IOC & Japan in war of attrition with eye on next summer Olympics

As days and weeks pass by, it has become increasingly clear that the 2020 summer Olympics will be given a miss! 

A majority of Japanese citizens have voiced their opposition to hosting the Games in the capital city of Tokyo despite all the attendant losses that it may entail. Emphasis is on preservation of human life, pretty much along expected lines from a nation that rose from the utter devastation and nuclear bombing of World War II to become one of the foremost industrial economies of the world.

And it is this economic clout that has the International Olympic Committee dragging its feet in taking a final call on the Tokyo Games, even though it is a foregone conclusion that the city would be compensated in the form of hosting rights for the 2032 summer Games if Japan so desires.

IOC can hardly afford to upset Japan's national Olympic committee given the financial muscle that companies with roots in the country wield world-wide. The Lausanne-based honchos that run the Olympic movement have felt it prudent to leave the final decision to the host nation, even though IOC president Thomas Bach himself had to postpone his scheduled mid-May visit to Tokyo due the pandemic by a whole month.

A decision would be welcome since Olympic sports are wary of being caught on the wrong foot and continue to press ahead with the qualification process. Similarly, sports persons that have made the grade or hope to do so soon, are not letting up on their training despite the lurking suspicion that it could all be in vain.

The hosting rights for the next two summer Olympics, 2024 Paris and 2028 Los Angeles, are already done and dusted. Hence Tokyo must wait until the 2032 Olympiad, something that the Japanese NOC is loathe to do. It is reported to be instead asking for the entire Olympic programme to be pushed back by four years, given the uncertain times, so that it can put to use at least some, if not all, the infrastructure it has created for 2020.

Therein lies the catch!

IOC feels it would be unfair on Paris and Los Angeles but Tokyo feel it was hardly their fault for not being able to host the Games as scheduled. Indeed one postponement was granted but it is almost certain that 2021 appears to be hardly an improvement on its predecessor.

So Japan feels that it needs to be compensated while IOC is reluctant to rock the boat. 

It remains to be seen who takes the FINAL call ... 

If Japan announces the cancellation then they would hardly have a case for recompense, adequate or not, while an IOC guillotine will hand the bargaining lever to Tokyo.

After all, it's several billion dollars at stake and neither side is ready nor can afford to blink!

European boycott should be a wake-up call for social media platforms

Sports in Europe have decided to switch off their social media engagements for four days starting May 1 in protest against the rampant vilification on basis of race, gender and religion. The level of "abuse" came to such a pass that the organisers, participants and all other stake-holders have decided to join hands demanding action by authorities and owners.

It is important to note how social media becomes such a huge influence among the populace when there is so much poison being bandied about in gay abandon!

Each web-page / website makes money from the traffic it generates, leading to the host platform (Twitter, Facebook, et al.) placing advertisements and generating revenue, a small part of which is indeed shared by the those that created the content in the first place.

Makes perfect sense, especially since the content creators have a right to be compensated. But that is where the line needs to be drawn.

Social media is dependent completely on the traffic / eye-balls, which are counted as "hits" or "likes" as the case may be. And what better way to generate traffic than a bit of disagreement, which more often than not leads to outright venom being spewed by both sides leaving bystanders aghast but the platform owners laughing all the way to the bank!

It is here that European sport has decided to draw the line. Players, officials, broadcasters and organisers have for once all come together to put their foot down on what they have rightly labelled as "downright abuse on the basis of skin colour, gender, race or place of birth".

Why does it happen? Social media provides a certain anonymity to the participants, making them less vulnerable to retaliation, if ever there is one barring being suspended / taken off the platform for a specified period of time. Beyond that there is nothing being done or even attempted to be done to place any kind of check on the venom spewed right across the internet.

Tough to justify that for the owners of social media platforms who have expressed their helplessness in curbing the obvious use or misuse of the tool for free speech. 

But why is it important for those at the helm to remain on social media despite the poison arrows? The answer is very simple ... its about information dissemination and fan engagement which allows them to prove to those putting in the money about the volume and level of traffic. Indeed this has become rather for sports to have a presence on social media in order to keep their fans satisfied and feeling engaged and empowered.

