IPL Review – Dhoni’s Midas Touch Likely to Continue?

How often do you need three results to go your way against the run of play and that is exactly what happens? Well call him lucky or whatever it has happened for Dhoni again. After Chargers crushed Rajasthan’s hopes and Delhi put an end to Punjab’s run it was left to Bangalore to stop Chennai from going into another finals.

 Till the break everything seemed to be going well and only Duminy’s innings was an aberration to Bangalore’s largely dominating bowling performance. Chennai players had almost booked an early flight home when the Gayle storm started early this time round with Gony’s first over going for 25. What happened next can be best termed as an act of GOD as calamity like never seen before hit the RCB players. Steyn bowled scintillatingly well and set up Gayle to bring the game back into balance. A few balls later Dilshan also followed suit and it was left to AB and Kohli to salvage the ruins. A mistimed shot from AB and Aggarwal’s dismissal brought on crease the injured Tiwary who had already gone back to the pavilion retired earlier in the match. Just when RCB were looking to finish off the match with only 24 off 30 remaining and Tiwary and Kohli going strong Kohli skied one and was caught in mid on. From a player who is generally known to finish games it was unexpected and disappointing and from being down and out Chennai was certainly into the playoffs again.

Some might argue that Dhoni has lost his midas touch as well as his ability to finish off games after the recent drubbings in Australia and England. In fact both in Australia and Asia cup while the entire nation waited with baited breath for the desired result both results went against India against the run off play. Dhoni’s indifferent form made the whispers turn into a large clutter from a cricket crazy nation. IPL gave no respite to Dhoni as comparisons were made between Dhoni and Ganguly, two of the most successful captains of India. Dhoni continued with his indifferent form and talks were even there about what Dhoni had done to deserve a place in the team.

While he has not done anything on an individual level to answer his detractors but his two fours and one six against the Kolkata Knight Riders at a crucial juncture surely returned a semblance of sanity among his critics. And while the loss to Punjab was supposed to spell doom for Chennai somehow it did not and they held on to that ray of hope to qualify. Surely, Dhoni’s midas touch is coming back.

Is Dhoni back in form? Probably, not till now but surely it is around the corner. Is Dhoni’s midas touch back? Yes yes and I hope he will prove me right today. As an Indian cricket fan I hope to dear GOD he proves me right. Dhoni has a knack of firing when the chips are down - Remember the World Cup Finals.

Dada vs KKR

Even before the IPL started Facebook and Twitter started buzzing with talks of Dada coming to Edens and conquering the city of joy. As Pune got off to a flier the whispers became a roar and pictures of Ganguly chasing SRK with a sword were too visible for anyone to miss.

One month into the IPL things have changed. Kolkata have played some great cricket to be safely perched at number two with four wins from the last four games and Pune have lost their way and is languishing at second last just ahead of a hapless Deccan Chargers. Gambhir looks in blazing form and Kallis has done his bit to ensure stability in the middle order. In Debabrata Das KKR have found a finisher they really lacked. KKR’s bowling has probably been the deadliest amongst all competing teams and Narine’s tremendous wicket taking spree has contributed significantly to KKR’s rejuvenated look. With Mc Cullum and Pathan still to fire KKR has all the potential of destroying any side in this IPL.

On the other hand Pune has been let down by an inconsistent opening pair, minimal batting depth and lack of impact players down the order. Smith has looked the only player in the squad capable of winning matches. Even Clarke’s arrival has failed to create the impact it was expected to have and Pune have continued nose diving farther into a bottomless pit. What bodes even worse for Pune is Ganguly’s inability to remember the format of the game while in the middle. In the last two matches Ganguly’s slow strike rate nullified heroic efforts by Steve Smith and Mithun Manhas. He looks like a complete misfit in this IPL and honestly should consider dropping himself for a few games at least. If not anything else, it will send a very clear message to the team to perform or perish. However, Eden Gardens might just be the place for Dada to make his comeback.

Looking at the two teams this contest is unlikely to justify its billing and KKR should steamroll over PWI like the heavy roller rolled over the Eden Gardens pitch. Gambhir should again be too hot to handle on an Eden pitch he has made his own over the last few matches. Law of averages will probably catch up with Mc Cullum who might just make a mockery of the game. A tight KKR bowling should be too much to handle for a clueless Pune batting. Finally, the best chances Dada has of going back as a hero is by dropping himself and sending an unequivocal perform or perish message to the entire team.

Caution Girls – Asshole Ahead

I was going through various Troll pictures on Facebook when I saw one which claims that guys who do not treasure their girl friends are assholes. Why? Because there is another guy always willing to give the girl that extra amount of attention or care the previous guy has made her crave. Seems like quite a life altering insight eh!! So what should guys do? They should wear their nanny pants and be ready to baby feed their girl friends, right?

