The Sri Lankan Lions, that never really were...

Been a while since I wrote about Cricket!! Cricket being one of my passions in life, well its quite unusual to find johnny boy not talkin about cricket for a long time :) Those who don follow cricket much, don run away yet.. This is nothing too deep into the technicalities of cricket or anything :) Its just a light post, for 'fun reading'. The India-Sri Lanka ODI series has just concluded and who would have ever predicted a 6-1 drubbing of the Lankan Lions?? Coming into the series as the second best ODI team, they return to their country without an identity for themself. Their ranking in world cricket right now, will be the last thing on their minds!

The Sri Lankans were totally outplayed in every department of the game. Whatever they tried backfired, and whatever the Indians tried, came out fantastic and this buried the Sri Lankan ship beneath the ocean floor. The best thing about this series from an Indian point of view, was the talent on display. Every match, a different guy would come and hammer the opposition. They dint know how to respond to the questions raised by the Indians. The trouble being that the questions were never repeated! Every match a new plan, new personnel, new batting order etc etc.. Only one thing was the same, the result - Sri Lanka were out thought!

Well, this is just one series, and lets not create too much hype, which the media is anyway bound to do! Give credit where its due, India played fantastic, agreed. But they aint a 'great' side yet. The series against South Africa will only give us a chance to confirm our faith in this team. For them to be really considered as world beaters, they have to beat England and Australia in their own backyards! Which is still a long way off. But atleast, the team is on its way up and right now, they are on a roll!

Let me throw the focus back to the Indian team of the 90's. Just a humorous flash back! :) I remember there used to be this bowler called Venkatapathy Raju. Quite a decent left arm spinner, but I just could'nt help laughing whenever he came out to bat! For those who remember, he had the tiniest of faces, and this guy would wear a helmet which would be slightly big for one Mr. Inzamam Ul Haq! We literally had to search for his face, inside the helmet!! :D

And who could forget Venkatesh Prasad! Once again, no doubting his abilities cos he was quite successful here and there :) He was one bowler who's speed while running in to bowl, was faster than the speed of the ball which he bowled! :D And whats more, he used to take most of his wickets by bowling the 'slower' ball!! How ironic! I alwez thought that if he bowled his 'slower' ball any slower, the ball might not have reached the batsman! And I have this strong feeling that most batsmen got out to his slower ball, cos they got bored waiting for it to arrive...

There was this stage, when India tried out different combinations of openers in Test cricket and frankly, none of them worked! It was a sad phase. We had openers such as Debang Gandhi and S S Das, who made sure they they drove out whatever little crowd that came in to watch Test match cricket. They were boringly slow, and I never thought it served any purpose. One might argue that they took the 'shine' off the new ball. But I guess the only way these openers managed to take the shine off the ball, was by getting hit repeatedly on the helmet. Yes, believe me, we had opening batsmen who were capable of getting hit on the head, on Indian pitches - repeatedly :) Sometimes it made you wonder if a bat was really necessary in their hands.. The helmets which went into the cricket field blue in color, came back more red, than blue.... Do I need to explain more? :)

How could I forget Anil Kumble's dive? :) He's a great cricketer, no doubt but he seriously has to/had to work on his fielding. It was quiet sad to watch him dive at the boundary ropes. A dive would not be an appropriate word to use, bcos he used to literally skate his way to the boundary ropes, on his laps :) Whats more, the ball would have already crossed the ropes a few seconds earlier! Our man was only successful in getting the wrath of a few live grass, which were no longer 'live'.. Generally, the Indian diving standards were pretty poor in the 90's. Any India-South Africa match of the 90's would be testimony to whatever I have been talking about.

Ok, I guess the post is gettin too long, so I better curtail my thoughts.. All said and done, I am a Big Big fan of Indian cricket. I was just bringing out some really funny experiences and comments that we used to share, among us school friends.. Of course, it is exaggerated at some points, but only to bring out the funny side of things in a more laughable way.. In fact, I am a huge supporter of Indian cricket. Yup no doubts, Sachin Tendulkar is the person I look forward to, whenever India plays. He is master class.. I just go crazy when Sachin is in full flow... One of the most touching comments, which was reportedly made on the BBC a few years back - "Whenever Sachin Tendulkar goes out to bat, the whole of India switch off
their lives, and switch on their TV sets" -> Awesome, isnt it!!!

Wishing the Indian team good luck, for their forthcoming series aganst South Africa. I hope that their winning run continues and if that does, neither will the South Africans be number 2 in the world rankings for long! :)

'MAX'imum Affection !!

