Frankly reply all senior haters

[Gambit]

ya... but the thing is u know its true and what more' date=' u canot quarrel with it. I just imagine what might hv happened had sourav ganguly appeared in Mumbai or Chennai suburbs or UP or Andhra villages.... man we will be seeking replacement already on injury grounds[/quote'] Not everyone is like you. Unlike you, most other people would actually mind doing time for punching a cricketer after a game. Unlike you, most other people would not let their emotions get the better of them and would not try and injure a cricketer. Has anyone lynched Azher or Jadeja yet? They probably got their restraining orders against you though. :D

[Guest HariSampath]

Not denying that they are more knowledgeable than me. Just thanked Hari for gathering all their collective opinions so quickly and apprising us of what all the 'walas' thought of Ganguly's knock.

In the last 24 hrs that I had talked to veggie vendors chaiwalas and autorikshaw grivers etc, at leat 30-40 of the, more than 25, all of whom had seen the game in the TV set of a neighborhood shop, said in effect " Ganguly was not playing the game necessary today for winning" One man siad " if I had to take a passenger to train central station before half hour and spend next 10 min smoking a beedi how will the passenger catch the train, that means he will take another auto .. same way" Think u get the drift...

[Guest HariSampath]

I've already stopped reading his cra.p :haha:

Becos sourav Ganguly's crap is enough to keep u :finger: busy

[Gambit]

In the last 24 hrs that I had talked to veggie vendors chaiwalas and autorikshaw grivers etc, at leat 30-40 of the, more than 25, all of whom had seen the game in the TV set of a neighborhood shop, said in effect " Ganguly was not playing the game necessary today for winning" One man siad " if I had to take a passenger to train central station before half hour and spend next 10 min smoking a beedi how will the passenger catch the train, that means he will take another auto .. same way" Think u get the drift...

And how many said they wanted to injure him? BTW what did these 'walas' think about a random guy, without a camera, going around asking questions about Gangs' knock? :bird: TIA. :isalute:

[Guest HariSampath]

Not everyone is like you. Unlike you' date=' most other people would actually mind doing time for punching a cricketer after a game. Unlike you, most other people would not let their emotions get the better of them and would not try and injure a cricketer. Has anyone lynched Azher or Jadeja yet? They probably got their restraining orders against you though. :D[/quote'] Maybe not lynched Ajju and Jadeja, but no less feel the same way about what needs to be done to those players who play for their own agenda......by the way, I have spoken to Ajju often enough and even now speak to him once a month or so, and I have told him what EXACTLY I think of many things, even though I had known Ajju from two years before he even played for India

[Guest HariSampath]

And how many said they wanted to injure him? BTW what did these 'walas' think about a random guy' date=' without a camera, going around asking questions about Gangs' knock? :bird: TIA. :isalute:[/quote'] without a camera, and spoken to a known person in the neighborhood, you always get a very honest and candid opinion

[Gambit]

Maybe not lynched Ajju and Jadeja' date=' but no less feel the same way about what needs to be done to those players who play for their own agenda......by the way, I have spoken to Ajju often enough and even now speak to him once a month or so, and I have told him what EXACTLY I think of many things, even though I had known Ajju from two years before he even played for India[/quote'] Pretty hypocritical of you to not injure Azhar despite having access to him personally and despite all his matchfixing deeds but wanting to injure Gangs who you have no access to. Cue for you to tell us how you knew Ganguly from when he was a boy, taught him to ride a bike etc etc :isalute:

[Lurker]

Maybe not lynched Ajju and Jadeja' date=' but no less feel the same way about what needs to be done to those players who play for their own agenda......by the way, I have spoken to Ajju often enough and even now speak to him once a month or so, and I have told him what EXACTLY I think of many things, even though I had known Ajju from two years before he even played for India[/quote'] Changing gears a little bit Hari, what do you make of Azharuddin? Lets leave aside the whole match fixxxing saga for the legal issues that may come down on us, plus of course you seem to know him too. But apart from that do you think part of reason for his downfall was that he somehow changed a lot? I say that because when the man arrived on Test scene and scored those 3 majestic centuries he did not even have a bike then. I remember him giving an interview where he mentioned he only had a cycle. With all the felicitations coming in one of his friends kept his Taxi infront of Azhar's house to wheel him around. Then within 10 years he was hobnobbing with models, wearing Rolex and sporting Armanis. I think he was still the innocent man at heart but somewhere he also lost a lot of his innocense. Still a great bat and easily the best all-around fielder that I have seen. xxx

