Tete-a-Tete with Gayle and Mithun

Chris Gayle, without doubt, the Man of the tournament.  He went shockingly unsold in the IPL 4 auctions due to confusions over his availability. An injury to Dirk Nannes and Gayle being rested by WICB for the series against Pak helped RCB to draft him into the squad. Until his arrival the RCB was in a dismal form but he turned it around, scoring a century in his very first match in IPL4 and he hasn’t looked back since. Playing 4-5 matches less than other players he already owns the orange cap, hit maximum sixes, scored 37 runs off an over, has taken wickets and what not.

Here is a video of Gayle and Mithun talking to DieHard Cricket & RCB Fan, Abhilash P after their last league match against the CSK on 22 May.

Abhilash P for DieHard Cricket Fans

Tete-a-Tete with Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli, the latest poster boy of Indian Cricket. During the last 2 years Virat has been the most consistent ODI player for India and has bowled over everyone with the kind of maturity and temperament he has shown given he is just 22. He has already led India to an U-19 WC win and been an integral part of the World Cup 2011 winning Indian team. He played an important innings in the WC final too, which people tend to forget as it gets overshadowed by Gambhir’s and Dhoni’s knocks.

Virat is also considered by many as the future Indian Captain and a player to lookout for. The fact that Virat was the only player retained by RCB after the IPL3 just reinforces the faith people have in him. He represents the confident young Indian generation which is ready to take on the world. Here is a video of Virat talking to DieHard Cricket Fans, Abhilash P and his friend, telling about his role model, favourite hangout places and more.

Abhilash P for DieHard Cricket Fans

Indian Plumpier League: The Bigger IPL !

Disclaimer: This post is a figment of imagination of the writer. This is purely a fun article and doesn’t intend to be derogatory about any of the honorable people mentioned. No way does this betray any maliciousness on part of the writer who himself is on the verge of being certified overweight.

No offense is meant about the well endowed men and women. I am ‘Broad‘-minded. When I say that, it should not be confused with the Narrow minded ICC Match Referee with an England Captain for a son.

From being Agarkar-like, time has managed to render me in the ‘just under the overweight league’ with a BMI closing in on 25. I was never known for athleticism and that perhaps is why I preferred to play and follow Cricket. Not that I was any good at that. But Cricket still remains the only field game that still offers ‘Fat‘ chances to the physically over-endowed to hold their own against the likes of Jonty Rhodes and Keiron Pollard.

There was ‘Ample‘ evidence that Samit Patel was dropped from England probables list due to the eschewed fitness standards set by the ECB. The now past India Coach had expressed concerns over ‘Overweight‘ Indian Cricketers. That was unfortunate. Just imagine if  weight or size did matter in the past, Sri Lanka would not have won their lone World Cup and England would not have won Ashes in 1987.

Here is an ode to those big ‘BIG‘ men who regaled us with their skills. Here we launch the “Indian Plumpier League” [IPL]. Let us take a look at those weighty teams and their leaders of ‘substance’. For those keen to play in the League, pound in all the pounds you can; more the merrier. The auction will strictly be held on the basis of Pounds. And all payments, hefty or otherwise will be made in Pounds too. A Pound for a Pound !

1] Chubby Supper Kings: With their love for heavy meals at night, the Chubby Kings lead from the front. So they have the Chubbiest Captain !

Leverlock, Stock and Barrel !

2] Belly Bare Devils: The Team from the Capital languishing at the bottom this season. Who can pick the spirits of this team ? Who else but the one with a belly that can scare the Devil ?

Belly that can Scare Devil !

3] Gol-Guppa Weight Ryders: Having either puny or fit skippers has been SRK’s idea of a Captain. That is why the team has never been ‘Stout‘ on field. But when you have a ‘Big Jesse’ for Captain, nobody meddles with them.

Just see Weight Ryder !

4] Binge’s 11 Fun-jab: For binge eating, binge drinking, fun and jabs, you need not look around. He is a ‘Legend’ in all. The Prince did ‘Eat’ them all up during the World Cup !

Eat all You-We can !

5] Chicken Gorgers: They can munch and gorge on anything and everything including bowling attacks and ‘Aloo Bondas’ of Hyderabad. A worthy skipper has to be a man of stature.

The BIGGEST Talent from Pakistan

6] Royal Chill-hangers Ampleore: They will just chill out on Royal Challenge and avenge all the defeats so far. The Mr. Cool of Lankan Cricket will ‘walk’ away with the Captaincy. Well, he always walked his runs.

