I was really keen on watching a few T20 World Cup matches, but due to unforeseeen circumstances, I had to remain in India for the entire duration of the championship. It’s a different issue that the countries I was backing made early exits from the tournament. Nevertheless, I was quite kicked. Unfortunately, things didn’t pan out early. So, while waiting to be back in the UK, I found out that there was a T20 exhibition match being played at Lord’s, the home of cricket between Rajasthan Royals and Middlesex Panthers on 6th July. I was pretty certain that I would be in London in time to watch the match and I immediately booked a couple of tickets and eventually got to be at Lord’s yesterday.

A couple of big names were missing from Rajasthan Royals team, as most key players were missing including Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan etc, while Tyron Henderson turned out for Middlesex Panthers. Royals were led by Shane Warne and had Dimitri Mascarhenhas and Sohail Tanvir. Middlesex team was fully represented and led by Shaun Udal. It was a bit of a damp squib as there were several false starts due to rain and I wasn’t even sure if there would be a game given the intermittent drizzle. True to T20 style, there were a few pre-match performances by famed Indian pop singers like Taz etc and the atmosphere was incredible. The match however, turned out to be a one sided affair with Rajasthan Royals winning it comfortably. I would love to come back to Lords for an international match.

British Asian T20 Match

Rajasthan Royals Vs Middlesex Panthers

Scores Summary (From Cricinfo)

Rajasthan Royals 162 for 5 (Swapnil Asnodkar 41, Mohammed Kaif 41, Dimitri Mascarenhas 32*) beat Middlesex Panthers 116 for 7 (Dawid Malan 34, Sohail Tanvir 3-20) by 46 runs

Anil Kumble’s already bid farewell to Cricket. Living in the same neighbourhood as Kumble, I feel privileged for the gentle giant. He’s put in long yards. He’s not naturally talented, but his perseverance is a lesson in many senses. Another one’s biting the dust on Sunday…he’s had a raw deal, seen ups and downs…but his final words does leave a lasting impression. During the felicitation ceremony on the final test match of the Border-Gavaskar trophy, the man in question had pretty simple words…but it struck me as the wisest…

“Over the last 13-14 years I’ve made some friends and I’ve made some enemies. One thing I would like to say that it’s all been for the good of Indian cricket. Hopefully you’ve walked the part with me and enjoyed the journey”

Way to go Sourav…you certainly did change Indian Cricket…and I did enjoy the journey. It’s a pity that you had to quit this way!

Are they!?!? Finally, the cricketing world’s biggest event, The DLF IPL Twenty20 is scheduled for a launch today. The biggest names in cricket will battle for pride, honour and of course money in an event spread across 44 days. The Cash rich BCCI, is squeezing out every penny it could get from every source, the media in particular which has come down hard on the administrators over the last few days. Though, most issues are sorted with the media now, it is a bit disappointing to know that websites will not be allowed to cover the event. This is a major setback as major cricketing news sites like Cricinfo, Cricket 365 etc will not be able to delivery up-to-date information on the event to a large community of cricket fans. Anyway, just happened to check the Royal Challengers website prior to the tournament…I was taken aback to see that a match is already in progress and the Royal challengers are on the verge of victory with Rahul Dravid scoring a belligerent 78 off 28 deliveries. Wasim Jaffer’s managed 54 off 46 and the Royal challengers have set a target of 190 to win. In reply, CSS (Not sure which team that is, but has Kumar Sangakkara batting at No.9) have scored 90/9 in 19.5 overs.

Wow…that’s interesting. Further on the right hand side is the points table, which pegs Royal Challengers as the leading team with a Points tally of 16 from 6 matches, ahead of Mumbai Indians by 2 points. Only problem though, none of this actually clicks through to a detailed page. This is the Demo site for Royal Challengers created by some smart developers…I managed to grab the screen before it’s replaced by real information…here you go (Click on image to enlarge)!

By the way, Royal Challengers have appointed the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders, the professional cheer leading team to cheer for the inaugural matches and to train and develop a professional cheer leading team…interesting indeed!!!