[Guest HariSampath]

Changing gears a little bit Hari, what do you make of Azharuddin? Lets leave aside the whole match fixxxing saga for the legal issues that may come down on us, plus of course you seem to know him too. But apart from that do you think part of reason for his downfall was that he somehow changed a lot? I say that because when the man arrived on Test scene and scored those 3 majestic centuries he did not even have a bike then. I remember him giving an interview where he mentioned he only had a cycle. With all the felicitations coming in one of his friends kept his Taxi infront of Azhar's house to wheel him around. Then within 10 years he was hobnobbing with models, wearing Rolex and sporting Armanis. I think he was still the innocent man at heart but somewhere he also lost a lot of his innocense. Still a great bat and easily the best all-around fielder that I have seen. xxx

Lurks, I know Ajju very well, and I have known him

[Lurker]

So tell us something about him Hari. By the way how do you know Azhar as also some of the past players? Did you play with them or cover games as journalist or anything?

[Guest HariSampath]

Changing gears a little bit Hari, what do you make of Azharuddin? Lets leave aside the whole match fixxxing saga for the legal issues that may come down on us, plus of course you seem to know him too. But apart from that do you think part of reason for his downfall was that he somehow changed a lot? I say that because when the man arrived on Test scene and scored those 3 majestic centuries he did not even have a bike then. I remember him giving an interview where he mentioned he only had a cycle. With all the felicitations coming in one of his friends kept his Taxi infront of Azhar's house to wheel him around. Then within 10 years he was hobnobbing with models, wearing Rolex and sporting Armanis. I think he was still the innocent man at heart but somewhere he also lost a lot of his innocense. Still a great bat and easily the best all-around fielder that I have seen. xxx

Lurks, I know Ajju very well, and I have known him since I met him first in the 1981/82 season when he was playing as a Osmania univ student in Chennai... its a big big story, I can post the entire thing within allowable limits. The thing is I had blasted Ajju when I heard all this stuff , and I heard not just the media version , but the personal account of Dr RK Raghavan, Directer of CBI, who incidentally was a cricket commentator of old, from Chennai and hence I had known him well. Dr Raghavan had given me a first person account of what his team had uncovered, and I was truly shocked. The Ajju I had known from the season 1981/82 and the Ajju I had known thru the 1980s was totally different and I couldn't imagine what had happened in between and also what had made him do several things highly avoidable. But he had presented his side of things to me......accepted very honestly that .... yes, he had made huge mistakes and was kicking himseld ( this was as recently as the world cup 2007 too ), over the years to me. I had listened to his side, a nd while I had flayed him for being a fool, I had also told him, NOTHING ever warranted what he had done, even if it was only a small fraction of what was alleged by media and CBI. Ajju today is a much changed and saddened person than what he was even 4-5 years back. He genuienely feels he got carried away by a few things that came with international stardom a,d given the whole thing again he would never even do anything remotely. Again, thats a long story, and I am not sure how much I can post publicly, maybe a little, but certainly not the whole story.

[Lurker]

Hari, feel free to post whatever you deem as prudent and within limits. Like I said the whole match fixxxing saga might create some issues for the website and lets stay clear from that but it would be interesting to read your article about Azhar the man and the cricketer.

