Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
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Novak Djokovic’s dream run came to a grinding halt when Roger Federer defeated him in the French Open Semis. Everyone was expecting a Djokovic-Nadal final once again but Roger had a different idea. The former French champion played a fantastic game of tennis to halt unbeaten run of the Serbian with a clinical 4 set victory.
This set up an exciting contest between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the Finals. This is some sort of a renewal of the rivalry as recently Djokovic has been dominating the tennis scene. So we have yet another great game in the offing between the two modern greats of the game. Will Nadal win his sixth title or will Federer continue his dream run on clay? We will know the answer to that on Sunday. Go Fed-Ex.
Emerging Talent makes IPL special
Posted on: May 31, 2011
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I call myself as a cricket fanatic. Give me any cricket game and I will watch it. It may be a International game or a domestic game or even a club level game, if it’s on TV then I will give it a go. It’s just the love for the game which drives me and not the level at which it is played. So IPL is something which I cannot let pass. Who wouldn’t want to see legends of the game all under the same roof? Even though I don’t agree with the elaborate and boring format of the tournament overall but watching young Indian players locking horns with International stars is something which makes IPL special.
Franchise based sport is new in India and it will take a little time to catch on. The American style will not work in India as the country has a national team which is playing throughout the year. So the Indian fans will be mostly loyal to the Indian team rather than Chennai or Mumbai or Kolkata. The fact that the teams are shuffled every three years also makes it hard for the fans to relate to their teams. You suddenly have Rohit Sharma playing for Mumbai Indians while he was playing for Deccan Chargers in the previous editions.
For me watching IPL is an avenue to have a look at future Indian prospects. It’s an opportunity for the youngsters to get noticed. This year has thrown some interesting names too. There were some known names that reaffirmed their status and there were some new names too. The biggest impact this year was made by two cricketers, one was Paul Valthathy and the other was Rahul Sharma.
Paul Valthathy did an excellent as an opener for Kings X1 Punjab this season. He was explosive and impressed one and all with his stroke play. He even held the orange cap for the while during the course of the tournament. Now we have to wait and see if he is a one tournament wonder (Asnodkar, anyone?) or if he would back up these performances in the domestic arena. The other standout performer was Pune Warriors Rahul Sharma. The young leggie who fought a career threatening injury to stage an inspiring comeback to competitive cricket was absolute joy to watch this season. A bowler of Anil Kumble mould was brilliant and one of the most economical bowlers of the season. He was the only shining light in an otherwise disappointing season for Pune Warriors. The other bowler to impress was Varun Aaron of Delhi Daredevils. Varun bowled with extreme pace and troubled the batsmen with bounce. It was unfortunate that we did not get to see more him in this IPL. I just hope that he keeps working on his bowling and hopefully will get selected for team India sooner than later if he maintains his consistency.
Ajinkya Rahane and Manoj Tiwary were others who impressed with the bat. Both these youngsters are rated highly by the experts and we got to see why during the course of the IPL. The others such as Iqbal Abdulla of KKR, S Aravind of RCB and Abu Nechim of Mumbai Indians impressed in the IPL 4.
There were few comeback stories too. RP Singh and Ishant Sharma made a great comeback after being out of radar for the Indian team selection. Ishant was brilliant with his bowling and it seems like he has regained his pace and control which he had lost about a year back. He has been rewarded with an Indian call up for the upcoming West Indies tour. RP Singh too was brilliant for Kochi Tuskers. He bowled with pace and troubled the batsmen with movement of the pitch. I hope that he continues on this trail and makes a comeback to the national side in the near future. The others who were consistent among bowlers were Ashwin, Mishra, Bajji and Munaf, all of whom will be travelling to West Indies earlier next month.
