Category Archives: Sports
Yeah it was only a T20 and yeah we know AUS has better players of the version. But we did not get them to choose the final XI. So yeah we beat them, fair and square, putting an end to a 16 match drought. This is Sidharth Monga’s report (funny read) from the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Finally. After 10 Tests (eight lost, two drawn), four ODIs and two T20Is. India have finally won an international on the road. It is just a Twenty20, but try telling India that. This was a win they desperately needed. You need to actually win to reassure yourself you can win. Losing can be self-perpetuating. And you start to wonder where that elusive win will come from. You start blaming luck, you start blaming pitches, you start hating the crowds, you start detesting the press, but until you finally are the second captain asked to come for the post-match interview, you find yourself in that rut.
The interesting part is – it was a completely un-Indian win. It happened in the field. It was a complete transformation from – forget the Tests – the first T20 in Sydney. It was as if a magic switch had been flicked on. India were on tonight. There were direct hits, there were diving saves, there were people backing throws up, there was the MS Dhoni stumping without any reverse follow-through, there were clever bowling changes, there was an impetus on getting wickets to slow runs down. It was like it was all coming back to someone who had lost his memory in the first half of a Bollywood film. Simple things but somehow forgotten.
Dhoni called this the best fielding side he has played with. He said before the start of the limited-overs leg of the tour that the young fielders will bring a different energy to the team, and the turnaround finally came through the fielding. It was led by Ravindra Jadeja, a man much hated by Indian fans, always the fall guy, until he was dropped in 2010. He missed the 2011 World Cup too. He came back in England, and was one of the shining lights on the tour where India didn’t win a single game.
Rest of the story here. Courtesy : Cricinfo
If You have ever lived in Australia, You will be familiar with the term Schoolies. For the ones who are not accustomed to the tradition tend to accept it on the face value. Which cannot be a very good thing, as that could probably mean underage drunk kids causing havoc on city streets, right under the nose of administrators. But in cricketing terms this is a tradition that been restricted only to the spectators. I mean what’s wrong in enjoying a pint of chilled lager under the Summer sun witnessing 13 men fighting it out in whites. Well lets just say the ground staff took this to another level, when chief curator Cameron Sutherland decided to host a drinking session right on the WACA pitch, just hours before the toss of the 3rd Test between hosts AU vs IND. Although it has been a drab of sorts for the Indian fans, it still is a widely followed and well regarded series in the sport.
Indian New Channel Times Now aired this on primetime tv that has left the Indian public fuming in aghast. Apparently its customary to have drinks on the ground before the match day and has happened in the past. But on the pitch is a bit bizzare. Having had the opportunity to work with the Aussies for the last 7 years, I can vouch they have a “different” approach towards the ordinary, which sometimes can be passed as too casual for the orthodox but even the liberal in me is a tad shocked.
Let’s just wait and see what ACB or the ICC has to say about that !!!
Here’s Harsha getting nostalgic with the ground a few days before the match
Courtesy : SMH, Youtube
Continuing from where I’d left, here is the 2nd edition of “The Downward Spiral Conundrum”.
Before we get started with the dissection, it is with much pleasure that I write about MUFC who have done a bit to revive their reputation as a force to reckon with after beating Manchester City at their backyard, ending the latter’s FA Cup hopes for this season. More on that, another time.
So what do we have in our hands here ? A test series that was well hyped in the Aussie media with Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke & Shane Watson going vocal in their promo videos warning “India : You’ll feel the heat down under”, has thin chances of going down the records as a breakthrough achievement in the advertising world. But what followed on the pitch in the 1st 2 tests, only reiterated what ( atleast before the series kicked off) seemed like tall claims. Aussies being owned by The Black Caps in Hobart right before the Boxing Test being a case in point.
There is a belief among the community of cricket fans, that if a team is going through a rough patch they should play India. Time and time again it has been proved that a slump in batting form or a long losing streak is always over turned when one faces India. Strangely enough it used to happen to consecutive winning streaks as well. The historic India-AU series (Kolkata Test) and the last Perth test are case in points where we halted AU’s dominance over the game so to speak. With an utter sense of disbelief as much as disgust, the downward spiral for the Indian cricket team has been so phenomenal that anyone harbouring a sense of vengeance with a hope that this team will seek redemption in the next two tests is close to saying, we believed that the Lokpal Bill could have been passed by the Government, in its original form, if at all. The fall from grace could not have been anymore excruciatingly painful to witness, given the manner how every department of our gamesmanship has been found wanting against totally varied oppositions and conditions. Whether it is the English with softer pitches and overcast conditions or Australia with hard pitches baked by the summer sun in all it’s glory. The results have been identical. Regardless of the perspective or the manner You may choose to analyse the game, cricket rests on the 2 basic fundamentals of batsmen scoring runs and bowlers taking wickets. A 3rd dimension which we were always poor at could be that of fielders saving runs. We have categorically failed in all prospects fair and square.
