India's Warriors Triumph Down Under

No Kohli, no Jadeja,no Ashwin, no Shami and no Bumrah. From being skittled out for just 60 in Adelaide, who would of thought Ravi Shastri's India would once again triumph down under in Austrailia. After being completely outplayed in Adelaide as well as losing both their captain who was on paternity leave and then one of their premier fast bowlers in Mohammed Shami, a lot of people were expecting a long and diffcult tour for the Indians. However, stand-in skipper Ajinkya Rahane had other ideas. 

The small man from Maharashtra made a strong statment in the Melbourne Test with a brillint innings of 112 which gave a strong statement to the Australians that although King Kohli was no longer there, his team was not going to go down like a house of cards, they were there to fight and win. 

Then in the third Test, Jadeja was struck on the thumb via a vicious bouncer from left-arm pacer Mitchel Starc. Followed by the racist taunts being from to drunk spectators in the Sydney crowd who were targeting both Bumrah and fellow paceman Mohammed Siraj who was apparently being called a 'brown dog'. Not to mention Paine's despicable act of removing Keeper-batsman Rishabh Pant's batting guard. 

For a touring team to go down under, face all those incidents and still win a second successive series, says a lot about their character. Paticularly when an injured Hanuma Vihari and Ravichandran Ashwin battled through the last hour and a half on the final day of the Sydney Test. With many of the senior players being in and then out of the series, this gave an opportunity to see some new faces in the Indian side. Shubman Gill, what a talent this young kid is. For someone from the Sub-continent to make from the their test debut in Australia and score 259 runs on those fast, bouncey pitches is a remarkable and brave effort, particularly against the likes of Hazlewood, Starc and Cummins, who were all bowling above 90mph. His innings of 91 was the catalyst for setting up the run chase. 

Chasing a target of 328 on a pitch that was uneven in terms of bounce was not going to be easy, particularly when India lost Rohit Sharma early but the innings in which Pujara plsayed allowed Gill to play a counter attacking innings. the best of his shots was the big upper-cut over third man. If he hit it straight down third man's throat, I can imagine that he would get a lot of stick from the fans and media, but the fact that the ball flew over the boundary for six, sent a strong statement to the Australians saying look, if you want to bounce us out, bounce us out, we're not afraid of you, we're going for the target. For someone to play an innings like that in only his third Test, speaks a lot about Gill's talent and mmore importantly his character. 

Let's also not forget the little Indian superstar Rishabh Pant. Another youg keeper-batsman who plays without fear. Pant has been brutally criticised in the past for giving his wicket away by playing reckless shots across the line, but the two innings he played at Sydney and the Gabba showed everyone the talent he has and the belief that he can turn a draw into a win, particularly if he stays at the crease for a couple of hours. The way he plays, reminds me about a certain Virender Sehwag in his prime, particularly with his flamboyant stroke play and fearless attitude as a cricketer. 

Another crucial turning point the Test match was the sixth wicket partnership of 123 off 216 balls between Washington Sundar and Shardul Thakur. without those 115 runs, India would not have come close to parity with Australia on first innings runs. The hosts were leading the tourists by a minor 33 runs at that stage of the match. On previous tours to Australia, the lower order has just been blown away by the pace and bounce, but the way Thukur and Sundar counter attacked the Aussie bowlers was just enthralling to watch as they although they were scoring fairly quickly, the shots they played were traditional cricketing shots and not slogging across the line.

India's next assignment is a five-match Test Series against England, where should they win that series by two matches, they automatically qualify for this year's Test Championship Final in June. England in fact were the last team to win a Test series on Indian soil back in 2012/13, where Alistair Cook's side defeated MS Dhoni's side by 2-1. Joe Root's side have recently won the first of two Test against Sri Lanka, they are favourites to take that series 2-0, but Will Kohli's India win another series on home soil?

Australia in The Naughty Books Again

During the third Test of their home series agian India, Austrailia Test captain Tim Paine was caught on camera removing India Keeper batsman Rishabh Pants batting guard. It wasn't just Paine who was in the naughty books but the crowed at the Sydney Cricket Ground were cuaght racially abusing Indian pace bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. Siraj was allgedly calle a 'brown doog' and a 'big monkey by a group of spectators whilst he was feilding near the boundary. The Indian team reported the incedent to the umpires who then removed that section of the crowd who were involoved in the racists chant. Meanwhile Veteran off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was quick to point out that this was not the first time that he had heard such nasty chants from the Austrailia crowed.