In the batting front, Subramaniam Badrinath was rewarded for having a brilliant domestic season and for performing brilliantly for CSK in the current IPL. His selection for the West Indies tour was a great reward for his consistency. Rohit Sharma also continued his great form in IPL and we have to wait and see if he can translate that form to International cricket. The biggest disappointment of the season was Irfan Pathan, who albeit returning from an injury was way off color with both bat and ball. He did bowl some good spells but lacked consistency with the ball. Ambati Rayudu was brilliant once again for Mumbai but Saurabh Tiwari was unable to replicate his success from last year for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
All in all IPL 4 was great as it threw some new names into the mix of youngsters. Even though these names add lots of spice for the future we have to keep in mind that IPL performances cannot be considered as a yardstick for national team selection. I guess this just gives the selectors a list of names whose progress needs to be followed in domestic cricket. All these players are extremely talented but performance in domestic cricket and “A” tours need to be given more importance for the Indian team selection. IPL 4 has been great for the new talent but I am still disappointed with the franchises reluctance to try out young players. A tournament which began as platform for young talent has just become a money making exercise. The teams are mostly interested in playing established International stars. Players like Varun Aaron did not get enough opportunities due to the same reason. Even though long, IPL 4 has been good viewing this year and if the organizers can cut the tournament little shorter we might actually have more people interested in the same.
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Article first published as French Open 2011: Exciting Semi-Final Lineup on Technorati.
So the French Open is in its final week and the top 5 have made the Men’s quarter-finals. We are still on track for yet another Nadal-Djokovic showdown in the finals which will be 3rd in the last one month.
Djokovic, who is already in the Semis, courtesy a walkover from Fabio Fognini, will be awaiting the result of Roger Federer Vs Gael Monfils game with lots of interest. If Roger does come through that game, he will have to face up to Djokovic in the semis, which again throws up a great contest.
The other quarter-final which will be interesting is the game between Robin Soderling Vs Rafael Nadal.
Nadal himself will admit that he has not had a great tournament by his own standards. He barely scraped through in couple of earlier round games and hasn’t looked completely convincing reaching the quarters.
Robin who has been playing exceedingly well over the past couple of years will not be an easy opponent to face in the quarters. Nadal faces the prospect of meeting Andy Murray in the semis if he does get through the quarters.
The Semi-Final lineup looks incredibly exciting if the things go according to the script. We might have a Federer Vs Djokovic and Nadal Vs Murray Semis which will be a dream come true for the fans.
Now the question is that whether Nadal and Djokovic will meet once again in the much anticipated clash or will Murray and Federer spoil the party to make the finals themselves? We will have to wait and see; hopefully we will see some exciting games in the coming days.
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Article first published as 2011 Tennis Season Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Fans on Technorati.
With less than a week away from French open 2011, all eyes will be on the Serbian Novak Djokovic. Djokovic who is yet to be beaten in 2011 will start the tournament as the favorite along with Rafael Nadal. Beating Nadal twice in two weeks on clay would have obviously given him enormous confidence going into the open this Sunday. Nadal who has ruled the clay in the past will be defending his crown when the open kicks off on the 22nd of May. His biggest competitor this time will be the Serbian who beat him twice in two weeks in Rome and Madrid to get within touching distance of the number 1 ranking.
Nadal himself admitted after his defeat in Rome that Novak Djokovic is playing brilliantly and will be the player to beat in the French Open. Djokovic who has already won a Grand Slam this year would want to claim his first French Open title. Should he reach his first final at Roland Garros 2011, he will overtake Nadal to become the number 1 player in the world. Roger Federer who will be the number 3 seed in the tournament would also like to make an impact in the second Grand Slam of the year. By his lofty standards the former champion has had a pretty poor run this year.
But I feel that this year’s championship will be all about Nadal and Djokovic. Djokovic will surely want to be there in the finals which will give him a chance to claim his second Grand Slam of the year. Nadal will want to avenge his defeat at Rome and Madrid and reaffirm his status as king of clay court. The rise of Djokovic has for sure spiced up the men’s championship this year and the fact that he has a chance of dethroning Nadal from the perch makes it all the more interesting.
