Studies in Contrast: Umesh Yadav (left) and Varun Aaron (Photo courtesy: hindustantimes.com)

They have shown that all it takes to succeed is an idea, a dream, a lot of hard work and an element of luck. The rise of players like Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Ajinkya Rahane has come as a confirmation that dreams are no longer a prerogative of the metros likes Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

A little over two decades ago, when cricket telecasts were still being produced by Doordarshan, it was hard to imagine so Indian cricketers coming from such diverse locations. The selling of TV rights to cable and satellite companies has had a huge role in the spawning of such dreams in small towns like Rae Bareily and Jamshedpur, Kochi and Cuttack, Moradabad and Gadag, Allahabad and Ikhar, Jalandhar and Ranchi.

There was a time when players had to migrate to established pastures to be able to play for India.  Vinoo Mankad moved from Western India to Nawanagar, Dattu Phadkar from Maharashtra to Bombay, Bishan Singh Bedi, S Madan Lal and Mohinder Amarnath from Punjab to Delhi and Karsan Ghavri from Saurashtra to Bombay. Prashant Vaidya is another example that springs to mind. He had to move from Vidarbha to Bengal to gain recognition, first to play for the India A team and then to gain four India caps in one-day internationals.

Of course, Kapil Dev had shown that one could stay put anywhere – his home town Chandigarh in his case – and rise to the top. There have been others like Sunil Joshi, the left-arm spinner from Gadag in Karnataka, fast bowler Debashis Mohanty and his fellow Orissa team-mate and opening batsman Shiv Sundar Das, Andhra wicket-keeper MSK Prasad as well as Kerala paceman Tinu Yohannan who has followed suit, even if without much success.

And over the past decade, cricketers like RP Singh, Munaf Patel, and S Sreesanth have come to the fore. And, towering over all else, we have also had one of India’s finest captains – Mahendra Singh Dhoni, if you must know his name, come from the back of beyond. Son of Pan Singh, a pump operator in MECON at Ranchi, Dhoni has entrenched himself in the hearts of millions of cricket fans in and out of India.

There is no doubt that Dhoni’s success story has been an inspiration for countless youngsters in India’s hinterland to dream of playing for India and pursue that dream with single-minded devotion. Indeed, it all starts with a dream. Munaf Patel, for example, just wanted to play cricket outside Ikhar and Bharuch. Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, who have emerged as exciting fast bowling prospects for India this season, both dreamt of bowling quick – and consistently. They have repeatedly gone on record as saying they would not compromise on their pace.

One of the key elements in such careers is that their coaches – be it those who have imparted the fundamentals or those who have worked on the nuances – have not tampered too much with the basics. In Varun Aaron’s case, however, Dennis Lillee and TA Sekar helped him improve his action, making it more biomechanically correct. Yadav has worked with former India fast bowler Subroto Banerjee (who is now Vidarbha’s bowling coach).

Interestingly, Umesh Yadav’s formative years show a distinct contrast to those of Aaron and Rahane. While Aaron’s father C Paul Aaron taught him the first lessons of fast bowling and Rahane’s father Mayank took him to a coaching academy when he was eight, Tilak Yadav was quite clear that his son Umesh should work towards joining the police.

Hailing from Jamshedpur where his father was working for Mico Bosch, it was inevitable that sport was a big part of Varun Aaron’s life. His father was a club cricketer in his youth in Bangalore and his mother played basketball for Bihar. And what is more, his grandfather had played hockey for Bihar. Playing the under-15 tournament for the Polly Umrigar Trophy, Varun Aaron was picked up for grooming by the MRF Pace Academy in 2005.

Madhukar Rahane, Ajinkya’s father got his son to a coaching camp in Dombivili so that he would not break window panes at his home and stay fit. And then the family moved to Mulund so that he could attend coaching camps easily. As a junior cricketer, Ajinkya Rahane spent time as a ballboy during two international games at the Wankhede Stadium. That was enough for the lad from Mulund to dream of earning an India cap and back it up with a resolve to work hard for that.

By contrast, Umesh Yadav surfaced only as a 21-year-old tear-away in 2008. His father Tilak Yadav has worked as a miner in the Western Coalfields at Majri in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district. The young man had to cycle a long distance to play his cricket in Nagpur. He had to content himself playing tennis ball cricket until he got picked up for the Vidarbha under-22 side.

Of course, Yadav is not the first Indian cricketers to come from such a humble background. Even the first few generation of Indian cricket saw diversity – from the wealthy Parsi Mehallasha Pavri, a doctor by profession, to the Harijan groundsman Palwankar Baloo to the middle-class Sanskrit scholar Prof. DB Deodhar.

