TEAM INDIA ........what next??

I know its a bit late for this topic but actually I have been wanting to write on Team India's future after their world cup debacle.

Who should be the captain?




If not Rahul Dravid then who would it be?Surely not Sachin. Not Sehwag either. To me, no one bar Dravid is a surity in both test and ODI's right now. Yes, I am afraid that includes Sachin Tendulkar also. Also I dont think there was anything wrong with Dravid's captaincy. Just that the team played miserably.

Who should be the batsmen?
I wont make too many changes to our ODI batting line-up. Obviously, we need to keep the Yuvrajs and the Uthappas on their toes. I am not sure who is the the most promising young player, but I hear Shikhar Dhawan's the new kid on the block. Also,
there was all that hola-hula about Ambati Rayudu a couple of years back. Havent heard about him for a long time now. And then there are the 'tested and failed' options of Raina,Kaif and Gambhir. As I have said before, I will persist more or less with this batting line-up.

Should Sachin retire?



I think we all have our own views, but obviously the great man himself is the best judge. I would say NO. I recently read an article by Ian Chappel in which he said that Sachin should retire. I know he is not the Sachin we knew in 1998, when he single handedly put the Aussie attack to the sword, but thats what people said before the 2003 world cup, where he made scores of 53 vs Holland, 36 vs Australia, 80 vs Zimbabwe, 150 against Namibia, 50 vs England, 98 Vs Pakistan, 9 vs Kenya, 97 vs SriLanka, 16 Vs NewZealand, 88 Vs Kenya and 4 agains the Aussies. 673 runs at 61.18. Man-of-the-series.

Come on SACHIN.......once more!!!

and dada?
I have always maintained that Ganguly is a superb ODI batsman and a poor test player and I will stick with waht I have said. Play him in ODI's but not in tests.


Bowling line-up?
This needs a major change now. Ajit Agarkar has been the nearly man for 10 years now. Ab aur nahi. Munaf.......well he looks like a 70 year old thrown into the park with shoes made of iron. Zaheer comes and goes and comes back again and goes again. He also, like the mumbaikar, has been the nearly man for some time now. Kumble has hung up his boots. So whats left? Harbhajan Singh. But there should be someone to keep him on his toes. Somehow, I have never liked that Ramesh Powar. He just does not look a cricketer to me. I know he has proved me wrong a couple of times, but I would like to see a new kid.......may be Piush Chawla. And the quickies? We desperately need a



fully-fit and in-form Irfan Pathan. Remember that period just after the world cup, when we trounced the pakis in pakistan and gave the kangaroos a run for their money in their own backyard. I would attribute a lot of that success to the early break throughs provided by the curly-haired Baroda boy. His batting is obviously huge bonus. Should we play Sreesanth? Not sure. The boy does give a 110% but I think he is more suited to the longer version.

Coach?
Its very tempting to say 'bye-bye Greg......we need someone else'. I am again not sure. I have always had this view that great players dont make good coaches. No more comments on this........


The most important think is we need a good fielding side with a lot of spirit. But it has been 10 years now. And I have been hearing 'We need to improve on our fielding and running between wickets' ever since. I have heard it from Azhar, from Sachin, from dada, and now from Dravid. To say that its high time now would be an understatement. I dont care what they do, get a Jonty Rhodes if you want, get a baseball coach(to learn to throw) if you want, get as many trainers. After all BCCI is the richest board. And, talking about coaches, I got scared one day when Venkatesh Prasad said he wanted to be the bowling coach of the Indian team. Agar aisa hua to main cricket dekhna chod dunga. No disrespect to Venky, but please we dont want a fast bowling coach who bowled at a slower pace than Anil Kumble.


Anyway..........as the king said.........HOPE.......medicine......:D

Damm & Paes aiming for No.1

Damm and Paes will become the new Stanford ATP Doubles Race leaders if they defeat current leaders Bob and Mike Bryan in Saturday's Sony Ericsson Open doubles final.

Paes and Damm are 17 points behind Bryan bothers who have 247 points compared to their's 230. Damm and Paes, the reigning US Open champions, are chasing their second consecutive ATP Masters Series title (Indian Wells) and their third title from their past four tournaments.

The Bryans have won the Stanford ATP Doubles Race three of the past four years and have led this year's Race since late January when they won the Australian Open. The Californian twins, who have won all four Grand Slam titles, have never won a US spring Masters Series title and recently lost in the first round of the Pacific Life Open.

Something to Cheer for Indian sports , Paes is always there for us....

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And all the roads lead to Anfield....

Amidst all the cricketing action, we are all set to face a sudden splash of an expectedly great contest, when Liverpool takes on Arsenal at Anfield tomorrow. While Manchester United and Chelsea play their 'jump-avoid-six-points' at the top of the table, Gunners and Reds tussle for the still very respectable third place in the premiership. As always, these two teams raise the expectation bar to some level and its always a treat for the fans.

For the gunners, this match is of utmost importance, after getting knocked out of the champions league, losing to Chelsea in the league cup final and facing crucial injury issues time and time again for last few months now, they would like to win this one and end the season on a positive note and on the podium as well.

The reds have their eyes on the upcoming quarter final contest, which is for obvious reasons on the top of their priority list. Driven, by the football field's ubiquitous master Steven Gerrard, Liverpool looks good to win this match on current form, but such games are never meant for prediction and betting, they'd rather be fit as the showcased events of the season.

In last few encounters, Wenger boys have had the better off the Rafa boys; we all remember how they humiliated them 6-3 in league cup on their home ground earlier this year. And won against them 3-0 playing back home at the Emirates Stadium on 12 Nov. in the first of the two premiership matches.

Give cricket some rest, soccer season is now on a high, go go go!!

Image src: google, bbc
Tech Tag(s): Arsenal, Liverpool, EPL

Kiwis get over host's fear: World Cup Diary (2007)

Stage: Super Eight
Match: 3 (WI vs NZ)
Result: New Zealand won by 7 wickets

When Bond, Vettori n Oram took charge of NZ bowling, Styris was at his usual best while chasing.

