We Are the Champions, My Friends....

For the part of the world that was once colonised by the British, cricket is a bloody big thing. Particularly in India where it is often referred to as 'second religion'. And what not? Cricket in India achieves what probably no amount of cultural events, speeches by politicians etc. can - it unifies the country. The pains of living in a country struggling to raise it's infrastructure to the level required to sustain its 1.2 billion people, a country with corruption seeping out of its pores, a country where the hard working tax payers' money is routinely laundered in some or the other scam, a country which is relentlessly exploited by some (in power) to further their own gains - all cease to exist. Winning the world cup was the objective of not only those 11 men on the field, but also of the 1.2 billion people who were praying their hearts out. It gave them something to cheer about and look forward to. And that's why it bloody mattered. So thank you MSD. You need to be applauded. I really really like MSD. For one, he's a fellow East Indian. Secondly, because of his ice cool demeanour. That man refuses to crack under pressure. He absorbs it like a sponge. What he did yesterday required balls - to go and bat ahead of an in-form batsman who usually bats at that spot. But it was also a masterstroke - it ensured a left hand-right hand combination, and if he got out there was still an in-form batsman to carry things forward. And thank you Gary Kirsten. You've given us what no one else could for the past 28 years. The other man who needs to be thanked for what the Indian team is today is Sourav Ganguly. He sowed the seeds of self-belief and a fighting spirit in a team that was historically perceived to be meek and a push-over. To a great extent, MSD is reaping the rewards of what Sourav started. The celebrations after our victory were insane. Throngs of people were out on the streets wearing India jerseys, with their faces painted with the Indian tri-color and waving Indian flags. Hell, I didn't know there were so many Indian flags in the city!! And now that we've brought the cup home, the word 'feeling blue' has suddenly got a new meaning. Until 2015...

'Dosas Will Inherit the Earth'

These were the wonderfully witty Knife’s words after last night’s IPL Finals, not mine. I couldn’t stop laughing for a good ten minutes after having read them, the reason for which I would rather not expound on here.

But seriously, why couldn’t the Mumbai Indians see what the whole world could during last night’s game? 165 isn’t an impossible total to chase. This IPL has seen scores well above 170 having been made a number of times.

I think Mumbai was done in by two poor decisions on their part. One, they left the runs for too late and by the time they started going after the bowlers, the required run-rate had climbed so high it was practically impossible to score such a large number of runs without batsmen of the caliber of Sachin Tendulkar or Adam Gilchrist. Or Chris Gayle on a good day. And second, they sent Keiron Pollard in too late. That guy can hit. He can loft the ball effortlessly into the stands. But he can't win the match for you if he has no balls to play!! I wonder who was taking the decisions on the field for the Mumbai Indians last night.

I haven’t written anything about the IPL controversy yet. Too uninspiring. Neither the moustached, pot-bellied BCCI officials nor Lalit Modi with his pink & purple suits turns me on. Seriously, the guy (Modi) looks sleazy. Particularly with that smile of his that he has plastered on 24x7.

Well, he has already been suspended from the IPL by the BCCI. Poor guy - or not so poor guy depending on whose side you’re on - he created the IPL monster, fed it, grew it into the “paisa (money) league” that the media is calling it these days, and he has been ousted from his own creation!

I think he should've got a fair trial before being ousted, and I'm not playing the devil's advocate here. I think everyone deserves a fair trial and should be convicted of the charges against them, before being punished. By all means Modi should be ousted if he is found guilty of rigging/ manipulating the team bids, betting and the other charges against him, but until the charges are proved in court I don’t think it was fair to suspend him.

The bigger issue, however, is to find the right guy to replace Lalit Modi. There's no denying that he is enterprising, gutsy, an astute businessman and a visionary. Only someone with a vision, big ideas and who can look into the future could have come up with something as big and money-spinning - for the franchisees, the sponsors, the economy - as the IPL. It will be a challenge to find someone as dynamic as Lalit Modi to head the IPL. There is no dearth of intelligent, smart entrepreneurs in India - or so I'd like to believe - but dynamism and vision are qualitites that are still rare in this country. For the IPL, in its current form, doesn’t need an uninspiring BCCI official and definitely not a corrupt, lazy politician to head it!!

The Name is Bond

Shane Bond.

And he is super HOT.

And my crush du jour.

The biggest turn-on about him is his icy cool demeanour - composed & aloof.

Yes baby, I would totally take you to bed.

IPL & More

Have you seen how well the relatively older players are playing in this installment of the IPL? Tendulkar (36 years), Kumble (39!!), Kaalis (34), Hayden (38!!) with his ‘mongoose’ which BTW is such a cute name for a bat, isn’t it? There's my all-time favorite Gilly, also 38. Chaminda Vaas. Muttiah Muralitharan who I find very cute. My favorite IPL commentary came from Harsha Bhogle, “There might be 1411 tigers left but there’s only one Murali left”. Ha ha...Priceless!

