I P L Sucessful.

The Indian Premier League has been a roaring sucess. It has pulled crowds to the stadium and the viewership on the television has increased. This has resulted into BCCI earning 350 crores in 45 days.

Besides India has discovered lots of young talented cricketers,the future of Indiain cricket is bright and I predict that India will lift the next World Cup.

PAKISTANI PACEMAN DETAINED ?

Pakistan's fast bowler Md Asif was detained at Dubai International Airport,for carrying drugs. Previously Asif was banned for using drugs . Now again he is in problem for the same reason.

Sanath Jayasuriya The Run Machine

The younger players should look at Sanath Jayasuriya the way he plays at 38 years in I P L T20 games.

Sanath was among those who reworte batting rules, by straightway going in the attack mode in the initial overs in mid 90s. Now again at the retiring age of 38 years he is setting the grounds on fire.

He blasted an unbeaten 114 runs in Chennai by hoisting 11 sixes and 8 fours. He followed it up with a 17 ball whirlwind knock of 48 runs against Kolkatta Knight Riders.

Pakistani Fans support Shoaib

No of supporters in Islamabad greeted the fast bowler and raised slogans in his support as he came out of the press conference. Some of the supporters holding placards condeming the board and ban and supported Shoaib by hoisting him high and shouting slogans in his favour.

Ahktar said that"I am a victimised person and have not committed any crime,even if I am undisciplined the board should be clear about the charges.'

He also said that " He had been approached by match-fixers during his tour to India and South Africa to under-perform for money,this happened in India and Johensburg,but I never accepted the offer since I cant betray my country, and what I have got in return a five year ban????

The controversial fast bowler who will play for Kolkatta Night Riders in the Indian Premier Leaque,said he has been signed on insistence of Saurav Ganguly. Had I been so indisciplined and had an attitude do you think that Sharukh Khan or Ganguly would chose to play for their team in IPL.

Rawalpindi Express Derailed

World fastest bowler Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar was banned for 5 years by Pakistan Cricket Board.

Akhtar fondly called Rawalpindi Express was derailed and now cannot play for Pakistan in Pakistan or anywhere in the world. He was banned for gross misconduct and violations of code of conduct, the ban will end the international career of the 32 years old speedstar which is plagued by controversies and injuries.

Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar today made it clear that he will take legal course to overturn the five year ban imposed on him by Pakistan Cricket Board.

He said " I have always given my best for the country and the national team. I do not accept this ban. It is a harsh and unfair decision as far as I am concerned."

"I am shocked at the decision I was expecting from them to be lenient,because I apologised for my actions before the disciplinary commitee today."

" I will go to the court against the ban, I have always given 100 percent for the country,how can they accuse me of being a damaging infuence on the team?

Rising Star Ishant.

Ishant was nobody when he was in Ganga International School in Delhi.He was regularly thrown out of the class and made to stand out of the class,by Madam Babita Mann who was her class teacher in Class XI and XII.

Babita Mann said 'I never wanted him in my class.I was sick of his low attendance.I remembar scolding him everyday and he would always give me the excuse of being late that he was playing cricket'.

I asked the Physical Education teacher to get the principal's approval to allow Ishant to sit in the class,he would try to resolve to matter amicalbly instead of going to the principal. He would tell me 'Madam you are looking at the future Indian cricketer how can you throw him out of the class'. 'Today I am waiting outside the principal's office since one hour to have a photo with the star.'She said 'I can't believe what I'm seeing .Its more than one hour he has come to school has been mobbed by his student fans and I am unable to meet my worst student'.

It was not only Babita but the pricipal Charu Kapoor was amused that Ishant sat in her chair surrounded by media.

'This is the first time I was made to feel like an alien in my own office. The office which people dread to enter. Its as if the office belonged to Ishant'.

Dhoni joins college ??????

The indian one day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni now wants to become an obedient student once again. Since the sensex of his cricket career is zooming up he had no time to pursue his studies after Class 12.

