Saniaaah...
Sania Mirza did pretty well to get so far..but she bowed out of the Bank of the West Classic tournament, losing out to higher ranked Anna Chakvetadze in the final. The Russian who is ranked number seven in the world proved to be a much better player to go on to win her 4th title of the year....with a resounding 6-3, 6-2 victory !
Though Sania lost..she is surely going to improve her ranking from 35.
But Sania did better against Chakvetadze in the WTA doubles final. Sania and partner Shahar Peer, dismissed the Belarussian-Russian pair of Victoria Azarenka and Chakvetadze, 6-4, 7-6 to clinch the doubles title. This is Sania's second doubles title in two weeks, following her triumph at the Cincinnati Open last week.
India are on the cusp of a historic win at Trent Bridge...the pitch has flattened and its much easier to bat now..so the English batsmen are surely gonna do better than the first innings. It will all be upto to the old wily war horse, Anil Kumble to weave a web of spin around them. He did not seem very hard to negotiate for the 3 overs he bowled on the 3rd evening...hope he gets some more bounce off the wicket and then India will be well & truly in line to win the series.
Bunnies do well !!!
The Rig Veda says that "Lethargy can prove fatal for life"...well surely it proved to be almost right in my case. Lethargy and a wee bit of fatigue conspired to keep me away from the kitchen. SO my plans to cook went down the drain.
India are doing well at Trent Bridge...with a lead of 283, they have to win this game from here, unless the English weather plays spoilsport. Sachin & Saurav looked set for hundreds until Umpire Taufel sent them packing. Laxman also was in the runs with a fifty, which is good for India.
My dear Rabbitohs beat the Titans..it was a hard fought 20-14 win. Good Going, Bunnies!! We are all set to go into the finals. Panthers are next...
Back to the chopping board ???
The folks are out of town..am planning to cook sometime in the next few days...maybe some pasta or a very much Indianised noodles ! Or better some lip smacking sambar & red hot potato curry. I think I will go with that. With the kind of weather we have had in the past few days...that will be good !!
With Lara already roped in..and now Warne & McGrath also expected to join the rebel ICL..it does seem to be getting interesting. There is also talk of Fleming joining. Good..finally the BCCI will wake up and start doing some good to the game in India.
They are also getting in a lot of youngsters...this will surely do a lot of good to them... though I am not sure how the BCCI will treat them later.
The second test starts tomorrow...lets hope India does better this time...and manage to score some runs. India has, in the past 5 years, been too dependent on Dravid to score runs...when he doesn't..they seem completely outclassed, atleast on most occasions. So lets hope he comes good.
Also the Rabbitohs play the Titans..heres to another win for them !! The Bunnies Rock!!
Thank God..it rained
For the first time since 1946..the rains were at the right time for India...
Dhoni did his bit to try & avoid the seemingly close defeat.
Laxman, again fell to a good ball. As is his wont he fell playing on the backfoot to a ball that a bit to full to go back.
Sreesanth showed that he can swing the ball. Zaheer was the most consistent of the seamers. R.P Singh did take a fifer...he is like a slower, less creative Wasim Akram. Kumble did his bit but the pitch was offering him no help at all.
The batsmen esp. Tendulkar & Ganguly should have gone on to do better. They did get starts in both the innings. Sachin again fell offering no shot to a spinner. He really has to stop doing that.
On a completely different topic India's ISRO is planning to launch an Israeli satellite from Sriharikota. The launch is expected to cost approximately $15 million.
This will be India's second dedicated commercial launch this year; in April, it carried an Italian satellite called Agile.
Once in orbit, the India-launched Israeli satellite will be controlled by the Israeli defence ministry. If the mission succeeds, it will be the second spy satellite launched by India. The first one was India's own Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), which was carried by the PSLV on October 22, 2001.
Bunnies beat Cowboys...Indians in similar situations
The Rabbitohs beat the North Queensland Cowboys 20 -14 to keep their hopes and mine alive of making it to the finals.
Despite being down 10-8 midway into he second half of the game..the bunnies came back strongly to win. I hope they keep the momentum and go into the finals for the first time since they returned to the League!!!
The Indians on the other hand have to score around 240 more runs to win the first test at Lords. With Karthik on 56 and Ganguly on 36, they are placed pretty well to scale this peak. They have to ensure that they don't lose ant wickets in the first session. Then Laxman & Dhoni can contribute as well...unless they collapse as has been their wont in such scenarios.
Anyway...I am thrilled that the bunnies are doing so well !!
Back from the slumberrrr.....
Its been a long time since my last post...have been very lazy and also a bit preoccupied with other matters...not so important but definitely higher on my priority list !
Since then, India have managed to get dumped out of the World Cup rather ignominious. They sure did not play like they deserved to get to the next round. Then again they managed to beat South Africa out of India in a ODI series for the first time. Now they head to England for a Test & ODI series. It always seems like England are on their way up, just as India are about to play them on their turf. Good Luck to India !
They sure have started with a decent showing on the first day...did not begin well but sure did get back into the game with a couple of wickets. The second day was great for the Indian bowling...bundling out the English for 298 after they ended the first day on 268 for 4. Well done Boys !! The onus is now on the batters, who have traditionally been very slow starters in any series abroad.
In the NRL..my beloved Rabbitohs started the season with a bang..three wins in three games..then kinda got lost and are nor finding their form just as the season comes to a very exciting finish...with almost all teams having a chance to qualify for the final eight. Go The Bunnies !! I am hoping they make the cut.
