If and Sachin

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

The World Cup 2007 was perhaps the biggest disaster India had been to. Starting as some sort of favourites - it ended a dream. Sachin himself got out to a ugly posture crouching as his stumps lay dismantled. The blame game had begun with doubts on Tendulkar's future, a noise created on his 'waning reflexes and skills'. It was the time for 'Endulkar' and Manjrekarian opinions to rear up their head. Guru Greg chose to absolve himself of all blame for the debacle and lay it firmly on the team's shoulders - even pointing fingers at Sachin. Sach meanwhile quietly made his protest known and got back to doing what he does best - play cricket

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

There was a phase when Sachin would play not like the old himself - not the ravaging genius - but more a seasoned statesman. Not going for those lofted shots but for those nudges that would get the singles. Scoring effectively and doing what the team needed. And then hear people whisper - He isnt himself these days. He must Retire. Yet to win the Man of the Match award and announce to the world that he alone knew his game and what he was doing, it was fine to compare this to his old self but he would play as he chose not the way his 'fans' demanded.

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

And that phase when he traded his big shots and domination for percentage cricket and maybe to an extent chose to let the sheen dim off a little, letting himself be deemed mortal - when he took hits on the body on that England tour to keep playing for a country needed him to be there. Or when he chose to play a full inning of 241* without once falling to the temptation of the off side drive. When he believed that he could look ugly, could let his shine dim because in the end it was all for a larger cause - a team getting a gritty middle order batsman who was up for a scrap even if not beautiful.

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

As a kid - taken by his brother for coaching with Ramakant Achrekar. To sacrifice his education to follow a dream to play cricket. To play and practice till he was tired. To proclaim to the world that all he wanted to do was play cricket for India. And to do that more successfully than anyone else and then when that dream was achieved, to change the dream to play for India as long as possible and keep achieving that with the mischeivious enthusiasm of a 16 year old.

If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

The equanimity with which he accepts both accolades and criticism - to have the grace to smile and say that in a long journey, you get stones thrown at you - you simply convert them to milestones. To accept the pain of seeing a masterful 136 in Chennai go waste only to come back there years later and hit another masterful 103* to seal a win. To see 175 of his best get wasted by a bat not grounded but to come back and non-chalantly score 200* and then have the humility to simply raise his arms and dedicate it to a nation of adoring fans.


If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;

To play like no one ever has in a WC, to hit the fastest bowler out of the attack - to take the team to the finals and then fail in the finals chasing a mountain. But to have gumption enough to fail in another edition and still be determined to come back and claim what should have been rightfully his. And then start playing again better than ever before - with a consistency that mortals will only dream off. To have the critics who wrote him off , lineup yet again to praise him AND for Sachin to be unaffected by either reaction

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

To be 37 in a game of youngsters, to have played for 20 long years and show no sign of tiring. To carry on for what can be nothing but sheer love of the game. To outdo oneself for others were left gasping for breath way behind. To have a host of youngsters wishing that they could be a third of his brilliance and yet outlive the careers of those who idolised him.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

Humility is an hallmark that has been true through his career - whether in form or out of it. Whether it was the time when he signed multi million deals or when he was booed at the Wankhede. When he accepted the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna or when he was out for 4 in the WC finals. When he hit his 200 or when he had to read the prophets of doom attempting to push him out of the team.

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

For 20 years of outstanding sportsmanship, unparalleled batting, unquenchable thirst for the game. For being the game's greatest idol and its greatest worshipper. For taking us to places we never imagined. For fulfilling our repressed dreams - for making India dream. For being the impeccable role-model we all looked upto - in the days of Tigers. For being the man for whom the earth awaits! Thank you Sir!


The poem is 'If' by Rudyard Kipling. If only he knew how that he was predicting Sachin Tendulkar's career when he wrote it.

Marketing & Cricket

You make profits in marketing when you sell your larger sized SKUs (Stock Keeping Units). So say a 400ml Clinic Plus bottle is likely to make more profit than a Re.1 Clinic Plus pouch. But yet both these SKUs play extremely different and yet extremely important roles in the marketing portfolio.

