Print

Please post once and this message will disappear! Introduce yourself, say hello, jump into a discussion...

[LosingNow]

Oh,BTW LN: Have you become non-Vegetarian again since you are LN now? I remember you telling us that you turned vegetarian despite sharing your Mussalam recipes?

Oh.. thanks for remembering.

I stayed away from non-veg and alcohol for about a year - couple of years ago. just wanted to see a) if I could do it, and b) if I would feel better. The answer on both was yes. However, my #s (cholesterol, H1AC etc) didnt get any better. Now I eat non-veg and drink - but in moderation - which is the key!

assuming definition of moderation still is not more than 2 drinks (of any one type) within an hour. So its ok to have 2 beers, 2 scotch, 2 wine glasses etc ..... as long as it is with moderate amount of butter and tandoori chicken

..you forgot Dal Fry!!

aap Dilli-waalon ke baat he kuch aur hai bhai

[dhruvdeepak]

Oh,BTW LN: Have you become non-Vegetarian again since you are LN now? I remember you telling us that you turned vegetarian despite sharing your Mussalam recipes?

Oh.. thanks for remembering.

I stayed away from non-veg and alcohol for about a year - couple of years ago. just wanted to see a) if I could do it, and b) if I would feel better. The answer on both was yes. However, my #s (cholesterol, H1AC etc) didnt get any better. Now I eat non-veg and drink - but in moderation - which is the key!

lol i could have told you that. what a wasted year 

stay away from rice, breads, and processed sugar. enjoy grilled meats, veggies, fruits and nuts! your #s will astound you in 2-3 months.

There is value in self-discovery

Yep.. that is exactly what i eat now...with either 1 multi-grain atta phulka or a small cup of basmati rice for lunch/dinner as the starch. #s have been steady .. despite the weekend scotch!!

--
BTW, there is a fantastic free app on ipad/iphone/blackberry called myfitnesspal. Allows one to track food, exercise etc. Highly recommended. If you use it diligently (and it is not hard work) for 1 or 2 weeks, you can tweak/finetune your diet and exercise to hit the targets for calories, macro-nutrients (carbs vs proteins vs fats) and micro-nutrients (vitamins, iron, sodium, potassium etc.
My big aha - I was doing well with the macro nutrients with my current diet but not with the micros (specifically iron and potassium).. and it required only a few minor changes to fix that.

yea i used to use an app called Livestrong which is similar. really effective!

[feverpitch]

http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article2795313.ece


Dhoni hints at Test retirement by 2013


Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Thursday made a surprise revelation that he may retire from Test cricket if he is to play in the 2015 World Cup.

“If I have to see through the 2015 (World Cup), I would have to retire from one of the formats,” Dhoni told mediapersons here.

Dhoni, who has played in 66 Tests so far and won 17 of the 36 matches in which he has skippered, almost casually mentioned it which took everyone by surprise at the press conference.

Thursday’s disclosure by Dhoni seems to convey what he feels about his future in the game if read together with what he had said earlier that he will decide by 2013 whether to play in 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

“What I really meant is by 2013 I would have to see where I stand as to my body. Whether I will be able to survive till the 2015 World Cup,” he had said in the media.

“Of course form is a big factor but also what I need to say is that all of a sudden in 2014 if I feel I can’t survive the 2015 World Cup and there comes a new wicketkeeper who has played just 30 ODIs, it’s not fair.

“At 2013 end, I have to decide if fit enough to proceed in one of the format. It’s not for personal but for country and for the individual who is taking my position. He should have played 70-80 ODIs before he goes in World Cup. That’s my personal thinking,” he had said.

The 30-year-old Dhoni is more and more being acknowledged as a really good captain in one-day cricket and a very effective batsman in the limited-over’s format.

In the Tests, on the other hand, his team seems to have lost the knack of winning abroad in testing conditions and his batting, against lifting and seaming deliveries, look completely out of sorts.

[ruchir]

“Of course form is a big factor but also what I need to say is that all of a sudden in 2014 if I feel I can’t survive the 2015 World Cup and there comes a new wicketkeeper who has played just 30 ODIs, it’s not fair.

“At 2013 end, I have to decide if fit enough to proceed in one of the format. It’s not for personal but for country and for the individual who is taking my position. He should have played 70-80 ODIs before he goes in World Cup. That’s my personal thinking,” he had said.

