Go kings Go!

The Chennai Superkings(CSK) under the captaincy of Dhoni has now won 4 out of 4 to remain the only team to be unbeaten in IPL. Today the CSK defeated the sorry Bangalore Royal challengers by 13 runs to hand Vijay Mallya's team their 3rd defeat in 4 games. The team captain Rahul Dravid made his second duck in consecutive games to make things worse for his team. The main problem for the BRC is that they dont have any player in the team apart from Ross Taylor who looks like a Twenty20 specialist. Even though the Royal challengers beat Mumbai Indians (The other struggling team in the tournament) they still look out of sorts and the captain seems to be running out of ideas.

The absence of a renowned big hitter in the team is costing the BRC's a lot. The role played by Dhoni for the chennai team today is what that is lacking for the Royal Challengers. Martin Crowe and Rahul Dravid have to sit together and come up with a better strategy to make optimum use of the available resources. The Chennai Superkings though have done exceedingly well in this tournament and at the end of the first week they are at the top of the table. Great performances by the inexperianced bowling line up and consistancy at the top of the order has helped them to succeed.

Dhoni's captaincy has again been very precise and his cool head under pressure situations has helped the team from Chennai. Dhoni has got great response from his inexperianced bowling line up and the inclusion of Albie Morkel and Makaya Ntini will sure bolster the same. Elsewhere the Mumbai Indians crashed to their 4 consecutive defeat of the tournament and remain the only team to have not won a game yet. Their team looks in total shambles in the absence of their icon player Sachin Tendulkar and Harbajan recently due to his row with Sreesanth. Rajasthan Royals continue to impress with their 3rd consecutive win and are in second spot behind the CSKs.

Punjab Kings X1 also overcame a dissapointing start to the tournament to win two games in a row to put them back in contention. Adam Gilchrist's fastest IPL century gave the strong Deccan Chargers their first victroy of the tournament against the hapless Mumbai attack.

The first week of cricket was really interesting and entertaining. When IPL began I was little skeptical regarding the same due to the involvement of the bollywood and the kollywood stars but after the first few games the focus has shifted to cricket. Cricket has been really fantastic only the Harbajan and Sreesant row has taken some sheen of a good week's cricket. Harbajan has plead guilty and has been handed 10 games ban from IPL whereas Sreesanth has been let off with a warning. I guess Sreesanth needs to be handed a more serious punishment than just a warning. His behaviour on the field is still questionable. The fact that Sreesant cried and made a scene in front of millions of viewers accross the world should not excuse him from the ridiculous behaviour in that match when he was bowling. Behaviour like that in the name of aggression should not be tolerated in any sport.

IPL - First Look

IPL began on friday with a match between the Kolkata Knight riders and Bangalore Royal challengers. we all know the hype behind this tournament and everyone was waiting for the big opening to see how the teams square up. The match in itself was not that interesting as it was completely one sided affair. The RC (Royal Challengers) were beaten by one of the greatest innings seen on cricket field by any player on any format from Brendon Mcullum of Kolkata Knight Riders. Mcullum smashed every bowler from the Bangalore team to finish with the highest induvidual score in this format when he made 158 n.o of just 73 deliveries.

The match was one sided as the team lead by Rahul Dravid collapsed to make just 82 and losing the game by 140 runs. I was lucky enough to watch all the games this weekend and also all the teams in action. My first impression was that Kolkata team owned by Sharukh Khan seems to be the team to beat. They have the right balance with the right mix of youth and experiance. The Knight Riders have played two and won two.

The other team which was very impressive was the Chennai Super kings lead by Dhoni. The Super Kings scored 240 in 20 overs riding on another great century in two days this time by an Australian Micheal Hussey. Hussey made 116 n.o of just 54 deliveries ably assisted by Hayden, Raina and Badrinath. The Super Kings have an excellent batting lineup but barring Murali they have a very week and inexprerianced bowling lineup.

The next team which impressed me was the Delhi Daredevils lead by Virender Sehwag. The team has a very good bowling attack lead by the great Glenn Mcgrath who looked like he had been bowling all the while. The batting lead by the captain himself looks impressive too.

The Bangalore RC who had a forgettable first outing came back strongly to defeat the Mumbai Champs lead by Bajji in the absence of Sachin. The RC team which I thought as the weak link in this tournament actually look strong in the presence of experianced Chandrapaul, Kallis, Boucher along with the captain Dravid which came into play against the Mumbai team in a tense chase. The team also contains promising youngters like Virat Kohli who impressed one and all with his batting in the U-19 world cup.

The Kings X1 lead by Yuvraj, looks a strong outfit too inspite of their loss to the chennai team. They have a good balance in team and their bowling lead by Brett Lee looks fine. As I am writing this article they are battling with the Rajathan Royals lead by Shane Warne. The Rajasthan Royals seem like the weakest in the championship with a weak bowling attack apart from the genius Shane Warne himself. Their batting too looked very weak against the Delhi Daredevils attack.

