Yogesh Mahajan

Thank God. It's Over

2012-01-29T21:08:00.000-08:00

Ooops...Now I know what it is to have a foot in mouth.

Like most of so called pundits, even I had predicted it to be a close series when India went down under in the season of 2011-12. I felt India had sent the best team available & they were ready for the challenge. But how wrong I was.

Aussies not only thrashed India but they also put huge doubts in the minds of Dravids, Laxmans, Sehwags, Gambhirs & the Master Blaster himself. It was a huge drubbing Team India had received & coming it after whitewash by England, makes it all the more glaring & disappointing. Unbelievable results for Team India which was riding high on World Cup triumph & then beaten thoroughly first by England & then by Australia.

For me the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar in the First Innings of MCG was the crucial point & probably the series turning event. Had Master see through the day & came afresh next day who knows he could have got to that elusive 100th 100 & things could have been so different. But these are too many ifs & buts. The fact is India is beaten by a far superior team, 4-0.

With all due respect to pace battery of Australia, I still feel they are not as good as they made out to be with the kind of result they got. I feel they were hardly tested by Indian batting order & were hardly made to work hard for the wickets. They have shown tremendous discipline & consistency as per the plan. If I have to summarize the Aussie attack in one word, it should "Relentless".

Indian batsmen are left with huge doubts in their mind & complete lack of application during the series. It was abject surrender to the pressure created by relentless Aussie pace battery.

I hope the change in format might bring change in luck for Team India. I hope they play as the World Champion in the triangular series. I hope they are not bogged down by the Test series result but its easier said than done. I am hopeful because we have seen with this team they have the best bounce-back-ability amongst the team India has put on the park. I hope many fans of Team India would love to see their team put a good fight down under.

It remains to be see though.

India-Australia 2011

2011-12-22T21:04:00.000-08:00

In spite of being the greatest year , 2011, for Indian Cricket the India Australia series still holds its own charm.

It has received typical of a hype for clash of these two giants. It has been billed as a final chance for marquee Indian trio of Sachin, Dravid & Laxman to test the ultimate success in Test cricket. I believe it would be as sweet as one which Team India achieved on 2 April 2011, the WORLD CUP.

I believe the series would live up to the hype which has been created. It would really exciting to watch the Indian batters & Aussie bowlers. In the last decade & half this has always been the case. Every series is expected more or less on the same lines. The opposition bowling unit vs Indian batting unit. But I believe the Indian batsmen can only set the game up. It is up to the bowlers to win the match. The history says that to win test match in Australia you need combined efforts of bowling & batting unit. Very rarely a single brilliant performance has won a test match in Australia.

Even though Aussies are missing big names, they have loads of new comers, relatively newish spin bowler, aging seniors struggling for form & place in the team, it is never ever wise to write them off. Aussies anywhere are a team to beat & beating them in their own backyard is even more tougher. It has always been an uphill task, although recently England have given them bashing in the recent ashes, it's unlikely that they will be humiliated like that any time soon. In spite of their recent struggles, they are always a mighty tough unit & should not be belittled in any sense whatsoever.

Given all the facts, I firmly believe, this would be the ultimate chance for Team India to set the record straight. By now Aussie media, former players, experts would have declared the fate of the series & would have played mind games with opposition. But nothing of that sort has happened this time around. They are really busy sorting their own issues & not concentrating on playing mind games with opposition. Very unlike Aussies :)

Indian batsmen obviously will have plans to get a sound start & then capitalize on it. Build the runs & then pile up the pressure on Aussies. While bowling try sticking to line length & keep doing the basics right.

But....what the heck.............I will still enjoy getting up early in the morning. Switching the TV on with blurry eyes & then once you get the sight of Aussie grounds, just ENJOY.

Looking forward to this mighty good series..........Really

Ind SA Match in Nagpur

2011-03-14T02:14:00.000-07:00

12 March 2011

Today, I went to see the India-SA Match in Nagpur. The titan clash lived upto all the hype which was created before game. Only sad part was to see India loosing the humdinger.

We all started preparing for watching this match well in advance. Train tickets were booked by Vipul, almost 2 months in advance. The guesthouse arrangement was made by Vaibahv. Last moment, I did arrangement of car in Nagpur, so all in all it was all-set. Me,Vaibhav, Vipul, Ajay, Vikas, Deven we all were very much excited to watch the action live.

I was bit extra excited to watch Team India in action in Nagpur. It was definitely an experience to cherish. I certainly enjoyed the Indian innings with Sachin & Sehwag going all out attack. Proteas were totally rattled by their attack. But let me not go into the match details, plenty of it has been written already & plenty to come may be…. :)

My two cherished moments of the day

Singing National anthem with 45000 people was a great feeling. I got goose bumps.It was an amazing experience. Very difficult to put it in words.
The moment Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar scored his 48^th ODI Ton. When we all stood to give this great man applause, I had tears in my eyes. Isko hi bolate rahenge khushi ke aansoo….

Jeeyo mere bhagwan…jeeyo…Thanks again for lovely memories.

