Apocryphal Stories !!!

After the intermission of the movie, there is a scene where 'actor' Akshaye asks 'director' Akshay- mujhe karna kya hai? After having watched the first half breeze through, the scene kind of sets the motion for what is to follow  in the movie The first half begins in a superb manner, the chutzpah that we normally associate with Farah Khan. It shows a still unborn Tees Maar Khan urf Tabrez Mirza Khan learning the tricks of the trade in his mother's womb ala Abhimanyu. Entry of Akshay Kumar is pretty forced and built-up. The one thing that half the nation (depends on the sex ratio in India now) was waiting for, comes very early in the movie as it's the introduction for Katrina Kaif. Yes, you guessed it right! It's SHEELA KI JAWANI It is to the actor's credit that he actually pulls off a few scenes in the first half, even eliciting laughs for the same. It's actually the entry of Akshaye Khanna that slows the movie down and it has nothing to do with

Breaking News : Sachin has scored his fiftieth century at SuperSport Park, Centurion and yeah it's one of the best innings he has played given the circumstances India begun the day in a positive manner as Dravid looked to occupy the crease and shield Ishant from the hostile bowling. It was Ishant who started the flow of runs as he drove fluently through covers and then got an edge that flew over the slip cordon. It looked as if lady luck was smiling on Ishant as he got a leading edge to a ball pitched on the middle and leg and it carried back to Morkel. As is the trend these days, replays showed that Morkel had overstepped Ishant was getting his runs through proper cricketing strokes and the square drive he played of Steyn was straight out of the coaching manual and Steyn drew revenge of the very next ball when he had him caught at short-leg by Amla. The dismissal in full was because of Amla's reflexes as Ishant middled it In came Tendulkar and he started off from wher

'Maranamrudangam' is the term used in southern parts of India to describe the 'feeling of knowing one's death beforehand/ technically put the sound of one's death approaching' Indian cricket team did not quite know what hit them on day 3 of the Test match that they ended up conceding a glut of records to the batsmen The day began on a ominous note for the Indians as Amla seemed to have settled down into a groove that seemed to have avoided him yesterday. He quickly got into the rhythm with his trademark drives. He started off with a superb drive through covers for a boundary and then proceeded to play the scoopy, checked cover drive of his through the covers. What was more heartening to watch was the square cut of SreeSanth and the backfoot strokes by Amla were enough for the Indians to think of another long day of chasing leather Kallis on the other hand was beaten by a stray delivery but nothing on a regular basis troubled him. Amla was motoring away at

Around an year ago Ian  Chappell stated that there is a need for two world class bowlers in the team to sustain the number 1 ranking. A lot of people then scoffed at him and said he was plain jealous but then it was seen and felt today that what he said was right India played like a shadow of the number 1 team they are. They folded up with the day just three balls old and the new ball bowlers did nothing to make it count and to make things worse the debutant did not just have enough pace to trouble the batsman Graeme Smith and Peterson saw out the new ball and then started to express themselves as the shine went off the ball. Petersen was fluent with the drives and Smith as usual was strong square of the wicket. Not even a single ball from the seamers troubled them The introduction of Harbhajan into the attack turned into a run fest as he pitched short repeatedly to Smith who had no hesitations in cashing on. Peterson also slog swept Harbhajan for a huge six. It seemed like India w

It is easy being Graeme Smith, isn't it? As soon as it started to rain the night before the match, Smith would have made the decision to bowl first if he had won the toss. He did win the toss and had no hesitations in putting India in. His new ball pair of Steyn & Morkel have made things a lot easier for him They have been superb in conditions that suit them and have troubled all the batsmen of the much vaunted Indian batting line-up on the first day of the Test match. It seemed as if they were working to a synchronised plan as Steyn was intent on bringing the batsmen onto the frontfoot and Morkel was pushing them onto backfoot These bowlers bowl so very well together that they have taken a combined total of  224  wickets till yesterday. The way they operated yesterday was a pleasure to watch. Morkel's working over of Gambhir in particular was exemplary He started off by being erratic and then pounded Gambhir with short ball after short ball. In fact at one point

When a few of the players arrived early in South Africa at the behest of Gary Kirsten, a lot of the people thought of it to be extravagance at the expense of an ODI series against New Zealand. With a look at the scorecard, even that acclimatisation seems pretty short The pitch for this match was prepared fairly early and India knew all along that it was going to be a grassy pitch, aiding pace and movement. With rain pouring down heavily from last night, it was clear that the team that wins the toss would bowl first not because there were demons in the pitch but to exploit the prevailing conditions. Dhoni failed to call correctly and Smith had no hesitation in putting India in Once in, Sehwag left the first two balls he faced as if he was in a monk like trance. Instincts got the better of him on the third ball that he got to face from Steyn. He slashed hard at a wide ball and got a top edge that flew directly to Amla at third-man. Smith's reaction to the dismissal showed that it w

