Sad demise of Indian Cricket?

We are the Champions?

The World Champions?

Also, one of the best Test Teams in the world?

Is it? Obviously Yes! We are. But is it true only for our soil?

Do we fail anywhere outside? Do we fail miserably in our 'tests' on foreign soil?

It hasn't really been the case to this extreme until the recent past.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

India - Pakistan World cup history

Pakistan'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.

In world cups, India have a hundred percent 4-0 over Pakistan!

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

......yeh dil maange (monkey?) more (kiran?)


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?

3) 1999
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!

4) 2003
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......

5) 2011?

Got this forward.......

AFRIDI :- Hum Sachin ko kisi bhi haal me century ki century nahi banane denge.
SHOAIB :- Magar hum use rokenge kaise..?? Wo to Gajab ki form main hai....
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AFRIDI :- Hum 100 ke andar All Out ho jayenge....!!

Almost the perfect recipe

250-260 pitch
2 spinners
Ashwin in
Raina in
......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.

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.

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)
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.

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.

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.

Unless something dramatic happens, India should beat Pakistan pretty comfortably........

CRicket World Cup 2011 and India

Well, 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.

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.

We should play for the country and not for the crowds

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.

1) One HUGE question is when the batting powerplay needs to be taken? and more importantly how we approach it?
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
b) Second option is take it from overs 46-50. So even if we commit hara-kiri like the SA match it would not ahve as drastic as effect as it did when we took at around the 38 over mark.

But most importantly, its not when you take it, but how you bat in the PP.
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.

2) 2nd seamer and 3rd bowler
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.

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.


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.

These are the games that remain in our pool:

1) West Indies vs England
2) Ire VS SA
3) Ban vs SA
4) India vs West Indies

Ind are on 7 points from 5 games (1 to play)
WI are on 6 points from 4 games (2 to play)
SA are on 6 points from 4 games (2 to play)
Ban are on 6 points from 5 games(1 to play)
Eng are on 5 points from 54 games(1 to play)

For India to go out, the following has to happen

WI loses to Eng
SA beats Ireland (which is a given)
Ban beats SA
India loses to WI

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.

By the time, India plays WI, all the other matches would have been played.
Either way, they must have all bases covered, "Be Men" and "Do the right things"!!

India's World cup squad and the Australian open- Fighting Sania loses to Henin

So, here is the world cup squad for the world cup for India

MS Dhoni (capt & wk) -
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.

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........
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.
Is definitely going to retire from ODIs after the world cup

Virender Sehwag - Not much to say. There is only one way he plays.

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.

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.

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.

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.
With a weak bowling line-up and flat pitches, bowling first could well be our mantra for the world cup.

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.

Harbhajan Singh -

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

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.

Ashish Nehra & Munaf Patel
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.

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.

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.


Australian Open' 11

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.

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.

Arsenal vs Ipswich, SA vs India, Rahul Dravid, Arsene -the best coach of the decade

So, 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.

On Vermaelen, Wenger says

Vermaelen is out for another setback, which could keep him out for another month

On Squilacci,

Squilacci is out for minimum two weeks and maximum three weeks

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.

On Ignasi Miquel, the young Spanish center back, Wenger said

He will be, at minimum, on the bench

Young Gunner- Ignasi Miquel

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.

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.

I would play Sachin, Kohli, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Dhoni, Raina, Y Pathan, Zaheer, Ishant/ Munaf, Harbhajan and Nehra

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.

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!


Oh, and to those who doubt our gaffer's credentials, here is something for you:
http://www.espnstar.com/home/news/detail/item561747/Wenger:-World-Coach-of-the-Decade/

Arsene Wenger has been named the best coach of the decade, beating Alex Ferguson and the rusty little twat coach of Real Madrid.

Overall, I believe Wenger is the best!!

Ryan Babel has been fined/reproached by the FA for putting this picture up on his twitter:

The ref gave soft penalty to Man U and sent off Gerard in the FA cup game between Liverpool and Man U.

Arspective : Preview to Arsenal Vs Tottenham, Ind-NZ 3rd test and the ATP world tour in London

So, 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.


Ryding High!


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 Nagpur 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!