But with the poison crossing bearable limits, action was demanded from the platform owners but when none was forthcoming, the limited boycott was the only option. The four-day absence is to prove how much of traffic these sports alone can command and owners better take note and devise ways to curb infringements before it's too late.

Social media owners so far have been sitting smug in their ivory towers hiding behind the belief that they have no control over what transpires on their platform, barring the odd intervention when they "feel" limits have been breached. But tolerance levels may vary and its about time there was a standard policy against direct abuse.

Quite unlike the traditional media (newspapers and television) the internet has grown mostly unbridled, But time has come to tame the monster before it drowns in its own vomit.

English football clubs' sense of entitlement could hurt them

The announcement that a 20-member group of football clubs is all set to launch a breakaway competition in Europe seems to have taken greed to unimaginable levels.

Of the 20 clubs expected to join the "rebels", six are from England! 

And the reason for the English resentment with the European football administration, UEFA, is that not enough of the Premier League sides feature in the competitions in the continent. The logic behind the argument is that these are some of the most widely followed and supported clubs world-wide and hence should be first choice rather than some poor, unknown entities from obscure parts of Europe itself.

True that the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur do enjoy a mammoth fan following globally, the reason behind it is their success in various competitions that are run by the same official governing bodies they seek to oppose.

Drawn by the lure of the proverbial pot of gold are Spanish giants Real Madrid, their city-mates Atletico and perennial rivals Barcelona along with Italian clubs Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan.

German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have so far held off as have France's Paris Saint Germain. 

The proposed competition parallel to the cash-rich UEFA Champions League puts the "dirty dozen" on a direct collision course with UEFA, and consequently FIFA.

In the likelihood of the world governing body coming down heavily on the rebel clubs, which might even include a world-wide ban on their players from all levels of competition, suddenly the money may not be pouring in as expected.

After all the idea is to showcase the very best on prime-time television.

The flip side, however, is fraught with danger. A ban on players would mean exclusion from FIFA World Cups and everything under the umbrella of the world body. Tough call for young players to throw in their lot when future is on the line.

Remember how the World Series Cricket launched with such fanfare by late Australian tycoon Kerry Packer, backed with a home-grown TV network to boot, fared against the Australia versus India Test series. The official contest, where Bobby Simpson came out of retirement to deny Kapil Dev's Indians a series victory, posted far superior viewer numbers than the "exhibition" games between the best talents drawn from across the world.

Agreed that Packer's attempt was in protest against the Cricket Australia denying an open bid for the telecast rights of the home series. Hence once the monopoly of a particular channel had been dented, the WSC died a quiet death. 

Despite the coloured uniforms and late afternoon starts, the matches were deemed nothing more than a "circus".

But what it did was give world cricket a direction where marketing the game was seen going hand in hand with innovations and, lo behold, these came to stay and even evolve into the 20-over contests, et al. But everything is under the official umbrella of the International Cricket Council and its affiliated national units.

No denying that even the football establishment needs a wake-up call, given that the people running the game have paid scant attention to the several aspects of the "glorious game". But all said and done they are still the establishment and hold all the aces.

The American dream, powered by the Glazers and financed by a US bank, may yet be a non-starter since TV companies may not exactly be falling over each other for the rights for fear of being barred from the "real" stuff.

After all, the rebels have been able to get only a dozen clubs on board even though their plan is to have 20, of which 15 would be "permanent founding members" not subject to relegation. Sounds pretty exciting on paper but, challenging the establishment may not be the way to go and nor would the idea of "permanence" in place of a level playing field, go down with the lovers of football.

And if the fans turn up their nose, clubs will have little option but to fall in line. Its the fan-power that is driving the clubs to extreme steps though it appears, more likely than not, to backfire!

Keeping Pant out of ODIs & T20s in Australia seems to have worked

When the three different squads for India's tour of Australia was announced just before the start of the knock-out games of the Indian Premier League 2020 in the United Arab Emirates, there was plenty of talk about Rishabh Pant being picked only for the Test matches alongside the experienced Wriddhiman Saha.

Pant's place in the overs-limit contests behind the stumps was taken by KL Rahul who was in a fairly decent form with the bat and was a shoo-in for the playing eleven in both formats Down Under.

