IPL notes

Now that IPL is getting over with only knock-out matches remaining, I had few things to talk about.

1. After more than dozen league matches where each team plays against all the other teams, it does not make sense to have semi-finals.

Imagine, in a freak game today, Rajasthan Royals loses to Delhi Daredevils in the first semi-final. They have won convincingly against all the other teams barring 3 loses. It would be a real let-down if they don't play in finals.

Yes, semi-final knock-outs add that extra drama and spice to the tournament. It seems very unfair if the best team of the league loses out because of a bad day.

2. The finals should be best of three matches instead of one. One at home, one away and third at a neutral ground. Sort of a level playing field. Again the same theory applies that the team should get a chance to claw back in. One bad day should not be a decider for such tournament.

3. With no semi-final rounds and each league match is important. There should be spare days for matches that were abandoned because of Lord Indra's whim. I am not saying that the next day should be kept free which may be improbable with such a busy schedule. After every leg of the league, there can be a week or half off where those matches that were abandoned can be played.

Look what happened with Mumbai Indians (14 points), Delhi Daredevils (15 points) and Kolkata Knight riders (13 points). If KKR vs DD matched had not washed out and if KKR had won, there would have been a 3-way tie between above teams ! So much fun.

All in all, it has been a satisfactory tournament. Going with the performance, Rajasthan Royals should win. But its not over till the last ball is bowled. Cricket is suppose to be a game of uncertainties. So expect some surprise.

Chak De! revisited

When you are the brand ambassador for mobile services company as well as company that makes handsets, the benefits are many including a very very long text messaging service feature available to you for free.

And what do you do with it is send a very very long text message.
So that the rest of us can read that very very long text message.

Read SRK's SMS to his Kolkata Knight Riders team after all the controversies and losses.

"Story time boys... I told you if you keep losing you have to bear with my long, boring msgs.... This is your punishment.... Many times I have made movies which don’t do well.... When I’m doing them, of course, I don’t know they won’t do well.... The story is written by somebody else and I just do my bit as an actor. But I have a way of dealing with flop stories..., I try my best to keep my character in the film at a level that it makes a failed story also special for me...."

“I enjoy the work.... I make jokes about the failure.... And, of course, feel awful about it too.... So, right now, all of us have become part of a failed script... A bad IPL script.... Let’s try and keep our characters worthy of still looking back at this story and remembering it as a special story becos we all worked very hard at this....

“So, chin up and don’t spoil yr character in the next two games.... Let’s go out with a bang and not a whimper.... In films, we say u r only as good as yr last film.... So let’s make the whole world know how good we r in the last (maybe not) two games...

“Also, do ignore all this bit about Dada, me and John having issues.... It’s a normal thing in the world.... People like to hit you when u r down.... So, we will be hit.... No stress.... It will make us stronger.... The only way to avoid this is to win.... That’s one of the reasons why everybody likes to be a winner....

“On the other hand, the beauty of failure is that it brings people together.... So, let’s stick this out together.... You know me well enuff to know I am not the kind of owner who has issues with the team ’cos of losses... I am too much of a sport myself to get beaten by defeats.... Like you guys are.... Like Dada and John....

“I am still trying to understand the code of conduct expected of me at the matches of the IPL.... ICC... Etc.... After I understand it, I will decide whether to accept it or not.... Till such time, I will be with you guys at the hotel... in the meetings etc., but won’t come for the matches.... So, please don’t ever feel it is anything to do with us as a team....

“I am as dedicated to my Knights as I am to my kids.... Only, I won’t be coming to the class room till the headmaster’s rules are understood by me.... I am a bit anti-Establishment kind of a guy, so I apologise for this quirk to u all.... So, head’s up.... Have a good match and let’s make 200 runs tomorrow.... This 150 seems to not work any more....

“We have nothing to lose now, except our character.... Let’s not lose that.... Lov... SRK.

Cricket De Grace!

Why Dravid is not held equally responsible ?
Those who are following IPL know what I am talking about.

I don't think any body is following Bangalore Royal Challengers. Nobody is after them even in the points table.

