Something Fishy

Despite his numerous outbursts against the board, he was included in the side for one last time, and all he needed were just 20 runs to become Pakistan's highest run scorer ever.

And what he did, in first inning scored just 14, and in second he lasted just two balls, got out in most careless (sic) manner...and in end fell 3 runs short of breaking the record.

How can he be so careless, when he knew that he was recalled just for record's sake....still he played that way......may be current-record holder's son's father-in-law has something to do with all this tamasha :-)

Some rough calculations in support of above mentioned thought.

1) SA set a target of 456 runs to win.

2) At end of 4th day's play Pak was 108/1 in 31 overs

3) On 5th day Pak needed 348 runs from 90 overs at 3.86

4) Inzy comes to bat in 59th over of final day, score was 265 and Pak needed another 192 in 31 over at 6.12 runs per over.

5) Inzy needed just 6 runs to become highest run scorer, and he got out on second ball that too in a very very careless manner.

And excuse he gave for that shot was sillier, he said he wanted to play aggressively and win the game one last time.
For a moment agreed he wanted to win, but he could have easily made 3 more runs before playing 'aggressively' (read stupidly).

No sane person/team will try to score 6.12 runs per over on final day of play.

Watch this clip, and judge yourself, how he got out, and reacted in dressing room afterwards.

Good b(ye)hai - "Inzy"-Bhai ;-)

BCCI's inbox

Just got this as mail forward, and can't help putting it here :-)

Wooo hooooooooooooo............we're the WORLD CHAMPIONS :-)

Before start of world cup, I was a total pessimist about our team’s future, normally that either proves me right or pleasantly surprises me.

I was the one who hated this idea of Twenty-20, called it a money-making tamasha, and that first round bowl-out confirmed my belief.

But today, scene is totally different, I'm ecstatic beyond words, beyond limits, instead of having Monday morning blues; I've springs in my feet.

Though I’m not a total convert yet, but won’t mind as long as we are winning and there are no bowl-outs. And a victory against Pakistan is always sweetest :-)

Boyyyy, I’m missing home, missing all that excitement, thrill, meeting friends!!!

After thoughts::
1) What made them chose Afridi as man of tournament?? Umer Gul or Hayden had more compelling case. To me, Gautam Gambhir and RP Singh are the men-of-tournament
2) Mallik’s sheer senseless utterance in post-match presentation about Muslims of world etc etc was totally senseless and uncalled for.

Don't run before you walk!!!

As usual Over-Analysis

hmm we lost again, and again the problem was with batting-order, I guess now its time to say good-bye to good ole Sachin-Ganguly opening combination, though did exceptionally well in 150/160 games they opened together.

Actually, nothing against these two guys, they're the very much same, with same techniques, but I guess with age and 'other factors' there is a certain shift in their mindset.

Now they seem to curb their natural aggression, which is again good to some extent but only to some extent, beyond that means unwarranted pressure on rest of team.

It is an open secret that now Ganguly only plays for statistics, so that he can openly boasts that he is the highest run-getter after his comeback but if one digs deeply then its same story he scored runs at the cost of team's momentum, and always in lost cause (or which resulted that way)

But again, like friction, he too is a necessary evil, and cannot be done away that easily, and that leaves with only other option of dropping Sachin to number 4 slot, so that either he or Dravid play till the end.

Like, in all 3 game, India came up with 3 different one-down batsman, they tried to maintain the left-right combination on crease, which sounds good but is good if they make use of it. They simply planned second step before the first. And it'll be bigger mistake if they risk Dhoni as no.3 in next game.

Here's my eleven for next ODI

1) Ganguly - (should bowl 3/4 overs, if needed)
2) Gambhir - (he is a talented guy but a big flop outside sub-continent, he deserves backing and more chances)
3) Dravid - (best batsman should play at no.3)
4) Sachin - (must bowl atleast 4/5 overs, and play till the end)
5) Yuvraj - (and he along with Sachin n Ganguly must bowl atleast 11-12 overs)
6) Dhoni
7) Karthik
8) Chawla
9) RP
10) Zaheer
11) Munaf

*************
If Boney Kapoor can marry Sridevi, Tusshar Kapoor can become hero,and Manoj Prabhakar can become bowling coach of Delhi team, then at least I can blog about cricket here.