In the early 60s, Eknath Solkar, later to be unarguably India’s greatest ever fielder at forward short-leg, learnt his cricket at the Hindu Gymkhana in Bombay (as Mumbai was then known) where his father was the chief groundsman. Solkar could not hone his skills against the trainees and members of the club and had to wait for them to leave to be able to work on his game until the great Vinoo Mankad spotted his talent and took him under his wings. Vinod Kambli’s story was no different. Son of a mechanic, he grew up with 18 people in a room in a chawl in Bombay’s Bhindi Bazar.

In the current squad, Virender Sehwag is the son of a grain and flour merchant from Najafgarh in the outskirts of Delhi while Ishant Sharma, one of the stars of India’s last tour of Australia, grew up in a household where his father ran an airconditioner repair shop. And, it is a well-known story that Irfan Pathan, who is now on the road to a Test comeback, is the son of a Muezzin in Baroda.

Yet, what we get to see is some great bowling and batting feats but what remains tucked away in the background is the sacrifices that families make to see that the dreams of their children come true. And, happily, this has no longer been the prerogative of those living in the metros. Dreams have their own way of actualising. Sooner than later, even if for every such wonderful story, there are dozens of heartbreaking tales too. That perhaps is the beauty of this sport that we love so much.

(This piece was written for Prabhat Khabar‘s Sunday supplement, Ravivar)

An image of the cover of the News of the World issue that told us how match-fixing continues to threaten cricket.

It is a sad commentary of the times we live in that the reaction to a British Court finding two Pakistani cricketers, the then captain Salman Butt and fast bowler Mohammed Asif, guilty of a conspiracy to cheat during a Test match in England last year has largely focussed on these players and another fast bowler, teenager Mohammed Amir. I would have liked a bit more attention to one of the most striking aspects – the cricketers being tried in a British Court.

Beyond the palest shadows of doubt, the verdict of guilty against three cricketers and an agent-bookmaker must be seen as exemplary and can send shivers down the spine of the cricket fraternity. Hopefully, cricketers around the world will rebuff bookmakers and not be lured by the glitter and glamour that appears to come along with success in the sport of their choice.

Yet, for just a moment, train your thoughts on these questions: What would have happened to the case had the whole thing transpired in the sub-continent? Would any sting operation of the kind that the News of the World carried out have led to a court case? It is a good guess that in these parts the case would never have been heard in a court of law and the mandarins of cricket would have, at best, launched an inquiry.

For years now we have been watching the game with tinted vision and not draw pure joy from it as much as we did in the past. There is no doubt that the game’s image has been sullied yet again by Salman Butt, Mohammed Asif and Mohammed Amir. Nor is there any doubt that many fans around the world will continue to look at stray incidents in a game and wonder if there is more to it than meets the eye.

Sadly, no attempt has been made to use this chance presented by the verdict of a British Court to focus on how there is no law in any of the sub-continental nations to prevent the malaise or try those accused of indulging in match-fixing in any of its myriad forms and punish those found guilty of sharp deals made beyond the boundary but with enormous impact on the action on the field and causing millions of heads to hang in shame.

The International Cricket Council has done the best it could to fight corruption – from setting up the Anti-Corruption Unit to educating cricketers, from banning mobile phones in and near dressing rooms at cricket grounds to enhancing vigilance and security at neutral venues. But the next step needed to come from Governments, especially in this part of the world. They needed to craft strong laws to deter cheating in sport.

In India, we were served a wake-up call in the year 2000 when the Central Bureau of Investigation interrogated some bookmakers and came up with an interim report on the basis of which the Board of Control for Cricket in India banned four cricketers and a physiotherapist. But that investigation was never carried to its finish and no legal case was ever filed by the investigating authorities.

More than a decade has passed since the ugly face of match-fixing reared its head with the South African captain Hansie Cronje at its epicenter. We didn’t know then that the likes of former captain Mohammed Azharuddin, Ajay Sharma, Ajay Jadeja and Manoj Prabhakar as well as physiotherapist Ali Irani would also be swept aside by the storm.

I remember a few Ministers of Sport – Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Uma Bharti come to mind readily – for making the right noises about bringing legislation against match-fixing. And we all know that the incumbent, Ajay Maken, has sought to pilot a National Sports Development Bill without the draft including even a mention of match-fixing, let alone any punishment.

