Compuware Game....

After that loss against NCC we headed to Nationwide ground to play the second half of our double header....the umpire was very very rude...we werent scheduled to leave the ground we played on earlier that morning but due to some conflict we had to move to another ground....we had 45 mins between the games on which we banked on to get some lunch....but becoz of the change in venue...we lost most of that time and the umpire wasnt even considerate enough to let us get some food...he said that we wil have to lose some overs if we went for food...thats rubbish....when our car got there the umpire was on the field already gesturing us to come for toss....we had 6 people at that point so when I won the toss i elected to bat....it was a forced decision...but turned out to be a good one....

Sham and Baji opened the innings and were hitting at will against the relatively weaker bowling team....both of them scored briskly....Baji was playing himself back into form by gradually increasing in confidence with each of his knocks....Sham was at his attacking best....both of them put in a quick 60-70 run partnership when against the run of the play.....Baji got out....then Uday was sent in....he too got out quickly...Guru was promoted to get some batting practice....but he got out for a duck.....too bad that he didnt utilize the opportunity....by that point the groupism in the team was brewing....we developed a group system and divided the team into 3 groups and each groups would be awarded with points based on the players performance...this was done to incorporate healthy competition within the team....little did we know that Raghav...would abuse it to the advantage of his group...hehehhehehe...well....Raghav and I kind of steadied the innings and took the score close to 170 when I got out...trying to get over aggressive...Vijay went in and started belting the ball to all parts of the field with neat hits....his hitting was so effective and outstanding that he outscored Raghav ( playing since the 9 or 10th over) in a 9-ball knock...we ended up with 210 odd runs....

their batting too wasnt that great....so Raghav decided to experiment with the bowling....which was a good idea....but he abused the system to give bowling only to the people in his group....result being that his group got about 7-8 wickets that fell that day....anyways....Gabroo bowled and over and so did Guru....Uday bowled a couple and Harsha bowled 3....then Rajni and Thimma bowled 4 each in which Rajni got 5 wickets....he was bowling very well....with a decent flight and good line.....he deserved the wickets he got....the best part was his celebration after each wicket....in panesar style....with pumping fists and running to the batsman...accompanied by a shriek of joy ( or heckling the batsman)....Rohit also joined the party with a couple of overs and wicket....my contribution on the field was just a catch....we got them out for 70 runs or so.....it was a relatively easy game after that close match against NCC...so we ended the league phase with 3-1 record and luckily for me...we topped the group...in spite of my terrible performance against NCC that brought some solace to me....

Game against NCC (20-20)

Our next game was against Nationwide Cricket Club (NCC)....i know quite a few people on the team as I have been playing for quite some time with Akron CC....so it was nice to see some familiar faces...

The game started late as the NCC guys came late...the umpire rightly punished them for their tardiness by deducting 2 overs from their chase...there was lot of opposition to that....but we started the game finally....we were concerned becoz we had a double header that day and had to play two matches back-to-back....so we were banking on the break between the games to replenish our energy reserves....

Anyways...we started batting...Baji and Abhay started well....scored briskly....got a partnerhsip going...then Abhay got out against the run of the play....Sham walked in and tried hitting out from the first ball....bad strategy....well he got a life....then Baji went...he scored 15-20 runs...I went in with the hope of building some partnerships and keep the score board ticking....sham got out immediately....in walked Raghav....we decided to buckle down and get ones....dont know what got into Raghav....tried lofting the ball...not exactly his strength and got out....to a good catch....in walked the debutant....Vinay...we had a similar discussion in the middle....buckle up and run singles....he did the same things Raghav did and was caught at the same position....Guru came next....both of us are comfortable with each other as we can run our singles fast....so we had a nice little partnership going....then I had a rush of blood and was catch at short third man....we were in a little bit of trouble...as Vijay got out immediatelt and Guru after hitting a good six....thanks to rajni and Harsha...we played out the rest of the overs for 120 odd runs....

