Balloon head!

Anything can happen in Twenty / 20 cricket. Even scoring 36 runs in last over is possible. That is the reason T20 is so popular in cricket playing nations, and it won’t take too much of a time to have result. It is like a carnival show, people go to watch their home teams playing straight after the work. Support the home team, have some drinks, cheers, excitement, thrills and little dance show with few DJ tracks. Modern day entertainment after PS3 and Xbox Kinect!

IPL became food for thoughts for few neighboring countries. BPL is not British Physical Laboratories LLC as me and you identify with. It is representing Bangladesh Premier League! The latest buzz is that Pakistan also planning to have their own Premier League very soon, probably sooner than anticipated. PPL wannabe heads already hinting the possibilities of omitting Indian players from their game. The funny part is this discussion took place even before they could take decision on where to play the cricket!

I have hinted in my previous blog posts that Harbhajan Singh is a balloon head! Still if you guys are not convinced enough; just watch that match reply where Mumbai Indians played against Deccan Chargers. Bhaji was ramming towards the umpire and shouting, umpire was looking for a shield to avoid the saliva spray! At one point I thought he gonna slap the umpire like; you know he slapped someone in first edition of IPL?

Umpires make human errors, but a player can’t argue with umpire! Honestly; I was fancying Bhaji to slap the umpire, so his career would be in jeopardy. As again and again Harbhajan Singh is showing the world he is not only fit to play cricket but also any competitive game at large. Someone has to put this mentally gone case to a mental asylum as soon as possible for the best of the game cricket. He is the captain of Mumbai Indians, I am wondering how the hell an illiterate like Munaf Patel would learn discipline from the leader? Munaf can’t read, write or talk in better words. So only thing he can do is just watch somebody and try to learn from him. Unfortunately he got to look at very bad idol and that too all the time!

Virendar Sehwag is having a bad patch in his life. As soon as he got fixed his bald patch on his head all sort of bad patches start pouring at him left, right and center. His prolonged bad form successfully extended to IPL so far, been dropped from the national team, giving the chief selector Mr.Srikanth hard time to explain the media, his best buddy Gautam Ghambhir lost the vice captaincy to comparatively new comer Virat Kohli. Sehwag’s word of war with Dhoni didn’t improve the cause either. Cost him everything including his position in the team. He was probably too ignorant about the change of tide, initially the power shifted from Mumbai to Delhi, now Delhi to Chennai. Look at the opponent buddy; Chief selector Srikanth is from Chennai, BCCI secretary N.Srinivasan owns the team Chennai Super Kings, Dhoni is the captain of Chennai Super Kings, why Suresh Raina is so confident about his position in the team even after lack of form in recent international matches?, he too plays for CSK, why Bhaji is out and Ashwin is in?

Mera Bhai; tum dekha huwa book cover, poora kahani andar hai!

But one thing is for sure, nobody can mess with the HULK of Indian cricket, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar! And everybody including foreign players are aware of his unbelievable popularity in India. Look at Greg Chappel, he has to say something about Sachin to sell his filthy biography, before coming to play IPL Brett Lee was more concerned about himself than Sachin Tendulkar by making a sweet statement about Master Blaster; consequences he may have to face from Indian crowd for blocking Sachin from scoring a run in recently concluded match in Australia could be pricy! Even Dhoni said Sachin is the ultimate batsman India can’t afford to miss, this came right after his statement about rotation policy and slow fielders. So Dhoni was hitting someone in Delhi by this statement, and he is making sure he meant particularly one player when he made that statement. Slow fielder? Ahum…. Harbhajan Singh is a real Chamcha of Sachin Tendulkar, if anybody come up with a statement against Sachin, Bhaji will be the first one to defend the little master, so what did he get out of this?, a permanent position in Mumbai Indians team, and now he became the captain of the Mumbai Indians!

100^th 100 ton in international cricket is unbelievable by any stretch of imagination; Sachin achieved that feat sighting nobody nearby to break the record.  Even Sachin puffed, huffed and gasped to reach there! If not against Bangladesh he was aiming at Zimbabwe, if not Zimbabwe then new comers like UAE or Afghanistan. Luckily he got there against Bangladesh. Now he can play free cricket as some critics says, that means they too not expecting Sachin to retire in near future! As an ardent fan of Rahul Dravid said; Sachin may hang the boot and hand over the bat to his son Arjun when he is ready to play international cricket!

A media person asked Virendar Sehwag “actually Irfan Pathan is what in your team?”

After a long pause Viru answered “you know, he is a bowler, he is fast medium slow bowler who can bat a little”

“Fast, Medium or Slow… which one?” the interviewer mystified completely, the answer was nothing but a burning stare!

Adios!

IPL is back and so am I...

The inaugural function of IPL 2012 wasn’t as exciting as it used to be, less glamour or lack of glamour is evident despite of the performance of international artist gone desi Katy Perry, pure desi duo Kareena Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra. Amitab Bhachan announced his comeback after surgery in a grand way; Salman Khan flexed few muscles and called it dance! But nobody can beat Kareena Kapoor’s never die attitude, she spotted in IPL stage still trying to promote her recent box office dud Agent Vinod!

So who should be foul mouthing about the whole event at first place? Yeah, you are right. Lalit Modi has bunch of his own problems in India and now in UK, but this one wolf can’t resist screaming to the full moon. If he has enough time to watch the opening ceremony of IPL, he urgently requires a physiatrist to overlook his mental condition.

There are few adventurous advertisements come regularly between overs with warnings; these performances are performed by experts, don’t try this home. Jumping from Helicopter and jumping between the building roof tops are not done by experts; even Ramesh Pawar can do those tricks. The one who should be appreciated is the computer graphic artist who creates elevation, dam and helicopters. The point is all those actors doing impossible stunts are not real, all computer generated, but still those hopeless morons try to make an impression as those are real and done by real experts. So you can never over estimate or under estimate by outlook of a team. Look who had the last laugh when Pune Warriors lock horns with Mumbai Indians!

When everybody thought Sourav Ganguly has been restricted to commentary box and few sports news columns he came as a captain to play IPL for Pune Warriors! Man, this guy definitely got some balls! But ironically Pune Warriors is the most boring team in this year’s IPL in absence of Kochi Tuskers!

It is undenying fact that Lalit Modi brought everything to IPL, glamour, sex, advertisement, money (a lot of money for himself, and little for the whole IPL governing body and other vultures) now it seems like IPL is going in reverse mode. Too much play may kill the game.  Even cheer leaders are boring now! No cleavage show either! That South African version of IPL was the best. Glamour show in the ground as well as the gallery, to bring more attractive girls to the event, Lalit Modi introduced a beauty competition. Cunning bastard!

Kochi Tuskers came into IPL to solve India’s two biggest mysteries (I am not counting the top rated one, Sachin Tendulkar’s retirement. Currently nobody is there in India to solve this one.)

1 – Shashi Taroor’s wedding

2 – Lalit Modi’s ouster

Kochi Tuskers left the scene when they accomplished the target. Well done Kochi Tuskers, well done!

