happen or what occurred in the recent past. For starters, in the T20 World Cup, Yuvi's lack of fitness was clearly visible. Yes, he was hitting the ball hard but the paunch and the missing dexterity on the field were also visible. His bowling was the only
saving grace. Even now, as the Indian domestic cricket season motors along, Yuvraj Singh is being talked about as a serious prospect of filling the number 6 slot because of his batting and bowling, i.e. bowling being an equally important consideration. It would be presumptuous to say that since Yuvraj Singh has scored a double century recently, he will put the English bowling to sword. Test matches are different from one dayers and no one knows it better than Yuvi himself who has often been found handicapped in playing the longer version of the game. Let us not give-in to the survivor's magnificence that is being associated with Yuvraj at the moment. Let us not become biased towards his selection because he has emerged a winner from a traumatic situation. To be fair, there are more deserving batsmen waiting eagerly to get their due. The question remains, will we select a batsmen based purely upon cricketing parameters or be lured by the survivor's sympathy that is too obvious to ignore. 

Praven Kumar: The Winter Solution?

Everybody who is following the Indian domestic cricket season and awaiting the forthcoming tours by England and Australia realizes that bowling remains the biggest issue for the Indian team. Firstly, their bowling lacks the pace that can put some sort of scare into batsmen who are becoming more immune to the cricket ball with the T20 vaccine. Secondly, the spinner's lobby too is woefully short of displaying anything pleasing. Considering this scenario and the fact that these two tours will be held towards the end of 2012 and the early part of 2013, the Indian cricket selectors might want to consider Praveen Kumar. Let me explain
what I am trying to say here: during this time of the year, there is going to be a bit of nip in the air and off the wicket no matter how much the groundsmen manipulate them according to the liking of MS Dhoni and those in favor of preparing spin-prejudiced bowling strips. If these weather conditions are factored-in, and Praveen Kumar's ability to swing the ball both ways and bowl well with the old ball analyzed, the selectors might find themselves sitting on a solution that they haven't even considered. Please let us be honest with ourselves. Ishant Sharma is not going to bounce-off the Aussies or Brits on these wickets. Zaheer is as injury-prone he was two seasons ago and Umesh Yadav is still raw, no matter how fast he bowls.

Pankaj Sing: The Perpetual Outsider?

He is tall, has got the built for being a fast bowler, packs-in sufficient experience having toiled on the dusty pitches of India and is consistent beyond doubt: the man I am talking about is Pankaj Singh. For some strange reason that is beyond any realm of reasoning, one of the best-performing fast bowlers from the Indian domestic circuit has never been given his due. To his credit, Pankaj Singh has always bowled consistently and that is his prime forte. He is not as fast as Mornie Morkel and cannot hurry the batsmen like Dale Steyn. However, he has the gumption and the discipline that is needed to trouble batsmen in one-dayers and Test matches. Inexplicably, the Indian selection committee have exhibited a shocking case of myopia when considering Pankaj Singh despite
the fact that the likes of Zaheer and Irfan have not been performing up-to-the-mark and Umesh Yadav is still learning the ropes. What India missed during their drubbing in England and Australia was the presence of one, medium-fast consistent bowler who could keep the batsmen on the backfoot without  doing something too heroic. With the English and Aussies arriving, I hope the selectors will wake-up and realize that Pankaj Singh is perhaps the answer to the bowler's conundrum that continues to haunt the national cricket team.

Metro Physics, Chapter 1: “Human Pendulums”

Balancing Precariously

I said it before and I will say it again, I am on my way to Nobel Prize greatness as I slowly unravel the Physics that drives the Delhi Metro. Today, I present to you a phenomenon that not even the most regular Delhi Metro riders must have noticed or bothered to think about. I call this the “Human Pendulum” or “Metro Oscillations”. This spectacle is witnessed only during the peak hours, i.e. when the Delhi Metro platforms are literally spilling over with people.

Changing Tracks: Hustling it like Bestylish.com

I realize that this blog was supposed to be Metro centric but I just could not resist the temptation to share with you guys how bestylish.com is currently using and hustling online shoppers like me on 15 August 2012. For starters, they launched an aggressive email campaign, claiming to offer nearly 80% discount. Further, this section actually had a pretty decent collection. However, as soon as I started choosing, combining and checking-out after spending about 30 mins, the site repeatedly started stating

She Ain’t No Blonde or Princess, She’s Just Rajouri!

