Dear all,

Umpires with a ball gauge in one hand inspecting the state, or to be precise the shape, of the ball was a fairly common sight during the quarter final game between Tamil Nadu and Bengal. Well, I was not at all surprised to see that happen as that's routine in first-class cricket. Once the ball goes out of shape it ceases to travel with the seam, which means without the seam getting wobbled in the air, and hence puts the bowlers at a disadvantage. And let me assure you that it happens at least twice or thrice during an innings. Hence the requests are valid and the change of ball mandatory. But that brings another question to the fore. Why do balls go out of shape so often? These are the same balls also used for the Test matches and it doesn't go out of shape so regularly in Test cricket. The make of the ball (SG) and the grade (TEST) is the same but obviously there's some difference which is not visible to the naked eye that makes the ball lose its shape. I doubt the mystery behind this phenomenon would ever be known to us and so I won't even try to solve that riddle. But I will tell you about all that transpires on the field of play.

As an opener you want to bide your time till the ball gets a little old both in terms of shine and hardness. If you survive that long, batting becomes relatively easier. But in domestic cricket the ball often goes out of shape in 15 to 20 overs and then the ball is promptly changed. Umpires select a ball from the spares, which are supposed to be in a similar condition to the one they want to change, and this is determined by the number of overs bowled. These spares balls are marked indicating the number of overs bowled with them.

But in any case it's impossible to find a ball in exactly the same condition as the one you're trying to replace. Now what happens very often is that the umpires run out of spares pretty early in the game and are left with very few options for the rest of the match. They're forced, thereafter, to rub/scruff up a brand new ball to provide for an adequate replacement for the old, out-of-shape ball.

The problem is that though you could take the shine off by rubbing it on the ground (or with sand paper), the hardness remains. And in any case it takes only a few overs to restore the shine. One can't blame the umpires as their hands are tied too. But it isn't a pleasant thing if you're a batsman. The moment a ball is changed you'd see the faster bowlers being reintroduced to make the most of the hardness of the ball. This is exactly what happened in the recently concluded Delhi-Rajasthan game when umpires rubbed a new ball to replace the old one after 45 overs.

Then there's the small matter of being cheeky as well. If the ball isn't doing enough or has lost its hardness (the ball can't be changed for losing hardness) invariably the fielding team starts complaining, which means showing the ball to the umpires after every alternate over. And if you have a big name in your side (read a current international player) it surely helps. I remember playing a Ranji Trophy game almost a decade ago where the opposition's captain was at the helm of Indian cricket. The balls were constantly getting changed (I don't know what was doing the trick — the out-of-shape ball or the presence of a certain someone). We made our peace with all that alright but when the umpires decided to rub a brand new ball to replace a 60-over old ball, we cried foul. Of course it was well within the umpire's right to do that but we were the losers.

This is an issue where both the umpires and the players are on the same page. So much so that one of the umpires recently told me that I must write about this in my blog.
Sir, if you're reading this, this one is for you.

Cheers.

	© Getty Images

I'm back home, and having my first home-cooked meal in the last fortnight made me realise what I had been missing out on. We have been on the road for two back-to-back matches, the first one in Rajkot, followed by another in Jaipur. Cricket has made all of us adventurous when it comes to experimenting with food, and also very accommodating about it - half of the time we don't have any choice anyway. And it goes without saying that nothing can beat home-cooked food.

If you haven't already guessed it, the topic of today's blog is the food we get while travelling to play cricket within the country. Travelling gives us an opportunity to get acquainted with the local flavours and develop a liking for their food in due course. So we look forward to visiting these places again. For example idli, dosa and rassam from the south, poha in central India, and batata vada and khakra in the west.

Even though thinking about food while playing a match is right at the bottom of our wish list, it can’t be totally ignored. We spend at least nine hours on the ground, and are quite famished by the end of it. The BCCI gives every staging association Rs 25,000 per day to look after the meals for both the teams and the officials. I'm told that the amount is more than sufficient to provide a good breakfast, lunch and an evening snack to top it all. So, for once, I'd request you to refrain from blaming the BCCI.

