Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen has faced his share of troubles, on and off the cricket field. However, he says he aspired to play on one hallowed ground - the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, the historic venue when South Africa returned from isolation following the period of apartheid. Perhaps that had something to do with why Pietersen was desperate to play at Eden Gardens despite a broken finger. After all, Pietersen defected to play for England after claiming that the quota system in the South African cricket administration was affecting the selection.

Irrespective of the origin of his passion to play at Eden Gardens, KP almost missed his chance after he fractured his finger during the fourth ODI between India and England at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Pietersen, as it turned out, played the Twenty20 match and top scored with a match winning half century that gave England their lone win on the mini tour of India. Before the revamp, the Eden Gardens was supposed to be an experience of playing on a beautiful turf in front of a 100,000 strong fans.

England missed the opportunity to play at the Eden Gardens after the stadium ran into trouble with the ICC over renovation deadline which meant that the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 match between India and England was shifted to Bengaluru to the disappointment of Eden Gardens fans.

It should be noted that the last time Pietersen toured India, he was the England captain but lost his job shortly thereafter. But this time would not be a case of missed chances.Pietersen has faced a tough time since, and perhaps it would be also not wrong to assume that his playing here was fortuitous in more ways than one. Pietersen claims he had to beg the England coach, Andy Flower, before getting the opportunity to play despite the sore finger.

That Kevin Pietersen not only relieved his childhood dream of playing at Eden Gardens but also, made it a memorable outing for England would have been icing on the cake.

In a political rally for his party, Tehreek e Insaf, Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain turned politician, reportedly drew in crowds of over 100000 in bid to fight corruption in Pakistan. How’s that for a picture?

Chaminda Vaas

Chaminda Vaas was vying for a swansong at the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 alongside fellow Sri Lankan cricketers, Sanath Jayasuriya and Muthiah Muralitharan. However, only Muralitharan got the chance in the World Cup edition that saw Sri Lanka make the final against India at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai but failed to overcome the hosts for the ultimate prize.

Lamenting on the loss of opportunity, Chaminda showed tremendous belief in his own abilities as he reiterated defiantly that India would not have got past Sri Lanka had Vaas was opening the bowling as he has for Sri Lanka for the longest time before losing the faith of the Sri Lankan selectors. Chaminda Vaas though was speaking on the sidelines of a Twenty20 benefit in his favour, reflecting on what may have been.

The Indian cricket team though may have different ideas about the final and while cricket does not give one the opportunity to go back in time and imagine a different result, Vaas is perhaps not taking a dig at the Indian cricket team as much as he is sending the message that he is still good enough for the game and that he firmly believes in the skills that took him to be Sri Lanka’s premier fast bowler through Sri Lanka’s cricketing hey days which included their World Cup in 1996.

Sebastien Vettel

Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One boss, believes Formula One is here to stay in India, a compliment echoed by fans in the country as well as some of the Indian celebrities including the Indian cricketers who were bowled over by the spectacle. At the end of the Indian Grand Prix at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida, there was a collective relief that Formula One had come to India had come only once to India as opposed to cricket that is played around the year these days.

There is undoubtedly a grand following for Formula One amongst Indians and the fact that the racing was brought to India made it more of a celebration of adrenaline that is not easy to get over as the weekend proved in plenty. However, that it can actually match the crazed following that cricket enjoys in India seems a task even the multi million dollar speed thrill would have earn over time. And that would not be easy with just the one race in India although it would have done a lot towards making more people aware of the sport and perhaps see more viewership from India for more international F1 races, although only two remain in the 2011 season.

While cricket cannot match steps with Formula One racing’s worldwide following, it would certainly have a tough task sustaining interest in a sport that will see only one race a year.

Ferozeshah Kotla

Perhaps the Indian cricket team will share of the blame for why the recently concluded India England ODI series saw such abject number of fans at the cricket stadium. One of the primary reasons has been the fact that the results in England where the Indian cricket team plunged to new depths of despair were nothing to write home about. Having being repeatedly plummelled by the hosts, it seemed only natural that the results would have left a few Indian cricket fans feeling desolate and put off therefore, with the Indian cricket team playing the same opposition once more.