They had the odds in their favor when NZ set to meet WI today at Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Antigua . Before the match, Lara made a point to have a good start, not losing the wickets and then toppling over the good work of top order. But the black caps had some other plans for them, as Bond n Mason started with a sensations spell between them to drag their openers into a shell. Chanderpaul failed again, a stunner from McCullum got rid of Sarwan, Samuels disappointed again (gosh! next time i m not gonna chose him for my super-selector team). Gayle was looking comfortable for his 44, but even the big man couldn't have made that cut while still cramping for room off a length ball from Oram. Oram, how could i miss him (super-selector), as the 6ft 7inches tall guy added 2 more wickets in his kitty. There was some good work from Lara n Bravo as they take some quick (or i wud say lucky) singles. But no escape from the tight line of Vettori n Bond, as the revival was followed by yet another collapse and Windies shot out for 177. Only disappointment was Franklin whose 3 overs went away for 29 runs thanks to some nice short selection from Gayle.

It never seemed to anyone for their would be any difficulty chasing down 177. But when Powell, Carribean newly found star-stricker got rid of Fulton in just the 2nd ball of the innings, it looked like Kiwis wud have to work hard for their win. Marshall (replacement for Vincent, who is out of WC because of a finger fracture during training session) became his second victim soon after. And he made way for Styris, thats my man :) (super-selector again), on top of that I made him my team's captain, as he joined Fleming and runs started coming in steadily. After Fleming departure (direct hit from Lara), Styris took his team past the asking total and ensure Kiwis their 2 pts in their race to qualify for semis.

It was another lacklusture performance from the West Indies, as they have lost their both games of this stage. They need to sit back and rethink their strategy as there is a very little realistic chance now that they will be able to make it to next round. With this win, Kiwis sit comfortably with 4 pts alongside Aussies. Both of them would also be looking forward to 4 more easy points from Bangladesh n Ireland. We have often seen New Zealanders making their way to semis but they have never got past it. Looks like with the quality of players we see in their line-up, there is a realistic chance for them to clinch the Cup for the first time in the history. They also have the psychological advantage over Aussies following their clean sweep in Chappell-Hadlee series just before the world cup.

West Indies: 177 all out (Gayle 44, Oram 3/23, Bond 3/31, Vettori 3/39)
New Zealand: 3 for 179 (Styris 80*, Fleming 45, Powell 2/39)

Image src: cricinfo
Tech Tag(s): World Cup

Proteas survived Malinga's late threat: World Cup Diary (2007)

Stage: Super Eight
Match: 2 (SL vs RSA)
Result: South Africa won by 1 wicket

Langeveldt showed variation, Kallis calmness & Malinga menace

What a match it was. The fight made by Sri Lankan bowlers in the end, even stunned once-settled proteans and gives a message that the world cup can only get better now.
Earlier, batting first after winning the toss, Pollock was being expensive again. Ntini kept it tight from the other end and was rewarded Tharanga's wicket early in the innings. Jayasuriya after his short cameo of 26 followed the suit with one untiming short off Langeveldt who mixed up his short balls, slower ones very well with his swinging action and earned a five-for. The fielding standard can't get any better as the world witnessed the replay of Jonty from Gibbs as he got Silva run-out in the same fashion as latter got Inzy in 1992. Once aiming for high score, SL was restricted to 98/5 in 25 overs. At the point Arnold joined Dilshan and they started scoring steadily as runs started coming in 1s n 2s. After Arnold falls, lankans faced a collapse as Langeveldt bowled a maiden 49th over with 3 wickets in it.

With the track appearing slow in the later half of the innings, Sri Lankans strike bowlers couldn't provide any major threat to Kallis n Smith after Vaas got de Villiers with a beauty, the one that bend back and disturbed the furniture. The next breakthrough came only in 17th over when Murli does his bit by bowling Smith a sucker bowl. For the first time, the next man Gibbs appeared comfortable as he drives, cut, sweep and kept the run flow going. But we all know Gibbs, Murli offered him a flighted one which he couldn't get past the bowler. Boucher was gone in the same minute he arrived, it seems Dhoni n Boucher are wicket-keepers in arms as he got out in the same fashion, lbw while trying a late cut. At this point, SA needed only 50 runs while SL needed 6 wickets. The match could have ended in an uneventful fashion after that. But thanks to SL bowlers and careless SA batsmen, spectators got to see something worth their money. Kallis was playing an anchor role by securing one end, before he became the third victim of Malinga's HATRICK.

44.5	Malinga to Pollock, OUT, BINGO! Finally Malinga strikes, that is a superb bit of bowling. It's a slower ball on the stumps, Pollock just does not pick it, plays inside the line of the ball and loses his leg stump. Even with the game all but gone Sri Lanka are fighting. Pollock played a good hand but now he's gone!
	SM Pollock b Malinga 13 (23m 24b 1x4 0x6) SR: 54.16
44.6	Malinga to Hall, OUT, ANOTHER! Andrew Hall goes off the very first ball! It's another speared-in yorker, Hall just about manages to dig it out, but he can't keep the ball down ... it bobs up into the air for the man at cover to pouch easily! Is there a twise left in this game
	AJ Hall c Tharanga b Malinga 0 (2m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Malinga on a hat-trick. What a funny little game this has been.

46.1	Malinga to Kallis, OUT, Would you believe it? Malinga has got the hat-trick! Full, furious, outside off stump, Kallis goes for a square-drive and nicks it behind. Loud appeal. Kallis stays rooted. Even louder appeal and Harper raises the fatal finger. SA eight down and choking real badly.
	JH Kallis c Sangakkara b Malinga 86 (187m 110b 4x4 0x6) SR: 78.18
46.2	Malinga to Ntini, OUT, And then they were one! Malinga gets four in four. Unbelievable! Screaming yorker and Ntini drives, plays all over it and ball crashes into the middle stump. Malinga is slinging down magic deliveries and SA are nine down.
	M Ntini b Malinga 0 (2m 1b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

Well, Malinga took 4 in 4 in his extraordinary spell of fast bowling, and SA were reduced to 207/9. With 2 runs needed in more than 3 overs but only 1 wicket in hand, it couldn't have gotten any better than this. Vaas n Malinga tested the last pair with the old ball doing its bit. Eventually, after surviving some close shouts, Peterson edged it pass the slip to third man boundary and SA pulled themselves off from choking.
I always say that every close finish results with a comment that the losing side were short of some 20-30 runs. It was no different today. But Malinga really tested proteas batters and Smith would be happy to get away with 2 points from this game.

Sri Lanka: 209 all out (49.3 overs) (Dilshan 58, Arnold 50, Langeveldt 5/39)
South Africa: 9 for 212 (48.2 overs) (Kallis 86, Smith 59, Malinga 4/54, Murli 3/34)


Image src: cricinfo
Tech tag(s): World Cup, hat-trick

Barmy Army kept host at bay : World Cup Diary (2007)

Stage: Super Eight
Match: 1 (Aus vs WI)
Result: Australia won by 103 runs

Hayden was the difference.