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
fitness test and he will be replaced by the "impressive-against-Everton" Denilson. Vermaelen, worryingly, is still injured and there is apparently no
logical explanation behind his injuries. Reminds me of the Rosicky injury :(. We desperately need his leadership at the back.



Expected line up

F(lap)abianski??
Sagna, Squilacci, Djourou and Clichy
Denilson/Wilshere Song
Walcott Cesc Nasri
Chamakh

subs: Arshavin, RVP, Bendtner, Wilshere/Denilson, Eboue, Gibbs

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.


The groups for the ATP world tour tournament in London are as follows:
Group A
Nadal
Djokovic
Roddick
Berdych




Group B
Federer
Murray
Soderling
Ferrer

We also have Bhupati/ Mirnyi and the Paes/Dloughy combinations in the doubles.

Here is the order of play for the first 2 days:
SUNDAY, 21 NOVEMBER 2010



CENTRE COURT Start At 12:15 PM
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs [8] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER)
Not Before 2:00 PM
[4] R Soderling (SWE) vs [5] A Murray (GBR)
Start At 6:15 PM
[4] L DLouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) vs [6] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)
Not Before 8:00 PM
[2] R Federer (SUI) vs [7] D Ferrer (ESP)


MONDAY, 22 NOVEMBER 2010

CENTRE COURT Start At 12:15 PM
[3] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Mirnyi (BLR) vs [5] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT)
Not Before 2:00 PM
[3] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [6] T Berdych (CZE)
Start At 6:15 PM
[2] D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs [7] W Moodie (RSA) / D Norman (BEL)
Not Before 8:00 PM
[1] R Nadal (ESP) vs [8] A Roddick (USA)


Happy weekend!

Sachin to Retire from Test Cricket

Sources are telling that Sachin is planning to retire from test cricket after the last test in New Zealand. He has said that he has achieved so much in Test cricket, he wants to focus on one day internationals and focus on winning the 2011 world cup .

"It has been my long cherished dream to lift the world cup" He said that in a press conference

Retirement from test cricket will give him time to stay fit and spend time with his family which right now he is unable to do in hectic season. He said that lot of youngsters are coming and he is sure they will keep winning.

Indian Premier League in England/SA gains and losses

So finally we saw yesterday what we all were expecting since long. IPL governing body decided that there is no way the tournament can be organized in India. It was decided that tournament will be shifted to England or SA with England having upper edge.

Why BCCI had to take this decisions:

1. Petty politics between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Congress and congress trying to diminish the clout of Mr Pawar after he offered himself as PM candidate

2. Government of India thought that the returns of organizing the event will be less at the time of elections.

3. Why take the risk of any unexpected terrorist attack which may raise questions on the running government. Lets get it scrapped or push for delay

4. Fear among the politicans that they may be sidelined duing the IPL season, i.e cricketers will be the heroes not the great nation servers politicans.

What is lost with IPL going out:

1. Big opportunity to the political parties to advertise duing the IPL season. 

2. Revenue for reeling Hotel industry, and other tourism related industry. If the even had gone peacefully lot many foreigners would have stared coming back to India who have stopped after Mumbai  attacks.

3. Image of India as a powerful country has taken a hit. Elections elections are the biggest festival but that doesn't mean that no other event can take place during this time. This is not what superpowers are made up of. We cant even have 3000-4000 police force for the match day where as we can have big 60,000 police force to protect any big small medium politicans in New Delhi.

4. Feeling of city-city rivalry which was the base of IPL will not be the same. IPL-1 was hit due the big city fan following TV viewing being the other reason.

5. This decision has put India together with Pakistan and Bangladesh which are not save for cricket.

What's good for having IPL outside India:

1. Eventhough the sport may go the England or SA, still we can expect a upliftment in the level of game in that region and also increase in fan following. EPL organizers are trying to have 1-2 matches added in the season which can be played outside England so as to cater to fans in Asia, in the same way with whole of IPL going out of India we may see an increase in fan following. It may make IPL fully global in a way and may lead to cricket being played by more then 8-9 serious countries

2. Logistics industry will get a boost in the organizing country.

3. Easy money for organizing country as BCCI will pay hefty amount to SA/England

4. We are seeing globalization in cricket now, there are no boundary walls now as a local tournament of one country will take place in other country.

Some people will say they will not watch the matches, it will not be the same as last year. But i feel this was the only way out considering the options left to the organizers. 

