What a way and in what a way, if there is any other way then this is it. In a tantalizing length which saw see saw battle until the last over, well it was the nerve, which took predence.

The crucial run outs did srilanka in.

It could have been one of the worlds most run got upsets had it happened. well tendulkar was to latch on one in the final over.

Raina did something with the ball which helped the run out. all in all it was a terrific match to watch with over 800 runs being scored.

Do you see a difference with these guys after they playing T-20. their attitude of T-20 spills over to this match only to leave us open mouthed.

Good for cricket and good feast for the spectators who have had their monies worth.

MTJAG’s coverage of the Champions League T-20 took me to the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday, 10th October, to see the local team Deccan Chargers take on the Somerset CCC. This was my first T-20 match and what a match it turned out to be.

RG Stadium - Majestic under the lights

We reached about an hour and half before the scheduled 8 PM start of the DC match. We caught a bit of the previous match as the crowds thronged the RG stadium to support the local team.

Go Chargers, Go Chargers...played the DC anthem

As the DC team went about the rounds doing their warm-up, the crowd went crazy with the DJ for the night providing the right music with the club anthems playing side by side with the theme of the CL T 20, which sounds more like the kingfisher jingle(!!!).

Justin Langer - one for the cameras

The Somerset team went about loosening their muscles silently, with Langer providing some thrilling visuals with his drives and pulls during practice…The Indian crowds do appreciate talent, even if it is an Australian one…so he got a lot of wows and oohs…he raised his bat to the crowd before he went to change for the match.

Teams stand for the CL anthem

The teams came out and did their handshake before the match, a la Football.

And here are some views of the stadium.

Crowds 1

Crowds 2

Crowds 3

Crowds 4

The match was not sold-out, but we had about 15,000-20,000 spectators is my guess. And I should say that the in-stadia entertainment has grown in leaps and bounds. The last time I saw a cricket match in India was in the Eden Gardens in 2004 and it was not as entertaining as this one. There is something or the other happening with music and dances happening all over the place.

Now about the match. Well Laxman played his best T20 match scoring 40 odd runs and providing the bulk of the initial scoring. Gilly hit a few, Rohit Sharma came and played like he does, score some runs and get out.

Rao was in Diwali mood, lighting up some fireworks for the crowd

Much was expected out of Symonds, but he too disappointed and it was left to Venugopal Rao (Venu or Rao gaaru) to take the score to some respectability. He hit his quota of sixes which actually made the total look competitive.

And the Somerset batting started off well till Pragyan Ojha came into the picture. He had figures of 3-0-10-2 which made the Somerset players toil hard for runs. With the score reading some 98/7 or something, the locals were in their cheerful best, expecting an outright victory for the Chargers. How wrong the calculations went.

DC realised that they number 8 batsman in the Somerset is not a mug with the bat and he put on more than 50 runs partnership, which changed the match.

That's the last ball of the innings

The last ball finish which was provided by a very good over by Styris where he took 2 wickets and also gave away very few runs was the best match of the CL T 20 so far.

One of the semifinals and the final will be again in Hyderabad and if the Deccan Chargers or any of the Indian teams are going to make it, then probably you will find the report here in MTJAG. Till then, cheers.

Chinnaswamy stadium-Bangalore saw a colourful extraveganza on 8th of october 2009 as the Champions League t-20 championship took underway amidst an eye catching opening ceremony.It marked a feast involving various countries and cultures…seen never before in the international cricket. 12 teams from 7 different countries will be fighting for the title. These teams are scattered into 4 groups…A,B,C and D. Many international artists participated in giving the best of their sizzling performances entertaining the packed crowd. Following a march with flags from the 12 captains, imprinting their hands on a board, Lalit Modi-governing council chairman declared the event open after a welcome address. Performances to Classical Hindustani music, Jappanese drumming, and events involving Chaka Khan and Shaggy and Jamelia were the highlights, not leaving behind the acrobatic show by Shaolin monks from China and sword fighting skills of our own Kalaripayattu.

The opening encounter was between hosts and runners up of the 2008 IPL- Royal Challenger Bangalore team headed by the old fox and the experienced Kumble taking over the South African team Cape Cobras headed by Puttick. Batting first the RCB team made a challenging 180 runs losing 4 wickets. Utappa gave a terrific start in combi with Dravid and Kohli making a deserved 50 much to the relief of the RCB’s. The finishing act was done by some hard hitting by Ross Taylor who finished with 53 made of just 24 deliveries with 4 hits to the fence and the other 4 clearing it. Langeveldt bowled tidy for the cobras.

