কলকাতার (কল্প-) বিজ্ঞানী

“আমেরিকায় দেখবেন কেউ বিজ্ঞান নিয়ে কিছু বললে খবরের কাগজগুলো সেটা নিয়ে প্রথম পাতায় খবর করে, হইচই হয়, তারপর লোকে বিচার করে ঠিক না ভুল। আর এখানে দেখুন, খবরের কাগজগুলো এই সব ছাপতেই চায় না। আমি তো বলছি, ছাপুন, তারপর লোকে পরুক, প্রমান করতে বলুক। আমি প্রমান দিয়ে দেব। আমার কাছে প্রমান আছে। কিন্তু ওদের কারো সাহসই নেই আমার সঙ্গে কথা বলার।” এক নিঃশ্বাসে কথাগুলো বলে থামলেন ভদ্রলোক।

 খুবই সাধারণ চেহারা ভদ্রলোকের, ষাটের ওপর বয়স, মাথার চুল পাতলা হয়ে এসেছে, পরনে সাধারণ শার্ট-প্যান্ট, বাঁ হাতে একটা সস্তার ঘড়ি, ঘাম মোছার জন্য একটা নীল রুমাল ঘাড়ের কাছে রাখা। ভদ্রলোক বসে আছেন বইমেলার একটা ল্যাম্পপোস্টের নিচে। সামনে অনেকগুলো বই আর লিফলেট, বেশ কিছু উৎসাহী জনতা, যাদের মধ্যে আমি এবং আমার সঙ্গিনীরাও আছি। ল্যাম্পপোস্টে টাঙ্গানো আর্ট পেপারের ওপরের লেখাগুলো বাংলা, ইংরেজি আর হিন্দিতে একটা কথাই বারবার বলছে, ‘সূর্য, পৃথিবীকে প্রদক্ষিণ করে/ THE SUN GOES AROUND THE EARTH ONCE IN A YEAR’

এতক্ষণে নিশ্চয়ই বুঝতেই পারছেন যে, আমার সঙ্গে বিখ্যাত কার্তিক চন্দ্র পাল ওরফে কে. সি. পালের সঙ্গে দেখা হয়েছিল এই বইমেলায়। যিনি নিজে আজ থেকে প্রায় ২০-২৫ বছর আগে কলকাতার দেওয়াল ভরিয়ে ফেরেছিলেন ‘সূর্য পৃথিবীর চারদিকে ঘোরে’ এই লিখে। আমার কলকাতার রূপকথার গল্পের একটি অংশ হলেন কে. সি. পাল আর তাঁর এই মতবাদ।

ভদ্রলোককে আগেও আনেকবার দেখেছি। বইমেলাতে তো বটেই, এমনকি কদিন আগেই তাঁকে দেখেছিলুম নন্দন চত্বরে।

 কিন্তু এবার-ই প্রথম কথা হল ওনার সঙ্গে। দেখলাম একজন লোক কতটা আবেগপ্রবন ভাবে তাঁর নিজের চিন্তাটাকে সাধারণ জনতার মধ্যে ছড়িয়ে দিতে চান।

 মনে রাখবেন, ওনার নিজের কাছে কিন্তু এই মতবাদ নিয়ে এক ফোঁটা সন্দেহ নেই। তিনি নিশ্চিত যে তিনি ঠিক, লোকে স্বীকার করছে না এইটুকুই যা। মনে মনে তিনি গ্যালেলিও বা কোপার্নিকাসের সমকক্ষ একজন। যে জন্য নিজের লাখ লাখ টাকা খরচ করে ফেলেছেন তাঁর এই মত প্রচারের জন্য। তাঁর এই মতবাদ জানিয়ে চিঠি পাঠিয়েছেন নাসায়, যে চিঠির মার্জিত উত্তরে নাসা তাঁকে জানিয়েছে যে, বর্তমান মতটিই তাদের পছন্দ এবং ওটা দিয়েই তাদের বেশ কাজ চলে যাচ্ছে।

 যে দৃঢ় বিশ্বাস নিয়ে তিনি সূর্যের বার্ষিক পৃথিবী পরিক্রমণের কথা বলে যান তাঁর দর্শকদের (হ্যাঁ, দর্শক। অনেকেই শুধু দাড়িয়ে তাঁর কথা শুনে চলে যাচ্ছিলো, বই কিনছিল হাতে গোনা কয়েকজন), যেভাবে ১০ টাকার বিনিময়ে (সঙ্গে ২ টাকার লিফলেট বিনামূল্যে) নিজের বই বিক্রি করে নিজের মতবাদ প্রচারের সময় জ্বলজ্বল করে ওঠে ওনার চোখগুলো সেটা হয়তো সামান্য হলেও দাগ কেটে যায় তাঁর পাঠকদের মনে।