Back in 2000, I was told by a cricketer that since there was no provision in the Indian Penal Code against match-fixing; that someone had to prove that there was a contract and that the contract was violated before any legal sanctions could be imposed on the cheat. Things are much the same, though the players now sign a contract that perhaps entails them to give off their best on the field and not be associated with those indulging in sharp practices.

We have been woken up again and have to come to terms with match-fixing being a real threat to the integrity we believe is inherent in sport. It is time to bring in a legislation to prevent, deter and punish any corruption in sport. Yes, India needs to pass stringent laws against such crime in sport and not just against doping and age-cheats. Are our law makers listening? Will they work to make our sport totally clean all over again?

Sebastian Vettel screams away to victory at the inaugural Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida on Sunday

Sebastian Vettel won more than the inaugural Airtel Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit here on Sunday – he won hearts of all Indians with a fitting tribute to this wonderful country by saying that the people here may have little (financially) but are much richer than those in Europe.

Red Bull Racing’s Vettel also showed what a humble champion he is by remembering IndyCar ace Dan Wheldon and MotoGP ace Marco Simoncelli who died on racing tracks in the past fortnight. Indeed, as India’s sporting legend Sachin Tendulkar waved the checkered flag with enthusiasm, there was considerable relief that the Grand Prix of India broke the shocking trend.

The 24-year-old Vettel was a deserving first champion of the Grand Prix of India. He enjoyed his first visit to India – seeing the Taj Mahal in Agra on Wednesday – and made it most memorable, driving with grace of a dancer and the precision of a seasoned surgeon using the scalpel and took home a simple but beautifully crafted trophy.

On the track itself, Vettel was simply unstoppable as he claimed a start-to-finish win in an hour, 30 minutes and 35.002 seconds. To be sure, he made the inaugural Formula 1 his own, demonstrating to a near full house his impeccable driving skills while his team managed its tyre and pit stop strategy admirably on day on which a mild wintry sun broke through the haze

There were quite a few incidents behind Vettel and he passed the slower cars but nothing affected his concentration or composure. He was off to a good start and capitalised on that as he pulled away while McLaren Mercedes’ Jenson Button fought off the other Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber. His two pit stops were well-timed and he returned as the leader of the pack.

With Webber losing his third place after a pit stop and with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton’s chances of making a race of it being blunted by a shunt with Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, Button and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) were able to consolidate their second and third places in the drivers’ championship behind Vettel. Button was able to make smart use of the wide overtaking space at turn 3 to be pass Webber on the first lap.

For some old timers for whom Formula 1 is synonymous with a certain Michael Schumacher, the Germany veteran turned in a spectacular show. He rose from 11th at the start to finish a very creditable fifth in his Mercedes GP, ahead of his younger team-mate Nico Roseburg. The sentimental favourite showed that he is still most competitive.

Michael Schumacher has a word with Sachin Tendulkar before the race

“Some things are hard to imagine from where we come from but India is an inspiring place, the people here are happy, warm, friendly, respectful,” Vettel said. “India opens your eyes in the manner in which the people get along and enjoy life. This is what life is all about – friendships.  I have learnt a lot in the short time I have been here.”

Then again, he appreciated the work ethic in the Red Bull Racing garage, too. “When I came to the track today, I saw the guys in the garage were already here and working hard. There was no sign of letting up or laziness,” he said, pointing out yet again that he was never going to be short on motivation as he sewed up his 11th victory in 17 starts this season.

The two-time world champion Vettel wears a comfortable and genial countenance and his wonderful choice of words, stemming from deep in his heart, about India and its people will echoed louder and longer than shrill roar of the engines that rent the air for an hour and half on Sunday. Take a bow, Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel

The greatest champions of sport are constantly seeking perfection, looking to learn all the time and keep making incremental improvements. Red Bull Racing’s German ace Sebastian Vettel, who has already secured this season’s world Formula One championship, showed that he has all such qualities by remaining motivated and hungry to win the inaugural Grand Prix of India in Greater Noida on Sunday.

On Saturday, he was in complete command of car and strategy as he claimed pole position for the 13th time this season with a lap of 1 minute 24.178 seconds in qualifying. In doing so, he showed that he was eager to become ‘a happy and proud’ first winner of the Grand Prix of India and secure his 11th victory in 17 races this season. He was only underscoring that excellence was only a matter of habit.

However, beyond the realms of such cold statistics that stem from his intensely competitive attitude on track, the 24-year-old Vettel’s philosophy of learning all the time will stand him in good stead. “I do not think we were 100 per cent,” he said of his combination with the Red Bull Racing car that has dominated the Formula 1 season.

