Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Zak comes of age to be termed as the next "Sultan of Swing"

Zak , yorked his way into the international arena in the ICC mini World Cup in Kenya. Let me not overdo my blog here to talk about the life history and stats of the player.But just wanted to highlight the point the fact that Zak has really comes of age.

The left arm fast bowler is now spearheading the opening attack for India as well nurturing the young guns to perform well at the highest level of cricket. What makes me write about zak? Why does this whole fuzz of electronic waste that iam doing mean?

In the recently concluded test series against the Aussies i found some striking features of his bowling. It just shook me the way he bowled , it was just amazing to watch. I still remember during the second test where he bowled 6 different deliveries. I mean it and i was surprised the way his variations seems to be very vital for the batsmen to read. I couldn't have imagined myself bowling 6 different deliveries. The confidence with which he executed the half a dozen ball shows the caliber in him. He hasn't shown any laxity on the field and urges other bowlers to perform well.

Yes he can be rightly named the "next sultan of swing". Zak has proved to be the best bet for India and i believe he has improved a lot in recent times. The way he handled the bowlers and the way he bowled the penultimate over shows that he can be a true match winner. Just watch the video here to rekindle your thoughts about the bowler.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Who the hell in this world is Duckworth Lewis?

The D/L method was created by two English statisticians its not a single name, Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis, originating from an undergraduate final-year project at the University of the West of England. This method is a mathematical way to calculate the target score for the team batting second in a one-day cricket or Twenty-20 cricket match interrupted by weather or other circumstance

The D/L method has been criticized very badly that the price is on the wicket and not on the overs. You will be lucky guy if your team haven't lost a wicket batting second even though NRR (Net Run Rate) is poor. To me the game is flawed, we have seen some many where teams have lost half a dozen wickets with a heavy NRR still to chase winning the game.

Personally i wouldn't accept it for a sport where you need show your skill rather the technology or few people taking the game away from you. This is neither fair nor acceptable as part of the game. Here is one of the examples in sport where machines and technology dictate terms to humans. Still remember the days when i was wondering how could a team suddenly be in a situation to score 22 runs of 1 ball. SA then were assured of Victory against England but for the fact that 12 minutes of rain , damn for the rain gods and D/L cost the match for them. How could any team score 22 runs of 1 ball because of rain?

But that's how the rules are and that how the game is played and flawed with D/L. There has been several revisions of D/L method in the recent years to minimize the impact but the teams who have been on the receiving end because of D/L can only crib about the rules.

I can never take a big heart that India has won against England in the Kanpur ODI. Never ever will i consider this as a ODI victory, but that's how it is. The game was evenly poised and a couple of wickets would have done the trick for visiting team eagerly looking out for an outright win.

Matches where D/L has played spoilsport :-)
1. The match that strikes me when i talk about D/L was SA Vs ENG during 1992 Benson & Hedges WC in Australia where SA had to score 22 runs of 1 ball after shot showere of 12 minutes.
2. There was one similar situation during the 2003 WC in South Africa, i guess the match was played between SA and Kenya if my memory is right. Here it was altogether a different situation where in the SA team were just 1 run short of reaching the target computed by D/L method.
3. Another one that played against India .India batted first, and were all out in the 49th over for 328. Pakistan, batting second, were 7 wickets down for 311 when bad light stopped play after the 47th over. Considering the overall scoring rate throughout the match, this is a target most teams would be favored to achieve. And indeed, application of the D/L method resulted in a target score of 304 at the end of the 47th over, with the officially listed result as "Pakistan won by 7 runs (D/L Method)".

So am leaving all my readers with a sour taste that machines and technology can at times dominate humans and sport. The time is not far away where the we humans will become slaves to machines.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Yuvi - A nemesis to English Bowlers

Stuart Broad had his worst ever bowling figures in T20 World Cup in South Africa last year. I think he still remains in the privilege list of people who have conceeded half a dozen sixes in a over and the person was none other than Yuvi. Recently i read an article in The Hindu not sure who the author was it says "Yuvi has the grace of Lara, has the power of Gary Sobers". Not sure whether these statements are true but yes to an extent.

I think he has done a world of good to himself in scoring back to back centuries after coming back from a slump. I think he has redefined the way he needs to apply himself to situations rather than going for the kill. Now Yuvi looks a more matured player and with the scheme of things he seems to be right replacement for Ganguly.

English bowlers has been a nemesis to Yuvi's batting skill. The last 2 games that we have witnessed is one of the power packed performance and he was slaying the bowlers all round the park. I has got a new lease of life through the english bowlers and its time for all of us to see Yuvi in both form of the games. I think the english bowlers need to rethink when they have a go at Yuvi the next time. Its seriously high time that English bowlers bring the best under the leadership of Pietersen.