Thank you Mpahsis.

2010-09-24T05:19:00.000-07:00

24 Sept 2010

Today it was my last day at Mphasis. When I look back over last 3 years and a bit, I wonder as it was only few days ago.

I must confess that I felt sad while leaving the company. It really hit me while I was saying bye to all by BA group friends. It was tough.

It was indeed a great experience throughout and I met so many wonderful people during this time. Many of them went on to become good friends. Got a chance to travel to Australia, US , got a chance to work for some prestigious clients. Learnt good amount of things......what else I could have asked for. I got to interact with lot of brilliant people of varied background. It helped me a lot in moulding my thought process. It really helped me in becoming a better human being.

To start from the end, it was a wonderful send off given to me. Went to one of the plushest hotel around, had great food with great company. We cracked lot of jokes & laughed a lot. It was really very special for me that all of these wonderful folks came for the dinner. It was absolutely terrific. Its still sinking in.

Also I must mention my birthday cake was a very very pleasant surprise. All cakes & chocolates were neatly arranged & I was just called for snacks. Then I see whole of the GANG waiting for me. I must say I was absolutely stunned. So thanks guys for making a memorable birthday for me. When I joined back from onsite, I was bit skeptical about the whole group. But it was just matter of days before I got gelled with them so well.

The US trip prior to that was one of the finest phase in my professional life. It is definitely right up there at the top. Met some lovely people, made some good friends. I could not have asked for anything more from that.

Even the Aussie trip prior to US trip was great. Adelaide was more special as we were bunch of guys working on a project. It was great fun together & had gala time.

Thanks to all of those who made my tenure in Mphasis a memorable one.Throughout this tenure, I have really enjoyed my role. Got good rewards. Made good friends.

In all fairness I would say " I got more than I deserved".

My First "Parent Meeting"

2010-06-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

June 5, 2010

Wow....I must say it was a very very unique experience to attend first parent teacher interaction meeting at Rutuja's school.

The school authorities gave all the right signals to start with. They assured all the parents that kids are in absolutely safe hands. They explained the curriculum and went on to explain how they will be going about it. It was very satisfying experience listening to those talks. A small session of meditation also helped a great deal in settling the goose bumps of many parents.

The teachers , whole lot of them around 15-20 also sang couple of songs & danced on those songs. This was just to demonstrate what the school activities would be like. Teachers also asked us, the parents to join them in singing & dancing. It was a good fun.

Then the floor was thrown open for the queries and questions from parents. The parents were a mixed lot. Some of them have come alone like me, some of them with their kid, some of them were both mom n dad, some of them with their grandparents.

Only commonality between all of us was we all were very nervous, very anxious, very enthusiastic. Many of us were first time parents who would be sending their kids to school. So it was a very common feeling for most of us. Understandably every body wanted to ensure that their wards will get the best of facilities along with best of environment.

Questions ranged from absolutely useless to very intelligent. But all of them were very informative. I left the session 15 minutes ahead of the closure to finish school dress shopping & fees for bus transport.

I did not realize the start of another new innings. Now I am a father of a school going child. Wow that sounds really nice :-)

I returned home with a very satisfied feeling that I have made a good decision to get Rutuja into this school. I hope that feeling will last till my sweetie pie finishes her schooling.

Adios...

2010-04-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

19 April 2010

Today I will be leaving for Mumbai India after 18 months of stay in USA. It has been a wonderful journey for last 18 months or so. I still feel that it's not long ago that that I had left from home. I never knew that life would be so nice especially in this foreign land. But God has been very kind to me that I got so many good friends and so many nice things happened to me in this stay.

I never imagined that I would be away from Mumbai for this long. The longest was 3 months of stay in Japan but that too was long for me. It's been really rich experience both in terms of professional as well as personal front.

In nutshell met huge number of nice people & was so lucky to have so many of them as my friends. It was really fantastic experiecne.

If I had to summarize whole trip in one word, that would be "AWESOME"

Thank you all.

First double hundred in ODI ........Sachin paaji tussi great ho

2010-02-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

Today 24 Feb 2010 is a really special day in ODI history.

In almost 40 years of ODI there was never an occasion when batsman reached this coveted landmark.

But today Sachin Tendulkar, perhaps the most fitting of them all went on to achieve another milestone. He became first batsman to score a double hundred in ODI innings. Scoring of 25 Fours in this innings was also another of the record.

Thank you Sachin ........you give us tremendous joy when you score runs in cricket. We always want you to do well & you always give it back to us.

Thanks for dedicating this innings to Indians who have followed your career for last 20 years.

My 15 Months in USA

2010-02-15T12:23:00.001-08:00

Today, 15 Feb 2010, I am completing 15 months of stay here in United States of America. I remember the first day when I landed here with a feeling that I will not stay here beyondFeb 2009. But then life kept opening its surprises to me & I kept on accepting it gleefully.