Mallya sacked Charu Sharma for the poor performance of BRC. Dravid and Sharma chose the right people albeit for a wrong occasion. He could not sack the best looking guy in his team as the team plays like they are modeling for the Kingfisher calendar. Sunil Joshi was found doshi of being incapable to do that either.

Same goes for Ganguly. You cannot touch Ganguly in Kolkata Knight Riders who pisses off the other team by coming late on the pitch. And pisses off his players by not able to bat, field or bowl. Some would wish that he would be late enough to skip the game

Moving to our very own Re-Lax-Man. As per the grapevine, some body in his team went a la Bhajji and hit him hard so that he sits out for the rest of the matches. Everyone claimed it to be an accident including Bhajji. The same day Deccan Chargers won against Chennai Superkings.

The Master Blaster is in pain. He is hit where it hurts the most. Silly, he is losing out on the moolah of 40 million rupees. Though he was lucky that he was spared the wrath and with the Sardar gone, the team is now a-sardar (effective) and on a remarkable turnaround course.

That IPL is a ring circus camouflaged as war zone is a foregone conclusion. Now who concluded that, you may say. Yo Einstein, it's me! Koi Shaque.

The collateral damage has been the best four Indian batsmen. Its no surprise that their respective teams are in the bottom half of the points table. More importantly, in a way it was not entirely of their own making or was it. Being an Icon has its price, sometimes it brings the end quicker. Just like a T20 match.

Winning colors

My friend, Umang, tells me the success behind Chennai Super Kings uninterrupted winning run in IPL. Its the color of their kit and attire.

Any team that wears similar colors as Australian cricket team, wins. Different hue is acceptable :-)



I think it is substantiated by the fact that Mumbai Indians wear blue, what Indian national team wears (though not the same shade of blue). They have lost all their four matches.

Cheer-Haran

It was expected. So it happened. Nobody is surprised.

The cheerleaders in IPL were seen by one and all. Some wanted to see them again. Some said it was enough. They wanted newer cheerleaders. Mumbai Moral Sena raised a pertinent question "With Mumbai males not performing when it matters most (on the cricket field, I mean), who needs cheerleaders anyways?"

They got support from unexpected quarters. Shaheed Afridi and Shotgun Sinha. Though Afridi loves to play with the ball, of cricket obviously, he feels that he is distracted by the other balls...oops..balle balle dance of the cheerleaders. He comes early and then gets off..err..gets out sooner.

Sinha with neither age nor power and not even Pawar on his side has been reduced from Shotgun to firing blanks. He claimed that T20 and cheerleaders will eventually reduce the game to "Toss Toss". Regretfully, he did not mention what is being tossed around. The prospects do look inviting, if he spoke about his own fantasy and of other guys.

All this outbursts took place in the middle of bowling change when the zealous Set MAX instead of showing cheerleaders switched to Vodafone ka kutta running after the bus. What an anti-climax, yaar, causing utmost pain and trauma to many. No hard feelings there, buddy and yeah, it's a dog's life at the end of it.

Yeh IPL ka cricket hain bhidu

Crowds booing "Sreesanth Hai Hai". This could have happened anywhere but in India. Till last Monday.

Then it happened in Jaipur. The reason: Sreesanth gave that stare to a batsman and tried to sledge. The batsmen was Kamran Akmal! See in another context, the Jaipur crowd jeering an Indian bowler cos he took panga with a Pakistani batsman. What would have been unimaginable, just occurred. Akmal plays for Rajasthan Royals in IPL and Sreesanth for Kings XI Punjab.

It has happened before too.
The Eden crowd erupts in joy when Laxman, who made magnificent 281 on the same ground years ago, gets out.
Ponting rushing to Ishant Sharma, when the latter is walking back to his run-up, to advise how to bowl against Symonds.

As Dravid said "It's really unusual to come to Bombay, hit a four and see nobody clapping for you." The Mumbai spectators went "Sanath, Sanath" ala "Sachin, Sachin" style.

