After inspiring India to its first ever Test series triumph and the maiden bilateral ODI series win in Australia, Indian skipper Virat Kohli added another milestone in his list of achievements on the 22 yards of cricket glory. Kohli was in ravishing form throughout in 2018 amassing 1,322 runs in 13 Tests at an average of 55.08 with five hundreds while in 14 ODIs, he compiled 1,202 runs at an astonishing average of 133.55 with six hundred-plus scores. This was the second year on a trot that the modern-day great of the game has scored more than a 1,000 runs in a calendar year in both Test and ODI formats. However, in comparison to previous years, the stupendous run of 2018 rates as a great record because out of the 13 Tests he featured in, 11 were in tough overseas conditions of South Africa, England and Australia. Often criticised as a flat track bully because a majority of his big scores has come on the Indian subcontinent, Virat demolished the jinx of poor performance in England and despite India suffering a humiliating defeat of 1-4 in five-match series last summer, he emerged as the highest run scorer with 593 runs in 10 innings, consisting of two tons and three 50-plus scores. In South Africa in the three-match series, he was the combined highest run scorer with 286 runs in six innings. And in the year-ender series Down Under, though Cheteshwar Pujara and the Indian pace attack were the highlights of India’s historic triumph, it was skipper Kohli who stood tall against the on-fire Australian attack in tough Perth conditions and scored centuries to keep India in the game. And if he was not given out controversially at the slips, the situation could have been vastly different.
Not only in the five-day format of the game, the talismanic skipper, who is now just 10 short of Sachin Tendulkar’s record of most hundreds in ODI cricket, was in a completely different zone in the limited overs format. He started his campaign against South Africa in their home ground and amassed 558 runs in just six innings at an astonishing average of 186.00 and a strike rate of 99.47, which was a fair indication that he doesn’t play too many dot balls. During the series, he scored three centuries and one 50-plus score and successfully led India to the 5-1 win in the six-match series. And after opting out of the Nidhas Trophy and returning in the England series, he was only second behind England’s Joe Root with 191 runs and two half-centuries in three games. Then again after missing Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates, he returned to lead the Men in Blue in the home series against West Indies and scored three back to back hundreds in the first three matches, topping the chart of highest run scorer with 453 runs in five matches at an average of 151. While in between these two formats, he featured in 10 Twenty 20 games, three each in three overseas tours of the team and one against Ireland. His unbeaten 61 in the final T20 at Sydney helped India chase down 165 runs and level series 1-1. Though India wasn’t able to win the Test series in England and South Africa, it was Virat’s impressive leadership that took his side close in most of the games. If any other batsman had stepped in to help Virat, the results could have been different.
Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer
In the 1990s, there was only one cricket team that mattered. They were a group of strong, talented, ruthless players who were head and shoulders above everyone else. Every other team wanted to beat them and secretly perhaps, wanted to be them. Your worth as a cricketer was measured by your performance against them and you were said to transition from ‘boys’ to ‘men’ when you played against them in their den. It was a sign of greatness to do well against them, and to be named in a Dream XI alongside them was an honour. No matter if the world hailed you as a star batsman or a world-class bowler, endorsement from them meant more, felt much more. Other teams had players who could perform and stars who could perform consistently. But this team, defined alternatively as “monsters”, “machines”, and “greats” was a team of superstars who never stopped coming at you. That team was Team Australia.
Organised for the movie ‘83, a recent event that brought together World Cup-winning players from the 1983 Indian cricket team offered an insight into what it really feels to be an underdog. Nobody gave them an iota of a chance. Nobody knew them and despite the fact that India had been a Test-playing nation with many greats, there seemed to be no place for them on the world cricketing map. In honest interviews with many of the players, one thing was common — the lack of expectations from them. Most were given the advice to consider the tournament as a paid holiday where you also happen to play cricket on the side! In fact, in a hilarious interview by the inimitable Kris Srikkanth, he said: “Our ticket was from Mumbai to New York via a stopover in London to play.” So hopeless and hapless was this bunch that the tournament in England was meant to be a stopover for them. Their plan was to holiday in the US with a stopover in England — it would be a belated honeymoon for the opener who had got married earlier that year.
Indian test teams that toured Australia in the past two decades were similar. For the wildest cricket fan, including yours truly (an eternal optimist), beating Australia in Australia in Test cricket was out of question. Sure, you could dent Australia’s big win; sure, you could avoid a whitewash; sure, you could show character by drawing or winning one match. But win the series? You must be joking!
Of course, there were memories. You break into a smile even now when you see an old video of Ishant Sharma running in to make Ricky Ponting hop and dance before getting him out. You can only marvel at Virender Sehwag’s unbelievable innings of 195 in Melbourne where he almost got to a double century in a day and you must stand up and applaud the mental strength of the great Sachin Tendulkar who blocked out the square drive from his repertoire of shots and was determined to not get out en route his 241* in a Boxing Day Test. But these were fleeting moments. Sharma’s spell was fiery because the great Ponting was “set up”. Sehwag was an outlier because the pace trio of Lee, Bracken and Williams and the spin of MacGill and Katich didn’t matter. Tendulkar’s innings was unbelievable because it was quality batting against a bowling line-up of Lee and Gillespie and he not only scored a double hundred, he did that without hitting a square drive. It is almost as if the opponent’s size made your contribution seem bigger.
