Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Delhi Daredevils should win ..

Respected Brother
Sadar Charan Sparsh

At the outset let me apologize for misusing your blog to promote T20 cricket in the hindsight though I know that you are indeed interested in the IPL whenever you do get time to be able to watch and follow ..

I wish that you enjoy the game between Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers of Bangalore that is about to start in two hours time..

The game may not have much in it for Delhi.. yet all the other teams who are vying for a semi-final berth alongside Delhi would be keenly following the game.. A game holds as much in stock for the team that are not playing.. So much is at stake for others in a loss for Bangalore.. Kings XI, Chennai, Deccan and the team possibly having an outside chance in Rajasthan Royals..

What does one expect here.. Would Anil Kumble and his Bangalore mates script an unexpected win to continue to be counted in the hunt.. Would Virender Sehwag and his team go for the kill.. in reducing atleast some of the uncertainties in their own as well as the mind of other teams and viewers..

Is it that straight forward.. that one can possibly write the end of the challenge from the Mallya owned team.. I doubt.. Kumle would no feel that way.. he too would appear to be as aggressive as Kolkata Knight Riders did to get over the mighty Chennai some 24 hours back..

But does he have the ammo and ambo ( a new word for ambition.. if ammunition could shorten to ammo why not ambo for ambition..) .. yet they do have Jumbo on their side and we all know he is a great wizard of his own kind.. only he needs some support from his fellow bowlers and some of his batsman should be able to repeat the kind of cricketing shots they displayed in their last game against Kolkata Knight Riders..

What kind of team does one expect Kumble to form into a combo which could stop the Delhi Daredevils.. If I were by his side I would first find ways to include Dale Steyn, provided he is fit.. I would then find three other foreign players and think about retaining Boucher and Taylor straight away.. oops.. that leaves one choice to go with Kallis or Ryder.. I would not risk in including anyone ahead of these two.. not here.. and I maybe tempted to go for Ryder despite his ordinary time with both bat and ball.. not so much for his batting skills but for his wicket taking ability..

We then come to seven, or no six Indian players, Kumble has to be the seventh in any case.. Let me just be quick enough to pick the best team for my enemy so that the Delhi gets a fair practice of tough games lying ahead.. Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Praveen Kumar and to some extent even Robin Uthappa make the spot immediately.. Leaving two more places Vinay Kumar nicely takes up one and the eleventh man could be one of Apanna or Akhil I would go with the former to assist me as a captain in case it turns around.. (Though I know that Kumble would retain Kallis ahead of Ryder for his vast experience and maybe even knowledge of conditions..)

Oh! Viru is not happy with me.. I have joined the enemy camp.. don’t worry boss.. I shall help you too.. You got to give some rest to some of the bowlers and also strike a balance at the same time.. you have to also support the young Tiwary who could be more electric in the field maybe in place of Manhas.. The other changes Andrew McDonald in place of Maharoof, Daniel Vettori or even McGrath (if he agrees to play in such an insignificant game.. ) for Nannes. I even suggest Warner ahead of Dilshan.. I know you would not listen to me on the case of Dilshan.. but he (Dilshan) is such an important player and some signs of fatigue are clearly visible on his face and body language.. Viru it is upto you to spend all your forces before the semi-finals.. discuss it with him.. if he does not mind to continue it is all right.. and Yes young Sangwan has to be brought back into the side.. he does need to be there to bolster the pace attack. So how does my DD team looks like..
Gambhir, Warner, de Villiers, Sehwag, Karthik, Tiwary, McDonald, Vettori, Mishra, Sangwan and Nehra..

I did think of providing some rest to the best of the batsman and bowlers in de Villiers and Nehra but decided against it seeing what happened to Chennai by resting their mainstay batsman..

