The last time in 2008

I had to do this alone for a change. I did it. I had to.

Happy New Year everybody!
I hope 2009 will bring you joy!

A nice piece

on highs and lows of cricket by Osman Samiuddin

Some excerpts

The best advertisement for Test cricket this year

Test cricket has never been as rowdy as when Virender Sehwag is at the crease. He resurrected his career with a resolute Adelaide hundred but he lit up the year with two outrageous innings. A triple hundred against South Africa at better than a run-a-ball in Chennai was easily the fastest triple ever, managing to enliven what was
otherwise one of the year's dullest Tests. The second capped off one of the best: A ludicrous 68-ball 83 that really made impossible nothing, letting India chase down 387 at the same venue but on a very different pitch.

The most audacious match-winning innings of the year not played by V Sehwag

This year Graeme Smith confirmed his status as one of the best last-innings batsmen ever, leading South Africa to victories in four countries. He started with a 79-ball blitz against the West Indies in Newlands in January, his 85 fairly hunting down a tricky 186. Sixty-two came in a dicier 205-run chase in Dhaka. But the glory lay first in a monumental unbeaten 154 at Edgbaston, chasing 281; a blistering 108 in Perth in the second-highest chase ever; and a calming 75 at the MCG to seal the series. No longer the cocky kid, in 2008 Smith became a man of indomitable will.

The Inzamam-ul-Haq Award for figure of the year

Jesse Ryder. The boy may be fat but the boy can most definitely bat.

Retirements of the year

The quietest but loudest "Just one more things lads' was how one of Indian cricket's most significant figures quietly announced his retirement. Sourav Ganguly signed off with a bang, however, with 324 runs at over 50 against the men he riled the most. No better way of saying he could've played on.

Most statistically satisfying

Stephen Fleming's actual batting was far sexier than his career numbers suggest, but if he had failed to finish with an average of 40, it would've been cricket's greatest injustice since Bradman's 99.94 and Inzi's 49.60. Fortunately, two typically smooth innings (typically, not hundred either) ensured he didn't.

The biggest shoes to fill Those left behind by Anil Kumble and Adam Gilchrist. Both were among the biggest game-breakers their country - and cricket - has seen. Who will be the more difficult to replace: A wicketkeeper-batsman who made 33 international 100s at a strike-rate not far from 100, or a grim-faced leggie with over 600 Test wickets? Will make the search for the next Beefy look like a walk in the park.

Haircut of the year
Ishant Sharma, because he got one.

Splendid

Mitra Kalita's last piece on Mint. Simply too good!

Why can't I just get it?

Am I blind or foolish!

On another note I have 48 hours for my vacation. I am really waiting for it!

Hopefully it will turn out well.

Shane Watson

I hope he is serious (cricinfo)

Glass half full

It's hard enough to convince players to speak to the media when their side is losing, let alone when the player in question has just received devastating injury news. But Shane Watson is a talkative chap and when he discovered that he had stress fractures in his back that would keep him from bowling for up to six months, he was happy to do television and radio interviews to explain the situation. "I've been really happy with the way things have progressed over the last ten months to a year, the way my game has been able to improve," Watson said. "I'm happy with the things that have been evolving and it's just another little setback but I'm going to be really excited when I'm back bowling and back playing full pelt." Talk about looking on the bright side.

Finally

I manage to pass my driving test :)
Will have to wait till next year to get my official license though. I waited for 4 years, so a month isn't difficult.

Have I lost too much?

I made a particular decision and gave everything for that. At some points, I was not being honest with my friends. Thats not something I like. Sometimes I feel I have given up too much. I really do! Especially considering what I am getting back for that!
But all I can do is learn!

Irony

Isn't it? Whatever you do some things keep coming back. Its really hard. I just don't know how to handle it!

Year end post?

Hmmm. As the year draws to the end I am wavering whether to post a year end summary like I did last year.I have decided I should do it. So watch this space for the post!

Solitude

Solitude is something that I tend to prefer in cycles. There were times in the past when I was worried to stay alone early during my stay in Austin. Slowly I learned to enjoy spending time with myself. I started liking it. Then slowly I slipped into a phase where I started getting into a group that reduced the amount of time I spend alone. I just realized it has risen to such high proportions that I am at the stage where I was 4 years ago. I think I have to start again, slowly to spend time with myself. I know it is only a matter of time. But the ride will be anything but simple. I need to disassociate with some specific things to reach there! What makes it difficult is the belief that what I wanted was right and not everybody sees it that way.

Lets see!

The time has come

The time has come for me to take the reverse plunge. I made a calculated plunge. But that did not work out as I would I have liked. But, given what I know now, I still would have made the same decision. That tells me what I did was the right thing to do. Now is the time to get back to where I was 7 months ago. It won't be easy at all especially with all the wonderful times I had. But it will necessary. So, for that reason I will take some steps backward. It might necessitate a full fledged withdrawal. I hope not. But the next 3-4 weeks might set the tone! I hope I have the necessary strength to pull it off!

