The Business of IPL:Written for moneymint.in

What started as a small idea conceived in the most improbable circumstances for a cricketing league in London’s Wimbledon suburb in the year 2007, today is the hottest sporting league the world has ever seen. It is amassing itself with each passing edition and promises to enthrall not only the audiences but also to spring up money like never before. Cricket has got its money minting machine, its own kuberan in the form of the Indian Premier League and hence, the epicenter of world cricket is no longer in London or Sharjah or even Australia but it is India.

The magic began in Jan 2008 when eight teams were auctioned for a whooping sum of $724 million. The revenue generated from media and sponsorship deals not withstanding in this figure. A part of this whole sum was reinvested in the aging cricket stadiums in the nation and specifically to those which were to host IPL matches. A typical example of successful business strategy. It was a win win game all the way. The players were not left behind. For instance, players are being offered a fee of $1.55 million for just a five week season, against $500,000 to $1 million, depending on the country, for an almost year-long slate of national team games. This was the beginning of a revolution in cricket world, A revolution which took the whole cricketing fraternity by storm.


The shift in paradigm is so huge that many players have already leaving their national teams to focus on the IPL. To cite a few examples, Hayden and Gilchrist have a lot of cricket left in them which is evident from the form they are displaying in the IPL chose to retire from the international cricket to join the league. The stage was set up just like a blockbuster movie and what a fitting finale the first edition met. The results of each of the matches had its influence on the business. How? Let me explain. The fact that underdogs Rajasthan Royals triumphed in the first edition increased their worth by a whooping 71% against an average of 31%. But the road was not as smooth as it looks. In spite of the huge success of the first edition and the enormous amount of money it was minting for everyone involved, the terror attacks on Indian soil had taken its toll on IPL. Govt. of India, rightly so weighed security of elections as being more important that the security of IPL and hence, after a long period dual IPL was finally moved to South Africa for the second edition. Now, an Indian premier league in SA, the doubts of it being successful again began to surface in some minds. But proving everyone wrong, the second season began with bang with the new players surpassing the older ones in terms of revenue they would generate. Even though, South African govt. welcomed IPL with open arms, it was left to smart business strategy of the league to draw in the crowds. Giving out charity tickets to the local schools and the success of local players in this edition pulled in more and more crowds and eventually it seemed like the match was being played in India only. Knowing that the ticketing revenue would be lesser this time around, the moves like having strategic breaks of 7.5 mins in mid of each innings which was to be filled by commercials was a smart move and it paid off in terms of revenue if not in terms of cricketing virtue. All corporates chose this time as the moment to cash in. Vodafone went out all guns blazing with its zoo zoo ads and 15 of them had the audiences in splits.

Though cricket is played in 104 nations across the world for a period of 165 years, before IPL, the professional leagues had never truly looked into cricket from a business perspective. Most leagues around the world are operated by non-profit entities. But private franchise ownership opened a new chapter in the history of cricket and it has changed cricket like never before and the change is a permenant one.

As for the after effects of this, the third season is going to be bigger with more teams joining. Other countries like Pakistan, USA have plans to start similar leagues of their own. 20-20 cricket has found new meaning and it is all set to rule the cricketing fraternity as the youngest and richest member of the lot.

IPL is all set to transform the way cricket is played all over the world.

The same article on moneymint.in

Reliving Ashes 2009

Wow! That's the only word which comes to my mind when I think of the 2009 Ashes. It was one of the most awaited test series if not for anyone else, but for me. And it lived up to the expectation and how. Australians had their pride at stake, their champions tag at stake for the first time since may be around 200 or 2001. England were fighting for redeeming their lost pride. They had lost the last ashes in Australia 5-0. Added to this was the additional pressure of playing on home soil and to top it all, the responsibility of giving Freddie a fitting farewell. Freddie, one of the heroes of the 2005 victorious England team. So, this series had all it takes for a blockbuster.

