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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The once in 4 years extravaganza comes to an end and Spain get the bragging rights for the next 4 years.  The 2008 Euro Champions and now the World Champs, Spain deserve all the praise and respect.

Didnt bother to wake up at 2:30 in the morning to watch the match.  I do love the sport, but not as crazy to wake up at unearthly hours to watch the sport.  Though i had woken up at more or less the same timings last World cup to watch Italy – France battle it out.

In these times of Financial crisis (with Spain being one of the worst affected countries in Europe), this win will come as a soothing balm for the Spanish people.

Viva Espana.

PS: Thank God, this was not the IPL finals and thank God there was no Lalit Modi.  Imagine him droning on and on being the best thing since sliced bread and all the hard work he did to ensure the tournament’s success.  Class is surely not something to be associated with either Modi or IPL.

Above pictures courtesy: FIFA

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India’s Leander Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe beat South African Wesley Moodie and Lisa Raymond of the US 6-4, 7-6 (5) to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles title here Sunday.

With this victory, Paes surpassed his one-time doubles partner Mahesh Bhupathi in winning the most Grand Slam titles for India. Paes now has six doubles and six mixed-doubles titles. Bhupathi has 11 Grand Slam titles — four doubles and seven mixed doubles titles.

Full article here

Above pictures courtesy: Wimbledon

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So, this is how the semi final line up stacks up.

Uruguay  vs  Netherlands on 6th July 2010

Germany  vs  Spain on 7th July 2010

My money is on a Germany-Uruguay final.  But then, have the Germans peaked a bit too early? Spain might be looking at making it a grand double after winning the Euro-2008.  The Dutch with all their egos and infighting are capable of making it to the final too.

Pictures courtesy: FIFA

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Germany 4-1 England

It would be sad to see Germany and Argentina meeting in the next round as only one can go through.  Sad, i love both the teams.

Above picture courtesy: FIFA

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As always, my favourites are anyone other than England and Brazil.  Why i dislike England is because they remind me of the Indian cricket team comprising the fab 5 of yesteryears.  Apart from their personal records, India hardly won anything when they played.  Similarly, i believe the English football team is also a team of superstars.

Brazil is an exception as it manages to win the cup inspite of having so many superstars in their team.  But then they have won the trophy so many times that iam bored of following them.

Argentina, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal…so many to choose.  Hope Italy doesnt suffer from the defending champions curse and crash out soon.

The matches are telecast late at night here and i dont think i have the patience or energy to stay up late at night to watch the matches.   But will try to catch any of the matches that falls over the weekends.  If i was back home in Hyderabad, i would have stayed up late and watched all the matches with my dad.

My prediction of the toppers per group

Group A – France, Mexico
Group B – Argentina, Korea
Group C – England, USA
Group D – Germany, Australia
Group E – Netherlands, Denmark
Group F – Italy, Slovakia (guess)
Group G – Brazil, Portugal
Group H – Spain, Switzerland

May the best team win

Above world cup groups image courtesy: Eldirectorioargentino

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The story goes like this. Before the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) third season took off, Lalit Modi, former commissioner of the league, made a close friend of his an offer, Modi thought was irresistible.

For Rs. 5 crore, Modi’s friend could buy the rights to have his company’s name plastered on a blimp that would float over stadiums where league matches are played. The mileage it could possibly attract, Modi argued, was worth a lot more than the Rs. 5 crore he was asking for.

His friend, the scion of a prominent tyre manufacturing company in the country thought it too expensive a deal and declined. Modi then took the proposal to MRF, his friend’s arch rival, who saw value in the offer and bought into Modi’s pitch. Estimates vary on how much Modi sold the rights to MRF for. But consensus is, it was anywhere between Rs. 12 crore and Rs. 18 crore.

