Things I have done so far to watch IPL!

Things I have done so far to make sure that I do not even miss a shot!

a. I went to office at 6:00 AM IST on all match days just to make sure I leave office at 3:00 PM IST so that I could watch IPL.
b. The height of IPLism is that I took half-day leave on alternate days just to watch IPL and write about it in a contest hosted in my office.
c. Best of all is I missed to fill my appraisal in time and the outcome is I did not get my salary hike that year.
d. I skipped dinner, ignored Whatsapp beeps and Facebook notifications, simply to watch IPL.
e. Went to Food Court in Total Mall, Madiwala, Bangalore, bought a Channa Batura and ate it for three hours, so that I could watch IPL because there was no current in my place.
f. I do not want the miss the fun of watching the finals at Chennai with my friends. Hence, I travelled all the way to Chennai from London (ignoring the gyan’s of my family members) just to watch IPL
g. I would not say my best, but I missed my cousin wedding just to watch IPL finals in the stadium at Chennai.
h. Signed a treaty called “Movie Time” with my wife, which means I have to take her to new movies on all Saturdays so that she will allow me to watch IPL. You know what, this is the best treaty I have signed so far in the past one and half a year.
i. I installed the media box app in my office laptop just to watch IPL online :)
j. Last but the not least, installing starsports app in my mobile and living in it 24 x 7 (have signed many treaties for this with my wife)

Writing from life is so much fun! Thanks to BlogAdda and Starsports.com for giving an opportunity to write on this topic. Do read my other post for this activity. The below video is a dedication to IPL and www.starsports.com

IPL is not just a game, it's a celebration! Join the celebration now!

This post is a part of Cricket just got better! Activity by starsports.com in association with BlogAdda.com.

#KANNAKEEPCALM and WATCH PEPSI IPL on STARSPORTS.COM

It all started when I first heard his name “Sachin” from my uncle, “Sachin played a fantastic knock last night. He scored 110 against the best bowling attack in the world!” The excitement and happiness I saw in him, is priceless, and to know the man behind his happiness, I started watching Cricket…a sport that gave me happiness and tears in equal share.

In such a sport, the invention of 20-20 cricket gave life a new dimension of happiness and with Indian Premier League (IPL), we saw a new era of cricket raising high, combined with music, cultural performances, world talents became local, glamour and beauty, gave us a complete entertainment package.

I started watching IPL 2008 as a Sachin’s fan, but slowly I became a mad fan of IPL. I started watching all the matches irrespective of the country and time zone I lived in (London (UK) & Hamburg (Germany)) and with Sachin in his peak form in IPL 2010, and YouTube broadcasting IPL live, it was a treat to watch Mumbai Indians matches and other matches. I remember going to office at 6:00 AM IST in the morning just to make sure I leave the office at 3:00 PM IST so that I could watch IPL peacefully, but after much anticipation and expectation, IPL 2010 season ended on a sad note.

The IPL maniac did not stop with watching matches in 2011 instead it continued in various ways, as I wrote previews and reviews in a contest hosted by my office and won prizes in them. The height of IPLism is I took half a day leave on alternate days just to watch IPL and write about it. It doesn’t stop with that, I skipped food at night, ignored Whatsapp beeps and Facebook notifications, and the best of all is I missed to fill my appraisal in time. In short, I lived in my world, in which Sachin’s 100 was celebrated much more than getting a 20% hike in salary, and Chennai’s consecutive title win solaced my scar left by Mumbai Indians loss against RCB.

What an opening we had in 2012! Be it Prabhu Deva’s magical dance or Priyanka Chopra’s graceful movements, I enjoyed watching them. Best of all, I cannot forget how my friends teased me on phone after watching the stars live in Chennai, and I missed all the fun, and sat miserably, at the other corner of the world (London). I do not want the miss the fun of watching the finals at Chennai with my friends. Hence, I travelled all the way to Chennai (ignoring the gyan’s of my family members) just to watch Chennai defeating Mumbai Indians before losing to Kolkata Night Riders.