So barriers are breaking at international level and new divisions are being made at regional level. As long as those divisions confine to cricket, no harm in celebrating the sixes of Hussey off Pathan or the fall of Dravid.

I am hoping that we start taking pride in our local teams as much as we take "pride" in our national team. IPL may just be that catalyst.

Nayar say Nehra Again

On Wednesday 23rd April in Chennai, Abhishek Nayar came into bat when 99 runs were required of 42 balls. He came, he saw, he played. He brought the score to 8 runs in 2 balls with able support from Harbhajan.
Still Mumbai Indians lost to Chennai Superkings with 6 runs. A great nail-biting finish (though I personally did not indulge in that activity). Such fun.

Joginder Sharma gets all the accolades but I say, he is one helluva lucky chap. In T20 final, Misbah played that audacious shot off Sharma and gave a simple catch to Aakashwani-listening-Sreesanth. Last night, Nayar took a single run on a no-ball and gave strike to Nehra. Nehra who? Aashish Nehra whose claim to fame is that six wicket haul against England in 2003 World Cup and series of injuries later on. That strike ruined all the chances Mumbai Indians had of winning the match.

McCullumed!

Long after your hi-tech jobs got Banglored, Bangalore Royal Challengers got McCullumed in the first league match against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Brendon McCullum scored 158 runs in 73 balls laced with 10 fours and 13 sixes. He is already famous in India with his heroics and another such innings from him will make him a superstar in India. Otherwise, he may end up just one innings wonder (as far as India & IPL is concerned).

There is always a difference between a Kumar Gaurav and Hrithik Roshan.

SRK vs SRK

This is not a remake of Kramer vs Kramer. SRK's new game "Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez hain ?" show begins in the middle of the successful IPL.

The show is an Indianized version of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? I have seen few episodes on YouTube of the Fox Show and it does seem very very interesting. I think the success of the show depends a lot on the contestant. I don't know if the Indian contestant will open so easily in front of the camera.

With IPL hogging all the TRPs and especially the Kolkata Knight Riders matches leading from the front, will SRK's new show give fight to IPL?

The quiz show begins on Friday 25th April 8 PM Star Plus.
Catch the teaser below

Making of the stars

Ashoke Dindha, Wriddhiman Saha, Karan Goel, Salunkhe, Jadeja, Shikhar Dhawan etc
I am not talking about my friend list on Orkut. Neither it is the reunion list of my college.

These are the performers of IPL who were unknown till last week and budding stars this week. Who says IPL is about only money and razzle dazzle, the cheer leaders and Bollywood?

Its exciting to watch the keeper Saha take a dive for a catch on his wrong side or Virat Kohli pouncing on the ball with an eye of a tiger. Ravindra Jadeja hitting boundaries to Brett Lee in a cliff hanger of a match.

Imagine the exposure the young promising talent will get just by being in the same dressing room with the likes of Lee, Symonds, McCullum, Warne and vice versa. May be next time, Symmo will know exactly what Bhajji said! Ek bandar, IPL ke andar. Alrite, this monkey business is no more p(h)unny. So I will stop right here.

The Maa and The Baap

So it has begun. Its almost a week since it started. Its huge if the reports and feedback has to be believed.

Yeah, I am talking about the Manoranjan ka Baap and the Mother of all Reality TV in India.
Indian Premier League.

So far the matches have been exciting barring one or two of them. Expect lot many posts on IPL in the coming weeks.

I am leaving you with few videos for promotion of IPL.
The first one is "inspired" from NBA promotional video but I like the lyrics of the former so its cool with me.



The second one is Bollywood-ish promo which is howlarious !!!!

Team India - Part II

The editorial in ToI Why we sizzle in T20 mentions:

" T20 is a game of individual cameos and history is proof how good the Indians are at such performances. What has been the bane of Indian cricket for years — it is replete with instances of individual brilliance rather than team efforts — is now proving of value in the new format."

It substantiates what I had written in my earlier post about playing as a team.

Team India ?

Note: This was written before Chak De! phenomenon hit Indian sports scene. Though much has still remain the same.