Well...we thought that it would be a god total as they had to chase it in 18 overs....Vijay and Guru started of well again...Vijay esp was brilliant...he was in a zone and bowled with good control....we got a few wickets but essentially kept the asking rate high.....Manpreet was introduced and he started with a brillinat yorker....we kept the scoring low and got wickets at regular intervals....I felt we were all good to go...little did I know that I was going to have a horrible day....first I dropped a catch on the boundary line....it was simple catch...that should have given me a hint as to what kind of a day I was going to have....Raghav threw me the ball in the hope of wrapping things up after the other debutant Harsha bowled well and got a couple of wickets...I was taken for 12 runs in my first over...with a six off my slower ball...its been a long time since I hadbeen hit for a six off my slower ball as I have been getting the ball spot on....but this time it didnt work....then harsha bowled another good over and I screwed it up again, i was taken for 12 more runs in the next over...with another six over deep sqaure....I asked raghav to stop me....he obliged....thank god....I dont know what would have happened had I continued....anyways...Gabroo and Guru brought us back into the game with some excellent bowling in the death....but we did give them some freebies by bowling fullish length....on Baji's and Sham's insistance raghav asked me to bowl the last over .....I was surprised ....I said "r u sure?? I am having a terrible day"....he said that he faith in me....I was encouraged....14 required of the last over....started off with runout from the first ball....but then i compenstaed with six of the next ball again....i was like...whats going on....why am I screwing up that bad...8 from 4.....they got 2....6 from 3....bowled a slower ball..that beat the batsman and the keeper all end s up....that went for a bye and another for unfortunate overthrow...4 from 2.....the ball slipped from my hand and I bowled a waist high full toss that went for a single...2 runs scrored....2 balls 2 runss... brilliant piece of fielding by sham...he shot the non striker end wickets down under pressure...1 ball 2 runs...we got the field up but I screwed up with a ball right in the slot that was hit for another six!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! end of the game and a disastrous performance from me....after all the effort from Vijay, Guru, Gabroo and harha....i gave up 42 in 3 overs!!!!! my worst ever performance....so we lost the game and fell to 2-1....we had to win the next game to top the group.....

Start of the 2007 cricket season

Cricket season is a much awaited season for a bunch of us who spend most of the time in winter discussing the previous seasons or the upcoming season or (worse) indian cricket team....heheheh

This year the season didnt start off with the customary practice games....we participated in a 20-20 tournament....a first of its kind in this region....13 teams participated...Akron CC had a few new faces....Vijay, Abhay,Rajni, Vinay, Aditya....but most of the team was comprised of players that had represented akron in the years prior....Sham, Avinash, Raghav, Praneeth, Manpreet, Gurpreet, Harsha, Uday, Rohit and myself.....Hari, Manas and Sri Harsha werent available for this tournament.

We started off well against UCC....restricted them to 108 odd runs in 20 overs...this being our first time in 20-20 and also being Raghav's first game as captain of Akron CC....it was quite an experience....Vijay making his debut bowled brilliantly and so did Sham,Uday and Gabroo...I managed to chip in with a few good overs. the only person that had a bad day was Guru...he was pretty deflated after that...he is the most energetic fielder on the team so his silence and drooping shoulders did have an effect on the team....but we bowled well for our first game...the only surprise was that the new ball was shared by Sham (spinner) with VIjay....it took most of our team and their team by surprise...

Our chase started disastrously losing Baji and Abhay in the first couple of overs....both of them caught off guard for playing attacking shots too early in the innings...that too in the first game of the season....but that didnt ditter Sham....he kept counter attacking and that worked for us....he hit some lusty blows but fell trying to be too aggressive...Raghav and I managed to see the side through to victory thanks to some horrendous fielding by UCC... i rode on my luck 5 times !!!!!!!! Yes they dropped 5 of my catches....I couldnt have given any more chances...hehehhe Raghav also was dropped a couple of times....but in the end we managed with Sham and me scoring in 30's and Raghav in 20's. All in all it was good start for the season..... I was chosen Man of the Match...i dont remember when I last won that honor....hehehe

