MIRACLE YET TO HAPPEN...

Worldcup is in the last leg of its season before we get to the D-Day for the final game. We have seen enough matches already including some good numbers of fight backs and revealing revenges. We also happen to witness few nail biting finishes and countable number of cricket hero's coming on top to make their marks in the worldcup history book.

The group league started with a big bang showcasing some big scoring matches by the top teams. Everybody started whining about the minnow teams added to the worldcup. But some of these mediocre teams did prove their prediction was wrong and never failed to surprise us with their astonishing and intangible performances beating and eliminating some worldcup favorites.

Including few top teams, most of the minnow teams are thrown out of the league with sand griping defeat and got eliminated badly. The Top 4 teams which made to the next level of Super 8 showed some appealing performance. Other 2 teams were able to make it to the stage by past experience.Lastly 2 minnow teams which happen to make to the Super 8 with their great effort.

In the Super 8, these teams are striped off naked to show their real skill with no excuses. Their lavish luxury of beating minnow teams were no longer counted enough to make their step forward. Out of these, only one team came out never losing their stripe with few others got beaten atleast once and remaining others ended bowing down and giving the final salute for their dreams to take on the cup.

The one team which stands out till now like a pinnacle, invincible and unbeaten is the forever Australian DEMIGODS of Cricket. They were never beaten once in this worldcup. They showed their great temperament towards each game and ascertain on winning every match by never losing control in any of them.

I was expecting for the kiwis and Srilankans to come close to give them a fight in the Super 8. But it didn't happen. In their match with S.L, they won convincingly by 7 wkts. Next comes the Kiwis, they couldn't even start thinking about their strategies and they were all out for 133 losing by big margin of 215 wins..

I believe anything is possible and especially in this one day cricket it is very much possible. Tomorrow starts the real battle which we all been waiting so long to choose the first team between Kiwi's and Lankans which will face the mutual other on the D-Day.

We need a miracle which is yet to happen. A miracle that can only be made possible by a planned strategy using the right arsenal on right time to shake Aussies top order with a continued momentum to break their mid order to finally get to the final ones.

Without a master plan, its really tough to break their strong 11 men cricket army fighting for their world cup dream. Do you have a strategy for the miracle?!

Can they be STOPPED?!

I keep asking this questions to many of my cricket friends from the day one world cup started. Its not just because I don't want to see them winning their 3rd continuous world cup. Its just a question which comes out with great fury and furious as a cricket fan like anybody who like to see a new winner on the stage now. Its time for a change of face.

As you guessed, I am talking about the unstoppable Aussies. At this point of time, they have played 6 matches and salvaged each opponent in all corners with their all round capability. They are invincible and keep proving that every other match.

But any champion has to go thru a tough time once or while. They been thru theirs by getting their fingers burnt well enough, losing the series to kiwis before entering the world cup.They faced their demons and now they are playing like cricket DEMIGODS. Somebody is yet to give them a good fight. We are still yet to see a team in this world cup who will make them pay their dues and run for their money atleast once.

From their first game on, whether they are batted first or made to chase they never showed one bit sight of weakness in any of the matches. S.A tried their best to test them a bit but didn't go close to the extent to squeeze them out. That's kinda of unfortunate from S.A side being a world number one rated team and couldn't able to give a tough fight.

Lets quickly browse thru their performa in world cup past matches..

Group Matches

Ist - 334/6 - Won by 231 runs thrashing Scots to 131/10

IInd - 358/5 - Won by 229 runs folding Holland to 129/10

3rd - 377/6 - Won by 84 runs bowling out S.A to 294/10

Super 8 Matches

Ist - 322/6 - Won by 103 runs beating W.I to 219/10

IInd - 106/0 - Won by 10 wkts reducing Bangla to 104/6

3rd - 248/3 - Won by 7 wkts taking revenge with Eng - 247/10

I wanted to summarize for the very purpose to show how they outplayed every team they played against so far. It clearly shows their vigorous game plan. They never scored anything less than 320 in the matches they batted first and when they were asked to chase, they always won very comfortably.

They have 10 men batting lineup with 5 full time bowling bulldozers(no Bratt Lee). Each and every one in the team is playing like its the end of the world, showing they are the best in the world starting from the captain till the tail enders.

At this moment, only 3 teams are capable of atleast coming close to giving them a good fight. But we already saw S.A failing to do their job by getting beaten badly. So I have my eyes out for the other 2 teams, Kiwis and Lankans.

