From the Editor
New Facebook functionality for ESPNcricinfo
Now, if you've already liked a certain individual on ESPNcricinfo.com, you'll receive any related stories which are published on the site - straight to your Facebook wall. It includes a summary of the story and a link
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
Some news on a new addition to the site from Will Luke, who defected from the editorial team to become our social media manager, and is rather enjoying himself:
We implemented the now-ubiquitous "thumbs up" like button from Facebook at their F8 launch earlier this year and it's been tremendously successful, with thousands of you liking and recommending stories, players, countries, teams and series each day. This was good, but we felt there was a lot of scope for improvement and an opportunity to offer personalisation.
If you actively decide that you like a particular player, or your favourite team, then we feel that's a strong enough indication to us that you're interested in hearing more about that person or country. So now, if you've already liked a certain individual on ESPNcricinfo.com, you'll receive any related stories which are published on the site - straight to your Facebook wall. It includes a summary of the story and a link, so you can go straight to it or share it with your friends.
Spirit now and spirit then
For those still mulling over the spirit of the cricket and the severity of Suraj Randiv's crime in denying Virender Sehwag a hundred, here's a little story narrated with glee by Bishen Singh Bedi during his memorial lecture for the late Dilip
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
For those still mulling over the spirit of the cricket and the severity of Suraj Randiv's crime in denying Virender Sehwag a hundred, here's a little story narrated with glee by Bishen Singh Bedi during his memorial lecture for the late Dilip Sardesai in Mumbai.
Neither Bedi nor Sardesai quite distinguished themselves as athletes and the only person more terrified than Sardesai when a catch went up in air anywhere near him was the bowler. Sardesai usually lounged about in the mid-on area, and on Australian grounds this could often be a real ordeal because the ball took that longer to reach the boundary and the chase had to be maintained. The straight boundaries at Adelaide were the worst. They are still the longest, but these days the rope is a few metres in. Those days, you had to chase the ball right down the picket fences.
Once after an Australian batsman had driven the ball past mid-on, Sardesai pursued the ball for such an eternity that the batsmen had time to turn for the fifth run. And then, with a flourish and agility his team-mates had never suspected of him, he dived forward to push the ball to the fence to restrict the batsmen to four.
The story raised the biggest laugh that evening.
Full postOut of proportion
I wonder if I am desperately out of sync with this but I am quite bemused by the colour Suraj Randiv's century-denying no-ball to Virender Sehwag has acquired
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
I wonder if I am desperately out of sync with this but I am quite bemused by the colour Suraj Randiv's century-denying no-ball to Virender Sehwag has acquired. Having been persuaded out for dinner with the family, I missed the last half hour of the match and caught Sehwag's six on a shop window around which a crowd had gathered. The crowd rejoiced as Sehwag raised his bat and I walked on.
It was only after logging on at home that I realised Sehwag had been stranded on 99. When I watched the replay it felt schoolboyishly petty. The overstepping looked deliberate and, coming after the four byes conceded three balls previously, it seemed the Sri Lankans had a design to deny Sehwag a well-earned hundred. Overall, it felt mean-spirited. It was immediately apparent that there would be a few headlines about it next day.
But even making allowances for the media's ability to exaggerate, there's a touch of ridiculousness about the way the matter has played out. The forthright manner in which Sehwag expressed his disappointment was characteristic of him; you expected him to move on quickly. And when it turned out that Randiv had come over to say sorry, the matter should have ended there.
Full postA new look for Cricinfo blogs
Not only does the blogs section now look better integrated with the rest of the site, we also believe it is more reader-friendly
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
You are reading this on a page different from the one you're used to seeing for a Cricinfo blog.
I must admit it took us longer to get here - the blogs section was feeling, in a visual sense, more and more disconnected with the other parts of the site - than we bargained for, but it's been a busy few months for the design and production teams. Since the redesign of Cricinfo, they have relaunched a Formula One site and delivered a World Cup one for Soccernet, while continuing to polish Cricinfo.
The real purpose of a redesign, of course, goes beyond the cosmetic. Not only does the blogs section now look better integrated with the rest of the site, we also believe it is more reader-friendly. The page headers are cleaner and sharper, the text-display panel wider, and the type better spaced. The navigation has been shortened to make it look less cluttered, and all blogs are available via a couple of dropdown menus and on the page footer.
Full postFootball, the occasional mistress
Cricket is an enduring romance for me, but once every four years, when the World Cup comes around, I submit to the illicit pleasures of football
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
Cricket is an enduring romance for me, but once every four years, when the World Cup comes around, I submit to the illicit pleasures of football.
Club football has rarely held any appeal for me; I might occasionally catch a game with the kids and be touched by a burst of individual brilliance, but I can't get myself to feel anything for a club, just as I can't, despite trying, feel any kinship towards the IPL teams. Mumbai is my home, but I couldn't bring myself to feel a trace of pain when Mumbai Indians were losing to Chennai Super Kings in the IPL final. I root for them in the Ranji Trophy, but must I care for a team brought together by Mukesh Ambani's money?
Of course, being a sports fan is about appreciating the skills of the players and the thrill of a contest. But even more than that, it's about being able or unable to relate to something. I relate to Roger Federer, as I did to John McEnroe. I relate to Lionel Messi, too, but through him I find it impossible to relate to Barcelona the way I would with Argentina.
