India topple Pakistan enter the Finals of World Cup

In a match full of tension and excitement, India held their nerves to beat Pakistan and enter the World Cup finals. It was a good match which was in the balance right till the last over. The fact that Indians bowled well was the best part of the match for me. I cannot remember the last time, Indians bowled their 50 overs with just 5 bowlers and every one took 2 wickets each.

It was a very professional approach by the Indian team and they never seemed to have hit the panic button. I was overly impressed by the fielding effort of the team, I must say this is the best fielding display the team has had in the tournament. I was also very satisfied by the batting of Suresh Raina, he was simply superb. It is great to have batsmen of his caliber and temperament at the end stages of the innings. Overall it was a great team effort and which landed us on the winning side.

India also rode its luck especially Tendulkar who had 6 escapes in all but still the runs he scored were very important in context of the match. But the job is only half done and the bigger battle awaits India in the finals. Sri Lanka are on top of their game and they have won all their matches very comfortably. They are going to the toughest competitors given the pitch conditions in the Sub Continent.

India would have to play special cricket to break the Lankan wall and conquer the world. Sri Lankan middle order has not been tested as their upper order has been doing the job for them so that can be one thing that the Indians may want to exploit. Also you need to have a good plan to handle the likes of Malinga and Murali. We may also need to play Ashwin and if possible Yusuf as well but I guess Yusuf is not going to get a game. Whatever may be the result, I hope we get to watch a good game of cricket and it would be great if we can get the cup this time.

Build up to the India Pakistan WC Semi Final

Amongst the number of events that are happening around India and especially mumbai as a build up to the World Cup Semi Final match between India and Pakistan there has been one event that came as a very healthy surprise. Our company has offered the workers leave in the second half. We were anticipating some support from the management, we were trying to get the staff members stay back and watch the match in office itself. But the management decided to give the half day off of its employees just to watch the India - Pakistan semi final.

This is a huge time and a great period for Indian cricket and it is good to know that the company realises the criticality of the situations and helps its employees. After all 'Team aise nahi jeetti hai, jitani padti hai'. This is a great initiative and I am pretty excited about it and wish to see a great match and India victorious. I am also excited about watching the top politicians including the prime ministers from both the countries sitting side by side watching the match, that would be another once in a lifetime achievement.

South Africa choke again, Kiwis in semis

Who the hell knows how a team brimming with talent manages to stuff up when faced with the simplest of tasks? Who can explain the inexplicable? As I thought that today's match was just a formality and it would be a cake walk for South Africa, I get a call from Nilendu sir, almost shocked he says "sir kya kara rahe ho ?". He is my colleague in office and is responsible for maintaining the health of the systems, I thought one of my modules may have busted out on production. Confused, I asked him what happened, he says "arre SA gayi, lost their 7 wicket".

It was then that I realised that all my predictions about a possible India - SA world cup final has been destroyed. I did not watch the match but when I read the analysis and the fall of wickets I must say that the batsmen rotated themselves through the middle faster than the bowlers had in the first half(considering there were 11 bowling changes made by SA by the 25th over).

Cricket writer Dileep Premachandran surveying the ruins of a simple chase, summed up the collective feeling of the time best when he posted on Twitter:
"This cannot be happening. It simply cannot. I mean, how many times can you be a parody of yourself?". Another comment from ace commentator Harsha Bhogle as he watched the implosion: "Are the South Africans the Karna of cricket? Cursed to lose their skills when they most need them?".

I would have loved to hear Navjot Singh Sidhu blast out at the Proteas. But I feel dejected and a bit surprised at the way the South Africans lost the match. The wicket had nothing to do with it. The bowling was pretty ordinary and the South Africans were one of the contenders for this world Cup.Their misery at the World Cup continues, they are yet to win any knock out match in the world cup. Hope this talented side get the green side some time in future, till then Congrats Kiwis, well done.

India beat Australia, Enter Semi Finals

In an exciting and tight match India beat Australia to storm into the semi final to meet Pakistan. As anticipated it was a tight match and Indians handled the pressure well to come on top. It was a special feeling to see the Indians ending the run of Aussies in the World Cup and putting an end to the reign that has expanded to over a decade.

In my earlier post I had given India 55 - 45 advantage over Australia and it turned out to be like that in the end. The match was very much in the balance till Yuvraj and Raina got those 2 overs from Tait and Lee where they scored almost 27 runs. The master gave us a good start and it was good to see Raina strike some form as well just at the right time. But there are a few things that needs to be addressed before the semi final. The running was very poor with Gambhir tried to get himself run out a couple of times and finally achieved the feat. Dhoni is still not in batting form and we are still playing with just one bowler(Zaheer Khan).

But there were a few positives that can be taken from this match, India fielded well that was also due to the fact that Raina was on the field and Asish Nehra was not. It was good to see Ashwin bowl nicely and confidently. Also the batting form of the team continues. Indians are looking a better side and their confidence must be high as well after defeating the world number one team. Let us hope they continue the good work in the tournament ahead and give us a couple more positive results. That is all that we want. Isin't it ?

India vs Australia

India will face Australia in the World Cup Quarter Finals. This is India's biggest chance to defeat the Aussies. I am not a great fan of the Australian cricket but they are the number one side in ODIs and I am forced to respect them. But I firmly believe that if India could ever beat Australia this is the best time. Had this clash been the semi finals or the finals then it would have been that much harder to beat the Aussies as they are big match players. If I were to take a call I would keep it 55 - 45 to India based on the current form of the teams.

