Behind India’s Debacle at the World T20

Before I begin, let me tell you that I was not expecting the team India to win the T20 world cup. But I didn’t expect them to go down so badly either. I thought they would reach the semi finals at least. Any way…

The analysis is simple. One, the team composition was not right and two, the players were worn out, tired and far too arrogant to win the cup. We had players in the team whose form in IPL was average to pathetic. Barring Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma among the batsmen, no other player had displayed any glimpse of remarkable form. May it be Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Yusuf Pathan, Dinesh Karthik or Dhoni himself. But they all made it to the team instead of the ones who hammered the bowlers in the IPL. The loss shows how unlucky Robin Utthappa, Sourabh Tiwari and Naman Ojha must have felt… all of them who were brilliant with the bat.

And the bowlers? well they do not deserve to be discussed at all. Zaheer Khan is an aggressive guy.

IPL is poised for an exciting finish

While I’m writing this post, the Deccan Chargers and the Rajasthan Royals must be preparing for a hard battle in the searing heat of Nagpur. Yes, today’s IPL match is in Nagpur. And I’m sure the city is all geared up for a hot hot battle between the teams desperate to push for a semi final birth.  :-)

I think this year’s IPL has been a very closely fought contest. Baring Mumbai Indians, all other teams have shown both glimpses of brilliance and farce. Mumbai, after two mediocre seasons looks all set to finally show the world what their old war horses are capable of. The quartet of Sachi-Sanath-Zaheer-Harbhajan along with the young guns Sourabh Tiwari, Lasith Malinga and Dwayne Bravo have peaked at the right time for Mumbai Indians. Their closest competitors this season, the Delhi Dare Devils and the Royal Challengers have also done well. Though even they wilted under pressure of the big games. The performance of the heavy weights of the first two seasons, Chennai Super Kings has been surprisingly drab. Yes they showed the brilliance in the matches they won. But unfortunately, they have won just 3 out of 9 and are now struggling in the bottom 3.

Winners of the last IPL, the deccan chargers have also been on and off. They have made a habit of winning alternate matches I guess. Same is true for Dada and Shahrukh’s team the Kolkata Night Riders. The Kings XI Punjab have been the laggards this season, like KKR in the last one. However nothing can be said. If they end up winning all the remaining matches and if others do badly, who knows? Punjab might be in the semis. All said and done, I think Mumbai, the Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Delhi Dare Devils will surely make it to the semis. And you will see a BIG cat fight for the final birth. Boy, the contests are getting interesting.

Now lets come back to the original question. Who do you think will win the IPL 3? My money is still on Mumbai. Lets vote.

Steyned!!!

… or Stunned? That is what the spectators and fans of Indian team are looking like. We, the recently crowned number one team in the world, playing against the number 2 South Africa on our own soil and on a flat track in Nagpur are staring haplessly at innings defeat.

Defeat now looks only a formality. I haven’t seen a better application of perfect reverse swing and pace for a long time. We are stung by the Dale bee. Or should I say we are Steyned?

I’m talking about test cricket! Anyway, that makes me ask you a question. Do we deserve the No. 1 spot?

The News Makers of 2009

2009 is on his way out. Here is my take on the 10 most featured and most discussed news makers of India in 2009. Remember, this is only my take on the people, places, parties and things. Enjoy!