To this day, India’s most celebrated contemporary sportsperson Sachin Tendulkar says he is happy but not satisfied when he gets to the milestone of an international century, insisting that satisfaction is like engaging the hand brake in a car and still expecting it to move. And even if Vettel may not understand cricket, he would surely buy into Tendulkar’s approach to his career.

“We are all racing here in what will be the first Grand Prix of India and I think each one of us drivers would be happy and proud to be the first winner here,” Vettel said. “It will be great to start the race from the front since we all realise that it could be tricky to go off the racing line in an attempt to overtake here.”

Vettel is delighted.. and why not!

“It is tricky for all of us, the dust on the track,” Vettel said. “There is one racing line that is now clear of dirt and the car was fantastic through qualifying on the challenging circuit. I am sure Fernando (Alonso) and Jenson (Button) will put a lot of pressure on us. We (Red Bull drivers) are going to race hard and enjoy it and see where we finish. We want a 1-2 finish.”

With the top five drivers stopping the clock inside 1 minute 25 seconds on Saturday, the 60-lap race itself promises to present the 100,000 spectators and the millions watching on TV a memorable race on what has been called an interesting track that can become a bit tricky because of the dust on the lines away from the racing line.

Britain’s Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) finished second in qualifying but will start fifth on the grid after he incurred a penalty for what he called was a silly mistake during practice on Friday when he ignored a yellow flag caution and did not reduce his speed. That will allow Australian Mark Webber to move up and complete an all-Red Bull Racing front row.

Spain’s Alonso (Ferrari) and Briton Button (McLaren Mercedes) will take the third and fourth places on the grid ahead of Hamilton while Brazilian Felipe Massa (Ferrari) finished just outside the 1:25 bracket.

The sentimental favourite Michael Schumachaer did not make it to Q3 – the final 10 minutes of the qualifying reserved for those clocking the top 10 times in Q2. He finished with the 12th best qualifying time but will start 11th as a result of Russian Vitaly Petrov (Renault) dropping five places on the grid for causing an accident that took Schumacher out of the last race.

As we drove away from the Buddh International Circuit after watching Austrian teenager Lucas Auer win the first race of the fifth round of the JK Racing Asia Series on Saturday, it was hard not to think of Vettel as someone blessed with a mature head on his young shoulders and as someone who could win the hearts of Formula 1 fans not just with his driving but also with his incredible personality that is based on team-work and extreme confidence rather than arrogance.

Of course, there was a whole gamut of emotions on show on Friday, not the least being the delight that HRT Racing’s Narain Karthikeyan experienced. He will have the honour of being the only Indian on the starting grid on Sunday and naturally had many things running through his mind as he went on the first lap in the morning.

His compatriot Karun Chandhok, aware that his Lotus team had sought a substitution only for the morning practice so that he could go out on track, said it felt great to finally be able to drive an F1 car at the Buddh International Circuit. “It was a real honour to be the first car to set a timed lap in front of the fans,” he said.

Karun, who logged the fastest lap time by an Indian Friday, will not be seen in action over the weekend. Karun took his Lotus around in 1 minute 32.487 seconds on his 17th lap but he knew Heiki Koavalainen would return to take the car in the afternoon. Interestingly, two-time World champion Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing) termed Karun’s absence a real shame

Former champion Lewis Hamilton had a date with the extreme emotions of ecstasy and agony. He clocked the fastest lap in morning practice – a time of one minute 26.836 seconds – but there was disappointment too as the stewards penalised him for ignoring yellow flag warnings while the marshals were close to the track. It will result in his dropping three grid positions on Sunday.

Ferrari’s two-time world champion Fernando Alonso swung the emotional pendulum from the other side – from shock to delight. In the morning, he had to pull out after just four laps with a busted engine but in the afternoon came back to emerge with the fastest lap of the day – 1:25:706.

Even the all the emotions that surged on Friday, there were some sombre reminders of the fact that motor sport can be hazardous. Many cars and drivers’ helmets carried the logos and numbers of British Indy Car racer Dan Wheldon and Italian MotoGP rider Marco Simoncelli, who died in accidents. It was the drivers’ way of paying homage to their friends and fellow sportsmen.

Yet, none of the drivers lost focus of the task on hand – to get used to the track and help the engineers come up with the best settings for their cars.

At the end of the long day after a total of 1320 practice laps of 5.125km, the drivers included the word ‘dusty’ to their description of the interesting track that got a good mixture of corners, elevation changes and different width in some areas. The generous amounts of dust on the newly-laid out track – set in the midst of vast tracts of open land – challenged the drivers, especially if they went off the racing line.