The Deccan Chargers though were undone by a bad pitch in Eden gardens where both teams struggled to score runs freely. We can probably assess their strength and weeknesses in the coming games.

All in all the tournament was an interesting watch with all teams to trying to find their feet in this format. We will probably know about the teams more as the tournament progresses in the coming week. Lets hope that the standards improve and we have more close games in the coming week.

Lunch time talk

During lunch time my friends and I normally discuss about something or the other to kill time. The topics of discussion range from Sports to Politics. We discuss about Tendulkar as well as Sharukh Khan. Sometimes even controversial topics from the happenings in the current Indian politics. Couple of days back we were just sitting at the table talking about the comics we used to read when we were kids and suddenly the topic changed to the cartoons we used to watch. Everyone remembered the spiderman, He-Man and the other cartoons which used to come on DD at that time.

When we were growing up we just had one channel on television and had no options but come to think of it that was not a bad thing. We were wondering as to how the quality of programs in television has changed in the last 15 years or so. Even though the options for us as kids was very less the quality of entertainment was actually much better then what we have right now. The content and the variety of programs on DD was actually much better than the “Mega” serials we see on all TV channels these days. Those days not having too many options made sure that kids went outside to play more often than what we see from kids in this generation.

These days the programs on television is mostly based on movies. Every channel will have same type of programs which will be like Movie Reviews, Song Countdowns, Movie Countdowns, Star interviews and inbetween those lots of ads. While these programs are entertaining it doesnt stop us from flipping channels at regular intervals. There are not too many programs these days which are different and unique and which does not touch upon cinema. Things were different 15-20 years back, we had lots of quality entertainment of DD those days. Even though all of us cursed DD for their constant interruptions and their sometimes annoying coverage of sports and stuff, they did have some great content.

Nobody can forget the classics such as “Vikram Aur Betaal”, “Fauji”, “Byomkesh Bakshi”, “Malgudi Days”, “Nukkad” etc. DD was great for kids too with cartoons such as Spiderman, He-Man, Shazzam, Junglebook and also some serials such as Indradanush which as a kid I used to love to watch. The variety was great I have missed out so many other great DD seriels and programs which we used to enjoy watching those days with less ad breaks. Television used to be true family entertainment. Parents never had to worry too much regarding inappropriate content if watching with kids. These days parents are always at high alert making sure that they change the channels at the right moment mostly to some sports or discovery or to some news channel.

Well even though I used to hate Door Darshan at that time, when we look back the best TV viewing experiance was only when we just had one channel. Anyways thats my opinion as I cannot stand the nonsense dished out these days on television in form of entertainment. Well DD might have taken a backseat these days with the advent of cable networks in India but in terms of quality of content they were way ahead

IPL isnt promoting anything

The dismal performance by the Indians against the visiting South Africans clearly proves that the players were not ready for this battle. Unfortunately over the past few weeks IPL has been given more media coverage than the current test series. The Indian players talking about their plans about a tournament which has not yet started and which isnt an International fixture either shows their lack of interest in this ongoing test series. The South Africans on the other hand are taking this more seriously and are deservedly ahead in this series dominating both the games played till now.

BCCI's excuse for IPL is that it will promote cricket, but where? I dont think Twenty20 tournament atleast in India needs any promotion. How many players from Kenya and Bangladesh are part of IPL?So what and where are we promoting cricket?BCCI are just trying make the most of the popularity gained by the latest version of the game in India after the WC win. BCCI has no interest to promote anything by having this tournament. BCCI as a board will become richer and the players who signed up will make money. Other than the two parties mentioned no one is gaining because of this tournament. Players have already started suggesting that this should be part of ICC's annual schedule which is hilarious as this is not an International tournament.

This is an Indian domestic league which has international players signed up for, similar to county cricket in England. ECB isnt asking ICC to include their Twenty20 league in the International calender. If BCCI is going to have this tournament in the middle nowhere without taking the International calender into consideration then they better be prepared to miss some key players on International duties. This is getting completely out of control. When BCCI started this concept I was totally for it as the concept was completely different for cricket but now I am not able to stand it anymore.

The English players who said that they dont want to be a part of the league want their own domestic tournament adjusted to accomodate IPL. This is just getting ridiculous. Why would ECB reshedule their domestic tournament to accomodate another country's domestic tournament? Its the players who should decide where they want to play. Which league they want to represent, no board is going to reschedule anything to accomodate a 44 day tournament. The problem is that these ameturish comments have come from players like Kevin Pieterson and Ricky Ponting.

BCCI has made sure that the players themselves are looking forward to IPL more than their International fixtures. Before the Pakistan tour was called off, there were few Australian who were dissapointed that they wouldnt be able to make it to the first edition of this league. The Indians already seem to be more interested in promoting their franchise rather than putting extra hours in practice for an International series. The series against the South Africans was very important for India as this was a follow up to a successful tour down under. A good performance by the home team would have made sure that they would be the undisputed number 2 in test cricket.