Ideally you want all your consumers to buy the 400 ml pack and be wed to your brand for a longer period of time and along the way make a higher profit. But therein lies the catch - not everyone can afford the 400 ml pack, not everyone uses shampoo at all and for a non-user - fat chance of ever jumping into the category with a 400ml buy, Not everyone even buys your brand and perhaps for them to try it out for the first time - the 400 ml might be overkill.

So thats where the 1 Re SKU comes into the picture. It plays the role of expanding the category itself by recruiting new users to the category - people who never used shampoos. It also allows people using other brands to take a peek at your brand and maybe convert. Finally it also allows people to get what they want in lesser quantity and at an affordable put down price.

So in a nutshell if profitability and loyalty is the task for the large SKU, expansion is the thing to do for the smaller SKU and thats how they both co-exist peacefully.

Wait! FOUR full paragraphs and not a single mention or reference to cricket? Wondering if you are on the right blog? Oh yes you are!

Time now to pan to cricket and look at its SKUs - The Large SKU - Test Cricket. The Middle Sized SKU -ODI cricket and finally The Small SKU - T20 cricket.

Lets start with the simple one - T20. Very clearly the format of the game which will add more viewers to the game. People uninterested in sports will not mind spending some time watching a T20 game because of the basic nature of the format - quick and exciting! Hardcore fans of other sports like Football who had very little interest in cricket might also want to enjoy the T20 phenomenon (an analogy for gaining users from competing brands) and finally given that the format is extremely short and quick - those fans who like watching cricket but simply dont have the time to devote to it now have it good. (analogy for the affordable put down price)

But a moment here to step back and check the glaring difference hitting one in the face. While typically the small SKU is low profitability, this format of the game is the highest profit garnering version.

So while the ultimate aim should have been to recruit new fans through the T20 mode and then gradually upgrade them to Test Cricket - from an economic perspective it may not hold much water. From a pure economic perspective, it makes sense to promote and maintain T20 and hold the attention of viewers there.

So what is it that the oldest and longest and biggest form of the game have to offer? For starters - it IS the REAL version without doubt. It is the truest test of temperament and skill for T20 reduces the gap between skill and result and Tests tests it over 5 days. It allows you to appreciate strategy in the game and see a duel build up between bat and ball without the constraint of field placements or over limits. The thrill of seeing people going for it without inhibition. The field where a player well and truly proves himself.

But thats for the hardcore fan. Cricket's marketing dilemma lies in the fact that without Test Cricket - subtlety and skill will desert the game and convert itself into a more 'wham bam' power / hand-eye coordination game.

And it will mean turning around conventional economics or marketing and have the small SKU generate funds to invest in the larger SKU for long term sustenance. Because if we are to see player temperament being tested and for players to be able to triumph over conditions - Test Cricket is the only way to go.

But till the time pure and shortsighted economics continues to rule - this will be a pipedream!

Hope and the like

Sidin Vadukut wrote about how Srinath and Kumble made him an eternal optimist while watching India play cricket. Their riveting partnership in Bangalore had snatched a win from the jaws of defeat making him hopeful in all India matches.

My contention is that a lidetime of being a India cricket supporter makes you an optimist in life - not just cricket. Basically being a God Fearing country and hence being a strong believer in Divine Intervention - we are natural optimists and hopers.

A child would go to an exam ill prepared and then pray to God hoping that he passes the paper - knowing fully well that he wont as he just hasnt put in the hard yards.

So as you might make out from the garbled text above - I am clearly mixing two ideas and trying to pull out a unifying thread. To put it simply, irrational hope is something majority of us believe in and stray instances of such hope being validated push us to root for the improbable to happen because while the mind knows it wont happen, the heart roots for the romantically fabulous result.

Some F1 seasons ago - when Hakkinen and Schumacher used to slug it out - as a Ferrari supporter (which then used to be the inferior car) - I would always hope for a mechanical failure for McLaren if Hakki was leading by 40 seconds or so. It would never happen - till that last lap, where his car conked off leaving him stranded at the last corner - so much so that he could have ran across and still finished first. But the Ferraris won with the fuming McLaren stranded. And then there was precedence for such hope to fly everytime the Scuderia were trailing.

