West Finals - Suns vs Lakers
East Finals - Celtics vs Magic
19th May gonna end in 25 minutes. Time's flying and I am aging.
Cheers
Vishal
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
World Champion - Viswanathan Anand
Cricket is a religion in India and people follow the game more than anything else. People follow despite the team's inconsistency @ various events and that's the reason the sport has generated lot of commerce. If India had good players in Hockey, Tennis, Soccer, Basket Ball, Rugby or any other game, the viewership & attention drawn by cricket would have reduced but unfortunately the truth is that India only play cricket. We had Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupati & Sania Mirza gain popularity and win some Grand slam tournaments. Gopi Chand in Badminton was good but Vishwanathan Anand should be on the top for his mental strength and ability to defend championships for couple of years now.
Viswanathan Anand was crowned as World Chess Champion in Sofia after he defeated Veselin Topalov. Not many people realize that he has been World Champion for quite sometime and his achievements haven't seen the kind of lime light and attention that IPL Night Parties have had.
http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/may/12/congratulate-viswanathan-anand-world-chess-champion.htm
http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/may/13/aruna-anand-on-vishys-triumph.htm
Cheers
vishal
Viswanathan Anand was crowned as World Chess Champion in Sofia after he defeated Veselin Topalov. Not many people realize that he has been World Champion for quite sometime and his achievements haven't seen the kind of lime light and attention that IPL Night Parties have had.
http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/may/12/congratulate-viswanathan-anand-world-chess-champion.htm
http://sports.rediff.com/report/2010/may/13/aruna-anand-on-vishys-triumph.htm
Cheers
vishal
Monday, May 10, 2010
T20 World Cup 2010
The T20 World Cup started just after the end of IPL Season 3. The shorter version has already seen three world cups in 4 years which termed as over dose would be an understatement. IPL tournament is a 6 week tournament but has close to 60 matches and difficult for audience to stay glued to the same format after the IPL. Even avid cricket followers just pick the matches they would like to watch and ignore the rest.
People who watched IPL would feel the T20 World Cup standards(grandeur and commercial aspect) to be quite low in comparison.
India has not been up to the mark in this format after their winning campaign in the inaugural edition. What's disheartening for an Indian Cricket fan is that they have been eliminated from the last year's edition in a similar manner by West Indies and England bowling short/bouncers. Even after a year, the team looks the same and they have the same problems of facing the short ball speaks volumes about the gravity of Indian batsmen issues against the short ball.
Everybody in the world knows that all the teams playing India will aim to bowl the short rising deliveries but there has been no improvement from the team which comprises of so many players out of form and bowlers who the captain doesn't trust are included in the squad.
Gautam Gambhir - hasn't been in any kind of form in IPL except a few low scoring pressure innings.
Vijay - Except three innings in IPL, he has always had issues with deliveries outside the off stump and now short delivery adds to that list.
Raina - Genuine Pace & Short ball aimed at the ribs - surely a goner.
Yuvraj - Not in form for quite some time now.
Dhoni - Looked out of sorts most of the time.
Y Pathan - Short ball prone, Not fit for international standards.
Rohit Sharma - Has the technique and can be a good finisher which was displayed time and again for Deccan Chargers but Dhoni sends him 2 down or 3 down.
R Jadeja - Didn't play IPL or any other form of cricket for some time and gets selected ahead of Pragyan Ojha/Amit Mishra leading wicket takers. He is neither a great bowler nor a great batsmen not a good fielder either. Always cracks up under pressure.
Zaheer Khan - Not sure if he was 100% fit. Doesn't look like the bowler he was for Mumbai Indians which reminds the fact that he would need a Malinga to attack and support his bowling cause.
Nehra - Never threatening , average bowler any day.
Harbhajan Singh - I thought Yusuf Pathan was a better option to open instead of Harbhajan bcoz with bhajji the opposition batsmen know if they can get done with his overs, it's a free world out there where as if Y Pathan bowls there is always wicket taking opportunity and he has delivered consistently for Royals in IPL, that way we would always have Bhajji to restrict in the middle overs(8-16).
Praveen Kumar - Injured without playing a match against Quality teams.
Vinay Kumar - Not sure Why he was picked, if the captain is not willing to include him in the team even after loss of praveen kumar, he should not be in the squad.
Piyush - Did his part in the match he played.
Umesh Yadav - Replacement , Nobody ever had a doubt he would only be a tourist.
Dinesh Karthik - Gets picked for no reason, gets dropped for no reason.
