Harsha Bhogle-MI vs KKR 24th April 2013

Another gem by Harsha Bhogle yesterday..

Yesterday was Sachin's 40th bday and the crowd yelled like mad when he came out to bat.
Sachin was at the non striker end and Balaji was bowling to Dwayne Smith. Smith played with soft hands and the ball landed near forward shortleg. Tendulkar gave the go ahead since a run was on and he would run towards the danger end.
Tendulkar and Balaji started sprinting...Tendulkar to complete the run, Balaji towards the ball.In the process, Balaji overtook Sachin and crossed his path and leaped towards the ball. Sachin now was blocked by Balaji and he frantically changed his direction and leaped towards the crease. Balaji collected the ball and had a shy at the stumps. The ball missed the stumps by a whisker and Sachin was home..at this very moment Harsha Bhogle said "Well...Balaji just stopped himself from becoming the most unpopular Knight rider tonight"

Superb!!

MI vs Sach

Yesterday MI suffered another humiliating defeat.. This time it was DD that spoiled MIs party. Last time it was RR. Sachin made 50 odd at a strike rate of 110, which was poor, considering that 331 runs were scored in 220 balls.
After the match, I was dejected and started pondering over the sorry state of affair of the MI team.

However I soon realized that I follow the MI team and try and watch every match only because Sachin is a part of the squad. I am sure that millions of others do the same.

Watching Tendulkar in action is a privilege of our times. whether he scores 5 or 50 doesnt matter, atleast not to me!! I am just happy to see him play!!

Warne in Warner

"Next to bowl is David Warner. He ll be bowling leg breaks. Just 4 wickets in test cricket, this shows that he is not a regular bowler. However one of those wickets is Hashim Amla, another one is Darren Bravo. Well watch out Dhoni, because there certainly is a "Warne" in "Warner" -Harsha Bhogle, 24th Feb 2013

God retires from ODIs..

Cricket wont be cricket anymore....without God!!
Thank you for being an idol for millions of crazy cricket fans..including me.
Long live SRT!!

Retirement

It was a bitter sweet moment for me when Ricky Ponting declared his exit from International cricket last week. The South Africans made sure that the great player was treated well in his last test; the crowd too roared as he made his way to the crease. It was unfortunate that Australia lost the test; even more disappointing that the last hurrah didn't come...though a lot of people expected it.

There are three distinct incidents that I clearly remember about Ponting:

1. His match winning ton in the 2003 World cup Final against India. He was treating Zaheer and company like a bunch of school kids. Hitting the ball to all parts of the park..the match was over before India batted. I clearly remember a front foot hook that he played for a six of a fast Agarkar delivery. Kudos!!!

2. Second instance was when India was visiting Australia in late 2000s(maybe 2006-07)..In this one particular test match, Ponting was fielding in the slips and God nicked one that went straight to him..No one except Ponting was sure that the ball had carried and he made a big scene when the umpire referred this to the third umpire. Eventually the slo-mo showed that the ball hadnt carried and Ponting was pissed..Cheater saala...

3. After the second incident, I was never a Ponting fan and always waited to see him in distress on the field. But Australia was in terrific form and the opportunity took longer than expected.. in the 2010 world cup match, it was a do or die between Australia and India.. the loser would be knocked out... and guess what India won that match and eventually the world cup...however in the Australia match...when the winning run was scored by India, the camera zoomed into Ponting...The look on his face.....humiliated...defeated..angry..!!!
Man, the wait was worth it!!!!!


However, I shall always be a fan of his batting, if not his character...the famous lean in his stance!!! Never seen such a lean in any batsman..It shows the fearlessness of the batsman..!!
Cricket will miss you Mr.Ricky Ponting!! Adieu!!

Did the English win?

England beat India in the second test match at Wankhede stadium (Mumbai).

However, it should be noticed that the best bowler in the English side; Monty Panesar has Indian roots.
Also the best English Batsman of the match; Kevin Pietersen is originally from South Africa.

Do you still feel the ENGLISH defeated India?

Cricket

The evening was beautiful. It was just the right weather…neither too hot…nor too cold. The cool breeze made it better. I was on my way home passing through one of the posh localities of Pune.