 হয়তো ভদ্রলোক পাগল। হয়তো ওনার এই মতের কোন বৈজ্ঞানিক ভিত্তি নেই কিন্তু তা সত্বেও ওনার আবেগ, ওনার বিশ্বাস, ওনার নাছোড়বান্দা মনোভাবের তুলনা মেলা ভার। আর সেখান থেকেই ওনার সঙ্গে কথা বলার পর হয়তো সামান্য হলেও কোথাও যেন মনে হয়, যদি ভদ্রলোক ঠিক হন, যদি একদিনের জন্যও ভদ্রলোকের থিয়োরিটাকে মেনে নেওয়া হয়, তাহলে হয়তো সেই একটা দিন কার্তিকবাবু নিশ্চিন্তে ঘুমতে পারবেন, ঐ একটা দিন কার্ত্তিকবাবু হবেন পৃথিবীর সবচেয়ে সুখী মানুষ।

 আর আমরা, যারা সকলেই কিছু না কিছু স্বপ্নের পেছনে ছুটে বেড়াই তারা তখন হাততালি দিতে দিতে জানবো যে আমাদের মতই একজন তাঁর নিজের স্বপ্নটা খুঁজে পেয়েছেন। কিন্তু ততক্ষন আমার এই ব্লগের লেখাটুকুই সম্বল ওনাকে সম্মান জানানোর জন্য।

Dwitiya

Here comes the 2nd published story!! And it felt even more special than the First!!

http://kothatobolarjonyei.blogspot.com/2012/01/blog-post_19.html

Felt Really Good!!

Thanks 'kotha to bolar jonneyi' team!!

47, 43 and Other Stories

[Generally, in any post with cricket statistics, I put my words of gratitude for the website www.cricinfo.com at the end of the article. But this one is so much dependent of cricket statistics and cricket scorecards, all of which obviously came from Cricinfo, that I thought it would be apt to convey my thanks even before the start of my post. Here it goes, a big thanks and complements for providing such detail statistics for every aspect of the beautiful game. All the pictures used in this article are also from Cricinfo ]

One of the most feared fast bowlers of last 15 years, Glen McGrath played 124 test matches to take 563 test wickets at an average of 21.64. Compared to his bowling records his batting statistics are pretty modest. He proudly carries a batting average of 7.36 with just 641 career runs.

But still I would start an article regarding batting statistics, mentioning him. This may be a good indicator of the issue I want to highlight here.

Out of his 148 test innings, in 92.75% times he came to bat at number 11 and there are matches like this where Glen came to bat at 578/9. ‘Batting as tail ender is good fun’, Glen must have thought. But young Nathan Lyon would certainly disagree. In his short international career of 9 tests and just 12 innings he had experienced coming to bat when his team was reeling at 21 for 9. And without his best test score of 14 and another dozen from Peter Siddle Australia was in a position to break New Zealand’s 55 years old record of lowest test score which was 26.

And do not make the mistake of thinking this is an isolated event. In that very match on that very day in Newlands, South Africa got all out in less than 25 overs for a paltry score of 96. Obviously, it did not get highlighted much as Australia immediately scored less than half of that team total.

Even if we look a few statistics over the period of last 4 years, comparing 2008-2009 lower team scores versus the 2010-2011 same data, it clearly shows a trend.

In the 24 month’s period from 1^st January 2008 to 31^st December 2009 we had 4 completed team totals of less than 100, 17 completed team scores less than 150 and for less than 200 completed team total the count is 40. But the same numbers for the period of 1^st January 2010 to 31^st December 2011 read 8, 26 and 49 respectively. And with total number of completed innings remaining very similar for these two periods (214 in 08-09 versus 210 in 10-11), percentage wise also it shows significant increase, shown in the below chart.

If you think Bangladesh is the big contributor in these low scores then you are wrong. Actually out of those 8 below hundred team totals, Pakistan and Australia has scored 3 each, with Sri Lanka and South Africa completing the list with one each.