BTW, I read that the salaries of players in the IPL are the second highest of all the leagues in the world. They're lower only as compared to the NBA and higher then the EPL. There's no recession in Indian cricket or what?

My heart breaks for Sourav Ganguly. As The Knife had put it, “There is nothing more painful than seeing an aged and wounded tiger hounded in the jungles he once lorded in.”

The kind of feelings Ganguly evokes in his fans now couldn’t be described better. He was the King of playing spin, he was known for standing up for a team member even when the rest of the team management was against him. And of course, he proved that he will not take crap from anyone, lying down. That he can give back just as good as he gets.

See him play now…the boundaries are fewer and far between though his brilliance still shines through in the way he hits the ball for a six. He was never really known to be athletic or a brilliant fielder but he’s getting clumsier by the day. It’s sad to see one of your favorite sportsmen, who you liked not only for his game but also for his spirit & resilience, lose his flame gradually before dying out.

You were a good captain, Sourav Ganguly.

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The football World Cup is about to start! Ta Daa!! It’s time to don green & yellow! It's time to take my BRASIL jersey out!

BRASIIIIIIIIILLLL la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la Brasil......

I know some people who’re planning to go to South Africa for the semi-finals & finals, and it’s only going to set them back by a couple of lakhs each. For 3 matches & 2-3 days. Phew!!

Don't question the love of a Bong for football.

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

Have you seen the promos of 'Kites'? I like Anurag Basu (Life In A Metro) but this movie doesn't look exciting to me for some reason. Maybe I'm judging too quickly but first impressions do matter. Even the 'Zindagi do pal ki' song that's playing across radio channels sounds a bit dated.

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

There are confirmed reports - confirmed by the parties involved themselves - that Sania Mirza is marrying Shoaib Malik (ex-Pakistan cricket captain currently serving a 1 year ban from cricket for God know what reason) in April.

Errr...didn't she just call off her engagement to that biscuit guy a couple of months ago?

Apparently M & M fell in love with each other 6 months ago while she was still engaged to the biscuit guy.

Shoaib Malik confirmed the news on Twitter by posting "Thanks for all your support. And the news of me marrying to Sania is true".

Shoaib will marry to Sania and Sania will marry to Shoaib. Now will someone please find someone to marry to me too? :P

Ozz That!!

They might be sledgers of the highest order and more aggressive than we like, but you've got to give it to the Australians. They play (cricket) with such commitment. It's like they pour their hearts out on the field...give the game all they've got. And it's evident in every ball they put bat to & every ball they bowl. They might not be my favorite cricketing side in the world (far from it, actually) but you've got to admit they're right up there as far as the quality of their game is concerned. Especially players like Gilly, Hayden, Brett Lee & Glen McGrath...I've only seen them behave as gentlemen on the field.

What's your take on Australian cricketers?

The IPL Is On

All teams have had at least one shot at the game, some two. They have had a chance to observe 'kaun kitne paani mein hai' (how good each team is). And I'd like to know what SRK has been feeding his team over the past 1 year. They have won both the games they've played till now (what what?), and from being at the bottom of the table last year, they're on top after 3 days of the tournament.

SRK, of course, is back to his signature tomfoolery which is making the guy fall rapidly out of favour with me. I used to like him quite a lot for the way he made his way to the top having started from nowhere - owning the most coveted property in one of the costliest cities in the world - but with each consecutive day he seems to be getting progressively insecure and narcissistic, and consequently making a fool of himself publicly in his media interactions (the worst was when he told a journalist who asked him if there's any actor who makes him feel insecure now that he's in his mid-40s, that no one can make him feel insecure b/c he is SRK. I wanted to gag).

The masterstroke came form Dada himself though. When asked during a presentation ceremony why their team was maintaining a low key profile this time around, he was quick to reply, "We've always been low key as a team. Our owner is high profile and is always surrounded by controversies. But that's something we just have to deal with." He said this in the presence of Shah Rukh Khan.

KKR is playing well. Does it have anything to do with the new purple & gold uniform? Or has SRK finally realized that Saurav Ganguly is a Captain par excellence and that Kolkatans, who are known to switch off their TV sets when Dada gets out, will send mass negative vibes his way if he replaces their beloved Dada as Captain of their home team? Or is it b/c KKR now have a coach who believes in people instead of laptops?

This year I'm rooting for Mumbai - they look like a good team, and I like how Mukesh & Nita Ambani speak only when they need to and just as much as they need to.

The strongest team however seems to be the Deccan Chargers. Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds, Herschelle Gibbs, Chaminda Vaas, Rohit Sharma, RP Singh...good players all. And they played brilliantly against Chennai Super Kings yesterday.

Who are you supporting this IPL season?

