SACHIN-17000+ & still “THE MAN” for India!!!

Picture Courtesy © AFP

Special Congratulations to Sachin on his 17000+ ODI runs. It is a huge landmark. It just amazed me the way he played today. Mere words cannot describe that innings he played. It was sublime and we were just lucky enough to witness one in our lifetime. Team India could have atleast gifted him the WIN. He scored 175 of the 350 required, that says it all. As Mr.Shashi Tharoor had tweeted and i quote “He didn’t deserve to lose but Ind didn’t deserve to win”.

This will truly be remembered a day when even Cricket is proud that SACHIN TENDULKAR played it!

I have never seen GOD, but i had seen Sachin bat today and i feel BLESSED. Long live Sachin and the LEGEND he is.

Cheers 🙂

IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK HERE…

It’s so great to be back to doing what i like doing…blog!!! Yeah people the past month wasn’t just a walk in the park…the same old advices, the same old wait, the same old questions…looks like it’s never gonna end. And thanks largely to Airtel who have suspended the daily, weekly and monthly packages for GPRS…i was at sea all APRIL itching to somehow get an internet connection some other way. 50ps./30kb isn’t amusing at all, i got robbed of 35INR for just checking my mail. Now thats what i call daylight robbery. And here i am blogging at will from my aunts place. the best thing is i do not have to pay for the internet!!! Yipeeeeeee!!!

Enough hogwash about me, let’s talk business here. The Circus has begun, yeah you guessed right. Its election time here at home and boy the news channels are really busy. Who’ll win it???? who has the edge na and all that bullsh*t. And yes Ipl had begun and the stadiums are quite empty. it’s funny though when the commentators say its a jam packed stadium here when actually the camera shows the empty stands right behing behind them…LOL!!! And the strategy breaks aren’t helping matters here. The only thing that is interesting about the IPL is the FAKEIPLPLAYER’s blog. And the matches have been far from exciting barring a few. The KKR and BRC are fighting really hard to get the covetted last spot.  whatever!!! who cares now about these teams…even their owners have given up. Where’s SRK?? Korbo Lorbo Har bole…hee hee he:)

Politics isn’t really my bed of roses. I am really bad at it. I really do not understand the alliances simply because today they are together and tomoro you really have no clue whom they are with. Phew!!! REALLY TOUGH TO GET THE ACT RIGHT. Although i follow the important news i always kinda maintain a low profile when it comes to election news. So i stop here.

Please!!! STOP KILLING INNOCENT TAMILS IN LANKA

Lanka is on the boil. Mr. Rajapakshe is hat on the trail looking for Prabhakaran,the LTTE chief. “Fast” Dramas were enacted in TN to gain political brownie points. It has all become a political game now. so who cares about the lives of people??? Not the politicians atleast!!!

A friend of mine has gotten back to his bloggin best again after a hiatus of 4 years. He is a great writer and i am expecting him to set his blog on fire which he has promised. All the best mate!!!

Something called SWINE FLU is killing people around the world. WHO has sounded a level 5 alarm around the world. But it is still deadly. So take extra care to close your mouths when you sneeze or cough and run like Usain Bolt far away from a person infected with swine flu when he is about to sneeze. No hard feelings meant. Take Care.

P.S. Please this message is strictly for adults. Below 18 years please refrin from reading. PLEASE VOTE FOR CHANGE!!!

P.P.S. Today is the birthday of my beloved “THALA” Ajith Kumar. A great example of Self Confidence and Humanity. I wish him a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY. HAPPY BIRTHDAY THALA. You ROCK!!!

P.P.P.S. I’ve had a change in plans lately. Will reveal all in coming posts. Cya….

DADAGIRI-A FIRE WITHIN

“The Prince Of Kolkata” as he is fondly called by all his fans Saurav Chandidas Ganguly surprised everyone last week by calling it time to quit. He declared that the Australian series would be his last. Even if this is his last series he will always be fondly remembered. Who can forget a cricketer who had passion,fight,aggression and desire both on and off the field. Named the King Of Comebacks, he is surely one man i would always associate with the word COMEBACK. Thrown out the Indian Cricket team after a spat with the then team coach Greg Chappell, he showed resilience and patience(i can never forget the PEPSI ad which featured him just before the world cup) and after 16 long months proved all his critics wrong once again!

The video ad by PEPSI featuring DADA:

He is one of the finest or should i say “THE BEST” captain India had ever produced. He captained India for a record 49 matches and led them to victory 21 times which is yet another record. Of these 21 victories 11 came in foreign soil which in itself is a special distinction for any captain. He captained India to almost the pinnacle of glory in the 2003 WC. How can anyone forget the “Payback” incident. Here are pictures and an extract from a local daily that stresses the importance of that act.

The Payback

If you ever wonder who provoked this reaction, this picture will answer all your queries.

