The IPL has started in all earnest and has crossed the expectations of everyone. No one including the sponsors and organizers could have expected the initial matches to be so full of drama and stroke play. If it was Mcullum, pummeling the bowlers in the first match, it was ‘Mr. Cricket’ Hussey’s turn in the second match. All in all, cricket lovers are in for a month long feast.

New Delhi, April 21 : Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Preity Zinta have joined hands with the National Geographic channel to urge people to make earth a cleaner and greener place to live in.

Dedicated to World Earth Day, the channel here Monday launched a special music video titled “Earth - A Song for Life” and messages by actors Shah Rukh, Preity, Kunal Kapoor, Rahul Bose and Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on the Internet.

The lyrics have been penned by Sameer of “Sawaariya” fame, Sandeep Chowta has composed the music and Bangalore-based music band Karma6 has lent its voice for the song that inspires people to care about mother earth.

“The sole intention of the music is to inspire viewers and listeners to realize that even one small step can help save our world,” said Chowta.

Netizens can log on to www.natgeotv.co.in to download the song.

“We are extremely happy that these talented stars have joined us in our endeavour to protect our world,” Nikhil Mirchandani, managing director of National Geographic Channel (South Asia), said in a press statement.

“Music can reach out to people across borders. We were convinced that this would be a unique way to spread the message and inspire the youth to be more environmentally aware .

“The song strikes an emotional chord with the messages, and has an extremely youthful and fresh feel to it. We hope that this anthem will inspire today’s youth to do their bit for a better future,” he maintained.

Shah Rukh in his message said he is optimistic the country’s youth would succeed in making the earth a better place to live in.

“I believe my children will breathe easier. I believe there will be nicer things around them to look at. I believe they will be closer to nature. I’m a non-cynic,” Shah Rukh said.

“I’m a very positive thinker and I believe in the power of the youth, and I believe in the sensitivity of the youth. I think the youth is going to be very sensitive to the changing scenario around the world and they will put their best foot forward and make our earth a cleaner, greener, nicer and a better place to live in,” he added.

The actors said even small initiatives like discontinuing the use of plastic can contribute largely in bringing a change.

“My message to all those people out there for Earth Day would be - please try saving the planet, you don’t have to do a very big thing, all you can do is use as little plastic as you can. So if you don’t want Mumbai to drown in the rain or London to have lots of rain or excessive heat anywhere around the world, save it in your little way by using lesser plastic,” urged Preity.

“If one has to go across to the nearby garden for a walk or a jog, why don’t you walk (instead of using a vehicle). I think these are the really simple common sense ways that are not head-in-the-clouds unrealistic, but definitely feet-on-the-ground realistic,” says Rahul Bose in his message.

Sibal said: “Let us preserve nature and thereby preserve ourselves. We can achieve this goal only if we change - change the way we live, change the way we think, change the way we act.”

Kolkata: AICC General Secretary and a die-hard cricket lover Rahul Gandhi arrived at NSCBI airport here today with sister Priyanka Vadra to watch the much-hyped IPL match at Eden Gardens.

The stadium will charge up this evening as Shah Rukh Khan’s team Kolkata Knight Riders will take on the Deccan Chargers of Hyderabad.

Led by V V S Laxman, Deccan Chargers has the presence of players like Andrew Symonds and Adam Gilchirst.

Bengal Tiger Sourav Ganguly’s team will not only be cheered by the Kolkatans but also all supporters of King Khan, who has already carved a niche for himself in the field of managing and owning a cricket team despite several criticisms.

Special: Indian Premier League | Comment: IPL – journey into the unknown

Besides Rahul and Priyanka, film maker Karan Johar and actor Arjun Rampal will also be present to root for the Bollywood Badshah’s team. Meanwhile, besides about 400 policemen in plain clothes and 4,500 in uniform, there will be a three-tier security arrangement at the Eden Gardens, city Police Commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakraborty said.

A team of National Security Guards (NSG) has also arrived in the city last night to take charge of security for the Gandhi siblings, he informed.

Chakraborty said three senior police officers would be on duty each in the upper and lower tiers of the stadium, while security personnel in plain clothes would be posted in each stand. ”We are not taking any chance. The spectators would get entry only after policemen allowed them, even though their tickets would be checked with laser guns,” he said.