The glorious stories such as that of Dhoni’s rags to riches does not look like its heading towards a fairy tale ending. The jingoism of a money making automobile also known as the IPL interrupting the euphoria of winning a World Cup considered the pinnacle of any sport after a gap of 27 yrs, speaks plenty about what occupies the minds of a group of people who run this show in a country where the sport has proved to be an unifying factor. Considering the country is also the world’s biggest democracy with the 2nd largest population of a secular nature, it is saying a lot.
It just may be that we the current generation of followers have been lucky to have shared a night when we danced and partied like possessed people, where we ran the streets without knowing where we are headed and hugged strangers. It just may be the most this team is touted to give us in return. It just could be the end of all other wishes associated with these lads. It just may be the epitome of “The Downward Spiral Conundrum”.
The 2 Chucks disappointed with the lack of intensity exhibited by the Indians on field, in the Sydney test are asking a question “Why is India so bad” ? ***BE WARNED*** Not for the weak minded
Courtesy : Youtube & Cricinfo
One of the most celebrated strikers of the game and legend returns to the club that made him what he became, on loan for 2 months. The fans went delirious seeing him in the bench. And as fate would have it, half way through the 2nd half at 0:0 Thierry Henry replaced Chamakh and all he took was 10 minutes bringing his already glorious tally of goals to 227 for the club. Mammoth isn’t it ? And that was the winner that took Arsenal past to next round.
“It was like a dream,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “It was a story you would tell young kids if you want to tell them a story about football. Sometimes it happens.”
So is the trophies drought for Arsenal going to end this season ? We shall wait and see Arsene. But for now, relive the glorious moment. Regardless of what club You support, there is no denying this is what we all long to see in sport but so rarely happens. So let’s just cherish “what dreams are made of…”
Courtesy: ESPN Star Sports / BBC
Before everyone starts to call me to validate my well being, I’d like to steer clear that the subject line is strictly in reference to the fortunes of the 2 teams I follow in sport and not particularly related to my physical well being. The 2 teams are Manchester United in football and India in cricket. To put it simply, dream start to the new year could’nt be further from the reality. Well atleast as far as the telly is concerned.
In this edition we will look at the sudden sense of vulnerability that has seeped inside the ranks of Manchester United and the personnel that make the club what it is.
Having occupied the 2nd spot in the Premier League for better part of the season, they assured a glimpse of returning to top form which they usually do at this time of the year. & that was the 2nd week of December barely a month back when we managed to finish with scorelines like 4-1 to Wolves, 0-2 to QPR, and raising the bar to 0-5 to Fulham and 5-0 to Wigan. Now just when the stage was set to press the pedal to ascendancy in the table, in our next encounter and what was the Year’s last game facing the lowest ranked team in the league who are fighting their own demons for survival, on our home turf with the biggest support in terms of numbers, we managed to push our carts to a downslide going out in flames losing 2-3. Well as much as it must have hurt; the late surge of equalising after conceding 2 goals to nil reiterated the passion in United. As must have been the case the winner from the opposition came against the run of play late into the game jolting any hopes we nurtured for a come back.
It must have stung deep because the manner we went down to New Castle United that made up for a choke-o-block game week, only suggested that the issues that have surfaced are way beyond just the tip of the ice berg. I do not consider myself an acute tactician of the game having started to follow it religiously not too long ago. But the sensibilities that one accumulates having read, watched, analysed multiple formats of various sports on a thinking spectator’s level, I sense, some immediate changes in the line up is the order of the day. The fact that we still haven’t found an adequate replacement for Scholes’ spot and a season ending injury to main line of defense / captain Nemanja Vidic mixed with a long and ever growing list of injured players, are the reasons that has left us in this precarious position. Make no mistake that as much as the outsiders, the ones inside the camp too believe that Man Utd are still in with a exceptionally plausible chance of winning it for a record 20th time. The only problem is that I still don’t see this to be our lowest low of the season yet, but at the same time what makes it even more fascinating is that I also take heart from my 2nd belief that the best moments and games of the season are ahead of us. GLORY GLORY MAN UTD.
Apart from the hard bouncy wickets, a boisterous lager induced crowd, its also the beginning of Summer in Australia. So in an attempt to get acclimatised to such starkly different conditions, some members of the Indian test squad reached the shores down under, a couple of days back. The contingent comprising of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha and Pragyan Ojha feature in this fan captured video as they come out of the arrival hall of the Melbourne Airport. The MCG as its customary, will host the first test of the series which is famously referred to as “The Boxing Day Test”.