PS: People seriously need to learn how to pronounce 'Kolkata' correctly. It's not "Call-cutta" or "Call-kata" or "Coal-cutta". It's "Coal-kaa-taa" (with a soft 't').

Looks Like Mikey Couldn't Make A Lot of Money

Recently read an interview of Mike Atherton, ex-captain of the English cricket team, where he said this : “It is time for Indian cricket supporters to grow up and accept defeat as an essential part of the game. Sport is not about winning; it is about losing. Trust me, we in English cricket know more about that than anyone. Indian supporters, the most immature in cricket, cannot seem to grasp this simple fact”

Case of sour grapes? I think so.

For one, when did sport become all about losing? It is as much about winning as it is about losing. Everyone, including the Indian cricket fans, acknowledges that for one team to win, the other has to lose. But no one wants to end up on the losing side. And what’s wrong with that?

At least Mike Atherton got one thing right – that the English cricket team would know more about losing than anyone else. Ha! When was the last time we saw them win a major cricket tournament? I haven’t seen it happen for as long as I can remember.

What Mike Atherton calls “immaturity” of the Indian cricket fans is in fact their unbridled passion for the game. We worship our cricketers to demi-God status when they bring laurels to our country. Surely they have to be prepared for the brick-bats to be unfurled with equal passion when they fail to perform? It's a zero-sum game, Mikey.

One of the biggest reasons why little boys from the sub-continent aspire to become cricketers when they grow up is the money that comes with it through sponsorships & endorsements. Play for the national side for a couple of years and you’re set for life!

Had the average Indian cricket fan been less passionate, or “mature” as Mike Atherton would have it, there would be no glory for cricketers. No money showers. No rags-to-riches stories either. Stadiums would be half-full during matches, cash registers would go cold, people would not be hooked to their television sets on match days, no mind-boggling advertising revenues, no sponsorships for the team, no mega endorsements for the cricketers….the list goes on.

So what would the Indian cricketers, most of whom come from middle-lower middle class backgrounds, rather have - glory & brick-bats that come with shit loads of $$$$$, or indifference & apathy?

It’s a choice they make and only they reap the fruits / pay the price for it. Fair enough?

Help Buchanan Solve the Puzzle

Are we in the IPL or a Bollywood movie??

This is the puzzle inside John Buchanan's head that he hasn't been able to resolve since the day IPL 2 started.

KKR will need to play out their remaining league matches but they are out of contention for the semis. Given the way they played their last two games, is that even surprising? Seemed as if the team was made up not of players who play at the international level but of little boys who have just picked up the bat & ball – so ridiculous was their performance!!

I lost count of the number of catches they dropped over the last two games. Most were sitters. The ball would fall nicely in their hands yet they would drop it! Especially in last night’s game against Delhi, they dropped two catches which if they hadn’t, they could have won. One was dropped when Delhi needed 31 off 25 balls (or something like that), the other when they needed 2 off 5 balls. Had those catches been taken, KKR might have been able to snatch the game away from Delhi.

But the brilliant KKR players, led by a mind-blowingly brilliant captain & an even more brilliant coach did not disappoint. The bowlers got thrashed around for boundaries & sixes…fielders tried to stop the ball from running into the boundary after it already had…simple shots were misfielded (the ball would roll by the side of the player & he wouldn’t even know!)…even when they did manage to stop the ball, it would roll away like it has a mind of its own! It was comical. Is that how international players are expected to play??

And then you had the field placements. The worst field setting I have ever seen! Batsmen were always able to find the gap for boundaries. And what have they acquired Mashrafe Mortaza & Ajantha Mendis for? Hatching eggs sitting on the bench? Mortaza is a very talented bowler. Also KKR’s most expensive acquisition this year, I think. Yet a bowler like Ajit Agarkar, who is capable of giving 36 an over, is picked to play over him.

The problem is that only 4 foreign players can be chosen for any game. The rest have to be Indian. So drop McCullum! What has he contributed till now anyway?

Looking at the strategies/decisions Buchanan makes, it seems he has completely forgotten how to play cricket.

SRK de-coded

This article was published in The Telegraph today, along with this rate card. Quite funny it is :)

From Durban dard to disco at wedding - SRK back home for vote and work

Mumbai, April 29: Shah Rukh Khan had vowed to “barge in (to)” Calcutta with the IPL trophy and show “some new dance moves”.

With the odds stacking up against his Knight Riders, he will make good a part of the promise and dance — not in Calcutta, but at a Mumbai wedding.

The actor flew back to Mumbai on liquor baron Vijay Mallya’s private jet today “to cast his vote” in tomorrow’s election. “I will go back only if the team does well,” the star said on arrival, hours before the Knight Riders lost yet another match, ironically to Mallya’s Royal Challengers in Durban.