I salute Dhoni for airing these views. If the three maharathis were thinking like him, we would have had their replacements identified already.

[Blwe_torch]

“Of course form is a big factor but also what I need to say is that all of a sudden in 2014 if I feel I can’t survive the 2015 World Cup and there comes a new wicketkeeper who has played just 30 ODIs, it’s not fair.

“At 2013 end, I have to decide if fit enough to proceed in one of the format. It’s not for personal but for country and for the individual who is taking my position. He should have played 70-80 ODIs before he goes in World Cup. That’s my personal thinking,” he had said.

I salute Dhoni for airing these views. If the three maharathis were thinking like him, we would have had their replacements identified already.

it depends on their individual priorities............dhoni is good in odis..........whereas dravid's strong-point is test matches..............naturally they think differently.

[Cover Point]

Oh,BTW LN: Have you become non-Vegetarian again since you are LN now? I remember you telling us that you turned vegetarian despite sharing your Mussalam recipes?

Oh.. thanks for remembering.

I stayed away from non-veg and alcohol for about a year - couple of years ago. just wanted to see a) if I could do it, and b) if I would feel better. The answer on both was yes. However, my #s (cholesterol, H1AC etc) didnt get any better. Now I eat non-veg and drink - but in moderation - which is the key!

lol i could have told you that. what a wasted year 

stay away from rice, breads, and processed sugar. enjoy grilled meats, veggies, fruits and nuts! your #s will astound you in 2-3 months.

There is value in self-discovery

Yep.. that is exactly what i eat now...with either 1 multi-grain atta phulka or a small cup of basmati rice for lunch/dinner as the starch. #s have been steady .. despite the weekend scotch!!

--
BTW, there is a fantastic free app on ipad/iphone/blackberry called myfitnesspal. Allows one to track food, exercise etc. Highly recommended. If you use it diligently (and it is not hard work) for 1 or 2 weeks, you can tweak/finetune your diet and exercise to hit the targets for calories, macro-nutrients (carbs vs proteins vs fats) and micro-nutrients (vitamins, iron, sodium, potassium etc.
My big aha - I was doing well with the macro nutrients with my current diet but not with the micros (specifically iron and potassium).. and it required only a few minor changes to fix that.

best part about that app is that it had desi foods too. You can find butter chicken to maa ki daal. Calories are supplied by the users so can be slightly off but gives you a much better idea of what you are eating. Love that app.

It made me go to light beer from the full ones and told me that scotch is better for you than beer (atleast in terms of total calories .... if you do it on the rocks ). Looking forward to the Blue label on Sunday in the BA First lounge in London

[LosingNow]

Oh,BTW LN: Have you become non-Vegetarian again since you are LN now? I remember you telling us that you turned vegetarian despite sharing your Mussalam recipes?

Oh.. thanks for remembering.

I stayed away from non-veg and alcohol for about a year - couple of years ago. just wanted to see a) if I could do it, and b) if I would feel better. The answer on both was yes. However, my #s (cholesterol, H1AC etc) didnt get any better. Now I eat non-veg and drink - but in moderation - which is the key!

lol i could have told you that. what a wasted year 

stay away from rice, breads, and processed sugar. enjoy grilled meats, veggies, fruits and nuts! your #s will astound you in 2-3 months.

There is value in self-discovery

Yep.. that is exactly what i eat now...with either 1 multi-grain atta phulka or a small cup of basmati rice for lunch/dinner as the starch. #s have been steady .. despite the weekend scotch!!

--
BTW, there is a fantastic free app on ipad/iphone/blackberry called myfitnesspal. Allows one to track food, exercise etc. Highly recommended. If you use it diligently (and it is not hard work) for 1 or 2 weeks, you can tweak/finetune your diet and exercise to hit the targets for calories, macro-nutrients (carbs vs proteins vs fats) and micro-nutrients (vitamins, iron, sodium, potassium etc.
My big aha - I was doing well with the macro nutrients with my current diet but not with the micros (specifically iron and potassium).. and it required only a few minor changes to fix that.

best part about that app is that it had desi foods too. You can find butter chicken to maa ki daal. Calories are supplied by the users so can be slightly off but gives you a much better idea of what you are eating. Love that app.