Enjoy the game at same timings atleast and i will be glued to the TV that is for sure.

Rock Stars of Cricket

Rock stars of cricket are on fire. Critics might argue that we were expected to win. Agreed, man to man India is any day much better team than New Zealand. But the way of winning is something which I loved the most. Right from the time the first ball was bowled to the 4th day, we never really looked like losing. There was an air of certainty in the way we played, much like the aussies of late 90’s , when no matter what the opposition team does , end result was always certain.

Sachin Tendulkar says this is the best batting line up he was played in, quite a debatable claim considering the fact Tendulkar was part of every Indian batting line up for past 20 years. In my humble opinion, I think he is probably right , but the dada’s boys of early 2000 comes quite close to them. The factor in which this bunch of boys scores over dada ones was probably the fear factor. These guys are just fearless, I have been following cricket for now more than 15 years and I have never seen an Indian team which plays with so much confidence, fearlessness and the enjoying the game as they do. May be it’s a there captain effect (cool and charismatic), means he is an enigmatic personality , he is not a technically correct batsmen, not even technically correct Wicket keeper , neither he is pretty too watch (in fact that bottom hand approach is quite ugly to watch) , but still he is damm effective. Look at his career development , he started off as an exciting batsmen who can smash sixes at will , people says he is a flat pitch bully, will never work against good pace attack or on bouncy pitches. But he proved everyone wrong, he scores decently in every situation, is very reliable batsmen (perhaps after SRT, especially in ODI) but most importantly has got one hell of a cricketing brain, the most important thing for a good captain.

Other factor which is makes this team more ominous is the role of SRT, u can sense a calm, relaxed person in the way he bats now a days, a person who is dead sure of his role in the team, he might have cut down on his flamboyance a bit, but the new methods are as effective as the old ones. Also the presence of so many rock stars have resulted in lowering of expectation from him, thus making him plan his cricket in the way he wants to.

Anyway, it’s really a great feeling to have a winning cricket team, I don’t really know whether we are currently the best team or not, but we are very close to it; probably SA with their wonderful pace attack and a very good captain might be ahead of us. But these are really exciting team for world cricket with some good hard competition making it really good to watch.

Sehwag Fastest Century in NZ : 4th ODI

Here are the highlights of the 4th ODI of the India-NZ series 2009. Sehwag made a 60 ball century and lead to a historic series win of India. This is the first series win for India in NZ.

India Batting::

Adventure Sports:: SwatTV Roadies 1.0 :: Future of Pakistan

Hi I am your host Mullah Omar

Welcome to the SwatTV Roadies 1.0. 2012 marks the first year of Roadies being organized in Pakistan.

First a brief history of SWAT TV ::

Last year various international satellite channels pulled out of Pakistan citing security reasons.So SWAT region decided to launch their own channel on the lines of MTv. Its a music channel where we show folk, rock and everykind of music. Motto of the channel is to spread jihadi music. As we all know music is everywhere, we can generate music from anything so we have positioned ourselves as the only channel showing music from bullets, tanks, grenades. Practice in training camps is shown live as we feel there can be no better music then the sound of bullets hitting the targets.


TRP of the channel touched new heights when we showed live second mutiny in as many as 3 years by Bangladeshi Rifles group. For two whole days our viewers listened to the sound of bullets, tanks rolling on Dhaka Roads. SwatTV was the first to show the whole incident infact our cameras were in place 2 hours before the event started as we have our network of reporters spread everywhere.

We have got exclusive rights of showing missile launch by North Korea in July 2012. One team is on way to Sri Lanka to meet the LTTE to get rights to show live attempt by LTTE to regain its lost area in Sri Lanka.

Before continuing further its time for a short commercial break::
(Companies selling military warfare and related equipments are given discount of 25%)

[

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Buy SWAT rocks to be used during stone pelting spectacle
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]


Welcome back to  Al Qaeda SwatTV Roadies 1.0.

Further about the channel, Swat TV has generated huge interest and we are planning to launch the channel in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran in a year or two.

Now about the Roadies.Since we got the idea of the show from a bald man in India (the most dangerous place in the world), we are getting thousands of enquires from the youth.

