No 'No-Balls ' Please!!-

All the tiredness has vanished in the air with the NO-BALL!! What am I taking about. If I am not wrong which I am sure I am not, the whole of last week was about Dhoni and too much of cricket and his letter to the BCCI. But come Dambulla and the tri-series match between India and Sri Lanka, we all have a new story to write about. The birth of Suraj Randiv!!!!

Not much seemed to be happening for the Indians. Dhoni was tired , his fingers still tinkling as they always do , injuries to Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel being called for cover, Bhajji out of the tournament and then almost the final nail in the coffin-India’s loss to New Zealand by 200 runs. This is just what the doctor had not ordered but then this is exactly what the media wanted. It was great news for them to pounce upon as this series being considered as a build up for the World Cup preparations with Sri Lanka being the host country along with India and Bangladesh.
But then we are talking about cricket and something has to happen.And for a change there Bhajji was not involved!!. It was Virender Sehwag. Oh No! He didn’t do anything wrong! Wrong was done upon him. On 99 and 1 run to win for India , the Sri Lankans hit upon a gala plan . Reason-They knew the rules well and at the same time knew that by doing what they were going to do, they were in no ways breaking the rules of the game.Suraj Randiv bowled a No-Ball. Fine isn’t it!!. Not till you bowl it on purpose. Yes he actually did that .Sehwag in his customary style hit it out of the park and raised his arms in the air for two reasons –India winning and him getting to this 13th International ODI ton. But it was not to be. The latter part was not achieved. The moment Randiv had stepped over the line , the match was finished!!


Yes, it was a No-Ball which meant a penalty run and what happens next is irrelevant as per the rules of the game. Sri Lanka had exploited this rule to the hilt and in doing so they never realized that they were breaking the spirit of the game. Yes, they have been winning the Spirit of the game award for consecutively two years now. But then I really don’t know how this has been possible. They have been involved in doing stupid things like this before as well. Probably the award is not given to the team that has played the game in the right spirit but probably to the team that has fractured it to the least.

Bowling a No-Ball would not have had an impact on the game by any means. India would have won anyways.How does it matter to the Lankan’s whether Sehwag got to his ton or not. The attitude from Kumara Sangakarra the Sri Lankan captain should have been ‘Get him out’. Instead he was heard on the stump camera in Sinhalese saying to Randiv ‘He is 1 run away from his 100’.

This does not imply that Sanga asked him to bowl a No-Ball. But then the bowl before that which went for byes should have been collected by such a high class Quality keeper .It was not at all a difficult take, not atleast at this level.
Dilshan was ultimately indicted , Randiv was fined and Sanga warned . Final Result- Law to be changed?Nah not one bit. If the law is changed it would be an insult to MCC!!.Yeah the good old chaps who made the rules. That’s how is stays for now. The sportsmanship spirit broken and the gentleman’s game brought to a disrepute once again.

GOD of BIG Things

It was the evening of 24th February 2010.Every thing had gone quite.A pin drop silence.There was not a single GOD whose name was not taken.There was no escaping it.There was no way out.Neither did anyone want to escape it!!!!

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar was on 199.He was not to disappoint us all, all the millions of cricket lovers, and of the people who were packed in the office canteen.A square cut, a misfield and the moment had arrived.The Zenith was reached.Between silence and a deafening noise there was a time gap of nano seconds.Only Sachin can do this.Only he can continue doing this.

Years and years of waiting for who will be the first man to score 200, there were some people who didn't have an iota of doubt of who will be the first to reach 200, I was one of them. His 175 against Australia had strengthened my thoughts and the belief that if any one ever was to touch that milestone, it would be Sachin. Finally when it did arrive, our joy had crossed all the boundaries,something when a mother sees her new born child for the first time.

SACH is the man, his stupendous performance on the field complimented by his ever down to earth approach,his humilty , the art of being a human when you are viewed as a GOD by most if the people who follow cricket and for those who don't ,he is an immortal.

If ever I had one wish to make, I would ask for the World Cup to be in Sachin's hand.It's a dream that Sachin has been chasing for the past 20 years, and all of us have accompanied him in his dream.There will not be a better moment in my lifetime atleast , when (don't like using IF) I will Sachin achieving this dream at the Wankhede Stadium on 2nd April 2011.

God bless Sachin...Sachin bless us all....

A Marathon Experience-Part I

For me the new year begins during the 3rd week of January.Why? That's because the Standard Charted Mumbai Marathon is held during this week,for the past 6 years,and this was going to be my 4th.I missed the 1st edition as I did not register and last year as I was not in Mumbai even though I had registered.

And apart from the 2nd edition wherein I ran the Dream Run,I have been running 21Km-The Half Marathon.This year was no different.The registrations had closed in August. 5 months to go and the mental preparations had already begun.Or were they?..Am I writing just for the heck of it????? Read on...

