A load of crap from an idle brainPersonal, Movies, Music, IT, India, Singapore, Politics, Fun

After all the hullabaloo by the self appointed moral police (including Bal Thuggeray) last year, the auction of the players for 2nd season of Indian Premier League (IPL) concluded successfully a while ago.

The best thing about the second season of IPL is that the Pakistani players have withdrawn or had their contracts cancelled by their respective teams.  Thank God, there wouldn’t have been anything more pukeworthy than seeing a Pakistani playing in the IPL after what happened in Bombay.  Good riddance of the rubbish.

This is how the teams bid

Rajasthan Royals
Shaun Tait (Australia) – $375,000
Tyron Henderson (South Africa) – $650,000

Mumbai Indians
JP Duminy (South Africa) – $950,000
Kyle Mills (New Zealand) – $150,000
Mohammad Ashraful (Bangladesh) – $75,000

Chennai Super Kings
Andrew Flintoff (England) – $1.55 million
Thilan Thushara (Sri Lanka) – $140,000
George Bailey (Australia) – $50,000 (50,000)

Bangalore Royal Challengers
Kevin Pietersen (England) – $1.55 million
Jesse Ryder (New Zealand) – $160,000

Deccan Chargers
Fidel Edwards (West Indies) – $150,000
Dwayne Smith (West Indies) -  $100,000

Delhi Daredevils
Owais Shah (England) – $275,000
Paul Collingwood (England) $275,000

Kings XI Punjab
Ravi Bopara (England) – $450,000
Jerome Taylor (West Indies) – $150,000

Kolkata Knight Riders
Mashrafe Mortaza (Bangladesh) – $600,000

All above mentioned prices are in US dollars

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Some great news all round. India has taken a series winning 3-0 lead against the Sri Lankans in the 5 match one day series.  Meanwhile, South Africa  humiliated Australia by winning both the one day and test series.  To rub  salt into the wounds, New Zealand forced a win in the first one dayer against Australia on the last ball of the match.

Brad Haddin lived upto his captain’s reputation as a cheater by dislodging the bails with his gloves instead of the ball and had the gall to question Daniel Vettori when his actions were questioned.  Pricky Ricky Ponting followed suit in defending his co-cheatmate.  I was waiting to hear a classic in the lines of

If you are questioning my integrity, then probably you shouldn’t be sitting here.

but, unfortunately no such pearls of wisdom sprouted from Ricky’s mouth this time.  In other news, Ricky Ponting has been asked to rest. Heh.  Great news.  If Australia are really serious about mounting any challenge to South Africa or India, they seriously need to get rid of Ricky as captain.  He’s still a good batsman and commands a place in the team purely on his batting and fielding.  But when it comes to captaincy, he often looks lost when the chips are down.

Roger Federer lost in the finals of the Australian Open and that’s something iam unable to come to terms with.  Rafael Nadal seems to be his achilles heel. Nadal has quickly moved from being a good player on clay to grasscourts too.  So, Federer has lost his monopoly in Wimbledon now having lost to Nadal last year.  Am sure Federer will make a comeback and break Sampras’ record of 14 grand slams, but the delay is the killer.

Watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona last weekend.  Scarlett Johansson is yummy and so is Penelope Cruz.  I still cant get over the evil role of Javier Bardem in No country for old men and had a tough time thinking about him as a casanova in this movie.

Meanwhile, i will have some great 2 weeks starting this sunday.  Biwi ji will join me here in Singapore

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Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, beating Nathalie Dechy (France) and Andy Ram (Israel) 6-3, 6-1 in the final in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon. The ace Indian pair thus made up for the disappointment of last year when they were beaten by Tiantian Sun and Nenad Zimonjic in the final.

While Sania picked her maiden Grand slam title in the process, Bhupathi swelled his Grand Slam title collection in mixed doubles to seven. Before Sunday’s triumph he won six mixed doubles crowns with different partners, the last also at the Australian Open in 2006 when he had partnered Swiss Martina Hingis.

Sania and Bhupathi had an easier time than they may have expected. Ram was broken in the opening game and from then on there was nothing the French-Israeli pair could do to stop the Indians. Two more breaks, in the seventh and ninth games, and Sania and Bhupathi had the first set in their bag in 28 minutes.

The second set too was one-sided. Bhupathi kicked it off, winning at love. Then a break on Dechy’s serve put the Indians high in the saddle at 3-1. Another break off Ram’s serve and the Indians were cruising at 5-1. Sania completed the formalities by serving out the seventh game for the set and match in 54 minutes.