We have got large number of sponsors. Main sponsor is Al Qaeda, other being
Mulla Umar Consultancy Services .. "Consult us before killing",
Lahore Powder ... "For that heightened feeling",
Toiba Oil -  "Keeps your guns shinning"
and Swat Rocks - "For easy throws".

We have got 10 participants from different regions and first edition is an international one with participants from Afghanistan and Bangladesh also.
And for the participants everything will be unexpected, i.e expect the unexpected, there will be real stunts, killings, gun battles, and many more adventure sports tests.

Winner will get straight entry into the next planned mission of Al Qaeda at an unspecified location.

I will not reveal all the details as it is SwatTV Roadies 1.0 Expect the Unexpected

Till then its goodbye from all of us here at SwatTV Roadies 1.0

ps: Some people are not able to intrepret it and saying that its a sports blog and I should write only sports related posts. I feel the post is very much related to sports and such scenario can take place in future in Pakistan, we are seeing what is happening there and sports be it cricket or anything may not be possible in that country.  So it is like a dark humor which has some bitter reality in it.

public class IndianCricket :: Method shouldSachinRetire

For Sachin Fans :-)

public class IndianCricket {

// constructor

public IndianCricket() {
System.out.println("Welcome to IndianCricket. This class give output of should sachin retire or not");

}

public void shouldSachinRetireOrNot() {
// if will be decided by 3 categories of people media, fans and sachin himself.
mediaJudgement();
fansJudgement();
sachinJudgement();
}

private void mediaJudgement() {

// get sachin last 5 scored and calculate average and then analyse.

int sachinLastFiveScores = ICC_Data(Sachin);

int average = sachinLastFiveScores/5;

if(average < 30)

System.out.println("Sachin has gone old, he should retire and let youngsters be allowed to show their potential");

System.out.println("Is this the same Sachin we used to love !! No his time has gone now.");

}

else {

System.out.println("Sachin is a great player, he should carry on...");

}

// Get Result of India last five matches played and then analyse.

int indiaLastFiveMatchesResults = ICC_Data(India);

if(indiaLastFiveMatchesResults == Loss) {

System.out.println("Sachin has not won much for India!! He plays for himself");

System.out.println("Sachin always fails in big matches");

// they show some matches' details in which sachin has failed.

System.out.println("Here you can see the data how he has failed in big matches");

}

else {

System.out.println("Sachin is legend he has won India many matches !! India and we are proud of him");

}

if((average <>indiaLastFiveMatchesResults == Loss) ) {

String NDTV;

String CNN_IBN;

String India_TV;

String OtherNews;

NDTV= startWalkTheTalk("Should Sachin Retire Gracefully now? Discuss !! Barkha Dutt");

CNN_IBN = startFaceTheNation("Should Sachin Retire Gracefully now? Discuss !! Sagarika Ghosh");

India_TV = startDiscussion-with-Facts("yeh dekhiye sachin kaise pehle run banate the ab pata nahi kya ho gaya hai inko!! Kya yeh wahi sachin hai !! ");

OtherNews = start("Should he retire now!! Should BCCI selectors give some one younger a chance? ");

}

}

public int ICC_Data(String PlayerName_CountryName) {

return data;

}

public void fansJudgement() {

// fans will be divided into two categories true cricket lovers and evangelists and others just game watchers.

cricketEvangelists();

justGameWatchers();

}

public void cricketEvangelists() {

boolean anything;

if(Anything) {

// for cricket Evangelists

System.out.println("Sachin is a legend and he has done what no other player has done to India.");

System.out.println("He will retire by himself when he will feel his interests level is not the same");

System.out.println("We bow to sachin he is God");

}

}

public void justGameWatchers() {

if(India_Loosing) {

System.out.println("These players dont do anything! They dont practice hard");

System.out.println("They always do ads and roam around with celebrities");

System.out.println("Some fanatics will burn effigies of players");

}

if(Sachin_Not_Scoring) {

System.out.println("Sachin is old now he should retire");

System.out.println("Selectors should bring some new face");

} else {

System.out.println("Sachin is our hope and true hero");

System.out.println("We never miss him playing");

}

}

public void sachinJudgement() {

System.out.println("I will retire when my time will come! I am loving the game and enjoying it");

}

public static void main(String args[]) {

IndianCricket obj = new IndianCricket();

obj.shouldSachinRetireOrNot();

}

}

Some compilation errors may creep in :-)

India - Pakistan Rivalry will no longer the same

All of us remember Ajay Jadeja smashing Waqar Yunis all around the ground , Venkatesh Prasad showing Aamir Sohail direction of pavillion after getting him bowled, India loosing test match by 12 runs after Sachin got out. There are many such countless memories related to India and Paksitan matches.

