Gone with the 2000s

Gone with the 2000s

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A weekend of sporting spectacle

This weekend turned out to be the one of the most spectacular week in terms of sporting action both on and off the field.

The weekend started with the news of Owen joining ManU. This news comes as a relief to fans after the disappointment of missing out on Benzema. With this Sir Alex would be pleased that he has got one of his favorite players. May be not at best of forms but still Owen deserves a place at ManU and Sir Alex has awarded him a place in one of the biggest clubs in the world. This might turn out to be one of the biggest gambles that he has taken in his long career at ManU. But what it means to the fans is the spectacular sight of seeing Rooney play along side Owen. If Owen manages to come of the slump in form, then this combo of Owen and Rooney will surely guarantee many trophies.

The 2 semi finals were absolute beauty. As I started typing this I am watching the match go into the 5th set with each having 7 games against their name. I have been waiting to write about the winner of this spectacular match but these players have been matching each other in every department for the last 3.5 hrs. After his 2003 victory at US Open one would have expected Andy Roddick to be a major force with many more titles against his name. But unfortunately Andy has never been able to cross the final step. Andy is much like the South African cricket team which plays so well but somehow chokes at decisive moments. What else can you say about this guy with such a great serve and a wonderful overall game? And finally after 4.5 hrs Fedex has done in again. But I feel sorry for Andy, guy gave his best, but one should say WELL FOUGHT, HARD LUCK. Roger won the championship and Andy HEARTS.

Then there was India’s victory against the WI. Dhoni provided us with a glimpse of his big hits for which he was known until he took the mantle of captaincy. Dhoni playing the way he played is great news for the team and viewers.

RJ

IPL 2…Bye Bye Chennai .... courtesy Dhoni

This season of IPL was better than the previous one. The tournament was not over till the last ball. This year the teams were more balanced and more or less it was a level playing field unlike last year.

Except for KKR, all teams were in fray till the last match. Sharukh should thank John for the tremendous work he has done in disintegrating the team. On paper I don’t think KKR was such a bad team but their downfall should be credited to one man John and his mighty support staff team. Imagine this you have 15 member squad and then you have a coaching staff of 9 people. Which other team on earth will have such a high ratio of coach to player. KKR probably had a coach for batting, getting out, bowling, fielding, misfielding, wicket keeping, and one for the 12^th man to train him to effectively get the drinks and accessories on field on time.

Chennai didn’t live up to the expectation and didn’t do justice to the talent they have. Dhoni is probably largely responsible for this bad show. His idea of having the middle order packed with all rounders was a good one, but not Oram. In every post and pre match interview Dhoni admitted that his team’s bowling was bad, but what did he do about that? Leave someone like Nitni in his home ground for Oram, no mate that’s not a way plug the hole. Dhoni was not his usual self in the season. If he was thinking about the world cup it’s good, but is there some other reason to it, only Dhoni can answer it.

My dream squad based on the performances this year:

Hayden, Gilli, Raina, Warne (vc), Dilshan, Yusuf, Kumble (C), Manish pandey, Rohit Sharma, RP singh, Sangakara, Yuvraj, Abhishek Nayar, Irfan Pathan, Virat Kohli/Ravindra Jadeja.

RJ

back from hibernation!!!

It feels like eternity since I last scribbled something. This hibernation has been because of long hours of work these days, continues traveling in weekends and also some laziness that has crept into me these days. As it’s been long time and to make sure I don’t loose track of writing thought will scribble something about couple of things I love to see on weekends or rather at any given point of time at home. One of them is EPL and another of course cricket. To get back into groove of writing, will put in a quickie on why I love and hate IPL.

Why I feel IPL is good for cricket viewers and lovers like me and the game as a whole:

• Don’t think there will be any other occasion where I will probably be cheering an Aussie for every 4 and 6 he hits. In my case its Hayden, he has been amazing so far in this season.
• The entertainment value of cricket had diminished over the last few years. It’s IPL and T20 that has ensured cricket gets it back.
• Cant imagine a situation when I will be praying for an Indian batsman to get out or bowl a bad ball.
  
• This has brought in the city loyalty concept that was alien to Indian sports.
• Where else can you see someone of the caliber of McGrath being dropped in favor of a lesser known player?
• Where else can you see some player who is new to his national side sledging the captain of his country and that too twice his size :)
• There is so much action on and off the field that it adds to the entertainment factor.
• Matches get over in a jiffy. One can watch the match in the evening after office and still hit the bed on time.
• What better entertainment during the hard Indian summer.
• The matches are really unpredictable. Couple of good overs with bat or ball can change the result of the game.
• Where else can you see a player slapping his national mate :)LOL.
• And of course rival players from different national sides sharing the same dressing room. In my opinion this will make the matches played between national sides more interesting.

Enough of roses, shifting the focus on thorns:

• With such enormous amount of money being pumped in, at times the game takes a beat and its more of a business venture. This will definitely spoil the fun involved in the game.
• Commentators are such shameless creatures, even commentary greats like Harsha and Ravi cant get a sentence through without mentioning the sponsors of the tournament. Commentators are naming shots after a sponsor, imagine this one commentator repeatedly calls a six as a DLFer.
  
• This crazy concept of strategic break is probably the worst thing to happen to the game. It robs the momentum of the game even in a format like T20.
• At times the Glamor quotient brought in by team owners is irritating as they get more focus than the game. Shilpa having a conversation with Geoff or Raj, who the hell cares man... except for the camera man and few idiotic commentator.

In my opinion I think in years to come IPL needs more teams and a separate window to ensure all leading players are down there playing the tournament.

RJ