It made me go to light beer from the full ones and told me that scotch is better for you than beer (atleast in terms of total calories .... if you do it on the rocks ). Looking forward to the Blue label on Sunday in the BA First lounge in London

True that. Scotch with water (and for some on the rocks) rocks

[Cernunnos]

You are just brushing aside a point when it' inconvenient for you. This is not like SRT skipping WI tour, because the money involved there was a pittance. When people spurn vast amounts of money (and $1 million was only the base price), then there has to be good reason, not just mere "personal reasons". People can give all kind of lip-service about many things, but actions speak louder than words.  And those good reasons which Clarke considered hold true for everyone. Every cricketer has a packed schedule. What is good for Clarke holds good for every international cricketer.

I'm not brushing aside anything. I want to understand why Clarke giving up $1 million should be an example for every one? What's good for one may not be good for another.

Warren Buffet will give up half his wealth to charity after he dies. Does he excite you enough to do the same? Are you gonna give up half your wealth to charity after you die? Will it be okay for me to criticize you for not giving up half your wealth to charity after your death since Buffet has done so? Point is that every individual had his own way of thinking.

Clarke may believe that not play IPL will help him in honing his batting skills for tests. That's okay. But the same may not be true for someone like Kohli or Raina or Sharma!!! You know why? Because it does not matter how many runs they score in domestic, they will get a chance to play only if either of Dravid, Sachin or Laxman are injured. Should they sit at home just anticipating a chance to play a Test for IND? You have to understand that no domestic cricket is played while IPL is going on. So these fringe players would be just sitting idle if not playing in IPL. Please tell me how that would benefit them.

These guys can improve their skills in domestic cricket, foreign county cricket or actually playing in Tests. During IPL there is no domestic cricket, no foreign county cricket going on. How do you think they can improve their skills if they don't play IPL? By sitting at home?

To conclusively prove that, you will have to show that Clarke would have had same stats even if he played IPL. You don't have the data for that. I can say with confidence not playing IPL benefitted him, because a. his performance has remained up to the mark and he is now peaking as a player, and b. he himself is claiming the benefit, as is Strauss and others.

Since you too don't have the data that Clarke's performance actually improved by not playing IPL, it's your opinion against mine. I don't agree with you.

As I said earlier, a guy like Sehwag has better numbers than Clarke since the advent of IPL. Sehwag claims that IPL never had any bad effects on his batting. So why should I believe Clarke? Why should I not believe Sehwag?

By making such a big statement (putting nation ahead of IPL) he has stamped his authority as Australia captain, and the results are now showing. Today, with authority he can tell a Pat Cummins not to risk IPL, because he has walked the talk. Dhoni can never tell that to anyone. The likes of PJ Hughes are shunning T20 and concentrating on first class cricket. You see, the symbolic effect of his IPL stand is having a cascading effect on Australia's fortunes.

Why should Dhoni tell anyone that they should not play in IPL? It's a figment of your imagination that IPL is harmful for test cricket. Others don't believe so. So why should others be told to not play in IPL?

You see, the symbolic effect of his IPL stand is having a cascading effect on Australia's fortunes. -- Can you substantiate this statement with some facts?

Moreover, the ill effects of IPL will show up in the long run. Just like the ill-effects of alcoholism shows up later in life, not in a few years. We are already seeing the signs of the decay - the hidden injuries, lacklustre body language, etc. You can choose to live in denial.

Are you trying to say that pre-IPL, IND player used to have tremendous body language? They used to be extra agile in the field? They used to be full of energy?

Are you trying to say that no IND player ever hid an injury pre-IPL? What about the hidden injuries of Srinath, Bhajji, Sachin, Sehwag, Yuvraj? All these players hid injuries pre-IPL just to play in Tests or ODIs. What about that?

I would counter by saying that since the advent of IPL, player DO NOT NEED to hide injuries anymore. Example - Sehwag was quite open about his injury post IPL 4. Even Zaheer's injury was known but he was still taken to ENG for some weird reason. Since players earn good money in IPL, they don't need to hide injuries so that they can play in Tests and ODIs and get a few lakh in match fee.

You are quoting figures of guys like RD & SRT who have long history of test cricket. Obviously they will be the least affected.
Younger guys like GG were averaging 50 before Jan 1 - 2009. That has fallen to 44.
What about the rank youngsters? Raina Kohli are big zeroes in test cricket. All these guys are superheroes in the IPL. Their technical deficiencies are for everyone to see.

