Time for some Cricket!
After a long hiatus which lasted, wait let me count.. 7 months!!( What was i thinking???) Here i am blogging again during a mega world event in Cricket ( Last time it was during the Football World Cup).
The tournament has just about started with not many surprises with most of the matches resulting as per predictions with the bigger teams getting wins under their belts and getting a good start in the cup with some brilliant individual performances both from bat and ball. But there was one match which blew our minds away. Yeah that’s right, it was the India England match at Bangalore (my place!!!). Personally i could no get to watch the match at the stadium as there was a lot of problems with tickets this time
After India got a big total on the board, people would have imagined that it was foregone conclusion for England, but wait they really did make a match out of it. They were cruising to victory and then things changed when all seemed lost for us and that was the most exciting part of the match, it was a cliffhanger!!
In the end arguably i can say it was fair result of a TIE, but definitely it was a catalyst bringing a spark to this World Cup campaign going into some serious business ahead in the coming days.
Lets wait and watch as the drama unfolds..
Go India!!!!
The Road to Glory for Spain
Hey folks,
Well i had promised that i would blog again before the World Cup would end, well that did not happen as i did not get the time to actually blog during that period
There is a saying “Better Late than Never”, so i would like to share my thoughts on the world cup winning team Spain.
Well who would have thought Spain will win the World Cup after losing their first match to the gutsy Swiss, even though people were not happy with the defensive approach of Swiss. And there was a dubious record in the history books saying, ”No team in history has won the World Cup after losing the first match”. After this match the Spanish had their task cut out, win the remaining matches and advance to the next round. They did that by beating Honduras and Chile. There was one man who was taking them to victory and he was David Villa with some spectacular goals.
Then started the round of 16 against bitter rivals Portugal, who had amongst them Cristiano Ronaldo, but they denied him any opportunities and were patient in their build-ups and their patience paid off with Villa scoring the winning goal again. But i thought the match actually did not live up to the expectation of a classic match. By now England the team i was supporting were packing their bags to go back home. Now i was supporting Spain!!! Next up they had a relatively easy match up against Paraguay, this was again a low scoring affair with the score again ending up 1-0 to Spain, well but the match had its share of twists and turns with Paraguay getting a penalty and missing it and then Spain getting a penalty and they too missing it and finally Villa again to the rescue with the winning goal in the 83rd minute with a curling shot. It was a heart break for Paraguay and Oscar Cardozo who had earlier missed a penalty, had he scored things might have been different. So La Furia Roja had made it to the semis for the first time in all these years
Now comes Paul the Psychic Octopus into picture at this World Cup cause he had been predicting the World Cup results with 100% precision. He predicts Spain to beat Germany, now the German fans want some Octopus soup for dinner
But wait Germany had been bulldozing almost everybody who came their way with Argentina and England facing their wrath. Spain took Paul’s prediction as a motivation i guess, as they came off the blocks quicker than the Germans in the all important match and were attacking from the word go, with repeated attempts on the German goal, finally got a goal from an unlikely player in Carlos Puyol, the lanky defender from Barcelona. Now the fans in Germany were on the lookout for Paul while the England fans were dancing coz after all he was from England and earlier Paul had predicted Germany beating England, actually they did 4-1 !! .Well well Spain had advanced to the finals of the FIFA World cup 2010, their opponents where the Dutch who were no pushovers and had beaten the best like Brazil and Uruguay.
Now comes the big match for La Furia Roja, the defending European Champs who were tactically better compared to the Dutch and had more attacking players in Xavi and Iniesta, while the Dutch were depending on the duo of Sneijder and Robben to work their magic one last time. The match started in a very high tempo but those who saw the match will know that it was more a display of martial arts rather than football skills. Players were going down all over the pitch and English referee Howard Webb was flashing Yellow cards faster than a Bugatti Veyron
The match was going still at 0-0 when Robben got a killer pass from Sneijder, he was one on one with Casillas but he hit it straight at Saint Iker, according to me the turning point of the match. At the other end too there were chances but no one was able to find the goal at the end of 90 minutes. Now came extra time, and the dirty tackles continued with more yellow cards coming from Webb. Then a key moment in the match when John Heitinga was booked a second time and got his marching orders from the referee, Spain had the upper hand now with a man’s advantage, they made full use of it and struck in the 116th minute with Iniesta slotting the ball past Stekelenburg after receiving a delightful pass from Cesc Fabregas. Then there was chaos with Dutch players surrounding the referee and protesting the goal thinking it was offside when it wasn’t. At last after 120 minutes the final whistle was heard and the Spanish players danced in joy with tears from both teams for different reasons.
