at the business end.. !!!

of the tournament… I am like a cat on a hot tin roof… !!!!

I had the most bizzare nightmare…. I just saw that after the wicket of Brad Haddin in the first over… Ponting sent in Mitchell Jonhnson as the pinch hitter and he and Watson build a 180 run partnership and Australia were 188 for 1 in 28 overs !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gee…. it tells me two things… as much as I might say India will win… I m weary of the Aussies from Inside… !!! Second… the cricket fever and this match is totally taken me over… !! I am not able to wait till tomorrow 2.30 pm Geeez… one of the biggest challenge for me is to shirk work in March End and sit for the entire match and I am going to do it come what may !!!!!!! What a match in the offing… !!!!!

Sensibly though I think its a 50 – 50 match… Its really difficult to predict the winner but as Bones said

“The Aussies cant win in a Dry State… Period !!!”

I really would like to go with her… !

The one thing I can say is its not going to be the spinners ruling the roost…

No.1 Motera will be as flat as it can get.
No.2 There is way too much dew in Bharuch at night… and Ahmedabad which is 200 kms away shouldnt be too different… and that means in the second innings the spinners will be wiping the towel all the time…

Johnson has already announced he is going to bounce out Veeru !!!!!!

I love such pre-match show downs…. I have always believed that such statements make the contest even more exciting.. Also I think such statements and taunts and sledging from the opponents wakes up the Indians and brings out the best in us…

That is one main reason why we have always competed hard with the Aussies, they just rub us the wrong way and we react… ! I at times wish all other teams would also rub us the same way… because unlike the Australians who are pro-active… many times we are reactive… I wont blame the team… I guess as a nation we are easy go lucky sort of people… the Chalta hai mindset… which is very different from the Aussie ruthlessness… Infact Australian sport is something from which we can learn so much !!

Having said that I dont think there is any other greater joy than beating the Australians… even more than Pakistan I think this is the FINAL in the QUARTERFINAL.

and now for some predictions… !!!!

I think whoever wins our encounter will face Pakistan in the semi’s and well Pakistan will not make it to the finals… as pitches become flatter their batting is the most vulnerable after the West Indians in the last 8 !

in the other group… I think South Africa will face England in the Semi’s I think England will prevail over the Lankans… and I actuallly think England will reach the finals…. The way the entire tournament has gone for England… some epic matches, close fought encounters… I think if there is any team in the entire cup that has generated most excitement its the English team… and they have been battle hardened… I think they might be the surprise in the finals !!!!!

snippets to continue.. ! I kinda like it that way !

Its quite intriguing how kids change their playing habits, for a while its something that they are obsessed with and then suddenly its something new that captures their fancy.

The latest obsession my son has with the toy doctor set is unbelievable… half of the day he has the stethoscope in his ears and is listening to all sorts of things investigating the refrigerator, the floor, the door the phone, his toy animals gee… !

If you give the slightest indication that you have some problem the doctor in the house will be breathing down your neck with solutions !!!!!

:::###:::

As I read more and more people suggesting Dhoni to play 5 bowlers or stick to 7 batsmen… I sort of smirk… they all dont get it do they… even Gavaskar’s, Shashtri’s and Bhogle’s too… the fact that differentiates Dhoni from the rest is the fact that he is his OWN man !

The media, former cricketers, crowd et all can go jump in the lake but Dhoni will stick with what he feels in his mind is best for his team.

A captain must not get swayed by emotions and judgements made by others and only follow things that he himself believes in as if something goes wrong he then has back up plans.

I still remember one of the best pieces of advice that Naseer Hussain considers he got was from Richie Benaud, a very astute skipper and thinker of the game. Benaud told him when he was appointed captain,

“Either do things your own way or dont do them at all !”

India must be glad even without that advice Dhoni comes straight from that school.

If you would like to read a bit more about captains Please visit the following link : http://hitchwriter.wordpress.com/2009/01/24/ace-skippers/

:::###:::

These days the one song that is always on my lips is Daaaaaarling…. aankhon se aankhen chaar karne do…. !!!! I just love the frenzy the song kicks up… ! Lovely twisty song I say… !

I infact even liked the movie…. Apart from the darkness in the movie… I envied Priyanka’s life as Madamji … wouldnt it be great to have such estates and such wealth which leaves you with nothing to do and all you have to do is to think of JUST living life… Seeking pleasures and satisfaction… instead of thinking all the time about how to earn a living to live a life…

Snippets from the last few days…

I just realised its been a while since I even logged into WordPress… actually had to type my password to login !!!! The blog is getting more and more distant by the day… !

Facebook has been a welcome relief… easier to update, easier to track people and even if you missout on something there still are plenty of things available where you can always pull peoples legs !!!!

Sigh… this leg pulling saga never ends… ! but some people have just lost it… and go straight for the unmentionables… Sigh… ! They know who they are !!!

Just the other day, India and England both teams refused to win !!! Eventually the queen of victory got angry and decided she would not sit with anyone… and it was a tie… a hum dinger… but really both teams didnt want to win from seemingly winning positions they were hell bent upon bringing the opposition in the game… !

One interesting fact that Times of India came up with was, Dhoni as Skipper has been a part of 3 matches which ended as Tie’s !!! First was in T-20 World Cup against Pakistan… Remember ?? We won that World Cup… next was last year in the IPL against Punjab… Rememeber ?? Dhoni’s Chennai won the IPL too… !!!! and last year in the Champions League Chennai again tied with Victoria Bushrangers and yes…. you guessed it… Dhoni’s Chennai won the Champions league too !!!!!

So….. I am not saying anything… I just hope this lad from Ranchi is 4th time lucky !!!!

Ok so after the good news some bad news… What seems almost sure it this years Ladakh trip is in a soup…

Talking of Ladakh it reminds me…

Rakesh here are a couple of pictures of Pagong Tso just for you !

SIGH SIGH SIGH !!!!

At the home front it has been all work work and work… looking for a job frantically and running around not much to report…

but one piece of news that I am sure my enemies would love to read…

Recently my son was to write 1 line on a few things… like

School : My School is very big.
Dog : There are three Dogs in my society, the third one is black !!!!!
Best Friend : My best Friend is Deepansh.
Trees : Trees are big and strong.
Mother : My mother teaches in Aditya Birla Public School.
Father : My Father is very fat !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After telling me this he hid in the cabinet below the computer table and wont come out !!!!! Sigh…. The worst part is all his teachers, who happen to be my wife’s colleagues read it and laughed at it !!!!

and life as they say moves on….