IPL final, Lalit Modi Exit and and gain , loss of IPL 3.0

IPL Final- MI v/s CSK , D.Y.Patil  25 Apr 2010

It took me 24 hours( 25 Apr to 26 Apr ) to sunk the lost in final as Mumbai Indian supporter against Chennai Super Kings. It was heart break, we played so well through out the tournament , we were the most consistent, balanced and inform team of the tournament and tipped to Win the tournament , but in Final where it most matter  Mumbai Indians Team management made tactical blunder, wrong strategy execution rather than wrong strategy (cause if Harbhanjan would have been clicked as no 4 batsman , it would have been master stroke , so its execution that failed) and they lost the match which they should have won.

Match started wiht most anticipating riddle getting resolved as Sachin Tendulkar step on the field for toss with MSD , and 55,000 people gathered in stadium were thrilled to see him on the field. CSK won the toss and elected to bat first. Both team selected same playing XI from semi final match. MI maintian their dominance till 10 th over. Turning point of match , which cost MI heavily by dropping Suresh raina twice in the span of 2 overs and CSK ended up with score of 168.

MI needed good start of the inning but they started on bad note. lost early wicket and CSK bowlers kept pressure on MI batsman. Sachin played some exhilarating stroke play in between. His host making, placement and execution of shots didn't showed any evidence of five stitches  to right hand.Thats true sports person.

Run rate kept climbing and reached almost 12 per over. They tried to accelerate the score , lost wickets in between with batting order changed cost MI daunting task of scoring 15 an over is last few overs. Sending pollard too late in the innings became talking point of discussion. He came and gave scare to CSK bowlers but it was too late for late flourish. Eventually MI lost the match and MSD won the IPL trophy after 3rd attempt.

In the end , it was wonderful tournament, it displayed new 20-20 talent from INDIA such as Tiwary, Ryadu, Kohali. One of the disappointment of the tournament was Yuvraj singh's display. Hope he regains his form  in world T-20.

LALIT MODI EXIT as IPL COMMISSIONER

Lalit modi's Suicide twetting  landed him losing job as IPL commissioner. He showcased wonderful tournament but late controversy regarding financial aspect, credibility of IPL body raised few eyebrows. BCCI has challenging task in hand to make sure that IPL as a brand (management term) is not hampered and still IPL remains the most anticipated event in cricketing world.

On final note , would like to wish Sachin Tendulkar MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY and turning 37 on 24 Apr. people have written too many things about him , i will not write anything on that. So ,I would like to highlight one incident which will be prefect tribute for him and special mention for his birthday. 

I met one of my British friend's parents. When she introduced me  as Sachin to her parents, their  reply stunned me. Her mom replied "SACHIN - DA LEGEND"  , i was shocked , and i said  "I just share the name , nothing else."

Men in Blue - Mumbai Indians March into final!!!!!!!!

21 st Apr was crucial day for all mumbaikars as Mumbai was about to play their first IPL semi final on home ground. every one were excited and every mumbikar wanted to be in the ground . One of my friend spend 5 hours of struggle to get ticket to watch match and he must be happy that mumbai won comfortably against RCB and his effort paid off..

Even i was thousand  miles away from Mumbai , eagerly waiting for contest to begin. I put on my MI jersey and thanks to one of staff member in my residence for helping to get match live on TV in college's TV lonuge. Later i was  joined by my friends and other MI supporters ( They are cheenai fans and cheering for MI to be in final... nice gesture). Match began well with Sachin striking 2 fours in Del Styen Over but got out in the same over. Only 2 overs for Master blaster and very rare failure for him in this edition of IPL where he is leading run scorer and orange cap holder. big set back for mumbai and again doubts were raised weather mumbai can post good score and can win with no contribution from master. next 90 min or so gave one part of answer as mumbai posted 184 in their 20 overs. Find of the tournament Saurbah tiwary and Ambati Ryaadu controlling the inning mid way through and MI's biggest buyer i this year IPL Keron Pollard scored typical power ,hard hitting 13 ball 33 which gave mumbai challenging score after being down at 77-4 at one stage.

RCB had tough task on their hand. They began well but as malinga was on he troubled openers and finally got the wicket of Kallis. They kept on scoring at good rate but by the time 10th over was over , RCB lost too many wickets. Loosing Utthapa and dravid in same over was big set back for RCB and after that they were never in the game. Keron Pollard took 3 wickets in the inning , on run out and gave allround performance for Mumbai Indians  and MI won the match comfortably and marched into first ever final of IPL in three attempts.

We all were happy and cheering for MI win and chennai supporters who were cheering MI were little worried as MI showed strong performance in semis. Overall , it was good day, enjoyed the match watching at college's  TV lounge and left the TV lounge with big smile...... but one concern about Master as he had 5 stitches to right fingers.

Hope to see him on the ground on 25 the Apr 2010 !!!!!!!!!!!