If these 2 teams can keep their arsenal well oiled and ready before meeting Aussies. I can assure either of these teams would give a tough time for this unstoppable Demigods. At the same time, Aussies as we have seen before will try to maintain their stand in this worldcup yet another time to be unbeatable.

Is it going to be Kiwis or Lankans who is going to give us the feast we all been waiting to watch in this worldcup? I am going to bet on both, hoping for a miracle to happen. Until that time, we have some more exciting matches to come..

I am hungry for yet another thrilling clincher, thanks to Lankans & Bangla Tigers feeding my worldcup fire..

World Cup is finally heating up..

Cricket is always been a game of uncertainty and shocking moments. It never fails to surprise us especially in times when we aren't expecting the most.

Its has been proven once again from the past few days with back to back thrilling matches.

Srilanka won against England in a nail bitting thriller of the last over. An amazing defence against England with their fielding and bowling attack paved an unexpected win. It shows an uplifting fact that Srilanka's continues to gain strength to find their place in the Semi's.

Today another unexpected upsetter by Bangladesh beating the TOP ranked ODI team in the world by 67 runs with their excellent fielding and energized bowling attack..

I been asking people in the cricket forum whether we will have an upsetter in the Super 8 matches. Most of them played it safe and shared their views that its not actually Super 8, its merely Super 6 as Ireland and Bangla are just happen to get here..

I strongly predicted that Bangla will try to upset and give atleast one match winning performance. I predicted them to take a toll against W.I as we all know they are one of weak team and to claim a good win over them. But they showed that they are far better than once again by taking on an unimaginable win against S.Africans..

This shows their aggressiveness, confidence and unbeatable, unstoppable urge to win the matches. They don't have anything to lose but played a determined innings. With their good young batting lineup (which sometimes fallen of the ground by good bowling) especially Ashraful and Ahmed showed once again, they can shine on hard times.. A good knock by Ashraful really helped to get a good score for Bangla.

We all knew that 25o won't be an hard target for S.Africans. Then comes the bowling attack with three left arm spinners who had a huge role to play and they did exactly that with some perfection. Razzak and Sakib were the key men who brought about the collapse in the South African batting.

The Bangla tiger are delighted and they have proved a point once again today. "If there is a WILL, there is always a WAY". This victory by Bangladesh sends a strong signal to W.I and England that they shouldn't take them for granted. It also opens up chances for the Windies and England to fight hard for a spot in the Semis.

Well played Bangla Tigers.. Way to go !! Hats off to the great effort..

With these last 2 matches being a real entertainer, finally World cup is getting the heat of its own and seeks attention from the cricket fans for some more good ones to come.. Now I can surely bet on Bangladesh beating W.I with yet another performance.. Are you with me?

Its all over for now.. Whats next?

There is already lot been said and done to show over anger and frustration. Every news channel I turn, they show people torching the players pictures and taking rally to show their rage on this shocking failure by our Indian team. As a country men, I would have to say that their outburst is expected and reasonable. I even showed mine in the discussion forum as soon as we lost to Srilanka.

I think we are failed by our fellow country men in this cricket battle. A long awaited dream to hold the world cup for another time is been spoiled and vanished just at the first gate/step by the poor showcase of men in blue.

There are 'n' number of blogs all over this internet floating around to cruse and complain about our teams poor performance in this world cup. There are also blogs which starting to talk about the new team india, how to revamp the team, who will be our next coach and so forth. There is also some news and blogs on how players shed tears and trying to cop-up with all this happening. They are also human and they are the first to get impacted by all these failure. They are the reason and they are the cause for all these things.

In Sulekha, I been seeing lots and lots of bloggers coming out of their caves to show their anger in words to shut off their burning fire inside them which is totally understandable. Cricket is been a life blood for most of us including me since we are kids. Its been feed thru our body as another protein like milk to enrich our life in someways. So I have to say that their anger towards our team is expected but that doesn't mean that we have to go out of our limit to trouble their family. There is always a limit for everything. I will never support that kinda of activity.

I think enough being said and its time to say enough is enough. We showed our outburst and anger in lot of ways and we leave the rest to be handled in a proper manner.. Being said that, we wonder and ponder on whats next for us and for the Team India..

As true cricketers, I think there is still lot more matches yet to be played in this world cup. We should start to let go of the sad moments and try to get out of the dull zone. We should start cherishing this time of world cup moments by picking your own favorite team in the super 8 and start supporting it. We only get this chance once in 4 years and we should not just shut our interest that our team is out and whatelse is there.

