Tribute to Unsung Hero - VVS Laxman's six best knocks

"I have always kept my country's success and need ahead of my personal aspirations. And while I would love contributing to the team's success, especially against England and Australia, I think this is the right to give opportunity to the youngsters in home conditions ahead of international assignments" 

With 10 straight  forthcoming Tests at home, VVS Laxman could have easily eyed some personal milestones like 10000 Test runs, 20 Test tons but legendary Indian batsman paved the way for youngsters despite having a golden chance to play his farewell Test at his home ground against New Zealand as selfless Hyderabadi lad once again put his team ahead of his personal milestones and aspirations like he did throughout his career. He was always overshadowed by Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly but his contribution to Indian cricket is priceless and can never be forgotten.

The 8781 runs in  134 Tests at an average of 45.97 may not look lot but Laxman scored runs whenever India needed most. The "magician of wrist" was also known as "man of crisis" and "second innings specialist". From Eden to Durban, this very very special player single handedly turned many Tests in India's favour and became the main architecture of India's memorable and historical Test wins. Though, Laxman has played plenty of brilliant knocks but I have picked Laxman's six best Test knocks to pay tribute to Indian cricket's unsung hero.

According to me, Laxman's six best innings are as follows:-

1. 281 against Australia in 2001: After losing Mumbai Test, India were forced to play follow on at Eden Gardens and Aussies were looking well set to conquer their final frontier but Laxman  played best ever knock in best ever Test of cricketing history against the likes of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne due to which India achieved an incredible and unbelievable victory by 171 runs to become second ever team to win the Test despite playing follow on. Laxman's 281-run knock had developed never-say-die attitude in Indian cricket.

2. 148 against Australia at Adelaide in 2003: In reply of Australia's 1st innings total of 556, India were in deep trouble after losing the 4th wicket on just 85 runs but 303-run stand between VVS Laxman(148) and Rahul Dravid(233) didn't only bail India out of trouble but also helped the visitors to win the Test on Australian soil after 23 years. Australia once again became victim of Laxman's another very very special innings.

3. 124 against New Zealand at Napier in 2009: India were 1-0 up in the series but India had to play follow on in the second Test. India needed to bat two full days to save the Test and Laxman once again came to the rescue by scoring unbeaten 124 runs which later on helped India to win Test series on New Zealand soil after 40 years as third Test was also ended at draw. India's maiden series win in New Zealand would not have been possible without Laxman.

4. 103 against Sri Lanka at Colombo in 2010: This was the must win Test for India to retain its number one Test spot but they had ample task of chasing 257 runs on the fifth day's detouring track of Premadasa. India's top order didn't help the cause either and India were 62 for 4 at one stage but Laxman shown his class again in difficult circumstances and slammed unbeaten 103 with the back pain to guide India to its fourth highest successful chase in Tests.

5. 73 against Australia at Mohali in 2010: Chasing 216, India were 124/8 at one stage and victory was looking just formality for the visitors but Aussies once again failed to cross the "Laxman barrier" as India's crisis man played another absolute magical innings of 73 while batting with tail.The another important part of this innings was that Laxman was playing with immense back pain but still he did miracle for India yet again despite having all the odds against him.

6. 96 against South Africa at Durban in 2010: India were trailing 0-1 in this high voltage Test series and almost all batsmen were struggling on the greenish and bouncy track of Durban in the second Test but Laxman scored valuable 96 runs in the second innings which helped India to score 228 runs despite losing half of its side on just 93. India set 303-run target, thanks to Laxman's useful partnerships with Dhoni and tailenders. Eventually, India won the Test by 87 runs and registered its first ever Test victory on one of the fastest tracks of world.

Series Preview: India to start new season against in-form Sri Lanka

The Men In Blue are set to start their new season after much needed seven-week break as they will take on hosts Sri Lanka in the five match ODI series. Both teams are also scheduled to play lone T20 international. The viewers are used to of seeing India-Sri Lanka rivalry on cricketing field as both these teams have played with each other in 13 ODI series since 2008. The forthcoming series can be seen as the warm-up of the 2012 T20 World Cup which will be hosted by Sri Lanka in September. However, rain may play the spoilsport and there is a reserve day  kept for all the five one-dayers.

