Tupe's Korner

Mumbai Ranji Team, Strongest? Not anymore!!

2010-10-02T22:24:00.003+05:30

I know, even I have said in a lot of my posts that other sports do need some revival. But, had been a die-hard mumbai Ranji cricket teams fan since a long long time now. Typically started following Ranji Trophy, when Sanjay Manjrekar used to be the captain of Mumbai, stalwarts Vinod and Sachin in the team. Some terrific players like Amol Muzumdar, who never played for India. But they have served Mumbai whole heartedly.

Those days I used to follow the cooch behar trophy (Players under 19). Watched the progress of players like Wasim Jaffer and Ajit Agarkar since then. The best part if you are a Mumabai team's fan then, you love the khadoos style of their play. Totally agressive in their approach and believing in clinical finishes of the game. Quite similar to what australia's approach to cricket has been. But, I am afraid the way Australia cannot handle the pressure once the talent is lost. Mumbai the reigning Ranji champions looked very tame in their ongoing Irani trophy. ROI has amassed 668. It is an uphill task to take first innings lead. The batting looks very fragile. We have Wasim Jaffer, who is very cool as a captain, but asking him to score another triple to rescue mumbai, is too much to ask for considering his recent form. Sushant Marathe is able wicket keeper, but surely his batting is inexperienced, he is not in the ranks of vinayak samant, sulakshan Kulkarni or Sameer Dighe, with the bat. I think time will tell. Its unfair on my part to ask so much at this point. Then comes the promising Ajinkya Rahane, for me there is an India test cap written for this man. But, he can deliver, considering he scored a ton against the aussies in the Board President XI match, although he cannot leave it for second innings. If it has to come it has to be tomorrow. Then comes the gritty Omkar Khanvilkar, but he is young, though talented. He has to support anyhow the others. Then for me the most flamboyant stroke maker of the team Rohit Sharma. He has to show the mettle. He cannot just let his talent die. He has to put more effort. Having said that, I still cannot see him scoring a triple or double, max. he can go upto 100-125. But, he has to step up. Sometimes I see shades of "Mark Waugh" in his batting for effortlessness and also the knack of breaking partnerships with his off-spin. But currently he is lon long long long way from there. I just said shades, he has to show some accountability. Then Abhishek Nayar, I like this cricketer, with limited ability, he delivers when the team needs. But, he needs support, and cant expect more than a century from him. Mumbai can be only be rescued when the top-six contribute and see 500 on the board. Mumbai's tail is too strong, with our saviour in many matches for many seasons Ramesh Powar, Iqbal Abdullah, Agarkar and Dhawal Kulkarni. Although Ajit is definitely not the same bowler as he was decade ago. His batting is still alright when it comes to play for Mumbai. Dhawal can take inspiration from 87 he made in the finals last season against Karnataka, which Mumbai just managed to win by 6 runs. There is a huge task, but will have to be done to prove the khadoos pana of the team.

I just got carried away with current match. The point is Mumbai has to find better bowlers and players in the team. Ajit, is not the same bowler, even Ramesh Powar tries hard, Dhawal is promising, but Usman Malvi surely is not the future (Not taking away anything from the hard-working player hailing from Ulhas Nagar, but with his pace batsmen dont get threatened). Whom do we look upto. For me currently the strongest Ranji team is Tamil Nadu in batting department. Murli Vijay and Abhinav Mukund, with one of the best opening pairs in Ranji Trophy, they come very close to Gambhir and Dhawan for Delhi (As Sehwag rarely opens in Ranji), then they have Badri, Dinesh Karthik, R Ashwin, Anirudha, Arun Karthik. They are strong contenders for this year's trophy.

For the time being, I see a bleak future for the 39 times champions of the trophy.

Commentators Role very essential in Sports

2010-07-27T20:28:00.005+05:30

Have you guys ever wondered what would have happenned if we had not found Harsha Bhogles, Steven Slaters, Martin Tylers, Tony Greigs, Ian Smiths (Both for Rugby and cricket), would the sport which we watch so endearingly would have remained so? Or have you wondered, even when you are enjoying a match/race in the stadium and flowing with the crowd in the stadium, just think, what would have this man said on TV at this moment?