Hence, ‘historic’ is an understatement to define India’s first-ever Test series win in 71 years in and against Australia. The effervescent Harsha Bhogle could not help but sound like a fanboy when he tweeted, “If like me you have been coming to Australia since 1991 with no hope of winning a series, then this is a huge moment. India are now the first Asian team to win a series in Australia. And it feels wonderful to be able to say it.” Perhaps not even the players understand the magnitude of what they have achieved. Not just yet. If you see grainy videos from the past where Tendulkar has scored a 100 and ended up on the losing side, or a Sourav Ganguly, where he speaks to the master of ceremonies after losing a match, or in recent years, MS Dhoni speaking at the post-match press conference after losing a close encounter, all of them will say the same things — they would always chose a team victory over a personal milestone; the team can be a world-beater if it plays up to its potential; and the score line doesn’t do justice to the battle on ground. The anguish and longing in these interviews stand out. And thus, to be able to break the jinx, and to have delivered when it mattered, means the world.
The one man whose career revolved around performance against Australia, VVS Laxman, tweeted: “37 years 10 months ago was the last time India won a test at the MCG, none of the players from either sides were born. This win is one to savour and cherish for a long time and a perfect end to 2018 for Team India. Each player can be very proud of their contribution to this win.” Ravi Shastri gave the team the ultimate compliment when he remarked, “I will tell you how satisfying it is for me. World Cup 1983, World Championship of Cricket 1985 — this is as big, or even bigger, because it is in the truest (Test) format of the game. It’s Test cricket, which is meant to be the toughest.”
And the beaming Captain Virat Kohli said, “Firstly, I want to say I’ve never been more proud of a team than this one. The culture we’ve been able to build over the last 12 months. Our transition started here when I became the Captain for the first time. Only one word to say, I’m proud. To lead these players is an honour and a privilege. They make the Captain look good. Definitely deserve to enjoy this moment. By far, this is my best achievement. Has to be on top of the pile.”
As important as it is to hail the new superheroes of world cricket, it is equally important to quash questionable comments by cricket watchers that seem to dent the achievement. I mean, sure, this is a democracy and there is freedom of expression, you can say what you feel but where all semblance of sense is thrown out of the window, the cricket fan in me turns into the big green Hulk ready to smash. The top three arguments that are thrown around the most include: This is the best Indian team ever to defeat the worst Australian team ever; the current Aussie attack doesn’t measure up to McGrath-Gillespie-Warne trio; but we still have to win in South Africa.
‘The best Indian team to defeat the worst Australian team’
And whose fault is it? Australian past greats, commentators, cricket experts and anybody who understands English is keen to thump a fact in our faces that Smith and Warner, the two Australian stars who are currently not allowed to play international cricket, on an average score 40 per cent of all runs that the team scores. In their absence, they assert, there is nobody who can take their place. India, on the other hand, they are quick to point, boasts of a cricket team that has always enjoyed strong batting and was likely to outscore Australia.
If there was ever a measuring scale for accounting for absurdity, strange would be the base. It would go up to absurdity and this argument would be at the top. As Sunil Gavaskar has painstakingly pointed out many times, Australians are not great losers. They take their own sweet time to swallow defeat. The same Indian team that these experts claim to have had great batting was the one whose form and lack of experience was repeatedly questioned. To use another one of his recent statements, it isn’t the fault of the Indian cricket team that Steve Smith and David Warner are missing. The playing XI for any team are the 11 best players that can represent the nation at that particular time. If India visited Australia without Tendulkar and Kumble, would that be reason enough to accept our defeat?
‘Aussie attack doesn’t measure up to McGrath-Gillespie-Warne trio’
I am yet to come across a more irritating question in the history of cricket analysis. If Kohli scores at the pace he does, it is because modern cricket doesn’t have enough quality bowlers. He never faced the likes of Akram and McGrath and Donald at their peak. If we discuss Sachin Tendulkar’s God-like longevity and consistency, we are immediately reminded of the fact that he had it easy. There were no uncovered pitches and the fearsome pace quartet of the West Indies that only Sunil Gavaskar was able to negotiate. This argument doesn’t make any sense from either side of the table. If we look at history and compare them to modern-day greats, then we are no different from that video game in Rocky Balboa (Rocky VI) where a young Rocky, the original Italian Stallion, is matched to compete against the young Mason ‘The Line’ Dixon. While in the movie, the board did give permission to Rocky to compete and settle “the fire in the basement”, it is unlikely that we are going to see Michael Holding leave the commentator chair to deliver some sweet chin music to Kohli & Co.
Frankly, I did see Courtney Walsh and Allan Donald try that in Cricket All-Stars in 2015 and it wasn’t pretty. Alternatively, if I do agree that modern-day cricket is only for the batsman, then there would simply be more batsman with 50+ average in Test cricket. Again, to borrow from Mr Gavaskar, even if the ball bowled is bad, it still needs to be hit to the boundary. We will have to accept that the only real comparison that can be made for a cricketer of a particular generation is from that generation. What’s the point of comparing past greats with the current ones when you can’t have them compete?