And then FIFA President Sepp Blatter gave away the most coveted trophy in football to the Spanish Captain Iker Casillas and the world cup was coming to Spain soil for the first time!!
Fifa World Cup 2010 Fever
Hi all,
After 2 long months of oblivion, here I am back blogging. This time it’s not gonna be cricket like in my earlier posts,but its gonna be football, arguably the greatest game in the world. So let me write about the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Well talking on a personal front I can tell that im crazy about football, here is my chance to boast a bit about football which makes people go crazy.
Well just as the group stages have finished there were many surprises in the group stages with both the last years finalists knocked out, but trust me both had an aging team and they could do no good when it came to the pace of the other teams. As I am a Manchester United fan I am rightfully supporting England but they look far from the team they are capable of and if we are to make it big this time around, first hurdle is Germany who are a dangerous side with Klose and Podolski. But if Rooney decides to weave his magic, it’s all but done for the Germans. As far as the other teams go i feel Argentina will do good this time with the Messi-Maradona combo on offer, Spain no far behind even though they barely made it to round of 16.
But I am not one bit impressed with the FIFA draw system because as far as the current matchups go, we see Spain meeting Portugal and again we have England taking on Germany, so 2 good teams are out even before the quarter finals. But again fans are getting to watch good matchups at an earlier stage in the tournament. I personally feel its gonna be Brazil,Argentina,Spain which are gonna get a long way. But wait Spain take on their bitter rivals Portugal who have amongst them the World’s best player Cristiano Ronaldo, leading from the front their captain. It is he who can change the fate of the match with his skills and playmaking abilities.
When it comes to football South Americans are right up there, as we have seen all of them have qualified for the round of 16 i.e Uruguay,Paraguay,Chile,Brazil and Argentina. They have struck a good rhythm in South Africa and its gonna be very difficult for the Europeans to outplay them.
I am hoping England does well, but again its gonna be really difficult. Hoping to write more before this football fever comes to an end.But whoever wins the cup, surely it would have been treat for everyone to watch this beautiful tournament.
Business End of IPL 3
As i write this the table has got more heated up as a result of RCB’s heroics about an hour ago at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. Whenever we have needed the team to perform they have not delivered the goods,be it the final of the last years IPL or be it today against Mumbai Indians as they could have once and for all assured themselves a place in the semi-finals without having to rely on the results of the other matches.
Today’s contest,wait a minute it was not a contest at all in the first place.It was more like some kids playing against professional cricketers. Time and again Kallis has proved why he should not be playing in the team,but still the team is very happy playing him against his will. And coming to today’s bowling performance (who is this Pankaj Singh?) and where on earth is Praveen Kumar?? It is difficult to understand what is going on here
.We lost here by a huge margin while chasing and we are supposed to be the best chasers in this IPL!!
Now all over India people are busy doing the permutations and combinations on whether their team will make it to the semis when Mumbai sit pretty at the top. As of now 6 teams are doing battle for 3 spots. Well thanks to RCB they have still kept things open for the other 5 teams.
Well on a personal front i want RCB to get into the semis and dismantle Mumbai once and for all. But we have to wait and watch who will grab the 3 spots left. Two days it will be settled
Well done IPL 3!!
IPL Version 3.0
Hey,
Writing this post when the Deccan Chargers are playing the Kolkata Knight Riders, in fact its playing live on my television right now. Its so exciting that IPL is back, let aside all the hype and stuff this is the real deal, T20 Cricket at its best. All the big names right here playing for the Indian Premier League Crown for 2010.
