Is F1 Indian Grand Prix A Boon Or Curse?

This is my first ever blog on a F1 race. I am delighted to present this case in a most simplest of manners like I have done on many of my previous posts. The wait for one of the greatest sporting spectacles in India will soon get over. The 17^th Grand Prix of the season and with Championship winner already known, this race could provide us with an entertaining climax to the season. The event has already drawn its own critics and admirers and as always it is a case of “Every coin has 2 sides” and I am willing to call “Heads” and I hope I am not proved wrong by the event organizers. But before that an overview of Indian Grand Prix – 

Overview: The Indian Grand Prix will be held at Buddha International Circuit, Greater Noida just at the outskirts of New Delhi, the capital of India. The circuit has been designed under the supervision of Jaypee Group and is approx. 3.31 miles and the cars will run as many as 61 times across the circuit covering 16 corners.

Tails: There are a few handful people who have said that F1 in India is a complete waste of money. Primarily the reason being it is a sport which very less people in India can actually afford to think of taking up as profession. The sport itself is prone to accidents and the F1 drivers have to go through a lot during the simulators tests and on the race days. Then we have had environment related concerns before getting approval nods for building the huge Jaypee Sports Complex not only for F1 race but for other sports in near future. The problem with space as for F1 races not only the cars but huge machinery setup that comes in separate flights require space as much as a size of a football field. The F1 races usually have all the paparazzi along with them which lead to another top issue of security forces which the country regularly faces with. Looking closer at only the racing aspect how many Indians have actually made it in this sport – just 2 out of 2 billion people. That itself says a lot about awareness of F1 in India. I can basically understand from where these insecurities are being expressed. It is the failure of Commonwealth games and corruption. People fear if such malpractices have again been adopted in hyping up the F1 Indian GP.

Heads: I am sure the lessons have been learnt and this is India’s best opportunity to put itself on global map once again after the CWG debacle. Indian GP epitomizes changing trends in Formula 1. It is an acknowledgement of India's economic clout and its status as one of the world's most happening automobile markets. It is therefore natural that a sport, whose heart and soul is in automobile engineering excellence achieved by some of the best known car manufacturers that they should come here. It also gives a chance to corporate India to put its marketing skills on display as various brands constantly flash on TV ads reminding us about the F1 race, the drivers and the skills and everything else a PR could creatively come up with. Events like these lead to awareness and might perhaps give rise to a budding F1 racer in India. A program called as X Factor started by Dr. Vijay Mallya, co-owner of Sahara Force India F1 car to search for India’s next driver. And as and when more people start understanding the finer aspects of the making of F1 car, we would not only have drivers but technicians also manning the pit lanes. There has been sudden increase in count of visitors to Go-Kart circuits across the country. And of course the tourism industry gets a boost with foreign delegates travelling into the country. Still F1 is not all about money. Think about it from a racing perspective – no matter how many laps a driver does on simulator test – it is quite a different prospect to actually be there on the newest track on a Friday practice session or a Saturday qualifying lap than a Sunday race day. I am hoping to see some over taking maneuvers attempted rather than the tyres and pit stop strategy to win the race.

I have not watched F1 race with a keen interest as I have watched may be football or cricket. But always been a huge fan of Ferrari and Kimi Raikonnen. So I will be cheering for the Scuderia on Sunday hoping either Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa finish first and the Red Bulls occupy the remaining spots on the podium.

It is time…

To smell the rubber burning…

To hear the engine clattering…

To feel the heart stopping at hairpins…

To see the jubilation as the cars cross the finish line…

As the Chequered Flag is waved.

Vengeance Is Sweet

Hello. I am back. Again.

And so after spending an unforgettable summer in England few cricketers from that tour chanced their willow in slam bang version named Champions League T20. Ofcourse Mumbai Indians winning the tournament in style thanks to Lasith Malinga and inspired captaincy by Harbhajan Singh. 

When the tournament favorites Chennai Super Kings failed to qualify for the semis and MS Dhoni also played a very uncharacteristic T20 innings by scoring just 7 runs of 22 balls - a few eyebrows were raised whether Dhoni has been overworked or not. Of course, not many of them would be able to voice it the way Dhoni did. The captain is, after all, not in a position where he could lose his place in the team. For most of the others, however, talking about rest is like exposing themselves to being axed and the scary prospect of being left in the cold. So Dhoni was very happy with an early exit from the Champions League and said he would like those few extra days of rest. 

So what must have Dhoni done in those few days? As another short ODI series loomed large against England, Team India would have expected to overcome the blues of their disastrous England tour and strike back with vengeance. And they did it. The series is in the bag already and nothing much has changed in the side that played at Edgbastons and ovals or Lords. India dominated the first 2 games by registering convincing wins and a well finished third one. 

Just like England did in summer, India have made the home advantage count. The pacers have given the early wickets allowing spinners to build pressure in middle overs. The fielding has been top notch and it looks suddenly like the team has woken up to a new dawn. India batsmen have negotiated the threat of Swann easily by dancing down the track on many occasions and just lofting the ball into gaps. MS Dhoni's helicopter blades have again been polished and he ensures he stays till the end of 50 overs while batting taking the team to winnable scores. The other players in team have also contributed to the wins - Kohli with his century, Vinay Kumar with a 4 wicket haul, the old-pro Gambhir has always been there accumulating runs. 

A team performance like this deserves to be applauded and the smiles are back on the faces of few lads and fans. Vengeance Is Sweet. But it is not over yet and Dhoni's young guns should aim to present the nation with 5-0 drubbing of England on the auspicious occasion of Diwali. 

May your Diwali be a celebration of beautiful colors and many sparkles. Enjoy the festival, burst the fire crackers but be safe. Save environment. Happy Diwali.

A Trip to The Valley

What a wonderful week I just had! It was a truly worth remembering trip to the northern most state of the country, they call it the Paradise on Earth - Jammu and Kashmir. The tour was planned 6 months in advance and with all arrangements done we were raring to go.

We camped at a friend's place overnight and left early morning to board 5:30 am flight to Jammu. Our first stop of the trip was a pilgrimage to Vaishnodevi Temple. This temple is located in Katra town of Jammu state and lacs of people visit here every year to worship the Mother Goddess of Shakti. We started the journey to the temple at 5pm and climbed approx. 14kms to reach the holy shrine. The scene at the top was one which we had not anticipated, the rush was maddening and it seemed to be a total system failure. The only option for us was to break the queue in order to get in quickly and we were just lucky to be able to do so. The hard task of descending through staircases had us drained off completely and the entire journey took about 12 hours. For many it was 5am when they reached hotel, for some it was 6 in the morning. Hence it took us little time to wrap ourselves under the bed cover to get that valuable sleep as this was only the first step of our long long visit of the entire state.
At around noon time after having lunch we checked out of Hotel Ambica to start the fun part of the road trip to Kashmir. The hotel owner (uncle) had arranged Toyota Innova cab along with an exceptionally friendly driver. We reached a hill station Patnitop late in the evening. The rooms in the Hotel Forest View at Patnitop were well furnished and they provided us with really good snacks and tea. We then wandered around to the near by forest area and clicked some photographs. Next morning we covered another temple and one of the state owned JKTDC gardens in Patnitop area. The 'kulches' of Patnitop still waters my mouth :P