Next we played GahannaCC....we batted first this time....Sham and Baji opened the innings and put up a fine show....it was good to see Baji among runs as he started the season with a duck....sham started from where he had stopped in his previous innings...he even bettered his previous effort....he was at his swashbuckling best....he swatted the attack to all parts of the field....some of the sixes that he hit were huge !!!!!!!! and he wasnt even trying to slog....they were all great looking cricketing shots....it was treat to watch him....we were expecting AkronCC's first century....little did we dream to see that...and we would not even have thought of that to be in a 20-20 game even in our wildest dreams......all of us were excited....but like in the past....AkronCC player threw his wicket when in sight of a 100 and when he had the bowlers at his mercy.....too bad that Sham missed his century but for me...he got one....he scored 92 !!!! and he got out in the 16th over.....cant even imagine what he would have achieved had he played the full 20 overs :):)....then our innings fell apart and suprisingly we ended up with 170 odd runs with only 20 runs to show in the last 5 overs....thanks to sham we managed that score...else it would have been around 120....

Guru and Vijay were on fire when we started our bowling....they had a competition going...and they managed to clean the top order in the first few overs....this despite Guru being hit for a six of t he first ball of the innings....the game was in our control.....Manpreet and I got a few more wickets and we thought we had wrapped it all up....but we were wrong....Raghav introduced Baji and Sham....Baji got a couple of wickets in his first over....but was clobbered in his next and Sham too was hit for a few sixes....so all of a sudden we were under pressure again....Raghav threw the ball to me and asked me to look to contain them....I had noticed that all the balls that were hit for sixes were short of length or in the driving length....so I decided to experiment with blockhole balls and slower ones....it worked and I managed to get a couple of wickets and we wrapped the game....so we were 2-0....it had been a long time since we had a winning start to the season...so all of us were happy and it was no surprise that Sham was chosen the MOM....

more to come.....

Asian Games.....no proper media coverage

I have been following the ongoing Asian Games for the past 10 days or so....they are being held in Doha, Qatar....the surprising thing is most of the media is not interested in the events unless we win a medal or dont win a medal in an event we were expected win....

It was kind of sad to see a couple of lines on these great atheletes that sweat it out for the country but dont get any news coverage...but people like aishwarya rai, SRK and Indian cricket team hog the news for every small thing they do...

Jaspal Rana, shooting ace, won 3 golds but wasnt the headline for that day..but Ash and Bacchan Jr doing puja at Vaishnav Devi is on the front page!!!!!!!!!! So much for the hard work of the atheletes....on times of india website Asian Games werent even on the front page well till we started winning medals...no lead up articles and how the atheletes prepared and stuff....but the failure of Indian cricket team is scrutinized to the minutest detail and every-tom-dick-and-harry thats played the sport will make a smart ass comment on how the team failed and that something has to be done....brilliant...everyone knows something has to be done and that the players need to regroup and play...thats called stating the obvious...

India though has a 1/3rd of Asian population is finishing a lowly 7th or 8th in the medals tally...thats very disappointing and kind of sad state of atheletics in the country....but the bright side is that we have won abt 52 medals so far...which is by far the largest haul at the Asian games...kudos to the medal winners and the others that tried...

Thanks to Rana (Shooting 3 Golds and a Silver), Sania( 1 Gold and 2 Silvers), Hampy(2 Golds),Paes (2 Golds), 4 x 400m Womens and mens relay teams ( 1 Gold 1 Silver), Advani (1 Gold, 1 Bronze) and other medal winners we have a respectable total for the event but compare that to 147 Gold medals (287 in all) by China and aby 60 Gold medals each by Korea and Japan!!!!!!!!!!! Its a slap in the face of Indian Atheletic Association...but they care less about such things....they will only see the rich haul from this year's edition compared to the previous one...but the difference in the class of athletes...is quite obvious....

Shooters got abt 14 medals...by far the best section of indian contingent but the coach resigned on return as he was disgusted and disappointed with the facilities provided by the administration...Rana minced no words and flayed the Indian Sports Asscoiation (SAI)...for not providing any ammunition in time for practice and stuff like that....he went a yard ahead and mentioned that the credit for his win doesnt go to SAI....but goes to the coach and team....

