Sachin,

For heaven's sake, please promote Kieron Pollard to No-3 or no-4

I can’t quite understand the strategy behind keeping Pollard to no-6. Do you expect him to slog in the final overs? Man, he can do much more than slogging in the final overs.

Who is the clean hitter of the ball? Ambati rayudu or Kieron Pollard?

Who betters the unorthodox cricket? Juan Pablo Duminy or Kieron Pollard?

Who is the strong striker of the cherry? Sourabh Tiwary or Kieron Pollard?

Finally, if Pollard would have faced those 32 balls which Rayudu played, and could have been at the crease ahead of JP and Sourabh, see what difference it would have made to the score card.

You paid a whopping millions to get him on board, you gotto use him properly my dear friend. ICL is gone, at least look to retain him in the IPL-4 and use him properly. Promote him to no-3 or no4, give him enough room to work his magic. Even in the club stage cricket one cant start hitting from the first ball he faced, I don’t know where you are losing the trick. A player of his caliber needs more opportunities, more time to spend at the crease. One can’t expect him to steer the wonders with hardly 3, 4 overs to end. Oh no. Come on, the traditional copy book cricketing logic doesn’t work in T20 always sir. It simply doesn’t.

Its not the fielding that had lost you the game yesterday, it’s the strategy. It’s just because you haven't used Pollard effectively. One can’t even quite understand why was he not given more overs to bowl? One over during 16,17,18 and 19 instead of Bravo, Ali Murtaza and Zaheer would have seen a different result. I say this not as a fence sitter, but as an ardent follower of the game.

For heaven's sake, use him properly- One Kieron Pollard playing under Dhonis, Rickys and Jayawaradhane's of the world, shall be a destructive force, impregnable! Undoubtedly.

When I started scribbling this piece, West Indies (Windies) have lost to Sri Lanka in the first game of the T20 world cup Super-8. But now, it was just after the same team beaten India in the second of their super-8 game and kept their chances alive for the tournament.

However, I am gonna keep my suggestions and views intact despite their astounding performance today.

I strongly think there is a problem with the Windies batting order; somehow this Windies cricket team resembles me of Indian cricket team of 2000s. They rely heavily on the three heavy weights on top- Chris Gayle, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, as much as the Indian Cricket team used to do on Sachin, Sourav and Dravid in 2000s.I feel that three main players on top is not a good idea in the shorter version of the game.

1) In the pursuit of quick runs on board if any two of the three fall, that is going to put on extra bit of unwarranted pressure on the youngsters to follow through.
2) Losing their most senior batsmen upfront takes experience out of the middle and lower middle order of windies and hence making them vulnerable in dealing with pressure situations.
3) And more importantly, neither Shivnarine chanderpaul nor Ramnaresh Sarwan batting style really helps them exploit the first six over’s fielding restrictions.

Instead of keeping three of your most experienced batsmen right on top and running with a risk of losing them early and exposing the considerably in-experienced middle order to pressure, may be it’s a good idea to spread this experience across the batting order and help them steer through the innings to the end.

I propose Chris Gayle may look at some bit of reshuffling in the batting order to leverage the experience and the technique of these two veterans.

To start with- Chanderpaul is not the right option to take on the fresh ball along with Chris Gayle, I don’t know what the idea behind it was, is he expected to play a sheet anchor role keeping the world's most destructive batsman on the other end. It’s a bad idea! You are forgetting those precious first six overs and most importantly to get a flashy and healthy start. You consider bringing back Adrian Barath or Andre Fletcher to the opening slot even looking at William Perkins considering his Champions League T20 performance is also a thought of worth.

One more serious mistake Windies has been doing is Keeping Kieron Pollard to the end of the innings. Mumbai Indians have done exactly the same mistake. Having Kieron Pollard on your side is only the half, while using him well will be the second half. Remember what happened in the IPL final, by time Pollard started pulling strings back it way too late, Pollard at crease instead of Ambati Rayudu, or Sourabh Tiwary or JP Duminy would have made a difference to the IPL final. Remember- majority of the SMS respondents had faith in Kieron Pollard that he can steer Mumbai to the victory even in the 18th over of the IPL Finals. The Audience, opponents, analysts and virtually everybody around the field seem to have confidence in Pollard except his captain.

Pollard should be in with at least 10 over’s to spare to work his magic-which makes him my obvious choice for 3, 4 or 5 numbers.

I see no place for Wavell Hinds in the team and also look at Darren Sammy only as a bowling all rounder. Replace Wavell Hinds with the next best specialist batsman/ batting all rounder in the domestic season perhaps somebody like, Darren Bravo- who is showing a lot of promise at the international level.

My proposed batting order for first 8 positions.

1) Chris Gayle
2) Adrian Barath or Andre Fletcher or William Perkins
3) Ramnaresh Sarwan or Kieron Pollard
4) Kieron Pollard or Ramnaresh Sarwan
5) Dwayne Bravo
6) Shivnarine chanderpaul
7) Darren Bravo or Wavell Hinds or any other specialist batsmen/batting all rounder
8) William Perkins or Dinesh Ramdin

Chanderpaul at no-6 adds a lot of depth and experience to the inexperienced lower order. Remember, Chanderpaul is also good at building formidable partnerships with lower order batsmen in the other versions of game. Sarwan being a genuine no-3 player may be used interchangeably with Pollard based on the situation.

