Exactly a year ago, I shared a concern on Facebook. Well, the answer turned out to be an emphatic yes. Sachin did descend at Wankade, and although it wasn’t him who set the stage on fire today, he did have his moment of ascent when he was lifted by his team mates during the victory lap. Kohli was simple in his explanation – they were carrying a man who had carried the burden of the team for 21 years. And yes, Sachin did manage to get what he so badly wanted, the one thing that was missing from his cricketing resume – the World Cup.
This World Cup has been about the 15 players. It makes me shudder to think that Yuvraj had once entertained thoughts of quitting cricket, when he was going through that horrible phase in his career not too long ago. This World Cup has been about his fight back. You could sense the pain he has gone through when he let out the roar after thumping Australia, and the extended hug he gave Dhoni and Sachin post victory today. And people are saying there was no fairy tale ending in the finals.
This World Cup has been about Mahindra Singh Dhoni. The media has always found enough fodder to hang him; today he ensured that they shut up – at least for the next few days.
This World Cup has been India’s support staff led by Gary Kirsten, the unsung heroes. Spare a thought for Praveen Kumar too. He deserved to be there - at the podium - living what would undoubtedly have been the best moments of his life. May be his time will come later.
And last but not the least, this World Cup has been about us, the fans - the “undefined fans”, according to Sharad Pawar, who can safely be ignored while distributing tickets. We are the ones who sit in the same positions so that the momentum of the players who are thousands of miles away is not lost. We are the ones who delay nature’s call just so that any movement does not affect proceedings in any way. We are the ones who miss offices or schools to watch a match because we are lucky for the team. We are the ones who give up watching an important game so that we do not jinx the team. Yes, this is our World Cup.
And for the advocates of the theory that it was fixed - Yes, it was. It is called destiny.
The latest chapter of my trysts with World Cups has a happy ending. I wouldn't care less if the World comes to an end in 2012. For all the romantics, who have been coming up with pieces of trivia to link this victory with the one in 1983, here’s one from my side. If the World comes to an end in 2012, I (and many others who would be reading this) was a World Champion when I was born and will be a World Champion when I die.
I will end with a quote by the late Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter (Literature, 2005), “I tend to think that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth – certainly greater than sex, although sex isn’t too bad either”.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Mixed bag
This is just one of those times, when you don’t feel like sleeping and have nothing better to do, so start writing a blog, ignoring other things which are in your plate. By the way, I just made a startling discovery - the ‘secret’ behind writing a good CV is neatly hidden in its name. It’s Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V. Yay, I unearthed it before Dan Brown could write a book on it.
So the World Cup is less than a fortnight away and the buzz surrounding it is growing. And thanks TOI for bringing to us in your special segment, what the likes of Bipasha Basu, Deepika, Katrina and Kangana Ranaut think of our cricketers. You guys have really made my life complete. In the meantime, the number of possible contenders who could be holding the World Cup on April 2nd have halved (from 28 to 14) after Pakistan finally decided to name a captain.30 26 22 18 year old Shahid Afridi will be at the helm of the Pakistan team. Also, in a style characteristic of only him, Sehwag tweeted this. If I were the opposition, I would be scared. Very scared. What a cameo already!
While all this is going on, 4 cricketers (Sachin, Yuvi, Bhajji and Nehra – the last 3 travelling to Mumbai especially for this) met with BCCI officials today to discuss their IPL payments. If all this is done, can the cricketers concentrate on the World Cup, please? Moving on to Egypt, I see lots of ‘virtual marches’ being organized on facebook and other social media sites. I am a bit cynical of its purpose. For starters, the people there will have no way of finding out what’s happening – they don’t even have internet. And if a million people on the streets cannot put pressure on the government, a few million more on the internet, who only heard Mubarak’s name a week ago, RSVPed to an event, won’t either. Anyways maybe it’s just me.
Shifting focus from Egypt (er.. almost), Sidharth got a kick-ass offer from ICICI. Well Sid, Mubarak Ho!!