In fact out of the 26 team totals of 150 or less, only 2 of them was scored by Bangladesh. Where as for Pakistan this count is 6 (All in 2010) and for Australia it is 5.

For England, India and Zimbabwe, this count is one; it actually shows 3 different aspects, supremacy of England, tendency of playing test matches in home-like condition for India and less frequency of test matches for Zimbabwe.

And now after a good dosage of statistics let me make the point I am trying to express here. All these data shows a worrying decline in the quality of test match batting throughout the globe. And no, it’s not only sub continent players who are the guilty party here in the green tops of Australia and South Africa but instead significant presence of Australia and New Zealand in those lists shows a global trend where with more and more T-20 leagues has started having a severe impact on the batting techniques as well as qualities like patience, determination and grinding out tough situation. I wonder whether we will ever see another Rahul Dravid, another Steve Waugh or another Mohammad Yusuf batting at 35/3 and scoring a 120 ball 50 or a 230 ball 100 to steady the ship.

It’s very strange that a good number of very decent one day and T-20 batsmen have stamped their authority in the period of last 3 years including Virat Kohli, Upul Tharanga and Shane Watson but these same players while playing tests looks awfully out of their comfort zone.

In fact Hasim Amla and a couple of young English Batsmen like Cook and Trott are the only few players who showed consistency and played some very important innings, but again England have not made a tour of sub continent recently and the final call can only be taken once they complete their tours of UAE and Sri Lanka.

But everywhere else the picture is pretty bleak. Let me take the example for Australia. Australia last went through a slump in early and mid eighties when the invent of World Series Cricket along with the retirement of some great cricketers like Lillie and Chappell brothers converted them to a mediocre cricket team. But things started changing after the 1987 world cup in Indian sub continent, which went to Allan Border’s young team. They regained the Ashes in 1989 and post which they were a steady successful team in the first half of the Nineties and around 1999 reached its peak. They won three consecutive world cups, won every possible honours including top ranking in ICC ratings for both test matches and one day internationals. They enjoyed a run of 16 consecutive test wins which was broken in a crazy test match in Eden Gardens in 2001. They were not successful that time but in the 2004 tour they finally won their 'Final Frontier', a series in India after 35 years.

Their downwards run started in 2005, when they lost the Ashes after 18 years. That hurt their ego, they won the 2007 World Cup as much dominatingly as one can think and then their greats like Langer, Warne and McGrath bided adieu to their cricket career with a 5-0 thrashing in 2007-08 Ashes. But, more players like Hayden and Gilchrist retired in 2008-09 and Australia started trying to find their replacements.

They did find a few promising fast bowlers in Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhause, Pattrick Cummings and James Pattinson. They are not yet sure about their spinner which was pretty much expected but the most worrying fact was their batting. In the top order they have tried options like Phillip Hughes, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh but none of them manages to get a test average of 40 after multiple chances and they are still dependent on their middle order or Ponting, Clarke and Hussey. Both Warner and Cowan started pretty well but before making the final call, they have to play a couple of away test series in places like India-Sri Lanka and England.

Similar story is for India also. From that 1996 Lords test match which announced the arrival of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid, India slowly built themselves a strong batting line up and with the arrival of VVS Laxman in 98 and Virender Sehwag in 2001, in the first decade of 21^st century Indian middle order batting looked much secured. That middle order till now has scored around 42,000 test runs and with an opener in the top who averages 51.51 with a test match strike rate close to 82, Indian team achieved many great feats in last 10 years.

And then Sourav Ganguly retired in November 2008 and the trouble started. Now it is 3 years since he has retired and India still has not find a steady replacement for him. They have tried players like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Chetashwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, some of the very successful players in one day internationals and Indian domestic cricket but none of them could cement their place for that number six position in the Indian test batting order. Not only that, due to injuries and other reason they have to find replacements for their openers time to time. Murali Vijay has already played 12 test matches to have an average of just little above 30, where Mukund has played 5 tests to manage an average of just 21.

For India, the most worrying part is that sometimes in 2012 both Dravid and Laxman would hung their boots and we fear about their replacement who do not show any sign to make the fans feel that those guys are ready to take the mantle of Indian test middle order.

And it’s not just the low scores; it’s the manner by which the teams are surrendering meekly in difficult conditions. 27 completed test innings in 2010-2011 did not last even 50 overs, it shows how the teams are now not ready to bat out the difficult phase of an innings, they lack the patience to bat out hours, they do not believe in giving the first hours to bowlers any more. And if you are interested to know, the same count for 2008-2009 is just 18.