“Vote or no vote, he would have returned on Wednesday because he has been hired to dance at a wedding in Mumbai on Thursday,” said an aide of the actor who himself could not be reached for comment.

Sources said Shah Rukh would be paid around Rs 2 crore for a 20-minute performance at the wedding of Mumbai builder Kanti Gowani’s nephew. The actor had reportedly charged Rs 1.5 crore for his number at the wedding of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal’s daughter.

“Earlier, the plan was to perform at the Gowani wedding and then return to South Africa. But now with his team doing so poorly, he has decided to stay put in Mumbai. In fact, negotiations are on with a couple of other parties who are keen to hire him for such private performances,” said the SRK aide.

Shah Rukh had said last year that if his IPL venture hit red despite the advertising revenue, he would break even by dancing at a few more weddings. He had also requested Sourav Ganguly and John Buchanan to dance at the beginning of every game. The steps, obviously, didn’t match.

Sources said the actor has now sent out word that he would be available for weddings — not just to dance — but as a “full-time guest”. “He can be available, say for three days, for Rs 12 crore,” said a source in GS Entertainment, the event management company handling the Gowani wedding shows.

The Gowanis have already circulated an invitation card for the wedding that lists the names and photos of the stars along with the days and wedding events for which they would perform.
“There will be two pre-wedding shows — on April 30 and May 2. The first show will have Shah Rukh, Bipasha (Basu), Rani (Mukherjee) and Emraan Hashmi. Shiamak Davar will choreograph Shah Rukh’s show and television actress Rakshanda Khan will be the master for ceremonies,” said the source in GS Entertainment.

It Gets Even Better

KKR lost even to Royal Challengers!! They definitely deserve to end up at the bottom of the barrel now. Imagine losing to a team that loses to everyone else!!

As if it'll help make things better, SRK has come back to India and says he’ll go back to SA only when his team starts winning matches. Someone needs to tell him that his team’s performance has nothing to do with him being in SA or not. It’s all a result of Buchanan’s crappy “strategies” which he's endorsing, and till the time he continues to do that, his team will continue to lose – irrespective of whether he’s in SA or Mumbai or Mars or the moon!!

A more effective option might be to send Buchanan back to where he came from. That might help.

On the other hand there are rumors that SRK is planning to sell off his stake in KKR. Are things really beyond redemption? Maybe not, IF he gets himself to accept the root cause of his team's misery - the Coach. KKR has some really good players on board. Not like their talent evaporates when they're playing for KKR & returns when they have to play for their country! The problem lies beyond.

On the other hand, Preity Zinta’s team is playing quite well. They had a pretty modest score to defend against Mumbai last night (120) but they did it.

Much as I'd like to see Rajasthan in the semi-finals & even the finals, I don't think they'll make it. But they've still got my heart :)

My picks for the semi-final are – Hyderabad, Mohali, Delhi & Mumbai/Chennai. What’s your’s?

Letter from Kolkata

Dear Mr Khan,

Congratulations on another fabulous defeat! You really seem to be enjoying them it seems. Your team lives up to them consistently, with any deviations (wins) emanating solely due to bad weather.

This weather can play truant at the best of times, I tell you. Just when you were looking set to lose to Preity’s team, it started raining and you won! How disappointing! But chin up, there are many matches left to lose. Let not one accidental win dishearten you.

In fact, I have a very good suggestion for you. Why don’t you let Buchanan’s laptop bat next game onwards? Why send cricketers in to play at all? If anything, they are destructive to your dream of ending up at the bottom of the pile in IPL2. You see, they TRY to win you matches, which is no good if you want to end up No. 8 (of 8 teams)! They are conspiring against you, you see?

SO. Get smart. Be one up on them. Don se zyada hoshiyaar koi nahi ho sakta! The next time your team has a match, let the boys dress up, pad themselves us, warm up. Get them geared up to play, and then drop the bomb. Send in Buchanan’s laptop to bat & his lapdog (you) to bowl. There is no need to have any fielders b/c the ball will not go outside the pitch, so you can easily run & grab it.

Look at Warnie. Or Gilly for that matter. I’m sure they do not make use of their laptops. No wonder they are winning most of the matches they play. Don’t they get it, those fools? It’s cool to lose matches these days. That is what Don does, and Don jo karta hai, usey hi 'cool' kehte hain!

Send your cricketers back to India. Why are you unnecessarily bearing the expense of putting them up in South Africa? Think about the amount of money you will save! You can then spend all that money on pampering your entourage of batting coach, bowling coach, fielding coach, wicket-keeping coach, shoe-wearing coach, socks-wearing coach etc. And then watch how you lose all your matches!

Also, while you're at your efforts to make your team the laughing stock of IPL, please hype them up even more. Not everyone can become a 'Knight Rider'. It's a title every cricketer covets but only a few (read jerks from ANZ who think no one apart from them knows cricket) are lucky enough to have it bestowed upon them. The unlucky ones resort to blogging to vent their frustration.