I had thought about writing about the significant contribution of sports commentary way back in July 2010. I think after watching today's F1 Indian Grand Prix and the way Steven Slater said it "...and Sachin Tendulkar is waving the chequered flag"... I just thought for a second and thought about this man's contribution to the sport is as important as the drivers, crew members and fans if not more. I have grown up listening to this man's commentary in F1 since 1999, if we take away the bit that he has soft corner for Michael Schumacher, the speed at which this guy talks while the race is on, is just superb. The way in which he tries to tell every detail to the viewer is fascnating. Mind you F1 has so many technicalities, it is a very difficult game to understand to its nitty-gritty for a newcomer,such as with what the driver was penalised, DRS and drive through penalty so on....but the factors which pull the person to watch F1 race, other than Cars speeding at almost 300 Km/hr and noise they create, to match up to that level Slater provides sheer entertainment to the viewers and makes it more exciting.

Sometimes it so happens, that you switch on the Doordarsan to watch the game. And some commentator will take the game away from you. This has been the case in the recent past. I am not saying Hindi commentary is bad, I guess (Narrottam Puri in English and Sushil Doshi in Hindi) it is best team Doordarshan would ever had. However, the newer ones have not taken any cue from them.

I think, the triangular series of cricket in Australia was more popular in India than Australia. For me there were other reasons. The broadcasting was of that highest level and the commentators. I have grown up watching Richie Benaud's commentary. I think when you are not watching the game live on ground. It was Tony Greig who made the Sharjah tour of 1998, with his characteristic voice screaming "Its going, going and gone" or for that matter Bill Lawry's commentary piece in the famous last over of 1999 semi final tie (AUS V SAF) was just enthralling.

I did not have any agenda to bring these points other than saying that "what is the right mix for a fabulous Super Sunday game where you would say that was just an epic" : Two teams fighting harder with each other, with all the drama without providing an inch to the opposition on the ground, and that relayed to the spectator 50,000 miles away with same level of drama, intensity and detail!!

Long live the Harshas, Tonys, Stevens and many more!!! and thank you for choosing this as your career, we are privilidged!!! Dont ever forget them!!

Saina Nehwal, just keep going!!

2010-06-15T13:28:00.002+05:30

In the midst of the FIFA world cup 2010, there were other sports trying to get some spectators world over. The NBA finals is at a crucial stage with Celtics leading 3-2 and the last 2 games would be held at Lakers home. Hamilton and Mclaren, regaining the top spot in F1. Cricket, is boring now with India Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka playing the tri series and Asia cup starting today in Sri Lanka, and test cricket,West Indies succumbing to tame defeat against South Africa. These games are not so much fun to watch. But just happened to switch on DD sports and saw the finals of Indian Open, where Saina Nehwal beat her Malaysian counterpart Mew Choo Wong 20-22, 21-14, 21-12. The scoreline suggests it was tough match and yes It was.

Congratulations Saina on a brilliant win in the Indian Open 2010 just finished on 13-June in Chennai. Obviously Saina currently ranked world number 6 was the top seed for the tournament and was expected to win the tournament. However, you cannot take away the sheer determination and fitness which was shown in the final. I switched on the TV where she had just won the second set. Bringing the match leveled at 1-1. Interesting 3rd set in the prospect. But, she looked fresh unlike her opponent Mew, who had a good start with 4-2 lead, but lost service to Saina at 5-4. The next time when the service changed the hands it was already a 9 point gap in the favour of the Indian. Every long rally fought in that set was won by the Malaysian, but Saina ensured that her opponent lost as much breath while taking the point. In the end it was a easy 21-12 win for Saina.

I had seen her play the semi finals at the All England this year, where she crashed in the semi finals against Tine Rasmussen of Denmark in straight sets. But, the way she fought in the first set till the score was 19-19, it was anybody’s game. It was Tine’s experience which came in handy and she eventually won the tournament. One thing was evident throughout the match. She never gives up, the temperament is there to become a champion. She has the required talent. Also, P Gopichand as a coach surely helps.

I know its one of the sports which does not have the same fan following. But, if you know the game. If you had seen Joko Supriyanto, Hariyanto Arbi, Susi Susanthi, Hidayat, Ricky-Rexy, play the game. It would be premature for me to put Saina right there. But She surely has the potential. All the best, Saina!!! just play as you as you have till now.