So the World Cup is less than a fortnight away and the buzz surrounding it is growing. And thanks TOI for bringing to us in your special segment, what the likes of Bipasha Basu, Deepika, Katrina and Kangana Ranaut think of our cricketers. You guys have really made my life complete. In the meantime, the number of possible contenders who could be holding the World Cup on April 2nd have halved (from 28 to 14) after Pakistan finally decided to name a captain.
While all this is going on, 4 cricketers (Sachin, Yuvi, Bhajji and Nehra – the last 3 travelling to Mumbai especially for this) met with BCCI officials today to discuss their IPL payments. If all this is done, can the cricketers concentrate on the World Cup, please? Moving on to Egypt, I see lots of ‘virtual marches’ being organized on facebook and other social media sites. I am a bit cynical of its purpose. For starters, the people there will have no way of finding out what’s happening – they don’t even have internet. And if a million people on the streets cannot put pressure on the government, a few million more on the internet, who only heard Mubarak’s name a week ago, RSVPed to an event, won’t either. Anyways maybe it’s just me.
Shifting focus from Egypt (er.. almost), Sidharth got a kick-ass offer from ICICI. Well Sid, Mubarak Ho!!
Friday, January 28, 2011
The family just got bigger
Ladies and gentlemen, he has finally arrived. Roshni Di and Shekher Jiju were blessed with a baby boy this morning, thus making me a proud ‘mamu’. It means having to part with the tag of being the youngest in the family. With a weight of 3.35 kgs, he is reportedly shorter than me (at the time of composing this blog post).
The family is facing a dilemma whether to follow the new Zodiac Signs or the old ones. The old one lists him as an Aquarian, whereas according to the new one, he is a Capricorn. If anyone knows whether the news of the earth wobbling is true or not, please get back so that we can decide whether he will be shy, sensitive, gentle and patient (Aquarian) or steady, cautious, confident and hard-working (Capricorn). [Info courtesy - Bejan Daruwala].
And please also suggest names for the kid starting with L, N or M. Leave them in the comments section. My suggestion of 'Jammie' as his pet name found no takers :(.
In other news, a mention of Daruwala reminds me that I just came from a trip to Goa - my last trip before the new generation would take over. It was my third trip to the place, and trust me it's definitely not going to be the last. Without getting into too much details, I’ll just say that the trip was legendary (despite some absentees). Had all the absentees made it, it would have become legend-wait-for-it-ary.
This much for now. Got my stuff to unpack and my cabinet to reshuffle. Happy weekend.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
End of T10
Thought would sign off the year with one last blog. A look-back (early one at that) at some of the things in 2010 - the first year of this decade or the last one, depending on which algorithm you follow to define decades – and what a year it has been. It was a year when Ravindra Jadeja scored 130 more ODI runs than someone who goes by the name of Sachin Tendulkar - and still people go gaga over Sachin and call for Jadeja’s head. Well, life is never fair, is it? (Now don’t you dare point out that Jadeja played in 19 more matches than Sachin did – this is the only time I’ll write something ‘positive’ about Jadeja, please let me do it.)
It was not the fairest of years if you are a Yuvraj, or A Raja or have anything to do with the movie Prince - all these were ‘royally’ screwed in the year. The Chennai Super Kings were an exception though, winning the IPL and Champions League. (Even Larry King chose this year to retire).
This year was also a year of shameful scams and controversies. Towards the end of the year, JPC replaced IPL as the most abused three letters. As Cyrus Broacha put it in TWTW, "When our leaders don’t work in Parliament, the nation loses ` 250 crore; and when they do, we lose ` 17000 crore”. And, given the way, our chosen leaders behave in Assembly; the time has come to start a swearing-at ceremony instead of a swearing-in ceremony.
Talking about money, the rupee also got a new symbol this year, and a cool one at that. Am I the only one who gets reminded of the Roger Federer logo, after looking at the rupee symbol? Perhaps Mr Udaya Kumar was also a fan of the great man.
I won’t end without a word about Swami Nityananda, someone we all secretly admire and wish to be. Now, this was one of the rare controversies this year which was not exposed by WikiLeaks. I was actually wondering why didn’t Julian Assange expose Swami Nityananda. You got to watch HIMYM to get the answer. It’s called “Bro Code”.
