Evening @ D Y Patil stadium

Dhoni hammers Pathan for two maximum!!! Chennai enters semis!!! Venue shifted to Mumbai!!! What else one could hope for. CSK faction, its time for some cricket party !!!! Short wait for the ticket bookings to open. Fortunately booking opens around mid-night and guys we are going!!!

Searched for CSK t-shirts. Finally pulled out one from the nearest Reebok showroom. Yes I am a true CSKian now. So too did the others.

Thursday morning quick 3 hours stay at the office. “As i am suffering from fever kindly grant me leave”. Rushed to the junction to take an auto and some how cripped into a share auto. After great difficulties reached the express highway. At last Managed to dress up in yellow the kings colour. Now ready for a trip to Navi Mumbai the second semi-finals CSKings vs Chargers.

Reached D Y Patil stadium around 3pm and picked up the tickets. Mobiles, Cameras, wallet, watches back in the bag. Stood in front of the gate for some time .Desperate to get in. As we where the first set of CSK supporters there. Entering the stadium for the first time "wow wow". Quickly picked up few CSK flags and whistles from the match store. Yes we are ready!!!!!

Teams came in. Gilly was the first to enter the field. Rest of the Deccan team soon followed. Then came “The Kings” of the day. Yes we were going mad. Shouted as loudly as we could and even grabbed the attention of few players towards the stands. Soon realized our seats where right in front of Deccan Cheer leaders. What better one could ask for. We started dancing towards the tune of the DJs. It didn’t last long . As the match began attention went towards the field than things outside the boundary line.

Team flags started to wave high, whistle sounds were deafening and wording like “Dhoni in Mumbai Mind it”, “CSK the real kings”, many more were seen all over the stands. It wasn’t the greatest of starts for Chennai after choosing to bat first.Vijay seemed aggressive but didn’t last long. 31/3 in 5 over wasn’t a good news for the Chennai fans. Shouting and dancing came down. Few of us walked out to get a glimpse of the match in the giant screen outside the stadium. Had a drink to cool ourselves and got back to the seats still nothing much happening. Dhoni got out and we were sitting right behind Symonds when he took that awesome catch to get rid of Morkel. It seemed as if chennai were back against the walls. But Aniruthan Srikanth played an innings similar to his dad with couple of huge ones which took CSK to a decent total of 142.

Still it wasn't a convincing score and seemed a cake walk for the chargers. "Go chargers Go" this was the only thing that we could hear in that huge stadium. It was 1.3 overs, 2 for 0 when we returned back to our seats. Bollinger got couple of quick wickets in the sixth over from then on its chennai all the ways. Tamil ways of enjoyment was ripping through. Men in yellow seemed to be at the top of their game. No stopping. Waving the flags made our shoulders stiff. At the end it was a confortable victory for CSK. This summed up an awesome climax for the first cricket match that i have ever been :) :) :)

Little master bows at the little master

On March 28,2010 the original little master Sunny Gavasker showed the world that "HE RESPECTS THE TRUE TALENT" . When the little mastro Sachin Tendulkar scored the innings of this century 200* on Feburary 24,2010 Sunil Gavasker said 'I WANT TO TOUCH SACHIN'S FEET' expressing his emotions on this great innings. Saying is easy but doing is greatness. This legendary moment happend just before the start of Mumbai Indians vs Deccan Chargers match. The man who inspired sachin by giving him a pair of glows during his early days bowed down to touch the feet of him. This shows the greatness of the man and his true love towards the game.

The person who was treated as God of cricket once praised Tendulkar as "Lovable chap and most respectful to elders". “Nako, nako,” Tendulkar urged Gavaskar in Marathi. Asking his teacher not to bow at him. India must be pround on having these two Little Masters and the pride they have brought to this country. This moment has made Sunny to take the most respectfull place in the hearts of the Indian fans.Sachin was overwhelmed and hugged his hero. This should go down as an embarrassing moment for Sachin but truly pround moment for the game of cricket Salut the masters!!!!!

Feast is back

Cricketing carnival is keeping the Indians on their toes. IPL is back home to the delight of the Indians. Its flurry of runs after some slow dull phase at South Africa last year. Only India can give some classy flat wickets for high scoring encounter. So far so good. Plenty of 400 plus scores quite early into the tournament. Yusuf Pathan with his blistering 100 of just 37 balls set ablaze the tournament. He became the quickest century scorer in T20s and equalling Afiridi’s record.

Breath taking innings by Robin Uthappa scoring 50 in no time. Kallis’s knock of 89 and Sehwag’s 70 odd against Royals added up to the misery of the bowlers. Little master as usual in his prime form scored a classy half century .Indian captain clobbered the bowlers during his power innings of 66*. The tournament has got the right start and looks to give more to this cricket loving country.

Just as i write this Praveen Kumar made it sure that bowlers are not to be left out with the first hatrick of the tournament . He has picked up Martyn, Narwal and Dorga with some beautiful piece of bowling.

T20 means “FUN”. Thanks to Robertson, the marketing manager of the ECB who responsible this format of the game. He proposed it during 2001 and T20 tournament was started as a crowd puller in the county cricket on 13 June,2003. Australia beat New Zealand in the first ever international T20 match on February 17, 2005 at Auckland.

BCCI initially was against this format as a result India was the last test playing nation to start their T20 expedition. The first world champions of T20 made their debut against South Africa in Johannesburg on December 1, 2006. This remained India’s only T20 match before the 2007 T20 World cup. Not to be forgotten BCCI was against the ODIs too. When it initially began in 1971. India played just 2 ODIs before the 1975 world cup. But now thats all history. T20 has cemented itself with the cricket lovers. Cricket fever is at its peak.Keep enjoying the fun.

