Sandra Bullock Hollywood

Passion beats adversity

The universe of cricket has isolated them. The big stadiums at Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi or Multan remain empty. There is no festival of cricket, there is no music, and there is no joy. The stadiums are deserted.

International cricket doesn’t halt its caravan anymore in Pakistan as there are risks of a terrorist attack. The nation as a whole since 2001 terrorist attack in New York has been under threat of an isolation and after 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan players’ bus, the cricketing community just ignored touring the nation.

As a whole the country Pakistan has been turned into a ‘Registan’ for cricket.

But if one has enormous passion then nothing can actually stop him/her from keep the spirit going till the end and reach the pinnacles of glory.

Just walk across the streets of Lahore or Karachi you will hear voices echoing “Pakistan” “Pakistan.” You will assume immediately that you are watching the men in green in action toppling the opposition with their astonishing charismatic cricket. I’m sure; still the youngsters continue to exhibit their passion for cricket in the maidans of Karachi, Lahore, Multan or Rawalpindi. They still try, try and try to become an Imran, Akram, Miandad or Waqar.

Cricket is still breathing in Pakistan.

Pakistan as a nation, over the years, has been kicked in the abdomen, has been slapped on the face, and has been beaten hue and cry mentally. But despite all these their passion for cricket still shone brightly and it’s shinning even brighter in recent times.

At Dubai, today, Pakistan just completed another Test series win by beating the 2011 World Cup runner-ups, Sri Lanka and with this, Misbah’s tremendous run as the captain of Pakistan cricket team is reaching towards new heights. Mishbah is yet to loose a Test series.

But to me this win is the product of the hunger, the passion and the spirit which is burning inside each Pakistani player. I personally, watched a Pakistani team dominating the whole Test match throughout, after a longer period of time, an indication of even better things in near future.

Controversies kept on haunting Pakistan cricket again and again. But still they manage to script victories; still they make their fans smile. They don’t have a settled coach like the other countries, they don’t have sponsors to ensure luxuries, they don’t earn anything via any money making leagues which actually boosts many players’ confidence these days! They don’t have their media with them nor the reigning govt hardly care about them, but they have the passion for cricket.

And for this passion still Pakistan cricket keeps breathing. The win at Dubai is another victory of passion over adversity, another morale boosting win for the men in green and surely for its victory carved fans.

Bravo the men in green!

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

The choice of the new generation

Watching his advertisements in TV it will always assume that this young lad surely would have rocked Bollywood. He has the ingredients to take the centre stage in the dazzling world of Bollywood. The sparkling eyes with a boyish look in them, the exhibition of youth and the kind of stylish approach he always offers in any functions, automatically he earns the entrance ticket for Bollywood.

But mind you he can bat. And when those crisp drives comes off those wrists they just offer tremendous thrill, drama, excitement and a joy in the hearts of the billion Indian fans.  He commands full authority at the crease with a strong will and personality and challenge accepted norms of behavior and evoke what John Keats called the “egotistical sublime.” His desires aren’t insatiable and his will is not satisfied with ordinary things. He wants to touch the sky.

India’s Oneday batting sensation fulfills the definition of a romantic hero in the cricketing arena. Like his stylish appearance and outlooks, his batting too is a subject of pure romance for the cricket romanticists. The drives through the cover by balancing himself on his knees is a poetry in motion, just like Shahruk Khan’s romance, while those cross batted heaves through the onside brings Salman Khan’s aggression. Virat Kohli, despite his gung-ho attitude, offers a perfect balance in both aggression and matured cricket, a dish made of Bollywood spices where the aggression of Salman Khan and the romance of Shahruk predominates.

His youthful charm and the attacking mindset like the wild rose make him the poster boy of Indian cricket. And definitely he is the number one choice of the ladies not only in India but across the subcontinent. Virat Kohli is the most wanted for all the ladies.

