The IPL comes to a dazzling close!

With all the chaos that seems to have been the hallmark of the IPL auction, one would have thought that the same chaos would permeate down to the IPL matches themselves. But the 2020 went off without a hitch even as a few umpires and quite a few batsmen were held to task for many an issue.
Today, the IPL series for the year 2008 came to a dazzling close and even though both the teams were evenly matched, the Rajasthan Royals managed to claw back from a perilous position to win the IPL tournament for 2008. It was a thriller of a match from the start to the finish, kind of reminding one of the India-Pakistan series, one can definitely look forward to more excitement of the same calibre within a year as more international teams come forward to play in this tournament. The IPL has established itself solidly and cricket has finally evolved from being a staid stale game to one with many possibilities.

The aussie thunder!

With Matthew Hayden calling the Indian cricketers by names, well he has proved again that the Aussie cricketers cannot take the heat generated by Indian bowling as well as batting.It is one thing to say about another player while in the field, but totally another to say about him on public radio.
This only showcases the hospitality that the Aussies are well known for, in particular the loud mouthed cricketers. Where will this episode take us? I am sure that it is going to take us down some dinghy dark road from which there is no turning back now.

Hayden goes 'nuts' on Bhajji!

We have all heard of the infamous sledging talents of the Aussie cricketers but never has it been proven to be more true than now especially with Hayden calling Harbajan singh 'an obnoxious little weed' on national radio. This is what would pass for the norm by the Aussies but then again, to the rest of the cricketing world, this is a big no-no on so many levels.

When you invite a host team to play cricket in your country, as the hosts, certain behaviour and decorum is expected of you, at the very least. You may not like that team that much, you may even hate a thing or two about the players on that team, but you never ever present that point to the public at large. To the rest of the Aussies, they may accept this as 'sledging' and push the dirt under the carpet, but this is one piece of dirt that is not going to go that way.

Most of the other cricketing nations are already appalled at the boorishness shown by the Aussie players and now the line that should not have been crossed has been crossed. Frankly, with just three more games to play with the Aussies, the Indian team may well decide to stay back and play those games. But the damage to the cricketing relationship between the two nations has already been done. In the end, no matter what twist you give to the whole episode of 'he called me that' and so on, the real loser is Cricket Australia. Whether they realise it or not, it is Indian cricket and in particular BCCI that is holding the reins of the game firmly in their hands and soon Cricket Australia is going to have to kiss goodbye to most of the sponsorship payments.

Aussies thrash Indians during the T 20 game!

Well, for one, the Indian team that played the T-20 game today was composed more fo freshers than veteran players.That aside, the game was all one sided with the Aussies taking the lead by winning the game with a few overs to spare.

The Indian team had a few veteran players but the fresher far outnumbered them. As it is,this is one defeat that the T-20 champions are not going to forget in a hurry and they would be looking forward to even out the score come september!

The monkey madness has not left the aussies!

With Harbajan singh being left off the racism charge by his honor, Judge Hansen, both the Aussie cricketers and the Aussie media saw red. But then again, what is new? The rest of the world know well, the kind of cricket that the Aussies play and to call it 'Cricket' would indeed be stretching the truth a bit too much.

The entire episode of 'he called me that' and so on should have been settled off the field, but Ricky pointing, being the colossal ass that he is, decided to make a huge issue of it. Maybe Ricky's game plan was to pressurize the Indians and thereby throw them off the game. Ricky still does not comprehend the huge mistake that he has made by doing what he did. First of all the 60 year old cricketing relations between India and Australia is gone for a six and the Aussies still think that they are going to be made welcome when they go visiting India later this year. Which planet are they living on??

India is the future of cricket and they well know this and so does the ICC. If the aussies rationalize their sledging as doing anything to win, then why on earth shouldn’t the Indians use their financial prowess and get Bhajji off? Well, it seems that the Aussies can dish it but cannot take it. For one thing, most of the other cricketing nations are all amused by the fact that Pointing and his men have been reduced to crybabies and that is the name that is going to stick with them for a long, long time to come. All in all, we have shown the Indians a kind of hospitality that must definitely rank as one of the worst in the world and when we go to India, brickbats are going to fly, that is for sure!

Pointing - Charles Darwin wants to talk to you!

The description of Racism has become blurred the last few days thanks to Symonds and Ricky Pointing. These days, calling anyone a ‘monkey’ or even an ‘ass’ can very easily be construed as racism. Probably the monkeys and the asses of real life are feeling a bit insulted that their names can cause so much a flutter.

But now, thanks to Pointing it has gone way beyond the point of no return. One can very easily make out that the India and the Indians are not going to shrug this charge away and that if the right conclusion is not reached, well, the tour will be called of.

For those of you who think that it not going to happen, well, you are smoking the pipe. For one thing, with the fear of elections and the home crowd, the BCCI chairman would have no choice but to be behind his men all the way. If that means calling off the tour, then so be it.