The performance in Ahmedabad Shows that we dont deserve that tag. The youngsters should realise that they can score plenty of runs or claim plenty of wickets in IPL but as Kallis rightly put it, only your performance in test cricket will be remembered. There have been lots of players who have great record in domestic cricket but the viewers will only remember the Laras, the Tendulkars or the Kumbles of cricket. Playing for the country gives a player the ultimate satisfaction and that should be the first priority for any cricketer. BCCI might make lots of money and probably the team owners will do too but they have to be careful that they dont bring a divide among the cricket fraternity. Again I stand by my statement that BCCI isnt promoting anything through IPL but just are reiterating the fact that they are the big boss of cricket.

Indians lose the plot

An inept batting performance by the Indians handed South Africa a 1-0 lead in the 3 match series in Ahmedabad. The Indians were shot out for 76 in the first innings which virtually ended their challenge in the second test match. The Indian batting was clueless against the South African pace bowlers with Dale Steyn living up to his pre series hype.

Steyn and Co bundled out the Indians in couple of sessions on the first day with none of the home team batsmen able to apply themselves on a good batting pitch. Agreed that there was some movement on the first morning but that doesnt justify a score of 76. This is exactly what I was worried about when we started getting those unnecessary statements from the young Indian stars after the Australian tour. The Indian team had no planning either in their batting or when they were on the field.

I guess the hype surrounding IPL is also for sure a reason for this debacle. The team members were seen dancing and enjoying themselves on their franchise launches before this series started and also inbetween the games. This shows that the seriousness required for a series which would have made this team undisputed number 2 in tests was not present. SA on the other hand have worked hard and they deserve this success. Their batting was great and their bowling was very effective on a good batting track.

I guess the youngsters in the Indian team have already been spoilt enough with so much of money through IPL that they are not that interested in tests anymore. This was my exact point when the IPL auctions were going on. The kind of rubbish statements made by the youngsters after the Australian series looks very immature now after this game. You can bet on your bottom dollar that Australia will never put up such a horrible performance anywhere, leave alone at home. Thats what makes them a champion team and they will continue to be there. India does not deserve the number 2 spot and that honour should rightly go to the proteas regardless of the outcome of the series.

I am not saying that based on this one performance but we lack the consistancy associated with the top two spots. Indians need to sort themselves out and get their priorities right. Teams are no more uncomfortable touring the subcontinent and India have to be at the top of their game to win a series at home. Having the IPL starting in 10 days time should not take away the focus from this test series in hand. Test cricket is still the medium through which a player's greatness will be determined no matter how many IPL games they play. The players need to understand the reason why they got picked up the IPL franchise was due to their performances for their country.

If India wins the last test and squares the series 1-1, it still does not mean that the underlying problems are taken care of. I am sure that the players will come back swinging at the media saying that how they blasted them for losing one game and how they have been unfair to them and all but as far as I am concerned all the critisism towards the team was perfectly valid. I guess the only way the team can command respect from the true cricket lovers in India like myself is by performing well in the International stage. We dont care about the IPL's and the ICL's as its not the same as representing your country.

Chennai test ends in a dull draw

The first test match between India and South Africa ended in a dull draw with the visitors on 331/5 when the play was eventually called off. Except for some great induvidual performances this match was truely one of the most forgettable games in recent times. The only silverlining was provided by Sehwag's great triple hundred. The innings in itself was great but the way he scored those runs was exceptional.

The Indian team would be really dissapointed the way this test match turned out. Every team would want to put the visiting team to their toughest test in their first test match on the tour but we decided to give them a great batting practice. SA batsmen gained more in this test match than the Indians. With centuries from Mckenzie, Amla and half centuries from others in their top order SA batsmen will be really confident ahead of their second game in Ahmedabad.

The pitch in Chennai was really dissapointing as it provided no help to the bowlers, fast and spin alike. The batsmen from both the teams enjoyed great success as it became difficult for the bowlers to dislodge them. This isnt a great advertisement for test cricket when the Twenty20 is ruling roost in this country. After a wonderful series against the Aussies, this was really a dampner on the games oldest format. Hopefully the Ahmedabad pitch will provide some interesting tussle between bat and ball.

The Indians have some injury concerns ahead of the second test with Sachin Tendulkar being the noteable absentee. India have recalled Mohammed Kaif to replace him but I am afraid he will lose that spot to Yuvraj. For some reason Yuvraj seems to have lot of backing from his team mates and keeps getting chances even though he is very inconsistant in this form of cricket. India could afford to miss Sachin for a home game. In the bowling department RP Singh seemed to be unfit in the first game and looked very ineffective. India would be hoping that Ishant Sharma recovers from his injury. RP singh can have a little bit more time off to make sure that he is completely fit.

India would be hoping that the second test is played on a better surface and will produce some interesting cricket.

Why do tamil directors want to act?