I am a Royal Challengers Bangalore fan obviously being a Bangalorean it would be a sin not to support Kumble and his boys. With all the talent in hand RBC is the team to watch out this time too. Last time i least expected them to reach the final after the first 6 results they managed. But Kumble back to captaincy and the team back to form they reached the final,but it was very disappointing that they did not win IPL 2009. Now that was about last year, coming to this year’s edition there are some bright new faces and talent in all the teams. So looking forward to version 3.0 of IPL Cricket.
Although i want RCB to win this time, more importantly i want good cricket which should be played in the right spirit. All the best to all the teams. Lets bring it on…IPL!!!
Schedule for IPL 2010
| Sl | Day / Dt | IST | GMT | Team vs Team | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar-2010 | |||||
| 1 | Fri-12 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders | DYP – Mumbai |
| 2 | Sat-13 | 15:00 | 09:30 | Mumbai Indians vs Rajasthan Royals | Mumbai |
| 3 | Sat-13 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kings XI Punjab vs Delhi Daredevils | PCA – Mohali |
| 4 | Sun-14 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Bangalore Royal Challengers | Eden – Kolkata |
| 5 | Sun-14 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Chennai Super Kings vs Deccan Chargers | MAC – Chennai |
| 6 | Mon-15 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Rajasthan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils | Ahmedabad |
| 7 | Tue-16 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kings XI Punjab | MCS – Bangalore |
| 8 | Tue-16 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Chennai Super Kings | Eden – Kolkata |
| 9 | Wed-17 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Mumbai Indians | FSK – Delhi |
| 10 | Thu-18 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Rajasthan Royals | MCS – Bangalore |
| 11 | Fri-19 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Chennai Super Kings | FSK – Delhi |
| 12 | Fri-19 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Deccan Chargers vs Kings XI Punjab | Nagpur |
| 13 | Sat-20 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders | Ahmedabad |
| 14 | Sat-20 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Mumbai Indians vs Bangalore Royal Challengers | Mumbai |
| 15 | Sun-21 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers | Nagpur |
| 16 | Sun-21 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab | MAC – Chennai |
| 17 | Mon-22 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Mumbai Indians vs Kolkata Knight Riders | Mumbai |
| 18 | Tue-23 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Chennai Super Kings | MCS – Bangalore |
| 19 | Wed-24 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kings XI Punjab vs Rajasthan Royals | PCA – Mohali |
| 20 | Thu-25 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Mumbai Indians vs Chennai Super Kings | Mumbai |
| 21 | Fri-26 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Rajasthan Royals vs Deccan Chargers | Ahmedabad |
| 22 | Sat-27 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Kings XI Punjab vs Kolkata Knight Riders | PCA – Mohali |
| 23 | Sat-27 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Delhi Daredevils | MCS – Bangalore |
| 24 | Sun-28 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings | Ahmedabad |
| 25 | Sun-28 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Deccan Chargers vs Mumbai Indians | Nagpur |
| 26 | Mon-29 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Kolkata Knight Riders | FSK – Delhi |
| 27 | Tue-30 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Mumbai Indians vs Kings XI Punjab | Mumbai |
| 28 | Wed-31 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Chennai Super Kings vs Bangalore Royal Challengers | MAC – Chennai |
| 29 | Wed-31 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Rajasthan Royals | FSK – Delhi |
| Apr-2010 | |||||
| 30 | Thu-01 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Deccan Chargers | Eden – Kolkata |
| 31 | Fri-02 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kings XI Punjab vs Bangalore Royal Challengers | PCA – Mohali |
| 32 | Sat-03 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals | MAC – Chennai |
| 33 | Sat-03 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers | Mumbai |
| 34 | Sun-04 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Kings XI Punjab | Eden – Kolkata |
| 35 | Sun-04 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Bangalore Royal Challengers | FSK – Delhi |
| 36 | Mon-05 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals | DYP – Mumbai |