So, what could be the possible reasons for the drop in test match batting ability?

 Many will answer IPL. But is it only IPL? I don’t think so. Yes, IPL is one of major cause of concern. Not only it provides easy money to youngsters, it also supports a style of batting where prime objective is scoring runs quickly and not score runs with correct textbook technique. In a T-20 match, there are only 120 deliveries to score run off and hence batting for even 10 balls can give you fame and recognition if you can hit 4 of those 10 balls out of the ground. And even if you get out in the 11^th ball, no one will question because you would carry a Strike rate more than 275 and which can eventually help your team to win by 10 runs. So there is nothing called getting your eye in or playing for draw in these limited over formats. More and more players are now forgetting these essential qualities of test match batting and failing dreadfully in tough test match situations.

Another key aspect for decline in test match batting, especially in overseas tours is the quality of pitches in most part of the world. Think about a youngster from Indian sub continent who plays his domestic matches in the dead and placid pitches in places like Ahmedabad, Chennai, Karachi and Pallakele, for him it would be absolutely difficult to adjust quickly when he needs to bat in places like Headingley, Perth or Durban. They could have still managed it if they had the proper application and vision to give up their ego and bat with the aim of staying in the wicket for long. But that's where the problem lies and we found scenarios like Brad Haddin getting backed away to drive inside out to a short of length delivery and got caught behind when he was on zero and his team was wobbling at 18 for 5.

The same story are for players from England and New Zealand too, who are very comfortable with the bounce and swing in their home conditions but finds their techniques awfully short of what required to play quality spin bowling in pitches like Kanpur and Delhi.

Hence, as long as countries will keep making pitches to support their team’s strength in home matches we will find more and more teams would become ‘Home bully’ and ‘Foreign laughing stocks’ at the same time.

The last thing I want to point out is the lack of time for practice for the young batsmen. Please do not think that I am questioning their dedication and talent. You have to posses certain level of talent, hard work and dedication behind you to reach international level. But a year full of test matches, one day internationals, T-20s, IPLs and Champions league gives them hardly any break. And then there are promotional events organized by the sponsors which they need to attend and it seems like the only time which they can have to improve their skills and add new weapon in their armor is the time when they get dropped from the national team. And for some even that time is not good enough.

Now I would like to share another interesting statistics which will support the case.

8 debutant bowlers have taken 5 or more wickets in their first test in 2011. It includes pace bowlers, swing bowlers and spinners of various types. Are these bowlers coming to test arena being all prepared? Many of them are failing to continue their good work for longer, what could be the reason?

In my opinion, with the decline in test match batting ability, more and more batsmen now find it extremely difficult to handle different scenario or a different bowling type. So if a new bowler offers anything new for the batsman he is getting instant success in test match cricket. And that’s why debutant bowlers in total have taken 114 wickets in 2011 tests which is highest count by a pretty big margin.

Another side of the story could have been that, with the increase in T-20 crickets batsmen have found the scoring easy but for bowlers the life has become extremely difficult and hence bowlers have become mentally very strong and invented many new weapon to add to their skill set which is finally helping them in their performance in all formats of the game. Remember, the average run per wicket in tests in 2011 is 32.31, lowest since the year 2000.

For one day internationals, the picture is in very similar line. Number of low scoring innings is increasing like test matches. For example with 125 as cut off, we can find 30 completed ODI innings below that in 2010-2011, compared to 23 in the year 2008-2009. Many of them are contribution from teams like Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, Scotland and Ireland but many of the big boys are also the guilty party with Pakistan, South Africa and India all had team totals of below 100 in last two years. And Sri Lanka has already lowered the bar by scoring 43 in their first One day international of 2012.

So just to make a summary, the quality of batting is going down drastically with every passing day. I agree it is making the test matches more competitive and interesting by virtue of some really low scoring contests but overall as a test match fan we are missing the pleasure of watching classic, gritty, fighting test match batting and that is loss for the game itself.

The epic rivalries like West Indies pace quartet against Sunil Gavaskar, Lara versus McGrath or Sachin versus Akram may just have become extinct, the future Lara and Sachin may score thousands of runs in their own land but will keep finishing with a below thirty average in foreign tours. The Future does not look bright!

