The Australian Open - the cauldron of hope

Happy New Year folks!

The new year brings with it rejuvenated minds, revitalized bodies, excitement, new-year resolutions and most importantly, hope.

I mention hope because as each one of us sets up the new calendar, we anticipate good things, great things ahead of us.

It isn't too different for the tennis players across the globe as they approach the first Grand Slam of the year - the Australian Open.

The foremost amongst the hopefuls is the young Alexander Zverev. The 21-year German is ranked no. 4 in the world. However, he has failed to reach the last 4 of a Grand Slam yet. Long been hailed as a future champion, each passing major keeps building the pressure on him.

However, he ended last year with a stunning ATP Tour Finals win. He has this to say about it -

I came to London saying, ‘Look, it's the last tournament of the year, we're all tired, you want to go on holidays. I want to enjoy it as much as I can. I'm playing the best players in the world, I'm going to see how it goes. At the end of the week, I won the tournament. I learned out of that – I kind of figured out I have to have the same mentality when I play at Slams.

We "hope" he has a great Open - he has begun well with a comfortable win in the first round.

Then, there are the usual suspects - Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Both came into the 2017 edition plagued by injuries in the latter part of 2016. However they belied all expectations by making it to the final and giving the fans a dream match-up. The final itself was a cliffhanger which Federer won in five sets.

His words post the win summed it up well -

“I’d like to congratulate Rafa on an amazing comeback. I don’t think either of us thought we’d be in the finals when we were at your academy four or five years ago. I’d just like to thank my team. It’s been a different last six months. I didn’t think I was going to make it here.”

[caption width="739"]AO 2017 champion Roger Federer (R) poses with the trophy alongside runner-up Rafael Nadal (L) and the man after whom the centre court is named, the great Rod Laver (C)[/caption]He won the event again in 2018, thus reaching a record 20 Grand Slam titles.

He will be one of the favorites to win again, to reach an unprecedented 7 AO titles. Meanwhile, Djokovic, who is top seed, is also chasing his 7th title.[caption width="640"]Roger Federer with AO 2018 title after his win over Marin Cilic[/caption]Nadal, who is seeded 2, comes into this event without match practicd. He hasn't played an ATP Tour match since being forced to withdraw from his US Open semi-final because of a knee injury last September. Australian Open hasn't been too lucky for him, with his one win in 2009 and 2 final losses. He will "hope" to change that too.

Much of the pre-tournament focus was on Andy Murray's retirement. In an emotional press conference, he announced that his hip injury and the corresponding pain is making it extremely tough for him to continue playing and practising the way he would like.

He "hopes" to play till his home event Wimbledon, but isn't sure how his pain would hold up. Sir Andy has been a crucial part of the Big 4 of tennis for long, and a great ambassador of the game. All tennis fans hope to see him one last time this Wimbledon.

P.S. As I write this, most parts of India are celebrating the new year in the form of Makar Sankranti (known by various names across - Maghi in North India, Pedda Pandaga in Andhra, Sukarat in central India, Bighu in Assam and Pongal in Tamil Nadu).

Happy Makar Sankranti everyone! Have a great year ahead.

Book Review – Deep Work by Cal Newport

Are you one of those who constantly feels that they are distracted more than ever before?

Do you always look back at your younger selves with longing eyes and feel that although you had fewer gadgets, but had deeper and richer experiences.

If the answer to the above is yes, as it is for most of us today, you definitely must pick up a volume of this book and devour the same ASAP.

The author Dr. Calvin Newport (a.k.a Cal) is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of five self-improvement books. He also writes the Study Hacks blog – focused on academic and career success.

So what is deep work? The author defines it as Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.

The author keeps the book and its flow simple and engaging. The book is divided into two parts – the first part deals with the idea of deep work and its usefulness, while the second part lists out 4 rules to achieve deep work.

The author draws richly from the experience of achievers across fields, viz. –

Bill Gates’ Think Weeks (taken 2 times a year, where he retreats from regular work commitments to dedicate himself to reading and thinking big thoughts)
Mark Twain writing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in shed on a quarry farm, where his study was so isolated from the house that his family blew horns to get his attention
The author Malcolm Gladwell and his insistence on not using Twitter and other social media actively to promote his writings like scores of other authors.
Cal brings out the importance of deep work by an analysis of the working styles of the above and many others.

The best part about the book is that he doesn’t stick to just analyzing the methods of these achievers and the extreme isolation and methods of some of them. Instead, in the second part of the book, he highlights methods in which people working in modern day jobs can bring in periods of deep work within their normal 9 to 5 jobs. And this applies not just to do deep work for pathbreaking work, but for more depth and efficiency in their office work.

The author dedicates a full chapter to the analysis of value of social media, as well as its de-merits. He quashes the oft-quoted benefit of social media ‘it helps me connect, what’s the harm in being on it’. I would suggest reading the book just for this chapter.

P. S. This was a promise to self, more like a self-defined goal – to target reading a book a week and write a review blog about the same.

I have met reasonable success in the former target (reading), although the latter target (writing) has left a lot to be desired. This being the second blog in a day is an attempt to give a push to the latter.

Book Review - The People Next Door by TCA Raghavan

"Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested." - Francis Bacon

If we go by Bacon's quotes, this one would surely fall in the last category. In fact, this one is meant to be digested and savored multiple times.



Pakistan, its politics, its people and their outlook and ties with India are topics that interest every Indian to some degree or the other.

It is quite safe to assume that people who otherwise don't take any interest in politics surely hold an opinion or two about our western neighbor.

It is with assumption that I call this book a must-read (a multiple time read as I wrote above).

The book smoothly takes the reader through the timeline of creation of Pakistan and its journey since then.

The internal affairs, the government and the leaders, the cultural affairs and the life of the common man is brought out vividly and their evolution traced to the modern day.

What the author does brilliantly is project that journey against that of India. There are phases when India has a strong democratic setup and Pakistan a dictatorial one, and vice versa at others. One country has a strong political will at a time when the other faces a leadership crisis, and these roles keep flipping through time.