2013 was altogether a different experience! Newly married…historic serials and IPL, two different worlds, but somehow convinced my wife to watch IPL. Convinced? No, we signed a treaty called “Movie Time”, which means I have to take her to new movies on all Saturdays and it worked out well for us. We spent more time together, knowing each other madness. IPL was more exciting which was complimented well by my wife’s exclusive preparations “Pakora (Pakoda)”, “Bhaji” and “Karams”. And after a five years wait, Mumbai Indians lifted the maiden IPL cup and the God of Cricket, my Sachin, retired from IPL – Happiest and saddest day of my life!

Moving to Germany alone, re-joining my family after a four month’s gap, then getting published and after missing Project deadlines, I am back to IPL. This time, without my favourite icon, “Sachin”, but with my favourite Sports Channel “Star Sports” website: www.starsports.com #KANNAKEEPCALM AND WATCH PEPSI IPL ON STARSPORTS.COM Right from the fastest scoreboard ever seen to Kanna Keep Calm Moments, Zip Clips to Infografix, Stories to Polls, and not to forget the Mystery Box, everything makes my life wonderful.

FASTEST SCOREBOARD:
Caution: Issued in Public Interest: Do not blink your eyes; you might miss the latest update!
Each ball bowled, each run scored, each second makes a huge difference, with Star Sports instant updates one might miss to breathe but not the latest score.

LIVE COMMENTARY:
This is one feature which amazes me. Faster text commentary along with Video Scoreboard, what a Combo Sirji!

DEFERRED LIVE:
Watch the match live on your favourite website, but with a little time "5 Minutes" delay :)

ACTION RECAP:
You can always watch all the actions (either missed or the one you like to watch again) using action recap feature which updates every four hours.

KANNA KEEP CALM MOMENTS:
Caution: Issued in Public Interest: Your favourite player’s lost the stumps or did he hit the stump from long off? You can shed tears of joy or sadly.
#KannaKeepCalm Moments and Award is a must to watch!

ZIP CLIPS:
Caution: Issued in Public Interest: Do not forget to breathe!
Watch the key moments of the match, in case if you missed the match. Be it Maxwell’s stunning performance at the crease or Ashwin’s nightmare over, Rohit’s caption knock or Dhoni’s sixes, watch them all.

INFOGRAFIX:
Caution: Issued in Public Interest: This is not what you see in your BOSS’s presentation!
Bored of age-old presentations and graphs? Here is a quick visual treat for you. Even if you hate the subject statistics, you’d love to watch these brilliant graphs, doodles and sketches that are part of Infografix.

STORIES: Love to read? Here is a special treat for you then!

POLLS: We fancy polls. Aren’t we?

SCHEDULE: Done for the day? Watch the schedule so that you can stay prepared :)

MYSTERY BOX: I will leave this as mystery for you. Visit www.starsports.com and watch now.

IPL is not just a game, it's a celebration! Join the celebration now!

This post is a part of Cricket just got better! Activity by starsports.com in association with BlogAdda.com.

Our #LuckyKanna for today is @FewMiles ! Congratulations! You've just won yourself a cool tee :D @StarSportsIndia

— BlogAdda (@blogadda) May 11, 2014

‘Cricket’ bores no one indeed ~ Sweet Memories!

Time can make a person lose his happiness. The happiness that a person get when they play games, hear music or read books. I missed the happiness of playing cricket, which was my day today activity during my school and college days. ‘Cricket’ bored no one indeed. Ten months had gone by! That evening I was lucky to play cricket at Dulwich Sports Ground. It was not easy to bowl, catch, and run all over the ground after a long gap, I did!

We chose to bowl first and I bowled the second over of the match. It was fantastic feeling to bowl after so many months. Six perfect balls strengthened my confidence but the same confidence led to a poor second over, and because of frustration due to dropped catches that added the fuel to the fire.

KV, the sensational fast bowler of the team bowled very well. His seam position, line, and his ball was unplayable, but the opponent team was strong and they smashed our bowlers (other than our star bowler) out of the park and to the boundary now and then, still our classy spinner Rahul took two wickets in two overs. Catches were dropped continuously, some were plum, some were high catches, but none was caught. Finally, I took a forward running catch to dismiss the star batsman of their team and we were back into the game.

We were unable to keep them silent for more than six overs. They once again started to smash our bowlers round the corner of the ground. I was given the authority to bowl the eighteenth over of the match, this time I concentrated more on line and bowled a good over, followed by it; our star bowler bowled a sensational over to restrict them to 153 runs.