This is my first of submissions that will focus upon the Metro typecasts I have come across. I have a slightly cynical outlook and thus, I am going to begin with a typical kind of Delhi Metro passenger that needs a serious reality check—I call “it” the “Rajouri Types” and this is particularly applicable to the women who board the metro from the Rajouri Garden Metro Station and the nearby areas. You must be wondering what could be so despicable about such ladies. Well, there is nothing wrong with them except for the fact they are highly prone to thinking that they belong to an elite class that should be treated superiorly within the Delhi Metro!!

Decoding the Phenomenon: Metro Sleep

I guess this discovery should get me nominated into the league of folks who have contributed significantly to deciphering the human behavior or more precisely the human sleep patterns. At a time, when most leading magazines too have run out of ideas and cannot write anything new about sleep, sleeping habits, sleeping problems, etc. I have unearthed a new kind of sleep! Yes, this might surprise you but keeping my observant senses in the switch-on mode has finally yielded results. I have titled my discovery as the “Metro Sleep”. This kind of sleep is

The ‘Monsoon Warrior’: If You Use It, Don’t Abuse It

Few nations in the world can boast of a weather phenomenon so influential that it can topple governments and impact nearly every aspect of human life by its erratic ways—I am talking about the Monsoons in India. The Monsoons are so mighty that they can drown the entire Mumbai metropolis within a few hours or decide how much we would need to spend for our daily bread through the year. However, there is one warrior among us, made of steel and absolute grit that doesn’t succumb to the Moody Monsoons. This is the Delhi Metro. Today was a pleasant day when the Monsoons, so far conspicuous by their absence, arrived and threw the capital city out of its comfort zone. To make matters worse,

Don’t Hang on for Your Life—Just Spread it like an Orangutan

You must be thinking I am asking you to do some yoga posture that requires you to really stretch yourself. Naah!! You couldn’t be more wrong. This is more of a handy tip to make yourself more comfortable when aboard the Delhi Metro.I have noticed that most Metro commuters really struggle to balance themselves. The smallest of jerks seems to throw them off their balance. I too faced something similar during my early days in the Delhi Metro. Every time, I didn’t have a firm grip on the support rods or the hanger-like danglers, I would fall upon a fellow passenger who would either frown with utter disgust or just smile, i.e. in the case of men. The few instances wherein I brushed against a lady, the expressions ranged from an “UFF” that would have done the Princess of Arabia proud to a lethal stare which suggested I had some seriously ulterior motives. At one point, I was seriously contemplating some exercises that could help to improve body balance with the goal of getting better stance during the Metro traveling hours.

Source: https://allabout-japan.com/en/article/2249/

Moving ahead, if you are serious about balancing yourself on the Metro, even without holding on to something—“just spread your legs” to the maximum. I realize this phrase has a somewhat twisted meaning for women, so am going to limit myself to guys only. I have a biggish frame and I am more than 6” tall. To get my balance right, I spread my legs beyond my shoulder width. The further you can spread, more immune you make yourself against being thrown ahead or backwards, every time the Metro jerks.I really don’t understand the Physics behind my tip but it does seem to work rather well.

Even if you find the Metro crowded, just ensure you slip your foot between that of others, twisting and turning it like a snake, unless you feel that stretching any further could compromise the health of your groin or your manhood. It is not just Delhi and isn't just me who faces the issue. Ask daily commuters in Japan, being served by an astronomically better public tube system, and you will realize how finding space in the most crowded trains is actually an acquired art - it does not come easy. You need to practice the trade. There are some very handy tips shared by Andrew Griffiths in this 2015 blog in the hyperlink that preceded this sentence - click and read about them if you are going to be Metro-traveling regularly.

There is a bit of Physics and Body Science involved here and people with rock climbing credentials might be more likely to get a better grip than you, and also fall over less often. From the one-finger hold to the shoulder-press gate phase, from tip-toeing like the late MJ to letting yourself being taken along in the river of humanity, there are so many tricks to travel better in crowded trains that you cannot read about and imbibe - you have to pay the dues, suffer and get better at this!

The Great Leveler, Humbled by the Metro & Work-life

I don’t ride the high horse of belonging to a niche section of the society that cannot bear a single drop of sweat on their mighty foreheads However, my childhood unfolded in a manner that could be best described as ‘arrested development’ despite growing a typically middle-class environment. As a result, many hesitations about people, places, and being in the outdoors got imprinted on my psyche. I am no Different—though I hold the bare minimum of typecasts that overwhelm many of us, some have passively filtered into my mind and corroded its judgment. Like any other true Delhi resident, I too often bitch about the fact that how the out-of-stationers are overcrowding our city or how our tax money is being used for creating facilities that we seldom use ourselves. However, this discussion is more about how public transit systems can instill some humility in you and how being humble can help you live perhaps a better life...