On Saturday, Bhupathi and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles squandered a one-set lead and went down to Bob and Mike Bryan in the men’s doubles final.

Above picture from: Australian Open & news from Rediff

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After blaming sight screens and third world conditions for losing in India, who is Ricky Ponting going to blame for the second successive loss to South Africa in the 3 match test series? In fact, Ricky’s complaints about the conditions in India prompted Matthew Hayden give out gyaan on the difference between a third and first world country.

Matthew Hayden for sure looks finished.  This could probably be his last series for Australia.  With Symonds, Bret Lee and Shane Watson injured, it surely looks like a 3-0 whitewash for South Africa.

Is the Australian era in cricket over? Have other countries have finally found chinks in the Aussie armour?  Or is Australia going to strike back like a wounded tiger?  Only time has answer to all the questions.  Meanwhile, lets savour the latest victory over Australia

Above picture source: Cricinfo

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As India cranks up the heat, pressure seems to be mounting on Pakistan in the past 72 hours trying to evade the multiple evidences and proof that Pakistan was responsible for the mayhem in Mumbai last week.  Meanwhile, Pakistan even tried to play a game of  hoax call from the external affairs minister of India, Pranab Mukherjee where he reportedly threatened Zardari.  All this just to deflect the pressure and try to play up other angles in a bid to wriggle out of the tight situation it is in. At the end, the call was found to be fake.  I wonder with the kind of communication systems the President of Pakistan uses, I can call up Zaradri tomorrow and say that i want to whip his ass and he might panic and set his armed forces on high alert.

Meanwhile, India has given the names of 3 people to Pakistan and asked them to be extradited.  Also has given Pakistan 48 hours to crack down on the Pakistani home grown terrorist organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba.  The 3 people asked to be extradited are

Lieutenant General Hamid Gul – Ex ISI chief

Yusuf Muzammil - Lashkar-e-Toiba mastermind

Zaki ur Rahman Lakhvi – Lashkar-e-Toiba commander (also known with the following names – Zakir Rehman, Abu Waheed, Irshad Ahmad and Arshad Chachajee)

The Pakistani media tried to put a lot of spin around the Mumbai attacks by trying to point out to some yellow thread around the terrorist’s hands and stuff, but finally in face of mounting evidence and of the testimony of the lone captured terrorist Ajmal Amir Kasab and his family in Pakistan, it seems time is running out for Pakistan.

No one is doubting Zardari and his government’s involvement in the Mumbai attack, but its a known fact that democratically elected government of Pakistan has no locus standi in their country.  The country is virtually ruled by the Pakistani army and their rogue intelligence agency ISI.  Maybe it was all done by the ISI and the Pakistani army without the kowledge of Zardari and his government.  Or maybe, even the plan was hatched and executed by some rogue element of the rogue Pakistani spy agency ISI.  Maybe the head of Pakistani Army and ISI had no inkling of what was happening, but the truth is that the Mumbai attacks were planned, trained, executed and guided by Pakistani nationals.

Zardari can cry hoarse at his innocence, and even if he will act against the  ISI or the Pakistani Army, he would be blown up in another car bomb attack just like his wife Benazir Bhutto was.   Benazir though was no innocent woman. She was responsible for cranking up the terrorism in Kashmir and gave a free hand to the Pakistani Army and their rogue intelligence agency, ISI to foment terrorism in Kashmir.  She ultimately paid for her deeds with her life.

Its precisely what Pakistan is facing today.  The frankenstein monster in the form of Taliban is hitting it from Afghanistan.  The home grown terrorists of Pakistan like Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish Mohammad etc are out of their hands.  They have created monsters on which they have no control.  Today Pakistan is like a headless chicken running around with nuclear weapons in its hands.  A perfect failed state with a rabid fundamentalist Islamic terror having taken root and spread its venom in the society.  Terrorists running amok.  Shia and Sunnis blowing each other up.  The Army and ISI behaving as a state within a state.  The PPP led government of Zardari has no say in the running of the country.

With a depleted FDI, no money in the bank for imports, Pakistan is a major headache not only for India, but for the whole world. Madeline Albright rightly called Pakistan a migraine for the whole world.

Its in such times that i envy countries like the US, Australia or the Europe for the kind of neighbours each one of them has.  Each one progressive, democratic, an army that stays in the barracks and not tries to govern, liberalism, freedom of speech, dynamic economies, people who are busy trying to make a better life for themselves and for others. And then look at the sub-continent.  We got nut cases in the form of Pakistan, Bangladesh who themselves have no future but find great happiness in troubling their neighbours.

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