The legendary Michael Schumacher (Mercedes GP Petronas) said the cars gripped the track well when the cars were in the racing line but found it a bit slippery when going off the line in an attempt to overtake at the wider stretches. “We need to run in the track and it needs to be cleaned enough and if that happens it will be great,” he said.

Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber, bidding to finish second in the world championship behind team-mate Sebastian Vettel, said the only concern was dust. “although it will improve as the practice run takes place, but because there is not much chance of any rain, it will improve the track as the dust is removed.

Alonso said he liked the track, even if it is very dirty. “If you go the slightest bit off the line, it is like driving on ice: this could create problems during overtaking moves on Sunday but may be by then the situation will have changed,” he said.

Talking of change, even if a couple of dogs made their appearance of track as is the wont at most events in India, Friday and the weekend will surely change India’s sporting landscape.

Michael Schumacher smiles when hearing a question from a media representative

He won his first Formula 1 race 20 years ago. He has secured an amazing 91 victories, 154 podium finishes from a whopping 284 starts. One of world’s richest sportspersons, he had acquired cult status in the sport in far off lands as he passed many milestones and claimed seven world championship crowns.

And yet, in the past two years since German F1 legend Michael Schumacher decided to come back to the sport that he dominated, he has had to face questions about lingering on as a driver in Formula 1. Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and even Rahul Dravid will empathise with his predicament.

Is Schumacher a champion who has outlived his sell-by date and damaging his own reputation after having worked his way into millions of hearts as a proud competitor? Is he, with time as one his biggest enemies, just being mule-headed by staying on that quest for victory? Whatever the answer, it cannot be argued that they do not make champions like him anymore.

Several generations of Schumacher fans in India – having grown up watching him race in the comfort of their homes or the neighbourhood pub – will want to see him perform as well as he can at the BIC. Some secretly wish that he delivers an unexpected win by reading up that Juan Manuel Fangio was 46 when he won his fifth world championship title.

On Thursday, within hours of landing in India for the Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit, 42-year-old Schumacher answered that question quite candidly. “To be honest, I returned to race for Mercedes last year, with expectations of being on the podium, of winning races,” he says, intensity and hunger sparkling in his eyes.

Of course, he hopes that when he finally quits the sport, he will be judged by what he has done in all his years rather than just his recent showing. It is also hard to forget that he joined the Mercedes team after it had won both the drivers’ championship (Jenson Button) and the constructors’ championship in 2009.

He is still very competitive, finishing just outside the podium at the Canadian Grand Prix in July last and has claimed two fifth-place finishes in Belgian and Italian Grands Prix this year, “Motivation is not a question mark. It is procedure of building ourselves up in order to get back to the top. There is only one target and that is to come back to the winning road,” he says.

There is the added motivation to be among the points in BIC’s inaugural race this Sunday since he had to retire from two of the last three races after being involved in incidents. “The outcome of the last race in Korea was unlucky for us, therefore I am extra-motivated to score some points next weekend and reward the good work of the team,” he says, stressing that his motivation is far from low.

Of course, he acknowledges being nervous in the run up to the start of every race – an emotion that all quality sportspersons would be familiar with. “The start of the race is the without doubt one of the most intense moments over the weekend, when you are looking to get ahead of the traffic around you without making contact,” he says.

“We have had the taste of winning races and championships. We are building up to the future of Mercedes and sometimes the fruits don’t come immediately,” he says “Our ambition is to push the cars to the limit.  And that is what you will find this weekend, too.” Indeed, the fire in Schumacher rages bright.

An image of the article as it appeared in Free Press Journal

The arrival of Formula 1 in India must be seen as another significant step towards establishing India firmly in the world’s sports market. It is a natural consequence of the opening up of our economy, its stability – and the enormous numbers of the young consumers of televised sport here – that India has been identified as an emerging sports market, as a sporting destination.

Look at how soccer teams from Europe have started investing their attention here – Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur are good examples. Consider how NBA has already set its foot on Indian soil by tying up with Mahindras; or, for that matter, look at how golf’s European PGA Tour has already expanded its base with a second-level Challenge Tour event in India. It was inevitable that Formula 1 President and CEO Bernie Ecclestone brought the sport to India sooner than later.

