Bleacher Report - Articles by Ankit Munjal

Cricketers Trying Their Hand at Something a Little Different

Ankit Munjal — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 02:05:14 -0400

So I just watched this Hindi movie Khel, starring former Indian cricketer Ajay Jadeja as the lead actor, it's not something he's particularly good at. Anyways that's a topic for a different article. This just made me wonder about a few other well known cricketers that have tried to make it big in the movie/T.V. business. Here's a list of what I could find:

1. Mentioned above the infamous Ajay Jadeja, an amazing cricketer who fell out of favour with the BCCI and the public with his apparent involvement in the match-fixing scandal to rock Indian cricket. He recently made his debut with the film Khel, and if some of the articles in newspapers are to be believed, it isn't going to be his last.

2. Vinod Kambli is another that quickly springs to mind, childhood friend of Sachin Tendulkar's, somehow never managed to get his career going regardless of the fact that he was an immensely talented cricketer. He tried his hand in a movie called Annarth, again not something he would be particularly proud of as the movie failed to make any impact. A wonderful character though, I myself would have loved to have seen him fulfill his talent in cricket.

3. As cricinfo tells me Salim Durani, the very famous Indian cricketer born in Afganistan (remember that for trivia night guys) was one of the very first ones to start this trend. He acted in a movie called Charitra, the movie bombed at the box office. Seems to me to be a common trend here in this list.

4. Salil Ankola a former Indian fast bowler, I think goes against the trend of cricketers failing as actors. From memory I think he has acted in a few movies, but he went into acting in TV series and has since done really well as an actor on the smaller screen.

5. One of the very best allrounders of all time Kapil Dev has ventured into movies too. He has acted in not one but two feature films, though not full blown lead character roles. The movies he's acted in are Iqbal the Rampur Express, and Chain Kulli ki Main Kulli.

6. Sandeep Patil and Syed Kirmani were both part of India's World Cup winning team of '83, acted together in a movie called Kabhi Ajnabi The. Kirmani played a negative role and was actually pretty good at it too.

7. A recent movie named Victory though involve a few cricketers in the one movie. From what I've read we have Brett Lee, Mike Hussey, Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Jayasuriya, Ajantha Mendis, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh all involved in bit parts in the movie.

8. Brett Lee apart from his cameo role in the above mentioned movie Victory, has also sung a song and shot a music video with one of Indias leading singers. The song is called 'You are the one for me'. The song according to me was pretty average and the media was kind enough to advise Brett on not giving up his day job. In any case here's a link to the music video on youtube, if anyone wants a laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48eHkZfnGug

9. The very talented Pakistani opening batsman Mohsin Khan, who is known for being the first from his country to score a double century at Lords, departed from cricket to pursue a career in Indian movies.He married a famous Indian actress Reena Roy, had a relatively short career, featuring in movies such as Gunehgar Kaun, Laatsaab, Pratikaar, Fateh, Saathi, etc. He later divorced his wife and returned back to live in Pakistan.

A fair few cricketers have now tried their hand at dancing on the small screen too in Ek Khiladi, Ek Haseena; a reality TV show. It had the likes of Harbhajan Singh, S. Sreesanth all trying to out dance each other, while Wasim Akram was there judging their performances.

Well this is just a short list of what I knew off hand and with a little help of cricinfo.com. I would love to know of any other cricketers that have ventured into Movies or TV, would love to know if cricketers from other countries have ventured on the same path as well.

Does the Indian Public Truly Love Cricket?

Ankit Munjal — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:23:45 -0400

If we were to take a random sample of Indians on the street and ask them if they loved cricket, my guess would be that most answers would be an affirmative.

Most people around the world seem to think so too, us Indians are portrayed as being madly in love with the sport, thinking of it as a religion on its own and the stars being idolised as gods. It all points to the fact the Indians truly love cricket.

But then when I think about something I truly love, I would try and know it inside out, back and front. I would try and do anything to have something to do with it personally on a weekly. If not then on a day to day basis.

But that's not the case with most of the people and cricket in India.

The so-called lovers of the game would barely once go to a game and watch it live at the grounds in a year. Most would never have anything to do with the domestic game in the country at all.

Compare this to say Brazilians and their love for football. Not only do they follow their international stars they also religiously follow the domestic game, week in week out, packing stadiums to the full.

So is the love for the game in India truly deep and passionate? Or are we just fickle and superficial?

I know many of us are truly crazy about cricket and follow all the nuances of it, so it would be wrong of me to generalise like that, as each individual has a personal relationship with the game. But there is a general pattern of love and following of the game in the country that is hard to ignore.

My understanding is , if one really, really, really loves the game, then watching it on television as most of do just won't cut it. The need to get up close and personal with the game would drive one to the ground to watch it or play it at least, as being on the ground is just something special.