We continued our journey ahead and made a few notable stops - Bannihal and Qazigund. The highlights of these stops were the beautiful dam view behind the dhaba at Bannihal and the 2.5km tunnel road at Qazigund. Our first halt in Kashmir was another hill station named Pahalgam. The climate at Pahalgam was pleasantly chill and the structure of the wood house that we stayed in ensured that we felt warm enough at night. We explored the near by area and came across the Pahalgam river. Our interaction with local people gave us an idea about our activities for the next morning. We hired five horses in morning for our sight seeing - the first point in Pahalgam was Kanimarg, place where the huge boulders from the mountain top trickled down and got settled creating a flat land. Then our well trained horses stopped at the waterfall point. The sound of the water fall was harsh yet it made us feel so good to be there. . After spending considerable time we went further up to 3rd point called as Kashmir point. Here we ordered for a Kehwa (kashmiri tea) and posed for a few photographs with a sheep. The next point was Dagger point. As explained by our local guide this point has the hidden story for a well known phrase 'to kill two birds with one stone'. Our last stop was to the most beautiful place I had seen so far in my life. This place known as Baisaran or Kashmir's Switzerland has been shot in many of the Bollywood movies. White and Brown Mountains, Blue skies and Pine trees with vast green lands provided a perfect setting for capturing images to replicate MS Windows wallpapers.
The Baisaran had caught my attention and left me gasping. So I thought! I still had to see two more sceneries which were equally important and beautiful. But before that we paid a short visit to a Aru Wildlife Park which was home to only 3 animals - a deer, a leopard and an Asiatic Bear. We then reached Betaab Valley, the place has derived its name from the movie Betaab which was completely shot in this locale. We then proceeded to Chandanwari also known as base camp for Amarnath Yatra. As soon as we reached the place it started raining and we had to take shelter beneath a shop. We could see the ice melting from the mountain and flowing to small rivulets. We were eager to go and grab ice in our hands and we duly obliged once the rains stopped. This place has given us inspiration for our next 35km trekking trip to Amarnath Yatra.

Next day early morning we had to check out from Pine Cliff resort at Pahalgam and make a long journey to Gulmarg. We had been forewarned about the threat of horsemen and small traders at Gulmarg. As soon as we stepped out of the cab they started following us and insisting to take their services. We declined and headed straight to Gondola Cable Car ticket counter. Our spirits were dampened when we learnt that the second tier of the rope way car was not working properly due to weather conditions. We had to satisfy ourselves with whatever half way journey we made using the cable car. We reached Srinagar late in evening after shopping spree for loved ones from the Kashmir Arts Emporium.

The Taimoor Hotel in Srinagar was situated in Muslim dominated area and the smell of kebabs and tandooris for the Iftaar party gave us a kick. We freshened up quickly and were out in the streets of Srinagar hunting for a good kebab restaurant. Next day morning we left for Sonamarg, another place where we had to do horse riding. :( Through the ride to the top of mountain we saw locales where famous Bollywood films have been shot - Satte pe Satta, Ram Teri Ganga Maili and Fanaa. Finally we reached point where we had to walk the ice bridge. We also had hired for sledge to race down the icy slope.

The 2nd morning in Srinagar was meant to cover the local areas. We started off with a Shikara ride on Dal Lake. What a beautiful lake! It really seemed like being in heaven. The house boats with all kinds of fancy names were parked at the edges of the lake. The vendors chased down our shikara to sell jewellery and other items. Again here we saw the sets of TV serials and movies which have been shot in back drop of Dal Lake. We got down and visited the Nehru Garden inside the lake and saw various types of flowers, each one breath taking than the previous one. Also at the lake there was a swimming competition being held by some school for its students and the chief guest motivated the students to complete the race by a well written speech. A few of my friends took a jetty ride in Dal Lake while I preferred to sleep in the slow and serene shikara. We were then taken to a shop which sold jackets and blankets. Once again we emptied our deep wallets by selecting warm clothes of our choice and asked the shopkeeper to deliver it to our home in Mumbai. It was late in afternoon and we still had lot of places to cover, one of them being Shankaracharya Temple. We then had quick meal and headed off to series of palace gardens. From Chashmeshahi garden to Pari Mahal to Nishat Garden, each garden offered unique view of the Srinagar city and had range of flora and fauna on display. These gardens also had natural springs and water flowed through the center of each gardens. We ended up our Srinagar journey by visiting the Hazratbal Mosque and praying to Allah and watch the interior beauty of the mosque at the closest. This was our last night of the trip.

I feel truly blessed to have been part of this trip. No words are enough to express what I saw with my own eyes. The picturesque images of mountains, trees, skies, rivers, lakes, temples, horses and everything else have been imprinted on my soul.

Synopsis of the vacation trip
Places Visited: Katra, Patnitop, Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Srinagar
Dates: 14th AUG 2011 - 21st AUG 2011
Click here for My Nikon Pics : https://picasaweb.google.com/115737735341877165595/JammuKashmirTrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCNnCybCBzKGp0gE

Spirit Of Cricket

Hello.

England annihilated Team India for the second test match in a row and the margin was bigger this time. We are now 2-0 down in the four-Test series. If we fail to narrow the gap in the next two Tests, we will lose our status as the No 1 Test team in the world. The immediate question is: who is responsible for the twin defeats? It is not so difficult pointing the fingers at the captain, the players and the BCCI.

Only Rahul Dravid and Praveen Kumar have so far impressed me on this tour. Their effort is visible but other players throw it away. Batsmen have played poor shots and bowlers have bowled wrong lengths which has also been coupled with incorrect field placing. I remember making a point in my previous blog that Sehwag was right in playing out IPL till his team had chances of making it to semis and then requesting BCCI to not consider him for less important Carribean tour. I was so wrong. I was then thinking he will make a great impact on the England tour but he has certainly gone amiss. But now his just healed shoulders have even more burden to bear and try to lift the gloomy Indian camp to some sort of success in 3rd test at Edgbaston. Undeniably, so far England have been a better batting and bowling unit than us in these two games.

Now after 2001 test matches I am still trying to figure out what in the name of Holy Lake does the phrase "in the true spirit of cricket" mean?

Dhoni's decision to allow Ian Bell to bat again - after he was adjudged run-out at the stroke of tea - is in the spirit of the game. Going by the letter of the law, once umpires have ruled a batsman out and batsman has already crossed the ropes, he cannot be asked to bat again. But just for the sake of booing crowd and receiving private request from the Strauss and Flower, MS Dhoni rescinded his appeal and allowed Bell to bat after tea. Not surprisingly MS Dhoni received universal applause but lost a tactical advantage. MSD did well to avoid any controversy this time. Anything else would have soured the tour and cricketing ties between the two nations. More importantly, his decision has allowed Team India to stand on high moral ground. What the English or the Aussies would have done in such a situation is irrelevant, India needs to set its own standards.

However the measuring stick should be same for all cricketers and all matches from now and past. I need to ask this how the media or anyone from ECB/ICC say anything about Michael Vaughan's Vaseline remark about V V S Laxman which threatened to ruin the game's spirit. In the 1st test, Kevin Pietersen was supposedly out before he even scored 50, but after scoring a double century he said Dravid is a saint-like figure who didn't even appeal for the catch. KP's conscience must have known he was out and he should have walked, instead he waited in respect of the "spirit of cricket." In the just concluded West Indies tour VVS Laxman was given stumped out when he was just trying to regain his balance after the ball appeared to be dead. India has been in many controversies in high profile overseas tours - Ball tampering & Mike Procter issue in South Africa, Bhajji-Symonds Monkeygate in Australia, Jelly beans incident involving Zaheer Khan and Ian Bell in last England series and numerous ways of sledging that has taken place when Indian team has looked in strong positions. Had Dhoni not taken his appeal back, I am sure this case would have gone to ICC courts and then all cricket experts would have said BCCI has used its financial power once again to influence the decision in their favor.

This incident is just another example of the double standards that Team India has to put up with in what still remains a white man's game. It is high time we put our foot down. Dhoni should have stuck to his appeal despite the English crowd's jeers. Team India should not be subject to double standards, nor should it try to uphold a brown man's burden. Instead we should play the game as hard as the English or Aussies play it.

Cheers until next time... :)

How Many More Days Left???