It was the first match in this world cup that spanned for more than a day. Another big thing that will go down in the history was this being the first match on this virgin pitch named after the great Viv Richards. Like every wise guy, Lara chose to field first after winning the toss. The start was disciplined. Powell got Gilchrist early and Hayden took 18 balls to get off the mark. Thereafter it was no stopping him as he showed some steady n solid shots on this hard batting track, and reached his second hundred of the tournament with a strike rate in 90s. His great knock ended on 158, riding on which, Australia posted another big total, their 4th consecutive 300+ in this WC. Ponting, Clarke and Watson chipped in with cameos and West Indies had some tough task ahead of them. Some intervening showers cut the break to 30 minutes, but the almighty had thought otherwise. The drizzle kept all of them at bay and the covers never went off. Finally when it was impossible to complete even 20 overs in the remaining time of the day, umpires were forced to let the game resume on the following day.

We all started the day expecting some big show. But Gayle force didn't obliged us, as even the biggest grunting bowler Tait bowled a disciplined line and trapped Chanderpaul lbw in his miser first spell. Bracken too deservingly got to his most economical spell as he gave only 5 runs in his first 5 overs. But it was McGrath and later on Hogg, who relished some success by taking 3 wickets apiece. Eventually they were all gone inside their 50 overs helping oz to make up for the slow over rate. With top-order not up to their best display: Gayle 2, Chanderpaul 5, Sarwan 29 & Samuels 4, the big margin (103 runs) ensured a comprehensive win for Australia. Lara 77 and Ramdin 52 were the only positive that could come out from their defeat; while the former kept holding their charge, the latter showed plenty of ability and class.

Australia: 6 for 322 (50 overs) (Hayden 158, Clarke 41, Bravo 2/49)
West Indies: 219 all out (45.3 overs) (Lara 77, Ramdin 52, McGrath 3/31, Hogg 3/10)


Image src: cricinfo
Tech tag(s): World Cup

Lets discuss something different

Cricket, cricket cricket……if India wins then we discuss cricket, if we loses then too we discuss it, even if we are not playing then we are discussing either about past performances or future events. Every one in our country is an in born expert with ready to implement strategies for improving Indian team’s performance, with media playing a great proactive role as a self-imposed mediator. Last night I was just wondering where in the world a game evoke such strong responses, like cricket does in India. The only country (there may be many) which comes to my mind is England with there national Football Team gives Indian Cricket Team a huge competition in nearly every aspect of game. Although the popularity of EPL, sometimes overshadows there national team, but still whenever they play, they evoke huge and extreme responses from Fans as well as from Media.
Coming to similarities between Indian Cricket Team and English Football Team, following points can be said:
1. Both of them have only once in there history, won something significant India 1983 WC and England 1966 WC.
2. Both are one of the world most hyped teams in there respective field, with most of the players enjoying demi-god status among masses.
3. There captain and coach (manager in Football) are the most famous whipping boys of the whole country.
4. And most importantly there performance evoked emotions which can match the joy of India’s Independence Day celebration and sadness of Princess Diana’s death.

Since we have already analyzed Indian cricket team in and out lets have a look at England Football Teams progress chart.


FLASHBACK
Last two big tournaments they have played in WC 2006 and Euro 2004, they were eliminated in Quarter finals stage, both times by Portugal and the last good match(according to me and my memory) they played were somewhere in 2003 when they
defeated Germany 5-1 in Germany itself, with Michael Owen scoring a hat trick. Before WC they have one of the most boring coaches of the world in Sven-Goran Erickson, and most photogenic captains in David Beckham and after that they have Steve Mclaren, who tries a lot but delivers very little and John Terry an inspirational captain for Chelsea, but so far he is not able to inspire his fellow team mates.

And the last piece of action was in Euro 08 qualifiers where they were beaten by Croatia and held goalless by Macedonia and Israel which makes there qualifying a little tough jobJ.

TEAM
Player by player you see, England have got a fabulous team. You have John Terry and Rio Ferdinand as Center back, with Jamie Carragher as a back up. Gary Neville as Right back and Ashley Cole as left back, man that’s a one helluva of a defence.If that’s not enough lets have a look at Mid Fielders, you have got Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard as two options for Central Midfielder, Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick for Holding one, David Beckham and Aaron Lennon on the right hand side, with Joe Cole (if he is fit) on the left side of the field. Then you have Wayne Rooney playing as link up man, the only problem being that of central striker as Michael Owen has got long term injury concern, even then they have Andy Johnson, Darren Bent, Defoe and the evergreen Crouchy. So in all it’s a pretty decent team which is expected to win if not all then most of the matches, especially against team like Israel and Macedonia.

PROBLEMS
Well here comes the biggest catch, the difference between Cricket and Football i.e. the role of manager or coach. In Cricket it’s basically the captain who takes the call while coach role is more of a guider or a mentor while in Football it’s the manager who decides the strategy and player’s role is to implement that strategy (ideally speaking).

So in spite of having such a good team why is it that England always flatters to deceive, the first reason which is quite obvious is the lack of co-ordination among players as most of them plays for different club and naturally it becomes difficult to adjust to each others game. However this problem is faced by players of most of the country so it’s not really a excuse factor. Then where the hell is the problem, problem is in strategy, what we find that Mclaren tinkers too much with the formation and his obsession to play Gerrard and Lampard together , which more often than not result in Gerrard playing on the right. Why doesn’t he realize that Gerrard is their best player in the team and needs to be play in the center of the park where he is most deadly, he is the one who can sets up the game and with Rooney to likes to dig deep they both can create a lots of opportunities for the Striker. Other thing which people said (I don’t agree with it) is the lack of passion among players when they play for England as they play for there clubs. Well I won’t like want to comment on this stuff.

So that all about England , I badly want them to play in Euro 2008, all though the journey looks tough but somehow they have the habit of crossing the line only in the last stretch.

Death and Reincarnation of a cricket fan

Disappointment is obvious, for such a cricket fanatic country an early exit like this is fatal for the faith that we display on these demi Indian gods. They have ashamed us in a disgraceful manner, and it will take us some time to digest it, but then what? When India visits england this summers, we will all be back to our TV sets watching them, loving them hating them. There is no doubt that this is the cheapest form of entertainment of the Indian crowd, and the addiction is enduring. We have hyped them time and time again.

