victory

Win Some, Lose Some For India

November 24, 2018 Happenings

Team sports are so important for fulfilment & I’m especially sentimental about one such sport called Cricket. Like any other game the outcome is unpredictable and therefore stressful, and secondly, Cricket brings such pride & glory to billions of fans regardless of a win or loss. In that, it was quite a turnaround eventually for the Indian women players who missed winning their maiden World T20 title. I was holding on to my nerves as captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s squad were cruising remaining undefeated until they succumbed to reigning champions England in the semis. The surprise exclusion of Mithali Raj from the semis has been under the scanner quite obviously and her contribution could have made a difference, but unmindful of their loss, their journey has been the most inspiring for this World T20 and beyond.

  • v New Zealand-W (India Women won by 34 runs)
  • v Pakistan-W (India Women won by 7 wickets)
  • v Ireland-W (India Women won by 52 runs)
  • v Australia-W (India Women won by 48 runs)
  • v England-W (England Women won by 8 wickets) (Semi-Finals)

Although India’s defeat was hard to digest & at such a crucial juncture, I just wish the Indian women’s team would win the title in the future, much like the juniors early this year.

But Mary Kom’s sixth gold win at the Women’s World Boxing Championship was stupendous. It was a record-equalling feat and she became the most successful woman boxer in the game’s history when she beat Ukraine’s Hanna Okhota in a unanimous 5-0 verdict in the 48kg category summit bout. This wasn’t surprising when you consider “Magnificent Mary’s” reputation in world boxing today although, since I don’t follow boxing I wasn’t aware of a tournament of this vast scale being organized and in India. Admittedly, I was depressed with the fallout of women’s cricket but Mary Kom’s win lifted my spirits high!

Last Frontier Conquered

December 19, 2006 Happenings

After the disastrous 4-0 one-day loss, India redeemed their lost glory on the cricket field in the first test match at the Wanderers which was won by 123 runs and completed in 3 and a half days by some superb display of grit and talent. When we made 249 in the first innings, one thought the score to be unsubstantial against the SA batting line-up. Until I received an SMS from a colleague who asked me to switch on the TV. A certain lad by the name of Shanthakumaran Sreesanth was running through the opposition with his seam bowling. Suddenly I saw the final score and rubbed my eyes in dismay – SA were bowled out for a paltry 84; their lowest score since readmission. In the second innings Zaheer Khan’s late outburst with the bat with VVS Laxman ensured that we had a decent target of 402 set for the springboks. Ashwell Prince seemed to be the only ray of hope in the playing eleven. South Africa was the only country where India had never won a test but all that’s changed now.

Aussies win Champions Trophy (Yawnn!!)

November 6, 2006 Happenings

The Aussie win of their first ICC Champions Trophy tournament yesterday in Mumbai, came as no surprise to me. To say the least, Ricky’s Devils have become very predictable and it no longer excites me to watch them play Cricket. Boring might seem to be an apt phrase to use. The degree of clinical perfection that they have managed to bring in every game has become a matter of discussion in the cricketing corridors of the world. Yesterday’s 8 wicket win, came after a blazing start by the Windies who won the toss and elected to bat first. But some good bowling performances by Nathan Bracken and McGrath restricted them to just 138 in 30.4 overs. What makes them click? Is it the talent or the support staff that’s doing the job? or is it both? we try hard to unlock the code every time. But I beg to ask the managers of our cricketing legacy whether they have a road map ready for the coming months and the ICC world cup. The answer seems obvious to me.

Certainly, I would like to believe that amongst the other South Asian teams, the Indians are a better side to stop the Kangaroo’s hop, given their historic success rate but they aren’t doing well of late. Many a times it’s the psychological edge that proves the winner of the day and we seem to have lost it completely after our 16 match winning streak came to a sad end in the Caribbean tour. In the Champions Trophy, after the Indians won against the English in their first match, I thought they lost their rhythm coming back after a long 11 day holiday. They even failed to exploit the home conditions and looked very edgy in that match against West Indies which we should have won comfortably. After that loss, it was very improbable to defeat the Aussies, given their desperation to win the only trophy missing in their cabinet. Simply put, we don’t look like a team that wants to win anymore. Let’s hope we get our heads back together before the world cup and start winning a few matches. ‘Ooh aah India….Aaya India’ and the Blue Billion Express – such marketing jamboree is worthless if the team continues to downplay the emotions of a nation and keeps losing tournaments. Hope the sponsors are listening and taking notes.

South Africa clinch a Historic Match

March 12, 2006 General

Exactly a decade ago, during the 1996 cricket world cup, Sri Lanka scored a massive 398 against Kenya in a one day international (ODI) game at their home ground. That score was challenged so many times but never broken and most recently by New Zealand who scored 397 against Zimbabwe. The record was finally crumbled today first by the Aussies who scored a massive 434-4 in their 50 overs and then the South Africans got the better of them by scoring 438-9 chasing and clinching the series.

I always look forward to watching these 2 countries play cricket since the result cannot be predicted so easily. The ranking apart I think they are the best teams in world cricket today. It was Ponting’s day first who scored his highest ODI score of 164 off just 105 balls hitting 9 sixes and one thought that the Aussies always rose to big occasions like this one. At this point the South Africans looked like they had given up already and I never thought they would give a fight back. It was a daunting task to score 435 off just 300 deliveries and we all know the bowling attack of the Aussies.

There are a few parallels which I want to draw from this match particularly with relation to India. This was the same Wanderers (Johannesburg) ground where we played our 2003 world cup finals against Australia. If you recall, the Aussies batted first and made a mockery of us. The bowling attack of Srinath-Khan-Nehra seemed overtly aggressive and gave away too many runs. Srinath in particular was hammered and came back with the most expensive figures for any bowler in a world cup match. In the end the score of 359-4 seemed too much and we lost that game. We lived up to our reputation of losing the BIG matches. This is the same ground and almost the same team playing under captain Ricky Ponting and Smith’s South Africans have blown their heads off. THAT to me is the difference between a good team and a world class team. When the bets are drawn on who wins the 2007 world cup edition, I will put my money on South Africa. As for this new record – they took 10 years to break the old one and this one will take ages to break.

» Teams with Highest ODI scores

Viva Brazilia!

June 30, 2005 General

I am not much of a soccer fan but it’s a treat to watch Brazil take the field. I remember that I had not missed their matches at the FIFA 2002 WorldCup in Japan where they had not lost or drawn a single match in the entire tournament. Neverthless, Germany, who had not conceded a single goal in the entire tournament (which gave their goalkeeper Oliver Kahn the nickname of ‘The Wall’), lost to Brazil in the final 1-0. Such is the magic of Samba soccer :)

Yesterday, as I hopped around the news channels, I stopped for a moment to read that Brazil had defeated arch rivals Argentina 4-1 to lift the FIFA Confederations Cup. Although this win is not a surprise for me, Argentina had humbled Brazil in their backyard 3-1 not so long ago. After the 2002 World Cup win, this is the only nation in the world to have won the world cups in all the continents which have hosted it. Europe is next and I am sure they are going to be there in the finals. They are the Copa America champs too and they won that cup with a second rung team :)

BTW watch out for Adriano, the top scorer of the Confederations Cup, who’s wish is to play alongside Ronaldo in a world cup match. Amen! :)