Is the maddeningly long football off-season getting to you as well? Do you spend major chunks of your work day wondering why (insert favourite club) have spent stupid money on (insert unproven English youngster)? Do you still browse the club's official website for breaking news OR keep hitting refresh every 30 seconds on transfer gossip blogs? Are you switching channels while watching India vs West Indies OR Wimbledon, hoping to catch a rerun of Arsenal vs Chelsea, Barcelona vs Real Madrid OR Swansea vs Reading anything, really, as long as 22 men are kicking a ball around?

The Champions League final, which marked the end of the 2010-11 season, ended with Barcelona lifting the trophy in the fag end of May. Most of the top European leagues kick-off in the second week of August. In between is pure mental torture.

Irrespective of who you support, this is a nerve-wrenching period. Take just the English league. Liverpool fans will wonder if they’ve done enough with the signings of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll in January, plus Jordan Henderson last month, to break back into the Top Four, forget winning the league.

Manchester United supporters, defending league champions, top manager and all, will be tearing their hair out thinking whether their squad can cope with the retirements of Paul Scholes and Edwin Van der Sar, and how much longer a 37-year-old ever controversial Ryan Giggs can carry their midfield. Is it even possible to replace that kind of quality? Well they have done brilliantly so far getting what they wanted at good prices. Phil Jones, Ashley Young and David De Gea have will be sharing the Old Trafford dressing room and all too happily.

Those who scream for Chelsea will be buoyed by the arrival of the Andre Vilas-Boas; but even they will be consumed by what mini-Mourinho can do with an ageing spine. Or whether he can get Fernando Torres to score a goal.

Man City fans are used to see them spending big in the summers but that hasnt happened yet this time. Probably the reason being UEFA's Financial Rules or they feel they already have the right players to challenge their bigger neighbours for the title. But that has'nt stopped press reporting every single player linked with the club, be it Sanchez or Pastore or David Villa.

For us Gooners, the misery of summer continues wondering if Fabregas will leave, now have to make time for fretting over whether or not Nasri will quit as well and who else wil join the so called mass exodus; and if the imminent arrival of Gervinho and Ricky Alvarez will be enough to off-set the departures of the two men who took them to, erm, fourth place in the league.

And Tottenham fans… well, they don’t count.

Building football teams is like working on a shape-shifting jigsaw puzzle and every team, all the time, need someone who will make them a better version of what they are. I understand that transfer business is complicated and time consuming, but the reality is that pre-season training begins early next week followed by the Asia Tour.
We still are not sure what our starting line up will be for these pre-season tours and we have'nt even worked upon our weaknesses from past 3-4 seasons, forget about closing gap on the Champions.

Barcelona, over the last three seasons, have been hailed as the greatest club side ever assembled. Even they’re looking to spend massive money on Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas because, in their rearview, they can see a wounded Mourinho's Real Madrid charging at them. Standing still is not an option. For nobody. I

And this season, more than any before, the money is completely mental. With the international meltdown having no impact on football’s bizarre billionaire-backed economics, the figures being bandied about make the mind boggle. If Pastore = £50m, Neymar = £45m, Sanchez = £44m, Hazard = £30m that’s what clubs are paying for promise these days, Then how can proven game-changers i.e. those 2 players Who Shall Not Be Named from the club You Know Which cost only £32m and £20m respectively!!! Mind-boggling!!!

Makes you wonder where the bidding for Messi would start.

Makes you wonder when the madness will end.

Makes you want the new season to get underway soon because, more than anything else, you want the painful stupidity of the transfer window to end.

Then again, it makes you want to hit refresh, just in case your club has finally put in a bid for the defenders your team so desperately needs.

Club versus Country

Hello all. It has been a while since I wrote, so here I am again with this mundane but interesting topic.

This isn't the first time I've given thought to this. This question has perhaps been asked a few decades ago and will continue to be asked in centuries that may come. Football has faced this issue for many years now and it comes to me as no surprise that its cricketing equivalent is today undergoing a similar crisis. Yet I feel there is a huge difference between the two sports impact-wise when it comes to answering this ever raging debatable topic of club v/s country.

In football, on an average players spend 8 months of the year playing club football, say about 2 and half months for their country and the remainder is for vacation.
In cricket, on an average players spend about 8 months of the year playing international cricket, about 2 and half months playing for various franchises over the world and the remainder is for vacation.

So in football it is completely valid from a club perspective if they wish to protect their players from getting involved in international footy in summer after gruelling and painfully long season. For e.g. Jack Wilshere who has now established himself as first team player for Arsenal FC and also pushing up for selection for national squad's first team place backing up with lion hearted performances cannot be considered for U21 juniors team. This would demean the progress he has shown so far and would also hamper his performances for the next season. Ultimately a right decision was made by English FA and they agreed with Arsene Wenger in giving rest to Jack Wilshere. In this case club prevailed over country and rightly so.

Now there are also examples where club has had to suffer over players involvement in international matches during mid season. Again if the player gets injured in a 50-50 tacke during a crunch qualifier game, it is understandable. Club has no choice but to stand by the player and take care of his treatment. But when players get injured while playing a nonsense friendly match, it hurts the most to clubs. (recall van Persie's injury at start of the season)
Again this time Arsenal were within their rights to demand injury compensation from Netherlands Board. Because coach Bert van Maarjwik ignored Wenger's suggestions to not play Persie so soon as he was just had one training session at the club.

The performance of the players in major championships like World Cup or Euros sometimes doesnt live upto expectations of fans and the reason given most of the time is the heavy duty league season. In these cases I'd blame the players who are non performing rather than the club or the league system. The team that suffers this syndrome almost every time they walk out on the pitch for championships is England. It is not a case of putting your country first ahead of your club but putting yourself on the line when playing for national team. It is a matter of national pride when players walk out wearing their "3 Lions" jerseys and there is no way reference to club form justifies case for debate.

With expansion of Indian Premier League and more and more players drawn towards the lucrative amount of money being offered, the boards stand no chance of denying players an opportunity to play in IPL. This year some high profile names have come under scanner of choosing IPL rather than playing for country.

Chris Gayle: He was rejected in the auctions. He came to World cup and hardly fired. He was then left out of WI squad for the series against Pakistan citing not fully fit. Thats when Royal Challengers Bangalore decided to offer him a chance to play in this season's IPL. And after that it has been going great for the franchise. He is currently the holder of Orange Cap. And else where his team have lost in ODI and Test Series against Pakistan. Club got benefits where as country bad patch in cricketing arena continues.

Lasith Malinga: He is Mumbai Indians mainstay bowler. Without him MI wouldnt have made as far as they have in tournament. He is the holder of Purple cap with those toe crushin yorkers. When Sri Lankan cricket board asked their IPL players to return back in order to be ready for English Summer, Malinga decided to retire from test cricket. He did this in order to prolong his ODI and T20 career. Once again club's gain could be country's loss.

Virender Sehwag: He has been carrying a niggling shoulder injury all through the world cup. He has been carrying aggravated shoulder injury throughout IPL. Yet he played a scintillating knocks for Delhi Daredevils to take them to brink of qualification for play offs. But it was too late then. Ultimately his team got relegated to last spot in the table and with few matches left Sehwag decided he will go to Germany to get operated on his shoulder. Now the questions were raised why he did not do it after the WC which would have allowed him to play the West Indies tour. I mean why? Why ask this question? I really dont think we need him for West Indies tour, it can be taken care by other young Indian prospects. Those shoulders need to be strong enough for the England tour which will be the real test of India's #1 test ranking status.

Gautam Gambhir: Another Delhi boy who carried an aggravated shoulder into IPL and the news came out only after his team KKR got knocked out of play offs. It cannot be a co-incidence. The media is questioning the owners of the club, the player and the BCCI as to why they allowed such a thing to happen. This story has just reached a new high as some sections in media reporting he consumed injections of a banned substance.