The Incident that deserved the Payback

Which captain would give an eye for an eye, i can’t name many since there are really few of them and Ganguly would top that list. If it wasn’t for him the present Indian captains won’t be half as aggressive as they are now. Such was the impact of Saurav Ganguly.

He was insulted again and again by the Indian Cricket Board, was dropped on numerous occasions accusing him of the most dubious of things, but still it was always dada who bought glories to Indian cricket everytime. History repeated itself many a time when he was at the helm of his career and captaincy. If ever there was a “Maverick” in the Indian cricket team, worthy of our respect for exactly those qualities, then it had to be Saurav Ganguly.

This is the story of a Phoenix who emerged from the ashes. Once it was almost declared that his career is was over but he was back in the team. He made a comeback yet again and repeated the history of his own comeback in 1996 after being dropped in 1992. He surely is the king of all comebacks. His comeback is an inspiration not only to his fans but also to his critics.

DADA-A FIRE THAT BURNS FOREVER IN THE HEARTS OF MANY!!!

WE WILL MISS U DADA…

RETROSPECTION

Looks like i have been blogging too much, very evident from the fact that i post too often. However the frequency of posts will eventually come down once i set foot in India purely because i do not possess a personal PC (kinda dumb!!!). But I’ll try my level best to blog occasionally when i get time.

This week’s been a ripper with all sorts of news filling the news channels, sports being the major part of it, Gracias to the Olympics. And the week for me was good enough personally too with me laying hands finally on an N73 and its for me to keep. Yup i have upgraded my 6230i for an N73 ME and it rocks big time!!!

POLITICAL LIMBO

Prez. Musharraf has resigned. Oh!!! it was never a hot news except for the news channels going gaa gaa goo goo all over it. It was inevitable given the fact the PM and Co. had already planned to impeach him. And Musharraf was like a kid complaining to the teacher sitting in front of the TV cameras for a record 70 minutes (i thought records were being broken only in Beijing!!!) and busy telling the world how good he was (oh!!! what lies) and blah, blah!!! blah!!!. Just minutes after he was quoted telling “i have decided to resign for my country” (no…no…it wasn’t a comedy show), celebrations were sparked across the nation which seemed to thoroughly enjoy his ouster. Just goes to show how good a man he was!!!(LOL!!!). Looks like “DEMOCRACY” is the new buzz word in Pakistan…finally!!!

OLYMPICS TIME

The Beijing Olympics has already seen loads of world records being broken. Going for the Gold was the USP of many a player and even the Indians have a gold medal at this years Olympics to boast about. Let’s check out some top performers at this years Olympics. The names that have made a mark at BEIJING 2008.

MICHAEL “WATERBOY” PHELPS

Touted to be the fastest human on water this young lad has carved a niche for himself at this Olympics. Thrashing record after record has become a habit for this lad from the USA that he has earned himself a spot in the Olympic hall of fame. 8 medals to his name in this edition of the Olympics equaling Mark Spitz record and a record for being 15 time gold medalist at the Olympics. Want more, he also holds the WR for 6/7 swims in Beijing 2008 and he is just 23.

USAIN “LIGHTNING” BOLT

If Phelps was the fastest man on water, Usain Bolt(ed) his way to become the fastest human on earth sending the WR for the 100m down for a walk. 9.69 secs – and he didn’t even try. The bigger names felt the heat. Tyson Gay gave away at the heats and didn’t qualify for the 100m final. Asafa Powell could only finish the race a sorry 5th and could just watch his WR record tumble to his fellow Jamaican and competitor Bolt. Now that’s what i call a “Sprinted” victory.

ABHINAV “SHOOTING STAR” BINDRA

If ever a whole nation was relieved by someone winning a medal, it was INDIA and thanks mainly to shooting heroics of Abhinav Bindra. This medal made Abhinav a household name across the nation and he will be remembered in the history books forever.

ELENA “JUMPING JACK” ISINBEYEVA

If ever a human was made to break record after record, it is Isinbeyeva. Man, what a lady. My Favourite athelete. Breaking her own world records have become a cup of tea for this beautiful damsel from Russia. 5.05m, the WR and OR to her name and still going strong, her records will be hard to catch up.

RAFAEL “NO.1” NADAL

Winning gold was his only ambition coming into the Olympics and he did it in style. Along with the gold he ended Fedderer’s reing as No.1 in the world. Tennis has got a new World Champion in Rafael Nadal and he’s here to stay for the world to see. Vamos Rafa!!!