‘But we still have to win in South Africa’
And what’s wrong with that? We will cross the bridge when we get there. Think where did Indian cricket stand before this tour of Australia? Or even after the first Test, which India lost? The captaincy was questioned. His form (or the lack of it) was the highlight. The opening pair was criticised. We were thought of as one bowler short. We didn’t know whether we needed the experience of R Ashwin or the rawness of Kuldeep Yadav. We didn’t know whether our wicket-keeper would be able to deal with the pressure. We had practically no middle-order batsman to write home about. We were a team that hadn’t won any series in Australia in over seven decades. And look where we stand now. We have a young bunch of players who are not afraid to take the battle to the opponent, we have a bowling unit that has the spice of space and the guile of spin in equal measure. We have a wicket-keeper who is being seen as the next Gilchrist. We have the next Mr Dependable after Rahul Dravid in Cheteshwar Pujara. We have debutants who are ready for the grind of world cricket. When did we feel this last? It’s taken a long time coming.
Perhaps there is a story in the two viral memes of Test cricket. The first was where we were laughed at: How KL Rahul and Pujara had adhered to Captain Kohli’s request to promote his wife Anushka Sharma’s latest film Zero by scoring a duck. And at the end of the Test series, the meme that was trending was the one where we had tamed the Australians. Where a young Rishabh Pant’s photo with Tim Paine’s wife and kids gave him legendary status as the babysitter who can bat. Hell, he got a song:
“We’ve got Pant
Rishab Pant
I just don’t think you’ll understand
He’ll hit you for a six
He’ll babysit your kids
We’ve got Rishab Pant”
India has achieved something remarkable in Australia this season. Cherish it. Soak it in. Savour it. It took 70 years coming and is a sign of greater things to come.
(The writer is a communications professional)
Writer: Aakash Aggarwal
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Cricket today is a lot about statistics and analysis, about probabilities and predictions and about fitness and flexibility — it is almost as if the modern version of the gentleman’s game has become more cerebral than physical and what happens between your ears is as important as what happens between the 22 yards. But even today, once in a while, there comes somebody who is bare knuckling all the odds and the story matters more than the statistics. The story of VVS Laxman, arguably the least celebrated of India’s Fabulous Five that comprised the revered troika of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in addition to the effervescent Virender Sehwag, is one such story that makes everyone stand up and take notice.
281 and Beyond begins where Laxman became a part of every Indian cricket fan’s dictionary. The last innings by an Indian batsman in Test cricket that cricket lovers from this generation swore by was arguably the 136 by Sachin Tendulkar against Pakistan where India eventually fell short by 12 runs. But 2001 was different — Australia was the clearly dominant team in all formats of the game. The all-conquering Australia juggernaut had reached India on the cusp of creating history and if the first match was anything to go by, there was nothing to stop them. But Laxman did — following on in the second innings, he scored 281 and became ‘Very Very Special’ Laxman.
Why did Adam Gilchrist put on his batting glove with a squash ball inside it in World Cup 2007? Why did Sachin Tendulkar not play a single shot on the off-side in his 241* against Australia? Why did MS Dhoni go to bat ahead of Yuvraj Singh in World Cup 2011? In all these cases, we know how the innings went but the questions interest us because we want to know the before and after. Similarly, when you read the first chapter of the book, you get to know how Laxman could have missed the Test where he created history. True to his image of being a honest and sincere individual who went about his business without bothering anyone, the anecdotes in the story sound real and human. Before his epic innings, a slipped disc had almost ruled out Laxman from the contest. He remembers: “I said: ‘Tell me you can fix this Andrew.’ There was a salty taste in my mouth. I didn’t even realise I had started to cry. Perhaps it was the sight of a grown man weeping that did the trick.”
Laxman has co-authored the book with senior journalist, R Kaushik, who has followed his journey since he was 15 years old. Kaushik’s voice never becomes overbearing and yet carries a distinct flavour. The narrative encapsulates the various highs and lows of the cricketer’s life even as it retains its tone of someone who is humble with a head clearly sewed to his shoulders with feet firmly on the ground. The book captures his journey as a child in a family surrounded by doctors who still got support to pursue his dream. He drives home the point about being disciplined when he says, “The results take care of themselves if you do the processes right.” All in all, Laxman’s story is the tale of a person who doesn’t let the odds get the better of him and who proves that good people do not always finish last.
What I personally really liked about the book is the ease with which Laxman is able to oscillate between talking about the other four in the Fabulous Five of Indian batting as well as share a warm and heartfelt pen-portrait of the newcomers who became big names in front of him. He doesn’t only describe his experience of playing along Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag and Ganguly or the old war horse Anil Kumble but also describes his time seeing the likes of Zaheer Khan and MS Dhoni become household names in world cricket.
Outside his 281, most people remember VVS Laxman as a stylish batsman who gave his best especially against Australia. However, through 281 and Beyond, you get to see different facets of him. The injuries that followed him through his career, when the cool-headed Laxman ‘yelled’ at Rahul Dravid. The time when he was unsure about having a young and vibrant Zaheer Khan as his roommate to the time where they cemented a friendship based on mutual respect and trust. To the time where he worked in a petrol station — arranging food and cleaning the floor — during his time with Brandford League in England to alter the image of ‘laid back Hyderabadis’.
