My earliest batting video

This is not fun to watch like a Viv Richards or Chris Gayle innings, but this is the earliest batting video I have of me.  This was during our employer team's visit to Hyderabad for a tournament with sister organizations. Year was 2003 when digital cameras were yet to arrive, but video cameras were already a fancy and my team mate A.Srinivas was carrying his.  I knew he was taking some shots but did not know he was also shooting me in action.  So thanks to him, he later gave me a CD with these. 

Here it is on YouTube.  Read the description to the video also. 

Our team won the match eventually after I got out close to the target score after scoring 45 which was the highest. It was a rather scratchy innings because the ball kept moving around for many overs to cause trouble. I kept playing safe and stuck around with singles and twos while I hit the really loose ball.  Free stroke-making was difficult.  It was a slow and low pitch too. 

Another Video of bowling in match

October 14, 2012, was the last match of the 2012 season.  We had just known that our team had secured second place in the IInd Div. and hence got promoted to the I Div., again.  This particular match was of academic interest as the opponent's fate was also decided.  

Since I posted the previous video which was taken about 40 days prior to this one, I had wanted to see how it feels with a straighter run up instead of the slightly angular one.  I had felt that by doing so, the arm would be perpendicular to the ground.  I wanted to achieve this. It had gone inside the perpendicular because the body bent at the torso with the angular run. I think I achieved it though not perfectly visible from the angle these few clips were taken [by 12th man Shashank].  

I had also now changed the camera setting to 30 frames/sec. I had forgotten to adjust it the previous times.  Hence they are grainy. This is better and less than two minutes in all.

Whenever the next set of matches begin, I'll have to start all over again, if I stop attending the practice net sessions for too long.  Next time, I'll remember:

~ to measure my run up correctly - count 15 steps from the stumps [stump is zero].  

~ to start run up with left foot on the mark.

~ to mark the run up straighter rather than the angled one.

Sometimes I do not know why I forget the order!  Now that I got them back, I found the rhythm and felt comfortable. I was landing the left foot just behind the crease which was just fine. 

Me bowling in a match - video

It was a long standing dream to see myself in action, bowling in a real match situation.  I had got a few clips taken for study during practice sessions.  Last September, we were playing our sister team Young Cricketers in our 9th match of the 2012 season.  After I returned home that evening, I discovered in my book that it was my 100th match on that ground itself and the career wicket tally at 1290!  

Let me tell a bit about the first game I had played on this ground and not counted in the 100.  It in 1974 when mostly we played tennis ball cricket on the streets.  Yet, word had spread about the possession of a pair of small leg guards [pads] with me.  So I was included in the playing eleven when a friendly match for "Gowrishankar team" against one "Paapulli team" was arranged.  It was my first ever cricket ball match. Never before I had any opportunity to play with the cricket ball though a cork ball was used despite its dangers in street cricket.  Unfortunately, that game was interrupted by rain in the afternoon.  The ground became soggy.  In spite of it, the match was continued.  I was sent in to bat at the end and I faced only a few balls.  I think I was given just one over when I bowled some off breaks because the leather ball was heavy compared to my usual skill with the tennis ball!  Some consolation for taking my leg guards to the match!  Papulli scored a century and his team won the match. 

My next match on that ground was for the college team in 1979 from where the ground-count of 100 started.  A start had been made in 1978 to my cricket career, which is recorded in my other blog post.

Most of the clips my friend captured that morning are in this.  It was after we won the toss and were fielding first. Bright sunny morning.  I have stringed together about 15-20 clips spanning over 4 minutes.  See.

My hat-trick and Dennis Lillee

[Click on picture for enlarged view]

Dennis Lillee at his peak was a joy to watch.  There was no way I could watch at that time.  All I had to be content with were to listen to radio commentary of Test Matches and then to buy Sportsweek magazine merely for its pictures that followed after the Matches. Cricket movies was really something that was unthinkable.  So, the magazine pictures filled my appetite for admiration and imitation of players.  

The above is a collage of two pictures.  The top one is from Sportsweek Annual from 1977.  At that time, I was only playing tennis ball cricket, mostly in our locality, street cricket as it could be called.  An opportunity to play real cricket, meaning with the cricket ball, arrived in 1978 which I have blogged - you can read 'bragged' also - in an earlier post. Dennis Lillee's achievements in the 1970s need not be told as it is so famous.  From what I had read, he was a fantastic bowler having a great fan following and a very popular character.  His success reflected it and also his fighting spirit.  I had seen a particular picture in that particular issue which I showed there.  It had so much impression on me.  It was such a thrilling picture, pullover on the shoulder, sweaty scalp and people applauding as he returns to the pavilion after a match winning spell against Pakistan! 

Now a bit of the second picture for comparison.  Twenty four years later, my moment came at Nagpur. I was returning to the pandal [no pavilion] after a good spell that was to be a match winning one.  Our manager, Mr.Rajendra, who was a local there, had a film camera.  He was the only one armed with it. It was still the pre-digital camera era or even the 'mobile phone era'.  The next day he had already got the pictures printed and when he showed us the few he had taken of our team, I was delighted to see that he had taken this one. Immediately, I recalled that Lillee picture because of its impression in my mind and also that I was also having a pullover on the shoulder here!  Looking at the picture, I felt 'Lillee-like', if not for my bowling, yet, my former team mate Srinivas has been callling me "Lillee" even before that and even now.  