| 37 | Tue-06 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians | MAC – Chennai |
| 38 | Wed-07 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Rajasthan Royals vs Kings XI Punjab | SMS – Jaipur |
| 39 | Wed-07 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Delhi Daredevils | Eden – Kolkata |
| 40 | Thu-08 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Deccan Chargers | MCS – Bangalore |
| 41 | Fri-09 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kings XI Punjab vs Mumbai Indians | PCA – Mohali |
| 42 | Sat-10 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Deccan Chargers vs Chennai Super Kings | DYP – Mumbai |
| 43 | Sat-10 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders | MCS – Bangalore |
| 44 | Sun-11 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab | FSK – Delhi |
| 45 | Sun-11 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians | SMS – Jaipur |
| 46 | Mon-12 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Deccan Chargers vs Bangalore Royal Challengers | DYP – Mumbai |
| 47 | Tue-13 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Mumbai Indians vs Delhi Daredevils | Mumbai |
| 48 | Tue-13 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Chennai Super Kings vs Kolkata Knight Riders | MAC – Chennai |
| 49 | Wed-14 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Rajasthan Royals vs Bangalore Royal Challengers | SMS – Jaipur |
| 50 | Thu-15 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Chennai Super Kings vs Delhi Daredevils | MAC – Chennai |
| 51 | Fri-16 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kings XI Punjab vs Deccan Chargers | Dharmasala |
| 52 | Sat-17 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Mumbai Indians | MCS – Bangalore |
| 53 | Sat-17 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals | Eden – Kolkata |
| 54 | Sun-18 | 16:00 | 10:30 | Kings XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings | Dharmasala |
| 55 | Sun-18 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Delhi Daredevils vs Deccan Chargers | FSK – Delhi |
| 56 | Mon-19 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Kolkata Knight Riders vs Mumbai Indians | Eden – Kolkata |
| 57 | Wed-21 | 20:00 | 14:30 | 1nd Semi-Final – Team 1 vs Team 2 | MCS – Bangalore |
| 58 | Thu-22 | 20:00 | 14:30 | 2nd Semi-Final – Team 3 vs Team 4 | MCS – Bangalore |
| 59 | Sat-24 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Play-off for 3rd Place – Team A vs Team B | DYP – Mumbai |
| 60 | Sun-25 | 20:00 | 14:30 | Final of IPL 2010 – Team 1 vs Team 2 | DYP – Mumbai |
I saw God play Cricket…
Although i am a bit late on posting this, i cant stop myself from telling my views on this topic called Sachin Tendulkar.
The hottest topic in town is none other than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar ,what a player he is,time and again he proved that he is second to none. In the past scaling 200 would look like something very difficult but now that 200 was scored by the Little Master himself. I am disappointed that i could not get to see the Master’s innings at Gwalior the other day as i was stuck up at office with some work. But none the less we all witnessed something extraordinary.
I always thought if someone would break Saeed Anwar’s record of 194 then it would either be Virender Sehwag or Sachin. I was right, the God himself did break it. I saw the highlights of the match 3 times myself that day, the way he batted was absolutely breathtaking. The cuts, the drives, the pulls and delicate touches and scintillating sixes over the boundaries was amazing. Tell me one player in history who has achieved as much as the God has. He accounted for about 50percent of the runs out of the total in that knock of 200. This innings will be itched in the memory of all cricket fans especially the fans of God.
His 147 ball 200 included fours and 3 sixes of which the straight bat shots he played were the best. Undoubtedly he is the best player Cricket has ever seen to have taken the field. How can we forget his innings against Australia at Chennai where he helped us chase that mammoth total in the 4th innings. And also that innings of 175 against the same Australians, even though we lost the match we all saw what he was capable of.
Recollecting the memories of this match, which i was actually following at office through cricbuzz, i was growing restless with Dhoni not giving the strike to the little master but i felt he was just delaying the inevitable which was bound to happen. And finally he reached that magical mark in the final over. I also felt that had MSD given more of the strike to Sachin he got have got more than what he actually ended up with. Nevertheless he did get to that milestone much to the delight of all the Indians.
