Life Etc Etc

 As a sports fan, the one thing you would like to absolutely avoid is to see your heroes getting humbled. I went through the misery of Indian team's collapse in the 2023 World Cup final , then watched Rafa getting pulverized at Roland Garros and have now witnessed Daniel Dubois batter Anthony Joshua at Wembley. So here are three disappointing things about the Anthony Joshua knockout: What's most disheartening about this fight is the way it started . AJ never looked like he was in his elements. He was on the backfoot from the get go and once Dubois' punch landed at the end of the first round, he never found his legs in the next few rounds. This was totally unexpected from a thorough professional like Joshua who's known to meticulously prepare for all of his fights If the match began with adversity, things started looking up for AJ by the time the 5th round started. He hurt Dubois with a right and set him up for an uppercut by backing him into the ropes but like a lot ...

As an Indian cricket fan, I am happy that we were able to put behind the heartbreak of 2023 to achieve this world cup victory .  This post will however not be celebratory in nature, on the contrary it seeks to critically analyze some of the team management's decisions which could have cost us the big one once again. Rigidity with the team selection has been a recurring theme in many of the failed world cup campaigns of the recent past. I therefore have three questions about some of the decisions that went into the batting order and team selection.   Jasprit Bumrah in disbelief upon winning the World Cup 2024 <Courtesy: ICC > a) This tournament we persisted with the opening combination of Rohit and Virat (who was in woeful form until the final) despite having an attacking option in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal. Did the team management have a crystal ball to predict that Virat would finally come good in the final? Even though Virat eventually repaid the team managem...

There's no rivalry quite like the India - Pakistan rivalry in the sport of Cricket, Now, I don't know if this recent contest was one for the ages but it definitely had enough swings in its momentum for it to be remembered for a long time. This blog post however is not about the rivalry, it's about three pertinent questions which have been bothering me ever since the match concluded . I will put forth my questions below but do help me out with your answers: Who scored the best '13' in the match? There were four scores of '13' in the match. One by India's Rohit Sharma and three by Babar Azam , Usman Khan and Fakhar Zaman from Pakistan. Each of the players have a valid claim for the title but who do you think nicked it? Rohit Sharma scored '13' when the pitch was probably the most difficult to bat on Babar scored '13' and got his side off to a decent start in a low scoring game Usman took the most number of deliveries to score '13...

This was a nail biter which will be remembered for the way the fielding team came back into the match after the chasing side almost ran away with the result. Here are three very interesting parallels from yesterday's encounter between SRH and RR:   Make the second 10 count: Sunrisers Hyderabad only made 75 runs in their first 10 overs. In the next 10 they smashed 126 setting a target of 201 runs for the opposition. While bowling second, they gave away 100 runs for the loss of two wickets in the first 10 overs but launched a rear guard to take five wickets for 100 runs in the next 10 overs to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 200/7 . Thus SRH's path to victory was built on making the second half of each innings count. Revenge 16 years in the making : When Rajasthan Royals met Deccan Chargers in the inaugural IPL at Hyderabad, they coasted to victory through Shane Warne's final over heroics . Here's a comparison between this match and the one from all those years ago: Royals ...

It took me sometime to collect my thoughts after the utterly disappointing World Cup final on Sunday. I needed this break to objectively wrap my head around what might have happened and also listen to the analyses from various sources before writing this piece. Within the last week, I've seen  several experts  claim that a slow track was intentionally prepared to provide an outside advantage to India with that strategy ultimately backfiring on the hosts. I don't know how true these allegations are but more than the pitch I single out the team's performance as the primary reason we lost that day . Here are three things which our team could have done better.  1. Firstly, we did not read the pitch as well as the Australian team did . Rohit Sharma revealed that he would have batted first had he won the toss on a surface which played better in the second innings. Considering the fact that we played more international matches than any other team at the venue we should have had...

I've never reviewed or analyzed a telugu film on my blog before. All it took I guess was a big star playing his age on the screen.  Plot Ouline Bhagavanth Kesari ( Balakrishna ) takes on an indomitable foe ( Arjun Rampal ) who will stop at nothing to get even with him and his foster daughter ( Sreeleela ). Performances of the lead cast Before I delve into what could have been better, I must admit that Balayya lights up the screen with his presence and performance. His acting prowess allows us to experience the range of emotions his character feels. Arjun Rampal is competent as the antagonist and credit must go to the writing department for keeping his character strong until the very end. Sreeleela's performance allows you to empathize with her plight and is indeed one of the strong points of the movie. Kajal's character, Dr. Kathyayani, is the weakest among all of the lead characters. While it is commendable that the main plot line was not sacrificed for a romantic sub-plo...

India have finally recorded a victory against New Zealand in a ICC Championship tournament but here are three frustrating things (ordered from the most frustrating to the least) which I observed in our victory: 1. Throwing away starts: Shubman Gill's unnecessary swipe at a wide delivery, Shreyas Iyer's mistimed pull and Suryakumar Yadav's frantic runout could have cost us this match if New Zealand had more runs on the board. Team management should urge players to put a higher price on their wickets. Just forsake the sizzle for the substance and don't throw away a solid platform at the cost of making a statement. 2. Bumrah's fielding: Bumrah's bowling is world class but his fielding left a lot to be desired today. The dropped catch of Daryl Mitchell  might have cost us at least 50 runs. That coupled with the fact that he was always one step slower on the field makes me wonder about his fitness and his presence of mind. The fielding coach needs to have a c...