I know its easy to say then done. Time will always help to heal and makes things better. So doesn't sweat on the past, just try to dwell on the current moment and cherish it. We can always go back to support our team when they are ready to take on the next battle. We will always be there. So go and pickup your team in the super 8, let it be any good sub-continent team like SL or BL(like to give preference since they are our close neighbors.) or W.I who was an underdog or 2 time loser RSA. Try to enjoy this worldcup. There is lot more left to watch and cheer.

For the Team India, there are lot of speculation about revamping the whole team. Throwing out veterans, finding new blood, fining them heavily, banning them from adverstisement and much more.. There is still lot to come.. I don't want to comment anything on it. If its all for good reason, it always encouraged..

Whatever it may be, our chance for this world cup ran out and we have to wait for our next one. There is still 1460 days left and lot will happen during this timeframe. I hope things will change, they will fall in place and surely pave a way to a strong team which we can believe and support for the next world cup..

Lets cherish this moment as there is lot left to be played.. Be a sportman, a true cricketer. Join us in the sulekha discussion form for more fun talks...

Taste the Essence of Success

BRAVEHEART - "A Heart brave enough to lead a team with confidence to fight against opponents and taste the essence of success"

I am not sure how many of you watched this famous movie "BRAVEHEART" which received lots of accolades for its cinematography and originality of its direction. It came out in 1995 directed by Mel Gibson. Yep, the same famous Mel who directed "The Passion of the Christ (2004)". BRAVEHEART is a kinda of movie which needs to be seen at least once by everybody and I would recommend it to anybody.

You might wondering why am I telling this in relation with the Indian World Cup Team. May be I am silly to correlate the story of the movie with our Indian team heading towards the WC 2007. But I feel they go very well together.

Let me give a quick synopsis on the movie for the benefit of people who haven't seen the movie so it will help to co-relate easily.

BRAVEHEART is about a man who bravely start to oppose the strong British dictatorship and tried to fight against them with very less man power and very little support as allies. He built a small force with men who has only their work axes to fight. He believed in them and they believed in him. He won the first war against the local dictator which gave the path to build a big organized war front by uniting people with the advise of elders to oppose the king. He could have gone all the way to defeat the king but he got betrayed by his allies and ended up getting caught and hanged. The takeaway from this movie, a leader should be brave enough and should have belief in him. He also should have great confidence about his people who can win any wars without any fear.

Now lets talk about team. Do we have a great lead/good captain who can lead the team ? Yes we do have a good captain who won few series both at home and outside. Is he have the courage and charisma to lead them to the World cup? I think he does.

First he needs to believe that we can win the World cup. He should have great confidence about his teammates and should believe that we all can win the opponents one at a time. Like our Mahatma Gandhi said,

“Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.”

Once you start believing in you which will provoke the thoughts. Thoughts will become your mantra(words) and mantra become your action to accomplish your destiny.

Next comes the team, we have very good diversified team with good batsmen(Sehwag, Sachin, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Dhoni), bowlers(Zaheer,Seeshanth,Agarkar, Kumble, Harbajan) and a full time wicket keeper(Dhoni). They should believe that our captain can lead the team to great success. They should have confidence in themselves and also should show their full commitment toward wining every step of the game to beat the opponent. They should shine in every match in what they are good at.

Next comes the war field, Leader should be able to judge the war field which is the game field at this instance. In Braveheart, William Wallace(Leader) judges the war field and plan it accordingly and he own without any big weapons. Similarly, if Captain can judge the play field and not taking the opponent for granted and plan to have correct team in hand to fight, we have easily taste the fruit of success.

Next, taking the experienced people advice. Leader shouldn't hesitate to opt for suggestion and advice from the experienced folks. We have Ganguly who is well matured with lots of matches on his cap and lead our team to 2004 WC. He should be capable of giving advices on critical moments. There shouldn't be any ego to request and take the advice.

Finally, Patience and Perseverance can lead any man to success. As a leader he should be patient enough to withstand on any opposition and shouldn't get frustrated to apply his techniques as per the situation. Also he should be great perseverance to keep on what he is doing and never quit until reach the success.

With all the above proper mantra's in hand, we can easily taste the essence of success slowly to win the world cup. One Small step at a time and one match at a time without thinking about the cup should get us closer. I wish all the very best to them.