Dale Steyn is among the most promising of the current lot of fast bowlers in world cricket. Even though there are many aspiring fast bowlers around the world, including Ishant Sharma and Mohd. Asif, among all of them Dale Steyn has shown the kind of consistency that is needed to become a big star on his own right. His man of the series performances in two consecutive series speaks volumes about his capabilities. He also had the Indian batsman hoping in the recent held series against South Africa

Kanpur: VVS Laxman didn’t quite have the same success as Ganguly in the series, but he too was happy with how things turned out in the end for India, finishing on level terms with South Africa.

On playing on the Kanpur pitch

I’m used to playing on bad wickets. When you are playing domestic cricket, on the third and the fourth days of the match, usually the wicket wears out. So I have got the experience of playing big knocks on those tracks. So that really helps me whenever I’m playing on a bad surface.

On his first innings effort

More than the individual knock, my partnership with Rahul (Dravid) was very important, because we had lost Wasim (Jaffer) and Viru (Virender Sehwag) early on. It was very important that we put up a good partnership. I’m very glad that I was able to play my natural game and didn’t get bogged down and get the runs on the board.

On the South African bowling attack

It was not really easy, but it was a great challenge playing on that wicket, because South Africa have a good bowling attack. So I think it was a very important innings for me.

On India’s series-levelling efforts

I think it was a great team effort. It was very important that we win this Test match and level the series. The South Africans played well throughout the series, but the way our team played in this match was really commendable.

Kanpur: A grateful Mahendra Singh Dhoni sent a note of thanks and Rs 10,000 to Green Park Stadium’s pitch curator for preparing the turning track that helped the hosts clinch the series-levelling win over South Africa in the third Test here.

Curator Shiv Kumar said he was pleasantly surprised to receive a personal note of thanks and the cash reward from the stand-in Test skipper after the hosts beat the Proteas inside three days on a crumbling pitch to level the series 1-1.

Kumar said regular Test skipper Anil Kumble, who missed the decider due to a groin injury, also came down to meet and thank him for preparing the “spinner-friendly” pitch after the match.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, who won the Man of the Series award for scalping 19 wickets, also met Kumar to praise and thank him.

However, Kumar maintained that the Green Park wicket was a sporting one and it was unfair to say that it only aided the slower bowlers.

“The South African batsmen just couldn’t get used to it (the pitch) and were unsure of how the ball would behave,” he said.

Meanwhile, BCCI Vice-President Rajiv Shukla denied that the money was a ‘reward’ for the curator.

“It is a general practice to give some money to the curator so that he can distribute it among the groundsmen. This money is contributed by the players and given to the curator,” he said.

“Even when India lost the match in Ahmedabad, the cricketers gave tips to the curator. It was not any special case in Kanpur,” Shukla said.

“If giving money to the curator ensured a win, we would have won all the matches,” he added.

Predicting some problems for his former team mate Gary Kirsten, who

is now India’s coach, former South African captain Kepler Wessels has

said that the Indian side needed some serious changes.

“I think (Kirsten) is in a difficult position, because he is saddled with

an old team that plays like a bunch of old men,” Wessels, who is the

coach of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings, told

Afrikaans daily Beeld .

“There will definitely have to be changes made to get them on the

wining path again, but it will probably not be a popular decision all

round.”

“Kirsten’s problem is that he cannot simply effect changes. There are so

many big names, who do just what they want to. They also have habits,

which cannot be changed overnight.

“Because he is so new in the position, (Kirsten) also does not know

what he can insist on. He feels he cannot change things left and right,

(creating) a difficult transition,” Wessels added.

Commenting on India’s chances of at least drawing the ongoing Test

series in Kanpur starting Friday, Wessels said they would have to get a

pitch prepared where the ball would turn sharply on the first day.

South Africa in India 2008

He also said that South Africa could beat England and Australia in

forthcoming series.

Until recently the most outspoken critic of captain Graeme Smith and

his leadership, Wessels is now full of praise for him.

“The current team is the best I have seen in the Graeme Smith era and if

they can play like (they have against India) they can beat England and

they can certainly beat Australia”, said Wessels, who also played in 24

Tests and 54 one-day internationals for Australia between 1982 and

1983.