It gave me some more pleasure now to have successfully found that particular issue of Sportsweek and compare it!

Found my old run-up again!

Long gaps and some little injuries somehow contributed to some changes in the 'feel of my own bowling'.  My arm was not coming up straight and there was some glitch.  The slight pain and slow arm speed were reasons from it.  I found it out in my previous video I got taken because of this, in May/June.  Suddenly in July, I discovered that I had something else was amiss. It was the measurement of the run up.  The long gap in playing had me forget the way I did it for 30 years!  All I did was redo the counting of my 15-pace measurement and it used to end with my left foot for the mark starting from left.  I had missed the starting point of the count!  When I got this back, automatically, my old run-up perfectly came back and I felt the original rhythm of the action!  Now  as before I was running faster to get it right.  Earlier, I was just ambling casually and getting it wrong!  I put alternate clips of June and July in this series. There is a noticeable difference.  But on first look, they look the same!  For the July clips, my team mate Yeshwanth helped me.

Bowling video clips - update

On 31st May, just before the 2012 season matches began, I thought of looking at my bowling action again. I had  made my club mate take a few clips at the nets on 21st June last year.  I had not played much cricket last year due to various reasons.  Coming back fresh and starting to work on the game and fitness is always a nice feeling.  

This time, Raghunandan took the video clips from my FZ8 Panasonic digital camera. It records files in the .mov format.  Windows Movie Maker does not support that type of files.  So I had to download 'any video converter' and make it to .mpg which is listed with WMM. Extra work! I have stitched together about 12-13 short clips.  2011 set revealed something about the perpendicularity of the bowling arm.  Now it is straighter, the way I desired.  The landing left foot need to be a bit more facing the second slip rather than gully!  I haven't noticed all these pre-digital era [in my case] that spanned 32 years. My 34th season will help me improve on these!  Better late than never, for my own satisfaction!  The dream of seeing myself bowling in a match is still a dream.  New ball swinging, leg cutters, slower ball, etc.  In the nets, it is usually the old ball.

My name on the web

In December 2011, I googled to see if any link shows up with my name with initials "K.R.Dinakar".  I thought of listing and saving links here as and when I found.  I have found quite a few, besides the ones that linkss my blogposts.  There are a few from the cricket reports in the press also.  I list a few.

2005 that weekday, but there was a cricket match and I did not want to miss both somehow!  Our team lost toss and we were asked to bat.  I wanted to finish my quota of  9 overs and attend office late, but then I found myself opening the batting. I could not get out and my stay extended to such a time that I had to apply leave for the day as I had to bowl in the afternoon session!  My team mates did not hint me I had crossed 90.  I was out for 94 playing a rather loose stroke. :(  It could have been the only century by me for The Mysore Gymkhana.  But this it remains the highest score by me for our club (besides the 3 centuries scored for my employer).  http://www.hindu.com/2005/02/20/stories/2005022003981800.htm

2004 cricket league report still on line.
http://www.hindu.com/2004/09/12/stories/2004091204021600.htm

During a cricket league match, we had this reporter from The Times of India on the ground.   As I was with him on the outfield during our team's batting, we saw what is reported here in this link and he (also a former team mate) mentions my name in his write-up the following day.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-10-22/mysore/28267515_1_instruments-cheer-girls-cricketers

Bhopal 2007.  Cricket tournament.  The organizers still have this on their site.  List of players.
http://www.ampri.res.in/rtbm/teams.htm  Since the captain did not turn up, I led our side which ended runner-up.

My letter published in Star of Mysore some time ago, but I was surprised that that is added here in this site.  This is about garbage burning problem, in our city and esp. close to our house.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/738/922/065/

2005 cricket league match link still on line.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2005020708261800.htm&date=2005/02/07/&prd=th&

There are a few links where I have placed some comments also, but I've not included it, but for this for a sample.  http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2006/06/02/pinda-uruliso-is-not-a-cry-from-paschima-vahini/

Look for my name in the second para that is with a bunch of bold letters. Some credit that!!
http://churumuri.wordpress.com/2007/12/18/why-dont-we-hear-of-it-men-excelling-in-sports/

I had contributed on request, a write-up on Katte for Star of Mysore.  Somaari Katte.  This site has that write-up here: http://www.ourkarnataka.com/Articles/starofmysore/katte1.htm   My name is shown at the end.... it is actually me, this blogger.


My name was showing up in some other links also,  Curious, I peeped into them because I thought my name and initials together were rare and not as common as a Smith or Shankar or Salman.   I was surprised when I found that 'I am' a doctor  http://wikimapia.org/7414740/Dr-K-R-Dinakar-s-Residence  and also a leading Corporate Lawyer in Bangalore and living in Basavanagudi also!  See this link!
http://bangalore.localtiger.com/bengaluru/bangalore-yellow-pages-address-telephone/legal-services/corporate-lawyers-eop/k.r.-dinakar-106867.html  They were not me!


I was boasting that I was the only one with the initials and name put together.  I now realize there may still be more and I shall stop boasting from now onward!