I have been following the IPL player auctions today and being a Bangalorean, am a bit surprised the way Vijay Mallya, one of the icons of Indian Business has approached the player auctions. Cricket is an extremely competitive sport and going by the current trends in the game, it is quite imminent that you need to have the best of the lot in the team. And the first edition of the DLF Indian Premier League offered just that. The cream of international cricketers. With a hefty purse of $5 million, bidding for players was expected to be intense. Chennai lead the way with a whopping $1.5 million investment on Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the current Indian Captain and poster boy. He was helped by the fact that India’s top cricketers were “relegated” to being icons which assures them 15% higher price than their next best player in the team. Perhaps, the story would be different had Dravid, Sachin, Saurav or even Yuvraj were put on the bidding table.

The fact that Chennai and Hyderabad didn’t have any icon players, ensured that they coughed up the highest bids and it’s no surprise that they went for the best. The current teams after Thursday’s bidding:

Bangalore:

Rahul Dravid (icon), Anil Kumble (US$500,000), Jacques Kallis (US$900,000), Zaheer Khan (US$450,000), Mark Boucher (US$450,000), Cameron White (US$500,000), Wasim Jaffer (US$150,000), Dale Steyn (US$325,000), Nathan Bracken (US$325,000), Shivnarine Chanderpaul (US$200,000)

 Chennai:

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (US$1.5 million), Muttiah Muralitharan (US$600,000), Matthew Hayden (US$375,000), Jacob Oram (US$675,000), Stephen Fleming (US$350,000), Parthiv Patel (US$325,000), Joginder Sharma (US$225,000), Albie Morkel (US$675,000), Suresh Raina (US$650,000), Makhaya Ntini (US$200,000), Michael Hussey (US$350,000)

Delhi:

Virender Sehwag (icon), Daniel Vettori (US$625,000), Shoaib Malik (US$500,000), Mohammad Asif (US$650,000), AB de Villiers (US$300,000), Dinesh Karthik (US$525,000), Farveez Maharoof (US$225,000), Tillakaratne Dilshan (US$250,000), Manoj Tiwary (US$675,000), Gautam Gambhir (US$725,000), Glenn McGrath (US$350,000)

Hyderabad:

Adam Gilchrist (US$700,000), Andrew Symonds (US$1.35 million), Herschelle Gibbs (US$575,000), Shahid Afridi (US$675,000), Scott Styris (US$175,000), VVS Laxman (US$375,000), Rohit Sharma (US$750,000), Chamara Silva (US$100,000), RP Singh (US$875,000), Chaminda Vaas (US$200,000), Nuwan Zoysa (US$110,000)

Jaipur:

Shane Warne (US$450,000), Graeme Smith (US$475,000), Younis Khan (US$225,000), Kamran Akmal (US$150,000), Yusuf Pathan (US$475,000), Mohammad Kaif (US$675,000), Munaf Patel (US$275,000), Justin Langer (US$200,000)

Kolkota:

Sourav Ganguly (icon), Shoaib Akhtar (US$425,000), Ricky Ponting (US$400,000), Brendon McCullum (US$700,000), Chris Gayle (US$800,000), Ajit Agarkar (US$330,000), David Hussey (US$675,000), Ishant Sharma (US$950,000), Murali Kartik (US$425,000), Umar Gul (US$150,000), Tatenda Taibu (US$125,000)

Mohali:

Yuvraj Singh (icon), Mahela Jayawardene (US$475,000), Kumar Sangakkara (US$700,000), Brett Lee (US$900,000), Sreesanth (US$625,000), Irfan Pathan (US$925,000), Ramesh Powar (US$170,000), Piyush Chawla (US$400,000), Simon Katich (US$200,000), Ramnaresh Sarwan (US$225,000)

Mumbai:

Sachin Tendulkar (icon), Sanath Jayasuriya (US$975,000), Harbhajan Singh (US$850,000), Shaun Pollock (US$550,000), Robin Uthappa (US$800,000), Lasith Malinga (US$350,000), Dilhara Fernando (US$150,000), Loots Bosman (US$175,000)

After a promising end to 2007, I expected a propitious start to the New Year. A marathon drinking session in Bristol and a tiring night out clubbing on the New Year’s eve; it indeed is a rollicking beginning to 2008. But I did spend a dull and grey New Year’s evening dismantling and reassembling my laptop. Reason? I managed to spill a glassful of water on my Laptop right after I got back from Cafe de Paris on the wee hours of January 1st 2008 and the laptop, rightfully failed to fire up!

