$$$SOLD$$$

After months of controversy the Indian Premier League is back with a bang, is more bigger and with renewed vigour and greater transparency this year's IPL bidding process kicked off with familiar and professional auctioneer Richard Madley. The bidding was contested with great intensity and every rupee was spent with a calculated risk and strategy to get the team balance right. This IPL 4 auction warranted some surprises with addition of two new teams to the league as well as many teams like Kolkata Knight Riders, Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers went for clean slate. The others had the financial muscle to pull out big players first and early in the day by bidding aggressively high on the players they wished for. The 10 franchises together bought 113 players at a whopping $63115000 (over 63 million dollars) if my math is correct. Lets have a look at few hits and misses from the bidding room in Bengalaru.

1. Gautam Gambhir sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for a record $2.4 million. He played last season for Delhi Daredevils and he has been in good form for India against Saffers in the recent series. However T20 is a different ball game and he should prove handy with his captaincy skills as well. He was first out of the hat on Day 1 and the franchises went all the way to get their man, eventually the Knights prevailed which I say is a very good buy.

2. Yusuf Pathan sold to Kolkata Knight Riders for $2.1 million. This was the 3rd name out and once again there was aggressive bidding from teams Banaglore, Pune and Kolkata for the most prized asset of T20 cricket. Kolkata won the challenge here as well and paid up solid amount to buy him. He will ofcourse prove to be worth the money he is being paid.

3. Rohit Sharma sold to Mumbai Indians for $2 million. Ohh this one was pulled of by my team Mumbai Indians. Hmm, not one of my wish list but neverthless an Indian player will always help in T20 and Rohit Sharma is a good one at. Hope he can prosper under Tendulkar's wings and set the stage on fire.

4. Dale Steyn goes to Deccan Chargers for $1.2 million. The best bowler in the world at the moment and for 1.2 million, he could be the best business made by Deccan Chargers, the team that won the 2nd IPL season. Again in my eyes this is a very good buy.

5. Saurabh Tiwary to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $1.6 million. Hmm, there was a bit of controversy surrounding this one as Preity Zinta raised the bid very late on the hammer. It was sighted late by Madley and a few sparks were let out from the Royal Challengers Banglore camp. Until the Jr. Mallya went up and cleared the air with the Punjab team. It was also sad for me to see Saurabh Tiwary go as he had played very well for Mumbai in last season.

That was Day 1 and names like Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara (my 2nd favorite next to Sachin) and monster-hitter Chris Gayle missing out. Day 2 came up with some lesser known players at less base prices. And it was interesting to see how much the team owners knew about them as they set out for bidding process again. Most of the day went smoothly with many players being unsold and franchises waited for the other teams to pour some extra cash on fringe players.

6. Munaf Patel sold to Mumbai Indians for $700,000. Mumbai Indians were one of those that fell into trap of raising the bid price without much intention to buy and eventually had to pay price for it. It all started between Banglore and Delhi from base price of $200000, but Mrs. Ambani suddenly raised her bid at $450000 and Banglore continued their pursuit when they finally called off at $700k. Mumbai Indians team looked flummoxed and they bought Munaf Patel hesitantly in the team. Now thats the magic and unpredictability of an auction!

7. Dan Christian to Deccan Chargers for $900,000. Meanwhile Deccan Chargers were conservative, yet building a strong team with thoughtful approach and buying good players at a very good price. However,one such name cropped who I nor any from my friends or the people in the room had heard of - Dan Christian.Yes, the bidding went on and on for him between the Chargers and Chennai Super Kings. Chargers were laughed off at for their pursuit of Christian, who must have already started celebrating his 2011 Christmas.

8. Mohammad Kaif went to Royal Challengers Bangalore for $130,000. He was brought into auction action for 3rd time in the day when he went un-bid for two times. This time he was being called at $100k by Pune's owners and to everyone's surprise Banglore asked $110k. Pune's owner had given up before again bidding $120k. But Bengalaru's Vijay Mallya had the last laugh by buying him for $130k. And thus the auction of IPL Season 4,2011 came to an end.