The WC Final of 2003 when Australia blasted the living daylights out of us and we were left to chase a mountain of a score - there was immense hope when Sachin hit his first ball for a boundary and then a wave of futility when he got out the next ball. Then Sehwag started whacking it, hope rose again but it reached its crescendo when it started raining. For that fleeting moment it seemed that no less a personality than the Almight Himself wanted India to win and it was Him raining in on the Aussie Parade. Out came my trumpet and on went the noise (no - not even I can describe my trumpetting even remotely as music) for those 15 minutes till they came back on to play and the irrational hope was squashed.

And then recently the famed last wicket stands for England to save Test matches - irrationally hopeful but it happened.

Point being that as The Shawshank Redemption states "Hope is a Good Thing, maybe the best of things" Perhaps so! But it is that thin line between Hope and Irrational Hope that causes trouble and maybe even miracles.

A lifetime of irrational hoping for miracles in Indian Cricket makes one an irrational hoper in life. And it is that thrill of playing the miniscule odds even in the face of certain disaster that makes the hoping worthwhile. For in hoping, you possibly lose a few hours feeling bummed that you ever believed, but for the one in a thousand chance that the irrational hope comes off - the payoff of having believed is worth the other 999 chances - inspite of the bummy feeling after it.

And then again going with the thought that you miss 100% of the chances you dont take - irrational hope atleast ensures you take the chance.

Runouts - Part 3

Well i lied - the title of this post has nothing to do with a runout but since it carries on in similar vein to the earlier run out posts, this one also carries the run out title.

Having gotten the disclaimer out of the way let us continue to the arbit part of the post (as with all run out posts)

So the same batsman who was runout the last time on a duck after an excruciating wait for the third umpire to call the decision gets another chance to play and shine. He waits in the dressing room for his turn to bat - twiddling his thumbs as the batsman just before him gets out. He starts visualising his innings in his head - wanting to go out there and play but at the same time wishing a delay for him to go in and face the music.

Finally its his turn to bat - he starts confidently, running the singles - trying to lay the base for a longer innings and his big shots. Right then he goes for a big shot - but just as it seems that the ball is to carry away over the boundary - the fielder catches the ball right at the edge. The umpire signals it as a six making the batsman want to cheer! But cue the UDRS which is called upon immediately and the decision gets overturned to get the batsman out.

He trudges back again - wondering what could have been, wondering if he will ever be back to get another chance at batting?

Out of Office

This is the Out of Office I had written while on leave - and i am wanting to put it up on the blog as it deserves a wider audience. Yes this is a complete show of non-modesty. But its MY blog.

----------------------

Hi - this is the Outlook Out of Office Assistant filling in for Pushkar. I hereby inform you that Pushkar is on leave from 28th December to the 14th of January (If you have queries on how that leave ever got approved - you would have to contact his Boss - XYZ <+91number>)

While on leave, Pushkar will have no access to his mail box but to deal with immensely urgent issues, he suggests that you drop him an sms and he will get back to you.

In the mean time, if you have any GSA related issues to discuss you would do well to contact his enthusiastic FSCMs (who will no doubt be celebrating and enjoying the free reign that Pushkar's absence will bring to them)

For Ahmedabad Zone, ABC on +91number
For Surat Zone, DEF on +91number
For Rajkot Zone, GHI +91number

For any branch related issues, it is strongly recommended that you get in touch with PQR (our extremely knowledgeable and helpful BOM - you might have to get past his incessant laughter track before that though) on +91number

Pushkar also advises me to wish you all Happy Holidays and a Happy New year in his absence!

Cheers!

---------------------------

Names and numbers have been masked ofcourse!

Runouts - Part II

The debutant walked to the middle - having waited 27 years to make his debut. Facing his first ball, he played at it and placed it close to the mid on fielder. To run or not to run was the call he had to make.

It would be his first run ever - but he would really have to take the leap to make the run - or really take a dive to make it. He ran - daring the throw of the sharp fielder, shaking off his own inhibitions and then saw the ball closing in on the stumps. He did the only thing he could - dive in full length.

While the dust blew up in front of his eyes, his ears could catch the audibly boisterous appealing of the fielding team. He glanced up to see the Umpire make the familiar signal to the 3rd umpire.

And those were possibly the longest moments of his life - the black TV screen showing an advertiser endorsing the 'Decision Awaited' graphic. The heartbeats for him could not be any faster and just then the screen flashes up the decision - a red coloured 'OUT' graphic.

