Sports – Experiences Unlimited

Semifinal- Twenty20 World Cup- Pakistan v/s Australia and Team India

Mohamed Sanaulla — Fri, 14 May 2010 19:53:54 +0000

My eyes were glued to the Live scorecard of Cricinfo, hand busy trying to refresh the page every single second- Just to see who would be the greatest among the greats! Pakistan had everything going in favor of them until tat last deadly over or taking it further more- the impeccable performance by Mike Hussey. They had put up challenging 191 on the board- Thanks to the Akmal bros notching up a 50 piece with Butt chipping in an useful 32. Then they got Aussies on the backfoot- picking up early wickets, all of their bowlers having a really good economy. Until the Whites and the Husseys cut loose sending the ball all over the park. Started with White- who I have never seen play for RCB- True Desh bhakth- but got out when they had 50+ runs to chase. It was never easy for the tail enders to whack around. But Hussey was the man- he had in him the sleeping devil who unleashed his wrath- sending the ball over the boundary. Still 18 required- I thought Pak had still chances of winning- but Jhonny was intelligent enough to get him a single and the devil smashed- 6-6-4-6 Can u imagine that? I was just speechless, shocked- omg Aussies have made it to the finals😦

But I really liked the determination Hussey had- fought till the last, never gave up! The “Never Say Die” attitude of the Aussies is something which our very own Team India has to learn. Never play the blame game- and BCCI has been finding the scapegoat for their dismal performance in the World Cup. Had India been their they would have accepted the defeat even before they started the chase! The Aussies hav in them- When all of their players fail to perform- someone stands up and takes them to the victory- I remember Symonds doing this most of the times. Do we have to blame the IPL for India’s dismal performance. We see that Indian players lack discipline, dedication- IPL has got them the money in an easy way and people rely on their past performances to reward them every now and then. It gets on to my nerves to read in the newspapers the fight between the coach, BCCI, players. Though I havent watched even a single Indian match (good that I didn’t😀 ) but then reading in the newspapers was more than sufficient to grasp the total situation. Indians cant play Short Pitch deliveries- And they call themselves International players- with a exposed weakness. Couldn’t they work on their weakness- why give the opponent the chance to exploit it? Players getting injured just before important tournaments, or not being 100% fit but still drafted to play and they under perform and blame the selection committee for selecting them- All these create an imbalanced team. This happened even in the last Twenty20 World Cup. Now they want to sack Dhoni. So who’s going to replace him? Shewag? – who gave his 100% to Delhi Daredevils to get injured and not play in the World Cup? The one who’s so reckless in his batting?

In India people follow cricket as a religion- That’s the mistake we Indians do. And sports like Hockey, Badminton, Tennis, Chess, Football, Basketball are not at all even considered. These cricketers earn in loads- thru Ads, match fee, awards and so on. What are the people following them crazily getting? “Chambu” There was the time of Dravids, Tendulkar, Kumble, Srinath, Prasad and other senior players who were The Gentleman and still they are. But these so called “Senior Youngsters” are dead opposite to them. And these upcoming “Youngsters” follow them as their role models. Going to pubs, drinking, pub brawls, parties- what are these? Signs of a Sports person? Never- Discipline should be the foremost and then comes fitness and then comes your game. When all these three are in sync- u have a perfect sports person there.

PS: Through out my blog post I have considered the current Twenty20 Squad and their performances and the recent events happening around.