The author does the tough task of touching upon almost all the major political and cultural developments in both the countries across the years, occasionally brining to use his magnifying lens to dig deeper.

This one is a must read if you have even a passing interest in the enigma that is Pakistan.

Book Review : The Sanjay (Gandhi) Story

I started my blog page with the intent of writing about the following three - sports, travel and books.

Staying true to the stated aim, this one is the first post on books.

For some years now, I have been having a tryst of sorts with books, trying to put myself ambitious targets for the number of books I wish to complete.

A few years back, a reading of Shashi Tharoor's "Bookless in Baghdad" highly inspired me. In one of the essays in that book, Tharoor mentions how he has been reading 365 books an year since the age of 8. Now I thought, that was impressive.

I tried keeping steep reading targets like 50 books an year. I didn't get much close to that number in any of these years, but keeping those targets did help me gradually read more and more.

This particular year, I have again been on spree of adding books but falling woefully short of reading them. I had, in fact vowed not to buy more books till I finish the backlog.

Then, it so happened that my wife Shivani and I were one of our much-cherished Saturday evening visits to Khan Market. Having put our names on the waiting list at one of the eateries and with time to kill, we walked into the quaint little bookstore "Fakirchand and Sons".

Browsing through, a black and white cover from the corner caught my eye amongst the myriad of colorful books. The simple cover featured Sanjay Gandhi's face. Now, despite being keenly interested in history, especially modern Indian history, Emergency and Sanjay are topics I had only passing knowledge about.

Naturally the book intrigued me instantly. Couple that with the fact that the author was seasoned journalist (Late) Vinod Mehta who we have often seen on television debates, and my mind was made.

The Sanjay Story - by Vinod Mehta

The book was originally written in 1978, just an year after the lifting of Emergency post Congress' defeat in the General Elections of 1977.

All forms of media had been severely curbed during the Emergency and hence, there was a spate of books immediately after its lifting. However they all focused on the Emergency. The author's claim is that he is the only biographer for Sanjay Gandhi.

However, this isn't an official or authorized one. The author tried reaching out to Sanjay, however, all access was denied for the fear that the book would contain criticism of the Gandhi scion.

The condition put forward by the Gandhi team was that the author could get free access to him if he agreed to portray Gandhi in a positive light. Mehta refused.

The book flows seamlessly and is a quick read. It is to the credit of the author that even after 40 years of its writing, the book doesn't seem archaic or complex.

It begins right at the start, from young Motilal Nehru and Anand Bhawan in Allahabad. Tracing the Nehru family's progression through Jawharlal, the introduction of a young timid Kamla to the Anglicized Nehru household, young Indira and her childhood, Feroze's queer entry into the house (the book raises some controversial points there, which I would leave for you to discover), the family's centre stage role in Indian politics, the issues in Indira's marriage, to young Rajiv and Sanjay.

Withing a span of one chapter, the author successfully puts the history of India's most important political family forward and also sets the stage to analyze Sanjay's childhood and formative years.

It delves into the (mis)adventures of Sanjay.
Sanjay's misadventures with Maruti are well-brought out. His obsession for cars and joy on working on cars in his personal garage with bare hands pushed him to setup the Maruti factory. However, what ensued was not just a monumental disaster, but also a classic case of cronyism. Despite having the access to all sorts of Govt licenses in the times of strict license Raj, the company failed to as much as take off - producing just 20 or so cars over the 5 years it was in action.

And coupled with that, proof of diversion of funds through a complex ownership structure meant the Parliament was rocked by the opposition from time to time.

The two other themes that the book brings out vividly are the Emergency (of course) and his tryst with youth Congress.

Emergency and his excesses therein are well captured. For me, it was an eye opener to know the details of one of the most watershed moments in Indian history.

In a nutshell, what emerges is that Sanjay had a good understanding of the acute problems that India faced - overpopulation, lack of sanitation, housing problems in the metropolitan cities etc. However, the approach to solving these was simply kiddish, to sum it up.

The depiction of events during the clean-up of Delhi slums and forced sterilization are laced with anecdotes that bring out the failures of Sanjay's approach very well.

My suggestion - a must read for anyone interested in the Emergency period. The author's brilliant writing ensures that despite the detailing, the book remains an easy and smooth read (I finished almost half of it on the very night I bought it). However, the book is too specific at a lot of times, and doesn't touch upon the overall political scenario in India, and for that particular reason, it might appear a drag to someone with only passing interest on the topic.

The Championships begin.

(originally posted on rishabhkalia.com on July 4, 2018)

June-July is a busy time for sports fans with numerous important sporting events during this period. This year is no exception.

The biggest showpiece of the most popular sport on earth is underway (the quadrennial FIFA World Cup), Formula 1 has races lined up on 3 consecutive weekends (a first for the premier racing event), apart from international events in hockey, cricket and badminton.

This is also the time of baking summers (especially in north India), approaching monsoons, summer holidays for school children, first quarter target pressures for professionals, and long family vacations on some years.

Apart from these, there is another constant , year after year.

The Championships. Wimbledon.

The oldest and most prestigious event on the tennis calendar opened its courts for its 131st edition on Monday.

8-time champion and last year's winner Roger Federer starts as the top seed, and the overwhelming favorite. Despite being off tennis for 3 months, and skipping the entire clay court season, his dominance in the past on grass leaves no one in doubts as to who you should put your money on.

Let's run through the draw to explore who the other bidders are.

(Note - As I write this, the first round of matches are almost over).

Quarter 1

In the first quarter of the draw, Federer looms large. He breezed through his first match without as much as breaking a sweat and dispelled any doubts of him being rusty after the break.

His path to the quarters looks pretty easy. Lukas Lacko in 2nd round, Leonardo Mayer in the 3rd, and Borna Coric/Adrian Mannarino in the 4th. None of them should be tough for the Swiss maestro to shrug off.

 

Roger Federer returns on way to his first round win against Dusan Lajovic.

The bottom part of this quarter seems quite competitive. Gael Monfils has already got the better of 23rd seeded Richard Gasquet, and faces Sam Querrey (11th seed) in a potential 3rd round clash. Querrey should prevail here.

