Players pushed to background in their own victory celebration

[DesiChap]

Players pushed to background in their own victory celebration PTI Wednesday, September 26, 2007 17:00 IST Players sitting behind the in the second row MUMBAI: One would have thought that the 15 cricketers who brought India the glory at the Twenty20 World Cup were the heroes being felicitated at the Wankhede Stadium, but a look at the dias would have suggested otherwise. The front row was filled with BCCI top brass and Maharashtra state ministers with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni the only Team India member finding a place among the 'elite'.

report continued below

Also on the front row were BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah, Vice-Presidents Lalit Modi and Rajeev Shukla and former Board President I S Bindra. In fact, the whole spectacle seemed like a carefully organised political rally with Board President Sharad Pawar, who is the Union Agriculture Minister and a political heavyweight of the state, playing to the galleries in his short speech as if it was an election rally. He was clearly trying to take full mileage out of the unexpected victory that Dhoni and his bravehearts achieved at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Not to be outdone, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil gave a speech in Marathi that seemed unusually long and out of place in the setting, with other state politicians also sharing the spotlight. When his turn to speak came, Dhoni could not help remarking "a lot has been in English and Marathi. Now let me stick to Hindi". The whole ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium gave an impression that it was only Mumbai and Maharashtra expressing their joy at the triumph and not the whole country. It seemed in stark contrast to the players' journey from the airport to the stadium when the public outpouring on the streets looked totally genuine and heart-felt. The plane from South Africa landed at the airport at 8 am and the 30 km-journey in the open top bus took upwards of five hours with the players reaching the stadium more than three hours behind schedule. Even as one marvelled at the public display of affection directed at the young team, one could not help notice the big hoardings which had a big picture of Pawar over a considerably smaller one of Dhoni holding aloft the trophy, which seemed to aptly reflect BCCI's priorities. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1123656

[Guest dada_rocks]

Players pushed to background in their own victory celebration PTI Wednesday, September 26, 2007 17:00 IST Players sitting behind the in the second row MUMBAI: One would have thought that the 15 cricketers who brought India the glory at the Twenty20 World Cup were the heroes being felicitated at the Wankhede Stadium, but a look at the dias would have suggested otherwise. The front row was filled with BCCI top brass and Maharashtra state ministers with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni the only Team India member finding a place among the 'elite'.

report continued below

Also on the front row were BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah, Vice-Presidents Lalit Modi and Rajeev Shukla and former Board President I S Bindra. In fact, the whole spectacle seemed like a carefully organised political rally with Board President Sharad Pawar, who is the Union Agriculture Minister and a political heavyweight of the state, playing to the galleries in his short speech as if it was an election rally. He was clearly trying to take full mileage out of the unexpected victory that Dhoni and his bravehearts achieved at the Wanderers in Johannesburg. Not to be outdone, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil gave a speech in Marathi that seemed unusually long and out of place in the setting, with other state politicians also sharing the spotlight. When his turn to speak came, Dhoni could not help remarking "a lot has been in English and Marathi. Now let me stick to Hindi". The whole ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium gave an impression that it was only Mumbai and Maharashtra expressing their joy at the triumph and not the whole country. It seemed in stark contrast to the players' journey from the airport to the stadium when the public outpouring on the streets looked totally genuine and heart-felt. The plane from South Africa landed at the airport at 8 am and the 30 km-journey in the open top bus took upwards of five hours with the players reaching the stadium more than three hours behind schedule. Even as one marvelled at the public display of affection directed at the young team, one could not help notice the big hoardings which had a big picture of Pawar over a considerably smaller one of Dhoni holding aloft the trophy, which seemed to aptly reflect BCCI's priorities. http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1123656

Just curious did Dalmiya stoop this low ever..

[Lurker]

Just curious did Dalmiya stoop this low ever..

Not sure about that but great, absolutely fantabulous, to see Rajeeb Shukla sitting in the front road. Talk of Allah meharbaan to gadha pehalwaan.

[Guest dada_rocks]

Rajeev Shukla ka mujhe details pata karna hai kya hai aakhirkaar is dhakkan mein.... he manages to sneak in every administration.. :cantstop:

[Lurker]

Rajeev Shukla ka mujhe details pata karna hai kya hai aakhirkaar is dhakkan mein.... he manages to sneak in every administration.. :cantstop:

I still remember the 2003 NatWest series in England where Kaif and Yuvraj led us to a thrilling victory. This man was at the balcony as Ganguly was waiving the shirt.

[zubinpepsi]

but worst hes holding the trophy... these guys dont have any shame at all....

[coffee_rules]

Spot the team...

[Lurker]

^^ To make it worse the only player I can recognize is Agarkar

[Guest dada_rocks]

Bich mein ghus ke kuchh players behcare chhup gaye hain par Rajeev shukla ko apno bhondi shakal dikhana jyada zaroori tha.. Sala aadmi agar koi presentable face wala ho to thori der ke liye tolerate bhi kar len par iski shakal aisi hai jo mujhe ( moderately bad-shakal insaan:haha:) ko brad-pit hone ki bad-gumani ho rahi hai ise dekh ke......... :haha: ..Bhagao is dhakkan ko.. Pakistan mein aisa hi ak insaan hai Saleem Altaaf suna hai wo lawyers hai aur first class cricket bhi khela hai, at least he can boast of sthg..

[Guest dada_rocks]

Spot the team...

despicable behaviour

[yoda]

Spot the team...

Is that Aggy with a clear view? :haha:

[DesiChap]

LOL yep

[Guest dada_rocks]

This one is priceless

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/how-politicians-basked-in-crickets-reflected-glory/49422-3.html

As if elbowing out the cricketers wasn’t enough, Maharashtra Deputy CM R R Patil went a step ahead. "Sharad Pawar should be credited with the victory,” he said. Shameless buffons

[Guest dada_rocks]

Moral of the story: as long as cricket and politics remain two sides of the same coin, you will be left craning your neck to catch a glimpse of blue in the sea of white. source: ibnlive

[yoda]

This one is priceless

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/how-politicians-basked-in-crickets-reflected-glory/49422-3.html

As if elbowing out the cricketers wasn’t enough, Maharashtra Deputy CM R R Patil went a step ahead. "Sharad Pawar should be credited with the victory,†he said. Shameless buffons

:giggle:

[The Outsider]

After watching their behaviour, I feel like congratulating Ponting.

[Ram]

"All this celebrations are just cheap publicity stunts master-minded by political parties to cash in on the feel good factor that prevails in the country now. These shameless idiots lose no chance to divert people's attention from the real issues. Add to this mess an opportunistic media and some selfish film stars , and you have perfect recipe for the greatest drama enacted. Seriously , what does the Nationalist Congress party or Shah Rukh Khan have anything to do with India's victory ?" "Never against people celebrating. What i am dead against is either a group or an individual hijacking the entire occasion and making it seem as though they had a big hand in whatever that happened. That is sickening !" "When the Convoy reaches the Wankhade , you will have all these politician babus , making all these boring speeches , praising the sons of the soil and how they bought glory to the countrty blah blah blah.. Till yesterday , did these idiots even know there was 20/20 tournament going on ?" Am so tempted to say -- Didnt i tell ya ?

[Tugga]

put patil, pawar and shukla in the team and let them face brett lee !!

[goose]

horrible ! national disgrace ! i want to vomit on pawar's face. apparently one politician stood up and said the credit for this win goes to Sharad Powar? f%ck off !

[kumble_rocks]

Pawar and Mumbai Lobby at work . TGIB was right after all !