Sources close to the captain said 'He wants to complete B.Com,a couple of days back he met Ranchi University's Sports Director Mr Jai Kumar Sinha and Physical Education Director Shekhar Bose. Dhoni wants to complete gradution from St Xavier's College under the sports quota. Sinha has taken up the matter with the college principal Father Nicholas Tete who has accepted the prosposal,that he will have problems in attending the classes due to cricket matches and his star status. Father Tete said,'We have to complete the formalities with this regard and take the permission from the university.'

Lift Up Indian Hockey.

The entire nation is in shock for our exit from Olympic Hockey.
Cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar has urged the hockey loving people to support the players and boast their defeated moral in the time of crisis,he said 'Do not run them down,this is the time all the Indians should encourage and support the players.He said 'Once you fall its important to get up and we must give them our helping hand. As we need to be with all the players'.

Tendulkar added 'As a hockey loving nation its very disappointing that our team has not qualified the Olympics,but one must recognise that the players must be feeling the disappointment much more than anyone else.No sportsperson wants to fail.

Matinee idol Shah Rukh Khan who has played the role of a womens hockey team coach thrown out of reckoning wins the world cup in the movie CHAK DE which was a box office hit. He was very positive and said 'Do not ponder over the past failure,but look forward for future.'His precription for the Indian Hockey to turn around is to set a four year target and start working towards the target. We should quickly get over the blame game,we should approach the whole issue positively.

Indian Hockey Freezes in Chile

Can you believe India eight times gold medal winners in Olympics,fail to qualify first time in 80 years. It was a black Monday 10th March 2008 for the Indian Hockey team which lost to Great Britain 0-2,thus failed to qualify for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics.

Till date India has won 8 gold ,2 bronze and one silver medals since 1928 Olympic Games. The gold medals were won twice in hat-trick in 1928 , 1932 and 1936 than again in 1948,1952 and 1958.

After such a fabulous achievement is the game dieing in India ?
The sports ministry is responsible for the debacle ?
The Indian Hockey Federation is responsible?

To save the game the above questions needs to be scrutinised.

Take action against Bhajji.

Harbhajan has denied to have called Mathew Hayden 'a lair' and Adam Gilchrist 'no saint'. I did not make these comments said Harbhajan .

The Australians after a humiliating defeat in one days,wants something to keep an upper hand. The Australian cricket board is making a joke of the episode again asking the Indian board to take action against Harbhajan Singh.

Have written a letter to BCCI secretary Mr Niranjan Shah demanding the board to take action on him. Have written 'Enough is enough.Despite assurances that you have instructed him not to fuel this issue anymore,Harbhajan continues to say whatever he wants. When will it end? Could you please deal with your player.

Indians stun Aussies.

Dhoni and the man in blue stunned Ricky Ponting,Symonds,Lee and Hayden to lift the Commonwealth Tri-series Cup in Brisbane. The young Indian team turned the world upside down when it produced a magical performance at Gabba to knock down the World Champions,by 9 runs. Ricky Ponting's fuming big boys were beaten twice consecutively in two days in the best of the three finals.

India batting first scored 258 runs in 50 overs. Sachin Tendulkar again showed he is a master batsman with his classy 91 runs in 121 balls. Again a sound start for the first wicket partnership of 94 runs with Robin Uttappa scoring 30 runs in 49 balls.
Dhoni contributed 36 runs in 37 balls and Yuvraj 38 runs in 38 balls.

The target for 259 runs for the Aussies was achievable,with there strong batting line up. But the young Indian bowlers rattled the Kangaroos in the first over when Gilchrist was out for 2 runs wicket claimed by Parveen Kumar. Thereafter they were not allowed to settle down and Parveen Kumar showed the pavilion to Ricky Ponting for 1 run. Parveen continued his debacle and the Aussies were dangling lose at 3 wickets for 32 runs.

