Apocryphal Stories !!!

In the open era(till 2004) 5 Spaniards have won the French Open 6 times. Sergei Bruguera was the only man  who repeated the feat twice. From 2004 on, Rafael Nadal won the French Open 6 times in  7 attempts. No wonder he considers his game to be tailor made for the clay courts. Though he loved clay- which also explains his love for Monte Carlo- it was his dream to win Wimbledon For a person whose game is entirely based on the power that he generates from his strokes, it is natural to go for every match as though it’s his last. When he lost the 2007 Wimbledon final to Federer, he wept under the shower for close to half an hour. What does the man do? He goes back and trains even harder. His belief in training has been steadfast from childhood It was Toni Nadal, who made him revere him training with unconventional motivation. That Nadal had a no-nonsense approach towards winning helped Toni. When he saw the effort dipping, he would fire him up with more practice. Nadal remember...

Once the think tank of Australia sits down on the table after this match, there are three points that would stand out 1) After winning the first T20 International game ever and then proceeding to lose the very next game, comprehensively. From that day on till today, Australia has neither got a stable game plan nor have they got the winning culture that they have in the other two formats 2) As much as they would deny it, the ghosts of that game in Johannesburg still remain and comes back to haunt them from time to time, when they play South Africa. Notably, in throwing away winning causes 3) Shane Watson is central to their fortunes in all the formats of the game. When it comes to Limited overs it is his bowling that stands as a differentiator between the teams At the toss, White was asked if it was individual efforts that counted in the T20 games or the team effort. His answer was “In this format, individuals can win you the match in a ball or two. When it boils down to ti...

Do you have any memories of the man who scored 86 in his debut game against England and also had his biggest moment to savour against them? To drop further clues would mean to reveal the identity of the man In his most popular ODI innings, he bought India back from the dead to actually level the series. It was a game in which Sachin Tendulkar was awarded the Man of the match. He hasn’t played an ODI for more than three years now Now to make the identity of the player a giveaway, he bowed down in front of a packed stadium after leading India to a win over arch rivals Pakistan, in a bowl out. Yes it is Robin Venu Uthappa. After exploding into India’s collective senses in that match at Oval, he quickly slipped down the favourite charts Yet people believe that he has it in him to knock a few bowling attacks over. It must be him and Irfan Pathan, whose non-selection remains a mystery to their followers. While Irfan’s slide is mysterious, Uthappa’s is crystal clear The s...

  After the Argus review went public, Australia’s graph has started to rise. At the forefront of this rise has been the new captain, a new settled opener and a new middle order find Michael Clarke took over the reins of the captaincy at what seemed to be a turbulent time for Australian cricket- Ashes loss, World Cup loss, and the general distrust in people over the team. Though he started out in Bangladesh as the captain, it was in Sri Lanka that his skills as a captain, would be analysed. It was here that he impressed the pundits. He grew strength by strength, as he won both the ODI’s and the Test series, in what was called as a stern examination His able handling of the spinners was refreshing and so was his marshalling of the youngsters in the squad. It wasn’t surprising then, to find the dwindling players make a foothold in the team. Recently Watson said that he saw a shift back to the middle order, in view of his increasing burden with the ball. Clarke was as flee...