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The Twenty20 Champions League cricket tournament starts off at Bangalore today with a clash between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (India) and Cape Cobras (South Africa) at 2000 IST.

I dont think i need to mention where my loyalties lie.  Go Deccan Chargers Go.

The trophy that the below mentioned teams are playing for; along with the prize money of US$ 2.5 million.

The teams are:

India -  Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils
Australia – New South Wales Blues, VB Victorian Bushrangers
South Africa – Cape Cobras, Diamond Eagles
New Zealand – Otago Volts
Sri Lanka – Wayamba
west Indies – Trinidad & Tobago
England – Sussex, Somerset County Cricket Club.

For comprehensive information about the tournament, go to their official website at clt20.com

All above pictures source: clt20

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Time changes, people change, economies change and the powers wielded by countries change.  There was a time when Britain ruled half the world, today its nowhere.  There was a time when the US was the undisputed economic champion, today that aura is on the wane.

Its in these changing times we wonder if a group that consists of countries like Italy, Canada etc wield any power when the world is going throught the worst recession (courtesy the developed countries).  Of course the US, Japan and Germany are also a part of the G-7 group of countries, but do they really have any clout?  The G-7 as usual came out with a statement asking China to re-value it currency and hardly anyone cared a hoot.

After decades in charge, the club of rich, industrialised nations is fast losing sway as a share of global economic power shifts towards big developing countries. That was a lesson of the Group of Seven’s meeting in Istanbul at the weekend, when the absence of China showed the G7 could no longer tackle the world’s economic problems on its own.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the G7 implored China in a diplomatically worded statement to let the Chinese currency rise, as they have done for several years. But China showed no sign of complying, and the G7 spent much of its time to discussing whether it should meet less often, with less pomp and perhaps with fewer public statements.

G7 statements have all too often “interested nobody because there’s no follow-up most of the time”, said Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund.

Read the full article here

The G-7 or the group of Industrialized countries comprise

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States

The G-20 comprises of

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa,  South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, European Union

A G-7 official hit the nail on the head when he mentioned

“The moment you have to tell people you are still relevant, it’s because you are not relevant,”

Above picture source: Astrocrush

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India’s Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic won the French Open men’s doubles title on Saturday with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Belgium’s Dick Norman.

It was 35-year-old Paes’s fifth men’s Grand Slam doubles title having won twice here in 1999 and 2001 with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi, 1999 Wimbledon with Bhupathi and the 2006 US Open with Martin Damm.

“Dick and Wesley served really huge and made it difficult for us. They did a great job in getting to the final,” said Paes who has now won 40 career doubles titles.

Paes and Dlouhy first teamed up at Roland Garros last year, losing in the last 16 to eventual champions Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna. They then finished runners-up to Mike and Bob Bryan in the 2008 US Open final.

“We started playing together at Roland Garros last year. We lost then to the champions so we made it a point that we would come back and try and win it this year,” added Paes, who has also won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles.

Above news source: ToI

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2 years ago, Twenty-20 was a novelty. No one had a clue about India’s strengths and weakness in the game.  The young team led by MS Dhoni won the inaugural twenty-20 world cup at South Africa.

Two editions of IPL later, all the players in the Indian team are under the radar of the opposition’s think tanks.  They are sure to have made their own plans on how to counter Yuvraj, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Gambhir, Sehwag, Dhoni, Raina etc…

Its precisely why, this Twenty-20 World Cup at England will be the acid test for Dhoni and his men.  For Dhoni, its time to prove that his previous victory was not a fluke and that luck always plays a big factor in his victories.

India opens its schedule with a game against Bangladesh on Saturday (6 June).   There is just 7 victories between any team and the World Cup.

So, kya yeh cup kahin nahin jaayega?  Well, time will tell.  Meanwhile, am sure i dont need to specify which team Iam cheering for

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Stayed up till 2:30 in the morning to watch the match as Deccan Chargers, the winners of the wooden spoon in the competition last year scored a thrilling 6 run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore to emerge the champions of Indian Premier League – 2009.

What an awesome month this has been.  The chaddi gang routed in the elections.  Deccan Chargers coming out of nowhere to win this year’s IPL.  Twenty-20 world cup coming up in another 10 odd days. Yay.

Missing the sleep was worth it.  Tonight, i will have a contented sleep

It was a double whammy for Vijay Mallya yesterday.  His Formula 1 team, Force India just missed out on the points table and his cricket team, Bangalore Royal Challengers just missed out in the finals.

Pictures courtesy: IBNLive & Rediff

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