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The final was well worth staying awake upto 2:30 in the morning.  Not to mention the hilarious tweets.  What a time for Dhoni to play the innings of his lifetime.  The stabilising innings from Gambhir & Virat meant that India didn’t feel the repercussions of losing Tendulkar & Sehwag cheaply.

The only silverware missing from Sachin’s trophy cabinet has been won.  6 attempts and what a way to sign off with a victory.  An end to another magnificent career of Murali.  Too much was made of the controversy at the toss.  Our conspiracy theorist media lapped it up.

It would not have been a well deserved win if India had won the cup the easy way.  To beat Australia, Pakistan and finally Sri Lanka en route to win the cup is probably the best written script.

Also that should settle the claim around Dhoni that he is plain lucky.  Luck only takes you so far.  Like it or not, he is a masterclass captain.  A T20 world cup win and now the 50 over World Cup and not to mention the numerous series wins both at home and abroad, Dhoni has proved to be the best ever player to have captained India.

The biggest party in the world is happening out there.  Enjoy it while it lasts.  For the next 4 years, We Are The Champions.

Above pictures courtesy: Cricinfo

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To win the cup, you have to beat the best.  Maybe Pakistan wasnt at their best during the semi finals against India at Mohali yesterday.  But you cant ignore the fact that they were the best in their group.  Dropped catches, misfielding, pathetic bowling by Umar Gul and the crawled batting all contributed their part to ensure that India increased its record to 5-0 in the World Cup matches against Pakistan.

So, it will be Sri Lanka vs India at Mumbai on the 2nd of April 2011. Two legends (Sachin & Murali) are playing the last World Cups of their lives.  Both are special players who have not only enriched the game but also bought happiness to millions of followers.  Both the teams would want to gift the respective players the gift of victory.  There is still lots to play.

Again, may the best team win

Above picture courtesy: Cricinfo

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With less than 30 days for the ICC Cricket World Cup to begin in thesubcontinent (February 19), all the 14 teams (except Canada) have announced their 15 member teams.  With so many ex-players pointing out India as the favourites to win the cup, am a bit apprehensive now.  Combine it with the hopes of a billion people and Dhoni has the biggest challenge on hands.  The Indian injury list is pretty long and hope they get ready before the tournament starts.  Also, the whole thing about India wanting to win the world cup for Sachin Tendulkar is a big hogwash.  Let’s face it.  Cricket is a team sport and yes Sachin Tendulkar is probably the best cricketer to ever have graced the sport.  But to have such priorities is ridiculous.  If India doesnt win the cup, it doesnt make a dent on Sachin’s reputation or vice versa.  So lets chuck that extra reason for pressure out and concentrate on the game.

The defending champions Australia too have a big task on hand after having slipped down the test ranking and also after having lost the Ashes.  A loss here would mean a certain end of the road for Ponting.

The perennial chokers, South Africa would be itching to get rid of the tag and so would be Pakistan (the only team to yet decide on a captain) along with Sri Lanka wanting to win the cup for a second time.

There will be the usual mismatches between the stronger and weaker teams, but some upsets would set the tournament up beautifully.

Australia
Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Clarke, Doug Bollinger, Brad Haddin, John Hastings, Nathan Hauritz, David Hussey, Mike Hussey, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Tim Paine, Steve Smith, Shaun Tait, Shane Watson, Cameron White.

Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Imrul Kayes, Shariar Nafees, Zunaed Siddique, Mohammad Ashraful, Raqibul Hassan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah Riad, Abdur Razzak, Naeem Islam, Shafiul Islam, Suhrawardi Shuvo, Rubel Hossain, Nazmul Hossain.

England
Andrew Strauss (Captain), Jimmy Anderson, Ian Bell, Tim Bresnan, Stuart Broad, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen, Matt Prior, Ajmal Shahzad, Graeme Swann, James Tredwell, Jonathan Trott, Luke Wright, Michael Yardy.

India
MS Dhoni (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Piyush Chawla, Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Harbhajan Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yusuf Pathan.

Ireland
William Porterfield (captain), Andre Botha, Alex Cusack, George Dockrell, Trent Johnston, Nigel Jones, Ed Joyce, John Mooney, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Boyd Rankin, Paul Stirling, Albert van der Merwe, Gary Wilson, Andrew White.

Kenya
Jimmy Kamande (captain), Seren Waters, Alex Obanda, David Obuya, Collins Obuya, Steve Tikolo, Tanmay Mishra, Rakep Patel, Morris Ouma, Thomas Odoyo, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Elijah Otieno, Peter Ongondo, Shem Ngoche, James Ngoche.

