World's best cricketer in "Mentally Disturbed" category

Cricket is one of sports where one is bound to show emotions. It can be a batsman who is ecstatic after scoring a century, bowler who is frustrated for not getting a wicket or a fielder with a sense of joy after taking a difficult catch.

But there are exceptions. How can you describe a person who always swears at a batsman irrespective of playing the ball according to merit / hit a boundary / get beaten? There has to be some basic behavioural problem with the bowler who is not enjoying the game, but rather hell bent on abusing the batsman however well he plays.

He can be a good topic for

Psychology - study of Human behaviour

An idiot's guide to loose respect

Funny character for cartoons & caricatures

You might have guessed - it's Andrew Nel

Lee - Hesh face-off: The best and worst for Indian Tennis

Indian tennis seemed void after Ramesh Krishnan hang up his boots. Though there wasn't any olympic or grand slam propects, Ramesh Krishnan tried his best and brought few cheers whenever he played Davis Cup. The gap was plugged by Leander, who looked lot rustic and brought in a sense of patriotism to all those watched, by pumping his fist and waving the Indian flag. He looked so attached to the country.

It became more stronger when Mahesh Bhupathi also joined and the two started looking promising on the circuit. Perhaps, after Mark Woodford and Todd Woodbridge of Australia, these two seem to be the next best doubles pair in the making. Leander winning Olympic Bronze in 1996 Atlanta was a sweet surprise and it further enhanced his arsenal.

Just when these two started peaking, the dreaded ego clash came in. It is not sure who made the first wrong move, but certainly it started to affect these two as well as Indian tennis. Now, after the Asian games, it is confirmed.

At the Doha Asian games, Leander questioned Bhupathi's commitment after the first match. There wasn't any reaction from Bhupathi. After the finals, which was a thriller of sorts where Bhupathi held on to seven match points and eventually won, he remarked "I have lived with these comments and soap opera for 12 years and it's enough". Both seem to admit that they don't want to pair up again even for Beijing Olympics.

Why can't these two put their country on top and get over their ego? Everytime, when these two talk, they say that its great to play for India, et cetera. But the moment they talk about each other, one can see a visible shift in their emotion and kind of distanced feeling. The problem may not be that great as it looks from outside. It could be due to few difference of opinion. Both are matured players and have come through various ranks since they started playing tennis from their early ages. Why can't they bloody sit, talk and sort out when they have their inner soul wanting to play for India? They still have 2-3 years of active tennis left and they can achieve a lot for Indian tennis if they stick together.

Whatever they have achieved for India looked meaningless. If they think that playing for country is the top priority, then what the hell prevents them from sorting out their ego problems.

"Men in Blue" - Beaten Black & Blue

This is about the set of gifted, privileged and grossly overpaid Indian cricket team who are fast loosing their honour as well as reputation after the thrashing at South Africa.

This is not the first instance of the team comprehensively beaten. It has happened in Australia and SA before, but I have never come across such kind of repeated humiliation. I still vividly remember the Indian team touring SA for the first time (after their ban was lifted) under Azhar's captaincy in 1992. In the first test match, we got all out for 66 and 100 in the first and second innings respy. In the second and third test matches, we improved and showed some amount of resilience even though we lost the series 0-3. Following that, in the 7 ODI games, we won two and showed some character in the other 5 which we lost.

This is the first time I am seeing the team getting badly beaten; failing in all departments repeatedly. Usually, there will be one or two who will be out of form; but this time, the playing 11 always seem to be out of form.

After Ganguly's exit, when the team regrouped against ODI series Vs SL and won 6-1, emotions ran high. Dravid was praised, Chappel was hailed, Sachin was touted as 'returned to form' and all three seem to have teamed up and created the magic formula. But all that remained till England toured India. With an inexperienced side, Flintoff men drew the test series. India lost the match in one of their favourite venue - Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai when the great Sachin scored just 6 runs and got out to a nothing delivery.

The team, with highly over-rated non-performing seniors and in-experienced juniors have to get their basics right instead of advertisement contracts and look forward to 2011 world cup than building hopes

Chappel made sure Ganguly is not part of the team; but has he used the same yardstick for the so-called 'Master blaster'? With the current form of batsmen, Ganguly and Laxman certainly deserve a place and rightly recalled