Stupendous start to the campaign

2010-03-18T19:44:00.002+05:30

It was just remarkable the way Mumbai Indians displayed the potential in the match against the mighty Daredevils at their home. This just shows the remarkable strength of the squad for the season. There is a lot of talk about Kieron Pollard's addition this season. I am just hoping he does well and would be worth of every penny that we have spent on him. But, more than that his complete allround abilities will help us a lot. The way he bats is out of this world when he is in groove, his deceptive bowling and brilliant fielding.

However, I guess the ominous signs for the other teams will be playing against us, is the ICL recruits mainly Tirupati Amabati Rayudu and Rajgopal Satish. This has just added the depth of the team. Rayudu has shown his class and effortless batting and Satish with his fielding stints against the Rajasthan royals. We missed these small things in the last couple of seasons. Yes, against the narrow loss in first edition against royals when niraj patel the game away from us and then in the second edition when we could not chase down the 119 set by Kings XI Punjab. Anyway, I do not want to get bogged down by the past. Its a fresh start, the way Tiwary has played shows a lot more mature head with same hitting abilities.

Now, Look at this, why this IPL3 squad of Mumbai Indians is so strong than the previous two editions. We have an international side's bowling attack. With Zak and bajji, malinga and two trinandians (Pollard and Bravo), with jaysuriya bowling his off spin is a handy and more than a part time bowling option. The batting with two mighty international players jaysuriya and sachin opening, and if I may just add the form in which sachin is, then we have this fearless talent of tare (I am just in love with his bravery techniques in batting), followed by inform Tiwary and Rayudu. This means that even if in some matches 3 out of 5 dont click. We still have Bravo, Pollard and satish to follow and then bajji and ZAK. This means that the batting depth has just gone deeper.

Now, lets move to bench strength the heroes of previous editions mainly Abhishek Nayar and JP Duminy are still to make their contributions to the team. So, the players in the XI cannot take their place for granted.

This is a stupendous start and should be good enough for semis. But, I would just be more hungrier and will not settle anything less than winning this edition. We have players who can do it.

All the best guys!! for the remaining matches. We will support you at all the times. Duniya hila Denge

PS: I had just joined the community for Mumbai Indians and posted a blog entry there. The same I have pasted here.

Indian Hockey still a long way to go!!!!

2010-03-04T23:14:00.008+05:30

No, this is not statement which I have concluded after India's consecutive losses against the Aussies and Spanish teams both belting India 5-2 in India. But, the way things have turned to hockey. But, I guess Hockey is now a responsibility of the Indians to be at least competitive in their "national game". Its not just the pride which has to be stored but lot of other things have to be placed first.

I wonder sometimes the Indian Hockey fan is similar to a West Indian cricket fan. Both these fans have legacy to look at, but now it seems too far. West Indies cricket seems to have lost lot of tall athletes to other sports such as NBA and other games. For India, one very dependable back Viren Resquniha was lost to a B-school. May be others wanted to pursue something but had no options I guess. Both these countries in the respective sports have splashes of brilliance in between where the crowd cheers and want them to play like that. Just to realize this was too early they expected.

Coming back to Hockey I guess, the time Astro turf was introduced in the Field Hockey, the decline probably started for Indian team, then. I am not saying they did not had good players who could adapt. But, if most of the young kids who want to pursue the game, are not familiar of what does it feel like to play on it. The adaptations and learnings and unlearning at a later stage is always difficult. Having said that India still has a brilliant squad led by Rajpal Singh, Drag flicker Sandeep singh have taken the baton pretty smoothly from the hands of Jugraj Singh, who was compared to Sohail Abbas in his short stint. But the accident meant that he could not come back as a player who played a major hand in India's famous win against Pakistan with a score line of 7-4. Also, there is Arjun Hallapa, Sardar, Prabhjot and Shivendra. So the squad is decent, if given enough time and confidence they should do well. I am not too sure about our bench strength.

But, again the administration of Indian Hockey is pathetic, the way teams have been handled in the past and even recently hockey players had to strike. This meant that a lot of energy was spent out side the field to tackle the things. I mean these are not a promising signs at all.

I still wish India can turn around quickly in next 3-4 years. They can try and emulate England, they look very good at the moment and might even lift the cup if they continue to play like that.

