Follow-On : A deprecated term in Indian cricket

Third(Oval) Test Ind Vs Eng, 9-13 Aug, 2007

After India managed to play upto their potential for the first 3 days of the test match and managed to gain a match winning lead of 319 runs there came a faltering decision by captain Rahul Dravid not to enforce follow-on. To my utter surprise I couldnt understand the decision of bat again in the overcast conditions where Indian bowlers could have done substantial damage to the English batting lineup. Indian batsmen are facing the same music as the result of overcast conditions with India tottering at 11/3 in just 6 overs.

Generally, the decision not to enforce follow-on are taken my captains when he feel his bowlers need rest to bowl at the batsmen again.Also in such a situation the captain doesn’t want to take a chance to bat last on the deteriorating wicket. It can be understood in certain situations but the condition in which Rahul Dravid took the decision to bat second and not enforcing follow-on is totally beyond my understanding. To me I can only feel that Rahul doesnt believe in follow-on. If he cant make use of it in such a situation as today I feel he had deprecated the term from Indian Cricket.

BIAL : A bummer project

With each passing day I am getting more jitters as its 1 day less from the time when the all new Bangalore Airport will be ready. To be frank this is one project in Bangalore that for me should not be completed in a hurry. I might sound obstinately conservative but I have reasons to think that ways.

To begin with not so significant reason is the distance of the airport from the city. Since the airport is that far from the city it became the obvious responsibility of the planning body to think about the approachability of the airport. Though there is strict timelines for the airport itself and is doing well on the completion front, the connectivity of the airport from the city is always in news for all the wrong reasons. There is no concrete time frame eminent for the expressway connecting airport to the city. There have been imbecilic delays like acquiring land etc. I completely fail to understand what the authorities did in the project planing phase. For the uninformed the project was conceived in 1991. For me it seems the project plan covered only building a huge terminal buildings without worrying much about other infrastructure aspects.

The only people who would be waiting eagerly for the project to complete would be the auto and taxi services in the city. Though there is business is well flourishing in the city but they have much more appetite for exploiting the customers. I can easily forsee a taxi asking me Rs 1000/- for a drop from the new airport to my home on Bannerghatta Road. I would have no option but to succumb to his demand. I always try to bargain the best deal for airline tickets by booking well in advance and visiting various sites for any better deal they have to offer but I will have no way to bargain my intercity transfer. Somehow I am feeling too jealous of these auto, taxi service for their upcoming boom time. Reminded me of the boom in our very own IT sector. Now its gonna be their boom time.

A couple of days ago I was reading about the BWSSB showing their inability to provide required amount of water to the upcoming airport. The article in short sounded like a threat to the Bangaloreans about the regular water cut they have to face in case they are required to supply water to the airport. As if there were little problems that BWSSB came with their threating facts.

All this is the result of 16 years of planning for the airport. I wonder what would happened had it been planned for a shorter duration. I also wanna be fully convinced that the project is jinxed and want to be mean to hope that the airport project gets delayed like many other projects in Bangalore.

Pownce invites available

For anybody who is looking out for a Pownce invite I have 6 invites available.

Interested !! comment on the post to get one.