It was a very tough day for me when I started my journey from Mumbai & Kavita knew it very well. I left my home with a heavy thought that I will not be seeing my sweetheart Rutuja for next 3 to 4 months at least. That thought was very very tough to digest & Kavita read it on my face very well although she did not mentioned about it till very recently. But I was all set for grabbing my chances in this Land of Opportunity. I must say that it is great country & you really feel very welcome. My first couple of weeks were really nice & easy in Charlotte. I received call from most of my college friends. Everybody welcomed me here & I was really cheered up to know that I have so many friends here. It was a very warm feeling. Its a different story that I have not managed to meet any of them so far & neither anybody has come to visit me. But I am sure, given a chance & with a careful planning it would definitely happen.

So far this journey has been very nice. Every single time, I knew that project is coming to an end, it would get extended. I never had a visiblity beyond 3 months and in worst case even 1 month. In Feb 2009, when I was about to end my project, it got extended for 3 months & I was able to get Kavita & Rutuja here with me. The feeling of seeing Kavita & Rutuja on Dulles Interanational Airport in Washington DC is simply not possible to describe. It is right up there on the top. Then the life became very very happy & joyful as I was having my baby with me. Initially it was tough for them to adjust but credit to both these lovely ladies. Then we all started to enjoy as weather gods also started smiling & it was summer time. A hell of lot better than those chilly wintery days. Summer was a great great fun.

I must mention couple of things here about my friends. I expected my college friends to be my support system here but as it turned out it was a whole lot of new & old friends who has made this trip an absolutely charming memory for rest of my life. Honestly I never expected Mangesh to drop into Washington DC just to visit me. Max I expected was a phone call or at the most a courtesy visit. But I was soooooooooooooooooo wrong. It was him who made it count for every month of summer. It was every single month that we were meeting each other. Sometime it was Washington DC, sometime it was Cleveland OH or sometime Philadelphia. It was indeed a great time. I also met Sherly, Mayuresh, Vasu.....real gem of people. Plus I met Jassi & his family. It was such pleasure to meet these two over here that too with the families.....means it was simply awesome. Toooo gooooddd..........

Plus I had a very very good friend circle here in Washington DC. It all started with Santosh, Kiran, Vilas all my ex-roommates. Then Aparna, Laxmi, Dinesh joined in. With addition of Rajeev, Shekhar Arati in later stages. It was a wonderful time we were spending together & we had a gala time throughout the summer. Almost every weekend there used to some plan. Either lunch or dinner or some outing. I really enjoyed the whole time over here.

Everything I feel is God's grace

Then I was facing another winter which I must say was a lot less enjoyable than the summer time primarily because of lack of outdoor activities but in all it has been some experience to be here in the chilly winter. To make matter worse, this had been one of the harshest winters in the history so on a positive side I am a part of that history.

Now also I am not sure how many more months I would stay here. Lets see & till the time ENJOY the ride.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

I have heard lot about Christmas holidays but never really knew exactly what it is supposed to be like. This year we had a good 3 days holiday break which was made all the more pleasurable by additional holiday on Thursday. So it was gonn to be a long 4 days weekend. Although Thursday I was working from home, it was only morning session where I did bit of work. The fantastic start of these holidays was off course Indian victory over Sri Lanka. Although it was expected but the manner in which Team India went about finishing the business of winning series, it was very clinical and professional. So in all it was a cracking start for the holidays

In the evening we had planned for the dinner with all the folks at our very own ;) residence in Dunn Loring. The plan for the evening was in place well in advance. We were not really sure what all we will be doing but we knew for sure that we are going to meet together, have lots of food, have lots of scotch & enjoy. On Thursday afternoon Shekar and Rajeev our hosts for the holidays went for all the shopping which was needed. They bought everything for veg as well as non-veg dishes. It was all set for nice veg and non-veg dinner. And to make evening more fun Rajeev got another friend of ours called as “Chivas Regal”, ab kya karey mausijee….I had invited Percy to join the gang for long holiday break & readily he agreed to join in. So it was gonn to be Shekhar, Rajeev, Arati, Dinesh, Percy, Kavita, Rutuja and Myself.

When we entered the home in 8129, it was unbelievably neat & clean (sorry santy, vilas no offense to you guys :-) ). It was all very well organized with everything in its place & lot of space to roam around in the home. There was some real effort put in by the hosts. We gathered around 5:00 in the evening & started with our Tea party. Soon we were joined by Arati, Dinesh & then Percy as well. Just after tea we were offered nice samosas, bhajiyas and innovative tikha poories by Kavita and Arati. It was all awesome; we took a break from our cricket in the hall to have these delicious starters. There was not a single scrum left in the dish so imagine, how tasty it was. Then Shekhar took the charge for Prawns & chicken. He got the raw shrimps from H-Mart, cleaned it himself with all the preparations set for nice non-veg platter. The chicken was also a lot different than what we have had so far. He cleaned and prepared for the chicken very well. One was called sukhkha chicken and other one off-course gravy wala chicken. The shrimp was ekdam full too…..very very tasty. It tastes so different as compared to shrimps we have had earlier. It was great chakhana for us. We started enjoy our company with our friend “Chivas Regal”. Percy, myself, Rajeev and Shekhar were all enjoying company of Chivas. Dinesh was with his coke (yeah unbelievable right vilas ;-)) and so was Kavita and Arati. Along with those yummy shrimps, it was all heaven. Then we started chatting & enjoying the whole evening. With all the nice food, scotch and friends around, I was realizing the Christmas holidays as it is supposed to be.