Curiously, it is more important for sports like Formula 1 to make their presence felt in India than it may be for India to seek such an event to get on to the world map. Not for nothing do a few believe that Formula 1 has to be constantly seeking new pastures. For instance, it is not insignificant that the Victorian Government is reconsidering its support to the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne since it cost the tax payers $50.2 million to stage the event in 2011. The Singapore Government has said it is in no a hurry to negotiate with the Formula One Management for an extension of its street circuit race past 2012. South Korea joined the calendar last year, the US Grand Prix stages a return after five years at a new venue (Austin, Texas) in 2012 and in 2014 the first F1 race in Russia will take place.

Even if cricket takes up much of the viewership (and therefore dominates the sponsorship market), India’s TV audience has shown that it has great appetite for a variety of international sport – somewhat to the detriment of national and the chagrin of organisers of domestic sport. Given that there are millions of F1 fans in the country, there will always be a demand for the event to be held in India.

For all that, it is now an accepted fact that most international sports events are being supported by audiences that go way beyond the capacity of any stadium. The combined F1 viewership of 527 million last season, including around 30 million from India, is the macro audience for which the F1 drama is unfolded every time. The fact that the Canadian Grand Prix is scheduled to suit the convenience of the European TV audiences is an ample indicator of how it the TV audience rather than the trackside spectators which has precedence.

For close to two decades, Formula 1 has been telecast in this country and its viewership has risen past the 30 million mark. The interest in the sport is so enormous that every year close to 10,000 Indians turn up at the Singapore Grand Prix. The event itself may be niche – with the top five teams signing the most sponsorship deals – but the audience now transcends the metros, sparking huge interest in the hinterland as well.

It is estimated that the Formula One Group will generate $1.789 billion in revenue this year and could rise past the $2 billion mark next year. According to F1’s industry guide Formula Money, race hosting fees, which were worth $568m last year, are expected to be the largest source of growth. The sale of television rights fetches F1 $470 million, trackside advertising gets $243 million, corporate hospitality $ 153.5 million and sponsorship and licensing $90.5 million. Team sponsorship and supplier deals have bucked the trend of falling four times in five years by rising from $802 million in 2010 to over $887 million this year.

Given that Formula 1 circuits’ main source of revenue is neither a share of the TV rights money nor much more than 30 per cent of trackside billboards but ticketing – and the Buddh International Circuit is expected to rake in $26 million if it hosts a sellout event – the money it will make from each Grand Prix is just about one-eighth of its expenses. Why then has Jaypee Sports International (JPSI) itself invested more than $200 million in developing the facility and why would it spend a similar amount in licencing and other costs? Clearly, the primary intention is to put India on the map of what is truly a world class sport but it would be a good wager that the infrastructure major – with interests in Engineering and Construction, Cement, Private Hydropower, Hospitality, Real Estate Development, Expressways and Highways – is hoping for a matching return from its real estate projects around the track.

A number of Indian companies like the title sponsor, Airtel, Hero Motor Corporation and Amul have joined the Formula 1 bandwagon. Hotels in and around Noida have been booked for the fortnight and many have found it tough to find room in the vicinity.

Ecclestone’s company flies six jumbo jets with cars and equipment – and each plane is said to cost $900,000 in fuel and charter costs – so that races can be conducted. One of the Boeing 7474 planes delivers the Outside Broadcast facility that forms the hub of the TV production with more than 150 personnel working on producing the broadcast.

It is also a fair question to ask what would happen on the track once the dust settles down after the F1 race on October 30. You can be sure of a lot of activity through the year. Designed by German architect Hermann Tilke, the track is part of an ambitious 2500-acre sports complex that will include a motor driving academy to be set up in collaboration with Mercedes-Benz. It is possible that as many as 35-40 weekends will see motor sports activity, including the final round of the JK Tyre FMSCI National Racing Championship as early as next month.

This article first appeared in Free Press Journal, Mumbai, on Sunday, October 23, 2011.

The National Boxing Championship for Women in Bhopal came up first since MC Mary Kom’s clash with defending champion Sarita Devi in the 51kg class will hold enormous interest, given that the five-time world champion in the 46kg class, is eyeing a berth in the Indian team for the Olympic Games in London next year.

The show’s host, Mukesh Kumar, and I then discussed India’s showing in the Asian Age-Group Swimming Championship. I made a pitch for the Indians to train overseas rather than restrict themselves to camps in India with Indian coaches.

Sports Scan – Oct 11 2011

Vikas Krishan (Photo courtesy: Indian Amateur Boxing Federation)

The sepia tint is strong but it does not take much for the image of an up and coming cricketer riding a bicycle to a newspaper office in Secunderabad to give the sports editors a copy of his photograph for use in the next morning’s edition comes through the sub-conscious. The montage that is playing on my mind is from the 70s when scoring a century or taking five wickets in the Hyderabad cricket league could enhance the chances of one’s photograph appearing in the newspaper.