But going by the food provided at certain centres, it makes you feel the money they're getting isn't quite enough. We played a game in Hyderabad earlier this season, and the quality of food left a lot to be desired. The breakfast comprised a few loafs of white bread (not toasted), butter and jam, omelets (which were cold by the time we started eating) and idli with sambhar. If that was not enough to get us worked up the lunch definitely was. The cook was far too generous on spices, chilly and oil despite our repeated requests, and it left most of us, including the officials (umpires and match referee), with stomachs half-filled. I wouldn't blame the hosts for the evening snack, even though it was invariably something fried like a samosa or a bonda, because that's what we get in most places after the game. We decided to get our breakfast packed from the hotel instead of eating at the ground, and avoided the evening snack, but we still couldn't do much about lunch. I have a light lunch during a match so I managed to cope with that, but there are always a few who like a decent meal and deserve better.

It reminded me of the game I played for the Board President's XI at the same venue just a few weeks ago. The catering was taken care by the Taj hotel, and it goes without saying that it was top notch. It just makes the difference more glaring and the importance of the occasion more obvious.

Then there was Valsad, a relatively smaller town when compared to Hyderabad. The food was still a problem: it left a lot of us with stomach infections, but the hospitality of the local people bowled us over. They were at our beck and call, and did everything to make our stay comfortable. Unfortunately increased affection and care was translated into an increase in oil in the food. The more you cared the more oily the food got. Too much chilly and oil remained our constant gripe.

At the risk of sounding parochial I must admit that the food we get in the north is much better, or perhaps we are just used to it. But this is the popular consensus among us cricketers regardless of which state we belong to.

If one has a closer look at the needs of the players, one would realise that it isn't too much that we ask for. A decent breakfast would include cereal, preferably whole wheat with hot and cold milk, fruits, toasts with preserves and eggs. Lunch could be slightly on the lighter side with one or two vegetables, dal and a non-vegetarian dish with rice and chapattis. The only requirement would be to go easy on oil and spices. The evening meal is the one all of us hog on and unfortunately that's the one which is neglected the most. After a long day in the field one tends to eat more and hence it's important to have either pasta, poha, grilled sandwiches or something that isn't fried. But that's seldom the case and we have to make do with either a samosa or a kachori.

In Delhi we make sure that it happens, but during other matches we are at the mercy of the hosts. Since there is a lot of emphasis on improving the structure of the game, perhaps it's about time the state associations gave this small aspect a little more thought.

Ciao

	Despite scoring heavily, I find myself without a contract © Cricinfo Ltd

A few years ago the BCCI started giving out contracts to the top players in the country. It was a great way of providing players with some security for a year, and also rewarding them for their performances in the season gone by. The contract system works on the principle of reviewing the performances of the contracted players during the period of the contract, which is from the 1st of October to the 30th of September. On the basis of the performances in that period, either a player's contract is renewed or dropped from the list altogether. There is also the grade system that ensures the more deserving players get just rewards, and the renewal of contract could also come with promotions or demotions to other grades.

Initially, the list of contracted players was limited to the top players in the country, and it had no more than 25 players spread over three grades. But last year the BCCI went a step further, and included the players who were doing really well in the domestic circuit. It was a great gesture from the BCCI, and it rewarded a lot of players for their performances. Well, everyone can't be playing for the country at the same time, and hence getting a contract was a huge encouragement. Once you have the contract, contrary to popular belief, not only does it bring the money and security, but it also adds to the motivation to do well, knowing that you're in the loop and would be rewarded again if you do well.

Last year with the contract under my belt, I was all geared up for the season and played with the single-mindedness of proving right the decision to back me. It was a great feeling to be back in the loop after three years of wandering in the wilderness after getting dropped from the national side. It was good to be back.