Again, he can bat. Again, he is the most wanted in the Indian ODI squad. Today he is recognised for his fast-growing maturity. Even in the presence, or absence, of his other prolific partners, Kohli has become one of the most dependable batsmen in the Indian middle order.

He was an impressive presence during India's World Cup triumph. And in the recently concluded whitewash ODI series against England, Kohli had proved to be a genuine match winner and a man in the crisis. Before he turned 23, Kohli already has seven ODI centuries with four of them coming in run-chases. Add his electric fielding to the mix, and Kohli has been a vital cog in the Indian team over the last couple of years. His Test career might not be as gorgeous as his ODI career but in course of time it will reach at its peak as the boy has spirit to climb the Everest.

So, the boy not only offers a heroic presence with his style and glamour but he offers deeds. He has the spirit which always presses him onwards beyond control and his and strives overleaps all joys of earth from pole to pole. Kohli is a cricketer who is aristocratic, darkly handsome, manly, brooding, brilliant, erotic, melancholy, and indomitable, a romantic hero who offers colour and charm to the game.

Virat Kohli is the choice of the new generation.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

Let us be controlled while praising Elias Sunny

Yesterday, a young man named Elias Sunny, from Chittagong, hit the news headlines with his brilliant exhibition of spin bowling as he made the West Indian batsmen toil hard with skill, art and accuracy. For a Bangladeshi cricketer to make his debut at the age of 25 is quite unusual but this young man has made his Test debut after spending a hard time in the domestic arena for seven years.

Most of the cricketers in Bangladesh make their debut without any domestic exposure and for which they just get lost in the long run. But from the word go Sunny has proved that he is well prepared to handle any sort of pressures as for a split second none could realize that this young man is playing his first Test match. His body language had the professionalism and toughness to challenge the biggest challenger in the world of cricket.

And the reward of this attitude had been seven wickets in the match in all with a six wicket haul in the first innings. The Chittagong track offered sharp turn and even being a debutant, Sunny was quick to exploit the conditions with extreme merit. He is slower than his team-mate Shakib Al Hasan and gives the ball a lot more air, and was threatening when he came round the wicket, angling the ball in and getting it to spit away from a good length.

His courage to give the ball enough flight is praise worthy and his temperament in his first appearance has been like a genuine professional cricketer. Never for a split second you would notice a touch of rawness and fear of playing the first Test match, but with each spell, with each over and with each ball, Sunny came out to cast a magical spell with his spin bowling over the Caribbean batsmen.

The reason of this professional attitude has been the reward of watching the ups and downs in the domestic cricket where Sunny has spent almost nine years. It was in that domestic cricket, Elias Sunny, the smiling and charming Chittagong lad, has learned to be tough, he has learned not get frustrated with failures, he has learned to maintain the confidence every time, he has learned  to be positive. And for which beneath the charming smile there lays a sea of confidence, there lays an iron made mentality which always wants to hit the jackpot.

Players like Sunny prove again the importance of giving the best in domestic cricket and not get frustrated. In Bangladesh where there are names like Shakib, Razzak and Shuvo then it’s quite tough to get a call in the national squad. But patience and hard work has its rewards. At last the selectors responded to Sunny’s enduring hard work and patience in the form of consistent performance in the domestic circuit. Elias Sunny has arrived in Bangladesh cricket.

But to keep him going we too have some duties.

In 2005, in the two Test series against Zimbabwe, a young Bangladeshi spinner named Enamul Haque junior emerged in the scene with a bang by grabbing 18 wickets in the series and was being regarded as the perfect replacement of the ace Bangladeshi spin legend Mohammad Rafique. After his unique feat the newspapers, the cricket critics of the country started uninterrupted praises which simply led to the down fall of the young man who was simply undone by the enormous pressure of expectations. Enamul Haque is almost a history nowadays.