If you think about it...3 Golds by rana, 2 by Paes, 2 by Humpy, 1 by Advani...are all individual efforts from world class contenders...all these people compete in internatinoal tournamenst and have excelled on their own...so those golds are not due to SAI...so 8/10 golds are not due to SAI !!!!!!!!! Now that speaks volumes of the facilities provided and also about the training standards in India....

Track and field that brought home 6 Golds and 12 other medals in the last edition has 1 gold and 6 other medals to show here in Doha edition...thats like going backwardsrather than forward in progress....and there can be only 2 reason....one, SAI didnt provide enough facilities and exposure and two, athletes didnt perform...most of them gave a lame excuse of not feeling good and sore back and stuff like that...how ridiculous...you train for the whole year for this occasion and then you fall sick on the race day!!!!!!!!!!!!! How come only Indian athletes fall sick and not the Chinese, japs and Koreans???? Its not like we are playing in a cold place either...we are playing in the middle east that has a climate similar to India....if not worse....perfect example....Anju george...Gold medal hope in Long jump....skips lot of tournaments this year to participate and train for Asian games (god knows why you have to skip events when they could have been used as dress rehearsals)....gets a Silver with a below par performance and then complains of sore back and withdraws from triple jump!!!!!!!!!!! Now can anyone explain this to me????

The media doesnt help the cause either as they dont cover the performance of the athletes all thru the year and only cover them at the games and then glorify their failure...medial should reduce the coverage on the Indian cricket and Hockey teams which have been waaaaayyyyy below par in their performances....right now both of them have hit a rock bottom...hockey was even more disappointing as we finished 11th /12 teams at the world cup and didnt even make semi finals of Asian Games!!!!!!!! So much for a nation that won 8 Olympic Golds!!!!!!!!!

The other sad story is that of football...few years ago we are in the top 75 teams now we are ranked 147th in the world!!!!!!!!! How many countries are ranked???? we have been steadily declining but no-one wants to do anything about it...

One of the headlines kind of intrigued me...."Indian Shuttlers disappoint"....well...FYI..this is Asian Games and most of the World's top players are from Asia and Indians are not among them so they are bound to have failures...it would have been too much to expect medals from Indian shuttlers...may be one...thats it...but they did put up a commendable fight and made Pre and Quarterfinals in most of the events....Indian mens doubles team also caused an upset...so instead of showing their performance in positive light they are shown as a bunch of losers....

I can go on and on about this topic...will have to continue about this later...

Mid-Atlantic Badminton Classic 2006

Its been a long time since I have competed in a badminton tournament...played intercollegiate in 2000 and thats abt it...last played competitive badminton at district level in 1992....so it has quite sometime....so i was all excited to play in the tournament....

It, Mid-Atlantic badminton Classic 2006, was held in Bryn Athyn PA, over the past weekend...I competed in Mens Div B Singles and Doubles....Div A would have been pushing too hard to compete when I am competing after a long time...just to give a feel of Div A....people on the US national team and No.1 under 22 player in the US played in that level...in Div A doubles people like Vincent Lobo... was no.1 doubles player in india for 4-5 yrs and played for India at Thomas cup level...played...so it was way out of my league to even think about competing in Div A....not yet atleast....just started getting back into badminton after a long time...play at a Club in Bryn Mawr PA (15 miles from Philly)....actually Vincent lobo also plays at our club...so its a treat to watch that guy play...unbelievable player....

coming back to the tournament....friday evening was the singles tournament...I least expected to make it past the secon d round...i had a easy first round....but i played horribly...won 21-5, 19-21, 21-6...second round was against a student from MIT...heheheh...u guessed it right...an oriental guy....watched him play and beat my friend...so thought thats it for me...but had a good game...kind of warmed up and started playing well...moving well on the court...won 21-18,17-21,21-18...i was dead tired and excited at this point...i had already met my goal that i set for the tournament....