Recently an article on a famous website stated that director Mysskin of Anjathe fame has decided to act as hero in his next movie. This is not new to Tamil cinema as we have seen Cheran, SJ Suryah, Thangar Bachan, Praveen kanth and Perarasu trying their luck in front of the camera. To be frank it has been a real torture for the audience to see them performing the lead roles in the movies. Recently Cheran expressed dissapointments on the comments from the media for sarcastically comparing him with Kamal Hassan. Why does Cheran want to become like Kamal? Cheran is not an actor, accepted that he is a very competant director but I think that his aim should be to become like a Maniratnam or a Balachander rathan than trying to become an actor like Kamal.

The Tamil directors for a long time now have underestimated the intelligence of the movie going public. People for sure dont want to pay money and watch perarasu delivering punch dialogues on a big screen. The work of a creator should remain behind the scenes and try to make people see them through the characters on the screen. The success of directors like Mani Rathnam, KB, Balu Mahendra, Bharadhiraja was based on their great screenplays and scripts which made the viewers appreciate them without them having to come on the big screen. So whats with this new trend of directors becoming heroes after couple of successes in the box office? I will never know the answer to that.

The fact that list keeps growing is a worrying factor for the tamil movie watchers around the world. Its not only the directors but now a famous song writer Pa.Vijay also has decided to act in movie as the male lead. We all can take the example of Sonu Nigam, who after couple of unsuccessful ventures decided to stick to his strength which is singing. As a fan of "Good" tamil movies it pains me to watch these directors trying to act.

Well unless and until these directors realise themselves that they are more of creators than actors we will not see the end of this fiasco.

Sehwag's triple breathes some life into the game

Sehwag remained unbeaten on a magnificent 309 (n.o) as records tumbled on the third day of the first test match between India and South Africa in Chennai. This was Sehwag's second triple hundred making him only the third in the history of test cricket after the legendary Sir. Don Bradman and Brian Lara. Sehwag also became the fastest to the landmark scoring the runs in only 278 deliveries.

South African bowlers toiled hard on a flat pitch and the rate at which the Indian innings has progressed would have given the coach and captain Greame Smith a lot to think about. SA would be hoping to dismiss Sehwag quickly on the fourth day to get the RR down which is more than 4 runs per over for the Indians.

The Indians would be hoping to go ahead by 200 runs by tea and put pressure on the SA batsmen later in the day. Sehwag's innings was punctuated with 47 hits to the fence which include 5 sixes. This is his second consicutive ton after his match saving hundred against Australia in Adelaide.

All in all it was great day for the Indian team and for the first time it seems like there can be a result in this test match. Much will depend now on the rest of the Indian batting and the spin duo of Anil and Bajji, when SA start their second innings. India are just 72 runs behind with two days to go and 9 wickets in hand. Day 4 promises an exciting day of cricket. But for now lets celebrate one of the finest innings played by an Indian cricketer.

South Africa continue to dominate the chennai test

Hashim Amla scored his fourth test century and his first against India as South Africa dominated the second day. The day started with SA on 304/4 with Hashim Amla on an unbeaten 85. He did not waste too much time getting to three figures hammering Sreesanth for three boundries in a row. De villiers played one shot too many to edge a Sreesanth delivery to Dhoni, he made 44. Sreesanth bowled a good spell in the morning troubling the batsmen with pace and movement and looked like the only bowler capable of getting any breakthrough.

After De Villiers departed Boucher joined Amla and after surviving a close LBW appeal, he settled down and scored 70. Amla was clearly the star of the day for the proteas as he made 159 and guided his team to an imposing first innings total of 540. The Indian bowlers struggled in the heat of chennai with the pitch not giving them any assistance. Sehwag and Jaffer survived the new ball against the pace of Dale Steyn but they have a long way to go. Day 3 in a way will decide which way this game will go as a batting collapse by the Indians could hand the advantage to the proteas.

India would be hoping to get close to the SA total and see if they can put some pressure on the visitors on the 4th and 5th days.

SA gain upper hand

SA on top after day 1 of the first test in Chennai. The SA team finished on 304/4 with Amla unbeaten on 85. The opening pair of Mckenzie and Greame Smith gave the proteas a great start, later captalized by their middle order to finish strongly on day one.

The India bowlers toiled hard on an unresponsive pitch and struggled to control the run flow. RP Singh and Sreesanth started very well with the new ball beating both the SA openers regularly but were unlucky not to dismiss them. Once the early overs were negotaiated the South African batsmen took control and mostly remained untroubled. Anil Kumble and Harbajan claimed two wickets each for the Indians. If there is any truth in Harbajan's statement after the end of the days play its going to be hard work for the bowlers for the next couple of days.

The Indians would be hoping that they can dismiss SA for less than 500 if possible. Again the onus will be on the spinners.

