Speak up(-worma)

Once again its the season for soundbites in Indian cricket. Some obvious, bordering on cliched....others weird enough to loose sleep over ;-)

Here's a nice bunch.

The first one from Sree Santh who's still trying to come to terms with the reality of his selection.

This is the happiest day of my life," he says, "to get a chance to play with those players who have been my idols since the day I started playing cricket. It does not matter whether you play one match or two with them. What's important is the experience and exposure,

and also

I think, I am mature now, I believe that to intimidate a batsman you don’t need to look frightening, I wouldn’t even mind muttering a sorry if the batsman is unlucky to get out on my ball. But I am a fierce competitor

To me he surely sounds mature...and why not...he's a painter, a dancer, a singer and a budding sports psychologist!..looks like the Keralite sensibilities are arriving in Indian cricket (apologies for that bit of 'regionalism' ;-) Now lets see how much of a cricketer is he.


Kapil Paaji, on RD's captaincy, has this cryptic clue to deliver

Dravid should give mind to every aspect of the game. He should not be doing anything to please somebody. Personal liking and disliking should not come into the game.

I leave the interpretation to the readers(also because I'm still struggling to formulate mine)


Mahendra Singh Dhoni, again on the change of captaincy, has this to say(and here I must caution, no direct quotes, only the interviewers 'interpretation' of it)

Indian team stumper Mahender Singh Dhoni today said the change of captaincy would not have much effect on the side's performance.

Wait a minute...hold on...didn't we perform badly in last two series?...So...is he saying we won't improve?...yep...had a minor ROFL moment...and the message is repeated in the article

He, however, said there would certainly be a change in the strategy following the change of skipper, but there would be hardly any impact on team performance

..and this time I seriously wondered what MSD meant? As I said, its the interviewer's interpretation...and I wish they used more of direct quotes(maybe it was a translation). Further, on his own status and role in the team, he had this bit

About the forthcoming home series against Sri Lanka, Dhoni, who carved a niche in the Indian team following his blistering 147 against Pakistan last April, said the matches would be vital for him to ensure a berth in the side for the longer version of the game.

Again caught my attention. I am hoping he realizes that aiming for more(i.e. test berth) is needed, yet being in touch with the ground even more important...that he hasn't 'yet' secured a permanent place in out ODI setup should surely be there in his immediate awareness. Ofcourse he has not shown any laxity in his application, attitude and overall approach to the game...so no real complaints.


And here's a short interview of RD from Sydney...nothing much beyond the obvious, as we expect of RD when faced with controversial questions. Although there was this funny part(I'm hoping it was in good humour?)

Dravid declined to react when asked if e-mails would be the preferred medium of communication in his regime. "I'll let the question pass," he said.

Finally, Tony Greig on captaincy in general, and current affairs around the Indian captaincy in particular.

A good captain is one who is a good man manager. Obviously, he has to be an automatic selection and, then, have the qualities to manage not just the senior players but the coach as well.