Filed under: Sports

IPL 2009 Inaugural Day Updates (April 18)

Mohamed Sanaulla — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:03:08 +0000

IPL is back after a year! One year has passed so quickly, the Rajasthan Royals final match is still fresh in my mind This time IPL is being held out of India- Indian Premium League in South Africa😛 Its was a day of upsets everywhere, a day of upset for me either- tough SE Exam paper😦 The Inaugural match between Mumbai Indians(MI) and Chennai Super Kings(CSK) was at some point interesting but then MI comfortably won the match (looks comfortable for ppl watchin on TV, may not be for the players😀 ) The main take aways from that match was- Tendulkar continuing his New Zealand form started off IPL in stlye with a 50, Nayar smashed 3 sixes in Flintoff’s over (hope he sleeps peacefully tonight and those sixes don’t haunt him😛 ). Malinga fierce with the ball- he is fiercefull without the ball either. And and any other key MI performances- I cant recall. Coming to CSK they had very little to cheer about- Gony took few wickets, Dhoni hit few runs ( Gony and Dhoni are so rhyming), so did Hayden. In the end wat matters is the winner and its MI (not Mission Impossible😛 )

The second match- Bangalore Royal Challengers(B’lore RC) Vs Rajasthan Royals(RR). This match was played in the filled to capacity ground situated on Earth. I had taken for granted the RR(not Reading Room) would not win (everyone would have read it as would win) the reason being B’lore RC had like of Ryder, Taylor, Kevin (the other part of the name is too long), Dravid (order for listing is the batting order) and so on … B’lore RC had a great start- Ryder and Taylor falling cheaply, sorry very cheaply playing some stupid shots. Unlike 10Dulkar they couldn’t continue their good performances in New Zealand. Then Dravid resurrected the innings with a solid, rock solid, wall solid performance. Was he supported by Kevin?- No. I dont know wat Kevin was doing on the pitch- Was he dancing? I dont think he was batting😛. With a modest total- 133 to chase i thought RR would win but then there was a different story altogether. One by one RR batsmen fell initially to Praveen Kumar, Ryder (not fell in love, they got out) then finally to Kumble. Actually Kumble accounted for 50% of RR batsmen (i think he will be skipping his dinner). All these led to RR getting bowled out for 58- wow only 58.

Now its time for some Chak De India scenes in the RR dressing room given by Shilpa Shetty. Mallya will be happy- still not happiest because B’lore RC has a long way to go. Wat will Mallya be doing for B’lore RCs? Full time belting Ryder and Taylor, praising Dravid, Kumble, Praveen. Party time in B’lore RC dressing room, sponsored by UB Group😀😀

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Eventful Sunday- Silverstone (Hamilton), Asia Cup(Mendis), Wimbledon Finals(Nadal)

Mohamed Sanaulla — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 09:05:17 +0000

Last Sunday i.e yesterday was the day when there were major upsets in the Sports arena- Ferrari’s Massa finishing Pointless and Ferrari having a bad day @Silverstone, India performing miserably in the Asia Cup Final, Dhoni & Co always flatter at the final hurdle😦, then there’s the epic match between Federer and Nadal, which was an edge of a seat thriller. So all in all it was a eventful Sunday. India could have surely done better than what they performed in the Asia Cup final. 273 target was chaseable and with the in-form Indian top order having Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Yuraj and Rohit Sharma, and not to forget our captain Dhoni, I thought that India would be the Asia Cup Champions. But there was a different story to tell. It was earlier Jayasuriya who blasted Indian bowlers all around the park and later on Mendis rocked the Indian top order to signal the end of India’s great run of form. This is not the first time Dhoni and Co have flattered in the final hurdle, they have done it on many previous occasions. I had mentioned about it in my earlier post. Sehwag got off to an explosive start the way he was smashing the ball i thought Indians would comfortably chase the target. But once Mendis got him stumped and then Yuvraj followed the very next moment, Indians were in deep deep trouble. But in form Raina did show some signs of getting set, but it was Mendis again who got Raina bowled and then Rohit Sharma followed him and it was all but over. Indian had missed a superb opportunity to pocket the Asia cup, Dhoni and his men will e cursing themselves for not reading Mendis properly. Highlights of the day was Jayasuriya’s Superb Ton, Sehwag’s initial onslaught and Mendis’s magic spell.

It was Hamilton’s day at the Silverstone park after he drove with perfection to clinch the British GP in style when others were skidding around the park. Read about the British GP here.