But Hayden 55 runs,Symonds 42 runs , Hussey 44 runs , Hopes 63 runs tried to reach the target losing wickets at regular intervals.

In a nail biting finish Australia required 13 runs with 2 wickets in hand in the last over. The ball was given to Irfan Pathan who produced two wicket taking balls to finish with Australia all out for 249 runs.

The highlights of the series were India won the Tri-Series in Australia after 23 years. Second Sachin reaches No 1 position in ICC rankings throwing out Ponting.
Third Streakers running on the ground,Symonds smashes one who falls on the ground.
Fourth Parveen Kumar named the man of match. The only consolation for the Australian was Bracken was named the man of the series.

Indian Record Broken

The 52 years old first wicket record of 413 runs,was broken by the South African opening pair Graeme Smith and Niel McKenzie.

The Indian opening pair in 1956 of Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy in Chhenai had scored
413 runs for the first wicket against New Zealand.

The South Africa playing Bangladesh in Chittagong now holds this record created by Graeme Smith scoring 232 runs and Niel McKenzie scored 232 runs,by posting 415 runs.

Ashok Mankad son of Late Vinoo Mankad said 'Records are meant to be broken. But this one took half a century to be overhauled.'

Pranab Roy son of Late Pankaj Roy said 'It would have been better had an Indian pair got it,for me the record belongs to the country first than to an individual.'

Saurav Ganguly congratulated Smith and McKenzie to set a new record. He said that the old record of Mankad and Roy was more praiseworthy since it was made against tough opposition like New Zealand.

SUNNY DAY FOR INDIAN CRICKET

Virat Kohli and his small kids made India proud by lifting the U 19 World Cup,by defeating South Africa by 12 runs. India scored 159 runs in 45.4 overs,than South Africa were strulling at 17 runs for 3 wickets before rains struck the Kinrara Oval ground for two hours. They were set a new target to chase 116 runs in 25 overs,that is had to make 99 runs in 98 deliveries with 7 wickets in hand.

The Proteas never raised any hopes for the win and lost wickets at regular intervals, were bowled out for 103 runs.

The Indian coach Dev Whatmore said 'The boys did all the hard work and my contribution was very minimal.'

The Indian cricket board announced prize money of rupees 15 lakhs for each member of the team.


On the other hand our seniors won effortless defeating the Aussies in the first final of the Commanwealth Series.

Sachin Tendulkar scored his firt one day hundred in Australia remaining unbeatan with 117 runs in 128 balls,and his 42nd century in one dayers.

A good sound start was given by Uttappa and Sachin for the first wicket for 50 runs.
Thereafter youngster Rohit Sharma played well to score 66 runs from 87 balls in a partnershitp of 123 runs for the 4th wicket with Tendulkar.
Australia batting first were bowled out for 239 runs,major contribution were from Hayden 82 runs in 88 balls. Our seam bowlers bowled superbly with early breakthrough and the Kangaroos were struggling at 24 runs for 3 wickets.

Indian Colts in World Cup Finals.

Brilliant the small boys of Indian cricket enter the finals of U 19 World Cup at Kuala Lumpur defeating New Zealand.
Young India is now just one game away from the U 19 World Cup.On Sunday the boys will take on the winner of the second semi final between Pakistan and South Africa. The Kiwis did well on the rain soaked wicket to score 205 runs in 50 overs. In reply India began playing steadily and the rains came the target was reduced to 191 runs in 43 overs.
The win on Sunday will make Kohli and his boys instant stars and the I P L bosses will swiftly corner the teenagers with hefty cheque amounts.

Aussies are sledging barking dogs.

Everybody knows that inspite of the best training dogs cannot stop barking where its not required its in their blood to bark without any reason.

The same theory now applies to the Kangaroos.

Mathew Hayden described Harbhajan Singh as 'obnoxious little weed.', and the Andrew Symonds-Ishant Sharma spat in the Sydney one dayer has once again restarted the fire between the two teams.