Call it my romantic self or the place where fact meets fan theory but between the lines, not obvious to many, under the layer of a person who seems happy with making most of the opportunities that he got, I also felt a sense of anguish. After all, the performances of the stylish wristy Hyderabadi batsman often do beg the question — what could have been if he did get to play the World Cup.
In more than six years since when Laxman has quit international cricket listening to his inner voice, this question has come to my mind many times. He could have crossed personal milestones and broken more records. After all, he had been named in the series against New Zealand in India which included a test in his own city. But he quit on his own terms when people were still asking ‘Why’ than ‘Why Not’.
As a cricket lover, I have read all cricket autobiographies and biographies that cricketers from my generation have dished out in the last few years. There were books where I felt that the author wanted to correct or whitewash the narrative to suit him, there were other books where I felt cheated because I knew every incident that was mentioned but there were few books that really made me see inside the person up, close and personal.
I will stick my neck out to say that after my favourite cricket autobiography from 2005, Steve Waugh’s Out of My Comfort Zone, this is by far the most honest account from a cricketer about his journey and you must not miss this.
Writer: Aakash Aggarwal
Courtesy: The Pioneer
A proud moment for India!
For once, shuttler champion PV Sindhu wasn’t tired of answering any questions. For she had given a thundering response to the one that had been niggling her mind after a string of six silvers in major finals this year. Why couldn’t she convert her shots to a championship win? At the World Tour Finals this Sunday, Sindhu decided she had had enough of silver and boldly changed the colour of her medal, remaining unbeaten through the week and taming her contemporaries, some of whom had been her nemesis before. Predictably, she slumped in relief after beating Nozomi Okuhara 21-19, 21-17. The win takes her to world number 3 and is another milestone along the blazing path set by her predecessor Saina Nehwal in a sport that has for long been considered the preserve of the East and Southeast Asian talent. Indians were never considered too good enough to get to worldmark standards. In her initial games and wins, even Saina Nehwal had admitted that while she worked on her physical strengths and primed her core skill set, it was in the mind that she had to win first and overcome the myth that her other Asian compatriots had the greater endurance. Once she built her patience, focus and self-confidence levels to do everything right, she could get out of her own mental trap. Sindhu did that, too, at the Guangzhou championship. What stood out was that she was as taut about her game as the opponent’s and was able to capitalise on the little room that Okuhara gave, though they were very slim. Sunday’s game saw a new Sindhu, one who matched her natural athletic ability, height and smashes with a new-found aggression and power. She kept the opponent guessing about her moves, befuddling her with her strokes. She even displayed a rare hunger and obsession, dismissing post-match highs and emphasising that she would like to change the colour of her Olympics medal. Most importantly, she cast aside her self doubts and stuck to the plan of getting her point on merit than risk knee-jerk moves. That consistency of tempo should stop critics from looking back at her matches so far to assess where she can go now.
Due credit must be given to coach Pullela Gopichand for working on her steadfastly although every final victory that she missed compounded her performance pressure. But the mentor knew that a historic title would change that perception and kept the focus on working her latent ability to a winnable one. And Sunday’s mega title put paid to a tidal wave of doubt. With this outing, Sindhu even took home her biggest single-week pay cheque totalling Rs 86.30 lakh and ramped up her earnings of the year to Rs 4.22 crore in 2018. And she is just 23 with a train of endorsements. Badminton may not have the reach of tennis across the globe but Sindhu sure has pitched herself close to the aura of illustrious women players and athletes of her time. A crowd favourite across age groups given her maturity and reserve, Sindhu has the demonstrative potential too, given the frequency of title clashes lined up for her. And if she can deliver as she did on Sunday, then she can surely emerge to be India’s millennial sports icon.
Writer & Source: The pioneer
When polo was first played in India in 1836, there were loud trumpets reverberating in the background, men in military moustaches hovered charmingly while the swish of French chiffons added an aura of mystique to the proceedings. There were British kings and Maharajas of the princely states who brought a royal touch to the sport, which is even today called ‘The game of kings.’
Sanjay Jindal, patron of the La Pegasus Polo, says that “Polo for most of the population is still a luxury, considering the amount of investment one needs to make to be involved in it.”
He believes that in this game, “your sports equipment is an animal that costs anywhere between Rs 10 to 50 lakh to own and add another Rs 30 to 50 thousand per month to own and upkeep these partners.” And for each match, every player needs at least six to eight horses — one for each chukker. He says that Polo also requires real-estate not just in terms of the playing grounds, but also a shelter for horses and their training.
So how has the tradition of the sport evolved over the years? Jindal believes that the sport, though “remains to be an elite activity and can be brought to more people,” can never become a “mass” sport. He says, “There are a few erstwhile royal families who are involved in the sport, but it is very much like their participation in some other sport to inculcate fitness, hard-work and leadership values in their life. At La Pegasus, our goal was to draw not just sportsmen to the grounds, but also draw spectators to share the spectacle across the world and keep its tradition growing.”
He believes there have been significant efforts across the country to revive the sport’s popularity. “However,” he says, “Since Polo is an expensive sport, its revival is a huge task. Unlike cricket or soccer, which people celebrate in gullis and mohallas, and nooks and corners of every city of the country, polo requires significant effort, upkeep and investment.”