The trouble with comparing IND batsmen with Clarke is that either they are very old IND batsmen, or too young (new). So, if you don't want to compare SRT, RD, VVS to Clarke because they are too experience then I would say it is futile to compare Clarke with Raina, Kohli, Sharma because they are too inexperienced.

As for GG and VS, well both are openers. Being openers they will have more fluctuating number than a middle order batsman like Clarke.

Your number for Gambhir is GROSSLY wrong. He has a career test avg of 46.53. His avg pre-IPL 1 was 32.95. His avg post-IPL 1 is 51.54

So right there your misconception is disapproved that IPL has hurt Gambhir.

You are free to use to disregard this bit of information if you like. And yes, Kohli, Raina may have technical deficiencies, but can you prove by sharing any facts that these deficiencies exist only because of IPL? Can you prove that these deficiencies were not there in their game pre-IPL or would not have been there if IPL did not exist?

I mean there are tons and tons and tons of IND players who can not play rising ball because of the way domestic pitches are prepared. Even SRT, RD, VVS have difficulty playing rising deliveries. So what makes you believe that 45 days of IPL cricket has such bad effect on Kohli and Raina that is has destroyed their technical game. Do you believe that if they didn't participate in this 45 day event (when absolutely no other cricket is played in IND) it would somehow improve their game technically?

Of course any team will become #1 only after winning substantial number of tests, how else will they be #1! How does that disprove the claim that no IPL helped them winning those tests? The fact that Strauss credits it is good enough for me, and clearly inconvenient for you. I doubt he has some hidden agenda, because he himself could some day be a contender of IPL. Regarding the Eng-SL series, the likes of Sanga and Jayawardene stayed on in IPL, and their batting was severely affected, which indirectly helped Eng win the series. Snaga came good in the final test, but it was too late by then.

If Strauss words are good enough for you then words of IND players are good enough for me. Words of recently #1 test team.

Since you singled out Sanga for IPL related bad performance, how do you account for recent Kallis and de Villiers centuries? Both play in IPL and yet were able to hit centuries. Even Sanga hit a century in SA.

If your counter will be that hitting a century here and there means nothing then I will remind you of what you said about Clarke - a century is every series is good enough. Same here with these IPL playing guys. If Clarke can hit a 100 and then go on to score nothing runs and you believe that he is going good because he does not play IPL, then same should be true for other players who do play IPL.

Anyone who says the fast money of IPL is not affecting the mentality of the players, that ad money and endorsements and IPL glamour is not the top priority of players these days, is living in a fools paradise. Those who think that young kids are enrolling into cricket camps are doing so for the love of the game and to one day play for Indian and not for playing in IPL, needs to get a reality check.

The point that ad money, endorsements and glamor affect cricketers is different from IPL affecting cricketers. All these things existed before IPL too. Nothing was different. Players were idolized before IPL too - like Ganguly. Players had huge endorsement deals before IPL too - like Sachin. Players had access to glamor too - like most average to good looking IND cricketers were invited to TV shows, fashion shows etc.

All this was happening before IPL to, so how can you say that IPL is the only evil? How can you say that it is IPL that is spoiling kids?

I will give you another analogy. As a computer programmer, I enroll into a Peoplesoft course, hoping to learn PeopleSoft programming and earning good money later on. Is that wrong? Do I have to first learn DOS, then Windows, then dBase, then Foxpro, then Visual Basic, then Visual C, and then go on to learn PeopleSoft... so that I can say I have a good base? Just about anyone who goes to PeopleSoft course knows some programming to begin with. They just do that specialized course that they think will help them in earning good money and live a decent life. Is that wrong? If it is not wrong then why is it wrong for a kid to enroll into a cricket academy solely to get into IPL? Who is to say that a kid should first be good enough to play in Tests only then he can play in IPL? Why can't a kid just be IPL player?

Is this stout defence of the IPL even worthy of a response after today's shambolic performance? Let the antim sanskaar of this series get done, then I will take this head on.

[ruchir]

Cern --

I'm not defending IPL or anything else. I'm only saying IPL is not the cause of current rut of Indian team.

Take this 3rd test for example. How do you process Warner scoring a blistering 180? He played in all DD games. How come his batting isn't affected?

