Colossus Kallis

I almost posted a new entry the other day except for the mis-firing [:)] wordpress server which mysteriously refused to acknowledge my latest offering. Lately i have had nothing to comment on except for sports and i am afraid that this one also belongs to that genre.

South Africa beat Pakistan today in a test match. Ain't that great !! Kallis was back and he duly showed how indispensable he is for the Proteas. Without him the result would have been a whole lot different and the decision to drop Pollock was much awaited,  especially considering the subcontinental tracks where swing is as rare as pleasant climate in Hyderabad.

Steyn is a bright prospect especially in test matches for he is bowler wyho knows only how to attack. The only problem with him is that he is as inconsistent as Sreesanth and gifts away many runs. Harris might have got some wickets but he doesn't look like one for the long-run. He relies a bit too much on the batsmen's mistakes to get his wickets.

As you might have noticed, my Champions League predictions have gone hay-wire (yet again). May be i should stop being so conservative and start predicting a few upsets in the upcoming matches.

Predictometer :- [effective since 1st October]

Football -30%

Cricket- Yet to predict

Desi digs

Notwithstanding their recent 'outstanding' exploits in the T20 world cup, India have managed to once again disgrace themselves on the cricket field. They were very lucky to escape from Bangalore but, luck like fame doesn't have a long life.

Indians have missed out on a golden opportunity here, especially since Ganguly wasn't playing. If they can't win without him, then it would take a double effort to win with him in the side. As i say this, Powar has hit one out of the field much to the anguish of Rameez Raza who happens to be commentating. Wait a minute, the smile's back on his face (no prizes for guessing what happened).

Speaking of commentators, Ravi Shastri has always managed to irk me courtesy of his never ceasing partiality. He tends to praise everything Indian and disapprove everything foreign. That kind of behavior is completely acceptable unless you happen to be a commentator !. The rule of thumb for any commentator should be that they should be impartial. Even Rameez would rank higher than Shastri on the scale of impartiality.

Seeing the way he's going i wouldn't be surprised if he terms an Indian fart as music to his ears.

Prediction :-

Man Utd to eke out a narrow win over Roma

Arsenal to trounce Steaua Bucharest

Valencia to beat Chelsea

Real Madrid and Liverpool to win

Blowing cold

I write this post wondering whether i burned my tongue or the roof my mouth. The culprit was by the way, not a hot lady (raunchy thoughts, huh), it was just some really hot food. The taste was anything but hot but then what can one expect in a canteen of a research institute. Having said that my performance in the gone-by exams was as tasteless as the aforementioned food.

I know that you don't give a damn about my screwed up grades, so why should i ? (wish it was really that easy). Anyway i would like to elaborate a bit on my quite dumb exploits during the course of my exams. First of all, gone are those days when i used to attend classes only for attendance, these days it seems that i even attend exams just for the sake of attendance. The only thing which i usually get right in the examination hall , is my signature on the attendance sheet.

This may feel funny but it damn sure ain't funny. So what do i do during the whole exam, i just keep pondering over how i managed to get myself into such a hopeless situation in the first place. May be this place ain't for me, may be i am so irresponsible or may be i should work hard the next time or may be i should just stop this non-sensical chain of may-be's.

Whatever i do or don't do, this blog will keep getting updated as long as i continue to stay in this non-hot college of mine. I am actually quite amazed that terrorists haven't struck during the past week when festivities reached a feverishly high state.

Prediction:-

Australia to beat India in Bangalore.

What the Haq

What happened was nothing short of a sub-continental tragedy, which quite frankly made the match a parody of a "world cup" final. I know very well that some of you might label this match as the "greatest ever" but then it wasn't so enthralling for a neutral like me.

The way in which Misbah-Ul-Haq got out after playing a mature innings typifies the complete match. The contest was lop-sided for most of the second innings and the way in which the Indians allowed them to crawl back was not worthy of champions.

I personally think that Misbah is a big choker. He had earlier managed not to score off the last two balls and now this. On a more positive note, this match saw me predicting the right result for the first time.

So all of you Indian fans, drop your pants and dance away into the night coz you really deserve it for being such loyal supporters.

I hate to say it but - Chak De India !!

India vs. Pakistan :(

I am not too pleased to watch these two teams go head to head in the final of a major tournament mainly because they are too inconsistent and more over there is no longer an enmity between the two sides. Gone are those good old days when the two teams always stepped on to the pitch daggers drawn. These are the boring days of the "bhai-bhai" relationship where they no longer even swear at each other.

No matter how dull it appears to be, i have no other option but to watch it, just because i have no work to do. If my memory serves right, the last time the Indians entered a final as favorites, was against New Zealand in the 2000 champions trophy held in Kenya. Interestingly, their last appearance in a major final also happened in the African continent in the form of the 2003 WC where they were overwhelming favorites to lose and lose they did.

The last time i predicted the outcome of an India's match, i thought they would win the deciding seventh one-dayer against England but sadly things didn't work out that way. This time around, i am again predicting an Indian win and i am doubly sure that they can pull it off.

P.s:- They had lost in that final to New Zealand having knocked out Australia in the quarters and RSA (Yuvraj had made his dazzling  debut in this series) in the semis but then history only repeats itself for losers like South Africa, not for winners like India.

I am amazed at my over-reaching modesty.

Errata:- India was the joint winner of the champions trophy in 2002 and the 2002 final was the last major final we entered as favorites.

Sports take a back seat (A welcome change)

I have my mid-sems from the day after the day after tomorrow and my preparation is as patchy as this opening sequence. This may not sound strange at all, since almost all of your friends must be humming these words in your ears 24 X 7. On the bright side, they will last for only three days and they will quite surely disappear into the distant horizons  of my mind, even before i realize what hit me.

I feel like a scavenger right now, feeding on the bits and pieces of wireless signals left unconsumed by my peers. This was supposed to be the case prior to the installation of the wireless routers (in my block) but my condition continues to be the same, thanks to the highly ineffective "state of the art" equipment. Having said that, scavengers tend to lose the art of appreciation after a course of time, which makes them incapable of even distinguishing between the good and rotten food.

Changing course, there happens to be a match between Australia and India tomorrow and i am completely undecided on which team to support (not that it matters :)). This lack of decisiveness stems out from the behaviour of some(two to be precise) of my friends in the aftermath of yesterday's match. It was not a big deal but then making mountains out of mole-hills is a lot of fun and that is what i intend to do.

Coming to these two sinners, one of them aspires to be a Swiss citizen but i don't think he will even be able to locate Switzerland on the world map. The other guy is as short as one can get, accompanied with an ever-present irritating giggle. I would really love to see Australia thrash India just for the sake of these chauvinistic guys.

New prediction:-

This tourney no longer deserves my prediction.

We shot ourselves in the Foot (nothing new actually)

As i have predicted, my prediction has gone awfully wrong once again with the Proteas consipiring to cut short their own journey. Their performance was nothing but pathetic to the core. It is time for them to start looking for some flexible players. Their top three batsmen are as one dimensional as you can get. They can't even play responsible cricket and it is high time that AB is sent back to first class cricket to iron out his numerous technical flaws.

The other big mistake was of course dropping Kallis. They sorely missed his composure and i am pretty sure that he would have done a better job than Pollock, even with the ball. What's really disappointing is that this is the first and the last match we are going to lose in this tournament.

So moving on, in order to improve, they need to blend in some responsible players with these dashing players (who are capable of chasing 434 but are also quite capable of throwing it away just like today).

New prediction:-

I am too messed up to make one right now.