Filthy rich cricket needs no pampering!

Are cricketers a 'pampered lot'?

Many of us agree. Cricket is a lucrative sport in this country.

And I can understand BCCI offering loads of moolah to the winning team, because BCCI will earn millions of dollars too.

But I really can't understand state govts announcing lakhs of rupees for these cricketers. Mind you, this money belongs to the people of the country who pay in the form of taxes! I would be happy if some politician announces cash reward from his own personal bank account!

Cricketers don't need such a pampering as cricket is already a winner in terms of money. Look at some other games which need some generous patrons.

Just imagine a cricketer who played three games for India in T20 and already having a crore in his bank account. Hope he can focus on the ball well!

Too many cricket world champions!

You can barely count the number of cricket playing countries, on your hands. And there's already two world champions fighting for their recoginition! Ponting says Aussies are the real world champions. And Indians just can't take it lying down. That will belittle their position as cricket's latest world champs, though in a faster version of the game!
Aussies are known for playing mind-games before the start of any series. And this time Aussies need more than the mind-games to defeat the rejuvenated Indian cricket team!

Games politicians play!

T20 brutally murders ICL!

T20 has left an impact on all cricket lovers which will
take many many thrilling ODIs to erase!
One reason could be India won the trophy against
all the odds and in a fashion which suits true champions.
This form of cricket is exciting, more unpredictable and gripping till the last ball...
Just the kind of stuff audience would love to watch in the stadium.

This may not be the pure form of cricket, but the way Indian team adapted to this form really touching. And all the credit to our new captain, who's calm-composed unlike his batting style.
But I do have a slight doubt that the captaincy has taken away the explosive nature of Dhoni's batting. He's become more cautious and more calm!

While the whole country is soaked in the glory of T20 victory, one thing went unnoticed.
What's happening to ICL? When T20 World Cup began, ICL was all over the news channels and papers. But as India progressed to higher stages of the championship, people prefered to ignore everything about ICL. May be cricket fans are more obsessed with the Indian cricker's victory than who governs the cricket. And rightly so!

Twenty20 cricket, a big hit with youngsters!

Twenty20 craze is a big hit,
mostly among youngsters!

Something might still scare Dhoni, three ex-captains!

You are just around two and half year old in the team,
and imagine you are made the captain of the team!
And add to that, you'll be leading three ex-captains!
That's Dhoni for you!
The coveted designation may have come to Dhoni too early,
but he seems to be on the right road to be a good skipper.
Now pray that his batting doesn't get affected

Rahul Dravid's fall: crack or conspiracy?

Rahul Dravid has succumbed to the pressure of the captaincy, they say.
He was showing the pressures of leading Indian cricket team. He couldn't bat as fluently as he used to. And in India every cricket lover is a cricket pundit, who'll put each of his decision to trial! Rightly, Rahul decided to quit. And Rahul, the batsman is more precious than Rahul, the captain.
But there's another theory doing the rounds, of Rahul falling to the conspiracy of a lobby. We may never know the truth, Rahul being a dignified cricketer, who will never reveal anything connected to his personal decisions. This little truth is already buried!

Twenty20 is here to stay!

Twenty20 cricket has been projected as the thing of the future in Cricket.

It is entertaining and it's unpredictable which helps to make any game interesting for the audience. I do feel sad that, when the cricket pundits sat together to chalk out the T20 format, they completely ignored one tribe called bowlers. In fact they went on to make their job more tougher by introducing 'free hit'!

But this new format of the game will help lesser known and less experienced teams to surprise the giants with some shocking results. Shorter form of the game will surely help them to groom their players in a certain way to match the requirement. And the biggest advantage is they don't have to sustain their performace for a long duration unlike Test cricket and One Day International.

Frankly this format is too entertaining to ignore just as an experiment.

Being a lover of quality cricket, I have my own doubts about Twenty20 uplifting the quality of the game. But if this format can bring in more crowd and add in more competitive teams, let's say AYE to it!

What do Indian cricketers need to defeat England?

Funny piece on India's preparations for the NatWest decider one day international.
Some of the suggestions are hilarious!

Cricket mania

Lord's is waiting for the finest hours of cricket in the ongoing India-England oneday series.
This series has been a great cricket feast for the lovers of the game.
If you thought the sixth one day match was the best, dont hurry yet.
Lord's could be waiting for a fitting final

It's raining catches, dropped catches!

India's pathetic fielding performance continues.
It's a pain to see some of the senior cricketers dropping
the mandatory catches in the one day matches against English team.
I feel these dropped catches will prove to be expensive in this series

Cricket in Olympics!

There's an effort get cricket into the Olympics.
It's been on since ages, but now ICC is very keen on speeding up the process.
Frankly cricket is not a global game. Except for some Colonial countries where British invaded or built their camp, cricket is still an unknown game in many corners of the World.
Will it make an entry to the Olympics? May be an entry into the Olympics will encourage more countries to take this game seriously and try to excel.
Don't be surprised if China beats India at the Olympics!

Sorry, can't stay away from this Cricket Drama!

Can ICL team replace BCCI team?

Look at this scenario. Our Indian cricket team keeps losing matches (Which is not highly impossible to imagine) And our cricket crazy nation goes on rampage and attacks cricketers and their homes. While on the other hand, ICL players are doing great on the field and some of them are in great form. What will happen? Will this Cricket Crazy nation demand for ICL team to be sent for further series? I'm sure it is anybody's guess! Amusing! And I'm waiting for that day!

Shouldn't ICL hire cricket fans too?

ICL is signing up anybody who knows cricket!

Chak De India, ofcourse in Hockey!

Chak De India, the movie may not do much to the popularity of women's hockey in India.

But it surely does a lot in changing the attitude of people towards sports.

That's the advantage of glamourising sports through icon like Shah Rukh Khan.

And ofcourse it will take a long long time for hockey to reach the popularity chart of Cricket

Lalu Prasad Yadav pads up for ICL

Cricket off the field is getting more interesting with BCCI and ICL fighting on channels and newspapers. With Sharad Pawar at the helm of BCCI, his political rivals are jumping into the war field in support of ICL. I'm sure they are not just there for the love of the game.
The recent politician to make the fight more curious is Lalu Prasad Yadav. He lashed out at BCCI's monopoly behaviour and offered railway grounds for ICL matches.

Indian Cricket team's only fifth test win in England

When Indian cricket team defeated English team in the second Test, it was only the 5th test win for India on British soil! And India is celebrating 75 years of cricket! Pathetic! That should help all those veteran freedom fighters to stay nostalgic!

China to play Cricket!

China is hiring coaches and cricketers from India and Pakistan to teach lakhs of youngsters, cricket. According to their plan, they will come up with a professional cricket team to take part in the Asia Cup Cricket in a couple of years. In another part of the World, called India, Kapil Dev-led Indian Cricket League is on hiring spree. Though they have mostly hired recently retired cricketers, the hunt is on for some present cricketers. For a change off the field cricket is getting more exciting!