Category: Cricket

  • Happy National Sports Day India! Let’s celebrate

    Happy National Sports Day India! Let’s celebrate

    Thanks to all the social media networks, you are not far from being reminded significance of the day. From crazy dates like 17/01/17 to 12/12/12, to important dates of note. One such day is today, the National Sports Day.

    To the generation I belong, it is hard to remember Dhyan Chand. The legendary hockey player who made a mark for himself and our country everywhere we went. Hockey, being the national sport of India, has not take off as it should have thanks in part to cricket craze the country is under.

    Men’s cricket overshadowed Hockey like the Clegane clan of Game of Thrones. And it makes a lot of money. Women’s Cricket, not so much. So why I am talking of Hockey?

    National Sports Day

    Our National Sports Day is celebrated on 29th August every year. The date marks significance since it is the birth date of Dhyan Chand. The man, the legend who won Gold in Olympics in the years 1928, 1932, and 1936. Dhyan and his team traveled in hugely uncomfortable 3rd class, to reach Berlin and managed to win the tournament only by conceding 1 goal in the finals.

    It does come to be as a surprise that we do not hear much happening on the National Sports Day. The country is not unite in celebrating the sprint of the Game. National Sports Day is hardly celebrated with much elans as some others. It is high time that we treat a game with much celebration as any other.

    There are many sports played in India, some of Indian origin like Kabbaddi, Chess and Kho-kho. Kabbadi Pro League has managed to uplift the sport, and Chess had Vishy Anand hold the baton. Kho-kho has been losing its sheen, and so are many other sports.

    Get involved, it’s never too late!

    A game helps our mind, body and soul in relieving ourselves from the stress of life. And these games also help us to maintain our physical self, moving every muscle in our bodies or the neurons in brain. I know of a person who plays almost every game, and wins most of them. Sometimes, it makes me wonder – what else can someone do. The possibilities are limitless.

    Well, India let’s celebrate this great festival of sports!

    Feature picture’s icon credits to Freepik at Flaticon.

  • A breakfast ride to Lonavala – first ride for Yeti

    A breakfast ride to Lonavala – first ride for Yeti

    So this Breakfast Ride happened with no real plan in place. All of those times when we planned, it never worked out. Ironic, I know. I also know what you are thinking – asia hi hota hai hamesha (it happens always)! My good friends from my workplace, Vishnu and Karan just randomly called me up for an idea they wanted to go through with me to check viability.

    And so after that discussion, we just said to each other – lets go for a (more…)

  • So, cricket happens to you

    So, cricket happens to you

    I have a love and hate affair with cricket – no, I do not hate it when India looses unlike the cricket fanatics in a cricket-mad country, where cricket is a religion. And Sachin Tendulkar is not a demi-god, but “god” himself. Ya right, you also have temples for both Rajnikant and Amitabh Bacchan so this should not come as a surprise.

    So yesterday when I reached home and completed with my office work at home, I switched on the Hotstar to check for some movies when I saw the news that India was stunned by the Kiwis (New Zealand for the unintended), beating India by 49 runs. I said wow… That result for a team that won the Asia Cup is going to create an impact on the fans.

    (more…)

  • Political Slug Fest 2012

    Welcome to Political Slug Fest 2012!

    Its a Political Slug Fest approaching and every politician is making his or her presence felt. After all, its the 2014 elections approaching.

    I started wondering why so early? We are yet to live through 2013, and are not even sure if we will live through this year according to Mayan’s prediction of End of the World in December 2012. And the whole lot of Scams and publicity antics are just adding up. Do you feel that this is getting a bit over board and getting messy by the day? A quick view at the top news channel website and you will get 10 “Breaking News” at the very least. Such is the dynamics of politics in India.

    Let me start off with the smallest one. Petrol prices have been a political hot boiler for some time now and the latest news is that its cheaper by 0.56 paise!! This is definitely a welcome breaking news after the vehement protest by Mamta Banarjee. The Liquefied Petroleum Gas, or common man’s fuel prices have not been reduced, and the number of cylinders offered for a family now reduced to 3 / year in some states. Its time we all get Induction Cookers / Stoves at home.

    But, would that not increase my electricity cost?

    Kejriwal flew a political beemer at BJP by hi-jacking the hike in Electricity rates issue for consumers in Delhi. He was shown tearing apart what appeared to be electricity bills from Delhi electric distribution companies. Poor guys, they will have to still pay their bills and stand in queue for the duplicate bill as well!

    Speaking of electricity, we of course cannot forget the Coal gate, and it does need no introduction and explanation. Country cried over it, but that voice ultimately died on its own because of T20 World Cup.