For the spectators in the ground a 100,000 of them and the millions around the globe that follow the sport, this is an event that is anticipated and followed very closely. The fact that India are the visitors this time only adds on to that festive fervour. Expect to see a sea of Santa hats and if there is one piece of living room Christmas decor You fancy on Yourself, there is likelihood that You may catch someone adorning it on the telly. In all fairness its a sight to see and having witnessed it for decades waking up in the wee hours of cold boxing day mornings in India, I hope someday I will experience it first hand.
I plan to follow every ball of the series and have some serious plans in reference to that. But for now, the images that are flooding my mind dates back to some 10 – 15 years back where I’d be the first in the family to wake up in the morning, all wrapped in woolens and lousy socks grabbing a hot beverage, giving in to hysteria of a wild capacity crowd enjoying a warm sunny summer morning some 7000 kms away, on the telly. The MCG incidentally is the not most sporting of wickets, but the feverish hysteria surrounding the match is always one of the most anticipated events of the year. Be sure to subscribe to it, if You’re in Malaysia (see I need to pay for such necessities).
All the best to India for the match and the series. Here is the link for all the info about the series.
(More serious posts covering the series to follow, under Cricket)
Video Courtesy : http://www.cricketcountry.com
I don’t mean this, in its entirety. It is in reference to what Manchester City’s Manager had to say at the end of their Bayern Munich clash after going down 2-0, in their Champions League tie. Its a result of a revolt by the ever so fussy, home sick striker, Carlos Tevez when he refused to come on as a substitute with the club 0-2 down and around 40 minutes to final whistle. This was in retaliation to the plan of leaving him out of the starting 11 or so we’ve heard.
I have heard and witnessed plenty of stories of players being unhappy about being substituted or being left out at starts but this sounds like a clincher. Its long time coming and one or the other Tevez would and most importantly should work out someway to leave. With this instance aside I’d like to think the club should have read the signs when a player begs to be left. You cannot win trophies like that.
A case in point is Edin Dzeko’s reaction at being replaced. Check the pic out. I mean c’mon there must be more than one thing wrong at the blues camp in Maine Road. Personally this is what happens when You pay money to buy loyalty. It just doesn’t work that way. Its about passion and a sense of belonging. A more passionate player would have tried to prove the Manager wrong by making use of opportunities thrown at him. Mancini summarised it all when he said “I cannot accept this. Can you imagine a Bayern Munich, Milan or Manchester United player doing this?” Yes Sir. You said it. & You’ re right we cannot imagine.
Check out the latest results of the UEFA Champions League, here !!!
Pic Coutesy : Empics Sport / Getty Images
Well its time to bid adieu to a legend of the sport from its ODI version. Arguably the perfect ambassador of the sport and one of the finest gentlemen the game has had the privilege to see. Having followed the sport for nearly two decades I have not seen another one, who with all the heights he’s scaled, still wears the look of a young student, hungry to learn from his mistakes and most admirably willing to admit them. This one characteristic will always make him the head of a very prestigious school. The remarkable fact is that, enrollment into the institution is exhibiting a downward trend, gradually becoming non existent.
For which the cricketers alone cannot be blamed. Its us the fans and our demand for more is what had caused this. But more of that later. Today is about Rahul Dravid. The name that has been synonym to disaster recovery in cricket and hence his nick name “The Wall”. More often than not this adage was earned through his Test Cricket exploits. However the fact that the travelling Indian team esp. its batsmen being prone to a well known, universally accepted, self demolition mode, meant “The Wall’ was an honour well earned. Its most recent loot has been the World Cup, but RG unfortunately will not have his name in that list.
His most remarkable contribution to the ODI form of the game and specially to India, has been his definitive attitude and the various roles he put his hands up for, when the establishment had nowhere to go. In the earlier years of the 21st century it was becoming common knowledge that 6 batsmen with 1 wicket keeper batsmen was the norm. With no MS Dhonis in the candidature list that time (almost a sin), RG opted to done the glove. He chose to accept the brick bats for his inability of mastering the basics of the specific task at hand every now and then, but always worked twice as hard to make up for it with his bat. He more often than not, succeeded. And so did India. One very telling factor amongst many, that led us to the finals of the 2003 world cup campaign in RSA, was this.
Rahul Dravid belonged to an era of the Tendulkars & Gangulys and to some extent the Sehwags & Yuvrajs too. All exceptionally flamboyant stroke players who could change the mood and outcome of a game in a very short span of time. RG could do the same but then again You needed someone who could almost nonchalantly get into 2nd gear, get stuck, repair and leave a platform for the others to go hammers and tongs around him. He was the man for such occasions. He thrived in them. And for that, I as a fan of the game in general and the Indian Cricket team in particular, would like to express my gratitude and heartfelt Thank You to Rahul Dravid, for the memories.