The South African Kevin Andreson (seeded 8th) looks good to beat Kohlschreiber/Muller to advance to the 4th round against Querrey, and setup a repeat of last year's 4th round match where Querrey prevailed in 5 sets. That should be a cracker of a game.
Quarter 1 - Federer v/s Anderson/Querrey

Quarter 2

3rd seed Marin Cilic had an amazing Wimbledon last year. He had a good run upto the final where he came up short against Roger, losing in straight sets. He must be licking his wounds and raring to have another go at the title, to add to his solitary Grand Slam title (2014 US Open). He faces a potential third round clash with the Canadian Milos Raonic. This would be a nail-biter, but I would tip Cilic to advance basis his grass form.

In the bottom half of the quarter, Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) has already caused a mini-upset of sorts by knocking out 6th seed Grigor Dimitrov. Although Stan has 3 Grand Slam titles to his name, I am calling it a mini-upset as he is currently on a tough comeback after two operations on his left knee.

The Guardian aptly captured it "...victory that must have been almost as satisfying as his three grand slam title wins." 

Stan Wawrinka celebrates his victory over Grigor Dimitrov in the Men’s Singles first round at Wimbledon.

Wawrinka is no stranger to comebacks, and reaching back up to the very top. My article on him, written in 2014, captures this.

He should get past Tsitsipas, but John Isner in the 4th round should be an even match. Had Stan not been on a comeback, I would have called him favorite, but 50-50 as of now.
Quarter 2 - Marin Cilic v/s Wawrinka/Isner

Quarter 3

This quartet of the draw had ample heavyweights. However, as I write this, two are already out.

The Roland Garros finalist and 7th seed Dominic Thiem has pulled out during his first round match with an injury, while Fernando Verdasco has crashed out to Franciso Tiafoe of the US. These developments mean smooth sailing for the Serb Novak Djokovic uptil the quarters.

The bottom half of this quarter is where the action lies. Kei Nishikori of Japan and Bernard Tomic of Australia go head-to-head as early as the second round. The winner faces the mercurial Aussie Nick Kyrgios in the third round, the winner of which faces Alexander Zverev.

On current form, Zverev should get through to face Novak in the quarters, but this quarter of the draw is what you should be watching in the first few rounds.
Quarter 3 - Novak Djokovic v/s Alexander Zverev

Quarter 4

This ain't clay, but you can never count out the enigmatic Rafael Nadal, a two-time champion here. He is fresh off a highly successful clay season, winning an unprecedented 11th Roland Garros title, apart from his 11th Monte Carlo Masters, 11th Barcelona Masters and 8th Rome Masters.

The first significant hurdle he would face should be Fabio Fognini (Italy) in the 4th round. He has got the better of Nadal before at the big stage - a shock defeat in the 3rd round of US Open 2015. (Read my post on that game here)

However, Nadal looks in solid touch currently, as evidenced by his opening match against Dudi Sela, and should prevail.

The battle to face Nadal in the quarters seems easy. Juan Martin del Potro (5th seed) should sail through against Jack Sock/David Goffin in the 4th round to reach the quarters.

Juan Martin del Potro

Quarter 4 - Rafael Nadal v/s Juan Martin del Potro

Now I would stick my neck out and call the winners here.

Quarter 1 - Federer v/s Anderson/Querrey - Federer to sail through. Roger Federer

Quarter 2 - Marin Cilic v/s Wawrinka/Isner - This is tough to call. The mind says Cilic, while the gut feeling says that this is another of those years where Wawrinka comes into his own. Stan Wawrinka

Quarter 3 - Novak Djokovic v/s Alexander Zverev - Zverev has shown some brilliant performances over the last 12 months, and he has shown his prowess on the big stage as well. Djokovic wouldn't back down easily, but I would tip Zverev to take this in 5 sets. Alexander Zverev

Quarter 4 - Rafael Nadal v/s Juan Martin del Potro - Going by the amount of fatigue Nadal has been through in the clay season, and del Potro's booming forehands and past grass court performances, I would call del Potro to take this, in 4 sets. (Must add, that as a die-hard Rafa fan, I would love to be proved wrong). Juan Martin del Potro

So there goes my prediction for the semi-finalists. May the best man win!

Undecima(ted) Nadal

(originally posted on rishabhkalia.com on June 11, 2018) 

Rafael Nadal continued his dominant run at the Roland Garros, getting the better of Dominic Thiem in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

In front of a packed Court Philippe-Chatrier, Dominic Thiem gave it all, trying to match Nadal blow for blow. However it wasn't enough.

If the Austrian needed any evidence of Nadal's prowess as the greatest clay-courter of all time, he got it today in full measure. Rafael Nadal reacts after winning his 11th Roland Garros title.

Full marks to Thiem for intent and aggression, not so much for accuracy. The numbers bring out the story.

His first serve percentage, which had been in the 60s throughout the tournament, was a dismal 45% in the first set. He improved in the next 2 sets, but still ended at 56% for the match.

His serving problems were compounded by a staggering 42 unforced errors, as against 24 for Nadal.

These are still early days for Thiem, and with his talent and promise, he should go on to win quite a few events at the big stage. But today was just not his day.

Playing in his first Grand Slam final, he was overawed by the man who is arguably the most dominant tennis player ever, on a single surface. Probably the most dominant player across sports for a specific surface/format.  Embrace and words of encouragement.

Nadal excelled today in net play, his sojourns to the net giving him more returns than he usually gets. Uncharacteristic to the man who is more comfortable dictating terms from the baseline, Nadal approached the net 18 times in this match, winning 88% of those points.

The heavy forehand returns and the cross-court winners were all in full display. Also on display was the heavy top spin on his returns. They had been remarkably missing during the early part of his quarter-final against Schartzmann, when the cloudy weather had made things tough for Rafa.

THE INVINCIBLE?

The Mallorcan has often left fans and experts in awe with his superhuman performances on clay, ever since his trailblazing debut here as a teenager in 2005, when he went on to win the event.