I sometimes wonder that why we (the Indians I mean) are not able to pull off grand feats more regularly. Why we don't have a Golden Gate or Hoover Dam or other such megastructures. The last great thing we build was the Taj[1].

Or take for that matter why there has not been any killer-apps[2] from India in this last decade. Or why we are so lousy in our day to day life when it comes to traffic management or project management.

I have this theory which tries to explain some of the reasons. I think an average Indian does not play team sports, much less understand it. By team sports, I mean where team work is the essential component for excellence such as football, hockey and basketball. For me, there is a cricket team but it still is a limited team sport. On more days, we win because of individual brilliance. Also, the interaction at physical level is very minimal. Its more of an elitist game. Its not as raw as football or hockey where the players not only interact as cohesive force but also have lot of physical proximity. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not trying to propagate an alternate life style or sexual culture. Its just that cricket does not break the divide of untouchability (metaphorically speaking) between players as good as the aforementioned sports.

Indians have excelled in chess. We have made some mark in tennis and badminton and squash. Yes, we used to excel in hockey too. So somewhere we had understood the concept of team only to lose it again.

But my contention is not of the national representation in these sports but at a more individual level. At school or college, most of the kids play cricket. Some of them play other individual sports. Very few play football or hockey. Fewer follow these games.

Blame it on limited resources such as grounds, infrastructure and fundings or just the mind-set. Even in cricket, fielding is boring, it's the batting that is the most glamorous thing. That's were you get recognition, that's where the moolah is.

So what are the consequences, I see that we are not great team players. We don't understand the importance of delegating responsibilities. Of letting the other guy score the goal if I make the right pass. We don't really learn the idea of bigger picture. Because, we are marred by proving our own capabilities even at the cost of the team. On a macro-level, our projects do not complete in time or never complete most of the times. The word quality - it does not apply to us. We don't respect other person's space because me and the other person is never a team. It's always us and them.

Now, I am not suggesting that team sports is a panacea to all the things but certainly, it's certainly a step forward for creating a sense of pursuing common goals and building communities.


[1] The Taj has ended up in the New 7 wonders of the World. The organization which initiated this IMHO-futile exercise is down with huge losses that it's not doing anything for the great Taj but yeah, we won. Yipeee ! Well, that's another story which does not need to be told.
[2] I think writing software or a new chip design requires very strong teamwork. Especially, in these times. No one person can now a days come up with an outstanding product alone.

Cricket Google(y)

Follow this link. A concise page for the cricket buffs. Very Googlish. Thanks to Om Malik's daily blog.

I have also added in my Live Wire link list.

Who ? India ? Ha-ah !

As Indian love numbers and calculations, we have got ourselves into situation where an Einstein or a Ramanujan will thrive. Instead of playing with ball and the bat, we now have to deal with statistics and permutations and combinations. The way Bangladeshi iceberg rocked the Indian titanic (to borrow the cliche, its just a tip of the iceberg) I wouldn't be surprise that Bangla tigers upset the Lankans. (Well, I hope they do that, for India's sake.).

India, umm, I think we have an outside chance to claw our way back into Super 8. The best and the only thing that India can do is to beat the hell out of Lankans and Bermuda. Keeping my fingers crossed and hopes high. To give a positive spin, if Indians are good enough to claim the cup, then they should be able to come out of this precarious situation.

Well, I don't think only Sehwag is the match ka mujrim[1], but the guy does not get it, does he ? With his form as dead as the willow itself, why do we have him in the team ? Pathan can bat better than him and you know what, he can bowl too. I am sure the Indian think-(s)tank knows better than me, but Sachin should open for India instead of getting strait-jacketed at No. 4.

Lastly, the so-called fans of Indian cricket team vandalizing Dhoni's house in Ranchi and claiming that they have been betrayed, it's so sick that it's amusing. I think the Indian cricket team should stop playing for such lunatics[2]. No doubt, my mom had predicted the bad things happens when one just plays and does not study. Imagine Dhoni going into Silicon Valley and screwing up one of the projects, at least his house would have been safe.