The media already have started to over praise Sunny. Yes, what Sunny has achieved deserves hurrah but that too should be within a limitation as it shouldn’t put extra pressure of expectations on a young cricketer to get crumbled. Even though, I believe that Sunny is mature enough to handle such pressures but still there should be certain amount of control in praising as, when, we Bangladeshis start praising our men we tend to make them sit high in the sky but it takes a second to drag them down from the sky to the ground after a failure.

Elias Sunny is an asset and it’s the duty of the board, the duty of the media, the duty of the journalists and the duty of the Tiger fans to back such a gem every time, even in his hard times.

Let us help Elias Sunny in keeping his feet on the ground by being controlled with our praises.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

When will this whimsical and funny cricket show going to end?

The Pakistan cricket team is just like the Brazilian soccer team-it can dazzle, delight and demolish opposition in a wonderful demonstration in the different departments of the game. That can be a connoisseur’s joy. The paradox is that it can falter, flounder and fall like a pack of cards. And for which the fans, which start dancing in one match tend to be found raging with anger and frustration in the other match.

At Abu Dhabi, till the third day, the men in green were in total control of the Test match. On the first day, on an absolute benign track, the Pakistani sensational bowlers in the form of Cheema and Junaid, simply made the Lankan batsmen dance with skill and pace and had skittle them out below 200. In reply, despite a somnolence batting display by the Pakistani batsmen, they had taken a lead of almost 300 and asked Sri Lanka to bat again with two days to spare.

In the age of T20, to survive two days isn’t an easy task but if the team is Pakistan who changes colours in session after session then anything is possible. The Pakistani bowlers kept on piling pressure upon the Sri Lankan batsmen but the Pakistani fielders, led by Mohammad Hafeez, started an exhibition of dropped catches. It turned out to be a total comedy show as lollypops went down leaving the hardworking Pakistani pacemen in total frustration.

Almost six catches went down and the Pakistani bowlers simply felt down on which the Sri Lankan batsmen cashed in. Safely and steadily the Lankans drew the first Test at Abu Dhabi, a venue which is yet to witness a Test result.

Sangakkara and co must thank Pakistan’s nature of cricket which is either rubbish or stupendous. Time moved, decades after decades have passed away but the whimsical nature of Pakistan cricket didn’t change. Perhaps it was during Imran’s era in which the team as a whole exhibited such whimsical nature on rare occasions. But otherwise the nation’s cricketing history is full of “Hot one day and cold the other day.”

As a Pakistan cricket fan I would love to enjoy the unpredictable nature of the team with a positive note and which is to script victories in a more thrilling way rather than ending up at the receiving end with whimsical and funny cricket.

But will this whimsical and funny cricket show going to end?

I don’t know.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar 

I Am Missing Lasith Malinga In Test Cricket

Like Sri Lanka, Pakistan too took themselves into the shells when they started their first innings on a benign pitch at Abu Dhabi. But like the Lankans they didn’t panic and went on to script a somnolence batting which was completely un-Pakistani.

Usually, the Pakistani batsmen are free fluent stroke makers and love to play their strokes which most of the times scripts a premature collapse. But at on the flat track at Abu Dhabi and against a toothless Lankan attack they decided to drop the anchors down and play like the ancient times.

Good for the Pakistani batsmen that their patience and somnolence style didn’t precipitate a collapse but sad for Sri Lanka that their bowlers couldn’t trigger a collapse while the Pakistani batsmen trapped themselves in a defensive zone.

The Lankans were missing someone.

When the Lankan batsmen went for a defensive approach, the caliber of the Pakistani pacemen in the shape of Cheema and Junaid put the Lankan batsmen under pressure with some quality pace bowling which featured accuracy, discipline, pace and late movements. But in case of Sri Lanka, their bowlers didn’t have that ability to put the Pakistani batsmen in front of a gun with either skill or hostility.

I personally was missing the guile and pace of Lasith Malinga. The slinger would have been the thorn in the Pakistani batsmen’s throat as in course of time his yorkers delivered with immense pace which achieves marvelous late movements due to a slinging action, would have left the Pakistani batsmen at bay. And the Pakistani innings would have been more exciting and so is the Test match.