The ease with which he has triumphed in Paris over the years (a win-loss record of 85-2 since 2005), is enough to delude anyone into thinking that playing here is cakewalk for the Spaniard. Nadal touched upon this aspect after reaching his 11th final at this event, beating Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets.

"Today is a day to rejoice. When you’re in a final like Roland Garros, it’s a great happiness. It may sound easy and logical, but I don’t want it to be. It’s not a routine. I don’t want anyone to think that it’s a routine. It’s a day that I should rejoice about."

The expression says it all!

He is still the wide-eyed child that is as excited about winning here for an 11th time, as he would have been making his debut. The joy, the tears, the sheer euphoria showed this is not routine business. This is special. Every single time.

“It’s amazing now, I can’t describe my feelings.It’s not even a dream to win here 11 times, because its impossible to think of something like this.”

During his speech, he "hoped to see you (the crowd) next year". Maybe we are in for more?

Formula 1 2018 pre-season

F1 is back! Melbourne gets the season underway this Sunday.

Two four-time champions go head to head for a chance to become only the third player in history to claim 5 championships.

Sebastian Vettel in the red Ferrari resumes hostilities with the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, after an acrimonious last season.

But before action gets underway, here's a roundup of the changes brought into place this season.

Halo - the cockpit protection device introduced this season is designed to further improve driver safety in the event of an accident, and in particular to deflect debris away from the head.

The core design has strict rules, however teams have the scope to modify the surface, so it will be interesting to see what aerodynamics teams can work out around this. Watch this space for more.

Trick suspension disallowed - This system had been introduced to allow cars better grip on the surface, but was being increasingly used by teams to modify the car height.

To know more, watch this https://youtu.be/yDVmIXV4WEw

T wings and shark fins banned - Another aspect where teams used their imagination widely in the last season. Williams employed a double T-wing, while the likes of Force India, Renault and McLaren took things further, experimenting with multiple planes.

Tyre changes - Pirelli has introduced 2 new tires for this season - pink hypersoft and orange superhard,making the total available compound tyres to seven, from last year's five.

Keep watching this space.

Hat-trick and hat-trick for Hamilton in Canada

Formula 1 moved across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada on the second weekend of June, where Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve hosted the seventh Grand Prix of the season.

Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) with 2 race wins this season, sought to move close to Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari) who sat at the top of the table with a 25-point advantage with 3 race wins.

The Canadian Grand Prix has always been a happy hunting ground for Hamilton, having won 5 races in the past years, including the last 2 years. 

But even by those standards, this was a dream Sunday for the British driver. He went on to win his third consecutive one, thus completing a hat-trick in cricketing parlance.  

The sport of F1 has a very different definition for hat-trick though, which includes pole position, race win and fastest lap. Hamilton managed to secure this hat-trick as well.

Our guest writer and F1 expert Kavish Anand puts it succinctly, "While Hamilton's comeback drive at Monaco was about supreme race management and tyre strategy, Vettel's drive at Montreal was about sheer courage and determination. Who goes all in on the last 3 laps to get 2 more points and risk it all?

Vettel did just that when he overtook the 2 fast Force India's of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez . While the move on Perez was routine, the move on Ocon was probably the move of the race (barringr the Flying Dutchman eccentric start). This move showed how brave a driver Vettel was. 


As he himself pointed out later, the move involved significant risk and boy did those pay off. Had he got 1 more lap, maybe just maybe he would have taken the podium all by his sheer will"

The overtakes have to be seen to be believed. The video shows the overtakes (Lap 66, Ocon) and (Lap 69, Perez). 



To admire the genius better, watch the last maneuver once more.



Kavish says, "Hamilton and the sliver arrows may have landed a blow to Ferrari (that's what Hamilton said) but make no mistake; the prancing horses are going nowhere and going nowhere is the man on whom the blow landed the most severely : Sebastian Vettel."

As a result of his heroics in the end, Vettel hangs on to his lead at the top of the table, but precariously. He is just 12 points abreast of Hamilton, who is set to ensure this goes down to the wire. 

At Azerbaijan (the next Grand Prix) which promises to be a fast-paced cracker, Vettel would come back harder than ever. With all his experience, Lewis knows it. Or has he got a bit carried away with this emotional win (at Montreal). The sight of him having having Ayrton Senna helmet was an emotional moment.

Ladies and gentlemen, fasten your seat belts, we are in  for some pulsating action! Keep watching this space.

A trophy of champions indeed!

What a sea of fortunes this last fortnight has been!

Before it began, this edition of Champions Trophy had been advertised by Star Sports as 'Champions ka World Cup'. An apt description, considering the fact that only the top 8 teams as per ICC rankings made the cut. This meant a former giant West Indies missing out. This is a team that as recently as March last year, had won the World T20 in a thrilling finish with 4 sixes on as many balls in a dramatic final at the Wankhede.

This augurs well for the game, that there is enough competition to edge out such high-quality teams. The event was being held in the British Isles, just like the previous (2013) edition.

And as soon as the event began, one performer stood out for consistency and impact. It was the ever-fickle English weather. Rain played a part in almost all matches in the first week, leading to wash-outs and overs being truncated.

As a result, after 6 days and 6 games, we had 2 wash-outs with points shared, and the other ones won by 96 runs, 124 runs, 87 runs and 8 wickets. The margins clearly bring out how one-sided these games were. The tournament seemed destined to be a boring, rain-affected affair after a week. But, then Pakistan sprang to life, and so too, did the tournament.

They seemed over and out after a deflating loss to arch-rivals India by 124 runs where poor batting, pedestrian bowling and club-level fielding gave the impression that they didn't stand a chance in this event.

But, then in a must-win game against South Africa, they raised their game to another level altogether. The Proteas who had played a dominant game against Sri Lanka in their opener, were stunned. Pakistan winning by 19 runs in a rain-truncated match.

This game started a string of surprises. Sri Lanka were up next in a must-win against defending champions India, and they also produced an inspired performance, putting aside their poor form to chase down 322 convincingly.

Bangladesh then completed a hat-trick of Asian surprises by pulling off a huge upset against New Zealand. Down 33/4, they produced pure magic to chase down 266, eliminating the Kiwis from the tournament.

