tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44131923706249908672024-03-19T08:47:35.913+05:30Pen The GameAn attempt to blog everything related and unrelated to Sports.Sports Godhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09866274605553773834noreply@blogger.comBlogger354125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-24787293215766829572012-02-21T00:33:00.001+05:302012-02-21T01:10:08.025+05:30Time for The Master to go?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I read today that Ponting was dropped from the team for poor performance in last five ODIs. In a very light hearted manner, in a sense trying to mock at it, I decided to share that to my wider virtual, social network. One of my friends commented,</div>
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something to be sad bout .... people are calling for sachin's odi retirement as well .... all news channels debating this ..... wats ur call on it ???</blockquote>
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And this is not the first time I am hearing this question. This is not the first time people are discussing it.</div>
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In recent past, I have read quite a lot about Sachin, his form, the 100th century, etc. Read a lot of advices from the Whos and Whos and the Huh? Who The Hell Are Yous of Cricket. Well some (read very few) think he should go on, the majority wants him to retire.</div>
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I find it very funny and annoying at the same time. You may now begin to feel that I am biased, but let me make it very clear, though I am a big fan of his like you and the person sitting next to you, at the same time I do try to talk sensibly at times. People who know my obsession for Sachin well enough, also know that I have been very critical too.</div>
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Anyways, let me come back to what I intended to discuss - my views, my answer to if Sachin should retire.</div>
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Of Course, he should, he has to, there is no other choice. He is a human and the law of nature dictates he age and wear out. This should ideally and most probably will have a direct impact on his performance. He has to definitely retire. </div>
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The worth of that question doesn't lie in the 'if', it does in the 'when'. So as I said earlier, majority of those who can and cannot spell Sachin Tendulkar correctly are of the opinion that he should retire now. There could be quite a few possibilities for their opinion</div>
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1. They might be hopeful of getting a chance to play for the country in his place.</div>
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2. They are relatives of an upcoming, hard working cricketer.</div>
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3. They are totally jealous.</div>
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4. They may have retired earlier and so they want to have the esteemed company of The Master.</div>
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5. They think that him continuing is not good for the team.</div>
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6. They think he is doing bad for the team.</div>
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7. They are saying just because everyone is saying - the spirit of togetherness!</div>
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8. They want him to score 100th 100 which he has not been able to for quite some time.</div>
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Of the 8 points above, I am the most concerned about 5th and 6th because all others are possible reasons whereas these two are allegations.</div>
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So for all those who want Sachin to retire now because of any reason other than the 5th and 6th point, well, Sir, I respect your opinion, you are entitled to have one, just that I disagree with yours.</div>
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I personally think that Sachin should retire when either</div>
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1. He thinks he should retire, or</div>
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2. When we are sure that he is the worst in the lot and there are 11 others who can perform better than him and also have the confidence of doing the same.</div>
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and not when you or me sit with a group of friends watching a match and coach each and every player on each and every ball via satellites using shouting in front of a TV as the starting point.</div>
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I would want each one of us including the cricket legends to answer honestly, if we are being too harsh on him maybe just because our team as a whole is taking a beating? No? Do you really think Tendulkar retiring now will change it? Aren't we expecting more than what one single person in a team of 11 is capable of? He has not been amongst the runs as much as we would have expected to be for quite some time, but then what has Sehwag done in this series? What have the "youngsters" in the form of Raina or Rohit Sharma done in the current ODI series?</div>
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Do we suddenly think that none of these three also have any talent or caliber?</div>
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Let us go a bit in recent past and then a little more. There has been an axe on the neck of other 2 men that define Indian Cricket, moreso, The Cricket, Test Cricket - Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman. We think these people should retire now too. Why? Because they did not perform as expected in Australia, India was white washed. </div>
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This same Dravid was being seen as a HERO when he was the only one who stood tall, as always like a wall in England. I clearly remember that one image of the scorecard doing rounds everywhere on the social network that showed Dravid opening the innings for India in some test match and then going on to play even with number 11. We now want this same Dravid to retire because of not being able to perform in the very next series.</div>
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Oh Come On! Be Realistic. Don't just say a 2 digit number, their age, is reason enough to make them retire. Appreciate the experience that comes along and what it has translated into - Class!</div>
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The point I make here is that just because Sachin similarly has not been amongst the runs or let me put it bluntly, hasn't been able to score the 100th century you all are looking forward to doesn't mean he should retire now. Sachin, at present, is clearly not the "worst of the lot" and neither do we surely have 11 players who we can be confident, will perform better than if we were to give one of those 11 spots to Tendulkar. Scenario 2 thus, should rest in peace.</div>
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Let me discuss a little more about the magical figure of 100 * 100. Oh, surely you ought to be obsessed with that figure as it has that single numeral that we Indians discovered, four times out there! Also, the symmetry. That is it. There is nothing else magical about that figure. A 99 centuries is no less an achievement than if he scores another one. Besides it is stupid to add up number of centuries scored in two very different forms of cricket. If you continue adding up like this, I am sure he must have scored a 1000, 99 in international cricket, some in Ranjis, some in school, some in a hostel, some in the gully in front of the house, who knows, maybe some in book cricket? Also, add to it the centuries that he has made in the games that we were playing sitting on our couch, controlling a character with his name via a remote control.</div>
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In a nutshell, I say, the obsession with 100 centuries is stupid.</div>
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We don't need it, we just want it. More badly than anyone else. And unfortunately, he hasn't been able to deliver what we "want" and so maybe he should retire now. Yeah right!</div>
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I agree to one of the points I read in some other post, that post the world cup last year, he is playing ODIs once again, and him choosing to play some and let go of some others. Well I agree, it is not the best thing to do. But at the same time I also feel that maybe the pressure and the hype of the figure I just called 'magical' (because that is what you think of it) has indeed taken a toll on him and maybe, I say maybe he just wants to fast forward from 99 to 101. I may have sounded totally senseless, but then I think it could be, it could be the case. The reasons are best known to him and the team management though.</div>
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In the end, a request. Everybody, please leave him alone, we all know what he has done for us and the country, we all know what he is capable of, we all can accept he knows himself the best. Let him decide when he has to retire, because in any other possibility, you have no logical explanation to make him retire now, like in next 5 minutes. Why can't we appreciate that perhaps is presence helps in grooming the youngsters better?</div>
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Just because he has not been able to deliver on your expectations, doesn't mean he should go. Go Now. No.</div>
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He is talent enabled by sheer hard work topped with confidence personified in a human packaged all over with class. See him, appreciate him, forgive him and for now, leave him!</div>
</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>Prateekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824290713978491649noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-88141345537399467312012-01-04T19:24:00.003+05:302012-01-04T19:42:28.519+05:30Sad demise of Indian Cricket?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We are the Champions?<br />
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The World Champions?<br />
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Also, one of the best Test Teams in the world?<br />
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Is it? Obviously Yes! We are. But is it true only for our soil?<br />
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Do we fail anywhere outside? Do we fail miserably in our 'tests' on foreign soil?<br />
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It hasn't really been the case to this extreme until the recent past.<br />
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I was very disappointed when my team, which made me and every Indian proud by lifting The World Cup last year after 28 yrs, was thrashed and could do nothing but submit in England. There is anyways some not-so-soft-corner somewhere inside me for the English, for they ruled us and did what not (according to the History Books I studied in school). And whatever happened in England last year hurt me deep inside.<br />
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I was so eagerly waiting to see my favourtie cricketer, The God of Cricket, The Sachin Tendulkar to score The Special Century right there, at The Mecca of Cricket, The Lord's. Sadly, that didn't happen. I told myself, if not first, then it will be in second innings, and likewise, if not this match, then the next. The wait just continued. In any case, I agree, it is just a number. But I still wanted it in Lord's, his first there, if it would have been.<br />
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Nonetheless, it is OK, that it did not happen. But what really bruised me was our dismal batting performance. The Batting performance of The Team with not only a strong batting lineup, but applaudable bench strength as well (possibly for the first time ever since I have started watching cricket). And to rub it in, was the constantly publicised, omnipresent fact, that my team had failed to score more than 300 even once! One man stood tall, The Wall, but all he could see from the other end, was one after the other wicket fall.<br />
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All over Facebook, Twitter, News Channels, News Papers, and Real World almost everyone was criticising almost everything about my team but honestly, I still believed that they would do better in the next innings and the next, maybe the next after next but that did not happen. This sad chapter is still lying inside me in a corner that I did not wish to visit anymore.<br />
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Sadly, I did today. What made me do that is perhaps a pessimist view of the near future when, hope-not, we fail that bad or even worse, again. Everything now seems to be exactly the same - My expectation of The Master to score The Special Century at the MCG, then if not in first innings then maybe the next, then maybe the next match, and here I stand in the present. Another batting collapse in the first innings at the SCG, where The Cricket God averaged 221 before this match (making me all the more excited in anticipation of witnessing history being written).<br />
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You ask me again, and I will again say, it is not the failure to reach that magical figure by The Sachin that is bothering me. I will be brutally honest, it is what is happening, the collapse. OK, I can accept Sehwag doing only what he has managed to do, I can accept Gambhir going through a bad phase perhaps, but it is very very hard for me to hear, see, digest the failure of The Wall and The Very Very Special Man in Australia.<br />
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How are we managing a batting collapse yet again? Bad pitch, unfavourable conditions maybe, but then how does one of the weakest Australian side in 15 years pile up runs on the scorecard, that including a century and a maiden test double hundred. It is frustrating, upsetting, disappointing to say the least.<br />
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Well of course, there are positives that even I see in this series like our Captain always does. For one, The Master looks in good touch. And then, Ashwin knows how to use the bat.<br />
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But isn't it time to seek answers to reasons for failure overseas and do something about it, rather than just keep "looking at positives" and "not being bothered about a loss or two". Of course, I believe my team is already doing that and are perhaps also trying out things but after seeing today's play there are bad visuals haunting me.<br />
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Someone like Ponting who was going through, perhaps, the worst phase of his batting career quite recently, is standing strong, playing better and better and better in every knock, while I sit and see The Wall not having reached even 100 in the 3 innings and The Laxman who has a history of giving sleepless nights to all Australians, having played a prank on them thrice, scoring a total of 5 in this series till date.<br />
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I hate myself today for even accepting that we are good, perhaps the best, only on our soil and that I accept defeat already. "Hate" because, after all I should support my country, patriotism, etc. But then, of course this is the outcome of what has happened since the England Tour. It is the heart vs. mind game, wherein my heart overruled all that my mind said during the England series. Of course, the outcome of that series has subdued my heart to an extent that it is not even contesting and standing up against what my mind is saying now.<br />
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And now for the icing on the cake (read: rubbing salt into wounds), one of my friends who is in Australia gave me an account of what he is going through - being mocked at on the streets. Not only this, he says, at times when he calls up his manager at work to say "application is down" he gets a reply saying "wall is down.. so is tendulkar" (sic).<br />