Its funny how in the past 6 months (that coincided with my hiatus) the world’s most followed and fancied cricket team has managed to both conquer the zenith of the sport in winning the World Cup on 2nd April and than nose dive to unfathomable lows thereafter, marked by a 3rd straight test defeat in England that ended just yesterday. Infact the latest result meant India passed the much heralded No. 1 spot in test cricket, considered by the pundits and players alike to be the most challenging of the 3 formats, to a much improved and hence deserved English side.
The contrast in the mood of the Indian cricket fraternity including its fans (read me) in the morning after i.e. April 3rd and August 14th cannot be more stark. The spring Sunday wore a proud crown that read “The Conquerer” and the summer counterpart boarded a ship to the oblivion land that read in bold red “The Vanquished”.
The Indian media celebrated April by running from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to find superlatives and adjectives in tying laces and garlands around the sore necks of the playing XI, the bench, the support staff and the selection committee. I am as certain if not more that it is the same bunch who are thristy for the team’s blood and will not stop until they taste it after yesterday’s debacle.
Having followed the game with undying passion mixed with relentless pursuit and optimism for team India since the early 90′s, I’d consider myself an Indian. As much as, if not more, than the nukkadwala panwari, to the big hearted autowala bhaiyya, to the blue collared over analytical banker to the over enthusiastic chest thumping high school kid and we all have an opinion. Especially when it comes to the whys and hows of Indian cricket, both on and off the field.
And I am of the opinion that in the interest of the team and the sport we all love, its time we should all take it a little easy and focus on something else for a while instead. Let the players know for a change that we are not watching, reading or thinking about them. Neither because we know that they are too good and will stage a strong comeback, nor because they are beyond repair and hopeless. But just because as fans; we can. And as much as the players, we all deserve a break from Cricket.
Well its Saturdays like these that we all slog our back sides off, for the first 5 days. Eventually as it happens we go a little numb as the events get underway. Find ourselves reminding that its actually happening and yes I have a day off tomorrow too
The very first thought that flashed my mind on the morning after, as I opened my eyes was the ugly reminder that my team lost. It was a major consolation that Manchester United beat Arsenal ending the latter’s FA Cup campaign (Yessssss). But let me stay away from a non linear narrative and pick an excerpt from the cliche’ starting from where it all began.
Close finishes specially when India is on the wrong end of such results, generally sparks of wild debates about of what could have been. Heck, the Indian television business accounts for almost a dozen of such shows which air prime time debates of such nature and milk the poor middle class Indian’s precious attention. Was it the decision to have Nehra bowl the last over and not Harbhajan, was it the selection of leaving out an extra specialist spinner in Ashwin, or was it the manner in which India’s famed batting line up folded like a pack of cards giving away the initiative and managing a less than average score in Nagpur, are questions that cricket lovers will find themselves asking and answering for a long time now. As we hope that this does not have a denting effect on our overall hopes of making it to the Quarters I cant help but know for a fact that its India’s batting that let us down. Getting all out with more than an over to spare when just 40 mins back we were at 260 odd for 1, is not something that has not happened before in cricketing terms,but may be not to this team. That had a telling effect on the eventual result of the match. However in the manner in which we tightened our screws around in our fielding and bowling which and displayed a much improved performance, it was a heart breaker to have lost at the dying minutes of the game. I urge my country men and cricket lovers to stop blaming Dhoni for it. There is absolutely no guarantee that Bhajji would’nt have leaked those runs either. Let the team learn from these mistakes made in this match, recuperate and smash their way to glory from here on. To Team India…. ALL THE BEST
Talking about glory, I finally managed a smile after a long evening with Man United’s win over Arsenal in their FA cup clash last night with a crushing 2:0 win which could have easily been a 4:0 with some lovely chances created by the frontmen in red. But as most of Red Devils fans will, I will take this 2:0 win over our cocky rivals. Shame on each Gooner who invested their time and energy predicting, expecting and finally praying for a slip up in Man Utd’s form leading to the crucial phase to the Premier League title race.
Well lets just say we are back after 2 forgettable matches. But thats for another day. Let us now just bask in the glory of a wonderful evening where Hernandez, Fabio and Rooney did almost everything right and ensured a telling win shooting the Gunners down (who incidentally are now out of Carling Cup, Champions League and now FA Cup )Arsene Wenger with all due respect does cut a sorry figure in the sidelines for someone who spent majority of the season jumping around like a man possessed. You take some rest now.
Well thats my “straight from the bed post on a Sunday morning, about a Saturday that was” !!!
Watch Harsha’s match round up of the Ind vs SA clash here !!!
For more picture from Man U vs Arsenal game, click here