Friday, November 14, 2008

How often we see change in rules?

YARC - Yet another rule change. For all the cricket lovers there is YARC and to know more about that please read here.

Yes , the batting side can decide when they want to enforce the 2nd or the 3rd powerplay. This bring a new perceptive to the game and the captains has to been on his feet to make quick decision and chalk out different strategies and plans.

I think its now time for ICC to consolidate all the new rules and get the sport moving ahead. I believe it needs to support more smaller countries who are dreaming of big in cricket arena.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Why can't Cricket have Football style yellow cards?

Random thoughts!!! If you like sports and if you feel our thought align then you can go ahead , if you are on the fence you can always peep in a think over my thought , others please break here.

Me & my friends had a heated discussion how the players fall all over the place in a football match where his opponent would have failed to touch the players. Ronaldo of Man Utd is one player i know of where i feel he falls to often without getting hurt. My friends would disagree me on that , but thats debatable, no hard feelings.

Yellow card are shown by referee where the player is official cautioned. He can continue to play until he receives one more booking. Then the famous red cards come out, The number of red cards is proportional to the number of mad people on the soccer field running for a ball. Can we forget the famous heat butt by Zanedine Zidane, that would remain my best memory that i can talk about in the football history. To me it Zizou : 1 and Matterazi : 0. Youtube presents those memorable Zizou heat butt moments.

I understand why people get angry, they are either provoked or are Robots which have been programmed to Run Fast , Hit Man !! Run Fast , Hit Man !! In a game of football we expect players to make fouls and be cautioned so all these fuzz about cards and send off make sense. I can similarly think crickets playing foul games and showing in disciplinary actions on the field. I have seen bowlers showing their bad side to provoke players. To me cricket needs to push this rule, i know its a Gentleman's game but players are provoked and showing violent conduct on the field.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Sayanora to Jumbo & Dada

Kumble (aka Jumbo) & Ganguly (aka Dada,Prince of Kolkata) are retiring from cricket but they will never leave our cricketing hearts. Yes this isnt the last we see of them. We might see them among the elite panel of Selectors or maybe among those to hold mike and comment about the way cricket was played and cricket will be played.

I still see a bright future in them through media or performing the duties in their own state. How have they succeeded in this cricketing world? How they have won millions of Indian hearts to go out there to watch their heroes play?

The answer to all the How questions is just simple and straight forward. They loved their cricket and played with spirit. Isn't that very simple. Yes people would argue with me that you need talent , you need luck , you need to have influence to enter the cricketing world. But these are top reasons that made them big. What made them big, and made the cricketing world look up to them was the reasons that i cited earlier.

But it has been a fitting farewell for both these stalwarts in Indian cricket. Anil Kumble last test series as captain has been won against OZ. Ganguly's last series win also takes him to a different genre of cricketers who is regarded the best Indian captain till date. His debut Century in Lord's, England and his Golden duck at Nagpur here in India against the OZ emulates the great legendary cricketer Sir Donald Bradman who got out in similar scores.

Yes it time for us to move on. Cricket is beyond cricketing heroes , new heroes are born , new commanders lead and cricket still goes on.

A File photo of Kumble and Ganguly together

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Thou shall stop watching Cricket from here on :-(

Please go through the article here. This article to me is rated among the best, a well written one. This one especially to me make whole lot of sense and i could connect to each and every line from this article.

It was as if I was gasping my last breath when I read the last few sentences. I guess the readers here will also experience something similar to this.

The moment of truth is yet to come, we don't have much time on our hands. But I hereby declare that "Thou shall stop watching Cricket" when the moment comes.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Nice composition - The Traveller

Back to back posts, i guess my friends would be wondering whether i am jobless. I think that's a cliched topic altogether , i guess people would agree with me on this.

Will post on similar lines sometime later but going back to the original topic. I recently came across this sweet little ,lovely composition by Prasanth( my junior in College) seems to have cleaned my ear drums.

I am leaving all my fellow bloggers here to make sure that your ear drums dance to the tunes of this music here - The Traveller

Happy listening.

Reds finds a tiny period through Spurs

This blog is not about telling or criticizing the way Reds played against the Spurs. Ask anyone of the Liverpool fans here, the first comments are Oh Damn it!!! and you know what everyone i talked said we are still on the top and Red Devils are behind us. I know how crazy the Man U fans would feel about it. But the truth of matter is we are ahead of them on the points table.

But yes i know we didn't play to our strengths against Spurs. We could have increased our lead to 2 in the first half but unfortunately to the wood work and keeper's rescue. What this shows is Reds are at times vulnerable to teams like Spurs , Everton playing away. At this point of time Rafa needs to sit with his group and rethink the whole strategy of winning convincingly on away games. But nothing has stopped to think about Reds winning the silver ware this time around rewriting history after 18 years.