In reply the Cobra’s had initial hiccups when the openers Gibbs and Puttick were dismissed by Praveen kumar with just 14 on board. When the RCB were looking to take command they had to face the venom of the merciless cobra in the form of J.P.Duminy who was in a punishing mood determined to take the first honours of the championship in favour of his team. He fired all guns entertaining the crowd,unless they were hard core RCB supporters. Kumble and his boys had no weapon to demolish him. He finished with one run short of what could have been a tremendous century. His 99 undefeated came off just 52 balls and had 8 fours and 5 mighty sixes in them.He got a good support on the other end by David’s Ontong and Canning. This heroic act fetched him the man of the match with his team Cape Cobras sitting healthy with 2 points on the table in group C. Kumble has to plan different strategies for his must win next match to stay in contention and he is not going to sit silent. But early celebrations for the Cobras. The opening match showed signs of the fight outs that we are going to see in the days to come…

C U tommorrow with more action………..

Cricket in its new avtar is something like “just what the doctor prescribed!!”. This format of the game is full of adrenaline right from the very first ball to the last one. Highly unpredictable, just a few dot balls, a wicket or a six can change the match. Everyone biting nails, glued to their seats all the time, not a single dull moment.

Cricket 20-20 creates a win-win situation for everyone involved, “paisa-vasool” entertainment for the crowds (plus the cheer girls ), players are earning a fortune and so are the owner of the teams. Surprisingly here is something that I found on the IPL page of Wikipedia “The Indian Government earned Rs 91 crore as tax revenue from the 1st season of the IPL”. Now thats not bad at all.

Season 2 of IPL was held in South Africa and the show only got bigger and better. Now I think for season 3, keep your fingers crossed sky is going to be the limit. News is also out that 2 more franchises would be added in 2011.

Cricket in this form has opened the gates to glory and fame for the youngsters wide open. Performance is instantly appreciated and rewarded. Cricketers from every corner of the world have got a huge stage to display their talent and fulfill their dreams. Cricket was and will always be the religion of our country. Cricket 20-20 is just working as a catalyst.

I am sure this slam-bang version of cricket will have its effects on the cricketers too, for me it’s simply “nerve-wrenching”, but as they say “It’s all about the money, honey!”.

The IPL and the Champions League can be called as copy-paste of EPL and UEFA Champions League. But what difference does it make as long as Cricket is benefiting from it. This version of cricket is sure to spread the sport far and wide across this planet.  Cricket 20-20 has certainly brought me back to “cricket”… I’m lovin it!!

The Indian Premier League (IPL) started by the BCCI last year made T-20 cricket the biggest thing ever happened to cricket. There was this same passion among the crowds and drama that you associate with a football match. Clubs like franchisees for almost every metropolitan city of India with owners from big industrialists to popular faces from glamour world. You can spend your complete day at office and sneak out 3 hours in the evening to watch a match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals at Wankhade Stadium. This year IPL 2 took place in South Africa and has been a great success. It was the excitement and the glamour of T-20 that attracted foreign people to come in huge numbers to see Bangalore play against Hyderabad.

I think the critics who opposed the T-20 format have been proved wrong. They advocated that this format would lead to a degradation in the quality of cricket. But according to me this format has made cricket even more challenging. Now you don’t have any scope of error. One dropped catch and you are out of the match. The job of batsmen has become more challenging as there is no limit to what can be achieved. A bowler has to be more accurate now with not only taking wickets but at the same time controlling runs. Now this format of cricket is being watched by everyone, from an idler to the President of South Africa (who sat through the IPL 2 final in South Africa ), as now you can enjoy a complete match in 3 hours and not wait for days to know the result.

Today was the opening match of T-20 World Cup 2009. It was between England and Netherlands. And would you believe it, the underdogs (Netherlands) won a thriller which went up to the last ball. This is the beauty of T-20. No one are favorites, anything can happen at a given day.

All i want to say is that One-Day Cricket and Test-Cricket will always have their own space, but T-20 Cricket has and will always reflect the most popular facet of cricket.

SNSD, the biggest issue of this summer, released the album cover of upcoming 2nd mini-album on the 22nd, but people criticized the image of aircraft, which resembled Zero-sen. As the criticism grew, SNSD’s management company decided to immediately delete the controversial image. On the 23rd, SM Ent said, “We inserted military icons in the album cover, but we are going to delete those because some are misinterpreted from what we have intended”, and added “We will delete the image and replace it with T-20 which is developed and produced in Korea”.

In response to the step taken by the management company for unintended but controversial issue, most of Netizens viewed it as a “regrettable but a proper decision”.

