Tour Diary
Getting out of jail
More than 125 prisoners running across the ground covering the square at a live cricket match
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
They caught my attention during the first session, occupying a majority of the roofed section near midwicket at the Galle International Stadium which seats a few hundred spectators. From afar, in white t-shirts and khakhi shorts, they looked like a group of oversized school students cheering heartily as Virender Sehwag laced the ball across the turf their way. On closer inspection it was evident that they weren't students. For a second I thought they could be off-duty cadets. The dress-code was common to those seen around various cantonments on the subcontinent.
But when a brief but fierce shower lashed the stadium during the lunch interval, they all jumped up in unison and grabbed the covers. This surprised me, as I had seen the Galle ground staff (white UltraTech Ceylinco-branded white tees and black pants) in action the day before this Test. I then learned that they were inmates from the nearby high-security Boosa prison.
Full postThe familiar figure donning the white coat
I make my way towards a man sitting silently against a white wall in the shade 50 meters away, head bent forward, arms resting on knees, far away from the madness
Jamie Alter
25-Feb-2013
With a heavy shower having delayed the resumption of play after lunch at the Nondescripts Cricket Club, I took the opportunity to walk across the soggy grass outside the boundary line. Percy Abeysekera, the famous fanatical Sri Lankan supporter, has engaged a few India players and some local and visiting fans with his jokes and antics – he waves his hands exaggeratedly, slaps hands, and even breaks into a cooing sound as Sachin Tendulkar comes out on the players' balcony.
But I pass on and make my way towards a man sitting silently against a white wall in the shade 50 meters away, head bent forward, arms resting on knees, far away from the madness. It is Kumar Dharmasena, the former Sri Lankan offspinner, now an umpire. He cuts a calm picture, crisp white shirt and black pants and tennis shoes, and extends a firm handshake.
Full postWrong foot, right time
Rashid Khan actually bowled off the wrong foot, as opposed to Sohail Tanvir, who gives an optical illusion to that effect
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
The thing about Pakistan is that great cricketers can be found anywhere, you just have to have an eye. Their former players don't have any airs about them. So if you haven't seen them before, there is a chance you may not know that roaming amongst us, chatting, looking after things, are some of the interesting characters of the game. One such player is Rashid Khan - the original wrong-foot bowler from Asia. He actually bowled off the wrong foot, as opposed to Sohail Tanvir, who gives an optical illusion to that effect. Rashid got Viv Richards out for a duck in his debut ODI, and puts it down to being wrong-footed. That should be incentive enough for a host of youngsters to put their wrong foot out.
What was Rashid's incentive, though? "Nothing, I never realised for a long time. I used to think my action was very good.
Full postMemories of '87
A meeting with Iqbal Qasim, a former Pakistan left-arm spinner, during which he recalled his role in winning the Bangalore Test in 1987
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
We are supposed to meet Iqbal Qasim at 11am at the National Bank of Pakistan Stadium, a quaint little ground in the defence area of Karachi, where the teams are having their training sessions. After a long night's work, because of the timings of the Asia Cup matches, we oversleep, wake up at 11.30am, and try calling him on the phone. There is no response. On our way to the ground at around noon, we get through to him and pat comes the response, "Where are you? We were supposed to meet at 11?"
"But I tried calling you, and you didn't answer," my colleague says.
"But were we supposed to talk on the phone or meet in person?"
That was perhaps one of the most misleading first interactions you could have. When we reached the NBP Stadium we met this friendly talkative man, neither cranky nor idiosyncratic. The first thing you would notice about Qasim are his hands and fingers, which are big and broad, thick and long. The fingers on the left hand have signs of wear; he used them extensively to take 171 Test wickets, the most by a Pakistan left-arm spinner.
Full postA meeting with the first hat-trick man in ODIs
For years he has answered to the question: who is the first man to have taken a hat-trick in ODIs
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
For years he has answered to the question: who is the first man to have taken a hat-trick in ODIs? More than 25 years on Jalal-ud-Din's identity remains the same. "People ask me about that hat-trick only," he says. "But it's okay, I will tell you about that." Jalal-ud-din is 49 now, sports a grey beard, is balding, and with his glasses on cuts a studious picture. It is difficult for someone who was not born then, has not been able to get a tape of that hat-trick, to imagine this genial man bowling fast. And for most of his career he bowled with his glasses on.
After one sentence of resistance to talk about "pre-historic" things, he realises he is holding back a story that is a kid's favourite. And then he narrates it in detail. "I wouldn't even have played that match against Australia in Hyderabad. Imran Khan had just come back from England, and hadn't acclimatised enough to be playing this match. So I was called up at the last moment. And I flew from Karachi to Hyderabad. I had never done that before.
"After Australia had got a good start chasing 230, we had pulled things back with three quick wickets. Then I got Allan Border's wicket, which wasn't a part of the hat-trick. In the evening, Hyderabad starts getting a similar breeze as Karachi, and that helped my swing. In my seventh over, Rodney Marsh went for a big drive and missed my natural out-swinger that came into him and bowled him.
"Then Bruce Yardley, too, went to drive an out-swinger and edged it through. Now we realised I could take a hat-trick and that would be a big achievement. We brought the field in, and I had a plan. Since I had got two wickets with out-swingers and since I also knew that the new man was good at blocking and would thrust his front foot out, I wanted to bowl an in-swinger. I might be making it sound easy, but hat-tricks are not easy to get. It's not that you can announce and take a hat-trick.