How many of you seen Harbhajan Singh getting furious with Sourav Ganguly when the ex Indian captain try to hit the spinner out of the park? I even saw a few Mumbai Indians players distracting Bhaji from the spot! Is this ass hole a real balloon head?

Time only can tell.

Adios for now.

Whites Whitewashed Tricolors!

Speechless!

India went to England with lots of expectations, carrying the tag of No.1 Test team in the world. Coming back not only being lost that tag to England but humiliatingly pushed to 3rd spot.

Whitewash 4-0!

Finally Gavaskar said something sensible

The No.1 team does not lose like this, backed up by his deputy Ravi Shastri "It was a combination of a lot of factors - injuries, lack of form. But this is a rude wake-up call"

Sachin Tendulkar came agonizingly close to a phenomenal 100^th international century before a pathetic India slumped to an innings and eight runs defeat in fourth and final cricket test to give ruthless England a resounding 4-0 series win.

It seems like every Indian all over the world want Sachin Tendulkar to score a century rather than India saving a test match collectively. Everybody was praying over the net for Sachin not India.

Sachin is a great player, but he did not click in this series, and his century will not make India No.1 team again. Hard pill to swallow!

Dhoni found a new way to get out in this series, fishing with the bat outside the off stump over and over again. So stubborn he is; he will never stop playing that shot. Stick the bat to the ball swinging outside off stump, apparently he wanted to hit that for a four, it is not happening and he keeps trying. Wasted 8 innings just trying that, and by look of it; he is good enough to try another 8 innings!

Dhoni’s explanation after the Indian debacle is even more dangerous than team India’s test cricket future. He was explaining about each and everybody’s injury, sick and diseases. It appears that everybody in that Indian team is sick or injured, so are they gone to England for medical attention or playing cricket match?

Gautam Gambhir played well as a 9^th batsman, he had an eye sight problem according to Dhoni, he can’t spot the cricket ball!

How the fuck you sent this left hand batsman with blurred vision to face Stuart Board and James Anderson’s bouncing balls! What if a bouncer squeezed in through the helmet gap? According to Dhoni; any way he can’t see properly, now let him have his eye sight worsen by the cricket ball so when he goes to the doctor there will be something significant to show!

We must admire two individuals in this test match for their determination and skills. One is undoubtedly Rahul Dravid. Real Wall. After watching the hot spot reply he wasn’t out in second innings. It proves that if a batsman is unlucky not even DRS system can save him! The second one is Amith Mishra, not for his bowling skills but batting, in fact he batted better than Sachin Tendulkar in that innings of 84! Packed with 10 fluent fours. Lofted shots, sweeps and lovely straight drives. Man this guy got talent as a batsman, what is he doing in bowling department?

Sack Suresh Raina in next test, get another batsman (not Yuvraj please – we don’t want to give rotten potato for rotten tomato) include this chap, he will try to bowl and definitely he will bat.

Wait… what was that so called Kerala Express was trying to do on that last ball? Trying to hit over the oval or trying to hit on his own helmet? Even if it connects it looked like to shoot over his head for a catch. Oh god, who will teach him?

Now the story is over.

India pushed back to 3^rd position.

Sachin Tendulkar did not score his all important 100^th century.

(After failing nine times in nervous nineties in test, plus another 17 near misses with tons in One day Internationals, he is now biggest chokers in world cricket)

Sehwag’s hyped up come back did not even made a trace.

One thing got to tell you guys; don’t ever say that Sachin Tendulkar is not after money.

He is!

I have proof for that.

If anybody interested kindly let me know.

Orange Flame!

OK, here is the team that has no relevant to the state that represents.

Kochi Tuskers Kerala.  No owners or players are from the state, and they picked up the players from the auction table whom didn’t hurt their bank account either. Only Keralite Player who fancied as their ace card been paid so much more than what he really deserves now sitting out of the team because of the poor form with the ball.

When Sachin Tendulkar scored a sensational century against Tuskers the whole brand new stadium been literally blessed! We will see more cricket matches there in the future. But I don’t think the stadium is jam packed as what Mr.Ravi Shastri had wrongly conveyed. The camera man accidentally showed some empty gallery, his salary in this match will be under threat for sure!

Sree Santh who is sitting on the bench told his good pal Harbhajan Singh how Mumbai captain Sachin Tendulkar supporting his team Kochi Tuskers Kerala by wearing the orange cap. This time SreeSanth cleverly kept a fair distance from Bhajji while talking. Anything and everything you see in Orange is color of Kerala. Not green anymore! 

Munaf Patel improved his bowling excellently, but not even an inch of improvement on the fielding, when the ball goes to the boundary line where Munaf is guarding; every Munbai Indians would give up as boundary, few over ambitious souls like Sachin and Bhajji will be hoping and praying for the wonder like Munaf jumping or sliding on the field to prevent a boundary to happen! So far wonder didn’t take place. Sorry.

Harbhajan Singh got a better chance to give an extended explanation to Symonds in point of fact what had happened a long time ago when he called him Monkey. In fact it wasn’t monkey, it was Teri Makki…., In India that is worse than calling someone a mere monkey! Dude, this 6 foot and some inches tall giant can knock Bhajji down with a slightest pat, do you guys still remember how Symo had floored a streaker in Australia? It would be good if Bhaji remember that more than us.

McCullam cut loose on Mumbai Indians, one- because of some poor fielding effort from Mumbai team that cost them the match, two – because of the fact Sachin had scored century! How many times did we seen Sachin scoring century and losing the match!

Ravindra Jadeja got excited over their first win that too against the No.1 team in the IPL chart so far. He hit two consecutive sixes to bring home the victory. Fair enough, today is (15 April) the Malayalam New Year in Kerala, a celebration called Vishu. No one including their captain said anything about Vishu nor wished a prosperous Vishu to their ardent fans home. That is cementing the fact what I said in the beginning of this article!

ICC World Cup Snippets – Part 3

World Cup is over but Indian cricket fans all over the world still refuse to put a stop on celebrations. Not all of them are happy like Indians. There is a country that moans even now!

A criminal case filed against Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi, Information Minister Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan and Interior Minister Abdur Rehman Malik for murdering three Pakistan cricket fans!!

How do they murder? It requires little explanation – Three Pakistan men died of heart attack after their team lost to India! A lawyer filed a petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking a judicial probe into the defeat of Pakistan cricket team in the semi-finals, played in Mohali India.

Azhar Siddique, advocate claimed that the government deliberately got its team routed due to its friendship with India. So indirectly Shahid Afridi and his fellow Pakistanis are murdered their own fans by playing shoddy game!

This took exactly 2 hours and 52 minutes for a supporting staff to put in plain words to Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi! Still he asks in extreme perplexity “lekin, may kaisa khoon kia yaar? I did not see those guys died in my entire life. I really don’t know them! How can I kill them?”

Pakistan wicket keeper Kamran Akmal was in the lime light throughout the tournament more for bad reasons than not. Akmal’s calamitous performance behind the stumps against New Zealand unleashed a stream of criticism and paved for the younger brother Umar to take over. Kamran promised Umar two choco bars and a lolly pop if he can find some way to rescue his elder brother from this extreme jeopardy! What did Umar do, he hurt his finger and then ankle to prove that he is unfit for wicket keeping job. In fact Umar is very clever; he killed two birds with one stone. By seeing his brother struggling behind the stumps he is not at all keen to take up the job, one way or other he would be slipping away from this suicidal post, which is what exactly he did with 2 choco bars and a lolly pop!