However, It is definitely heartening to see people trying to follow the game again and some respite from cricket. Definitely, it is a good start, but I guess this start should not fade away just because they could not make it to semi-final and lets not be obsessed with "win against Pakistan and rest we don't care". This is not going to help the hockey team either.

I would love to see Indian hockey's glory days back, I know its not there in the near future. But I am here to wait!!! All the best guys for the next game against England.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar!!!!

2010-02-27T22:35:00.003+05:30

I know a lot would be written now and forever, about the person's record breaking innings 200 not out played at Gwalior on 24-Feb-2010. But, I just went back to one of the entries I had written in April 2006, actually the first one, where One of the renowned sports journalist in Marathi Daily Dwarkanath Sanzgiri predicted a one more purple patch in Sachin Tendulkar's Career. Well I Know everybody knew that if he plays that long. But, the way he has played since 2009 is just remarkable. In that article, I had also provided some statistics, which were phenomenal then, they have just grown in the last 3 and half years. The number of centuries are 93 and the numbers are beyond 30,000, if you are looking at number of runs scored. I am not going to elaborate on the way he played the innings, but definitely the way things have turned around for him. Not so long ago in the Australian series (7 match ODI series played in India), he played a lone hand of 175, which was not enough to win the game for India. He knew the agony of coming so far and losing it.

You will still find the same zeal in him after playing for so long. I guess now the time has come where people of India and all over the world relieve him from any burdens and expectations, as a tribute to the way he has played and conducted himself for so long. I just want to sit back and enjoy his batting now. Even Harsha Bhogle in his cloumn stated that he has been grounded all this while when fame has just grown exponentially.

I just wish that he remains in his purple patch until he leaves the cricket, Just want to thank him for all the happiness he has provided over the years with his cricket, leave batting alone. His remarkable performances with the ball in Wills Trophy semi final gainst south africa in 1994, 5 wicket haul in an ODI in Kochi against Austrlia in 1998 and his 3 wickets in second inningsagainst Australia in 2001, Kolkata (The famous follow-on test match which saw Laxman as an emerging hero). These are just some of the performances which came to my mind. The list is just too long to enlist.

My point is he has done more than enough for the game and Indian cricket and for his fans all over. He is one in generations player. Let us just watch him excel again, we will definitely cherish that. But lets not burden him with expectations any more like 100 ODI hundreds, getting a triple ton etc. It will come if they have to. Because great players are always remembered for the things they have not done, the list is generall too small.

Kudos Sachin!! wish you all the best!!! and Thanks for playing cricket!!!

Aussie Rules, yet Again!!!

2010-01-06T19:39:00.005+05:30

This is what I felt, after the second test match result against Pakistan at Sydney cricket ground, where the aussies defeated the pakistanis by 36 runs. It was a great game of test cricket. The nuetrals would have loved it and aussies cherished it. Pakistan will continue to wait for their first test victory against australia. Its already been 15 years since their last test victory and straight 11th consecutive loss to the aussies.

I wanted to see Pakistan winning the test match. Not often do you see Aussie captain's faith being smashed by the team, not often do you see aussies being bowled out for 127 in the first innings playing in their own den. After being behind by 204 runs in the first innings, they still had the belief of pulling off a win. A tactics which is generally used to mellow down the opposition and how well they did it.

After day 2, when aussies finally won a session in the test match and taking 7 wickets in the final session. The fast bowler Doug Bollinger said "We fought well to comeback in the test match". At the end of Day 3 aussies were merely ahead by 80 runs and 2 wickets in hand. Shane Watson came up with a comment "We are still in it, If we get 150, we can pull this off". There was no talk about the brave decision taken by Ponting. Infact, Douggie said, "Now its taken, and we will back Ricky Ponting 110%"

Even Harsha Bhogle in his coloumn could not understand from a winning position what exactly happenned to Pakistan to lose the test match.

I think like anywhere, the belief and never-say-die is most important. Its nothing new this has been said over the years. But, the fact that this has often happened to Aussies over and over again reiterates the point. Many times I have felt that luck also plays a major part. In the given context, Michael Hussey was dropped thrice by Kamran Akmal on Day 3. Had he latched onto anayone, It was bye bye aussies. So, it was luck that Hussey eventually accumulated 134 not out. Still, they just had 176 to defend on Day 4 pitch. I think it could be best termed as "driving home the advantage when luck favours you, no matter what situation you are in" is also a character shown by the aussies.