Enough of Olympics let’s move on…

“CRICKET”AINMENT

After a pathetic batting show by the Indians in the test series in SL, losing 2-1 to the home side. The ODI batters promised of a good show. But, as it turned out indian viewers (me..me) were eventually robbed 7 of their precious hours watching the dumb show put up by the Indians in the first ODI. The batsmen proved that they bat really well with their mouths than their bats. Mendis couldn’t have asked for a better team against to showcase his talents. If the Indians repeat the same in the following 4 ODI’s im hoping they don’t..let’s wait for the best…

IT’s SHOWTIME

Last week i had watched “SUBRAMANIAPURAM” and would like to recommend it for all those original movie buffs. An excellent movie with awesome performances and retro settings taking us back to the 1980’s. Akshay Kumar has been officially selected new king of bollywood after his SINGH IS KING broke records all over the world. And after eternity i had a chance to watch THE DARK KNIGHT and would like to watch it at least twice in theaters again.

AH!!! i just remembered that i have to go shopping for my trip back to India…Sign off…

THE WEEKEND BLAST

If the high electricity drama of Indian Politics was not enough to make a perfect weekend, the things that followed made it one. For all those who witnessed the great Indian tamasha(the trust vote of course!!!) it seemed much like a reality show. After all that happened during the tamasha the blame game began. MP’s were expelled, some were even arrested. The only positive for all we thought was the survival of the government, but the very next day the inflation fell(at least a few points) which brought in a few smiles. with all this happening in politics there was much more in store for the weekend.

Friday saw 9 low intensity blasts ripping thro the center of India’s IT hub Bangalore(or is it Bengaluruuuu) Saturday was even worse. Gandhiji’s home turf Gujarat(Ahmedabad) was held prey to 17 blasts of similar intensity. All the politicians did was stayed safe in their A/C rooms and made sure that their stereotypical sympathy dialogues(u know wat???) flashed across all TV screens. India’s war against terrorism will be waged and blah blah!!!. And the BJP wants tough terror law(biggest joke!!!). All the Govt. could do is sound a RED ALERT!! in these areas and compensate the family of the dead. Can money compensate lives of the dead??? Can money give the love and affection the dead would have poured in if he weren’t dead. The irony is nobody knows if these people are compensated for sure and those who are compensated accept the loss and take the money.  That as such tells you why the nation is the 2nd largest in corruption(in the world). Money is the language spoken and is the buzz word to close matters out of hand and if all this wasn’t enough the CPI-M says the blasts are to destabilize the nation and a conspiracy to unsettle the country(now when was my country stabilized????). A statement no one could accept after the trust vote tamasha. This is all u will get in democratic India.

And it wasn’t a great start to a weekend for the sports lovers too with India crashing to their third worst defeat ever in test cricket. The so called gurus of spin(the Indians of course!!!) felt Murali was too hot to handle. if Murali was trouble Mendis was double trouble. The double M factor shared 19 off the 20 wickets to fall and made sure Sri Lanka wrapped up the test match in 4 days(or 3???). The funny side of it is that all have come out guns blazing to criticize India for their poor show(where where they when my team was performing???cowards). A few comments i read in cricinfo about the Indian team hurt me a bit. My team will get revenge in the next test(or will they???).

As for my weekend it was near perfect with a lot of travelling and hogging. A couple of parties attended made sure i gained atleast a few kilos. Such was the effect of the food i ate. And finally i have fixed the codec problems which was haunting me from playing divx discs. As i pen this down the acoustics inside my stomach isn’t too good(not after all i ate!!). So i sign off for today. I had a weekend blast and so did India!!! Irony isnt it??

SUPER DOOPER SUNDAY!!!

The past Sunday was the best ever day a typical sports fan would ever ask for…i was stuck to the TV screens the whole day occupied with F1,cricket & tennis all happening on the same day and all with the championship at stake…a look back at the events that unraveled on SUPER SUNDAY…

TENNIS:MEN’S WIMBLEDON FINAL: Here it was the end of an era…the Federrer era as everyone calls it…as the lights faded in center court, Wimbledon had a new King…RAFAEL NADAL dethroned ROGER FEDERRER 6-4 6-4 6-7 6-7 9-7 on a history defining day in one of the longest matches Wimbledon has ever seen…it lasted about 12 minutes short of 5 hours…such was the competition between the two players…thanks to the rain delays we were able to catch our breaths and root for our favorite player and on Sunday there was only one…RAFAEL NADAL..RAFA was only the second man to have a FRENCH OPEN & WIMBLEDON DOUBLE after Bjorn Borg in 1980…as the match ended it was late, very late, but not too late for the coronation of a new king to begin. I m happy that my predictions were bang on!!!…Fed up wid Federrer,try Nadal…and VAMOS RAFA!!! is all i can say…