Lets see!

Wow

is what I felt when I read this article on Hayden by Christian Ryan!

Simply stunning!

Need a break

where I don't have to use my brain.

May be in 5-6 days! I really hope so!

What more can I say?

My Horoscope

You might be worked up today about someone who misunderstands you. Your frustration has increased because the gulf between you seems to have grown, but keep in mind that the apparent riff may seem worse than it actually is. Remembering a recent time when dialog solved a problem could help the situation now. Take the first step and start talking.

Has it happenned?

There have been days where all I want to do is get out of Austin. A new place I hope will give me new things to do. Not that Austin has been unkind to me. I made some really great friendships for life here. I have grown as a person and as an individual. What the hell, I have spent some of my best moments in life here. But still time comes when you have to leave it for reasons only you know. You have to.

May be today it has finally reached a stage where I do not expect to enjoy my stay here. Some things leave a mark. I have compromised so many times. I don't have the strength to do it anymore. I just hope I won't need to search for more. Because I might break down!

Anyway, hoping for things to improve!

Economic necessity?

Indicates the seriousness of the recession for sure, more so if married couples are sticking together for financial reasons!

Discussion

Sometimes you are surprised at what you can reveal and how comfortable you are doing that. Its crazy!

Words

Very rarely do I fall short of words to express what I am going through. Today I just don't even know what is going on! I just don't.
But well life has to move on. I hope it will soon!

What can you say?

This is so true!

For some, like his three-year-old son Samit, though, life's about far
more than centuries and revivals. "He just wants me to come back home."

I was one of those who feared Rahul Dravid's day's as Indian batsman are over. But I am very very happy they are not. Thank god. Because I would not have liked him to end his career like that. I hope he will have a good year in 2009 and end his career in a decent manner! Thanks for proving me wrong dude!

Rob Steen

on Monty

He could have another decade on the clock. If he does, Murali and Warne
might have to watch out. It is not all that inconceivable that the
overall Test wicket-taking record could yet be his. But first he must
become a thinking cricketer and a proper team player, as opposed to
merely a gifted and natural bowler.

Seriously? Please!

A Sehwag classic

This article by Samir Chopra is about his test debut.

I myself have watched his debut innings video on youtube many times. Its a stunning innings from a test debutant coming in at 68-4 in South Africa. I remember Geoffrey Boycott's inimitable praise "Tell you what! This lad can play.I like the look of him. This lad can play". Well, Geoffrey might not always  agree with what Viru does but nobody can say he hasn't been a successful batsman in Indian cricket. Very soon, (if not already) he shall enter the pantheon of Indian batting greats! All we need is more match winning knocks like the one against England!

100 hundreds list

Just for my reference in the future!

The reason this list came up is because of "Slumdog Millionaire". And for all those wondering if I knew "the answer" to "the question" before. Yes, I surely would have answered the question right! So this is research done prior to knowing the question. I am just documenting it for my sake (For example: If they ask me who is 7th on the list!)

199 JB Hobbs 1905-34
170 EH Hendren 1911-37
167 WR Hammond 1923-51
153 CP Mead 1906-36
151 G Boycott 1963-86; H Sutcliffe 1919-39
145 FE Woolley 1906-38
135 GA Hick 1985-
129 L Hutton 1934-55
128 GA Gooch 1974-96
124 WG Grace 1866-1904
123 DCS Compton 1936- 64
122 TW Graveney 1948-70
117 DG Bradman 1927-48
114 IVA Richards 1974-93
108 Zaheer Abbas 1965-87
107 MC Cowdrey 1951-76, A Sandham 1913-37
104 TW Hayward 1893-1914
103 GM Turner 1968-1982, JH Edrich 1959-1978
102 GE Tyldesley 1909-1935, DL Amiss 1964-1987, LEG Ames 1927-51
100 MR Ramprakash 1989-

Funny that we don't count the hundreds in ODI's. If we do Sachin would have been in the list. I think they should do it. But well I am not English so my opinion might not count !

May be it did!

Michael Atherton on the match

Swann served up something juicy on leg stump and Tendulkar, down on one knee and watching the ball like a hawk, paddle-swept it for four. Yuvraj, bad back and all, hoisted Tendulkar into the air, the little maestro clenched a fist in salute and the noise from the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium echoed all the way to Mumbai.

What more can you say?

You see this piece from an English fan in India. Surely cricket is the winner!

Rigidity?