Pakistan is the place where we got two great cricketers of all time. Kapil Dev made his debut under Bishen Singh Bedi in Pakistan and Sachin Tendulkar smashed great abdul quadir in the same country to signal his arrival in the cricketing world. 

Saeed Anwar smashed Indian bowling specially Anil Kumble all around to make 194 highest run score in ODI till now. No one can forget Anil Kumble taking perfect ten against our arch rivals at Kotla. People of Lahore and Pakistan in all welcoming the Indians when cricketing ties resumed after 12 years in late 90's. 

These are the memories which will come to every cricket lover mind when India Pakistan topic is thrown open. 

But things have changed in the past few years. India-Pakistan rivalry is no longer the same. We enjoy India-Australia and Australia-SA now. Pakistan is no longer the travelling destination for 

cricket teams. There are many cricketers who in their entire careers never travelled to that nation. Matthew Hayden is one of them. 

Pakistani players are no longer the same as they used to be before. They are portraying the changing mindset of the nation. My cricket loving elders never saw Pakistani players doing namaaz on the ground, having long beards. Imran Khan , Waqar Yunis and Majid Khan they all used to be clean shaven and they never mixed religious sentiments with gentleman's game. In the past 5-6 years we have seen cricketers with longish beards , starting their talks with long religious gestures, reflecting the true picture of pakistan. I am not saying its is wrong to be religious but it should be balanced properly with the game. 

We all know Pakistan is living in medieval times now. How some morons who potray themselves as saviour of Islam are ruining the nation. Women rights are no longer the same, I just heard in news that giving voter id cards to women is unislamic to certain extremists. 

Relationships no longer will be the same. Rivalry will never be the same again. India has moved far ahead of its neighbours both socially and economically. I dont see any one having the same emotions and feelings while watching India-Pakistan match if it ever takes place in future. 

Same thing might have happened during Russia-USA cold war era. No American can forget Bobby Fisher, but as America started moving ahead emotions were no longer the same.

We also now in the same stage we know that Pakistan is now a failed state waiting to erupt. Some people may say common public in Pakistan have suffered at the hands of failed army and politicians. But I believe general public is also at fault. What is elite educated class doing there, what are students doing there. Not all students are into this extremism thing. Pakistan needs a revolution and only students can bring that now. I am not going into details of whom to blame.

Point is sports between India-Pakistan will no longer be the same

I think you all will agree to this. 

Its Official Now : Tour to Pakistan Off

The news which all of India was expecting is official now, tour to Pakistan in Jan has been called off. Government of India asked the BCCI not to proceed with the tour to Pakistan.

Tour was planned from Jan -13 to Feb - 19 consisting of 3 Tests, 5 one dayers and 1 Twenty20. Pakistan is set to loose 20 million dollars. This is a big loss for near bankrupt PCB.

Our neighbors have not played a single test in the whole of 2008 and they played around 22 odi's only.

It is a good measure from India and we should take more such measures which were earlier known as confidence building measures. India with its foreign policy should try to isolate Pakistan more since the Mumbai Attacks.

Cricket needs Test Matches like India vs England @Chennai

What a test match between England and India has turned out to be. Played in security fears and questions by many people regarding the timing of cricket in India as we are yet to come out of Mumbai Carnage. But cricket won and the match took place among lots of security personals and England came with a desire to win and hunger was easily visible in their players.

They scored decent first innings score of 300+ and were on the front foot after getting India out early. Pieterson was brave in declaring at a challenging score of 311 thus giving India 387 runs target. Had it has been reverse case i.e Indian captain had to declare I doubt if any Indian captain would have declared below 420 target.

Hats off to Kevin he gave India the hope that they can win and big thanks to Sehwag for making this test match a great match. If he had got out early, I feel the match would have been a lame duck draw with Indians playing slowly and slowly and by afternoon agreeing for a draw.