As the season started to roll, Modi’s friend figured he’d lost out on a sweet deal. And so the next time he met Modi at a league match in New Delhi, he admitted he’d made the wrong call; and that Modi ought to figure a way out to get his brand into the IPL. Modi pointed to the 30 yard circle in the stadium and offered his friend, a buddy from his days at school, an opportunity to re-brand the circle with his company’s name for Rs. 30 crore. “30 friggin’ crores!” the friend yelled and baulked. Modi didn’t blink. “You didn’t take it when I offered you a sweet deal. This is the best I can do now,” he said. A few moments of awkward silence followed.

Apparently, Modi had gone to the home minister’s office to seek clearances for the league matches. But in an appalling breach of protocol, he refused to wait for his turn to meet Chidambaram and instead attempted to barge into the minister’s office. Now, Chidambaram is the kind of man who doesn’t suffer either fools or arrogance and promptly asked Modi to leave. A miffed Modi said some daft things, stormed out of the room and eventually created an altogether avoidable controversy that snowballed into Season 2 being shifted to South Africa.

Read the full article here

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In a shift of strategy, Bharti Airtel, the country’s largest telecom operator, is close to acquiring a 70% stake in Bangladesh’s fourth largest mobile operator, Warid Telecom, for close to $900 million.

The deal, likely to be sealed mid-January, comes three months after Bharti failed to secure a deal with South Africa’s MTN to become the world’s fourth largest mobile firm by subscribers.

Post-deal, management control of Warid Telecom would pass on to Bharti and Bangladeshi media reports say Bharti has submitted an investment plan of $300 million.

Bharti’s costly acquisition plan is an indication of how the stakes have risen in the telecom sector in the sub-continent; the offer is almost three times the $350 million DoCoMo paid in 2008 to buy a 30% stake in Aktel or TM International, the third ranked operator in Bangladesh.

Rest of the article here

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Few things unite India like cricket, and on December 6, 2009, millions of Indians were united in celebration as their team ascended to the top of the ICC Test rankings.

Fittingly, the victory that made it possible was marked by standout performances from the men who have played a crucial role in India’s ascent. Virender Sehwag has scored more runs than any other Indian batsman over the last 25 Tests – played over a two-year period beginning November 2007. His innings of 293 – played at a pace that left the bowlers ample time to finish the demolition job – proved pivotal as India fulfilled its destined tryst with the top slot.

Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan have been India’s highest wicket-takers during this period. Both picked up six wickets apiece for the match, with Zaheer coming up with a five-wicket haul to polish off the tail on Sunday morning and take India to a comfortable win by an innings and 24 runs.

Full news here

Pictures source: Cricinfo

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Playing around with the look of my blog.  That’s what you do when you have nothing better to do.  

Deccan Chargers crashed out of the T20 Champions Trophy and i hardly watched even a single match of the tournament.  Ended up wondering why the hell are they playing.  Read some news that the TRPs of the T20 Champions Trophy are worse than the other Champions Trophy played recently in South Africa.

With so many Champions Trophies in a single sport, no wonder the people are disinterested.  Read Pritish Nandy’s tweet where he predicted that cricket is on a decline as a sport as money has corrupted it.  But then, the self professed God of cricket, Lalit Modi has some other plans.  He plans to have 2 IPLs in a year, 3 Champs leagues, 4 world cups and if possible a few more matches here and there.   Not that i care.  Fortunately for me, once i left India, i left the craze for cricket behind too.  Earlier used to subscribe to sports channels to watch them.  Now, even with tons of websites doing free streaming of all TV channels, i still dont bother watching them.

With Diwali around, 3 big movies are releasing in Hindi.  I might finally drag my sorry ass to some multiplex and watch one of them.  Which one of them is something that will depend on my mood at that particular moment.

Mr & Mrs Khanna surely wont be the one i will spend my money on.  Who in the right frame of mind wants to see 2 constipated faces (Salman and Sohail) on the screen after having paid so much money?

Picture source:  Icanhascheezeburger

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