Sunday, March 25, 2007

The War Ends......

I'm good at convincing myself that I'm really happy when I'm not.

Well, I’ve been so excited for this World cup from the beginning.
Had lots of plan though I was not supposed to do those for various reasons.
Announced an open treat for GokartinG followed by Lunch , if Ganguly becomes the man of the match.**

**Eligibility criterion was to put Ganguly’s wallpaper on their desktop/notebook PC.[As there is nothing called FREE LUNCH ].

But we lost our first match against whom….I m not gona tell you that.
As I'm good at convincing myself , I did saying BLUE will win other two matches.

We won the second match….against whom…I m not gona tell you again.
I was very happy though it was not a big reason but still thought of sharing and cheering.So did with CADBURY among colleagues.

But now……

It's been nearly 15 days since the Cup began, but I think it was only after watching India lose to Sri Lanka and limp out of the tourney, that I felt compelled, or let's say, felt really awful and moved sufficiently to write something on the goings-on and close this world cup chapter from my side at least.

To get this out of the way, I'll say that it was a disappointing way to go out for the team, which had shown the ability to live up to promise, playing effective cricket without riding on sensational individual performances. As I watched the dismemberment of the top order, I was sad, even sympathetic, at what was happening. There have been so many occasions in the past, when I have felt anger at Indian losses, but against Lanka, the sense of helplessness that pervaded the batting effort could not evoke such strong emotions.

The most common comments that I've read so far are "the lack of accountabilityof the players to the people" and "players are interested only in making money" and others expressing the same sentiment.


I had always expected the team to win. Even when they got themselves into a tangle by coming out under-cooked mentally against Bangladesh. Perhaps I'm too lenient, but the first thought that came into my mind was that they had an off-day, and they would surely bounce back from it.

Today, I realized that I was wrong, not because they could not bounce back, but because in a tournament with the format this one has, off-days are blunders, and more likely than not, fatal.

Putting some snaps to summarize the defeat…..again !!


Still pretty broken.

Monday, March 12, 2007

The War Begins.......

Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons I have not been able to analyse all the teams, however, I haven't been busy enough to miss the opportunity to express my opinions on my beloved Team India when my Ganguly is IN. What follows is my brief preview of India's outlook at cricket's flagship tournament.

On the back of this talk, one would be led to believing that the Indians were shoo-ins for the World Champions tag. Don't get me wrong, I think Team India has as good a chance as any of going home with the silverware. However, in my view this World Cup is going to be all about the batsmen who have the grit and gumption to play the waiting game and bowlers who bowl less than express pace but have an uncanny ability to keep nagging away, ball after ball after ball.

The old heads will undoubtedly try their damnedest to ensure a focussed and lethal outfit stays on course. This tournament is ripe for Tendulkar and Ganguly to put everyone else to shame, for one final time as a pair. With generous help from Dravid, somehow, I think they might even manage it.

This version of Team India has a lot of talent, spirit and fight. They will need to display all these qualities in unison and with intent. I sincerely hope they will win the trophy and I also believe that they have a better chance than most.

My top 4 teams for the semi-finals would be India, Australia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. From this stage, it can be Team India’s World Cup.

Then comes the Man of this World Cup Series….Ohhhh , its quite Interesting.

Yesterday , In PanchMahal-1602 I have asked [Pravin , Vinay , Sekhar] to choose their Man….

Here is the brief :

Me : Vinay who is your Man of the Series…or lets say your Man ??
Vinay : Ummm…….Kaun ho sakta hai ???
Me : Its my question Vinay ???
Vinay : Kallis
Me : Ok , choose one more !!
[ then I looked at Sekhar and Pravin , they were giggling as I threw the next option because the name was not Ganguly ]
Vinay : Ummm…. Ponting
Me : Ok , choose one more !!
[ then giggling turned to laughter ]
Vinay : Ganguly
Me : WoW , that’s fare enough .
[ All of us laughed ]
Me : Sekhar , now you choose
Sekhar : Sachin , Jayasurya , Gayale
Me : Pravin , your’s
Pravin : Hussey , Sangakara , Symonds
Now it was my turn ,
So there I go with :
I thought of telling : Ganguly , Ganguly , Ganguly
But acted diplomatic and said :
GANGULY, DHONI, DRAVID
But still for BLUE [ The team India ].
Cheers , and feel Crazy Guys !!! It’s Team India with GANGULY