Slam, bam, bang!!

Sweet? Salty? Na re na na.. 50-50

This simple ad jingle of this Britannia biscuit is still one of my favourites and the biscuit as well. But nowadays the talk of the town.. err.. world is 20-20. If you are not into cricket let me tell you that this is not a brand of biscuit but the new version of limited bowling overs (20 overs each side) in cricket and the world cup is currently underway in South Africa. After the major Indian debacle in the 50 over world cup contest I had lost interest in watching cricket but this version of game has sort of rekindled the love. 20-20 is definitely an attempt to make cricket endearing to those sect of people who think it takes a long time to finish one match. Football, rugby, hockey etc take hardly a few hours while the 50 over matches take up the whole day and let’s not talk of test matches which go on over 5 days and that too mostly end in a tie. 20-20 match takes only 3 hours to get done with. I remember a conversation with my college friend Rohan, who is a die-hard football fan. During one practical class he was going ga-ga over the previous night’s match and I retorted that the score line was 0-0 so what was so interesting about the match. He said that the attack and defense that both teams put forth was worth watching. Now I am of the opinion that a game should be entertaining because I would love to play football no matter if it ends in a 0-0 result but if I am watching it then I should be entertained in form of goals. In cricket I don’t care if a batsman defends a ball well or the bowler swings the ball to perfection coz what I want to see is wickets, sixes, boundaries.. so match highlights is the best option. But 20-20 is the thing which provides all this stuff I want and I have started loving it.

Yesterday one cricket legend wrote in his column that 20-20 is detrimental to the game of cricket as it is a batsman’s game and fielders are mere spectators looking at the ball sailing over the stadium. I agree but might be this form is in a nascent stage, so a few modifications to it might improve it and it will be more acceptable and lovable format in cricket. India-Pakistan match never fails to arouse excitement and the one last week also lived up to its expectations. Had it been a 50 over match it would have ended in a nail-biting tie but the new bowl-out rule turned the same nail-biting finish into a finger-biting one (if I may use the word). Who had thought that castling over the stumps without a batsman in front of them can turn out so difficult that Pakistan couldn’t manage even a single hit? Many a times matches being played on a neutral venue can tend to become boring due to lack of spectators of the host nation but in 20-20 crowds are thronging to watch the blitzkrieg launched by batsmen and also the DJ and the dancing troupe have a lot of activity to keep the crowd on their toes. Cricket purists say that the dancers should not be brought in this so-called gentleman’s game (sledging is part of being a gentleman :D). I have started agreeing with them coz they are deceiving us. Last week the dancers were wearing Jiah-styled (of Nishabd fame) teeny-weeny shorts and suddenly this week they switched to ankle length commando pants. WTH! Lol.. my cousin bro during a match said that the dancers were dancing on a platform by Reliance (a highly reputed Indian company) and I was busy looking at the blondes shaking their booty (literally). Who had the time to look at Reliance label? Entertainment is the word. That is why I love watching women’s tennis as well even though many say it is slow and boring. Where would you get to see good tennis with such beautiful faces? How can it be boring.. Maria was resplendent in her red hot dress last month. May I request Star Cricket to stop Hindi commentators from boring the TV spectators to death and cutting down the commercials between the overs? Anyways, I leave you with a video of Yuvraj Singh hitting six sixes in a single over in yesterday’s encounter with England.

Have a good day all of you.. ohh that is also one of my favourite biscuits :D