13. May 2008 by amal.

I went to watch one of the matches recently. Tell you that was more than VOW experience. There was DJ; cheer-leaders with skimpy outfits; spicy bollywood celebrities; flood lights; huge hulla-gulla and what not. Oops! forget to mention, there was cricket match as well. Possibly missing was the excitement to back one team. Everybody went there to have fun; have a wonderful evening and go home. A bit of home team support is always there.  Personally I feel, by & large junta is not associated with one team or other. Net-Net a VOW affect. Not bad actually, to have a splendid evening full of fun at cost of few hundred & thousands. Don’t mind going there again.

On the serious note, Indian permier league is one of the greatest cricket carnival, which comprises of International players, business tycoons , celebrities, cheer-leaders, bollywood stars, DJ, perfect evening time-pass, TV, flood nights, spectators & what not. Hats off to BCCI for producing this amazing revenue generating CASH-COW; which is essentially win-win situation for everybody; to the conglomerates pumping huge money; media companies for doing TV coverage; stadium for pulling back crowd into stadiums; great packages for cricketing stars; excellent exposure to Indian domestic players; excellent platform for celebrities; world wide TV spectators for exciting time-pass every day evening.

Is there any looser; possibly players who wont able to participat especially English players. Brit Army & players; better luck next time

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7. March 2008 by amal.

Indian cricket team finally triumph against the world champions right at there backyard. This win is awesome for many reasons viz. first major ODI tournament win by Indians in a decade or so, 1st time India won the Australia tri-series tournament, one of the most controversial series etc. Thanks to consistent performance by youngster, backed by seniors (actually only Tendulkar ;-), bold decision by selectors, gutsy captaincy by Dhoni. Truly amazing, he lead from the front, be it team selection, composure, field decision, batting.

However, what distinctly stand apart in the series win is the emergence of cricket stars from tier 2 & tier 3 cities. IIRC, until few years back Indian team was by & large from metros (delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkatta). Players from other cities has to get affiliated to these cities clubs to get noticed at national level. Looking at current team, now Tier 1 city players are absolute minorty. Players are from cities like Meerut, Bareily, Baroda, Cochin, Ranchi, Jullundhar, Aligarh, Ghaziabad and last but not the least lead by Jharkand hero Dhoni.

I guess this is in real sense ‘Connecting India’, Integration of Tier 1 cities with Tier 2 & tier 3 cities. I will say this is real emergence of ‘Bunty Aur Babli’. This will motivate lot of youngster from these cities and create confidence that they can do as well. Does it translate in creating opportunities for these youngsters? Does corporate world get attracted by ‘Bunty aur Babli’ in these cities?

What remains to be seen, whether this is one-off incidental story or India is really emerging in true sense. Hopefully, we are gonna see multiplier effect of ‘Bunty aur Babli’ towards ‘building & leading India’. Being another Bunti (from Kanpur, In IT), I don’t see why it cant happen. I am sure this is just the beginning…

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8. January 2008 by Amal.

Hi friends,

Once again the score of Australian series is reading 2-0, which should have been 1-1 or 1-0. I salute the way Australian cricket team scripted the series. India went into match w/o any practice courtesy weather and insufficient match practice planned before the first match. If we look into the series tests are schedule at Melbourne, sydney, perth and Adelaide.

Among these four venues, India had best chance at Melbourne, Sydney where spinner do get certain support. Though bowlers gave us half chance in the first match, our batting as usual collapsed w/o much practice. There after with lead of 150 runs, we were just beating the bushes. There was absolutely no chance.

Then came the second match, here comes the determined Indian team and australian were at mat with score reading 134-6 and then australian open there triumph card umpires..and they went blind..and possibly one of the Australian member gave not out to Symonds stumping chance. There-after it was usual ‘catch-me-if-you-can’ story, where our batters provided very strong response and achieved significant lead as well. Of course discount Yuvi, Dhoni effort. They are there to entertain sexy, petite bollywood babe Ms. Padukone.

Of course, one of the prominent threat for Ponting is Harbhajan. Please note, harbhajan has dismissed Ponting 8 times in 8 test matches. When Bhajji played characterful innings along with sachin to overcome australian total. Then our great team, planted the racist stuff. What a ploy. Two birds shot down, demoralize Indian team and remove the biggest threat to there captain, so that he can score runs as well. BTW, by the time this racist incident happen, bhajji got his man twice out of three ocassion. How come 3 match ban can be handed without any proof, video evidence. good ploy again.

Of course, what australian didn’t anticipated strong Indian team reply. Now, the turnaround decisions are as:

1. No Bucknor & Benson in 3rd & 4th match. Instead it is Asad Rauf, Billy Bowden officiating in the 3rd match

2. Ranjan Murdugalle to diffuse situation between Ponting and Kumble

3. Bhajji appeal to be reheard before 3rd match

4. Hogg appeal to be heard around 14th or 15th Jan.

What next. there are two matches with perth in schedule. There is high likely scoreline tends to be 3-0, unless India reply very strongly. Adelaide yes we have chance like the last time.

Not bad actually..This is I think should be ok. There is high likelihood that Harbhajan ban will be revoked. At end of the day, everybody now will be very keen to see how Indian team reacts to the favorable situation now. They have media, australian crowd, BCCI, ICC, back home support. There is nothing more they can ask for. What else, do what they are there to do. Perform and set the score as 2-2 or 2-1. I think it is high time for Indian team to pull up the socks and give Australian a very strong reply. They should end-up series with 2-2 or 2-1 w/o fail. Else, we will read the comment towards end of the series..we always ‘Talk the talk’, never ‘Walk-the-talk’.

Few of the answers they need to find for Yuvi, Dhoni form. Opening combination. Support to R P singh? Which they can..

well for Indian cricket team, rise and shine to the occasion.

Hopefully shall not be disappointed.

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