Enough said for now. Wish you all a Merry Christmas, an entertaining Boxing Day and A Happy New Year. Enjoy Maadi.
PS – As the countdown to the new year began, the world waited for two milestones to be knocked off – Sachin getting his 50th test ton and Anshat getting 2000 Facebook friends. Sheer genius Sachin is, whaddaplayya. Now I know why the world will end in 2012 - Sachin might just announce his retirement then. Coming back to the two milestones, The God has done it today, now it’s your turn Prabhuji.
It was not the fairest of years if you are a Yuvraj, or A Raja or have anything to do with the movie Prince - all these were ‘royally’ screwed in the year. The Chennai Super Kings were an exception though, winning the IPL and Champions League. (Even Larry King chose this year to retire).
This year was also a year of shameful scams and controversies. Towards the end of the year, JPC replaced IPL as the most abused three letters. As Cyrus Broacha put it in TWTW, "When our leaders don’t work in Parliament, the nation loses ` 250 crore; and when they do, we lose ` 17000 crore”. And, given the way, our chosen leaders behave in Assembly; the time has come to start a swearing-at ceremony instead of a swearing-in ceremony.
Talking about money, the rupee also got a new symbol this year, and a cool one at that. Am I the only one who gets reminded of the Roger Federer logo, after looking at the rupee symbol? Perhaps Mr Udaya Kumar was also a fan of the great man.
I won’t end without a word about Swami Nityananda, someone we all secretly admire and wish to be. Now, this was one of the rare controversies this year which was not exposed by WikiLeaks. I was actually wondering why didn’t Julian Assange expose Swami Nityananda. You got to watch HIMYM to get the answer. It’s called “Bro Code”.
Enough said for now. Wish you all a Merry Christmas, an entertaining Boxing Day and A Happy New Year. Enjoy Maadi.
PS – As the countdown to the new year began, the world waited for two milestones to be knocked off – Sachin getting his 50th test ton and Anshat getting 2000 Facebook friends. Sheer genius Sachin is, whaddaplayya. Now I know why the world will end in 2012 - Sachin might just announce his retirement then. Coming back to the two milestones, The God has done it today, now it’s your turn Prabhuji.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Ashes to Ashes
Ashes to ashes, dust to dust,
If my first post didn’t impress you, this must.
Well, my first blog post was a review of the 2009 Ashes, so thought would write one previewing the next one. You know - the circle of life, and all that. So Ashes is here again, and this time, after ages, it is a contest between two evenly matched sides (I’m not talking about the rankings – No 4 and No 5 – alone).
If you look at the team line ups and compare them man to man, there is nothing separating the two teams. Only Greame Swann enjoys an edge in the spin department when compared to his counterpart Xavier Doherty, the surprise inclusion in the Aussie squad. On current team form, England look better, but Australia’s home advantage neutralizes this. The bookies are sure going to have a tough time going to predict the favourites (for a moment let’s forget that they might have other means to help them decide on their favourites). Who are you putting your money on?
Ricky Ponting has been at the receiving end of criticism from all quarters. Even his old buddy Warnie did not spare him. He surely isn’t the best of captains to have done duty, but then, a captain is as good as his team is – and his team lacks good players. It becomes evident when you see them struggling to replace someone like a Marcus North. The following line from Andy Zaltzman’s blog perfectly sums up Ponting’s state.
I have heard rumours that every night Ponting goes back to his hotel room, makes little papier-mâché dolls of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, and says to them: “Right, Glenn, you bowl from the bathroom end, and Shane, you take the bed end. I’m going for a snooze, and when I wake up I expect you to have bowled the opposition out. Night night.”
But you have to give it to Ponting for allowing Laxman a runner in the Bangalore test. He was well within his rights to deny him one. Andrew Strauss had denied Greame Smith a runner not too long ago.
