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India lost 8 tests on a trot?  India are lousy travellers? India are tigers at home? Indian batsmen cant negotiate the seaming and bouncy pitches of England and Australia?

Really? Does it really matter?  All the complain masters realise that the real money in cricket lies in India (read BCCI).  So, love them or hate them, when the time comes, just make a beeline to India to play the IPL and rake in the moolah.

Get ready for the Micromax sixes, DLF fours, Nirodh condom wickets.  If you can’t tolerate the commentary, do search for the mute button on your remote…it helps.  Time for the cheerleaders to come out dancing and for the moral brigade to measure the length of their skirts and the depth of the cleavage.

Forget everything for the next 2 odd months, its an explosive mix of 2 of the biggest religions in India (Cricket & Bollywood).

Again i dont really need to specify where my loyalties lie.  Once a Hyderabadi, always a Hyderabadi.   Honestly, though i find the current team quite hopeless.  A position in the top 4 will be a miracle as unique as Pakistan renouncing terrorism as their official government policy.  Still, i will hope for miracles.

Go Chargers Go.

The complete IPL Season 5 schedule is here

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The IPL finals was hopelessly one sided.  With no orange or pink cap holders, Chennai proved that one doesnt need superstars in the team to win the cup twice in a row.  And Bangalore proved that its appearance in the final was courtesy a one man show called Chris Gayle.  Till Gayle came in the middle of the tournament, Bangalore was floundering.  He single-handedly powered the team to the finals.  To expect him to repeat the performance again in the finals was asking for a bit too much.  No wonder they flopped when Gayle was out in the first over itself.

The captain cool, Dhoni marshaled his troops well (as usual).  No fuss, no emotions guy, Dhoni has demonstrated repeatedly that he is the best cricket captain ever to wear the Indian cap.  A T20 world cup win, a 50 over world cup win, 2 IPL wins and a Champions league T20 win, taking India to the top ranking test team, he has achieved probably everything that he needs to.  And when asked, he simply retorted that he wouldn’t mind repeating the whole thing again.  That’s the kind of hunger that drives champions.

On the other hand, Barcelona showed why they are the best footballing club in the world.  Money can only buy you this much.  The most important thing is for the group to gel well and play as a team.  If at all money could buy success, the musical chairs of managers being played at Chelsea and Real Madrid would have won them tons of trophies.  Or for that matter if star players could power teams to victory, then Sachin Tendulkar would have been a great captain.  These are great examples for teams who have no qualms splashing out millions of bucks to snap up superstars for their teams.

Manchester United might be the best in England, but two consecutive losses to Barcelona in the past 3 years shows that they still have a mountain to climb when it comes to the Champions League.  And if Manchester United cant make it, then it just shows the hollowness of the other teams in the English Premier League (Chelsea, Liverpool & Arsenal included).

And now i shudder to think that i have no sports to look forward to for the next couple of months, with both IPL, Champs League and all the European leagues coming to and end for the season.

The only thing to look forward in the next month is if the second sting Indian team traveling to the West Indies can pull off a miracle.  And to see how the new coach of India, Duncan Fletcher manages the egos in the team.

Above pictures courtesy: Cricinfo & Sun

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Serious cricket is over.  Time for fulltoo timepass cricket.  The baby of Lalit Modi, the combination of two religions of India, Bollywood and Cricket, the Indian Premier League begins tomorrow.

Chikni cheerleaders, bimbotic Bollywood stars, moronic commentators, 3 hours of non stop masti.  The next 50 days promises non stop hungama.  Bring it on.

No points for guessing who my favourites are.  Go Deccan Chargers Go.  No Gilly, Symonds, Gibbs & Styris.  But we do have Steyn, Sangakkara, Pietersen, Ojha etc.

The new advertisement for Deccan Chargers is downright hilarious.  Watch the video link here .

Best thing about this IPL?  No Pakis.  Thank God for small mercies.  Or else after feasting on our money and enjoying our hospitality, that bird brained Shahid Afridi will go back to PUKEistan and complain that we are not large hearted.  Not to mention that langda tyagi, Sohail Tanveer complaining about hindustaniyon ki zehniyat.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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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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