Display of anger may tickle scares in their minds, I dont know if it will help players improve their game(this will make no change at all in the performance), but it may confuse a few 17-18 year old guy who is trying to get in the team, is this game safe anymore for my family?(sounds weird, but its obvious!)

I was shattered when sehwag, sachin and yuvi went on that day. Faith dies in one day, still i don't curse them big time, because I myself don't do as well in my field as they do in theirs(even when they keep disappointing every now and then). But I feel that the kind of hope the whole country has on them, may be they just don't understand what the game means to most of us. Personally, the days when India wins a match, I feel mentally much better than the days we lose. And I am pretty sure that a large part of this nation lies in the same category. When you carry such a huge burden, you better have broad shoulders else you surely will succumb to self-imposed pressure.

there is no fast-food solution to this all, we all know this. We all know our domestic structure, the pitches the politics the infrastructure and the money involved. It wants time and more importantly it wants acceptance from the team and the fans that in spite of having 3 best ODI batsmen of the decade and the great young guns, we can't compare our "TEAM" to the Aussies or the Proteas.

But the inherent cricket fan never dies, I have been trying so hard to move on, just can not! I hope someone is listening to this.

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Cricket Fans::Protests & Media:: Hooh Haah

Yesterday I couldn't watch TV in the morning since i had to get my bike serviced. Watched in the evening as saw in every news channel showing news of cricket fans disparaging the indian cricket team. Some were burning the posters carrying out mock death march, shouting slogans to axe chappel and dravid even sachin and other seniors players.

Channels were showing sms of so called ardent cricket fans in their ticker areas. They were like whole team should be axed, sachin should retire remove chappell , they keep on selling products and don't play well blah blah.

I have just two words for these so called ardent cricket fans.

Bull Shit

Here are my arguments.........

Protests!!!
What are you trying to proove by carrying out pathetic mock death march , burning effigies. You guys are not cricket fans. Because those who have played cricket and understand the game are cricket fans , they will not do like this. To me you are those guys who invested money in betting or want to come in news as our third class news channels who don't have anything else to show they will cover you and you will in prime time news.

Endorsing!!!
People were saying cricketers just do ads. You tell me one thing? We will retire at the age of 58-60 and average cricket player retire at 36-36 years. From where will he get the money to life after that. If they are getting the oportunity to earn why they shouldn't earn, will you give them the money to live after 35???? Tell
And to you all angry fans.
They shoot ads only once and what is their mistake if the company shows the ad daily and you get angry.

Shouts of axing the senior players!!!!!
Ohh you are saying axe sachin axe dravid..
Are you nuts!!!!
Who will replace these, do we have players to replace these best crickets. Where is the transition system , is it in place so that we will not go into a loop when the real time will come when these will retire.
Who is to blame ??
BCCI
Earning money and distributing it to states branches to get votes this is what BCCI does. We want some accountability from you , lets have quarterly results like funda where we will come to know where is bcci is spending the money.

Who is to blame!!!
All the news channels were carrying out the programmes "villian kaun: humko sms kijiye aur bataye kaun hai bharat ki haar ka villian"
To me its the team not a single player , why should dravid bear the burden only and axing will not solve the problem. And please stop making a hoo halla over the chappel interview after the match in which he said he is accountable to BCCI , I am not sure about this because i have not heard of this and we all know how our media twists the news :)

Giri rightly commented in my previous post never raise the expectations very high because when you fail it pains and who raised the expectations ......... media.

Solutions:: By News channels.
Today morning all the news channels were giving solutions to this problem. Times now has given its 10 point solution which consists of sacking chappell and dravid , yuvraj as captain. One solution i liked the most was
Stop Commercialization of the game ( isnt it sound funny)
(ulta chor kotwal ko daante)
Who all are commertialization the game , who want to earn more from the cricket.... Media
When cricket sells in India why should any businessmen not invest in it and try to earn the money. CNN-IBN has given the pathetic solution of installing sachin as captain , they are saying this as rumours from the inner circles of bcci.
And I have become a big big fan of Siddhu....... How good he speaks and gives examples... He was in 2 news channels yesterday one in Aap Ki Adalat and other in NDTV news channels. He raised very valid points and I have agreed to all his points and have written these above. Sorry I don't watch channel Ads Tak ohh its Aaj Tak because for obvious reasons.

Conclusion
You think only we felt the pain. Players are without any emotions. They also felt the pains, their pain was bigger then ours. RESPECT THAT PAIN ALSO

And please so called fans of Indian cricket stop giving your shittiest complaints:
I was awake late night , i wasted my weekend in watching the match
I invested so much money in going to West Indies and boooh baaaah this
In the end i get this

Shut your mouth
Who told to you to invest so much money , to not sleep in the night.................
Stop this shit...... you are not true cricket fans

Every one's heart is broken. In the poll in our blog we got 44 saying yes that India will qualify to next round compared to 17 saying no. It happens many times remember its a game.
To one thing I agree to all of you regarding the way we lost the game, we should have shown some passion/energy.

I hope the readers of this blog are true fans and not behave like immature fans of the Indian cricket.

Write your emotions !!!!!!!!

P.s I am not justifying the failure ......... they are bloody losers



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Hope......No Better Medicine

[02:32 IST] Munnaf Patel swings his bat , connects well but unfortunately finds Chaminda Vaas at the deep square leg boundary and One more world Cup dream comes to an end. World Cup about which we spent thousands of man-hours discussing the reasons why we should win it, sometimes based on cricketing merits, sometimes forming chain of coincidences. We even manipulated Nostradamus predictions in our favor. So now since we are no more in fray, off course barring Bermuda giving Sachin Tendulkar early birthday present by beating Bangladesh, the topic of discussion deviating just a little bit, why we couldn’t win the World Cup and whom to blame for this pathetic performance. Just browsing through Infosys Bulletin Board, which more often than not gives you the general trend of thinking, we can get lots of probable candidate, few on expected lines like captain Dravid, coach Chappel, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Agarkar, and nearly every player involved in last night defeat, some out of the blue thinkers blame Indira Gandhi for creating Bangladesh and few of the atheist pointed fingers even towards lord Rama for why not including Sri-Lanka in Indian territory after defeating Ravana in Ramayana.

