BBW

Whoever made that law on Leg Before Wicket (LBW) , Stuart Broad obviously isn't too impressed...so he's gone a step further and created his own version of the law - Bat Before Wicket!

Well,at least that's the only way you can justify him going bonkers over this defensive push from Rohit Sharma,but whatever happened to Ravi Shastri! "That's close" "Two sounds" eh?

While Sehwag was banned for supposedly over appealing in South Africa , Broad gets away with just a warning from the Match Referee.Well , having a Match Referee for a father certainly isn't having any angelic effects on him , in fact ironically he says

"I would have been fined the whole match fee if he (Chris Broad) had been in charge"

PS - The reaction from the Indian bowlers is priceless!

Impeccable Ishant

If I die tomorrow,one thing I won't regret is that I got a chance to watch an Indian "fast" bowler knock the stuffing out of guys like Ponting and Clarke,supposedly born and brought up on fast pitches like the WACA.

With all due respect to Anil Kumble, in 15 years of seriously following Indian Cricket,not for once have I felt that an Indian bowler,even on his day and at his peak could run through a top batting side on any pitch in the world

Kumble has toiled and served Indian cricket, Srinath has, for long been the lone warrior in a "pace starved" country, Bhajji can bamboozle the best of batsmen on spin friendly wickets; Zaheer,when he reverse swings the old ball is lethal but Ishant is a class apart.His biggest strength I believe is that he swings the ball both ways at >140 kph, and gets movement with the new ball as well as the old one

Of course, with just 13 tests under his belt, he's got a long long way to go and match those illustrious names,but simply the sight of a tall Indian fast bowler terrorising teams like Australia and Pakistan, once the powerhouses of fast bowling is an awesome experience.

The fact that he is the first Indian fast bowler since Kapil Dev to pick up "Man of the Series" in a home series speaks for itself!

PS - Is it just me or does the sight of him bringing the ball back in into the right hander remind everyone of Courtney Walsh?

PPS - You can also read this blog on Cricinfo!

President Piyush?

Well it turns out Sant Chhatwal knew what he was talking about when he speculated about an Indian American President.Piyush "Bobby" Jindal has revealed that he refused a position on McCain's ticket.

Smart chap,I guess he didn't want to end up jeopardizing his chances for 2012/2016 by ending up on the losing side.

Anyways I don't think he could have made any difference to this election result, and I have my own doubts if an Indian American President would mean better Indo-US relations.
It certainly gives us some boasting rights though, especially considering Madame's influence in our own country and on its politics ;)

Yes we can!

Five years back if someone told me that a 47 year old African American first time Senator with the middle name "Hussein" would become the President of the United States of America, I'd say the odds of aliens attacking us are better!

But then yes,if you'd told me about blogs and email and cell phones when I was 10,I'd probably react the same way :D

Just makes me wonder what surprises life has in store for us ahead.Even my wildest dreams and the most of atrocious of my imaginations cannot match the rate at which life throws out surprise after surprise!

As California bans gay marriges again , my favourite tv show abruptly gets rid of a gay character,
and India furiously debates about gay rights my gut feeling says that I might just live to see the United States elect a gay President one day...Well,I'm no Nostradamus but yes, if it happens I'll be shouting from the rooftop that I saw it coming ;)

Ah, wish I could do a Hiro Nakamura and find out if I'm even close!

PS - Sant Chhatwal thinks its only a matter of time before an Indian American runs for President.Now,THAT is one to watch out for!

The Hindu Rate of Wrath

I stopped reading Outlook a few years back, couldn't bear to read Vinod Mehta's editorials, I guess propaganda would be too small a word to describe his articles.Also, I can't stand Arundhati Roy who has to be on their cover at least 5 times a year writing stuff like “India needs azadi from Kashmir as much as Kashmir needs azadi from India.”

Amitabh Bachchan's blog had an article which puts across a POV which hasn't been seen in any of the mainstream print or television media.What amazes me is that the editor in chief of the La Revue de l'Inde in Paris shows a deeper understanding of the issue than Rajdeep,Barkha et al.

PS - I love Amitabh's blog! Just hope that posting articles like this and one more on Raj Thackeray doesn't get him into trouble again!

Anand does it yet again!

As Viswanathan Anand adds yet another World Title to his kitty,a line I read from from the Sydney Morning Herald instantly comes to mind.No,this isn't me dreaming at 2.42 am,an Australian newspaper actually had words of praise for India in the middle of a test match series!

"INDIA is sending a spaceship to the moon, has won the Booker Prize, is winning the World Chess Championship and is about to knock over the cricket champs as well."


Guess what makes me come back on Earth ,just 600 fans for Vishy on orkut.
Come on India,even Munaf Patel's got more!

Dude, I just made it 601!

The Unsung Hero of Indian Sport

It's almost a year since I posted anything,and while there is so much happening,I'm not sure too many folks actually noticed that Saina Nehwal won the Yonex Chinese Taipei Open and reached the semis of China Masters Super Series this month.While her Olympic run till the quarters got some media coverage,as usual the lack of a medal meant that she was forgotten till London 2012.I cant think of too many sports in India which can boast of an 18 year old girl ranking 12th in the world and looking good to break into the top 10 by the end of the year.

While I found myself waking up at odd hours to watch something other than cricket for a change, Doordarshan commentators made sure that the country knows her as "Sania" during the Olympics, our Sports Minister asked her coach and one of only 2 Indians to have won the All England Championship "Who are you?" , her major sponsors include Mittal Champion's Trust and Globosport, and yet come London 2012, the whole country expects Olympic medals.And if a 12th ranked player has to struggle for recognition in a supposedly 'medal starved' country,let's not even discuss about junior sportsmen

I looked up her orkut fan community...joined her fan page on facebook which had a 100 odd members (Yuvraj Singh has 2380),
and this is after she reached the quarters in Beijing!
Agreed,Badminton is not a popular sport in India,but then wasn't
the BCCI against having a T20 World Cup? Why does success not popularize a sport (other than cricket) in India?

After having an overflow of sports channels, I couldn't find even one telecasting her matches live in either the Taipei Open or the China Masters.

I, for one am totally disillusioned with all the hype that's been built up after the three Olympic Medals in Beijing.Come London 2012, all I hope and pray for is that Doordarshan doesnt get the telecast rights, and if they do, they at least find someone who can pronounce names correctly.