Selectors hurl a googly again
Posted on: May 16, 2011
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The Indian team for the ODI/T20 leg of the West Indies tour was announced last Friday. Even though the team was on the expected lines, as it has been a routine these days with our selection committee we do have one surprising selection. In the world cup it was Piyush Chawla and now it is Wriddhimaan Saha. While everyone was expecting a call up for Ambati Rayudu who also is a wicketkeeper, the selectors once again surprised one and all with their choice. There was no doubt that Parthiv was going to be the first keeper but his deputy was the one in question.
Saha probably is a very good keeper but I haven’t seen him do anything special in the domestic level or in the IPL to warrant a place ahead of Dinesh Kartik or Ambati Rayudu. Rayudu who is a decent wicketkeeper and an excellent attacking batsman in the top and middle order and would feel extremely disappointed on being left out. This again is a very controversial selection by the Indian selection committee and it will be interesting to see how Ghambir and the team management will utilize Saha on this tour. I hope that he will have a better time on this tour than what Chawla had in the world cup
The rest of the team though was on expected lines. With the absence of Dhoni and Sehwag, Ghambir has been appointed as the captain for the ODI/T20 leg. Rohit Sharma and Badrinath make the team, based on their excellent domestic season and IPL performances. Ishant Sharma makes a comeback to the team and so does Praveen kumar who missed out from the World Cup due to injury. Vinay Kumar also makes a comeback to the team on the basis of good consistent performances at the domestic level. Munaf Patel retains his position in the squad after some wonderful performances in the shorter format of the game over the past few months. The selectors have gone with three spinners, Mishra, Ashwin and Harbajan. Mishra has been rewarded for having bowled brilliantly in the IPL and for probably being the best leg spinner in the country at the moment. Ashwin and Bajji made the squad as expected.
Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh and Yusuf Pathan make the rest of the squad. It’s overall a good team and the selectors have played it safe this time. They probably did not want to repeat the mistake of the Zimbabwe tri-series in 2010. The selectors also warded off the temptation of picking the young Rahul Sharma, who is having a brilliant IPL this year. He probably needs more time at the domestic level. It’s nice to see that the selectors have not taken the IPL performances entirely for the team selection and have awarded consistent performers in the domestic arena too. Apart from that one controversial selection, I feel that the selectors have done a great job in picking a good squad with fine balance. I hope that the young players under Ghambir do well and emerge victorious in this campaign.
Team for the ODI and T20:
Gautam Gambhir (captain), Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, S Badrinath, Rohit Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, R Ashwin, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Mishra, Wriddhiman Saha (wk).
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First of all let me congratulate both the teams for playing out a brilliant game of cricket. Amidst ridiculously long IPL, it was wonderful to see two teams slugging it out in the oldest format of the game. When Pakistan was leaving for their Caribbean tour, there was confusion between the West Indies superstars and the WICB. The young West Indies team was completely written off and Misbah was primed to create history. He was all set to become the first Pakistani captain to win a test series in West Indies.
But when I looked at the composition of both the teams ahead of the first test, there was little to choose between them. Both the teams lacked experience and Pakistan was seriously down on batting to be called as the favorites. The absence of Younis and Yousuf in the middle order meant that they just had Misbah to guide the youngsters. Pakistan batting had too many players who had little experience in the longer format of the game, which eventually made the difference. The pitch wasn’t a great one to bat on and required great skill and patience from the batsmen to survive and unfortunately for Pakistan none of the young players stood out to be counted. West Indies though had nothing to lose and with the addition of Chanderpaul and Sarwan in the middle order they had the much needed experience on the batting front.
The game was fascinating to watch. Both the teams were low on batting which probably made it even more interesting. The bowling attacks of both teams though was well balanced and for sure was their strongest suite. West Indies had 2 good quick bowlers, an excellent young leggie and a steady medium pacer perfectly suited to the wicket in Guyana. Pakistan boasted of excellent spinners and two good young pacers. So the contest was always between the batsmen of both the teams.
Pakistani batting though struggled on a sluggish wicket and was completely at sea against the wicket to wicket bowling of Sammy. Their bowling though was very good led by Saeed Ajmal who was brilliant with 11 wickets in the match. Umar Gul though was disappointing as he failed to claim a single wicket. The other spinners in the team Rehman and Hafeez supported Ajmal well to keep WI to low totals in both the innings.