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Sigh, let me try and end this frustration and disappointment initiated chain reaction of blabbering with my Heartadramus prediction - The Heroes will Rise, it will get better, this match ends in a draw and it improves exponentially from there on.<br />
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Sorry to break it for your hearts, I am laughing at what I wrote in the last line. We are all set to lose this one.<br />
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And yes, maybe I am taking all this too seriously and making a big deal out of this, but well if you don't, I am sorry you wasted your time reading this, it wasn't for you.<br />
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>Prateekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00824290713978491649noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-7923193985173222782012-01-02T03:38:00.000+05:302012-01-02T03:38:49.719+05:30Arsenal in 20111) Arshavin's winner against Barcelona. When Nasri cut back, the Russian caressed the ball into the bottom corner to send the Emirates into ruptures. Lately, Arshavin has been blamed for being "disinterested" by a lot of Arsenal fans. To me he has always been a player who has given you that impression but capable of moments of brilliance. Yes, the frequency of those moments of brilliance is getting lesser. But, a fully confident Arshavin still has a lot to offer to Arsenal. Wenger has said many times that he is a player who "takes a lot of risks". So obviously Arshavin is looking for more than the obvious simple pass. I hope he extends his spell. <br />
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2) WZCZ and Koscielny's coming of age. It wont be wrong to say that a certain moment between these two probably cost Arsenal the chance to get a trophy and more importantly add some belief in the squad. But, the two have gone from strength to strength since that horrible moment. If there is a feel good factor about the current Arsenal team, then Kosh and the big Pole play a huge part. <br />
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WZCZ<br />
Has a commanding presence and organizes the defense <br />
Reads the game superbly and is always there to charge the striker on one-on-ones. The most . recent one was the one against QPR in the first 10 minutes.<br />
Handles the long-balls and set pieces with great confidence calmness.<br />
Has exceptional shot-stopping capabilities<br />
He is only 21 and is<b> huge Arsenal fan </b><br />
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3) RVP's wonder strike against Everton and WZCZ's foot-worship of RVP. <br />
Well RVP's strike was awesome, but it was not as if it was unexpected. More importantly it helped us another 1-0 win over a superb Everton (my 2nd favorite team) side. I think David Moyes' team has been one of the most under-rated teams considering the funds they have. Players like Rooney, Graveson (Remember him? He went to Madrid in about 2004 or '05), Lescott, Arteta, Yakubu have had to be sold. Tim Cahill (5' 8''??) has played as a lone-striker for them at times. And yet, they remain one of the most consistent teams in the most difficult league in the world. Arteta's attitude behavior ever since he came to us (towards Everton and of course in Arsenal) has been immaculate.<br />
WZCZ has been criticized by many for "worshiping a human." But do we care for them? It was one of those wonderful "I cant thank you enough" kind of a thing from WZCZ to our captain. It represented most Arsenal fans' sentiments. And it came from someone who is arguably our 2nd most important player (Song is the other one in contention for number 2) this year.<br />
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4) Influx of Benayoun and Arteta. <br />
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Obviously the OX, BFG and Gervinho signings have been awesome. <br />
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Arteta has been immense and his contribution has been there to see. (Probably only player who has started all games apart from WZCZ this season??). But, Benayoun's commitment has been ever-so-impressive. He has never been one to sulk or complain. He scored a screamer against Olympiakos and performed consistently in the Carling cup games. When we needed ever so desperately, he came up with the winner against Villa. <br />
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<b>Oh and why does Arteta raise both his arms before taking any set piece???</b> <br />
I thought it was an Everton thing, but he does it here also.<br />
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5) Getting rid of Nasri and Bendtner. I dont dislike people like Chamakh and Arshavin. Yes, they find it tough due to lack of confidence, or talent or technical ability.<br />
But, certainly Nasri and Bendtner's comments since they left Arsenal convince me that both of them were "GOOD RIDDANCE." <br />
Cesc's loss hurt us. But, Nasri's??? Not really. Yes, he was a technically gifted players and one that Wenger would have liked to hang on to. Yes, he had 3 or 4 good months in Arsenal. But to me, that was that. His performance in the second half of last season was above average at best. <br />
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Bendtner, again not as bad as he people think and not as good as he thinks of himself. But, only if he dint talk could I stand him.<br />
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6) Henry's return.<br />
Wenger has said that Henry "will not tarnish his reputation" after fears from Arsenal fans that he might be embarrassed. Obviously his presence will only be beneficial to people like Walcott and Ox on and off the pitch. Arsene has known him as 17 year old and probably knows more about "Henry-the footballer" than the man himself.<br />
Welcome back Thierry Henry! Legend!<br />
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Come on the Arsenal!! <br />
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<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2C3xgwZIWOI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-31845850927244418412011-11-14T05:04:00.000+05:302011-11-14T05:04:12.416+05:30The Carlos Tevez saga continuesJohn Carlin, a New York Times writer said he was “shocked” at Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez’s refusal to come onto the football pitch against Bayern Munich in their Champions league match at the Allianz Arena, Munich. Tevez has been unhappy with life in Manchester had publicly stated in the summer that he wanted to leave Manchester City to be closer to his family. <br />
Manchester City was trailing Bayern Munich 0-2 when manager Roberto Mancini asked the Argentinian striker Carlos Tevez to warm-up to get onto the pitch around the 59th minute of the match. Tevez refused to obey the manager’s orders. “He will never play for me again.” said a disgusted Mancini in the post-match conference. “He is finished.” Tevez followed that by saying he was not in the “right frame of mind” to play. <br />
“Footballers get paid such a ridiculous amount of money.” said British football journalist Sean Mullan. “That compounds the problem.” Tevez earns an estimated £250,000 a week. <br />
Two days after the incident, Tevez said that there was a gap in communication and he had “refused to warm up, but not refused to play.” <br />
“I don’t know if Tevez is right and there was a misunderstanding.” said Carlin. “I doubt it. Mancini was so angry that he seemed genuine”. Mullan said that Tevez’s refusal was a spontaneous decision and not something he planned. <br />
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After enquiry and trial, Tevez was found guilty of five serious breaches of contract. He was suspended for a fortnight and fined two weeks' wages. He was ordered to train by himself and then with the reserves. Tevez’s problems compounded in November when he left for Argentina and failed to appear at the training sessions.<br />
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Dario Weitz called the 27-year old Tevez as the “player of the people” because he “never forgot where he came from.” Weitz, who lives in Rosario, Argentina and is a fan of Boca Juniors said Tevez was “born in the slums” in the “dangerous” neighborhood of Fort Apache. “His life, like other people in Apache, should go in misery, except for football.” said Weitz. <br />
Mullan said that the Brazilian club Corinthians had made an offer of €40 million but Manchester City wanted €56 million and €16.5 million in a first installment to release Tevez from his contract. “Corinthians wanted to wait till 2012 when they get their new television rights and hence the deal did not go through.” he said.<br />
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“Can the Corinthians pay £250,000 a week?” said Carlin. “How many teams can pay even two-thirds of his salary? He bought himself out of the market.”<br />
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“I read an article by an Argentine journalist who called Tevez his ‘own worst enemy’. His own national coach does not want him.” said Carlin, who recently co-authored with Raphael Nadal on “Rafa: My Story” and spent over two years covering football and politics in Argentina. “I sometimes feel sorry for him. He has made a mess of his life. Some players come from extreme poverty and violence in childhood. But then so do players from Africa, some of whom are so well-behaved.” <br />
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Both Carlin and Mullan wanted a salary-cap to be enforced in football but could not see it happening.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-25064376994525015962011-09-30T09:36:00.000+05:302011-09-30T09:36:50.254+05:30Did Serena get away?“It is a joke” said tennis referee Charles Granville referring to the $2000 fine imposed on Serena Williams for lashing out at a chair umpire in the recently concluded US Open. Mr. Granville, father of American professional tennis player Laura Granville, said that suspending players rather than fining them would make the tennis players behave themselves on court. French newspaper journalist, Cecile Soler said that unless a player goes physical or swears at the officials, he or she should not be suspended. Soler said: “Taking the point away is the biggest thing and that was what the umpire did.”<br />
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Williams was down 30-40 in the first game of the second set against Australian Sam Stosur in the final match of the US Open. She then hit a crunching forehand and yelled “come on” before the ninth–seeded Stosur dived at the shot. Chair umpire Eva Asderaki assessed Williams a code violation and a point penalty that gave the game to Stosur. During the changeover, Williams called Asderaki a “hater”, a “loser” and “unattractive inside” saying: “you’re giving me a code violation because I expressed who I am? We’re in America, last I checked.” <br />
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Armand Diab, another tennis referee based in Chicago, said that suspension is the ideal punishment. However, he also said that suspension would not be a practical solution as that would mean incurring “lot of revenue loss” for the tournament. Diab said: “It (the fine) is not right or wrong, it’s business”. Diab then said that he had seen cases where men said a lot worse things and have got away with it.<br />
Williams earned $900,000 for her runner-up finish in New York and $500,000 for winning the summer's Olympus US Open Series. Armand Diab described the $2000 fine as a “slap on the wrist” for Williams. Williams was on probation after she had threatened a line judge saying she was going to “shove a ball down her throat” in a semi-final match at the US Open in 2009. ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti said “I don't think [suspending Williams] would make much sense because it would penalize the people handing out the punishment."<br />
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“What has happened in cricket has not happened in Tennis.” said Granville. Cricket, another British-originated sport, gives the ultimate authority to the on-field umpire. Cricketers are suspended if they don’t respect the officials. Granville then compared the incident to the “two-year ban on first violation” imposed on players who are tested positive for using illegal substances. Granville then likened the incident it to the time taken by players between points. “Do Nadal and Djokovic follow the 20-second rule between points? The importance of players has had a corrupting effect (on the tennis authority).”<br />
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Soler, who has been writing on Tennis for Le Figaro for 20 years, called the umpires to be “brave and make the right calls”. Diab, on the other hand, said: “I read the recent article on New York Times which said how poorly the umpires are paid at the US Open”. He said that the tennis officiating profession could be under threat.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-13628721868919934692011-08-21T02:00:00.000+05:302011-08-21T02:00:34.263+05:30Arsenal 0 -2 Liverpool. But there is still hope!After a summer of unrest, Cesc finally leaving for Barca, Nasri on the verge of going to Man City, the Gunners had a lot of questions to answer. Over the summer, the struggling Denilson and the effervescent, versatile Eboue had also departed. Wilshere, Rosicky, Gibbs were out injured. Song and new signing, Gervinho were serving suspensions. As if that was not enough, the improved Koscielny injured his back 10 minutes in the game. There was no lack of effort from Arsenal. Theo Walcott, Arshavin tried to make runs, but could not quite penetrate. Nasri starting the game was surprising to me. But, Wenger did say that "Samir has been 100% committed ever since he joined the club". I don't think the fans should berate players looking for a transfer. Would you not go to another employer if he offered you twice of what you are earning? "Part of our job" is how Wenger described the Nasri situation. Can Wenger convince Samir to stay just like the United gaffer did last year with Rooney? Unlikely, but possible. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://arsenalarticles.webs.com/andrei-arshavin-arsenal-blackburn-rovers-prem_2003742.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="600" width="800" src="http://arsenalarticles.webs.com/andrei-arshavin-arsenal-blackburn-rovers-prem_2003742.jpg" /></a></div>Happy times ahead?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Back to the game. Frimpong came in for Song and had a decent game considering that it was his debut and he is not even 20 yet. Carl Jenkisnon and Ignasi Miquel, another couple of teenagers had impressive games and would definitely be good backups to Kosh and Gibbs (although Jenkinson is a right-back). Arsenal competed well with a really depleted team for 70 minutes before they lost Frimpong, who got a deserved red card. (another red card on debut for a gunner after Gervinho and Kosh). With 10 tired men on the pitch, Arsenal finally went down to a freak own goal from Ramsey. 'Rambo' certainly did not have a good game and the own goal summed up a bad day for him. Looking for an equalizer the Gunners committed men forward and were punished by Suarez. The gunners lost 2-0.<br />
<br />
Arsenal's best player on the pitch was Vermaelen. The Belgian was a ROCK and kept Carrol ( and the Liverpool attack) quiet for the most part. Along with Sagna and a fit Gibbs, and an improving Kosh, Arsenal seem to have a solid back four. Schzeny has been stable. With Wilshere coming in, I believe there is still light at the end of this tunnel. With the current squad of players (assuming everyone is fit and Nasri and Bendtner leave), our starting eleven would be:<br />
Schzeny<br />
Gibbs<br />
Sagna<br />
Vermaelen<br />
Koscielny<br />
Song<br />
Wilshere<br />
Rosicky/Ramsey<br />
Arshavin/ Walcott<br />
Van Persie<br />
Gervinho<br />
<br />
on the bench:<br />
Jenkinson<br />
Squilacci<br />
Miquel<br />
Arshavin/ Walcott<br />
Rosicky/Ramsey<br />
Ryo Miyachi<br />
Chamberlain<br />
Chamakh<br />
<br />
<br />
I think this is definitely a top 4 team. If Wenger can pull out a creative midfielder or convince Nasri to stay, we will be right in the mix for a push for the title.<br />