If there are supporters, they are industrialists, businessmen and professionals, who are “chipping in to play, support and bring in new blood to the sport. Unfortunately, we are always playing catch-ups despite having an abundance of talent and thoroughbred ponies in India. We are not able to compete with countries like England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina and the US. So, we are not quite there yet.”
One of the reasons that the sport hasn’t penetrated deeper in the country is because it is prohibitive. Jindal tells us that polo can never be easily affordable as it needs time, energy and a lot of money. He says, “The vision behind La Pegasus Polo centre was to make it accessible to people who despite having the money and means are not able to play it.”
Moreover, most Polo facilities across India are either exclusive clubs supported by royal families, army establishments, embassies or private clubs, which outs it further out of reach of a common man. For instance, the one in Jodhpur is supported by its Maharaja. The Rajasthan polo club is run independently but supported by the royal family of the Pink City.
“On the other hand, if you compare army establishments such as the 61st cavalry establishment in Jaipur and Delhi, La Pegasus Polo might just be more expensive or at par with private clubs such as the Amateur Riders’ Club in Mumbai. But we are the only ones in the country working towards meeting the global standards at prices where we do not seek profit, but manage expenses well to offer the adequate quality required, for players to make a mark internationally,” he adds.
While the kingdoms and Britishers may be long gone, the sport has evolved to become more democratised than just being a ‘royal’ one. Today it’s known for team spirit as more professional players enter the game without a royal link. So does it complement corporate philosophy?
Jindal believes that any sport, whether it is played individually or with a team, inculcates diligent values in the player that draw great relevance to corporate play. “Polo is definitely a game where all four players have to contribute to the win. The same philosophy can be extended to corporates, because at the end of the day any business house is only as good as the people within that company. From Polo, one surely learns the art of team work, persistence, working towards a common goal and these strategies can be adapted in business for success,” he says.
He says that even though La Pegasus Polo is only 10-months-old, it has made efforts to popularise the sport and increase its reachability. “One of our key focusses is to encourage younger aspirants to continue their involvement with the game and be able to improve their skills. In due course, we are looking to sponsor the growth of these aspirants to train in countries where the game is more evolved. This includes the likes of Australia, England, South Africa, Argentina, and the US.”
The centre recently clubbed with the British High Commissioner at his residency for a game to celebrate 100 years of the game and share its history and tradition in India.
Writer: Chahak Mittal
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The Deputy Vice President (Global) and CEO-South Asia of the Deakin University, Ravneet Pahwa is leading the growth of the Australian University in India and established it as the first choice for higher education among Indian students
The pioneering work in India of Deakin’s South Asia office has been recognised by the India Australia Business and Community Awards (IABCA), which presented the award for ‘Business Leader Professional of the Year’ to Ravneet Pawha. The IABCA, dedicated to celebrating the Australia-India relationship while honouring entrepreneurship and community leadership, awarded the honour to Pawha on October 12, during a ceremony in Brisbane, Australia which was attended by the Indian business and community leaders, prominent officials including the High Commissioner of India to Australia, Dr Ajay Gondane and Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Marise Payne.
The award recognises the key leadership role of Pawha, who has overseen a large expansion of key industry partnerships, developed the University’s largest international PhD program and a huge growth in student numbers coming from India.
In 1994 Deakin became the first Australian university to open an office in India, with Pawha leading that office from its very inception and overseeing its growth and development. She has been instrumental in establishing innovative strategic partnerships for the University which have successfully united the Australian higher education with the Indian popular culture. This includes unique scholarship programs with media houses and multifaceted partnerships with Indian premier league teams.
On receiving the award, Pawha said, “This award recognises Deakin’s efforts in India towards education for jobs of the future and initiatives for the communities we serve. It is indeed an honour to be felicitated on such a big platform. The award belongs to the highly-committed Deakin India team in New Delhi. We endeavour to continue our mission with passion, persistence and people to people connect.”
The leadership role of Pawha in Australian higher education in India became particularly apparent in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, which saw massive drops in Indian student enrollment in Australian universities. Recognising the scale of the challenge at hand, she made adjustments to Deakin’s strategic focus in India, placing greater emphasis on partnership development while waiting for market forces to stabilise. These efforts led to a sea change in Deakin’s partnership engagement in India and resulted in threefold benefits of furthering the University’s aims as a research institution; developing brand awareness among key players in India, and set the stage for improved student recruitment that leveraged the partnerships.
Deakin University has now emerged as a market leader in India and students from the country represent the largest international cohort at this Australian university. One of the key strategic project spearheaded by Pawha is the Deakin India Research Initiative (DIRI), which was established to strengthen research activities and partnerships in India with a view to bridging the gap between academia and industry. Through DIRI, Deakin has established more than 100 projects involving over 100 PhD students and more than 50 industry, academic, and government partners in India. This includes the $15-million TERI-Deakin Nano-Biotechnology research facility in India, often cited as a standout example of India-Australia collaboration.
Writer and Courtesy: The Pioneer
We must encourage children to aspire and dream big. It is only when we let make our children realize that dreams have no limit and hear success stories like Hima Das and Swampna Burma, will they think of reaching the stars.