After going through all those stuff and having digested the fact that yes we are done and dusted, I have got a very strange kind of feeling. Last night first reaction was to blame
someone, be it captain , coach or any other player, the best way to get your frustration out. Then as the morning dawns I start thinking why to blames the players, they are ones who have suffered the most, not only the thoughts of reaction back home , defeat is always painful. It creates a deep wound in our heart which keeps aching for a very long time. So then what next , whom to blame, people of India for expecting too much from our cricket team. In a country so diverse as ours, where probably only Cricket and war unites people how can we blame those poor souls who treat Cricket as a religion and cricketers as demi-Gods.

After much contemplation i conclude no need to play this blame game, then what the hell to do , where is the problem , are we born losers , who are always second handed person . are we so meek that we cant handle pressure , or probably we don’t take things in right perspective .

I don’t really know where and what really is the actual problem but for me it’s something which is the deadly mixture of all the above stuff. What’s the solution then, if any, again I don’t know, but I have learnt two thing from life “Learn to let it go of the Past” and never lose Hope as Andy Dufresne said to Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding in Shashwank Redemption :
“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
So Forget this world Cup, and starts thinking about the next one, maybe only maybe, next time it will be our Time.

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Apologies to all readers

Sorry to all the readers of this blog. I am feeling sick. I gave you facts gave you nostradamus sayings regarding indian victory in the cup. Related lanka battle with yesterdays match. But all in vain we lost we were thrashed. It pained deep in the heart. All were saying this team is the best and has the maximum chances to win the cup....we lost batted pathetically and bowled like shit and are now out.

I am sorry about all those post, i was also the another indian cricket fan. I apologise for creating the hype

Aftemath i expect :

• 
  Chappel will fly directly to Australia.
  Dravid has become the worst captain in the cricket history of india.
  Revenue losses to india and icc.
  Set Max will loose money like anything.
  West Indies expect far lesser visitors.
  Now we will see more film stars endorsing the products endorsed by players.
  I don't know now who all will be axed .
• I expect people will now start looking towards other sports.
• The same media which made all these players gods will thrash the players.
• Dhoni I am sure the big land given to you by government will be taken back.

But in the end i see that everything that has happened is good for other sports, now other sports personalities have to rise, though if they perform good they will also be given the stature of demi gods and if cricket team win a match or two in the coming months they will be back at their place because this is india where there is no sports apart from cricket.

Sorry again to readers

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Hooo Haaaaawwwwwww :O Indiaaaa :'(

Being a whole-hearted India fan, yesterday night was very disappointing for me as was for many other fans like me. I don't want to say much about what happened yesterday because it makes me even more upset. When I browsed through the gallery at cricinfo.com today I recalled all the moments during the match, that made me happy and then left me disappointed. I would not say much and would let the pictures do the talking. All pictures I put on here focus on the Indian Cricket Team. Before we begin, I would like to say two things that come into my mind after yesterdays match :
1.) India did not deserve to go into the next round of the World Cup (something that Rahul Dravid accepts)

We did not play well in this tournament and did not deserve to go into the second round.

(Read this for what else he had to say.)

2.) I think Sachin Tendulkar should retire just as Shane Warne did at the peak of his career. I am and have been his fan since I have started watching cricket, but with all due respects to Sachin...Its Time..

Thats all I wanted to say, lets look at the pictures now.

FANS (Before)

GOOD START

AND THEN

LAST MAN STANDING

FANS (After)

And that is the end of the Innings.. :(

For all the optimistic India fans, yes right India still have a chance of going into the SUPER 8 stage if Bermuda beats Bangladesh. India's future in the tournament will be decided by other two teams because all that was in our control we let it slip through. :P

All the best INDIA. Once again HOO HAA INDIA...

Image Source : cricinfo

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Battle for Lanka

Indians will romp again over the lanka sena just like bhagwan rama did long back when he thrashed the lanka lord.

Main Army

Rama's Army

Ram == Dravid is to team India as rama was to the army . Mariyada Purshottama dravid he has to deliver today and lead from the front. Just like in the lanka battle rama aka dravid will enter the battle late when laxman and his other team mates will have done the initial damage.

Laxman = To me is ganguly as he as mixture of both agression and experience as it was in real laxman

Hanuman : to me both yuvraj and dhoni are like hanumans because they will crush the whole lanka eat their bowlers as hanuman did in ashok vatika and burn the whole lanka with their
awsome batting.

Ravana's Army

Ravana : though their team is leaded by Mahela but to India real ravana is Jayasurya, he can demolish the team India because he has got the power and all the vardans in form of batting strength.

Kumbhkarna: Murlidharan is the sleeping giant though he has not got much wickets in the initial matches but if the ravana is able to waken him up he will destroy us.

Megnadh: Sangakara , with his batting he can demolish the indian bowling , through all bowlers hay wire and then not even sanjeevani booti can save the India. Stop him initially, don't let him settle and our work is done.

Not covering the other heroes of the battle: But all have to put up a brave front

Contrary to desi post in which he said its time for prayer. No its time for battle and we can't loose the battle


And we will win !!!!! What say guys :)


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Its Prayer Time...!!!

No pre-match discussions, no predictions, no prophecies, its time to pray
Let us pray so that we don't become Sri Lankan Lion's prey;

A prayer from heart is what they say, will help the Men in Blue save,
but don't let the prayer be too strong,
as the Blue may become darker and the colour a lil wrong;

The last one for Dada, Dravid and Tendulkar,
the first one for Dhoni and Pathan,
Let all the firsts lasts and middles go on,
Not tumble upon and fly back home so torn;

Somehow I feel the prayer will succeed, as will our team,
but we are habituated to hiccups and our team to indigestion,
even if they win it will be surreal and even if they loose it will be quite away from real;

But still let come together and Pray,
as I, we and everyone from India doesn't want this to end up as a messed up fray.

Techonarati Tags: Cricket, World Cup, India, Sports, Poem

Nostradamus "India will WIN the World Cup"

Though India has to fight very hard to qualify for super 8's. All this will get cleared on friday. So to cheer all Indian cricket fans dk gave me something to cheer about


Born in the early 16th century, Nostradamus has become one of the world's most widely known and read prophets.

His poetic yet cryptic quatrains are claimed by some to conceal information about future events. He completed a total of 942 quatrains which he organized into Centuries - groups of 100 quatrains (one Century only had 42 quatrains).

A recent review of the current quatrain significantly increases the chance of India winning the world cup cricket.

The Prophecy(translated to English):
Amidst the Coconut Jungle where men fight men all but one will be slain. The one nation where religion is war will lift the holy grail.