In the other group, the Pakis have lost it completely. This must be one of the most humiliating exits for them in the recent tournaments. They not only lost the race for the World Cup but the cricket fraternity lost Woolmer. He died apparently in mysterious circumstances lending fuel to many conspiracy theories. For his sake, Pakistan should win their last group match.

[1] A very pathetic and puking coverage by Star News.
[2] Don't ask me how can they play only for true fans and not for the rest. It was just a rant.

The Punter-Man

It happened yesterday again, I predicted Pakistan are going to win the opener against the Windies. And as usual, the predictions were wrong. Actually, I see a trend in these.
Lets take a step back, I predicted France are going to win the FIFA'06 and yeah they were winning till a bald man ended up being a bull in the china shop. His maata was never raazi for this behaviour.

I wonder what does Sehwag's maata would say now, beta, have some milk instead of andaa...
Andaa matlab Virendra Sehwag, or is it Virendra "anda" Sehwag ?

And yeah, before France lost out in the final, many teams fell pray to my innocuous predictions. Of course, the only man who could resist the wrath of my prediction is a certain Mr Federer. (Just for the record, I did not know he was playing in the Pacific Life Open that he lost).

I have also a very consitent track record when India went to the carribeans and to SA last year. Whenever I said let there be a win, It was a win alright but for the other team.

So there, next time if you want to bet your money, you know whom to ask.

An insect called cricket

Yeah, cricket is a kida which is going to bite the blue billion for next one month at least and we are going to nibble our way to super 8 for sure.[1][2][3]
Don't know about the semis and the World Cup swansong of the awesome foursome.

Google came out with Cricket World Cup logo. Nike came out with a $99 (I am freakin' speechless) t-shirt. What were they thinking ?

Ladega toh Jeetega, is the new Pepsi Ad. Lame. Starts off nicely, then chugs down dead slow on the tracks. (Literally !). The bit that stands out - Sehwag getting almost lynched in the ad. Was it reality TV, I wonder ?

(On a side note, Coke has an equally lousy ad with Aamir Khan but its got nothing to do with cricket except Aamir played in Awwal Number (a must-watch) and Lagaan).

Yeah, just noticed Harsha Bhogle in one of the songs in the forthcoming flick "Hat Trick". He was with Nana Patekar, Danny, Paresh Rawal. What do I say more ?

[1] A 'word' from geeks, they love 'bites' and 'nibbles'.
[2] Hopefully reaching super 8 should not be difficult. Its Bermuda that is scaring me.
[3] Finally, I did my first footnote. Yipee !.

Just watch it....

Loved the new Nike ad. Expectedly, it rocks ! Nike aur pooch pooch !

I think its a first for them with the cricket theme in India.
At least some activity in the media associated with the World cup.
I am surprised that no theme song or other ads have been unleashed in the Indian media yet.
Where are Pepsi and Coke ? Buried deep inside the earth with pesticides.

Boringly, the news channels keep harping on the jaded song,
"Sunoh gaur se duniya waalon....."
Nobody is listening, yaar. Its old and dead and I want a new anthem.
And no, I don't want those patriotic jingoistic songs which make cricket look more like crusader's war rather than game about the spirit of human triumph.

Nobody listens when I say ....... Cos I don't say it loud enough. Or everybody is shouting themselves hoarse....

God is in Kuala Lumpur !

He came. He played. He conquered. India still lost due to draconian Duckworth(less) / Lewis rule.
A terrific 141 and yeah, he played right through the innings, albeit only for the second time in his 364 innings.

Harsha Bhogle in his column for Indian Express writes

He wanted to play this game far more than we wanted him to. This excitement, 18 years into his profession, separates him from those that, some days, look upon playing cricket as a job.

Today, He faces McGrath. Truly a contest that was long over due, the last time India played Australia was 2 years ago.

McGrath may think otherwise, but my 2 cents, Indians can expect a real treat !

On a side note, my friend Raoul talks about his (mis)-adventures on the green field. Though he still did not write whether his side won or lost. Or it does not matter.