One Netizen said “It’s good that they quickly reacted to the criticism before the comeback. If they ignored this issue and only gave excuses, the situation would have gotten worse”. Another said, “deleting the pic will be better for SNSD”.

Meanwhile, SNSD’s new single “Tell me your wish” topped various charts in just one day after its release, and is about to extend “Gee” syndrome.

SNSD’s 2nd mini album title song “Tell me your wish” was released through various mp3 sites on
the 22nd. Shortly after the release, the song topped real time charts, and after a short while, it reached #1 in daily charts. After the day from its initial release, the ranking is shooting up even higher. Entering Melon chart as #6 surprised many people who work in music industry. Considering that “Gee” entered the chart as #10, the new song is getting a lot of popularity. The song reached #1~2 in almost every mp3 charts foreshadowing another SNSD syndrome.

T: bug@soshified.com
O: newsen

After a long wait yesterday came the victory that we were all longing for….. since a long time.

Watching the match yesterday made me realized how that no matter what we say to our cricketers they are our heroes. But who makes them a zero its us its our mindset. If they would’nt would have batted well yesterday we would have forgot that they made it to the finals & would have been cursing them.

Why dont we just give them the credit that atleast they have the courage to play infront of the zillions of people. Most of us might have a severe anxeity attack & might not even be able to go on the field.

The other thing that I saw yesterday was the firing that took place for Heavens sake is this the way we celebrate happiness cant we be decent & civilized there other ways of celebrating happiness. We belong to an Islamic state where the girls were dancing out on the roads, men were using abusive language infront of families for fun & this they named as celebration.

Lets start respecting our cricket team & accept them with all their faults because they are the ones who made the entire nation happy yesterday by winning the tournament.

Lets hope that next time we will adopt a more civilized manner of CELEBRATION.

Actual reason why we won’t see the Rawalpinid Express in action during the T-20 Worls Cup. Daily Mirror UK reports that a bout of genital warts ended his involvement in the Twenty20 World Cup.

Quote from a report in the daily:

Akhtar, who missed the first Twenty20 World Cup after fighting with team-mate Mohammad Asif in the dressing room, must stay at home. The pace bowler might have hoped for some privacy over condition but the Pakistan board seem tired of his wayward behavior, and dropped him in it with a frank release.

Akhtar has provided more than his fair share of easy sledges for opponents – now his board has handed them more ammo.

His IPL club KKR must show some concern for the  ‘cause’ and invite him for his treatment at our own desi Sablok Clinic or Hakeem Usmani ka dawakhana.

2008 Champions League T20 postponed

The inaugural edition of the Champions League T20 scheduled to be played in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai from December 3 to 10 has been postponed.

The decision was taken by the Governing Council of the Champions League T20 after consultations among the three founding board members of the tournament – Board of Control for Cricket in India, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.

Lalit Modi, Chairman of the Champions League T20, said, “We held consultations among all the stakeholders including the founding members, the participating teams and members of the Governing Council after the unfortunate terrorist attacks in Mumbai on Wednesday night. It was agreed that in the best interests of all concerned, the inaugural edition of the Champions League T20 should be postponed.”

Modi continued, “We very strongly condemn this dastardly and heinous criminal act of a few which has resulted in the loss of precious lives and injury to hundreds. We offer our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and we are with them in their hour of grief.”

The Eight Teams have been divided into two groups:

Group A
Chennai Super Kings (IPL T20 runners-up)
Victoria Bushrangers (Australia)
Pretoria Titans (South Africa)
Middlesex Crusaders (England)

Group B
Sialkot Stallions (Pakistan T20 champions)
Rajasthan Royals (IPL T20 champions)
Western Warriors (Western Australia)
Natal Dolphins. (South Africa)

Schedule

Dec 5, Friday
1.Middlesex Crusaders vs Victoria Bushrangers
Mumbai

2.Rajasthan Royals vs Natal Dolphins
Chennai

Dec 6,Saturday
1.Western Australia vs Natal Dolphins
Bangalore

2.Victoria Bushrangers vs Pretoria Titans

3.Chennai Super Kings vs Middlesex Crusaders
Chennai

Dec 7, Sunday
1.Natal Dolphins vs Sialkot Stallions

2.Rajasthan Royals vs Western Warriors
Bangalore

3.Chennai Super Kings vs Pretoria Titans
Chennai

Dec 8, Monday
First Semi-Final
1st(Group B) vs 2nd(Group A)
Bangalore

Dec 9, Tuesday
Second Semi-Final
1st(Group A) vs 2nd(Group B)
Chennai

Dec 10, Wednesday
Final
1st SemiFinal Winner vs 2nd SemiFinal Winner
Chennai

Big Effing Mistake- that matters too little.

