Back to our old self....
After the high of the Test series win...the Indian cricket fan could not have been blamed too much to expect a win in the ODIs too. But as is the wont of the Indian team, they fell short, in this case, way short of their target. Barring Zaheer, Dravid & Karthik, none of the rest seemed to have come to work yesterday. What a shame to fall short by 104 runs whilst having Sachin, Saurav, Rahul, Yuvraj, Dhoni among others in your batting line-up ?????
The lack of a fifth bowler cannot be cited as the cause of the loss...the other bowlers did not do any better. Agarkar after having played close to 200 (187 to be exact) games still goes for runs...wonder when will he learn to be (more) consistent with his bowling. The batting was woeful to say the least. Dhoni scored at strike rate of around 30, which for a late middle order batsman is pathetic.
Well, this being a series of seven games we still have a good chance of making up...only if we come good and quickly too.
The Essel group has announced the list of players who have registered to pay in the Indian Cricket League (ICL). I only hope that this does lead to us having two weak league instead one that will strengthen the domestic cricket in India.
But this sure will make great viewing, with Lara, Inzamam, Yousuf among others playing. Also there is talk of Chris Harris, Shane Warne & McGrath also joining. The Hyderabad Ranji team was the worst affected by this exodus players, with as many as seven of their players signing up for the ICL. This sure is a major sign that all is not well with cricket in Hyderabad. They will now have n all new team for the next season, including a new captain.
I have been told by all and sundry that the new Shah Rukh Khan flick, "Chak De India" is probably the best Indian sports movie. For me, Iqbal has been the best, mind you..I haven't seen 'Chak De' yet. Most of them have also told me that this is by far the best performance by Shah Rukh. I always found him to be a slave to his mannerisms, pretty unpalatable for me. He seems to be Shah Rukh in all his movies, not his character.
I reserve my opinion till I have seen this one. His best performance for me was Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa !! That was way back before he got soo bigg !!
Follow On Troubles....
Too much has been said the "Non Enforcing of Follow-on", so I will not brood too much into it. Dravid & CO went to England to win a test series and they WON it. For me, it all ends there. I won't be too concerned about the decision, Rahul was in the best position to make the call, and I as a supporter of Indian cricket fully endorse his decision. Well Done ,Boys ! You made us proud.
Am kinda worried now...having won the test series...now the onus is on us to win the ODIs. And having been following Indian cricket for a while now, I have seen them flatter to deceive time and again. We were the underdogs going into the test matches, but in the shorter version of the game we are definitely the favourites. Being favourites is something that we haven't handled well and neither have we performed well...the only time I remember we did well in a ODI tournament while being favourites was in 1985-86 when we won the B&H World Series Cup, with Ravi Shastri wining the Champion of champions title too. We surely have a better team to win this series hands down.
Our batting is definitely much better, our bowling is also in prime form after the tests. Dravid & co have the unique opportunity to win both the test & ODI series overseas, which we haven't done that often. So Good Luck to them !! They sure started well against Scotland.
Went out for a few drinks & dinner the other night. We so often tend to miss out on having a good time while it is on, then reminisce about it. We don't enjoy the moment but then days later we do get nostalgic about it and relive the 'moments'. Nothing wrong in the reminiscing part, I only wish we enjoy it more while we are in the 'moment' too !!
To a pub called 'Outswinger'...nice place, though its noisy like other pubs in town. But that night they did play some nice music. The food was good, the beer was cold & the service warm, overall a lovely evening. Had dinner at 'Pickles'...they had a pretty good spread for their midnight buffet.
Well hope to have more such 'moments'..heres to all the moments in our lives.
Strange yet true...& a Top 30
India won the second test against England at Trent Bridge by 7 wickets. This match its fair share of controversies...the jelly bean affair, the beamer, the shoulder barge.