You will see the matches interrupted by the fanatical crowd throwing water bottles and placards to the ground, because they can’t bear to see their team be defeated. Here the story is different, Bangladesh cricket fans stoned at West Indies team bus following their home team’s defeat against Caribbean! So this really is a serious threat! Bear in mind, if anybody wins against Bangladesh will face same consequences!

Colombo organizers were a little too quick off the mark with the firework display arranged to coincide with the end of Muttiah Miralitharan’s last appearance on home soil. Thilsan Samaraveera was still seeking the winning run against the New Zealand when the night sky was prematurely lit up. A New Zealand batsman asked so sympathetically after the match “Are they really over bored of Murali? Seems like they just wanted to send him off as quickly as possible!”

Aspiring actress Poonam Pandey who has grabbed headlines for stating that she will bare all if Team India wins the World Cup, has been flooded with offers from foreign glossies, international magazines and even some adult toy companies. See how a 19 year old intelligent girl making money and building her career along with cricketers who played in the world cup! Every one expecting a live naked show after the Indian win got disappointed. Poonam said it is only for men in blue, not for everyone!  She sent an official letter to the BCCI saying going naked for the team would have a ‘therapeutic’ effect on Team India and help them win! In the letter she wrote “…I want India to win the Cricket World Cup 2011 and am willing to go the extra mile to do anything so that India wins the World Cup. I am ready and willing at any place and time of the Indian teams choosing to go in the nude to boost their sporting spirit to perform better.”

Did she really think these Indians can get hard on by seeing her ‘snooker table’ body? Dear Poonam, these are the guys playing for IPL every year, you are not half beautiful and fit than those cheer ladies at the boundary lines. If you doubt my claim ask Ashish Nehra, even he will agree with me! Only guy who asked about you after the match was Piyush Chawla. He is curious rather than desperate as he haven’t seen anything like that in his life before, but not all of them are like him, you idiot!

India on top of the world!

Congratulations to team India for winning the World Cup 2011.

Congratulations to MS Dhoni for not only leading India to victory, but hitting a huge six to win the cup! It says all. How strong the team India is. How dominant they are over their oppositions.

It was like a Bollywood movie, never seen before fielding effort, a guy who scored 155 runs in total from all previous matches scored unbeaten 91 in Final, brought home the all important World Cup with a dramatic six! A pacer who left out after the first match has been called back over a successful spinner! A left handed batsman who was under threat all the time with his cricketing form and personal life debacle been rose like a phoenix bird to become an all rounder and man of the tournament! A master batsman who had every single record under his name except the World Cup lifted the cup to fulfill his dream!

Boy, what a moment, what a glory! It can’t get any better. This trophy is mother of all trophies!

Jaya Ho India!

The day after the High Voltage Match!

Next day after the clash of two giants in World Cup semi final I went to a salon to have a haircut. Those Pakistan hair dressers seem like so dejected and frustrated, I did not say a word about cricket till they finish their job on my hair, I was really scared of losing one of my ear between their scissor blades if I utter a word about cricket!

I thought it was so strange when I noticed they were watching a Chinese channel on the TV, err.., they were listening to the Chinese channel on TV. Before going out of the salon, after opening the push door completely I asked the hair dresser, “Why are you watching a Chinese channel? Do you know Chinese?”

“Every fucking channel is talking about that chootiya khel cricket. We had enough, all bullshit!” One of the men grumbled with an astonishing anger!

“But that is only a game, one team has to lose. Both teams cannot be qualified for the final game” I put forward a general theory.

“Then why can’t you guys lose the game?” one of them shouted!

I closed the door and walked away, immediately I understood the intensity of the situation! After a while I turned back in fear to check if they are coming after me with a scissors to cut my neck?

I would say the empathetic Indian win against their neighbor should contribute a lot to Pakistan cricket team itself for their dropped catches, sloppy fielding, run out chances and Kamran Akmal.  The Pakistan wicket keeper did something right only to make Goutham Gambhir out. Otherwise he was in his usual form.

Man of the Match Sachin Tendulkar should gift his trophy to Pakistan’s Mis bah ul Haq! He is the one worked hard to see India win. As fuming Pakistan commentator Rameez Raja said “if Mis Bah can hit a six like that in last overs (where there is no hope left) why couldn’t he hit one before?”

As long as Mis Bah Ul Haq is there in Pakistan cricket team India can win any tight, pressure cooker match effortlessly, remember T20 World Cup final?

Harbhajan Singh is under injury threat after taking two or three flying moths in his mouth following the wicket of Pakistan Captain Shahid Afridi! The insects entered in his mouth died immediately, one which narrowly escaped told his friends his three best friends sunk in a toilet bowl! Don’t ever fly nearby that thing, it is highly dangerous! If you don’t sink in it, you might get strangled in curly hair around it!

Bangladesh humiliation!

Either Bangladesh public is over ambitious or the team. Are they really thought they could win this world cup? Or they could beat every team that plays against them?

What a mismatch. What a shame. Bangladesh elected to bat, Captain Sakhib Ul Hassan probably thinking to score around 300 plus runs. Instead scored 58 (not an individual score, the whole team total) and allowed West Indies to win the match in 12 overs! Bangladesh public gone mad, they started throwing papers, towels and even jerseys to the ground. They booed so much restlessly after their team got out cheaply, the boos around the shere Bangla National stadium could still be heard even when the West Indian openers Chris Gayle and Bravo came out to bat.

Real humiliation; ruthless West Indies ripped the team Bangladesh in front of their own fans. In a way they turned their own crowd against them.

I won’t blame the crowd, they came to watch a match if not a win, they came with 4's and 6's cards, and girls came with their throat cleaned to scream, shout, and sing. Nothing happened, throughout the match they were kept silent by the performance of Bangladesh team, in fact Bangladesh fans were in a state of shock, forgot to react till the last wicket went down! When West Indies started batting they started cheering for West Indies batsmen, they cheered each and every boundary Gayle hit. OK, this is one way of enjoying the game, end of the day public is the one paid the money. Incidentally I remember a Japanese proverb “Better the beak of the hen than the tail of the horse”.

Dhoni is happy to draw the match against England!!!

If Indian Captain Mahendar Singh Dhoni feels it’s OK to be drawn the match against England in their second league matches in ICC World Cup; then he has got some serious mental problem! Dude, your team scored 338 runs, yourself and millions of Indian cricket fans around the world were all expecting nothing less than a win! This time around you don’t even have a Sreesanth to blame, damn it!

No more hide and seek game here guys, Indian bowling sucks big time, England were scoring freely like a domestic match, just remember they have everything against them, toss, ground, crowd support. Under the flood light they should be struggling to score! At one stage it was like a certain win for England, they were cruising like a new Bugatti Veyron, till something suddenly happened to Zaheer Kan, was it an exorcism? Out of blue he came out and took 3 wickets! Twist in the tale. If there is no six in that last over of Munaf Patel, India would have been well home. Or there was no sixes in previous over of Piush Chawla….. OK, I am not going to count all the overs here.