For West Indies their captain Darren Sammy led from the front as he claimed 7 wickets in the match including a fifer in the second innings. The batting though had some good contributions from Chanderpaul, Sarwan, Roach, Bishoo and Simmons. Ravi Rampaul was excellent on his return as he bowled with fire and pace claiming 7 wickets in the game and he was well supported by Roach. Bishoo was excellent on his debut as he picked 4 important wickets in the first innings and also contributed with the bat in both the innings.
It was an impressive performance by the West Indies team which wasn’t given any chance by the experts. The Pakistan team management will be terribly disappointed as they would have expected to win this series comfortably. The selection of the team again was baffling as Yousuf I think should still be part of Pakistan middle order for couple of years at least. The young Pakistan players need guidance and who better than Yousuf to give them the same? Younis (Who had to leave the team mid-way due to a family tragedy) also was missing from the X1 and their batting was entirely dependent on Misbah and the unreliable Akmal.
I guess having a team which is so less on experience on an overseas tour is suicidal to say the least. Except for Asad shafiq and Azhar Ali all the other young batsmen look out of depth at this level. Umar Akmal who is an excellent talent needs to take more responsibility. With just few days to go for the second test at St Kitts to begin, the Pakistan team needs to pull themselves up and put up a decent show for their fans.
The West Indies team though would extremely happy with this performance. This was their first test win in two years and the first in 18 games. The team played with Great Spirit and looked hungry for success. I hope that this sparks a turnaround in WI fortune and hopefully the fans will get interested in cricket again. For a great contest of cricket it was sad to see empty stands in Guyana. I am used to seeing a party crowd in the 90’s when WI was still a force in world cricket for test cricket. I hope this marks the return of calypso in West Indies cricket and we see an excellent atmosphere in St Kitts.
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With the IPL nearing the play offs, the Indian selectors will convene in Chennai tomorrow to select the Indian team to tour West Indies next month. It is going to be an interesting selection as it seems like almost an A team would visit the Caribbean at least for the ODI-T20 leg of the tour. The IPL has thrown up some interesting names for the selection and it will all depend on how many seniors want to actually play in the ODI’s. The West Indies team is currently struggling but as seen in the series against Pakistan they cannot be written off completely. The Indian team will also not be as lucky as Pakistan since once the IPL is done, Gayle, Bravo, Taylor and Pollard will be back to bolster the WI line up. So I am guessing that the Indian team will have a good mix of youth and experience.
So let’s look at the possible candidates for the WI tour. After great performances for Mumbai Indians in IPL, it seems like finally Ambati Rayudu might fulfill the promise which was seen in him about 10 years back. He is also a wicket-keeper, so his success will mean that we will have a capable understudy to Dhoni on tours. The other player who might get a look in is Subramaniam Badrinath, who has looked in incredible touch for CSK in this IPL and has also had an impressive domestic season prior to that. Rohit Sharma might also get a call back as he has been in impressive form in the IPL. Apart from these three there are other contenders in batting such as Rahane, Pujara (Provided he is fit) and Murali Vijay.
If Dhoni decides to skip the ODI’s, Ghambir might captain the team to WI for the ODI leg. With very good chance of senior players giving the ODI a skip, this tour will provide excellent chance for young Indian batsmen to prove themselves at international level. The bowling line up though will provide much interesting selection. With Ashish Nehra missing out due to Injury, we will see Praveen Kumar making a comeback to the national side. Ishant Sharma who bowled brilliantly for his IPL side Deccan Chargers will also be in the reckoning. It was heartening to see Ishant getting his pace and accuracy back. Munaf Patel who has been consistent and accurate for the past few months will for sure make the side.
