Apocryphal Stories !!!

The much vaunted middle order of India, before they embarked on the tour of England, made public their desire of scoring a hundred at Lord’s and getting onto the honours board. Only one of them was successful and he went on to score two more hundreds in the series, only to see his team being whitewashed On the other hand, the man who it was thought would score his 100 th century on the hallowed turf of Lord’s came a cropper till the last innings of the series. It was in that innings that he started to come into his own and the century of centuries and consequently, a draw seemed to be on cards. It was not to be as India stumbled onto a defeat as soon as he was dismissed As it always does, the failure of Sachin Tendulkar on this tour sparked off a huge debate about who is the better player of two. It is without doubt that if it comes to the range of strokes, effervescence, and rising to the occasion it is Tendulkar who would run ahead but when the parameters are set to being effecti...

Last month when India were on a tour to the Caribbean, they handed out debut to a player who is almost considered as the next batting great- Virat Kohli. He did not make any use of the opportunity and had to return to the repair shop immediately. His technique was found wanting against the short balls and the working over that he got from Fidel Edwards is something that would stay in the mind for some time to come Now in England, the youngsters and not so young, especially the left handers, are being hunted out with the short balls. Anybody who saw the dismissals of Mukund, Raina and Yuvraj, would have lost hope on them countering the short balls. Mukund did not make anything of the reprieve he got of the first ball he faced in the second innings. Instead his response to a continued barrage was to put the hand in front of the helmet grill! For long, the talk about Raina was his susceptibility to the short balls. Any kid with a working knowledge on cricket will tell you that the si...

The media and the experts are crawling all over the Indian cricket team after the first two Tests. They have their reasons to do so. The supporters of the Indian cricket team, after having been through the high of World Cup victory, are just about to see their worst nightmares come true- Losing the Number one status in Test cricket A lot of observers will put the loss down in the first Test to habit. The loss in the second Test was more shocking as it was due to ineptitude, inability and the lack of a stomach for a fight. In the two years of   their reign as numero uno, India were never a dominator but a team that had high bounce backeability quotient It is as much an administrative failure as it is the players. Knowing the Indian players, the board should have seen to it that the players had more practice matches than one. It was essential for the players coming from the tour of Caribbean as it would have required a lot of effort to adapt to the conditions. Turns out that the p...

As the match started on the fifth day, every Indian eye was on the clock to check the time. Not surprising, because they willed the great man to score a century on the most hallowed turf of them all- Lord’s. What they didn’t take into account was the fact that the great man had a history of coming up short when the pressure mounted against him. Personal pressure, he can certainly take but pressure on the team is a different matter altogether From April 1 st on, the talk started gathering that he would achieve a century of centuries on the grandest stage of them all, the World Cup final. It did not happen as it was Gambhir and Dhoni who saw to it that India coasted home comfortably. When he skipped the Caribbean tour, it was widely anticipated that he would get to century of centuries in the 2000 th Test- as grand as they come. In fact he spoke openly about his desire to score a century at Lord’s. So did Dravid and Laxman. Only Dravid went on to fulfil it The question to be asked h...

From the time India toured West Indies, the country has been waiting for bated breath for this tour. There were a lot of reasons for that. One among them was the fact that it would be the 2000 th Test to be played. Another number of importance was that it would be the 100 th Test to be played between England and India There was a lot of expectation leading into the Test that it would be the venue that would be witness to Tendulkar’s 100 th International century. With Tendulkar stationed in United Kingdom, it was expected that he would put in the yards during practice and come back rejuvenated for the Test series. With so much pressure weighing, it was but natural to expect that it will wear him down at some point After being accorded a standing ovation on his way to the crease, he proceeded to put on a champagne show for the crowd at Lord’s. It was a vintage show by a batsman as he punched drives of the backfoot and was looking to come forward at every given opportunity- a sure si...

Ten years ago a young man gave the Hindi film industry a breath of fresh air with his ‘cult’ film Dil Chahta Hai . It was, in all senses a coming of the age movie. That young man now acts in a movie directed by his sister. The movie bears uncanny resemblance to the movie made by the man himself Starring Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol and Farhan Akhtar (in the same order as they appear in screen credits), the movie has a lot going for it. The star cast is a major plus and the biggest positive for the movie is the location that it has been shot in- Spain What starts off as a fun trip changes into one where the protagonists confront their fears and in the process we peel the layers of their personalities. Though at some places the movie seems dragged, it does the job of taking you along with the proceedings. The only complaint, if there has to be one, is the fact that the comic track that involves the boys scaring others seems a little forced. All the three actors appear in most of the scen...

The last time Puri Jagannadh said ‘Thank You’ as a director, we were treated to one of worst movie ever . This time when he said those two words, he meant them for the purpose- thanking Amitabh Bachchan for what he is When the movie was announced, Sonu Sood said he would be playing a Police officer and he added that the director felt he resembles Amitabh Bachchan. Enough clues At the beginning a majority felt that the movie would be macabre underworld story. The way the movie pans out takes the breath away (in a positive sense) Puri Jagannath is known for making Telugu movies with superb characterisation of the protagonist. A lot of his movies were money churners at the box office only because of the characterisation In this movie, right from the moment titles roll, Puri had his brief – to project Amitabh like he has never been in the recent past. He starts off by borrowing from the man himself. Right from remixes of his old hits, rolled into one to his signature mannerisms, it’s ...

At 5-4, 15-love in the fourth set against del Potro yesterday, after Nadal had won the point, a man in blue sitting in his box let out a knowing smile. It tells us a lot about Nadal. It tells us a lot about the confidence of the man in Nadal. The knowing smile came about because Nadal and del Potro were trading punches like prize fighters. With this passing shot, Nadal was getting ready to trade the knock-out punches Not only is Nadal a champion at the game but he is also a champion at heart. After the foot injury , it might have been humanely impossible for him to continue the match. With the first few points in the tie-breaker  going del Potro’s way, it was thought that Nadal would be a sitting duck. People were thinking that Nadal’s unbeaten streak at Wimbledon, which dates to 2008 would finally be snapped. What is a champion without actually, pushing the limits? Nadal did exactly that as he came back to wrap up the tie-breaker. Not for the first time it was, that he displayed...

Few weeks ago in an interview to Lakshmi Prasanna, Prakash Raj let out an inforgettable gem. He said that “Pain is something that is internally centralized. Nobody can feel it for you” While watching the movie this is the statement that comes back to haunt the mind. Everything about the movie is well-planned and sequentially arranged. From the day, the trailers were released on air, it was apparent that Mr. Balasubramaniem’s work would come in for lot of kudos. And it does All the people involved with the movie have been saying that ‘180’ has got something to do with theme of the story and they were right. It in fact is apparent from the first dialogue of the movie. The kid in the first scene runs away with a lot of honours in that scene That the movie is personal, is beyond doubt. It is presented with even more clarity in the long drawn-out list of thanks in the titles. What moves you is the fact that he credited Lahari Audio for using a track from a popular film Since this is ...