Well begun is half done. Indeed, what a start the ashes had. The first test England holding nerve till the last moment to draw what seemed to be an Aussie game all the way. The second test began exactly from where the first ended. England picking up the confidence it gained from denying a must win for Aussie in the first game, came well prepared to Lords to defy history by winning in Lords against Aussies. Though rain tried its best to play a spoilsport in the third test, it was never short of excitement. It was England's turn to dominate and Aussie's turn to save the day. It was more like a repeat of the first test but just the roles were reversed. A charged Aussie after their effort in saving the 3rd game, caught England on the wrong foot in the 4th test and England lost by an innings, leaving it all to the final game. The tally at 1-1. The fifth test in itself had its ups and downs.After a brisk start by England in the first innings it lost its way but ended up with a pretty decent total. Aussies too began in style with the opening pair notching up quick runs but then it was Broad magic. He caused a remarkable collapse for the Aussie middle order and Aussie fell well short of England score. The confident England then amassed a big score in the second innings too leaving Aussie a improbable 546 to win in the last innings of the Ashes 2009. As expected, Aussie fought bravely, but for some run outs, I felt they would have still given more close finish. Finally, it was England which had the ultimate elixir. More than anything, it was a classic example of history repeats itself. Sample this, the final tally of ashes 2005, 2-1 in England's favour 2009 the same. 1st test and 3rd test formatted the same way. Only roles reversed. 2nd and 5th test , mere action replays of each other, only the numbers and stars change. It went to show the maturity which Aussies have gained to put up a brave front in all improbable situations and fighting it out to their best abilities and it is very welcome move from the Aussie board not to blame Ponting for the defeat. What goes up comes down and it is the downfall time for Aussie team. It is time for them to re-group and bounce back, which I am sure they will do sooner or later. Also, all through the series it is the test cricket which is the clear winner. This series has served as a life saving boon to the test cricket, the purest and oldest form of cricket.

Ashes Rises from Ashes

It was a typical case of old wine getting tastier with time. Ashes always lives upto the expectation. This time the expectation was sky high as this ashes was supposed to challenge the might of aussies, who this time have one of the weakest bowling attacks among australian teams of all ages as per me. Surpassing all the expectations, what we were treated to was an absolutely thrilling experience which brings out the best out of test matches dismissing all notions of T20 eating into other forms of cricket. And full credit goes to both these teams for fighting it out. What started as a England's match turned Aussie way and when the extra long Aussie innings went on and on, looked set for a draw. Smart thinking Ponting had other plans. He wanted to bat once and for all in this match and it seemed to work till the last twist in the tale. 10th wicket partnership going on for 11 full overs and surpassing the lead by Aussie was indeed a treat to watch irrespective of which team you are supporting.Each ball was greeted with sounds ranging from pin drop silence to a roar when the batsman survives. Aussies wanted to bowl for some more overs, but the stipulated quota of overs being over, England were a tad luckier than them. Though one felt bad about Aussie losing the game, it was cricket on a whole which was the winner. With just one match over, Ashes promises to raise from the ash like a Pheonix to enthrall one with the pleasure of test cricket.

T20 World Cup Fixture is Buggy

The fixtures and schedule for the ICC T20 World cup 2009 are faulty. The concept of pooling them into groups based on the previous world cup rankings is pretty justifiable but ranking them this time based on their last world cup's performance is sheer stupidity. For instance, even though England and South Africa have topped their respective pools this time they have been named as B2 and D2 and hence they have to play against the tougher teams A1 and C1. So for the super eights you have a pool which has teams like India,England,South Africa and West Indies. Three out of these four have topped the tables this time around. And the other pool has Pakistan,Ireland,New Zealand and Sri Lanka, only one pool topping team among the four. Ideally the pools for super eight should have been decided based on what ranks the teams achieve this tournament. Now, this has resulted in huge imbalance among the pools for the super eights. Another effect of this mistake is the the last few matches have become inconsequential. For instance, the match between West Indies and SriLanka and the match between New Zealand and South Africa. They just served merely as a practice match where teams tried to seize the momentum as they go into the next round.
I believe the reason for making such fixtures was to boost the sale of tickets and advance bookings as it was known well in advance where will the teams meet for super eights match unless there is a upset like the ousting of Australia. It is time the organizers think beyond petty gains like this which kills the competitive spirit of the game and makes the series a lackluster one.