All the chatter about Rohit Sharma's fitness issues and thereby being overlooked for the vice-captain spot occupied centre-stage, leaving Pant more or less to his own ways.

And that seems to have worked wonders for the Delhi player as his tally of more than five hundred runs in Test matches alone against the likes of Australia and England shows.

Moreover, his work behind the sticks has also shown a fair degree of improvement. 

Perhaps, as the good old saying goes, 70 per cent of cricket is played between the ears!

The time away from the spotlight seems to given Pant the time and space to himself. Instead of brooding at the missed opportunities, the player worked hard, not just on his glove-work but also on how to curb his penchant for big-hitting.

That done, Pant was back in international action at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the Boxing Day Test against Australia and has never looked back since. His absolutely vital contributions for Team India at Sydney (draw) and Brisbane (win) left little doubt as to where his priorities lay.

Playing for the team has become his hallmark, something that had been found missing time and again as his performances behind the stumps and in front of them left most tearing their hair in frustration. It appeared to be another talent being sacrificed at the altar of impulse. 

But it all now seems to be a thing of the past Pant has begun to not only shoulder responsibility but his confidence has rubbed off on others as well.

Not the best news for the veteran Saha or even may be young hopefuls like Ishan Kishan while KL Rahul and Sanju Samson would certainly be looking over their shoulders. But then life is all about grabbing your chances with both hands. .

Pant seems to have done just that and does not look like letting it go any time soon!

BCCI needs to seriously rethink before hosting next day-night Test

The day-night cricket Test between England and India wrapped up in less than six full sessions of play at Ahmedabad, giving people the opportunity to take pot-shots at the Board of Control for Cricket in India. 

Most of it not really worth BCCI's time but the moot question is does Indian cricket really need this?

The whole purpose of pushing the five-day contests into the "twilight" zone with pink balls for better visibility, was to get back the spectators into stadiums for the five-day game. It may work in some countries but appears to have come a cropper in the sub-continent.

Watching cricket, be it limited overs or Tests, is an all day affair in this part of the world. Realistically, if a person wishes to catch the 2.30 pm start at the venue, he or she must leave home not later than 12 noon, given all the accompanying troubles with traffic, parking and security that has all but become synonymous with cricket at this level. Even earlier if the plan is to use public transport!

So to make such drastic adjustments for the casual walk-in spectator hardly makes sense. 

Moreover, cricket is a summer game for all top nations outside South Asia, where it remains a winter sport. 

Herein lies the catch!

In order that conditions do not change drastically from the afternoon to the late evening hours of play, certain precautions become necessary. One of the most important among them is to guard against dew.

This practically rules out the northern part of India as venue. Some of those the east and west would also struggle, leaving only the southern cities as contenders. Even here Bengaluru and Hyderabad being far more inland than say Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram or Chennai, must yield in favour of the latter.

Cricket's pan-India base will certainly feel the pinch in case of such favoured treatment in picking venues for hosting international contests.

And England with their surprise selection for the playing eleven hardly helped matters at Ahmedabad. Their seamers James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jofra Archer sent down a combined total of 24 of the team's first innings bowling of 53.2 overs hardly threatening the Indian batsmen. It almost appeared that England skipper Joe Root was throwing in everything to justify his naming three seamers on a Motera pitch that was turning from Day One itself.

Better sense dawned on Day Two when Root exceeded even his own best expectations with career-best figures and a maiden five-wicket haul in Test match cricket to boot.

Someone in the England think-tack obviously did not think it fit to have a close look at the track which, as photographs posted on social media on the penultimate evening show, was completely devoid of grass. 

Only reason to play three seamers would be that, shortly after dusk, the ball does start doing a bit of swing and seam but then most importantly this is South Asia where conditions are vastly different from say Europe or Australia.

There was turn on offer and left batsmen from both sides extra wary, making them sitting ducks for the straight deliveries as the long list of leg-before and bowled dismissals testifies.

All said and done, day-night Test matches are best left for regions where cricket is not the number one sport and needs to catch the casual spectator with a "free" evening.

One size doesn't fit all and BCCI would do well to turn its back on the pink ball contests after the not so encouraging experiments.