Thank You and Good Bye

So, we have reached the 365th day of the year 2011. 
A year full of Happy memories and Sad memories. I have seen events which made me Delighted and Excited and there were events which made me Shattered and Heart broken!!
2011 was the year of change and it did change my perception towards the life, I realized "Jeta chhilo na chhilo na seta na Paoai thak, sob pele noshto jibon". It helped me grow and find happiness from certain aspects of life which I did not try out seriously earlier.
As usual this year was a year of great Friends and awesome friendships!! Made lots of new friends, some of them are now very close to my heart, lost touch with some old ones and obviously there are some eternal ones to fall back on when you need them.
In Summary, 2011 might have more bad memories than good but being that eternal optimist let me call this as a 'Mixed Year'!!
Bring it On, 2012!!!

Missed Chance

You go to a foreign country. In the first test you face a difficult bouncy pitch and overcast conditions.  And you guys fail. Collective batting failure in both the innings and you lose by a huge margin.
I will accept that. I will take that loss. Obviously it's difficult to go to new country and play your best immediately. 'Fine' I will tell myself, "This guys will play better in the next test."
But what you did today? I mean seriously. You guys were in control. very much in control. Still you let it go. Yeah, I am not upset with Ponting and Hussey's partnership yesterday. Those are great players and they would fight till their last innings, but James Pattinson! How come?? This kid with 3 test matches in his bag scored 37!! How??? Low intensity? Just waiting for things to happen? Taking things easy??
You made me upset. Gautam gambhir, VVS Laxman, Virat Kohli, I love you  guys. I am so proud of you. Gautam, my 'T-20 Don', VVS who made me write 'Why fight for Ram when we have Laxman' as my Facebook status message after last year's Mohali test and Virat, the best of his generation, or is he?
333 and 240 are not big scores. At least the pitch was not so bad that, I would expect Australia to score less than that. Yes, still we could be more attacking. Some more close-in fielders to Aussie 9-10-11 was required. But that's part of the strategy. Overall bowling looked good. Zak looked awesome, Umesh looked threatening, Ashwin looked working on a plan in the first innings.
But batting? Still problem continues. SRT and RD looked solid till they bat and then suddenly got out to good balls. Sehwag, I will not make any comment, he is like that only.
I am not watching the match any more so don't know how MSD is batting.
The most disturbing part is, what can we change in the next match? Yes we can bring Rohit Sharma in place of Virat. What else? Any other change in the team? I can't see any.
Strategy wise, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, please be attacking. Please talk to Sourav Ganguly. Please use couple of players in both side for bat-pad catches while Ashwin is bowling. put more pressure. Trust me, this Aussie team is vulnerable. There are lots of self-doubt in their batting line up, exploit that. Attack that.


I know I should not do this, I should not write this piece till the 10th wicket is down. I should have faith on MSD, Zak, Isshannt (that's the new spelling of his name which he changed after consulting a numerologist) and Umesh to fight hard, keep grinding and bat as long as they can.


But this is not a match report. Even if India win or draw this match with any divine invention (they call Melbourne, the city of four-seasons a day, how much I would like Melbourne to have a monsoon, starting in next half an hour and continuing for next forty-eight hours) that would not change the fact that you guys have missed a chance. A great chance to stamp your authority and run away with this series.


All the best for remaining matches. Just remember, cricket is just like life. Life rarely gives us a second chance, I hope cricket will give you another chance in the new year test.


BELIEVE

Sorkari Christmas... Dorkari Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Friends!!

Ravindra Jayanti

         Till 2007, the name ‘Jadeja’ in India would identify with a man with true all round ability, a prince, who debuted during a world cup match in Australia, who went berserk on Waqar Younis in the next world cup quarter final in one of the most anticipated sporting encounter of that decade, who was one of the greatest ODI finisher for India in late 90s, who is holder of a bowling world record, who also flirted with a young Bipasa Basu in a Close up ad and starred against Celina Jaitley in ‘Khel’ after his cricketing career was over due to his alleged involvement in match fixing during early 2000.