Hits and Misses of IPL 2

I know this one is quite late. But it had kept me too busy to write one here. I am talking of IPL 2. Here is my own list of bests and worsts of the season 2 of IPL starting from the worst.

• Kolkatta Knight Riders: Yes, this is indeed the worst thing that can happen to a sporting extravaganza of this magnitude. Right from the point of Ponting pulling out and the team losing out on it's Paki players to the continuous losing streak and the never ending controversies in and around the team, this has put IPL2 to shame. KKR are in news always and always for wrong reasons.
• Loss of form of Rajasthan Royals : May be due to key players like Shane Watson and Sohail Tanwir or may be b'cos of off the colour Greame Smith making a comeback after injury, the champions are not in true color. It was sheer fun to watch a young team led by an inspiring leader making it to the top the last time. The same doesn't seem to happen this time around. Adding to their woes is the loss of Shane Warne now.
• Kevin Peterson and Andrew Flitoff : If you think they are on this list b'cos of their huge pay cheques which everyone envies ( including me) you are not entirely wrong. These are players who did not perform worth their money. Both were out of touch throughout their stay and after the exit of these two players the respective teams appear to have strengthened.
• See-Saw Mumbai Indians: Very much like the season 1 of IPL, Mumbai Indians are having a see-saw in their fortunes here. Starting with a win against the runners up of the last year, they slumped to a defeat failing to chase 120 runs on the board and some inexplicable captaincy in another match from Sachin. However, recently they seem to have regained the touch and are in contention of the semi-final spot yet again.
• Re-charged Deccan: On papers Deccan were and are one of the strongest side. Just that they couldn't perform as a unit last time around. The Chargers this time with changed jerseys are a different unit altogether. From being the bottom team in the last edition, this time they are right on among the top teams.
• Daring Daredevils : This is the case of old wine becoming tastier. If they were good in Season 1 they are the BEST this season. Being on the top of the tables consistently they are an amazingly strong side with players of calibre Glen McGrath and Danile Vettori warming the benches.
• Namma Chennai : After initial hiccups, Namma Chennai looks all set to reach semi-finals in style and are a very formidable unit. With Hayden,Raina and some other new timers like Jakati and Tyagi in top form all I can say for Hayden case is Australia's loss is Chennai's gain.

The best things about IPL are undoubtebly the unlimited entertainment they are providing. Hence, the top three feature entertainment as their major contributor.

• Unlimited Entertainment: With doubts of the season's success, IPL 2 shifted to SA. But what a tournament it has been so far. If IPL 1 was more to do with Batsman only, this season has been even to both batsman and bowlers. Matches turning either ways like the turn of the page in book, each match is so damn exciting to watch. Due to smart marketing strategy, it has managed to pull in crowds to the stadium and make the whole season a success.
• Fake IPL Blogger : I need not introduce this guy to you for sure. Beleive him or not, Agree with him or not, He is speaking truth or not , who really cares. All he speaks is so much fun to read and is guaranteed entertainment.
• Vodaphone ads starring ZOZO: Now this has to top the list. I call it innovation at its best. Vodaphone has always been keen on making ads without big stars and this one continues the trend. But I believe by the time all the ads are out, ZOZO would have become stars. The ads are so much fun to watch. The best was the "Make up alerts".

Well, skeptics may list out negatives of the tournament. But negative and positives are just two sides of the coin and is bound to exist in everything, IPL is no exception.