India
The visitors had a disastrous previous season as World Champions faced humiliation on English and Australian soil by losing all eight Tests overseas. As if drubbing in Test series was not enough, they even failed to qualify for final in  CB series and Asia Cup respectively. India would like to start a news season on winning note before hosting New Zealand, England, Pakistan and playing T20 World Cup. The 5-0 win in the ODI series against Sri Lanka will also help India to become a number one team in the ICC ODI rankings. Indian selectors have sent full strength team to Sri Lanka. The batting line-up with Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina is looking very strong. While, Zaheer Khan will spearhead the bowling attack which includes pacemen Umesh Yadav and Ashok Dinda. The responsibility of spin attack will be on the shoulders of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. If India will go with seven specialist batsmen then all-rounder Irfan Pathan may struggle to find his place in playing eleven. India have won its last two bilateral series on lankan soil in 2008 and 2009 respectively. Therefore, World Champions have golden opportunity to start the new season with series win

Sri Lanka
Jayawardene-led Sri Lanka is high on confidence after beating Pakistan in ODI and Test series at home. This will be the last international series for them before T20 World Cup as all the lankan players would represent their respective teams in Sri Lanka Premier League(SLPL) during 15-day long tournament, starting from 11th August. Tilakaratane Dilshan and Kumar Sangakaara are in good touch but form of skipper Mahela Jayawardene is a bit of concern for the home side as he had miserable recent ODI and Test series with bat against Pakistan. All-rounder Angelo Mathews can turn the match at anytime as he did in the fifth and final ODI against Pakistan and he is a great asset for the lankans with both bat and ball. Pacer Lasith Malinga hasn't had much success against India in recent past but no team can take him lightly. While, Nuwan Kulasekara's ability to move the ball both ways could create trouble for Indian batsmen under lights. All-rounder Thisara Parera is also in great form with ball. Left-arm pacer Isuru Udana is set to make his ODI debut and left-arm spinner Rangana Herath will look forward to contain the strong Indian batting line-up. The in-form Sri Lankan side would like to carry its winning momentum at home before T20 World Cup.

Battle to watch out for:
Earlier this year, Virat Kohli has hammered Lasith Malinga all over the park in Australia during his unbeaten 133-run knock that helped India to chase down 321 in just 36.1 overs. The battle between Kohli and Malinga is again going to be interesting and more interesting will be the approach of Delhi Dasher against Sri Lanka's pace spearhead.

India squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virat Kohli (vice-capt), Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, R Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Rahul Sharma, Ashok Dinda, Pragyan Ojha, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane.


Sri Lanka squad:Mahela Jayawardene (capt), Angelo Mathews (vice-capt), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara, Upul Tharanga, Dinesh Chandimal (wk), Nuwan Kulasekara, Thisara Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedera, Rangana Herath, Sachithra Senanayake, Jeevan Mendis, Isuru Udana.


Quotes
"Most of the players have come back after a long break and the body looks very different and their fielding and other activities look very different.We will make the most of the rests that we have got. It's the start of the season and we want to start it on a good note.," MS Dhoni, Indian captain.


"It's a good opportunity against India. We need to take the team forward. We have brought in a few new players for the one-day side, and we have to think about the World Twenty20 and which of these players will be suitable for that competition," Mahela Jayawardene, Sri Lankan captain.

Uttar Pradesh civic polls: An analysis

The results of Uttar Pradesh Civic Polls have been declared and BJP has registered an overwhelming victory in the Municipal Corporations. While congress, who faced defeat in BMC and MCD earlier this year, got another setback as they failed to win even a single Municipal Corporation out of 12. What these results shows? Is BJP reviving in Uttar Pradesh? Are Civic Polls results an alarming sign for Congress in UP? Did SP and BSP make a mistake by not fielding their candidates on their party symbols?