It seems like England captain was quite happy with the result, he looked so relived and relaxed after drawing the match. He even shook hand with Peterson and other colleagues with a smile on his face, yet he said he was not happy about the result in post presentation talk, Nasser Hussain asked the same question to MS Dhoni, and Indian captain answered YES! He is OK with the draw! So Indians have no more potential to improve! That’s what he said right? They touched the limit!

This match showed even referring system is not error free. Yuvraj clearly got out Cambell in front of the wicket; Yuvraaj thought it is out, all spectators in the gallery, millions of viewers in front of TV sets thought the same, what more; Cambell himself thought he was out! Referral System came to play and it had a different go about it. Now we have to have 2^nd referring umpire to monitor the first one, if the first one fails the 2^nd one take charge, well… what if the second one too fail? J

ICC World Cup 2011 Snippets – Part 1

2011 ICC World Cup kick started with a beautiful boundary from India’s Virendar Sehwag. His survival as a batsman in the crease for the first 5 overs are running on 80% of pure luck. Next 5 overs 60% of luck, after 25 overs it is 100% talent with little or no luck!

Look at his game against England on their second match in world cup. First ball he faced turned into streaky four, well, he wasn’t teasing the team England with those half chances, he was hell nervous out there and Bangalore crowd was aesthetic!

Match between Pakistan and Srilanka too was a good entertainment. But wait…, a young Pakistan batsman jumped on the pitch while batting, apparently spoiling the pitch according to the umpire. Umpire called the batsman immediately and tried to explain not to jump on the pitch, poor Pak player didn’t understand a thing what umpire was trying to convey. Umpire jumped hard on the same surface to show the batsman not to do that!! Srilankan captain Sangakkara was pulling his hair out and finally pleaded to the umpire let it be, if he got it or not. Don’t show it on the pitch sir, we got to bat after this!

Sachin Tendulkar is a living legend, but he is not bigger than team India. Every tom dick and harry says India should win this year’s world cup for Sachin Tendulkar. What about the country? What about millions of Indian fans around the world? Less fortunate street ass riding on Tendulkar’s popularity is not new. Started by one time Sachin’s good pal Vinod Kambli, and it was like a domino effect everyone including Harbhajan Singh backing up the presupposition. Harbhajan Singh is well known friend of Sachin Paji, or Harbhajan created this impression about him and Sachin in media smartly responding on anything about Sachin, in return he gained so much of popularity, a lot of money from the ads and a place in Mumbai Indians in Indian Premier League, even his own state team Punjab Super Kings didn’t rate him so much!

Indian pacer Sree Sranth was very upset initially when he was left out of the World Cup team. He cried on the rooftop to pick up some sympathy (not exactly like how he reacted after getting slapped) Indian Cricket team chief selector Krishnamachari Srikanth compelled to answer the media questions when he visited Kerala; the speedster’s home state. In fact Srikanth was struggling to find a convincing answer. Praveen Kumar’s ill timed injury became blessing for Sri Shant, he played against Bangladesh in opening match and showed the world why he wasn’t picked in playing eleven initially. Now Srikanth is thanking Srisanth for clearing the cloud!

Another Indian T20 disaster!

If India wishes to enter into semi finals of T20 World Cup 2010 they have only one option left, beat Sri Lanka by 20 runs or more, and watch the next match for the mercy of Australians, if Aussies beat West Indies; India will barge in to semi finals!

Looks cool on the paper and Mr.Gary Kirsten’s laptop.

But nobody told me what if India can’t beat Sri Lanka by 20 runs!? Is that tricky? It looked like Sri Lanka could beat India by 20 runs!

Indian team had few changes; dropped M Vijay, Zaheer Khan and Ravindra Jadeja (Yuvraj is still in the team, WTF!)Yet the result is same. India is out of the contest in royal way!

Dejected, deflated, humiliated and out casted.

Who said Indians are good T20 team? As long as they have Ashish Nehra, Yuvraj Singh and few of out-of-form players in playing side, they will never qualify as a best T20 Team. Pick up the players based on the current form.

If the King Vikramadithyan burdened one vetal on his shoulder; Indian team is carrying too many of them!

I don’t know if you guys are getting this TV commercial, maximum performance! Yuvraj Singh says he is too fast because he has got maximum performance Gulf Oil, ironically this ad shows right after Yuvi gets out, so he goes to the crease and get back to the dressing room in maximum speed. OK, that makes sense. The ad didn’t mention anything about scoring. But dude, the commercial is too honest!

Guys, open your eyes, IPL will not win the place for India on world cricket map, it is international matches that require to win!

What IPL mean to Indian cricket?

Actually what IPL is doing to Indian cricket in bigger canvas?

1 - Expose the vulnerability of the local players to the foreign players.

2 - Help Chief selector Srikanth to pick few out-of-form players for national side.

3 - Provide the warm up matches along with bags of dollars to the foreign players so they can beat India when it comes to the World Cup T20!

4 - And last not least, make Mr.Lalit Modi few millions richer!

I genuinely can’t find any reason why Yuvraj has not been dropped from national team! His batting sucks, bowling stinks, only fielding has little credibility worth mentioning. Get him as a substitute fielder!

Barbados pitch is like a dancing floor for Indian players, there are dancing black beauties on the side stage in bikini (I think there are more interesting bikini figures in the crowd) and there are dancing Indians on the crease with pads and bat! Still I prefer those girls’ dances.

We should listen to Indian batsmen too before criticizing them, as they enlightened us; we can duck down and avoid the bouncing balls, but man, this is not a test match, we got to hit the ball somehow and somewhere.

I understand dude, but somewhere you are hitting should not be exactly to the fielders! I guess you guys appreciate my point.

IPL trophy goes to Chennai this time, there is a team called Cochin from the next edition, before it could set the feet Cochin had made huge impact in the IPL system and it’s functioning. Lalit Modi is out, Shasi Tharoor is out and his girl friend also out. Got in is Cochin team. Let’s wait and see!

IPL3 over view

Why Mumbai Indians are potential winner of 3rd IPL?
They are the most balanced team in IPL this year with fearsome bowling department. Slinga Linga and Zaheer Abusing Khan are double edged sword in their armory. In spinning department they have the slapping expert Bhaji puri! You may ask, then how did they lose in last two editions of IPL. Well the answer is their super star batsman wasn’t in real form in last two editions; now he is. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. He is the difference between Mumbai Indians and other teams.

A captain who plays with his heart and soul is none other than Rajasthan Royal’s Shane Warne. He sweats, he sledge, he spit and he grunt. But ultimately he wants to win the game at any cost. In fact this is how every captain should be isn’t it? In this third edition Rajasthan Royals is the only team which crossed 200 twice with being all out for less than 100 runs. Their star batsman Yousuf Pathan scored stunning 37 balls century in first match and scored duck in his next one. With Watson back in the side Rajasthan Royals became stronger. But I guess it is too late for them to beef up the side. As I type this article RR lost to Mumbai Indians where Mumbai Indians enter to semi final first time ever in IPL. RR has a slight chance to enter into first four only if they win their remaining matches.