Right now India stands a great chance in winning with only 83 runs required and Sehwag and Yuvi at crease. Yuvi controlled himself a lot after being teased by Flintoff regularly during his spell.

Lets see and enjoy cricket.

Finally Cricket to Resume In India

Its final now England cricketers are coming to India for two match test series. Some people will say it may be due to the financial clout of BCCI that England is coming back so early but I feel life is much bigger than money and I salute to the cricketers that they are coming back in full strength.

ECB managing director said :

"This is a very brave and courageous decision which will be respected around the world,''

I totally agree to what he is saying, Its not easy for them after what they saw and some of them including Vaughan had a narrow escape as they were schedule to stay in Taj hotel from the next day.

Some people were saying this is not the time to play as sports are played for enthusiasm and we should be with those who have suffered, I respect this point but I feel we shouldn't let life come to a standstill and let those terrorists win, they want us to stay indoors always and life a life in which we are afraid every time.
No cricket should resume and other sports should also resume. Cricket as a sport will win in these two matches no matter who wins the series.

Successful and peaceful culmination of this series may lead to Champions League T20 being taking place in Jan.

India and England have played 97 Tests prior to the start of this series. India has won 18, lost 34, with 45 ending in a draw. I believe we may take our victory stats to 20 in the coming series.

Squad Details:
Kevin Pietersen (captain), Tim Ambrose (wkt), James Anderson, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Andrew Flintoff, Stephen Harmison, Amjad Khan, Monty Panesar, Matt Prior (wkt), Owais Shah, Andrew Strauss, Graeme Swann.
First Test: December 11-15, Chennai
Second Test: December 19-23, Mohali

England Tour Cancelled

In the wake of Mumbai attacks the current tour of england cricket team is cancelled
Chances of Champions League Cricket Tournament getting cancelled have increased.

Further details are awaited.

Kudos to the great Australians Cheaters

Yes this is what -' cheaters ' from now now onwards the Australians will be know as at least by me, I don't care about what others think of this. Cricketers, politicians or other big personalities representating their country, actually portray the ethos and culture of a nation and the kangaroos cricket team portrayed the great cheating culture the continent called Australia.

We all know what the kangaroos and the white coats sleeping duffers did at the 5th day of the test match at Sydney. I have always been saying that Australians are not popular champions and they will never ever be, when they start loosing they start to behave like mad psychotic mens... how can we loose..... we have to win by hook or by crook ....... we are the champions .......... we will win by cheating if we cannot win on merit.

That's what goes in their minds , they are out of their minds and now who comes to help them in this dire straits ... no one but the white coat suited men ............ the match referee ............. the ICC which has now become like United Nations ( UN is kid of US and ICC is kid of Australia). What should i write about the umpiring bloopers, i have no words to write because if a mistake is done 1-2 times then we can think it as a human error but Bucknor is not human being now, he is a biased man and what about the other great umpire who did another wonder today.
That fella asked the player if he had taken the catch cleanly of Saurav Ganguly who was playing like good old days and the great inspirited Punter raised his finger saying that he is out , and the day dreamer umpire gave out. What the hell ........... how can a umpire ask a player and that too an Australian who the whole world knows are cheaters in cricket atleast. Another questions is why should another Clarke (future captain follower of punter in cheating) be trusted to tell if he had taken the catch when he stayed at the crease on day four after edging a ball to first slip?

Ohh now I understood the point when Australians are batting they want the umpires to decide if the catch has been taken or if there is edge or not but when some other team is batting they so called truthfulness be trusted :)

Watch the bloopers and cheating of Australians




Hats off to the comment by Kumble

"Only one team was playing with the spirit of the game"

We are proud of you kumble but let me say in hindi

"संस्कारों के बोझ तले दबने का वक्त गया , कंगारोऊ को उन्ही की भाषा में समझाना पड़ेगा "
sanskaro ke bojh tale dabne ka waqt gaya, kangaroos ko unhi ki bhasha mein sambhjhana padega

Time has come to spit fire with fire if they show us their nice little english vocabulary, show them the vast hindi , punjabi , telegu or any in other language vocabulary. I am sure ours vocab is very stronger then theirs.