My take -

1) Players are paid handsomely well in IPL and there is no way you can take them away from the lure of competition. Many players have found themselves in reckoning for selection in national team because of performances in IPL. Those who want to come and enjoy this carnival of cricket they choose IPL whereas others dont and BCCI/Club owners and fans are fine with it.

2) It's a question of monopoly. Think about it. Are all cricketers from across the world followed with as much excitement as Indian cricketers? Already this season's IPL has seen dip in numbers and there have been only very few exciting matches. On top of that if BCCI had asked top Indian players, sorry I mean the World Cup winning 11, to take rest in order to get available for selection for WI tour-do you think it would have worked? No way. And why are we even questioning the integrity of our Indian players - for God sake they have given us a World Cup to savour for next 4 years. I think media should stop criticizing players and franchises for unnecessarily creating the club v country debate.

Solution -

A seperate IPL window: There are 2 sides to a coin. Similarly if IPL gets a seperate window it would mean other boards will also start their own leagues and would start demanding space to be allocated in ICC's FTP program. This would bring down the demand and huge popularity of IPL and thus BCCI will lose its share of international players. However it definetely seems that T20 is the future of entertainment cricket and there should be a time in year where all the players come together and show case their skills. So the action item must be taken by BCCI and IPL Governing Council to shorten the duration of IPL schedules and still maintain the competitive edge. One certain way is to remove the play offs and finals - give the trophy to the team with most points after end of league.

Before I sign off,
A huge match today between Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the winner goes to final to face Chennai Super Kings at their own den. Chris Gayle's form gives RCB an edge over Mumbai's dodgy form but Mumbai have self confidence after last 2 wins. They know they can come back from dead and win a game. I hope they do win the cup this year.
Dhoni, your cabinet is already full with World Cup trophy, leave this one for Sachin. Will' ya?

And for the CL Finals to be followed after IPL Finals - I'd say Go United!!! (sorry typo) Go Barca!!! (sorry typo)... Well neutral :P

Appalling Barca

They call it the 'El Clasico'. It was Round 3 in space of 2 weeks and fourth game between Real Madrid and Barcelona this season. Barcelona had beaten the Mourinho-led side 5-0 in the first meeting of the season which highlighted the gaping difference between the two sides. That game was a treat to any football lover. Two weeks back, they faced each other this time at Bernabeau and the game finished 1-1 with Madrid coming from behind. A few days later, in King's Cup tournament Real Madrid beat Barcelona 1-0 to make them feel they are on even terms as Catalan giants. The Special One had delivered a trophy in his inimitable style, the tactics and the motto that he lives by - winning is all that matters leaving the task of beautiful football can to Barcelona.

So what was different this time when the two faced off in the Champions league Semi Finals?
It all started with Jose Mourinho who took a jibe at Guardiola's way of dealing with referees. Guardiola then replied back with expletive comments saying Jose is the Master and can play his seperate Champions League outside the field. At this point, Jose's plan had worked and he had the Barca manager rattled under his skin. Put this in perspective and it promised to be humdinger of a match.

The first 10 minutes of the game was cagey as expected. Real Madrid showed little intention to attack. Infact in first 15 minutes of the game, Ronaldo was frustated already and waving to his players to come up in support and close down the Barca's middle-men. But instructions from Mourinho were very clear, forget the bus and airplane... he had set out his team as parking lot for a spacecraft. This was perfect opportunity for midgets like Xavi, Alves, Messi to play their passing game to perfection. Xavi, Villa and Ronaldo had shots at goal from distance and then the game started to settle down into patterns.

An air of shock and disgustness spread as things started to get out of control. A few notorious players pulling up some dirty tricks in order to unsettle the opponents. It started with Angel di Maria diving outside the box to avoid Alves challenge, it was followed by a few harmless series of free kicks easily cleared by Pique and Valdes. Then Barcelona took it to a whole new level of cheating ever seen in football. Pedro diving and feigning injury and his step brother Bussquets following the suit. All this was happening so fast, freekicks awarded at both ends and both set of players trying to outdo each other in winning a foul.

At halftime it was level, but pyschologically Barcelona had won the mini battle. The second half started in much the same way until Pepe went for a high studs up challenge. Frankly speaking the ball was there to be won and he was just a bit late allowing Alves to hold his ankle and sit down on the floor. What followed was a melee of Barcelona players pressuring referee into producing a red card for Pepe. However one cannot be sure what the ref was actually going to give if Barca players would not have surrounded him. When Pepe got his red card I wanted to give a smack on the face of Puyols, Piques and Pedros. They deserved a red more than Pepe. An unfortunate Mourinho also had to go to the stands for appreciating ref's brave decision. This changed the course of the whole game and it just opened up flood gates for Barcelona to attack and it resulted two goals, precious away goals.

Let's give credit to young Dutch lad, Ibrahim Afellay who put an inch perfect cross allowing Messi to score from close range. The second goal was a 'Maradonesque' effort from Leo Messi. A quick turn and busrt of pace and dribbling with his left foot, it was so quick that I didnt even see the 1-2 exchange with Bussquets and then turn of direction to beat 4 Madrid defenders before putting it past Iker Casillas. I would have put my entire month wager to watch that brilliant piece of action from Messi. He truly is a world class player!

And thats what I want to end the discussion with - when you have such world class players at your disposal, what is the need for Barcelona to pressurise the refs in giving a wrong decision? This hasnt happened for the first time... they have been cheating since 2006. I would like to hear from UEFA/Mr. Platini what they think about appalling behavior by few Barcelona players who deserve punishment for foul play? How long can UEFA protect Brand Barca and continue supporting them so that they win the CL every season? OR did 'The Special One' get his tactics wrong? He should have probably attacked more with Kaka and Benzema at home and then stayed put at Nou Camp. Has Pep Guardiola had the final laugh over Mourinho? At the moment, it seems like that because Mourinho has openly ranted in media about disgusting world that (he) lives in and has given up on his teams chances of winning at Nou Camp.

The two teams that I hate the most Man U and Barcelona will be in the CL Finals.
Wembley, Here We Come!!!

That winning feeling...

Speechless. On 2nd April 2011, Saturday, India beat Sri Lanka by 6 wickets to register a famous world cup win. What followed after that was ecstasy and euphoria in the entire nation. The 1.2 billion dreams had come true and people were on the streets dancing and waving the country flag high. The partying on Wednesday after the semi final victory looked like dress rehearsal as the winning feeling on Saturday was even more exhilarating. India had lifted the world cup 28 years after Kapil Dev’s Devils had achieved at Lord’s in England. So this victory meant a whole lot to the new generation. Hence I feel proud to be part of the generation that has won the world cup.



It has taken more than 24 hours for that winning feeling to sink in and only after that I have been able to concentrate and actually think about what I am supposed to write of the final game of World Cup 2011 that we all witnessed. In my last blog, I said Mumbai should make noise and not let the Lankans feel into the game and the people in the stadium obliged my wish. They made so much noise that the match ref could not hear what the captains call during the toss. The repeat toss went in favour of Sanga and the pressure was right back on my Men in Blue. Dilshan and Sangakarra got to good starts and fell away cheaply to Harbhajan and Yuvraj Singh. But one man carried on the Lankan batting right till the end with his superb graceful batting. Jayawardene did not play one wrong shot and just toyed with Indian bowlers by his late cuts, cover drives and exquisite foot work.

India was set a stiff target of 275 to chase. Sehwag and Sachin were dismissed early by Malinga. At 31/2, I will be honest to say that I felt huge disappointment and had lost some hope of winning the cup. I started to feel better when Dhoni came into bat and kept rotating strike and never let the required run rate go beyond 7 RPO. Gautam Gambhir played a masterstroke innings and feel sad for him to have missed out on a century. By the time he got out I knew the match was well within our grasp and I was just gearing upto jump in joy. And then Dhoni provided the killer’s finish and rest as they say is history. The heroes have now become immortals. The victory lap with Sachin sitting on young shoulders of Kohli and Pathan sent shivers down my spine and it was a very nostalgic moment. I am sure the tears of joy will flow again and everytime I see Dhoni, Sachim, Yuvraj and the rest of the team lift the World Cup. We are the World Champions for the next 4 years. Yay!!!!