It was followed by absolutely tasty chicken both of them were so very nice that we could not wait to have our food. So we all gathered around those lovely chicken dishes. The veg stuff was prepared along with these dishes as well to add flavor to the whole party evening. It was all yummie. I enjoyed the sukhkha chicken the most. It was simply superb. We thought only starters were good but this was even better. We really hogged the whole food and were all praises for our very own Sanjeev Kapoor…….Mr. Shekhar Keni. He went about his job from preparation till finalization. It was great job done mate. Aparna…your cake was not there. But Percy chipped in with that. So it was a complete dinner. There was hardly any place left for ice cream. But still it went in to some tummies. We chatted along for quite a while and Rutuja was also enjoying as she normally does in 8129. So it was around 1:00 A.M. till we went to bed. The next day morning we all got up for a cup of tea and that was followed by Kande Pohe….yeah right…not the song but actual kande pohe for the breakfast. During the breakfast we decided to go for a movie. The idea was originally planted by Percy. We looked for theater in Loehman’s Plaza and we said 3:15 P.M. show is good enough for us. So that was it. We were all set. Rajeev said he will make two trips to the theater to drop all of us near the theater………issse better ki howey yaarr……….hum log ekdam khush. Go by car, watch a movie, come home in the car. No waiting for bus, train or cab…….this Christmas holiday was really coming in its own. We were really happy that there was loads of chicken still left for us. We once again enjoyed the chicken in the lunch and then got ready for the movie.

So we went for this lovely movie called 3 idiots. I still had a shocker of memory from the same theater where we had watched “Chandani Chowk to China”. We were all reeling after we came out of theater. But this time we were expecting better things from movie inspired from Chetan Bhagat’s Five Point Someone. It was an excellent movie. Story of 3 friends who studied engineering in one of the premium institute of India. The movie had lot many scenes where we laughed our ass out. Simply we were in splits. I enjoyed it very much. Amir Khan once again at his best. He is a real Rockstar. It was a fantastic movie and we were all so pleased that we were watching it all together. Once again “Oh Bhaiyaa alllll izzz welllllll” I was realizing the Christmas holidays as it is supposed to be. After movie, it was raining quite consistently and once again Rajeev made two trips to drop all of us back home. In the nice rain all you need is a garam garam chai. We enjoyed the tea and once again were thinking to go to our home. But consistent rain and our hosts made us think about going home. We decided to stay put for another night out. Abhi kya karey…Rajeev, Shekhar ne itna force kiya ki unko manaa nahi kar sakey…. ;)So it was back to same like yesterday’s evening. This time we decided we will have all veg and opted for daal rice. Once again our dear friend “Chivas Regal” joined us & we were rolling. This time we had a light session but it was always good. So after dinner we were all playing cards with all sorts of games in the cards. Then late in the night around 1:00 we all went to bed. Next day morning we all got up and had tea and all of us were set to leave 8129 with lots and lots of memories to cheer about. It was like a typical of our get together with few of us missing out due to some reason or the other. Laxmi, Vilas, Santy, Aparna, Sam we all missed you while we were having this great time during these holidays.

When I returned home, I was sure that, what Christmas holidays are supposed to be !!!