Me and my cricket fetish

This one goes to me. A personal recollection of my cricket fetish. I am a self acknowledged ardent cricket fan. But it was not always so. Like all our famous cricketers I too had a lean patch in my cricket fetish.

The very early memories of me enjoying cricket was of 1992 world cup. I was a Martin Crowe and NZ fan back then. I watched all the NZ matches waking up in wee hours of the morning. And I still remember how I felt when a deserving NZ lost to Pakistan in the semi finals.

Then there was a period when I supported teams like West Indies for merely Lara and Pakistan. I know it sounds odd , but then those were the days when bowlers like Wasim, Waqar used to create havoc and then there was a period of Shoaib adoration. His body language,his style,his aggression all appealed to me.

Somewhere on these lines, I became a Aussie fan and was one till very recently when the India bug bit me. Talking about the lean patch, well it actually began when I decided to take a dip into my HSC books, the dip which was a bit longer and then the college days when we lacked both time and the logistics needed to follow a cricket match. It is during this period that I somehow lost both interest in cricket and my Aussie adoration also died off. This dormant period had some activity in the form of occasional matches I watched like the 2003 world cup.

However, the passion or the fetish , was back when one particular match changed the way one day cricket is played over. The day was 12th March 2006, when Australia amassed a record score of 434 only to lose it to South Africa by 1 wicket. I must confess I did not watch this match too fully live but I managed to see the recorded version so many times. And with the advent of 20-20 cricket , cricket has generated whole new interest in me. Not only 20-20 version, I watch all versions of the game.

Even the test match once considered boring , has got new life infused into it by the fighting spirits of teams like Australia,South Africa and to certain extent India also. The recent SA-Aus series in Australia first and then in SA, have been one of the best test matches ever played. So, thanks to 12th March 2006, I will continue to haunt you with my write ups and rants about cricket.

Border Gavaskar trophy

The Border Gavaskar trophy of 2008 will be remembered for reasons many for each one of us. My own diary of the series

• The most unaustralian side I have seen. When do you see an Australian team with not a single bowler who has average less than 30. How often you hear of figures like 0/199 in 30 overs for an Australian bowler even if it was in a practice match.
  
• The most sporting (read uncompetitive) Australian team I have seen in recent times. The only episode of unruly behaviour came from the Indian camp in the form of Gautam Gambhir. Perhaps, rightly they have learnt to lose now.
• It was Indian festival all through. The series ran parallel to the most famous indian festival Diwali came as a blessing in disguise to Indians. Begining from Sachin's record breaking run, we had Anil Kumble's grand farewell and Dada's winning farewell.
  
• War of words was started and also won by India for a change. This is primarily because Australians chose to remain silent this time and Indians ... well we had all of them speaking volumes. Once again the focus was not on war on field but off the field. Indians should have surely avoided it especially the Gambhir incident.
• Post series win Indians have been on a rampage giving one statement over the other and claiming that we are the no.1 side in the world now. Australians attained the no.1 status after tasks like beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and beating NZ in NZ. India is far from doing these. India won a series at home which is nothing but expected because home pitches are tailor made. If Indian attains the same win in Australia then may be we can claim to have moved a notch towards the no.1 spot.One more important factor what I felt was the matches were mostly decided by the spin of the coin and not the spin of the ball. Whoever won the toss dominated the match. Had Australia been luckier than probably we would not have been celebrating this.
• The last day of the series was something to watch out for. The aggression with which Aussies came out to bat especially Hayden and the way Indians matched their aggression, it was test cricket at its best.
  
• No doubt Ponting will have more than a few questions to answer over his game plan of preferring to think about the ban in the next series and letting a winning chance slip away in the final test.
• Australians have learnt to lose in spirit. Indians have just started their winning ways. Hope they handle their win maturely by not giving any horrendous statements.
  