<br />
I would still urge all the gunners to get behind our team. Wenger said before the game. "You can question my decisions for the club, but not my loyalty towards the club"<br />
<br />
With some caution I say, "Bring on Udinese"<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-15272876249715790112011-06-06T05:57:00.000+05:302011-06-06T05:57:56.777+05:30French Open Final 2011: Federer poetic, but Nadal is the unstoppable warhorseIt was another amazing match between two athletes who have brought out the best in each other and played some unbelievable matches over the last 5 years. It is not for no reason that Nadal is considered to be the best on clay. His record is 40-1. (Won 40, lost 1). If ever there was anything that was going to stop this unrelenting Mallorca man, it was Federer. The last time these two met at the French Open final was in 2008, when Nadal won 6-1,6-3,6-0, one of the most lopsided games in the history of French open finals. Several had written Federer off. But the Swiss king came back to life. He hired Paul Annacone as his coach, tweaked his game a little and indeed, came back to win the French Open the next year, in 2009. If ever there was anything missing from the Federer resume, it was to beat Nadal on clay at a Slam.<br />
<br />
So, Nadal started slowly and Federer broke the Spaniard in his first service game and raced to a 3-0 lead. He was well and truly in control of the first set and got a set point at 5-2. His audacious drop shot missed the line by inches and Nadal fought back to 5-3, still a break down. Federer then seemed to hit one of the troughs and lost his confidence completely as Nadal took the first set 7-5, winning 5 consecutive games. 1st set Nadal, but what a confidence-breaker for Federer, having had a set point. <br />
<br />
Nadal continued his strong momentum. Most players would have mentally been disintegrated against the inspired world number 1. But, Federer continued to fight and just managed to stay in the set. There were some unbelievable exchanges. Shots that would have been "sliced" or "floated" in by others were turned into offensive shots by these two. Federer, with his amazing athleticism and smoothness. Nadal, with his whippy, loopy top-spin into the Federer backhand. Despite Federer's fightback, Nadal got to set point serving at 5-4. He lost the set point and to add to the drama, the skies opened up and there was a 9-minute delay. Nadal had said before the game that he would not want it to rain and have the conditions dry for that would favor his top-spin game better. The players came back with Nadal serving at 5-4, 40-40. Inevitably his first serve was a top-spun serve high into the Federer back-hand and he earned himself another set point. Tribute to Federer, he fought back, broke back and the 2nd set went to a tie-break. Fortunes continued to swing. After the path the first set took, where Federer lost a set point, you could not help but get a feeling that this would go Federer's way (with Nadal having dropped set points). But, that indeed, was not the case. Nadal took the tie-breaker. Potentially, another huge blow to the Federer psyche. <br />
<br />
Only one-time has Nadal lost a game having won the first two sets. That was way back in 2005 in Miami. The opponent? Surpise surprise - ROGER FEDERER. But that was when Nadal was a 17-yr old and Fed was on top pf the world. A totally different cup of tea now!<br />
<br />
Nadal again raced to a 4-2 lead in the 3rd and just when you thought "that was it", Federer played some unbelievable drop shots and made some volleys out-of-this world. He made more unforced errors but came up with more winners and took the 3rd set 7-5. <br />
<br />
Nadal was consistent. After the first 2 games of the match, he played the whole match at an (80/100) level. Federer, on the other hand, played some points at (50/100) and some at a godly level, more like 150/100. Nadal would run-down every ball. It was upto Federer to come up with the drops, the volleys, the approaches, the slice and all the variations. <br />
<br />
Nadal came out in the 4th set and was under the pump and 0-40 on his serve. From there on, he managed to rise and what a rise. He came back to win the game and took the 4th set 6-1 and won the match 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-1.<br />
<br />
An unbelievable match. Some rallies and exchanges were out of this world. The final score may be a bit flattering for Nadal for he knew he was in a dog-fight for the best part of 3 hrs and 50 minutes. <br />
<br />
The Federer-Nadal rivalry may be reaching its twilight. But if the history is anything to go by, we are in for another final between these two. For every time they have made it to the French open final, they have also made it to the Wimbledon finals!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-54454924681196839892011-05-25T06:56:00.000+05:302011-05-25T06:56:27.043+05:30French Open, IPL and AF bans a journalistInteresting news at the French open?<br />
<br />
Disappointment for the fans as Ana Ivanovic lost to unknown Swede Larsson, 7-6, 0-6, 6-2. Bizzare score that. More disappointment as Somdev Devvarman lost to Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets. Finally some good news as Sania Mirza won her 1st round singles and doubles match. She is paired up with Ukraine-born Russian Vesnina. Nadal survived a major scare from the 7-foot American, John Isner as he had to dig deep to come back from 2 sets to 1 down to win in 5 sets. The others have gone through fairly comfortably, including Federer, Soderling, Djokovic and Murray. Roddick has withdrawn from the FO and no one seems to care! :(..... Can he do a Goran'01 in 2011?!<br />
<br />
The best match of IPL - qualifier 1. Why? Most of my favorites were on show - Dhoni, Zaheer, Gayle, Vettori, Bravo, Ashwin! And what a game it turned out to be. Terrific performance by all these guys. Gayle 4-0-19-0 with the ball. Dhoni 29 off 19. Zaheer got Hussey and Vijay and finished with 4-0-31-2 and Ashwin got Gayle cheaply, so it does not matter what he did after that. Vettori was the only one who had an off day :( Dont care too much for the result, oh ya Chennai won in the last over. For some reason it is always fun to see the owner of the losing team's faces (especially Shilpa Shetty), this time it was Vijay Mallaya. So, probably I did support Chennai, coz their owner does not try to come to the limelight. Who is their owner btw?<br />
<br />
<br />
Alex Fergusson banned one of the journalist's from attending the pre-match conference. The journalist had asked about the absence of Ryan Giggs from training despite being told before the conference to not talk about it. HEres the full story:<br />
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/24052011/58/champions-league-ferguson-bans-journalist-mentioning-giggs.html<br />
<br />
<br />
Some pictures from today's game:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-REDgXiyX6DmQeQilklWClj08Wl2ZUnuV99IrW_IAgy-hRfObCnhrivMuzpgBr4D90atZq9zbyzwnaEc7fomPrqeMgWf09H532i-dbASrwsWCrKtqRqs8RyLsnK8HvCi4KwQqsxSvjNh/s1600/kohli.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb-REDgXiyX6DmQeQilklWClj08Wl2ZUnuV99IrW_IAgy-hRfObCnhrivMuzpgBr4D90atZq9zbyzwnaEc7fomPrqeMgWf09H532i-dbASrwsWCrKtqRqs8RyLsnK8HvCi4KwQqsxSvjNh/s200/kohli.gif" /></a></div>Going down! Kohli and Pomersbach.........in a nasty collision<br />
<br />
<br />
Albie, its the pitch not your pool!......Morkel Dives to the crease without a bat!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YNWybEIFn9kcGf76ALhcMJH4UgQkvnScdBshtbG0yLlLSZ33ysfSnvzn5FcZ9h9u8JEmzcQxZnDKlOFt3M4UV0U-ep79kMic1OPI0JEtbSt5mLYRV0JH-d_BrDRHNFbY_3wXgRsL3s88/s1600/morkel.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_YNWybEIFn9kcGf76ALhcMJH4UgQkvnScdBshtbG0yLlLSZ33ysfSnvzn5FcZ9h9u8JEmzcQxZnDKlOFt3M4UV0U-ep79kMic1OPI0JEtbSt5mLYRV0JH-d_BrDRHNFbY_3wXgRsL3s88/s200/morkel.gif" /></a></div><br />
<br />
Calypso joy!.......Bravo celebrates with team mates<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5mqW0v7P1mZeU6SStOUlegHojVTkYcvB7XOsKRGA2V3ARnqxJmrxHI899HVSSEq2xX0aVLohur9exP7wNttkOR457ci8MRA9pKX7Jhk4e43oJhVCXK9Ilx9f3K0vWmy1bQMEYsMpSO5bu/s1600/bravo.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="125" width="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5mqW0v7P1mZeU6SStOUlegHojVTkYcvB7XOsKRGA2V3ARnqxJmrxHI899HVSSEq2xX0aVLohur9exP7wNttkOR457ci8MRA9pKX7Jhk4e43oJhVCXK9Ilx9f3K0vWmy1bQMEYsMpSO5bu/s200/bravo.gif" /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-22597333058924963132011-03-29T23:03:00.001+05:302011-03-29T23:05:46.397+05:30India - Pakistan World cup historyPakistan's overall ODI record is superior to India in the head-to-heads. However, in the last 8 years or so, since that blitzkreig 98 off 75 balls from Sachin in World Cup'03. India and Pakistan have played 35 ODIs, 17 India has won, Pak has won 17 and 1 abandoned.<br />
<br />
In world cups, India have a hundred percent 4-0 over Pakistan!<br />
<br />
1) 1992 - India was all but out of the world cup by the time they faced Pakistan. Pakistan on the other hand were clutching on by the finger nails. Famously bowled out for 74 by England before rain came to their rescue to keep their world cup hopes alive! India won the toss and put up a fighting 216 on the board. The top scorer? .......surprise surprise......SACHN TENDULKAR! Amazing that, I randomly pick out a match some 20 years back, look for the top scorer......and there he is again! Unbelievable......Pakistan were bowled out for 173.....this being the highlight<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://deepbackwardpoint.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/miandad-more.jpg?w=500&h=331" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="331" width="500" src="http://deepbackwardpoint.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/miandad-more.jpg?w=500&h=331" /></a></div>......yeh dil maange (monkey?) more (kiran?)<br />
<br />
<br />
2) 1996 - A high-voltage encounter. India won the toss and decided to bat at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Banglore. There was already some controversy to this game even before it started. Akram declaring himself "unfit". India rode on Sidhu's 93, and Jadeja's blitzkrieg 45 off 25 to lift India to 288, last 3 overs yielding almost 50 runs. Pakistani openers was looking to make lightwork of the target. Anwar and Sohail were unstoppable. The highlight?<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.fakingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/prasad_sohail-250x198.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="198" width="250" src="http://www.fakingnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/prasad_sohail-250x198.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cricketwatzup.com/wp-content/uploads/venkat-sohail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="194" width="259" src="http://cricketwatzup.com/wp-content/uploads/venkat-sohail.jpg" /></a></div><br />
3) 1999<br />
The circumstances were similar to the 1992. Pakistan was almost through to the semis and India was all but out. But the stakes were high. Edgbaston was full off people waving the tri-color and indeed the Paki flag. India made 227. Pakistan was bowled out for 170 odd, Prasad picking five wickets again. The highlight - Sachin's pull off Shoaib(prabably at his fastest at that time) through mid-wicket for a boundary!<br />
<br />
4) 2003<br />
India was through to the super 6 this time and Pakistan had to beat India to stay alive. They made 274, India's nemesis Anwar scoring another century. The atmosphere at Centurion was electric and Pakistan were charged. But so was another certain Tendulkar for India. (who admitted later he had some sleepless nights preparing for this game). Sachin cut Shoaib for 6, then clipped him through square leg for 4 and then played his signature on-drive for 4 to remove Shoaib from the attack after just one over. This set the tone for India's innings and reached the target with ease in the end. Sachin scored 98 off 75 balls......<br />
<br />
5) 2011?<br />
<br />
Got this forward.......<br />
<br />
AFRIDI :- Hum Sachin ko kisi bhi haal me century ki century nahi banane denge.<br />
SHOAIB :- Magar hum use rokenge kaise..?? Wo to Gajab ki form main hai.... <br />
…<br />
…<br />
…<br />
…<br />
…<br />
…<br />
…<br />
…<br />
…<br />
AFRIDI :- Hum 100 ke andar All Out ho jayenge....!!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-77461933874849295112011-03-25T00:10:00.002+05:302011-03-25T02:38:08.829+05:30Almost the perfect recipe250-260 pitch<br />
2 spinners<br />
Ashwin in<br />
Raina in<br />
......that was almost the perfect recipe for India. It is our home ground. So, it is not, by any means, illegal or unsporting to make pitches that suit us. Featherbeds donot suit us, neither do green tops. I am not saying we cant win on those pitches. But the Mortera wicket was ideal for us against Australia. It is the ideal wicket for us to play against most teams except for may be SriLanka. Should we meet the islanders in Mumbai, a green top may be the order of the day for us.<br />
<br />
Indian bowling is badly exposed on featherbeds and this was brilliant from the Indian thinktank (if indeed they asked the curator to prepare this kind of wicket). Playing 2 spinners, playing Raina for Yusuf(as we were not able to bat 50 overs in previous games) were again good decisions. The only worry now for India is Munaf Patel. Did we really need him? I guess, the answer was no today. <br />
<br />
But looking ahead to the Pak game, the Mohali pitch has traditionally has had something in it for the quicks and we will need Munaf there (though there is still some doubt if he qualifies as a 'quick'!!) Quite ironic, if you think that a few years back he was India's fastest bowler!! (http://www.canadiandesi.com/read.php?TID=736)<br />
The reason Munaf is playing is that he is more economical than Sreesanth and Nehra. He was our 4 bowler today, bowled 7 overs for 44 runs without picking up a wicket. In the Windies game he was our fifth bowler, and bowled 5 overs. Now I would assume that the logic behind not playing Sreesanth is that we can't rely on him completing his 10 overs, given his erratic nature (of bowling!). But between these, Sreesanth is definitely more of a wicket taker. He is more likely to produce the 'magic ball' to give us the break through. So, if Munaf is only bowling 5 over spells, why not play Sreesanth?? That is something for Kirsten, Dhoni and co to think about. <br />
<br />
Everything else looks good for us. I cannot see Pakistan defeating us. I know the "cricket...game.....glorious.....uncertainities" but Paki batting is too weak. <br />
<br />
Kamran Akmal, Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Misbah, Umar Akmal, Afridi, Razzaq. I really cant see this batting line-up score more than 250 consistently. Umar Gul is their only bowler that will really concern India. I cannot see Afridi picking easy wickets against our batting the way he has against the likes of WIndies, Canada and Kenya. <br />
<br />
Unless something dramatic happens, India should beat Pakistan pretty comfortably........<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-74908948583610013032011-03-22T21:59:00.001+05:302011-03-22T22:08:06.481+05:30When Wallace was the menaceThe last time Pakistan and West Indies played in a major trophy in Bangladesh was way back in 1998, in the champions trophy <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/engine/match/66166.html">quarter final</a>.<br />
<br />
Pakistan were the favorites. But there was a West Indian batsman who had some plans of his own. Nope, it was not Lara. It was the burly West Indies opener Philo Wallace. The Barbadian went barbaric and smashed the likes of Wasim Akram, Azhar Mahmood and Saqlain all over the park after Lara won the toss and elected to bat. By the time he was run out, he had scored 79 off 58 balls and West Indies' run-rate was over 7 after 20 overs. Despite a mini-collapse, Shiv (the only member from that game in the current squad) made sure that West Indies reach a more than respectable 289. A total which could have been much more, given the start. Pakistan were never in the hunt even though the margin of victory was only 30 runs for the Windies.<br />
<br />