Cricket takes centerstage again

After all the recent hype and hapoola surrounding the IPL and the Australian tour, focus is back on cricket with the India-South Africa series. In the recent times the youngsters in the Indian team have indulged in too much of trash talk after the series down under. India did well there and the series was controversial, but it should have ended once they landed on the Indian soil. There has been too much of trash talk going on in the media by few Indian players. India has a chance of becoming the number 1 team in the world but we have a long way to go. The series in Australia was just a step closer to the goal and was not the destination. We play Australia, SA, Srilanka and England this year and its going to be a tough season. Australia got the tag of world beaters with consistant performances over a decade and not by winning couple of titles.

South Africa on the other had have remained calm and composed. They havent gone overboard with their comments in the media even though there was one inappropriate one by their cricket chief. SA know that the best way to win a series is on the cricket field and not in papers. India should be happy that the test team is different from the ODI team and the seniors have taken a measured approach when dealing with the media. They all expressed their happiness over the team's success down under but also spread the word of caution regarding any complacency.

The youngsters should realise that they need not retaliate to any comment made on them in the media. The great example to that was Ishant Sharma replying to John Buchanan's comment advising him to put on some muscles. There was not need for any retaliation as the former Australian coach was just expressing his opinion while praising Ishant's performance down under. Dhoni's comments on the seniors on the wake of a test series was uncalled for as he was playing with all of them in the same. Even though everyone seems to be backing his comments, the timing of the same is the one causing concern.

Amidst all the media frenzy concerning the IPL and the player auction, the Indian team prepares for their second stern test in the last few months. The team returned with their pride intact after the first one but the series against the proteas will be an equally important hurdle for them to cross. Anil Kumble will know that and thankfully he has the experiance of himself, Sachin, Sourav, Laxman and Dravid with him.

I hope that this series lives up to its expectation. India would want to win this series to cap off a great 4 months of cricket.

Raghuvaran - An actor with substance

Couple of days back there was a news flash which said actor Raghuvaran is no more. I was shocked at the news as there were no indication of his bad health. He was a fine actor with a wide variety of roles in Tamil cinema especially.

His best work includes movies like Puriyatha Puthir, Baasha, Mughavari, Run etc. He had his own style of acting and brought believability to the roles he played. Who can forget the role of a suspicious husband in Puriyatha Puthir or the Mark Anthony of Baasha. Whatever may be the character he played he always brought great value to the roles with his unique stlye of acting and dialogue delivery. His role as Madhavan's brother-in-law in Run showed that he had great comic timing too and is one of my favorites of his performances.

He was and will remain one of the most versatile character artist in Tamil Cinema. He will be missed for sure.

Is Hindi our National Language?

Is hindi our National language? The answer is "No", Should it be our National Language? Again the answer would be "No".India does not have a National language which not many Indians know(Including myself until last week). According to the National languages act of 1963 Hindi and English together was made the official language of communication for the central government. The act also mentioned that each state would have their own official language together with English. So according to the act people in TamilNadu, AP or in Gujarat need not know Hindi as thats not their state's official language.

This is not a great situation though as I think that knowing the language is a great plus for every Indian no matter where he comes from. The reason why I said that Hindi should not be declared as our National language is because it may cause a huge regional clash and the people, not the politicians will be blamed for not knowing the language. I was lucky enough to grow up in Delhi, so can speak the language fluently but not all Tamilians have that luxury. The problem is that most of us do not know that Hindi is not our National Language and keep blaming the people from south for not knowing the same. Well now we have an excuse and reason for not knowing the language. People from North have to realise that not all Indians need to speak Hindi.

Being a Tamilian myself who can speak Hindi, I just think that by knowing the language my life has become little bit easy. I guess by knowing hindi it gives you more freedom to move around within India and makes life very simple when you travel abroad. Regional politics played by the politicians in TamilNadu has made sure that people from that state are discouraged to learn the language. We do have people who learn the language through their own efforts by giving "prathmic" exams and stuff but the number is too less. With the growing IT market and people moving to different parts of the country to work, it becomes easier if you can speak Hindi.

Unless and until the Govt can make sure that every state in India will cooperate and make learning Hindi madatory, we cannot even think of making it our National language. The possibility of that happening is very less as no sooner there is a talk about making hindi our National language there will be riots accross India. At least now we know that the people from different parts of India are not required to know that language and it boils down to personal interest to learn the same. When people used to say to me that every Indian should know Hindi as its our National language, I never had a defense against the same but now I do. Its not the mistake of any Indian that he cannot speak hindi but its the politicians and the respective state governments who deny us that chance.

Top order failure costs India another game

India's top order again Succumbed to the pressure of chasing a huge score against Australia. When Australia ended up with a score of 317/7, I thought that India had done a reasonable job as at one point it looked like they would get more than 350. It seemed like a very gettable target and by no means an easy one. India lost too many early wickets to slip to 51/4, leaving Gambhir and Dhoni to perform the repair job. Apart from Gambhir, the Indian top order has been really inconsistant and has failed to deliver putting too much of pressure on the middle and lower order.

