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Kings XI Punjab is in form and poised for the IPL action Switch over Fit Zone
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Kings XI Punjab is in form and poised for the IPL action
Australian pace bowler Brett Lee is confident about Kings XI Punjab’s performance this year, and says that the team would make all-out efforts to win the championship. Commenting on last year’s dismal performance, Lee says that in the previous IPL championship held in South Africa, about eight players were injured, which affected the team’s performance, and they lost the semi-final match due to a lower run rate. He said that this year, the team members, including himself, are fully fit and in form and would take on every challenge which would come their way. Lee said that the Kings XI Punjab was a closely-knit team and the whole world would be watching it with interest. The team had suffered ups and downs in the past but this time they definitely hoped to enter the finals of the tournament, he added. About the new faces in the team, the Australian pacer said that Sunny Sohal, Uday Kaul (batsmen/wk), Love Abhilish, Amanpreet Singh, V. R. V. Singh, Vikramjit Malik, Mannwinder Bisla, Vikram Sharma and Amanpreet Singh had performed well in the Ranji Trophy and other domestic tournaments held this year, and they expected them to repeat the same performance in the IPL. Speaking on the initiative, Anil Srivatsva CEO, Kings XI Punjab, said that for him cricket was not just a game but a religion that bound Indians together. He said the fans were seeking much more than cricket — a total ‘cricketainment’ experience — and he rued the fact that last year the fans could not come to the stadiums to add to the on-ground excitement as well as cheer for their favorite team Kings XI Punjab. He said this year they wanted the supporters of the team to grab the opportunity to see it in action. Col Arvindra Singh, senior vice-president, KXIP, said Yuvraj Singh was a key player in the team, an icon and the team wanted him to play his natural game. He said Yuvraj had the ability to change the course of the match even in the last over. This year, the team would be concentrating on winning the matches with huge margins in order to maintain a higher run rate, he added. |
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Switch over Switch-hitting could well be the
next most important development in the one-day game
How over the years cricket, especially the one-day game, has changed. While Test cricket has clung on to tradition, the one-day game and the more modern avatars like the Twenty20 have brought in a slew of innovations to make the game more thrilling, especially for the paying public. The first one-day game as we know it was played on January 5, 1971, and in the initial years it tended to follow in the footsteps of the traditions set by the more sedate Test cricket. In England, where the first three cricket World Cups were held, one-day cricket was a 60-over side affair, and only when the tournament was held in the subcontinent for the first time in 1987 were the matches held in the 50-over format, a system which continues till current times. Then slowly, over the years came in the games under lights, coloured clothing, white cricket balls and black sight-screens. As television became more and more refined, the on-ground umpires were helped to take decisions with the help of a third umpire. Then came in power play, first one of 15 overs while now there are three power plays of 10 overs each, with one of them being taken by the batting side. Even as the rules and format of the game underwent changes, players, too, devised new methods of playing. Fast bowlers are using the slower delivery with great success; spinners are having a major role in restricting the batting sides not only in the subcontinent but also elsewhere; the scoop over fine leg is being used with good effect, and we even see wicketkeepers standing up well to medium pace bowling in an effort to curb the batting side. And now, as New Zealand skipper Daniel Vittori has recently predicted, switch-hitting could well be the next most important development in the one-day game, which has already witnessed things like a spinner opening an attack (New Zealand in the 1992 World Cup off spinner Dipak Patel operated with the new ball when coloured clothing and matches under lights were introduced for the first time). What is switch-hitting and how different is it from the reverse sweep which players were using for a long time even in Test cricket? The term “switch hit” has been borrowed from baseball. In baseball, a switch-hitter bats right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers. In cricket, the switch-hit shot was first used by South African-born English player Kevin Pietersen on June 15, 2008, in a one-day game against New Zeal when he effectively changed from a right-hander to a left-hander for the purpose of executing the shot. While executing the reverse sweep, players need to only change their grip and not their stance. The shot was innovated by Pietersen using which he hit two sixes in the cover region while he went on to score an unbeaten 110 in this match of the NatWest series. The shot generated quite a controversy, with many questioning the legality of switch-hitting. Two fast bowling legends Michael Holding of West Indies and Sir Richard Hadlee of New Zealand challenged the legality of Pietersen's switch-hit strokes. Holding and Hadlee both suggested that the batsman gains an unfair advantage by effectively changing from a right-hander to a left-hander. The main argument was that the field placing is set for a right-handed batsman and this switch hitting can give a batsman undue advantage of field placement. However, two days later, on June 17, 2008, the MCC, guardians of the laws of cricket, confirmed it would not legislate against the switch shot and cited that it was perfectly legal in accordance with cricketing laws. The MCC believed that the switch-hit stroke was exciting for the game of cricket. The MCC highlighted Law 36.3, which defines the off side of the striker's wicket as being determined by his stance at the moment the bowler starts his run-up. However, the MCC accepted that implications remained for both the interpretation of the LBW and wide rules by a batsman attempting a switch-hit. Among Indian batsmen skipper M. S. Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have all attempted the switch shot with varying success. However, in February this year, the switch hit was again the scanner during the West Indies-New Zealand series. New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori backed Kiwi batsman David Warner's switch-hitting tactics, saying the ploy was good for the game of cricket. Warner received support from both Vettori and Australian captain Michael Clarke, but players and umpires seem split in their views on the unique tactic. Warner was told to stop switch-hitting by umpire Rod Tucker during the left-hander's innings against the West Indies, However, the ICC has issued an interim directive to run until May, which allows the move, but also cuts the bowling team some slack, according to reports published in New Zealand newspapers. The batsman cannot change sides until the bowler is in his delivery stride. The effect of that will be to give him, or her, only a moment to get his stance right, adjust his line of sight and play his shot. But the bowler is allowed to stop in his delivery stride if he sees the batsman making his move. That will lead to an informal warning for the batsman on the grounds of time wasting. A second incident means a formal warning; a third infringement adds five runs to the fielding side. Equally, the bowler can choose to carry on and deliver the ball. Now let us see how switch-hitting is used by the players in the third edition of the IPL. According to many observers of the game, the IPL can be used as a testing ground for different cricketing theories and strategies and switch-hitting could well be on top of the list. |
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Fit Zone Willpower is an essential requirement for all persons to accomplish any work, however insignificant or great the task may be. Yoga, by its systematic and conscious process of calming down the mind, erases the weaknesses in the mind and builds will power into it. In such a mind, each obstacle is conceived as a challenge and arouses tremendous energy to combat the situation. Bravery becomes a part of the personality. Steadfast to the core, such a person takes up with marvelous sobriety the challenges in life and converts them into opportunities for accomplishing his mission. Each time you move into a new posture, you are allowing a new flow to occur in the body. This work happens not only on the body but teaches our mind to see things in new ways as well, leading to greater creativity! Mentioned below are some simple postures that will start off the
creative cycle:
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Creativity and steadfastness are the two aspects of the mind which come under this head of personality development at the mental level. It has been well recognised that creativity is the core of arts and technology. It has been seen that yogic practices enhance the creative power of man. As such, many musicians, poets, film artists, engineers and technologists have been attracted to
yoga.