Philo Wallace then smashed India in the semi-final for a quickfire 50 starting with a first-ball six of Srinath. In the final, he hit South Africa for a 103 off 102 balls. Quite ironic that he just disappeared from the international scene after that and hence not many remember him. <br />
<br />
West Indies will want Gayle to do a Wallace and pray to Shiv to provide the calming influence he did some 13 years back!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-80121341757261677342011-03-14T22:53:00.000+05:302011-03-14T22:53:26.703+05:30CRicket World Cup 2011 and IndiaWell, the India-South Africa match a classic for a neutral, but for an Indian fan it was a horrible memory which needs to be erased with a good performance against WI.<br />
<br />
One of the best things about the match from the Indian perspective was the message from the skipper to his team at the post-match conference. He said it twice. <br />
<br />
<blockquote>We should play for the country and not for the crowds</blockquote><br />
Which is why Dhoni's 12 off 21 balls may have received a lot of flak from a lot of crowd, but that was what was required at the time. To not bat 50 overs was criminal. And had India won the game from there, it would have put paper on lot of cracks. So, even though there is a slight chance of India being knocked out before the qrtrs, I think this is a good kick on the backside of this Indian team and I am hopeful they will revive their performance against the West Indies. <br />
<br />
1) One HUGE question is when the batting powerplay needs to be taken? and more importantly how we approach it?<br />
a) Take it from overs 16-20, especially in the situation that we were in the SA match. Sehwag and Sachin were butchering the SA attack. So why not<br />
b) Second option is take it from overs 46-50. So even if we commit <i>hara-kiri</i> like the SA match it would not ahve as drastic as effect as it did when we took at around the 38 over mark. <br />
<br />
But most importantly, its not when you take it, but how you bat in the PP. <br />
It does not matter when you take it, 5 overs 29 for 4 is not something we can afford in any 5-over period of a 50 over game. <br />
<br />
2) 2nd seamer and 3rd bowler<br />
India would be better off preparing spin-friendly pitches and going in with 2 seamer + 2 spinner combo. (Nehra + Munaf) is a very weak combination. We cannot play both in the same match. Both are decent bowlers, who have performed reasonably well over the last few months. But both are ordinary fielders a can barely hold the bat. We do not have the bowling attack which can restrict batsmen on featherbeds like the one in Nagpur. So why dont we take the home advantage? Lets prepare 250-260 wickets and get our spinners into action. <br />
<br />
The WIndies are loaded with lefties (Gayle, Devon Smith, Chanderpaul and the "Lara-clone" Dwayne Bravo). I am almost certain that Aswhin will play this game, which would mean either Nehra or Munaf will make way. <br />
<br />
<br />
While India are top of the pool and almost assured of a place in the qrters, there is still a chance that they can go out.<br />
<br />
These are the games that remain in our pool:<br />
<br />
1) West Indies vs England<br />
2) Ire VS SA<br />
3) Ban vs SA<br />
4) India vs West Indies<br />
<br />
Ind are on 7 points from 5 games (1 to play)<br />
WI are on 6 points from 4 games (2 to play)<br />
SA are on 6 points from 4 games (2 to play)<br />
Ban are on 6 points from 5 games(1 to play)<br />
Eng are on 5 points from 54 games(1 to play)<br />
<br />
For India to go out, the following has to happen<br />
<br />
WI loses to Eng <br />
SA beats Ireland (which is a given)<br />
Ban beats SA<br />
India loses to WI<br />
<br />
Point to note is that when SA plays Ban they would have already qualified (assuming they would have beaten Ireland by then). So there is a good chance they will give the likes of Kallis and Steyn a break. That gives Ban all the more opportunity to cause an upset with the crowd behind them. <br />
<br />
By the time, India plays WI, all the other matches would have been played. <br />
Either way, they must have all bases covered, "Be Men" and "Do the right things"!!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-36104417534972539472011-02-16T11:26:00.000+05:302011-02-16T11:26:39.446+05:30Arspective: Why Arsenal will beat BarcelonaBiggest game of the season for us. It is an absolutely mouth-watering contest. Compared to the last time, <br />
<br />
1) We have a better goal keeper. Yes, Almunia almost single-handedly kept us in the first half with some amazing saves. But goal keeping is not only about shot-stopping. It is about being able to collect balls of corners and free-kicks, about distribution, about leadership, about communicating with your defenders. For all the criticism the Spaniard receives, I do believe Almunia is a good shot-stopper. But, Wojicech ticks more boxes than the Spaniard when it comes to all the aspects of goalkeeping I just mentioned.<br />
<br />
2) Better central defenders. Last time we had to play Sol Campbell and Sylvestre over the course of the two games. Gallas got injured in the first game. And then Song had to drop back, which in turn disturbed our midfield, since we had to get Denilson in there.<br />
<br />
3) Better mid field. <br />
Like I said, we will have Song in the midfield. <br />
<br />
Fabregas missed the second leg last time and hopefully he will be there for us over both legs. <br />
If Nasri plays (latest news, that he has been passed fit), then again we will have hugely improved Nasri in the midfield compared to the last season.<br />
This time we will have the quick-feet'ed wonder boy, Wilshere compared to the sometimes-laboring Abou Diaby. The Frenchman, no doubt, is a talented player. But the English prodigy is that- a prodigy. <br />
<br />
4) A much improve Theo Walcott. He always had the pace. He setup that Adebayor goal in the champions league 2 years back against Liverpoool. He tormented Barcelona last year.But he was not a great finisher. He has added that aspect of the game, and the English winger looks a more complete player now.<br />
<br />
5) Van Persie for Bendtner. The Big Dane has his critics. But he is not as bad as he looks sometimes. But Rockin' Robin is again a class above rest, never mind the Nick.<br />
<br />
Overall, we are more mature, a more solid looking unit. I know its a cliche for those who listen to Arsene's press conferences, but I think that is true. We will have Arshavin, Diaby, Rosicky, Squilacci, Denilson, Nick and Chamakh on the bench.<br />
<br />
Last time was a 2-2 draw. With all the improvements, mathematically, it should be a 3-1 to Arsenal!!<br />
<br />
So there you go.........<br />
<br />
Come on Arsenal!!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-37271546981808882782011-02-07T10:30:00.001+05:302011-02-07T10:32:34.780+05:30World Cups and Champions TrophiesWorld Cup<br />
England, 1975<br />
In the first edition of the ICC cricket World Cup, the 'Black Cat' and his men were unstoppable. In fact, it was Clive Lloyd, whose counter-attacking 102 off 85 balls set West Indies on the way in the final to 291 in 60 overs. A young Viv Richards scored three run-outs to derail the Australian retort and the West Indies won by seventeen runs to win the first World Cup.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/55956381.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=45B0EB3381F7834D08E8C37D47F663F9F107BB329E7A47FED0EDCCFF44DE44C0" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="594" width="469" src="http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/55956381.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=45B0EB3381F7834D08E8C37D47F663F9F107BB329E7A47FED0EDCCFF44DE44C0" /></a></div><br />
<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
England, 1979<br />
It was the West Indies again, who clinched the second edition of World Cup. The unstoppable Vivan Richards hit an unbeaten 138 as the West Indies posted 286. Geoff Boycott and Bearley took almost 40 overs for their opening wicket partnership of 129. Joel 'Big Bird' Garner took five as England folded out for 194.<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
England, 1983<br />
One of the upsets of cricketing history, if not the sporting history. Rank outsiders, India were bowled out for 183 in the final by a West Indian bowling line-up, which consisted of Andy Roberts, Malcom Marshall, Joel Garner and Michael Holding. Looking at the pace quartet, Kapil and India would have taken 183. In a 'nothing to lose' situation, Kapil's Devils bowled the West Indies out for 140 to put India on the cricketing map.<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
India, 1987<br />
For the first time, the World cup moved outside England and the number of overs were reduced from 60 to 50. World champions, World Series champions, hosts and hot favorites, India, went out in the semis to England. Chasing Australia's 253 in the final , Mike Gatting's infamous reverse sweep triggered a collapse as they lost to the Kangaross by seven runs.<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
Australia/New Zealand, 1992<br />
The tournament saw colored clothing and day-night games for the first time. Pakistan would have gone out had rain not intervened in the 13th match of the tournament against England. As history has it, they went on to beat England in the final by 22 runs. Young Wasim Akram came round the wicket to pick two in two to seal England's fate to another defeat in a World Cup Final.<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
India, 1996<br />
Sri Lanka shocked the world, first with their '15-over tactics' and then going on to win the world cup. Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharna set the tone and typified Sri Lanka's apprach in the world cup- fearless, aggresive and nothing-to-lose. Ashanka Gurusinha, Aravinda De Silva, Arjuna Ranatunga, Hashan Tillakratne and Roshan Mahanama gave the middle order more than just a solid look. If Jayasuriya and Kalu failed, as they did in the semi-final against India, Aravinda would counter-attack and the rest would play around him. Vaas, Wickramasinghe, Murali and Dharmasena, supported by the likes of Jayasuriya and Aravinda formed pretty much the ideal bowling line-up for the sub-continent conditions. They went on to beat Australia in the final by seven wickets, the first time a team batting second won the final of a world cup.<br />
<br />
Champions Trophy<br />
Bangladesh, 1998<br />
In the first "non-world-cup" ICC tournament, Jacques Kallis inspired South Africa to a five-wicket win over the West Indies in the final. The young all-rounder from Cape town took five for 30 and then scored 37 to set the Proteas on the way to victory after Philo Wallace had scored a blazing 103 off 102 balls. Earlier, in South Africa's semi-final encounter against Sri Lanka, Kallis smashed 113 (5x4, 5x6) off 100 balls. Murali was hit for 48 runs in six overs.<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
England, 1999<br />
Lance Klusener was unstopabble for South Africa. With three genuine all-rounders (Klusener, Pollock and Kallis), the Proteas were ideally suited to the English conditions. They seemed to be cruising in the tournament, but a Steve Waugh-inspired Australia had other plans. Pakistan, another team with three quality all-rounders (Abdur Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood and Wasim Akram), also had a wily spinner in Saqlain and an express tearaway in Shoaib Akhtar. But Mcgrath, Warne, Waugh and Co. proved to too hot to handle for the men in green. The final turned out to be an anti-climax as Australia steam-rolled Pakistan, winning by eight wickets.<br />
<br />
Champions Trophy<br />
Kenya, 2000<br />
A young Indian team, led by a new captain, Saurav Ganguly, comprised of little known, but fearless players like Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. India was the team to watch with an ideal blend of young and experienced players (Sachin, Saurav and Kumble). They shocked Australia and then humbled South Africa in the semi-final. They were running away with the game in the final before they were hit by this thing called Chris Cairns. The burly, curly-haired all-rounder first bowled a frugal spell of 10-2-40-0 when the Indian openers were running away with the game. He then walked in at the fall of the third wicket and scored a belligerent unbeaten 102 to take the Black Caps to an unlikely victory.<br />
<br />
Champions Trophy<br />
Sri Lanka, 2002<br />
Shoaib Malik became the first player to be give out LBW by the third umpire in the inaugural game against Sri Lanka.<br />
By this time, India were on a roll. An aggressive skipper (Ganguly), a stable yet explosive batting line-up (Sachin, Saurav, Sehwag, Dravid) at the top,a young middle-order(Yuvraj, Kaif), quality spinners (Harbhajan, Kumble) and a good attack led by Zaheer. They had most things of what a good team should have. They were on the back of an amazing Natwest series win in England, where they beat the hosts by two wickets chasing 326. They were well and truly on the way to victory in the final after restricting Sri Lanka to under 250. Rain gods smiled on the hosts and saved their day. Ironically, the exact same thing happened the next day in the replay and India had to share the series with Sri Lanka.<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
South Africa, 2003<br />
The World cup moved to the African continent for the first time. Only two teams could have stopped the Aussie juggernaut in the eight edition of the World cup. One was Pakistan (because they are Pakistan!) and the other was India, with its wealthy batting line-up. Pakistan, being Pakistan, were knocked out in the first round! The impressive Indian sprint was halted by the Aussies in the final. Ponting and Martyn made the most of a nervous Indian bowling line-up to post a mammoth 359 after India put Australia in to bat! Even desperate Indian prayers for rain, which was their last hope, were not answered and India was bowled out for 234.<br />
<br />
Champions Trophy<br />
England, 2004<br />
When Ian Bradshaw strode out to the center in the final, England had reduced West Indies to 147-8. By the time he came out, he and wicket-keeper Browne had put on 70 runs and West Indies surpassed Englands' 217. An amazing victory, which unfortunately, turned out to be a flash in the pan rather than a West Indies revival.<br />
<br />
Champions Trophy<br />
India, 2006<br />
Contrary to expectation, this tournament was marked by low totals (forerunner to this world cup?). Teams defended scores of around 200 successfully. In one of the preliminary games, Jerome Taylor took a hat-trick, when the Aussies were chasing 225 for victory, to bowl West Indies to victory. Unfortunately for them, there was no such drama in the final. Australia bowled West Indies out for 116 and chased it down. The final will also be remembered for Ponting pushing the Indian chief guest off the stage during the presentation ceremony.<br />
<br />
World Cup<br />
West Indies, 2007<br />
The first World cup in the Carribean will, unfortunately, be remembered for the death of Bob Woolmer. India's exit from the World cup in the first round meant that the viewership reduced drastically. None of this affected the Australians. They went on to hammer Sri Lanka in the final, thanks to a whirlwind 149 off 104 balls from Gilchrist. Ponting, Gilchrist and McGrath completed a hat-trick of World cups.<br />
<br />
T20 World Cup<br />
South Africa, 2007<br />
India and Pakistan had a chance to revive themselves after first round exits in the World cup earlier that year. Revive themselves, they certainly did. In the first round encounter between the two teams, India won in a bowl-out after the two teams had tied. The final seemed to be heading to a similar result. Chasing 157 to win, Pakistan needed 12 to win off the last over. When the equation got down to six off four, Misbah attempted a 'Marillier' over short-fine-leg. He forgot that there is a Mallu in every corner of the world. Sreesanth took the catch and India won by five runs to send the nation into delirium.<br />
<br />
T20 World Cup<br />
England, 2009<br />
Pakistan was surrounded by all sorts of off-field controversies. Change of captains, players being threatened, match-fixing allegations, terrorist attacks on touring teams. It was typical of them to go on to win the second edition of the T20 World cup in such circumstances. Afridi was the hero for Pakistan, both with bat and the ball. The all-rounder hit an unbeaten half-century in the final to take them to an easy eight-wicket win over Sri Lanka.<br />