After an emotional innuendo, during which I even contemplated an Apple MacBook, I decided to put my skills to test and unscrewed every tiny little screw on the laptop and carefully arranged all the parts of the laptop on our large king size bed, before I set to dry them with a kitchen cloth and reassemble it. I honestly, didn’t give it much of a chance, but the Laptop came back to life as soon as I turned it back on. It’s not a bad beginning after all, albeit a sedate one.

To further intensify my New Year woes, the very next day I caught a horrendous flu bug which depleted my physical energy completely and I decided to have a quite night in on Friday sipping Hot Tennessee Toddy to up my spirits. The toddy cost me the whole weekend as I was completely bedridden with mild fever until Sunday evening. To add to the distress India pathetically lost to the champion Australians. Being the ardent cricket fan and due to lack of sleep I literally followed last two days of the exciting test match and I was pretty certain that India is sure to hold on for a draw if not a win. But the Australians don’t give up easily, do they? Of course they had plenty of support from the on and off field umpires. A rather depressing weekend!

The second test match in Sydney has created plenty of furore for all the wrong reasons and is sure to go down in the history books as a disgrace to the Gentleman’s game. The umpires ensured that the Indian’s were on the receiving end, but they didn’t help their cause much by surrendering timidly. With three wickets in hand and a mere two overs to go, a draw was always there for the taking. But the cold-footed Indians ensured that the Australians reign.

On the game itself, there were a few positives for both teams. Laxman’s silken grace, Tendulkar’s controlled aggression, Dravid’s incredible perseverance and of course Hayden’s belligerence. (Remember, am missing out Symonds and Hussey though each of them played beautifully paced innings) But Anil Kumble was the true champion. He bowled like a champion and batted like one in the second innings and had almost secured a draw before the fatal five balls by Michael Clarke uproot the Indian challenge. Although, Ponting may claim confidence in his trusted lieutenant, it is definitely an act of desperation to use Michael Clarke for bowling the crucial last few overs in a riveting test match. But the ploy worked a treat as the hapless Indians fell in a heap.

The 16th consecutive victory added another feather to already crowded and messy Australian caps, for they’ve not only dominated the world cricket, but they have also bulldozed the visiting teams to submission with various means which they term as ‘hard and fair’ cricket. Undoubtedly, they are a bunch of extremely talented cricketers and have been the deserving winners on many occasions. But the current crop of egotistic Australian Cricketers under the able arrogance of Ricky Ponting has reinvented the Australian way, or is this the Australian way?

To be fair to the Australians, confidence grows with success and cements itself firmly as aggression. This deep rooted aggression often receives a fair share of biased luck from the administrators, which probably could be better explained by the Freudian principles. But there is a thin  line which separates acceptable aggression and barbaric aggression. At one end is the savagery of dignified sportsmanship which the Aussies under Mark Taylor showed and the other is the demonic cannibalism. Then there is the third, puerile absurdity! It is these latter two paths the current Aussie team seem to have chosen. And the cricket administrators are bent on creating this new breed of ruthless and senseless cricketers. The Australians simply call this cultural difference. If this is the Australian way of ‘hard but fair’ Cricket, then the Australians should be flighted back to prehistoric times!

And of course, Mr. Bucknor should be reminded that age is patting him on his shoulders in case he hasn’t realized it yet, and Mr. Benson should be sent to officiate kindergarten games. But the crux of the issue is unchanged – Indians play poor cricket despite being economic power house of the cricketing world!