BJP
The confidence of BJP leaders and workers is on high after sweeping Municipal Corporation polls. BJP, who won 8 Municipal Corporations in 2006, bagged 10 Mayor seats this time around. However, the party couldn't got majority in any of these Municipal Corporation. BJP's victory in 10 Municipal Corporations has not came as a surprise because cities like Agra, Meerut, Lucknow, Varansi, Kanpur, Gorakhpur and Ghaziabad are always been the strong forts of BJP. Having said that, I am not taking any credit away from BJP. Despite performing exceptionally well in metropolitan cities, BJP is constantly losing base in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh. BJP's tally of 55 Nagar Panchayats is declined to 35. BJP couldn't performed well in Nagar Palikas also as they won 41 Nagar Palikas, loss of 4 seats, in comparison of 2006. No party can do well on the basis of urban voters only and BJP will have to gain the confidence of rural areas' voters if they want to improve their performance in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Notably, BJP did well in Municipal Corporations in 2006 as well but their performance in 2007 assembly elections and 2009 Lok Sabha elections was below the par. BJP UP president, Laxmikant Vajpayee, is busy in taking credit of party's brilliant performance in the Mayor elections but he has no explanation of BJP's poor show in Nagar Palikas and Nagar Panchayats. If BJP is labeling its victory in Municipal Corporations as a mandate of Uttar Pradesh people for 2014 then they are just trying to boost the morale of party workers which was down after having poor assembly elections six months back.


Congress
Congress, who won Bareilly, Allahabad and Jhansi Municipalities in 2006, couldn't open its account. The defeat in Barelly and Jhansi was almost confirmed on 6th March 2012 when Congress tasted defeat in both these places in the assembly elections. Even Supriya Aren, who was Congress MLA candidate and Bareilly Mayor then, couldn't saved her deposit from Bareilly Cantt. In my opinion, Congress shouldn't have contested these civic polls after having terrible assembly elections but they shown courage to contest it unlike SP and BSP. Even though, no Mayor candidate from Congress has won but performance of Congress in Kanpur, Allahabad and Varansi is quite satisfactory. Congress won 23 wards in Kanpur, just four less than BJP. While, they gained 8 wards in Varanasi to see their tally increasing to 16. Similarly, 13 corporators of Congress are elected in Allahabad, just one less than BJP. Though, their satisfactory performance in these three metropolitan cities can just work as consolation for them but can't hide the reality that Congress is being rejected by the Uttar Pradesh voters once again. Beside this, Congress won 14 Nagar Palikas and their tally of Nagar Panchayats is declined to 21 from 25. Congress performance in these civic polls is quite similar to their performance in assembly elections. The anti incumbency against most of the Congress sitting MPs has lot to do with Congress poor performance in assembly and civic polls. With the current scenario, it's extremely difficult for Congress to reach the double digit mark in UP in the next Lok Sabha elections. Notably, Congress had stunned everyone by winning 22 seats in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Beside BJP and Congress, Independents have won 131 Nagar Palikas and 331 Nagar Panchayats. Most of the winning Independents are SP and BSP supported. BSP didn't contest 2006 civic polls as well but what is the reason SP also not contested this time around? SP's inability to field the candidates in these civic polls shows they are yet to win the confidence of urban voters despite coming to the power with the thumping majority. Had BSP contested the civic polls, BJP might not have been able to win 10 Municipalities because Mayawati's dalit vote bank got transferred to BJP in most of the metropolitan cities.

From my deep analysis of UP civic polls, I can conclude that nothing much has been changed since the assembly polls.

BJP’s tryst with doom

By Kuldip Nayar

Mohan Bhagwat’s wish for a Hindutva prime minister shows how the RSS does not face the reality of a secular India. 

The Bhartiya Janata Party seems to have a tryst with doom. In the wake of scams and scandals in the Congress-run government, the BJP was gaining ground.