The Ashes 2009

2009-08-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

The Ashes series did have all the dramas and excitement it could have. Australia entered the series as favorites after their superb victory against South Africa & England entered series with lowly ranked West indies bashing. Surely it was not the ideal way for England to warm up for a big series like ashes but still there were lot of positives from WI series. The necessary hype for precious series like ashes was rightly created by English media. Although I felt, they gave too much of importance to 2005 victory & forgot that the almost same team got a royal bashing of 5-0 just few months after their biggest victory. But I can give that to media, when they were still living on 2005 victory.
By all means Australia was a far better team in the first match at Cardiff & should have sealed the match quite comfortably but Anderson & Panesar had other ideas. They played very solid cricket for the longest hour they might have felt in their cricketing career. Full credit to them for hanging out on a pitch against rampaging aussie team gunning for your blood. The draw never would have felt like a win before for the England team. It served perfectly for them when they entered Lords. The happy hunting ground for Aussies was having a different script for the visitors. They went on with massive confidence in the Lords test, only to see it being shattered by Flintoff. But more than the accurate & precise bowling of Anderson & Flintoff throughout the test match, it was strong Aussie batting line up that had failed to negotiate. All of their batsman failed to grind it and paid a very heavy price for it. I believe the most defining moment in Lords match was the opening session where Johnson struggled to maintain his line and length. English opener capitalized on it like never before. Not only Johnson’s bowling figure was taking a beating but more worriedly it was his confidence. It took a while for him to recover from that kind of shock treatment. Great players are defined as great only when they perform under searing pressure & surely Johnson failed at it in lords.
Then came a tame draw a match all affected by weather. But Aussies were on their way back of finding rhythm & form; the batting line up suddenly looking confident with Watson at top holding good. But Aussies would definitely consider themselves lucky to escape with a draw in that match. Clarke & North decided to stay put, which paid rich dividends to their team. Had there not been this partnership, Aussies were certainly going to find it hard to come back into the series after 2-0 lead, but they stuck to the task & came out with flying colors.
Then came the Headingley test match. It was a superb & true Aussie style performance killing the opposition in the very first session. England was never in the game after the first session, where they opted to bat first. Australia’s gamble of playing all pace attack was proved the correct one & master stroke as it turned out to be. Aussies ramped home with just about 3 days of test match cricket. Series all set for classic finish after the 1-1 score line with one match to play. Aussies certainly played good cricket for long period of time but it was more of England loosing the match. Their inept batting came under lot of criticism where the media blaming the middle order comprising of Bopara, Bell & Collingwood scoring the lowest combined total in the history of test match cricket. Certainly some heads were to roll. Bopara had to be taken away from the firing line & Bell had to be promoted to No.3. This was followed by most ridiculous speculation, of fielding in players like Mark Ramprakash or Marcus Trescothick. Now, seriously how paranoid one can get to field a batsman who has not played test cricket in last seven years. Fortunately the wise men of England, the selectors, decided not to buckle under the pressure & pursue with Jonathan Trot for the deciding test match. A lot was said about the pressure & all kinds of things with deciding test match. Surely everybody would have picked Aussies to retain the ashes before the start of the final match.
England’s moment of glory was still in the making. The final test match started with first day total of 300 odd & Aussies who again fielded an all pace attack, which I felt was right move at that time. They did manage to get England out quickly after the start of second day. So till that point of time decision of all pace attack in a crucial match was surely fine. What followed on day 2 was the mad bad session for Australia. Always-promising-but-hardly-delivered Broad decided to step up & what a day he chose to step up the plate. He delivered the killer blow to the Aussies. He was so well supported by Swann who contributed with four precious wickets. They bowled well in tandem & always asked questions to the Aussies, rendering them clueless. Batsmen went on to play their strokes & did not read the situation correctly. It just went against them and before they realized their shocking mistake, it was too late.
With 160 in the first innings Aussies were always chasing the game. This is when everybody started talking about four prong pace attack but truth is batsman failed to apply themselves in the middle & handed over the ashes. England should have extended their lead which they eventually did through an excellent century by Jonathan Trott, a rock solid innings full of grit & determination. He made mockery of all the talks of pressure, hype, comments by opposition. Australia was set a record breaking total of 546 were never in the game really. Although their openers laid a solid foundation to start their improbable chase, it was hardly a matter of wicket or two before they implode. Briefly Hussey & resolute Ponting attempted the brave run chase but it was not meant to be. The series after lot of swings from one side to the other went to England. England team won the crucial moments & went on to clinch the series. Aussies in spite of being superior in all three departments of the game could not latch on to the big moments & surrendered the ashes.
By distance Michael Clark was the best batsman of the series. He showed excellent temperament & sound technique while playing. He had all the shots & more importantly he was well aware of his off-stump. Runs were coming with great ease to him until the last crucial test match. Marcus North was very close to Clark in terms of both technique and temperament. But still early days for him in test cricket. Whenever he scored he went big else he was out very cheaply. Ponting was struggling with lot to worry on his mind. It certainly gave an impression that he was under pressure & rightly so. It did affect the great man’s batting. Johnson & young Phil Hughes were a big let-down & could not live up to the expectation or hype which surrounded them. Aussies still going through a transition period but certainly Michael Clark is the man for future with North taking his position sooner the better. Bowling wise, they still need some consistent results to show for. Definitely they must have world class spinner.
For England only Andrew Strauss was the main man otherwise with batting line up in absence of Kevin Pietersen comprising of Bells, Boparas and Collingwoods could not win the ashes for you. This tough game really separates boys from the men. Big plus for England is definitely Jonathan Trott & new found hero Stuart Broad. Rest of the guys did not do much to enhance their reputation; they just managed to sustain it. England bowling was pretty neat but lacked the sting. Apart from two blown-out sessions, Aussies managed everything all right. But in a game like test cricket, even one mad session can cost a series & unfortunately Aussies had two sessions like this.
Had this quality of cricket has been played against current teams of South Africa or for that matter India, it’s pretty certain that the result would have been comprehensive victory for South Africa or India. Overall it was pale in comparison to the quality of cricket in 2005 Ashes but still worth more than anything else.
It’s a good sign for cricket as its oldest coveted trophy is exchanging hands after every series.

On the eve of T20 World Cup 2009

2009-06-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

How bigger can it get? Well I believe its gonn to be another successful T20 event. Even though the cricket fans have witnessed IPL-2 just a couple of weeks ago. This one is surely going to be right up there. England always had been good venue for playing cricket. In fact as Peter Roebuck mentioned, England should have hosted the inaugural edition of T20 world cup. But never the less the game has returned to its land of invention.

