Pages

Saturday 26 December, 2009

Chris Broad: A Racist Bastard

International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Chris Broad has done it again. Like always he has sided the whites. If it is a international match then all nations and race are supposed to be viewed equally, but Chris has never done that.

Chris Broad is the match referee for the the ongoing test series between Australia and West Indies in Australia. Australians who are known for their sledging and unruly behaviour have done it once again. This time Mitchell Johnson and Brad Haddin started to pick up on the West Indies Bowler Sulieman. Sulieman who responded to the harsh behaviour was banned for two match, while the other two were not banned. How does Chris Broad reason this judgement? On the other occasion Mitchel Johnson kept sledging at the West Indies batsmen and what happened when he took the wicket of the the West Indian Captain's wicket? he ran into him and yelled right on his face. Chris Broad defends him by saying that it is the passion for the game and not agression.

A thorough spoil sport is the international referee Chris Broad. Previously when the Pakistan's wicket keeper Rashid Latif appealed for a caught behind after the ball had pitched, he was banned for two matches by Chris Broad. The last encounter of India and Australia in Australia saw 16 wrong decisions and 13 were in the favor of the Australians and Chris Broad had nothing to say. Also Ponting had appealed for a catch and told the umpire it was a clean catch and asked the umpire to give the Indian batsmen out. Later the footages showed that the Catch was not taken by the Australian Captain and Chris Broad neither fined him nor warned him, let alone banning him. More than just appealing Ponting walked towards the umpire and confirmed that the catch was taken, even when he did know that the catch was not genuine.

These are just a few incidents.........

So, Why is Chris Broad's Judgements different to Indians, Pakistanis and West Indians when compared to his decisions against England and Australians

Friday 25 December, 2009

3 Must Watch tamil movies of the season

1> Aayirathil oruvan


The most awaited movie. Two years into the making and is one of the big budget movies that is being released in 2010 for Pongal.

Cast: Karthi (from paruthiveeran fame), Parthiban, Andrea (from Pachhaikilli muthucharam fame) and Reema Sen.

Director: Selvaraghavan, one of the most successful and critically acclaimed director in tamil industry.

Music: G.V Prakash

What to watch out for: Most unique story line and two years of hard work form the crew, Special effects, annimation and VFX.

youtube trailer

2> Tamiz Padum



The first ever Tamil "SPOOF" movie, Full on comedy movie with a lot of dedication in it.
They have made fun of almost all top hit movies of tamil. I have seen the trailers and the songs and they got me rolling on the floor. There is even a SPOOF song.... Man this movie is a laugh riot. They have put in a lot of effort for a spoof movie and also have made sure that they have got their work perfect. There have been a lot of Hollywood spoofs but this is the first in Indian cinema industry. Me and my brother used to talk about Spoofs not made in India. Now we have one.

Cast: Shiva.

Director: Amudhan.

Producer: Dayanidhi Alagiri.

What to watch out for: Tamil movies being ripped and criticised and nothing more.

youtube trailer

3> Goa



One more entertainer from the makers of "Chennai 60028" and "Saroja". Similar crew and seems to be a promising movie.

Cast: Jai, Premji, Amaran, Vaibhav, Sampath and Arvind Aakash.

Director: Venkat Prabhu.

Producer: Soundarya Rajinikanth.

What to watch out for: Venkat Prabhu's Hat trick

youtube trailer

Thursday 10 December, 2009

Legends of my time

I am 24years old and I must say that this generation of mine is one of the most lucky one to have seen the all time best players. I follow some sports and I would like to share what we are blessed with.

You can call all of them as living legends

Cricket : Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar : Most of the people of my generation who have missed watching Don Bradman's work, will not regret as they would have watched most of Sachin's record breaking performances. Very few players shine like a lone star in team sports, he is one such star.

Formula 1: Michael Shumacher : Most promising driver and a gentleman. World's Best Driver. His reputation precedes him.

Moto GP: Valentino Rossi : A true master in racing. Always emerges on the top and has great nerves.

Tennis: Roger Federer : He is one of those people god cannot make again.

Golf: Tiger Woods : He has made himself synonymous to Golf.

Swimming: Michael Phelps : The man who made breaking records as his pass-time.

Cycling: Lance Armstrong : A man with will and power to inspire. I started following Tour de France only after Lance Armstrong's inspirational story.

Football: Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Christiano Ronaldo : All greats and as a small kid I have seen Diego Maradona wonderful performances. Though I do not follow football much, I am gald to have watched these Men perform.

Karate: Chuck Norris : I have not seen his champion performances, as they were much before i was born, I don't even think it was ever aired too, but I have seen his movies, I should be happy to share at least a part of his time line.

There are many other sports that I do not follow like

Chess: Vishwanath Anand

Billiards: Pankaj Advani

both are Indians.

There are a lot of other sports that have greats too but just that i don't follow them.

Friday 4 December, 2009

Sangakara Vs Dhoni

India Vs Sri Lanka Test series

First test: India won the toss and batted first, India were 32/4 when the Wall came to rescue and scored 177. The Indian captain posted a ton to keep the game alive. India’s total was 426 and the Sri Lankan team easily surpassed the score and posted a mammoth 760/7. For India Second Innings was all about the rescue act and saving the game as the pitch was still intact on day 5 and India just did that. The game ended in a draw with India 412/4

Dhoni scored a century in spite being a lower-middle order batsmen and kept wickets.
Sangakara hardly scored in spite of being one of the top order batsmen and did not keep wickets, Knowing that he is the best wicket keeper for SL he should have kept wickets. Prasana Jayawardene (Wicket keeper) did poorly and dropped a vital catch that was actually going to Mahela Jayawardene at 1st slip. P Jayawardene also did not attempt a catch that went between him and the 1st slip. He was also poor in keeping the balls that went to his left.