Take a Bow!!! Sachin “God” Tendulkar…….
Save the Tiger : Only 1411 Left!!
Hi,
As we all know, Tigers are the pride of our nation,but in the past decade it is very heartbreaking to witness the number of tigers in the wild go down from about 40,000 at the fall of the 20th century to now a vey shocking less than 1500. This number is so small that if we dont act quickly tigers in India will be a thing of the past
Tiger species is unlike any other compared to its other Cat species, it is very charming and beautiful creature. These tigers play a major role in preserving the ecosystem of our planet. This particular predator is at the top of the food chain and helps maintain a balance of the ecosystem of the forest. But it is very sad to see that this species is fast dying away. It is time for us to stand up and do something that will help to increse these shocking figures.
We can be a responsible person and contribute to this issue by spreading the word about the tiger population and increase the awareness among people, also whenever you go out as a tourist to the wild think about those animals and do not disturb the wild environment. We can also use less timber and paper which would help in conserving the forests and hence these animals. It’s my humble request to everyone that wake up now else tomorrow when you wake up Tigers will be gone forever.
Think once ” What have we done to help them”, its never too late….
Avatar and 3 Idiots
Recently i watched Avatar 3D and 3 Idiots on the same weekend, although i must admit that i was watching them pretty late as they were released much earlier. I didnt know why i did not find time to watch them earlier
None the less i managed to watch them both
.As this was my first 3D film let me share my movie experience as well as review them.
Now, it was a saturday morning which is a blessing for people like me who are software professionals as we could relax and have fun at home.But my friend had other ideas,he messaged me around 11am and tells me to get ready so that we can watch avatar.This was a last minute plan and we browsed through the internet and found that show was at 2-55pm at INOX in Garuda Mall.But we both knew that getting tickets was next to impossible.But we wanted to giv a try and left home. We reached garuda and as expected didnt get the tickets
SOLD OUT was the board…
Now, a quick change of direction, we headed to MG road where fame shankarnag was playing the same movie at 5-30pm. Luckily this time we got 2 gold class tickets (i seriosuly dont know what these classes mean) and now we had 4 full hours to spend before the show. And wait,we were hungry so headed out to Nagarjuna hotel (amazing biryani,trust me !) and finished lunch there. Then we roamed around in Brigade and shopped for a while then had snacks at McDonalds and headed back to theater in time.
Once we reached it,we had to pay advance for those 3D googles(they were definitely one of its kind..lol) and settled down in the theater.Then started the epic movie,well for the initial minutes of the movie,people were busy cleaning the glass and few kids complaining to their parents about the glass
.Finally me and my friend settled in as the movie was taking us on a ride through Pandora. Well personally i felt the movie was pretty decent and i must say that the animations are brilliant. I liked the floating mountains concept,which was really breathtaking. It was something new which most of us never expected and hence the movie clicked. Seriously hats off to James Cameroon. My personal rating of the movie would be about 4.5 out of 5.
The next day,i had managed to download 3 idiots the previous night. So i thought i should watch it since it had a lot of media attention, the movie was kind of OK ,but not great like many people told me. The songs were pretty good (especially the lines “Give me some sunshine,Give me some Rain…..”) and ofcourse Aamir’s acting was brilliant and even Kareena was decent.The story line i thought was not exactly related to the book,but it had parts taken from it. But anyways it was a OK movie according to me.
So folks,watch both movies as there is lot of excitement awaiting you!
Back in Bangalore Volume-II
Hi folks,
I am back to where i belong Bangalore. Bangalore the place to be
Well i finished my stint in Mysore and am back here as i got my posting right here in namma bangalore and i am looking forward to working here only. As the new year beckons the weather here is absolutely amazing with a calm breeze during the evenings.
Well at home i am sitting by the window enjoying this lovely weather, got few movies which i have to watch then from monday gotta get back to work. Anyway i am hoping work would be awesome and the new year 2010 too.
Here is me wishing everyone…
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2010