As in every T20 tournament, its very difficult to predict a winner. This format gives less chance of recovery in a game. Very rarely we have seen match has been decided in first 6 overs or so. It normally goes down to wire & goes towards the team who hold their nerves in tight moments & blinks lesser times than the opposition. Hopefully the trend will continue in this world class event. Good thing about the T20 world cup is its duration. Quick, fast and absolutely result oriented. ICC has definately learnt their lessons from 2007 world cup & has surely implemented the lessons. Amongst all the participants India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, England, New Zealand, West Indies, South Africa and Austrlia every team is capable of winning this tournament. It will all boil down to consistency. Very easy to say but equally difficult to put that in practise & even more difficult to do that day in & day out. Never been there are many tournaments where there is no clear favourites but thats the beauty of this format.

Although Pakistan were next best side in 2007 edition not because they were runner up but because they put the consistent show right through the tournament. This time around no other side wants to win the trophy more badly than Pakistan, to give something to cheer about to their fans back home.

South africa should have at least been there in semis but their drop of guard relegatd them out of the tournament & with that it strengthen the doubts of them being chokers on big occasion matches. This time they are prime candidate with the all round side they have got. Hope they do not allow to fold themselves.

Australia were as usual fighting till the end but never looked like a champion side in 20007. Probably they were battling in their minds about embracing the super short format of cricket. But they were bit late in grabbing the key moments, very unlike aussies. This time with symonds episode, its not a good build up to the tournament. But they are aussies & have done remarkably over last few years.

New zealand with their bits n pieces cricketer manged to put a decent show & progressed to the semi final in 2007. But just like every tournament they enter as dark horse and will hope to win the trophy. Barring one champions trophy in Nairobi, they dont have any thing to show for their efforts.

England were the punching bags of tournament in 2007. They were a far better side than where they finished the tournament. Hope they will set the record straight this time around & will make maximum use of home crowd support, a big big factor in T20 matches.

WI are too much of unpredictable side with consistently putting up some inconsistent performance after some brilliant patches of cricket. They have to be aware of the preliminary stage as they are in group of death with danger of being elminated in the first round itself. Seniors will have to take it on themselves to see the side through the tumultuous period

Bangladesh are a team which should not be taken lightly. They are highly dangerous side especially in this version. Its high time they do justice to the rest of cricketing world & their fans by putting efforts & channelling their youth energy towards winning more matches than putting individual fight.

Sri lanka were also in the same class as that of england. They could not rise to the occasion in 2007 edition. But this time around they are wiser, clearer in approach & with new man at the helm. I hope it would be good for the competition if they finish in top 4.

India obviously has huge burden of expectation from fans back home & will be under tremendous pressure to deliver this time. This time it is totally different ball game as compared to last T20 world cup when Team India were no hopers & went on to make the history. There is no doubt that they are very talented side with almost all areas of game as good as any other side in the world. But the key word will be momentum. It will be vey hard to stop side like india when they have momentum on their side. They are simply unbeatable when they play with momentum. England will vouch for the fact.

This time around competition is very tight & very close. Lets hope we get to see some real good encounters with some special cricket matches. Off course as any big tournament, there will be some match winning knocks or some match winning spells or there would be some real match saving efforts in the field by a catch or a run out. I am just hoping the team that produces brilliant moments like this consistently goes on to become eventual champions & as any of Indian fan, even I would love to see Dhoni lifting the trophy once again.

But this is a game of glorious uncertainties!!!!! We love the game for being just that.

2009-05-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Who wrote the script? No I mean seriously who wrote the script?

Nobody would have imagined it will be final between Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers. Going by the last year performance, I am sure nobody would have given these two teams a chance to go head to head in the Finals of IPL-2009. But they deserved their places in the final by sheer consistency they have shown throughout.

Although DC were playing very good cricket right from the start, but they did managed to lose their way in the middle before recovering in the final stage. RC was almost the same team as that of the last year, patchy and pathetic to start with. Although they did manage to beat defending champions in the first match but that was as good as it got for them in the first half of the tournament. The whole story changed once Kumble took over, I seriously feel India had missed the trick of appointing Kumble as captain after Sourav Ganguly, although it remains a mere speculation, as how he would have fared as a captain. His work ethics, his determination, his mentoring skills, his man management skills were as good as anyone in the business. Knowing how Gilly smashed bowlers in the semi finals, he took it upon himself to take Gilly on. What a move it turned out to be. Getting Gilly in the first over in the big match is a big boost for any team. Definitely RC team owed a better batting performance in the final to their captain.