Varun Aaron, the new pace sensation might be the wild card but I don’t think the selectors will pick him ahead of Vinay Kumar and Umesh Yadav. Zaheer I am sure will be rested for the ODI and T20. The spinning combination will be an interesting one. With lots of them doing extremely well in the IPL, it will be a tough pick for the selectors. Ravichandran Ashwin will for sure make the squad and if the selectors decide to rest Bajji for the ODI’s we might see Pragyan Ojha making the cut too. Rahul Sharma who has had a dream IPL with his consistent leg-breaks will also be in the radar for the selectors. Amit Mishra and Iqbal Abdulla who have been very economical in the IPL will also be in the discussion. I am thinking that Amit Mishra might anyways make it to the test team but they might want to try Rahul Sharma in the ODI’s to see how he does at the international level. Piyush Chawla though would be missing out as he had a bad World Cup followed by an equally awful IPL.
The seniors are for sure are expected to be back for the test series and there might not be many surprises in the test squad. With Sehwag missing Vijay might join Ghambir at the top of the order followed by Dravid, Sachin and Laxman. The number 6 spot again will be in the discussion and I hope that they give another chance to the young Pujara. Raina might probably make the squad too unless the selectors want to include another youngster in his spot. The bowling for sure will feature Zaheer, Sreesanth and probably Ishant as the three speedsters and Bajji might be joined by Mishra in the spin department. All in all this is going to be an interesting selection and I hope that some youngsters get a look in at least in the shorter format.
The WI tour will be a potential banana skin tour for the Indians as they are expected to win it comfortably. With the return of the stars WI is not going to be pushovers in either format and the Indians need to play extremely well to win the series convincingly. The number 1 test team needs to win all the three games to avoid losing any points and the ODI team needs to win the series pretty convincingly to not drop down the ODI rankings. So this will surely be in the mind of the selectors when picking the players for the tour. Duncan Fletcher is expected to join the selection meeting tomorrow in Chennai and I don’t think he will have too much of an input as this is expected to be just an introduction exercise for the new Indian coach.
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Article first published as 2011 Tennis Season Shaping Up to Be a Great Year for Fans on Technorati.
2011 promises to be a great year for tennis fans. With the emergence of Novak Djokovic, the stranglehold which Nadal and Federer had on world tennis has been lifted and to see a three way battle to supremacy is a great feeling. Even though the Serbian has had a brilliant year or so, I was skeptical if he would be able to dominate Nadal on clay, which has been his fortress for a long time now. Rafael Nadal who is still the world number 1 has been unbeatable on clay in the past and even the great Federer was unable to get past him in his prime.
With the French Open just a month away the clay court season has already begun. When Djokovic defeated Nadal in the finals of Madrid open, he proved to the world that he can be a handful on clay too. It was a big setback for Nadal as the surface has been like a fortress for the champion over the years and he is expected to do well on the same. This win has once again reiterated the fact that Djokovic is now ready to take over the mantle of the best player in the world. A win on clay has also proven that the guy can not only play on any surface but can dominate too. With this win Djokovic is just within a touching distance of the world number 1 ranking. If he can win the title in Rome (his 7th consecutive title if he does) he will dethrone Rafael Nadal at the top of the rankings.
Men’s tennis has once again become interesting, with the emergence of Djokovic, Murray and Soderling. It’s now not just a Federer and Nadal show as it was couple of years back. I congratulate Novak Djokovic on a brilliant start to the year 2011 and I hope that he gets the number 1 ranking which he very much deserves.
Captain Marvelous!!
Posted on: April 7, 2011
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On 2nd April 2011, MS Dhoni did which no other captain after Kapil in 1983 was able to achieve. He won the World Cup for India. A wait of 28 years finally ended and the nation rejoiced. The memory of Dhoni smashing Kulasekara over the long on fence will be forever etched in the minds of the Indian cricket fans. Such is the power of this victory and Dhoni becomes a legend in the Indian cricketing history. The ice cool captain of India stood up to be counted when it absolutely mattered and with the help of Ghambir sealed the most memorable victory for the team India.
