Archive for April 28th, 2009
It has been an incredible 2 months for me as my blog as of today completed 5000 views and also crossed 50 comments. I was so thrilled couple of months back that I completed 1000 views but the last 2 months have been phenomenal. I thank all of you who thought reading my blog as a worthwhile exercise and I hope that you people keep coming back.
Thanks to everyone and it’s been just over a year and I have also posted my 100th article today. Its been fantastic year for me. Thanks to everyone.
DD and DC rule in IPL 2
Posted on: April 28, 2009
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | General | IPL
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IPL 2 is in its second week now and as I write this article DD are playing RR in their 5th game. Well it cannot get more contrasting for the last year’s champions as they are struggling to find their magic. The Rajasthan Royals led by Shane Warne have found winning hard this year and have struggled with their batting. The tournament has been similar for the last year’s finalists Chennai Super Kings too. For them it’s been their bowling which has deserted them this year. They have had couple of close losses but still languish somewhere near the bottom of the table along with RR, and BRC.
Royal Challengers though continued their horrible run this year too. Yeah they started with a win over RR this year contrary to their start in IPL 1 but since then it has been downhill for KP’s side. KKR too have been ordinary this year and found winning tough. Buchanan’s multiple captain theory received lots of flack from the media and experts and did not help the team spirit I guess. Their over reliance on Chris Gayle and Dada was clearly evident in the first few games.
The biggest improvement of this year has been the Deccan Chargers who have found the right combination at last. They were at the bottom last year with the BRC but are leading the table this year after the first 4 games. Their batting lead by their captain Gilchrist is clicking and their bowling led by RP Singh is doing great. They have been brilliant till now in the competition and have posted good wins till now.
Delhi Daredevils have also been brilliant this year and have continued their good form from last year. Their batting has been brilliant and their bowling has been okay defending their totals. Devilliers and Dilshan have been their stars till now in the competition. It seems like them along with DC will be in the Semi-Finals this year.
Finally Kings X1 Punjab have had mixed results in this year’s competition. Semi-Finalists last year started off with two losses in IPL 2 but won their last two games to end up behind the top two. They have a good side too with Yuvraj, Sangakkara and Mahela forming the crux of their middle order.
Well all in all the bowlers have found it easy on the South African pitches and the batting has not been that easy. The fact that there have been no 200+ score till now in the competition says a lot about the pitches which have been good cricketing surfaces. Targets of 130 have been successfully defended and have made this year’s competition interesting for the viewers.
The oldies have come to the party in SA. Warne, Kumble, Hayden, Sachin, Dravid, Gilchrist have all made significant contributions to their respective teams breaking the notion of T20 being young man’s version. All in all IPL 2 has been fantastic with closer games and fantastic crowds. Hope the same continues in the coming weeks.
- In: Entertainment | General | Music | Reality Show | Television
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As I expected Anoop was eliminated last week along with Lil. I was really surprised to see that Matt was safe and Allison ended up in the bottom 2 along with Anoop. It seemed inevitable for Anoop though as he had ended up in bottom 3 for three consecutive weeks before this and the case was similar for Lil too.
As soon as Allison and not Matt ended up with Anoop in the bottom 2 I knew that it’s Anoop’s turn to leave the competition. It has been an incredible journey for Anoop and he made it to the top 6 which was a brilliant effort by any standards. Well as for me it takes a little bit of interest out of this year’s AI. Anyways good luck to Anoop and hope he does not give up singing.
- In: Airtel Super Singer | Entertainment | General | Music | Reality Show | Television
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So the wild card round got underway last night here and it was good. I wouldn’t call it spectacular though. It was melody round and the singers probably were just getting the feel of it. Santosh especially would have been little bit rusty as he was the one eliminated long time back.
The judges were there as usual and the hosts Malini and Yugendran started the show in their usual style. I don’t understand the need to walk through the tunnel after every break, anyways that’s me. Well the evening began with Santosh and this is the first time in Airtel Super Singer the verdict will be based on the viewer votes rather than the decision from the judges.
Santosh started the melody round with “Thendrale” song from Kadhal Desam and he gave a good performance. We can excuse him for being little rusty. The judges liked his performance and Sujatha said that she liked the innocence in his voice.
The next performer was Ranjani. Well before she could sing there was a surprise waiting for her as Mahati came in to praise Ranjani and handed over a gift to her. She said that Ranjani was her favorite contestant in the competition. I am not sure if this was genuine or Vijay TV’s way of promoting their favorite contestant. Anyways that’s beside the point. Once that was done Ranjani sang the sad version of “Porale Ponnuthayi” from Karuthamma and gave a good performance. The judges called it her best performance till date and Sujatha went one step further and said that it got tears to her eyes. I felt it was a good performance and nothing spectacular. I for sure did not have tears in my eyes.
The third performer of the day was Prasanna and my favorite contestant in the competition. He sang “Iyappa saranam Iyappa” (I am not sure which movie the song was from) song and gave a very good performance. Even though I wouldn’t call it brilliant, I wouldn’t rate it below Ranjani’s performance either. The Judges though seemed to be jealous of Prasanna’s popularity or something. It was really irritating as the judges instead of commenting on the singer’s performance, kept saying how popular he has become with the audience. This was unnecessary as every competition will throw one contestant who will be liked by the public. Anyways Prasanna gave a good performance and told the judges that he was trying to get himself out of the entertainer mould about which the judges were complaining before he got eliminated. When Prasanna said that it seemed like Unnikrishnan and Srinivas felt a little bit embarrassed.
The next performer of the night was Raghini and she sang “Siva Rathiri” from MMKR and gave a brilliant performance I thought. The judges felt the same and told that it was a brave song choice. Sujatha said that she would have found it difficult to sing such a song in concerts and praised Raghini for singing it on stage. They said it was a good performance.
The final contestant of the night was Vijay and Uma Padmanaban came to wish him and praise him for his performances in the competition like Mahati did for Ranjani. She also handed him a gift. Once the Vijay TV gimmick was over Vijay sang “Oru poyavathu sol” from Jodi and gave a decent performance. The judges felt the same and praised him for the improvisations but also said that he had some pitching problems throughout the song.
So that was that for the wild card round day one. All the singers gave a good performance on day one and I hope that the trend continues on day 2 too. I will be back with the review again as usual after day 2.
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My Thoughts 