Take it sportingly :)

South African team celebrating

12th March 2006 will definitely be written in Golden letters in sports history n I was lucky enough to be a witness to tht. South Africa beat the world champions Australia in the final one-day cricket match to clinch the series 3-2. Tht itself is big n wht makes it bigger is the score they chased. Australia had put on 434 runs on the scoreboard n such a huge score is unassailable in all terms of cricket. But, the SAFs’ proved it wrong n came up with 438 which included a scintillating display of strokeplay n superb catches. I m not gud at match analysis, so if u want to read a in-depth analysis visit Tarun’s blog. I m sure he will write on it (or might have already published it). Read Harshal’s blog for Formula 1 scenario. He has a gud post on the new championship race with info on all teams. Yesterday’s race confirmed Renault’s emerging domination but Schumi’s fans r happy to see the Red colour back on the podium.

Sunday was overall a gr8 day for sports lovers. Aust-SA cricket one-day match, F1 season’s first race, Arsenal-Liverpool showdown n India-England Test match… one should have a TV showroom to see all this at one time. Doordarshan (DD), our government channel proved once again tht it is very pathetic to watch. Has anyone watched ‘Aankhein’ on DD? Might be more bashing on this some other day. But, when it comes to showing highlights DD does not know the difference between highlights and live match. TV audience wants to see how wickets fell and how the batsmen blasted the bowlers. They don’t expect to see how a captain sets his field and how a batsman waits for the 12th man to bring him a spare pair of gloves.

Rahul Dravid (India’s captain) is setting the field according to bowler Irfan Pathan’s need. DD zooms in the camera on both of them get close to decide on whom to set on which position. The conversation caught is courtesy lip-reading skills…

IP: It is hot today.
RD: (eyeing suspiciously) Were u watching Brokeback Mountain last night in the hotel when rest of us were busy watching dancers in the strip-club?
IP: Stupid! I am talking about the atmosphere. I was practising on bowling last nite. Wht ‘bout the fielding strategy?
RD: I don’t think we will need it. Look at both the batsmen. They are not gonna keep their eyes on the ball u bowl.
IP: Wht makes u think like tht?
RD: The batsmen r staring at our wicketkeeper Dhoni. They think tht we have a gal as wicketkeeper. Long hair is definitely beneficial to the team.
IP: (sad smile) Yeah! Girls r going crazy ‘bout his locks. I seem to have lost the title of Most Eligible Bachelor to him. U know after the incident of the 2 gals who had come to my house for marrying me, no one has yet knocked my door. Even the count of fan mails has fallen down. Parthiv (ex-wicketkeeper) was better. He even carried our entire luggage and we could hit him in frustration when we used to lose a match.
RD: I m still wondering why the gals who had come to ur house did not …
IP: (cuts him off) Are Harbhajan and Laxman again fighting?
RD: Where? I can’t see them. My eye-sight is getting weaker day by day. I had told my parents tht I wanted to marry an ophthalmologist but they forced me to marry a General Practitioner.
IP: (points in tht dirn) There… they r fighting ever since tht Ganguly issue raked up.
RD: Hmmm… Greg (coach) is a dumbo. Ganguly is earning so much through advertisements and might feature in some movies also. Yet Greg said tht Ganguly wanted to remain captain for financial reasons.
IP: I am wondering wht will happen of all the established players if Greg keeps on experimenting the team n bringing in new faces.
RD: Thts why I have started to play fast nowadays. Wasim Jaffer plays even slower than me. When I play along with Wasim, I feel like I m Dhoni blasting the bowlers at the rate of 2 runs per over. Time to re-read Who Moved My Cheese?
IP: Hmmm… U know why I didn’t come to the strip-club yesterday. I was busy teaching ‘Bhangra’ to Greg. He said he didn’t look gud in the news channels last time doing the bhangra jig.
RD: But wht has to do with ur bowling?
IP: Not with bowling but it has to do with my place in the team. Munaf Patel also bowls pretty well.
RD: Ohh!! I forgot tht newbie.
IP: Shall we send Kumble near the boundary line?
RD: Yeah.. we will give him rest till he retires.
IP: I think he will quit now after reaching the 500 wickets landmark.
RD: Why are the batsmen not asking for bad light? I want to finish off this soon n want to catch with the next episode of Takeshi’s Castle on POGO.
IP: But, it is shown again at 11 in the night.

RD: But at tht time I have to see Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii. I luv Ekta Kapoor’s soaps.
Irfan faints on hearing this n DD takes a commercial break reminding us tht it is time to switch channels.

The above is not intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments. Not of gals who r crazy ‘bout cricketers n guys crazy ‘bout the game of cricket n ofcourse espescially not of DD lovers. :))