The XI:
Virender Sehwag, Graeme Smith, Ricky Ponting, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Jacques Kallis, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Mitchell Johnson, Harbhajan Singh/Amit Mishra, Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma
Pretty fair team!
Players are, rightly, dropped because of non-performance. They are also fined and suspended for misconduct on the field. Batsmen are penalised for lingering on after being given out - even if wrongly so. Some of these transgressions are deemed to bring the game into disrepute. It is staggering that this code of conduct shouldn't apply to those who govern the game. Nothing has brought the game more disrepute in recent times than the events in Antigua and the mockery of a Test in Karachi.
Politicians are rejoicing, perhaps because they realize that without them, India’s slums, and this movie, just wouldn’t exist. Who needs development anyway when poverty can win Oscars?
Taxi-driver stories from the West Indies are a cliché, but when you are in a taxi in Barbados, you also begin to comprehend what cricket means to the locals. It is a passion very different from what you feel, say, on the streets of Mumbai. There is a deeper, almost intellectual quality to it. The average cricket supporter in India is a hero-worshipping loyalist of the Indian cricket team, who treats every failure of his side as a personal betrayal. In Barbados you are more likely to find the cricket lover whose affection for the national team is tempered with a broader understanding of both the technicalities and the traditions of cricket.
Oh hello
Six long years after a disastrous tour, what do you do against your first ball in New Zealand? If you are Virender Sehwag, you might half-flick half-pull it over the shortest boundary of the ground. What do you do second ball? Flick it for another six in the same region. And the third? Another six, this time flat over square leg. Hello New Zealand.
"[Haddin] is just a captain, cricket captains don't really go head to head. They just shake hands and flip the coin. It's pretty easy really."via cricinfo
Daniel Vettori
Ranatunga has featured in only three advertisements so far. The first was to raise funds for the General Hospital, the second for a polio drive and the third for a garbage disposal campaign. All were done for free. "I got 250 rupees for my first Test and traveled by train to the game. After that Lipton Tea came in and said they would offer me 250,000 rupees to feature in an advertisement. I asked them to meet my mother. And she told them, 'My son is not for sale'. I was lying in my bed that night when she came and sat next to me and explained her decision. I still remember what she said: 'Son, remember, never ever sell your talent and face for anything.'"
I used to have long hair that would flop in the fashion of Trueman's as I charged up the wicket to bowl - only, the comparison ended once I got to the crease.
The previous evening, at a special meeting, the Prime Minister, AB Vajpayee, had asked me, "Kya vichar hain? Kal jeetna hain."(Hope you're aiming to win tomorrow?) Absolutely, I replied. The day after the win I got a call from the Prime Minister's Office, congratulating us.Typical Vajpayee dialogue!
During the good times for the global economy, Germany avoided a housing boom, cut its budget deficit, kept its real wages low and ran a current-account surplus. Its consumers resisted the lure of cheap credit. Yet the German economy seems to be doing far worse than its imprudent peers in America and Britain are. (Japan, another country that avoided the housing and credit booms, is suffering badly too.) Macroeconomics, it seems, is not a simple morality tale, where “bad” borrowers are punished and “good” savers are rewarded. On the contrary: rich economies that depend on foreign demand are more vulnerable than those that rely on foreign capital.Hmmm!
Full piece hereBefore they left, Muttiah Muralitharan was chatting in the hotel lobby with Yusuf Pathan and L Balaji; Murali's Chennai Super Kings had lost to Pathan's Rajasthan Royals in last year's final. "We would have won if your catch had not been dropped off my bowling," Murali said. Yusuf laughed, and retorted, "Yeah, [Suresh] Raina dropped me, didn’t he?"
"Why don't you try to hit me here in this series?" Murali taunted. Yusuf’s reply was a no-brainer - "I hit you in that final!" Yusuf hit Murali for three sixes, picking 24 runs from 12 Murali deliveries, in an innings of 56 that swung the game. "No turn in that pitch," said Murali, and the three laughed before leaving the hotel. The president was waiting.
It's not difficult, it feels quite nice. Because this is a forced break:D
- if our Pakistan tour was not cancelled, we would have been in
Pakistan. I am enjoying it quite a lot, especially because I have got
the opportunity to spend time with my wife and son. We go for movies,
to eat out, and I spend lot of time at home. My son has started
batting, holding the bat in both hands and I have to bowl. So I am
enjoying this break.
Welcome back L Balls! We missed the glinting smile of yours for three years!Murali’s eyes light up and he joins the table. "So a great domestic season, eh? And how is the action now? Same? What new tricks have you added? The questions keep coming and Balaji tries his best to match Murali's rapid-fire speed. Both share their IPL memories and continue their conversation, which is punctuated by constant laughter.