But it is going to be one tough match for India and we must confess that India will have to play out of its skin if it has to win this one. I am strictly against people who have started talking about a India - Pakistan semi final or even a India - South Africa final. It is time we concentrate on the job at hand and not get too much driven by the situation. We need to be calm and composed and we do not want to let the atmosphere get into us and repeat what happened in 2003 finals.

Now we can expect (or at least hope for) a turning pitch in Ahmedabad, perhaps similar to the one where India beat Australia in the warm-up game. If we play on a flat pitch Australia will have the advantage, we should make sure that we prepare pitch to assist the Indian spinners, I personally would not even mind a pitch that turns square. India has to reply on the batsman to deliver the goods as their bowling is pretty ordinary if you take out Zaheer Khan from the equation. India would also have to keep in mind that Aussies are a great fielding side and they are gonna make India score 30 more than the actual score.

It is not going to be an easy match for either of the teams, whosoever handles the pressure better should come out on top. Tough it is hard to believe but still I am all in with India and I believe that we will defeat the Aussies. So with crossed fingers and in anticipation of a good close match I await the match to start and hope we see an Indian win.

ALL THE BEST !!!

PS: Watch out for Sachin he may score his 100th International Century in tomorrow's match.

Sore Back and Stiff Legs

This is a story of a man who has just reached his hometown some 9 hours after the scheduled time. Let me take you back some frames and re-run the story for you. It all started when this guy forgot to get his Holi tickets done as late as the 1st of January 2011, for a journey that was on 18th of March 2011. When he actually got the tickets he could only get tickets for the RJPB Garibrath and that too in the AC Chair Car as all other seats were already booked. The man was a bit shocked but relieved that atleast he has the tickets and would be able to make it to his home in time for Holi. Though at the back of his mind he knew it is not going to be an easy task. The trains departs from Anand Vihar Ternimal @ 17:00 hrs, which means he has to leave office as early as 14:00 hrs to reach the place in time. Also the fact that the chair car is not very comfortable he thought he can afford to spend 5 hours on that and then can rest when he reaches home around midnight. Plan well thought after.

The day arrives, 18th March 2011, the man leaves the Holi celebration that the office had scheduled for 15:00 hrs and rushes to Station from Gurgaon in a metro to Anand Vihar which is a run of around 90 minutes in the Metro itself. He reaches the station well in advance so that he can get his seat and feel comfortable. As he enters the station he gets to know that his train has been delayed by 5 hrs and 40 mins and will now start @ 22:40 hrs. Dejected, he walks back, calls his sister who lives near by and goes to her.

Suddenly the man is faced with a situation where he is going to spend the whole night on a chair with no respite and has no other option. He has seen trains around his getting cancelled and people either not going to their hometown or making desperate efforts to be there. He is still satisfied that he will actually reach home for Holi. But when he has reached, he has a stiff and sore back and very tired legs. You must have already guessed this is my story and I thank God that I have reached home in time.

Yogesh Marriage Trip

One of the most significant event that has happened off late is the marriage of Yogesh, it was something we have been waiting for and it finally happened on the 22nd of February 2011. It was one hell of an evening with the mercury suddenly dropping and leaving us all in a bit of bother. It was a pleasant week to lead up to the marriage with some thunder showers but it all changed just in time for the wedding and it left all of us shivering as we were unprepared for the chill that hit us.

What ever may have happened it did not lessen the enthusiasm and we enjoyed every moment of the function. It was a hectic trip though as we had to travel for more than 20 hours in the space of two and a half days but it was all worth it. I will post a few pictures here to give you guys a sense of what you people missed by not being at the event.


We also got a chance to visit Chuka, a forest nearby Pilibhit. Though it was a very ordinary place but still we enjoyed our ride. The roads there were very confusing and the greatest challenge was to find a way out once you have entered the jungle. We remember coming back to the exact same point we started after running for around 20 - 25 mins in our taxi. We could some how relate things to the movie Kaal and feel excited about it. It was fun in the end. Another exciting aspect of the trip was we experienced International roaming, Nepal was just round the corner and we got messages from Airtel confirming the call rates which were all around 100 Rs per min or so.

Let the fun continue...

It has been a while since I have blogged, I have been busy with so many things that I have not got the time for any of this. I was in a sort of hibernation where the only two things allowed were going to office, taking care of business and getting ready for the next assignments. I have missed you guys and the conversations we used to have. I have missed the critical analysis of my posts judiciously done by Mr Jitender Singh. But I will try to be more consistent now.

Presently I am on my way to my hometown for Holi holidays and have the time to write things. I have been questioned by several people around me regarding the lean period and it was good to know that people actually like your way of writing and some even wait for your new posts to come.

This is just a post to ensure all my colleagues that I am gonna try and make up for the time and will try my level best to come up with posts more often. Of late you must have noticed me becoming a critical analyzer of the Hindi movies but that is not going to be the trend anymore. Having said that I must add that Yamla Pagla Deewana was one movie that I liked and would request all you people to have a peek into the movie if you have not done that already.

I also take this opportunity to wish you and your loved ones a very cheerful, colorful and happy Holi. We will be in touch, take care.