Coming to the battle of the century- Federer Vs Nadal. It was the most exciting match i have ever seen (Though i watch Tennis less frequently) it was an edge of the seat thriller. Two set down with Nadal cruising in the 3rd set, i thought it was all over. With rain interruptions in between it only added to the curiosity of people like me and you anxiously glued to the Idiot box. I was watching the match at my cousin’s house. I came back home thinking that Nadal would finish it off in 3 sets. But when i came back and after an hour or so i heard someone shouting- outburst of anxiety and excitement- it was my cousin and i quickly googled for “Live Wimbledon Scores” and was it was good enough search term that directly took me to Wimbledon official website Live Scores and i was shocked to see 2-2 with 5th set going on. I quickly suggested my friend to watch the match and he asked me is it good? and i said its once in a life time opportunity. And then rain gods were back to business and the match resumed after sometime. Both the players kept winning their serves and for someone to emerge the champion he had to break the others serve. This is what Nadal did to clinch the final set 9-7 and dashed Federer hopes of equaling the record of 6 consecutive wins at the Wimbledon finals which was achieved by Bjorn Borg. But then Nadal repeated the feat of wining French Open and Wimbledon in the same year which was achieved by Borg in 1980. So it was Borg’s record at stake😉.

Nadal was crowned the Wimbledon 2008 Champion, he defeated defending and 5 time champion Federer 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7

Rampant Indians Overcome spirited Bangladesh

Mohamed Sanaulla — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:45:52 +0000

Yet again Indians have emerged victorious in the Asia Cup match. Truly speaking Bangladesh put on a good fight, though they couldn’t stop fired up Raina and all elegant Gambhir, but they had a better batting display. Alok Kapli’s well crafted century backed by a patient knock by Tamim Iqbal gave Bangladesh bowlers something to defend. It would be obviously difficult to defend and especially with players like Gambhir, Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni all charged up and having a great run of form. But Bangla boys began on a good note getting Uthappa and Rohit Sharma early. But things started to change and got worse as Raina and Gambhir got together. They went after bangle Bowlers smashing them all around the green park. Raina is having a great time at Asia Cup and has 2 centuries and 1 fifty to his credit out of the 3 matche he had played. ust when Gambhir looked all set to get to his first hundred of the tournament, he was caught by Mortaza of Farhad Reza’s bowling. By then much of the damage had been inflicted and Yuvraj came out in the middle to perform the last rites. Indians chased down Bangladesh’s 283 in well under 44 overs with the loss of just 3 wickets. Raina remained not out scoring 116 off just 107 balls with 3 sixes.

With Indian batsmen, especially the Top Order, firing against all bowlers, it seems to me that India will be heading towards clinching the Asia Cup. And this is what Men In Blue are looking forward to especially after the debacle in the recently concluded Kitply Cup.

Above: Suresh Raina and Gautam Gambhir
Right: Alok Kapli in action

Men In Blue Merciless against "Weaker Teams"

Mohamed Sanaulla — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:48:03 +0000

Men In Blue have always been merciless against weaker teams. Indians rewrote the Asia Cup record book in today’s match against Hong Kong. Oh such a strong opponent😉 But it was unfortunate that they could not break the record for the largest margin victory they had set against Bermuda in the league match of previous world cup, another strong team. Indian players have been rewriting record books, setting personal bests against low profile teams, but when it comes to playing against Australia or some other strong team, they hardly perform😦 Raina hit his maiden century against Hong Kong and that too second fastest for India. But i don’t want to comment against Dhoni’s knock, he has been playing with a lot maturity. It could be seen in his knock in the final match against Pakistan and not only that match there are many such instances. Even Sehwag and Gambhir have been playing well most of the times. But they flatter during the knockout matches. Example can be taken from the Kitply Cup, where in they thrashed Pakistan during the league match but in the Final, they could not repeat the same performance.