Dhoni has had no luck with the toss which has made sure that India chase in most of their games. Except for one game against Srilanka, India has failed to put up a decent opening stand in this series. Sehwag and Gambhir have taken turns in partnering Sachin in this series and it doesnt seem to be working till now for the Indians. Uthappa has been wasted down the order and has been stuck with the tail in most of the games. Gambhir has been very consistant at number three and as Dhoni rightly pointed out he would not to move him to open with Sachin. The other choice would be to open with Uthappa and Sehwag and push Sachin to number 4 in the order which might actually help him with his batting.

India has always struggled to perform as a unit in ODI's in Australia. The problem is that there is always two batmen who is very consistant and the rest inconsistant which has always been the case when we play in Australia. In 91/92 it was Sanjay Manjrekan and Tendulkar, in 99/00 it was Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, in 03/04 it was VVS Laxman alone with the others blowing hot and cold. The problem for India is that Sachin Tendulkar who has played most matches in Australia is having a poor CB series. This is his 4th full tour to Australia adding to the 1992 WC. Australia is kind of jinx for Tendulkar as he has always struggled to be consistant here in ODI's since the 91/92 season, where he was our best player down under.

India's inexperianced middle order needs an in form Sachin Tendulkar for us to succeed in Australia which has been a problem for Captain Dhoni. Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Sachin and Sehwag have been totally out of form which is putting too much of pressure on Ghambir, Dhoni, uthappa and Pathan. India is going to play Srilanka in an important game on the 26th which will determine who will join Australia in the finals. The Indian Batsmen have to come to party if they have to beat Srilanka at Hobart. India would be hoping that the law of averages should be catching up with Sachin and Sehwag and this time they will fire.

Aggression - A misunderstood concept

I was recently reading a great article on sledging by Harsha Bhogle and it got me thinking what does aggression on the cricket field mean. Aggression on a cricket field has been a hugely misunderstood concept.

I never understood the concept of sledging and mental disintegration. We have never seen a player like Tendulkar resorting to such on field theatrics and has still managed to score runs all around the world.

Australians have been the pioneers in the art of Sledging over the years. What once started as a friendly banter on the field between the batsmen and the bowlers has now become personal attacks in the name of Sledging. The happenings in the recent series between India and Australia has surely proved that sledging needs to be put to an end soon in cricket.

So now coming back to my original question, What is Aggression? What does it mean by being aggressive on a cricket field? Aggression as far as I am concerned is nothing but positive intent by a player on the field. By intent I mean, positive body language. Courtney Walsh, being a great fast bowler was also one of most likeable one. A good ball by him was followed by a stare at the batsmen on his follow through, which was scarier than an offensive comment by our mordern day pacemen. That was more than enough to put the fear in the batsman's mind. Sachin Tendulkar and Brian lara, two greatest cricketers of our time did not require sledging but are still considered most aggresive cricketers.

The recent Indias tour to Australia will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, even though it was one of the most competetive series involving the world champions. As Harsha had mentioned in his article its really sad to note that Dhoni wanted the youngsters to learn the "Art of sledging" from Australia. Being aggressive means to sledge according to the mordern day cricketer. Pointing the batsmen back to the pavilion, as if he doesnt know get there isnt aggression. Ishant Sharma is a great talent and he should remember that performances on the field are judged by your wickets and not by your words.

The Indian team is a very talented bunch and they should put behind this tour and concentrate on being more consistant and if they do that they will be the number 1 side by the end of this year. India will face Australia, England, Srilanka and SA this year and winning against each of them would mean that they will be the best team by a long way. Things could have been handled little bit better by the management of both the teams in the last couple of months which would reduced the media coverage, putting more emphasis on the action on the field.

I hope that both Kumble and Dhoni, sit with the youngsters and cool them down and explain to them that the Australian series is now behind them and it would be better if they concentrate on the season ahead. There were lots of distractions for both the teams with the IPL auction and also the constant media coverage on anything or everything sorrounding the "Turbunator" but still the focus remained on cricket for the Indians atleast.

I hope that we play good cricket throughout the year and become the number one cricket team in the world and not number 1 sledgers in the world.

Crucial Game for India

Sunday's contest between India and Australia is a very crucial game for both the teams. Its almost certain that India would join Australia in the best of 3 finals after Srilanka's loss in Melbourne on Friday. Srilanka will be very dissapointed as this is not the first time their batting has let them down against the Aussies in this series. Srilanka though need to win both their matches from here on and hope India loses theirs.

The Indian team though pulled off a crucial win against the Lankans on Tuesday to go up by 6 points on the table. One thing which is common to all the three sides in this series is that their batting has struggled. The bowlers from all the three sides have had great success in this series and the fact that there has been just two 250+ totals in this series is shocking considering the batting strength of the sides.

India would hoping to keep the trend going as I think the best possible scenario would be for India to bat first and post a challenging total on the board. Dhoni who has had pretty ordinary luck with the tosses would want to win one soon. Teams have generally found it difficult to chase as the pitches have been really difficult to bat on. The Australian batsmen except for Clarke and Hussey have found it really hard in this series to get the ball off the square. The Indians would hope to keep it that way. The Indian bowling has been great throughout the tour with Ishant Sharma being the find of this series. Ishant has been getting able support from Sreesanth, Munaf and Irfan and as a unit they have been able to keep the Australian batsmen quiet.