Ahh consecutive bad days.............

First, in singles I lost 6-2,5-7,6-7(5-7) , lost despite wining more games. and again yesterday in doubles we lost 4-6,6-2,5-7, same story :-( worst thing is that we were leading 5-1 in the final set, then lost 6 straight games....it can't get worse than that.

It's an awful feeling :-(

Same beemaari!

Some beemaris are incurable that includes my addiction to cricket.

Well, right now score is 27/2 in 9 overs, and just 7 runs scored in last 5 overs with loss of two wickets.
When Gambhir played 4 consecutive dot balls , right at that moment I told my friend that he'll get out on last delivery, and Gambhir proved that to be a simple prediction.

C'mon, something is seriously wrong with Indian think-tank’s mindset specially when they are chasing a big score. I don't think they ever come-up with a plan in their minds or they ever stick to it, if they had one.

This inning is shaping up in a typical mess which they create for themselves, they are not sure whether to attack or defend, and always caught in-between. Someone at cricinfo must do some research and tell us how meekly our batsmen start playing after loss of early wickets, they suddenly make monster out of ordinary bowlers and build unnecessary pressure.

Today, same thing is happening, Tendulkar's role is to keep wickets intact, Gambhir tried to curb is natural game, he blocked when he should have flashed and vice-versa.

Now, I'm 200% sure Sachin n Dravid will make it painful slow, and add huge pressure on Yuvi n Dhoni, before getting out after making 25-35 runs, and in the end either Karthik or Dhoni will score a 'place-saving' 50 or something, and we'll lose by 80-90 runs.

I better stop here.

**************

And this tussle between ICL and BCCI is turning out to be big tamasha, and trouble is that both parties are equally BAD. And rebel players are simply escaping from pot but jumping into fire.

Again lesser said is better.

I hate cricket.

'Recently Seen movies'

'Recently Seen movies' section on left of this page, tells the story of my weekend, ohh yes, I saw 4 movies, 2 at movie hall and two at home.

Well, on friday night we went for 12-3AM show of 'Chak De India', it was very much worth going there so late, and coming back home ard 3:30am, it was one of the impulsive plan, ard 10 after finishing dinner I asked wifey....'Chak De dekhni hai..', and immediately we left home only to find 11pm show sold-out, but we gladly settled for midnight show.

If you like sports-themed movie, if you like SRK (even after KANK), then this one is for you, marks the return of SRK, he gave solid restrained performance.

It was a interesting presentation of a predictable storyline, well like I always say people like two kinds of movies...one with which one can relate with, another which are out and out fantasy be it over-the-top action thriller or some unimaginable sci-fi types.

To me, this brought back the memories of school days, our school was among BEST in India those days, infact hockey was the only sport our team was good at. I grew up watching(/playing) so many matches in Shivaji Stadium or going to 'stadium' (as we used to call it) was a daily ritual which I followed for don't know how many years.

Sometimes before some big tournament Indian team used to practice there, and watching them play in an empty stadium was so amazing, so unreal, all players were so approachable, forget media they never even required any security, no police nothing, and one can even go seat next to Pargat Singh or talk with Vivek Singh, Sujit Kumar, R.P Singh, Great Mohd. Shahid, Thoeiba Singh etc.

Hockey is a different world altogether.

It is heartening to see some director choosing this subject, and delivering it with perfection. Seems that after the success of Khosla ka Gosla, the stature of Jaideep Sahani has grown, and now he seems to have final word on his scripts.. not the director not the editor.

Best part about his writing is the language he uses, which is so refreshing, that sets the immediate connection, good to see people talking in normal-typical delhi-ki-language :-)

A welcome break from 'bambaiya-type' or 'heavy-duty' dialogues.

Now I’m so bored, don’t even want to think about Bourne Ultimatum.

And before I forget…., ex-girlfriend err...now wifey bought me this and I'm lovin it :-)