Apocryphal Stories !!!

The moment is here. Australian hegemony over World Cup has ended after a 11 year 11 month reign and which better team to do it than India. Looking at the match it seemed as if India became Australia and Australia became India. India played perhaps their first perfect game in the World Cup The reason behind India playing the perfect match was their much improved fielding display. The combined front of Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina did well to stop atleast fifteen runs on the field. Ashwin too did some stellar work in the outfield Australia started the quarter-final cautiously as Shane Watson and Brad Haddin took their time in adjusting to the variations of the pitch. Dhoni wasted no time as he bought Ashwin into the attack in the very first over itself. After settling in, Watson was good at picking the line and was actually looking at attacking Ashwin. But he played one attacking shot too many and was bowled looking to play a sweep across the line At his dismissal came Ponting and ...

The West Indies decline has come a full circle. There has not been a standout performer for them this World Cup in any of the departments. Although the crowd has been egging them on, the defeats against England and India did them no good They came to the quarter final clash against Pakistan on the back of those defeats against England and India. So it was highly surprising that they dropped Andre Russel, who played well against England. Considering the batting strength of Pakistan, it was thought that a total in excess of 230 would be winning one When Smith latched onto the first ball and cut it to point boundary, it seemed that West Indies were on course but he struggled with the next few balls as Gul consistently beat him with length and movement. As has become the norm from the time Botha snared Gayle in the first over, a spinner was bought into the attack with the new ball. After defending a few deliveries, Gayle flicked a ball over midwicket for a boundary Gayle further displ...

21 years ago a maverick made his debut with Shiva and now after all the years he makes another movie called ‘ Dongala Mutha’ . Both the times he made people ask “How/ Why did Ram Gopal Varma make this?”. Basically nothing has changed then. That’s the view-point if you are from the so-called Ram Gopal Varma camp There’s a lot of change in 21 years from audiences perspective though. If they asked the question in awe, when he made Shiva, they ask the same question in consternation when he made ‘ Dongala Mutha’ Ever since ‘Phoonk’ Ramu has relied heavily on media for publicity- negative or positive. The sheer contempt for the paying public, is making him tread the wrong path. A pattern has been formed in his films now that they neither have a story nor a screenplay to boast of. This coming from a man who delivered us ‘Shiva’ ‘Kshana Kshanam’ ‘ Rangeela’ to name a few Instead of delving into the reasons of what made him do this specific movie, we should concentrate on what good this m...

A couple of days ago, Swann said that England were the Newcastle United of Cricket. Today after the nerve-wracking match, he said they feel like they are the Pakistan of 1992. Going by the six matches that they have played in this edition, they are carving a separate identity for themselves Chennai has proved to be the lucky pitch for England as they have won both the matches that have been played here. Today too, Strauss had no hesitation in batting as soon as he had won the toss. Both the teams were nervy to begin with as Strauss saw off a maiden by Roach and then saw Smith not making an effort to take catch, running back from midwicket. In between Prior made a good start by driving Benn to cover boundary. He further attacked the same bowler by going for the square cut and a slice. Strauss got into the stride by driving a fuller ball wide of the cover fieldsman With Benn gifting a few deliveries that Prior was feasting on, Sammy thought it wise to replace him with Russell. Strau...

As an aside, I saw Justin Langer warming up to the kids at the Chinnaswamy stadium yesterday. He shook the hands of every child, who were lined up to accompany the players for the national anthems to be played. What perhaps got him the loudest cheer ( which he never would have managed in his playing days) was his gesture towards a three year old kid. He first waved hands at him, then suddenly realised he had a season ball in his hand. He then bent over the protective railings and gifted the kid the ball. The crowd went ballistic with this gesture of his and hooted their approval. Who says Aussies can't be nice guys 

After watching them in 2007 and now in 2011, there seems a joie de vivre in the way that Ireland go about the things. It is this joy that makes them a crowd favourite wherever they play. When a quarter-filled Eden Gardens is shouting hoarse for Ireland, you can be sure that Ireland has come a long way. Exactly what is it that makes people root for them Its not just being the underdog but also the visible effort that they put in competing with others. They have punched much above their height here and ICC would do well to ensure the development of Irish cricketers. In the run-up to this match, it was expected that they would give a tough fight to South Africa When Docrell took a catch sliding to his left at third-man to dismiss Amla, it was clear that Ireland would not go down by putting a lion hearted effort. When Smith was run-out to a brilliant piece of fielding by Mooney, South Africa seemed to be trouble. It took the hard-hitting batting of Van Wyk to stop Ireland from bull d...

The millennial babies would have felt that this was a throwback to their childhood. Watching Sachin bat and to see the rest of the team making a hash of it is nothing new to them. To put his longevity in perspective, he played two World Cups before Ganguly played in one. Ganguly has played in three World Cups and is now a part of the commentary panel There is something dynamic about Sehwag. In the early years too, he played in the same fashion but now his batting has acquired the additional dimension of demoralising the bowlers. The flick that he played off the very first ball of the innings speaks volumes about his mindset Where Sehwag was all violence in getting his runs, Sachin was silk. He drove, flicked, crunched, came down the track and deposited the ball into the stands. The array of the shots that he played delighted crowd, connoisseurs, and common man alike. The pick of the shots he played were the crunchy cut shot past the covers and off drive past Morkel When spin was in...