I was utterly disappointed to see pakistan lose as I was backing them to win all along. But Could not resist and had to pat on the Aussies they have played!! Kudos to Ricky and his men!!

Pkistan Cricket in Disarray

2009-06-08T17:47:00.003+05:30

If the twenty 20 warm up game against India was not a wake up call for Pakistan, yesterday's match should provide one and it should improve Pakistan's game against the tournament's biggest upset makers Netherlands.

There have been many events off the field which has made this team look absolutely mediocre. Being a hard-core Indian cricket fan. Pakistan's fightback attitude has always been the talking point and I have always been a being fan of their cricket team. But, at the moment we can just recollect names and say how good they were. It is because the intent and purpose was missing when they came out to chase England's target of 185 runs.....I am not saying they would have one....had they come up with a slap-bang style.....but the approach would have brought some smile to the faces to the Pakistani supporters.

There have been many problems with the Pakistan team, where because obvious security reasons lot of teams have not traveled to Pakistan. Sri lanka tried to bail them out by travelling to Pakistan, but the terrorist attack directly on the Srilankan team was disgusting and henious act. This has been one final blow, which wont see normalcy of cricket in that country for at least 2 years. Then there has been BCCI's tremendous power to make sure that ICL sinks, which has again seen lots of young talent the likes of Razaaq, Imran Farhat and Imran Nazir have been out of the international cricket scene, which meant that Pakistan lost a lot of bench strength in loosing those players. A digression from the topic since I have mentioned ICL, the credit for this tremendous show at IPL goes to Mr. Modi, but for me the idea was of this event came from ICL and by banning ICL , it worked wonders for IPL and BCCI. Anyway, coming back to Pakistan, the loss of Mohamad Asif in testing positive has also hurt them badly.

Having said all these things, they still have very talented bunch of players who can turn it around. They just have to shuffle it within the team, find the right combination. I think, I agree with Wasim Akram, when he says that Arafat should be the first change and Sulman Butt too slow for start. So, I think, if Sohail Tanvir is fit, he should replace Arafat. He should open the bowling with Mohammed Amir, who has looked good, Umer Gul should bowl at death. Saeed Ajmal should also come to the party with his spinning option along with Shoaib malik and Afridi. I think Afridi has to come good. I am not sure whether with bat he can deliver goods at this point, but off late certainly he has propelled with his bowling. At the start of the innings, I think Kamran Akmal should open with the fearless Ahmed Shehzaad, Misbah should bat at number 3, which will serve 2 purposes. 1) the best batsman in the team woul get as many overs to face and 2) he would play the role of the anchor to the perfection. Then Yunus and Shoaib Malik can come and provide the solidity in the middle order, that leaves Afridi to come at number 6, I think just one hit to the fence and he would be back in form. Sohail tanvir should follow and I guess they can accommodate one more batsman at the expense of a bowler. Lets see but I want to see a resurgent Pakistan team.

2009-05-28T17:06:00.000+05:30

Long Live Fergie!!!

It was a sad night yesterday for a Manchester United supporter to see their team going down tamely in the Champions League final yesterday against FC Barcelona, who were crowned the champions of Europe for the third time second time in last four years. It was indeed a great game of a football for a neutral or Barca supporter, and rather disheartening for us (Red Devils supporters). To see world's best players: Messi, Henry, Iniesta, Xavi contesting against Ronaldo, Rooney, Vidic and van Der Saar, it was sheer spectacle. Though, we would have wanted something on the scoring sheet.

I know there would be lot of after thought about how they should have played, but Barcelona excellent game headed by Iniesta, for which he got enough praises post match from the Rival team. Also for the first 8 minutes or so Man U had the posession and the goal by Eto'o suddenly changed the complexion. Anyway, Fergie was obviously upset with the back four and credited the Guardiola's boys. Guardiola signed off a perfect season winning the treble of Spanish cup, La Liga and UEFA Champions League in his first season as coach and became the youngest manager (38 years) to win the latter tournament.

