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!

Here comes the world cup again

Fifteen years on, the world cup tournament returns to India. The game has not changed much irrespective of several experiments being instituted over the past decade. Yes, there have been several additions in the law book of the game – free hits, additional runs for run scored on wide and no-balls, power-plays, review systems, mandatory ball change after 34 overs, hawk-eye etc.

It is a known fact that first fifteen overs proved decisive in 1996 all the way till the finals – an experiment for which Romesh Kaluwitharana and Sanath Jayasuriya became national heroes. Talking about 2011 world cup, I do not see too much of experiments working in anyone’s favour. Perhaps, the game has evolved so much so that there are counterplans ready for every strategy possible on the field. I reckon option to take power-plays (both batting as well as bowling) – at the right time would be the key this time around. Skippers need to counteract real time and there lies the beauty of this mind game. Skippers will play pivotal role in taking their side home and players will need to apply themselves properly before going berserk. There are only two teams who seem ready for all this at this point. Hence, my bet will be on an India Sri Lanka final.

Just 4 days into the tournament, there is a huge debate over participation of minnows in the world cup which is evident from their crushing defeats at the hand of test playing nations. Ponting and Vettori have already advocated the idea of reducing the number of participating teams. For me though, that is not a point of debate. In the world cup football too, at least 4 or 5 groups are dominated by two teams who select themselves for the next round just by composition of the group. Since ICC wants to encourage the popularity of cricket, it will be all the more good if there are more tournaments involving these minnows.

Point of debate for me is actually the format of 2011 world cup tournament. Unless minnows cause few upsets (seems impossible at this juncture), this format is absolutely rubbish. Gravity of this 43 days extravaganza will be observed in final week only and rest becomes a record keeping exercise till then. India and Pakistan were eliminated in first round in 2007 and there is a need to keep the interest for longer period – point taken. But the format of 2007 was also rubbish (worst of the lot). One would hardly imagine a world cup with three teams each in a group. Super six formats in 1999 and 2003 were quite good stuffs and something on the similar lines could have been devised.

Having said this, the champion will be the one who will play consistently throughout the tournament with the exception of South Africa. To win the world cup, they need to play more inconsistently rather than consistently. After all, the tag of "chokers" does not serve them well.

What is the right way

If something is not so great with the people charged with governance in India in the recent times (recent times?), it has to be rampant corruption which seems to have engulfed the entire political system. It is a pity that connotation of accountability implies abundance of wealth for self and relatives which ought to be amassed in most illegal and inappropriate fashion. Here geography does not matter. Corruption is equitably existent in all the corners of the country.

Billions of my countrymen including me work hard round the clock to earn daily breads. Several of us work throughout the life to realize the dream of owning a decent home. Several of us spend whole life eating two meals a day and organizing family outing once a month. This may seem mundane but this is a lot which is still better off. This lot is better off for they are able to earn so much so that they can pay substantial portion of their income to government as tax. Similarly, several business houses pay substantial sum out of their profits to the coffers of Indian treasury.

For what? To run the country, uplift the living standards of poor people and provide opportunity for tremendous economic growth. This was my understanding when I used to go to school and college. Alas! They run the country (not sure whether they run the country or their own ulterior motives) in the most detrimental way. Alas! They uplift the living standards of poor people by offering no benefits. For each rupee of benefits offered, a thousand is deposited in some foreign banks (Who said Mauritius is only a holiday spot). Alas! They provide opportunity for tremendous growth to people who can provide similar or better growth avenues in return (totally unwarranted and totally illegal).

I wonder when these guys will perform their duties the right way. Their business is to serve the country in most selfless fashion. Every business prospers on the foundations of accountability, productivity, sustainability and code of ethics. These foundations are existent in every great success story which one get to hear about. These foundations are existent in every great leader as they develop their babies into big adults. I scratch my head in little anxiety as to where will our own chosen people take us. Towards prosperity or back to slavery?

A dream towards contentment

In each phase of life, we harbour dreams which are supposed to lead to a great deal of happiness. Once accomplished, it does offer a great deal of happiness and acts as an analgesic for all the pain experienced during the course. However, the game of dreams does not end there. I have not yet figured out how this could end for it keeps life running in right spirits and sacred faith. But, then why does there exist misery, why there are feelings of hatred and anger, why does patience go for a toss many a times.

Perhaps, the dream to chase these items was never on the cards. Someone was running after a degree, the other one was running after money and yet another one was running after power. This post may be read in conjunction with the first post on this blog. Indeed, a dream to chase degree, money and power are essential and we must do that. However, doing this alone may not lead to contentment. A dream to contentment means greater involvement of society in pursuit of real happiness. There has not been a single person in the world who has accomplished real heights of contentment without touching and inspiring lives of many other people.

In my mind, I think that the road to contentment is also a dream where you put aside your self-interest and replace it with collective interests. It is a dream about which our ex-president APJ Abdul Kalam often speaks about. Readers who have read his book “The Wings of Fire” could relate to where I am coming from. It is hard thinking that ways where life seems unfair most of the times. It is not easy when you live inside a political periphery for most of the times be it society, be it colony or be it profession. But there is one thing which is not tough. A dream towards contentment Today and an unwavering focus towards this dream all along the way. If it is within imagination, it can be reached also for we the people have made the world what it is Today.

Dream for it does not cost anything. If you lose, you will be more powerful. If you win, your dreams will be more powerful. There is a song from hindi Movie "Lagaan" which keeps coming to my mind as I sign off Today.