And his nervous energy dissipates into disappointment but not before he vows to come out again and bat and this time beat the throw from that sharp fielder.

The Start

So when the opening batsmen walk out to face the first ball of their inning, they have a set preparation in mind. 'Play out the monster fast bowler'; 'Dont play wide outside the offstump' ; 'Defend the first few overs'

Typically they must be mentally preparing to face specific bowlers - to be prepared for their special balls. They must be expecting the bowler to bowl them a bouncer and keeping the hook shot ready.

So then their shock and surprise is only to be understood when they find that instead of the monster paceman, its the wily spinner opening the bowling. And that all their best laid plans are gone to waste. And thats when the wily spinner bowls that googly -which, mind you, comes in completely unexpected - the batsman finds himself getting bowled all over.

And now pan to my boss - playing chaperone to senior management, taking them around the western markets. Prepared with data in hand to answer all comers about the big ticket items - bristling with confidence on the performance on the aforementioned big ticket items. And then out comes the spinner and throws up a question on Rexona. REXONA ??? The bosss' mind screeches loud - That tiny little thing? Really? Out go all the planned big shots and out comes the defensive stroke.

History they say is kind to the one who wrote it. Or in this case the one who told it. We are told that the defensive shot met the ball right in the middle of the bat and the googly was thwarted. But then History is the story teller's right

And then the boss takes around a even bigger boss to another western market. Yet another morning. Yet another inning with the mental preparation to play the big shots. And this time its not even a googly - its one of those tricky ones that stay low. How is Salt doing ?? The boss is spell bounded. We were told that this one too was played out from the centre of the defensive bat. But yet again History is kind to the ....

Chennai Redux

As it was clear that the day was going to be a total waste, the match had started and Australia had already raised visions of a humongous score. And so it was - 350 on the board. Whenever Australia scores 350, the only match that comes to mind is the World Cup 2003 final. I always wondered what it would have been like if Sachin hadnt fallen in the first over and instead stayed on to fulfill his advice to the team "If we score a boundary an over, we only have to get 158 off 250 balls"

But that wish came true today and unfortunately it did not quite end the way it has played out so many times in my head.

When Murphy decides that its his day - things are destined to go wrong. So the flight out of Baroda was delayed. The flight landed and taxied to the farthest possible parking bay. The bus did not show up for 15 minutes. The bus took 17 minutes to the terminal. The luggage had not shown up. The luggage came only 20 minutes later.

When the flight landed - Sachin was on 112. By the time the bag came through he was on 162. Never before has the temptation for vandalism been so severe - God knows what saved the airport from having a few broken glasses! Naresh Goyal - may your pilots strike again and again!

The taxi had a radio and the match was on and by then both Raina and Bhajji had been lost. Oh the excitement of cheering Sachin on to scale 350 and atleast avenge 2003 WC.

But the ghosts of Chennai have never been too far behind. If it was Joshi, Srinath and Prasad there - It was Jadeja, Nehra, Munaf and Praveen here. Sachin cried then and it took him 9 years to wipe those scars off.

It is unlikely he has 9 years more to wipe this one off

Buddhadeb Sengupta

Buddhadeb Sengupta is a very interesting character. The first thing that comes to your mind when you see him is - why is this little boy running around without his mummy?

And then just when you worriedly start looking around for the mother, just so the little KID would not be lost, you are told that he isnt quite the little boy but is a 26 year old 'man'

You look at him incredulously, shocked that he could indeed be TWENTY SIX. Then you chuckle to yourself and suddenly think that this little guy would never ever be able to sing the song "Jab mai chotta baccha tha..."

Like all Bengalis, Buddhadeb has a misplaced sense of his own strength. So it doesnt take much for him to tell a 6Foot 110 Kg guy that he (Buddha ) would pick him up and throw him away. Sigh so much for his bravado. But then once you factor in the fact that Buddhadeb is a KKR supporter in the IPL - suddenly it all starts to make sense.