         It changed somewhat post 2008. I still remember, I was in my office and going through cricinfo pages in a lazy evening when I came to know the just announced Indian team for the U-19 cricket world cup in Malaysia. And it was kind of fun to find a team with super ambitious names like Napoleon Einstein, a Bengali wicketkeeper in Sreevats Goswami, a MS Dhoni look-alike in Saurabh Tiwari and a captain called Virat. Among all these I could have missed Ravindra Jadeja, but then I suddenly noticed his birth date and became an instant fan! 6th December, 1988! The year was not important but here’s this guy who is playing for India, even if U-19, whom if I wish ‘Happy Birthday’ then he should reply back with ‘Thanks and same to you!’
          So, I obviously decided to follow this guys performance in the tournament and he was kind of star. With his slow left arm spin he did bamboozle a lot of those English, kiwi and South African kids and was quite tight with his economy rate.
          India won the tournament and with the first season of Indian Premier League around Jadeja was picked by Rajasthan Royals. And for rest of the season the story was quite magnificent. RR won the IPL; Jadeja was recognized by the Great Shane Warne as one of the most notable young talents in India and he became a star which followed up with a great Ranji season with 739 runs and 42 wickets.
           He was picked to play for India and scored a gutsy 60 in losing cause in his first game. All was good. He was fighting for the all rounder spot with Yousuf Pathan and did come on the top for the battle of the number 7 position till 2009.
          Then the path towards downhill started for him. He was mediocre in 2009 IPL, still picked for world 20-20 in England, where he had a very poor match against England. Chasing 153, India was lost by 3 runs and Jadeja, coming at number 4, ahead of Yuvraj and Dhoni, scored a scratchy 25 of 35 balls. His technique against moving ball was questioned. Poor form continued. His ability to tackle the pressure situation was questioned once again when he was run out 3 balls after Sachin’s dismissal of 175 in india’s epic chase of 350 which they end up being 3 runs short again.
          Big blow came before IPL 3, when he was suspended by Rajasthan Royals for trying to make unauthorized deals with other teams, a big disappointment for a youngster like him and it also shows that success was going in his heads. He sat home during the entire length of the IPL but promptly selected by Indian team for 2010 world 20-20, to be held in West Indies.
          The poorest display came in the match against Australia. 12 balls in his two overs went for 0,1,0,6,6,6  6,6,6,0,0,1. 38 runs in 2 overs and then he was again run out for 4. It was the final nail in the coffin and most of the Indian cricket fans wanted his head.
          He still got selected for the tour of Zimbabwe, Asia cup and tri series in Sri lanka and after his moderate success was dropped. A victorious world cup campaign came and gone with no Ravindra Jadeja in it and lots of pundits in Orkut and Facebook were glad to see that team management’s obsession with Ravindra Jadeja is gone.
         After a decent IPL-4 with the new team Kochi Tuskers Kerala and a not so noteworthy Ranji season Jadeja was picked for the Indian ODI team in their disastrous England tour in 2011.
His comeback match was once again a close loss for India, but unlike earlier times Jadeja was the only saving grace for the away team. After 0-4 thrashing in the test series and already 0-1 behind in the ODI series, India collapsed to 25/4 and then 58/5 in the 19th over when Jadeja entered. He was out in the 50th over after reaching his highest ODI score of 78 and pull India to 234. England finally won by 3 wickets in D/L method but with his 2 wickets Jadeja got the man of the match in his return.
         Post this he has played all the following 9 ODIs for India till today, scoring runs at an average of 39.80 coming at number 7. His bowling was more note-worthy with 18 wickets at and average of 23.44, more importantly in all the 10 matches after his return he took at least 1 wicket with 33/4 being his best in this period coming against England in Eden Gardens.
          In his second coming, Jadeja looks solid with the bat and effective with the ball and he is always a wonderful fielder. But a new urgency can be observed in his cricket now, may be finally he has realized the importance and the immense pleasure of getting a chance to be in India’s playing eleven. With his captain supporting him strongly, I will hope that this guy will make a very successful career of his own. He is one of those true all rounders which India craved for long and if he can make himself good enough for number 6 spot in tests that would give India lot of variety, specially in foreign conditions.
           So, Happy Birthday dude! Play well, play sincerely! Let me be proud of another player who shares his birthday with me after the Freddy- Shirt waving- pedalo riding-beer drinking- Flintoff, and Rudra Pratap- Raw Pace- Singh!

Post Script: I finished the above piece on Sunday morning and decided to post it on 6th. Then I realized that he has a match on 5th and decided to add those stats with his stats after making a comeback to India team. But for the first time in his return he went wicket less, got run out again for just 11 and India lost a close ODI. I just hope his terrible form is not coming back and it’s just the effect of law of averages.

Carry on the good work boy!! Happy Birthday and All the Best for the coming year!!