What about Ponting and Clarke in 3rd test, 1st inning? How come both of them failed after scoring runs in 2nd test? Remember, they are not playing IPL. Their batting should be top class, so how come they failed? What's the excuse?

Point is, any batsman can fail at any time. IPL is always not the cause of a batsmen being in or out of form.

Tell me one thing. IND needed test openers before IPL too, right? They needed replacements of SRT, RD, VVS before IPL too, right? If IPL is the root cause of all evil then surely someone should have come up before Sehwag and Gambhir. Why did Akash Chopra, SS Das, S Ramesh, Jaffer fail? Why were Pujara, Rayudu, Badrinath were not considered in tests before IPL? It could be politics, not enough good performances, or whatever, but surely not IPL.

[feverpitch]

Cern --

I'm not defending IPL or anything else. I'm only saying IPL is not the cause of current rut of Indian team.

Take this 3rd test for example. How do you process Warner scoring a blistering 180? He played in all DD games. How come his batting isn't affected?

What about Ponting and Clarke in 3rd test, 1st inning? How come both of them failed after scoring runs in 2nd test? Remember, they are not playing IPL. Their batting should be top class, so how come they failed? What's the excuse?

Point is, any batsman can fail at any time. IPL is always not the cause of a batsmen being in or out of form.

Tell me one thing. IND needed test openers before IPL too, right? They needed replacements of SRT, RD, VVS before IPL too, right? If IPL is the root cause of all evil then surely someone should have come up before Sehwag and Gambhir. Why did Akash Chopra, SS Das, S Ramesh, Jaffer fail? Why were Pujara, Rayudu, Badrinath were not considered in tests before IPL? It could be politics, not enough good performances, or whatever, but surely not IPL.

It's not just about players and playing, but the whole atmosphere built up by the BCCI in India around T20, that promotes such a "state of mind". After 16-22 years of cricket, what matters is not more practice than what Indians have already done, but the desire for test cricket. Where, I'm aghast to say, our players are lacking.

I feel then, since I personally can see that no matter what people say about T20, without tests cricket can't keep audience interest—that players (say 20-25) who are in the test reckoning, be given incentive to not partake in T20, and old people/maharathis given the incentive to shift to T20 as their retirement benefit while they step down from internationals. details of how this can be done, in my opinion, I'll post later.

[RicePlateReddy]

The inconsistency of Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman - and - Tendulkar's sudden inability to dig in for a long one cannot be blamed on the IPL. The Indian core batting has failed. They are way too experienced and knowledgeable to allow that to distract them, especially when there was adequate preparation time here and after the England embarassment.

And what about the bulk of the bowlers? The proclivity to err and bowl on the legs more often than is needed cannot be blamed on the IPL either (where it proves even more costly, when they do that!) I would grant that the stamina and motivation to bowl well for long periods is affected by IPL, especially as a majority of the bowlers are young and generation IPL.

I agree the IPL is deleterious for test cricket for its influence on emerging talent. But I would blame it as a 30% factor of India's current failure if at all, for this horrible show. And a large part of that 30% is because of its influence on Dhoni's mindset and motivation. Beyond overworked and IPL captaincy does his efficacy no good.

[ruchir]

It's not just about players and playing, but the whole atmosphere built up by the BCCI in India around T20, that promotes such a "state of mind". After 16-22 years of cricket, what matters is not more practice than what Indians have already done, but the desire for test cricket. Where, I'm aghast to say, our players are lacking.

Are you saying that SRT, RD, VVS, VS, GG, VK lack interest in test cricket? Can you provide any proof to support this line of thought?

I feel then, since I personally can see that no matter what people say about T20, without tests cricket can't keep audience interest—that players (say 20-25) who are in the test reckoning, be given incentive to not partake in T20, and old people/maharathis given the incentive to shift to T20 as their retirement benefit while they step down from internationals. details of how this can be done, in my opinion, I'll post later.

So your remedy is to have oldies play in a format that is specifically designed for young bodies. Wow....

Can you suggest what incentives you have in mind to give to youngsters so that they willingly not play the T20 cricket?

Also what about future? Current lot of young cricketers will not play T20 cricket, they will rather play tests. When they get old and are thinking of retiring, they will be told that now they can play the T20 version of cricket that is designed for youngsters but they never got a chance of playing it when they were young.

Am I the only one missing something in this picture?