I truly admire people that watch cricket in India—especially domestic cricket in India, the stadiums are usually very uncomfortable and sometimes even torturous. The scorching sun burns the skin as most domestic stadiums are uncovered, sitting on stone and concrete slabs all day isn't a lot of fun, and on days when the cricket game doesn't go the way of the team one follows, it can be really hard to come back and do it ever again. But this is a dying breed of people.

What cricket is in India is a tradition as opposed to love of the game. As a nation apart from hockey we didn't excel at any other sport as such and we couldn't point at anything else and feel proud. Cricket was another sport we didn't get humiliated at and therefore since our Independence we have identified with it as a nation.

What further heightened this tradition of identifying with cricket as a tradition is the gradual decline in our hockey performances coinciding with the World Cup win in '83. Around this time in India there wasn't much in terms of entertainment for the average Indian. There was Bollywood (Indian movies) and then cricket. Cricket for many seemed the obvious choice as it lasted longer, and probably cost the same as a movie ticket and again the sense of tradition that came with it.

These days I believe most Indians love "cricket the entertainment", its association with movie stars (SRK, Preity Zinta et al), the cricketers themselves, and the glamour quotient of it all is what interests most people. Following of cricket by these groups of people is what allows the likes of Mandira Bedi to comment on cricket, the mere thought of which would make a purist cringe. These are the groups that are driving the T-20 forward as all they care about is fast paced action, drama, the eye candy and the celebrities.

While the T.V. ratings and viewership increases in India, I fear the breed of Indians who love cricket for what it is, who love "cricket for the sport" it is, is a dying one.

People residing in the big Indian cities such as Mumbai and Kolkata now have a lot of options when it comes choice of recreation and sport, cricket isn't the be all and end all, the result of which is fewer and fewer players from these big cities representing the Indian team, while we see more players coming through from smaller towns into the Indian team as here cricket still is the favourite pass time.

I wonder as and when these smaller towns have more exposure to other sports and recreations and internet, what will become of our nation's so called undying love for cricket?

Or is it really LOVE to begin with?

Superstitions In Cricket

Ankit Munjal — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 21:51:05 -0400

Superstitions in cricket, I doubt there are as many superstitions in any other sport as there are in Cricket. As the cricketing season winds down in Australia, my team has made it to the preliminary finals on the basis of winning our must win last four games, two more wins and we will have won the TCL championships in Northern Tasmania.

Interestingly more to do with the article, I haven't washed my whites during the run of these games. Not a great thought is it, but it so happens that ever since i did or didnt we started on our winning streak and I don't want to change that now do I. So this prompted me to look into some of the supertitions that people involved with our game tend to follow, and some of the things that i have found make for an interesting read or so I hope.

Well most of us would know about the dreaded score 111 or in cricketing term Nelson, from which there's the double Nelson 222 and the triple Nelson 333 and so on and so forth that exist today. We all blindly follow the Nelson without may be knowing exactly why it is considered and inauspicious number, at least I had no idea what the reason behind it was till I decided to look into it. The term was invented in the belief that Lord Nelson was unlucky enough to have had only one eye, eye hand and one leg hence the 111. The superstition is that "bad things happen on that score". Interestingly though Lord Nelson wasn't quite that unfortunate as he actually had two legs, but the cricket term has survived all attempts by historians to correct it.The figure Nelson famously prompts Umpire David Shepherd to keep one leg off the ground as the bowler runs in to bowl when scorecard reads 111.

On the theme of superstitious or dreaded numbers we have 87 for Australians. Considered to be the Devils number, 13 shy of 100.

Let's come to famous superstitions held by the cricketers themselves.

Sanath Jayasuriya clearly pats his pad and adjusts his helmet after every ball he faces.
Mahela Jayawardena always kisses his bat after every stroke.
Sachin Always wears his left pad first, and still uses the old buckle type pads.
Steve Waugh always carried a handkerchief given to him by his late grandfather.
Jimmy Ammarnath also carried a Red handkerchief in his pocket while fielding.
Ganguly always carries a photo of Guruji while batting.
Atherton would never give an interview if he was 'not out' overnight.

Well those are some superstitions I came across. Another really interesting incident occured during Kumble's famous 10 for bowling effort against Pakistan. In that match as a superstition Sachin would take Kumbles sweater and hat from him before every over he bowled and hand it to the Umpire as part of a superstition.

All these efforts seem have worked for the above mentioned people, would love to know of any other cricketers with such beliefs or if any of you have your own superstitions whether in cricket or any other sport, as for how my little non washing works out ask me in a week or two.