You should give a byte to the media at every opportunity you get. In fact I suggest you talk even when Preity Zinta or Shilpa Shetty are asked to talk. Look at them...those utterly stupid women. They talk only when their team is delivering. You can hog their air time as well. The more you hype yourself, the more ecstatic you'll feel when you end up as the losers.

Hope you incorporate my suggestions into your game plan. They are a surefire way to end up as No. 8.

Yours Truly,
An ex-KKR supporter who is not a supporter anymore thanks to your idiocy

Sleepless in South Africa

The Fake IPL Player has rattled the peace in the ANZ Knight Riders camp (thanks Knife for such an appropriate nomenclature) and is giving sleepless nights to the team owner & management, who are reportedly "gunning for his blood". There are rumors that the blog is a doing of the Knight Riders owner and his over-active PR company, which could very well be true except I’m not sure the megalomaniac that SRK is, he would let people refer to himself as ‘Badshah Dildo’.

The blog has been in existence merely a week & already has close to 2000 followers! Man, wouldn’t we die for such a following! ;)

My take on him? I don't think he is a real player from the IPL camp.Think about it – how can he have the time to write so many posts everyday when the team is busy with practice & matches (that they lose anyway)? Even if he is not in the playing 11, as he insists, he still is part of the squad...meaning he can’t possibly be chilling out in the Savannahs while the rest of his team mates are practicing. And even if he does have all the time in the world, wouldn’t people get suspicious when he’s hunched over his laptop all day, typing away? Especially when they know there's someone (who claims to be one of them) maligning them on the world wide web?

Secondly, no player will risk having his career ruined – which I think is precisely what SRK & his beloved Aussie coach would do if he gets found out!

Some of the characters & teams he refers to in his blogs are:

Kishen Kanaiyya - Ravi Shastri

Appam C*****a – Sreeshanth

Pedophile Priest – Adam Gilchrist

Kaan Moolo – Ajith Agarkar (b/c of his enormous ears)

Big Sister – Shilpa Shetty

Prince Charles of Patiala – Yuvraj Singh

Lordie – Sourav Ganguly

Babli – Preity Zinta

Calypso King – Chris Gayle

Dildo / Badshah Dildo – SRK

Hawaii Chappal – Greg Chapel

Junta Tormentor – Ajantha Mendis

Sandy Baddy Babe – Mandira Bedi

Little John – Ishant Sharma

Bangla Tiger – Mushrafe Murtaza

Sheikh of Tweak - Shane Warne

Meera Bhai - Harbhajan Singh

Mr.Batlivala - Vijay Mallya

Phoren Babas - Brendon McCullum & John Buchanan

Bevdaa Team - Bangalore Royal Challengers

Big Sister’s Team - Rajasthan Royals

Bubblie’s Team - Kings XI Punjab

Have to give it to the guy – he’s quite smart. He’s figured out the way to make his claim of being an actual Knight Rider believable. He writes about situations which are very real & incidents can actually happen...stuff like what gets discussed & who does what during team meetings, what goes on in the dressing room, what happens in the dug out etc. Anyone who reads his blogs will think he is who he claims to be. Except it is kind of silly to believe that. It makes the blogs less fun to read (than it would’ve been had he really been a Knight Rider dishing out dirt on the various players & management)...but it’s fun nonetheless!

Someone Please Tell This Man to Shut Up

He has positively & single-handedly ruined my love for the Kolkata Knight Riders through his under-the-belt actions.

Excerpts from SRK’s interview with rediff.com...It’s amazing how the man never learns. After the way his team fell on their faces last year, you’d hope he’d be sensible enough not to shoot his mouth off again this year. Well, looks like he’s going to disappoint…

On receiving mails for stripping Sourav Ganguly of KKR captaincy : “I get strange hate mails from people for taking decision for the team's sake. But that is okay, I'm saving them all so that I can go to each house and say 'Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo'”.....And then RUN FOR YOUR LIFE b/c Mr SRK, Kolkatans are after your blood!

To Kolkatans to stay by the side of KKR : "Along the way if we go wrong, please feel for us and send us positive energies".....Yes, you can positively go to hell.

"We are under a lot of pressure. We are a hyped team because the owners are from film industry and because we have the most passionate city backing us. For good and bad, the Kolkatans love us one night and one night they do get angry with our decisions. But I promise you guys that the dream I have is to come to Kolkata with the IPL trophy and dance. Will do some new steps for Korbo, Lorbo, Jeetbo," .....You are not the only owner from the film industry. So is Preity Zinta but her team made it to the finals last year. And you are not a hyped team b/c you belong to the film industry or b/c Kolkata is a passionate city. You are a hyped team b/c YOU have created a hype about yourself in the media!

