Does one hear these words ring out? In anguish? In concern? Or in just plain relief?
Has he been arrested for celebrating Alonso's win in the first ever F1 night race at Singapore in 2008, now that it is turning out to be a "race fixed by Renault"?
Or was he sitting directly in the line of fire (should it be ire?) of a frustrated Serena Williams and think the threat was being made to him and so is now maintaining a low profile, à la Salman Rushdie?
Is he heading for "the Rainbow country", intending to cover the ICC Awards and the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy? Or is he busy with the calculators, working out the chances of the teams participating in the tourney, with an eye to make a fortune by picking a team underrated by the bookies?
Or is he just maintaining a low profile, hiding in shame, for his inability to predict the winners, or even the finalists, with the exception of Roger Federer (that does not need one to be a rocket (racket?) scientist) of the recently concluded US Open?
Or is he on board Vijay Mallya's luxury yacht, probably on its way from Italy after the Monza race, heading like an arrow for Singapore and the next stop for Team Force India's tryst with glory and destiny, celebrating a famous fourth place finish for Adrian Sutil at Monza, sipping Kingfisher beer as a token of appreciation from the boss for post on relieving Fisichella to follow his dream with Ferrari?
Or, knowing his love for solving complex maths problems and puzzles, is he trying to figure out the solution to the equation on how many matches India needs to win at the ICC tournament to get back to the #1 ranking, simultaneously working on the probability of England avoiding a yellow-wash in their series against Australia, while also figuring out what South Africa is likely to do to overcome the insult of not having any of their cricketers in the final nominees for the ICC awards and how to overcome their jinx of excelling in the league games and then ruining it all in one poor showing at the knock-out stages, not to mention the unknown factors introduced by a blow-bot, blow-cold Pakistan, the eternal bridesmaid of recent times, Sri Lanka, the talented but underperforming Kiwis or the second string from the Windies?
Or is he a confused man, undecided on whether to celebrate the first ever 1-2 finish by Indians Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi at the US Men's Doubles a few days back or mourn Sania Mirza's inability to get on the board in only the second round coupled with Yuki Bhambri's quarterfinal exit when he was top seed in the boy's singles and expected to win?
Surely Pankaj Advani's success in the Professional Billiard's World championship deserved a mention, being only the second Indian after Geet Sethi to accomplish this feat? As did Vijender Kumar's bronze medal, India's first ever medal, in the Boxing World Cup. Then why the silence?
NEWS FLASH:
When last seen, the author of this blog was desperately trying to get a complaint through to set right a faulty internet connection, that probably went wrong due to the recent heavy rains, much like the city's roads. What a pity - such a let down, just an one's imagination was running wild.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Federer and the "hot dog" shot
The "hot dog" shot is one where a player chases back to retrieve a lob and then hits the ball between his legs with his back to the net.
Obviously Federer is very good at this, as he is with all the tennis shots - in the book and those that he will be adding to it. He also has the perfect sense of when to play it - to get to match point is absolutely the best time - it stuns you so much that playing the last point is just a formality.
So what does one do now?? 2 choices - either you don't play the lob against Federer or you put so much top spin in it that it races away after pitching. Then maybe Fedex will come up with a "hot dog volley". Till then, please watch and enjoy!!!
Obviously Federer is very good at this, as he is with all the tennis shots - in the book and those that he will be adding to it. He also has the perfect sense of when to play it - to get to match point is absolutely the best time - it stuns you so much that playing the last point is just a formality.
So what does one do now?? 2 choices - either you don't play the lob against Federer or you put so much top spin in it that it races away after pitching. Then maybe Fedex will come up with a "hot dog volley". Till then, please watch and enjoy!!!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Djoker and the King
The US Open this year threw up an interesting match up. Maybe for the first time, there was someone who was not in the top 120, nor a qualifier, or a wildcard on the court. This is fun, specially for all the John McEnroe fans like me. If he can do this at age 45+, in formals you can well imagine him in his prime.
Watch and enjoy!!!
Watch and enjoy!!!
ICC Champions Trophy - a look into the past - the 1998 story
The ICC Champions Trophy, as it is known today, was first played as the ICC Knock-out Trophy, in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1998 and, as the name suggests, it was a pure knock-out tournament. This ODI tournament was arranged with the aim to be the second most important limited overs tournament, after the World Cup. The first edition featured 9 teams, with Zimbabwe playing New Zealand in a preliminary match, followed by the quarterfinals, semis and finals.
New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 5 wickets, to qualify for the main tournament, scoring the winning runs of the last ball of their innings. In what turned out to be a match between the captains, Stephen Fleming managed to trump the century scored by Alistair Campbell, bagging the Man of the Match for his 96 runs.
In the first quarterfinal, England, being captained by Adam Hollioake, won the toss against Hansie Cronje's South Africans and scored a creditable 281 off their allotted quota of overs. Again, the captain stole the batting honours with Adam top scoring with an unbeaten 83. In reply, 3 South African batsmen, Cullinan (Man of the Match for topscoring with 69), Jonty Rhodes and captain Cronje got past 50, ensuring a win for their team by a confortable margin.
