Life Etc Etc

It was a humdinger of a match to close out the Super Eights for Group 2. Yet, until the 18th over everything pointed to a Pakistan victory. My friend the Win Predictor was just going through the motions and looking forward to calmly calling it a day. 'Destiny' Dasun Shanaka  however had other plans. He had just smoked a six of Shadab to push the win probability up to a little under 3% and before the end of the penultimate over would double Sri Lanka's chances of winning with another six. 18.2 overs Sri Lanka's win probability <Courtesy: cricinfo > 18.4 overs Sri Lanka's win probability <Courtesy:  cricinfo > Continuing his aggressive intent, Shanaka took 10 runs off Shaheen Shah Afridi 's first two deliveries. Still, my Win Predictor friend was still not impressed and refused to budge.  19.2 overs Sri Lanka's win probability <Courtesy:  cricinfo > But, in a sport where intent is everything, 'Destiny' Dasun pummelled two straight ...

There was no way that Sri lanka were going to score 64 runs in 2 balls and win their  Super Eights encounter against New Zealand . Still, the win predictor gave them a 0.01% chance when in my opinion they didn't have a chance in a gazillion to walk away as the victors. 2026 T20 World Cup: New Zealand vs Sri Lanka scorecard  In order for Sri Lanka to have a shout: Glen Phillips had to offer up at least 9-10 no-balls Chameera or Theekshana would then have had to launch each of those free hits into the stands That's 9-10 sixes on the trot while there's only instance ( Meghalaya's Akash Kumar Choudhary during a Ranji match ) in the entire history of cricket where a batsman managed to score the maximum, eight out of eight times Considering the fact that two tailenders were up against Glen Phillips' off breaks, victory was practically impossible. There was a mathematical probability of a win (as illustrated above) but wouldn't you agree 0.01% was a tad too optimist...

Happy Valentine's Day! Until Next Time, Yours Lovingly, J.J. Chaitanya

We won...! We won...! We won...!  For kids like me who grew up in the 90s the thought of India beating Australia in Australia was as inconceivable as dating a Ms. World or a Ms. Universe (but yours truly did think of... ahem! ahem! let's not go there). Yeah, stars have to be seriously aligned for a victory such as this to happen and stars were indeed aligned when Warner, Cameron and Steve were all sent off on a vacation for playing around with a certain  tape . That vacation helped the Indian Team succeed in their triennial vocation. Mantra for Steve / Warner / Cameron : If you use tape your team will scrape . The above mantra was just the beginning, I set out on a journey where I personally uncovered several such lessons while watching this coma inducing, patience numbing, sometimes nerve wracking but ultimately gratifying series. Let's take a look at all the lessons I've grasped one by one: Players with rock solid and dependable techniques don't get IPL contracts...

It's IPL time, the time of the year where cricket turns from a gentleman's game into a three ringed circus for the stars, the people and the players. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 long years since the IPL started but I just seem to remember it like yesterday. As soon I thought about the first IPL I remembered some tight finishes, some great performances, raw emotion, glamour that was on display and some utterly forgettable moments. So here are 10 random things I remember about the first IPL: Teams of the first IPL <Courtesy: Reddit > Akshay Kumar , the brand ambassador (Oh! the brand ambassadors was one way franchises burnt their hard earned money during the first IPL) for Delhi Daredevils (DD) zip-lined his way into the ground for an IPL match. DD followed his example of daredevilry all throughout the league phase before their stunt went all wrong crashing them into the ground in the semis .            Ricky Ponting (yes he p...

It's hard to be a casual cricket fan, there are so many things you don't know when you don't watch cricket regularly. I watched a grand total of half a cricket match in the last one year ( the Indian Chase in the ICC Cricket World Cup for Women ) before watching the last three overs of today's final . The last ball six revived my interest in the game and here are some of the most important things I've learnt about today's cricket in the last few hours since the final: Washington and Sundar are one and the same person . Suresh Raina has not retired and still plays occasionally for India.  ' DK ' is the superhuman alter ego of mild mannered Indian wicket-keeper batsman Dinesh Karthik and when he's in full flow he can hit sixes about as easily as Vijay Shankar can miss them. Vijay Shankar is not a relative of Indian sitar stalwart Ravi Shankar even though I almost felt he was using a sitar to bat after missing the number of balls he d...

2016 has been a banner year for social media apps such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram each trumping the other with exciting innovations to wow their respective user bases. As someone who dabbles in mobile apps here are 5 trends which I believe will revolutionize the world we live in the years going forward. Btw, I hope you like salt because you can only take the trends below with a pinch (Nah! I believe you need a bucket) of salt.  1. Facebook Stars : Move away Film Stars as Facebook Stars take center stage. In cricket, an all-rounder is someone with career stats of more than 2000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches. Similarly, a Facebook Star is someone with more than 1000 friends, whose every update receives a minimum of 300 likes and 100 comments. Facebook Stars are the traffic constables of the social media world, when they post something everything stops and even people who are fast asleep wake up to respond. What talent! What power! Wha...

This is going to be a bit of a rant but a perfectly legitimate one on a day where I believe it's extremely essential to know who your true friends are. Yes, I am speaking about Friendship Day and No, I am not against Friendship. I have great friends whom I admire and respect a lot. I cannot emphasize how much their presence has enriched my life and enlightened my soul. But for every great friend I had, I also had a plethora of ' So Called Friends ' who were a scourge on my heart. Their chauvinism exasperated me, shallowness disappointed me and depravity numbed me. Today's blog is dedicated to dishonoring these friends for never . No, don't worry I won’t spoil my blog by taking names. I am just classifying these ‘So Called Friends’ into broad categories for the benefit of humanity. With friends like these who needs enemies Entitlers:  We start with the worst category of friends first. The 'Entitlers' get their name from the fact that they feel en...

The time has come to induct another class of cricketers into the most meaningless hall of fame of them all. I was planning to postpone this induction to the new year but South Africa's epic blockathon  a few weeks ago triggered some painful memories. So without any further ado here are certain performances which will definitely up your BP levels and go down in the history of cricket as some of the most disgusting sporting fails . Kris Sricant : Before Sanath Jayasuriya and Virender Sehwag destroyed bowlers,  Kris Srikkanth  walloped them with the sort of a brutality that was never seen before. So complete was his mastery that even the most fearsome bowlers didn't escape the brunt of his bat. Who can forget the six he hooked of Andy Roberts  in the most important final of them all. But even greatness can wane with time, come 1992 the hero of 1983 was a pale shadow of himself. The confidence was absent, the technique was inconsistent and the reflexes were non-e...

Two teams punch their way into the Most Painful Performances in Cricket Hall of Fame  with their sheer misjudgment and lack of direction. Our dual inductees into the Hall of Fame share many similarities and their rivalry goes a long way back. These teams are guilty of burdening us (the fans) with two embarrassing sporting fails on the World Cup Stage. Without any further ado lets talk about the back story which intertwines these Hall of Fame inductions. The year was 1996, school was just about to finish when news arrived that Sri Lanka were 1/2 (read that as two wickets for one run) in the all important World Cup Semi-Final against India. That news was like nectar to my ears, I immediately rushed home, only to find that  Aravinda de Silva  had steadied the ship with a magical innings . Aravinda's fearless stroke play along with Roshan Mahanama's  resilience set India a testing but perfectly attainable target of 252 runs. Flashback India lost Sidhu's wicket quit...