All said and done- if Windies need to get going the big guns need to fire. Looking at their considerably weak and ineffective bowling attack, they need to lay more emphasis always on putting a healthy total on board and build pressure. I see absolutely no point in keeping players like Adrian Barath and William Perkins who are proven players at the international circuit and also played and performed against most of these folks at the CLT20, so bring them back as soon as possible.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Srikrishna Chintalapati

One thing in world that I enjoy doing the most is Watching Cricket live on TV. Unlike many others, to me, cricket means not just a GAME but indeed a LIFE- A wanna be profession. And as you all know- as a MARCOM professional, I cannot withstand the tendency to attend and abbreviate each ADVERTISEMENT (AD) that gets played in between and thus ensuring a real band for the buck for my time spent on watching Cricket. I don’t know which inspires what, but I end-up reading equally into the mindset of the players as much as I do with each AD I get to see.

So, courtesy IPL-2, I want to hit the circuit with my analysis on one of the most popular and promising business segment today "The cellular companies-- MOBOs".

Firstly, being a citizen of India- The most Populous Democracy of the world and an acute and fast growing economy of the world- a mobile phone is much more than a necessary commodity. To put this in other (business) words- A lucrative and a most promising commercial market housing the people with world's fourth largest Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Which inevitably makes India as the Darling of the World's Marketers, especially, the mobile phone makers and network carriers, because, all you have to do is- selling to consumers who not only needs it but also capable of owning it. In Dhirubhai Ambani's words - Har Aadmi ke pass Mobile.

So what it translates to the AD world is- you have to sell your message to each and every Indian who is a current and prospective owner of a mobile phone. So, the positioning has to be a very clear and distinct that appeal to everyone in the target market.

Let’s look at the Positioning of the FOUR major Mobile Service Providers of India- Vodafone, Airtel, Idea, and TATA Indicom

Considering the significant number of prospective buyers in India already own mobile phones- now the objective is to "1) Educate them what all they can do with their mobile 2) To sell various Value Added Services which are designed keeping the individual users in mind.

Vodafone- Ever since, Hutchinson Essar has forayed into India, they have always been on the threshold of Creative Advertising Campaign for their products and services. They have handled the Brand identity Transitioning very professionally when they changed from Orange to Pink (when Orange quits Hutch Alliance) and Pink to Red (when Vodafone took over the Hutch).
If you still remember one of the early ads of Hutch with a kid and dog- Wherever you go our network follows, one of the most successful and creative AD campaigns. Both the caption and taking has been a smash hit, as even today, am sure you hear the tagline being quoted somewhere or the other. The sequel campaign with the tagline "Happy to Help" was again set the perfect example of MOBO Branding.

And today, Vodafone chooses the IPL-2 as a platform to launch it's new Brand Identity- The Zoo Zoo ADs. The objective here is to- carry the uniqueness of Hutch ADs yet establish Vodafone as an Independent Brand.

From a Vodafone's perspective a long term investment in building the Brand equity. I believe, the Zoo Zoos is a SUPER HIT idea. The taking of the ADs has been very simple, witty and clean. The Zoo Zoo characterization has been wonderfully hilarious as its tickling the funny bone of each soul that watching the AD. I am absolutely confident that this will boost the numbers by multiple folds in future.

Airtel- This time the story has been the other way round. Airtel for sure is the First Choice for customers when in terms of its connectivity, wide reach and customer service. But right from the day-1, they lacked the creativity in their advertisements & promotional tactics courtesy to their Fuzzy positioning.

This time, they hit the deck hard one more time with same (age) old couple- Madhavan and Vidya Balan. The ADs have passed their prime and now appear rather disgusting and distasteful. I don’t still know why still to bank only the On-Screen chemistry of the (Not So Young) couple to sell your message. Even if you want to do so, why the hell Maddy and Vidya, you have much better looking couple than Maddy and Vidya in Bollywood today, who recently did a lot of PR investment for gossiping around their affairs, Ranbir and Deepika, Kareena and Saif or even the forever young Bips and John. Even if you did so- why the hell only two messages (one message actually)... pyar mein Cut backs nahin hona chahiye, Pyar mein rukavat nahin hona chahiye.

My dear friend, please wake-up. Maddy and Vidya are no more a selling combo. And I am sure people are enough botched with the Tongue-in-Cheek comments and reactions between this couple. And you pouring such money for these ads in a prime time and high profile tournament like IPL is such a waste.

Idea- After running a very emotional and quite a successful campaign built around "What an idea Sirji" idea is now banking on the craze that built around the league stage cricket in India. Sure you want to make the most of being the prime sponsors of Mumbai Indians, but unfortunately no one in Mumbai Indians has the Charisma to carry and present the Brand in its perfect form. Besides, Mumbai Indians themselves looking very tardy this time round in IPL. I come back to basics "Don’t Lay all your Eggs in one basket".