I went on to score 1339 runs at 60 runs per innings in the longer format, and was the highest run-getter in the season with three double-centuries and two centuries. Incidentally, my tally was the fourth-highest in a single season in the history of Indian first-class cricket. I was lucky to add three unbeaten centuries in the shorter format, taking my season's tally to nearly 1700 runs.

Once you've done that well it's quite natural to expect a call from the national team sooner than later. But having played cricket at this level for over a decade, I very well know that it takes a lot more to make it to the team than just scoring runs. There are just too many variables: if there's a place at the top or not, how the people you are hoping to replace are doing etc. So one can, albeit quite morosely, make peace with the situation when it's fair and logical. In fact one can do that even at times when it isn't.

The new list of contracted players was announced three days ago. I was disheartened not to find my name in the list. For the last couple of days I was mulling over what must have gone against me. Did I not score enough runs in that period? Was I supposed to do something more? And after two days of brainstorming, I am still as confused as I was earlier. If I was disheartened earlier, now I was positively lost. I really don't know how to react to the news of not finding my name in the list. It was, after all, meant to be the reward of doing well in the contract period. One part of me still believes that my name must have been forgotten, as I've always had faith in the system where one performs and gets rewarded. Questions are plenty, but answers are none.

This was written a day before the start of a crucial Ranji Trophy game – against Rajasthan. I thought it was important to get this off my chest, and focus on the job at hand. This is not a personal grudge or a complaint against anyone, but just a penning down of my emotions and sharing it with the people who have loved and prayed for me. After all, that's what blogs are for, right? Perhaps this could get me into the right frame of mind to play a crucial game, perhaps it wouldn't. I really don't know. As I've already said, questions are plenty but answers are none.

Cheers

	Not even the best of them can escape the wait © AFP

Day before yesterday we left our houses at 11am to catch the 1pm flight to Mumbai en route to Rajkot for the sixth round of the Ranji Trophy. As it often happens these days, both our flights got delayed somewhat and it was nearly 8pm by the time we reached our hotel rooms in Rajkot. It amazes me that it can take so much time to reach anywhere within the country by air. But we're seasoned travellers and nothing surprises us any more.

There's always a different set of memories attached with every destination, especially when we frequent these places regularly. We have come to Rajkot often in the recent past and they have brought with them a few pleasant and a few not-so-pleasant memories. I vividly remember our journey to Rajkot to play in the Irani Trophy game against Mumbai at the start of last season.

Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra and I were flying together from Delhi. We decided to take the afternoon flight to Mumbai and a connecting flight from Mumbai in the evening. To our utter disbelief, the flight from Delhi refused to take off and just kept getting delayed. The other flights to Mumbai were also running a little late and no matter which flight we decided to take, we were cutting it too fine to make it for our connecting flight to Rajkot.

Since the flight from Mumbai to Rajkot takes about 50 minutes, we were tempted to fly down to Mumbai and take a cab to Rajkot in case we missed our connection. Luckily we asked around before taking this gamble and were told that our intended cab drive would take about eight to nine hours. So Mumbai was ruled out. We flew to Ahmedabad and took a cab from there. We reached the hotel at 1am and woke up our room-mates to be. Since it was our miscalculation, we brushed it aside and didn't crib. Had it been arranged like that by someone else, we would've complained at the top of our voices. We humans tend to forgive ourselves very easily.

Then there was another incident about travelling to the same venue and then to Vijayawada after finishing the game. That time we flew to Ahmedabad and then drove down to Rajkot in a bus, which took nearly four hours. Reaching Rajkot was quite okay but what followed after the game left us all tired. Have a read at the schedule and make up your own mind. The game got over at noon on the final day but since we were asked to check out from the hotel in the morning (to save the rent for a day because the check-out time was noon), we stayed put in the dressing room for the next six hours before leaving for the airport to catch the 8pm flight to Mumbai. We reached Mumbai at 9pm and then had to wait until 2am to board the next flight to Hyderabad.