Delhi Dare Devil Captain Gauti thinks RR is pretty ordinary team. He didn’t hide his feelings either; called RR an ordinary team on air and drew Mr.Modi’s ire! Mr. Chairman and Commissioner demanded Ghabir be charged with a Level 1 offence! It is no secret that RR is Modi’s favorite team.

What next? There is shocking news that Lalit Modi is planning to have two kind of IPL; IPL in India and IPL overseas. Last year’s surprise success in South Africa made him to think to have two IPLs! Ladies and gentlemen, if you are not aware of it till now, Mr.Modi is forming a parallel cricket world that will run throughout the year!

I must admit that their marketing guys are awesome! Look how they brought young crowed in to the cricket stadium last year in South Africa via beauty contest! Self proclaimed beauties rushed to the galleries followed by hundreds of young chaps trying to get their attention. End of the day the stadium is full. Who would have even thought about having a beauty contest between a cricket match? Big applaud! You guys rocks!

This year there is strategic time out, in fact it is the time for more Advertisements. Money flows through every crack and holes. Each wicket falls, each over; there are Ads, so much so we even misses one or two balls after the Ads done with their never ending assault. Now; in between the balls they show us two top class Indian batsmen fighting for a mobile phone on big screen, “yeh mera hai, na mera hai… ha ha ha” excuse me, why can’t they buy two mobile phones and solve the issue? The whole cricket screen may shrink into half while you are watching your favorite player hitting a six. Half screen static ads and half screen cricket. I could imagine what will be the next. On the corner of the TV in a 10 cm box will be game cricket and rest will be the ads! Bravo!

For most of the players IPL seasons are carnival, foreigners as well as local players, they just wait for the season, lots of money, fame, liquor and chicks. Harbhajan Singh bought a HUMMER H3 vehicle, Poor Bhaji supposed to buy it on first edition of IPL, because of that stupid Sree Santh who stuck his face when Bhaji was waving his hand, lost opportunity and lots of money. He bought it in second edition so did MS Dhoni.

It is good for a number of aspiring regional players too; IPL brought them some light of hope and fame into their career. Or else all those Saha, Tyagi, Jakati, Sodi and many will not be playing in big stage like IPL, let alone for the national team. A player never been heard about before IPL was Ravindra Jadeja, instant success of the game gone into his head and decided to put his own price tag for himself and paid the price! Yes we are witnessing everything in IPL!

The owners of Chennai Super Kings didn’t bid for their own son Dinesh Karthik. MS Dhoni being a wicket keeper they didn’t see any slot for Karthik in the team. Now the rumors are Mr.SriKanth and company is lamenting big time for not taking Karthik in the team, as they think he is still good enough as a standalone batsman. Chennai Super Kings owners had personal and emotional value over Sri Lankan spin wizard Muthayya Muralidaran, because Murali is their “Sala”! Some Chennai officials are asking the owners “is Sala most important for you than your own son?”

If there is an award for patience I think it should go to commentator Harsha Bhogle’s wife. Man, this guy never stop talking, he talks whatever comes in his mind without a filtering process. Other day at the presentation party he said KKR’s winning captain Ganguly’s picture will come in next day’s news paper, another occasion he was asking his fellow commentator why Kevin Paterson is drying his sweat wet shirt, and I wonder what he will be doing in the bedroom with his wife. No act and a lot of talk! It will not help you Mr.Bhogle, I think you should have fixed your tongue rather than fixing your hair.

Ravi Shastri, another commentator with “tracer bullet” expression always talks about records. Yousuf Pathan scored second century in IPL history; Praveen Kumar became second bowler to get Hat-Trick wickets in IPL history; what the fuck, what is he mean by IPL history? Dude, IPL is only 3 years old. Consequently almost everything should be registered as history then! Hopeless case!
Commentators can be funny at a time and stupid most of the time! Look at this one for fun;
“Warner just hit a six, if he hit another six; it helps his team to add 12 runs.” My god, what a mathematician he is. Are you the brother of “a beautiful Mind” fame John Nash by any chance?

That’s all folks for now.
Adios!

IPL 3 – The fun just began now!

I know I didn’t post an article here for a long time, let me tell you I wasn’t even given a thought to abandon this blog as most of you guys anticipated. I was busy writing for some entertainment websites and publications where I restricted like a clipped bird! Now I am back to the zone where there is neither teacher’s baton nor red signal lights.

IPL Edition 3 took more time than the previous two editions to take off among the crowd. One thing that sticks like glue throughout IPL was controversies; it simply refuses to stay away from this year’s IPL too.

Why Mr.Lalit Modi has to show the door to one of the BCCI selectors Narendara Hirwani?

The incident occurred on March 25, a day before the selectors were to pick the squad for the T20 World Championship, when the Mumbai Indians were playing their home game against Chennai Super Kings.

Insulted by the incident, Hirwani informed chairman Krishnamachari Srikkanth, who in turn took up the issue with BCCI secretary N Srinivasan. Hirwani, along with Surendra Bhave (West Zone) and Raja Venkat (East), have boycotted the event since then. But Srikkanth, who happens to be the brand ambassador of Chennai Super Kings has been seen at matches. The North Zone selector, Yashpal Sharma, happens to be a match referee for IPL.

Modi tried to downplay the incident. “It was a misunderstanding concerning accreditation. Hirwani didn’t have the ticket for the seat he was occupying,” he said.

With the BCCI assuring that it would order a probe into the incident, the selectors aren’t willing to come on record.

Wait a minute, what was the reply from Modi? Ticket?

If I am Modi I won’t even ask for ticket to a BCCI selector, oops! And that is what this guy is doing all over the gallery asking people to show up the tickets. No wonder why he is in the camera all the time!

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a selector said: “We were not there to see the cheerleaders. We had a World Cup team to pick the next day. The selectors have the best seats in town, but in the IPL other people are important. I am staying away from the game since Mr Modi insulted one of us.”

A genuine doubt arises here as this selector indicating most of them comes to watch the game is not actually interested to watch the game but cheerleaders. His second allegation if you put it in right (wrong) words will be somewhat this way “ every tom dick and harry has their own seats, SRK, Niranjan Shah, Shilpa Shetty, Prety Zinda what more; even Lalit Modi has his own VIP seat, why the fuck we don’t have one? We are not even requesting an air conditioned cabin like how most of these assholes are demanding”

He is right uh?

But the BCCI chief administrative officer, Ratnakar Shetty, claimed that the selectors are staying away because they want some rest. “The T20 team has already been announced, so they have decided to cover only the semis and final,” he said.
What a hard work it is to come to the stadium to watch cricket and have some snacks and cokes. It is even difficult to watch all those cheerleaders dancing those awkward dance steps. So they are taking rest. Who will let Mr.Ratnakar Shetty know that those thousands of people coming to watch cricket is just to take rest from their long day work and enjoy the game with popcorn and beer? Our rest is their work; I wonder what will be their real rest then?!!