9. But some huge players missed out on the jamboree that is IPL. Sourav Ganguly's playing career must now come to an end when he was not picked up by his home team Kolkata nor any other franchises as well thought he is worth to go for. Brian Lara who announced he could return for IPL but with less of player and more of mentor role, lessened the chances for himself. Because who wants a mentor, the auction is about players. Another player of massive impact Chris Gayle of West Indies who had recently scored a triple century against Sri Lanka in test series and 32 runs of 1 over in T20 against Australia, he's also the first centurion T20 World Cup. He will be sorely missed. And also missed will be England's Ashes heroes Ian Bell, Chris Tremlett, James Anderson, Tim Bresnan and Graemme Swann.

10. Two teams - Kings XI Punjab and Pune Warriors that were left with a purse in excess of a million dollars should feel that these unsold players could haunt them in their sleep if any of those have a good World Cup. Well something is seriously wrong with teams wearing Fly Emirates jersey. They are shy to spend money on transfers. Kings XI Punjab did an Arsenal act by saving almost 2mn dollars in their kitty.

Moral of the story is "However great a player you may be, you need to be playing active cricket."

All the best to Mumbai Indians for IPL 4 and hope players do well and get us the 1st trophy.

Thank You Arsenal

Happy New Year Gooners! One made all the more pleasant of course by a huge morale lifting win over title rivals Chelsea. OK, so the game wasn't technically on the Boxing Day but Arsenal made sure they threw a heavyweight punch into the faces of those critics who questioned our ability to win the big games.

Having lost to Manchester United away at Old Trafford a fortnight ago still pinches a lot but this victory should come as healing cure and restore the belief about this side that has maturity to win the games when they matter the most.

It does'nt get any easier from here on. The fixtures for festive period have just begun and we need to maintain the consistent run of form in our next 3 games against Wigan, Birmingham and Manc City.At the same time we must also hope our rivals and current leaders drop some points, as we do not face them at Emirates till end of April.

The Champions League draw is always very exciting, arguably even more so when you reach the latter stages. Fortunately for us Gooners it is something we have had bitter experiences in recent seasons against the super favorites Barcelona. To be honest, Barca play at a totally different level; so I will be content even if we manage to lose only by an odd single goal.

And of course there is the domestic cups that Arsenal are chasing and as a fan I will take them all this season. Bring on whatever cup we can win this season. I believe this has to be the season which will wipe out the tag line of "5 years without trophy".

The only regrets for this season so far have been the defeats at home to Spurs and Newcastle. Also in some small proportions Wenger's resistance to signing a decent goal keeper. But on the plus side, we retained Cesc Fabregas after intense summer speculations and also don't get me wrong, we have played better this season, in fact for me we've played better and lost but may be we have been so much better that it still keeps us very close to our opponents.

The season is long,
Our squad is strong.
We have the desire,
to go higher.
We shall overcome the syndrome,
The Cup will finally come home.

Good Wishes & Happy New Year To Everyone. Cheers!

Pictoblog!

Snaps from my recent trip :)

Just before entering the beach:

Hmmmm. Nice :)



Temple View:



Me:












Evening scenery:





Life's a beach -

The Diwali Weekend

It ocassionally happens that I have something spectacular to talk about so I thought its time I blah blah about something. But I got confused as to which topic to write. I have three things on my plate and I can write about 1024 words on each, but instead I choose to write just a few sentences on what I think on those topics. D'oh! I am going to talk about some of the events that took place during the Diwali weekend - Barack Obama's visit to India, India's drawn test match against Kiwis & my vacation trip to the beaches of Ganpatipule.