Its performance in  Parliament was comparatively better and its younger leadership assertive and more meaningful. But once again old RSS men who have been riding the party have brought it back to square one.

First Gujarat chief minister Narender Modi joined issued with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on the concept of secularism and then RSS played the Hindutva card. 

Both have scotched even the remotest chance of BJP returning to power. A person who has his hands tainted with the blood of Muslims cannot be projected as India’s next prime minister.

Nor can the false clothes of culture hide the real face of adherents to Hindu Rashtriya concept.

The BJP has, by and large, remained quiet. One if its leaders has spoken out of turn and questioned the very concept of secularism. But he was hushed up quickly. It seems that the party did delude itself with the idea that the Hindu voters were beginning to own the RSS philosophy. The BJP should have learnt the lesson in 2009 when it was all set to win but lost to the Congress.

Political parties, including the Congress, do not understand the new electorate, mostly young. It is liberal in outlook and hates to mix religion with politics. This was the ethos which the nation adopted during the independence struggle and after freedom as a pole star under the leadership of Mahatama Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

True, regional chauvinism, which is co-terminus with caste and community in certain states, is rearing its ugly head. This is because the Centre looks confused and equivocal when it comes to enunciate policies which demand secular credentials.

Having little feedback from the field, New Delhi continues to monopolise power and fails to appreciate that the decentralisation would infuse life among the people in a state. Regional aspirations have got a new edge in the past years and the locals are fired with confidence that they can sort out their problems themselves and find a consensus quicker than the remote New Delhi does.

This is the reason why Trinamool Congress won in West Bengal and Samajwadi Party in UP. The voters found the parties closer to them and more sympathetic to their problems. Even if these regional parties do not give them a better administration the people are not likely to go back to all India parties which they have found failing them again and again.

They may try another party within the region because they are getting convinced that all India parties are not an answer to their problems of appalling living conditions.

Asserting identity

The idea of India may be pushed further into the background. There may be insurgents and separatists in certain areas to assert the identity of their caste or community, believing that in the affairs of all India politics they may get lost. Much would depend on how New Delhi handles the situation. The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations has become outdated.

Had its recommendations been implemented when the report came out more than two decades ago, the demand by the states to have more powers might not have arisen.

The Centre has to curtail the subjects it has, either voluntarily or through a Constitutional amendment. Apart from defence, foreign affairs, currency and overall financial planning, New Delhi should not have more subjects. Once it decentralises its power, it should ensure that it goes all the way, from the state capital to the district and then to the panchayat so that people themselves participate in governance.

The two main parties, Congress, the BJP and the Left would have problems. The Left does not seem to bother because it is dictatorial in its working. The CPM ousted a member from the party even though he had resigned after supporting Pranab Mukherjee.

The BJP faces a bigger problem because it rules in twice the number of States the Congress does. Leave Modi apart — he is a bull in the China shop — the chief ministers in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka are too tall to tame. They are leaders of their own communities and command wide influence.

Both parties would have great difficulty for 2014 election, first in choosing the top person and then tackling him or her.  The BJP would need more and more assistance of RSS to sort out difficulties with the state leaders. Realising this, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has announced that Modi has all the qualifications to become India’s new prime minister.

However, this has naturally infuriated the BJP’s main ally, Janata Dal (United). Its president Sharad Yadav has said that if Modi is the prime minister candidate, the JD(U) would quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

What is wrong with having a Hindutva prime minister questions Bhagwat. This question itself shows how RSS lives in a world of it own and does not face the reality of secular India. For the BJP, already a divided house, the confusion is more confounded. It realises that the country can never be ruled through a communal agenda. 

Even the former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee realised this and always put his liberal foot forward. He refused to oust his principal secretary Brijesh Mishra despite the pressure of RSS. But then the BJP’s problem is that it does not have a tall person like Vajpayee to withstand the pressure of RSS.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/260410/bjps-tryst-doom.html