Cheers

Claim for the No. 1 Test Spot: India vs South Africa It Is

Ankit Munjal — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:59:26 -0500

I have recently read a fair few articles along the same topic but hardly any rate India as serious contenders and claim the Indian team to be inconsistent, I will be the first one to admit that there have been many false dawns previously in Indian cricket but something tells me that this team is different.

Not going by history what i don't get is why people don't see India being consistent from here on end and stake a serious claim to be recognised as the best team in the world. The Indian team has played pretty well throughout 2008. Agreed we faltered somewhat in Sri Lanka but lets not take any credit away from them, they are a pretty hard team to beat on their own turf specially now that there is Murali and Mendis.

Heres why I believe India will be right at the very top of the rankings come end of 2009 as the Indian team has all the ingredients of a champion team:

A tough leader in the form of MS Dhoni he goes about his job in a very workman like manner and has a very cool head on his shoulders. He seems to be a a very good man manager and has the backing of the whole team and therefore extracts the very best out of every individual.

Experience in the form of Tendulkar, Sehwag, Laxman, Dravid, Zaheer, and Harbhajan almost all at the very peak of their games.

Youth in the form of Gambhir, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Yuvraj all young and eager to prove themselves.

A great bench strength something that the Indian team in the past has never had and therefore never been consistent. Even if we have someone going out of the team due to injury or loss of form or retirement there are people ready to take that spot.

Backing up in the bowling department are Munaf Patel, S. Sreesanth, M. Gony, L Balaji(yes hes back to his best in the domestic circuit), M. Karthik, R. Powar, and I am sure I am missing out on a few big names.

In the batting department we have a host of names waiting in the wings, S badrinath, M Vijay (looked solid in the game he played) Raina, Rohit Sharma, young prolific scorer in C. Pujara, not to mention the ever present M. Kaif and W. Jaffer pilling on runs in the domestic circuit always waiting to have a go and rectify their once blossoming careers.

In the wicketkeeping department too we have able backups in the form of Karthik and P.Patel both eager to get a game for India.

And is it just me or is Tendulkar getting harder to dismiss as he gets older. He has never looked more solid at the crease and hardly ever looks like getting out. I have never seen him bat so solidly before, yes he played more strokes before his injuries and has since cut down on his range somewhat but by doing so he seems to have taken out all the risks from his game while still scoring at almost the same rate as before.

He clearly still posesses the hunger for runs and wants to win matches for India. All the signs are there for this team to be world beaters.

I predict a battle for the number one test ranking to be between India and South Africa with Australia finally playing catch up after a good decade and a bit at the very top. Bring it on South Africa is what I say.

I am all ears if some one wants to tell me if south Africa are set up as well as this particular Indian team is.

The Australian Errors In Mohali

Ankit Munjal — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:44:09 -0400

Well let me just begin by saying I thoroughly enjoyed India's win over Australia at Mohali. The margin of victory is one that I would never have imagined, specially since the game was at Mohali, where the pitch doesn't take as much spin as in other parts of the country. Australia finally got a taste of their own medicine as they were completely dominated right through the match and in every aspect of the game, even the fielding.

The Australians have very much been the best team in the business for almost the last decade, and I for one can't even remember the last time they lost a game so comprehensively. So lets take a look at what went wrong for them;

1. The Team Selection

God knows why they are playing part time spinners in the team. Cameron White is by no means a front line spinner and is not really going to be a wicket taking bowler for them.

They already had an allrounder in the form of Watson, and their batting though didn't click in the game wasn't something they should have been worried about as most of their bowlers are handy batsmen too and as result they bat deep.

They have Krejza in the team a front line spinner, fair enough he didn't do really well in the tour game but it was just that a tour game and his first in India. We all know what happened to Warne in his first game and we also know how the rest of his career panned out. Give him a go I say one way or the other they will find out whether he belongs or not.

2. The Toss

I always believed if India won the toss and got to bat first it would be very hard for Australia to win the game, as Indias batsman would get the best of the pitch and their spinners would come into their own in the last innings.

3. Brett Lee and Hayden

Their combined efforts in the game added up to virtually nothing. With young newcomers in the side the Australians needed the old guard to click and perform. These two are key players for the team as they set the standard for the entire innings both with batting and bowling.

Hayden sets the tone with his explosive and dominating batting style, while Lee does much the same when he leads the bowling attack. With the two failing the new guys like siddle had no one to follow.

4. Ponting and his leadership skills

Well I have never been a fan of ponting's leadership as whenever the team has been under pressure, he has usually cracked and made a few errors in judgement. When the team was not being able to stop indian batting line up, why then did he hand the ball to Hussey? Not Lee the front line bowler who was keen and eager, not clarke who's definitely a better bowler but Hussey.

