Saturday, November 29, 2008
Some times news snippets...
....like this one, makes you delve deeeeep into your past cricket viewing memories, when you believed you were still a kid. You go, "Tinu Yohannan, ummm...really? Am I that old?".
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Avar Budddy Freddie...
....is all praise of Indian cricket team these days. It is something really disturbing, with the wealth flowing back to India, the English are eying us again. Very worrying indeed.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
amongst other delightful things, cricket makes lines like these possible...
“Cricket's capacity to shoot itself in the foot knows no bounds and the farcical end to the third One-Day International here on Thursday was another example of rules and regulations holding sway over the interests of spectators and simple common sense.”
– Daily Mail
"Appoint an umpire called Tiffin to a match involving India and England and it is to be expected that he comes over all 'old colonial' and stops for tea at 4.30,"
- The Guardian
They are of course in reference to the India vs England 3rd ODI in Kanpur. The bad light and subsequently the match being awarded to India, courtesy DL method.
– Daily Mail
"Appoint an umpire called Tiffin to a match involving India and England and it is to be expected that he comes over all 'old colonial' and stops for tea at 4.30,"
- The Guardian
They are of course in reference to the India vs England 3rd ODI in Kanpur. The bad light and subsequently the match being awarded to India, courtesy DL method.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
.. and we slip further
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Pontifications
"I still feel the decisions I made weren't negative at all," Ponting said on arriving at Sydney Airport last night. "I am very comfortable with the decisions that I made. I will continue to be a ruthless captain and a ruthless player."
and then...
"Where is the guarantee we would have won the Test?" he asked. "The thing that's astounding to me, how wasn't I ruthless in the overs leading up to that? At some stage during play that day I was going to have to use spin bowlers."
and then...
"Where is the guarantee we would have won the Test?" he asked. "The thing that's astounding to me, how wasn't I ruthless in the overs leading up to that? At some stage during play that day I was going to have to use spin bowlers."
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Your Prediction?
Current time: 12:49 local, 07:19 GMT
India 441 & 295 - Australia 355 & 156/5
2-0 ?
1-0 ?
Your Prediction?
India 441 & 295 - Australia 355 & 156/5
2-0 ?
1-0 ?
Your Prediction?
Stumped
Following is an excerpt from this blog by V. Ramnarayan. It's a really nice blog, filled with anecdotes.
" "Kya bole?" (What did you say)? Abid is credited with asking this classic question of Viswanath, when they met three quarters of the way down the pitch, with GRV rooted to the spot and repeatedly shouting "No!" at the top of his voice, and Abid still charging down regardless for a run. This no doubt apocryphal story of an incident in a Test match was told with much relish by the Karnataka batsman, at the expense of the Hyderabad all rounder, who had a reputation for getting mixed up in run outs. Abid Ali was about twice as swift between wickets as most other batsmen and was always on the lookout for quick singles. He was more than once stumped off the first ball he faced, because he had taken off for a single even before playing the ball."
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Of players beyond punchlines, and dimensions lost to success.
There was a point in the middle of the day, when I wondered.. what if he was at the wicket today. And I was reminded of him often throughout this series.
There are certain players who are more than just a passing whiff of greatness. There are some who threaten to kill their own legend. Some who are unaware, and some.. weary. Some exist today, but most lived yesterday. I think its easy to dub a player great, a very generous adjective handed out in cricket, once he ceases to play the game, for it gives one a dimension named perspective to brood on.
Quite a lotta obituaries are being written on the demise of Aussie supremacy - premature and inaccurate, in my opinion. I feel they could all be turned on their heads once the pace bowler returns to form and the wandering all-rounder is hushed into the wings. Among other things, this tour would at least put things into perspective, for Australian cricket.
But I think we forget the fact that their board chose to not play a playmaker on disciplinary grounds. They chose to blood a spinner into their Test team, at an age unheard of, for our debutants. I think we forget that they have a media as bad ours, breathing down their neck. I think we forget they were not the ones in Sri Lanka a few months back. I think we forget, they made the tough decisions, we would n't.
Its easy to forget things, when you are winning. As easy, as it is to remember great players when they are not around.
But let's not forget, it is a great cricket nation, theirs. They play well. They play hard. They are still here, and they will survive (on top).
And we will hate them. Again.
Addendum: It has been brought to the notice of the author that ow(u)r Flintoff babu has endorsed the Indian cricket team as the best in the world. And, there is no one, no one in this world who can contest ow(u)r Freddie. This article is hereby dubbed void. Sorry for the inconvenience.
There are certain players who are more than just a passing whiff of greatness. There are some who threaten to kill their own legend. Some who are unaware, and some.. weary. Some exist today, but most lived yesterday. I think its easy to dub a player great, a very generous adjective handed out in cricket, once he ceases to play the game, for it gives one a dimension named perspective to brood on.