I always had doubts with the team selected for T20, all the players have been selected based on their stats and previous performances in this version rather than their current form. Dhoni as a captain(with his team loaded with batsmen) has looked out of sorts and in the super eights won the toss twice and chose to field first. All the teams won the toss have batted first and scored 150 and still won. One time is a mistake but he makes the same mistake again which doesn't speak volumes about his skills as a captain.
Thanks to R Jadeja who single handedly helped us get eliminated in the second edition and did his best in the two matches of this edition as well. His 2 overs for 38 against Australia, Drop Catch of Shane Watson and similar friendly bowling against West Indies and Dropped Catch of Gayle.
In form players like Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ashwin etc should consider themselves as lucky for not being part of a Squad that's not competitive.
Commerce has played such a big role in Indian Cricket that the scheduling of matches has hurt India because if there was a chance for them to make semis, they should have played the match in the evening after the West Indies V Australia match knowing what they need to do t get into Semis but they are more worried about TV viewers watching the match than Indian team situation.
Cheers,
Vishal
People who watched IPL would feel the T20 World Cup standards(grandeur and commercial aspect) to be quite low in comparison.
India has not been up to the mark in this format after their winning campaign in the inaugural edition. What's disheartening for an Indian Cricket fan is that they have been eliminated from the last year's edition in a similar manner by West Indies and England bowling short/bouncers. Even after a year, the team looks the same and they have the same problems of facing the short ball speaks volumes about the gravity of Indian batsmen issues against the short ball.
Everybody in the world knows that all the teams playing India will aim to bowl the short rising deliveries but there has been no improvement from the team which comprises of so many players out of form and bowlers who the captain doesn't trust are included in the squad.
Gautam Gambhir - hasn't been in any kind of form in IPL except a few low scoring pressure innings.
Vijay - Except three innings in IPL, he has always had issues with deliveries outside the off stump and now short delivery adds to that list.
Raina - Genuine Pace & Short ball aimed at the ribs - surely a goner.
Yuvraj - Not in form for quite some time now.
Dhoni - Looked out of sorts most of the time.
Y Pathan - Short ball prone, Not fit for international standards.
Rohit Sharma - Has the technique and can be a good finisher which was displayed time and again for Deccan Chargers but Dhoni sends him 2 down or 3 down.
R Jadeja - Didn't play IPL or any other form of cricket for some time and gets selected ahead of Pragyan Ojha/Amit Mishra leading wicket takers. He is neither a great bowler nor a great batsmen not a good fielder either. Always cracks up under pressure.
Zaheer Khan - Not sure if he was 100% fit. Doesn't look like the bowler he was for Mumbai Indians which reminds the fact that he would need a Malinga to attack and support his bowling cause.
Nehra - Never threatening , average bowler any day.
Harbhajan Singh - I thought Yusuf Pathan was a better option to open instead of Harbhajan bcoz with bhajji the opposition batsmen know if they can get done with his overs, it's a free world out there where as if Y Pathan bowls there is always wicket taking opportunity and he has delivered consistently for Royals in IPL, that way we would always have Bhajji to restrict in the middle overs(8-16).
Praveen Kumar - Injured without playing a match against Quality teams.
Vinay Kumar - Not sure Why he was picked, if the captain is not willing to include him in the team even after loss of praveen kumar, he should not be in the squad.
Piyush - Did his part in the match he played.
Umesh Yadav - Replacement , Nobody ever had a doubt he would only be a tourist.
Dinesh Karthik - Gets picked for no reason, gets dropped for no reason.
I always had doubts with the team selected for T20, all the players have been selected based on their stats and previous performances in this version rather than their current form. Dhoni as a captain(with his team loaded with batsmen) has looked out of sorts and in the super eights won the toss twice and chose to field first. All the teams won the toss have batted first and scored 150 and still won. One time is a mistake but he makes the same mistake again which doesn't speak volumes about his skills as a captain.
Thanks to R Jadeja who single handedly helped us get eliminated in the second edition and did his best in the two matches of this edition as well. His 2 overs for 38 against Australia, Drop Catch of Shane Watson and similar friendly bowling against West Indies and Dropped Catch of Gayle.
In form players like Robin Uthappa, Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra, Ashwin etc should consider themselves as lucky for not being part of a Squad that's not competitive.
Commerce has played such a big role in Indian Cricket that the scheduling of matches has hurt India because if there was a chance for them to make semis, they should have played the match in the evening after the West Indies V Australia match knowing what they need to do t get into Semis but they are more worried about TV viewers watching the match than Indian team situation.
Cheers,
Vishal
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