On Sourav Ganguly : "I want him to be the Player of the Tournament this year. Whoever feels he is not given importance in the team, let me tell you that for me, he is the greatest Knight Riders player. He and (Chris) Gayle will compete for the 'Player of the Tournament' award" .... While Adam Gilchrist or Sachin Tendulkar or Yuvraj Singh or MSD walk away with it!!

"I understand that we are a team under pressure. With multiple captain, choice of captain and the way we played the first game, it all probably were signs of a team in disarray. But we know we will stick together. It's good we started coming together" ....You should really hope that happens if you don't want an encore!

I've decided on my team, people! It's either the Mumbai Indians (inspite of their lame name, b/c I love the city) or the Deccan Chargers (for Gilly!!).

Poetic justice

I’ve been accused of writing way too much about cricket over the past couple of months. It’s become fashionable to denounce cricket as a game that hogs the limelight, not to mention the big bucs, from all other types of sports in India.

I say we’re Indians & we’ve grown up watching the game, playing it & being a part of it in some way or the other. So it’s natural we would love it. With the T20 format revolutionizing the game forever, and the IPL heralding a new era in global (not only Indian) cricket, why should we not enjoy every part of it?

Isn’t the situation the similar in Europe & South America, with respect to soccer?

Sunday night witnessed a fitting finale to the past one-and-a-half months of madness & excitement. It was a match to the last ball. In fact those of us watching the game had half prepared ourselves for the possibility of a bowl-out, which would’ve been the only thing to beat the nail-biting finish the match had. And I am so glad the Rajasthan Royals won. They were literally the team that came from nowhere, and yanked the rug from under everyone’s feet!

The team had no credentials to begin with - little known players such as Swapnil Asnodkar, Ravindra Jadeja & Neeraj Patel, a captain who doubled up as coach, also a captain who has been mired in quite a few controversies of his own, no celebrity owners to turn up the glamour quotient during the matches, thus ensuring more eyeballs, no publicity, no hype, no encouragement in the form of hugs & kisses. They had zilch going for them, except the experience of players like Warne & Graeme Smith – that other teams also had in copious amounts.

I think what worked for the Rajasthan Royals was having a captain & coach rolled into one.

The flip side of this could be that there’s only one point of view in the team, and no one to challenge it or debate its efficacy. But I feel having a single point of view going around in the team helped the Royals’ case, especially since most of their players were young & inexperienced. People who are inexperienced are in a highly malleable state & need a single guiding light in terms of whose advice they should follow.

Shane Warne’s philosophy was so simple, yet so effective. When asked what the secret to his team’s success was during one of the post-match conferences, he replied "One of our slogans is 'find a way and play your role'. Be the man, be the hero and express yourself. I think at the end of the day it all comes down to belief."

We would all agree this is a sound philosophy to have in every competition. A player (in any kind of competition) must find a way to accomplish his goals. After all, that is what he is playing for! And for the success of the team as a whole, each player must play his role, whatever be it, to the fullest.

It is also imperative to come out good when your team needs you to, and perform when you’re really required to perform (if only Sourav Ganguly had taken this big little advice from Warne instead of taking pot-shots at him after getting embroiled in an on-field controversy, the fate of the Knight Riders might have been a little bit different!).

Simply put, you can’t play a heroic knock when you’re “playing for pride” (usually, by then you have no pride left); you’ve got to do it when you’re playing a game that decides your future in the competition.

I hadn’t spent much time forming an opinion about Shane Warne over the years that he’s been playing for Australia, but he’s made me wonder (as I’m sure he’s made a lot of other people do) what an effective captain he could’ve been for Australia. I wouldn’t call him astute or shrewd (those words describe Mahendra Singh Dhoni better). For me, Shane Warne is an intelligent captain (or he wouldn’t have been able to lead such a young, inexperienced & under-rated side to victory) but the anti-thesis of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. He’s proved himself to be a man of class, a player who might have made the ACB (Australian Cricket Board) look at him differently in retrospect.

I did not see a single frown or a tense muscle on the faces of Neeraj Patel & Ravindra Jadeja (during the semi-finals against the Mumbai Indians) or Warne & Sohail Tanveer (during last night’s finals) even though both were very close matches. As they say, in cricket half the battle is won or lost in the mind. You need nerves of steel to handle such pressure cooker situations, and if you crack under the pressure, as Dilhara Fernando did during his last over in the semi-finals, you WILL get taken for a nice long ride.

Irrespective of the fortunes that franchise owners, sponsors & players have made from the tournament, it’s been cricket - and Indian cricket in particular - that has come out a winner!

We’ve unearthed mind-blowing talent such as Swapnil Asnodkar, Manpreet Gony, Abhishek Nayar, Ashok Dinda, Wridhiman Saha, Shikhar Dhawan, Ravindra Jadeja, Yo Mahesh (I just love his name, it’s more like Yo! Mahesh :) etc, who had it not been for the IPL, might never have come to the notice of the national selectors.