Now lets talk about the man who even in his dreams for the past few months like himself being called "Monkey" , while sleeping or playing or talking to any Indian player he thinks he is being called "Monkey". Bhaji is charged with saying racial comments on the man I don't want to name, he is not worth mentioning. The hearing went on today for 6 hours and the conclusion which was expected will be against us .... bhaji is fined for 3 test match.

Now why this saga started because bhaji is troubling the cheaters the most, the Punter the person with least integrity in the australian team whose wicket has been taken 3 out of 4 times in the ongoing test series was facing trouble a lot, so they planned the bowler be charged with some abuse and be kept out to prevent more of his trouble.... This time who came to help them the great Proctor because umpires have denied that they heard anything racial like stuff but proctor and ICC came to help them here and fined the bhaji.
Now what is our BCCI doing............ they have sent a letter to the ICC complaining against the decision. Would you believe this a letter not even a mail ............ very fast BCCI great going
What we did in the hearing was we complained about the kiddy spinner hogg .... where we you earlier Indian team .... sleeping ..... no but perhaps again our great culture forbade you to complaint against him.

What can we do now

BCCI can show their clout but I have no faith in them because the decision making body is of some politicians who cant do their work properly what will they do about cricket.
Tour be cancelled- my angered emotions are saying for it , but its a rare possibility

4-0 whitewash we can expect now with match at Perth coming and team must be morally down because they lost due to cheating not by their own mistake. But dont worry guys we did last time alsto their 16 match winning streak we can do this time also, team be changed Jaffer be dropped and Yuvraj be given some more time to romance with Deepika as he is not able to concentrate nowadays. Sresanth I am missing you in Australia, had you been there the monkey abuse must have been charged against you, I am sure.
BCCI do something they come to india and kept on complaining this and that and now in their home they are again cheating........... what the hell are you for.



Now for you Australians what ever you do what ever you say ... you are earning because of us Indians are watching cricket, our companies are sponsors , we have the richest mismanaged board, you are all eager to join the IPL ... .. request to the franchise bidders please dont bid for players like Punter and Clarke and the man who dreams himself being called monkey monkey again because this time it would be reality.

I have written in no order just written my angered emotions here. :(

Now for the other writers on this blog who are very busy making softwares for multinationals companies, is your passion for cricket or sports dead that you cant write something?


Cheaters Australians Sydney Punter Bucknor Benson Ganguly Kumble Bhajji Clarke


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Integral Punter

Idiots in White Coats

Yes I am talking about the highly biased Steve Bucknor who has a beautiful past against the Indians giving wrong decisions regularly. There can be only one reason why all the 3 men Mark Benson and Bruce Oxenford and the great growing old Steve Bucknor could give wrong reason , perhaps the 31st night hangover is still there.

How can a third umpire give a wrong decision, what the hell was he sleeping or dreaming. Frankly speaking this is not the time for gentleman cricket everybody plays to win when there is so much at stake and such idiotic decisions costs a lot.

Yuvraj showed some disrespect and he was fined, to hell with ICC flawed rules , for giving such wrong decisions the umpire should be fined for his match fee and suspended for next few matches just like it happens in football .

Human makes a mistake once or twice but bucknor is not human now he intentionally gives wrong decisions against the Indians.

And again today morning Jaffer was given out on a no-ball, how can you be sleeping early morning.

Just one suggestion to you umpires think twice before coming to India, because cricket is a religion in India and when you try to play with religious sentiments of the cricket crazy nation you can understand what happens.

One more point which keep on coming in my mind is why in Australia maximum wrong decisions happens perhaps the umpires are afraid of Aussies , you guys might be world champions but you are cheaters that is for sure , how without shame Symonds accepted - ya I was out .
2-3 months back umpire gave sangakara out for 192 and Australia won the match , had he not been given out may be Sri Lanka could have romped home.

Now BCCI is saying it will protest what will happen through protest... nothing... what a shame for us a cricket crazy nation and no umpire in elite panel and BCCI talks of player welfare and its academies its a associations of politicians just working on filling their coffers.

Suggestion:
Give three-four appealing rights against an umpire decision to a team per innings , otherwise one simple solution throw the 2 gentlemen in the third umpire box and give decision from there but that is not possible and sounds bad also :)




Cricket Umpires Steve SteveBucknor Australia Symonds