Going out of the terminal wasn't really an option so we whiled away our time by loitering around when we had the energy to do so and later crashed onto the seats at the airport. The flight reached Hyderabad at 4am and then we were told to wait in the lounge for our next connection to Vijayawada, which was at 2pm. Our limbs and minds had given up by that time and we decided to go into the city to look for a hotel. Searching for a hotel in the wee hours of the morning didn't sound very exciting as it was still quite dark. But you put a bunch of young and fun-loving guys in this melee and it could definitely become quite an entertaining excursion. We roamed the city in a fleet of auto-rickshaws and had our fair share of fun. We crashed upon our beds as soon as we got into the rooms and woke up just in time to make it for the next flight. Thankfully, it wasn't delayed by much. But it took us an hour to reach the hotel even after landing in Vijayawada. So by the time we checked in and settled down in our rooms, it was nearly 5pm.

Someone must've designed this itinerary and he must be human too. But I'm not sure that 20 sleep-deprived tired souls would've been able to muster enough compassion from within their tired hearts to forgive the person responsible for making our journey so happening.

Well, there are a lot of other little stories from various venues but I shall leave them for some other time or perhaps you can read them in my book. Right now I must focus on our must-win game against Saurashtra and since we've managed to stop Cheteshwar Pujara from making merry at his favourite venue we must take the initiative by batting well tomorrow.

Cheers

	Talking or discussing about cricket was left to be done on the field and as soon as we were off the field everyone wanted to know what was happening in Mumbai © AFP

Dear readers,

As I'd mentioned in my earlier post, we have been closely following the events in Mumbai and were deeply concerned and disturbed. As of now (the time of my writing this blog), the operation against the terror attack has come to an end but I'm still glued to the news channels to know as much as I can about it.

We [Delhi] were scheduled to play a Ranji Trophy game against Orissa two days after the terror attack in Mumbai. Playing cricket in these circumstances is the last thing on our minds but a man's got to do what a man's got to do.

We observed a two-minute silence before the start of the game and both teams wore black arm-bands to show our grief for the victims in Mumbai.

I've never been involved in match like this, where the first thing one would ask on entering the dressing room, whether it was in the morning or at lunch time, was to turn on the news. Everyone would just watch the news in silence. Talking or discussing about cricket was left to be done on the field and as soon as we were off the field everyone wanted to know what was happening in Mumbai.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to playing a game of cricket in these circumstances. Since playing any sport is a form of entertainment, one thought would be to stop playing the game in such times. Our country's security was at stake and our fellow Indians were suffering and here we are playing a game of cricket! But on the other hand, if you stop living and put everything on a hold, the whole purpose of these terror attacks is served. They say cricket, or for that matter any sport, can be a ray of hope in these days of gloom. Well, honestly, I don't know whether that's true, or what is the right thing to do in these circumstances, but since we had a match scheduled, we played.

Even after our dismissals, after a few minutes of reflection and thought, we would soon get involved in listening to the horrific stories emerging out of Mumbai . How was the whole plot planned? How did the terrorists manage to get into Mumbai and how much ammunition did they have at their disposal? While these questions kept resounding in our heads and on all the news channels, we were also feeling very proud of our security forces who kept fighting the terrorists while risking their lives. There was so much everyone in the team wanted to share and know about the events in Mumbai. Not even once did I hear anyone discussing the game and how to tackle Mohanty and Co on a track that was posing all kinds of problems.

While we were on the field we were totally focused on our aim, but once off it, we were in a different world with no connection whatsoever to what was transpiring on the field. It was a strange situation as we kept moving in and out of two completely different worlds. We would still celebrate a wicket while fielding or feel equally sad when we saw our stumps uprooted but everything else seemed so trivial as soon as we crossed that white line (boundary rope) and started watching the news.

However much I try, despite our first win of the season, I can't really write anything on cricket this time. Please bear with me.

God bless, always.