This scene kept replaying in my mind’s eye when four Indian boxers – L Devendro Singh, Manoj Kumar, Jai Bhagwan and Vikas Krishan – won their pre-quarterfinals bouts in the AIBA World Championship in Baku, Azebaijan. And from the comfort of my home in Delhi, I got to hear Devendro and Manoj Kumar share their joy with boxing fans in India. This was thanks to the efforts of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation in sending journalists an audio file.Vikas_audio

Yet, on the day when four Indians boxers made it to the quarterfinals of the World Championship, there was no visual or sound byte available to vast sections of the media of Ronjan Sodhi battling hard to retain the double trap gold medal at the World Cup finals in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates with a victory of China’s Hu Binyuan in a dramatic shoot-off. Only the enterprising reporters got through to Sodhi and managed to get some quotes from him.

Similarly, there was so little footage available of the Indian hockey team winning the Asian Champions Trophy at Ordos in China last month. How can PR Sreejesh, who emerged hero with two saves in the tie-breaker in the final against Pakistan, ever be built up as a hero? How can goal-scorers like Rupinder Pal Singh or Gurvinder Singh Chandi or Danish Mujtaba become household names if we do not get to see them perform in our drawing rooms?

Even less information was available to the popular media when 19-year-old archer Deepika Kumari claimed individual recurve silver in the World Cup Finals in Istanbul in September. She lost gold in a single arrow shoot off with China’s Ming Cheng after tying 26-26 in the final. It would have been wonderful if we got to watch Deepika perform and then hear her articulate thoughts about the stress, going into the shoot-off.

It will be an understatement to say that the amount of time Indian sportspersons get on TV pales in comparison with the likes of say Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button – just to name a few stars who hog TV time when cricketers are not the flavour of the month.

Sadly, with most of the print media also devoting enormous amounts of space to sport that is beamed live to millions of households in the country, the achievement of Indian sportspersons – however sporadic – does not get its due. If that is the bitter truth for international achievers, you can imagine how much time and space those occupying the lower rungs of the ladder would be getting in the national media.

Of course, there are exceptions. Yuvraj Valmiki, the young forward from a shanty in Marine Line in Mumbai, was granted his 15 seconds of fame when the Government of Maharashtra decided to award him Rs 10 lakh for scoring a goal in the Asian Champions Trophy final against Pakistan. Forget sociological stories about their backgrounds, we hardly get to see our champions perform on TV. Therefore there is a dearth of reportage in the print media as well.

I remember being with former India captain Jagbir Singh in the Delhi studios of DD Sports and analysing India’s games in the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament at Ipoh in Malaysia. We had no footage to fall back upon and we had to base our opinions on either tracking the games on the net or calls to colleagues watching the tournament.

Therefore, it was heartwarming to see the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation send not only the usual press releases but also audio bytes from boxers and coaches once the quarterfinal stage was reached. We could hear Devendro Singh and Manoj Kumar express their happiness at qualifying for the Olympic Games in London. A day later, we could hear 19-year-old Vikas Krishan analyse his quarterfinal victory Belous Vasili of Moldova and the coaches BI Fernandes and Pal Singh Sandhu speak about India’s best showing in a world championships.

This was a very smart initiative and has ensured that the result of the boxers and their coaches’ hard work has been adequately reported. There is a lesson that other National Sports Federations can take from the initiative of the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation. If their officials spend so much as even a bare moment reflecting on what the boxing officials did to provide the media information, they will realise that they can replicate the effort for their own athletes.

Clearly, the National Sports Federations – and their affiliates at the State and lower levels – have their task cut out. They must ensure that the performances of their stars are shared with the print and electronic media. Importantly, in doing this, the mandarins must ensure that they stay in the background and let the athletes take centrestage. They must pay a lot more attention to providing information and access to the sportspersons.

It does not take much – except an awareness of the modern media’s demands and a positive attitude – to ensure that each Indian team that travels overseas has a media officer whose primary task should be to provide as much information and as quickly as possible so that the media in India is given the chance to report on the performances of our athletes in greater detail than is being done now.

Come to think of it, keeping the media fed with optimum information is not really a new idea. I remember a time in Hyderabad when cricketers would scored hundreds or take five wickets in the local league games and then cycle to the local newspaper officers to give the sports desk a copy of their latest photographs. With internet spreading wide, email has replaced the good old bicycle.