What the Aussies may not realize yet, is that as the country with the largest middle class segment and with a population that is fast matching up to that of China, India has transformed into a homing beacon of sorts for all the corporates, all over the world. Which is why, most of the games that any team plays with the Indian team, nets the largest amount of revenues. In other words, if the tour is called off, for starters, most of the Aussie cricketers would start losing some of the meaty ad contracts that they currently enjoy. And to add to their woes, the Aussie team would no longer be welcome here in India.

What Pointing has single handedly managed to do was to throw the 100 year old cricketing relationship of India – Australia all the way back to the dark ages. It is one thing to tell everyone that you love to win but totally another to say that you will do anything to win the game. Cricket, as a game, is apart from all the other sports, in the sense that it is the one game that still earns its value by being played the right way. It is a game where the cricketers are honor bound to behave with decency, honor and decorum. I think that we can all agree that the Sydney match did not reflect any of that. It is sad to see the Aussie team resort to sledging in order to win the match other than their own talent and to compound their mistake, they had to resort to cheating as well. I guess, Pointing must have thought, ‘in for a penny, in for a pound’.

Indians , like any other colonies of the British empire, had been racially abused by the English for a long while. None of us are still able to forget the genesis of our freedom struggle. So, to say that we Indians are capable to racism is downright ridiculous and irritating at its best. We have a history of standing up against apartheid and we do understand what it means to be singled out just because of your skin color, the British gave us the lesson and it is one that we are not going to forget in a hurry.

None of us believe that Harbajan did utter those monkey words and even if he had done so, it must have been as a result of provocation on the part of Symonds. The question that is just begging to be asked is why on earth did Symonds go ahead and talk to Harbajan? Was it because, Pointing had told him to provoke Harbajan so that it will throw him off his batting? Either way, Pointing is going to realize that he will be apologizing exactly on the eve of the Perth match and even if he does so, it is one apology that none of us are ready to accept. Thanks but no thanks, you racist pig!

Monkey madness at Down Under - Aussies see monkeys and Indians go Bananas!

The Sydney match will be remembered for all the wrong reasons and I have to say that this is one match that is going to go down in History as a case of 'Monkey madness'. I am truly puzzled by Symonds obsession with the moniker 'monkey'. After all, a name is just that, a name, so why is all the fuss being made about this?

The match would also be remembered for some of the worst umpiring decisions made in a game of Cricket. As it is, the game started out just like any other game, both teams on the edge and each wanting to best the other. Ricky pointing the ignominious captain seem all too pleased with his teams performance until Sachin Tendulkar started blasting away. All one can wonder is that kind of pep talk did Ricky pointing give his team mates before the second innings? Did he tell Symonds to go and talk to Harbajan shingh and make up the entire story about being racially abused or did he provoke Harbajan and did the mess begin that way?

Either way, halfway during the Indian batting in the second innings, Symonds walked up to Harbajan and had a few words with him. Replies were exchanged fast and it seems to me that both were out of order at the least. After all, if one is provoked to uttering a racial slur, then it is only right that both the person who uttered it and the person who provoked it, both should be taken to task. As it is, that does not seem to be the case here.

And to make matters even worse, the Aussies have proved themselves to be utterly bad sports in the sense that they cannot even begin to understand the concept of the Gentleman's game. Many a call was given against the Indian team in favor of the Australian tea, even a rank amateur could see that on the telly, yet the Aussie players did not behave with the amount of honor that this game requires of all its players.

They stood the ground when they were clearly out and the idiot of an umpire, Bucknor did not even bother consulting the third umpire before giving them the all clear. Then to further compound his mistakes, he gave the Indian team raw deals especially in the case of both Dravid and Ganguly. I have to say that the rules say that when you grass a catch, then, it is considered as a dropped catch, that is the rule, but evidently not where the Aussie team is concerned.

Now, the matter has gone beyond the point of no return, and to say that Harbajan is a racist is laughable at the best. Indians may be a lot of things but the one thing that they are not is that of being a racist.

Racism is a purely western idea and even today, there are many western societies that define people based solely on their skin color. But here in India, we have religion, caste and a whole lot of other baggage except for racism. For most of us, we tend to think of skin color as just that, skin deep, no more,no less.

The Aussies seem to have thought that by accusing Harbajan like this, they can throw off the focus of the Indian team. That may well have been their ploy, but now it seems to have backfired as it should have. The Indian team as well as the BCCI is not in any mood to take this insult and defamation to an Indian as well as to the very idea that India stands for, lying down. This is one foot a bit too big for Ricky pointing to fit into his mouth and he is going to have to eat it all, sooner than later especially with the fury increasing by the ton in the Indian camp.

We all talk to each other every single day, does it mean that by talking to you I can be accused of racism? Where is the due process of justice? Do the Aussies not know that as Indians we have been racially abused by the British for a long time until we fought for our freedom? We Indians have always stood against racism and apartheid, our record in that is truly impeccable. All in all, this does not mean well for the Indo-Aussie relations!

The T-20 playoffs!

