Disappointing Umpiring

The recent cricket test match between Australia and India would be in limelight for quite a few reasons.

Andrew Symonds has alleged that Harbhajan Singh abused him – racially. Then there were numerous places where umpiring went wrong. Very wrong. And for some strange reason India was at the receiving end in all these decisions. Field umpires can make mistakes, they are under stress from players and appeals and crowds but what about television umpire? Any mistakes that they make are unacceptable. In this particular test match, there have been at least 7 decisions that went against India.

To err is human and umpires are humans after all. There can’t really be a foolproof way to umpire cricket matches. On this Sunday morning, how about discussing how to improve the standards of umpiring?

Take a cue form Tennis. Players can contest one or two (don’t know the exact number) umpires’ decision (could be line calls, could be service calls etc) with the referee. Referee looks at the replay and has the power to overrule the umpire’s call. In cricket, allow captains to contest a fixed number of umpire decisions with the match referee. Match referee would have the power to over rule this decision.

Implications
Match referee would become a sort of match godfather. For all practical purposes, he still is the godfather. This is yet another power being vested with him.

The game would be interrupted for few minutes when the match referee looks at the replays and decides on the decision. The delays are norm with the television replay decisions anyways. Waiting for a few minutes to improve the standard of the game is worth the wait.

Umpires might argue that their authorities would be diminished. They might get offended if a decision is overruled. ICC needs to decide which is larger and more important – umpires and their egos or the game.

Captains and players should be happy and can use this contesting power judicially. For example if Australian team doubts that Rahul Dravid has indeed nicked a ball to the wicketkeeper and umpire has ignored their appeal, and they think Rahul Dravid is a key player, they can contest.

Any more solutions?

Reliance Power IPO - Power On. India On.

Reliance Power is coming up with an IPO. To promote the initial public offer, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has come up with a TVC.

Power On. India On.



It is not uncommon to see companies releasing advertisements just before their IPOs are to hit the capital markets. Notable ones are Future Group, Surya Agro (Priya Gold) etc. Although most IPO advertisements are more of product promotions rather than corporate profile, off late, things have been changing.

Coming back to Reliance Power, the ad has an awesome jingle. The ad has been shot really really well. There are quite a few shots that capture the true spirit of Indian-ness. Every Indian can connect to most of the visuals. The shot of two kids standing on a dark window and their reaction when the power comes on is simply amazing. Then there is a shot of car going under the lights. The visual shows awesome chemistry between lighting and motion.

Needless to say, every advert tries to achieve something specific. This advertisement aims at enticing retail investors to put their money into the issue. The Reliance Power IPO would surely be oversubscribed many times and this advertisement certainly would have a part to play.

Rating: 4 on 5

Tags: IPOs, Financial Products, Corporate Campaigns

Sachin scroes his 38th test match century

Sachin today scored his 38th Test Match Century.

This century is very important from a lot of perspectives. For starters, he got the team out of very difficult position. From 3 for 185, he along with Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh and Ishant Sharma etc. helped the team take a vital first innings lead.

This century also helped India salvage some pride in the series. India got our for less than 200, in both innings in the last test match. Team needed a strong response in this match. And they delivered.

This century would also elevate spirits of the team. Arguably Sachin, Sourav, Dravid are the best three batsmen India has at this moment. If these three score, team would be upbeat. If these guys don't, other players are still not mature enough to stand and be counted.

For people who are superstitious, this century broke the jinx. He finally got a century after getting out seven times in nineties in 2007. It was not uncommon to see people speculating that he chokes in crunch situations. This should silence them and these critcs would take a second look at their opinion.

On personal front, he was visibly relieved to reach the milestone. He hasn't celebrated a century in this huge a fashion in recent past. In fact in the post match interview he said "I breathed a sigh of relief as I had missed eight or nine hundreds in 2007".

There are people who think that his illustrious past is behind him and he needs to retire. They need to read few facts, re-think and accept that the master blaster is still one of the best batsmen India has.

What remains to be seen is how India bowls in the second innings and if India can go on to win the match from here on.

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May this year brings everyone a step closer to their dreams.

P.S.: The attached image is am mailer from cleartrip.com which in my opinion is the best website to book air tickets in India.

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ICICI Bank Credit Cards advertising on Facebook

Just saw this 5 minutes ago.

ICICI Bank Credit Cards is now advertsing on Facebook.

Orkut vs Facebook seems to be a popular topic amongst people in India. This advertisement by ICICI Bank Credi Cards might just be the beginning of Facebook's acceptance as a social networking platform frequented by Indians.

This brings me to another discussion. Effectiveness of text ads delivered by Google Adsense vs ads delivered by Facebook as a notification.

For an online ad to be effective, it should have following ...

1. Visibility - With those slick blocks, FB ads are far more visible than cluttered text ads delivered by Google.

2. Hook - Why would someone click on an ad knowing that it is an ad? Because of a hook. Hook like "Rs. 250 on your first purchase", no points for guessing which platform has better hooks.

3. Reach - Obvisouly Google Adsense leads by a long way. FB can display ads only in its network and Google can reach the dense rainforests of the world wide web.

In the long run, its hard to tell which one would win. FB looks better but they have a huge problem. The ads can only be served within the social network and hence is limited in scale.

Any other opinions?

Your HDFC Bank Account Need Authentication To Keep Your Account Activate Otherwise it Will Get Blocked

Phishing... !


Mail titled "Your HDFC Bank Account Need Authentication To Keep Your Account Activate Otherwise it Will Get Blocked"

HDFC Bank users need to be aware ...

Past-Present-Future of e-commerce in India

Mitul asked this question on LinkedIn. I am posting my answer.

Past-Present-Future of e-commerce in India.

E-commerce in India is at a very nascent stage compared to western world. However, if compared to last year, transactions have grown by over 1000% (or more) and my assumption is that the future is going to be even more exciting.

Railways & Airlines have played a major role in this. What is the next big thing that will take e-commerce to the next level?

My Answer

Hi Mitul,

I think the next wave is going to be commodity products. Something like Books. Things that you don't mind buying from any store, you would buy them online if the website gave you a discount. Other things that would fall under this category are computers (Dell), Stationary (OfficeTiger, Office 1 superstore) etc.

Fashion as mentioned by Heber might not work in India as we still want to touch and feel these products. In fact even when we go to a store, we spend hours deciding on the right fit and look. Its something innate to Indians. (am not sure about other cultures).

If I come across more, will update this.

-
SG

I further updated the answer ...

Hi Mitul,

I dont know what would build the future. It's just that I put myself in customers shoes and figure out what would I want to buy online.

Talking about mobile phones, one reason why I dont think it would work is that we as Indians want to touch and feel a product a before we buy. With an online model am not sure if I can touch and feel a product.

Second we buy things from a trusted service provider rather than any random person. Websites are still not trusted parties for most Indians. I would pay a premium to buy something from a trusted shop and might leave the 5% discount that online sales get me.

Third a mobile phone is still 5000 bucks and this is above average amount for an average Indian. Spending this much means that stakes involved are high (might not be able to buy it some time soon in case it is faulty). Thus we go the extra step in making sure that decision is correct in the first place.

Hope this helps.
Warm Regards,

SG

Anyone wants to share their opinions .. ?

Jonathan Ive - Steve Jobs in making?

I posted about Jonathan Ive in March 2006 here.

Times Online has this interesting piece that speculates that Jonathan Ive is being groomed to take over Steve Jobs.