(This piece was written for Dainik Bhaskar)

Jaisimha and Pataudi (Image courtesy: www.mljaisimha.com)

A titan of Indian cricket – and a wonderful human being – is no more. A little over a dozen years after his friend ML Jaisimha died of lung cancer, Pataudi – and I have not been able to bring myself to call him Mansur Ali Khan – has fallen to a lung infection. I was hoping that he would pull through, like he did on the cricket field where he battled adversity without flinching.

It was a privilege watching him play the Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup in my hometown of Hyderabad for an assortment of teams over a number of years, the Hyderabad side in the Ranji Trophy in places like Kothagudem and Sirpur-Kagaznagar, and the South Zone squad.

He scored but nine runs in two innings in his only Test match in Hyderabad – against New Zealand in 1969 – but I can recall a number of knocks where he showed fans his pedigree. We can talk endlessly about Pataudi’s batsmanship and electric fielding at cover-point – and this with one good eye – but his biggest contributions to our cricket was in making the India players realise that they had to play as a unit and play aggressively to compete with other nations.

The past couple of generations, weaned on colour TV, has seen, criticised and admired the captaincy skills of inspirational leadership like Kapil Dev, Mohammed Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly and Mahendra Singh Dhoni but I reckon it was Pataudi who first got the Indian cricket team together as one back in the 60s. Undoubtedly, Pataudi had the knack of bringing the best out of his team-mates.

He had some truly loyal and compassionate friends, people with knowledge. Jai, Chandra, GR Viswanath, Prasanna, Bishan Bedi, Sunil Gavaskar and perhaps some in Delhi.  He was not a recluse but it was difficult to break ice with him, but once you knew him, he was far from withdrawn. He was extremely intelligent and a genius as far cricket went. He applied this knowledge to the players’ technique and the strategy.

His shift from Delhi to Hyderabad is a story in itself and worth recalling now. Having irreconcilable differences with DDCA strongman Ram Prakash Mehra, Pataudi decided to move base and his friend ML Jaisimha welcomed him to Hyderabad. But if he had to turn out for Hyderabad, he had to show that he was employed in the twin-cities. Jaisimha’s father Motganahalli Laxminarasu appointed him in his construction firm on a grand salary of Re 1 per month.

Pataudi played for Hyderabad and South Zone under Jaisimha’s captaincy not so much because of gratitude for Laxminarasu’s gesture as for his own belief that Jaisimha was a fine thinker of the game. Anyone privileged to have heard them converse on cricket will testify that they were both superb students of the game.

In all my years of knowing him, Pataudi never once gave the impression that he had to be treated differently because of his lineage. Pataudi had a God-given sense of humour and saw humour in every aspect of life, though it could sometimes be lost on lesser mortals. Back in the 60s and 70s, when Test cricketers would turn out in local tournaments, a number of them visited Bhopal each year. Some of them eagerly joined Pataudi on cheetah hunts in the jungles some distance away from the city. They would drive in open jeeps on dusty roads.

One year in the early 70s, some cricketers were getting a bit restive as it was getting dark. They had been driving for a bit, not spottedany animal and the only things they had shot at were some empty beer bottles. As they were preparing to head back to the city, some armed dacoits swooped on the party and held them. GR Viswanath, who had caught the nation’s fancy with a century on debut against Australia in 1969, was tied to a tree.

Word has it that little Viswanath was in tears but one the senior cricketers who was in the know of things, gave the game away bybursting out laughing. It turned out that those who the cricketers believed were dacoits were actually staff from the Bhopal Palace.

I remember once in a Moin-ud-Dowla Gold Cup match at the Fateh Maidan, it started raining but the umpires not immediately calling off play, he gestured towards the 12th man in the dressing room to bring an umbrella on to the field. Needless to say, the umpires promptly suspended play. I also remember him sending leg-spinner BS Chandrasekhar on a wild goose chase across town when Chandra asked him where his team was being lodged. And, as things went, Chandra’s team had been put up at the Fateh Maidan Club itself!

Back in 1999, when he heard his friend Jaisimha was losing his battle to lung cancer, Pataudi flew in to meet him and was shaken beyond words. I watched him on NDTV quite recently and he looked all right. I am sure the souls of the two titans would come together again and, while them may or may not able to share a chilled tumbler, they surely would play a few pranks on unsuspecting buddies.

This piece was written for Mail Today by my father N Ganesan, 82, is a former sports journalist in Hyderabad, who reported on many of his matches for The Hindu and once bowled Pataudi with a googly at the nets in Fateh Maidan.