Today the Indians gave the Aussies that much needed lesson 'talk less,do more' at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai. The Aussies won the toss and elected to bat, Pointing, the Aussie captain indicated that the 'hard pitch' was the reason that they elected to bat first. Anyway the Indians managed to hold the Aussies to a total of just 166 runs for the loss off 5 wickets.
The Indians managed to start off with Shewag and Gambhir. Although Shewag got out rather quickly, Robin Uthappa and Gambhir got off the Indian innings to a fantastic start and between the two of them managed to get 82 runs. But after that Uthappa was caught and then the pretty soon after that Gmbhir followed him back to the pavilion.
Then it was time for the Indian captain, Dhoni to score some much needed runs which he did partnering along with Yuvraj Singh. In the end, it was Dhoni's six that saw the Indians triumph over the Aussies again in a T-20 game!

cricket,t-20,australia,india,

The washout of a match!

Today saw the Indians and the Aussies going head to head at Nagpur, the city of oranges. The Aussies batted first setting up a high total of 318, quite a formidable feat. But then, they were helped in this by a bit of shoddy Indian bowling, which was simply not up to the mark. What is more, in the very last overs, they managed to give the Aussies about 50 runs and more. This is not what one expects from the Indian super bowlers and naturally the home crowd were disappointed, to say the least.
When the Indians started their innings, both Tendulkar and Ganguly managed to put on a sterling partnership and managed to get the Indian score total above 100. Then Tendulkar was caught in the deep end going for a boundary. However, Ganguly managed to stay on and partnered with two more batsmen before getting out himself at 86. I must say that Ganguly's performance has improved a lot since I last saw him - the selectors would have been blind not to have seen that today in the field.
After Ganguly was gone, the momentum went with him. Dravid did not do much and soon he was out as well. Just when all hope seemed to be lost in the Indian dresing room, in came Dhoni and Robin Uthappa,and they both put on quite a good patnership. There was also a bit of misfielding by Lee, missing out on an easy catch and I am sure that the Aussie skipper would have quite a few choice words to say to him. Anyway Dhoni and Uthappa's efforts went to naught and soon it was time for the last over to be bowled.
All in all, I have to say that the Indian team and the Aussie team put on quite a good show. It is a shame that not much came out of it. It kind of reminds one of the 'charge of the light brigade'. Brave and defiant to the very end,that about sums it all up for today's match against the Aussies. The Indian skipper should remember that if it had not been for some serious shoddy bowling on the part of the Indian spinners especially during the end of the Aussie innings, they may have well won the match with a few balls to spare. Now the Indians have lost the series to the Aussies at home, and one can only hope that the Indian team will be all eager to settle the score once they get to down under to play another series against the Aussies and win it.After all, the law of averages is bound to catch up, and India has been pretty Down Under against the Aussie ODI bandwagon !

cricket,india,sports,ganguly,dhoni,australia,

The pressure for the match begins!

Tomorrow will see India and Australia playing their 4th ODI at Vadodra,Gujarat.as it is the tensions between the two teams is already high and the members have been already rebuked for their rather too public displays of dramatics and theatrics.as things stand,the Indian team is not backing down in the face of the Aussie aggression and seems to be paying them with the same coin.cricket,it seems is no longer the gentleman's game.it is all about saving face and giving face.
It is quite well known in the cricketing circles that the Aussies are rather sore losers and they will give any sour grapes an identity issue.even the Aussie press seems to be suffering from a case of the so called famous 'sour grapes'.well,as things stand all those who have seen the aggressive attitude of the Aussies,by that i mean teams from South Africa to Pakistan will be cheering the Indians on, for the game tomorrow so that they do manage to put the Aussies back in their place and teach them the valuable lesson of losing.in all probability,all the other teams from all over the world will all chip in and buy a case of really 'sour grapes' and give it to the Aussies.in the meantime all eyes are on the match tomorrow!it is bound to be exciting and if we are lucky we may even see physical blows being exchanged!

india,australia,cricket,sport,

Banglore hosts the First ODI of the Aussie and the India series!

Well,with the defeat of the Australians at the hands of the Indians at the T-20 semifinals still smarting,the city of Bangalore is now hosting the One day series of India versus Australia.their earlier defeat is still smarting the Aussies as that is pretty much evident from the reports of the Aussie media who it seems have now got a serious case of 'Sour grapes'.
Sour grapes or not,the Aussie batsman Michael Clarke got the team off to a smashing total of 308,which the Indians are now chasing.with Rain having decided to play spoilsport,it may well be that today's match could end up being declared as a tie in spite of Clarke's wonderful batting.In India,cricket is religion and to see the 'Australian',comment on India's win against the Aussie's in the T20 semifinal has irked many an Indian fan.what is more,the Indians are just itching to give it to the Aussies and royally at that.it may not happen today on account of the rain but come the next match,India will hopefully wipe the board with the Aussies.it is time that they realised that the gloves are off and that the Indians are playing for keeps!

cricket,australia,michael clarke,india,dhoni,