I think the whole fan base including me are hoping for the best out of Liverpool in EPL and Champions League. Still reciting the Liverpool Anthem "We'll Never Walk Alone"..

Thursday, October 30, 2008

EPL at its best

I'm back again with another EPL update. This time around iam here to silence all the critics who said EPL is not setting great standard in football. Unfortunately i was not able to see the match, as it was played late night India time. I wish i had watched this match.

To me this is one of the biggest London Derby played and there was great excitement & ecstasy for Spurs fans. I'm not a big of Spurs but I'd love to been one of them tonight. The score line said 4-4 and there has been a goal every 12 minutes of the match. Isn't that excitement?

To all EPL fans , please get some time to witness one of the best matches and the stunning opening goal by David Bentely(ex Gunner player).

Please lock your seat belts and before clicking the link here

This gets me to a point where i would never want to miss watch an EPL match.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

RoR - Reds On a Roll

The Reds seems to be rocking and rollicking with their current undefeated form this season. They remain as the second best team to Chelsea in EPL and best overall in Europe. Do you know the reason why? They have not lost a match in EPL and won all their matched in Champions league.

Unfazed by their previous failures in EPL, there are on the top gear among the Big Four in EPL. They have silenced their critics till now. They have not impressed me with their quality of football, specifically their scoring has been pretty bad this season. But all these false feelings seems have got erased my mind with their win against Man City. With their current undefeated form , i would badly want to dedicate this number from their very own local band "The Beatles".

Click here to listen

Lyrics here,

Well gonna write a little letter
Gonna mail it to my local D.J.
It's a rockin' little record
I want my jockey to play
Roll over Beethoven
Gotta hear it again today

You know my temperature's risin'
And the jukebox blows a fuse
A heart beatin' rhythm
And my soul keeps singing the blues
Roll over Beethoven
And tell Tchaikovsky the news

I got a rockin' pneumonia
I need a shot of rhythm and blues
I think I got it off the writer
Sittin' down by the rhythm reviews
Roll over Beethoven
We're rockin' in two by two

Well if you feel it and like it
Well get your lover and reel and rock it
Roll it over and move on up
Just trifle further and reel and rock it
Roll it over
Roll over Beethoven
A rockin' in two by two , oh

Well early in the mornin'
I'm a givin' you the warnin'
Don't you step on my blue suede shoes
Hey diddle diddle
I'll play my fiddle
Ain't got nothing to lose
Roll over Beethoven
And tell Tchaikovsky the news

You know she wiggles like a glow worm
Dance like a spinnin' top
She's got a crazy partner
Oughta see him reel an rock
Long as she got a dime
The music will never stop
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
Roll over Beethoven
And dig these rhythm and blues

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Mundhinam Parthane

Altogether a different blog from my usual ones. This helps me break away my routine of posting sports blogs.

So wondering what the title suggests? Mundhinam Parthane - "I saw you the Day before Yesterday" song from Vaaranam Aayyiram by Gautham Menon and music by Harris Jayaraj. The song sung by Naresh Iyer, Prashanthini is simply outstanding and very romantic. Naresh literally rocks the song! When I listened to the radio quality version, I didnt know it was Naresh, but when I listened to this full version, the traces of Naresh was quite evident.The female voice is very adept and different, and hats off to Harris for the new invention of Prashanthini. The song starts off with Surya expressing his love to the woman (I guess its Sameera Reddy) in his voice. The lyrics are very romantic and catchy, and it is to Harris’s credit that he lets the tune mingle so well along with the lyrics.

Hats of to Harris Jayaraj to bring out the best and give us such a lovely composition.


Lyrics:
Hi malini..I am Krishnan…naan idha solliye aaganum..nee avlavu azhagu..
Inga evanum ivlo azhaga oru…
Ivlo azhaga paarthurka maattaanga…and I am in love with you…

Mundhinam paarthene…paarthadhum thotrene..
Saladai kannaaga..nenjamum punnaanadhey..
Ithanai naalaaga…unnai naan paaraamal…
Engu thaan ponaeno..naatkalum veenaanadhe..
Vaanathil nee vennilla…yekkathil naan theivadhaa..
Ippodhu ennodu vandhaal enna…oorpaarkka ondraaga sendraal enna…
Ippodhu ennodu vandhaal enna…oorpaarkka ondraaga sendraal enna…

Mundhinam paarthene…paarthadhum thotrene..saladai kannaaga..nenjamum ponnaanadhe..
Ithanai naalaaga…unnai naan paaraamal…
Engu thaan ponaeno..naatkalum veenaanadhe..