"I would like to point out something, this is my fourth tour to Australia and Sydney especially here, we have had these type of experiences in the past as well. I think one or two times players have reacted to this in the past and they have gotten into trouble, it is not because of the player, it is because of the way the crowd has been reacting. The fans have been quite nasty, but this is one occasion where they have gone one step ahead, it is a case of racial abuse, we lodged an official complaint yesterday and we brought it to the notice of the umpires," Ashwin said. "It is definitely not acceptable in this day and age, we have evolved as a society and this roots to the upbringing, this should be dealt with an iron first, by iron fist I mean the way we deal with it."

We all know that sledging is part of Australia's DNA when it comes to playing cricket, but there have been some incidents, where the players have also stepped over the line, for exmaple, during the 2013-14 series, former Austraian captain Michael Clarke got quite aggresive with seamer James Anderson aksing him to 'get ready for a f'cking broken arm.' Which sounds like a threat rather then a sledge. Sledging is a verbal conversation between two players from either team use to immitate each other as a way of getting lose concentration. But as always, there is always a boundary.,which should not be crossed. Especially if it involves racism or beomes personal. So, why does it always happen in Australlia? All we want to see is a good game of competitive cricket between two teams and it should not be ruined by instances like the this. Racisn is not tollerated in any sport and Cricket Austrailia should know that. Sometimes you wish people who go to watck cricket in stadiums should think about how they behave rather than just drinking too much and then behave like idiots, this is setting a bad example in proffessional elite sport. I think that all cricket stadiums around the world, especially Sydney should have cameras in the crowd to keep an eye on their behaviour as this issue has been going on for years. This is ruining tthe game. It's time for change. Feature Image: India gamers allege abuse by followers on day 4 at SCG vs Australia; six spectators eliminated by Tanveer Sheikh.

They're Back!

How we have all missed the vibrant atmosphere of football fans turning up at stadiums to watch their team put on a show with the ball. After six months of playing behind closed doors, the 'beautiful game' is slowly but surely getting back to the norm.    

Football Crowd- St James' Park

Although we have had an exciting finish to the 2019-20 season and an extraordinary start to the 2020-21 season, it has not been the same without the roars and screams from thousands of spectators in the stands. We may not have full stadiums at the present moment, but due to the pandemic, elite sport has been missing its key motto, which is the fans appearing in their stadiums and/or venues. 

There is no doubt that players want to perform to their best of their ability week in and week out, and therefore having spectators cheering and shouting out their names gives them that extra boost of motivation, which may have been lost during the past nine months or so. 

Let's not forget the work that the government and especially the NHS has done to make this possible becuase at one stage, this may have been the end of sport for quite some time, probably for a couple of years at least. 

The return of the fans is also a boost to the clubs in terms of their reputation, they want to earn money and make success and a part of how they do it is allowing their fans the opportunity of coming to see the team play. This is particularly important for the lower tier clubs i.e League One and League Two as they want to achieve more success by winning matches to get promoted to the next tier of English football.  If there are no fans attending the games, the smaller clubs will eventually start to run out of business and shut down. 

Although we are on the verge of getting a vaccine to help up defeat the virus, having the fans back is a huge boost for most clubs around the country. Yes, there are certain areas in which have strict lockdown measures, but the 'beautiful game' is slowly returning to its prime.  

There's a saying that 'football is never the same without the fans', and that's the reality.    

Feature Image: "Football Crowd - St James' Park" by Steenbergs is licensed under CC BY 2.0

   

   

VAR "RIDICULOUS!!'

Those of you who are into football will know that VAR is  driving everyone nuts. First Crystal Palace, Burnley and then Tottenham. All three of these clubs were the first to be robbed by controversial decisions made by VAR this season.

Joel Ward, who was the first culprit to be dumbfounded by VAR on the third weekend of the 2020-21 Premier League season. During Palace's game away at Everton, Lucas Digne fired a shot at goal but the ball hit Ward's arm and was controversially given as a penalty, even though Ward's arm was in a natural position. The same happened with Eric Dier and Tottenham in their home game against Newcastle. Andy Carrol's header struck the England defender'a arm in what look to be a natural position when he was trying to  block the Newcastle centre forward's header attempt at goal. Chris Wood and Burnley were denied a penalty against Southampton, which many people including Sean Dysche were expecting to be given these days even though it was a bit on the soft side.