Analysis of the Prophesy

Coconut Jungle = West Indies
men fight men = world cup cricket
all but one will be slain = only one team will survive.
one nation where religion is war = India, here war is equivalent to cricket and cricket is the religion of India.
will lift the holy grail = lift the world cup

related to this prophecy there is another prophecy which was found interesting.

The Prophecy: In the war of the holy grail the soldier who held the blade left, fought with brave and was crowned the king again.

Analysis:
soldier who held the blade left = a left hander holding the bat
fought with brave = man of the series
and was crowned the king = became the team captain
again= someone who was axed from captaincy earler. = Ganguly?


My heart want to agree to this, but my brain nose dives in the negative direction regarding predictions of great Nostradamus . Let's keep our fingers crossed and pray for India's victory on Friday so that we are in super 8's. Then there is a hope otherwise :-( .

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What happens next ?

There is mystery and confusion surrounding things related to Cricket.

Mark Shields, the deputy commissioner of Jamaica police, announced he is treating the death of Bob Woolmer on Sunday as suspicious. An autopsy completed on Tuesday was inconclusive, but investigators were waiting for the results of toxicology tests to see if they helped determine the cause.

Woolmer's room at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel remains sealed.

Now the revelations that Bob Woolmer, their coach, might have been murdered, Pakistan wanted to pull out of their last engagement against Zimbabwe at Sabina Park on Wednesday.

But a forfeit would have plunged the World Cup into further chaos as it would have tied Zimbabwe and Ireland on points. The match doesn't make difference to Pakistan's future in World Cup 2007 because they have already been knocked out of the tournament, but it is hugely significant for Zimbabwe and Ireland, whose progress depends on it.


Ireland are ahead at the moment, with more points and higher net run-rate (NRR), but Zimbabwe would draw level if Pakistan did not play and had a chance to get pass Ireland if Ireland suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of West Indies on Friday. Even if not a heavy defeat, but still in case of a defeat Zimbabwe has a chance of getting through ONLY if they play against Pakistan and beat them. This will allow them to improve their NRR which on the other hand, would not be affected if the game is forfeited.

Current status of Ireland and Zimbabwe in their group :

Group D	Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	Net RR
Ireland	2	1	0	1	0	3	+0.274
Zimbabwe	2	0	1	1	0	1	-0.114

Pakistan team has been ordered to complete their World Cup commitment by Nasim Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman.

Pervez Mir, the Pakistan media manager, had earlier told reporters the Pakistan team management would be speaking to the ICC about pulling out since many of the players were not in the right mental frame to play.

However, he later confirmed the match would go ahead following discussions between the team management and Ashraf, who has resigned from his position, but has not yet been relieved by Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan president, who is also the patron-in-chief of the PCB.

Source : cricinfo

Its definitely not going good for Cricket. :(

Painful Weekend

Last two days were not good for cricket
Pakistan tumbled India trounced not good for indian and pakistani cricket fan.
I will not like millions of frustrated cricket fans will say bad words about the indian cricketers , just play your natural game even if we loose some wickets initially why you guys go into over cautious mode, score score it will ease the pressure. Give your best in the remaining matches and move into super 8's. Out of 22 votes we got 16 polled for India 2 each for Aus and SA and 1 for other. Now i am changing the poll will india reach super 8's.


Sudden Demise of Woolmer
I am shocked how it can happen. I can't believe so much stress can lead to his death. Coaching the subcontinents team is full of stress.

Retirement of Inzy from odi's
Great player we will miss you, but you deserved a better retirement.

Other bad thing was loss of Arsenal to Everton.
Gunners will beat ManU , Liverpool and even Chelsea but why loose to these teams.

Australian F1
Ferrari was fastest Kimi finished 17 seconds ahead. Exciting season waiting Mclaren and Ferrari fight , renault lacked the pace as of last years. BMW the dark horse team. Hamilton was awesome in his debut.

Bob Woolmer passes away

Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer died in a Kingston Hotel on Sunday. Woolmer, 58, was discovered lying on the floor of his room, with vomit around him, at 10.45 AM and was taken by ambulance to University Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, at 11.50 AM.

Pakistan team manager Talat Ali, their trainer Murray Stevenson and assistant manager Asad Mustafa went with Woolmer to the hospital where he was given medical attention.

Woolmer was last seen in public when he addressed the post-match media conference after his team's defeat to Ireland at Sabina Park.

He made 1059 runs at 33.09 in Tests, with three hundreds, and also took four wickets at 74.75. In all first-class cricket, mainly with Kent but also in South African state cricket, he scored 15772 runs at 33.55 and took 420 wickets at 25.87.

His coaching career started at Warwickshire, and he immediately made an impact as the county won a string of trophies in the early 1990s. That led to him being appointed by South Africa in 1994 and then, after a spell as the ICC's High Performance Manager, with Pakistan.

Image Source : Cricinfo

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Raikkonen on Pole

Kimi Raikkonen started his stint with Ferrari with a pole position. Alonso had to content with 2nd position.


Session 1
McLaren and Super Auguri shined in this session. Alonso and Hamilton ended this session with 2 and 1 position respectively. Rookie driver Hamilton drove brilliantly. Honda and Toyota were struggling in this session, though Toyota managed to squeeze in but Honda's Barrichello ended at 17th. Surprise package of this session was the performance by Super Auguri's drivers Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato. Japanese team car is basically a derivation of last year's Honda's car. BMW which struggled a lot in the last year came out with a splendid performance and Kubica and Heidfeld finished in top 6.

Kicked out:
17. BARRICHELLO Honda 1m27.679s

18. SPEED Toro Rosso 1m28.305s

19. COULTHARD Red Bull 1m28.579s

20. LIUZZI Toro Rosso 1m29.267s

21. SUTIL Spyker 1m29.339s
22. ALBERS Spyker 1m31.932s

Session 2
Massa's hopes of getting the first pole of season were quashed in this session when he faced gear box problem and couldn't complete a lap and will start at 16th. Two time champions Renault were lacking the edge to give some stiff fight to the Ferrari and McLaren. Funny incident took place in the session when the Trulli was in the pit lane getting his tyres changed and rear jack remained attached to his car. It was finally dislodged near the exit of the pit lane. Race stewards fined Toyota 2,000 euros ($2,665) for this incident. Button tried hard despite his struggling car but couldn't qualify for the last round. Auguri's Sato surprising all managed to qualify with 10th place.