All things that one would never want to happen, happen on the 26th,do they? I guess so..be it the 26th July Floods or 26th November Mumbai Attacks or 26th December Tsunami,January 26th Gujrat Earthquake or 26th September Ahmedabad Attacks...and for me 26th December 2008..a stomach infection..and that too with just over 20 days left for the marathon...I was down,unable to walk even to the doctor who stayed in my building...Not tooo far Eh??

But slowly but surely things began to improve.By the 10th of Jan I was much much better.The new year was appproaching really quickly.But there was something that was continuously going on at the back of my mind.The Marathon was on the 18th and I had not practiced at all this time,something which I had been doing religiously for the previous editions, and if I did practice for a week, what if again something goes wrong,what if again I fall ill? And so I decided to take the plunge.This time I am going to run without any practice.

Finally it was 18th of January, the time had come.I reached the Chip Holders Area at Azad Mumbai at around 6 am.The race was scheduled to begin at 6.45am.I did a few stretching exercises with the hope of impressing a few South Mumbai gals.But it was not be..It's winter time buddy..and too dark . .

The race began as scheduled but as we were starting from the chip holders area, 5 minutes were gone before I reached the actual starting mark.And from there on the next 2hrs 40 min 00 sec just flew and I completed the race at 9.30 am

Well, I must say, I have to dedicate this succesfull completion of my race to 3 things.

1. The Mumbai Local Trains, running after them to reach your office on time, keep the running muscles wide awake, especially if it is announced that your regular train is slated to come on another platform than the one you are on.There is a saying that you should never run after 3 things in life..Trains,Buses & Girls...I am sure that all the Mumbaikars will disagree.
2. The Thane Rickshawwalas.When you ask them to come to my place, pat comes the reply 'NO' (chance on earth).
3. The Thane TMT buses,which are never on time,and in any which ways you are much better off travelling in them, unless and until you want a painful back amongst other things.

The Thane Ricks and the buses made sure that I walked from Thane Station to my house everyday after work which is about 25 mins brisk walk ..and this was after I had already spent about 1hr 45 min in the crowded train travelling from Kandivli to Thane.

This is Mumbai.You are always on the run.Running the marathon, be it the Dream Run or the Half Marathon the Full Marathon,more than physical fitness,mental fitness is what is required.I was not doing anything new...it was as if I was running the 21km to catch a train to my office,taking a walk from my house to Thane Station and back and yes how can I forget...running behind the preety girls of Mumbai.

Is Sachin a Liar?My Foot

Adam Gilchrist in his autobiography 'True Colours' has said that Sachin Tendulkar lied during the controversial Sydney Test in the MonkeyGate Affair.
He says that Sachin changed his testimony while in front of the jury.

Gilchrist is taking a clear advantage out of the fact that during his playing days,he was an honest player who would walk even before the umpire could give him out.Does he remember Rahul Dravid's catch that he took off Andrew Symonds bowling in the 2nd innings of the Sydney Test?That much for honesty.In an interview to Harsha Bhogle later he said that ithe apeal was an instantaneous reaction and by the time he realized that the ball had actually come off the pad,umpire had given Rahul out and and there was nothing he could have done.Why not?If he had realized it straightaway how could he have ever appealed?That much for honesty.
Also on what basis did the match referee penalize Bhajji??On Symmo's testimony.And that too when the only evidence that they could have had was in the form of stump microphone which was not available during the meeting with the ,match referee.

I always regarded Gilly highly,but all of it has come crashing down.Ultimately he is an Aussie.
To me this is nothing but a way to make bussiness.He has to write something out of the ordinary atleast on one page of his book so that now his book selling rate gets multiplied by 10000......just dont know.
And all this because there is one man in there..Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.
Must say,for all the corporates out there there is a lot to learn from Gilly,as to how to make business.

This is not happening for the first time.When Steve Waugh wrote his autobiography,Sourav Ganguly was his scapegoat.And the same applies here.This time it's Sachin's turn.Who's next on the line?Ask the Aussies

There are probably two things that Australia cannot digest.
The first being that India defeating them in Perth,which is known to be the fastest track in the world and Australia's 'Ijjat'.
And Secondly the Mohali test where we defeated them by 320 runs,India's biggest margin of victory against any nation leaving out innings victories.

Also this way they are trying to divert the attention of the current series so that we falter and Australia may be able to draw or go on to wil the series.

For 'THE' Sachin Tendulkar that we all have known over the years,he won't comment on this at all am sure.His bat will do the talking.

For me personally it's a national insult.Gilly has directly targeted India's favourite son.
So is Sachin a liar???? MY FOOT