It was our turn to smash the ball to the boundary but our openers fell cheap to fantastic swing bowling of Ali. It was then our KV and Arun who made the ship sail smooth. They smashed the bowlers round their corners. I was happy to stand there as umpire. I even judged two close calls perfectly; one was a catch appeal, which was actually from the pads of KV and other was Arun’s run out decision. KV also fell to some fantastic bowling in the ninth over. Rahul, joined the party and smashed the bowlers, but our run-rate was not matching the required rate. And Arun was called back as he crossed the run margin allowed.

Once he was back, the wickets started to fell, Sumit was stumped, Revanth was caught in the deep, and few were clean bowled. I joined Rahul in the 15th over, and he took the lead as he was striking well. I ran double and double, back to back, now and then and lot more risky running to match the required rate. We were progressing well, but finally, Rahul was also called back and the rest fell cheaply leaving me alone.

That's the end to a fantastic cricket match after a long time. I hope that I will continue playing cricket, once I’m back to India. I’m not a great commentator or good at writing about cricket, hope you like this one. Smiles, keep reading my blog posts, if not the new ones, at least the old and gold ones, which are being featured on facebook page.

Here you the video...

India Vs England World Cup Preview

The Garden city, Bengaluru, known for its traffic and IT industries is now experiencing the cricket fever. They are set for the most expected match of Group B - India Vs England, match 11 of the World Cup 2011. Both the teams had tasted the victory against minnows, India winning against Bangladesh and England against Netherlands.

India:

Sachinism is more than a religion in India

Well, If you are a Sachin Lover then don’t miss this match because it would be a treat for us to watch. Sehwag’s desire of batting for 50 overs is yet to be fulfilled, so you can expect a treat from his bat too. Well the sizzling openers, Gambhir at 3 and Kohli at 4, makes the team batting line up stronger and the message to the opponent would be, “Beware of us”. Yuvaraj, Dhoni and Pathan will surely add the fuel to the fire for India’s win.

Ashwin expected to replace Sreesanth from the playing 11 as Bangladesh Batsman thrashes him to corners. Bengaluru is a spinner friendly track so I hope spinners to make a difference here.

Postive: Sachin, the name itself means positive, Sehwag, Kohli and Munaf performed well against Bangladesh and Yuvi’s favorite team is England, no one can forget the six sixes of S Broad.

Negative: Bowlers has to help the team to win easily.

England:

Well, I thought they would fail against Netherlands but their batsman took them home. But now they are playing against Indian spin attach which is the most dreadful attack in current cricketing world. Andrew Strauss expected to fire this time for England whereas Broad and Swann should help them if they have to win.

Positive: Andres Strauss 88 Vs Netherlands should perform well against India.

Negative: Bowlers have to click for them if they have to win.

Likely 11:

India: V Sehwag, S Tendulkar, G Gambhir, V Kohli, Yuvarj S, MS Dhoni, Y Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, R Aswin, Zaheer Khan & M Patel.

England: K Pieterson, A Strauss, J Trott, I Bell, P Collingwood, M Prior, M Yardy, T Bresan, S Broad, G Swann, J Anderson.

Numbers Game:

According to Castrol Cricket, India’s Overall Index is three points more than England, where as their Batting Momentum and Bowling Efficiency is less than England.

India:

Head-to-Head	India	England
Win	3	3
Percentage	50%	50%

Castrol Cricket	India	England
Castrol Overall Index	172	169
Batting Momentum	291	319
Bowling Frequency	161	180

Prediction:

You can find more Castrol Cricket Stats here

M Chinnaswamy stadium hosted the same combination in 2008 when India clinched the victory 19 runs and the home team massive win against Bangladesh gives them a better chance. England’s win ratio is not as good as expected but they can if they remove the top order as soon as possible, so it is 70% for India and 30% for England.

Writers Prediction: India

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Australia Vs New Zealand World Cup Match Analysis - 25* and Counting

“Writers’ Prediction: Australia” – Wow, first time I wrote a preview for a cricket match and it clicked pretty well... SiS, you are rocking...