Thanks to social media, we have increasingly begun to learn and applaud success stories. Not too long ago, we came across the great story of grit, determination, dream and aspiration of Swapna Burman. Enduring pain due to an extra finger each on her two feet, she came out with flying colours at the 2018 Asian Games. She became the first Indian woman to win gold in the Heptathlon event. This is an incredible story and so goes the tale of Assam’s sensation Hima Das. But how could they make it so big? To answer it in a simple word — they dared to dream! Their success tells us about the power of dreaming and setting a goal.
These, and many other similar stories have lessons for present-day parents and children. Parents must inculcate in their children a desire to aspire and dream. This reminds us of what Eleanor Roosevelt, former First Lady of the US, had said: “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” Or a famous quote from Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist, “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” While adults have books to refer, children have little or limited influences, including their school, peers and parents, to motivate them so as to set higher aspirational goals. They may, however, take some lessons out of the psychology theories in this endeavour.
Gordon Allport was a celebrated psychologist and he famously counted about 18,000 trait-like terms in English language — terms that designated “distinctive and personal forms of behaviour.” He spoke of three levels of traits. The first was cardinal — those that are so dominant that all of the individual’s action can be traced back to these. These broad, highly influential traits are often called by names, drawn from key historical figures. So, one might be described Christlike, another as Machiavellian and so on. Then he spoke of central traits which would typically characterise an individual’s behaviour to some extent. Finally, the least generalised characteristics of the person he labelled as secondary traits. These are traits such as “likes chocolates” or “prefers foreign cars” — ones that are influential but only within a narrow range of situations. May be modern parents and teachers, other than their overzealous approach to studies and extra curricular activities, should be focussing on identifying some of these and honing those central or secondary in-born traits that could lead children to higher aspiration.
They must also spare thoughts on Sigmund Freud’s construct of model of personality with three interlocking parts: Id, ego and superego. The id is a storehouse of biologically based urges: The urge to eat, drink, eliminated, especially to be sexually stimulated. Freud said that the id operates according to the pleasure principle. It is bridled and managed by ego, which consists of elaborate ways of behaving and thinking, which constitutes the “executive function” of the person. Freud characterised ego as working “in the service of the reality principle.” It balances the insistent urges of the id and constraints of reality and enables a more sophisticated thinking skills. The superego is the equivalence of conscience and consists primarily of prohibitions learnt from parents, teachers, and other agencies. The superego or conscience-like persuasions are also dictated by what Freud calls “the ego ideal”, a set of positive value and moral ideals which are encouraged to be followed, for they are believed to be worthy. Parents can surely help shape ego and superego of their children which can instill traits like, aspirations and dreaming to achieve big.
At a recent conference on education in Vijaywada Commissioner of School Education of Andhra Pradesh, K Sandhya Rani, reminded the children of a 10,000-hour rule, and urged them to aspire to be the best by inculcating the habit of practicing. This writer is particularly fond of Malcom Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success, where this rule is mentioned, and often recommend it to youngsters. “Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness,” Gladwell wrote, adding that it takes about 10 years to put in ten thousand hours of hard practice. “Even Mozart, the greatest musical prodigy of all time, couldn’t hit his stride until he had his ten thousand hours in. Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.”
Drawing from fascinating empirical evidences, Gladwell said that it is important for parents to know this and put their children into special programs. “It’s all but impossible to reach that number by yourself by the time you’re a young adult. You have to have parents who encourage and support you.” India is a highly aspirational society and is undergoing a rare churning. Just about time we encouraged our children to dream, and aspire for more. It is only when they begin to dream big that we can hear more stories like those of Burman and Das. The tasks for modern parents are clearly cut out.
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)
Writer: Navneet Anand
Courtesy: The Pioneer
As shown by the ongoing Asian Games, Indian sports are finally ready for a rejig by removing its cricket-only tag.
Anyone who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, in the pre-television era, would vividly remember the modulated voice of Sushil Doshi, unarguably India’s first and finest Hindi cricket commentator. Cricket, which was a like a religion for the nation, was infused with rare elegance of style and speed of Doshi. By the end of the century, when television replaced radio in India’s drawing rooms, new voices of the likes of Harsha Bhogle, Ravi Shastri and Sanjay Manjrekar came to the fore and cricket reigned supreme. In the 21st century, even though the style and substance of the game changed dramatically, cricket remained the lord of Indian sports. The 2018 Asian Games seems to have changed this DNA of a cricket-obsessed nation, finally.
It goes to the credit of Prime Minister Modi who acknowledged and celebrated each and every victory of an Indian in the ongoing Asian Games. This has had a spiraling effect. Hitherto unknown athletes were catapulted into national limelight with the mainstream media exalting the virtues of the winners. People like this writer, who knew nothing of sports other than a square cut and googly, were educated on the merits of sprinting and heptathlon. Social media enthusiasts rejoiced with each medal India won. Sports like wushu, sepak takraw and kurash entered into the lexicon of Indian households. A country, where forgotten, non-cricket sporting legends made headlines only when found selling tea or ploughing a field for livelihood, woke up to a new culture of recognition and celebrations.
Call it a paradigm cultural shift or what you may, this augurs well for India, which despite making progress on many counts, has been left wanting in the field of sports. It would be naive not to acknowledge the role of the state in giving this much-needed spurt to sports. Those who mocked at the idea of ‘Khelo India’, sat down and took note at this new burst of excellence by Indian sportspersons. A large number of young athletes, including teenagers, have won many medals, and that’s a heartening trend, which Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore termed a “generational shift.”