The news roaming in town; Jaipur is planning to ban cheerleaders and beer bottles in the IPL venues. According to them those skinny dressed ladies are too obscene for the community! I think more than those ladies it is the camera man who should be banned, look where he is going with his stupid naughty camera! I don’t think except those 5% of the crowd who is sitting near the cheerleader’s podiums are even seen any of the girls face. (I know they are more interested in something else rather than the face) So who should be blamed here? None other than cameramen; isn’t it? Poor cheerleaders are busy practicing their dance steps in hotel rooms completely unaware of what was happening in outer world. By the way what the hell were they practicing, we all know what the dance steps they were referring to, one girl will be shaking those furs as if she got hysterics and another one will be giving the flying kisses to the camera man (mmmm, now we know why he love these cheer girls) the third one will be in absolute dilemma to shake her right leg or left leg, boobs or bums! Here we can see the lack of practice though.

Kings XII Punjab lost almost all of the games this time around, they tried everything possible to bring that winning momentum and broaden the smile and dimple of their lovely team owner Preity Zinta, they played Sree Santh in their team and then didn’t play Sree Santh for few matches; all these sort of experiments but unfortunately nothing seems to be working in their favor. There is only one guy who seems to be laughing in their dugout, Yuvraj! He has been sacked from the captaincy of Kings XII this year, he had a point to prove, boy, and didn’t he prove it in solid way? Except that Super Over match against Chennai Super Kings he always hit the cricket ball solidly to make sure to find some fielder under it! Earlier he had a fight with captain Sangakkara in the dressing room, Sangakkara was questioning Yuvraj’s careless shot selection where the short tempered left hander got furious over the issue, he shouted at everyone who questioned his integrity that he has been playing these kinds of shots throughout his career and he will be doing the same in the future! Sri Lankan player Sangakkara apparently failed to understand anything that came out from Yuvi’s mouth in tremendous pace and rush.

The latest is “Kings XII Punjab is for sale!” The co owners complaining about the loss they suffered during 3 IPL editions, now we beginning to hear some bad news from IPL fraternity. Underneath all those shining polish, glitters, fire crackers, bitches and cars there are some casualties!

To add the agony; the team is for sale for half the price!

No takers! Nobody wants Kings XII Punjab! Just bear in mind some idiots bought two more brand new teams for next year’s IPL, Kerala and Pune for millions of dollars! Still there are no takers for Preity’s team not even for half of the price! Isn’t it shocking?

We will hear more about it in coming days.

Lalit Modi instructed the camera man to capture him on the camera not less than ten times in each game, the obedient camera men are doing exactly same what they have been instructed to, capturing different activities of Mr.Lalit Modi, such as picking up the nose, scratching the balls, try to peep into cheerleader’s cleavage, operating two mobile phones at one time, chatting with celebrities etc.

More IPL snippets to come your way…
Till then, Adios!

Sachin is not the greatest – An Answer to Atherton.

Sachin Tendulkar is a great batsman but to suggest he is the best ever is demeaning to those former greats who survived the bodyline series and stood at the crease without any modern-day safety gears, feels former England skipper Mike Atherton.

"To suggest that Tendulkar -- or, indeed, any modern, armoured or, to use (Viv) Richards's phrase, "pampered" player -- is the best ever is demeaning to those former greats who stood at the crease in the knowledge that their next ball could be their last," Artherton wrote in 'The Times'.

Atherton feels modern-day protections have made life easier for current batsmen compared to yesteryears and so it remains to be seen how Tendulkar's career would have shaped up if these gears were not available.
"Images of Tendulkar have adorned newspapers and websites throughout the week. Images, mostly, of the 'Little Master' at the crease, compact and balanced. So compact and balanced, in fact, that Bradman said Tendulkar was the modern player whose method most closely resembled his own.''

"There was, though, one crucial difference, which the image of Tendulkar on these pages on Monday highlighted. Perched on top of Tendulkar's head ... was a bright blue helmet and a grille to protect his features.''

"Tendulkar was batting in a One-day game, but had the image been of him batting in whites, there is a good chance that, along with a helmet, Tendulkar would have been wearing an arm guard and a chest guard, too. He is always amply protected," he wrote.

"Which is not to say that Tendulkar lacks bravery. Indeed, he proved his 'manhood' in his first Test series when Waqar Younis bloodied his nose and Tendulkar refused treatment and carried on batting," Atherton said.

"He wore a grille from then on, though, so that when James Anderson sent a ball crashing into it at Trent Bridge in July 2007, Tendulkar was able to shake his head and carry on as if he had been hit with a wet sponge," he added.

Atherton believes Tendulkar would be inconvenienced if he steps on the field without a helmet.

"Tendulkar's method suggests that he would be little inconvenienced by not wearing a helmet. He does not hook, nor does he plunge on to the front foot. And he watches the ball like a hawk.''
"Nevertheless, would he have lasted as long, would he have scored as many runs, would that blow to his face by Anderson would not have affected his confidence in any way? We cannot know for sure.''

"Bradman's average plummeted in the Bodyline series, when the need for raw courage was added to the equation. A few modern players would suffer, too.

"The ball is no softer now and the bowlers no less quick, but standing at the crease knowing that you can be killed demands a different level of courage from the realisation that you might just get hurt," he added.

Mr.Atherton, Cricket is not a Wrestle Mania or Boxing ring. The bravery shown on the cricket field is not by taking all those body line balls on your nose and testicles! And no cricketer in the world had known for his ability to survive on the field from meteoroid balls. Even Don Bradman who been considered as the best batsman in the world is known for his records as a cricketer in numeric value. Not his bravery to survive body line balling. Just because some player in the past have dodged the bodyline balling doesn’t make them the best, if that is the case every player faced body line bowling would be greats!

For an argument one can say Don Bradman’s career revolved around only against English. The great batsman did not get a chance to play in subcontinents. That doesn’t make Sir Don Bradman less significant!

Mr.Atherton,to show your bravery there are a lot of other sports available widely to chose from, in your opinion you are saying the modern batsman should not wear the helmet and take those full toss balls on your face and those slipped Yorkers on your balls isn’t it? You did play cricket for long time and you are not even closer to Sachin or Ponting, why? Did you bat without helmet and guards?

I think Atherton is pretty tired of seeing too much of “Sachin the Greatest” news all this week. He needs to get a good sleep.

Atherton is an Ankylosing spondylitis patient. Ankylosing spondylitis is a painful, progressive rheumatic disease, mainly of the spine. It can also affect other joints, tendons and ligaments and other areas, such as the eyes and heart. If left untreated, the disease can cause progressive stiffening of the spine, leading to immobility. It is caused by inflammation in the joints between the vertebrae, and of the sacroiliac joints in the pelvis. As a reaction to the inflammation, a small amount of bone erosion occurs.

May be that is the reason why Atherton thought about body line bowling and pain! Not ridiculing him or his ability as a batsman but seriously I think that is the reason or I can’t find any better reason for him to bring this pain issue now.

Why Sehwag looks ridiculous when he gets out?

First of all let me apologize for the brief delay caused by my untimed vacation. Frankly speaking I went for vacation to forget about everything that related to my hectic job schedule and recession that caused dear to my business. But unfortunately I was so worried and restless at the time of vacation than when I was at work; got back my breath only after I came back to work! No, I am not a workaholic by any stretch of imagination.