Indian strike bowlers R P Singh, Praveen Kumar were not that effective against Hong Kong and the three fast bowlers including Gony shared 1 wicket among them. This is really not a good news for the Indian camp. Piyush Chawla was the pick of the bowlers with figures 10-2-23-4.Does anyone remeber his bowling figures in the final match of Kitply Cup? No!!! 10-0-85-0. This was his bowling figures. See the contrast there. Its not that he is not a good bowler, its that Indian bowlers succumb to the pressure and importance of the match. The same opponent, same series but in the league match Chawla has a better performance with bowling figure 8.4-0-40-4. The same applies to all Indian bowlers. They have to improve physically and mentally. The best example is the ICC world cup 2003. India had a great tournament untill the final where they surrendered meekly to the mighty Australians. Why is it so? Again the same reason- Pressure due to importance of match and the hopes thousands back home had pinned against the 11 MIBs.

Indian players have to be taught to tackle stress and match pressure. Pressure and expectations always hamper any sportperson’s performance at any level of sport. Fitness has been something which can be seen in Australian players and they usually put the opposite team under pressure through their pre match remarks. Lets see how the Men In Blue perform in the next match against Pakistan, after losing the title in the losided series.

Men In Blue Merciless against “Weaker Teams”

Mohamed Sanaulla — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:48:03 +0000

On- Field Umpires Decision Can be reviewed: ICCs New Rule to be implemented

Mohamed Sanaulla — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 07:20:58 +0000

Gone were the days when the on-field umpires enjoyed the supreme authority on the field. ICCs new experimental rule allowing the players to seek a second review on the On-field umpires decision will be used during the upcoming India-Sri Lanka Test Series from July 23 in Colombo.

A batsman or the captain of the fielding side may request a review of the On- Field Umpire’s decision. Once asked for a review the umpire has to refer to the TV Umpire who will have the final say. If the TV umpire upholds the appeal than the On-field umpire will have to revoke his decision. But there is restriction on the number of review requests to be made. Each team will be allowed 3 unsuccessful review request per innings. If this would not have been there then one can imagine what would happen and the matches would take more time to be completed. Unsuccessful review request is the one where the appeal on the On-field umpire’s decision is put down by the TV Umpire. In case the Review request is upheld then the team will be provided with one more Review chance.

These days there were so many decisions going against the batsmen or going in favor of batsmen. Actually it becomes difficult for the On-filed umpires to judge caught behind, LBW and close catches. In purview of the new rule the player will have a chance to appeal for the decision and with limited number of chances given the player has to use them judiciously and use them in case of close calls. There will be situations where the TV Umpires may not be willing to go against the decisions of the On-filed Umpires, where all review requests may be turned down. If this happens then there will be no point in having the new rule and it would just increase the time of the game. This rule will also make On-field umpire’s work more difficult. A small lapse in concentration can lead to misjudging and a review appeal upheld can hamper the image of the On-field umpires.

There were many decisions which have changed the course of the match. And a wrong decision at decisive point in the innings can turn the whole thing up. I think this Experimental Rule will last (not like the Super Sub rule) and be accepted by all test playing nations, Viewers, Cricket Fans around the world.

Rajasthan survive scare, Crowned IPL Champions in a nail bitting finale

Mohamed Sanaulla — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 20:21:55 +0000

What a fitting finish to the first edition of IPL Tournament. Had never imagined that the final would turn out to be such a close finish. Both the teams performed well. Great match for the cricket followers and that too after two totally one sided semi finals. There were many close finishes in the tournament but this one’s got to be biggest of them all- Its the Final match man. Its always different playing in the finals. One cannot rule out any side or declare any side as clear favorites considering their previous performances. And both Rajasthan and Chennai coming in to the finals by clean sweeping their opponents in the Semi Finals suggested that it could turn out to be a thriller and it did.