Wessels regarded India’s defeat by an innings and 90 runs in

Ahmedabad last week as the best South African victory since Smith

took over the captaincy, but was quick to add that it was not South

Africa’s best triumph ever in world cricket.

“I have never seen South Africa play so well under Smith’s leadership.

If (the South African squad) delivers the same level of paying that they

did at Ahmedabad, I can see no reason why they could not beat the

Aussies in their own backyard (when they tour there) at the end of the

year,” Wessels said.

The word genius must never be used lightly, but it can be applied to Virender Sehwag’s stroke-making ability. He is yet to earn the right to sit alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara, or even Ricky Ponting, but he has an almost supernatural ability to sense a four. That’s his genius.

Sehwag’s batting is often associated with audacity, but I wonder if he sees it quite that way. The perception of risk in batting, or indeed in any sporting endeavour, is often directly proportionate to the sportsman’s ability. Roger Federer sees winners in those deep shots that kiss the line, not risks. Similarly, Sehwag can see possibilities that don’t exist for the less gifted. What appears a risk to many is for him an opportunity to create a boundary.

During the last World Cup in the West Indies, I had the chance to meet Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire who has been pouring millions of dollars into a Twenty20 competition bearing his name in the Caribbean. I asked him why was he risking so much money without any tangible hope of return. Perhaps he had been asked the question before. “It all depends on how you look at a million dollars,” he said. “What looks like a lot of money to you isn’t to me. So what seems like a risk to you isn’t one for me.”

While watching fours rain from Sehwag’s bat, I thought of that conversation. It is apparent that Sehwag sees what others are incapable of seeing. Hitting fours is not an indulgence for him. It is his lifeline, an utterly natural course for conducting his business, just as singles are for many others.

Four years ago, Wisden Asia Cricket magazine ran a cover story on India’s “Fab Five” - Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly and Sehwag. The feature had interviews with the five players, with each talking about one of the others. Ganguly made a fascinating revelation about Sehwag. “The best way to know how [Sehwag’s] mind works is to sit next to him in the players’ balcony when India are batting. Every few minutes he will clutch his head and yell, ‘Chauka gaya’ [missed out on a four] or ‘Chakka gaya’ … That’s how he thinks, in fours and sixes.”

All batsmen dream of and live for those perfect moments, when the mind and body align precisely and the stroke that materialises has everything right about it - balance, timing, placement. Geoff Boycott has written about such a moment in his autobiography. It was the stroke that got him his 100th first-class hundred, in an Ashes Test before his adoring home crowd at Headingley. As the ball came out of the bowler’s hand, he knew it was his moment. And as he stepped out to drive it past the bowler, he felt as if he had stepped outside his body to execute the shot.

It is easy to imagine that when Sehwag gets into his zone, he has this kind of transcendental clarity ball after ball. That’s a bit full on the off stump; it’s going past cover. That’s on a good length but a bit wide, so it can go over extra cover. Ah, the bowler has turned his wrist over, so that’s a slower one; Yeh toh gayi (this one’s gone).

Absolute clarity, absolute commitment, and no regrets. Nothing else can explain the big hundreds - all of Sehwag’s last ten centuries have been above 150 - scored at such frenetic pace. On 195 at the MCG four years ago, he hit a full-toss from Simon Katich down the throat of midwicket. He said afterwards that he would have done exactly the same if faced with the situation all over again. Lest anyone had any doubts, he clouted Saqlain Mushtaq for six over midwicket to reach his first triple-hundred a few months later. And that wasn’t even a full-toss. The bowlers must always fancy their chances when they’re bowling to Sehwag; it’s only that Sehwag fancies his own chances much more.

All exceptional players have this knowledge. Most batsmen good enough to play at the international level can play most strokes, but only a chosen few can play them almost at will, and that comes from knowing. Sehwag knows when he aims to belt a ball over cover, it will clear the fielder. He knows when he dances down to a spinner that he will not be beaten in flight. And he knows while employing a reverse sweep to a ball outside the offstump that there no chance that he will miss. Of course, it doesn’t always turn that way, and when it doesn’t it makes him look foolish, but it is important that he keeps faith in his knowledge.