I know every Man U supporter would be dejected today, but we cannot forget the fantastic season they have given the fans to cheer. All the credit to the boys and the legend of Sir Alex Fergusson. He has such an inspirational and successful career for that long period of 22 years, it gives jitters to the supporters at the end of the season by the thought of him hanging up his boots. I would want Fergie to continue, every one does want him to be there. It was a fantastic season where Man U won the Carling Cup, club championship, premier league for the third consecutive year. The only blips were FA cup semi final loss to Everton and yesterday's loss.

Credit should go to the manager who has tried a few things in those successes, where van der saar went with 14 clean sheets in the middle of the season to make sure that Man U leads the way in the premier league. Tevez's late winner against Stoke city right after the club championship tournament and of course the 17 year old Macheda's goals against Villa and Sunderland, where title race was getting agonizingly close with Liverpool putting tremendous pressure and of course these came right after Man U was coming in terms with the losses at the hands of Liverpool and Fulham. The best masterpiece substitution was against the Harry Redknaap's Sleeping giants (Tottenham Hotspurs, I call them sleeping giants as they can turn the match on their head on their days), Man U was trailing 2-0 at the half time. Enter Tevez in the second half and then it was flourish of 5 goals in 15 minutes.

Manchester United keeps providing these moments which makes you watch each and every game closely. Fergie has played major part in putting this talent executing tremendous skills on field. So, what there was a blip yesterday, Man U will be resurgent for the next season

2006-08-26T13:29:00.000+05:30

RACISM DOES IT PREVAIL IN SPORTS?

I do not quite know the facts that when South Africa was exactly banned to play the sports with any of the countries, but I do know for a fact that they declined to play Cricket against the West Indies in 1970 and since then no other country played against them........After that in 1992 they came to play India in India and they were welcomed by every other country and every South African cricketer was happy that they could represent their own country at the world stage. But was that just a show-off that it has really ended.

The only reason I have brought these facts out again........because off the ball tampering issue of Pakistan against England, where Pakistan who were in a winning postition, refused to come to the ground as a result England was awarded the match. I am not saying that the Pakistanis have not done this before, but the point is all the controversies atleast in cricket are mostly on the Asian countries, be it Murali, Shoaib or even Tedulkar. Being an Indian, I feel deprived the way asian countries are treated at international level.

Now look at this, Late Hansie Cronje, accepted that he just gave some information honestly..... which according to many people was a big crime and he was treated roghly. I am not standing in favour of Cronje, but I was glad to see that atleast he had the courage and speak about it infront of everybody........I do want to defend by saying this and tell everybody has to do a mistake and then rectify it....but if you have done it, then accept it. he could have chosen to be quiet like Azzaruddin, Jadeja, Salim Malik or Manoj Prabhakar, who till date refuse it.....but for Cronje it was overwhelming guilt feeling. Anyways, when Cronje accepted it it was also Mark Waugh and Shane Warne, who said that they accepted mony from Bookies, they were just told not to repeat this, now isn't that double standard treatment? Leave Mark Waugh, but a legend cricketer like Shane Warne who has the highest test victims, has been on the wrong foot again and again, but people are ready to accept him and not Cronje, why? thre is no rational answer to it.

I am still confused and feel bad sometimes the way we are treated in the field of sports or anywhere, to eradicate this would be a long journey, but whoever beleives in this should stop discriminating people on any of the standards, right from today, so that we are at least eligible to say these things.

2006-07-11T12:05:00.000+05:30

ZIDANEEEEEE.....................WHY ON EARTH YOU DID IT?

Many people will talk more about the Zizou's (Zinedenie Zidane) act in the final of the World Cup 2006 than Italy's holding-nerve in penalty kick shoot out. Also people will say that had Zizou not done it, in spite of France losing the match, Zizou would have gotten a very warm farewell, from the media, from the fans, from the Italians, and from the huge crowd in Berlin watching the game. The tale certainly did not end well for France and for Zizou. It is incredible to believe that Zizou would head-butt Materazzi after looking so calm after exchanging words. I personally feel that he should not have done that. According to me if you are on the field and you give shit then also accept shit. Now the question is did they exchange bad words? Or did Marco say something really bad, like a swear word on mother or family? Every person has his/her temperament's threshold and after that a person may head bang or kill. Afterwards it might look silly. I am eager to know what went through Zinedine's mind.

Zidane is a champion and will remain a champion. He was instrumental in getting France this far. He lived in the golden era for France football. For me the man is still up there. I will continue to look to him with full respect and esteem.