These upsets suddenly brought thrill and energy back, and jolted a sleeping tournament out of slumber. All of a sudden, the last few matches (Aus v Eng, Ind v SA and Pak v SL) became virtual quarter-finals and the audiences certainly loved every bit of it.

England continued their consistent dominance and steam-rolled Australia, who returned home winless. India held their nerves to get the better of a choking and nervous South Africa with ease. And Pakistan played like only Pakistan can. Stop, start, race, stutter, stop, start. A less than convincing performance, with few glimpses of brilliance took them through to the semi-finals.

Their sudden rise after the crushing loss in the first game deserves an article in itself. Refer to this great piece on Pakistan's resurgence. http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-champions-trophy-2017/content/story/1103610.html

And so we had our semi-finalists in place. England, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The former two were pre-tournament favorites, while the latter two were teams that  even in your wildest dreams, you wouldn't have expected would make it this far.

England still looked the favorite at this stage, but Pakistan's exuberant run was far from over. They put in another brilliant day at the field, and England were left in the cold once more on the global stage. India ended Bangladesh's run with a clinical win in the other semi-final, without as much as breaking a sweat.

This boils down to an India-Pakistan final, the mother of all battles, may the best team win!

Nadal cruises to his La Decima

Paris witnessed history today as Stade de Roland Garros saw its most famous athlete win the French Open for a record 10th time.

Rafael Nadal had finally accomplished his La Decima (that's how you refer to the tenth in Spain, the county that Nadal belongs to). 

The organizers were set for it and had put together a presentation ceremony themed on the tenth win. The stage had a big logo showing 10 alongside the Roland Garros logo, while there were banners in the crowd saying "10 RG" and "Bravo Rafa".

The match itself ended up being a side note in the event, as it was very much one-sided. His Swiss opponent Stanislas Wawrinka looked listless against a Nadal onslaught, and wasn't up to the mark. He didn't show any of the spark that had helped him get the better of Nadal in their last Grand Slam final together, 2014 Australian Open.

Wawrinka looked tight from the start, probably a combination of being overwhelmed by the occasion and being exhausted from having spent 15 hours on the court in the last 2 weeks, which included a grueling 5-set win over Andy Murray. Nadal had spent 5 hours lesser, having dropped just 29 games on way to an impressive run to the final, which saw him drop no sets.

Nadal started applying pressure right from the start, and the 4th game (Stan's serve) saw many balls sent long from both players, and Rafa looked close to breaking. The game saw as many as 6 deuces, but the Swiss managed to just about hold his serve. Rafa was in brilliant touch both physically and mentally, which he displayed in the 5th game, when serving on the game, he saw Wawrinka move to the side of the court from the corner of his eye, and served down the line to close the game.

The relentless pressure helped him break Wawrinka in the 6th game and again in the 8th game. Takes first set 6-2!

The second set saw Wawrinka becoming more aggressive. He strives to open up the court more, make more angles for Nadal, approaches the net often for serve and volley (where he manages a remarkable 100% points won on net approaches). He does show glimpses of his aggressive win on this court 2 years ago in the final against Djokovic where he had approached the net and volleyed to good effect.

The image effectively sums up Wawrinka's day on Sunday. Frustrating!

However, today the opponent was on a different plan altogether, and Nadal broke up once to take the second set 6-3. The third set was a formality as Nadal easily clinched it 6-1.

When Wawrinka hit it into the net on match point, Nadal collapsed to the ground in joy where he stayed for a while. He rose, totally overwhelmed, and with tears of joy in his eyes, as he ran to accept his opponent's greetings. His dream had been accomplished! History had been made!

What followed was a very emotional Nadal watching his 10 title wins being shown on the big screen, an image that will stay in the hearts of all tennis fans and certainly in those of Rafa fans for some time to come. Relive all those 10 here :

10 Roland-Garros Titles
10 Unforgettable Moments
1 Champion#RG17 pic.twitter.com/e7xfGgl4qI

— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 12, 2017

The way he cuddled the trophy showed the world how much this means for him, after career threatening injuries, loss of form, and the slow and painful return to the top level. It had been 3 long years of wait since his last win here in 2014, his last Grand Slam!

This was a time when even his biggest fans had started doubting if he could ever return to his old form. But he showed us all that you don't count Rafa out, never ever. Vamos!

Hamilton outsmarts Vettel in Barcelona GP

Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, on Sunday, saw a fascinating match up between Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes and Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari. This was the fifth Grand Prix of the season, with Vettel having won 2 races and Hamilton 1.

Hamilton and Vettel, winners of seven of the last nine drivers' titles, provided a cliffhanger of a contest today. A contest which had it all. Dangerous contact between the cars, multiple overtaking attempts and smart tyre strategy.

If there were any doubts as to who the favorites for this year's driver's title were, those were answered today as the duo gave enough indication that this season would be a direct head-to-head for the crown.

In the end, it was Hamilton and his team Mercedes’ strategy that saw them through, ably supported by the other Mercedes driver, Valtteri Bottas.

Both drivers made 2 pit-stops during the 66-lapped race. It was the choice of tyres that made pretty much all the difference.

While Vettel went for Soft, Soft and Medium respectively, Hamilton chose Soft, Medium and Soft, in that order. 

A Soft tire provides speed, and faster turning on corners, while sacrificing durability. A Medium tire on the other hand, is more durable, with a lesser speed. I shall take up tyres in detail in another blog spot.

Hamilton had started the race on pole position, with Vettel on second. After the race began, Vettel soon pulled ahead of Hamilton and started increasing the gap from Hamilton on second, whose Mercedes teammate Bottas was behind on third. 

After coming out of his first pit stop, where he chose Soft tyres, Vettel joined at second position behind Bottas, and realized that he has got to make the best use of this part of the race, where he is on Soft, while Hamilton is on Medium. He made multiple attempts to overtake Bottas in Laps 23 and 24, and was thwarted effectively by Bottas, thus helping Hamilton gain a precious couple of seconds in number 3 position.

