Monday, June 22, 2009

It's not Luck

Last week, India crashed out of the T20 World Cup, 2009, without winning a single match in the super-sixes. There was lots of cries amongst the Indian fans criticizing the Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, even burning effigies of him. Then there were some former greats saying "his honeymoon period is over", etc. Then there was this gtalk status message of one of my friend's friend saying that Dhoni has no talent at all and that he is very lucky to achieve all those which he has till now. To all these people, let me mention a few things which I think about Dhoni.

It was not mere luck that he was made the captain, nor was it luck that he won the T20 world cup for us with a young and new team. It was not luck that, his team won the final edition of the famous tri-series in Australia beating the mighty hosts twice. It was not luck that his started the downfall of the Aussie test empire by winning the test series in India 2-0. Yes, Anil Kumble was the captain in that series, but because of Kumble's injury, Dhoni was the captain for the two tests which India won. It was not luck that India won the ODI series against England (5-0) and in Sri Lanka(3-2 in 2008 and 4-1 in 2009). It was not luck that his team won a test after 33 years and a test series after 41 years in New Zealand and remember the second test when Dhoni was injured and India struggled and just managed to earn a draw. Needless to say that India also won the ODI series in New Zealand (3-1). Yes, he doesn't have the technical brilliance of a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid but thats not all which makes a cricketer and more so a captain. It requires a lot of commitment and as the commentators say "You have got to have something between your ears" and he has lots of it. Its certainly not luck. It requires a lot of meticulously and shrewdly thought out plans and self belief to implement them. Remember the 8-1 field against Katich and Hayden in the fourth test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy?

Yes he had a few failures, the Asia Cup, the recently concluded T20 world cup etc. But thats the way it is. No team can keep on winning each and every match. Sport would be so boring if only one team is winning everywhere. So all those who are criticizing Dhoni right now and burning his effigies, this is for you. "Dhoni is the best captain that India has had over the years and by a long way too or may be Dada comes a close second, but others, forget it and also currently, the best wicketkeeper batsman in India".

So Go Dhoni!! Go India!! All the Best for the West Indies Tour!

Friday, June 5, 2009

New Ashes Born !!


In Affectionate Remembrance
OF
ENGLISH T20 CRICKET
WHICH DIED AT LORD'S
ON
5th JUNE, 2009,
Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing
friends and acquaintances.
R. I. P.
N.B.—The body will be cremated and the
ashes taken to Netherlands.

In view of the unexpected defeat of England at the hands of Netherlands, a new ashes series can be started where England and Netherlands can play a T20 cricket series once in two years and the trophy can be named "The New Ashes".

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Forget IPL....here comes KPL

When the whole of India was going gaga over IPL, MTech students of Computer Science Department of IIT Bombay were thinking of something else. "Why not come up with our own cricket league?", they thought. Thus was born the Kresit Premier League (KPL), a tennis ball cricket league with its unusual rules and short boundries to create more excitement. It had all the ingredients of the IPL. Team ownership, player auctions etc and and and has real money at stake!

The KPL kicked off at the KVIIT grounds today. The first match was between the "Drunken Masters" in their yellow outfits and "Team Pulkit" in their orange outfits. There were not many spectators, the only ones being the tournament officials and some members of other teams (may be just to pick some clues on weaknesses of the playing teams ;)). Though the name "Drunken Masters" doesn't sound serious, they were in some serious business today as they toppled a star studded "Team Pulkit". "Team Pulkit" won the toss and elected to bat. They posted a pretty decent total of 53 in 6 overs. They might even have thought that from there they should win it. But the "Drunken Masters" had other plans. They got of to a flier with a few sixes flying around and they didn't look back after that. They got to their target of 54 in mere 4 overs. Well that would take net run rate to some distance. After that there was a photo session for both the teams and then everybody left to their hostels. Well that was day-1 of the KPL. Tomorrow, "The Undertakers" take on "Team Pulkit".

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

My HOLIday

Ever since I left school, I had never celebrated Holi, the festival of colors. After such a long gap I had started disliking it. I had become much more of an introvert than I was in my school days and even the thought of my whole body covered with colors bothered me. But, thanks to my friends here, they had big plans of a grand Holi celebration and they were not in a mood to spare anyone. I tried to persuade them a lot but in vain. Finally, I decided to keep it simple. Since there was a cricket match between India and New Zealand on the Holi day, and it starts early in the morning, around 6:30, I would just go and sit in the tv room and watch the whole match. By the time the match ends, it would be lunch time, and hopefully by then all the celebrations would be over. There was also a mail from the hostel authorities that there should not any celebrations in the corridors, lifts, tv rooms, etc.

But then that was just my plan and like all other plans, it had to go wrong. It so happened that the previous night I got caught up in a novel and by the time I finished, it was already 4:30 am. "OK, fine, I will do a night out because if I sleep now I am not going to wake up before 10:00 am and I will surely be screwed. I have done so many of them in the past, whats the big deal", I thought. But you know its very difficult to keep oneself awake doing nothing. So sleep got the better of me. But luckily I got up at around 7:00 am because of my usual alarm. This was a little surprise for me since I had not heard my alarm for the last year or so though it kept ringing. So after a quick sequence of morning chores and of course breakfast, I came to the tv room. There were a few people watching the match. The Kiwis were batting. I was completely involved in the match, also feeling happy about my successful execution of the plan, and thinking that now I am safe from the Holi colors. I didn't have a clue that the mail from the hostel authorities was just to ignore.

At around 9:30, the first lightning struck. A pair of hands moved along my neck and on to my face from behind. I turned around. It was Pulkit with yellow colors in his hand and I realized I was a dead duck now. I tried to protest saying that we are not supposed to play Holi here, but it was of no use. They also have this unusual style of celebration, tearing off shirts of each other. "At least that will not happen in the tv room", I thought and stayed in the tv room. I didn't want to lose my Adidas t-shirt just for fun. More lightnings followed in the form of green, pink and purple colors. Some of them even tried to pull me out of the tv room, but I somehow managed to stay on.

So far the cricket match was medium paced, with the kiwis hitting a few boundaries here and there. They finally managed a decent score. There was some rain during the end of their innings which resulted in the target for India look more interesting that it actually was. At around 10:45, the Indian innings started. And then, lightning struck again, this time from Sehwag's bat, here there, everywhere. There were intermittent rains (the real rains) too, but the fours and sixes kept coming from Sehwag's bat. "Thunder storm at Seddon Park", I thought. Sehwag reached his hundred in mere 60 deliveries. So it became clear that India will win the match easily and it was around 1:00 pm. So time to have a bath and rush for the gala lunch in mess. Thinking that by this time all the celebrations would be over, I turned around. To my amazement they were all there, Nikhilesh, Abhishek, Nilesh, Pulkit etc. They were also watching the match. "Are they really watching the match or just waiting to pounce on me", I thought. Anyways I had no choice now since I could not miss my lunch. I slowly got up and moved towards my room, ready to run any time in case they attacked. But they didn't.

The lunch was good, in fact, very good compared to the usual stuff they give in the mess. After the lunch, I went back to the tv room to check the score. By that time India had already won the match, and handsomely too. So I came back to my room and had a short nap.

Well, that was my HOLIday. But then it would come again next year. There would be new people, new place and I have to think of a new plan ;).