Sources travelling with the Indian team told that the Australians have been systematically sledging the Indian team after the Syndney controversy and the Indian team is back firing in the same way as they have got.

After the Adeliade Test bad blood continues between Ponting and Harbhajan. Ponting questioned about Bhajji's batting ability Harbhajan replied that even under 19 (Ishant Sharma) is getting the Aussie captian out. The exchange continued after losing the match on shaking hands with Ponting, Harbhajan said to Ponting whether he will even report this matter to the match referee or not?

Hayden told Ishant Sharma during the match that "I will face you in the boxing ring."

Sources said that the Aussies are deliberately targetting Sreesanth,Harbhajan,Ishant because they are already in the bad books of the match referee and could be banned for any furthar offences.

They have changed the tactics of sledging. instead of telling directly to Indian players they talk loudly among themselves,they make sure that when they pass a comment the umpires are not within the hearing limits,and they keep their face dowm while making a comment not to be caught by the TV cameras.

CRICKETERS ON SALE

In the history of cricket,the players were auctioned like furniture , antiques and art pieces in a 5 star auction house in Mumbai.

Indian Premier League rained dollars on the players and the corporate houses and the bollywood actors bought the players like slaves were bought in ancient times bidding the highest price for each player.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni the captian of T20 Indian Team was sold out at the highest price of Rs 6 crores to Chennai Team.

Andrew Symonds of Australria was bought at Rs 5.4 crores by Hyderabad Team.

Ishant Sharma the upcoming pace bowler of India was the highest bowler sold out at 3.8 crores.

The Top Five Paid Players
M S DHONI INDIA 6.0 CRORES.
A SIMMONDS AUSTRALIA 5.4 CRORES.
S TENDULKAR INDIA 4.5 CRORES.
S GANGULY INDIA 4.4 CRORES.
YUVRAJ SINGH INDIA 4.3 CRORES.

Now cricket is on the way to commercialisation with big corporates houses and bollywood actors with their moneypower will kill the real spirit of the game.

You cannot rule out the possibility of money of Dawoods and other underworld dons pumping money into IPL via big corporates and spoiling the gentle mans game forever.

Shoaib Akhtar praises Ishant.

World's fastest pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar,praised India's new find talented pace bowler Ishant Sharma.
He said 'Ishant is a great find for India nurse him properly'.
I had recommended his name,after watchning him bowling in the practice nets during last November during the Delhi Test.
India has to nurse this teenager. He will imporve a lot more. He will be at his peak when he turns 24. But the Indian selectors should take good care of him. A common problem in India and Pakistan, is when a talent emerges they burden him with heavy workload. So much so that they break the player within six months. They should nurse him properly.

Virat Come back with the Cup Good Luck

Virat Kohli the Indian Captain of Under 19 Cricket Squad for World Cup which starts from 17th Feb 2008 in Kuala Lumpur says 'For me its a matter of pride to serve my country. Hopes are high and the boys have the talent,I think we can do it.'

The team fresh from their sucessful tour of South Africa,are among the favourites to win the title.

The talented players in the side are Virat Kohle,Saurav Tiwary,Manish Pandey,Abhinav Mukund.

The 16 teams have been divided into four groups with the top two progressing to Super Leaque quater finals,white the bottom two teams from each group qualify for the Plate Championship quater finals.

Total no of 44 matches will be played at seven venues in the tournaments.

Best of Luck Boys Chak De India.

GOOD BYE TO MONICA

Monica Sales Former No one and nine time Grand Slam Champion annouces retirement from professional tennis at the age of 34.

Monica has won nine Grand Slam singles titles and 53 tournaments in her career.She had not played competative professional tennis since 2003,due to sucessive foot injuries.'Tennis has been and will always be a huge part of my life. I have for sometime considered a return to professionl play,but I have now decided not to pursue that.' Seles said on Thursday.

The native of Yogoslav won her first Grand Slam in 1990 French Open and became the world number one in 1991,staying at the top of the ranking till April 1993,when she was stabbed Gunter Parche a fan of than struggling Steffi Graf,in Hemburg Germany.