Back to cricket

It has been quite a while I wrote abour my favourite topic, cricket. And thanks to Zaheer Khan, I got the topic to write about. To be very precise about my point here, Zaheer khan's comments about australian team are uncalled for. Statements like this australian team is the most defensive australian team are completely uncalled for.  It is clearly evident from the score cards as to who dominated the game. The very fact that Ponting dared to give a sporting declaration with a target of under 300 on a day to finish is enough to show the amount of courage he has and the amount of confidence it has in his bowlers. Then , it was left to India to find out ways of delaying the inevitable and to put it in best words for India, they managed to salvage some pride in this tailor made slow pitch for them. Yes, it is a fact that Aussies are missing a key spinner in their side for this tour, but nevertheless, this match was always under australian control for me and we just managed to sneak through. Hope such statements from players do not start the war of words again and eventually we end up losing the main focus on the game .

Sporting extravaganza on the weekend

This sunday I witnessed two big sporting extravaganzas. One being the cricket final for Asia cup played between India and Sri Lanka and the other being the Wimbeldon finals and I was found switching my channels at every chance I get. Though cricket failed to garner my interest for long (as has beent he case of late with 50 over matches) , some moments truly stood out in cricket as well.

• India's decision to field 8 specialist batsman and only 3 genuine bowlers came as a surprise move to me but nevertheless, Dhoni should be appreciated for thinking out of the box.
• Though the match was a lackluster fair especially if you were supporting India, the presentation had its own drama. Rameez Raza in his typical anti-India comment quoted the statistics of India losing out 18 finals out of 22 played from 2002. Dhoni was quick to bounce back with " At least we came to finals, some teams(Pakistan) even failed to make to finals." Bravo Dhoni once again.
  

And what a tennis match it was. Inspite of rain interruptions now and then we were in for a treat. The match initially in Nada's favour found the champion in Federer when he bounced back like never before with 2 set wins. It was a contest of Champion vs The Aggressor. It was the match between two men who showed true character. How else do you explain the amount of focus and determination shown by both during this 4 hour 48 minute battle of nerves. Hats off to both of you! I could only wish for some more of the match.

IPL: A Walkthrough

IPL has been a blockbuster. Like it or not, you simply cannot ignore it. With more then half of it over, its time to recollect some of the important milestones. Some moments which stood out . Here is my list of imp events in no specific order.

• Harbhajan Slapping Sreeshant: This will rank as one of the top event in the IPL. Never before in cricket we have seen such an incident involving players from the same team. Harbhajan has been portrayed as synonym for indiscipline and as for Sreeshant, well statements like" Don't cry like Sreeshant" have become common.


• Rahul Dravid not good enough for T20: This event comes as the biggest proof for Rahul Dravid's inefficiency in the shortest form of cricket. Not that this is the first instance. But here he has failed in all aspects batting,captaincy,leadership,chosing the right players resulting in backlash from team owner Vijay Mallya.


• IPL means money and everyone loves money: Players from all over the world enjoy playing for IPL or at least they pretend to enjoy playing for IPL. Gilchrist retiring from international cricket citing "age" and speculations about Hayden considering retirement in another year are some proofs. Pakistan board planning to come up with PPL (with the same money spinning plans as IPL) ,well I won't call it exactly a proof but a rather immature attempt .


• McGrath still the one of the best: With his stingy bowling, he surely has proven that he still is a match winner. Delhi still manages to find ways to lose in form of other bowlers is another thing.

IPL Loyalty Dilemma

Off late I am in a new state of dilemma. This is over the tsunami which has taken frenzy over the entire nation called the IPL. Whichever TV Channel you open or whichever radio station you tune in to people are ga-ga over it. Now I am not going to write about whether it is worth the hype or not. Time will tell the answer. My dilemma here is to decide upon which team should I be supporting. And I think this must be a common feeling.