The next quarters was between Sri Lanka and New Zealand and with the latter managing to post only 188, batting first, Sri Lanka were home for a comfortable 5 wicket win. Captain Arjuna Ranatunga (not another captain!!!) guided the team to the target, scoring an unbeaten 90, after the Lankans had lost 3 wickets by the 4th over.
The next match, between India, led by Md. Azharuddin, and Australia, led by Steve Waugh, really turned out to be a match between Sachin Tendulkar and the Aussies. Sachin, a real thorn in the Aussie flesh in those days, scored 141 in India's total of 307 for 8 and, as though that was not enough, went on to take 4 wickets for 38 runs, including the scalps of Steve Waugh, Michael Bevan and Damien Martyn. That effort ensured an easy decision for the Man of the Match adjudicator and also marked the beginning of a miserable run for the Aussies in this tournament, which finally ended with the title win in the last edition.
The final quarterfinal match was between the Brian Lara led West Indeies and the Aamer Sohail led Pakistanis. The Windies, after scoring 289 for 9, restricted the Pakistanis to 259 for 9, thereby qualifying for the semis.
The first semi-final between South Africa and Sri Lanka was delayed by rain and started as a 39 overs a side match. Jacques Kallis, who had a fine tournament exhibiting his all-round skills, scored an unbeaten 113 in his side's 240/7. Further rain interruption meant that Sri Lanak were set a target of 224 in 34 overs, under the Duckworth-Lewis formula. The Lankans did not last that long, being bowled out for 132 in the 24th over, giving the Proteas their first appearance in a major final.
The early dismissal of Sachin and Azharuddin, followed by Dravid and Jadeja at regular intervals, emant that India were always fighting with their backs to the wall. Ganguly fot 83 and Robin Singh an unbeating 77 in India's total of 242/6. Sachin, the bowler, again tried to turn the match on its head, but Chanderpaul had other ideas and so the Windies were in a major final after 15 long years.
Philo Wallace's 103 and Kallis' 5 for 30 were the highlights of the West Indian's innings when they batted first in the finals. For them to set an unbeatable target, they need Brian Lara to come good - and he did not. But the South African captain did not miss his trick and Cronje's unbeaten 61, coupled with some useful contributions down the order meant that the Proteas were home and dry - and at last found some silverware to justify their potential...
New Zealand beat Zimbabwe by 5 wickets, to qualify for the main tournament, scoring the winning runs of the last ball of their innings. In what turned out to be a match between the captains, Stephen Fleming managed to trump the century scored by Alistair Campbell, bagging the Man of the Match for his 96 runs.
In the first quarterfinal, England, being captained by Adam Hollioake, won the toss against Hansie Cronje's South Africans and scored a creditable 281 off their allotted quota of overs. Again, the captain stole the batting honours with Adam top scoring with an unbeaten 83. In reply, 3 South African batsmen, Cullinan (Man of the Match for topscoring with 69), Jonty Rhodes and captain Cronje got past 50, ensuring a win for their team by a confortable margin.
The next quarters was between Sri Lanka and New Zealand and with the latter managing to post only 188, batting first, Sri Lanka were home for a comfortable 5 wicket win. Captain Arjuna Ranatunga (not another captain!!!) guided the team to the target, scoring an unbeaten 90, after the Lankans had lost 3 wickets by the 4th over.
The next match, between India, led by Md. Azharuddin, and Australia, led by Steve Waugh, really turned out to be a match between Sachin Tendulkar and the Aussies. Sachin, a real thorn in the Aussie flesh in those days, scored 141 in India's total of 307 for 8 and, as though that was not enough, went on to take 4 wickets for 38 runs, including the scalps of Steve Waugh, Michael Bevan and Damien Martyn. That effort ensured an easy decision for the Man of the Match adjudicator and also marked the beginning of a miserable run for the Aussies in this tournament, which finally ended with the title win in the last edition.
The final quarterfinal match was between the Brian Lara led West Indeies and the Aamer Sohail led Pakistanis. The Windies, after scoring 289 for 9, restricted the Pakistanis to 259 for 9, thereby qualifying for the semis.
The first semi-final between South Africa and Sri Lanka was delayed by rain and started as a 39 overs a side match. Jacques Kallis, who had a fine tournament exhibiting his all-round skills, scored an unbeaten 113 in his side's 240/7. Further rain interruption meant that Sri Lanak were set a target of 224 in 34 overs, under the Duckworth-Lewis formula. The Lankans did not last that long, being bowled out for 132 in the 24th over, giving the Proteas their first appearance in a major final.
The early dismissal of Sachin and Azharuddin, followed by Dravid and Jadeja at regular intervals, emant that India were always fighting with their backs to the wall. Ganguly fot 83 and Robin Singh an unbeating 77 in India's total of 242/6. Sachin, the bowler, again tried to turn the match on its head, but Chanderpaul had other ideas and so the Windies were in a major final after 15 long years.
Philo Wallace's 103 and Kallis' 5 for 30 were the highlights of the West Indian's innings when they batted first in the finals. For them to set an unbeatable target, they need Brian Lara to come good - and he did not. But the South African captain did not miss his trick and Cronje's unbeaten 61, coupled with some useful contributions down the order meant that the Proteas were home and dry - and at last found some silverware to justify their potential...
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