Full postTendulkar breaks Cricinfo records
Sachin Tendulkar's record-breaking didn't stop on the field on February 24. He shattered many on Cricinfo. We recorded 45 million page views that day, and our highest number of unique users in India and the United States
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
Sachin Tendulkar's record-breaking didn't stop on the field on February 24. He shattered many on Cricinfo. We recorded 45 million page views that day, and our highest number of unique users in India and the United States. The match report for the Gwalior ODI became Cricinfo's single most read piece of content.
It has always been so. If evidence was ever needed to confirm Tendulkar's status as the world's most-adored cricketer, it can be found in our logs. Month after month, year after year, he remains the most-searched cricketer on Cricinfo; by a huge margin, his profile page is the most visited player page on the site; and in any given month, headlines (often more than one) featuring his name are among the top 10 on the site.
Among other things, he also broke a couple of our servers that day.
Full postHawk-Eye at your fingertips
Hawk-Eye, the ball-tracking technology that ensured that umpiring in cricket matches was never the same, has now been fully integrated into our live match coverage
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
You have seen it all on television, and it's likely that you would have caught it on Cricinfo during the Champions Trophy. But here's the real deal: Hawk-Eye, the ball-tracking technology that ensured that umpiring in cricket matches was never the same, has now been fully integrated into our live match coverage.
And there is one thing we can offer you that television doesn't. The internet advantage makes you the master. All the graphics that the television producers showed you are now at your disposal. Now create those pitch maps, beehives and wagonwheels at your will and at your leisure.
But before you start exploring, here are some useful tips from S Rajesh, our stats editor, who's having some fun himself.
Full postWhy Ponting was voted Player of the Decade
We asked the jury to choose on the basis of quality of their performances, consistency and durability, contribution to their team's overall performance, and the impact they had had on the game on the whole
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
Even friends are complaining that Cricinfo's Decade Review went on and on, and having suffered the 2007 World Cup, we know the feeling. In our defence we can only say that it was quite a decade and we were keen to cover as much ground as possible. Now the matter is behind us and we can move on to the next one.
Of course there have been questions about our very concept of a decade. Should the decade not end next year, a few of you asked. We have followed a simple principle: Do we ever refer to the year 1990 as part of the 80s? How then can 2010 be part of the noughties? Of course, there can be an argument to the contrary, but we simply made a choice.
There has been far more passionate debate about the final element in the Decade Review package, and inevitably so. It would have been a surprise had it been otherwise. But the disappointing aspect of it is how parochial some of that debate has been. Whether Ricky Ponting deserved to be the player of the decade is a question that can be asked without being narrow-minded and mean-spirited.
Full postThe human superstar
Throughout his life Sachin Tendulkar has worn his celebrity lightly. He could have hardly been unaware of it yet somehow he has managed to stay impervious to it
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
At first glance, the setting wasn't befitting of the occasion. It was an invitation-only media session with Sachin Tendulkar on the eve of his completing 20 years in international cricket. The Taj Land's End hotel was the perfect venue because it was only a few minutes' drive from his home in suburban Mumbai. But the room was small, tucked away in a corner of the second floor; dimly lit; and had such a narrow entrance that the television cameramen struggled to get their equipment through.
Of course only a few had been invited. Inevitably, though, word got around and inevitably everyone piled in. Could it really have been any other way? So there were nearly as many television cameras as Tendulkar's Test hundreds; the chairs were taken up quickly so many of the journalists squatted on the floor, almost engulfing Tendulkar in a semi-circle. Coverage of the event was embargoed till November 15, the actual day of Tendulkar's landmark, but word came soon that a couple of television channels were broadcasting it live. It felt shambolic.
Even so, the organisers couldn't have made it more charming had they tried. There was no flash or ostentation, no grand stage and no barriers; Tendulkar was in such proximity that some of us could have extended our arms and touched him. It felt intimate and cosy and the most colossal of superstars felt endearingly human. It was apt too, because he has been the most human of superstars. I use word human here to describe simplicity and humility, not frailties and misdemeanours associated with fame and glory.
Full postAn honourable man who deserves better
Younis is a rare kind in an age of PR-savvy, media-trained, brand-conscious and commercially minded cricketers
Sambit Bal
25-Feb-2013
I met Younis Khan for the first time earlier this month. I had always wanted to meet him and, when I saw the Pakistan team at the ICC awards at the Sandton Sun in Johannesburg, I asked Osman Samiuddin, our Pakistan editor, to introduce us.
We shook hands, and then Younis gave me a hug. It was a natural, spontaneous and very subcontinental gesture. There was warmth in it and, if you wanted look for it, perhaps a message. In his simple and honest way, Younis has been trying to spread this message: make use of cricket as a positive force, for lifting spirits and for spreading goodwill; but treat it as a sport where, inevitably, there will be good days and bad.
We chatted briefly. Pakistan had beaten India a couple of days prior to that and Younis felt for MS Dhoni. The previous day, he said, he had been chased by a few members of the Indian television media seeking a quote or two damning the Indian captain. "Why are you after Dhoni," he asked them, "winning and losing, it keeps on happening. Today, it is his turn, tomorrow it could be mine."
Full postMost Read
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