On why Delhi should win this game.. A win shold provide momentum and spur up the energy levels of the team.. secondly if RCB loose here.. there will be much less uncertainty about which other teams are likely to be there and more importantly hennai would then not finish as fourth.. hopefully.. Dhoni’s men we must meet only in Finals if we must.. they have the strongest batting line up and capable of thrashing pace and spin alike.. so if one can take control in deciding the other semifinalsit.. this is the time.. this is the game.. win this game today and make sure that whatever else is to be done in the last encounter can be planned later.. Delhi under no conditions can come second even if they wish so at the end of league phase.. plan well and if required even drop Gambhir to one or two down sending Karthik alongwith Warner to open the innings.. I am very pleased for te transformation in Karthik’s batting compared to last edition.. he is also in the running for important player of the tournament alongside de Villiers and Nehra so give him that boost.. he just might solve the jigsaw puzzle for your batting order..

Oh it is too much of a story.. I am enjoying the tournament even if others are not enjoying my long posts.. I remember, last time my post must have been read by Gilchrist ad he did not use Rohit and Suman fearing your expected onslaught by you in particular.. play you natural game 2 runs from 8 balls it defies any logic to be believed as the score by you.. I would not mind even if you do not score runs but score two runs from eight balls and even I would become critical of your plans.. so it is better that you play lower down the order.. to accelerate the run rate in middle overs..

Just read these lines and comments and do something different so that Kumble does not have an upper hand ( assuming he too reads this post.. a bit unexpected.. though.. I know even you would not be reading it.. it is all right..

Have a great game Viru and rather play for winning than for loosing..

Abhaya India May 20 2009 6:57 PM IST

Monday, May 11, 2009

Amitabh Bachchan in a different mood!

Genteleman. Scientist, Thinker, Philosopher and maybe even Magician! Respected Brother, Sadar Charan Sparsh I mean you were all these in this post even if in dreams, even if in being languid and listless and also sometimes even in being idle.. You weave Magic Mr. Bachchan, oh sorry, Bhaisahab.. I am interested in being idle sometimes now that you said and idle mind could be the philosopher on the blog.. not so much.. I know one thing for sure.. human mind is never idle.. the way our heart never stops beating the brain too does not stops thinking.. not even in sleep.. true some grand discoveries owe themselves to the thoughts a person got in dreams.. he ring structure of Benzene occurred to Kekule in the dream and a coiled up snake in his dream suggested that he had hit upon the novel idea of benzene being the coiled up snake.. Oh sorry.. the chemical entity .. There in fact are many others but my mind does not recollect anymore.. That you speak of brain.. I always had a puzzle wringing my thoughts ever since the childhood.. and have not been satisfied satisfactorily.. which is more important to life the Heart or the Brain.. what is your say.. Listlessness.. I think that is the most infectious characteristics of our existence.. do we always appear ordered.. we should not.. the disorder is always on the increase in this world.. Entropy is always on increase.. though I do not know that I should bring thermodynamics and is it relevant.. A system always tends to a state of increasing entropy and entropy in general is assumed to be associated with lack or loss of orderliness.. I am not comfortable with thermodynamics I was never comfortable with it during my Chemistry Honours days.. a subject which was really responsible for my poor overall performance.. I cold not get a first division in the Honours degree.. and the culprit was this thermodynamics paper where I scored just 12 marks out of 50 in the second year.. Oh! I think I have been too vague too less appealing to the most of the fellow bloggers by way of bringing in inept thoughts on science.. I don't know if you got to read the Vigyaan je dharaatal poem I had submitted sometimes in the last week.. it is also on my abhayakavi blog.. if you would like to visit or see what it states.. When I say gyaan ki seema badhana he abhaya.. it necessarily means bring some disorder into the order of knowledge that already exists.. so much for being listless.. it could be confusing at times and confusion is what scientists always want to feed.. I for example would always try t disbeleive the best of the theories that have been put forward by the most eminent scientists.. that alone is the way to proceed further.. oh! not all f the theories, rules and laws of science are questionable in that sense..some of the knowledge the world scientists have assembled has been immensely useful even if it meant in the assembalage of an atom bomb.. it led to the possibility of the power within atoms.. I must take a break and IPL as it enters into its penultimate stage has been listless too if not languid as well.. I would like t believe that we do not know the order in which teams would run up in the next 18 matches of the league phase yet we know that probably three out of the four locus points have already been determined.. I feel Delhi, Chennai and to a great extent even Deccan have sealed the three of the available SF spots.. leaving one position to be filled by as many as four other teams.. I have no logic to support that KKR can still create some magic and make unbelievable happen.. they have gone beyond that stage.. feel sad for king Khan and also for Maharaja or the Bengal Tiger.. Ooops! Why can't write smaller posts.. what does it take to be able to write crisp and short scripts.. I have a lot to learn still.. Love raised to the power of infinity ( and infinity my friedn is an undefinable entity yet ask any calculus men his work depends a lot on it.. limit tending to infinity or integrating over infinity.. what rubbishh this mathematics is all about.. yet I liked Mathematics more than Chemistry.. I do not know how to apply brakes to stop the thought process.. I am surely to meet an accident someday because of writing too much than for writing too less.. hope it is not too fatal.. Abhaya India May 12 2009 12:15 AM IST