Compiled by Prasad Tupe

2006-07-07T12:17:00.000+05:30

FRANCE OR ITALY.................Zizou v Cannavaro

The world cup almost has reached the ultimate day.....with 62 out of 64 matches over. The two teams who have made to the finals, were definitely not favorites to make it so far.... but you cannot take away anything from FrancE or ItalY, they have played some fantastic football.

As for Azzuri (Italy), they had slow start, and their knock out started from the Group stages, where they had to win against the Czech side (world no. 2), and they did. And after that they had Aussies to be countered where they got Penalty in dying seconds of the match...it was rather lucky....... their biggest challange came in the semi-finals, where they had to counter the host nation, with 50,000 fans agianst them and it was a dramatic victory, where Grusso and Del Peiro scored in the last 2 mins of the extra time.....and the Germans were found crying everywhere....on the field, off the feild, in the stands, streets........... it meant Italy will be playing for the glory and Klinsmann's boys playing for the 3rd place.......

As for Les Bleus (France), they also had a bad start to the campaign, with the first two matches being drawn and nobody even backed them, whether they would make it to the second round, but they did.....and they were 1-0 down against Spain in the round of last 16, from there they displayed tremendous football skills and won the match 3-1 and sent Spain packing (who looked terrific till that match), then came the biggest challenge, they were against the defending champions Brazil, who didn't look like world champions in that game and Henry's goal was the decider. They won against Portugal in the semi-finals, where they were against Scolari, who had won 12 world cup games on a trot, but they were upto the challenge and won the match 1-0, making the no. 13 unlucky for Scolari.

As far the final goes I do not want to predict the winner, but this is what I feel.

"I would love to see Fabio Cannavaro lift the trophy, as this is the 4th time Italy has made it to the finals after every 12 years since 1970.....and both the times they lost the finals, the opponent was Brazil....so ITALIA has a good chance.

However, having said that, this world cup has not been of surprises and the records continue like Portugal have not beaten France since '75, Sweden's undefeated record against England, Italian dominance over Germans in the world cup......which suggests that the trend will continue, if this happens then France will lift the cup........

I don't want to predict anything just sitback and watch it on sunday, however I would be delighted to see Italy win.....but inner feeling says it is going to be France.....Go ITALIA Go "

Please do not miss the biggest sporting event on 09th July, else you have to wait for another 4 years...for now bye

2006-06-30T17:15:00.000+05:30

IS SANIA following the footsteps of ANNA KOURNIKOVA?

The above comment might be a little to early and a conclusion that can be proven wrong by India's tennis sensation Sania Mirza, and I will be glad if she follows the footsteps of Stefi Graf or even for that matter Gabriella Sabatini, the cute Argentine who did not win many majors in tennis but atleast made it to the semi-final and finals of almost all the Grand slam events. Rather than that of Ms Kournikova

If anybody saw the match Sania played against the seventh seeded Elena Dementieva.........
would agree with me that rather than the latter winning the match.......it was Sania who lost the match and gifted to the Russian.........after being 5-2 up in the first set and was serving for the first set.......suddenly it took just 5-10 mins with almost every point earned by Elena was due to the unforced error by Sania and in a flash the scoreline was 5-5 and even in the tie break Ms Mirza was leading with a mini break of serve of 5-3 lost consecutive 4 points and the set and the secnd set was the same story again saw some glimpses of good tennis from the indain......but again Elena played it defensively waited for Sania to make errors, where the latter obliged like a true Indian.........

I might sound a bit harsh, even after the macth Sania said that she was feeling better........but iot would have been best had she won, she would have been great.....but she has to do better and rapidly if she has to come up to the ranks of Sharapova, The Williams sisters or Justine Heinin-Heardine.......we now have to pull up more strength and convert those "better" performances to "best"

Like any other Indian sports fan I want India to do well in all the sports at the highest level........
I am a big fan of Ms Sania Mirza and the comparison I made to Anna was to say that rather than being a brand ambassador, I would love to see her as a sports ambassador..........there would be an arguement that the game is too demanding and it requires sponsorship and funding and it is none of my business to say that she should not be modelling or playing more tennis, which is fair enough......but I would still like to see her on TV playing the 3rd and 4th round of Grand slams rather than in a Sprite ad.........

