Cricketing innovations in T20 WC

We saw few cricket innovations in this T20 WC.

Batting

1. Dilshan shot – Scoop over wicket keeper. Lack of definition for this shot made analysts and commentators calling it as Dilshan Shot.
2. Back bat sweep shot – Jayawardene played sweep shot with back of his bat. It is clarified that it is legal to intentionally use any part of the bat to play shots.
3. Reverse Sweep with change of Front leg – Does a right handed batsman become left handed if he changes his front leg to play reverse shot? Few experts argue that reverse shot is when you maintain the same front leg while playing shot else it should be called change of stance instead of reverse shot. This has a huge impact on which is leg stump and which bowl should be a wide ball outside leg stump. This is still controversial. ICC is expected to rule on this, but till then it is legal.
4. Gibbs shot – South African coach said that Gibbs is coming out with couple of innovations soon which will be called Gibbs shot. We have to wait when he plays that – in semis or finals. He has not yet played it.

Bowling

1. Stop completely before delivering the ball – Couple of spinners started stopping completely just before delivering the ball. Saqlain Mushtaq seemingly tried this before, but umpires then asked him not to do that. Few argued that it is illegal and considered it against law of distracting the batsman and also discontinuity of game (dead ball). It has been allowed in this WC. ICC is expected to clarify on this.
2. Field setting by bowler while taking run up – Broad did that. He started the run up and then gave some fielding adjustment signs while running. ICC made a ruling that this is against law of distracting the batsman even though it is legal to change the field while bowler is taking the run up.
3. Slow Bouncer – Used effectively by several fast bowlers
4. Suprise fast ball from fast bowler – Sri Lankan fast bowler Udana used his slow ball so often that his fast bowl was considered as surprise with slow bowl as his default bowling style.

Fielding

1. Jump in air outside boundary and bring the ball hit for 6 back in field for play – This is most interesting as ICC ruled in favor of this. I forgot the fielder name, but one fielder tried to take catch, the ball went 3 meters out of boundary line in air, he went outside the boundary line, waited for the ball, jumped in air and while in air hit the ball with his hand to bring it back within boundary. Nobody knew if this is 4 or 6, but Umpire after consulting to 3rd umpire gave the runs ran by the batsman. No 4 or 6. Later ICC ruled that it was correct decision as the ball was in play. Now the argument is that can a fielder go outside the boundary line for a 6 shot, jump in air and hit the ball back within boundary. Is it legal too?
   

DHARMYUDH begins

We get few ocassions in life when years of hard work meets moment of opportunities. These few moments decide our destiny. We all wait for these moments with mind open, heart enlarged and soul receptive. The moment has arrived not only for 12 nations and 180 players participating in ICC World Twenty20, but also for 5 teams competing against each other in BCL (Bharat Cricket League).

Yes. This is about us. The teams will be locked within an hr from now and the fantasy war begins. As Jeroen Smitsa said, it is a big commitment but we love the game, we don't make a living out of it – may be we do well in these kind of tournaments. Lord Krishna didn’t differentiate if Mahabharata was KARM was DHARM for Arjun, but I wanted to make sure that WC T20 is DHARM for us – no KARM is involved. Cricket is our religion and this is DHARMYUDH. Fighting for religion takes priority over fighting for work; albeit the meaning of religion is different here – it is what you believe in. IPL 2007 may have been a KARMYUDH.

So guys – Organize, Strategize, Maneuver, Contrive, Conspire, Imagine, Illustrate, Conceal – in short do whatever you have to do to win and let the war begin.

“Bonne Chance”.

Vote for Miss Mumbai Indians "Somayya Khan"

Well, its time now to select "Miss Bollywood IPL South Africa". As you know the winner could get a chance to work in a Bollywood movie against Shahrukh Khan. If you are a movie lover, you don't want to miss a chance to select who you want to see on large screen. You can vote for your favorite on http://iplt20.com/. The voting lines will be open only till 18th May 2009 - 21:30 IST. So hurry - there are 46 contestants to choose from.

I am supporting Miss Mumbai Indians "Somayya Khan". She is beautiful, charming and her confidence is resonated in her smile.

She believes that Sky is the limit. She is highly motivated individual and her self discipline contributes to positive self image. By career, She is a teacher. When asked what she would do with prize money, she said she comes from social economic background and she would like to utilize part of the money to upgrade sporting equipment at her school. She is a bollywood lover and loves Shahrukh Khan. She says he is the king of bollywood. She also loves Mr. Amitabh Bachan because she thinks he is truly an amazing person and legend.