• Ajmal Aamer Kasab: A guy like hi needs no introduction. Unlike the others who accompanied him through the sea route, created a havoc on Mumbai on 26/11/2008 and died for their cause, Ajmal Kasab was captured alive and looks all set to very much remain alive for the year 2009 too. The shoddy governance and the inability of the police to frame the case means Kasab keeps doing the U turns on his confessions and enjoys a protected stay, savoring Chicken Biryani. Shame on us and our judiciary system.
• Chandrayaan: This has been a major boost to India’s mission to moon, or should I say ISRO and its space programs. After already spending close to some $ 80 million on the project, the shuttle final entered the Moon’s orbits and boy, what a job it did. The ISRO scientists not only claimed but proved that indeed they found water on moon. It came as a shock initially to every other nation. But later it was confirmed and accepted even by NASA. Chandrayaan 1 has made us a lot proud. Chandrayaan 2 is already in progress and slated for a launch in Dec, 2013.
• Sonia Gandhi, Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress: It makes me wonder, why is the Congress government elected time and again? There are many people like me. But none have the answers. So I have no choice but to accept the good performances by Dr. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi yet again. Despite the terror attacks and the instability, Congress managed to come back to power and is very much likely to stay. AT least we have a stable government. I’m happy.
• Sachin Tendulkar and the Indian Cricket Team: Indian team and Sachin Tendulkar were both in the news for long time this year. Although they could not repeat the success of the T20 championship they won two years back, they did scale new heights by convincingly beating almost all the teams they played against (including Australia) and captured the pinnacle of test cricket rankings in November after they beat Sri Lanka. Sachin Tendulkar surpassed the world record of being the highest run scorer in test cricket beating Brian Lara and also completed his 20 years in international cricket. I think he might have easily surpassed the definition of a Legend as well.
• Large Hadron Collider: I simply dont know what to comment on this one. It simply created a lot of furore and panic around the world. But nothing really happened. The had scheduled a second run in November. I’m sure it was successful. But what was the end result of it? Has it answered the fundamental question of the existence? WIll it answer in future? I’m sure we will hear more of it in future.
• Stock Exchanges, Dr. Y V Reddy and Dr. Subbarao: That name Dr. Y V Reddy appears there in the heading because I think he was largely responsible to prevent India and Indian banks from going down the recession drain. Dr. Subbarao, who took over from Dr. Reddy as the governor of RBI had himself acknowledged the fact that it was difficult for him to match what Dr. Reddy had done. But he indeed matched. The stock market did plummet to 8 thousand some thing, but bounced back and thank fully doing well. India is credited today for largely keeping the economy stable despite difficult economic conditions. All credit to Dr. Reddy, Dr. Subbarao and and the financial planners
• Tiger Woods: Again, need I say more? A person who redefined golfing also went ahead and redefined the serial monogamy. The stories of his casanova acts are dominating the world news papers today. And there are so many, it might even over shadow Giovanni Jacopo Casanova, the original one
• The Copenhagen Summit: Climate change is the prime concern today and will remain a prime concern unless we dramatically or radically change the way things are. The summit was attended by the UNFCCC member countries. They did arrive on an ‘agreement’ drafted by US, India, China, Brazil and South Africa, named as ‘Copenhagen Accord’. However it was only recognised and not accepted. This becomes another reference and another conference, meaning Climate change issue will resurface soon.
• Shiney Ahuja, Ruchika, Jessica Lal, Aarushi: All of them have been criminal cases, some recent and some long pending. Top story earlier was the denial of bail for Shiney Ahuja, who is accused of raping his minor maid. Recently the Jessica Lal murder case and the Ruchika molestation case has been reopened. The debate still goes on. The talking point, in my opinion is, there are many other Ruchikas and Jessicas around us. We need to reopen them all. This is why most of the common people do not believe in Indian Judiciary.
• The bollywood flops: There have been many. Consider this, 138 films have been released in 2009, and only 4 of them can be classified as hits. Sorry state, isn’t it? Bollywood was not even helped by the ongoing feud between the distributors and producers as well. But that remains the story. It started with Ghajini (released in Dec 2008), then we saw Love Aaj Kal, Ajab Prem ki Ghazab Kahani, New York and finally 3 Idiots. And all of them have been differently made movies. I think the KJo’s and the Chopras of Bolly world need to under stand this. The viewer is short of patience. SO dont show us another Kurbaan or a Dilli 6. Dont teach us… entertain us!

So thats me Mayur signing off 2009 on a happy note. Happy new year to you all. Ta!