<br />
Champions Trophy<br />
South Africa, 2009<br />
Ponting and Watson inspired Australia to yet another major trophy. Australia made a mockery of England's 258 in the semi-final, winning by nine wickets. Watson and Ponting scored centuries to take their team home after England recovered through Tim Bresnan's 80 to take them to 258. In the other semi-final, New Zealand beat Pakistan. Watson scored another century in the final to guide them to a six-wicket victory.<br />
<br />
<br />
T20 World Cup<br />
West Indies, 2009<br />
Mike Hussey reminded everyone of the 'Australianism' to pull off an amazing come-from-behind victory in the semi-final over Pakistan. He hit Saeed Ajmal for 19 in the last over of the match to take the Aussies home. But, it was Collingwood's England who had the last laugh, winning their first major trophy after beating Australia in the final. Man of the Series, Kevin Pieterson was in fine form. His 47 off 31 balls in the final helped England overhaul Australia's 147.<br />
<br />
<br />
source: cricketweb.net<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-26049942555322401922011-01-26T11:04:00.000+05:302011-01-26T11:04:30.881+05:30OZ open and WozniackiThis Wozniacki press conference was quite interesting. The 20-yr old world number 1's press conferences were termed "boring" by the south american media. So she comes out and starts talking. She does not give the journalists any chance to ask questions for about 6 or 7 minutes. Was quite funny.......<br />
<br />
Some excerpts:<br />
(No questions asked)<br />
They say I am boring and I answer the same things. But, if the journalists ask the same questions, I will obviously answer the same answers.....<br />
my Racquet feels good......<br />
I deserve to be number 1......I feel I am playing great<br />
(she is number 1 and not won any slams)<br />
<br />
<br />
How was your cricket yday?<br />
2) I had a good time playing cricket yesterday with Flinch and Peter Siddle!<br />
<br />
What do you think about Kelly Danlglish, the new Liverpool manager?<br />
3) Hope it changes things and the lads play well<br />
<br />
What will you say to Andy Murray if you meet him<br />
4) Talk to him about football, as he is an Arsenal fan (now I think Murray is my favorite tennis player!!) and I am a Liverpool fan, so will have a few things to talk about. <br />
<br />
Here it is.......<br />
<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fz1wAcZvecM" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe><br />
<br />
<br />
In some other(maybe old) news,<br />
<br />
Roddick was blown away by wawrinka in straight sets, who in turn was given a tennis lesson by compatriot, Federer<br />
<br />
Kuznetsova and Schiavonne played the longest (4 hr and 43 mins) women's tennis match in a slam. The 30-yr old Italian prevailed in the 3rd set, winning by 16-14.<br />
Schiavonne then played Wozniacki, who spent half the time as much as her on the courts.Surprisingly, the Italian won the first set 6-3. Playing against the Dane who was 10 years younger to her, she was looking good in the 2nd set. Many long ralleys were played, and the Dane eventually prevailed in the set and in the match.<br />
<br />
Djokovic blew away Berdych in straight sets and he will face Federer.<br />
<br />
Winner of Nadal/Ferrer will most probably face Andy Murray who is on the way beating the unorthodox Dolgopolov from Ukraine, who has been the surprise package this tournament. The Ukrainian had earlier beaten Soderling in the round of 16.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-59434949290737162862011-01-18T12:34:00.000+05:302011-01-18T12:34:39.792+05:30India's World cup squad and the Australian open- Fighting Sania loses to HeninSo, here is the world cup squad for the world cup for India<br />
<br />
MS Dhoni (capt & wk) - <br />
Icy Cold Captain. I like the way he does not celebrate after we pick up a crucial wicket, or even after victories. Accused of trying to include CSK players, though I think that's rubbish. With a weakish bowling line-up, his captaincy will be tested again. <br />
<br />
Sachin Tendulkar - His last World cup and surely there is a world cup written in his fate........Surely that is why the final is in Wankhede and (not in Kolkata).....An unbeaten century from the little master in the final to take India to a victory........<br />
Man of the series of 2003 WC. Was asked to retire by many, (most famously by Ian Chappel and his 'mirror mirror on the wall' statement). Quite amazingly, has enjoyed his best years of cricket since then.<br />
Is definitely going to retire from ODIs after the world cup<br />
<br />
Virender Sehwag - Not much to say. There is only one way he plays.<br />
<br />
Gautam Gambhir - He gives us that extra bit of steel. Not one to back off or hold back with the bat and also with his mouth. Plays the short ball well (unlike a few others in our line-up), got a good temperament in big chases.<br />
<br />
Yuvraj Singh - Some question marks about his selection. But, I do feel we need him. Has the art of Pacing the innings. Will be an integral part coming in at 4/5 as India will try to maintain the lefty/righty combinations. His bowling could be more than a bonus.<br />
<br />
Suresh Raina - Ideally he should come in after the 30th over, as then it will be like a T20 game for him! I don't think he should be as automatic a selection as he is since his ability to play long innings is yet to be proven.<br />
<br />
Virat Kohli - Another one who can pace his innings. So that makes it Sachin, Dhoni, Gambhir, Yuvraj and him who can pace their innings in chases. <br />
With a weak bowling line-up and flat pitches, bowling first could well be our mantra for the world cup. <br />
<br />
Yusuf Pathan - He will battle for a place in the team with Raina. To be fair to him, Raina is as inconsistent as him. His bowling is better than Raina's. But, overall a tough call between the two. I do prefer Baroda man as he gives us the X-Factor.<br />
<br />
Harbhajan Singh - <br />
<br />
Praveen Kumar - Can swing the ball both ways. The last significant ODI trophy we won was the VB series in Australia 2007-08. He was instrumental in us winning the two VB series finals. His batting comes handy down the order. If fit, will be an automatic selection<br />
<br />
Zaheer Khan - His form will be one of the keys for us. Except for the 2003 World Cup, the world cup winner has had the highest wicket taker. I dont think any of our bowlers will end up with the highest wickets (I hope I am wrong), but his form will be vital. <br />
<br />
Ashish Nehra & Munaf Patel <br />
Dont inspire a great deal of confidence, both Nehra and Patel. Both are sloppy fielders, and both cant really hold a bat. Since they are very similar, only one of them should have been in the squad. Which one? I dont know. <br />
<br />
Piyush Chawla - Is he our wild card? I would think so. I do like his attitude. Has also been the stand out performer for Kings XI Punjab. But he has not played for 2 and a half years. Maybe, that might work in our favour. Will he be in the XI, a lot depends on the wicket we will play on. Interesting selection, and one that I am in favor of.<br />
<br />
R Ashwin - Another interesting selection. Might play if the opposition is stacked with lefties. Could also be used by Dhoni in the opening overs since our fast bowlers leak too many runs in the first fifteen. Another selection that I do approve, since he has a lot of variations in his pace and flight.<br />
<br />
<br />
Australian Open' 11<br />
<br />
The raw power of Sania Mirza lost to the efficiency, deft touch, one-handed back hand and the fitness of Henin in the first round of the first grand slam of 2011. The 141st ranked India, who was the most googled-for tennis player last year (after her marriage with Shoaib Malik), won the first set 7-5. It was pretty neck and neck in the second before she lost 6-3. She ran out of steam completely in the third to lose 6-1. She has, unluckily, been pitted against the top players in a lot of these slams. I remember the 2005 Wimbledon when she lost to Kuznetsova. <br />
<br />
Elsewhere the top seeds went through easily- including Federer, Berdych, Roddick, Del Potro, Nadal and Murray. Soderling is also on his way to a win.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-30463099053834028492011-01-12T11:20:00.002+05:302011-01-12T11:29:18.487+05:30Arsenal vs Ipswich, SA vs India, Rahul Dravid, Arsene -the best coach of the decadeSo, Arsenal go to Ipswich to play the first of the Carling Cup semi-final ties (2nd one will be at home after 2 weeks). They got a real kick up their arse, drawing 1-1 at home to Leeds. <br />
<br />
On Vermaelen, Wenger says<br />
<blockquote>Vermaelen is out for another setback, which could keep him out for another month</blockquote><br />
On Squilacci,<br />
<blockquote>Squilacci is out for minimum two weeks and maximum three weeks</blockquote><br />
He has mentioned that he is on the look out for a defender. It is not often that Wenger comes out in public and says he is looking for someone. So, if he has said it, then rest assured, he really does mean it. <br />
<br />
On Ignasi Miquel, the young Spanish center back, Wenger said<br />
<blockquote>He will be, at minimum, on the bench</blockquote><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files/images/aug_10/gun__1281603084_profile_Miquel_510.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="250" width="510" src="http://www.arsenal.com/assets/_files/images/aug_10/gun__1281603084_profile_Miquel_510.jpg" /></a></div>Young Gunner- Ignasi Miquel<br />
<br />
So, we can expect a mix of the our "first" and "second" teams, a mix of the team we played against Wigan and the one that played Chelsea/Birmingham. Ipswich were hammered by Chelsea 7-0. But that is hardly any good news for us. We had hammered Newcastle in their home in Carling cup only to lose to them at home in the premier league game. So, nothing is done till it is done. We have a great chance to get home a trophy and we can not relax till we put it in the cabinet.<br />
<br />
India take on South Africa in one of the more "meaningful" ODIs of the recent times. Like Vettori said recently, there are far too many non-meaningful ODIs. This one is important for both teams as they prepare for the world cup. I know the conditions over there will be totally different to the one that will be there in the world cup. But, for India it will be a test of character. Nothing better than a win against a strong team, as far as building the confidence in concerned. With injuries to Sehwag and Gambhir, the team almost picks itself. At least the batting order. <br />
<br />
I would play Sachin, Kohli, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Dhoni, Raina, Y Pathan, Zaheer, Ishant/ Munaf, Harbhajan and Nehra <br />
<br />
The reason I will not play Vijay (despite him being a natural opener) is that with Gambhir and Sehwag returning to the squad, I do not see Vijay making it into the team for the world cup. It will also give Kohli the opportunity to play the new ball, which he might have to if he comes in at the fall of two early wickets (batting at four in the world cup). We still need a second spinner for the world cup and the tussle is between Ashwin, Ojha and Chawla. From what we have seen in the IPL, Ashwin seems to have the variations needed for the limited-over format. However, with the likes of Yuvraj, Pathan, Raina, Rohit in the side, I do not see a need for a second spinner, unless he is a top notch one. So, maybe he might be replaced by Harbhajan. I also think that we need to keep faith in Yusuf Pathan. As inconsistent as he maybe, he gives us the X factor, as we saw in the 4th ODI against NZ. Especially in the sub-continent, he can turn the game on its head in the space of five overs. For South Africa, there is talk that they might play two spinners (World cup in mind again!!!), Plessis and Pakistani born Imran Tahir. I do think that only one of them will play. If Tahir does make his debut, he will be the second Pakistani born to play for another country in the space of 10 days (Usman Khawaja, the other). Stein-Tendulkar contest promises to be another cracker! As does the Zaheer- Smith contest, this one only for the Indians! Praveen Kumar's injury must be a concern for the Indians. Not only can he swing the ball both ways, he is very handy with the bat down the order and a safe fielder. Munaf/Ishant do not really inspire too much confidence in most Indian supporters.<br />
<br />
Talking about confidence, on 11th Jan Dravid celebrated his 38th birthday. Just like his batting, this one went unnoticed. Here's a toast to the one-and-only Jammy! <br />
<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/m6yKsFewK-E?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/m6yKsFewK-E?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><br />
<br />
Oh, and to those who doubt our gaffer's credentials, here is something for you:<br />
http://www.espnstar.com/home/news/detail/item561747/Wenger:-World-Coach-of-the-Decade/<br />
<br />
Arsene Wenger has been named the best coach of the decade, beating Alex Ferguson and the rusty little twat coach of Real Madrid.<br />
<br />
Overall, I believe Wenger is the best!! <br />
<br />
Ryan Babel has been fined/reproached by the FA for putting this picture up on his twitter:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.latestfootynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Fake-Howard-Webb-Twitter-picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="409" width="608" src="http://www.latestfootynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Fake-Howard-Webb-Twitter-picture.jpg" /></a></div><br />
The ref gave soft penalty to Man U and sent off Gerard in the FA cup game between Liverpool and Man U.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-16820710184146911022011-01-03T11:09:00.003+05:302011-01-04T09:56:44.203+05:30Top 10 of 2010<b>January 3-6, 2010<br />
<a href="http://penthegame.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html">Pakistan's spectacular loss to Australia</a></b><br />
It was the <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/406200.html">2nd test in Sydney</a>. Mohd Asif destroyed Australia's top order as the hosts crumbled for 127. Pakistan replied with 333. They took, what looked like, a match-winning lead of 206 runs. Australians were 257 for 8 in reply. Mohd. Yusuf then put all men on the boundary for a struggling Hussey and let the Aussies back into the game as Australia recovered to 381. Chasing 176, the men in green were rolled over for 139 in the fourth innings. That is why I said, Pakistan's spectacular loss to Australia, not Australia's win over Pakistan!<br />
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<b>2-6 February, 2010<br />
Yusuf Pathan's 210 against South Zone. Click <a href="http://cricket-online.tv/yusuf-pathan-210-leads-world-record-chase-duleep-trophy-final/">here</a> for video</b><br />
Yusuf Pathan smashed an unbeaten match-winning 210 to secure a record-breaking chase in first-class cricket. In the <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/indiandomestic2009/engine/current/match/427326.html">Duleep Trophy Final</a>, West Zone were chasing an improbable 541 for victory. West Zone were 239/3 when the elder of the Pathan brothers strode in. He smashed 19 fours and 10 sixes to complete the record-breaking chase.<br />
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<b>27th Feb, 2010<br />
<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/arsenal/7332268/Stoke-City-1-Arsenal-3-match-report.html">Arsenal's 3-1 wins against Stoke</a><br />
</b>When Stoke City's Ryan Shawcross rammed into Aaron Ramsey's ankles to give him a double-fracture, many of us feared a repeat of Eduardo-Birmingham episode a couple of years ago. The Gunners came back instead to complete a 3-1 victory of Stoke at the Brittania Stadium. It was a sign of how the young gunners had grown. Come on Arsenal!. <br />
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<b>28th Feb, 2010<br />
<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/nzvaus2010/engine/current/match/423788.html">2nd T20 </a><br />
</b>Australia had blitzed New Zealand in the first T20. The Kiwis needed something special in the second game. Boy did McCullum deliver something special. His 116 off 56 balls set them on the way to huge total, which they eventually won in the super over.<br />