Thursday, May 7, 2009


Oh Brother! Dear Brother!!
How did I miss this description of the Scindia House, the Connaught Place, the wonderful Maharaja and above all the ducking away from the known face as one roamed around in the atmospherically rejuvenated connaught circus err Place.. I did not know that you like all of us enjoyed and remember the University days as vividly as we do.. you would not have forgotten of the UPSC chaat wala enroute the university specials.. Oh! you may not have been travelling to South Delhi or were you.. I mean whether you did come across that famous chaat wala.. it is all right.. The connaught place and Red Fort (we used to refer it as Lal quila..) and the famous Nai Sadak (enroute Chandni Chowk) that we visited several times in search of the second hand books.. yeah.. we could only afford second hand books by the foreign authors.. and in the Honours degree course we were subscribed only and only books by some of the most renowned Chemistry books of the world.. Oh the mention of books makes the scene little heavy.. I should drop the Delhi University right here.. (it was a very good account by you! nevertheless!)..

So you do sport a neck collar.. it is all right.. if it is the requirement it must be met.. it must be fulfilled.. it must be honoured.. and we all know how much respect and regard you have for others.. especially for the medical world.. why not.. they did what they could do best in the early eighties.. somewhere I read or was it by Dr. Bachchan.. that for sometime you were declared dead.. or was it some rumor that I read in Newspaper.. whatever.. in the matter of life and death our medical fraternity has almost always won respect from most of us.. that too deservingly..

also take this opportunity to take our discussion of IPL a little further.. not to talk and dishearten you from what yesterday was like.. but of the possibilities in the two games that are going to move the teams one more step forward in that race for the semi-finals.. I believe Kings XI have tougher opponents in Chennai Kings.. they are not so super though.. the first game however is a battle among more equals.. anyone of the royals can beat the other one without much faze in the face..

Yet I feel that Kings vs Kings holds more dramatic challenge for Punjab to be able to match the man in yellow would mean to gear up with all weaponry needed.. The Goel has not lived upto his promises.. Powar has not been utilized properly.. Abdulla has not had the best of the support from his fielders.. The King in the making Yuvraj has done little besides the hat-trick and his last two knocks as a batsman.. with so few runs against his name he still features in the race for most sixes ( he is third right now) that he has forgotten the skills of taking those cheeky singles that he used to do along side Mohammad Kaif.. I know boundaries matter a lot in this version.. but correct sincerity with the bat and enough respect for bowler are still prominent as in any other form of cricket.. fielding assumes an edge in this format and KKR fields atrociously reflects in their standing in the tables..

I expect Rajasthan Royals would score over Royal Challengers of Bangalore.. I really fail to understand what has really happened of Dale Steyn.. how could RCB think in terms of dropping Kumar aginst Delhi in one of their recent games.. who decides or picks the eleven for them.. I would expect not only Steyn but also Ross Taylor to return.. Don't ask me how or in whose place.. that is the most tricky thing.. I can only suggest not make the correct address to pick the final XI.

I think this has becoe too long a post.. must say quits for now.. especially knowing your physical condition.. take care and enjoy the night game..

Abhaya India May 7 2009 3:25 PM IST