But the one thing that I found very very strange was the way Pietersen got out to R.P.Singh. He stood his ground after nicking one to the wicket-keeper, the appeal not withheld by the umpire. The very next ball, he 'walked' after being struck on his pads. This was afirst for me....I have seen batsmen walk after being trapped in front of the stumps, but here was batsman who refused to walk after nicking one, then 'walks' on the very next ball trapped lbw !! Cricket sure is a game of some very very strange incidents. I sure hope he continues to walks. R.P Singh bowled a gem to get Matt Prior out in the second innings, the ball came in in a 'akramesque' way to smash into the middle stump.What a sight it was, especially for the starved Indian fans to see a Indian pacer do that a Englishman in England. Good Show, India!
Sania Mirza has finally broken into the Top 30, she is only the second Indian to do that after Ramesh Krishnan in the 80s. She is surely doing better as the year rolls to an end. She has to work on doing well against the top ranked players. Anyway, Kudos to her for getting so far. Lets see how she does at The US Open.
The rains are here in the Deccan plateau, and it sure is nice. My daily tennis has been affected, but I am not complaining at least not yet. Swimming will do fine for a bit longer.
My dear Rabbitohs lost to the Penrith Panthers last week, putting a huge dent to our finals plans. They can still make it to the finals round, but the semi finals is another thing. C'mon Bunnies...lets get up and Rock !! They are very inconsistent, though Jason Taylor is doing a great job as the coach. Seem sot have good game plans but the players are missing the mark regularly. Anyway, i am sure they will improve in the weeks to come and make it to the finals !! Go The Bunnies !!
Great History...but a lack of respect for it !!!
Been doing some travelling in the south of India...to a few holy places. Was amazed again at the magnificence of the work, the architecture & the artistry...not to mention the planning that went into the construction of all these awe-inspiring temples!!
On the one hand you have these magnificent monuments, a testimony to the culture of our civilisation and then there are the roads that you use to get to them...the roads in some places have to be located between the potholes...it was like a scattering of holes !!! Also the attitude of the people at these holy places was too 'unholy' for my liking. An absolute lack of regard for anyone is norm ....none for the elderly or for the young ones or for the physically challenged. A disregard for one and all...without fail all are equally disregarded.
Makes we wonder if it’s worth going all the way to bet 'blessed'. I might as well stay home and pray. The only plus I see with going there is to see and admire the work done hundreds of years ago. the sculptures, the architecture...the 'plumbing' (for lack of another word to describe how the water flows out of the temples after the 'Abhshekams' et al.) Also the ventilation is very good and so is the use of the openings in the roof for lighting. Brilliant !!
I also did notice, that a lot of people are willing to follow the dress code when they go to a disco/pub, but when you go to a religious place they don't seem to be bothered to come attired as per the 'dress code'...you go to a pub or a party in a Capri jeans and top definitely NOT to a temple. If not for a lack of respect at least for the sake of fashion, a Capri jeans just does not go well in a temple!! Surely you can come dressed in ethic wear. Well I, for one, completely endorse the 'dress code' in temples & religious places. If not for anything else to maintain the decorum, of the place.
I do realize that all this sounds very negative, well it wasn't all bad...there were quite a few of the 'officials' at the temple, who went out of their way to help in different ways. And I am very thankful to them. They sure do add to the experience of the visit. There were also the occasional priest who took the time to explain the significance of various places to the ignorant and willing to listen. Then there were the friendly co-passengers, who could easily get into action to help out or to share their snack with us. And not to mention the very repetitive conversation, repetitive but very interesting nonetheless.
Well surely I did learn a few things on this trip, like all other ones. I learned that if the hotel guy says that the tariff for the room is Rs. 850, what he really means it is Rs. 325 !!!!! Also that when you say you want new bed sheets...what they understand is new towels !! It took me 4 attempts to get the man to understand me and get the sheets, albeit we were conversing in Telugu, and we both spoke it very well too.
The best part of all this was I was traveling with my parents, despite having numerous arguments...it was absolutely smashing to spend so much time together. My Dad never ceases to amaze me with his insights into the minds of people, while my Mom is the best at making s trip wonderful with her enthusiasm to just take a walk to the local market or going to the temple for a second visit!!
Overall this was a pleasant and a very much absorbing trip!!