Rajasthan won the toss and put Chennai in to bat first. Chennai got off to a decent start and with Vidyut, Patel and Morkel all chipping in with useful runs before they were sent back to the pavilion by “Yusuf Pathan- Man of the day”. Raina was all set and was looking good but Watson came back to pick hi, up in his second spell. And Dhoni could not get to face many deliveries but he did play his shots to guide Chennai to 163 in 20 overs. With the outfield slow and with likes of Nitin, Gony, Muralitharan, Balaji the score was a formidable target to defend.

Rajasthan missing the services of Graeme Smith, suffering from Hamstring injury, started off cautiously. But then N Patel got out cheaply and Akmal followed him soon. But Asnodkar continued his great form and was looking all set but then Morkel sent him back with a lovely delivery. Rajasthan were really missing the services of their great opening Pair Smith- Asnodkar. Now it was up to the big hitters Watson and Yusuf Pathan to get Rajasthan back on track. As usual they got to their business with Pathan being a bit late to open up. But Murali got Watson clean bowled. Just when Rajasthan started to feel the pressure, Yusuf Patahn got to his business clearing the rope, hitting firmly. But two quick wickets in the form of out of form Kaif and Jadeja Rajasthan now had to rely on their captain and in form Pathan to guide them till the end. 21 runs required in 14 deliveries, victory in sight, but tragic stuck, Pathan got run out, superb effort by Raina. Tanvir in middle along with captain/coach Warne. Tanvir had to repeat his ICC Twenty20 world cup heroics here. And the match went into the final over with Rajathan needing 8 runs. And some quick singles and some bad bowling by Balaji, the match went into Last ball suspense. “1 run off 1 ball” this always sends shivers down my spine. And Tanvir held onto his nerves to score off the last ball. What a victory for Rajasthan Royals. They deserved the victory.

Rajasthan started the tournament with a defeat against Delhi but they came back strongly winning 11 of their 14 league games and then drubbing past Delhi in Semi finals and then the photo finish to win the Inaugural IPL tournament. Yusuf Pathan was “Man of the Match”. This will be his memorable performances and that too under pressure. He did great with the ball sending three top order batsmen to the pavilion there by restricting Chennai’s total. And then came out in the middle when Rajasthan needed his services and he did started off nervously but as its said “Its better late then never” he opened up later in the innings to guide them to victory. He really deserved the Man of the Final Match. Commendable performance by Chennai Super Kings, they were not the favs but they did give Rajasthan run for the Cup. Great captaincy by Dhoni, no wonder why he is the captain of Indian Cricket Team😉. Both the teams played well as one unit, and the crowd had hell lot of a time- both in the ground and in front of the TV😀.

So its end to the 44 day long tournament which included 59 matches out of which some were drab matches😦. There were loads of prizes given out in the massive presentation ceremony:). I will list them here:

Man Of the match – Yusuf Pathan
Best U-19 player of the tournament- Shreevats Goswami (Something to cheer about for the B’lore RCs😉 )
Orange cap- Shaun Marsh– 616 runs – Highest in the tournament
Purple Cap- Sohail Tanvir– 22 wickets- Highest in the tournament
(Any particular reason for only these colors being chosen and not others😉 ?)
Fair play award of the tournament: Chennai Super Kings (Kings- Got to be fair, Isn’t it?)
Man of the Series- Shane Watson – 474 runs and 17 wickets

And other team prizes for Runners up and Winners. All the players are richer by huge amount😛

Good Bye IPL😦

Rajasthan Royals crush Delhi Daredevils by 105 runs, march into Finals

Mohamed Sanaulla — Sat, 31 May 2008 06:00:31 +0000

That was an humiliating performance by Delhi Daredevils in the first Semi Final of the inaugural IPL Tournament. Playing at a neutral venue Rajasthan Royals annihilated Delhi Daredevils in an one sided encounter. Delhi was never looking in a position to steal the victory from the in-form Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan have had a great run through the tournament and with them being the first team for the finals, the other will be decided from the next semi final encounter. I think a sheer mistake can only defy them from being crowned as the champions of the inaugural IPL Twenty20 Championship.