I like to believe I am a very rigid person. I have my reasons for liking some stuff and I stick to them stubbornly. But still when a person I care for suggests something I really think and try to see if what I am doing is right or wrong. I make the effort. If I believe what I am doing is right I will not change. Otherwise I will work on it! So is it too much to ask the same favor from my close ones? Well I don't think so!

Anyway

Virender Sehwag

He played a gem yesterday. Finished watching the highlights twice. Well, cricket is after all a sport but if it can entertain you its more than sport. Lets look at the situation of the innings here. England were well on top with near 300 runs lead with 7 wickets in hand. They scored their remaining 85 runs slowly (i know its an understatement!) The reasons the pitch was crumbling and so they played cautiously. Well at tea they declare with India left to chase 387. Out comes Sehwag and beats the hell out of the English bowlers. England in the entire post lunch session scored 2 boundaries i.e. 2 fours in nearly 25 overs. Sehwag hit 6 4's in his first 15 balls. Can you see the difference? To play at a level that nobody else can even come close to is generally attributed to Tendulkar. But I think there is genuine reason to put Sehwag right up there at least now*. Tendulkar did that to bowling attacks in the past but the way he did it was much more normal. What Sehwag does is outrageuos to say the least. The first ball he faced of Monty was deposited in the stands. That for me is a statement. Also, his contribution is not just in terms of runs. His batting has impacted the English bowler's psyche. Also it should give confidence to the rest of the batsman.

I really hope now India get the job done. We surely have the batting to get the job done! For Dravid's sake I hope he will come good. Please dude play a good innings tomorrow!

Update: A nice piece here
This excerpt is pretty funny

When, in the tenth over of the innings, he pushed a single into the on side - just to show he could - it brought up his half-century from 32 balls. There are 11 instances of faster fifties in Tests but none by an opener. Things have certainly moved on a bit since Geoff Boycott's day.

*If you do not agree with that assertion go screw youself!

This

surely is stupidity personified. Ironic that we have a woman president and another woman practically rules India when such laws are formulated!

Thats English humor for you

Four days earlier, 42-year-old Colin Cowdrey was sitting at home in Kent looking forward to Christmas. But an injury crisis led to his being summoned to Australia to reinforce the beleaguered English tourists, and Cowdrey barely had time to get over jet-lag before he was thrown in at deep end in the second Test in Perth against a rampant Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Cowdrey made 22 and 41 and famously reduced Thomson to incredulous silence when he arrived at the wicket and politely introduced himself with a cheery: "Hello, I'm Colin Cowdrey, I don't believe we've met."

(from cricinfo)

Somedays

are just unbelievable. They truly are. You just would not want them to end. But sadly they do. Still the memory will live on! That's the beauty I guess!

As usual

Geoffrey at his candid best. Particularly forthcoming are his views on should England and India be playing.
Here's the full audio. (Listen to the last 3-4 minutes. He presents a very strong case!)

Blogging

has many advantages, or so they say here!
Good to know!

Hmmm

Funny life. There is always a first. Whether you like it or not. Currently I don't like it at all.

Lets see!

It is sad

that in the situation I am in, I find it impossible to enjoy some simple things. I have so many questions that are irrelevant but yet pop up that make it really difficult. I wish I could have my old freedom back. I do not enjoy these constraints!

Surely

would have been funny seeing your life as a musical for Shane Warne.

Sounds a

good change to me! The more the young get involved the better it is for India!

Well, I belive in

the J factor hypothesis presented here!

Indians are not interested in bombing Pakistani cities because well they are no better without the bombing, But, for fundamentalists on the other side of the border an upbeat economy offers enough reasons to attack.

Anyway

An aggresive

perspective towards handling Pakistan? May be!

One of

the very few congress leaders who has always impressed me. She wins a third term as the Delhi CM. I wish more CM's have the courage to run their campaign on a development plank. Lets see!

Conflict of interest

exists. That is what causes the pain I guess. But am I getting better at handling it? May be because with time two things change. You know you have to live with that in the future and may be I get everything I should get.

Anyway...

Some nice

editorials on the South Asian crisis by Fareed Zakaria, Greg Sheridan, and more here by Niranjan Rajadhyaksha

Cricket

I sometimes feel I chose the wrong career. I would have loved to do this. But may be not. I would love to do that as a hobby for sure!

Someday

I hope it does happen!

A decent piece

on the course of action the International community might have to pursue in Pakistan by Robert Kagan! (Link via acorn)

Well said

a government that could not protect citizens from monsoon rains—a relatively predictable phenomenon—can hardly be expected to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks. Unless Indian citizens channel their anger and outrage into improving the overall quality of governance, and demanding more from their political representatives and holding them accountable for quotidian public services, it is almost certain that the state will be increasingly less effective in providing basic security. For the fundamental problem is that India’s governance capability has so fallen short of its economic, geopolitical and internal security circumstances that the impact of even minor events,
leave alone massive terrorist attacks, will be increasingly destabilising. 

see here for full piece

These are reasons

worth playing for! Simply stunning article on how Sutcliffe and Blair played in dire situations. To have been present that would have been any cricket followers dream. To see such determination and grit would have been nothing short of inspirational!