Obama Visits India:
The Obamas arrived on the auspicious occasion of Diwali. Grand arrangements were made and Manmohan Singh himself went to receive the most extraordinary couple at the Mumbai airport. Ever since his first speech for the Democrats as a presidential candidate, then on the day he took his oath and gave his first speech as a victorious President, then later when he made a few decisions in correcting the US Economy along with the Fed - he has been my personal favorite! And now here he is in my motherland wooing zillions like me.
Q) So what is he here for?
A) He is here on an economic mission. As two great functional democracies, India and the United States must be seen standing together and exuding confidence of a distinct world view, based on protecting pluralism and peoples’ will. His list of business includes seeking greater market access for US companies in the retail and financial services sectors, and greater technology protection for energy companies.
Q) Did India get what it expected from the US Prez?
A) Well, the answer is certainly 'yes we did'. President Barack Obama has proved skeptics wrong. He made all the noises we wanted to hear: support for a permanent seat in the UNSC, lifting curbs on dual-use technology exports, cooperation in homeland security and membership of restrictive multilateral treaties and organizations such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group, strongly advising Pakistan to whip crack on all the terrorist outfits to make way for peace dialogues, announcing more opportunities in educational institutions for Indian students in order to build knowledge warehouses, accepting the fact that outsourcing is still the way to go for the US companies. Apart from all these, he also paid rich tributes to Aryabhatta, Gandhiji, Rabindranath Tagore and Ambedkar.
The bottomline - He is liked in India not because we think he will donate a few million dollars to us, but because Indians like men of character and wisdom. His speeches reflect his mind and his heart. As a man of wisdom and straightforward heart that loves India, he is welcome but the rest is a ruthless race for business. Hence keeping all our eggs in the US basket will not be wise.

Kiwis test India's mettle:
The 1st test between India and New Zealand was played out in this festive period. So, MSD finally won the toss and elected to bat on a flat track. As expected we saw easy early fireworks from Sehwag in first innings and Sachin decided to make us wait longer for the record 50th test ton. Jesse Ryder loves to toy around with Indian spinners and he once again stood rock solid to protect his wicket. However, it was Chris Martin's majestic bowling spell and inexplicable harakiri by Indian batsmen which swung the test match in New Zealand's favour. At 65/6, I had almost given up on India's chances to save the test match; it was time for the Kiwi Redemption. But what can be said about Laxman that's not been said before? It is perhaps easier to define Laxman in crisis situations. "Laxman just did what he always does, He scores runs." The fabulous wristy shots come and go, the singles are always flowing, the gaps are found repeatedly, and his face is calm. There is the ball and his reaction to it. That's it. On the other end he had Harbhajan Singh, high on confidence after scoring career best 69 in first innings, he started second innings in a similar flashy fashion. He played the reverse sweep, the hoick over midwicket, the walk-down-the-pitch-and-smack shots, and the lofted hits over long-on fielders. But that's Bhajji the batsman for you. He failed miserably with the ball in hand but ensured that his efforts with bat help the cause. There was a stark contrast in the way both VVS and Harbhajan batted to save India from going down in the series described as cakewalk for the reigning champions.