Tournament in South Africa meant there is a good balance between bat and ball. Almost every single time it has happened that when a batsman is running away with the game, bowler will peg them back with wicket or two and then contest restarts. This tournament has boosted to role of spinners or should I say slow ball bowlers. They were really proving to be vital in their team’s performance. Rohit Sharma for DC, Suresh Raina for CSK, Yuvraj Singh for KXI were prime examples of the same trend. All teams were equally strong. I believe had KKR managed to win that tight match against RR then things would have been different for them. We all saw the meaning of word momentum in this tournament. CSK had good all round strength but the fire was missing. Their all rounders were big disappointment. MI were the most confused team in the tournament. Sending Harbhajan Singh as a pinch hitter after the brilliant start given by Jayasuriya and Sachin was the peak of the confused state. But had that tight match against RR would have gone MI way, it would surely changed the whole equation. KXI were the easily gutsiest team. They were really patchy in their batting but they had it more than covered with their bowling. DD were the most consistent team throughout the tournament. But in the semi final they failed to raise their game. Gillchrist just ripped the bowling apart & they were out of the tournament before they can realize the punch. RR were easily overrated team but remember they were defending champions. They produced some stunning matches and were too reliant on Yusuf Pathan. Their batting was also very frugal. None of their batsman put a high prize on their wickets. Graeme Smith was a big let down. KKR were the most chaotic team. They made news for all the wrong reasons & were unable to get their focus back on the game. Mc’cullum led them with big heart but was difficult to gauge if he was disappointed with himself or the team. They lost many crucial moments.

The tournament was hyped more by commentators than cheer leaders. It was sad to see commentators going over the board for a good shot played. The screaming DDD LLL FFF maximum almost took all the fun away from the shot. The strategy break, the Modi gyann, attempts of some real pathetic commentators to get into the limelight with their pearls of wisdom, fake blogger almost everybody had their own share of IPL 2009. But amongst all these, cricket the game has lifted itself from all these paltry mortals. We all love the game of cricket & that’s why we took all that nonsense with good cricket.
In the end it was a true championship, the team which won the tight moments throughout were deserving champions.

My statistics of IPL 2009

Delhi Daredevils Most consistent team 9/10
Chennai Superkings Good all round side 8/10
Royal Challengers Good fighting side 8/10
Kings XI Gutsiest Team 7/10
Deccan Chargers Lead by example side 9/10
Rajasthan Royals Overrated but brilliant in patches 6/10
Mumbai Indian Utterly confused team 5/10
Kolkatta KR Most chaotic team 3/10

Best team: - Delhi Daredevils
Best captain: - Anil Kumble
Best Batsman: - AB Deviliers
Best Bowler : - R P Singh
Best Spinner : - Murali
Best Opener : - Mathew Hayden
Best middle order batsman : - Tilakratne Dilshan
Best batsman at death Over : - Dinesh Karthik
IPL 2009 Moment for me : - Kamran Khan getting wicket of Sourav Ganguly to push match into Super Over
Batting perfomance of IPL : - Adam Gilchirst’s 85 in semis against DD
Bowling perfomance of IPL :- Anil Kumbe 4 for 16 in the Finals
Best match : - DC vs KKR (2nd Leg)
Player who lived up to reputation :- Matthey Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Rohit Sharma, Murali
Player who were an utter flop :- Kevin Pieterson, Andrew Flintoff, Jacob Oram, Jess Ryder, Robin Uthappa
One player I would pay any amount to have in team :- Matthew Hayden

IPL-2 in South Africa

2009-04-16T07:41:00.001-07:00

I find it hard to resist myself from drawing parallel with a bollywood movie, when I am thinking of IPL-2. It’s so very typical.
It has got all the big stars, got all the big names off the field, got a huge fan base, great following all over the world. Let’s hope it continues like that and it does not turn out to be a big banner flop movie. Which I am sure will not be the case.
Having followed IPL-1 closely, obviously I had set my expectations very high from IPL-2. But to start with, the IPL Managing Body rammed into government over hosting the matches during the election time. There is no doubt about additional stress on the security agencies like Police, para military forces. Obviously it would have been stretching too far as far as the security forces were concerned. Given the lahore attacks on the cricketers, the threat was more eminent than ever before. Anyone who would have watched a match live in the stadium would agree that providing the security in a stadium, with crowd is a tall order.
It was partly due to political pressure and majorly due to financial pressures, it was decided to move IPL-2 outside India. The probable venues were England and South Africa. The weather conditions and to a certain extend ground availability due to county season were issues of big concerns. So it was ultimately moved to South Africa. Hats off to South African government and managing authorities, for arranging a tournament of such magnitude & stature at such a short notice. It just goes to show the maturity & can-do attitude of south african authorities. The Rugby World Cup, T20 world cup in 2007, Football world Cup in 2010. Just goes to show how good South Africa as a governing body is.

Another thing that never ceases to amaze is, who would have thought that an India-grown cricket competition would take place in some other country. But life is a so unpredictable, if we have to go on that path then I am sure there would be so many things we have to mention.

For the time being, let’s hope the bollywood movie of IPL-2 with all the stars and hype lives up to its expectations & serves us with some great memorable cricket.....................and for my money it would

Craven attacks on Sportmen

2009-03-03T11:31:00.000-08:00

Craven attacks on sportsmen on 2 March 2009 should be strongly condemned. Such shameful acts of attacking sportsmen or for that matter any civilians must be brought to justice. No matter what it takes, the perpetrators must be punished.

