Cheers CSK!

I had to blog about this... Having started out with lukewarm interest in the IPL, looking back I realize that it successfully occupied almost all of my weekends over the past 6 weeks. And it was surprisingly comforting to sit in front of the laptop/TV and watch a match that was so entertaining because of its short format.. you didn't have to endure the middle over drag, etc. For purists this might be pure blasphemy.. but not for the likes of me. The shorter format was simply more entertaining. And throw in all the antics of Lalit Modi, Shashi Taroor, all the franchises, all their it girls, all those cheerleaders and the songs, the DJs, the terms DLF Maximum, Karbon Kamaal Catch and City moment of success, you had an exceedingly entertaining, enough-to-bitch-and-rant-about on FB cocktail. And really one doesn't expect much more than this from these things.

For a while there at the league stage, I was convinced that the matches had been fixed. Too many teams were competing for the 4 semifinal berths and it almost seemed implausible that all of sudden many times rose like phoenixes from the ashes and were all neck and neck on the points and everything. That being said, supporting CSK through the initial league phase became stressful too, given their sudden slump in performance in the middle of the tournament when it looked unlikely for them to repeat their accomplishments of the last 2 editions and make the semi-finals. And just when I had switched loyalties to MI, in came Hussey and Bollinger into the CSK team. While Bollinger did make a significant change to CSKs bowling presence, I really think his entry changed fortunes for the team and suddenly they were pulling victories out of thin air... and here they are now IPL Champions 2010! Congratulations to the team for a fantastic team effort and really, if there was any Tamil citizenship, Dhoni would be a shoo-in for his excellent work as a motivating captain. (Ok, I did tire of him and the references to the red-light "areas"(yes yes, he meant the traffic signal) where people spoke to him in Tamil, etc etc..)

But here's what irks me.. With this format of the game and with things happening so rapidly all along, the organizers are not giving the spectators enough time to rejoice or savour the moment that their teams did well (or drown oneself in denial or disappointment if they didn't). Instead, they organize back-to-back tournaments which doesn't let you rejoice the game, but instead dread it. I, for one, am not looking forward to the T20 World Cup, though it would be funny to see teammates of the last week compete against one another this time together for each of their countries.

Come on organizers... let us miss some action to look forward to the next series. After all an overdose of anything can't be good. Anyone listening?

The man.. the master.. the legend

This one had to be mentioned. By now, every single Indian in the world must have touted it wherever possible.. the immediate tweets and FB statuses said it all… Sachin Tendulkar, India’s own God of Cricket achieved the impossible – a double century in an ODI (One Day Internationals).

Read all you can read here.

Watch the highlights here.

For this moment in history, let us all take pride in this man.. in this game.. in this achievement. Hail Sachin! Signing off as a proud Indian…….

Bye bye Ganguly

I wanted to say many things about this man I have watched and drooled over in the past. But my brother pretty much surmised everything I could ever say. Here's his post. http://wwwews.blogspot.com/2008/11/ganguly-my-icon.html

All said n done.

Bye bye Kumble

All you cricket fans must be updated on this news. India's spin pillar for the past couple of decades and recent Test captain, Anil Kumble announced his retirement all of a sudden from all forms of the game. Here are some news articles on this matter -

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/india/content/current/story/376672.html
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/kumble-retires--pics-farewell-jumbo--your-say/77288-5.html

I have been an avid follower of the game in the past. I think I gave up when I lost the means to keep updated while I was in the US. I did see the World Cups but India's dismal performances didn't keep my interests piped up. And I have slowly weaned myself from the game. The 20-20s did suddenly perk my interests and I was amused by the IPL (With a cricket-crazy husband it's impossible to keep completely away from the game. I even saw half the $20 million 20-20 game beteen the STanford Superstars and England). However, I do remember the days back in school when cricket endured as a common religion amongst all of us. As a matter of fact, during all major matches, we count on our class boys to have a pocket radio to get match updates in between classes. Or we had those school-side neighbours just behind the cycle stand who would yell scores for our benefit every now and then or when we yelled out for it. And then, we were a group of girls who had their personal favorites in the game. Mine was Jonty Rhodes (I went as far creating a website for him which if I may add was very popular) for as long as I can remember. I do remember that many many girls had a crush on Anil Kumble back then. This was about 15 years ago, mind you and he seemed quite dashing back then to our roving eyes ;). And then there was the historic test match against Pakistan where Kumble picked up all 10 Pakistani wickets. I saw the match with my brother. I don't think I'll forget that achievement ever nor will I forget the way the other bowlers bowled to the batsmen once Kumble had picked about 7 of the 10 wickets. It would have been immensely spoil-sporty had one of the Pak batsman had lobbed off a ball off another bowler just to kill the chances. They played sport and Kumble created history. And then there was always his pace of bowling, with him never quite as slow as you have come to believe spin should be, nor achieving any major turn of the likes of Shane Warne. He always seemed more of a medium-pacer to me. Enough of my visesh tippani. Here's raising a toast to Kumble - for all his contributions to Indian cricket! Happy Retirement!