Knocked out:

11. DAVIDSON Super Aguri 1m26.909s

12. ROSBERG Williams 1m26.914s

13. KOVALAINEN Renault 1m26.964s

14. BUTTON Honda 1m27.264s

15. WURZ Williams 1m27.393s

16. MASSA Ferrari no time

Session - 3

Raikkonen finished the exciting session with his 12th pole of the career. Alonso had to face stiff competition from his team mate Hamilton but the last year winner got the job done for the new and improved McLaren team with 2nd position. Hamilton qualified at 4th in his grand prix debut. BMW will be the team to watch for in 2007 , it has come up with a very improved car and the results were visible with both its players in top 5. Against all expectations after their difficult winter practice and struggling initial session, Toyota got both cars into the top ten. It was celebration time for Sato and Auguri as he finished in top 10.

Top 10

1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m26.072s

2. ALONSO McLaren 1m26.493s

3. HEIDFELD BMW 1m26.556s

4. HAMILTON McLaren 1m26.755s

5. KUBICA BMW 1m27.347s

6. FISICHELLA Renault 1m27.634s

7. WEBBER Red Bull 1m27.934s

8. TRULLI Toyota 1m28.404s

9. SCHUMACHER Toyota 1m28.692s

10. SATO Super Aguri 1m28.871s

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Ferrari planning to paint all Red

From Friday's testing it seems a reality. Massa is eyeing his forth pole position of his career. Ferrari drivers Massa and Kimi set the pace in today's practice and were ahead of McLaren and Renault. Raikkonen finished second to team mate Massa (1m 27.750s to 1m 27.353s).
Chances of total domination by Ferrari are less , with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, Renault’s Giancarlo Fisichella and BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld all were close.

"I would not put money on anybody (to be one pole), but hopefully people will put it on me, and they will win," Massa told reporters after practice.

Massa is confident of getting pole because of being quickest in the winter testing.
Let's see what happens tomorrow :)

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Will India Win the Cup: Facts Say So

My dear friend sandy gave the following facts regarding chances of India winning the cup.

Trivia - 1

Year 1981
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
2 years later India won the world Cup!!!

Year 2005
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes
4. Pope Died
2 years later will India win the world Cup?????


Trivia -2

1982 Football World Cup won by Italy
1983 Cricket World Cup won by India

2006 Football World Cup won by Italy
2007 Cricket World Cup: INDIA???

Let me add on more

Year Finalists
96 Sri Lanka
99 Pakistan
03 India
07 Bangladesh ??

These trivia don't help friends. In the last world cup there were much more like these almost guaranteeing us a victory with some 20 years facts funda.

Lets hope India perform best :)

and proves the above 2 facts correct

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F1 in FloodLights

We will soon be watching F1 drivers fighting in the night in flood lit circuits. According to F1 supremo Bernie one or two races are on cards by the end of this decade with most probable candidates are Japan and China or may be surprise Singapore.




F1 circuits designer Hermann Tilke has said that we have got enough knowledge of lighting and camera to stage a night race

“The basic problem is lighting,” he told the Autosport magazine.
“The tracks don’t need to change – you just need to have the space to install the lighting system.
“You also need a certain amount of brightness to allow TV cameras to show the cars property – not as blurry streaks!
“But there have been tremendous developments in lighting and camera technology, so I don’t see it being a problem.”

Night races in Asia will boost the viewership by the Europeans as it will then suite their timings, afternoon time. F1 will be following the Americans racing nascar, indyracing.

Meanwhile Alonso has expressed doubt regarding the safety of drivers driving at 300km/hr during night . He said that

"I did a demonstration in Valencia when we launched the car in January and it was at night and it was extremely difficult to see anything, to see the road.

Lets see will it be exciting or just wastage of more electricity. What are your views on this ??

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National TT Championships

One of the most played game in India and still one of the most not so recognized game on the competitive level, Table Tennis. the only players I know by name of TT include Poulmi Ghatak, Chetan Babbur and Mouma Das. By the Way TT in Hindi is called,

kasht pattika de pata pat, le pata pat

Leaving all that aside the National TT Championships concluded yesterday with Sharath Kamal and Mouma Das taking the honours respectively in Men's and Ladies categories.

(Sharth and Mouma, ImageSource:The Hindu)

The finals took place at Ajmer and this is the first time I am following any TT event. For more news you can refer to the following,

National TT Championships

Anyway I think with some help from the Media and Fashion experts Mouma can well become the Sania of Table Tennis ;).

What Say???

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Off we Go the West Indies Way...

West Indies kick started the World cup with a convincing 54 run victory over Pakistan. Surely I lost a bet yesterday as I was sure that Pakistan would win.

It was heartening to see the awesome atmosphere in the ground and it just suited the Windies team as the Home Support added to the Victory celebrations. Jamaica sizzled in all colours and it just the refreshing breath that World Cup wanted after a rather dull Champions Trophy last year.

The West Indies innings was entertaining one with Samuels and then Dwayne Smith hitting some nice blows to Pakistani Spinners. Even Lara and Sarwan chipped in.

Pakistani innings was going nicely with Inzy and Youhana playing well but when they fell and Kamran akmal too got out in the dreaded over for Pakistanis then Shoaib Malik was stranded alone.

I won't say that West Indies are the favorites but surely they are capable of huge upsets and with the Home support behind them it surely is going to be a joyride.

Techonarti Tags: World Cup, Cricket, West Indies, Pakistan

Federer Loses!!!

Yesterday night I hear the news that Federer has lost.(Sorry for my ignorance match happened on Sunday) at Indian Wells. I couldn't believe my ears. He lost to Argentine Guillermo Canas 75 62 thus ended his 41 matches winless streak just 5 matches short of setting a new open-era record for the longest winning streak.

Canas has come back after serving a 15month drug suspension, though he was banned for 2 years but he had successfully got that cut to 15 months. He argued that the substance was contained in medication given to him by tournament officials. The ban started in June 2005 and ended in September 2006 . This is his first Masters Series tournament since 2004 after his comeback from the suspension

Federer said

He was just a guy who put me away when he had to,"

Roger is 3730 points ahead of Nadal in the ATP ranking, the lead melt by 500 points but still stay huge. After all he is a human. Probably this will make the tournament more interesting in the sense that all others will fight for it otherwise Federer would have been way ahead of them to even think of beating as he was champion here for the last 3 years.


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This World Cup...go BLUE

A week has gone by with a series of warm up matches. No doubt Caribbean right now is the most sought after place to be. Spectators from almost all parts of the world are pouring in. With as many has 20 million dollars spent on inauguration ceremony of the World Cup yesterday, no doubts the economy of this group of islands will flourish by leaps n bounds.

