The death of cricket and what not !!

Test cricket is dying, test cricket is dead.
Test cricket is boring, test cricket is dud.

For all those Test cricket bashers, open your eyes and and see why test cricket will survive. The reason of hope is none other than Virender Sehwag. 6th test double hundred and the appetite just grows and grows. Time and time again cricket has evolved and the reasons have been some dramatic characters that have swayed the way people perceive the sport. Every sport has such characters, some of them get bigger than the game (at least for some time) like Maj. Dhyanchand, Don Bradman, Tiger woods, Michael Jordan, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer or Even Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne and Brian Lara for cricket, these are the people who pull the crowds by their deeds on the field and catapult the sport itself to a higher level in general public consciousness. But in between these greats there are those who by their unique abilities change the way the game is played. In cricket these would include WG, Ranji, Hobbs, Richards, Lillee, and more recently Ponting, Afridi, Jaysuriya, Murali and Sehwag. Although some of them might not be right at the top but the way they play the game has changed the game itself. These are the characters that define the unique evolution of cricket.

Now coming back to Sehwag, man this guys is a hurricane, an unstoppable force once he gains the momentum. Like a hurricane he starts as a blip and ends up engulfing every bowler that comes in his path. And to top it all, he does all this in test cricket, not T-20 , not - ODI's but Test cricket, where rules are comparatively more balanced for Bowlers and Batsmen. Lara had an appetite for big hundreds and he made many but the manner in which Sehwag scores in test cricket is just amazing. Add the couple of 150+ scores to his doubles and triples and we realize why this man has single handedly saved test cricket. The testimony to the fact that some people do catapult the game itself to a higher level.

Just when the talks were getting stronger that test cricket is all but gone that WI captain himself feels that dying test cricket is not a cause of worry and all over people were making all sorts of comments about survival of test cricket, we get this beautiful day of test cricket. A day when Sehwag proved that application and patience can get you runs, a day when bat dominated the ball on a decent track. I agree that last few tests in India have been on placid tracks but this one in Mumbai had something for everyone and Sehwag just had to get his eye in, once the first hour was done, Sehwag was back to business. No more leaving the ball outside off, he just went nuts, hitting everything almost everywhere. 360 degrees of devastation. And he made me realize that this is what test cricket is all about. Patience, endurance, focus and Sehwag. The beauty of the game lies in the fact that test cricket actually is a 9 session game and one bad session can devastate any team. It requires the highest level of consistency and patience and that’s why it’s a true test of character for any cricket and the reason why different forms of cricket might come and go, but test cricket will be here till the end. Long live the game :)

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In a country where cricket is religion, even atheists bow to Sachin Tendulkar

17000 runs and still counting, next best is about 13500 runs, the unsatiated fire still burning for more, the legend continues. On top of it Sachin Tendulkar today played one of his most memorable knocks in ODI history.

Chasing 350, Indians started well with Sehwag and Sachin. What followed was nothing short of stupidity and within a span of few overs the whole middle order succumbed and was back in pavilion. Gambhir, Yuvraj and Dhoni, all match winners on their day, back without even one reaching the double figures. The one constant was Sachin, slowly building the innings with Sehwag and once Sehwag was gone, Sachin just started belting bowlers and milking runs, piercing infield with precision of a surgeon and belting boundaries of every possible loose ball he was given. The tap for threes to mid wicket were highlights of this innings. He was setting up the field and palying with opposition's mind like never before. There was a time when Ricky Ponting ( Australian skipper ) had to give one over spells to his bowlers, such was the effect of tornado that sachin was churning. Only Suresh Raina played with some sense and stayed at the crease, and on days like these, this is all that is required.

All Sachin needed was a person to stay at the other end. But as usual, it ended up being a Sachin v/s Australia game. Last few times, Australians had persevered and this time too they were successful. The scorecard tells the whole story of a sorry batting lineup. That the lower order could not make 19 in 3 overs with 4 wickets to go is a testimony to the fact that even after 20 years of cricket Sachin is Indian Cricket and Indian Cricket is Sachin Tendulkar. The legend continues ....

the second last over .....

It was one of the Kolkota Knight Rider Matches in IPL 2 that i realized something is fishy about these second last overs, but time and again in the last few months the same pattern has been repeated so many times that its hard to believe that its a coincidence. It may be just me but it breaks my heart that to make things more interesting for the spectators, the authorities are actually letting it happen. It sucks to know that players are underperforming jst to give the spectators some extra excitement. Is cricket going the WWF / WWE way ? It would suck for sure ....

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Happy New Year to all !!

2008 was the most thrilling year of the decade for me, there were plenty of good and some sad news but i do look forward to 2009 with lots of hope.

First things first - Cricket:
Indian cricket was at its best this year with IPL and Ind-Oz series'. The Indian team worked well as a unit and results are there to be seen. I do regret the retirements of Kumble and Ganguly but Gambhir, Raina, Rohit Sharma and the new brigade gives me plenty of hopes for the coming year. I do look forward to IPL and the T-20 World cup and I hope the winning teams repeat the success. Go India !! [Go Royals :) !!]

Politics:
2008 was terrible for India, all the holes in the security and administration were exposed by so many bomb blasts but that's the way politics is. I do feel the investigations should be continued and the real culprits should be found and hanged, i personally would not be too surprised if political leadership (especially of Western India) was directly or indirectly involved in these blasts and like so many times before, the common man is the biggest loser. I was definitely happy to see the country unite against terror and the only way to fight it is to improve awareness, spread education and probably more vigilance. I do predict some military action against enemies of the Union, definitely not a full fledged war against the neighbors. Its a time to defeat the terror mechanism and it starts with making sure that the weapon's industry world over is state controlled and highly regulated (possibly by UN) and that education is spread to rural areas.

Economics:
2008 saw a big downturn in economy but hopefully 2009 should bring good news, President Elect Obama has already picked right people and i hope they deliver in this mini-crisis. Global economy as usual depends on strong dollar and the recovery definitely starts in U.S.

Technology:
There is so much to look forward to in 2009, i see bigger and better phones and some amazing apps from Apple and from Android. Apple once again should dominate the mobile phone market in 2009.