Aadhi - review!

aadhi - adi dhadi.. in short! nothin else! bottomline - nee po odi!

Kumble the Batsman!!!

I've always been a fan/avid watcher of Kumble's batting!!! The moment he enters the field as a batsmen, makes me smile... I really look forward to his batting... I believe he is the most funniest to watch...

Kumbles is tech"unique".. The back leg knee touches the ground before bat touches the ball, and out of the blue, wud come the flowing cover drive.. his finest shot..The funny part of his batting comes when he is dismissed.. Kumble "really" tries hard to find new ways to get out, and most times they are funny. In the Faislabad match, he was beaten by the turn lunging forward, and had his foot out of the crease. He was well and truly stumped.. He moved his foot back into the line, almost as soon as he realized.. He looked behind, and found his feet well inside.. His reaction was the best "It said, come on guys, what the hell is going on? My foot is inside!!!!!!" The umpire did not even refer to the third umpire, and Kumble was utterly dissapointed.. He started one more of his slow amble toward the pavilion shakin his head!! What a sight! I wudnt even pay to watch Tendulkar, but wud definitely pay money to watch Kumble the Batsman!

But this was far from his most funniest dismissal... This happened in New Zealand 2003, during India's disastrous tour (we lost the Test series 2-0 and the ODI 5-2)..

Andre Adams was bowling on a seaming green top, most of the balls zipping past by.. Here was Kumble, playing yet another lost cause... Andre Adams bowled a short ball, and Kumble instantaneously ducked under.. But the bowler pitched it too short so close his own feet, that the ball dint bounce over the batsmen.. infact, it hadnt even reached the batsmen.. Kumble feeling comfortable that the ball would have reached the keeper, raised up.. To his astonishment, he saw the ball still coming right into his face... He was so bewildered that he tried to shy away from the ball, and eventually fell all over the stumps!!!!!! Ha ha !! The ball did not even touch him or the stumps, and here was Kumble, hitting himself out!!! On the ground, ontop the stumps shattered by his fall!!! That was so hilarious, I laughed my ass out!!

Long live Kumble the batsman!!!!!!!!!!

Where is Tendulkar?

Tendulkar mystery still fails to unhold.. He looks pedestrian, ducking and waving at short balls, still strugglin to find the touch that has been eluding him for a while (read 2 years).. Though he still manages to have records, his consistency has gone rocketing down.. he scores a century now and then, but otherwise every score is in single digit, or less than 20... and its not his bat doing the batting, its his mind..
people defend him saying he doesnt know his role.. Thats true.. but thats not a defense..What the hell is the Chappell/Dravid combo doing then?

I believe the reason, Sachin, has not yet been meted out with the Saurav treatment, is for his attitude, being a team player, excellent work ethics, motivation, mentoring, fielding etc.. Not for his batting.. Infact, the people now are not even bothered when he comes in or gets out..

He is merely an add-on to this Indian team at this point of time..

No "Faisla"Bad match

Media headlines termed the Lahore match a La"Bore" match, and the Faislabad match a no "Faisla" match...

But my own interpretation of this goes like, No "Faisla" surely "Bad" match..Faisla wasnt there, but "Bad" was pretty definitive of the test.. Bhajji called it grave number 2 even before he bowled a ball, and now, he still hasnt got a wicket..A bowlers nightmare.. the only way they cud let their frustrations out was by taunting the batsmen.. though it had no effect..

The match had some moments tho..the yuvraj singh catch (catch of the tour so far), Afridi's blitzkrieg. But the best IMO was, that pull shot of Dhoni.. Shoaib steaming in bowling at a rate of 155 kmph, and there was Dhoni, standing with no fuss, no big footwork, weilding the bat in his hand, and an easy swivel of his arms, made the ball travel a million distance... infact, the ball got itself drenched in some sort of dirty water. The umpires had to replace the ball, coz it was "smelling" bad :)
Shoaib got so pissed, he bowled a fierce 150k beamer head high down the legside and did not even bother apologizing... Dhoni was annyoed, his response was even simple.. one more pull shot, with contempt, and the ball raced to yet another boundary.. Worth the watch!

Ganguly saga doesnt seem to end!!

Kapil has termed it an "insult".. People suggest he pack his bags out and leave, and there are also plenty of kudos to the Chapell/Dravid think-tank/strategy/experimentation for sucha brave decision.. Sound cricketing reason, it seems... reason seems reasonable given sucha "grave" pitch, and you need to take 20 wickets to win a test match...

however you view this, it is a bitter pill to swallow for an eternal ganguly fan like me.. dissapointing...what is more dissappointing is that given what has happened in the last 4 months, people just have forgotten who ganguly is... the captain who was loved for the last 5 years.. the worldcup euphoria, the aussie tour fervour and the historic pak series... everything seems forgotten...now he is considered unwanted...

times change, people change, views change...

whatever happens from now on, I'd like to remember ganguly for not what has happened in the last 4 months, but what the champion cricketer ganguly has done for team India in the last 10 years..One comforting feel is that I am not the only such fan.. There are atleast a few like me..

Kudos, to Dadda. Thank you for whatever you have done for team India..

As stated earlier, times change, everyone will get sucha treatment somepoint of their career.. Gavaskar, Kapil, Azhar... Be it Dravid, or even Tendulkar, it is gonna happen..eventually....

Puzzlemania

I guess this puzzle is rocking the world...Where is the Puzzle ??

After almost 5 hrs, I am on level 17 at this very moment...

You need any clues so far let me know...will post an update once I complete ;) (if at all, I manage to)

Lean patch!

I've been going thro a lean patch I guess.. life has been good, great, but it is just some external material things that have been annoying...

Worst Driving form -

My car driving form has been, to put it in short, bizzare.. a speeding ticket for not speeding, i mean, when not meaning to speed.. 78 on a 65 zone.. Just $237. A nasty rear-ending accident, none of my fault though, saw my car 'totaled'. Totaled means the value of the repair is more than the value of the car. So the insurance folks would just pay the value of the car and send it to junkyard.. pretty tough huh.. again weirdo driving this time with rental cars.. sudden stops, driving with my mind 99% pre-occupied, and get back to my being only with a honk... and the latest one was a straightforward red-light skip.. how bad can it get?

Health condition -

I am ok, actually I am pretty well.. But some niggles always.. first some shoulder trouble, little warts, an athletic feet, now a 'whiplashed' neck... sprained, stressed neck and upper back becoz of the accident..physical therapies, doctor visits, medicines, heck!

Financial mess -

- A renters trouble, with my house renting company, billing me around $1500 for kitchen counter-top.. They say I din take enough care of it, and had abundance of water on it to cause the sealant to get swollen.. bull-sh**(oo)t.. the case is still ongoing
- The speeding ticket - $237
- The read ending accident - Cost of buying a new car - Money the insurance gave me for my old car
- Physical therapies and doctor visits..
- lost cell phone - Yet another silly annoying lil thing.. $100 for new one..
- A corrupt 1gig compact flash memory for my camera - $60 loss

What next?

welgum!

Jan 8th 2006...Welcome to the official release of my blogsite.. This has been around for a while but not too seriously tho..

As you might have noticed, I had already given up..

one more retry...