There can be numerous logics in deciding which team to support. I tried the following:

When I looked for my favorite players, Yuvi and Pathan is in Punjab , Gilli is in Deccan, Gayle is in Kolkotta, Warne is in Rajasthan, Murali is in Chennai ,McGrath is in Delhi, Jayasuriya and Sachin are in Mumbai and last but not no way the least Nathan Bracken and Praveen Kumar are in Bangalore. So, I am torn into pieces if I decide to support based on players of choice. But still If I manage to make a decision, I would go with Punjab.

If I go by the logic of location of the team on the map and my nativity , Chennai is the place where I belong while Bangalore is the place where I have some wonderful memories and Delhi is a city I really really like. But still as nativity counts above other factors this factor draws me towards Chennai.

Then, I decided upon to support the best team, but with surprise results being thrown in like Royal Challengers being dismissed for 82 going on to beat Mumbai Indians. When I thought Rajasthan Royals were the odd men out in this league they came up with a surprise win over Yuvi's men. Still going by this philosophy, as per the points table Kolkotta team looks to be favourite. But the level of uncertainity raises serious doubts over this philosophy.

And if I decide to go by the team ownership and ambassadors of each team, one side we have Shahrukh Khan (for Kolkotta) and Preity Zinta(for Punjab) from Bollywood while the rest of bollywood seems to be rooting for Mumbai , Kris Shrikanth and Vijay (Oh! God didn't they find anyone else) are rooting for Chennai cement's Chennai team, Business tycoon Mallya has Bangalore to his name and so on. Based on my preference of the ownership, I would go with Bangalore team.

And in case I decide to think as silly as to decide by the gersey, I felt Delhi's gersey was the best and Chennai's the worst.

So, here I am still unable to decide whom to cheer for apart from the cheer girls as of now.

Battle of Perth 2

This happens to be the most exciting test match of my cricket crazy years. And hence ,I am writing a daily account of the match here. India are right at top at the moment. Indians began the day well on an aggressive mode with Viru going for the shots. It is a pity Sachin and Dravid failed to capitalize on their first innings form. Dhoni played a hand after a really long time . But the hero of the day has to be Pathan. Sent in as a the night watchman after Wasim Jaffer failed yet another time, he played a gem of an innings. Laxman played his usual best against Australia. RP Singh gave some thrills towards the finish and Indian tail wagged than longer giving Australia a record score to chase. Aussie run chase has begun on wrong note with both openers failing to fire again and Pathan the tormentor again. Ponting seems to be steadying the ship with his aggressive best. This is a cracker in store for the weekend.
Being an Indian fan and also a Steve Waugh fan, I want Indian team to come victorious and as of now the prospects look 70-30 in favor of India. With the early morning conditions , Indians could well peg back the Aussies with some quick wickets. Hail India!!

Battle of Perth 1

With the verbal battle between CA and BCCI over , the focus now shifts to the action down under in Perth. With Australia showing some discipline on the field , no sledging so far in the match and only genuine appeals and Indians putting up a fight on field rather off the field, this match is poised to signify positive cricket again. The focus is on whether Australia can manage to win without their usual sledging and mental game and if India can come out of the mental block of not winning on a pacy wicket of Perth. All in all a cracker of match in store. Hope the better team( for me India :)) wins.