Welcome folks to the Post Match Analysis! Aussies was too powerful for Kiwis to withstand...

Pointing won the toss, chose to field after reading the pitch very well. He knew his fast bowlers would do the trick and the same happened as his fast bowlers thrashed Kiwis to 206 runs... Guptill lazy start added pressure to the kiwis and the loss of B McCullum, J Ryder, and S Styris wickets in quick session pushed the kiwis backward, but D Vettori and N McCullum recovered Kiwis from the poor start until M Johnson removed N McCullum and the rest to restrict them to 206 runs.

The Australian innings got off to a powerful start by B Haddin and S Watson hitting the Kiwi bowlers to corners. The fielders couldn’t stop anything other than staring at the ball reaching the fences. Though Kiwis successfully removed the openers, they lost the match and Chapell-Hardlee trophy to the defending world champs...

Highlights:

* M Johnson – 4/33 won him the Man of the Match Award and he is the leading wicket taker of the tournament.

* S Watson is the second leading run scorer of the tournament.

* And most importantly, Aussies defended the Chapell-Hardlee Cup and celebrating their Silver Jubilee of consecutive wins in World Cup…

This post has been published as a part of CASTROL CRICKET MATCH PUNDIT HUNT brought to you by BLOGJUNTA If you like this post then FAVE IT HERE and read other entries as well.

Australia Vs New Zealand World Cup Preview

Australia takes on Kiwis in the World Cup on Friday 25th February at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, India. It is a testing time for both the teams as they are here in World Cup after a poor show, New Zealand Vs Bangladesh and Australia Vs South Africa. However, New Zealand’s magical win over Kenya and Australia’s win against Zimbabwe should boost both their teams’ confidence.

This match is a special one in this World Cup Edition as Australia and New Zealand cricket board association have made the decision to complete their Chappell-Hadlee Trophy in the same match. The winner of the match would gain the points and grab the trophy as well, a double damaka for the team and for the viewers.

For Australia, SR Watson and MJ Clarke are expected to do well in the batting department where as MG Johnson with the ball. Also, they need to perform well as a team in fielding and other aspects too.

Positive: SR Watson, MJ Clarke and MG Johnson performed well in their first match against Zimbabwe.

Negative: Pointing is yet to recover from the TV set issue result of magical throw by Chris Mpofu of Zimbabwe.


For New Zealand, McCullum and Ross Taylor are expected to fire with the bat and Vettori with the ball. I hope that the team would field well.

Positive: Hamish, Oram and McCullum brothers performed well in their first match against Kenya.

Negative: Team says that Coach John Wright is busy with his personal works, though not a clear info.


Likely 11:

Australia: SR Watson, B Haddin, R Pointing, M Clarke, D Hussey, C White, S Smith, M Johnson, B Lee, J Krejza, S Tait.

New Zealand: M Guptill, B McCullum, R Taylor, J Ryder, J Franklin, S Styris, J Oram, N McCullum, D Vettori, T Southee, K Mills.


Last Meet:

The last match when these teams played resulted in a win for New Zealand when New Zealand scored 241/9 and Australia 190 all-out in New Zealand. It is time for Aussies for proves as defending champions.


Numbers Game:

According to Castrol Cricket, New Zealand’s Overall Castrol Index is 16 less than Australia where as Kiwis Batting Momentum & Bowling Frequency are too less than Aussies.

World Cup

Head-to-Head	Australia	New Zealand
Win	5	2
Percentage	0.714	0.286
Favorites	SR Watson and MJ Clarke	BB McCullum & DL Vettori

Castrol Cricket	Australia	New Zealand
Castrol Overall Index	182	163
Batting Momentum	321	281
Bowling Frequency	195	169

You can find more Castrol Cricket Stats here

Prediction:

Australia has not LOST a World Cup since their defeat against Pakistan a way long back in 1999 and they are the World Champions in the last three edition of World Cup. New Zealand has a decent win rate in World Cup and likely to perform well.

Writers Prediction: Australia

PS: ! Yah ! This is my first ever preview penned by me. Please let me know what you feel about this !

This post has been published as a part of CASTROL CRICKET MATCH PUNDIT HUNT brought to you by BLOGJUNTA If you like this post then FAVE IT HERE and read other entries as well.