Full postSaraiya the radio star
Suresh Saraiya is what your typical commentator would be: not short of an analogy, or a story to go with it
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
Suresh Saraiya's voice, for a long time, had been the link between the Indian fans and their cricket. With Saraiya here in Karachi for a commentary stint, one finally got to add a face to the voice. He is what your typical commentator would be: not short of an analogy, or a story to go with it. He has a storyteller's voice, and a storyteller's eyes, which gleam anew every time he starts a new story.
On the silver jubilee of India's World Cup success, he has an interesting tale to tell of the days India, in one-day cricket, were respected as much as Bangladesh or Hong Kong are today. "As you can see Hong Kong here hanging in [they had at a point reduced Pakistan to 161 for 7], trying to justify their place here, but nobody takes them really seriously. India were much the same before the 1983 success.
Full postVisa to Pakistan
Sidharth Monga finds out what it's like to travel from India to Pakistan
Sidharth Monga
25-Feb-2013
Travel agent. Visa agent. Passport photograph. Accreditation form. Indian media manager. Pakistan media manager. Ministry of Interior. Damn the visa process.
Tickets can't be booked from Bangalore. Find journalist contacts in India. Find journalist contacts in Pakistan. Unresponsive Ministry of Interior. Be told how difficult it was for Pakistan journalists to get Indian visa for the tour last year. Early-morning flight to Delhi. Pakistan Embassy. 9am. Visa agent on the way. Press Secretary. Reception outside Pakistan Embassy. Window No. 5. Queue. Question the visa concept.
9.30am. Visa agent still on the way. Overhear at reception of Embassy, "Janab we have been sitting outside since 4am, and there is not even water here." Damn the visa concept.
Call Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). There is enough time to either make the booking or reach the airport. Indira Gandhi International Airport. A locked PIA office. A flight can either be taken in 90 minutes or after 48 hours. At the airport gate without a ticket. Call PIA again. Helpful lady answers. But passport has been forgotten in the cab. Call the driver. Get the passport back. Good man. Ticket at last. Sleep on boarding. In-flight lunch. In-flight information. A Delhi-to-Karachi map. A "disputed territory" just under Himalayas. Jinnah International Airport. Posh. Call a colleague. Go over to the National Stadium. Realise, for the first time in three days, it's cricket I’m are here for. Drive around Karachi with a colleague. Forget the pains of the visa concept.
Full postA Dhaka state of mind
For the last week, my daily routine on a non-match day has been to get up, attend various practice sessions and press conferences scheduled through the day and then come back to the hotel room to file stories, after which it’s too late to do anything
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
For the last week, my daily routine on a non-match day has been to get up, attend various practice sessions and press conferences scheduled through the day and then come back to the hotel room to file stories, after which it’s too late to do anything but watch the Euro 2008. On a match day, a late brunch left me just enough time to get ready and head to the ground to find a good seat in what is a spacious and comfortable press box. Therefore, the only bit of Dhaka I’d seen was the stretch of road between my hotel, the Shere Bangla Stadium and the team hotel.
Today, however, was different. The final didn’t require a reserve day so I had some time to loaf around the city and, after a late morning, head off in the opposite direction from the stadium. There are four modes of public transport – buses, cabs, auto-rickshaws (aka CNG) and cycle rickshaws, whose peddlers have no regard for which side of the road they are riding on, or where they are crossing. Their attitude seems to be, “you hit me and my family will come after you.” There is a fifth mode of transport too, an intermediate form or motorised cycle-rickshaw which is covered like an auto and it was one such contraption that we, another journalist and I, got into.
Observing traffic is something you get used to doing because in India, you get stuck in it quite a bit, and Dhaka’s cars seem to primarily be Toyotas or Nissans. The cabs are all Indian cars pock marked with infinite dents – one roof leaked during the rain as I was heading to the team hotel. My destination was Dhaka’s DVD market and unlike Delhi, where pirated DVDs are available in the bowels of the underground market – Palika Bazaar - in Dhaka they are everywhere: in malls, roadside shops, supermarkets and even in hotels.
From languages as diverse as Bosnian and Arabic, countless Bollywood titles, old English classics, the latest Hollywood releases and music concerts, you were spoilt for choice. One of the shopkeepers said that when the Australians were here in 2006, the market had to be closed to the public for security reasons while some players spent a couple of hours and left with 600 DVDs. Determined to think of titles that they might not have, I was surprised to find that the “How I met Your Mother” television series was nowhere to be found. When I asked for “Green Street Hooligans”, he said with a smile that he had only the original and it wasn’t with him at the moment.
Full postYusuf falls short, Upton steals the show
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
A day after a comprehensive victory over Pakistan on Tuesday, the majority of the Indian team chose to relax at the team hotel. Only six squad members – Yusuf Pathan, Robin Uthappa, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ohja and Manpreet Gony – turned up at the Shere Bangla Stadium along with the support staff.
Uthappa, who was benched against Pakistan, and Yusuf, who made just 3 on debut, batted for a considerable time in the nets. Towards the end of Yusuf’s stint, Prasad set an imaginary field and laid down the equation: ten runs off eight balls. Yusuf pushed the first towards the off side, missed the second from Ishant and played the third back towards Gony. He failed to connect with a few more and it came down to eight off two balls.
Full postThe Indians have arrived
The Indian team landed in Dhaka early this morning and were greeted by dark skies and the omnipresent chance of rain
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
The Indian team landed in Dhaka early this morning and were greeted by dark skies and the omnipresent chance of rain. Not that it made a difference, as their practice session was at the indoor facility at the Shere Bangla National Stadium (SBNS).
They were scheduled to leave the hotel at 2.00 pm and with the start of the tournament opener between Pakistan and Bangladesh being delayed due to intermittent showers, some of the journalists trekked along the outer circumference of the stadium to watch them practice.
Full post