Australia : Down Down

Australians are the champions, in one day cricket, test cricket and non-cricket. Yes, what happened in the one of the first test matches of the new year was NOT cricket. Right from the horrendous umpiring decisions ( a whooping 11 in number) to the 'sportsman spirit' shown by the Aussies have been unprecedented. And I sincerely hope no one repeats also. This Australian team has earned the dubious distinction of being the most 'aggressive' and unfair team I have ever seen play cricket.
When you have players who nick the ball with a loud noise and still stand their ground hoping umpires would rule them not out and the same player who has clearly grounded the ball while taking a catch off the pad appeals his heart out , you know something is not right and this is not a fair game. I had high degree of respect for Adam Gilchrist as he was one of the most honest and fair player in the Aussie team but when he appealed for Dravid's pad nick which would surely be visible to the keeper, it was clear to me, this team is all out in full strength in full cooperation to win the record 16th test by ANY means. Sincere appreciations to Anil Kumble and the Indian camp who have tacked the whole issue very nicely putting across their views in a very tactical way. Till last night I thought it was 14 men against the Indian team including the 2 ground and 1 third umpire, now it is clear it is a 15 member team, including the match referee. I mean how can you give a decision without conclusive evidence. And that too on Australian charges, who have been synonymous to sledging in the past,present and the future. This is not cricket and this series doesn't deserve to be finished. Indian team should call off this series and come back home and teach Australian board a lesson. Teams like Sri Lanka, Pakistan will endorse this move of Indian team if it happens as they have also been subject to hostile reactions.

In a nut shell, the cricket has lost in this game and an over aggressive and unruly 'mob' of men has won. Winning a match is not everything. Winning hearts is more important and Kumble's men have won that.

ICL Matches: Fun to watch

ICL matches have begun and have begun with a bang. Packed houses in stadiums and full toosh entertainment. Watch them in all Zee channels . For now I can show you one of the advertisements for my favourite team. Watch it for yourself and have fun.

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Can't help it

I can't help it. I deliberately do not want to write on cricket as my blog will look full of cricket posts. But Indian cricket board and its management committee think otherwise. And hence, here I am ranting about our cricket board. And as for the title, I did not want the reader to know that it is a post on cricket from the title. Thats' it.
Indian team for the tests came as a big shocker to me. How could they leave out a player like Yuvraj Singh who is in the form of his life. After a series winning performances in the T20 world cup and the Pakistan series where he dominated in all games, how could one leave him out of the test side ? Some argue that he is not a "Test Player". My question to them is why do you brand players? Everyone is playing cricket and it is just about adapting to the situation whether it be tests, one days or T20s. There are moments in test cricket where you need to go out and attack the opponent and there are times when you play literally on back foot in a one day game. Then why this branding like Test player and one day player. The next argument I want to put is we all admire Aussies as champions ( leaving out the sledging and stuff) . If you want to be champions we should start thinking like one first. They don't brand their players like one day players and test players and as a result they have got a match winning batsman in Adam Gilchrist who is equally good in all the forms of game. According to me Yuvraj is better than Gilchrist as a " test batsman" . Then why not give him a chance.
One side they showed signs of "moving ahead" by dropping Dravid ( Though I was not in favor of that as well) and the other side they are taking a step back by choosing a so called typical test team. Hope they show some consistency in their errors at least.

Dravid's omission: Pains me

Way back in my TCS placement interview to the question of who is my favorite cricketer I had answered Rahul Dravid and it is shocking to see him out of the Indian team now. Though my answer in the TCS interview was just to sound different than the usual Sachin Tendulkar, I have to confess that Dravid has been one of the pillars of Indian cricket in recent times. How can we forget the contributions he has made to the famous Australian tour when we managed to salvage some pride or the Calcutta test against Australia where India won the game after being made to follow on, which changed the approach of follow on forever(Now teams don't ask teams to follow on ). How can we forget the role he played in 2003 world cup directly with the runs he scored and indirectly with him donning the double role of wicket keeper batsman so that India could play the extra batsman. I am not a vivid supporter of historical statistics and I don't argue that he should be kept in the team based on his previous performances. But replacing him for someone like Sehwag is what pains me. Sehwag's form is known to all. Dravid has an impressive record against Pakistan. Can Indian selectors be brave enough to leave him out of the Australian tour? Then why this step motherly treatment towards him ?