I’m talking about the awesome threesome. The mainstay of Indian Batting.  The Wall, 6+4Ulkar, Ganghooligan.  It did not have to end like this. Shit, I didn’t want it to end like this. I wanted a royal friggin farewell. The razmatazz, the lights, the works , the shit.  But this is a friggin whimper!

Was it the T-20? All I can think of is- like it or hate it- you cannot ignore it.  I can think of every single soul hooked on to it like it was the friggin plague, watching a daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals match or something, the viewership only equalling those legendary days of the sunday doordarshan screening of Ramayana or Mahabharatha or something.

Nevermind that the Bangalore RC aka royally challenged – sucked more than a state-of-the-art whirlpool vacuum cleaner. Nevermind that we were subjected to the  overexposed and heavily Wrinkled Shah Rukh Khan and his band of bollywood freaks ( included some hot women and some very distubing close ups of karan johar and Arjun Rampal that made me wanna puke my intestines out) like the footage was our only hope of survival.  The fact remains that the T-20 has probably sealed the nail for 50 overs, and perhaps even viewership in test cricket.

I’m fairly positive that Test cricket and T-20 will be the 2 forms that co-exist (along with any other mutant version that Modi and the likes can molest the game out of ). It was the one day series in pakistan, followed by the current test series in Sri Lanka that really showed the effect that T-20 has had on the game.

Alright, lets lay down the cards now. Let’s come clean. Not too many of us can watch the longer version of the game. To me, its quite obvious. Sure, test cricket is the purest form, and the tactical and strategic implications during a game are enormous. But , its just too effing LONG!!! Come on now!!! 5 days???!?! 5 Friggin days?!?!??!   That’s a real horseload of time we got there don’t we?! Man that’s a long time. Even 50 overs an innings one day game seems like we’re asking a snail to break into a moon-walk you know?

And what’s with this whole coach/Manager BS?  I’m really beginning to second guess the amount of expertise that goes around into planning in this game. We had no coach and we did ok against the kangaroos and the rest. Now, we’ve got one and we suddenly SUCK?!?! What gives?   I mean,  I know Murali is a legend and Mendis is a freak, but come on!!!  An Innings defeat!

Which brings me back to the original topic at hand. I can really see the end for the trip.  3 illustrious careers. Think about it. Wasnt our collective hearts pounding every single time Sachin walked in to bat in the 90s? The world cup in 96 , 2001 in South Africa. Sachin was the friggin MAN. You knew he might fail in the big one, but you won’t stop believing in the little guy.

Think about the Wall. The quintessential gentleman. The only guy in our line up who still maintains a higher average outside India than at home. The only guy who was our hope to standing up to the most testing of bowling conditions. The rest of our batting line-up would crumble , get out like we had the diarohhea, but this dude would stick around till the very end. He’d play the bridesmaid role in every big victory, never getting his due credit. But yet was the hero for the few of us who just loved the underdog.

And of course ganguly. The dude’s a badAss with a CAPITAL A. You couldn’t deny it. After the troublesome episodes of the late 90s (betting and all that BS), he was the one guy who really took indian cricket by the collar and dragged it into the next century.  We might hate him for being a little biased against the older guys (like dravid, tendulkar, kumble), but you can’t deny the fact that he was one stand-up dude. He spoke his heart out, and never gave excuses. I cannot forget some of the innings he played from the front – the century in the 01 aussie tour, the 317 chase against pakistan.  He was an in-your-face mo-fo.

And yet, its going to be a fade away for these guys. This could be the last leg of test matches. Or maybe it isn’t. But not too many are watching. You just hear stories about the guys playing test matches now, but everyone’s only going to watch if it’s a t-20 game. It’s like that now.  The finish line is there, unfortunately- the crowd’s gone home

Well , somebody do something before my blog turns entirely into a sports blog .That was not what i had in my mind while starting this blog Anyhow cricket is at its best now , not exactly the same old gentelemen’s game but then who cares ?? until the game is interesting and has a lot of hot firangi chicks cheering for the game .

The fact that cricket is not ruhi ’s cup of tea and she wouldn’t be commenting again makes me sad she has got this new domain of hers has a pretty decent and neat theme.She has been complaining that i am writng just cricket cricket and cricket : P .Well i really cant help posting abt cricket. Now coming back to the actual content of the post the match between the knight riders and chennai super kings . The game for which i was eagerly waiting for, perhaps ,many others too . YES ,the battle of the titans . I couldn’t see the the first half of the match live because i had placement and scholarship distribution function in my college . but yes i did see the highlights part of it and i must say the match turned out to be one sided one .