A trip down the Konkan Lane:
I spent my Diwali in Ratnagiri district of the Konkan region. It felt good to be away from the noisy and smoke filled Mumbai during the festival. On this piligrimage, I was accompanied by my parents and relatives. We left Mumbai at 11 pm and after 8 hours of driving through the Sahyadri ghats we reached the location early morning 7 am. After a couple of hours rest, we went to the Ganpatipule temple to seek blessings from the elephant-god. From there we moved to a few places of historic importance, Keshavsut's memorial (a reknowned poet), Lokmanya Tilak's Birthplace (a freedom fighter). Then after having spicy lunch we headed back to our cottage to take afternoon nap. I spent my time playing football with my cousins and after sunset we all spent our time splashing waves on the beach. The scenery at the beach front was absolutely awesome: the cool low tide waves, the sun setting against slight drizzle of rain causing a magical rainbow. On the next day we visited the Ratnadurg Fort built by Shivaji Maharaj's Navy Admiral Kanhoji Angre. The horse shoe shaped fort is surrounded by the sea on one side and village on the other side. Whenever I visit such forts, I get nostalgic and I imagine how these forts still withstand the nature's brute force. Hats off to the architects of those ancient times and clearly should be an embarrasment for the builders of the bridge at CW games, New Delhi. From there we carried on with our trip to another of temples in that region. Marleshwar temple is within a mountain cave and dwelling place of Shiva. (the father of elephant god). The mythology says that Shiva has been reincarnated in this place for the betterment of villagers to protect them from snakes. And it may be true indeed. Inside the temple there were snakes lying around and the priests that were near by the idol. I was hell terrified and I made a quick exit from the temple by offering my prayers from the edge of the cave. :) We then marched on to museum created to depict the life of Shivaji Maharaj, our great Maratha Warrior. That was our last stop before we started our journey back home. The return journey is always more tiring than the onward journey, but all in all it was a great trip, one to cherish for a long time. I'll soon post some pics from the trip.

Cheers.

FIFA Ballon D'Or

FIFA and France Football have announced the nominees for this year's prestigious FIFA's World Player of the Year Awards. Players from Spain have dominated the list and rightly so. My dissection of nominees on a slightly different angle from which I can probably conclude who could be the winner on Jan 10 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland.

League-wise:
La Liga =11
Bundesliga = 5
Serie A = 4
Premier League = 3

Club-wise:
Barcelona = 6
Bayern Munich = 5
Real Madrid = 4
Inter Milan = 4
Atletico Madrid = 1
Arsenal = 1
Chelsea = 1
Sunderland = 1

Position-wise:
Goalkeepers = 2
Defenders = 4
Central Midfielders = 6
Attacking Midfielders = 5
Strikers = 6

Historically speaking:
Barcelona = 7 winners (Romario, Ronaldo X 2*, Rivaldo, Ronaldinho X 2, Messi)
Real Madrid = 4 winners (Figo, Ronaldo, Zidane, Cannavaro)
Juventus = 4 winners (Baggio, Zidane X 2*, Cannavaro)
AC Milan = 3 winners (van Basten, Weah, Kaka)
Inter Milan = 3 winners (Matthaus, Ronaldo X 2*)

WC 1994 Finals = Romario scored in shoot out
WC 1998 Finals = Zidane scored
WC 2002 Finals = Ronaldo scored
WC 2006 Finals = Cannavaro

(Note: * denotes played for 2 clubs in the same year)

Based on above statistics, it is safe to say that neither England nor Premier League players have left their mark on awards night. Only once on top and mostly finished in second or even in third place. The above stats also conclude that a central midfielder playing for Barcelona in La Liga who has also scored the goal in the Finals of the World Cup stands the best chance of winning the award. Andres Iniesta.

This year also sees the introduction of FIFA Manager of the Year award. The choices again are not surprising, because they all have either won some trophy for the club/country for the year or have been longest serving managers for their historic clubs. The obvious and popular choice would be to give this award to someone who has helped the country win the world cup or club achieve a treble in all competitions. Vicente Del Bosque and Jose Mourinho have achieved the feat with their respective teams; One had the players who knew their roles and performed as champions they were known to become and the Special One possesses special management skills and he knows exactly how he wants his team to play and makes them victorious champions no matter what. But one manager who stands out for me is he who believed in youth system, he who symbolized attacking football the way his Nazi ancestors used Blitzkreig on the armed forces, he who keeps a 'Loew' profile. Joachim Loew.

Well those are my votes for awards, who do you think is the most deserving player to win it this year?

Sachining & Shining

Hello again and a warm welcome to thee. This one is a short blog. I wrote a few weeks back about how bureaucrats are bringing disrepute to country by mismanaging the Games. I feared if India’s a one sport nation. Two weeks later those doubts have been put to rest.