Coming to the first semi final encounter between Delhi Daredevils and Rajsthan Royals, some great performances were seen both with the bat and ball by the Rajasthan. It all started off well, Smith and Asnodkar got them off to a crackling start, both put on 65 before both the openers fell in the same over of Maharoof. Smith had to use the services of Kaif as runner as he was injured. 4 wickets down for 128 and with 6 more overs left, the game could swing in any way. But Watson and Yusuf Pathan provided the big hits with Watson scoring 52 of just 29 deliveries and Yusuf Pathan scoring 45 of 21 deliveries with 4 hits into the crowd. With the fireworks provided by Watson and Pathan, Rajasthan Royals managed 192 in their quota of 20 overs with the loss of 9 wickets.

Delhi started their innings miserably with Shane Watson sending their top 3 batsmen to the pavilion by the end of 6th over with just 24 runs on board😦 . Delhi could never recover and from then on they kept loosing wickets at regular intervals and their batting folded up for mere 87 runs. How miserable it is for a team with likes of Gambhir, Sehwag, Dhawan,Dilshan and others. Dilshan was the only batsmen who showed some resistance to the Rajasthan bowlers who were bang on target today. It was unlucky that Sohail Tanvir went wicketless in the 2 overs he bowled. It was Shane Watson- the man who had already done damage with the bat- came back and this time the damage was more devastating. He picked up 3 wickets for mere 10 runs in 4 overs with an economy of just 3.33 runs per over and scored blitzkrieg knock of 52. Shane Watson was adjudged Man Of the Match, which he truly deserved. Munaf Patel also picked up 3 wickets with an equally good economy. Captain Warne also picked 2 wickets. Warne has led the team by example. He has justly used the limited resources available and made the most of it.
Some Rajasthan players whom i would see to be performing well in the last match of the IPL tournament- Final Match- would be- Mohammad Kaif- highest paid player of Rajasthan has been going through a lean run😦, Tanvir, Smith, Warne, Patel. Actually i would like to see the whole team performing great. Now Rajasthan will be looking forward for tomorrows Semi Final. Hey they aren’t playing tomorrow. They will be looking for who would join them at the Final so that they can have their plans in place😉

Result of 1st Semi Final- Rajasthan Royals won by 105 runs.
Venue of the 1st Semi Final- Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai

Kumble’s heroics guide Bangalore RC to stunning victory

Mohamed Sanaulla — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:26:28 +0000

With a modest target of 127 to chase and with likes of Fleming , Parthiv, Dhoni, Raina, Badrinath in the batting line up Chennai Super Kings(CSKs) looked firm favorites to win the match when they began their chase. And to add to that the openers Parthiv and Fleming gave a flying start. The duo put on 60 for the first wicket in just 9 overs, with Kumble taking the wicket of Parthiv for 24. Half way thru the target CSKs seemed to be preparing to the celebrations. But tragedy stuck- They lost 5 quick wickets for just 30 runs on the board. With their top order batsmen back in the dressing room- there was panic all around. Imagine the side off to a flying start with 60-1 and then 93-6 in 16 overs. The tail enders did not last long and they could not do much. CSKs chasing 127 ended up scoring 112 in their quota of overs with the loss of 8 wickets giving B’lore RCs much needed victory.

Earlier, B’lore RC did not put up a that great batting performance. The captain’s knock of 47, sadly missing Half Century by 3 runs, put up some score for the B’lore RC bowlers to defend. The late fireworks by Praveen Kumar propped up the score. Apart from these two now one really impressed with the bat.

Anyways this is a morale boosting victory for B’lore RC. Hope they carry on the momentum- To be more precise Bowling and batting needs loads of improvement- to the future games. This victory is mostly due to the great bowling by Anil Kumble who has put up some stunning performances in the last three games. Hope he does well in the coming games and prove his worth .

One more thing- The defeat has exposed the CSKs vulnerable batting lineup, once considered to be devastating😉.

CSK- Chennai Super Kings
B’lore RC- Bangalore Royal Challengers