    As if Cricket did not have its own problems already, India TV claimed today that they have video footage of Umpires who agreed to fix the match. Candidly called “Operation World Cup”, curiously enough,  none of the umpires featured in the sting operation were actually on the ground in Sri Lanka. How is that? or Howszzatt! or Whaterver.

    Then was the Irrigation Scam in Maharashtra where the ruling coalition party is in fix. Ajit Pawar immediately offered to resign. I was wondering why? Has it not been the trend now to still stick to your seat even if the allegations run into 6+ digits in crores? Gone are the days when moral responsibility had a meaning.

    I am sick of bigger scams, so here comes a small one. Small, albeit in the number of crores of Rupees but big when you gauge the tight slap on its face. Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress Chief Sonia Gandhi. He allegedly has taken money in return of favors from his wife’s home party politicians, DLF being the prime accused vendor.  Almost all of Congress’ top politicians came out to defend the son-in-law of party clan.

    Obviously, the above was thanks to Arvind Kejriwal who managed to sneak into DLF’s transactions and unearthed a potential political big PLUS for his party, the India Against Corruption or abbreviated IAC.

    IAC? Does it sound similar to INC?

    The issue is latest and refuses to die down. Thanks to Media, it will be alive for some days to come. And yes, I did not even started talking about Bigg Boss!

  • Why are Women Cricketers not appreciated?

    Why are Women Cricketers not appreciated?

    I remember an article (circulated via emails) by our former President, Mr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam. In which he mentions about what he found difference in newspapers in Israel and other countries. What he saw was all other news about violence and political instability (negativity) never occupied the top headlines, but achievements did. And he read about how a farmer converted a desert land into fertile land which was the Headline, unlike in India where if someone has been involved in Corruption, thats more deserving.

    The other day, in the newspapers’s sports section, was the news about the Awards given to all cricketers who excelled in Cricket. There were pictures of the World Cup winning cricket team, picture of Sachin Tendulkar, Salim Durani receiving the CK Nayudu throphy, Kapil Dev at a BCCI Event and Mrs. Tendulkar and Mrs. Dhoni.

    Well, obviously these are the names everyone will be eager to be know and see. But ironically, the Women Cricket awardees’ pictures were never shown, neither on the website nor on the print edition. Why?

    Two Women Awardees’

    M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best woman cricketer): MD Thirushkamini. (link to ICC Profile for participation in 2009 World Cup)

    M A Chidambaram Trophy (Best woman cricketer junior): Reva Arora

    Media should, irrespective of popularity, show all achievers. In the above case, I don’t think Mrs. Tendulkar nor Mrs. Dhoni deserved a mention on Sports page but these two Women Cricketers certainly did, so why did media not showcased these wonderful women? And if they were not there for the event, were they even invited?

    What was more disheartening is that I could not find these two women’s profile on BCCI website. Using the site archive search on google, I tried Googling site:BCCI.tv Sachin Tendulkar and found many links, but on searching site:BCCI.tv Reva Arora I got nothing.

    I am awaiting a mail reply from the Punjab Cricket Association on where I can find a link to the profile of Ms. Reva Arora. (The mail sent to PCA members, email ids that were available here)

    to    isbindra@cricketpunjab.com
    cc    bcgupta@cricketpunjab.com, mppandove@cricketpunjab.com, dpreddychd@gmail.com, skkakkar@cricketpunjab.com, gssandhu40@yahoo.com

    subject: Profile of Women Cricket Players

    Hello Respected Sirs,

    I was wondering and trying find out profiles of the two women cricketers awarded recently during the BCCI awards. One of them belongs to your state, Ms. Reva Arora. I was appalled to see that whole media, including the BCCI website never shown these two women receiving awards. Their names were just mentioned. If we dont promote Women cricketers like we do our Men in Blue, how will the future women’s cricket team be motivated to perform?

    To show my protest towards the same, I decided to blog about it as its my media and I felt these two women deserved some credit as well.

    If you are aware of any links that exist of Ms. Reva Arora’s profile on BCCI website or your Punjab Cricket Association website, please do share with me as I would like to draw my blog reader’s attention to the achievements of Ms. Reva Arora.

    Awaiting your reply sir.

    Regards,
    Hemal Shah

    What BCCI Needs to do?

    The BCCI website is still not complete, even after it came to force two years back. Is it too difficult for BCCI to complile a list of players and create individual profiles with their performance records? At least for those who have recieved the awards to start off with? Being the richest Cricket body in the world, the richest sport association than the bigger Football clubs out there, why can’t such a small thing be done?

    BCCI needs to start providing this data base of players who have been playing for India or their regional cricket associations. With the might of BCCI, they can promote Women Cricket so much more than what it is now. Half of India does not even know who is the Women’s Cricket team captain or even if the Team itself exist.

    Wake up BCCI.