Its an act of cowardly attack, where the desire is not only attacking the cricketers but getting world wide attention is of equal significance. Six of Srilankan cricketers were injured & will have unforgettable scars itched in their mind. More than the physical damage that has happened to these cricketer, the mental damage to the psyche is way way deep.

So far Pakistan administrators, politicians have always used the fact that no sports person has ever been attacked. Just to prove them how wrong they were, terrorist have carried out this sinister act. It was presence of mind of these cricketers & the bus driver which had helped them get away from what could have been far more deathly attack.

But question must be asked about the security. What kind of arrangement is made, especially in a country or region where such attacks are becoming more of chronic nowadays?
What was the level of security provided to the players? Players are ambassadors of their country & come to the foreign land with all the trust on their security arrangement of local government?
Will such lapse would happen if any of the politician or diplomat is travelling to any of the country. I reckon not.....

ICC, the respective board and probably unbiased third party agency should do the security assessment to make sure, it is absolutely safe to carry out a series or a tournament. ICC can not just leave it to the respective boards. Although the concerned country government should make sure the best security levels for the players safety, it is also job of governing body of World cricket to make sure, they have vetted the security arrangements. Such attacks would become a good weapon for the terrorists if not corrected now.
Every time terrorist can come up with new ideas of petrify people, why we cant think one step ahead of it. Why always we wait till some drastic acts take place. Some tough questions have to be answered. Its not only the fault of local police or local security. Its much broader than that.

Will the Pakistan team ever be given similar welcome in other countries as they used to get?
What will be the message Pakistan team can give when they travel to other countries?

It might take ages to get rid of these memories of such spineless acts or perhaps.... it might never.

Adiós Hayden....

2009-01-14T07:25:00.000-08:00

Matt Hayden.......True Modern day opener.

The only figure that can be imagined with the name Matthew Hayden is the burly, hulky guy with usage of bat like a sword to demolish the opposition bowling & along with it the confidence of bowling side.
Truly dashing opener who formed a formadible pair with Justin Langer, which went on to became most successful opening combination in the history of Test cricket.

First memories of Hayden is nothing but planting the left foot way down the pitch bat coming down from third man & slog sweeping the spinners who were trying to tame him down. It was quite a remarkable shot played with great authority & greater success. It was truly the tour of India by Steve Waugh's invincible in 2001, that announced arrival of Hayden on the world scene. It was in Mumbai, where Hayden just tored the Indian bowling along with Glichrist to put Aussies on the last of their 15 win. It would be fair to say that he was holding the Aussie batting line up together in the whole tour. But that series labled as "Australia caught Laxman Bowled Harbhajan " was truly memorable for Hayden.

For Indians, Hayden has always been a trouble to dislodge. It was not only his batting but also his presence which was truly intimidating for any opposition. Ask the front line bowlers in the world, they will surely vouch for it. Hayden came out as a fierce, strong individual and not willing to give an inch to the opposition. It was only characteristic which has set him apart from many of the world's classy openers. His HATE-TO-LOOSE under any circustances was the key to his aggressive batting. Had Hayden being playing for any other team in the world he would have certainly played longer than he did for Oz team. But thats the long hard way of Australian Domestic cricket.

Barring his last few innings, where Hayden tried too hard to impose himself on the opposition, true to his nature, the strength of him has proved to be his weakness. It was very sad to see Hayden struggling to make a decent contact with ball & was chopping the deliveries on to his stumps. But that was really a small blip in the long career, he would have definately made to Ashes 2009, but chose not to. Once again, his timing of retirement was impeccable. On his own term he retired fittingly in Brisbane.

True modern day opener who has changed the opening batting in Test Cricket.

South Africa's victory

2008-12-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

MCG...

There have been unbelievable things happening in the world of cricket. Recent one being, the aussies humiliated in their own backyard. One of them coming in a venue which was supposed to fortress of aussie team for generations, WACA at Perth.

Every avid cricket follower will agree with the fact, India are the one who has started the descend of Aussie right from the Sydney 2007. It was surely a first sign that Aussies are WIN-AT-ANY-COST mentality. They did not really worried, cared or bothered about how they went about winning it. All that mattered for them was winning.

Kudos to South Africa, not only for playing consistent cricket for beating Australia but also conducting themselves so well after the victory. It was a First Series Victory for SAfrica but the celebrations were so apt that it showed they were calmly confident about winning the series.

Surely the maturity of able leader in Gream Smith has helped them a lot. With him at the helm, it has been a great ride for south africa. Taking over from Pollock, in troubled times was not an easy task to do. But Smith did it & did it in style.
Biggest & most consistent contributor in the series victory has been JP Duminy. He acted like a matured pro. Playing in front of raunchy aussie crowd, with 7 down & only few bowlers to accompany him. It was a dream stuff. Every cricketer would love to play such kind of an innings, few do that.
Duminy has turned from a boy to man with his classy knock of 166.

Not to forget a mention of Dale Steyn for providing the attitude needed to beat aussies with the ball & with the talk. Kudos to South Africa.

Field is on same level now!!!!