Sub-continent teams fighting it out for cricket supremacy

Exactly 40 days ago, I had put my bet on India Sri Lanka final in the world cup here and would you believe it – that is the only talking point going into Saturday’s title clash between exactly these two sides. To be honest, these were the sides going into the tournaments as favourites. They had the preparation levels, they had the variety in bowling and they had the top-scorers in form. And everything went as planned for them which justify my prediction as well. Had any of these two teams played sub-optimal game on a given day, the situation would have been different.

Now then, what about the grand finale at the God’s own den - Mumbai and the build-up leading up to it? I could add no more comments on the build-up as the media and networking websites is covering every bit of this. I will not be watching the final few hours of this final match including presentation ceremony but I can tell you: this is the time for team India and God will definitely churn Sanga and team to offer that nectar to all my countrymen who are going berserk in each corner of the country. India holds the edge simply because of their ability to pick-up at absolutely the crucial time. Sri Lanka on the other side is equally competent and talented but they may falter in their lower middle order – even more so in case Angelo Mathews is ruled out due to an injury. Writing no more on this topic, I pray and wish all the best to our dear Indian Cricket Team and hope they would end wait of 28 long years to give us back THE MOMENT OF GLORY!

P.S. - Going by the sentiments at this moment, I chose to write about the world cup one more time before I would continue with the previous tag on movies, music and books.

Tagging on the blog with movies

Blogosphere is such a wonderful place. Ever since I started following few blogs some two years back, it has been a true revelation to be on this space. Thoughts and creativity that flows through various pages on these posts offer so much to learn and understand. There is one such page which is supposedly meant for business posts but believe me; you will find unparalleled level of knowledge combined with unique eloquent way of writing on this blog. Fortunately, I had a chance to meet with this blogger during my recent visit to Bengaluru and boy, I enjoyed each and every moment of my meeting with him. Thank you Ramesh!

As promised here, I pick up a tag which is basically about discovering new movies, songs and books. So here are the rules which I must post:

1. The tag has three parts: Movies, Music, Books/ Authors.
2. Write a movie, book and author with each alphabet of your first name. The book, movie or song should be one that you really liked. If you say why it matters to you, it would be great! We will all discover new songs, movies and books this way.
3. Tag as many people as there are letters in your name. (If your name has 4 letters, you have to tag 4 people and so on)
4. Mention that the tag originated here and link back to this post :-)
5. Copy paste these rules :)

Considering the higher difficulty level of the tag, I will post the movies, songs and books piece of it separately. So here go the movies with the alphabets of my first name VISHAL:

Veer-Zaara – A timeless saga of cross border love between Veer Pratap Singh (IAF squadron leader) and Zaara Haayat Khan (daughter of a Pakistani politician). The movie depicts immortality of love beautifully and culminates into an outstanding climax. The sacrifice made by the protagonists for each other touches the heart and leaves one mist-eyed. Here is a wonderful scene from this movie.

Ishqiya – Whenever Vishal Bharadwaj is associated with a movie, you know that you have a treat on hand. Be it Omkara, be it Kaminey or be it Maqbool! The best thing about Ishqiya is its plot and outstanding screenplay. The movie is shot in rural India and has a wonderful soundtrack. You may listen to one of the best songs of 2010 from this movie here.

Sarfarosh – If Ishqiya was shot is central rural India, here is a movie shot in deserts of Rajasthan. The movie was based on the issue of cross border terrorism and contained a splendid performance from the perfectionist Aamir Khan in the role of ACP Ajay Singh Rathod. The movie is famous for outstanding dialogues (here is a piece) and an all-time favourite Ghazal from Jagjit Singh.

Hum Aapke Hai Kaun (HAHK) – A Sooraj Barjatya film produced by Rajshri Productions. Though this was a remake of Nadiya Ke Paar – a Rajshri movie released in early 80s, this symbolized the rituals of North Indian marriages in a meticulous way. HAHK once again proved that there can be only one Prem in Rajshri’s movies i.e. Salman Khan and there is only one contemporary actress yet to find an able replacement – Madhuri Dixit. A complete family movie with a complete soundtrack that has Lata Mangeshkar and S.P. Balasubramaniam as the lead singers. Here is an entertaining scene from the movie.

Anand – An old classic very dear to my heart. I remember watching this movie several times as a kid. This movie had a strong message to live life everyday as it comes and enjoy it to the fullest. Anand Sehgal played by Rajesh Khanna leaves a footprint before succumbing to an incurable disease and teaches his friend a lesson for the lifetime. Additionally, the movie had immortal songs in the voice of Mukesh and unforgettable dialogues from serene Gulzar. The movie’s climax still echoes in the memories of several of us.

Lagaan – Who can forget a energetic, down-to-earth and optimist leader called Bhuvan, who can forget autocracy of Captain Andre Russell in imposing unwarranted higher taxes, who can forget selfless love of Russell’s sister Elizabeth in helping Bhuvan understand an alien game and who can forget an image of strong and sweet Indian lady called Gauri standing by Bhuvan throughout the tough times? I simply cannot. As I write, I recall each and every scene of this historical movie. Nominated in the category of best foreign film at the Academy Awards in 2002 and ranked 55 in Empire Magazines 100 best films of world cinema, Lagaan is a masterpiece which combined histrionics of Ashutosh Gowariker, perfection of Aamir Khan, greatness of A.R. Rahman and expertise of Javed Akhtar. Though each scene of this movie is a master piece, I liked this one to the core. To be continued...

Power of the powerplays

Business end of the world cup cricket tournament is about to begin after next week when the line-up for the quarter finals will be decided. Both the groups are still wide open in terms of who will play who with the exception of most unpredictable team of the tournament – England.

Without doubt, England has been the most unpredictable and entertaining team so far. All five matches that they have played till now have gone down to the wire – be it against minnows like Ireland or Netherlands or be it against giants like India or South Africa. With KP and Broad gone out injured, it is just a matter of time when their journey ends. If they fail to win their last match of the league stage against West Indies, it is most likely they will catch an early flight back to London.

West Indies and New Zealand are riding their luck on a few individuals and it would take mountain of tasks for them to qualify for the semis. That leaves us with five potential champions but none of them are looking as convincing as the champions should. Perhaps that is the reason I have maintained the importance of batting powerplays. Playing in the sub-continent makes it all the more important where bowlers have sweat it out for wickets.

A thriller between two of these five teams i.e. India and South Africa was sandwiched between two batting powerplays yesterday – one taken at the wrong time and another at the right time. Tactically, it is a big mistake if team batting first takes batting powerplay at the brink of 40 over mark when they are 2 or 3 wickets down. Similarly, team batting second must assess the situation of the game and then plan for the powerplay. Batting powerplay was decisively used by Ireland and Bangladesh in their big wins against England. While Ireland needed an early powerplay to accelerate the run rate in a high run chase, Bangladesh awaited for it till the last to ensure a famous win. To be honest, the players should not be thinking too much about this and play their natural game and that is the KEY. A team is anyways going to slog in 45-50, then why not wait until 45 overs for this.

A lot of outburst is made in the internet and news media on Indian loss against South Africa and MSD has been criticized like never before. First about team selection, then about batting order and then about bowling changes. Yes, some gambles did not pay off but that does not mean Dhoni does not know where he is heading towards. I would like to remind all my fellow cricket crazy fans that it was the same Dhoni who threw the ball to innocuous Joginder Sharma in the final over of T20 world cup final. I am sure MSD is trying few things as the team approaches the final frontier and he is yet to show his cards. In my opinion, India is definitely going to reach the finals – no matter what!