Isn't this

how congress worked always?
More interested in the party than the people!
The Defence and External Affairs ministers are busy... well not examining plans to strengthen our intelligence or improving the infrastructure at the disposal of the police. But in determining who will be next CM of Maharashtra.

Anyway!

Gender equality?

Seems like the recession is reducing the gender gap in employment because most of the job cuts are in industries where men dominate.

A good

piece on how pragmatism and necessity have ensured (nearly at least) England will complete their test leg by Andrew Miller. I am sure, if it was Pakistan no English journalist would have even suggested going. Because, well its obvious naa!

I am lucky

Seriously! I am. Just that some times I take it for granted and forget what an awesome family I have!
Today is my sisters birthday. I hope she will have an awesome day!

The economy

gets worse.

Everyone is on pins and needles waiting for today's jobs report from the American Department of Labor. The consensus number at the moment is 340,000 lost jobs in the month of November, pushing the unemployment rate into the neighbourhood of 6.8%, but those figures have been shifting a bit for the worse, in recent days. A really bad number could mean an ugly day for markets, among other things. UPDATE: Oh heavens, the decline was 533,000, the most since 1974.

Pretty bad!
full details here

The story

of a fighter who played more than 100 tests for England, Graham Thorpe.
I always liked him!

Pain

I really hate being bound in a way I have no control. I have to change it I guess!

Cricket

I don't know how many of you grew up like me. I had very few books at home. But I did have a 1987 cricket book with scores of all tests and Ranji matches in the season. I read it many times. Re-reading each test score memorizing the names. My knowledge of most of the people who played cricket in the 90's is from that book. Well, why did I suddenly remember this?
Andy Zaltzman has a very funny post on his childhood experience and his reading of a cricket book. Do read the piece if you  want to remember those good times as a freakish cricket fan! How I miss those good old days of freedom!

A detailed

discussion of why, how and what next after the terrorist attacks on Mumbai.
A very good piece by Raghu Raman.

A fantastic piece

by Michael Atherton on why England should play the tests in India.

Atherton surely is one of the best cricket player-writers of this generation!
Today also happens to be the day where he dug deep against Donald and played the innings of his life (details here)

Hmmm

The last 3-4 weeks have been demanding for a reason. Is it my feeling or is it true?

I just hope an equilibrium is reached soon! More worryingly, I realize the amount of effort that would be necessary in the not so distant future is increasing. But that's expected I guess!

Tailenders

A rare and endangered species. Here is some fun facts on the best Tailenders.

Could

Mumbai bring about a positive change in the way people perceive the government and themselves?
May be says Ramesh Ramanathan in this very nice article

China's

way to surviving the crisis?

Scary

My horoscope

Someone you trust may inadvertently hurt your feelings today when he or she raises an issue that you thought had long been put to rest. Don't take it personally, even if it directly involves you. It may be hard to understand, but this is more about the other person's residual feelings than your reaction. Taking the emotional and intellectual high road is crucial or you could quickly become mired in the past instead of moving into the future.

Finally

a decent piece from a western author on The recent Mumbai incidents.
(link via palscape)

Osman Samiuddin

discusses how the cricket celebrations have evolved over time here

Interesting how cricket acts as a mirror to the times!

The ultimate

solution to the problem of terrorism might be this one. It will take time but only through this medium can we eliminate the source of impressionable souls who are attracted towards terrorism.

Lets see!

Aakash Chopra

on how the game seems to be a trivial pursuit now here

Gayle

does a smart move

The Move

If you're looking for smooth operators, cast the eye no further than Chris Gayle. There's no proving it, but the most imperturbable figure in the game pulled off what just may have been one of the slickest
tricks seen on a cricket field, during the third ODI against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi. Rao Iftikhar Anjum was in the middle of an inspirational spell that had pulled West Indies back from 168 for 1 to 193 for 4, when Gayle guided one from Anjum off the face of the bat through to the keeper. A big shout followed - though short-lived, because the fielding side saw Gayle walking… but only as far as the
middle of the pitch, it soon became apparent, to confer with the non-striker, because it was the last ball of the over. The celebrating Pakistanis didn't know quite what to do; the moment had passed where they could cast questioning looks at the umpire. They came up instead and had a chat with Gayle, but obviously their skills of persuasion weren't the greatest. Gayle, on 99 at the time, went on to score 122. Mercifully for Pakistan, the incident didn't much matter - they won comfortably, by 31 runs.

Don't you agree!

Hmm

All it took was 4 hours to come crashing down! funny life ha!