She thinks it’s the atmosphere, the vibe, being midst of very jubilant crowd which she enjoyed about IPL. She thanks Mr. Lalit Modi for bringing the IPL to South Africa and for providing us with such spectacular, mind blowing, riveting entertainment.

Please vote and help her becoming our leading lady in bollywood.

Citi Moment of Failure

Two cities with great cricketing history are out of IPL2 after MI loss to CSK today. KKR keep finding new ways of loosing, and MI keeps faltering at crunch moments. This is what I call “Citi moment of failure” for both cities. A tale of two cities which I started ended with Citi moment of failure.

The jargons of the sponsors often used by fart headed IPL commentators are as irritating as Daburlal Dantmanjan smiles of Big Sister. Now we don’t hear “Aur ye ek aur chakka” – instead we hear “its DLF maximum”. I fail to understand why a good performance in IPL is called “Citi moment of success”? Instead, Citi would have been an ideal sponsor for “Citi moment of failure” like getting out, drop catches, no ball, wides etc. During recent financial woes, two economic power houses Citi and GM have become symbolic of failure.

I wonder if we should expect Citi share prices to reflect the high number of “Citi moment of success” in IPL by end of this tournament.

Unfortunately, Modi failed to get corporate sponsorship for other aspects of game this year. Hopefully by IPL3, global economy will improve resulting in more sponsorship. It’s time we realize the power of money and get used to orgasmic commentary like this:

“Timex Accuracy” balls to “Pepsi Cool”; it’s a “Google Bouncer” which goes for “Ferrari Drive” aiming for “DLF Maximum”, but “XBOX 360” comes from no where and makes it a “Citi moment of success”

Timex accuracy – Brett Lee (he endorses Timex)
Pepsi Cool – Sachin Tendulkar (he endorses Pepsi)
Google Bouncer – Bowling is sponsored by Google like Google Yorker, Google wide etc.
Ferrari Drive – any good cricketing drive
DLF Maximum - Six
XBOX 360 – Yuvraj Singh (he endorses Microsoft XBOX)
Citi Moment of Success - Catch

Open Message to Ganguly Dada

(sent when KKR is 9/3 in 2 overs against DD)

A Poem by "Dwarika Prasad Maheshwari".

बढ़े चलो

वीर तुम बढ़े चलो
धीर तुम बढ़े चलो
साथ में ध्वजा रहे
बाल दल सजा रहे
ध्वज कभी झुके नहीं
दल कभी रुके नहीं
सामने पहाड़ हो
सिंह की दहाड़ हो
तुम निडर,हटो नहीं
तुम निडर,डटो वहीं
वीर तुम बढ़े चलो
धीर तुम बढ़े चलो
प्रात हो कि रात हो
संग हो न साथ हो
सूर्य से बढ़े चलो
चन्द्र से बढ़े चलो
वीर तुम बढ़े चलो
धीर तुम बढ़े चलो

A Tale of Two Cities

This is not about Charles Dickens novel written in 1859; rather it’s a contemporary tale of two cities Kolkata and Mumbai depicting their miserable performance during IPL-2 in South Africa. At the time of writing this, both teams are at the bottom of point table shattering hope of millions of people living in these two cities.

When Charles Dickens wrote this novel about London and Paris, little did he know that at the time of writing his novel, India was going under British Raj under which Indian cricket would flourish to reach a modern state of BCCI domination? Both Kolkata and Mumbai have rich cricket history and have pioneered the development and popularity of Indian Cricket. Whereas Kolkata is the city which introduced first bat and ball to India brought by East India Company, Mumbai is the city where in 1848, a Parsi community formed the Oriental Cricket Club, the first cricket club to be established by Indians.

There are millions of cricket fans in both these cities who live for cricket and would die for it. They have adopted cricket as their religion and Sachin / Ganguly as their God. Did their God fail them – not once, but twice? Both cities are crying to get an answer – in numerous articles written by so called cricket experts.

The top 6 teams are far ahead of Kolkata and Mumbai denying virtually no hope of semis – both teams defeated the top 6 teams only once (2 out of 3 wins of Mumbai came against Kolkata). Will both cities rise to the occasion – if not this year, next year? The spirit of both cities and hope of people living there will never die. Hope the sanity prevails in both teams.