(MUSIC)
Kaadhale…swasame…

Thula thottil unnai veithu…nigar seiya ponnai veithaai…
Thora varam thorkaadhoo..perazhagu…
Mugam paarthu pesum unnai…mudhal kaadhal sindhum kannai…
Anaikkaamal povenoo….aaruyire…
Ohhh…nizhal pola vidaamal unnai…thodarvenadii…
Pugai pola padaamal pattu…nagarvenadi…
Vinaanooru, kanaavum nooru”…vidai solladi…

Mundhinam paarthene…paarthadhum thotrene..
Saladai kannaaga..ullamum ponnaanadhe..
Ithanai naalaaga (oh my love)…unnai naan paaraamal (yes my love)…engu thaan ponaeno..naatkalum veenaanadhe..

(MUSIC)

Kadal nilam angum neram..alai vandhu theendum thooram..
Manam sendru muzhvenoo…eerathile..
Thalai saaikka tholum thandhaai…viral korthu pakkam vandhaai…
Idhazh mattum innum yen dhoorathilee..
Pagal neram kanaakkal kanden, urangaamale…uyirendum uraaiya kanden, nerungaamale…
Unai andri enakku yedhu…edhir kaalame…

Mundhinam paarthene…paarthadhum thotrene..
Saladai kannaaga..nenjamum ponnanadhe..
Ithanai naalaaga …unnai naan paaraamal…
Engu thaan ponaeno..naatkalum veenaanadhe..
Vaanathil nee vennilla…yekkathil naan thevadhaa..
Ippodhu ennodu vandhaal enna…oorpaarkka ondraaga sendraal enna..
Ippodhu ennodu vandhaal enna….oorpaarkka ondraaga sendraal enna..

……Vennilaa….…vennilaa…….vennilaa………………….

Keep humming the tunes of Vaarnam Aayiram at least that the tunes are not going to leave me for now.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Dada bows out


Sourav Chandidas Ganguly

Without hustle of any sorts, bang came the press conference of Sourav Ganguly (aka Dada, Prince of Kolkata , Bengal Tiger) declaring to bow out after the home test series against OZ's. Great cricketers, great tacticians , great players always take the right decision at the right time. The time is picture perfect for Ganguly as well.Did it take the cricketing world by surprise ? Yes , for a few but many thought that his far from his prime form and it was the right time.

There was so much talking in the media whether it is the right time to retire. But he is not at his personal best both in terms of his cricketing career and his persona. I am hoping for a perfect finish for him during this test series. To me this would open a whole lot of opportunities for new youngsters to play and prove their mettle at the biggest level.

The biggest inspiration to be drawn from him is the way he took Indian cricket to a new level with his aggressive captaincy and nurturing young talents. But at times his arrogance on the field also took him to a new level and involved him into many controversies. The other inspiration was the way he captained India to reach the 2003 WC final was truly a captains punch. He played his cards properly and when the whole of india felt that we are out and lost during the WC, he brought the team back to winning ways through this aggressive captaincy. His off drives are mind blowing and from Boycott's dictionary "The Prince of Kolkuta...". The whole of India loved it, Bengal loved it too..

But big people say "All new journeys start with the single step" and i think this is the first single step towards the new journey. The new journey am talking about is how the Fab four will slowly start fading away from the eyes of cricket. The will for sure remain in our memories leaving behind their extraordinary years of cricket. But slowly its time is ticking away. We wont be anymore having the "Fab Four" on the field again..

To me personally he has been an inspirational captain and one of best opening batsmen in ODI's alongside pairing with Sachin, but otherwise his cricketing career has seen a low during the test match series in Zimbabwe. This being the first time under his captaincy that India is losing against Zimbabwe. He was involved in lots of on field and dressing room controversies, especially the on with Greg Chapell.

But to always end on a winning note he as been a splendid, aggressive cricketer. And we whole of India will remember you as One of the best and successful captains to have captained India and the records says it all.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Do you think you had a proper sleep last night?

Another one just of the block. Few things that strike me right on my head are these Did i have a good sound sleep last night? Will i be able to work the whole next day without any glitches?

I am not sure how many of us had a sound sleep for some night. The basic necessity for our whole body to function is to give it some rest and tune it properly. Do we get hooked up to our laptops and dumb box for a longer time in the night extending our time to sleep? Maybe we are trying to unnecessarily overlap our sleeping time to watching tv , working late nights , watching second show movies. So what is the after effect of all these? Regular sleep keeps the mind alert and the body healthy, so that one can complete one's daily tasks.

Most of us prefer to post pond things. The same we do it with sleep as well, we just tell it ourselves lets sleep better this weekend and compensate for the late night work that i did over the week. But the fact is that never happens. You can never catch up with sleep and compensate for the lost sleep making yourself asleep over the week. By these events we stress our whole body to function properly without giving proper rest. We will be exerting to much energy from our body and mind to get our work done by doing this we end up as an "INSOMNIAC". These are the reasons why you shouldn't be sacrificing your sleep.