Why on earth did the FA listen to FIFA? As we know that the Premier League is the best League in the world, VAR is making a complete mockery out of the handball rule and becuase of this, defenders are now attempting to block shots with their arms behind their back. I  think the FA have seriously fallen in love with FIFA and its stupidity. Some people, especially FIFA have forgotten the basic rule of FIFA, where if a player deliberately intervenes with the ball with their arm or hand whilst it is still in play, it should then be given as handball and not the other way round.  Can someone put some sense into these people! Also, when you slide tackle a player, your arm must be raised in order to avoid injury, this is a natural position.

Having a silly rule such as this means that defenders cannot do their job properly. which is to help  the goalkeeper out by blocking shots on goal from the opposing team. 

Another issue on the handball rule, which Liverpool's Joe Gomez cleverly pointed out post the 1-1 draw with rivals City, is the fact that when the referee goes over to the VAR monitor, they watch it in slow motion, but everybody knows that the gaming is not played in slow motion, so how can you identify a handball decision by slowing the incident down?

This is where FIFA and VAR need to be more clear about how they implement the handball rule in professional football.  

Another issue regarding VAR is the offside rule. The rule states that if any part of the player's body is beyond the line of the opposition team's defence when the ball is being passed to them, it is given as  offside. But with that said, you cannot score a goal with your hand, as was the case for Patrick Bamford. Leeds United were controversially denied a goal against Crystal Palace for offside. As Bamford was trying to signal to Ayling where to pass the ball, VAR saw that his arm was beyond the line of Crystal Palace's defenders in the lead up to the goal, so it was ruled out for offside. However, you cannot score with your arm, so this proves that there is no logic whatsoever in this new offside rule. 

FIFA really need to get to the issue of fixing VAR becuase at the moment, it is taking the mockery out of the game. We all know that refereeing in football is one of the toughest jobs in sport, but that does not mean it should be defamed by incorrect use of technology. Fans want to see football being played the right way, but at the moment, the use VAR is proving to be a hurdle in the way of this happening.     

   

Psychology and behaviour in sport

Novak Djokovic has been disqualified from the 2020 US Open. The Serbinator was caught  hitting a ball at a line judges throat expressing his anger of losing his serve against fourth round opponent Pablo Carreno Busta. 

Djokovic quickly showed he concern for the female line judge as he walked straight up to her. Thankfully, the line judge seemed to be fit and fine even after being struck in the throat. Seeing incidents like this raises the question about tennis players attitude on court. David Nalbandian was also disqualified from Queens after kicking the the line judge in frustration leaving a big cut on his leg. 

According to the New York Times,  ' The figures from the Grand Slam tournaments are from all matches in qualifying, main-draw singles and doubles for a 20-year period — tens of thousands of matches.'

Statistics show that racquet abuse is the most common form of indisciplined behaviour on court. This comes to no surprise as this is the the only equipment they use to hit the ball in court.       

'Men have been fined 646 times for racket abuse and 287 times for unsportsmanlike conduct. Women have been fined 99 times for racket abuse and 67 times for unsportsmanlike conduct during that span.'  This proves that men are more susceptible to inappropriate behaviour on court. 

However, physical abuse is not the only thing we get from players on court, there have also been snips of verbal abuse, particularly at the officials. This is generally to vent their anger out at decision which have gone against them.  Italian Fabio Forgnini was fined $300 during a match at Wimbledon in 2019 for making an extraordinary comment, stating that he wished 'a bomb would explode' at the  All England Lawn Tennis Club he also made offensive comments towards English people. 

Watch here

Nevertheless, there are some people who say that Tennis does have an impact on people with mental health issues. Take the LTA (Lawn Tennis Association) as an example, Briton Harriet Dart says that she has gained more self-confidence out of it 'Tennis has given me a huge amount of self-confidence'  It’s great for a range of ages and abilities, and the social aspect of it plays a big part in its mental health benefits.'