Yusuf Pathan, a vastly talented (clean, BIG hitter) but overshadowed (by his brother’s popularity) player got a call to the national one-day side thanks to his performance at the IPL.

The other victory for Indian cricket is that we had hugely successful & reputed players across various cricketing nations playing for our domestic teams. I mean, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai mean nothing to these players other than names of cities in a developing country, yet these cities got them to become part of a mammoth exercise to bring cricketing glory to them! It was the money talking, alright, but what’s amazing is that India was able to churn out that kind of money.

The IPL frenzy has left millions of people gasping for more. People are expected to suffer from serious withdrawal syndromes but I hope the hysteria generated by the IPL will compel the ICC to allot the tournament an official time in it’s annual calendar, so that players such as Ricky Ponting, Brendan McCullum, Stephen Fleming, Andrew Symonds etc. don’t have to abandon the tournament midway to attend to their national duties, thereby breaking millions of cricket-loving hearts in the process, and shattering a billion dreams.

Intelligence - an elusive commodity

The IPL could have done with a slightly more intelligent scheduling of the semi-finals & finals. The teams that qualify for the semis & finals deserve to play in front of their home crowds. Similarly, people from their respective cities deserve to be able to watch their teams play in front of their eyes. So who got the brilliant idea of holding (all 3!!) games in Mumbai??

No doubt Mumbaikars love cricket & are turning out in all their strength to watch the games in spite of their home team not qualifying for the semi-finals, but that still doesn’t justify denying home crowds the pleasure of watching their batsmen loft balls outside the stadium and bowlers knocking down wickets like nine pins.

From the Garden of Eden

First of all, I would like to apologize to the (few) readers of my blog for not having posted anything for about a month now. After I left Mumbai I did not have access to the internet for about two weeks. Then I moved to Calcutta and got so caught up in setting up my house, I couldn’t find the time to blog. But I’m back in action now, and hopefully, this hobby of mine wouldn’t fall prey to the infamous work pressures at my new workplace.

Don’t really know what I want to write about specifically so here are some random thoughts…

Like all fans of Sourav Ganguly, I too am very disappointed the KKR (actually I prefer calling them the Kolkata Knight Riders as KKR sounds a bit like KKK – the Ku Klux Klan) didn’t make it to the semi-finals of the IPL. Going by the opening games, I thought the Knight Riders would be THE team to beat. But after Breandan McCullum & Ricky Ponting departed, the journey has only been downhill for SRK’s “warriors”. I still support them but as a fellow blogger mentioned once, I wish Ganguly made it easier for his fans to support him and his team. He bailed his team out of a couple of difficult games, made it clear he wanted the Indian team selectors to keep including him into the national team, and failed to give an equally compelling performance subsequently – until last night when it didn’t matter anymore! I do not like to see Ganguly in the place he’s at as I’m a big fan of his – both as a player and as a captain - but there are times when the captain needs to lead from the front. Like people such as MSD, Pollock, Shane Warne & Adam Gilchrist do.

The Twenty20 format has come under criticism from various current and ex cricketers. I don’t understand why people are so inherently resistant to change, and why they don’t accept facts? Fact is that everything in the world goes through evolution. If something must survive, it must evolve with the times and changing needs. Truth is, times have changed and so have the needs of spectators. Today we do not have the time to drop everything at work and sit at a stadium for 4-5 days at a stretch to watch a test match. It’s even become difficult for working people to attend one-day games if they happen on a weekday. T20 is convenient – people can go for a game after a full day of work, and if the game takes place on a weekend, they can still manage to run their weekend errands before heading for the game. T20 is a format that meets our changing needs so what’s wrong with that?

I can understand ex-cricketers not being too happy with the T20 format. Until a decade or so ago, there wasn’t too much money in cricket. Players played for love of the game and not for money. So they could be nostalgic about the game. But the present cricketers who are criticizing the T20 format are those who aren’t deemed fit for this version of the game, either due to their style of playing or because they aren’t agile enough to meet the physical demands of this game. I think they need to just accept that it’s not necessary for every sportsman to possess the same set of skills, and move on. Just as some sportsmen are good at cricket while others are good at soccer, some cricketers are more suited to test cricket while others are tailor-made for T20.

The IPL has also come under heavy criticism for being more business than cricket. I don’t deny it’s business at the end of the day for the stakeholders (team owners & sponsors) and even players to some extent. But why are we over-looking the good that it’s doing to Indian cricket? There are so many mind-blowingly talented players that have emerged from the ongoing tournament. Players who have not been able to make it to the national team for whatever reason (though it beats me why because the Indian team at any given point of time consists of at least one player that doesn’t deserve to be part of the squad). Players such as Gony, Shikhar Dhawan, Wriddhiman Saha, Debabrata Saha, Ashok Dinda, Abhishek Nayar to name a few, might not have come to the notice of selectors at all had the IPL not taken place. Given that the Indian selectors are known for their favouritism, I’m not sure these players will make it to the Indian national team but at least their talent has become visible to the entire country.