Australia Vs India : In words

Recently the relations between the Indian and Australian cricket team have gone from worse to worst. From the time India has beaten Aussies in the T20 world cup, there has been a downward slide in the relations between the two teams. But this is nothing new. Since a long time, the arch rivals of India have been Australia and not Pakistan according to me , because the matches played against the formers have been more thrilling than the later. But why this hue and cry now? Relations have touched an all time low now. With Symonds accusing of racist comments from a section of crowd and BCCI playing a deaf ear to the whole episode involving Sreesanth also. As you can't clap with one hand, I feel both the teams are to be blamed here. Sreeshant is to be blamed for staring at the batsman evey ball he bowls. Come on, not even a bowler of Wasim Akram's caliber can manage to dominate the batsman in every ball he bowls. Symonds giving out statements like Indians will have to pay back in Australia , clearly shows the kind of mentality they have. What does he mean, T20 champions have a lot to learn? Agreed he is a part of a champion side, but that doesn't give him rights to make such comments on other sides. With both sides captains and board giving a deaf ear to this whole episode, matters have turn worst. Australia may have won the series , but it is cricket as a whole which has been defeated in this whole series. It is more of a verbal battle than a battle with Ball and bat and the loser is of course cricket.

Me:A part of History

There are times when you are short of words but you have the strong urge within you to express. I did not know how to start this blog but then Shahrukh Khan came to my rescue with a statement of his. " I am a part of history". True indeed. Yesterday all those present in the Wanderers and all those who witnessed the breathtaking T20 finals sitting in their house or at office or wherever through whatever means are a part of history. India had surpassed arch rivals Pakistan in a humdinger by 5 runs , a match which went on till the last over and which was equally poised throughout the match. I bet there can't be any one who did not feel the pressure. Two teams knocked out at the first stage in the world cup held in West Indies, what would have one expected out of them. But destiny had different plans. A team going through crisis had in its fate the most coveted trophy of all. And what a way it was achieved. With 13 runs required of the last over and a very tense but firm Joginder Sharma began with a wide delivery all of us had our heart in our mouth. A dot ball followed and then a six on a full toss. Indians held their nerve and Joginder Sharma bowled the decisive ball which was a slower one and Misbah-Ul-Haq , the Pakistani Star of the day tried a backward scoop, one of the recently invented shots in one day cricket only to find Sreeshant who held on to the heaviest ball he had ever held in his life. He had weight of crores of Indian fans on his shoulders and his able shoulders did not fail India. As Misbah knelt on the ground out of disappointment the Indian celebrations began not only at the Wanderes but throughout the world. One of the sample of the celebration in Bangalore. A mob stopped a moving car in the middle of the night and asked everyone to shout "Hindustan zindabad" before letting them go.
The youth and freshness of the Indian team did the trick for me. The way each player backed each other and Dhoni held his nerves at all crucial junctures made us all witness history.
Jai Hind!!

A Wonderful Weekend

After nearly a month I am spending a full weekend in Bangalore and it proved out to be an excellent weekend. Great entertainment from all quarters. First and foremost , the best moment in Indian cricket as far as I have seen, India entering into the finals of the first T20 world cup beating none other than the world champions Australia. It was a breathtaking match and we were having so much fun late into the nights. Indians all over India celebrated it with equal fervour as I could hear the sound of crackers bursting.

Next to this comes a movie which I saw over the weekend. "Manorama Six feet under" a rather strange title for a bollywood movie, but it is indeed a movie to show that bollywood is going in the right direction. A top notch movie with a flawless screenplay coupled with excellent performances , it had all to woo the hearts of movie goers. But it was sad to see only 20 people in the multiplex i saw it on this Sunday just after 2 days of its release. Of late I am very impressed with this guy Abhay Deol. He stands true to his name "Abhay" as far as his choices of movies are considered. Take this for example, which hero do u remember wearing checked shirts throughout the movie with a simple trouser (no jeans nothing). Twists and turns in the plot catch u unaware as u sit at the edge of the seat. I only hope such movies make some money so that people become "abhay" to make such movies in future.