I guess the best way to overcome the lost sleep and have a proper sleep is to try plan and finish of ones work at the earliest. By this we can find more time for personal stuff as well and sleeping early will also give huge relief for the body. To do productive work the mind and the body has to be in sync, otherwise you yourself will be behaving differently like a drunkard.

Get sound sleep , refresh your hormones , energize yourself in involving in sports or a jog early morning. With these will it be possible in our Fast & furious Life? Will we able to do this consistently?

Friday, September 19, 2008

Reds - Back on track.

How did the Reds take the Devils for a Ride?? A 7 year drought for Liverpool without a single win against Man U was all over when the 2 teams met at Anfield last Saturday. So did this sound any better for the mersey side team ? Yes ofcourse being an ardent follower of Liverpool and Mr. Gerrard the time has come back for the Mersy side to prove the mettle they where in the Premier League.

There has been a varied changes happening in the team which was going nowhere in the EPL until last season. But i see a light at the end of the tunnel for Liverpool to get back to their winning ways. The team looks much stronger and experienced with the back four seeming rock solid. The team looks more matured playing the away games which never has been their strength.

The way the team went about defeating Manchester United at the weekend without Fernando Torres and the skipper in the starting line-up certainly backs that up. I guess Rafa and the team are looking for a couple of Silverwares this season challenging the Europeans giants and the local EPL giants.

The team for this Season and my bets and analysis on them

Goal Keeper : Pepe Reina - Jose Manuel Reina is one of the world's top stoppers with an uncanny knack of saving penalties. He has saved Liverpool from blushes on more than several occasions and seems to be the best bet behind the bars.

Defenders : The back four are
Jammie Carragher - The experienced among the back four and has gaining strength to strength in every game he plays.
Martin Skrtel - The lanky defender seems to be a good buy by Rafa. Most of last season he was out due to injury. He gets into the right position at times for headers and free kicks.
Fabio Aurelio and Dosenna make up the back four.

Mid Fielders : Liverpool hosts the best Mid-fielders in the World with the likes of Gerrard, Xavi Alonso , Mascherano , Kuyt , Benayoun , Riera the new signing for the Reds , Voronin , Arbeloa , Pennant. I am gasping for my breath when listing the mid fielders.

Forwards , Strikers : Fernando Torres the match winner for Spain in Euro '08 against Germany. The lone goal scorer which separated the 2 teams and he is a exemplary finishers with great class and touch.
Robbie Keane - The new signing from Spirs. Hasn't been in the thick of things until now. Hoping to see the best from him in the coming days.
Also Babel playing along side these 2 will team up the forwards and strikers.

The above star studded team can do wonders with the current form.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Wall St. renamed to Fall St.

Reporting from Wall St., lower Manhattan , Newyork City , USA. Does this sound any similar to you all??? Yes, the fall of Wall St. giants. The last time that we witnessed one such scenario was during the Great Economic Depression during 1929 and we are back again today in one such similar situation witnessing the Fall of Wall St.

"Good Risk is rewarded, imprudent risk is punished ", quote from a major financial advisor from Wall St. Unhealthy risks taken by Lehmann Brothers and Merill Lynch has finally handed them the situation they are currently into. Lehmann Brothers the fourth largest financial investments bank dealing with securities and realities have fallen and reported bankruptcy.They have busted to dust in no time. The major cause for this fall is the subprime mortgage mess triggered it, but the problem lies much deeper.

There is a big crack in the Wall, Is this end of socialized capitalism? Maybe but i guess the Federal Reserve will come all the way down to help all these institutions from to cause any more havoc to Wall St. More money is pumped into the market to handle the crisis.

Reason behind all these havoc is that Lehmann was strangled by a massive credit crisis and fast plummeting real estate prices.Wall Street analysts believe that it was the 'hubris' of Richard Fuld, the 62-year-old CEO of Lehman, who did not take the telltale signs of impending doom very seriously. Fuld, nicknamed The Gorilla for his foul temper, intimidating presence and tough talk, rejected many bids to save Lehman because he thought that the sinking giant was much bigger than Wall Street was giving it credit for, and wanted to get more price for the sale of the company.

Will we see the fall and rise of Wall St. once again ?? the answer to this is simple , we need to wait and watch how rest of the giants fare and keep their strategies tightened to grip in the coming days. We will see a decline in the US economy , maybe the real estate prices will see an all time low in the coming years. We will have better regulatory board who defines strict policies for banks affording mortgages and credit to customers. Will these cracks filled we could see the Fallen hero regain the Wall St. synonymous to influential financial market.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Can IPL do an EPL???