Vettel finally overtook Bottas in Lap 25, and soon enough Bottas allowed Hamilton to overtake, showing brilliant teamwork. Vettel meanwhile pushed to extend his lead. 

Lap 37, Hamilton pits, switches to soft tyres, and joins the track 24 seconds behind Vettel. Lap 38, Vettel pits, and he joins back very close to Hamilton, and the two cars come very close to each other, but Vettel pulls ahead, Hamilton isn't too happy and is heard telling on the team radio that he was alongside Vettel and was forced to push wide.

But the advantage is with Hamilton with his soft tyres. Meanwhile, Bottas' engine goes bad in Lap 40, and he is out of the race.

Hamilton keeps striving desperately to overtake, and finally succeeds in doing so in Lap 44, with an amazing maneuver. Vettel now keeps hoping that Hamilton wouldn't be able to take his soft tyres to the end of the race, and would be forced to stop.

Hamilton doesn't, and manages his engine superbly well, keeps extending his lead, and in the last 6 laps, it seems that Vettel has accepted the result. 

Hamilton eventually wins by 3.5 seconds, and closes Vettel's lead at the top of the drivers' championship to 6 points. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a fascinating season on our hands!

The rise and rise of Brand Kohli

Feb 2017 saw Virat Kohli, captain of Team India, making a big announcement on his Twitter, “A new era begins now. With @PUMA. #Forever #ForeverFaster”, heralding the start of an 8-year period for which he shall endorse Puma.

The endorsement deal is worth INR 110 crores, broken up into –

1. Fixed payments of roughly INR 12 crore per annum
2. Royalty payments depending on the brand's business performance

The Puma contract is path-breaking if you consider the fact that no Indian sportsperson has ever signed a deal of this magnitude. In the past, Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni have been in the Rs 100-crore club through multi-year contract with sports and talent management agencies, but neither crossed the mark via a single deal.

Puma would work with Kohli in markets like UK, Australia, South Africa and the Middle East and "wherever Cricket is relevant.” The deal helps Virat fill the gap for a sports brand in his portfolio, which had appeared since December, when he decided not to renew his 3-year contract with Adidas.

Currently, the stalwart endorses the following 17 brands apart from Puma –

• Audi
• Boost
• Colgate
• Gionee
• Herbalife
• Manyavar
• MRF
• Nitesh Estates
• Pepsi
• Punjab National Bank
• Samsonite
• Shyam Steel
• Smaaash
• Tissot
• USL
• Valvoline
• Vicks
   

The journey

Kohli’s brand endorsement journey started soon after he captained India U-19 team to victory in the 2008 U-19 World Cup. He was signed up by sports agent Bunty Sajdeh of Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment after the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. (Sajdeh also manages endorsements for Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay.)

His first endorsement was in 2010 when he joined actor Genelia D’Souza for Titan’s Fastrack. The deal lasted 2 years and was worth INR 25 lakhs, a miniscule amount as compared to his current earnings.

The ascent       

The years since 2010 witnessed Kohli coming into his own, rising exponentially on the back of some brilliant innings to emerge as India’s leading and one of the world’s best batsmen. He went on to assume captaincy of India in all three formats of the game and of the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore. His brand value has increased in sync throughout.

One of his biggest endorsement deals was signed in 2014, INR 10 crore per annum deal with German sports goods giant Adidas, for a 3-year period. The same year, he signed up for a INR 6.5 crore-per-year deal with MRF.

In 2015, the charismatic batsman entered into an 18-month deal with carmaker Audi India (INR 5 crores). Audi thus replaced Japanese automaker ToyotaKirloskar in his brand portfolio.

The enigma that keeps growing

All the different brands have the option of either hiring the endorser on a yearly basis or a day basis. For the day based contracts, Kohli charges INR 2 crores per day (equivalent to the amount Sachin used to charge and higher than MS Dhoni’s INR 1.5 crores per day).

Kohli signs contracts for about 3 days with per day charge of Rs 2 crores. Brands utilizes those three days in photo shoots, press briefings along with other appearances

A notable thing is that Virat is quite selective about which brands he wants to associate his name with. “The brands which he thinks match his personality or he will use, are the ones he opts for,” says Sajdeh. According to industry sources, Tata Motors had approached Kohli but the cricketer chose to endorse Audi over it, even though it offered him lesser money, as the luxury automobile brand “suited” him more.

Apart from endorsements, he also has a plethora of investments in fashion brands, gyms and sports franchises, discussed in detail here.

‘Cheeku’ as he is fondly known in Delhi’s cricket circles, has certainly come a long way from a INR 25 lakh start with Titan to a INR 110 cr contract with Puma. In terms of cricket, he has Sachin’s records to chase down, but in terms of endorsements, he clearly leads the pack and only sky seems to be the limit!

Battle of the Gladiators : Chapter 50

Saturday, May 13th 2017, Madrid Masters Semi Final 1 marked half a century of clashes between tennis' great champions, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. The previous head to head had been quiet even, with Djokovic slightly ahead at 26-23.

Here's an interesting compilation on all those 49 matches,in case you are interested.

It is a fact that goes unnoticed that the duo have played more matches together as compared to the more famous Federer-Nadal rivalry, which has seen 37 encounters. The varied playing styles of Nadal and Federer and their great friendship off the court are probably some of the reasons that 'Fedal' is more fabled than Nadal – Djokovic (gosh, we still don't have a moniker for it!).

The formbook 

Coming into this game, the World No. 2 Serbian was on an unbeaten 7 match streak against Nadal, dating back to 2014, however what evened the scales was the fact that Novak had seen a poor start to 2017, and had very recently fired his whole coaching staff before this tournament desperately hoping for a change in fortunes for the season.

Nadal, on the other hand, has been in blazing hot form since the start of 2017, playing in 6 finals, including the epic Australian Open final against Federer (Fedal XXXV, as it was labeled by some) after a painful return from injury. The clay court season had been ominous, with Nadal winning his 10th title in Monte Carlo and Barcelona each. He looked set for his record breaking 5th crown in Madrid, but there stood Djokovic.