CRICKET:ASIA CUP 2008:Hmmn…i am wondering wat to write here, india had a taste of MENDIS-CINE and thats it…i will still keep backing India anyway but for everyone who thought murali was dangerous…enter rookie AJANTHA MENDIS and indian wickets fell like 9 pins…i had said in my earlier blog that it was a moment of magic from a single person that could win the team the ASIA CUP ’08 and mendis just proved it rite with his CARROM BALL he pocketed 6 wickets and it was all over before it began…at the end of the match his figures read 8-1-13-6…no surprises then that MENDIS was also MAN OF THE MATCH & SERIES…

CRICKET:AUS Vs WI:It was just another day in the office for Clarke as captain and he lead his team to a 5-0 whitewash over once invincible now just in rubble WI team…WI are going nowhere with this kind of cricket…they were smashed everywhere with D HUSSEY’s 52(21) and LUKE RONCHI’s 64(28) and FIDEL EDWARDS returning with figures of 9-0-86-3…the costliest by any WI bowler…their batting was nothin much to talk about as they were bundled out for 172…the test series victory scoreline 2-0 didn justify what it showed but with the ODI series it was just what the doctor ordered for the upcoming young aussie side…

F1 RACING:BRITISH GP: It was one of the seasons tight races and LEWIS HAMILTON tasted victory at home…it was not just any victory, it was a well timed victory, an important one that put him right on top & back in contention for the coveted Driver’s championship…it rained in Britain and it was tough driving conditions…but Lewis was determined…he was a man on a mission…nothing could stop him on Sunday as he laughed all the way to the podium as KIMI “ICEMAN” RAIKONNEN could only finish 4th owing to a  bad decision over tyres and teammate & french GP champion MASSA a disappointing 14th…that was all enough to keep all three of them TIED at 48 points each at the end of 9 races & with 9 races left in the season it could be anybody’s and all we could expect is a speedy battle!!!…btw there was a man called ALONSO…where is he???

TENNIS:WOMEN’S WIMBLEDON FINAL: It was yet again a family affair at Wimbledon finals as the Williams sisters battled it out for glory on Saturday ,it was VENUS WILLIAMS who rose on the all Williams day winning her 5th title at Wimbledon…VENUS played some top tennis to see the back of her sister…it was a close match but ended in just 2 sets…SERENA rued her loss tellin that she was not at her very best but u cannot take away anythin from VENUS…i got my predictions right here too…and it was a double treat as the sisters then pairing up for the LADIES DOUBLES won that too…wat more can we ask in an all WILLIAMS day…

Wat more do u want in a weekend like this…just amaaaaaaaaaazing!!!!

ASIA CUP: IND Vs SL- WHO’LL BE CHAMPS???

ASIA CUP 2008

FINAL

INDIA Vs SRI LANKA

DATE: 06-08-08

VENUE: THE NATIONAL STADIUM, KARACHI

The battleground is ready…the captains lock horns…come tomoro and the battle begins…the fight for pride…the fight for glory…the fight to become ASIAN CHAMPS. It has all come down to this, a nerve racking final showdown between two Asian heavyweights…INDIA Vs SRI LANKA

TEAM INDIA: With their bowlers looking quite ordinary, India will rely heavily on their in-form batsmen to do the job. India’s batting line up will face a stern test in the finals although all the batsmen can switch around positions amongst the top seven and still be comfortable. Suresh Raina finally seems to be coming of age and the pair of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag, regarded as the top opening combination in world cricket today, have been absolutely devastating. Yuvraj till now has had a quite tournament but the finals will be the stage which he might want to make it his own. Skipper Dhoni has marshalled his resources quite well but the bowling department is a worry. The Indian bowlers have not made much of an impression on the batting-friendly track at the National stadium, the batsmen have made amends by chasing down big totals in the tournament so far. The script could unfold in a similar fashion in the summit showdown, though the Indians will be keen to improve their bowling and fielding to be able to counter the islanders.

TEAM LANKA: Sri Lanka is looking strong. Kumar Sangakkara has been in prolific form, having hit three centuries in five matches. Jayasuriya has also given starts that he is so well known for and if both of these were not enough Skipper Jayawardene gave all signs of him returning to form with a fifty against the Indian attack. They also have a few batsmen like Chamara Kapugedara and Tilekeratne Dilshan who can get stuck into the Indian bowling attack and be thorn in the flesh. Mendis, the highest wicket-taker in this tournament and Muralitharan are in top form and they are sure to make run scoring in the middle overs extremely painful for the Indian batsman.

THE STATS: Previously, Sri Lanka and India have met five times in the Asia Cup Final, with India having a 3-2 advantage over their opponents. Interestingly, Sri Lanka have only won the Asia Cup playing in their own backyard, so this will be something that they will be looking to change come the final at Karachi.

THE BATTLE: It promises to be a hotly-contested affair with both sides keen to stamp their authority on subcontinent cricket. The better team will take the title for sure. But with the wicket being a batsman’s paradise so far, one can expect a high-scoring affair. All we can expect is a good game of cricket. Let the best team win…The chase is then on!!!