But does this have an influence on the way they behave on court? The answer is yes both positively and negatively. The positive side is when the adrenaline takes over, this is a source of mental energy which enables the mind to rejuvenate the body, to that it can immediately react to the situation. However, there  is a down side to mental health, which is stress. Stress can be an ingredient for an athlete succumbing to pressure, which can then cause them to make bad decisions, particularly if they are not able to deal with it. Take Rory Mcllroy at the 2011 Masters, who had a four-shot lead going into the last day but was not able to close it out and win the Green Jacket and succumbed to pressure of anxiety by having a poor final round.    

This is why some athletes, particularly those who play individual sports have coaches and mentors, to help them prepare mentally for events. The coach hires a psychologist who then works with the athlete and occasionally the coach behind the scenes to get the athlete mentally prepared for the event.  But are coaches and mentors always responsible for the way athletes behave on court? Well, they can be, particularly if they know the athlete inside out.

It is then up to the psychologist to help the athlete overcome the barrier of coping with stress and anxiety, which can prevent players behaving inappropriately on court. For example, shouting out abuse at the umpire if a decision does not go in their favour.  

Psychology means a lot in sport and is how athletes perform at the highest level. It also has an impact on the state of mind that they are in during game time. Athletes who have more practice in psychology tend to succeed more than athletes who don't. According to verywellmind.com,  'Contemporary sports psychology is a diverse field. While finding ways to help athletes is certainly an important part of sports psychology, the application of exercise and physical activity for improving the lives of non-athletes is also a major focus.' This is crucial as it shows that psychology matters to everyone and not just athletes. 

 

        

 

Feature Image: Djokovic by Bosco Cardenas via flickr 

MS Dhoni: A Legend Of the Modern Game

India Independence day 2020 was the day former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from International Cricket. 

The legendary wicket keeper batsman had played 350 ODI's and scored a total of 10,773 runs for the country, he also featured in 90 Test matches, where he accumulated a total of 4,876 runs.

Unorthodox he may be, but what a player he had become out of it. Having grown up on the streets of Ranchi(city in Jharkand, India) no one expected him to have a successful career as he had, but did he prove everyone wrong. 

December 2004 was the year Dhoni announced himself on the International stage. However it was not the ideal start to his career as re was ran out without facing a ball in his ODI debut match against Bangladesh. However, things did turn around for him following a swashbuckling 148 not out in his fifth ODI against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam in 2005. 

The innings was a trade mark of the kind of player he was, particularly in the first half of his career with his ferocious six hitting ability. This was quickly followed up by another explosive innings of 183 not out against Sri Lanka in Jaipur. This was his second ODI series of his career. Following the early loss of Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni was promoted to number three in the batting order ahead of skipper Rahul Dravid with India chasing a daunting target of 299runs. Dhoni's 183 not out guided India to yet another win on home soil.               

Another turning point of Dhoni's career came after India's tour of England in 2007, where he was announced as captain of India's T20 World Cup . This was  the hallmark of Dhoni's journey of becoming one of the greatest limited-overs captains of all time,  especially when he and India shocked the world by winning the first inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. This was then followed by India's rise to claiming the top spot in the Test rankings in 2009. 

However, this did not satisfy Dhoni's India as the one thing they wanted was that second World Cup. with India being one of three nations to host the 2011 edition along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, there was a sense of expectation for Dhoni's men to deliver the goods, especially with this being Tendulkar's last chance to add a World Cup to his remarkable career.  Dhoni was in charge of a pretty experienced squad of which included the likes of The Little Master, the explosive Virender Sehwag, veteran off spinner Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and current Skipper Virat Kohli. Being the number one side in ODI's, India went into the tournament as hot favourites, especially on home soil. 

Having had a torrid Caribbean World Cup campaign in 2007, there was even more pressure on Dhoni's side to make this tournament a memorable one, and boy did they deliver, especially with the form of of Yuvraj Singh, who was named 'Man of the Tournament' for his all-round contribution with 362 runs along with 15 wickets.  

Dhoni has also led Chennai Super Kings to four IPL(Indian Premier League) titles and one Champions League title. One of the reasons as to why the Super Kings have been so consistent in winning those titles and the Champions League is the strong Indian contingent of Dhoni himself, Ashwin, Jadeja who joined in season four, Raina and Harbhajan Singh, who was brought in season ten.        