Team India can at long last afford to rotate new ball bowlers

Long gone are the days when one Sunil Manohar Gavaskar would "menacingly" roll up his sleeves and open the bowling for India in Test cricket even as members of the famed spin quartet would be going through their minimal warm-up drills in the field even before the first ball was bowled!

The recent tour of Australia has confirmed that Team India now has a healthy crop of new ball bowlers that can be called upon whenever required. 

Actually, the stable may be a bit over-crowded with as many as eight men jostling for positions - Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Siraj, Shardul Thakur and Navdeep Saini.

Such was the impact in Brisbane that rookie Siraj led the pack and returned with rich laurels, including his maiden five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Full credit must go to Team India bowling coach Bharat Arun for, not just the storming of the Gabba fortress, but instilling a self-belief in the bowling pack. Little wonder that picking up 20 wickets appeared a given despite all the doubts cast about the lack of international exposure to the entire pace pack.

As the saying goes in the world of cricket, fast bowlers need to be handled somewhat like the thoroughbreds in horse-racing! Slightest injury can upset the rhythm and hence effectiveness though this Indian octet seems to have so far found answers to most problems. 

In fact, the competition is so intense to book a place in the playing eleven that fitness issues will need to be addressed quickly rather than allow things to linger as had been the case not so long ago when there was hardly any worthwhile back-up for the lead bowlers.

Soon the Team India think-tank may be taking a close look at the deck before naming the players for a particular game.

But this revolution did not happen overnight. 

Long hours in the nets and then performing at various club and state levels before emerging on the national selection committee's radar is a story of blood, sweat and toil for each man. But that they fit into the scheme of things on the national scene is a credit to Arun, who may himself have had a not so pleasant start to his short international career as he slipped and fell at the bowling crease on the first ball itself. That he dusted himself off the deck and continued in brave fashion shows the man's character.

Indeed, it would be a proud moment for the five wise men of the Board of Control for Cricket in India's selection committee headed by none other than former paceman Chetan Sharma, to be updated about the workload management schedules for each of the men in reckoning. It may sound like something out of a dream for the chairman himself!

But it's true!

Processing talent, rather than merely possessing, holds key to success

Amid all the euphoria of an Indian conquest of the dreaded Gabba, there have been several rather sound lessons for the entire human race, let alone the world of sports.

One of the most profound has been the analysis by former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez who explains how merely possessing talent is not good enough. The talent must be processed correctly and only a "complete finished product" be fielded in the international arena.

"Young talent is bound to flounder sooner rather than later," Hafeez painstakingly points out, comparing his national teams's travails across the Tasman Sea not very far from Brisbane where the Indian upstarts were creating history.

This points to the organisational set-up put in place by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and two things stand out.

One, the National Cricket Academy which has been the designated hub for all Team India preparations as well as evaluations. Players are not left to fend for themselves but placed in the care of trusted professionals who put them through the paces in order to get them ready for the upcoming challenges.

Second, and by no means any less, is the promotion of the A team concept, especially replacing mundane tour matches between zonal sides and touring outfits with first class games for young guns. It's a double edged sword where youngsters learn about the pitfalls of international sport and also learn to succumb or swim. The step saw its own fair share of controversy as well among the NCA committee members but has finally found a regular place in the calendar.

Not very long ago India's A team was under the tutelage of current NCA chief Rahul Dravid, a former national captain himself, and that his proteges made waves Down Under should come as no surprise. If nothing, Dravid has been a meticulous planner all through his career earning him the monicker of 'The Wall'.

Few can argue with the methods employed by the BCCI at various levels as zonal centres of the NCA have been established but, unfortunately have not been as effective as the headquarters in Bengaluru both in terms of facilities and quality of personnel at hand.

Brainchild of former BCCI president late Rajsingh Dungarpur, NCA was set up in 2000 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru but only after the 2014 revamp in active consultation with Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board did it assume its now absolutely vital role in Team India's training and rehabilitation.

Success cannot be had overnight and its a process that churns out the finished product.

That was exaclty what was on display as Team India overcame one adversity after another as young men rose to the challenge time and again to finally emerge victorious.

A diamond remains just another piece of stone till it is polished. Little wonder the product commands a high price as well.