Here I provide you with my ratings out of 10 for the 15 member squad.

Virender Sehwag – He made a great start to world cup by scoring 175 and it remained the highest score in this world cup. He provided starts to India in every game and picked up crucial catches in the field. He remains India’s best hope in future as well to retain the supremacy in all forms of the game. Rating: 9/10.

Sachin Tendulkar – During the entire world cup, he played with immense pressure to complete his 100th ton. Unfortunately he couldn’t but that doesn’t matter to him as we saw his celebrations in the end. All he wanted was to win the cup and wear the gold medal. His 22 year dream came true. Rating: 10/10

Gautam Gambhir – He got starts in all the game but the hundred remained elusive to him this tournament. His innings of 97 in the final will be remembered for a long time. Rating: 9/10

Virat Kohli – He scored century on world cup debut against Bangladesh. He is the young blood of bold and aggressive Indian team and that shows in the field as well. He is hugely talented and will certainly do well in next tournament as he did now. Rating: 9/10

Yuvraj Singh – He was the talisman of this Indian victory. He bowled superbly his 10 overs in all the games by picking up wickets every time. He was focussed when he was on the crease while batting, he was determined to achieve success for himself and for the team. 4 Man of the Match awards before the final meant he was the favourite to get Player of the Tournament and an Audi sedan version car. He has given joy to the billion people and it’s his world cup. No doubts. Rating: 10/10.

MS Dhoni – He is the captain cool of Indian cricket. He made some brave decisions and he stuck by it. He backed his players and to give 200% in every game and was also humble in accepting the mistakes he made. Cometh the hour, Cometh the man and he proved with a scintillating knock in the finals. Rating: 10/10

Suresh Raina – He did not play the first five games of the world cup. But that did not dent his confidence. He is India’s one of the best finishers and he proved it in the game against Australia and Pakistan. With him playing in the side it helps improve the overall team fielding as well, and again he is one for the future. Rating: 8/10

Yusuf Pathan – He came in with reputation of big hitter in this world cup and a useful spinner. He got his chances but he was barely effective. But there is no denying the talent and he should use this as a learning curve and show the world what he is capable of in the upcoming tournaments. Rating: 7/10

Harbhajan Singh – India’s leading off spinner had a lot of burden on his shoulders. His tactics were to not give runs to the opposition but also look to pick wickets. He was successful in some games but not so much in others. He picked up few wickets but those were the crucial ones in the late slog overs. He always brings passion and commitment to the team and it was evident in the finals too. He has much more to offer to the Indian team. Ratings: 8/10

R Ashwin – This young Chennai lad got the most popularity votes amongst all Indians. He was one member which entire nation wished played every game instead of the seamers. Dhoni always said he has the attitude to play the big games and Ashwin’s mettle was tested against Aussies. He came out in flying colors. Rating: 8/10

Zaheer Khan – He was the lynchpin of Indian attack. Leading wicket taker in the tournament, he bowled superbly with the new ball, old ball and any ball. The captain wanted wicket, he gave it to him. He not only performed above expectations but also helped himself by banishing those 2003 memories. Rating: 10/10

Munaf Patel – He made it to the Indian squad after impressive performances in South African tour. He did well in the world cup as well by bowling within his limits. He didn’t try anything flashy and kept the flow of runs under check. His contribution to the team winning in semi final cannot be counted out. Rating: 8/10

Ashish Nehra – He is the bowler who went from zero to hero in this world cup campaign. He was branded as villain after India’s loss to Saffers but he redeemed himself against Pakistan. He missed out in the finals because of broken finger but his place will also remain etched in history books for his heroic effort in the semi finals. Rating: 7/10

S Sreesanth – He will be obviously disappointed by his performance in the world cup. He needs to put his head in right place to become India’s spearhead bowler. His inclusion in the world cup also came as surprise to many and he will now know he has to fight for his place in this side. Rating: 4/10

Piyush Chawla – He was taken as an additional bowler with leg spin as variety to offer. He did well in the practice games against Australia and New Zealand and we all thought he will be the go-to man in the world cup. For a leg spinner, his googly is the secret weapon but for Piyush it was his predictable delivery. He got it all wrong and he too will have to go back and get his basics right to make place in this 11 member team. Rating: 4/10

Overall winning the world cup is a team effort so to entire team I would say it is a 10 on 10.

Now ofcourse players have to savour the victory and within a week turn up for playing the season 4 of the Indian Premier League. That’s the irony of whole thinf, the players who were unified in dressing room playing for the country will now battle each other in what promises to be 51 days of entertainment and celebration of Indian Cricket.
Cheers INDIA!!!

INDIA Cheers!!!

The stage was set for the biggest game of the world cup. There are many famous sporting rivalries but none of them come closer to that of India v Pakistan. Whenever these two sides meet the air gets thick, one can sense the pride and nationalism on the faces of all the people across borders and it gives another chance for diplomats to try and revive the broken relationships and once again make promises of peace. No matter what and how much ever you say to yourself, that it is just a game - but the fact is that it is NOT just a game. If it was just another game, people would not have taken impromptu day off from work. People would not have installed new LCD TV sets at public places, junctions and stations and the roads would'nt have been empty during peak hours.

So this was it. The crowd was in full attendance with distinguished guests from both countries seated in the VVIP boxes. On this day the toss was crucial and MS Dhoni called it right. However his team selection raised a li'l furore but all was forgotten when players got down in the middle to do the business. Virender Sehwag once again showed that he has no nerves, he plays in his natural way that he knows, if the ball is there to be hit, he hits them hard. Umar Gul was punished badly and he lost his line and length completely as he gave away 5 boundaries in a single over. India were cruising along and it seemed like 300+ score is on the cards. I have not seen a match where Sachin got as many as 5 lives. Yesterday he was helped by DRS system as well as Pakistan's fielders. Yet Sachin fretted away opportunity to score his 100th ton. At this stage, Pakistan were on top and once again Indian innings seemed to crumble under pressure. Suresh Raina batted sensibly to take score to 260 and set up a fighting total.

The battle was on and we had a game hung by narrowest of threads. Indian bowlers, supposedly weakest link of this magnificent team defended the total and bowled deceptively to pick wickets at regular intervals. Who would have thunk that? As usual whenever India had needed wickets in this tournament they have had to look to Zaheer Khan or Yuvraj Singh to provide those break throughs. Though it was not Yuvi's day with the bat he did well with the ball by picking 2 wickets in succession in space of 3 runs. First was an arm ball to dismiss Shafiq and then loopy delivery to outfox Younis Khan who hit straight to Raina at covers. India were inching closer towards the victory. Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi hit some lusty blows but that was not going to stop vigorous Indian players who were getting all the cheering from Mohali crowd. Opting to play Ashish Nehra for R Ashwin was a bold gamble that paid off.

INDIA 5 - 0 PAKISTAN.

We will remember this game all our lives. Pakistan's fine bowling could not compensate for its abysmal catching skills. India's batting was below its best but MS Dhoni's men showed admirable courage whenever the chips were down. Team India deserved to win this game; Pakistan didn't. Hard luck, my friend Jack!

The joy erupted out of the billion Indian fans, many danced on the streets and celebrated the victory last night and a few let small tears of happiness trickle through dreamy eyes and all of them prayed to the Almighty to give us another day like this on Saturday. The finals at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai has got all the ingredients for being a cracker of a cricket contest between the two best Asian countries - India and Sri Lanka. The two teams have played against each other on numerous occasions in last 2 years so there will not be any surprise element or added pressure for the two teams. Sri Lanka have beaten New Zealand twice and not so good England on home soil before coming into the finals. India on other hand, have played a "mini-final" against Oz and "final of all the finals" against Pakistan so they look a well prepared unit to take on the Lankans.All the talk will be about Sachin playing in his home ground, 100th century, may be last world cup game but all that matters to Dhoni & Co. is India winning the World Cup 2011.