Heyyy ppl, work's been keepin me away from bloggin of late. But I'll still find some time to somehow drop in a post :-) And hey, of course I do keep track of my blog almost everyday! First of all, wish you all a HAPPY DIWALI! Ok, this one's been a long time pending post. Always wanted to write one on my sweetie pie, but it was kept on hold thanks to my laziness... So here goes... I'm gonna talk about our doggie - Max :)

In the pic shown above, the time is 6am, and Max has just finished reading the 'headlines' on todays newspaper. Only trouble is that after he reads, no one else can read the paper! :-) Unless of course, someone's in the mood to solve a jigsaw puzzle first thing in the morning! [Have a look at the sense of achievement on his face! He is one satisfied dog! :-) God Bless You, Max]

Max is a German Shepherd, and a big one at that! He's just 5 months old, but I guess he's reached full growth. Atleast we hope so :-) Cos if he gets any bigger, its gonna be hard work! My mom used to take him out for a walk every morning, but nowadays she refrains from doing so, cos it always ends up with Max taking my mom out for a walk :) He literally pulls her along to wherever he wants to go! We've reached a stage where only my dad, my brother or I, can can handle him. He looks very ferocious but trust me, he's a small kid inside! He'll bark like mad if he sees someone new entering the house, but whoever it is, if the person comes near him - our man will lie down and wait expectantly to be fondled! Like most dogs, he jus lovvves attention.

Poor fellow has been having a very tough time of late. Guess why ?? Cos its Diwali! :-) He jus cant stand the sound of crackers. Now thats a very tough demand, keeping in mind the festival and the amount of fireworks that go into it. Max has to live with it, and best we could do for him, was allow him to stay and sleep indoors till the diwali mood kinda eased! :) Yeah he stays indoors these days. But even inside, he gets restless when the neighbours burst crackers. When he used to be outside, Max got into a frenzy everytime a cracker went off! We felt sad for the poor fellow.. You know what, Max 'used' to love the small kids stayin near our house, but the last few days he's been trying to avoid them, and he barks madly at them when they try to approach him. Guess why, bcos he knew that it were the kids who bursted the crackers, and that was reason enough for him to keep a distance! :-) With all the noise around, I wonder what all would be running thru the canine's mind. He must be thinking 'what the **** is wrong with the world suddenly' :) 'It was all silent and calm till a few days back, all of a sudden people just go mad and burn/burst everything! Sigh, Its a Man's world' :-) If only dogs could speak - we @ home, would have been introduced to a new range of bad words for sure... You guys wont believe, even when he is inside the house - when someone outside lights up those 'rockets', Max's head follows the 'whizzing' sound upwards, and he looks up and barks at the ceiling! One thing's for sure - if at all we just leave Max loose on the street tonight, 100% sure there will not be a single soul bursting crackers in our area :) All said and done, its diwali today, and he wont have to suffer the torture for much longer.. Wish he knew that!

I dont wanna delve into the loving nature of Max, cos like all animals - he's very attached and possesive! But some really peculiar traits that Max exhibits - The way he drinks water. Max just cannot stand or sit, and drink water. He has to lie down! Its a very sweet sight. The moment you pour water into his bowl, he goes down to his customary sleepin position, places the bowl exactly between his outstretched paws, and laps the water. Another thing, is that Max just cannot stand people wearing headgear! Lol... Yes its true, he gets mad when he sees people wearing caps, bandanas, or any sort of thing on their head. Don ask me why! :-) The people who suffer because of this -> the 'gas' guy who brings the gas cylinder on his shoulders, the 'vegetables' lady who carries the basket on her head, my brother's friends who wear 'cool' caps, and most importantly - everyone during the rainy season (cos of the umbrella) :-) He is a character for sure!

We have 3 kittens stayind behind our house, and you should see the way Max plays with them! He's so so fond of them. But sometimes he gets soo fond of them that he gives them a smallll nibble, which sends them scampering in all directions! Little do they know that Big brother is just playin with them! There is especially this one kitten - Dark grey in colour, and he's Max's best friend. The way he cuddles around Max is a sight to watch. Its very cute, and this guy is only as tall as Max's knee. The grey kitten sleeps on Max's lap whenever given an opportunity. Unfortunately I could not click a snap when the kittens were playing with Max :( they are scared of us, cos they are too small. Well if you ask me how come they aint scared of big and ferocious Max, search me!

In this pic, Max is seen with his 'best friend' kitten. Our man is busy trying to peel off the coconut skin, and his friend is giving him moral support I guess!
Max is a very disobedient and naughty, but thats cos we have not trained him. Know what my mom says? 'The children in the house aint obedient, how will poor Max be obedient??'.. My brother and I jus stare at her.. :-) And yes, that was just a joke! Another bad habit that Max has developed of late - These days he eats dinner only if he is hand fed by my Mom or Dad!! Talk about babies.. Hope you guys found it worthwhile, getting to know Max a lil better :) Next time you plan a visit to our house, you guys know what to do, and what not to do :-) hehe, jus kidding... Have fun!