next up was Semi-final against Srikar...from Alaska...he seemed to be a good player...and as the game go underway...I could see that he was clearly a better player...and was just taking me apart...decided to hang in...waited for his mistakes....won the first game 21-19 on the most sensational rally i have played in my entire life !!!!!!!!! it must have had 20-25 shot exchanges....ended with reflex (lucky) smash return from me parallel to the net into my opponents face...i couldnt belive i made that shot!!!!!!!!!!! in the next game he upped his game to another level and dissected my game to win 21-13... i was tired at this point...he had two of his friends that play in men's div A rooting for his and kind of making guestures to help him...I was thinking...."ok, suneel u played well so far...just hang in there and see if u can make it as close as possible"....it went neck-to-neck in the final game...he was always on top of things and was ahead in score...the new scoring system doesnt let u make any mistakes as u win or lost a point every time there is a mistake...it was rally scoring like in TT and volleyball...u can win a point even on opponents serve...i managed to win the game 21-18 !!!!!!!! i was in the final of Men's B singles!!!!!!!!!! i couldnt believe that...I was completely exhausted...played singles after a long time and at that point I had played 9 games of singles in 3 hrs!!!!!! so i was tired...at the scoring table they said that the final will be played whenevr I was ready!!!!!!!!!! they meant that night!!!!!! i told them 15-20 mins as it was already 9:40 pm...and I had to come back that night...1 hr drive and go back to play the doubles early next morning...so i wanted to get done ASAP....

My opponent was a guy from Drexel university...he had beaten his opponents in straight sets...so had played 6 games till then and i had played 9....so he had the advantage of playing fewer games....in the warm up i was trying to probe for some weaknesses but couldnt find any and I saw that he was quick on the court...I had the same sinking feeling that i had befor ethe semi-final game...but suprisingly i was getting to almost all the shots that he was playing so that lifted my confidence....he won the first game 21-18....it wasnt as bad as i thought....but i could see that he was clearly tired...not that i was fresh to play...but I was kind of thankful for my half-marathon training...i had run a half-marathon in september so my stamina was kind of holding me up quite well....I started making my opponent move on the court and started stretching him...he was up to the task and made me move as well...so both of us were dead tired and were stalling for time whenevr we could and were glad that the referee offered 60 secs break at mid-game...we were glad....i prevailed 21-16 !!!!!!!!!! now with one more game to win...i thought of going for the kill initially so that i can jump ahead and then slow down....I expected my strategy to work as my attack would tire my opponent also...my plan worked perfectly and I jumped to a 11-2 lead....from then on it was a uphill climb for both of us...as there were long pauses between serves as we were stalling for time....finally I finished the game 21-10 !!!!!!! I was jubiliant but too tired to celebrate...couple of my friends had stayed back to watch my game and they supported me in the final game that helped immensely...its a feel good think when u look at someone and they clap for u and encourage u and root for u...thanx Devin and Haiti...actually they were rooting for both of us as they were Drexel too:):)

I was tired and literally would have given 100 bucks to anyone who would have offered to drive me home!!!!!!!!!!!!! but couldnt find anyone...

had 5 hrs sleep and hd to get back to play my doubles match the next day....

Fwd: Indian Cricketers vs Indian Soldiers

I am not against Indian cricketers or Cricket...in fact I am more a cricket fan than any other. But thought that this mail is worth forwarding.... After loss against New Zealand, India is back to normal with peoplestill hoping for a miracle. In a way it was good that we lost and people now have come out of their craze for arguably most overrated, over promotedand overpaid team.

There is a war on in Kashmir and India has lost 51 soldiers and officers.They are fighting at a height of 17000 ft. It is -5 to -30 C inclement weather.The intruders, 80% of whom are Pakistan army soldiers, are at the top of mountainand our brave soldiers are actually climbing those mountains with rope, against the fire.

Some figures that may shock you:An Indian air force flight lieutenant is paid Rs. 1200 flyingallowance per month and he is supposed to make 40 sorties in aging Migs.That is about Rs. 25 per sortie after taxes. If he dies his family getspaid Rs. 2 lakh.