Matchup no. 50 

Nadal carried his good form into this game, breaking Djokovic in the first game itself, much to the delight of the crowd. He broke again in the third game, and then served to go 4-0 up. The first set was done and dusted in 40 mins. Djokovic made many unforced errors and continued looking a patch of his dominant self who had been in red hot form for last couple of years.

The second set started with Nadal breaking in the second game, but the third game saw Djokovic trying to break the flow and come into his own. The returns were back, and so was the fighter comeback spirit typical of Djokovic. He broke Nadal back in the third game, and then served brilliantly to win his service game to nil. However, the brilliance came through only in patches, as Nadal clawed back and left his stamp on this encounter. With 1 hr 40 mins on the clock, and 5-4 up, Nadal served for the match, had two match points. But, Djokovic, as we have so often come to see in the past, magically rises his game and goes on to save both of them. However, today was not his day, as has been the story this season, and Nadal closed the game on his third match point.

How does Djokovic move on from here? Who would he appoint as his new coach? Can he overcome his mental demons or is the current slump a sign of something bigger? Many unanswered questions, but tennis would eagerly await the great Serb to come back into his own.

Kolkata…. Déjà vu? (revisited)

Well, there are times when your predictions come out true and you want to shout out from rooftops “I said so”. Similar are my sentiments following the conclusion of the India-South Africa test at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.  In fact, the topic for my last post (“Kolkata…. Déjà vu?”)  seems so prophetic now that I am putting up another post on the topic. Forgive me friends for this show of self-indulgence, my sense of bravado being heightened by the emphatic win India achieved to retain the No.1 spot in a fiercely contested match and series.

And what a series it was…

World No. 1 v/s World No.2, top ranking at stake, a drawn series 1-1, both teams winning a test by an innings each and the series undecided till the last 9 balls on Day Five of the last test. Had Hashim Amla and Morne Morkel seen off those 9 balls, the series would have been the Proteas’ and with it the No. 1 ranking.

However, Eden Gardens had scripted a different epic for the capacity crowd gathered there.  The Eden nominated one of its favorite adopted sons, Harbhajan Singh to execute the final act in a brilliant tale. He caught Morkel plumb in line to make India victors by an innings and 58 runs and the celebration that ensued  showed how much the win mattered for India, in general and Harbhajan, in particular. He had come under a lot of flak for his below-par performance in the last Test and he was lambasted for not taking up the responsibility as a senior with the team missing certain key players. He replied with a solid performance picking up 8 wickets in the match with a 5-wickwt haul in the second innings.

This brings me back to the topic of the sense of déjà vu and the feeling of nostalgia that this Test invoked.

Just like the ‘01 test v/s Australia at the Eden, where the stars were Laxman, Dravid and Bhajji  (as I tabulated in the last post) ; Laxman and Bhajji played important roles in this game too. (Dravid sat out due to injury). Though this time around there were contributions from Tendulkar, Sehwag , Mishra and Dhoni as well.

The similarity in some of the events in the two tests couldn’t have been more stark .

In 2001, Australia were going along at 193/1 when Harbhajan took a fiver (including that famous hat-trick) to reduce them to 291/8 in the last session.

 Here, South Africa was coasting along on Day 1 at 218/1 when Harbhajan picked up 3 wickets in quick succession and aided by Zaheer reduced SA to 266/9 by day end. He was also on a hat-trick at one point of time but missed it.

Now,  the second favorite son of the Eden, VVS Laxman.  Laxman played one of the finest  innings(281*)  in the 2001 Test which redeemed India from a seemingly hopeless situation.

Here, after Sehwag and Tendulkar had given a solid start, he produced an unbeaten hundred under much less pressure but in a match of no less importance.

All in all, a heart- warming performance by India coupled with some nostalgic moments of triumph  from Harbhajan and Laxman made it a game which the Indian supporters will remember for some time to come.

And so will I, especially if my predictions keep coming out true.   ;)

 

P.S.  This article was posted after the Test but due to a technical error, it didn’t come up on the blog. So, I am posting it again.

Eden Gardens... deja vu?

Well,I am back after a long break following my first post... Blame it on my laziness to put the large volumes of thoughts churning in my mind into a coherent article.. But now have decided to religiously express those thoughts on a regular basis and post whenever an event or issue interests me or moves me to draw a comment.Lets see how long the resolution lasts.

For this post,nothing in particluar.

Except the second love of my love,cricket...   Will talk of the first one some other day..   ;)  

India take on SA on Sunday at the Eden Gardens in a battle to regain test supremacy. In the first of this kind of instance in a long time, two teams are battling it out in a Test series with the winner emerging the numero uno, a rare situation in Test cricket where official rankings were first used only 10 years back. I think the only time this happened before was when SA took the No. 1 position from Australia just before the 2003 WC.

An Indian team high on expectations following their ascent to the top have had their hopes dampened by injuries to Dravid and Laxman and then the crushing defeat in the first Test.An innings defeat inflicted to the No. 1 team... Time to ponder? Time to accept that we are not the best?  Time to play the waiting game?  I don't think so...  As any fan who has followed Indian team's sojourns over the past decade will vouch for, you never write off an Indian team and do so at your peril.

I suppose it is something inherently Indian not to be unfazed by adversity and achieve your bests when the chips are down.

Some of the more celebrated turnarounds that come to mind: 

Year               Venues Heroes 

2001 Kolkata                          Dravid,Laxman,Harbhajan

2002 Birmingham Dravid,Bangar,Zaheer

2004 Adelaide Dravid,Laxman,Agarkar

2007 Cape Town  Ganguly

Though the first name in three of those occasions would be missing the second Test,  it is his counterpart in two of them turnarounds who gives me hope. Vengipurrappu Venkat Sai Laxman, making a return from injury, at a time when Indians are staring down the barrel after an innings defeat at the hand of the Proteas, has the script perfectly written for him to come and conjure magic and produce another of those beautiful innings under pressure that has dominance and elegance wonderfully blended. 