Second Test: India won the toss and elected to bat and Posted a huge score of 642. By the end of the second day the wicket started to disintegrate and caused a lot of issues to the Sri Lankan Batsmen. With just scoring a meager 229 in their first innings, they were forced to follow on. Their second inning was no better than their first and scored only 269 and losing the game by an inning and 144 runs.

Dhoni kept wickets. He had attacking field setup throughout the game. The main thing was the team selection. He got 3 Pacers and 2 spinners. The inclusion of S Sreeshant was vital as he picked a 5 wicket haul in the first inning
Sangakara did not keep wickets and did not score well. His team selection included 2 seamers who were not very fast and 3 spinners. Come on man that’s silly, every one knows that the batsmen form the subcontinent play spin very well. For most of the game, he had a very defensive field set up and the Lankans were too worried about the pitch. Prasana Jayawardane missed a vital catch this match too, that too of Shewag when he was at 0. Shewag went ahead and scored a century.

Third Test: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat and posted a total 393. India batting second is already way past it and has a healthy lead of 230 and counting.
The previous test India batted first and the Lankans blamed the pitch; they felt it was not suitable for batting from day three. This pitch may have not been the same like the Green Park Kanpur pitch, but India just lost one wicket when the surpassed the Sri Lankan tally of 393 and also gave a lead of 50 in the very same day with a just a loss of one wicket.
So I suggest Lanka not to worry too much about the pitch. (I know it’s not their home ground unlike it is for Indians). If India can score 443 on a day 2 pitch and Lanka can only score 370 odd in day 1 pitch, with India playing fewer overs than SL, SL should not blame the pitch.

Dhoni’s attitude: Dhoni was not bothered about the win that will fetch India the No.1 slot. So, he kept his mind cool and could think about his field placing and bowler regulation even while keeping wickets
Sangakara’s attitude: He had a big responsibility of breaking the jinx; Sri Lanka has not won a test match on Indian soil for a very long time. He couldn’t think of options when Shewag was sending the ball all throughout the park. He was not even keeping wickets, he must think better and try to make better use of his resources as he is got the Second best team in the World while Dhoni has just got the third best team in the World.
Interesting fact about Dhoni : has captained 10 matches and yet to loose a match.

When Sehwag wags his bat

Day 2 of the 3rd test between India and Sri Lanka saw a blistering performance by Sehwag’s who got to his double century in lightning speed, this is his 6th test double hundred and the first by any Indian batsmen. Sehwag who opened the innings with his new partner Murali Vijay was unbeaten at 284 runs off 239 balls by the end of day’s play. Sehwag whacked 40 boundaries and 7 sixers in his knock, allowing India to ease past the Sri Lankan total of 393. It seemed like a day of breaking records.

At the end of the day, India were 443/1 in 79 overs with a runrate of 5.61.

Day 3, Sehwag fell 7 runs short of his third triple century. With every hour there were records being shattered, with the 7 more runs Sehwag could have broken many more records. However, he has put India in the driving seat, to go ahead and win the game and continue their dream run, and also acquire their number one spot which they have been hunting for quite some time now.

A very interesting fact:

Previous to the second test, Sehwag’s last 11 centuries were above 150 runs, no one has ever done this. Last match Sri Lankans stopped his run when they got him out in 130s. This match his century is again gone past the 150 mark. If he could have just managed to pull the 150 in the previous match, his record would still be piling.

Records

Only Batsmen to share 200 plus runs partnership with both 1st wicket and 2nd wicket in the same innings and that too he has achieved this twice.
Highest individual score in Brabourne, Mumbai (surpassing Vinoo Mankad’s 233 odd runs scored in the late 50s)
First Indian to score 6 double centuries.
First Indian to score 2 double centuries against SL (no Indian has managed to score even one)
First Indian to score 250 or more in 4 innings.
First Indian to score 200 in boundaries (40x4 , 7x6)
Second Fastest double century (168 balls)
Third highest individual score in a single day (284)

Wednesday 2 December, 2009

Will India be the No.1 Test team

Cricket

India plays Sri Lanka today in the ongoing Sri Lanka tour of India. India Leads the 3match series 1-0. The third and final match is crutial for both the teams. Sri Lanka Placed 2nd in the ICC test rating will be looking for a victory to square the series and avoid a series defeat. On the other hand India ranked No. 3 will be looking out for a victory too, as this will put them into first position and allow them to achieve something that they have never done before.
ICC team Rankings (right click and open in new window)
ICC player Rankings (right click and open in new window)

India is in the second position in the ODI rankings, with Australia and South Africa taking the top honours in the ODI rankings and Test rankings respectively.

A win in the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, will be one of the significant achievements. It just does not show that India has won the match or achieved the first position, but also its path of victories and raises after failures.

Captain Cool's take
Dhoni like usual is not worried about the records and is just looking forward for winning the match and hence winning the series. Dhoni feels that, with performances, records will come and thereby the team should not worry about the records and get under pressure.