While the scheduling also may have something to do with the fact that the same teams seem to be engaging one another in repeated succession, there is also the important factor that the series in England and the following series in India saw several of the mainstream Indian cricketers injured and therefore, missing in action. As a result, without their superheroes, the hyped contest turned into a virtual no show, with fans showing little patience for fresh faces or results that failed to yield the desired result. By the time India registered a 5-0 series whitewash versus England at home, the disillusioned fans had already cast their eyes in other directions.

With the series also catching India in the midst of the festival season, it was time to leave the gloom of the recent results behind and focus on brighter agenda and perhaps the cricket fans decided to do just that, giving Diwali precedence over supporting the Indian cricket. Another reason cricket suffered from lack of interest, ironically in India, was the unprecedented first Indian F1 Grand Prix in India which received tremendous coverage, hype and interest and eventually as things turned out, turned out to be a roaring success that even some of the Indian cricketers could not stay away from.

But perhaps another factor that must be taken into account is the fact that cricket fatigue has most definitely set in not only with cricketers and their tired bodies but also, with the cricket fans who seem to be unable to catch a break between series with tours planned within days of each other by vested boards to leave no time to register a memorable series or let a patten set in. The teams themselves are often guilty of going through the motion, unable to lift themselves for contests. Would it not then be too much to expect anything else from the fans?

Ishant Sharma

Former England captain, Michael Vaughan has already tasted plenty of backlash after his Twitter comment that perhaps Vaseline on the bat had something to do with V.V.S. Laxman beating the Hot Spot technology during India’s tour of England for the Test series. The protests not only came from the Indian cricket contingent but also, from Hot Spot and Vaseline.

Now while he is taking on the ICC for its decision to defer the Test championship, he has also not ruled out the possibility that had the Test results in England been favourable in India’s favour, the shape of Test championship could have been much different. The implications are rather obvious given that India has become the new Mecca of cricket and the money that flows into the game has been phenomenal, particularly when one looks at the model of the IPL. While the ICC has made no bones about the fact that the broadcast concerns of making the same kind of financial rate of interest that would successfully replace the ICC Champions Trophy could not be arrived at feasibly to push forth the agenda of a Test championship, the sponsorship revenue would also depend on those nations that can actually help generate that revenue.

India’s financial clout when it comes to cricket is too loud to be ignored, which is perhaps Vaughan is of the opinion that a better case could have been made for the Test championship had India managed to sustained their Test success of the past three years to actually make a case for creating a legitimate championship that will make Test cricket and bilateral series more sensible in pointing in the direction of a championship culminating every four years. That now appears a distant dream as far as the original planned date of 2013 is concerned.

Aleem Dar

Miffed by some of the decisions during the ongoing Pakistan Sri Lanka series, former Pakistan captain, Rameez Raja, wants the ICC to revert its policy of fielding neutral umpires in international matches. Cricket has been practising the idea of having neutral umpires for international engagement for about two decades. But Raja is not alone in making this pitch to the ICC.

Raja’s opinion has found echo is the voices of others in the cricket fraternity who feel that the employment of neutral umpires has robbed cricket of some good decision making in the sport. The idea that a match cannot have an umpire of the nationality of one of the two teams participating in the match was done away with the idea to reduce the idea of bias influencing decision making.

The ICC has also initiated an elite umpire panel. However, the matches have not been able to employ two members of the elite umpire panel after the new rules because of the small number in the group. Raja feels that the deliverance of better results could only have been possible if the umpires were of the highest quality.

Ironically Pakistan has Aleem Dar who is not only on the ICC elite umpire panel list but is also the recipient of the ICC Umpire of the Year award. That he cannot stand in any of the matches that Pakistan plays means that Pakistan cannot have access to an umpire of quality from their own region. Interestingly India does not have a single umpire in the elite panel list.