Seles is the only women number one who played a double handed forehand as well as backhand. Several top rankers have used have used two hands for backhand shots, like Chris Everts,Kim Clijisters, and Venus and Serena Williams.But Seles remains the only one to use both the hands for forehand and backhand shots.

Larry Scott CEO of WTA said 'Monica Seles is one of the great champion of WTA Tour,will remain an inspiration and roll model for millions of fans throughout the world.', 'No one will ever forget the fierce determination and the will to win that Monica bought to the court.'

Will Ishant touch 150kmph ?????

The new bowling sensation today is the lanky teenager India's Ishant Sharma.

He has bowled superly in Australia, he does not seem to have time for haircut,but the finest batsman of Australia and Sri Lanka are discovering that with his swing movements he does not give them ample time to negotiate and attempts to cut them down.

Ishant had shown talent in the Bangalore Test against Pakistan, he has since than imporved on his pace and movement on his tour to Australia.

The cricketing pundits are all praise for the young talented Ishant, can he touch 150kmph is the big question and if he does India will have a genuine fast bowler.

The cricketing greats say about Ishant........

Wasim Akram The sultan of swing and former Pakistan bowling legend
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Ishant can be more lethal if he tries to bowl from the closer to the stumps. At Melbourne he touched 149 kmph and with this kind of line that is deadly. But I that he has the ability to hit high speeds consistanly and even cross the 150kmph mark.

Ricky Ponting Australian Captian
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He is tall he hits the deck pretty hard and gets a little bit of inconsitent bounce off the wicket. He has looked dangerous with the angles he creates, he can be pretty dangerous against the left handers he swings the ball away from the left handers very efficiently.

Dean Jones Former Australian Batsman
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Ishant Sharma is the next superstar of world cricket. When you consitently knock down the world No I batsman Ricky Ponting than you have made it in my book.

Javagal Srinath Former Indian Pacer
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Ishant is probably the best bowler of swing in the world today. He is more than a promising prospect for the country.

Sania does not wants to play in India ?

India's only promising woman tennis player Sania Mirza does not want to play tournaments in India ? She has opted out of $600,000 Bangalore Open starting next month.

The Asian No I said that she would play for the country "Playing in India is not that important playing for the country anywhere in the world. She said "Everytime I play in India there is a problem ".

India should be proud for having a young promising player like Sania Mirza who has won important tournaments for India.

The religious fanatics should understand that its a disgrace to India when an Indian player shuns from playing in her own motherland.

Sania's rise to stardom has been accompanied by controversies. She has received fatwas for playing in a skirt,got hate mail for talking about pre-marital sex,and also landed in trouble for doing an ad shoot near a mosque.

Due such controversies she is afraid of playing in her own country. Can any other country in the world tolerate such acts to discourage a young promising player.

This can only happen in India ? And the fanatics continue to fire these kinds of acts and can also end a promising career.

Kangaroos bow down to Indians.

Anil Kumble has a great day to remember, he has achieved a personal milestone in his career claiming 600 wickets and above all made all the Indians proud by defeating Australians in Perth.

After the sledging episode, the Australian media sent out feelers that India will be in a very precarious conditions facing the Australian seamers on the fast bouncy wicket of Perth.
Team Ponting were raring to go all out and send lethal fast deliveries to the Indian batsman.

Supposed to be a great fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar made a statement that India will not be able to play the fast bowlers on this wicket.

But the Indian team played tremendous and a perfect display of teamspirit and oneness contributed by the young and the experienced players which resulted in a winning the test match.

The Kangaroos were bowled out for 340 runs chasing a target of 413 runs and a day to spare.

Congrutualtions to the Indian team keep it up.

Kumble on cloud 600.

Fantastic performance by Anil Kumble at the age of 38. Leading India against Australia at Perth.

Andrew Symonds caught Dravid bowled Kumble for 66 runs.