Quite a lotta obituaries are being written on the demise of Aussie supremacy - premature and inaccurate, in my opinion. I feel they could all be turned on their heads once the pace bowler returns to form and the wandering all-rounder is hushed into the wings. Among other things, this tour would at least put things into perspective, for Australian cricket.But I think we forget the fact that their board chose to not play a playmaker on disciplinary grounds. They chose to blood a spinner into their Test team, at an age unheard of, for our debutants. I think we forget that they have a media as bad ours, breathing down their neck. I think we forget they were not the ones in Sri Lanka a few months back. I think we forget, they made the tough decisions, we would n't.
Its easy to forget things, when you are winning. As easy, as it is to remember great players when they are not around.
But let's not forget, it is a great cricket nation, theirs. They play well. They play hard. They are still here, and they will survive (on top).
And we will hate them. Again.
Addendum: It has been brought to the notice of the author that ow(u)r Flintoff babu has endorsed the Indian cricket team as the best in the world. And, there is no one, no one in this world who can contest ow(u)r Freddie. This article is hereby dubbed void. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
It's days like these that you should be on a vacation.. in Nagpur.
It has been a highly distracting day at work, for me. So I think I will just push it to the brink by toasting to the #40. Here, here. Cheers.
To write about a test match on its first day is tempting fate, but I am willing, today. For these are romantic days in Indian cricket. And this is a special test match. It pledged history even before the first ball was bowled. So every word which shall follow will hop around cliches.
And I hasten to write this, before Saurav gets carried away on a featherbed of a pitch in his last test match, and do something characteristic. There was a great piece on cricinfo about Dada today. Many more crafted articles will be written in the next few days on India's most charismatic captain. We shall wait. And read.
...
In principle, I also wanted to write about the debutant opener, the man I never heard of, before this week, for I do not follow the Indian domestic circuit as religiously as the people who should, do. Thankfully. But the story was so dramatic, that I could nt help be strangely glad for a young man who just saw his dream take flesh while still catching up with its realization. It is a great story, and there have been many before. And more will follow, surely. But each is special in its own right.
To earn the spot to play for that one team.
To look around and find yourself in a room full of strangers you knew all your waking life. To walk out to a slap on your back from a great man who has seen many a summer in whites. To stand at one end of the wicket and wonder if you are going to die. A moment of isolation. A realization. And that one long breath, like its gonna be your last.
It must have been special.
"We are going with M Vijay," his captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said. "He will open the innings."
Oh. Fuck!
They say he did well. But that is almost inconsequential in this story. For the moment. For the day. For today is the only day he would have been forgiven if had got a naught, even. For he lived out a dream today, one that little kids with gaping mouths have.. sitting on their floor four feet away from the 12"er, squinting their eyes.. wondering why grown men cry.
He became an Indian national cricketer. Today.
"We are going with M Vijay," his captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said. "He will open the innings."
...
Er, that's what he said.
To write about a test match on its first day is tempting fate, but I am willing, today. For these are romantic days in Indian cricket. And this is a special test match. It pledged history even before the first ball was bowled. So every word which shall follow will hop around cliches.
And I hasten to write this, before Saurav gets carried away on a featherbed of a pitch in his last test match, and do something characteristic. There was a great piece on cricinfo about Dada today. Many more crafted articles will be written in the next few days on India's most charismatic captain. We shall wait. And read.
...
In principle, I also wanted to write about the debutant opener, the man I never heard of, before this week, for I do not follow the Indian domestic circuit as religiously as the people who should, do. Thankfully. But the story was so dramatic, that I could nt help be strangely glad for a young man who just saw his dream take flesh while still catching up with its realization. It is a great story, and there have been many before. And more will follow, surely. But each is special in its own right.
To earn the spot to play for that one team.
To look around and find yourself in a room full of strangers you knew all your waking life. To walk out to a slap on your back from a great man who has seen many a summer in whites. To stand at one end of the wicket and wonder if you are going to die. A moment of isolation. A realization. And that one long breath, like its gonna be your last.
It must have been special.
"We are going with M Vijay," his captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said. "He will open the innings."
Oh. Fuck!
They say he did well. But that is almost inconsequential in this story. For the moment. For the day. For today is the only day he would have been forgiven if had got a naught, even. For he lived out a dream today, one that little kids with gaping mouths have.. sitting on their floor four feet away from the 12"er, squinting their eyes.. wondering why grown men cry.
He became an Indian national cricketer. Today.
"We are going with M Vijay," his captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, said. "He will open the innings."
...
Er, that's what he said.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
So Close..
I can't help but empathize with the one who lost the championship by a single point!
But the kid was good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