Prior to the concept of neutral umpires, there were often insinuations that key decisions of matches could have been influenced by umpires with nationality bias. In the midst of furore at the time, the idea of neutral umpires emerged forth. However, with some of the decisions becoming more and more glaring given the quality of television broadcast and the introduction of the Umprie Decision Review System, it has become easier not only pick the errors that umpires are sometimes prone to but also, some of the umpires who have been constantly erring. Whether the element of bias can be eliminated given the same factors must also be considered. But that the idea of loosening the concept is not the first and perhaps it was a sentiment that may be echoed more often in days to come.

Kevin Pietersen

England all rounder, Kevin Pietersen, batted in the one off Twenty20 match between India and England despite battling a broken finger. In doing so, he scored the only half century of the match en route to taking England to victory, a welcome result after the 5-0 ODI drubbing at the hands of India.

However, Kevin Pietersen’s uncanny ability to get into controversies was not spared on this brief tour either. First it was Graeme Swann’s book in which he criticized KP’s captaincy that brought the attention back to KP. And in the Twenty20 match, Kevin Pietersen managed to incur the wrath of the umpires who did not like the fact that Pietersen was carrying on and on about his dismissal.

England’s Kevin Pietersen has been officially reprimanded for a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct during his side’s six-wicket victory over India in the only Twenty20 International (T20I) of the series in Kolkata on Saturday. Pietersen was found to have breached Article 2.1.3 of the code which relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision during an international match”. Pietersen himself pleaded guilty and was let off with an official reprimand to add a touch of sour to an otherwise more celebratory finish to the England cricket season.

Michael Schumacher, Sachin Tendulkar

The Buddh International Circuit saw F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone, personally invite Indian batting’s colossus genius, Sachin Tendulkar, for the inaugural event and Tendulkar had the honour of waving the chequered flag as Red Bull’s double champion racing driver, Sebastien Vettel, was the first to cross the finish line for a record eleventh time in the year to match Michael Schumacher.

Tendulkar has been missing in action on the cricket field and was not seen during the England team’s visit to India for the ODI series with a toe injury. However, he turned up at the Noida venue with his wife, Anjali Tendulkar, and daughter Sara Tendulkar for the prestigious event in a major international motorsport event for India.

Sachin Tendulkar also observed a minute of silence along with the F1 drivers by way of condolence for the tragic deaths of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli who lost their lives in two separate motorsport accident at the Indy car racing and Moto GP respectively, once again highlighting the perils of high speed racing.

This though is not Tendulkar’s first brush with Formula One, having met Michael Schumacher, then racing with Ferrari, during the British Grand Prix in 2002 when the latter also presented him with his Ferrari which Tendulkar recently sold for a Nissan GTR car.

Tendulkar was one of the high profile celebrities present at the venue along with Bollywood actors as well as fellow cricketers such as Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh. Tendulkar is said to be have been ecstatic about the prospect of being the one ot wave the chequered flag at the end and tweeted about it as much. Although Tendulkar is perhaps not all that well known across the Formula One world as he is amongst the cricket friendly nation, that he was possibly the highest ranked celebrity outside of the drivers themselves could not be argued.

Steven Finn

The Twenty20 match at Eden Gardens turned out to an insipid affair for the scanty few fans that turned up for the Twenty20 match. The Indian cricket barely got going batting first, and managed only 120 after young fast bowler, Steven Finn, gave the cricket spectators a taste of what to expect in the future. Finn took two of the top Indian wickets, including that of Suresh Raina who topscored the innings with thirty-nine runs.

Tim Bresnan and Finn hit their marks and the Indian line up was left reeling until Raina and Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, briefly tried to make a go of things.The Indian innings ended on the last ball of their innings with the run out of Dhoni for twenty-one.

Set a relatively low total by Twenty20 standards, India never really had a hope while England sealed the deal with Kevin Pietersen returning successfully despite a fractured thumb to score a half century after only thirty-nine balls to steer England to the brink of victory which was not difficult thereafter as England stayed at the no.1 Twenty20 ranking with the win by six wickets.