Lot of cricket happened during this time and still is happening. I heard a joke from Ravi Shastri during his interview to a sports channel – Amit Mishra should have played a lot of first class cricket before he play big test match like this against Sri Lanka. My question to Ravi, Amit Mishra is part of the team every where the team goes in recent time. He never got a chance to play but carry drinks and towels to the crease for the senior players, how the hell can he be picked for the domestic cricket when he is part of the national team?

On the other side; everybody felt Amit Mishra bowled in negative line throughout the match, not to take wickets but frustrate the batsman hoping any one of them will get fed up and hit the ball high to gift a catch. Sri Lankan batsmen were very clever and patient so who got frustrated are thousands of poor viewers who were expecting a good match and those ex-lads in commentary box. Eventually Mishra conceded runs more than any other bowlers! 200 plus runs! That is a lot!

India played against their new rivals Australia (now Pakistan can take rest) in their own backyards. Virtually second row team that Australia came up with, had a lot of passion and fortitude which Indian paper tigers failed to understand. Or did they underestimate? I still believe Indians would have won at least two matches that they eventually lost due to immaturity of few players.

Sri Lankans are in India to give a stiff competition and they are giving everything to win first ever test match in India. No big terror on the surface in Ahmadabad even on fourth day. If anybody wants to prove his batting ability that should be on this pitch, lovely batting pitch till the time I am writing this article. One will be wondering why the hell Virendar Sehwag hit that ball high and got out! Still One and half day left, that is four and half sessions of cricket. Definitely India is not playing for the win but a draw. Why did Sehwag kneel down to slog sweep at that point of time only to manage a skier?!

Answer – Sehwag never consider a spinner as a genuine bowler and never give the respect. When Sehwag scored 296 runs in Multan he hit a six to make it 300. When a press personality wondered and asked him why did he decided to hit a six instead of taking a single or double Sehwag replied in his own lazy way “ I predetermined to hit a six to make it 300 if I get a spinner on my 296!” Never had he thought about the fact that he will be the first Indian to score 300 in a test match and it requires a lot of hard work!

But it is the spinners who make Sehwag ridiculous and cheap when he gets out! Isn’t it?

Harbhajan Singh - When will you learn?

Harbhajan Singh is one cricketer who would never leave the lime light even in his sleep, while he suck the thumb in a nice deep sleep you go there to his home with a video camera; strangely you can find his middle finger rising at you – this is his automatic reaction to the media that no doctor in the world have the clue about! That is Bhaji as affectionately called by his fans and friends! He loves to stay in the news regardless of the way how he gets there. Slap gate, spitting, abusing, kicking, staring…you name it; poor fellow had tried everything possible to get his name in the news! He makes even more news after realizing that he did something wrong and necessitates covering it with some crap.

Harbhajan has this uncanny ability to piss off anybody who comes close to him in a mile or so just like his co-player Srisanth! If Sri is a grenade then Bhaji is machine gun, he gets into controversies in rapid pace and enthusiasm that nobody could match. In very rare occasions these giant bulls likes to meet in a ring. Last time when they scuffle in a Wrestling called IPL Wrestle Mania; Bhaji won the brawn game by a huge margin while Sri thrives in brain game. The fearsome pace bowler cried in public like a baby who lost the candy to bring much required camera attention. Nobody had an idea why this beast is crying including the commentators, Kings XII Punjab - Srisanth’s team in IPL; won the match convincingly against Mumbai Indians, hoist the doubt of having him overjoyed tears! When they watched the video; someone in the dressing room found that shocking reality - Preity Zinta the bubbly owner of Kings XII Punjab cuddled every team members except Sri! Is he upset and heartbroken by this merciless act by the movie star? No. Not at all – Bhaji gave him a tight slap, this kind of brainless act can be done by only one person in current Indian team that is none other than Bhaji. Srisanth’s cry caused Bhaji hell of lot money, his burning desire to buy a HUMMER vehicle faded like a line in the water. He bought one this year though, took two more years to fulfill his wish! Even his much sort after HUMMER led him into another controversy for driving the vehicle on Indian roads without proper registration or documents!

In Australian tour Bhaji called Symonds (another short tempered cricketer) “Monkey”! It triggered a lot of controversies even prompting Indian team to pull off the tour! Good for Bhaji this incident took place before the Slap gate or else BCCI will not be buying his version of it! Bhaji refused any wrong doings with the backing of few senior players in the team straight away. He explained “I never called Symonds monkey but I called him Makki Chooth! He misunderstood my native language as an English word!” The explanation was taken, Cricket Australia convinced completely. Bhaji let go without any major punishment, some players in the Aussies side were furious and dejected about the judgment. Now readers in the west will be wondering what did he call Symo in his native language – Makki Chooth means Mother Fucker!!! A term that is much more abusive and offensive than Monkey in India.

No doubt there is a huge cultural gap between west and east. Most of the part in India monkey is god, in some northern cities there are thousands of monkeys living openly in temples and nearby areas. Snatching food and other items from onlookers and hurting people are not a news there, can’t abuse monkeys or smack them, because according to Hindu believes those are “athma” (souls) of dead people, it can be your own ancestors! Who wants to smack their own grandpas?

The word “Makki chooth” is been used by low class uneducated people in India in extreme situations. You can measure the individual quality of a man in Bhaji here! He is the one been awarded by Indian government with one of the highest honor “Padmasri”. Being too big to go and accept the award the off spinner chose to get entertained and shoot for ads with few friends also evoked ripple of controversy!

To add the last one to Bhaji’s ever ending controversy list is jabbing a camera person in Bangalore Airport after the camera man brushed against him while filming. Indian Television channels showed clearly the spoilt brat Bhaji hitting the camera after the camera man pushed forward while the player was retrieving luggage from a car.

Media in India is like bunch of hungry wolves constantly searching for some sensationalism or bits and pieces of celebrity news, may be they knows better how to extract a news out of Bhaji! Succeed in big time, channels celebrated and filled their news hours with this not so important news!

Again Bhaji is in fresh storm. Like everybody does now days to come out of the cloud he too came up with his own version of the story in his own blog.

“I am facing the car, I have no clue what is behind me. The camera man is seen running towards me and the intensity and pace with which his camera clearly hits my head and it was not like just a touch, it hit me hard on my head and patka," Harbhajan wrote in his blog.

"I am very particular of being touched and hit at my head or my patka. As a prompt reflex, not even knowing what hit my head I pushed the object, realizing it after I pushed it that it was a camera. At no stage did I hit or slap the cameraman. Neither will I ever do it," he added.

But Mr.Harbhajan Singh, the camera eyes will not lie, it clearly shows that you are hitting the camera and staring at the camera man like a goon on the street! How long we people have to compromise on your behavior for your contribution to Indian cricket? Is there any problem with the way how you brought up or the transformation happened after you became rich and popular?

End of Australian dominance in world cricket!