The decision made by the Australians to attack completely and without much thought in the fourth innings well again not the best decision, I am sure Ponting being the captain had a hand in that too. In the Waugh era I doubt that would have been their approach. Ponting is a great batsman and is assured when he has the bat in his hand, he needs to bring that quality to his captaincy as well when underpressure

Anyways according to me that's what went wrong for the Australians. Knowing them they will bounce back and play good hard cricket in Delhi, but i don't see them winning there as Delhi is a spinners paradise. Their best hope would be to try and salvage a draw and then take it from there.

This series is definitely one of the best in modern day cricket and is a showpiece, here's hoping it continues to be that and much more in the future.

Sad State Of Affairs In The World and a Tough Question For Cricket

Ankit Munjal — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:52:08 -0400

Just want to start off by saying what happened in Delhi, India last night was absolutely disgusting and the current state of the world makes me ashamed to be a human being. God help those people and their respective families that were affected by last night's pointless, merciless bombings. It truly is a sad state of affairs.

Well now with what has happened in India there are bound to be big question marks over the future of the upcoming series between India and Australia.

As everyone reading this probably knows that the Champions trophy in Pakistan was recently postponed due to threats to the cricketers lives, and many Australian players themselves refused to go on tour.

It will be very interesting to see Cricket Australia's stance on the issue now that we're talking about a series against India and vast sums of money on the line for everyone involved.

The BCCI being the financial power that it is in the cricket world today will try and persuade everyone involved that the game must go on, though to be fair the Indian team they did play a series and were more than willing to go and play the Champions trophy in Pakistan, so can not be called hypocritical.

Therefore it is entirely upto the Australian board, I am hoping that the right decision is made, and the game goes on as Cricket is associated with normalcy in India as it is the soul of the country.

These are tough times for the world and cricket as well. If this series was not to go ahead then what countries do we go and play in? Definitely nowhere in the subcontinent then, as there's trouble in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka with the Tamil Tigers.

That leaves Bangladesh not really the strongest side in cricket today. England not entirely safe either, Zimbabwe well the less said about them the better. We aren't left with too many options then are we.

So here's my plea to all involved with cricket let common sense prevail, lets play the beautiful game and show those people hell bent on destruction that the human spirit is stronger than their misplaced beliefs and agendas.

A Look At The Rest of India Side For The Irani Trophy

Ankit Munjal — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:23:19 -0400

Well its that time of the year, the curtain raiser for Indian cricket. That's what the Irani trophy is, this time the Rest Of India side plays the Delhi state team. The players involved are the best players in the country, well that's the theory. With that in mind let's look at the The Rest of India team selected.

Anil Kumble (capt.), Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, MS Dhoni, Wasim Jaffer, Mohammad Kaif, Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Parthiv Patel, RP Singh, Ashok Dinda, Harbhajan Singh

As I see it, there are just a few surprises, what with the inclusion of Ashok Dinda for besides his IPL performance, he hasn't done much to deserve that spot. One look at the squad and we can see that there's only one specialist opener. So why is that, and the person that has been picked is Wasim Jaffer and again I don't get why, he's had his share of chances and I for one feel there should be others that need to be given a shot.

So who does this side play as their second opener? Rahul Dravid, surely not, he's not in the best form as it is and to play him out of position won't be fair. So do we play Parthiv Patel as the opener, why would we want to do that?

Dhoni will obviously keep wickets so Parthiv's inclusion won't be justified. Mohammad Kaif, he's definitely been picked as a middle order batman and he's a controversial pick in the first place, I for one would have loved to have seen Yuvraj step up to the plate and finally nail that middle order spot that he has been threatening to do for a while.

If not Yuvraj then at least someone like Badrinath or Rohit Sharma or even Suresh Raina.

So even after going through the obvious names that might open, I can't figure out who actually will. When will our selectors think straight and choose specialists?

As for the bowlers, well we have seem to have an amazing supply of fast bowlers, and barring that Dinda shocker (I hope to be proved wrong, but I can't even see him make the first eleven anyways) the right people have been picked even if they were fairly obvious.

As for the spinners, I see this series being very very important for Kumble, if he doesn't perform for the Australian series, at the very least, I see him losing the Captaincy.

Harbhajan is an obvious choice and so is Ojha though I think he'll be warming the bench.

One thing that I'm glad about is that Ganguly has been dropped, a faithful servant (Prince) for years I really felt his time was up. Watching him play in Sri Lanka and this doesn't feel like a conspiracy or a non-selection due to political reasons. So let's give credit where credit is due, well done selectors for making that tough decision.

I'm hoping for a cracker of a match and maybe my beloved Delhi team with the likes of Akash Chopra, Sehwag, Ishant, Gambhir causing an upset, while we see a splendid hundred from Sachin for the ROI side. Here's hoping everyone does wonderfully well and the selectors choose the best squad for the Australian series.