But sadly the slinger is not at Abu Dhabi. The cricketing world will not watch him in white kits.  A knee injury picked up during the Australia tour in 2007 threatened to cut short Malinga's career, however, and he only played one-day cricket until July 2010. But after appearing in the first two Tests against India, his knee could not take the strain and he did not play the final Test of that series. In April 2011, he decided to end his Test career to spare his knee further damage.

A pathetic end to one of the finest prospects of world cricket and how badly Test cricket lovers are missing him! He preferred T20 and ODI cricket over Test cricket but I just feel that he also could have continued Test cricket if he just wished it. He could have shunned T20 cricket and bowl in shorter spells in Test cricket which is enough for a bowler of his caliber to pick up wickets in plenty.

I’m not sure about the degenerative knee conditions but many champions like Imran Khan and Dennis Lillee have fought back strongly with their fatal and career threatening injuries to make themselves available for Test cricket. I think Malinga too could have continued playing Test cricket.

But the reality is that the slinger isn’t present in Test cricket and for which people like me misses him badly at present. I’m sure the whole Lankan team, who were being roasted under the hot Abu Dhabi sun too had been missing Malinga.

If only Lasith Malinga was there……………….

Thank You

Faisal Caesar

Bangladesh Batsmen Have To Practice A Strict Mental Routine

For a brief period of time the current Bangladeshi cricket team’s thorn in the throat has been the batting. In most of the times the batsmen doesn’t deliver the goods and they tend to throw their wickets away by playing reckless strokes. And for which the team tends to suffer a lot with heavy defeats.

It’s not that our batsmen don’t come from a sound cricketing infrastructure or they don’t take any sort of coaching diets from a good cricketing school but still why they fail to deliver is a question which is killing our cricketing experts’ brains.

I believe that the batsmen of our country are weak mentally. I think they lack a mental routine which is needed to apply in between balls and between overs which is quite similar to a golfer’s pre-shot routine to conserve mental and emotional energy.  

All the greatest batsmen in the world used to have this mental routine and for which they dominated the cricketing world with great authority. I have been privileged to witness this combination in some of the greatest batsmen in the history of world cricket.  I have observed Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara’s mental state, courtesy of the outstanding camera works of modern times, before facing a delivery. It’s not that they use this mental routine for a particular bowler but for all sorts of bowlers they face.

Now what is this mental routine?

According to Greg Chappell, the mental routine comprises of ‘Awareness’, ‘Fine focus’ and ‘Fierce focus.’

‘Awareness’ as Greg Chappell stated, is the state of mind in which a batsman is well aware of what is happening around him but he is not acutely focused on any one thing. It is used while waiting to go into bat, between balls, and between overs.

‘Fine focus’ is the state of mind that comes after being aware of the situation and at this stage a batsman gets focused when a bowler is at the top of his bowling mark. At this point a batsman will move his focus to the bowler’s face and which gives the batsman an insight into the bowler’s emotional state and via his peripheral vision, into the body language of the bowler.

As a bowler reaches his delivery point a batsman mind will shift to ‘Fierce focus’ by narrowing his visual field and devoting his attention to the point from which the ball will be delivered and when the bowler will deliver the ball the batsman’s focus will only be on the bowler’s hand and the ball leaving it.

This is the combination that is needed to build longest innings and script epical knocks. On very rarest occasions this combination can be found amongst the Bangladeshi batsmen. On rarest occasions they execute this routine subconsciously and for which on rarest occasion we find our batsmen scoring hundreds. Most of the time they don’t trap themselves on this mental routine and for which our top order batsmen’s stay at the crease are short and leaves the lower order in tremendous pressure.

The problem of the Bangladeshi batsmen is in their minds rather than their technique. Such mental routines should be habituated amongst our batsmen and encourage them to apply during their stay at the crease. 

Thank You

Faisal Caesar