'Run'atunga who always walked runs !

7] Boonie Warriors India: One of the all time great overweight Cricketers excelled in fielding with all his girth. He will be a Boon to any lowly placed team.

A Boon for the underdogs !

8] Cocky Tuskers Carousel: For the Cocky Mallu who walks without a care like a tusker, they finally have a merry-go-Round of tuskers. The Cockiest of them all will lead the team. Gatting, Batting, Fatting and Swatting [of Pakistani Umpires] all allowed.

Gatting Batting Fatting !

9] Bum-boy Indians: For those who love everything in big chunks. The most Powarful man in Indian Cricket will lead from the front. His style and substance will make him a ‘Roll-model’ !

Powar Power !

10] Rotundistan Royals: A Patel from England alone qualifies to lead the bunch of Rotundistan Royals. To Sum it all, will get justice at last. This completes the ensemble of ten teams.

Sum of it all Patel !

This Obese version of IPL will begin as soon as we manage to find enough players plumper than the plump to complete 10 teams. Anyone interested to join the weight-wagon, don’t wait, just shoot your applications. Weight is the only criteria !

Some patented attractions:

Cheer girls will be replaced with more ample and attractive ‘Beer Babes’. Buxom is the word !

Buxom Beer Babes !

Concessions on ticket prices to those weighing above 100kg. They will be accommodated in the exclusive ‘Century Club’.

Beer, beef and all kind of food served at subsidized rates before, during and even after the match.

Log on to our website for more details:
www.indianplumpierleague.com

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

On The Martin Crowe Comeback (Seriously)

Cricket is like a Saharan trek without a water bottle these days. Its hard to find a thirst quencher, given that most of the cricketing news is drowned by the hot air of the IPL. It seems that television viewers and internet junkies alike are nearing the end of their patience for it, even I forgot to check out Cricinfo for half a day (horrors!). But, then something caught my eye, this headline:

“Crowe Announces Comeback at 48″.

Come again? Russell Crowe making a comeback to Neighbors is more believable. Admittedly he is starting at club cricket level, with aspirations to make it to first class cricket. Seems he is 392 runs short of 20,000 first class runs. Well if he somehow manages to knock off those runs against guys half his age, then good on him, miracles do happen. But even all this is not what inspired me to write this article, here is the real kicker. Says Mr Crowe:

“Hey! If Ganguly can do it, anyone can do it!”

The cricketing equivalent to The Fonz. © Cricinfo.com

Ah, the Crowe vs Ganguly debate once again. For those of you who aren’t clued in, Ganguly led the team to a horrible defeat at the hands of New Zealand (well, mainly dodgy pitches) in 2002/2003. They lost the seven match ODI series 5-2, and the test series 2-0. During that time, the merry band of NZ commentators, led by Crowe, were ripping into Ganguly, singling him out as brash, arrogant and a liability for the team.

Maybe he was cocky, fair game, but Crowe fails to realize that Ganguly’s worst patch as a batsman was those years as captain. But despite that it was his alliance with John Wright that really turned Indian cricket around. It was Ganguly who backed the Harbhajan’s and the Yuvraj’s and got them through their golden 2003 world cup run, among famous overseas test victories.

Ganguly as a batsman achieved far more than almost all New Zealand batsman. His ODI stats in particular show off a whopping 22 centuries.

Batting and fielding averages (Ganguly) in Tests and ODIs

Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
113	188	7212	239	42.17	51.25	16	35
311	300	11363	183	41.02	73.70	22	72

Crowe, who is widely regarded as one of NZ’s best in history, has this record:

Batting and fielding averages (Crowe) in Tests and ODIs

Mat	Inns	Runs	HS	Ave	SR	100	50
77	131	5444	299	45.36	44.65	17	18
143	140	4704	107*	38.55	72.63	4	34

Roughly equal, Crowe a better test batsman, Ganguly a better ODI one. Belittling Ganguly is completely uncalled for, it was then and it still is now. I can even recall several occasions of him smashing the New Zealand bowlers around like it was a joke.

Then again Crowe goes on to call Geoff Howarth’s coaching ‘a joke’ and he apparently had issues with Lee Germon and John Wright over the years. In the New Zealand scale he can talk with a bit of authority. On the world scale he hardly measures up. A decent cricketer with a bucket load of excuses, the only legitimate one being a bad knee.

A comeback at 48. Who’s arrogant now.

Contributed By: Varun Prasad
Original Post: The Cricket Musings

What do I do when low on Cricket Adrenaline ?