TATA Indicom- What will Hello Hello do it your brand that Ajay Devgan, Kajol and Trisha (south states) couldn't do. I think again the history repeats, they actually claiming something which eventually they do not have, the network connectivity. Right from the day one- Tata Indicom failed to choose/convey what their target market is, and what their selling proposition is. I am not sure how the newly acquired Network coverage Infrastructure concept Works for them, when there is already an established opinion about their dormant connectivity. Tata Indicom although started the same time as others, somehow not captured the reasonable market share partly owing to its CDMA technology and not having the flexibility and portability of in-hand instrument.

That’s it for now, More later
Srikrishna Chintalapati

It is not a great movie for sure... Neither an interesting movie nor a rich movie!

But, it’s a movie that really moved me.. it thrown few emotions, evoked my ego, gave few alarming calls, caught me surprised, got me nostalgic and overall it set the tone for my journey ahead.. as a father, as a learner, as a teacher... enduknate jeevitha lo chala dooram vellali kanuka (as I do have a long way to go)

I will be quoting few quotes from the movie here in Telugu (with due translation in English) such that the theme and tempo are not lost.

The movie starts, steers and stops in an absolutely mesmerizing, picturesque and tranquil backdrop. The director calls its Ooty, and the lead role of the movie (Prakash raj) is a 50 year old estate owner married to Anu (Aishwarya) and has a cute daughter Abhi (eventually becomes Trisha)..Absolutely happy and joyous family with no troubles, hardships whatsoever .. one unique thing about this movie is ..everyone who is shown in the movie is good by heart, has no bad motives, no betrayal.. the taking of the movie is as soft and confortable as a stroll in the smooth turf on a cool evening with both hands in your pocket.

The movie begins as the lead role having a long quite morning walk, he is seemingly happy, stable and making the most of his every minute. There he finds Jagapati babu entertaining his (perhaps a two year old) daughter, pretending that he is as active as her and quitely accepting and succumbing to the acts of the aging body. The silent admirer and a felicitous spectator of this episode, Prakash Raj has a piece of advice to the tired man " ee vayasulo kashtamganu bharamganu anipinche ee panulu naa vayasu vachaka andamaina anubhavalu ga migili potayi" .. "these acts of strain and pain that you do today to entertain your daughter, will be left as sweet memorable moments of joy down the meory line, as you reach my age"...

"nenu ippatike jeevitham lo chala dooram vachesanu, kanee naa chinni abhi ni na chetulaloki modati sari teesukunna roju inka naaku gurthe, leta gulabi rangulo tana padalu inka naa kalla mundu kadultunnayi, gata jeevitham anta ninna, monna jariginatlu vundi" he looks back into his life. (although I came a long way into my life, I still remember the first day when I took my daughter into my hands, her feet as a pink as the soft leaves of rose are still in my eyes, it appears as if all this had happened just few days ago, as of yesterday)

The lead character takes this man through the early days of his daughter, how he had slogged to get her admission into school. The day when he leaves his daughter for the first time at school gate, and watched her go into the school, am sure it leaves a message for every young father. That will be the day, for your little one, to embark on a whole new journey on their own. From today have don’t have your full time visibility and support but a whole new bunch of little companions wearing the same dress as them and their fresh, little and impeccant baby steps to count on.

Another message from the movie is - As the baby turns to kid and kid turns as child and the child turns as an individual during the course of life, each of this development is packaged along with an unpleasant surprise more often SHOCK to you, the father. As narrated and replicated in the movie "when Abhi wants a bicycle and drive to her school on her own, he realizes she is no longer the kid, when she complains him of a love proposal from a fellow student, he understands she is no longer a child, but now a cute, attractive piece of material that has everything to steel the attention, when she explains him of her desire to do MBA in Delhi, he translates that it is a determined act of a grown up Individual, a quintessential contemporary woman. Who is, in actuality, his OWN little daughter!

But the movie fails to carry this essence as it progresses, the matured man, who can very rightfully advices his daughter to deal with an aspirant of her love, eventually backs out when she speaks of her love and desire to get married to the sardarji. And it was unnecessarily diverted into the elegance of sardars, dominance of moms, generosity of grooms etc .. in the end it comes back to give yet another meaningful message "when you saw your daughter/son, without whom there is nothing left in your life, is now loving someone as if it is the ONLY thing left in life, for sure, it hurts your ego. But you have to realize and internalize that this is a natural phenomena in the regular course of life. I re-iterate “Every development in the life of your little one is pre-packaged with an unpleasant surprise".

I am sure all you young fathers admit this- One fine day a cute little one from nowhere has made you a father. And keeps you immersed in a whole new world of excitement where every day is a new discovery. One fine day, you will discover the gap between the fast aging lifestyle of yours and the hyper dynamic evolutions of your little one. From now on, every day is a new discovery as well, but this time it just the other side of the wind.

And finally, I want to wrap-up quoting an exceptional reality of life from the movie. Oka kuthuru puttinappudu, oka tandri kuda pudatadu, konta mandi tandrulu kothurito pate perigi peddavu taru, kontha mandi peraga kunda alage vundi potaru". When a daughter is born, a father is born as well, few dads will grow along with their daughter, but few don’t.