Netherlands
Peter Borren (c), Adeel Raja, Wesley Barresi (wk), Mudassar Bukhari, Atse Buurman (wk), Tom Cooper, Tom de Grooth, Alexei Kervezee, Bradley Kruger, Bernard Loots, Pieter Seelaar, Eric Szwarczynski, Ryan ten Doeschate, Berend Westdijk, Bas Zuiderent

New Zealand
Daniel Vettori (captain), Brendon McCullum, Jesse Ryder, Jamie How, Martin Guptill, Ross Taylor, Scott Styris, Kane Williamson, James Franklin, Jacob Oram, Nathan McCullum, Tim Southee, Kyle Mills, Hamish Bennett, Luke Woodcock.

Pakistan
Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Ahmed Shahzad

South Africa
Graeme Smith (captain), Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Dale Steyn, Imran Tahir, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Morne van Wyk.

Sri Lanka
Kumar Sangakkara (c/wk), Mahela Jayawardene (vc), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, Rangana Herath, Chamara Kapugedera, Nuwan Kulasekara, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Ajantha Mendis, Muttiah Muralitharan, Thisara Perera, Thilan Samaraweera, Chamara Silva, Upul Tharanga

West Indies
Darren Sammy (captain), Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh Jr., Sulieman Benn, Darren Bravo, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Nikita Miller, Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Kemar Roach, Andre Russell, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Devon Smith.

Zimbabwe
Elton Chigumbura (c), Regis Chakabva, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Sean Ervine, Greg Lamb, Shingirai Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Ed Rainsford, Tatenda Taibu (wk), Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams

Canada
Yet to announce.

The full schedule of the ICC Cricket World Cup can be found here.

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The wait is over. The complaints built up (courtesy our incompetent media). A few players stayed away.  When the players actually landed, they were astonished at the amount of misinformation and lies told to them by their own media back home.  Which was partly or fully supplied to them by our own homegrown media.

Well, ignore the naysayers.  No matter what we say or do, the first thing the western media likes to portray when it comes to India is a cow standing in the middle of the road.  What they cant seem to understand is how inspite of being the so-called beacons of democracy themselves, the cows of India have so much rights on walking on the roads of India.

Let’s face it.  Poverty sells.  Else the movies of Satyajit Rays and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s of India wouldn’t be patronised whole-heartedly by the western media / public when they are themselves consigned to the garbage by the Indian public (the world’s biggest patrons).  Of course its not easy for some of the snooty public / media in the western world to understand why and how the games could be awarded to a developing nation.  The same happened with the Australia and English cricket teams.  Today they see that their traditional source of power in cricket has been usurped by the BCCI.  Its not easy to accept the truth that you are not longer relevant in the grander scheme of things.   Wiser people accept the truth and mould themselves accordingly to the changing situation.  Fools are buried in the shifting sands of time screaming and kicking.

The collapsed rainbow bridge is up; courtesy the Indian Army which put it up in 5 days flat.  Eventhough, its a bailey bridge, it still does its job of standing up when people walk over it.   The stadiums are ready, the games village has been praised by officials and players from all across the world.  The food has been simply divine (according to the players), there are regular cultural programs and the players themselves are actively participating in them.

Lets admit it, the city of Delhi and its citizens are the biggest benificiaries of the games.  A new world class metro, many flyovers, bridges, roads, parks, traffic lights; in short great infrastructure for Delhiites.

Of course there will be detractors who will complain of child labour being used for the construction of venues (What else will the child do sitting around when their parents are working at the site?  They will also contribute and earn some money…so what’s wrong with it?). Shanties and slums being demolished (they were all illegaly occupying the government land and they were demolished.  Is that wrong?  Why don’t those bleeding heart liberals take each of the families affected by the demolition and give them shelter in their own homes?).

So ignore all the crappy complaints, rest and relax as the biggest ever carnival on the land of India begins tonight.  The opening ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games gets underway at 1900 hrs IST.  Watch it on TV or at the stadium (if you are lucky to get the tickets).  As for all the ones who complain of human rights abuses and corruption, go and take a hike.  The people of India care two hoots for your complaints.

By yesterday, 6700 players had confirmed their entries to the games making it the biggest Commonwealth Games ever (beating the 5766 athletes and officials who took part in Melbourne four years ago). 71 teams from 54 countries.  Millions of viewers across the world watching the games and a giant alien over the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium for the opening ceremony. 5000 years of civilization and the secular ethos of the country will be a part of the ceremony.  Enjoy.

Come out and Play.

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The mailtoday newspaper has gone further with another cartoon lampooning the Victorian police and the state of Indian students studying in Australia.

Read more in the paper about how the Australian police have systematically ignored the racist attacks on Indian students.  1447 people of Indian origin were either robbed or assaulted in the previous one year in Australia.  Yet the Aussie police refuse to acknowledge the targetted violence.

Its high time the parents in India realise that its not worth sending your kids to Australia to study some god forsaken courses for which there is no future anyway, but also that there is no future in contributing to increasing the Aussie education market.  Lest your kids come back in body bags.

Similar articles on Australia on this blog previously

More ramblings

Now Murali ends up with an egg on the face

Racism in Cricket? Read the damning Aussie report

Sreesanth’s Agression

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