Team India are the reigning World Champions in ODI Cricket.

We also have the World No. 1 Test Team since over a year.

IPL attracts more eyeballs than most of the International series.

Rahul Sharma and Sreenath Aravind have bowled with promise.

Ambati Rayudu and Paul Valthaty have enlivened the proceedings.

Shane Warne believes Rohit Sharma is a Master in the making.

Tendulkar is still hungry for runs and Dravid isn’t finished either.

Virat Kohli is batting well and shows guts as Captain of men.

Sehwagging reached epitome before he was shouldered out.

Gambhir is taking both Captaincy and his name too seriously.

Ashish Nehra continues to recover from one injury after another.

Yuvi continues to prove he is a different player in Indian Colors.

Munaf bowled well till he lost his head and match to Amit Mishra.

Sreesanth excels as Sreesanth and bowls 5 good balls in an over.

Bhajji hasn’t slapped Sree and called Symonds a Gentleman… Man !

So much happening and Mumbai Indians choking before the Finals !

So much of action, fun and excitement has not really excited me. Why ?

Why am I dormant compared to my normal over-talkative standards ?

Very often this happens to me during those never-ending ODI series.

Every single IPL season, I have felt it as it comes to the business end.

Tendulkar may be God to millions and many who don’t believe in God.

Sehwag may be the most destructive batsman in all forms of Cricket.

Gayle may have redefined the IPL Batsmanship taking it to a new height.

I realized something today. I am going through a trough in Crickinterest.

I realized today that I am missing something, rather missing someone !

Fortunately I know what to do when I feel so low on Cricket Adrenaline…

I just watch THIS !

PS: I can sit through an entire day and then through the night watching VVS bat with the tail in tow than suffer some of that ‘Cricket’ played by the likes of Sunny Sohal and Manish Pandey; the Masters of Inelegance !

Govind Raj Shenoy for DieHard Cricket Fans

Point to Fine Leg : Modern Woman’s Guide to Cricket

Have you ever wondered what the heck cricket is all about?

Perhaps your man is a cricketer. He is dying to take you to a game to impress you but you fear looking clueless in front of his mates.

Maybe it’s not about a bloke at all.

You have been sucked in to the hype of the Ashes and the World Cup or seduced by the razzmatazz of Twenty20 and want to know about the game that is loved by hundreds of millions of men and women around the world.

Maybe your case is the other way around. You wish your girl-friends or girlfriend understood the game and enjoyed the matches along with you rather than annoying you by not letting you watch it?

The book “Point to Fine Leg” authored by Stacey Harris is an attempt to provide a solution to help you out in such scenarios.

Story behind the book:

This is what Stacey has to say on as to how she developed love for the game and what propelled her to write this wonderful book.

“For me it all started in 2005 when I stumbled upon the greatest cricket match of all time. I was a football fan. My Dad thought I might be interested in the tense conclusion of the Edgbaston Ashes match. It changed my life as I was gripped by the epic battle of supreme athletes unfold in front of me.

From the moment England scraped over the line cricket became exciting, sexy and addictive.

I wish when I started my journey into cricket that I had this eBook. It would have made learning about cricket so much easier than reading stuffy Rule of Cricket books. So I wrote it.

It’s the perfect eBook for all the women around the world who want to give cricket a chance but have no idea where to start.”

Written in an accessible, fun style from the perspective of women you will learn all the important stuff about the game; like how to know what’s going on and what to wear to the match!

The eBook is designed to look and feel like a glossy magazine and includes articles like:

• The 10 Commandments of Cricket Watching
• 10 Reasons Your Man is Having a Hissy Fit
• When Do We Clap?
• 12 Glamorous (and No-Nonsense) Things to Take to a Match
• Why Cricketers are Like Movie Stars
• How to Score With a Cricketer
• Better than Average: How to Measure a Cricketer’s Performance
• 5 Fantastic Cricket Grounds (and Their Beaches) to Visit
• 11 Reasons to Watch Cricket On TV
• Names and Facts to Make You Look Like a Cricket Badass

And of course, like all magazines there is the compulsory quiz to find out just what kind of cricket fan you have become.

When you buy this eBook you will know everything you need to blag your way at any cricket match, from a Twenty20 match on TV through your boyfriend’s village match all the way up to a Test match at the ground on a blazing hot summer day.

To buy the book visit this site, click on Stacey Harris’ pic in the ‘Freelance Coaching Panel’ and click “BUY” n follow instructions.

Stacey’s Blog
Stacey on Twiter