So Mumbai Let us up the decibels and give a loud roar for Team India, say Hip Hip Hooray, Hip Hip Hooray!!! Come on India - Bleed Blue!!!

SWOT-ing the Cup

With the momentum of Cricket World Cup reaching its zenith, we now have 8 teams that have reached the quarterfinals of this edition of the cup after month long hard work in group stages.

There are no surprises in the teams that have made it to the next round. Bangladesh's dream came to a crushing halt as they suffered heavy defeat to second string South African team. The Associates had a good world cup too with teams like Netherlands and Zimbabwe managing to give scare to few established teams. But the best team from the lot was Ireland who managed to do a giant killing act as they twice successfully chased a total of 300 plus.

At this stage, let us also look back at few individuals who have shone brighter than some other stars in this world cup.

Virender Sehwag - He started off the campaign with vintage knock of 175 against Bangladesh. He achieved a rare feat for a batsman to score boundary of the first ball in each of the group games he played in.

Kevin O'Brien - He scored the fastest century of the world cup against England in just 50 balls and also set up his team's first win of the tournament. Without this big Irish lad, Group B would'nt have been as interesting as it turned out to be.

Ross Taylor - On his birthday, Ross Taylor smashed a swashbuckling century against Pakistan. Infact he was also team's stand-in captain that day and he led by example. He along with Jacob Oram added more than 100 runs in last 5 overs.

Umar Gul - Apart from Afridi. he has been Pakistan's main bowler in this tournament. He picks up wicket whenever his team needs them and has shown his class in reverse swing department.

Robin Peterson - This little south paw from South Africa has proved to be a gem in the squad. with names like Steyn, Amla, Kallis being the talking points he has quietly won 2 games for his team single handedly with his mighty hitting and plucky bowling.

Now a look at teams that have made it to Quarter Finals and a SWOT analysis to see who has better chances of progressing to the semis and then may be to finals.

PAKISTAN

Strengths: Like many world cups in the past, even this year they are very strong in bowling. Especially the conditions of sub continent suit their bowlers well and Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi have shown it by picking wickets at regular intervals. Abdur Razzaq also picked up few against Australia to get back into some rythm for the knock out stages.

Weaknesses: It is said that Catches win Matches. But for Kamran Akmal, it is the most difficult thing for him to do. Usually spends more energy chirping behind the stumps, would do Pakistan a lot of good if he can focus on his wicket keeping job.

Opportunities: Pakistan have'nt yet posted a huge total in the tournament. They should try to bat first and put a huge total in exceess of 300 to give confidence to their batsmen going into semis.

Threats: Pakistan are susceptible to over confidence, stealth and in-fighting. So far they have manged to stay clear of any such controversies but with them you never know - it just crops up in end hour. From the match perspective, if Gayle, Pollard and co. get going they can make any target look easy.

WEST INDIES

Strengths: West Indies have an explosive batting line up. If Gayle clicks into his best form he can make all grounds looks smaller. Darren Bravo is a talented youngster in mould of Brian Lara and is good on accumulating runs.

Weaknesses: The short comings in batting are exposed brutally if they lose quick wickets. Besides Sarwan, they dont have players with composure who can steady the ship when needed.

Opportunities: Since most of them will already have written them off, they can actually relax and apply their strategies and make Pakistan work harder to get their runs.

Threats: Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi. They have to play these two bowlers wisely and hope their batsmen have a day off.

OVERALL: Pakistan hold a slight edge over West Indies to win the 1st Quarter Final match to be played on 23rd March 2011 at Mirpur, Bangladesh.

AUSTRALIA

Strengths: The team is well balanced and usually late bloomers in the tournament. They are the World Champions and will need no extra motivation to retain that status. Brett Lee's performance has been impressive and they also have a better track record in world cup's against India.

Weaknesses: Form of Ricky Ponting will be worrying the Aussies. Also they have come to India with pace quartet on spinner friendly tracks. If Lee and Tait dont make early in roads they will struggle to contain and pick wickets.

Opportunities: None.

Threats: The whole of Ahmedabad will be screaming for India. So you can be assured of zero crowd support for Australia. Plus they have already lost to India during WC prep match.

INDIA

Strengths: Batting is India's main strength. And likes of Sehwag, Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh have lived up to the expectations.

Weaknesses: India's bowling is not as good as the Aussie counterparts. In Zaheer they have an intelligent bowler but he relies heavily on help from others around him. Harbhajan has been instrumental in stopping the flow of runs but he has been shy of wickets.

Opportunities: India have'nt taken full advantage of death over power play yet. So Dhoni and Pathan have to take up the responsibility to ensure that we don't lose wickets and score at good rate in these overs.

Threats: Shane Watson and Brett Lee - two Oz players who are most liked by few Indians in India because of their IPL presence.

OVERALL: It is time to turn the tables on Australia. Their period of dominance is coming to end. India have home advantage, Sachin's 100th century and inclusion of R Ashwin stabilizing the bowling woes. Only 1 winner - INDIA!!!

NEW ZEALAND

Strengths: They are good fielding side and with that they manage to save 25-30 runs per game. Tim Southee has done well enough to pick up wickets with new ball.

Weaknesses: Batting has been patchy and far too dependent on Brendon McCullum and Ross Taylor. They dont play spin too well and can be beaten easily if not their day.

Opportunities: They are dark horses in this tournament hence cannot be taken lightly.

Threats: Injuries to Vettori, Hamish Bennet have already reduced their chances. With respect to the match, their biggest threat will be in all departments - facing Dale Steyn and Morkel or trying to contain Amla or DeVilliers.

SOUTH AFRICA

Strengths: By far the best team in the tournament. They have enough resources to bail them out from any match situation.

Weaknesses: The only weakness could be if they are asked to play on a pitch that turns square onto the batsmen.

Opportunities: They were the only team that was experimental in the group stages and all their players got a decent chance to prove themselves. Most of them are playing at top of their form and have equal opportunities to excel further in the tournament

Threats: 'Chokers' tag which is applicable to this team can come back to haunt them in most unimaginable way. If they are puy under pressure, they can crumble like they did against England.

OVERALL: South Africa are the favorites to progress from this game because they have jelled better as a team.

SRI LANKA

Strengths: Sri Lanka have batsmen who can adapt well to the sub continent conditions. Their quarter final will be played at home so they will have crowd support as well. The form of captain Sangakkara has been pleasing to watch.

Weaknesses: The lower middle order has not performed that well. If opposition can get rid of Dilshan, J'wardene and Sanga then Lankans can be put to sword.

Opportunities: Malinga and Murali have not picked as many wickets as they would have liked. But nonetheless, they have been important to control the match in middle overs.

Threats: Graemme Swann will be an equal threat if Sri Lanka play to their strengths - Spin. Complacency can bring downfall of the best of the teams and Sri Lanka cannot be spared from this.

ENGLAND

Strengths: 6 games, 6 thrillers. They will take a lot of confidence from those matches. But even a lame beggar knows they have been riding on their luck so far in this tournament. Strauss and Trott have been amongst runs and they will need to score again if they want to challenge the Lankans on their home soil.

Weaknesses: England have been poor in fielding. They have dropped catches and misfielded under pressure. Their bowling in power play overs has'nt been great - generally have bowled length and got punished.

Opportunities: They are the T20 champions, they have won Ashes recently. Winning the World Cup when no body expects from them will be a huge lift for the England team.

Threats: They have had a long tour of Australia, then all close games in World Cup. In between this they lost few players to injuries. Not sure if they have enough steam left in their tank to fight another day in the tournament.