One of Dhoni's key attributes as a player was the ability to remain calm under pressure, which is what made him such a great captain and player, especially in the one day and T20 formats. He was also a good reader of the game and knew what decisions to make at the right time. Even when Kohli took over the role of captaining the white ball side, Dhoni was still in charge of setting the fields and giving instructions to the bowlers. 

During India's tour of South Africa, the stump mics caught footage of the former Indian skipper giving advice to the bowlers on what to bowl and when. These were signs of Dhoni reliving his days as captain even though he handefCup came around, despite Dhoni's best efforts to help India try and win the semi-final against New Zealand at Old Trafford, you could see that the veteran Keeper-batsman looked burned out of International Cricket, especially after an incredible 15-year journey.      

  

Feature Image: MS Dhoni by Khabari Londa via Flickr, Creative Commons   

Should UEFA Scrap Two Legged Knockout Ties?

The UEFA Champions League and Europa League are the two pillars of European club football, but is it time to change its format?

As we football fans know that COVID-19 has messed up the sporting calendar, UEFA have therefore opted to have a mini 'World Cup' style tournament to get this season's competition over and done with, before the 2020-21 competition begins in October.

Let us first discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having two legged ties.  One of the advantages of two legged ties is that both teams get to play twice but in each other's territory. So, for example if Manchester United played Barcelona at the Camp Nou, they would have to play them again at Old Trafford, which is a positive thing becuase they will have home support from the crowd. However, one of the disadvantages could be that it adds to their fixture list which means they will be playing more games. Not to say that this is a bad thing, but what about the clubs who have slightly smaller squads and do not have enough money to add to them in terms of bench strength? 

You look at the top sides such as City and Barcelona and say well the reason as to why they are contenders is becuase they have some of the best players in their starting line-ups. Well, that may be true but they also have quality on their bench so that if one player gets injured, they can easily be replaced, whereas the smaller teams have to search for players who can fill the place of those who are out with injuries, which is always a struggle if the transfer window is not open or more importantly if a club is struggling to find players of a higher quality to try and boost their squad. 

One of the other issues with two-legged ties is that it's so much of an advantage to the away team, especially in the first leg, as one goal counts as double if they score in the second leg. therefore in my opinion that is slightly unfair.

But on the plus side you can say that having a two legged tie adds to the drama as a lot can happen in those two matches. Take Liverpool's miraculous comeback against Barcelona in the second leg of the semifinal clash at Anfield, where the Reds were trailing 3-0 on aggregate. the odds were against them to turn the tie around, but Jurgen Klopp's men delivered one of the greatest nights at Anfield where the six-time Champions League winners stunned Ernesto Valverde's side with a thumping 4-0 win to advance into the final.

Mauricio Pochettino did a similar thing during his time at White Hart Lane. Spurs lost their home leg to Ajax 1- 0 in the second semifinal and needed to win.  the match was on a knife-edge at 2-2 and Tottenham still needed one more goal to qualify for the final and Lucas Moura managed to find it in virtually the last kick of the game. This is why most people are still in favour of two-legged fixtures for the knockout phases for each tournament. they feel it adds more drama and both teams have two bites of the cherry to try and knock each other out of the tournament.  However, the negative side to this could be that the team playing away first as an advantage, becuase if they score in the first leg, it counts as double so then the team playing away in the second leg will have to beat the other teams aggregate score to win.  

With the FA Cup now being a straight knockout competition due to the exclusion of replays, some people may feel that eliminating two-leg ties may feel that the Champions League even overshadow it in terms of popularity.           

The away goals rule was invented in 1965-66 by UEFA as a way of breaking ties in football so that the team who scores the most away goals wins.  So, for example, if a team defeats another team 2-1 in the first leg, the team who got the one goal in that game would only need to win by 1 goal to 0 as an away goal counts as double. Extra-time and penalties can only take place if both teams have scored the same amount of away goals.    

This may sound confusing at first, but some fans find it helps by adding an extra narrative to the match becuase of the combination of having two matches along with the away goals rule. So you have the beginning of the story, which is the first leg and then the last part, which is the second leg.    

A tournament should never lose its identity by changing its tradition. Therefore, two-legged ties in both the Europa and Champions League are still the way to go in terms of keeping its popularity.  

Feature Image: Champions League Trophy by xchange tickets