Road to the glory

25 June, 1932 the day when India started the chase for the No.1 spot in test cricket led by C.K Naidu First captain of the Tri-colours.This was India’s Debut test at Lords. After, 88 long years Dhoni’s men have achieved this glory. Its been a very long march towards capturing this pride.

"About 18 players speaking 4 to 8 different languages….belonging to different caste…Each take different variety of food and follow different religious principles but have come together to play cricket" one famous quote in Victoria about the Indian team which cannot be laid off from the memories that easily. But now they are the Champions of the test cricket.

Running through the history books takes us back to the days of Vijay Hazare who captained India during its First ever test victory. This was against England in 1952. The venue was Chennai which is also famous for its second tied test match ever in the history of the game.

Lala Amarnath led India to its First ever Series win in 1952-53 against the rival Pakistanis.Tiger Pataudi who once held the record for the youngest test captain to see of India in its first ever overseas test series victory against kiwis in 1968.

Soon, India faced a white wash 5-0 by the Windies. Ajit wadekar one of India’s successful captains took India for back to back test series wins playing against the fearsome West Indies and later on England in 1971. "Sunny" the original little master Sunil Gavaskar showed his class to the world during this period.

1976, Port-of-spain the venue which Indians can never forget. History was made when India chased down 403 runs on the final day of the third test match. It took nearly 40 years to break this mammoth record.It was the spin quartet of Bishen Singh Bedi, E A S Prasana, B S Chandrasekar and S Vengataragavan along with solid bastmen Sunny and G Vishvanath helped India to dominate the proceedings.

1980's saw India becoming world champions. Some promising batsmen came into the arena. Md Azharuddin, D Vengsarkar all rounders like Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri where dominating the field.But India had a very lean patch during 80's when they lost 28 test matches on a trot. India then managed to win a test series in England which remained the only test victory for India outside the subcontinent for the next 19 years. Next India won a test series outside the sub-continent in 2005 during the Zimbabwe series.

1989 onwards India started getting some world class players in the line-up. First on the row was the Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar, then on Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath,Amar Singh, Hirwani got into the side. There weren't enough spirit within the team to grasp the momentum. Lost 33 test overseas and won only 17 out of 30 at home during mid 90's. Following that India did relatively well against the Australians during the inagural Border-Gavasker throphy and the South Africans at home.

In between India gave some decent performances at home but the match-fixing scandals put a break on some firm followers of the game. Md Azharuddin, Manoj Prabakar, Ajay jadeja and few others were on the list. This seemed to be a very low period in the Indian cricketing History.

It was during the 3rd day of the second test match versus the Aussies in 2001 When the NEW ERA began at the Eden Gardens. Laxmans sizziling knock along with the" Wall" Dravid took India to a win from no where. Bajji started looking exceptional. India won matches outside the sub-continent. Adelaide test victory in 2003 set the tone.Then on victories in England,Zimbabwe,west indies,Pakistan and not long before against the New Zealand.The Marathon innings from Gautham Gambir on the final day which helped India to draw the match and seal the Series 1-0. Triple ton knocks of sehwag was like cherry on the cake.

Kumble had a very good tenure as captain.Its Dhoni the only person who can hier him. Dhoni after the success at the inagural T20 WC was given the capataincy inbetween the Australian test series in 2009. This happened to be Jambo's last test series and India won it 2-0.

Win in the 2009 Sri Lankan Series saw India becoming the Champions of Test Cricket.India had played some wonderfull cricket then on. Victory in Bangladesh. The crucial win against SA at Eden Garden's during the dying moments of the match saw India retain its TOP SPOT in the long format.Wish Team India continues to be in this prime and be the champions of the game.

God of Cricket

S R Tendulkar has breached the landmark that many had just dreamt of "A DOUBLE TON" in ODIs. It all started from 5th January,1971 when the first ever ODI was played. It has taken a mammoth 2961 matches to breach this milestone. It got to be this man the highest run scorer in cricketing history who can climb this height. He simply did it. This was an innings of true class. When the Little Mastro is "Carrying his bat for the 50 overs" one can be sure that records will tumble.

This innings of sachin left South African bowlers no place to bowl at. Each of the bowlers went for more than run a ball bowling to this mastro. There was no stopping once he reached his century. He reached his 100 of 90 balls. Then 150 in no time giving a tough time for the bowlers. It took just 18 balls to reach his 3rd fifty. Now, 150* of 118 balls.

When sachin was on 182* the last ball of 43rd over he created another record that went unnoticed when he hit Kallis for a boundary. This meant he has hit 25 fours making him the highest boundary hitter in a single innings going past the record of Sanath Jayasuriya who had hit 24 fours against Netherlands. He equaled the record of Gibbs for the total number of 4s and 6s. Gibbs hit 21 fours and 7 sixes in his blistering knock of 175 not long before during the record run chase of 434 against the Aussies.Sachin had hit 25 fours and 3 sixes in the match making a total of 28.

By that boundary he took his score to 186* equaling his previous best.Then on sachin made sure to reach the landmarks by steadying the show allowing Dhoni to free his arms. Sir V V Richards said "he is 99.5% perfect. I'll pay to watch him play" . He proved this true to the cricketing fraternity. First THE HIGHEST ODI RUNS IN SINGLE INNINGS sur passing the records set by S Anwar and C Conventry when he flicked Parnell of his pads for a couple.

Now, the huge one. FIRST EVER DOUBLE TON in the history. In the final over of the innnings when Sachin hit Langeveldt for a single on the off-side. Making the ODI debut 21 years ago he has given a lot to this game of cricket. Most importantly this record breaking innings of his kept India in the second spot in One Day Internationals. Hope to see lots more from this CRICKETING GENIUS.