Both the teams have each won one game in their previous three meetings and whoever wins this one will get a slight edge before the finals. India would like to win this one and completely eliminate Srilanka from the picture. All in all this promises to be a great game and we hope that it lives up to the expectation.

Is too much money good for youngsters?

Five years ago when India won the Natwest finals against England, we had unearthed two batting stars in Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif. All of us thought that those two along with Virender Sehwag would form the crux of Indian batting line up in the future. Almost six years after the Natwest final, Kaif is no longer part of the Indian team, Yuvraj is still inconsistant and Sehwag's one day average keeps diminishing with every innings he plays.

The Indian team though have found few batsmen for the future in Gambhir, Uthappa, Rohit and the captain himself Dhoni. India's future after Sachin, Dravid, Sourav and Laxman looks really uncertain. Sachin who is still a part of the one day scheme of things is trying his best to help the youngsters in the team with his valuable inputs and that should do them a world of good. Yuvraj and Sehwag being the two most experianced members in the batting line up after Sachin, should take more responsibilty in guiding these youngsters and making sure that they dont fall out like a few have in the past few years.

When Kaif played that wonderful innings against England in the Natwest trophy he was considered to be a captaincy material and was expected to be a part of the team for a long time. Currently he is not even in the reckoning. The youngsters need to realise to be on the top, the performances need to be consistant over a period of time. I still remember Vijay Bharadwaj, who was man of the match in a series in kenya few years ago and suddenly dissapeared from the scene. We can see so many such instances in Indian cricket over the past few years.

Now that IPL has made sure that these youngsters have become overnight heroes. There is lots of money involved in the game these days and its easy to lose focus of the job in hand. When you consider Ishant Sharma who has had just few matches under his belt being auctioned at $950,000 at IPL, you cant help but wonder is this good for these youngsters. When you have players come into international cricket and have few successful games the hype in India is so much that they become overnight stars and dont know how to handle the same. The reason why Sachin, Dravid and Laxman have been so successful over a period of time is due to the fact that they have both their feet firmly grounded inspite of all the hype and hapoola surrounding the game these days.

With so much money involed in cricket these days its easy for these youngsters to lose focus on the game itself. Thats what we saw with Irfan, Sehwag, Yuvraj and few others who had to be dropped from the team to make them realise that you cant be in the team if you are not performing. I guess India has great talent coming through in both batting and bowling and we need to make sure that the IPL's and the ICL's dont ruin it for us. The players are currently made to believe that they are greater than what they are and it will be better for them to realise that what matters the most the their performances on the cricket field.

Ten years down, no one is going to remember how much you were auctioned for in IPL. The reason we kept getting great batsmen over a period of time was due to the fact that, playing cricket was their main focus. Now a days, you just need to be a part of one series win and you dont have to play cricket anymore. I will be very interested in seeing in couple years time, which of these youngsters make it through to become the next Sachin or Laxman or Dravid of Indian cricket.

I have been a fan of Indian cricket and I am very excited looking at these youngsters performing so well in Australia. I just hope that this continues and these youngsters go from strength to Strength rather than being weighed down by this recent media frenzy and the money involved. I want India to be a cricket team which is respected throughout the world for their performances on the cricket field rathen than being the financial powerhouse which they are right now. Cricket is India has become more of a business than a sport which was the case 10-15 years back. Hopefully the game survives and will be still be remembered for your exploits on the cricket ground.

Indian Batsmen need to step up

The Indian team lost the last two ODI's in the ongoing CB series. The Indian batting has failed to fire in this series and has never looked convincing. The batting is lacking experiance in the middle order and the constant failures of Sachin, Sehwag and Yuvraj is causing Dhoni lots of headaches on the eve of their crucial match against the Lankans.

The Indian bowling has been fantastic throughout the series and has been let down by some irresponsible batting. The game against the Australians should have been won by the Indians, if only there was someone who displayed a mature head as Clarke did for the Aussies. Dhoni has been the only batsman in this series who has shown the will to stick it out in the middle and play according to the situation. The rest of the batting has struggled to handle anu sort of pressure.

Sachin has been throwing his wicket away after getting starts in almost all the matches. Being the most senior member in the squad, I guess he needs to be more responsible and guide the youngsters in the team. India is missing the solidity of Rahul Dravid in the middle order. India also needs to stop experimenting with Irfan Pathan at number 3 as Robin Uthappa is getting wasted at number 7. He is an attacking player and needs to be playing in the top order. Irfan can be more effective at number 6 or 7 rather than in the top 3.