In the end I just want to say that I was utterly disappointed to see Sania go out of Wimbledon in such a manner, where she almost had her opponent down and out.....and she could have thrown her away out of the tournament.......If Sania has done so many things till now a jump of almost 100 ranks in a matter of year.....why not eye the glory of winning the grand slam.....we are not saying this will happen immediatley...we are here to wait.........but atleast we should be convinced that Ms Mirza has put her 100% effort.

2006-05-03T18:31:00.000+05:30

Pramod Mahajan's Death - A Different Perspective

After my initial start in the blogging community, I never thought I would be writing on something like this....In fact I already had a different article in the draft stage.

I am not a big follower of politics nor do I have full faith in any of the political parties,(Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra NavNirmaan Sena did excite me for a while but seems like it has lost its way too early). Anyways these are just my opinions.... but just like any other person follows politics.. I do

Pramod Mahajan was a BJP's young and charismatic leader, who was in the NDA ministry which ruled from 1999-2004. He was shot at his residence on 22-Apr-06 by his own young brother, Pravin Mahajan.After battling for almost 12 days in the hospital, he did give up and passed away today, 03-May-06. I pray to the God to give his soul happiness and peace.

As I said I am not a politicaly interested person....but the reason I am writing about this is the way he had to say goodbye to this life........from the day his brother shot him till today, I fail to understandwhat must have gone through in Pravin's mind when he decided that to do this act. I am not talking as, his point of view. But, just a general thought that the person whom you have known for so many years, would even think of doing something like this. All the questions to these answers would only be given by Pravin. I am really sorry to say this again and again.....but the pshyche Pravin would have developed before commiting this huge act is just unimaginable. This can't be thought of in one day, even if you think of killing your enemy you try and put that thought away somehow.It is just unbeleivable and I ask again and again......that how could he? but the fact is he did.

People now would come ahead and say a lot of things about his charisma, energy, stratgies, leadership, team spirit and many more things. And of course he does deserve all these praises, as he has played a great hand in this country's politics. I do respect him for that...........But, the end he faced bring a lot of questions to me, that even if he did command respect elsewhere, what Parvin must have been thinking of him?

Most definitely, Pramod Mahajan, would himself have liked to die in an accident or anything else rather than being shot by your own brother......because it hurts a lot when someone so close is responsible for the demise. Therefore I am compelled to ask again and again.....was he in true sense a Great Leader?. Think about it.

P.S. This post is whole and sole my perspective and a nuetral view, neither to promote anyone's ideas nor to tarnish anybody's image purposely, and the reader has full right to disagree.

2006-04-26T21:01:00.000+05:30

OPENING THE INNINGS WITH SACHIN

I am entering the blogging community. Though I am not fond of reading, I am not expecting a great response, as this is the first time I am writing which is to be published somewhere......hope you will not find this absolute crap....even if you find this, please do me a favour, don't leave that as a comment, just wish somebody somewhere in the world would like it.

Anyways, I was thinking about starting a blog for a long time and here it is....... I want to thank the inspirations for this Dhananjay, KK, and Uday Khankhoje, whom I read and thought I can start off as well. They are too good.

So, starting it with an auspicious note- "Shree Ganeshay Namah" (if nobody reads or my blogmeter says 0 visited, I would presume God would have atleast read it.)

There were lots of topics for me start with, but I think it would be nice to start something about the person, who in India has been hailed as a God (in cricket) Sachin Tendulkar. Belated happy birthday and hope to see him in his prime form.

A lot has been spoken by a bhajiwala to a MD in an organization, that since he has made his return to the international cricket, he is not the so called "old sachin".....of course he will not be, he is been part of this for the last 16 years consistently. If you work for an organization for that long, will you not have a bad day, week, month,year in the office. The greatness of Sachin does not lie in the 74 centuries or over 24,000 runs he has churned over the years. But even after such a long time, he refuses to reply to the comments made about his bad form, terming as " everybody has a right to opine in this country". He never boasts on, which otherwise is a great record for any cricketer for decades sparing Sir Donald Bradman. I can go on and on, on Sachin.....as he is for me the "great human".

I still beleive that God has kept a purple patch for Sachin, before he says good bye to cricket - Dwarkanath Sanzgiri, Sports Journalist

I wish, I would have opened with Sachin on the cricket field. Nevertheless starting my innings here.