What has also been pleasing is the emergence of many players from smaller towns, Tier II and III cities, who have made it to the podium. Rathore says, on the personal intervention of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the system has been made more robust and transparent, and one which provides opportunity to everyone. The Khelo India School Games (KISG) has earned good results. The Government also runs a programme called the Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme to support the athletes. The programme is designed for seamless and holistic support to athletes in the form of infrastructure, coaches, trainers and competitive environment.
Incidentally, ‘Khelo India’ or the National Programme for Development of Sports, draws inspiration in respect of organisation of competitions from Khel Mahakumbh, organised annually by the Government of Gujarat. Khel India is designed to develop sports infrastructure in both rural and urban areas, and provides for not only identification of talent but has been guiding and nurturing them through assistance to Sports Authority of India Training Centres and Academies besides State Government training centres.
The system is working and delivery is amplified by results and an all-pervading enthusiasm. On August 29, the Prime Minister posted a tweet summarising the sporting achievements: “I salute all those who have represented India in various sporting events. Their hard work and resolve has led to several milestones. This year has been great for our sporting fraternity, with the Indian athletes excelling in various tournaments including #AsianGames2018 and CWG.” Till August 30, it was liked by a staggering 25,000 people, and retweeted 5,000 times.
Looks like achhe din for Indian sports has arrived, and we are finally set to alter the cricket-only-nation tag. While pro-active policies of the Government, and a sportsperson as the Sports Minister certainly helped, I am tempted to highlight the role of popular culture in igniting this enthusiasm and appreciation of other sports. In last few years, we have seen many inspiring films, including Goal, Kai Po Che, Budhia Singh: Born to Run, Chak De India, Brothers, Mary Kom, Sultan, Dangal, and Gold. These films, featuring Bollywood’s super stars, including, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar, have brought to fore the unheard sides of non-cricketing sports. They have struck a rare rapport with the audience and educated us on the triumphs or tribulations of India’s numerous unsung heroes.
It’s heartening that the Prime Minister has started to celebrate these heroes. This has a message for millions of our youngsters across the country who are working very hard and are aspiring to make a cut in sports. The stories of the likes of Hima Das and Swapna Barman, who came from a modest background, yet dared to dream and overcame all odds to rise to the top, should inspire everyone. Prime Minister Modi has excited the nation to the idea of a brave new India that dares to dream, and achieve.
Writer: Navneet Anand
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Sports is occasionally compared to war, without the weapons. With the World Cup ending, it is not only the win that is to be remembered, but the life lessons too.
Well, the Football World Cup has come to an end, and what a game it was: Full of excitement, surprises and some great football in between. It was also an amazing advertisement for Vladimir Putin’s Russia and for the Russian President himself. Having travelled to Russia for an early group game between Germany and Mexico in Moscow, I can safely say that the image of the sour Russian was well and truly demolished. And while South American countries flattered to deceive at the World Cup, their fans arrived in Moscow and other host cities in thousands. There were more Latin fans walking through Alexandrovsky Garden than there were Russians.
The tournament had the world hooked. Even in the United States, which isn’t a traditional ‘soccer’ nation, bars were opening doors at 8am for the early kick-offs, the joy of time-zones, and guess what, they were packed. Not just by the immigrants that Donald Trump wants to keep out but even in the deepest, whitest parts of America, bars were full of folks, cheering for Iran against Portugal. Yep, I saw that with my own eyes. But what lessons can be drawn from the World Cup? I’m no football analyst, but I thought there were some important life lessons to be drawn.
It’s about the team, stupid!
Make no mistakes, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are the two greatest players of their generation. And both of them scored some utterly brilliant goals. Messi’s goal against Nigeria was sheer class and no one can forget Ronaldo’s free-kick against Spain that gave the man his hattrick. But in the end, all four semi-finalists were teams which prioritised the team and teamwork over the individual. Players, who have in the past acted like divas, notably Paul Pogba of the Manchester United and Eden Hazard of Chelsea put in everything once they put on their national colours. Was this because of a sense of patriotism that one does not have when playing professionally or because of the better man-management of their coaches?
The one man who acted like a diva during the World Cup, Nikola Kalinic, who refused to come on a substitute in a game Croatia played against Nigeria, was sent home by his coach. Of course, we all know what Croatia’s 22-man squad went on to do. But more importantly, and emphasising on the team in important and making players like Pogba adapt their game to the team instead of the team revolving around them also possibly helped the young player of the tournament, Kylian Mbappe, shine. The fact is that the pressure of performing can easily get to a 19-year-old and the support of the team made a player already a superstar as one of the globe’s most recognisable faces.
Liberté, égalité, fraternité (+Unite)
France’s unity and team-ethics over individual flair makes many of the comments about France’s ‘inclusive’ team a bit strange. France is a violently secular state. Sure, their notion of secularism is more of a Christian notion of secularism, but no country practices the separation of church and state as much as the French. We have pointed out that the individual flair of French players was subjugated by the system practiced by French coach Didier Deschamps, the French played just as much as they needed to. Think of them as a 600-horsepower V8 supercar pottering around town, using less power than produced by two cylinders. France has been welcoming immigrants to a degree but insists that they become French. The football they learn at the French academy at Clairefontaine is the French way. Not necessarily exciting but effective.