I desperately wanted to pen down my thoughts on IPL long time back, but unfortunately we humans can find tons of excuses for not doing it.

The title of this blog was my status message on my gtalk for quite sometime and did i really find the answer for the millon dollar question... Will keep you folks reading this till the end for a answer...

Indian Premier League, a league of multicultured, multilingual & with all the mutli* i can think so, has been a perfect foil for all the cricket lovers in the world and especially for the people of India. So how did this whole thing happen ??? http://srihariv.blogspot.com/2008/02/get-played-on-by-ipl-new-era-of-cricket.html check this out..

So with all this, did it really work out. The questions that was on everyones mind were the franchise owners saw a light at the end of tunnel by investing crores and crores of money here ??? yes, few could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel, but not everyone... To talk on this more i had a debatable session with my friends and we found that the end result seems to be fruitful, but the fruit will start churning out only after sometime...

Some interesting facts to that could help folks realise what it exactly means ,it was announced that a consortium consisting of India's Sony Entertainment Television network and Singapore-based World Sport Group secured the global broadcasting rights of the Indian Premier League.The record deal has a duration of ten years at a cost of US$1.026 billion. As part of the deal, the consortium will pay the BCCI US$918 million for the television broadcast rights and US$108 million for the promotion of the tournament.20% of these proceeds would go to IPL, 8% as prize money and 72% would be distributed to the franchisees. The money would be distributed in these proportions until 2012 after which the share of IPL would go up.

Isn't that some quite money to start a cricket league... Few other questions are Is it worth spending time infront of the dumb box??? My answer would be, cricket to me has always be evergreen, my knowledge towards this sport has mutliplied many bounds and too me its like my second lover... I know what you folks are thinking, let's talk about that later :-)... So as always it has been a great time pass for me and getting to watch the shorter version of cricket as always excited me and saves us from some time...

There was a talk about what each version of cricket represent, The Test cricket is like a saree with all the jewels engulfing you with more traditional values attahced to it... The one day cricket cuts the first one and resembles the churidhar kind where its easily takes a cricketer to new heights.. The last and the final one that we have been dicussing till now is 20-20 cricket which typically represents the mini and skirts,extremely shorter version of the original on saree.

20-20 truely has bought a new lease of life for all the cricket lovers, it has easily become popular with spectators as it can encourage aggressive, risky, entertaining batting, often results in cliffhanger endings, and ensures that a spectator can watch an entire match.

What i find the most interesting is since each represents a city which brings in a element of excitement for the fans across globe watching this.. Ok did all these answer the very question Can IPL do an EPL??? I would strongly put it across "IPL is here to stay"... But will it do an EPL will need some years to judge how this league takes it to the bigger stage.. How its going to attract more people to watch this kind of cricket ??? Will the franchise owners spend more money or will they repend for the investments made ??? Will the price tag of each player increase ??? Will we see more teams in the league in the coming years??? Teams from Ahmedabad , Cochin and cities elsewhere in India passionate about this sport.. Will more people come to watch the game and follow this passionately ??? I really a big list and the answers to all this is "Wait and Watch"...

But for sure IPL is here to stay and it has really entertained me until now... Hoping that my fav "Chennai Super kings" roar like lions...

Breaking the Silence

yes!!! Atlast the silence has been broken, this very blog gave a second life to my blogging after a quite a loong time... Its really been sometime since i cracked some nonsense here, and you know what people on this page would really be blaming me that i am back again:-) , please dont curse me....

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Get Educated on getting a new Bike

Education to me is knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process... Err... to be generous here am not trying to behave like one of those teachers who tells us what to do and what not to do... Wanted to put a across a a very simple thought of getting a new bike and thought i would share it with you folks with a different flavor to it...

Education has taught me how to do things differently and also made me wisely on how to apply myself in difficult situations... So before i thought i did something differently and tried to apply my brains, let me share something about that...

Bikes for me has always been a passion and i was wondering the times when i would own one... So the time came i had decided to own a new bike and with the same old passion i went in search of the beast.. This experience was indeed harrowing and fruitful until i realized this is what i want... To me the best thing you need to do before trying to do something is getting educated on what you are trying to do.. am might sound a little weird here, but its as simple as this - "GET EDUCATED"

How do you get educated??? Answer to this simple - Keep asking questions , you shouldn't worry about the kind of stupid questions you ask... Anything from how many employees are employed here to Do you have any idea what John Abraham is riding??? But these really wouldn't educate you much but rather give answers to ones of your interests.