In the late 1980's, when Sportsworld and Sportstar ruled the roost, it was not uncommon to see a person's starposter appear at least once in two months and that person answered to the name- Imran Khan. One of the fabulous four all rounders that took part in the eighties, he was a superb bowler, measured batsman and an amazing captain. In 2009, a biography authored by Christopher Sandford made news as some excerpts had described his relationship with Benazir Bhutto I had my hands on this book a month ago and it was not surprising that I scanned for Benazir Bhutto in the index page and immediately belted to the pages containing her reference. Well considering the furore it created when the book released, there was nothing to satisfy temporal pleasures The book starts off on a propitious note and keeps the tempo for some time into the book. What makes the book interesting are the little anectodes that convey a lot about the person. First chapter dedicates itself to

To say that Ponting has been hard hit by the retirement of Brett Lee would not be an understatement. After his retirement, he has struggled to find a replacement for a bowler to lead the attack. His struggle is reminiscent of the Australian struggle in the 1980's. A look at the records will slams home the point that the best bowler  for the team averages around 31 apiece for his wickets Seeing Ponting bat the way he did in Brisbane was as refreshing as it was worrying, because he let go of the shackles and attacked the bowlers with gay abandon and it was a pity that only he could have done it as the team lacks a player who carries the same sort of aura as him. The retirement of the class of 2007 has had an adverse impact on his batting fortunes  as he is not the same player that he was Looking at this predicament of Ponting, similarities will be surely drawn up with that doughty Queenslander Allan Border . The advantage that Border had that Ponting does not is age- both his

In the movie Ram Charan Tej draws an analogy between cricket and golf. After watching the movie, one thing that ran on my mind was the fact that Bhaskar's career as a director could be analogised with that of a cricketer. Without generalising, it would be easy to suggest that Bhaskar's life has oriented around Bommarillu and his every movie will be compared to it. There is no escaping the fact. The cricket comparisons come in here Like a talented cricketer who has waited for a chance in Test cricket and has played out the scene in his mind for every living day of a superb domestic career, it won't be surprising if he actually scores a century on debut. The problem starts from there on, he would not have in all probability dreamt of the second and third tests Bhaskar too faces the same predicament. He had a superb script in Bommarillu and he must have played out every scene of that movie tonnes of times in his mind. Am not very sure about the same things happening for Par

Law 14 of the MCC rule book states the following about Declaration The captain of the side batting may declare an innings closed, when the ball is dead, at any time during the innings. Yesterday the Cricketing world was abuzz with Smith's declaration of the innings as AB de Villiers was stuck on 278 *. He crossed the record for the highest individual score for a South African and Smith called them in It can be argued in Smith's favour that this declaration happened soon after Tea and AB de Villiers would be well aware of the time of the declaration. I am pretty sure that he would have been asked if he wanted to chase the magical figure of 300 Well since that puts a lid on a lot of controversies, I would like to look back upon a few controversial declarations over the years 1) Mark Taylor (334*) V Pakistan, at Peshawar This would always be remembered as the ultimate of salutes to the world's greatest batsman, Don Bradman as Taylor declared the innings when he ha

Matthew Hayden, talking about playing in India said  "There are periods of time when nothing happens and then suddenly a wicket falls, the crowd gets behind the players and then another wicket falls. Before you know it's all happening in front of your eyes" This seems to be even more true with India being the numero uno in Test cricket now. When the focus shifted to Rajiv Gandhi International stadium, the 101st stadium to host Test cricket, all the concerns were centred on the pitch. There was heavy rain in the southern parts of the country and as the pitch was covered for most of the time, it was expected that there would be some help for the pace bowlers Zaheer Khan these days does the job of taunting, terrifying and ultimately snaring the batsmen pretty well. He seemed to be on course to do the same to McIntosh all over again as he bowled immaculate line and length to him. McIntosh bagged a pair in the last game at Ahmedabad and looked vulnerable against Zaheer w

Sachin Tendulkar is a gifted wicket in either forms of the game and when you have him in your first game, it means that there is something in the bowling to look forward to. In Tests, the bowlers who have taken him as their maiden scalp have not gone to kick on with bigger things in life. It's one thing to get his wicket and quite another to get his wicket by foxing him Clint McKay will forever bask in the glory of not only having him in his very first game but by having him foxed by a slower delivery in that  epic match at Hyderabad . He got him by bowling a back of the hand slower one. Till today his debut match remained his best day in his short career. He made a name for himself on the circuit for his back of the hand slower ball From today on people will remember him for sucking every bit of help that a pitch can provide. Bestowed with the opportunity of sharing new ball in a dead rubber he dismantled the top order in a jiffy! Dilshan was forced into flicking a fuller

Ruthlessness is described in the dictionaries as being 'without pity or compassion'. This was the characteristic not shown by Sri Lanka in dispatching Australia to further doom. It was shown in abundance,by them on various teams between  13th April 1996 and 1st October 1996 Agreed that the series was won before they went into the third match but it was not a reason enough to take the foot off the accelerator. Having won the toss and electing to bat, they did not get off to an auspicious start as they lost their top-order in moments of madness to McKay who got the ball to move in appreciably  Dilshan was guilty of choosing a wrong ball to flick as he moved across and flicked one into the hands of Hussey at square-leg. Sangakkara after being beaten by a peach of a delivery chased one outside the off stump and went back without troubling the scorers. Same was the case with his old mate Jayawardene as he looked to drive a ball, short of a fuller length and found the outside edge