This particular locality was home to the super rich. The CEOs, the CFOs, the business tycoons. Hence there were no buildings and flats here, only huge bungalows! And the people actually walking on the private road were either passersby or servants of the residents. The families staying here only moved around in big fancy imported cars.

As I approached the big private playground of the locality, I saw some kids playing cricket. They were obviously residents of the locality, since outsiders weren’t allowed to use this playground. Most of them would have been around 8-10 yrs old. There were some things I couldn't’t help noticing. Apart from their fancy clothes and expensive shoes, every kid seemed to own a cricket bat. There were some who even owned the famous “Mongoose” bats. There was a box full of tennis balls and some cans of energy drinks lying in a corner guarded by a servant.

The next thing I noticed was the sophistication. Most of the conversations were in English and everyone around was well mannered. There was no shouting or swearing or dancing around, just casual claps, pat on backs and smiles. It kind of reminded me of the British. Somehow the quality of cricket was not up to the mark and there was a dull touch about the whole affair.

As I exited the gate of the locality and came back to the normal world, I passed by a slum. There was very light traffic on the road. The footpath was inhabited by hawkers. I could see three small stones placed to one side of the street and a kid with a small piece of wood standing next to the stones. As I tried to make out a pattern in the crowded street, I could make out a few more kids. Most of these kids were bare feet and not even dressed properly. Before I could analyze what they were up to, a small kid same running out of the crowd and threw a rubber ball at this kid with the wooden stick. The kid swung and missed and the ball crashed into one of the stones. The very next instant there was a roar and all the kids converged into a huddle and started shouting and dancing.

Cricket (or baseball) whatever these guys were playing, they were enjoying it thoroughly.

This definitely was the Indian way.

On a completely different note, childhood is awesome! Nothing can stop a kid from having fun, whether he is born in a sprawling bungalow or a small hut.

IPL3

Top things that I have learnt by watching IPL3 matches:

-The balloon like thing floating in the air is the MRF blimp. They are the first to bring the blimp technology to India. Also that MRF are the biggest promoters of sports in India etc. etc. Yawwwnnn!!!
-Actors don’t know shit about cricket (eg. Shahrukh, Shilpa and Preity.)
-Cricketers don’t know shit about acting (eg. Dhoni, Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in their respective ads.)
-Agarkar still can’t bowl and Nehra still gets injured after every match he plays (and rests for three matches after that.)
-Ramesh Powar manages to gain twenty pounds every year. Also wherever he plays (Chennai or Dharamshala) he manages to sweat from the very first ball of the match. (He was considered to be the MRF blimp this season, but the idea was dropped, since it was difficult spotting him in the night.)
-Every Tom, Dick and Harry remotely related to Mr.Modi is minting money.
-Harsha Bhogle looked better without hair on his head.

Also.. forgot to mention... East or West, Mumbai is the best!! :)

Sunny bhai's commentary!!

Sunil Gavaskar on Shalabh Srivastava (Member of Kings 11 Punjab team) :

"Srivatsavaaa is bowling a tight line....Srivatsavaaa is bending his back....Srivatsavaaaa... Srivatsavaaaa."... for Gods sake... its pronounced as Srivastav (the S comes before the T....) ... and I believe you were born and brought up in India... then why the sophisticated accent????


Another one of his gems... When Zaheer Khan took a difficult catch in today's game..Sunny Bhai's expert comment was..."He (Zaheer) has got big hands and those hands have clasped the ball" .... hehehe...rofl!!!

I guess the old man has lost it!!

Sachin's appraisal

Posting another forwarded email that I received.


Congratulations on scoring a double century. Here are the stats:

200 Runs/ 147Balls/ 25X4 / 3X6

Agreed that you have done GREAT……


BUT BUT BUT BUT...


25 x 4s = 100

3 x 6s = 18

It implies that you have made 118 Runs in 28 Balls.


And 12 x 2s = 24

58 x 1s = 58

It means you have means all 200 Runs were scored in only 98 balls

So you have wasted 147-98 = 49 balls

Considering only 1 run scored on each of these balls you could have earned 49 valuable RUNS FOR OUR TEAM



MANAGER’S COMMENT: So you only met the expectations and NOT EXCEEDING (though anyone of our team could not do it) and your rating is 3.