UEFA Champions League and First day of a new Term

New Term


Finally , eatser vacation was over  and final term of MBA started. It was 9 am lecture. Unusual time as a month ago , 9 am was the time when i used to be in deep sleep . I had  a nice day  from 9 am to 5 pm in the college. Good start to new term and hope to have nice weeks ahead in this term.


Champions League Semi final - Barca V/S Inter Milan

Long college Hours ( for a month or so not used to 9 AM to 5 PM lecture) , decided to catch  UEFA semi final at near by sports bar. After having wonderful dinner at Chinese restaurant with couple of friends  we headed to near by sports bar to watch Barca play Inter.

Big expectation , Big match , lots of hype before the match began. Barcelona , defending champion playing against Inter milan in milan . Barcelona were high on confidence after thrashing win over arsenal in quarter final with superlative performance by Meesi, perhaps best player on the planet right now. On the hand, Inter defeated Man U from goal behind at old Traford in quarter final , was ready to go at their home ground.

Match started as both side evenly matched and high expectations from No 10 Messi. As match began, Inter took control of  match even Barcelona scored first goal at 19 min, Inter look tea who was dominating them. They scored equalizer in 34 min . first half 1-1. Second half, Inter scored two more goals and were more dominant side on the field. Barcelona lacked in defense, and could not manage play through midfield.

Messi was out of sort through out the match. 1 shot on the goal in 90 min of play that tells all the story. Final score line Inter 3 Barcelona 1. The result gives Barca a mountain to climb in the second leg in Catalonia next Wednesday as they seek to become the first team since AC Milan in 1990 to defend their European title.. 12 hrs road travel (cause of ASH cloud)  might have taken  toll on them too.

Hope they come back well at home match.

IPL curtain raiser, closing Ceremony and IPL controversy

IPL Curtain Raiser


We are into last stage of this year IPL 2010. Semi final and final to be played in this year IPL and closing ceremony to bring down the curtains to this year IPL. IPL 2010 has been different in many ways. first it was back to INDIA after last moment shift to South africa in last year due to elections in India. More franchise had well prepare plan for this year IPL and they were more interested in Indian domestic player performing well in this year. We had Saurabh Tiwary, Raydu from Mumbai Indians, Rohit Sharma, Prgya Oza from Deccan Chargers, Rains and Murali Vijay from Chennai and Utthaps, Vinay Kumar from Banglore. This is the reason those four teams are this year semi finalist.

First semi final Mumbai Indians V/S Banglore Royal Challengers
Both teams are evenly matched and it will be great contest between perhaps deep and best batting line up in this year IPL. Banglore has more depth in batting and Mumbai has more depth,variety and options in bowling department. We will have great contest between Dale Steyn and Sachin Tendulkar , Harbhajan Singh V/S Utthapa , Mlainga, Zaheer Khan V/S Kallis. After Last encounter Mumbai will be high on confidence and start as  a favorite to win the match. But as every one says T20 is unpredictable and things happen so fast in the game, banglore can surprise the Mumbai Indians.

Second Semi Final  Cheenai Super Kings V/S Deccan Chargers
 Led by perhaps best wicket keeper batsman is last 20 years. MSD and Gilly has been inspirational for their team to reach final four.MSD took single handedly chennai to final four against Punjab with those huge sixes which prevailed them to semis. Where as Gilchrist with his  good and inspirational captaincy enabled them to win five matchs in a row and reach semis. Chennai has better batting line up and class players where as Deccan has more bowling options. Overall it wil be great encounter between two sides. In my book, Chennai start ahead only because of inspired performance by their captain in last match , and his cool , collective attitude.

IPL Controversy


Apart from great cricket , great entertainment, bollywood presence on the field, there were off field activity which was capturing everyone's mind in last 3-4 days. First due to unavoidable circumstance like  explosion at banglore before the beginning match , semi finals , finals and play off moved to Mumbai. IPL should be more careful and cohesive with Indian authrotiy in terms of security point of view . Second and far most talk off field activity was face off between Lailt modi , IPL commisonar and Shahsi Tharoor, Indian Politican twitting about Kochi franhcise. IPL governing body and BCCI need to set rules and regulations for administrator and players where they wil not breech any line which will hamper the game. They have to be more transparent with their activity .

In the end , we have great week ahead in the IPL with 2 big semifinal and final along with eye catching(hopefully) closing ceremony. In between semi final and Final we have IPL awards which will be interesting.
Finally , Mr . Lait Modi will resist himself for twitting till IPL is over... It is better for Modi than IPL .

Cricket and Me...............

16 Apr 2010. Date to remember. I decided to start my own blog after getting complaints( for a good reason) on posting all cricket comments and cricket update on my facebook profile. Hence,I finally  decided to start something by which will please few people and for some one, it will be a big relief. So, I decided to be blogger to continue my passion "Cricket" .It will be back  on facebook very soon via My blog
SACH IS LIFE-Beyond Cricket!!!

Finally I am a blogger.