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<b>14th May 2010<br />
<i>Australianism</i><br />
</b>Michael Hussey strode in with Australia at 105/5 in the 13th over. Chasing 192 to win for a place in the T20 World cup final, Hussey smashed six 6's to complete an amazing win. There was, after all, still some <i>Australianism</i> left in the current lot.<br />
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<b>Sachin Tendulkar</b><br />
If <i>Australianism </i>was back alive, <i>Sachinism</i> continued from where it left and kept going.<br />
<ul><li>First man to score <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2035319_2034243_2034236,00.html">200 in ODI</a>, </li>
<li>Match-winning 214 against Australia in the <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2010/engine/current/match/464527.html">Bangalore test</a>, and </li>
<li>the 50th test century in the second innings of the <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/south-africa-v-india-2010/engine/current/match/463146.html">first test</a>, which began India's fightback in the series</li>
</ul>are three of many <i>Sachinist </i>moments for the year 2010.<br />
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<b>VVS Laxman</b><br />
Someone on Cricinfo commented:<br />
<blockquote>"Though Tendulkar is the god, it is <a href="http://www.cricketweb.net/blog/features/203.php">Laxman</a> who answers our prayers"</blockquote>While it is easy to overlook Sachin's contribution sometimes because of the number of times he gets us out of trouble, there is no doubting that Laxman's knocks were timely and came under intense pressure. <br />
His match-winning knocks of: <br />
<ul><li><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/456671.html">103 not out</a> against SL, chasing 267 in the fourth innings</li>
<li><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india-v-australia-2010/engine/current/match/464526.html">73 not out</a> against Australia at Mohali, chasing 216,again in the fourth innings</li>
<li>96 against SA in the recent test at Durban</li>
</ul>were all amazing rescue acts.<br />
Many of us get so intrigued by his wristy stroke play, that we forget the steely resolve that this man posses underneath. We all got to see the 'other side' of Laxman when he gave young Ojha a piece of his mind, when the young left-arm spinner was "wandering" during their last wicket partnership. <br />
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Keep going VVS!! <br />
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<b>Sept 11, 2010<br />
Djokovic's comeback win against Federer</b><br />
The Serb staved off two match points to complete an amazing comeback in the semi-final of the US Open 2010. He won 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 against the Swiss Ace. Later in December, in the Davis cup final, he inspired Serbia to a 3-2 win over France. <br />
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<b>October 3-14, 2010<br />
Commonwealth Games<br />
</b>Before the games, there were a multitude of concerns including:<br />
likelihood of floods in Delhi due to heavy monsoon rains, <br />
poor living conditions at the Commonwealth Games Village, <br />
delays in construction of the main Games' venues,<br />
possibility of a terrorist attack by militants.<br />
But all this was put to bed as Delhi/India recovered to stage the games in a grand fashion. Not only were the games a huge success, but also this was the best performance by host nation. They finished with 101 medals, second only to Australia. Lord Sebastian Coe, former Olympic Champion and chairman of the 2012 London Olympics Organising Committee, described it as "potentially the moment that could change the course of athletics in Asia, the moment that could inspire thousands of people who'd never even seen an athletics track before to get involved."<br />
It also prompted an article in New York, whose headline was <br />
<blockquote>"A technology called Jugaad"<br />
</blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.adannews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Common-Wealth-Games-2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="342" width="513" src="http://www.adannews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Common-Wealth-Games-2010.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<b>November 14, 2010<br />
Amazing last day victory by Sebastian Vettel<br />
</b>Going into the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2010/SPORT/motorsport/11/14/abu.dhabi.vettel.title.alonso/index.html">Abu Dhabi Grand Prix</a>, the 23-yr old German had only an outside chance to win the championship. Going into the final day of the season, Ferrari's Alonso was leading the charts, closely followed by team mate Webber. Vettel's chances of winning the Championship were very slim. As history has it, Alonso finished seventh and Webber eighth. Vettel finished first to win help Red Bull to their first Championship.<br />
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<b>Nov 29, 2010<br />
Barcelona's annihilation of Maurinho</b><br />
With the La Liga increasingly becoming a two-horse race, the El Classico was going a long way to determine the Spanish championship. Earlier in the season, when Real Madrid went for their champions league tie with AC Milan, he churlishly pointed three fingers to the crowd (for three Scudettos). When Barcelona rubbed in five goals on the Real Madrid, the Portugese's face was a sight to see.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2010/11/28/1290975483786/Jose-Mourinho-Real-Madrid-007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left:1em; margin-right:1em"><img border="0" height="276" width="460" src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Football/Pix/pictures/2010/11/28/1290975483786/Jose-Mourinho-Real-Madrid-007.jpg" /></a></div>No finger pointing this time!<br />
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<b>Dec 27, 2010<br />
<a href="http://www.arsenal.com/match-menu/172288/first-team/arsenal-v-chelsea">Arsenal 3-1 Chelsea</a><br />
</b>Arsenal's young men were being questioned with their ability to win "Big Games". They answered the critics with a thumping win over Chelsea. Carlo Ancelotti's men were thumped and dumped to a 3-1 loss. Admittedly, the men in Blue were on a bad run of form, but the character and spirit shown by the Gunners was there to be seen. Now, are they ready to take the next step? Come on you Gunners!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-15333452965995480512010-12-25T23:22:00.005+05:302010-12-26T06:22:16.751+05:30Arspective: Arsenal Vs Chelsea, Boxing day tests (Ind- SA and the Ashes)It is that time of the year. Feast of football and feast of test match cricket. Boxing day test in MCG has been a long living tradition. (Sehwag's 195 comes to mind immediately). Unfortunately, it turned out to be in a lost cause. <br /><br /><embed id=VideoPlayback src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-3951705796272221267&hl=en&fs=true style=width:400px;height:326px allowFullScreen=true allowScriptAccess=always type=application/x-shockwave-flash> </embed><br />sehwag's 195 at MCG<br /><br />So the 4th Ashes test could not have been poised better. Going in at 1-1, it promises to be a cracker. Hugely important tests for both teams. I will not really read into the fact the momentum is with the Aussies. In the last Ashes series, there were change of fortunes. In Cardiff in the first <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/engvaus2009/engine/match/345970.html">test</a>, England just manage to draw the test. They, then convincingly won at <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/engvaus2009/engine/match/345971.html">Lords</a>, lost by an innings at <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/engvaus2009/engine/match/345973.html">Headingly </a> and came back to win the final test at <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/engvaus2009/engine/match/345974.html">Oval</a>.<br /><br />So, both teams have some thinking to do before the test. <br /><br />1) Do England move <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/current/video_audio/493975.html">Bell</a> up the order? This is a move suggested by many. If it does happen, then Trott will move down to number 6. The big question for England would be how Trott responds to the demotion. Does he respond to the situation in the Dravid kind of way? (Kolkata) or Will it affect his confidence? On his debut at Lords, he did score century batting at number 5. Looking at Bell's confidence, his scores, I would definitely move him up to 3.<br /><br />2) Steven Finn? Looks like he is going to be rested and Bresnan will come in. Bresnan has been in good form. Finn went for over 5 an over in the last test. According to Ian Chappell, he has been made to hit-the-pitch. Rather than pitch the ball up and let it seam/swing. So, the lad has lost confidence. <br /><br />3) Should they drop Collingwood. I would say no. If he does get dropped then Eoin Morgen will come in for him. I am inclined to sticking with Collingwood, as he is a brilliant slipper. <br /><br />There is no reason for England to panic. The rest of the line-up looks ok.<br /><br />Australia?<br />1) Ponting looks <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/the-ashes-2010-11/content/current/story/493895.html">fine</a> after his injury scare. So he should play <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.marmasnews.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/2d28a02c9595cb4004037beacc25e5ab.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 460px; height: 276px;" src="http://www.marmasnews.com/wp-content/uploads/HLIC/2d28a02c9595cb4004037beacc25e5ab.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Down, but not out. Ponting will be back for MCG<br /><br />2) Australia's bowling Johnson, Siddle, Hilfenhaus, Harris and Steve Smith is a worry. I definitely dont think they will play four quicks in Melbourne. So, who do they drop? Definitely not Johnson and Harris after their 6-fors, not Siddle either (he has been very consistent this series). So, it looks like Hilfenhaus will be dropped. But, he was their most economical bowler and helped Johnson and Harris pick up those wickets by bottling one end up. Dropping Helfenhaus seems to be the easy option, but not necessarily the correct one.<br /><br />3) Who will be the spinner? Steve Smith did not bowl a ball in the 3rd test at Perth. While Perth is one of the fastest pitches in the world, it does assist the spinners. Vettori's <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/63955.html">six-for</a> against the Aussies in 2001, a period in which their dominance was at a peak, comes to mind. So, since Smith does not have the vote of confidence, and neither does<a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/307495.html">Beer</a>. So what will be their bowling line-up? Will they play four quicks? or Play a low-on-confidence spinner?<br /><br />Their batting looks reasonably settled. So, I expect Hughes, Watson, Ponting, Clarke, Hussey, Haddin to be in the line-up.<br /><br />Australia have the momentum, but England, I think, have the class. I see them winning at least one of the next two tests to take home the Ashes.<br /><br />Meanwhile, India take on SA in the second test at Kingsmead, Durban, One of the faster pitches in the country. 14 years ago India got blown away for <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/63736.html">100 and 66</a> and lost by over 300 runs. 10 years on, a much improved performance by the tourists, but yet lost by a <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/current/match/249216.html">174 runs</a>. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.topnews.in/files/Zaheer-Khan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 355px; height: 480px;" src="http://www.topnews.in/files/Zaheer-Khan.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Zak - Spearheading the attack<br /><br />For India, Zaheer will come in for Unadkat. I would love to see Harbhajan sit out and make way for Ojha. If the Indian think tank is considering Singh's batting skills then definitely is not the right way to go. We struggled to pick 4 wickets in the last test. Picking 20 looks a far way off. Batting, it is obvious that they should have never played Raina in the first place. By doing so,<br />a) It probably cost us the test. Some support for Sachin in the second innings and who knows what might have happened. <br />b) If he continues to play tests, Raina the ODI and T20 player will lose confidence, just like he did 4 years ago and with the world cup coming up, this is a move fraught with (double) danger. <br /><br />Rest of the batting looks fine for me. Pujara in for Raina is a straight and simple swap. Indeed, one that could/should have been avoided by having Pujara play in the first test.<br /><br />India have their task cut out. I expect our batting to fair much better this time. Bowling is a big worry. We ahve seen them bounce back in the past. So I do think they can bounce back<br /><br />Arsenal welcome(or do they) Chelsea. This has got to be it for them. If ever there was a time to play Chelsea, this was it. They are low on confidence, short of victories,a perfect time for us to start winning the 'big games'. Fabregas, RVP, Diaby are back. Bendtner will return to the time as a 'father'. <br /><br />One of the comments on the Dane I read:<br /><blockquote>Nick has become a father in recent days at least proves he’s not shooting blanks off the pitch</blockquote><br /><br />Unfortunately, Fab(lap)ianski is back for us. So Wojicech, who was impressive against ManU will go back to the bench. <br /><br />Excerpts from Pre-Chelsea Wenger's conference:<br /><br />Q) team's injury status......<br />A) We cannot complain about the injuries right now. Compared to the recent years.<br />diaby, RVP, Fab, Bend are back. We play many games in Janurary (FA Cup, Carling, Premiership)<br /><br />Our home form is going to be decisive (aganst Chelsea, Manu, man city and liverpool) We played these teams away. <br /><br />Q) Have the current <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/nov/11/ray-wilkins-chelsea-carlo-ancelotti">off the field problems</a> destabilized chelsea?<br />A) No, any team can go through what chelsea have. <br /><br />Q) Are you surprised Lost 5 games and yet we are 2 points off the top? <br />A) Surprised that we lost 5 games. Home form in the second part is going to be deciding.<br /><br />Q) Nani says there are only two teams and Arsenal is not going to be one of them.<br />A) I have managed 1600 games. If Nani knows who is going to win the he must be 1600 times better than me.<br /><br /><br />Q) Baloteli dint hear of Jack Wilshere. what do you think.<br />A) Wilshere is going to be a great player. If he keep right attitude he will do great<br /><br />Q) Is this the best time to play chelsea?<br />A) They have less confidence than October. To win the game will be down to us. 3 years ago we won big games and dint win small games and did not win the championship. <br /><br />Q) On Lampard's return.....<br />A) Player I like but would not necessarily like to see him return against us.<br /><br />Q) What do you think needs to change to win the 'big' games?<br />A) Belief, commitment and determination against the big teams. <br /><br />Q) Can Thomas Vermaelen be back before the end of season?<br /> Should be back by end of Jan.<br /><br />Pretty much what we expected. Isn't there too much interesting there. It will be much more interesting to hear from him after victory over Chelsea. So we saw what Man Utd did to us. They really stifled us and did not allow us to play. We can expect that from Chelsea too. Expected line-up:<br /><br /><br />Theo on the run.......But will he play? <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://img.skysports.com/07/09/218x298/TheoWalcott_577848.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 218px; height: 298px;" src="http://img.skysports.com/07/09/218x298/TheoWalcott_577848.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />F***ianski<br />Clichy<br />Koscienly<br />Squilacci<br />Sagna<br />Song<br />Wilshere<br />Fabregas<br />Nasri<br />Walcott<br />Chamakh<br /><br />After the ManU game it is clear that we need the pace of Walcott up front. I think Wenger might take the punt and play the young England winger on the right. So, RVP, Bendtner and Arshavin wil be on the bench along with Djourou.