Gil-Christ!!

Gilly was on a rampage today! He single-handedly annihilated the Muumbai Indians. He made 100 off 42 balls. His sixes were massive, lofty and had the right amount of power. He was an absolute delight to watch. I just wish he was with the Kolkata Night Riders!

Who's the daddy?

First things first - there's a correction. Gilly is not with the Knight Riders. I got that wrong. He's with the Deccan Chargers.

Now that the first weekend of the IPL is over, the Knight Riders seem to be the strongest team overall. They have fire power in copious amounts both in their batting as well as bowling line ups. The surprise to me came in the form of Deccan Chargers and Chennai Super Kings - they have pretty strong teams too. I was waiting to see the Mumbai Indians but I don't think they'll make the grade.

So...Go Kolkata Knight Riders!!

Demolition squad

A.k.a. Kolkata Knight Riders

Going by the first game of IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders definitely looks like the team to watch out for and the one to beat. They have immense fire power in their batting as well as their bowling (which will only get enhanced when Shoaib Akhtar joins the squad), they are fast and agile on the field, their body language is positively aggressive, and they displayed a hell lot more enthusiasm on field than Bangalore Challengers. They simply demolished Bangalore! Vijay Mallya must not have been a very happy man.

People are calling the IPL more of a business and money-spinning gimmick than a sports event. Money-spinning activity it might be but here's why I think sports will come out tops in the IPL - each team has players from different countries. In regular international games when these players play for their countries, the opposition is their enemy. In IPL they have to come together with the same players who would have otherwise been their enemies and play for a common goal - the victory of their team - forgetting about the country their teammates come from. It's a melting pot in the true sense of the word. It was very heartening to see Ricky Ponting celebrate his catches with the same set of Indian players with whom he was involved in such a nasty controversy not so long ago. And players from different countries embrace each other whenever a wicket fell.

I also think the IPL will give young Indian players a chance to learn from the best players of the world. Each country has it's own approach to cricket. The tips shared in the dressing room and the strategies made will be an valuable learning experience for our youngsters.

I think we should all be extremely proud of the IPL. It's an absolute revolution in cricket, and one that's been brought about by India. We all know India has an immense amount of talent in every sphere but we don't have the infrastructure and the financial resources to develop and boost all that talent. So to think that India could be the pioneer of the IPL, where players from other countries were literally "bought" over by Indian individuals and business behemoths, is no mean feat. Who could have imagined there would be so much money in Indian cricket! With the IPL, the entire cricketing world will be forced to acknowledge India as a force to reckon with in cricket, and not only a country where politics, regional biases and favoritism dominate the cricketing scene.

So here are the reasons why I'm supporting the Kolkata Knight Riders:

1. It's got two of my favorite players - Sourav Ganguly and Adam Gilchrist. They are both at the twilight of their careers. One has already retired from international cricket and the other will very soon in all probability. I have always loved Ganguly as a captain and I also admire his resilience (the way he won his spot back on the team). And I think no player can play spin as well as Ganguly can. It's also an absolute pleasure to watch Gilchrist bat. Not to mention he's a man of integrity and values (remember, he walked?).

2. The spirit with which Shah Rukh Khan selected his players - he wanted to build a winning team, not the best team - reflects in the on-field attitude of the players.

3. I love their mascot Hoog Lee and his girlfriend Shoog Lee, and SRK is the only one of the owners who has shown some enthusiasm in his team - in coming up with the name, in the marketing he has done around the Knight Riders etc. The others seem to have bought over their respective teams purely from a business point of view. They have shown zero interest in their teams. Forget promoting their teams, they haven't even bothered to give their teams names that would get your attention. Cases in point...Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers, and the most retarded of them all - Mumbai Indians! Ofcourse SRK has to make the proposition commercially viable, therefore the marketing around the team, but if we get electrifying, edge-of-the-seat cricket in the process, what's the harm?

I can't wait to see what the other teams have in store. Over the next month & a half, cricket is going to be king and India will be the centre of attention of the cricketing world. The next Knight Riders game will be at Eden Garden, and it will be even bigger and better than tonite!

Less than 24 hours to IPL

GO KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orkdME2tJmk

Goddamn work computer does not allow uploading videos. Will upload the anthem from home. In the meantime...relish these pics!





For my Mumbai friends who're giving me grief about not supporting the Mumbai team, I'm sorry but I just can't get myself to support a team that's called "Mumbai Indians". How boring & unimaginative can you get! Even 'Vada Pao Eating Mumbaikars' would have been a better name!