[head coach]

Lurks, I know Ajju very well, and I have known him since I met him first in the 1981/82 season when he was playing as a Osmania univ student in Chennai... its a big big story, I can post the entire thing within allowable limits. The thing is I had blasted Ajju when I heard all this stuff , and I heard not just the media version , but the personal account of Dr RK Raghavan, Directer of CBI, who incidentally was a cricket commentator of old, from Chennai and hence I had known him well. Dr Raghavan had given me a first person account of what his team had uncovered, and I was truly shocked. The Ajju I had known from the season 1981/82 and the Ajju I had known thru the 1980s was totally different and I couldn't imagine what had happened in between and also what had made him do several things highly avoidable. But he had presented his side of things to me......accepted very honestly that .... yes, he had made huge mistakes and was kicking himseld ( this was as recently as the world cup 2007 too ), over the years to me. I had listened to his side, a nd while I had flayed him for being a fool, I had also told him, NOTHING ever warranted what he had done, even if it was only a small fraction of what was alleged by media and CBI. Ajju today is a much changed and saddened person than what he was even 4-5 years back. He genuienely feels he got carried away by a few things that came with international stardom a,d given the whole thing again he would never even do anything remotely. Again, thats a long story, and I am not sure how much I can post publicly, maybe a little, but certainly not the whole story.

HariSampath, you don't work for Times of India or Hindu right? Just asking out of curiosity. You don't have to reply if its conf...

[Guest HariSampath]

HariSampath' date=' you don't work for Times of India or Hindu right? Just asking out of curiosity. You don't have to reply if its conf...[/quote'] I don't work for either of them, but Dinakar of The Hindu and Faisal Sharief of TOI , both principal cricket correspondents are well known to me, and they also regularly email; and call me for snything specific on a variety of issues, including match views/opinions etc. Same for Prem Panicker and a host of journos, but not even one of them actually write what I tell them , due to reaons of political correctness, and of course I cuss them on their face all the time :D

[Guest HariSampath]

Hari, feel free to post whatever you deem as prudent and within limits. Like I said the whole match fixxxing saga might create some issues for the website and lets stay clear from that but it would be interesting to read your article about Azhar the man and the cricketer.

yeah, I can write that about Ajju the peson and cricketer as I had known him. In fact I had written a bit about that when he got that amazing bat swinging 108 at Lord's( Gooch 333 test match) , I had emailed it to Sangita last year when she asked for it, I will check if it there, and I will have to add to it based on the context of today

[Anakin]

Pretty hypocritical of you to not injure Azhar despite having access to him personally and despite all his matchfixing deeds but wanting to injure Gangs who you have no access to. Cue for you to tell us how you knew Ganguly from when he was a boy' date=' taught him to ride a bike etc etc :isalute:[/quote']:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Guest HariSampath]

:hysterical::hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

If I had known Ganguly as a boy, I would have certainly taught him basic math and also how to play for your team:finger:

[Lurker]

I don't work for either of them' date=' but Dinakar of The Hindu and [b']Faisal Sharief of TOI , both principal cricket correspondents are well known to me, and they also regularly email; and call me for snything specific on a variety of issues, including match views/opinions etc. Same for Prem Panicker and a host of journos, but not even one of them actually write what I tell them , due to reaons of political correctness, and of course I cuss them on their face all the time :D

Is Faisal with TOI now? I thought he was with Rediff? Kinda liked his coverage as also PP in rediff.

[Guest HariSampath]

Is Faisal with TOI now? I thought he was with Rediff? Kinda liked his coverage as also PP in rediff.

FS has been with the Times group for a while, he is in fact the sports desk editor, ya I had known him from his rediff days. Prem is sick of cricket and is planning to move on to other things...that was while he contacted me after the WC in windies, I dunno if anything much is happening to lure him to cricket fulltime.

[Guest HariSampath]

So tell us something about him Hari. By the way how do you know Azhar as also some of the past players? Did you play with them or cover games as journalist or anything?

I had not played with or against Ajju nor even covered any game as I had never been a journalist. As a 16-17 year old, I had of course played school and club cricket with and against a few cricketers like L Sivaramakrishnan and WV Raman, both of whom were India cricketers as many may know, and now LS is of course a leading commentator and WV is the TamilNadu Coach. These fellows apart, the one person from the Indian cricket fraternity, probably much better known to all, and also very close to me, is Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former India captain, and opening player for 11 seasons between 1981 and 1992, Cheeka had been known to me even before his test debut, in fact he is someway related to me, a second cousin or something, which I never realised for a few years of knowing him. Cheeka ( now the chief cricket expert for CNN) is still very close to me, almost on a daily basis, and I probably will have much much more to write about his cricket and himself as a person. Of course I shall write about Ajju too, on the Anecdotes thread, as that is probably more relevant there.