And Kumble becomes only the third bowler in the world of test cricket to tumble 600 wickets.

The only Indian player to acheive this feet.

Congratualations Kumble for your dedication and hard work you have proved that if you have the will the way easity follows ahead of your guiding your throughout your fight.

Sledging Ghost Still Follows.

In spite of the sportsmanship shown by the Indians, the Australian media does not want to water the fire of sledging, and put an end to this issue.

The Australian media have come out with a tabloid,that statistically the Indian cricket team is the most worst behaved team in international cricket.

Statistically India has about 50 CoC violations (we are looking at the number of times the players were hauled without looking at the outcome) . Out of the total no of CoC violations were 318 of all the cricket teams.

The Aussies have framed Ganguly as the worst behaved player who has 12 instances against 13 of Pakistani player Inzamam-ul-Haq,but neither any Indian or Pakistani players have used foul language or gestures against the opposition players.

Glen McGrath was a great bowler, but not a true sportsman on the field. He has been found guilty on six occasions for using foul language or gestures against the oppositions. Once also for verbal outburst against Allan Mullaly and once for spitting at a West Indian player.

Even Mr Cleans like Tendulkar and Dravid have been on the docks.

Tendulkar was charged by Mike Denness in Port Elizabeth Test in 2001, for ball tampering since he was found removing grass from the seam,without informing the umpires.

Dravid was charged for rubbing cough lozenge on the shinning side of the white ball.

Mike Hussey the present Australian player in team, says " I did not get sledged once while I was batting,and I did not sledge anyone throughout the ongoing series, Hussey told to Sydney Morning Herald.

Kumble follows Gandhigiri

Anil Kumble in a true spirit has followed Gandhigiri, thanks to Sanjay Dutt, and has dropped the charges against Hogg. This proves that the Indians only want to play the game, as true sportsman, in the right spirit of the game.
Can the Australians become gentleman and play good cricket on the field without any controvercies ?????? .
Perth is a fast bouncy wicket condusive for the Australians fast bowlers, lets wait and watch the Ponting kids how they behave.

Sledging On Field

In the world of any sports sledging has become a part and parcel of the game.

The latest which is the headlines of major newspapers in the world is between India"s spinner Harbhajan Singh and the Australian all rounder Andrew Symonds. This has created lot of fire between the two cricketing teams in ongoing series.

Cricket has experienced some unforgettable sledging to be remembered.

Subha Row vs Trueman

England vs Pakistan at Headingley, Subha Row dropped a catch at first slip of a Pakistani batsman of the bowling of Fred Trueman. The ball had gone through his legs . After Trueman completed the over. Row went to Trueman and said " Sorry Fred I should have kept my legs togethar. Trueman in fit of anger replied " Not you b*****d, your mother should have.

McGrath vs Sarwan

In Antigua May 2003 McGrath and Sarwan were furious aganist earh other.
Sarwan was on his way to a century Windies chasing a huge total of 418 runs, McGrath taunted Sarwan " So what does Brian Lara's arse taste like?" To this Sarwan said."I don't know ask your wife." McGrath was furious and went mad with rage,said "If you ever mention my wife again, I will rip your f*****g throat out."

Rod Marsh vs Bothan

During the Ashes series in Headingley in 1981. When Ian Botham was on the crease, Rod Marsh welcomed him with "So how is your wife and my kids?." Botham replied "Wife is fine, but your kids are mentally retarded."

Steve Waugh vs Parthiv Patel

In Sydney 2004, Steve Waugh playing his final test. Indians were in a good position and on verge of victory, Steve was trying hard to defend defeat. Wicketkeeper Prathiv from behind the wicket could not control and said " Come on, just one more of the of the famous slog sweep before you finish." Waugh was annoyed and said " Look kid you were still in your nappies when I made my debut 18 years ago." Parthiv was delighted when Waugh was out of the slog sweep caught by Tendulkar of Kumble.