OVERALL: There will be a few tired minds and legs in England camp after the game at Colombo. But they can leave the shores with their heads held high for they will have provided 7th thriller of their WC campaign, but just falling short to Sri Lanka.

Just to re-iterate the dates of the World Cup -
23rd March 2011 => Pakistan v West Indies
24th March 2011 => Australia v India (also my birthday, so will be a special match on special day ;)
25th March 2011 => New Zealand v South Africa
26th March 2011 => Sri Lanka v England

Book your calendar and enjoy these games!

The Turning Point

First things first. Barcelona deserved their victory in this enthralling Champions League encounter at the Camp Nou. Over the two legs, Barcelona had more possession of the football and also kept passing the ball at higher success rate than Arsenal did. Hence I dare say that we were better in any department compared to Barcelona. At the time of the draw, everybody had written us off to compete against Barcelona. The fears grew stronger knowing Barcelona had thrashed Real Madrid 5-0 at their home ground. So Arsenal had very little chance, but the boys stood up to the task and with some luck could have also managed to cross this hurdle.

Now I come to the If's and But's that changed the whole context of the match. Arsenal v Barcelona was always going to give a lot of talking points, but there was more of a breaking news when Arsenal announced Robin van Persie to start the second leg against Catalonian giants.
Inclusion of RvP was meant to bolster the attack in a match which we were supposed to defend deep and defend all the time. In that case, the inclusion defies logic. Secondly, How Rosicky still makes to the starting 11 is beyond my imagination, frankly it has touched my nerves now. He should be sold off this summer with immediate effect. In his 6 years at Arsenal he has never helped us win a major trophy. Even yesterday, when the whole team was back tracking defending in numbers. Rosiccky just failed to impress, he hardly has any pace nor did he show desire to win the ball. He fell on the ground very easily and made Sagna's life on the right wing difficult. A total contrast to what we saw on the left wing where Nasri was coupling with Clichy to shut down the attacking threat of Messi and Alves.

Now who are the two most experienced players of the squad? Who would you look upto in the match of this intensity to give fellow players confidence to play at their top of the game? And what happens when those 2 players end up making stupid mistakes? Yes, just when it seemed like Arsenal defenders and our two goal keepers had ensured a clean sheet for first half; Cesc Fabregas tried his cheeky back heel assuming Wilshere to get on the end of it and make a surging run forward. The back heeled pass rebounded and Messi's feather touch control over ensured ball found the back of the net. Arsenal's resistance was broken. And before this happened Arsenal has already lost Scezeny, Abidal had held RvP's throat and our defenders were all on first caution from ref and had to be extremely careful for second half.

There was one bright sparky moment in second half as Nasri ran pitch length on left and won a corner for self. His corner was floated up in the box and Diaby's leap left Bussquets heading the ball into his own net. At 1-1, Arsenal were going through to quarter finals, unexpectedly. But more was to come and RvP did the cynical act of taking a shot after being whistled for offside by the line ref. Did he hear the whiste or not - only he and players can tell? I personally think he saw the flag raised but didnt hear the whistle. Hence he took a shot with his wrong foot in frustation. Had he not seen the flag and not heard the whistle - he would have tried to place the ball in top corner with his left foot rather than blaze away wide of the camera person behind goal. The Swiss ref was to hear no explanation from any of the Arsenal players and he rightly by the letter of the law showed red card to van persie. 11 v 11 was difficult, 11 v 10 became impossible. A classic Xavi goal and Messi penalty sealed the game in Barca's favour and then onwards it was just playstation stuff. Jack Wilshere had plans to disrupt the Barca party but Bendtner had other plans. Big Dane might boast and say all the crap he thinks about himself but he is a nobody when it matters the most. How he failed to control the ball on first touch and take it away from goal only he can explain? Anyways what has happened has happened and we cannot change the result now.

The turning point in this game was most definetely the Cesc's back heel rather than RvP's red card. Again as I said, at the time when draw was made I did not expect us to go through this tie as winners over 2 legs. But just the manner in which it unfolded, we had a chance and we blew it.

Now we have to wake up again and be focussed solely on the Premier League. Hope the players can give us one trophy atleast this season to savour the memories.

Tale of the Tied and Lost match.

Feb 27th 2011. The fans from Kolkata might be even more complaining and cursing their fate as they were deprived of a classic World Cup ODI match between India and England. However the crowd at Banglore too would not be jumping in joy after the result but neverthless they witnessed a match that could have taken life of any passionate cricket fan with a weak heart. Yes, it was such a match where the fortunes of the team swinged like a pendulum clock striking at 12'o clock. Everyone were on the edge of their seats and in anticipation of something to happen.

India won the toss and MSD elected to bat and rightly so. The team boasting of 4 frontline batsmen and 3 deadly hitters of the game, the impetus was to get off to a flying start. And Sehwag just managed to get India its objective in the most riskiest of the manners, however England in particular Andeson were unlucky in the earlier overs. Then it was the Tendulkar show that grabbed all the headlines. Whenever he scores a century, it is now a ritual that the records are broken and new ones are set. So this time, he became the player with most centuries in World Cup - Five. India looked well on course to score a consecutive 350+ score of the tournament until the late collapse by Indian lower order gave England some momentum for the 2nd innings. From England's perspective - Tim Bresnan bowled well enough in right areas to trouble Indian batsmen and get his team important break-through's in the entire match. Indian innings folded at 338.

Only a fool would have given any chance to England batsmen to achieve this target. Because India are the super favorites to win the cup and any score in excess of 300 is always a mental barrier for sides chasing the total. But this is the beauty of modern cricket - 300 is no more a impossible to achieve target. Pietersen, standing a few meters outside of crease handled the swing of Zaheer and negated any flight offered by spinners. Meanwhile Strauss, always stayed on the backfoot and pucnhed through covers or pulled between mid wicket and square leg to keep the score board ticking at par with the asking rate.

There were a few instances in the game where Strauss was lucky to survive. Zaheer's in-cutters took a faint edge into Dhoni's gloves off Strauss's bat but none of the Indian fielders appealed for the caught behind. The big moment of the match was when Ian Bell was trapped in front of the stumps and umpire Billy said Not Out. Yuvi stratight away went for the review and the replays suggested that it was OUT. But because of the strange ICCs 2.5m ruling - Bell was given Not Out. The 3 umpires along with the help of technology also couldnt make the correct decision. At this point of time, England were crusing along for the most comfortable victory they would have had since the Ashes.

Even the most optimistic of Indian supporters would have given on the match now, I know I did. I turned off match and switched on to watch the Arsenal's quest for 1st trophy in 6 years - the Carling cup Final. (Meanwhile England had slowly come more closer to winning and they decided to take the power play). Suddenly I heard a roar from my neighbours place and switched back to cricket channel. Zaheer khan had just come into life and given a whole new dimension to the game. The game turned on its head. A few moments earlier England were winning, now it was India in driver's seat. 35 in last 3 overs and I felt England are definetely out of it (may be not) so I just checked the channel on the other side and van Persie scored for Arsenal levelling the game at 1-1. Coming back to cricket, Piyush Chawla, the leggie bowled two rank bad balls and got the punishment it deserved. The England tail enders made a mockery of bowling in death overs by showing more courage and lofty hitting. Shahzad's six was out of the blue and I was completely taken back and eventually match was tied.

It was a see-saw game yesterday. Eventually stayed balanced.

The last 10 minutes of the Carling Cup final were least memorable as well. The mistakes cost us as they have for the entire season. A horrible mix up between Koscielny and Scezeny ensured the match was wrapped up the Midlands Blues team without playing the Extra Time.

The wait for the trophy continues. (no excuses this time, all our fault.)

The road ahead...

