Cinema....no maa

My wife was so excited to take my son to the theatre for the first time today. It was a theatre in Vadapalani and the movie was 'Vellitherai', a Prakash Raj movie. Pappu was all delighted as he is usually seeing the crowd. My wife was happy that Pappu was coping well in his first few minutes inside the theatre but it was not to continue long. As soon as they switched off the lights and the theatre went dark Pappu screamed like hell. Even the opening song in the movie could not entertain pappu and he did not stop his scream. My wife had to come out of the theatre else no one could have watched the movie today.

Better luck next time dear!

Perennial Champions

Ever since I started following Cricket, I have never seen an India team win a series in Australia. To me of all teams that visited Australia, the team that visited in 2004 was the best team. Led by Ganguly, the team did tremendously well and were almost in position to win the series by 2-1 margin. India set a target of 443 to win and Aussies had lost 5 wickets and the last recognised pair of Steve Waugh & Simon Katich were battling it. Waugh was plumb in front of the wicket of Kumble but our good friend Buknor turned it down and Parthiv Patel missed an easy stumping chance of Katich. Two crucial blunders and the match ended in a draw.

But that was a series that was totally marked by Indian dominance. In the first test Ganguly scored a dazzling century, in the second Dravid and Laxman led India to an unbelievable victory in Adelaide, in the third test Shewag scored 195 in 233 balls and in the fourth test Sachin found his form back; it was also the final test and farewell for Australia's greatest captain Steve Waugh.

I never thought any other team was better than this team to win a series in Australia. This year we did equally well under Kumble's leadership. Though the score line says we lost the series I still believe the series was never lost by India. The series was marked by so many action off the pitch than in the pitch. Out of all that blue came shining our starts, this budding group of youngsters who turned everything upside down.

It was so pleasing to see an Indian team win a one day series in Australia (though I would love them to see win a test series rather than one days international) and that too do a whitewash 2-0. What is so remarkable of this victory is that this was the perennial CB series in Australia so India will remain the immortal champions!

Fabulous Innings

Yes indeed a fabulous innings from Sachin. My effort to have stayed awake all night did not go waste. I do not have a Sky TV connection so I have to rely on Cricinfo and some sites that provide live streaming. Before I decided to stay on for the night I was slightly worried coz somehow i have a feeling that India loose matches if I watch them. I know it was stupidness but it was just love for the country to win. Yet of the three matches this was the only match that I could comfortably stay awake and watch as I can have a good nap on Sunday so I made up mind and stayed on.

It was a terrific start for India to have nailed down Gilchrist, Ponting and Clarke (unlucky soul) in the first five overs. In particular I was happy to see Ponting get out cheaply. But happier moments were yet to arrive. Harbhajan Singh, the obnoxious weed, took the wickets of Symonds and Hayden in quick session. These were the two who had taunted him off the field. It was quite thrilling to watch Yuvraj and Harbhajan enact boxing in front of the ground when Hayden was walking back, just to recollect Hayden had invited Ishant to a boxing bout.

In the Indian innings when everyone is going to talk about the Little Masters century, the legend himself said that it was a terrific innings from Rohit Sharma. Not at one moment in the course of his innings we could see him tensed, he was so calm and composed. A find for the future, hope he is not made yet another 'Perform - Flatter - Poor form' story.

My only disappointment of the match was the performance of Irfan Pathan. He was thrashed for 9 fours in 3 overs by Hayden and Lee but I am sure he will have his good time in the matches left in this series.

This Indian victory is as pleasant as it would be for my friend Raghu to see me praise Sachin (for those who do not know I am a vivid fan of Sourav, 'The Captain'). I am finally happy to see Sachin score a century against Australia in Australia. Did you know who was the first Indian to do so, who else, its our Dada!.

I would not worry if India do not win the next one at Brisbane because it will make the series much more tougher in Adelaide and that is where I want them to bring Australia to their foot. Whatever it may be, if India win the tournament I will be the happiest man in this world, of course not the only one.

At that point we can proudly say, guess what? Incredible India!