None of my fellow bloggers are having a good IPL experieance . Ridhimma seems to be in deppression atleast thats what she is saying . All because of her home team could not register even one win till now . Nothings going right for mumbai team sachin is injured ,jayasurya is not doing anything great and adding to the injury harbhajan has started his usual controversy now in india by slapping sreeshant (the same guy who stares at batsman even when he is hit for a six , was seen to be crying uncontrollably ).Anyways , i have asked ridhimma to support my home team for her good.

Poor ISH . He would have been pretty disappointed after his team lost so miserably . i know it wouldn’t have affected his AIEEE paper but still lets hope he writes it well . Kolkata riders supposedly better team due to its bowling line up looked lame from the very first ball . I must say 147 odd runs were quite less compared to the standard of batting this tournament has generated .Thanks to the three wicket haul by jacob oram. Other wise he had a very ordinary tournament till now .I had a lot of expectations from him when chennai bought him. Anyways better late than never atleast he performed . With the likes of dhoni hayden and hussey defending this target was never going to be easy but i never thought the chennai kings will win this comfortably . Hayden looked in ominous touch which seemed pretty clearly when he had hit six of ishant’s good length delivery .it was hayden’s second consecutive 50 that helped chennai super kings to register their 3rd consecutive victory thus making them the only unbeatable side .Dhoni joined the party too with 43 of just 27 balls with 2 huge hits .Which ofcourse marked dhoni’s usual way of getting the victory runs by hitting a six .

Well ,ain’t i happy to see chennai kings roaring their way up to the points table ??? Though the team doesnt look as formidable as other teams like deccan challenger look i still feel the balance is very much present in chennai team and i wouldn’t be surprised to see my team right there in the finals of the very first IPL tournomanet and i hope kolkata knight riders reach the finals too because thats the only other team i am suporting and also because i want to see chennai super kings kick knight riders a** once again

]]> http://pr3rna.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/bhajji-provoked/ Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:57:17 +0000 Prerna http://pr3rna.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/bhajji-provoked/

Harbhajan Singh allegedly slapped Sreesanth after losing the IPL match. Sreesanth was seen crying bitterly on the ground. For all of us who stood with Bhajji when he was accused of being racist, this incidence came as a shock. Symonds is not a villain anymore. Hayden’s outburst against Bhajji doesn’t sound rude now. Harbhajan has let us all down.
When Indians and some Australian critics blamed the Australians and gave a clean chit to Harbhajan they overlooked Bhajji’s past record. Cricket is becoming aggressive by the day but being aggressive does not mean one has to behave like a school kid. After playing in the international arena for more than a decade he can do better. Bhajji needs to learn to lose gracefully.In his interest and the for the sake of the country’s image he should be given an extensive break from top level cricket to concentrate on controlling his temper.
IPL has benefited Cricket( I still have my reservations about T-20 being called cricket) not just the players. It has led to true globalization of cricket. National boundaries have been blurred and loyalties have changed even if they are for a short time. Shane Warne is a hero and we can appreciate his captaincy without feeling bad for the victims, who were normally our guys because our focus in cricket was limited to games played with India. When Symonds looked helpless against Warne, let me confess old bias against Symonds made me happy(not for cricketing reasons alone). Not anymore.
It is high time BCCI takes some action against Harbhajan otherwise he will end up hurting himself. Looks like Shoib Akhtar has competition. Bhajji’s past record proves that-
During his maiden international ODI series Harbhajan was slapped with a hefty fine and a reprimand after a heated exchange with Ponting.
He was expelled from the National Cricket Academy in mid-2000. Later he admitted that he was at fault.
In 2005 he called coach Greg Chappell as someone who used ‘double standards’ and was served a show cause notice by the BCCI and had to apologise.
The recent controversy with Symonds and Hayden was the highlight of the Gavaskar Border trophy this year.
The whole nation rallied behind Harbbhajan but this time he physically assaulted a teammate and cannot expect sympathies. Sreesanth crying bitterly on the ground after the incident was not a pleasant sight. Sree may call him an elder brother and the off-spinner may have apologised for his behaviour but this is a matter of the image of the country. He should face some tough action and should not get away lightly. Before the tournament started, Harbhajan vs Symonds and Harbhajan vs Hayden were the most anticipated showdown because of their shared history, but it seems it’s not just the Australians who can provoke Bhajji.