Buddhadeb -in line with his other many eccentricities - has this unique way of sleeping as well. As a KID (as in when his real age also equated to kid status), he was mightily impressed by stories of how the Ostrich would bury its head in the sand to try and put away all its problems. So he decided that the Ostrich would indeed be his mascot and what better way to emulate the mascot than to sleep the way it does. See the attached photo. (The model in the photo is only for representation purposes and does not neccessarily imply any link to Buddhadeb).




Ofcourse the sleeping with the pillow under the head is not Buddha's only way to shake off reality. He, being a quintessential Bengali, has to be connected to fish. The only problem? He does not like eating the fish (a fact that almost got Mamatadi to launch an agitation to get him ripped off his Bengali status). So he makes up for it - by drinking like a fish.

His exploits under the influence are folklore in many parts of the world. The late Michael Jackson could learn a trick or two about dancing from BDUI (Buddhadev Dancing Under Influence). Oh those moves he could pull off (and then spend the next week wondering why his back hurts so much!). And then the stories about drinking - proceeding to the loo - and then not coming out of it for the entire night because he mistook it for his bed.

Aah Buddhadeb is indeed a character. It is likely that some of you who read this might have met Buddhadeb sometime in your lives. And you might know more such stories about Buddhadeb - please do contribute generously!

Memories and Associations

It was that time in class XII - India playing South Africa at the Eden Gardens - lunch break at the Electrical Maintenance - a barely working transistor , just about time to get into the practicals and suddenly Javagal Srinath picks up two wickets in two balls. The chance of a hattrick and the practicals just about to start -oh the torture! We huddled around the transistor - kept the practicals waiting and heard a huge shout from the commentator as the ball travelled to Saurav in the slips. We cheered - the hattrick under our belt - and rushed into the practicals only later to find that Dada had picked the ball first bounce.

Then there was that outstanding series where India beat Australia in an epic test series - the series where Laxman became Very Very Special. It was the first year of engineering. The same transistor. The final day and a chance of a victory - remote but yet a chance, the half flight of the sixth floor and 4 heads huddled around the transistor. Sachin bowling and picking three wickets, Bhajji playing like never before or after. The shouts of pure delight when the last wicket was had and the admonishing Mechanics professor who gave us our marching orders. Ah the bliss of having seen India to victory!

And then when we played New Zealand and it was 29th October 1999 - a day for Joshi Sir's Chemistry Classes and tests followed by Perreira Sir's Mathematics Classes - but also the first day of a test match with Sachin in great form and nervous in the 90s - Hitting two airy shots - catches which should have been taken but were dropped by Adam Parore to let Sachin get his 100. Signs were ominous - with my birthday following up and luck behind him, it was the moment for SRT to notch up his first ever international double ton. And so he did on 30th October - a birthday gift

Or that series where the Nagpur groundsman sold his nationality to the Aussies. A dead rubber in Mumbai on a minefield. Sachin and VVS played brilliant knocks to setup a meagre target of 108 for the Aussies. But there was the APplication EXercise (APEX) project to be submitted to the most fearsome of all IIMB Profs - Rambo and chasing 108 - Murali Karthik weaved magic - 25/3 and a rush from the Computer Centre to the Rec Room to watch the match. While the Apex waited, Murali and the pitch exploded to win the match. Aah the joy of watching India pull off a miracle!

Or that time with the Class X exams approaching and an exam the next day, trying to study and ignore the India Pakistan match at Dhaka. Pakistan putting up 314 to win for us and Sachin hitting an attacking 41 before holing out to Afridi, getting into a room with the door closed to try and concentrate on the match and still try to catch glimpses of it from time to time from the crack in the door. To see Robin Singh stride out at no.3 and hit a 81, to see Dada play a resolute 124 and then to sit in front of the TV and see Azhar and Dada refuse to leave the field for Bad Light. And finally to have Hrishikesh Kanitkar play the boundary in the last over (which won him a place in the squad for 20 matches)

Its funny how many mundane moments of life seem interesting simply because the associations we make for them with other exciting moments. Calvin in a dialogue with Hobbes once commented "I have this homework to do but i really want to go play outside. I know that doing my homework is important for me in the long run but playing outside will give me joy in the short run!" Cut to the next scene with Calvin on his sledge outside with Hobbes saying "But in the really long run, I know what will make better memories!"

Cricket has that ability of throwing up those moments which will make better memories!