Hello readers, Tis month of February and we have reached a point where 2 mangers have already thrown the towel on their title aspirations. Yes Carlo Ancelloti did it after losing to Liverpool and yesterday after the derby loss Mancini said it will be difficult for them to win the title this season. This effectively leaves only Arsenal as real title challengers, yet no one is still mathematically out of the race.

ManU will continue to be the same till the season end, might not play spectacular but will do enough to win the game. If nothing works on the day United will be helped by the referees :P

Arsenal have the tendency to break down from here on. But our manager insists this team has matured from previous season's defeats. So let's hope irrespective of the result against Barcelona, we keep our toes on ground and win the Carling Cup first and prioritize Premier League over FA cup.

Man City/Chelsea and Spurs will fight for the remaining 2 Champions League places and Spurs might just fall short of it this time. So here's presenting you the case -

Games yet to be played...

Arsenal -- Villa, Liverpool, United, Sunderland, Blackburn, Stoke(H) | Blackpool, Bolton, Fulham, Stoke, WestBrom, Spurs (A) {36 pts}

Chelsea – Birmingham, ManCity, United, Newcastle, Spurs, WestHam, Wigan (H) | Blackpool, Everton, Fulham, United, Stoke, Westbrom (A) {39 pts}

ManCity – Fulham, Stoke, Sunderland, Spurs, WestHam, Wigan (H) | Blackburn, Bolton, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool (A) {33 pts}

ManUnited – Blackpool, Bolton, Chelsea, Everton, Fulham (H) | Arsenal, Blackburn, Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle, Westham, Wigan (A) {36 pts}

Tottenham – Arsenal, Birmingham, Blackpool, Stoke, Westbrom, Westham (H) | Blackpool, Chelsea, Liverpool, ManCity, Wigan, Wolves (A) {36 pts}

United still to play Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea twice. Looking at the fixtures yet to come, a few points dropped here and there is certain for all 5 teams.

Seems like ManU might pull this off easily with 2 games in hand. Arsenal to be 2nd. :(

Discuss… Prove me wrong, please!!!

Day After Deadline Day

Hello!!!
Doing a football blog after a long time. I have just captured emotions of my friend who is a Chelsea fan & what I felt about the transfers with also a peek into what lies ahead for Arsenal in month of February. And last but not the least - the cricket carnival is set upon us starting Feb 19th, so a quick preview of who I think are favorites for the World cup.

Who says Roman has lost interest!!
Good Lord….what a night..full of drama….the amount of money splashed would certainly make Plattini sick :P

Firstly, signing one of biggest stars in EPL is an achievement and considering he’s 26 and still has best years in him is a +ve sign. However 50m pounds is huge money and comes with great risk. Certainly it wouldn’t be bad as it turned out with Shevchenko since Torres is proven in EPL, but Ancelotti will be under severe pressure to get the best out of Torres to justify this record breaking deal! Additionally Roman will be hoping the 70m + money he has spent in a day (21m pounds + Nameja Matic for Luiz deal) proves to be a good investment and gives him the trophy that has eluded him for 6 years.
Now comes the scrutiny, I would certainly like to know how much Ancelotti was involved in both of these deals… because he has sent out 3 promising youngsters and has brought in 2 senior players (though young!) into the squad. Out of the 3 outgoing players on loan, Sturridge was the one which I did not like. He was starting to show some good football when coming as a substitute. Atleast he would have been a competition for Malouda. Its makes sense to send one striker out since we have 5 strikers now, but Sturridge could have been used as a winger due to his pace.
Plus how does this all affect the 23 man squad with 7 home grown players..i m not sure. We have sent out 3 home grown players and bought 2 outside players! Also I too believe that this might mean exit for Drogba in summer as Chelsea certainly would like to cash in on Drogba when he’s still in form, and considering Real Madrid have already enquired about him.

It remains to be seen how these signings help us fight for the title, but hope it does help us remain in all 3 competitions till the end. Torres is going to have a special debut of his life, playing Liverpool. I expect both players to play on Sunday. I’ll check if there is a screening this Sunday of the match, if yes then I’ll go for sure….

Lastly seeing all this activity yesterday, I am sure SAF and Wenger would have texted each other and laughed off on how both Chelsea and Liverpool have wasted big money in a window which according to SAF “has no quality” !!

Cheers..
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Hope the hype of transfers is justified by the players
It works both ways, if you are in the market and you do decent purchases then you strengthen the squad and also it gives encouragement to other players to perform. If you don’t, you could be criticized for not making use of the opportunity. And it is not that SAF and Wenger do not want to sign anyone in Jan window, they are mostly concerned about the inflated prices. Hence they scout for young local and native hidden talent from Europe and sign in summers. So far what I have seen in this season is both Man U and Arsenal does not have depth in the squad… if the first team does not play well they seem to lose the grip of the match. It is only some huge luck that Man U are top and Arsenal/City & Chelsea can consider themselves to be in race for the title. Wenger especially should have tried to sign a CB, if not long term at least on loan basis till end of the season. In that respect, Chelsea did the right thing and went ahead and brought players who they wanted and same with Liverpool. Although with Liverpool it is the start of rebuilding process and we should see them completely over hauling the current squad in coming 2 seasons and then launch a fresh challenge for PL and CL title.

And the biggest loser in whole drama yesterday was Newcastle United. I feel for them. :( They won the Championship and got promoted to PL and were doing really well in 9th place. Then their manager got sacked, although Pardew is good in managing resources, the one earlier wasn’t that bad either. Actually very little to choose between the two. And in transfer window they had to let go their best striker in Andy Carroll. And whatever money they have got most of it will be pocketed by their owner Mike Ashley leaving very little for summer transfers. Hope they don’t get demoralized by this and continue to give their best on the field and actually stay up in the league for many seasons to come.
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No time for Valentine celebrations for Arsenal in month of February
February promises to be another busy month with four Premier League games, an FA Cup tie at Leyton Orient, a trip to Wembley for the Carling Cup Final and the small matter of a UEFA Champions League clash with Barcelona at Emirates Stadium. All this with fresh injury concerns to Samir Nasri, our player of the season so far. But good news could be the return of Vermaelen. But we cannot have any complains, we should feel we are good enough to beat anybody anytime. Nervous days ahead.
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Bat meets the Ball!!!
In a week or few all the countries would start descending on the sub continent for what promises to be a extravagant action of cricket. Like Common wealth games, once again India has found itself unprepared with one of the biggest stadium to host match against England. Yes. Eden Gardens at Kolkata will not be the venue for the game against England and will be played at Bangalore instead. And once again petty politics in the administration has come to the fore. I hope the matter is resolved quickly and we begin with epic which is World Cup 2011.
1) On paper, the hosts INDIA look very strong with batting line up boasting of Sachin Tendulkar, Viru Sehwag, Virat Kohli and power hitters Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan.
2) Having beaten England in the VB Series, the current champions AUSTRALIA can never be counted out. The players will be full of confidence going into World Cup and a lot depends on how players like Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting, Cameron White and Hussey brothers play.
3) They carry the tag of chokers, but this unit of SOUTH AFRICA is very good. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Tsotso can be a handful in any format of the game. Plus they have very dangerous AB DeVilliers supported by ever consistent and reliable Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis.
4) The 4th team could either be SRI LANKA or ENGLAND. On current form it looks like the Lankan Tigers are on the wane and England are blooming bright with their young side. The loss to Aussies in ODI should be seen as minor blip and Strauss will want to correct that as soon as they hit ground running in the World Cup. They are the T20 champions for good reason and they should believe in themselves to reach the Final Four. Sri Lanka are a clever side and can be deceptive but their preparation has not been great as most of the games against the West Indies got rained off.

So here's hoping that the Semis line-up will be India, Australia, South Africa and England with Sri Lanka as dark horses. I wish good luck to other teams to do well and entertain the crowd as much as possible.
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That's all I had to share, thanks for reading and leaving insightful comments.