A lot of news hungry section of media sensationalized and brought much malign to the Games. However the artists from India ensured a grand opening ceremony witnessed by thousands in the stadium and many others on television. I only watched it in bits and pieces and some on You Tube and forwarded emails… Reason – Arsenal vs. Chelsea. It is also people like me who do not watch the good things happening around but are first to criticize when things go wrong. But I have made a decent effort to overcome that and have kept a close eye on India’s performance in Games. 32 gold medals and counting… make me feel proud of the athletes. We have achieved more than what we did 8 years ago in Manchester. With medals in Shooting, Weightlifting, Boxing and Athletics and awaiting medals in Table Tennis and Hockey, it clearly shows the youth is participating in all possible games. And who are these winners – most of them from the small towns and cities of the country. Our next aim should be to repeat such performances in Olympics as well and try to beat the Chinese, Americans and Russians in some of the games in which they dominate the world sport. I would urge parents of all youngsters in the country to take up sport seriously as part of academics and encourage them to remain fit and healthy when the events such as these come knocking at the doorstep.

Cricket is Religion and Sachin Tendulkar is GOD. And He once again showed why He is an All Time Legend of a cricketer. Coming into 2nd test match after being named ICC Player of the Year, Sachin showed no signs of high headedness. He did what He does the best; a double century while guiding Vijay to his maiden test hundred. Even the statisticians must have forgotten the count of records that Sachin keeps on adding to his name. He can be compared to Ryan Giggs in this aspect – I once heard that Giggs played his 98471st minute on the pitch and that was published as a club record. Hehe, just joshing. :)

A 2-0 win over the Aussies looks so flattering to be deceived; but it was a hard earned series win which involved huge efforts from the entire team and bowlers especially, Zaheer Khan. He reverse swung the sessions of the match in India’s favor which the Australian bowlers failed to do. The momentum is now with India as we go into ODI series and hope they youngsters come good again. The prep for World Cup 2011 has to begin from now…

Congratulations & Thanks a Ton to All Indian Athletes in Commonwealth Games 2010 and Indian Cricket Team for giving 2 joyous weeks!!!

A Proud Indian.

Whaddaaplayaaa!!!

Hello readers, Welcome to the 11th edition of my simple blogs. Today I am writing this is in ecstasy. No, I have'nt been taking drugs or have been high on ale, but I just witnessed a heart breaking, nerve wretching and happy ending test match in office breakout area which India won convincingly by more than half a day to spare. Claps. Claps. Claps.

I woke up today morning with a feeling that Sachin will finally deliver when it matters the most and silence his critics. One can't blame the Master - he did his bit with the bat and fell to Bollinger's tact. I left for office dejected having absolutely no hopes on Dhoni pulling it off for us. Well, I had forgotten about one man army against the Aussies, who very recently in Sri Lanka series bailed us out from a similar position chasing 258. The Very Very Special Laxman.



VVS joined Sachin at crease with India still 140 runs behind. Remember Laxman was playing with an injured back. He accumulated runs at fast rate thus taking pressure off Sachin's shoulders. Even after Dhoni's run out; Laxman kept scoring steadily in partnership with Ishant Sharma. Whats up with this lanky bowler, bowled no-balls in both the innings before a dream spell where he picked 3 wickets. Now I gotcha why he bowled no-balls, he had them balls preserved for batting in tense situation. VVS and Ishant took the game away from Australia. Bravado.



In the closing stages of the game, Laxman showed all his emotions on the pitch. It was so apparent that he just wanted to win this game so ever badly for his country. He gestured throwing a bat at Ojha, scolded Raina for hearing his decision before making a call on whether to take a run. All in all, it was a sweet effort from the Hyderabadi batsman to once again pin down Ponting's men. As the winning runs were scored the entire country erupted in joy. The players from dressing room went running to the field to congratulate the heroes. And there I stood in office breakout area, with almost teary moist eyes, murmuring to meself,
"Thanks VVS. Take a bow, my son."