The man of the match in any World Cup team gets 3000 pounds,about Rs 2.1 lakhs.

When flying over Kargil at 18000 ft the flight lieutenant isjust 1000 ft above intruders armed with American stringer missiles and caneasily be shot down. Yet, he does it. Nachiketa who returned frompakistan captivity will be back for action. And whom do theydo this for?

A person in Bihar has offered 111 coconuts and intends tooffer 10001 more. A large corporate and BJP local unit offered prayer atSidhivinayak temple and distributed prasad. A youth in Gujarat is on fast.No, none of the above is for Indian soldiers, its for India's win in World Cup.

You may be aware of how important the life of a US marine is.

if 5 of them lose their lives, all newspapers in US cry as if world warhas started. There are stories of their families and how they curse US government.Fl. Lt. Ahuja was killed in cold blood and he was cremated by his four year old son...The head line in Times of India was about India\'s win over England.And our team can not make 4 runs in 7 balls against Zimbabwe!!! Andpeople in India or Indian people across the world still worry about their performance.

Azhar...the wristy magician..the forgotten hero

I saw an article on Rediff that was asking the readers to post their opinion abt Azhar being invited to the celebration and felicitation function of all the cricket greats.......I was pissed off with the article as it was titled in a manner that points out BCCi making a mistake in doing so....

Then i read the comments from the users....it was an overwhelming victory for Azhar fans!!!!!!! 99% of the people that responded said that BCCI is atlast doing the right thing...how true...can u imagine the same kind of ban and ill-treatment being dished out to Shane warne, mark waugh, crookes, gibbs....and many other people that were implicated and in some case confessed to accepting "gifts" from "information seekers"....thats the sad state of affairs of Indian cricket where the Board elections take much of the time of the Board members than they working to improve the state of Indian cricket at grass root levels...

Azhar...no doubt did a wrong thing by accepting money (well...that is still to be proved)..though CBI cleared Azhar for not finding any evidence against him...lets assume that he did something wrong....but does that discount his talent as a player??? how abt the manoj prabhakar hidden cam adventure on Kapil, sastri and gavaskar!!!!! people seemed to have forgotten that episode...abt how kapil was implicated in Wadekar's match report and also in the version of Lele then secretary of BCCI.... but all these players are being hailed as "greats" and "heroes" of indian cricket when the man who brought laurels to the Indian team with his brilliant batting and fielding is being tainted as a cheater!!!!!! Double standards of the highest order!!!!!

Gavaskar was quoted to have said "Azhar is God's gift to Indian cricket"...that he was can be seen from his batting record....how many peple can claim to have scored hundreds in their first three tests??? how many can claim to have scored a century in first and last test matches???? how many people would have come forward to take up Captaincy in those turbulent times of early 90's....there was kapil in that team too...so why was Azhar selected???? its based on sheer talent and determination that he rose from a normal player to a brilliant batsmane with wrists that defined logic to all cricket experts....

As far as I can remember anything abt cricket I have been Azhar's fan ....I dont have too much info abt his personal life...but that applies to Sachin, dravid, sampras, Schumi, gopichand, Dhanraj pillai etc also....but based on his talent i can never adore a person/player more....i used to be mesmerised by his wrist work....too bad that i can never emulate even 10% of his wristiness in my own batting:)...but i try and compensate taht with using my wrists in badminton:):)

people have said a lot of things abt Azhar bringing disrepute to the "indian team" and he tarnished the image of the Indian team....he misused the greatest privlege according to some...but is cricket that important to t hose people that are criticing him??? how abt the politicians....we compromise on all of their wrong doings and nevr even bother to find out abt their cases being solved or not??? how come when those issues are far more damaging to the society people tend to turn a blind eye but when Azhar's topic comes to play their use double standards....the contrasting point is that people are evening protesting to save "Afzal" the guys implicated in the parliament bomb blasts but still want to hard azhar after all thses years that he had spent in seclusion and away from public appearances.....

I can go on and on...but i will keep some views for a later time.....