His strike-rate of over 75 in Test cricket suggests a bit of madness, but Sehwag’s strokes, while unorthodox in the light of the classical parameters of footwork, are absolutely pure at the point of execution. His 319 against South Africa featured only one stroke that could be described a slog - a hoick off Makhaya Ntini while he was on 193; it was mistimed but still sailed over square leg for six - the rest were cover- and square-drives, cuts, flicks, drives down the ground, and reverse sweeps that could hardly be called rash because they were thoughtfully conceived and deftly executed.
    

Also, the charge that he gets out far too often playing the wrong shot doesn’t hold: that’s true of all batsmen, really. Only rarely is a batsman dismissed by an unplayable ball - and more often than not, that misfortune befalls opening batsmen, a role that Sehwag found himself thrust into. In most cases batsmen, even those whose technical virtuosity is celebrated, collude in their dismissals. What is the difference between a batsman getting out because he played the wrong defensive stroke and one who is dismissed off an aggressive one? Only that a dismissal brought about by an aggressive stroke invites more scorn.

Of course Sehwag has technical limitations that can be exposed by intelligent opponents on pitches that assist seam movement or bounce. And because he plays an attacking game, he will always be less consistent than those who place a premium on survival. But he has big hundreds in almost every country, and averages nearly 54 after 92 innings, with a strike-rate of over 75 - signs of an exceptional batsman. He can’t be accused of having filled his boots against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe; against those two teams his combined average is 39.80.

Maybe his lack of runs against the weak teams speaks of boredom in the absence of a challenge. Sehwag is not a batsman given to milking bowling attacks. Most batsmen look on a flat pitch as an opportunity to cash in with an easy hundred; Sehwag sees a flat pitch and eyes a blistering double-hundred. Faced with a first innings total of 540, most batsmen would think of avoiding the follow-on, but after the second day of the Chennai Test, Sehwag spoke of batting for two days and putting up 700. Anyone who has a passing knowledge of him would know that it wasn’t an idle boast or posturing: it came out of true belief, and a grand vision.

Perhaps, too, therein lies the explanation for his baffling failure in one-day cricket, which led to his temporary banishment from the international scene. One-day cricket is too limited, too stifling, too rooted in percentages, to accommodate the grandness of Sehwag’s vision. It can be said also that he has been too lazy to work for the singles and too rigid to adapt his game to the shorter form.

Maybe that’s something we ought to be grateful for: Test cricket is Sehwag’s true canvas, and there are few more thrilling, exhilarating experiences than when he paints on it with his bold strokes.

New Delhi: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik feels Indian Premier League (IPL) will be an interesting experience as cricketers from different countries share the dressing as team-mates, forgetting they had been opponents.

“It (the IPL) is a great opportunity for international cricketers. Players from different countries will come together. It is great for the game and credit must go to India,” Malik said here during his IPL side Delhi Daredevils’ launch of its brand-partner Akshay Kumar.

The 26-year-old Pakistani said he and his overseas colleagues would play with the same passion and intensity for the Delhi team as they play for their countries.

“I am from Lahore, a city not very different from Delhi. I feel at home here and it’s great to be a part of this unique marriage between cricket and films. Bollywood stars are very popular in Pakistan and I am a great fan of Akshay.

Asked about the association of film stars with IPL. Malik said: “I am sure that Bollywoods involvement with the IPL will lead to greater fan following for the league,” said Malik.

The cash-rich IPL has attracted many celebrities from the tinsel town and Akshay is the latest to join the list after Shah Rukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, owners of Kolkata Knight Riders and Priety Zinta, who bought a stake in the Mohali team along with Ness Wadia.

Chief executive of Daredevils’ franchise owners GMR Sports Yogesh Shetty said many entertainment packages had been conceptualised in consultation with Akshay for the 44-day tournament.

“Akshay’s personality matches the persona of the team. He is the first fan of the team. We have planned various entertainment packages with Akshay, but we cannot reveal it now,” he said.

However, Akshay, who is very choosy regarding his brand endorsements, said that the things that attracted him towards Daredevils were his city roots and love for the game.

“In my 18-year-old career I have endorsed only two brands — Coke and Grasim — because I feel that endorsing a product means one has to identify himself with the brand. This is my third endorsement and that’s because being a Delhite I can identify myself with the Daredevils,” said the charismatic actor.