India Shining

It seems to be a good period for India in a couple of unrelated fields at least. India blasted off her first space mission to the moon. Read all about the ISRO's accomplishments here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7679818.stm . This is a milestone (or moon stone, if you will) on any grand scheme of things and this mission is being monitored all over the world. Go India!

And on an unrelated, yet very Indian topic, the Indian cricket team thrashed the Aussies in the second test at Mohali for their most convincing test victory against the 'unassailables'. Read all about that here - http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/indvaus2008/content/story/374802.html . And add to that Sachin tendulkar now holds the record for having made the most test runs ever and for being the first batsman to cross the 12,000 run mark ever. Want more stats? Read here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachin_Tendulkar

India - Rock on!

My star cricketer

Nope... No one from any team on the IPL or anything. This one's reserved for my all time favorite player in whats called the Barclay's National League. Thats the team that my husband plays for here in the weekends. And they take their cricket pretty seriously. All practice and league games and all... So, this match was taking place a little out of the city and so I wasn't joining him for the game. But it turns out that I should've. S turned out to be the star player of the match! So his team, the Indian team scored 189 in a 30 over match which was a decent total. They were up against the Pakistani team in the league. And the Pakistan team got off to a blitzkreig and scored 97 for no loss at the end of 10 overs. S was keeper last season and I thought he still was... my bad. Turns out he was asked to bowl part-time. And guess what? He had them reduced to 130/4 in 20 overs.. all four wickets to S, all caught in the outfield. What seemed like a walk in the park was a game at hand. However the Pakistani team did manage to scrape a victory.. but my man was Man of Match with figures of 5/18 off 6 overs. And looks like the Indian team has now figured out what needs to be done to overcome their counterparts. Good luck to them. But oh, hey S came home with a souvenier too... the ball that won him those wickets. Here's the jubiliant picture...



Am sooo proud of you, my dear! And next match, I am coming :)

World Cup Blues

Disclaimer: This is not so much as a World Cup discussion as it is a cribbing of the recent events with the game's biggest tournament.

Ok.. everyone who is anyone is talking about the Cricket World Cup hosted right here at the Windies. But the cup's been the most dismal one already. Both India and Pakistan knocked outta the cup by newer, thought to be easy-to-beat teams like Bangladesh and Ireland.. The Super 8s are just the Super 6s now for the other teams.. Or are they? To make matters worse, Bob Woolmer killed?! Whats that about? When did cricket stop being a game and start being a mob?

There was always an unhealthy obesession with the game in the subcontinent. It ceased being just a sport. It was a religion. And the demi-Gods had let us down. The team with the most runs on paper, the "Men in Blue" all gave the most abysmal performances of their career. Under the umbrella of one of cricket's greatest's career, under Sachin Tendulkar's career, India have not won a single World Cup. Its just the dumps.

So what went wrong? Was it the overconfidence? The complacence? The over-exposure making money and ads? The lack of commitment? Pressure? 1 billion hopes? Or was it just all of this?

The most optimistic-yet-cautious supporter in me was in denial when Bangladesh had us confounded. Hope against hope, I thought this would waken the lions that we would love to believe we are against the Lankan tigers. Not to be. Another sucky performance. And it was almost illegal to hope that Bermuda could beat Bangladesh. It was ridiculous letting our fate being decided by two other teams. And I would have personally recommended India forfeat if ever Bermuda beat Bangladesh. That wasn't to be. And the Men-In-Blue head back. TO make more ads... make more money.. irrespective of the career slump or anything else. As long as their purses kept jingling, it doesnt look like they are bothered for too much more.

Dad tells me that the cricket-based ads have been put on hold. Considering the majority of the 1-billion no longer wanna see them. This is normal. What scares me is some of the obsessive folk, some of the variety thats going to go around burning Dhoni's house or Sachin's restaurant. Dad also tells me that the players are expected to arrive in an undisclosed variety of flights. What next?

Personally, I think we should let all of these legends go. Their time's up. Its time for young blood. Newer players, newer ideas. We lose then... we lose with a learning new team. Not the biggest names in cricket. We need mew energy, new strategies, a whole new plan. So much for all those emails pointing out striking similarities between our 1983 victory and our horrendous start this world cup.

Revamp, India!