SIMON + KAYAR

Indian cricket fans should have one quality, endurance of pain, the pain of being so near, of almost winning. But among the pains of yesterday when India lost, something else was there to cheer about, a man dedicated to cricket. The devotion that this single man has shown in his life to this sport is amazing to say the least. After a wave of questions of retirement who everyone from my neighbour to the cricketing critics has been throwing at him, yesterday he showed why, he is the BEST.

The little master at the age of 36 single handedly carried on an assault against the aussies and almost won it for India, well almost..

P.S: Btw, he crossed 17k runs the first to do so and as a commentator pointed out he has been the first right from 10k runs.. And for those who says that he plays for record, you should have seen him when he stepped to get the man of the match award, the sadness said it all. I will watch again the many matches that he is part of, may be with a broken heart at the end but only to see if the master attempted it again...

At the end of the a tour which had a lot of drama, controversies, hatred and some excellent Cricket, India came out champions in the One day Series (India - Australia - Srilanka) and won the first two finals. It was dramatic and an extremely nervous end (Australian run chase).

I watched the last 8 overs live and it was a nail biting finish. But then Indians pulled it off and have sent a strong message to the Australians. Tendulkar helped the cause with his 42nd hundred and may be his 32nd nineties. Ishant Sharma did exceedingly well and I saw the overs he bowled to Ponting in the test matches that saw him shape in to a great performer. Gautam Ghambir also did very well in the ODIs.

But we need to thank the two captains more than anyone else. Kumble amidst the worst umpiring decisions and a probable ban on Harbajan, held his nerve to lead the team to victory in the Third Test, stopping Australia's 17th win in a row.

Dhoni, was all composed as he set off to create a upset series win, killing the lion in its den. This tour will be remembered by all cricket fans, well atleast till they die. 

Yesterday was an amazing Sunday. Our National Cricket team won the first finals against Australia, with Sachin making his 42nd Century (his first in Australia) largely helped by 66 from Rohit Sharma.  We won by 6 wickets (240/4).  That  was a sweet news. But there was a sweeter news towards the end of the day and that was India Under 19 lifting the world cup against South Africa in Malaysia. Great Sunday !

After a looooooong time, atleast 5 years, I happened to play a proper cricket match (at Broadcom). I was waiting eagerly for the match for a week atleast and then the day came. It was Saturday, 15th of July. My wife did encourage me to play well though she actually preferred me staying back and taking care of Smitha (who was not feeling well) as she had exam duty on that day. But I ended up at the venue (Koramangala : St. John's Medical college ground). I was apprehensive and so took to practice bowling. I then got the confidence that it was still there in me.(Read More)

I started laughing aloud in my cubicle as I read this from Rediff. This man Sidhu has some sense of humour

Former India batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu says former Pakistan wicketkeeper Moin Khan should be sent to a mental asylum in Amritsar so that he can go and meet him there.

Speaking to rediff.com on Monday after Sachin Tendulkar hit his 39^th one-day hundred as India posted 328 in the first One-Day International against Pakistan in Peshawar, the cricketer-turned-Member of Parliament from Amritsar said, "Mad dogs keep barking at the elephant, but the king elephant does not bother about them at all."

Sidhu was obviously hitting out at Moin, who criticized Tendulkar, after India lost the three-Test series to Pakistan 0-1, saying the decline of the little master has begun.

"Sachin has scored a big hundred and this would be enough to silence his critics in the media as well as those like Moin Khan, who had started writing off the master batsman.

"The man who has scored over 70 hundreds in both forms of the game does not need to be reminded about his class and stature.

"Sachin did the right thing by not responding to such mindless criticism. Instead, he let his bat do the talking. Such comments are made by foolish people only," Sidhu added.

 

 

 

I don't know why a match of cricket should affect me so much as it does. I have wowed a lot of times not to be disturbed by it but neverthless feel extremely dissapointed whenever our Team India loses and they did so often a few months back.

Things were really good after Dravid took over, but till this happened. The 3rd test match between India and Pakistan and the first day I turned on the T.V to see Pakistan reeling at 13/4 and I told my wife "See these pakistanis were playing it safe for the first 2 tests and now they are not able to play against india once the pitch becomes favorouble to bowling"

But what followed was a total dismal performance from India. Pakistan made 250+ and we made 7 short, not even one of the batsmen making it to 50. The pakistani 2nd innings saw a world record. For the first time in 1800+ tests all 7 batsmen have scored 50+. We were set a target for 606 and we are crumbling right now with only 1 of our batsmen reaching 50+.

What a show? Well just wait. See how the Indians are going to bounce back in the ODIs. Hmm.. How stupid can a cricket lover in India become?