Do you want to get educated, so listen carefully and maintain pin drop silence, again sounding like one of those mortals in classrooms.. The first best thing to do is try answering the following questions and you will be exactly at a standpoint where you wanted to be... Let me talk about this with my experience on getting a new bike.. What would be the first question to ask ,Which bike should i get Splendor, Pulsar, unicorn??? This is one of the worst first questions that you can ask yourself when getting a new bike... These answers came up just because one of your close buddies have them... But the whole point of getting educated on getting a new bike is missing... Let me not be so detailed here, the first and foremost is

Why do you need a bike now, Did you have one earlier and looking for a change or planning your first beast???

How many miles you drive every day or in a week, get an approximate number???

Is bike your only source of transportation???

Are you looking out for a gear or gear less vehicle??

Are you looking for one which would save your pocket or one which go just few miles emptying your pocket?? Basically the mileage, the fuel economy. Be careful here the number look little more than exaggerating. This hugely depends on the way you ride the bike..

Looking out for a one which would impress your opposite sex or otherwise??

Do you have a budget in your mind before getting a shock of your life?? This is really important before answering the rest "Money matters most".. Also decide whether you are planning for finance options or you just happy swiping your card with huge bank balance...

Fiance options, please be careful choosing the right one

Check out whether you are planning for a used one or a brand new based. This purely depends on your personal choice...

Check out the resale value of the bike you are planning for??? Is it worth investing money on this...

People might also prefer bikes based on the make.. Hero Honda for example has had a amazing affect to the common man...

You would obviously like to take test ride and do so with all the bikes that you come across, this is absolutely free. But these test rides themselves are actually not worthy testing how good the bike is.. Once you have started your bike, the test ride ends there...

For all the fundoo guys who talk about bikes, they might be more worried about the engine parameters like engine type, displacement, compression ratio ,maximum power , torque , bore etc...

Now not but the least decide the color of your choice, try not choosing attractive colors... info from the expert : black , blue , grey have a very good resale value...

And now if you have found the answers for these, you have chosen the right one.. If you still confused, then i would say you are not worthy getting a new bike.. forget the whole thought of getting it..

Answering these lead me to just one beast on road... I found out "Honda Unicorn" would be as ideal as i thought which would exactly suite my requirements of getting a new bike.. Not but the least i would like to thank all the people who helped me choosing the right one..

Guess i left you folks gasping for all the lessons taught today.. So learn these lessons for the questions that are to pop in future... So better get educated before someone starts teaching you...

Key notes : 1 .If you are in metros try avoiding vehicles with engine displacement
more than 180cc, save fuel , save breathing space...
2. Start the green revolution.
3. Try to pool in people whenever required, less vehicle on road, solves traffic snarls.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Get "played on" by IPL - New Era of Cricket

What a hullaballoo it has been ovee the past week (sry, i stole this word from Bhogle's dictionary).Anyways lets get to the topic ,the scene around cricketing world over the past month or so has been full of drama, excitement , uproar from all section of the crowd, players, officals and list goes on...

How well have you people followed EPL , La Liga , Brazilian league and all the other leagues happening around the world. We guys pinch on to one team and really have a go, crazy supporting them irrespective of their nationality. I am a firm supporter of LiverpoolFC and it really doesnt make sense even if MBR. Gerrard is in my team or not, as long as my team is winning matches.Sounds like one really wierd , crazy fan of LiverpoolFC even after their loss to Barnsley in FA cup. Otherwise am a huge supported of Argentina during WC.

Now the stage is set for one of the biggest cricket league to do a epic beginning in our mother land. The final say is "get played on" with IPL.. So what are u guys waiting for , the green signal has been issued for IPL to start bidding their players and you start picking your best team.

Synonymous to all leagues world over, IPL also extensively follows their foot path with player contracts and franchisee which gives their fans something to cheer about. The so called Elite teams listed are,

1) Mumbai - Owner Reliances Industries ( Mukesh Ambani)
2) Kolkota - Red Chilles INternational
3) Bangalore - UB Groups ( Mr . Vijay Mallaya)
4) Chennai - Indian Cemenets
5) Mohali - Preety Zinta, Ness Wadia
6) Delhi - GMR Holdings
7) Hyderabad - DEccan Chronicle
8) Jaipur - Emerging Media

The current auction includes player contract and team franchisee.

The bid amount for each of these team were not mere numbers but more overhelming to the others bidders who took part in the race for franchisee. In the inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) which starts from April 18, have started their process to auction overseas and native players.

Guess what's next , the IPL have come up with something special for our top players, rating them as "Icon players" and wouldnot be included in the list of auctioned players and wait!!! Wat else in the offering?? also they are payed 15% more than the higgest paid player in the team. OOOOOhhhh , Ouuuch that really sounds some big money. I guess IPL has "played you on" !!!!