It is this uncanny ability of his to remain unfazed under pressure and produce those gems of a knock that led some critics in Australia to call him the best batsman in the world. Very true, in his genre, he is arguably one of the best.... The genre of wristy,elegant batsmen, punctuated by names like Gundappa Vishwanath and Mohd. Azharuddin.   

And the venue gives me further hope that Very Very Special Laxman will rise into his own. Eden Gardens witnessed the best comeback and one of the finest innings under pressure in Test cricket in 2001. Could it see an encore over the coming week?

It is also worthwile to note that when India played Aus there in the second Test, they had been crushed at Mumbai by 10 wickets by an Aussie juggernaut that had won 16 Tests in succesion and was looking to breach "the final frontier" to stake their claim to be the best in the world. 

All this is what gives me a sense of deja vu. India down in the series after a crushing defeat, the battle for being the best in the world, speculation that the team's best days are behind, a Laxman coming back into the side (though this wasn't the case then) and the Eden...

Would we witness another of those special matches , or does magic happens only once in a blue moon?

We'll have to wait and watch.

Turn your eyes to Eden and keep your fingers crossed.

Rishabh Kalia

P.S. Do feel free to comment.

The debut

Well, I am finally into blogging.... A year after the creation of this blog, a year after thinking of writing an article after every event (political, sporting or others) and then dropping the idea thanks to my laziness..

But, I am finally in and the credit must go to my friend and wingie Prabhav Joshi, an active blogger himself (you can view his blog at www.itsprabhavspeaking.com) who coaxed me to start.

Well, at the moment, no topic of interest is striking me…. So, I would share the experiences of the just-concluded vacations.

May 14 was the day it was supposed to be. The day my comprehensive exams were to end, also bringing to an end my second year of a helpless attempt of becoming a chemical engineer. The last exam was supposed to be Fluid flow Operations which, though it seems interesting at the outset, is quite the opposite when it comes to studying it which incidentally, is the case with almost all courses and a similar analogy holds for all activities in life---- All is well till you are doing it for fun, the boredom steps in when you have to do it for a living).

The night before, BITS witnessed major power cuts and our wing was sitting together under the wing lights trying to make head and tail of the course. We eventually lost track of the job at hand and indulged in mindless buffoonery (stressed out as we all were). Power returned late in the night and we finally got back to the task. The exam next day was a roller coaster ride but the summer break to follow was to be an even bigger one.
After the exam, all of us enthusiastically began packing our trunks. It sure is a hell of a job. I was the one going extremely slowly about it. By about 5 pm, I wasn’t even half done and the time for keeping trunks was from 6 to 8. Needless to say, I missed the time and had to now keep it at 10 pm when the common room would open again; I had my bus to Delhi at 10-30 pm. With some support from my wingies and Messrs. Ankit Bareja (Ehsaan tera :) ), I was able to complete somehow.

The journey back home as always was full of exhilaration and eager anticipation. When you finally get to home and meet your parents and siblings, the feeling is one of being on top of the world. My PS-1 was supposed to start on May 25. The PS station was NTPC Dadri, an hour’s journey from my home which meant I could stay at home. Meanwhile, my focus was on IPL. The league had entered its last phase and my team, Delhi Daredevils was topping the charts. I was indeed hopeful of a league triumph for DD. The last few matches made up for interesting viewing as KKR finally got its act together, a big surprise after their lackluster form previously and edged out KXIP and RR. The semi-finals were the one that gave the real shocker. In a blistering innings that lasted 11 overs, Adam Gilchrist sent Delhi packing. I watched each of his shots disappear into the stands with mouth agape and a sinking heart. When he finally got out, my shock turned into anger and I cursed him that he would be out for a duck in the final. Deccan Chargers eventually won and my anger turned into firm support for RC, the other finalist. The final was another cracker of a match starting with Gilchrist going for a duck ( :) :) … well sadist relief, you would say, hurt fan, I would say) . The match went down to the wire and DC held their nerves in the final over to get their hands over the trophy. The program that followed at the stadium was great and could give competition to Olympic ceremonies.

The IPL was soon followed by the World Cup T20. (Meanwhile, my PS had started which was quite light and I was going there as well). The players, especially the Indians, reached England fatigued (contrary to what Dhoni maintained). The fatigue showed in every game and there was hardly a game where India played like the defending champs they were. There were quite a few interesting games in the event. It started with that cracker of a game between Netherlands and Ireland which saw Ireland bowling out Netherlands in the Super Over. Then, Gayle’s blitzkrieg against the Aussies, Netherlands shocking England, Ireland shocking Bangladesh, SA beating NZ by a solitary run, Jayasuriya’s start against WI that reminded of ’96 were moments that enlivened the trophy. SA looked to be the best of the lot and the favorites after India and Australia bowed out.
Then came the twist of the tournament. The game : First semi-final between Pakistan and South Africa. Not even Pakistan’s most ardent supporters would have given them a chance against SA. But, then T20 is a format where you would be a cynic to be making overtly conclusive predictions. And it showed. The South Africans were going about the chase quite decently when the ever unpredictable Shahid Afridi came into his own. He built on his splendid form through the tournament to produce a spell that turned the tables on the Proteas. Bowling a nagging line and length, he and Saeed Ajmal bowled Pakistan to the final where they faced Sri Lanka, another team that had been performing consistently throughout the tournament. The final was billed as the game between two nations playing for the people back home troubled by internal wars. In the end, it was Pakistan that triumphed and the man of the moment was again Shahid Afridi whose reaction of relief on taking a crucial wicket said it all. The man who had been often criticized for shooting himself in the foot and wasting his talent, Boom Boom Afridi had come of age, So had Pakistan.

Well, I seem to overshooting all limits of blogging. First time, you see. There’s a lot more to write as the vacations are not even half written about. I would pick it up from here in my next post. Please do write in with your comments. I would be glad to hear from you.

Introduction

Hi,this is Rishabh Kalia
Pursuing Chemical Engineering from BITS,Pilani..
Alumni St. Paul's Academy,Ghaziabad..
This is my blog spot on e-blogger..
I will be putting up posts from time to time.
Anyone is free to comment...