Now, let me attempt to explain why it does not work that way. The reason is very simple. Most girls who will be reading my blog will know from experience that the second guy turns out to be the same asshole. Most men suffer from Intense Chauvinism Disorder referred to as ICD from here on and ICD is much easier to accept in the guy you just broke up with because you are used to it. Now, once the wooing period is over and the honeymooning is done with, the next guy also has the exact same flaw for which a girl breaks up for the first time. From the blue eyed girl you will be treated like a nagging pain in the ass. So if you are good looking or intelligent it is obvious that you will get a lot of attention but even if you are with an asshole think before you break up. The world is not too rosy out there!!

So what’s my advice? Do not break up? Oh God, no!! If you are out of love by all means break up as soon as possible but do not break up for a rosier tomorrow. If you do so then may GOD bless you because Satan (Next Guy) surely wont. 

They Say That a Hero Will Save Us I am Not Gonna Stand Here and Wait

Owing to my screwed up head and conscious attempt to do things a bit differently I have been called an attention seeker, arrogant, cocky, proud and what not. In this blog I will make a feeble attempt to explain what I do and why it should not be interpreted as any of the above. Gandhiji once very famously said that be the change you want to see in the world. Of course my interpretation of it was not the way he intended it but then I have managed to make it serve my purpose to a great extent. I just dare that one bit more to solve my problems, act a bit more crazy, take that risk which is generally not regarded sane by the society.

How many of you believe in miracles? Let’s not move ahead of us; miracles will probably be overdoing it but let’s say how many of you actually believe that luck will average out. From my personal experience I can tell you something - Luck never averages out. If you are having a run of bad luck you need to grab the situation by the throat and mould it. Similarly, if luck is going your way don’t get too cocky and don’t sit and relax, rather try pushing yourself to the limit to try and make most of it.

I was reading a book by Donald Trump where he speaks about how he had been affected by recession. He says in the book that his business had taken the beating after recession and he was once passing a beggar and realized that the beggar was richer than him by 9 billions. Woh!! 9 billions is some money right!! The easiest thing he could have done is laid down, waited for the recession to over, the government to pump in some money and then voila the business runs again!! But that’s not what he did. Rather than waiting for the Hero (Economic Condition Getting Better) to come rescue him, he stood up and made himself count. He worked out deals with bankers and other things which I could not really understand but at the end of the day he saved himself rather than waiting for the hero. What would have happened if he had waited for the Hero, no one knows but guessing from his current situation I don’t think his decision went too badly.

Anyway I have bored all of you enough with another mindnumbingly stupid blog but here’s one last pointer before I end. If you really think that bad luck is a passing phase and you can just wait it out, be my guest, but by my reckoning is if you do nothing about it, this phase will never pass.  

                       

Ego – Thou Heartless Bitch

How often have you kept on looking at your google talk list waiting for someone to buzz? Have you ever meant to message someone but have waited for your friend/girl friend to make the first move? If none of these things have happened to you then this blog is not for you. And well if everyone bounces off from this blog I guess I am the dumbass, lolz.

I am not sure if anyone is still with me but here’s to hoping that someone is here till now. Both of these have happened way too many times to me and you can think of me as gay but most of the times it has happened with a friend, a guy friend. We had lived in the same colony all our lives and somehow never talked to each other. On retrospect probably ego had played a part on a sub conscious level even during those days. We became friends for the first time while coming back from an English tuition as we used to live in the same locality. We shared the same kind of enthusiasm about food, sports and especially cricket. From acquaintances we quickly became best of friends who shared most of their darkest secrets and GOD knows we had some really dark secrets. Actually all our secrets were dark some were just darker than others. I remember how he came and boasted that after dumping a girl he had been called ridiculous by her and how he said No he is calculus.

After, I went to my Engineering College we drifted apart, not really out of sight out of mind but yes out of contacts surely.  Then due to some misunderstandings we stopped talking to each other. We used to come across each other and felt the same longing to talk to each other but something stopped us. Oh Ego!! Thou heatless bitch spreadeth thy fangs across and encompasseth friends. Lolz, I hope I will get some pointers for trying the Shakesperean style at least. Anyway, for four years we were not in touch and again as fate would have it we were put in the same group. Yes, there was some rustiness but the old feelings remained. Oh, how many matches we could have played side by side if we had not lost those four years. We are best of friends now and after that incident try to keep it simple and on your face hoping not to repeat our mistakes.

Anyway, there is some contorted hidden moral to all my blogs which I write explicitly about in the last paragraph. So, here goes. There is no winner or loser when you have a fight with someone. Wait, let’s just hold on to that thought. Actually if you both really miss each other both of you are the losers. So if the friendship or the relation means anything to you then try to get it back on track even if you have to shed your ego.