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-73378515109200153782010-12-08T10:05:00.006+05:302010-12-08T11:06:04.585+05:30Arsenal Vs Partizan, Need for Given, S'up'erbia in Davis Cup!,So, we did manage to beat Fulham. But it was not without a few scares. Our defense was shaky again, Flapianski flapped once but got lucky, Nasri was brilliant, and it was a typical Arsenal performance in every sense. Brilliant going forward, trying to walk into the opposition goal, but scoring only twice after a million chance defensively shaky, but just managed to scrape through.<br /><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VAjx_4G5VZs?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VAjx_4G5VZs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object><br />(Thanks to Vind!)<br /><br />Song was moving up the pitch a little too often. <a href="http://arseblog.com/2010/12/wenger-is-off-song-about-alex/">Arseblog</a> makes a detailed analysis of how the Cameroonian has been asked by Wenger to push forward. While Song has pushed into the opposition half more often than last season, when Cesc was playing he would drop back to cover Song. In our skipper's absence, either Rosicky or Nasri would have to take up that role. Or we have to ask Song to sit back and not go up-front, which is difficult for our type of football. With Nasri's current form, it is better for us not to speak a word to him and ask him what to do. So, Wenger should probably have Rosicky sit back whenever Song bombs forward. <br /><br />Looking ahead to the game tomorrow:<br /><br /><blockquote>Koscielny has been declared fit to play and will play tomorrow. </blockquote><br /><br /><blockquote><br />We lose Djourou because we are a bit cautious with him. He could have played with a risk, but we did not want to take a risk.<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><blockquote><br />“Emmanuel Eboue comes back into the squad; the rest will be the same against Fulham.”<br /></blockquote><br /><br />On Van Persie, Wenger said<br /><blockquote><br />“He is getting better and better and ready to start,” he said. “He was ready to start two weeks ago if you ask him.”<br /></blockquote><br /><br />It is quite a surprise (not a pleasant one) that we are in a must-win situation after seemingly cruising half way through the group stage. But then, this is Arsenal. Nothing is easy and nothing is quite so comfortable. <br /><br />Asked about the defensive deficiency, Arsene said <br /><br /><blockquote> We have the best away record in the premier league, which says that we are defensively solid<br /></blockquote><br /><br />Best away record?........yes......defensively solid?.........I would say NO.<br /><br />Transfer rumors, unfortunately, links us with Shay Given of Citeh. Unfortunate, because we never sign a player with who the transfer rumors link us! I really hope this one is an exception and we manage to get Given. If think I would get Given, offload Almunia and Fabianski, and let Wojicech be our number two. But then, it does not matter what I think!<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.freebetting.co.uk/images/serbia-win-davis-cup-tennis.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 450px; height: 280px;" src="http://www.freebetting.co.uk/images/serbia-win-davis-cup-tennis.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />In the Davis cup final, <a href="http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/05122010/58/davis-cup-troicki-wins-davis-cup-serbia.html">Serbia beat France</a>in a see-saw affair, winning 3-2. Troicki smashed a back-hand winner against Llodra to complete an amazing victory. In the first game, Monfils strolled past Tipsarevic. Serbia levelled it to 1-1 as Djokovic beat Simon comfortably. Then, France came from 2-0 down in the doubles game to beat Serbia. Going into the last day, France were clear favorites, needing to win just one game. But Djokovic won against Monfils and then in the final game Troicki beat Llodra. For a player who is ranked number 3 in the world and achieved so much in his career it was a very nice sight to see Djokovic celebrate to profusely, and also goes on to say how important Davis cup is for these players.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-55950902202107501052010-12-03T04:08:00.007+05:302010-12-03T05:25:14.571+05:30Arspective: Preview to Arsenal- Fulham, the Ashes 2nd testWow!......what a turn arround week for the gunners. We beat Villa away (ok, agreed that our home record this season has been worse than our away record) , Chelsea drop two points and then we win the Carling cup quarters and also get a favorable draw for the semis. Not trying to be cocky, but we should beat Ipswich (despite the Roy Keane factor) over two legs. More good news, as Eboue made a 'miracle' recovery. He was to be out for <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/9222143.stm">"four weeks"</a> according to Wenger. While he did struggle against the teenaged left-winger of Wigan, his return is vital as he is one who is willing to play in any position (left-back, right-back, left-wing, right-wing). <br /><br /><a href="http://eplinform.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/eboue.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 468px; height: 601px;" src="http://eplinform.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/eboue.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />.......mircaulous recovery but not quite "he-man"ual against Wigan<br /><br /><br />17-yr old Brazilian starlet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellington_Alves_da_Silva">Wellington Da Silva</a> will be joining in January. We had actually signed the youngster some time back, but he has been biding his time in Brazil as he could not get his work permit in Europe until he turned 18!! <br /><br />Looking ahead to the Fulham game, it is a home game. The good thing is, after our horron performances at home, there is no chance of there being any complancency in our locker room. Fabiansky (I still dont trust him :( )will start. TV is, worryingly, still injured The last time we heard anything about him, Wenger said<br /><br /><blockquote><br />"We have to be patient. We know a lot medically nowadays but there are some mysteries that we do not know about. At the moment we have no rational explanation for his pain. That means there is no reason to have surgery and there is no logical explanation for his pain. We have to be patient and just hope it will go. That means rest at the moment."<br /></blockquote><br /><br />So, Koscielny and Squilacci along with Clichy and Sagna complete the French back four again. Wilshere and Song in front of them. Nasri should be back after picking up a "knock". The boss went on to say: <br /><br /><blockquote>“It is a knee problem but he should be alright"</blockquote><br /><br />It looks like the Frenchman will play on the left, Rosicky in the "Cesc" role and RVP on the right. The Dutchman had, fingers crosses, a good (more importantly healthy and injury-free) return against the Lactics with the Moroccan up-front. <br /><br />The 2nd test gets underway at Adelaide today. The Aussies are under the kind of pressure they have never been before and the English fans must be delighted. England do look more and more favorites to retain the 'urn'. Mind you, the original urn is always held in the MCC. From wiki<br /><br /><blockquote>"The urn is erroneously believed by some to be the trophy of the Ashes series, but it has never been formally adopted as such and Bligh always considered it to be a personal gift.[1] Replicas of the urn are often held aloft by victorious teams as a symbol of their victory in an Ashes series, but the actual urn has never been presented or displayed as a trophy in this way. Whichever side holds the Ashes, the urn normally remains in the Marylebone Cricket Club Museum at Lord's since being presented to the MCC by Bligh's widow upon his death"</blockquote><br /><br />England have pretty much a settled side and there should not be any changes. <br />Potential Weaknesses?<br /><br />Complancency in the dressing room. While they are better than the Aussies at the moment, it is because of the fact that they have lost great players and have become weaker rather than England becoming stronger over the years. <br /><br />Swann?? Is he over-rated?? All the English commentators go gaga over the 31-yr old Northampton man and call him the best-spinner in the world. Well, may be he is the best, but that again is due to lack of quality spinners around and not down to him alone. He enjoyed success against a weak Paki betting.....err batting line-up. He has picked up a wicket in his first over some 21 times. But, I dont think he has been tested against quality batting yet. He dint seem to have too many answers when Michael Hussey counter-attacked him at the Gabba. Lets see.....<br /><br />Collingwood and Prior's lack of time in the middle. Their middle-order (as Siddle showed) could be brittle due to lack of match-practice.<br /><br />Strengths are obviously, high-on-confidence, Anderson's form with the ball, Cook's form, Pieterson's form (though he made only 43 in the 1st test, he was looking in ominous touch) and Bell's form. <br /><br />As for the Aussies, well they would love to win the toss and make first use of the wicket (kind of a cliche I know). Ponting loves the ground and is the highest scorer at Adelaide. Katich and Watson looked reasonably assured in the 1st test. Clarke's form will be a worry for the Aussies. Mitch Johnson is out and looks like Dougie the Bollinger will replace him. Bollinger has been one of the top bowlers in the last 2 years and his exclusion in the 1st test was surprising. So Johnson's bad form could be blessing in disguise for them. Bollinger, Doerthy, Siddle and Hilfenhaus is not going to make the English batsmen lose sleep. Wonder what happened to <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/engine/match/345672.html">Jason Krezja</a>, who picked up 8 against India on his debut at Nagpur. Wonder why Shaun Tait does not play? Tait, Bolinger, Siddle and Krejza sounds more potent to me.......<br /><br />Anyway, the news is that :<br /><br />Australia won the toss and elected to bat........so there you go<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-89906432471872735902010-11-24T23:42:00.002+05:302010-11-25T00:41:02.475+05:30Gunners collapse, Ind-NZ review. Ind-SA preview,The week has gone from bad to worse for the gunners. I was not able to watch the game against Braga. It seems there was a stone-wall penalty not given to us and we had to play with 10 men for last 15 odd minutes as Eboue got injured and we already used our 3 subs. As I said, this week has been a horrible one. But, if you look at it from a different angle, we are in the carling and FA cup (having beaten the likes of Tottenham and Newcastle). We are two points behind the top of EPL. We are one home win away from qualification against a side which has 0 points so far in the group. No <a href="http://www.teamtalk.com/arsenal/6524326/Wenger-blasts-Braga-tactics">excuses</a> for yesterdays loss, but things are not as bad as they seem. Ramsey's <a href="http://www.teamtalk.com/arsenal/6525050/Ramsey-refuses-to-rush-return">return</a> to the pitch for the first time since Feb is another piece of news to make your week better if you are a gunner's fan. <br /><br /><a href="http://img.skysports.com/08/09/218x298/Aaron-Ramsey-Arsenal-2008-Pre-Season_1240736.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 218px; height: 298px;" src="http://img.skysports.com/08/09/218x298/Aaron-Ramsey-Arsenal-2008-Pre-Season_1240736.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Aaram sey Aaron Ramsey!<br /><br /><br />Finally, we saw some 'mission domination' in the Ind-NZ test. Looking back at the series, there was too little expectation from NZ and too much from India. People expected us to dominate the kiwis because of our No.1 status and NZ's number eight status and also because of the black caps' capitulation in Bangladesh (they call it 'Banglawash'). With our limited bowling attack, I dont think we can "dominate" an opposition on the same level as the Aussies used to in their golden days. It is our awesome batting line-up, ability to fight in difficult situations (tail-end batting and Dhoni's captaincy) that makes us the number 1 team. Except for the 1st test, 2nd innings, we performed to the expectations. Looking ahead to the tour of South Africa, most part of the team picks itself. Obviously, the major worry for us is the no. 6. I would pick Pujara or Vijay for that spot. They may not be "natural no. 6" batters, but Raina looked totaly out of sorts against the NZ fast bowling attack on docile Indian pitchesh. Very soon Chris Martins and Tim Southees will morph into Steyns and Morkels. And we will be playing on green tops in Centurion/Durban/Cape Town instead of Nagpur/Ahmedabad. I really cant see him turn the corner within 3 weeks. I think too much was being made of Dhoni's form, or the lack of it. SEVEN innings without a fifty!! Thats ridiculous. Here is a list of his scores in the last few innings before this 98:<br />14,10,30,14,15,76,33,132*<br /><br />It is not the most consistent, but for someone who bats at no. seven, I dont realy see too much wrong with that. He performs when it is needed. <br />He came in at 281/5, when India was up against Pakistan's 588 in one of his earlier matches. His <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/233797.html">148</a> saved our asses <br /><br />The much-valued away series win in England in 2007 would not have been possible without the <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/258468.html">76*</a> at Lords when one wicket seperated England from going one up.<br /><br />And how about this <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/345670.html">92</a>, when he walked in at 326/6 to push our score to 469 at Mohali.<br /><br />Most of his failures have come when we have been looking to up the scoring rate.<br /><br /><br />So, we have: <br />Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Sachin, Laxman, Pujara/Vijay, Dhoni. <br /><br />Bowling, is our weakness. <br />Zaheer has been our best overseas bowler for sometime now. Added bonus, Graeme Smith has been is bunny. The proteas skipper has struggled against <em>Zak </em> among the many <a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_hayden-is-zaheer-s-bunny_1199281">left-handers</a> including Hayden, Lara and Andy Flower. I am assuming he will be back for the tour to SA.<br /><br />Our second seamer will be Sreesanth. The eccentric Kerela man had a good tour to SA when we went there in 2006. His five-for in <br /><a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/249215.html">Jo'burg</a> helped us record a famous win and earned him the MOM. The fact that he has already toured SA will come in handy.<br /><br />Ishant Sharma has had a roller-coaster ride in international cricket. But, he is on the up again and was instrumental in our win in the third test. The Delhi paceman is close to his best and will be our third choice.<br /><br />Between Harbhajan and Ojha, I will pick Ojha. I know that the offie was the MOS against the Kiwis, but who is the the better bowler between the two right now??.....the answer is Ojha.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-63907164534443107942010-11-20T03:00:00.005+05:302010-11-20T04:15:46.171+05:30Arspective : Preview to Arsenal Vs Tottenham, Ind-NZ 3rd test and the ATP world tour in LondonSo, India take on NZ starting tonight (for us or the US!) in Nagpur. Yes, a draw would be a "defeat" for India. The bowlers, and more importantly the curator, needs to get their act together. <br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgreuAINgjeRhBa-qsfzXwjllguHnMGytmEik34zZmBF_HbokxdyR-F4IDfb3CUCFuUJxac3PRy0Nx3ngEHhYVIg1UAmyBU_eBlW1kndCy3e64nSSxR_t0am9UMmPZw1rBpJUdLz6ewBy0b/s1600/ryder.bmp"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 124px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgreuAINgjeRhBa-qsfzXwjllguHnMGytmEik34zZmBF_HbokxdyR-F4IDfb3CUCFuUJxac3PRy0Nx3ngEHhYVIg1UAmyBU_eBlW1kndCy3e64nSSxR_t0am9UMmPZw1rBpJUdLz6ewBy0b/s200/ryder.bmp" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5541394466864338914" /></a><br /> Ryding High!