When I watched my first game in 1991, I had no clue about the Indian cricket. After watching just few games, I was glued on to the sport forever. I began by knowing about the game better, the history of the sport, the legends of Indian cricket everything I needed to know about the game. I even watched a video called “The History of Indian cricket- 1933-1985”, which taught me a lot about Indian cricket. I learnt that India had won the 1983 world cup. I saw the clippings like thousands of times. I saw the 1983 stars speak about that moment so many times on television. The picture of Kapil lifting the coveted trophy in 1983 is something every cricket fan cherishes even today. That as everyone knows kicked off the cricketing legacy of team India. That win inspired a young Sachin Tendulkar to grow in to a legend that he is today.
As a cricket fan, I always dreamt about watching an Indian team win a world cup again. A dream which I am sure is shared by every cricket fan in India. The dream was turned into a reality when Mahindra Singh Dhoni lifted the trophy on the 2nd of April in Mumbai. It was surely a proud moment for me. I felt extremely blessed to have watched the winning moment, a moment which I always wanted to be a part of. As a cricket fan I had two major wishes, one was to watch my icon Sachin Tendulkar score a hundred live (Which I did on the 4th day of India Vs Pak in Chennai, I was there on the ground) and the second was to watch India win a world cup. I am extremely happy that both those wishes have been granted.
MSD probably is the most unassuming leader of the Indian cricket team ever, the icy cool nature of the man is being appreciated by cricketing pundits across the globe. Dhoni led the team in a brilliant fashion in this cup and marshaled his resources with extreme finesse. He now leads the best team in the world in Test cricket, has won T20 world cup as captain and now adds the World Cup to his already impressive resume. As Imran Khan said in a recent interview, he is now the best captain in world cricket and he deserves all the accolades he is receiving right now. In spite of such a great win, we still see him humble and down to earth which shows the humility of the man. To be grounded after achieving such stupendous success speaks volumes about his nature.
In all this celebration, as the captain himself pointed out, we should not forget the contributions of Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid. A various stages these there legends were responsible in setting up the team to what it is at the moment. Ganguly took over the reins of the team when the entire cricketing world was in turmoil with the match fixing saga. His contribution along with John Wright cannot be forgotten by any Indian cricket fan. He instilled the fighting spirit, self belief in this team which was lacking in the teams of the 90’s. Dhoni though if he continues in the vein might become the best Indian captain of all time. I congratulate the team on a brilliant win and I hope that they don’t stop at this and achieve much more in the coming years. With Captain Marvelous leading us from the front, I think there is more to celebrate in the coming years.
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Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal now have to battle for Supremacy with Djokovic in a three way race to the top
Few years back world tennis was all about Nadal and Federer. Even though there were others, none of them challenged the supremacy of these two greats and they remained the undisputed world number 1 and 2. In the last year or so, with the emergence of Novak Djokovic we can see there is a shift in the tide. Djokovic who won the Australian open championship this year has a perfect record of 24-0 in 2011 and is yet to be beaten on the tour this year. He has already displaced Federer at the number 2 spot as has constantly beaten Nadal in their recent encounters.
The recent win in Miami against Nadal further confirms his rise to supremacy. The year 2011 has just begun and it is already promising to be a great year for tennis fan. With the rise of Djokovic the battle to the top is now a three way thing and I feel that the Federer Vs Nadal rivalry is now thing of the past. Nadal also has been dominating Federer in their recent meetings. So I guess the rivalry between Djokovic and Nadal has more weight in the current scenario. Djokovic is now the man to beat in tennis, both Nadal and Federer have found difficult to beat him in recent times. The Serbian in his recent interview has said that becoming the world number 1 is his ambition will want to begin the quest with the clay court season. Clay is a surface which has been a fortress of Rafael Nadal and a win there would almost confirm Djokovic as the next tennis great.
So Federer and Nadal now have a battle in their hands and with players like Andy Murray and Del Potro also close to their heels, we might have a great 2011 ahead. The French open will be interesting as Djokovic would want to extend his supremacy on clay too. It will be interesting to see who will finish as the best player in the rankings at the end of this season. And for the first time in few years it will not be a battle just between Nadal and Federer, which is a good thing for men’s tennis.
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