     

  • World cup’s coming to India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

    Oh boy! lets see who wins then… no doubt that England are fresh from the Ashes bashing and they look pretty hefty this time around. As for Australia, the certainly are not favorites this year.. the reason being that people have got used to them being on top and are tried seeing them. Of course Australian fans are out there and will be yearning that they take this cup too but I dont see any chance for them. Ricky can’t do it again this time around.

    Other favorites for sure are India [dil maange kya kare ;)] and South Africa. SA are looking much more a dominant side this year and I will not be surprised if I find them in Finals. (more…)

  • Praise them and kick them

    The Media is seemingly playing games. I fail to understand that why are they doing this. Yesterday, the Star News show “Shaaramnak” was just more pathetic as anything worse can be.

    Ofcourse there was a reason to worry but why such hysteria? India has lost many test matches and the team has failed before too. When they win, they just keep blabbering about how each individual performed but when they loose, they will poop each individual player.

    Now if Sachin has hit a century and he couldn’t help turn India’s fortunes, who is to blame? Well, if you go by how the Indian Media behaves then you would be in for a surpirse. First they blamed the master blaster himself.

    Why Sachin created hopes in Billions of Indians about a turn of tide and filed to finish it?

    To which I would politely reply: Creating hopes is better than not even doing something.

    Why can’t you take the sport lightly, without creating hatered. See the guy (bowler) who blew the top order and appraise his performace rather than creating much fuss about the non performance of the batsmen. Why cant you?

    Featured in Blogjunta Editor's Choice
    Featured in Blogjunta Editor's Choice

  • Finally, a smirk back in face

    India’s loss against England comes as an eye opener and I am just happy that it happened. Team India was flying with some over confidence and it was a bit too much for the selectors to ignore the experienced players.

    Ideally, having Sachin in team adds much value than having him on the stands. He does makes a difference to the opposition. What now has happened after commercialization of IPL in a big way, BCCI is trying to show the world that its a hit format to find the best players. I agree with that, but certainly not at the cost of loseing experienced players from the team.

    What we saw for the last two matches is a complete disaster of batting lineup! I just missed seeing the raging fire in our cricketers of today that we had two years ago when we brought the ICC T20 World Cup.

    More so, this comes at an apt time since the Team now has something to focus on. Not doubting Dhoni on his captaincy, I think he needs to grow his hairs back to get the team going 😉

  • Its my favorite team in Finals: I just love the moment

    Having been considered as this year’s back benchers, Royal Challengers pulled up their socks and now are in the finals of the second edition of IPL.

    To be frank, I lost interest when they were on the waining way in the initial days and was not eager to watch the IPL matchs. When the news started ringing that they can be in the Semi’s is when I got on!

    Say the Mallya affect. I am a fan. I love both of his teams, my first love being the Formula 1. (more…)

  • The Clash of the Titans: The Politians and IPL

    The Clash of the Titans: The Politians and IPL

    Its the clash of Titans in a game of one’s self. Only, the games are different. One is the game called politics, other is the Twenty20. This year is critical for all the politicos because of complex dynamics and no clear winner in the vicinity.

    Venkaiah Naidu has publicly acknowledge that IPL’s date clashing with General Elections may affect the voter turnout. IPL honcho, Lalit Modi had denied any chances of changing the dates for IPL.

  • The new color of Indian cricket team.

    The new color of Indian cricket team.

    The Indian Cricket Team adorns the new blue.

    Nike, Team India’s apparel partner of BCCI, launched the new dress code gives Dhoni’s men a new blue color with safforon hint at the back and tri color at the front. The highlight of this dressing is the dry – fit technology which will not stick to their bodies when they sweat.

    The Indian teams dress color reminds us of the 1992 world cup, when India had dark blue (navy) color.

  • ICC notice on ICL issue

    ICC notice on ICL issue

    ICC has issued a notice to all its member boards on the ICL issue. The notice mentions that this issue is going to be on the agenda when they meet next.

    The Indian Cricket League (ICL) has been in the middle of controversy ever since Subash Chandra has started it two years ago with Kapil Dev as its mentor. This he did because his firm Zee Sports was not awarded rights even after putting down the highest bid on the grounds that the firm did not had experience broadcasting Cricket matches.

    This bold move of his have brought him more foes than friends in the industry.

    The reason why this has suddenly come up because the PCB. PCB has been served a notice from its players who were banned from playing for the nation from their lawyers.

    In the notice, the lawyer has questioned about the very rule in the rule book that had allowed PCB to ban its players. Pakistani players are earning big money with ICL than they are getting for playing for their country. However, to play for their country is every country mans dream and no one can deny him if he or she has a talent.

    Hope this time around, people will have more sentiments towards Cricket and its development that earning money.