<br /><br /><br />I think, drawn tests, like the one in Hyderabad and the recently concluded test in SL (where Gayle hit the triple) need to be looked at very seriously by the boards and the ICC. There are far too many drawn tests. Ok, those like the one in Ahmedabad are "acceptable", with some bad NZ catching costing them. Maybe the one in SL could have had a result had the weather not intervened. But, with dwindling crowds in tests, I would go as far as saying that even weather should be taken into account before scheduling a test. At the very minimum, the pitches must produce a result. In fact, I would rather see a mine-field, with the test match ending in 3 or 4 days, than a dull draw. The <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/ground/375326.html">Nagpur</a> pitch seems to be ok from the result point of view. Only two tests have been played here, and both have had results. Having said that, the Indian bowling is a major worry. With the ageing batting line-up, our bowlers need to start delivering now. Harbhajan's bowling is becoming as predictable as the improvement in his batting. His ability to pick wickets in test relies heavily on the pitch. Zaheer's injury means our bowling is further weakened. Considering Harbhajan's form with the bat, I would be tempted to drop Raina and play Amit Mishra instead. From NZ point of view, they dont need to do anything different. They came in here with zero expectations and thats how they need to continue. I would expect India to nick this one and take the series 1-0 (Sachin gets hits 50th century?!!??!!). Stranger things have happenned though!<br /><br />The much criticized international break has finished and players are back with their respective clubs. For Arsenal, RVP is not injured, is the big news (fingers crossed!)Arshavin, Rosicky, Nasri, Sagna, Gibbs, Chamakh, Cesc were all involved and have come out unscathed. For tomorrow's game, I wont be surprised if Arshavin is given a rest. Wilshere has a late <br /><a href="http://www.teamtalk.com/arsenal/6514341/Jack-aiming-to-make-Spurs-clash">fitness test </a>and he will be replaced by the "impressive-against-Everton" Denilson. Vermaelen, worryingly, is still injured and there is apparently no<br /><a href="http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/-no-logical-explanation-for-vermaelen-injury-"> logical explanation</a> behind his injuries. Reminds me of the Rosicky injury :(. We desperately need his leadership at the back. <br /><br /><a href="http://cdn.bleacherreport.com/images_root/image_pictures/0172/0692/arsenal_v_spurs_feature.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 358px; height: 243px;" src="http://cdn.bleacherreport.com/images_root/image_pictures/0172/0692/arsenal_v_spurs_feature.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Expected line up<br /><br />F(lap)abianski??<br />Sagna, Squilacci, Djourou and Clichy<br />Denilson/Wilshere Song<br />Walcott Cesc Nasri<br />Chamakh<br /><br />subs: Arshavin, RVP, Bendtner, Wilshere/Denilson, Eboue, Gibbs<br /><br />Bale, obviously, will the player to watch out for and it is just as good that Sagna is up against him. The French full-back has been in really good form and says he is ready for the challenge against the Welshman. Needless to say, this is A HUGE game for us and a win would let us take a peak at the top spot, albeit for a few hrs and put the pressure on Chelsea.<br /><br /><br />The groups for the ATP world tour tournament in London are as follows: <br />Group A<br />Nadal<br />Djokovic<br />Roddick<br />Berdych<br /><br /><a href="http://gototennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ATP-World-Tour-Finals-tv-schedule.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 640px; height: 252px;" src="http://gototennis.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/ATP-World-Tour-Finals-tv-schedule.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Group B<br />Federer<br />Murray<br />Soderling<br />Ferrer<br /><br />We also have Bhupati/ Mirnyi and the Paes/Dloughy combinations in the doubles.<br /><br />Here is the order of play for the first 2 days:<br />SUNDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2010<br /><br /><br /><br />CENTRE COURT Start At 12:15 PM <br />[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs [8] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER) <br />Not Before 2:00 PM <br />[4] R Soderling (SWE) vs [5] A Murray (GBR) <br />Start At 6:15 PM <br />[4] L DLouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) vs [6] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) <br />Not Before 8:00 PM <br />[2] R Federer (SUI) vs [7] D Ferrer (ESP) <br /><br /><br />MONDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2010 <br /><br />CENTRE COURT Start At 12:15 PM <br />[3] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Mirnyi (BLR) vs [5] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) <br />Not Before 2:00 PM <br />[3] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [6] T Berdych (CZE) <br />Start At 6:15 PM <br />[2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs [7] W Moodie (RSA) / D Norman (BEL) <br />Not Before 8:00 PM <br />[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [8] A Roddick (USA) <br /><br /><br />Happy weekend!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-32054791596530578212010-11-12T22:03:00.005+05:302010-11-16T04:47:25.019+05:30Arspective: Post Everton, IND-NZ 2nd test and Roddick's into the ATP finalsWe, as Arsenal fans, have complained so many times that we deserved to win and yet lost the match. That was the case against Chelsea. Against New Castle we hit the woodwork three times and had about six or seven shots on target compared to NewCastle's one when they beat us at the Grove. But, against Wolves, for once, the story was the complete opposite. We won a game which, honestly I think, we were lucky to get three points. <br /><br />Against Everton, we were much better defensively. Fabianski fails to convince me still. While he, admittedly, produced a match-winning performance against Wolves, in the Everton game he was very lucky when he flapped at a deep corner and the linesman adjudged that the ball had gone out when it had actually not. He flapped, missed and the ball bounced off him before he could do anything. Denilson and Djourou had particularly good games, while Nasri, Cesc, Song, Chamakh and Wilshere just continued from where they left and did what was expected of them. Arshavin continues to perform short of expectations. I do feel, however, that a 'magic' performance from him is not far away, when he will single-handedly win a game for us. come on Arsha! <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4yhJAj6V-V4jrX2jCx-b9bDP3jYw5IZ1eu81cliISru3zSFu6LElLklrNJwCsmvVZ7zGt0ZBLDrCg8j_0HsOKf4vK5CUWoBYnqsDVBy8wXcP3S_-w1bWjm1kYVTBupHpZX0UGH6W-WrE/s1600/Sagna_EVERTON.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 637px; height: 397px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4yhJAj6V-V4jrX2jCx-b9bDP3jYw5IZ1eu81cliISru3zSFu6LElLklrNJwCsmvVZ7zGt0ZBLDrCg8j_0HsOKf4vK5CUWoBYnqsDVBy8wXcP3S_-w1bWjm1kYVTBupHpZX0UGH6W-WrE/s1600/Sagna_EVERTON.JPG" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Against Everton, we performed well over-all. Sagna rifled home at the 35 minute mark after Nasri had cut-in and unleashed a fierceful left-footed shot at Tim Howard. Arshavin reacted first to the lose ball and played it to Sagna. The Everton defence were either a little slow or did not expect Sagna to shoot. By the time Sagna let go, it was too let for Everton's defence and the American keeper had no chance. Fabregas doubled the lead about three minutes into the second half, when Denilson drove upfield, played to Cesc, who had a neat interchange (not exactly a one-two) with Chamakh before he let go into the bottom corner across Tim Howard. Then the Moroccan could have put the game to bed, but somehow pulled off an 'Adeb' and missed from inside the 6-yard box. Then Cahill pulled one back for Everton, but we hung on nervily for a well-deserved, HUGE, VITAL three points which sees us go past Man Utd and within two points of Chelsea, whose shock/meek surrender to Sunderland was music to our ears. It magnified their over-dependence on Essien, in whose absence they were, yet again, ordinary.<br /><br />India, in the 2nd test, have seemingly taken control after a second consecutive century from Harbhajan. He seems to be following the Irfan Pathan pattern. Unfortunately, his bowling average is increasing along with his batting average. Nevertheless, his century was crucial, given the context of the game and helped India take control of the test. While draw seems to be a highly likely outcome, India do have a chance to force home the issue. Dhoni achieved the feat of taking the max. number of catches as keeper-captain in NZ's first innings. He went past <a href="http://www.espncricinfo.com/westindies/content/player/51101.html">Gerry Alexander</a> of the West Indies. He once, famously stopped <br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Gilchrist"> Roy Gilchrist </a> from bowling as the Jamaican was hurling beamers in Pakistan. <br />Three intersting facts about him from the wiki:<br />1) Gilchrist is considered to be one of only four bowlers ever, to have actually hit the sightscreen after first bounce on the pitch, on the full.<br />2)While playing in the Lancashire League (after being banned by the West Indies Cricket), he removed a stump from the playing arena and hit an opposition batsman in the head.<br />3) Gilchrist deliberately overstepped the bowling mark by six metres after being taunted by Kripal Singh of India and delivered a bouncer which hit the Sikh batsman in the head and dislodged his turban.<br /><br /><a href="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3420441297_8a52821375_m.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 165px; height: 240px;" src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3420441297_8a52821375_m.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Anyway, so Mccullum's century sees NZ about 100 runs ahead with 6 wickets in hand. India may be without Zak again on the final day, who is nursing his groin injury. <br /><br />Roddick, meanwhile has qualified into the top eight of the london ATP world tour finals to be held from Nov. 21 to 28. Wimbledon finalist, Thomas Berdych and the Spaniard Devid Ferrer also join Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Soderling and Murray who had all already qualified. This was after No.9 Verdasco lost to Mofils in the third round of the Paris open (which Soderling went on to win, beating Monfils in two sets) and Roddick beat Ernest Gulbis of Lativa.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4413192370624990867.post-80185162061719334892010-11-01T23:34:00.004+05:302010-11-02T01:12:09.392+05:30Arsenal review-preview, Ashes preview, Dementieva and F-1 newsArsenal left it late to round off three points against a dogged West Ham side which looked like anything but a team placed at the bottom of the league. The win keeps the gunners in sight of league leaders Chelski (5 points adrift). The gunners hardly got out of second gear in the first half. Arshavin has been the most disappointing player for us this season.<a href="http://arseblog.com/2010/11/songs-improvement-arshavins-failings/">Arseblog</a> makes a detailed analysis of how Arshavin has performed this season. I dont know if he needs some Vodka before the match, but if he does not step up his game, Walcott could soon replace him from the starting line-up. Our only decent chance in the first half was when Sagna pulled away from the West Ham left back and centred a cross from a Song-thru-ball. The strike from Cesc was also good, but Rob Green pulled off a really good save to deny us. (Wasn't this the keeper whose howler against US gifted thema point in the WC) We were much better in the second half, showed a lot more urgency. Nasri rattled the crossbar with a free-kick which surprised one and all in the ground. It was a superbly disguised free-kick from him with only a two-step run-up. Green was beaten but the crossbar denied Arsenal. Then, Theo was released by another beautifully weighted ball from Nasri and his shot across the goalie hit the post and came back straight to Rob Green. We looked destined for a draw when Clichy cut in from the left and dinked a delightful ball for Song to head and send the Emirates to ruptures. It was not a typical Arsenal-performance but most importantly we got 3 vital points to keep up with the league leaders. <br /><br />Wilshere, meanwhile, has signed a new contract. This was, although expected, vital for us as he and Ramsey are very much the future for us (especially considering that Cesc could leave us anytime). Against Shakhtar, looks like Cesc and Song are sidelined with injuries (minor injuries, hopefully!!). So, Wilshere will be back in place of Song. And either Diaby or Rosicky will come in for Fabregas with the posibility of Nasri taking the position of Cesc. Also, as mentioned earlier Walcott could come in place of Arshavin. The rest of the team, I would expect it to be the same. <br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rpHP5-LnPcM/Sx6etA1GJLI/AAAAAAAABXk/dMDeTmJmeu4/s1600/wilshere_wenger.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 230px; height: 230px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_rpHP5-LnPcM/Sx6etA1GJLI/AAAAAAAABXk/dMDeTmJmeu4/s1600/wilshere_wenger.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />In the lead up to the Ashes, Kevin Pieterson, following his poor form, has been, surprise surprise, targeted by many Aussies. He has not responded to them, but instead, he has come out trying to shift the attention, saying that he <br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/cricket/england/9143056.stm"> empathises</a> with Rooney, likening his own situation with the United centre forward. He refused to comment back to Ponting's comments that there was a big "question mark" over his form. Rooney's is probably a much worse situation than his, for he has been involved in sex-scandals and obviously the contract issues with Man-yoo. <br /><a href="http://www.wittysparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/Kevin%20Pietersen%20bat.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 600px; height: 706px;" src="http://www.wittysparks.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/Kevin%20Pietersen%20bat.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Elena Dementieva has announced retirement from Tennis. She is considered to be the one who revolutionised and inspired women's tennis in Russia. Her sudden and emotional <br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/9140779.stm"> announcement</a> after her loss to Schiavonne in Doha surprised a lot people. She was considered to be one of the "nicest people" in the tour and the pessimist in me says that could be the reason for her not to a single Grand Slam!!<br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/sportsevents/2006/07/03/b_07_Dementieva_03_ps_t_hindley.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 398px; height: 389px;" src="http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/sportsevents/2006/07/03/b_07_Dementieva_03_ps_t_hindley.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><br />Former FIA President Max Mosley said that a title win for Fernando Alonso by less than seven points would <br /><a href="http://www.crash.net/f1/news/164610/1/mosley_an_alonso_title_in_2010_could_devalue_f1.html">devalue</a> his F1 title. He won the Korean grand prix in controversial circumstances and was <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/motorsport/formulaone/7909119/F1-German-Grand-Prix-Ferrari-in-dock-over-banned-race-orders.html">"allowed" to win</a>. Massa was leading the race, when Ferrari ordered him to allow Alonso to race past him and win the race as the Spaniard is leading the F1 charts. The Ferrari team was charged $100,000 by FIA. If you really want to hurt a team, sportsman then fines are not really the answer. The only way to hurt a team is by docking points or not allowing the offender to participate in the next match/race.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Syndicate the XML</div>girihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00122578726894423602noreply@blogger.com1