Europe and America, the developed among geographies have already seen it in the form of ‘the beautiful game’ and NBA & Superbowl. But now, its the turn of the Sub-continent to cash in on the biggest sport of the region. Indian Cricket League or the ICL as it is fondly referred to, is a brainchild of one of the biggest media power houses in India and it is all set to roll this Friday. With the highest cash prize of abour $4 million, the league has enticed 36 international stars along with promising, but lesser known Indian players who have an opportunity to leave a mark in the cricket world.

Much has been already said and written about this forthcoming cricketing spectacle, but when my good friend Anul, fresh from his recent India sojourn sent me link to an advert promoting a participating team, Chennai Superstars, I found it rather amusing. In fact, the ICL organisers have done a commendable job along with the agency which produced these adverts. They are tastefully creative and upholds the regional ethos of each participating team. Being a South Indian, the advert closer to my heart is of course Chennai Superstars. In true super stardom, the captain comes on turf for the toss along with Umpire and the captain of the opposing team and…well, watch it yourself.

If the videos aren’t funny enough, try Raja Bharadwaj’s list of incredibly funny ideas for BCCI to crush the league, which is being touted as a battle between cricket administrators and a rebel businessman.

For a blog with a name borrowed from cricket, you would find it extremely surprising not to find one single post dedicated to the sport so far. Not that I didn’t have opportunities to write about, there was India’s fairly successful tour to England, their incredible feat of winning the first edition of Twenty20 World Cup and of course cricket games between other countries. I had, on several occasions thought about blogging on cricket. But the recent Australian tour of India had some interesting sides to it other than the post itself, which makes an inspirational post. Not for the on field performances of both the teams, but for their off field antics.

Australia, for long have been the champions of World Cricket and this is reflective in their attitudes. They have an incredible team of immensely talented players. They have always had. But cricketers from the 90s and beyond are exemplary. Who could ever forget the grace of Mark Waugh, the perseverance of his twin brother Steve Waugh, the leadership of Mark Taylor, the exuberance of Shane Warne, accuracy of Glen McGrath, the sweet timing of Adam Gilchrist? The list goes on. I have been fortunate to watch some exciting sportsmanship of not only their top level players, but also players like Justin Langer, Michael Bevan, Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie etc. Justin Langer’s awesome innings while chasing a 350+ score in the second innings of a test match against Pakistan along with Adam Gilchrist a few years ago is still fresh in my memory. What about Ricky Ponting’s ferocious hitting in the finals of 2003 World Cup against India? And Mathew Hayden and Andrew Symonds…tormentors in chief not just for the Indian team, but for every cricket playing team around the world. No wonder, they are the crowning glory of the world of cricket for the last decade. But has their continued success lead the team to be a bit arrogant?

We have seen instances of the Australian arrogance over the years. Behind the wicket sledging, bowlers’ mouthful to the batsmen, batsmen coming hard at the opposition bowlers, we have seen it all. But when Ricky Ponting with an eagerness to get his hands on to the coveted champions trophy, tapped Sharad Pawar, the president of the board of cricket control in India, and Damien Martyn nudged him out of the podium for a group picture, the bad boy image of the Australian Cricket Team had clearly arrived.

But we got to watch the real ugly side of cricket only during the recently concluded Australia’s tour of India and India’s victorious 20Twenty world cup campaign, where they easily defeated the champion Australian side to sail into the finals. The tour emphasized how bad losers the Australians were. Personally, I think if you experience continued success, you have high levels of confidence and you feel invincible. When you suddenly realise that you are vulnerable. Symond’s outburst against the Indians for their celebrations of winning the World cup was really surprising. What a nation we have in Australia, they can tap and nudge dignitaries to celebrate their success, but they cannot tolerate another team, albeit in a much humble way.

Nevertheless, there is something about the current crop of Indian players, they show a good deal of aggression. But you need to back the aggression with consistent success. There’s no point being aggressive when you are not winning. We saw plenty of verbatim between the Australians, especially Hayden and Symonds and the Indian team’s poster boy, Sreesanth. But Hayden and Symonds backed up their aggression with magnificent stroke play and were pivotal in Australia’s series victory. On the other hand, Sreesanth failed to impress with his bowling and did nothing to push India towards the brink of success. So are Australian’s justified in their aggression? Probably!?!