And that is what Deschamps did with his team as well. It has not always worked very well in the country; France has been the victim of some of the worst terrorist atrocities in the Western world recently because forced cultural assimilation does not always work. Even with the football team, France’s best striker, the Real Madrid player Karim Benzema, refused to bow to Deschamps’ system. But at the end of the day, nobody is arguing with the second star on Les Bleus jersey. France is a multi-ethnic country and while immigrants from North Africa and West Africa have brought their culture, that has become French; listen to French rap nowadays to get an idea. So is France truly a multi-cultural country? No. And attempts by Twitter trolls to paint it as an ‘African’ success was quickly shot down by the likes of French defender Benjamin Mendy.
There is nowhere to hide, hello VAR
The first World Cup broadcast in India was in 1986 though we consider anything in standard-definition fuzzy today. That the World Cup is remembered for two goals by Diego Maradona, one of a brilliant move through almost the entire English team and the second one which will go down in infamy as ‘The Hand of God’. Well, 32 years later Diego is his usual self; i.e. being a totally self-obsessed man-child, crude and racist. He made a ‘slant eyed’ gesture at the Koreans and put his middle fingers to great use. In 2018, the controversial goal of ‘86 would never have stood, thanks to VAR.
We live in an age of the camera. Everyone has one. There were an estimated 33 television feed cameras being used for every match at the World Cup, possibly more for the knockouts. Eight of these cameras were super slow-motion and four were ultra slow-motion and all of them recorded in 4K definition. There was no angle that could possibly be missed and nowhere to hide for any player. Kind of like real life nowadays. Look at it this way: We all celebrated Maradona’s cheating antics and even forgave him his cocaine habit but Neymar’s flopping made him the butt of jokes across the world and seriously tarnished his reputation as a global superstar.
And there is VAR inside the penalty box now. So no more defenders channeling their inner Hulk Hogan can get away with it. We saw that as the tournament progressed, defenders, who were initially aggressive inside the box, suddenly began to behave themselves. While, as with most things, a happy middle will likely be found, the moment you start getting judged for your actions post-facto suddenly make everyone more responsible. Now, how will VAR play out during the club season remains to be seen.
Europe in the ascendancy
In a post-Brexit and post-Trump world, the European Union might feel a little small but other than Europe’s powerhouse Germany failing at the first hurdle and another power Italy not even making the show, this World Cup highlighted the dominance of the European game. Partially because virtually all of the world’s best players play for Europe’s top clubs with their world-class coaches, training and medical facilities as well as level of play it allows even smaller European nations to rise to the top. Croatia is a case in point, so what if the country only has four million people but their top players are in Europe’s top clubs.
This also means that playing international games, which are usually continental games is easier for them, whereas Argentinian and Uruguayan stars have to take 12-14 hour flights each way to and from South America. This makes it easier for them to play for their countries during week-long international breaks but many top clubs don’t even let their South American players leave to play games for their country. While FIFA has pointedly placed the next World Cup in winter, slap-bang in the middle of the European season, it is almost certain that the 2022 World Cup will see a fifth European team win the trophy in a row.
(The writer is Managing Editor, Special Projects, The Pioneer)
Writer: Kushan Mitra
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Croatia captain Luka Modric said being awarded the Golden Ball for the World Cup’s best player was “bittersweet” after losing the final 4-2 to France on Sunday.
“Obviously I liked the recognition and thanks to those who chose me, but clearly I would have preferred to have won the World Cup,” said the Real Madrid midfielder.
“It wasn’t to be and now we will rest and in the coming days celebrate this because it is still a huge thing for Croatia, but right now the feeling is bittersweet.
“We are proud of what we have done, but a bit sad at losing the final.”
“Although I think we deserved more, we can’t change anything,” added Modric.
“We can only be proud of what we did – we never gave up and fought until the end.”
Croatia were doubly frustrated by Pitana’s decision as France’s opener also came from a dubious free-kick.
“The small details went in favour of France. It is a shame because I think we were very, very good and deserved to win,” said Ivan Rakitic.
Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer
France forward Antoine Griezmann hailed his “extraordinary” teammates after Les Blues won the FIFA World Cup for a second time.
Griezmann was named man of the match, scoring from the penalty spot and setting up Paul Pogba for France’s fourth goal in their 4-2 victory over Croatia on Sunday.
He also delivered the 18th-minute free-kick that flew into the back of the net after a deflection off Mario Mandzukic’s head.
“For me the collective is the most important thing. If you have a strong and united team, you can do anything,” the Atletico Madrid forward said after the match.
“I have extraordinary teammates and now we’re going to be a part of history. Maybe it won’t hit home immediately but in the future our children are going to be proud of what we have done. Now we have to enjoy it.”
Griezmann, who scored four goals during the World Cup, has been touted as a possible winner of this year’s Ballon d’Or, awarded to the world’s best player.
The 27-year-old said his immediate priority is to celebrate the World Cup triumph with his teammates, friends and family.
“We still have the European Super Cup to play and I hope that we can win it,” Griezmann said. “But right now I want to enjoy this. I can focus on that later.”
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