2003 World Cup Final – It was India v/s Australia.

I get a thunder bolt through my spine even now when I think about that match! Ricky Ponting and his boys literally torn apart the star studded Indian team by massive attack from the word go! I couldn’t take the fact that Australians were playing a final match and that even for a World Cup! They never been under pressure, Gilly started hitting every ball as if that is his farewell match and there were no second thought about his hittings; no bad ball and no good balls, all of them are for him to hit! Zaheer Khan succumbed under tremendous pressure; he was on receiving end from both openers Gilchrist and Heydan. Soon Ganguly ran short of ideas, he brought the spinners early to prevent the run flow, I still remember watching the match like an irritated wild animal in the cage, couldn’t sit in one place! Somehow Sourav’s move to bring the spinners early did the trick. Aussies 2/125. Captain Ricky Ponting came out to bat with Damien Martyn.

Ponting toyed the Indian bowlers with 8 towering sixes and 4 fours to score 140 runs from 121 balls, he dispatched the most applauded Indian bowling line up over the fence in fearsome regularity and incredible command – 8 sixes! The most from one batsman in any World Cup final match at the time! Martyn with a broken thumb scored 88 runs from 84 balls with 7 fours and 1 six, completed the partnership of 234 runs – an Australian record in one-day cricket! When the tempest settled down the Australian total was 359 for 2 wickets! A run rate of 7.18 runs per over was their second highest ever in ODI history!

I totally convinced that Australians got that extra supremacy and fighting spirit to beat any team in the world, the word “pressure “ was missing from their dictionary. India’s colossal run chase was made even more difficult after the trump card Sachin Tendulkar got out in the first over. Then it was a mare formality for India to give up for 234! All out in 39.2 overs! Emphatic victory of Australia by record margin in world cup final underlined their dominance in World Cricket. Ponting fetched man of the match award and Sachin Tendulkar was named player of the series.

I kept wondering those days, there were no real threat for Australians, they are in totally different level all together compare to other cricketing nations.

Everything which had the beginning should have an end; this is the rule of nature. Ironically Indians are the one showed the world; Australian vulnerability after losing few of their world class players from the list. Kumble’s men beat Australia in controversial test to begin with. It is hard to digest the fact that nowadays Australia is losing the matches more than they win! Finally they lost to England in legendary Ashes series to get hammered the last nail on their coffin!

What went wrong? How could winning graph of a team decline so badly after those consistent performances for a decade or so?

Australia always played like a team, there were at least three players who clicked in each and every game, if one fails another one step ups and make sure to score enough run on the board or take those crucial wickets in most critical junctures unlike most of the other teams. For example for a long time India was depending completely on Sachin Tendulkar, a dummy god of billion people in India failed very rarely in those days but unfortunately most of them were in vital final matches! Brilliant Brian Lara from West Indies was another example. On other hand Australia was with full of players not stars, if not Gilly then it is Hayden, if not Ponting then Hussey… the list continues.

Now Australia had shrunk in to a phase where everything is their captain Ricky Ponting. You can easily spot out that Aussies is depending heavily on Ricky Ponting’s batting in recent times, if he fails to deliver Aussies struggles to save the game. It is Ponting’s inconsistency that sealed England’s victory. After scoring 150 in second test match he couldn’t pull up the socks. A great attacking batsman that he is, having a huge impact on team Australia is invariable. I am knocking down the points of critics over the team selection; it is not team selection that put an end to the most victorious team in the world but a captain who shouldered great weight of responsibility, lack of talented players to come up and fill the shoes of those legends who retired recently, top of all drained out ideas of a captain on the field simply because he is not just used to be in losing situations!

I feel Australia is still a team to reckon with. It is hard to beat them even after revealing their susceptibility. But how long will they take to create another Gill Christ, Mathew Hayden or McGrath? This is the question worth a million dollar!

Virender Sehwag – Up against politics in Cricket!

Virender Sehwag is one cricketer who has such an uncluttered thinking head on his shoulders. Otherwise who the hell on earth can think of hitting a six when you are on 290s? If Sehwag scores 60 runs in one day match you just can’t afford to go to toilet to wee, by the time you come back he will be on 80s, if on 90, he will be raising his bat to celebrate century after two balls! It could be other way around too, he may be walking back to pavilion after a foolish upper cut, but luckily for his number of fans it happens very rarely, when he get going cricket ball finds its own way to boundary lines.

Now Sehwag is up in arms against his own home cricket association DDCA. It took some courage on his part to air his bitterness over the functioning of DDCA. In a way at present concerning his continuing absence from Indian team owing the shoulder injury and rehabilitation reflects Viru’s frustration! For sure I am not leaving his outburst as just hot air. If there is a smoke there will be a flame somewhere underneath.

Corruptions in India is very much reality. Even at the junior levels, merit alone never has been criteria for selection. The authorities are as much prone to bias and prejudices as your colleague accountant who envy your benefits from the boss!

I had a high profile foot ball player neighbor in India – Najeeb, his brother was my friend and school mate, through him I came to know the basics of politics in Indian sports, it is not necessary that you get a space in national team merely on the basis of performances, certificates won’t tell stories, it required a lot of behind the scene game skills and a brave heart. Only few players who got good talent make it into the national team, so when you see a fully fledged football team next time sweating on the ground, just keep it in your mind you are not watching the best players available in India! There are coaches, coaching staffs, management and other staffs. You should be extremely lucky to be from one of these asshole’s states to get attention that you desperately looking for! Even if they find you that you are from his own state he will ask your father’s name, ancestral house name and even may send you to the market to buy some fish for his dinner! I am talking about comparatively low profile game in India - Football, cricket is bigger in India unlike other countries, it is on really big canvas, big audience, huge advertisers, and mammoth money turn over. Obviously the politics turned out to be a bit polished over here; nevertheless the ultimate result is the same. I still remember once Najeeb broke his leg during a match, he struggled a lot to get back on the track, no, not because of the time he took to recover from the injury but to get back his slot from a biased selection that caused him his place in the team!

I witnessed from the close quarters the politics our sports administrators play. They are immune to public criticism and totally unafraid of the media. What we do get to see is merely a tip of the iceberg and nothing is what it appears to be. Look at our national selectors – when there was selection committee from Mumbai there were full of players from Mumbai, playing ones and non playing ones, when BCCI influenced by Kolkatta lobby there were rushing waves of Kolkattans at the main door, none of them could make it because of lack of minimum 25% talent that require to play cricket! Top of all they all were quite happy to have one Bengal tiger that too as a captain. So no complains! Now we have Kris Srikanth as chief selector, Badrinath is one player always made noise in Chennai news papers pleading to BCCI to take him to the National Team. “for god sake, please allow me to fail, I won’t ask you anymore, let me play once for India, let me fail…” Srikanth took his countryman to the team when he got the power, as prophesy of his own, Badrinath failed but didn’t stop insisting, yeah, this time he changed the sentence “for god sake, please allow me to play!” Now this is much better, at least not negative.

Viru is the latest sports personality to hit out at the sports administrators. I hope Viru didn’t dig his own grave; BCCI is looking at the incident very carefully as they are extra cautious not to make a Frankenstein. To sustain in the team Viru has to work really hard from now onwards, he will have to hit many more sixes and fours, play each innings as his last innings! Just because he is up against very cunning opponent this time around!

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