Ricky Ponting said in an interview before the India series that teams produce their best cricket against the Australians. This can’t be very far from the truth. It can’t be merely a co-incidence that most come-from-behind victories in the history of the game are against the Australians (be it winning after following-on or last wicket wins). There sure is something about the Aussies which spurs an opposition on.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul had once said (during the era of Australian dominance) that Australians had all the marginal decisions going their way, which was greatly instrumental in their success. Remember all the drama surrounding the Sydney test? Has the situation reversed now? We know the Bangalore match could have tilted either way if any of the close umpiring decisions been any different. And remember, it is not the Aussies who oppose the umpire decision review system.
Australia find themselves at No 5 in the rankings and the cricketing world is loving it. Nothing better than watching Australia lose, right? But I will be supporting them in this Ashes. India play Australia in 4 away tests end of next year. I hope to see India beat an Australian side which is No 2 in the world. It will be some series if that happens. Plus, I have a gut feeling it could be Sachin’s last test appearance (on second thoughts, nah.. Sachin won’t probably retire so soon).
Well turned out to be another blog in defense of the Aussies. Enough said about Australia, let us look at the English perspective now. On second thoughts, let’s drop the idea - even the English media does not write about their team, why should I bother.
May the best team win.
After all this seriousness, thought would end with a joke: PCB
If my first post didn’t impress you, this must.
Well, my first blog post was a review of the 2009 Ashes, so thought would write one previewing the next one. You know - the circle of life, and all that. So Ashes is here again, and this time, after ages, it is a contest between two evenly matched sides (I’m not talking about the rankings – No 4 and No 5 – alone).
If you look at the team line ups and compare them man to man, there is nothing separating the two teams. Only Greame Swann enjoys an edge in the spin department when compared to his counterpart Xavier Doherty, the surprise inclusion in the Aussie squad. On current team form, England look better, but Australia’s home advantage neutralizes this. The bookies are sure going to have a tough time going to predict the favourites (for a moment let’s forget that they might have other means to help them decide on their favourites). Who are you putting your money on?
Ricky Ponting has been at the receiving end of criticism from all quarters. Even his old buddy Warnie did not spare him. He surely isn’t the best of captains to have done duty, but then, a captain is as good as his team is – and his team lacks good players. It becomes evident when you see them struggling to replace someone like a Marcus North. The following line from Andy Zaltzman’s blog perfectly sums up Ponting’s state.
I have heard rumours that every night Ponting goes back to his hotel room, makes little papier-mâché dolls of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, and says to them: “Right, Glenn, you bowl from the bathroom end, and Shane, you take the bed end. I’m going for a snooze, and when I wake up I expect you to have bowled the opposition out. Night night.”
But you have to give it to Ponting for allowing Laxman a runner in the Bangalore test. He was well within his rights to deny him one. Andrew Strauss had denied Greame Smith a runner not too long ago.
Ricky Ponting said in an interview before the India series that teams produce their best cricket against the Australians. This can’t be very far from the truth. It can’t be merely a co-incidence that most come-from-behind victories in the history of the game are against the Australians (be it winning after following-on or last wicket wins). There sure is something about the Aussies which spurs an opposition on.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul had once said (during the era of Australian dominance) that Australians had all the marginal decisions going their way, which was greatly instrumental in their success. Remember all the drama surrounding the Sydney test? Has the situation reversed now? We know the Bangalore match could have tilted either way if any of the close umpiring decisions been any different. And remember, it is not the Aussies who oppose the umpire decision review system.
Australia find themselves at No 5 in the rankings and the cricketing world is loving it. Nothing better than watching Australia lose, right? But I will be supporting them in this Ashes. India play Australia in 4 away tests end of next year. I hope to see India beat an Australian side which is No 2 in the world. It will be some series if that happens. Plus, I have a gut feeling it could be Sachin’s last test appearance (on second thoughts, nah.. Sachin won’t probably retire so soon).
Well turned out to be another blog in defense of the Aussies. Enough said about Australia, let us look at the English perspective now. On second thoughts, let’s drop the idea - even the English media does not write about their team, why should I bother.
May the best team win.
After all this seriousness, thought would end with a joke: PCB
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