Once in a while Pathan can be used at number 3 to surprise the opponents but not everytime. On the positive side the Indian bowling led by Ishant Sharma has performed brilliantly. They had set up the game against Australia, only to be squandered by the batsmen. I wouldnt say that it was a easy target but was definitely gettable. India now face the tough task of winning two of the next 3 games and their next game against the lankans being the most important. India winning this game would put lots of pressure on the Lankans as they would remain in the third spot in the table.

The Indian batsmen need to fire and make a big enough score to give the team an opportunity to put pressure on the Lankans. Well this game is sort of Do or Die scenario for the Indians and hope that they rise up to the occasion.

Time Machine

"If only I could go back in time" is a thought which goes thorough most of our minds at least once in our lifetime. There are lots of things in our life which we think we could have done little bit different in our life. There are lots of decisions in our life which we can reverse and correct when we find it’s not the right one for us and there are a few which cannot be made right and will haunt us for rest of our life.

I always thought that we have choices all the time and we get to pick the right one. People always blame God for all their failures and for all the bad decisions they make in life. For me it’s always us who are responsible for doing the right thing in life. I think God has put a state called "Confusion" in our minds so that it makes us think little bit harder when making those important decisions. Most of the time people like me believe in their instincts to make the most important decisions in life. As far as I am concerned till recent times I have really happy with most of my choices in life.

Even though I believe in destiny and all the things which I have mentioned earlier in this piece, I still wonder what it would be like if we had a time machine. I was recently watching "Harry potter and The prisoner of Azkaban", in which Harry and Hermione go back in time to save couple of lives. This thought really fascinates me. People sometimes; make some decisions for which they have to struggle for life. I feel even if we have access to a time machine to change our decisions we need to have some conditions for use on the same, something like

1. You can only change couple of decisions in a period of 5 or 10 years.
2. You can only change a decision which was made couple of months ago and not beyond that.

The above two conditions are the ones which come to my mind immediately. Well I know that this is not possible and the problem of such an invention is that most of the time it will be put to use for wrong purposes. People will continue to be responsible for the decisions they make and that’s how God has intended the universe to operate. I guess God always shows us two doors, and we get to make the decision as to which is the right one. When we make decisions which can alter our lives, we need to take extra care on the same. The door which is easiest to get to may not always be the right one. I made such a decision few months back which may haunt me throughout my life.

While I wait for my time machine, I can’t help but wonder "If only I could go back in time".

A Wonderful Test Series

The Adelaide draw brings to end one of the most fascinating test series in the recent times. The Indians would be really pleased with the way the came back in the series after two defeats. This series also was the last on the Australian Soil for the big 5. Sachin, laxman and Kumble had a great series but Dravid and Sourav would be ruing missed opportunities.

In a way the last two test matches brought focus back on cricket after the chaotic Sydney game. Both the teams played hard and competitive cricket over the past one month and 1-1 would have been a fair result. Bad preparation cost India the Melbourne game, bad umpiring and some bad shots cost us the Sydney test match.

Australia in the end proved that they are still the number one team in the world but only by a little margin. The Indian team has again proved to the rest of the world that Australia can be beaten in its own den. Brett lee was the best bowler in the series with 20+ wickets and has improved leaps and bounds since India toured Australia in 2003/04. It seems like Australia have found an ideal replacement for Glenn McGrath. The Australians though are finding tough to replace Shane Warne as the experiment with Brad Hogg failed miserably in this series. The fact that both Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke out-bowled Brad Hogg is an able testimony for his failure in this series. Australia would be hoping that Stuart McGill recovers from his injury really quick to fill the void left by Shane Warne. Adam Gilchrist's retirement also came as surprise as there were no indications of the same prior to this series.

Matthew Hayden was again their best batsman against the Indians as he was in the prior meetings between the two sides. Andrew "Lucky" Symonds played some important innings for his side in this test series and so did Micheal Hussey and Clarke. Stuart Clarke provided able support to Brett Lee in the fast bowling department and Mitchell Johnson was terribly inconsistent throughout the series. I have never seen a test bowler bowling so many wides as Johnson did in this series.

The Indian team again relied on Sachin Tendulkar for some big runs and to his credit the "Little Master" did not disappoint his captain. Dravid and Sourav had a very inconsistent series but as usual VVS Laxman had a great series against the Australians. Irfan Pathan, who I think should have played since the first test, gave a good account of himself by winning the man of match award contributing handsomely with both bat and ball in India's win in Perth. Sehwag again one of the players who should have been in India's playing X1 in both Melbourne and Sydney had a great end to this series by scoring a match saving 150 in the Adelaide test.

The inexperienced bowling attack performed very well against the strong Australian batting line up with Ishant Sharma being the find of the series for India. RP Singh bowled beautifully in the series in patches but lacked consistency. Kumble was once again the star performer for India in the bowling department as he captured 20+ wickets in this series. He captained the team really well during the difficult time after the second test and also made sure that he brought out the best from his team.

Overall India gave a good account of themselves in this test series. India remains the only team to have at least won one test match against Australia in every series they have played with them since the 2001/02 series.