Whoever wins the mini league wins the title!

Hello All.

I am writing after a long time due to sudden availability of time at work place. In my long absence I have missed paying tributes to Rahul Dravid on his retirement, Sachin Tendulkar on his 100th hundred and Arsenal's new 7 game winning streak. So for all those great guys and great moments I say just two words - Thank You!

Now moving on to something which I can post about which is about to happen in next 2 months. Premier League title race, race for Top 4, race for relegation, IPL season 5 and F1 "Kimi" Returns. This blog will focus only on the Premier League title race and race for Top 4. 

So here we go.

EPL Mini League Table – 2010/11 season
Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
Man U	10	5	2	3	14	10	4	17
Liverpool	10	4	2	4	14	13	1	14
Arsenal	10	3	4	3	14	12	2	13
Tottenham	10	3	4	3	11	11	0	13
Chelsea	10	4	1	5	11	12	-1	13
Man C	10	3	3	4	6	12	-6	12

A few pointers from last season

• Man C is bottom of the mini league. Last season they had bought horde of holding midfielders for 150m and as a result they scored very few goals and still have a negative goal difference of -6.
• Liverpool played well against top teams but not so well against lower teams.
• Arsenal is above Tottenham with a positive goal difference of 2. 
• Chelsea have the highest loss % - 50% games lost
• Man U keep plugging away silently with sometimes help of referees and manage to win the league every time.
• The mini league was closer and games against each other were competitive. There were 16 draws last season and deviation in goal difference is 3.4.

EPL Mini League Table – 2011/12 season so far
Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Points
Man U	9	6	2	1	26	16	10	20
Man C	8	6	1	1	22	8	14	19
Arsenal	8	3	0	5	16	21	-5	9
Liverpool	9	2	3	4	8	14	-6	9
Tottenham	10	2	3	5	13	21	-8	9
Chelsea	8	1	3	4	12	17	-5	6

A few pointers from this season

• The mini league has been one sided this year. Only one of the team has dominated the fixture against each other. There have been 12 draws so far and deviation in goal difference is 9.4.
• 80% of Man U’s positive goal difference can be attributed to their two Arsenal matches.
• 80% of Man C’s positive goal difference can be attributed to their back to back heavy wins earlier in the season against Man U (6-1) and Spurs (5-0)
• Arsenal is the only team with no draws and yet they are in third place on the mini-League table. Proving, once again, that playing for a draw is almost always the worst tactic possible.
• Liverpool have not performed as well as they did last season against Top 6
• Man C corrected their short coming from last season by scoring 22 goals and also conceding only 8 goals after spending 200m on strikers and defenders.
• No matter how the season starts, Spurs are and will always be below Arsenal :)
• Chelsea has the lowest win % - 12% of games won so far.
• As it stands, both Man U and Man City have taken 27% of their total points haul from their top six competitors.

CONCLUSION:

Based on the above stats, it is safe to predict that Manchester derby on 30th April will be the title decider. But it would be so much better if Arsenal wins their game on 8th April at Emirates against City’s mercenaries and which could also firmly put United in cruise control mode of the league.

Predictions for mini league table at the end of the season

Team	P	Points
Man U	38	93
Man C	38	88
Arsenal	38	80
Tottenham	38	72
Chelsea	38	69
Newcastle	38	63
Liverpool	38	57

Once again thanks everyone for reading. Enjoy the summers. :) :) :)

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.