In the past week, all the teams got their chances to showcase what they have in store for this biggest event. The warm up matches were very logically organized. While first two days saw stronger (top 8 teams) stretching some muscles against the weaker ones, the third day belongs to minnows settling their scores with whom-they-can-compete-with teams. And the silver lining came on the last day when we saw some meaningful clashes between the prospective contenders of this cup. India, Australia came out the invincible winners against WI n Eng respectively. The only upset saw NZ going down against Bangladesh. Besides that other result were more like competitive-on-their-day ones as NZ downs SL & Pak overcame over SAF.

These developments have done nothing but made the tournament wide open for us. While Aussies showcasing that they can still defend the title sans Lee, Symonds; there are equal chances for the team that will pounce over the unidentified/unconquerable opportunities which we haven't yet seen in full fledged manner provided that we have new grounds, different conditions, different audience (this is the first major tournament in Caribbean), different diet chart and above all its time people want a new champion. The next 47 days will tell us how older players used their experience, or how young guns got accustomed to the foreign conditions.

With most being said about India in this tournament in various pro grammes, more because of money involved in them than the real heart of an Indians fans. No doubt India has got themselves ready in time with a flavor of all: experience, young legs, pinch hitters, slow bowlers; which spurs spirits has high as they can be. All my heart n wishes for them.

Pakistan n Sri Lankans are the other two Asian teams for whom opposition has to put all their stakes on the field to take them down. As the latter is the most +ve set of players guided by inspirational Jayawardene n Tom Moody, the former has given a glimpse of their frame of minds n capabilities despite injured Asif, Akhtar n Razzaq featuring in the tournament.

Other prospective contenders being Eng n NZ, that have most no. of players featuring in their first WC. The other day, I found out that in the current England team, only 2 players have played 100+ matches, with as many as 8 players accounting to not even 50 ODIs together, I will be nothing but curious to see how these two sides will cope up with the relentless pressure their opposition have in store for them.

I know, this is a bit unpatriotic, but if India is destined to go down in the WC, I want them to go down again Proteas, whom my mind has called Favorites but my heart as Second-Favorites. Let this be the year, when they earn what they have deserved all these years, but if they are to go down, lets pray their bad performance takes over their bad luck in their defeat.

So, thats it. All teams covered. Oh wait on! wait on!, did i miss them, or i didn't see them. Where the hell they come from. Oh yeah, they are the hosts. The black devils/hooters of the game. Yeah!, thats the impression that once unconquerable West Indian has upon us in this last decade. 1996 saw them going down against Kenya, then there were some clean sweeps against dominating Aussies, Proteas, but they followed it up with a Champions Trophy win over unbeatable-in-2004 England. And last year saw them nearly defending their title against Aussies in the final. Brian Lara boys this year must have got some plans worth celebrating to bid farewell to their captain. Provided they are host, we can't wait to see Lara's bag of tricks that he will use in such a unlimited way for he may never get a chance to use them again.

So, don't u miss out while one of them crossed 500 run mark, or we have a new record while chasing. Other than that, this being the last WC that will have the likes of Sachin, Lara, Jayasuriya, Kallis, Fleming, Ganguly, Dravid, Inzy, Hayden, Gilchrist, Vaas, Kumble, Pollock and many others. So get yourself a couch n a tv in front of it, as we get started on first encounter tomorrow at 5 pm on Set Max, between West Indies n Pakistan.

Game on...........

Image Src: google, ecb, cricinfo
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Punter and Sunny Verbal Volleys

Australian captain has accused Sunil gavaskar of hyprocracy in reply to sunny's comment on aussies in which he said that they are not popular winners.

Gavaskar said the lack of warmth towards Australia was a result of what he called their "awful" behaviour.

"Australia's comeuppance at the hands of England and New Zealand has gladdened the hearts of not just other aspirants for the World Cup but also the followers of the game," Gavaskar said last week.

"There is not the slightest doubt that in the last decade or so the Aussies have been awesome in batting, bowling and fielding, which has taken them to the top of the cricketing ladder.

"But they have also been awful in the way they have sometimes behaved on the field much to the chagrin of the traditional fans of the game. Unlike the West Indian teams of the 1970s and 1980s, which dominated world cricket in much the same way as the Australians are doing now, the Australians are not popular."

Ponting shouted back

"I don't know if there are too many popular winners," Ponting said.

"If you are really dominating teams for a long period of time, I don't think you end up having too many supporters around the place.

"We all know the way he played his cricket, don't we? If he is talking about us, what about the way India have played their cricket over the last few years."

Ricky have you forgotton Federer, Woods , Anand, Brazilian Football team . Why is federer respected so much by his rivals ??

Ricky also talked about performance by India in the last few years in test matches and commented

I know who I would rather be going to watch. Have a look at how many Test matches they have won," he said.

"He (Gavaskar) has been a big part of that, he has been a selector and he has been on the coaching committee. They might want to start to look at the way they play their own cricket rather than looking at us."

In my opinion Ponting was trying to prove that decade long victories has made the Aussies rude, over aggressive. To me after reading his comments this can be the conclusion.

What's yours!!!

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PHL Season Ends…

World Cup kicked of yesterday but in the midst of all we forgot that PHL season ended last week. Another attempt to bring back the old Days of Hockey ended with very less achieved infact.

Orissa Steelers beat Sher-e-Jalandhar in the finals to lift the cup, but seriously the crowd count in stadiums this time was something to look for throughout the tournament. It was quite less than the previous seasons and in few matches you could just spot the Ground staff and noone else.

(Orissa vs Jalandhar in the finals. ImageSource:http://www.premierhockeyleague.com)

By the way the finals were quite an affair, with a crowd of 15000 coming to see the showdown between teams from Jalandhar and Orissa. Though the somewhat-home team succumbed to a defeat but still the crowd should have been pleased with kind off hockey on display quite apt for the final. Dilip Tirkey the old standpoint of Indian Hockey was declared the Player of the tournament. Gagan Ajit Singh with 15 goals was the highest scorer in tournament.

Though I didn’t follow the season much but still for an Indian Sports fan much is left desired. In a period just before the world Cup when good cricket telecast was going through a dry spell surely PHL should have generated more excitement than before. It’s hard to imagine when will the glory-days of Indian hockey will be back.

For now, I have stopped thinking. But PHL is still an attempt worthy of a good praise.

Technorati Tags: PHL, Indian Sports, Hockey