Ok that ends my story for now, I would be supporting for Chennai "Super Kings" and make sure my mate in Indian dressing room be it Tendulkar who would play for Mumbai, or Dada for Kolkata, i would them out for duck and make sure Chennai runs away with the Twenty20 trophy. I would end up supporting Warne, Shoaib Akhtar to blow some big blows for Chennai if ever they happenedto be part of the Chennai team..

Its' time for you all to pick the team of your choice, not knowing whether the team has an Oz, pakistani or a Newzealender. But the very next day i would be just go the opposite by supporting Tendulkar , Dada, Dhoni when they are playing for India.
So i want you people to get "played on" by IPL and dilemma continues....

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Biggest blunder by rediff.com

Phew .. WE just experienced one of the best test matches, it had everything from the start till the moment Tait was bowled by RP Singh in the Perth test at the WACA. People who were working on a Saturday would have been caught hold of cricinfo.com or cricbuzz.com, am wondering how many times the pages where refreshed,Countless i guess the counter could have stopped at some point and out of range error :-)...

But between these if someone has by chance had rediff.com on their browser , the following might have not missed their eye..



A big blunder , maybe the editor was too excited there :-)

Friday, January 11, 2008

Maam he called me a monkey !!!

Shoooo , silence please , i need pin drop silence in the class, where the words that came out of a angry teacher. Before which the following sequence took place.
Kid1(crying) : Maam, he called me a pig !!!
Maam(serious face): did you call him a pig? I will give you punishment...
kid 2: Yes maam, But he called me a monkey?
Maam: That was really bad , so both of you are punished, stand on the last beach for this period..
Other kids shouting,screaming , throwing papers, tearing note books , total chaos , noise all over the class
Maam(Shouted): Silence please children. Or else everyone of you will have to stand on the last beach ...

It was a just an augmented effort from me to relate things that was happening in the cricketing world. The OZ were correct in whatever they said and rest have to play dilly-dolly stuff.

But what could have actually happened on the field was for everyone to see, and the OZ were the masters of sledging in the modern era of cricket, earlier it was in form of bodyline by English players.

So relating this to the events that happened last week IND Vs Aus sydney cricket ground , 2nd test.

Match Referee , was in the firing line when he had to give two crucial decisions on whether to retain Mr. Bucknor for the next test and whether harbhajan has to be awarded a 3 test match ban for having him reported racially abusing symonds as "Monkey" - we depict the animal to a god and worship him in India.

But Before which the following happened,

Tendulkar & Harbhajan were batting for a real comeback and the OZ didnt want to have a tail ender wasting so much time in the middle. Lee exhausted with his fierce speed, the calmness of stuart clark didnt seem to work , the lone spinner Hogg hogging a wicket for a very long time and Bracken never had the ball to break the sticks.

So the choice was left to the fielders to do the talking , as usual someone from the slips played his part and provoked "Bhajji" and what was expected from the turbanator was nothing strange or unusual , rather he went for the Kill.

Hayden : Hey bhajji , seems that your turban is saving the day for your !!! lots of laughter in slip cordon. Umpire rejects that was a casual joke on Indians.

Breet Lee : Bowling his best for the season , fires one in 150kmph range and comes down the track and has a work with bhajji *****muted******

Bhajji : Somehow he might have got inspired from Sreesanth and tries to fire one at Lee.

Symonds : yeah you !!! getting pizzed off in the middle,i guess you are waiting to be back in the pavilion.

Bhajji : until symonds had a word everything seems to be casual , then went on the firing line.. you are a monkey !!! It could have been something else which i really doubt "M* kii" ...

Symonds : Did you call me monkey , did you really called me monkey !!!

Bhajji (poor chap) : Couldnt know what to tell, had to face all the consequences..

Symonds (reporting to Ponting) : Bhajji called me monkey on the field!!!

Ponting (to match refree): It was reported that Bhajji had racially abused symonds calling him a monkey.

And what has happened after that is left for the media and news reporters to take the center stage. Media , reporters , journalists, column writers , the worst players of the past on some News channel had made huge money because of this controversy.

So according to me both the initial set of sequences and the latter were very much similar. Contrasting is the fact that it was 2 different genre of people who were making complaints. But wats the difference ???? Absolutely childish...

why developers always slack off at work?

Just because, they don't like the work they are involved ?

Or is it just because they like to gossip about some old stupid Sidhu's one liner.
Eg: If ever Bucknor comes to Mumbai or Delhi for an hour , he says " Unka Chaddi uthardhaghe" his recent statement!!!! Or his famous one liner "That ball went so high it could have got an air hostess down with it. ? Please click hereto enjoy more of them.

Maybe there was some hot female who played against Khan's in some Bollywood movie? I would rather prefer to talk about Kollywood :-)

But the ultimately thing that separates the above list is. Check out