The Knights rule in IPL 2014 – 10 Best Moments

Kolkata Knight Riders won this year’s Indian Premier League that too in style by chasing a total of 200 within 20 overs.

This is the highest ever total chased in any of the IPL finals from 2008 to present.

Here are some prized moments from yesterday’s historic match.

1) The 2 awesome captains pre match pose with the trophy:

2) The 2 awesome co-owners of both the teams:

3) The hero for Punjab; Wriddhiman Saha who scored 115 i.e. a highest score by anyone in a IPL final :

4) Sunil narine, KKR’s most lethal weapon throughout the tournament had let go of international duty (West Indies) to stay with team for the final. Proved worthwhile didn’t it?

5) Manish Pandey, the star for KKR nearly missed out for a century, but won many hearts, and the cup for his team.

6) This man Piyush Chawla got the winning runs.

7) Celebrations Celebrations:

8) KKR Crowned as IPL Champions 2014:

9) Arguably the best opponent in this year’s IPL for any team was Punjab. A good mix of local and international talent gave them the much needed boost to make it to the final.

10) Last but not the least, a smile on the captain’s face, Gautam Gambhir who has led from the front.

I enjoyed the final, and arguably, the better team won.

 

Crazy Stupid Love For Cricket

This is one of my most laughed about moments in 3 months of internship.

It was IPL 2013, and as we all know, everyone gets busy watching matches.

But unfortunately, my internship started right on the 2nd of May i.e Mid – IPL.

Sad..!!

But that’s how life is.

One fine day, we associates had a lot of work load to be eased out.

That meant, full on working.

But also, the clock had indicated with a warning that it’s 4pm that means… IPL time.

We all guys were cricket buffs, and who would want to miss out a Chennai vs Mumbai match?

But the Manager had delegated some work for us to complete by the end of the day.

Sad as we were, we made a puppy dog face… Sad Puppy

We then got to know through internal sources that the Head of the branch had given a task to the manager.

And instead of doing it himself, he passed it on to us!

So much for authority!

But not that day…

As soon as it was 4.30, we ( daredevils) sneaked outside, to the nearest resto-Bar, and were watching the match.

Then what happened next, was a shock, a blinder, everything.

As soon as a wicket fell, a guy sitting near the screen cheered “Mumbai,….Mumbai”.

The voice sounded familiar.

It was our manager.

Damn..!!

We were surprised, shocked and everything else.

Here he is, enjoying the match, and there we were doing the work he was supposed to do.

He looked at us.

I’m sure he had a dumb faced expression which would even beat the best award for the dumbest expression given ever!

None of us said a word.

The match went on and after the first innings was over, he asked that we all return to work, as tasks had to be completed.

With a faint smile, we walked back.

So much for the love of cricket.

The STAR SPORTS effect:

You all might have heard the new jingle.

“Keep Calm, kanna keep calm, watch Pepsi IPL on Star-sports.com”

Now you don’t need to sneak out side your office to get a glimpse of your favorite match.

Watch it in your cubicle, the pantry, hell even the washroom.

All you need is a smartphone, a tab, or a PC.

Then you are game!

Starsports.com gives you highlights of anything and everything.

Right from the best catches, to the fours, the sixes, the wickets, the best moments, innings wise highlights etc.

See so many things, all under a website.

If you missed a match, they will give you so many highlights, that is equal to your match watching experience.

So be on par with every cricket lover, watch on the go, anywhere and everywhere.

That’s why all Kanna has to do is keep calm, and leave the rest to Starsports.com.

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

 

 

Is National Pride In Sports Limited To Cricket? #IndiChange

The answer to the title.. is NO..!!

Do watch this video..
This indirectly sums up everything what i cannot express in my post.!!

Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JH8yxfsTzDg

India has their national pride in the form of Cricket
This has been going on since decades

But also, football has seen a rise like never before.
With its viewership increasing,
the opportunities provided,
football schools,
etc etc
the trend seems to be shifting a bit towards football.

There is another fact that India hasn’t had much of success in Football, which thus gives us a lot of opportunities to give players our backing,

This team, Dooars XI is a classic example.
They like football, live for it..!!
Being women, they have instilled love for this game.
I’m not acting sexist but the fact remains, that we hardly hear a thing or two about women players playing different tournaments!!

Now why does that happen?
If any of you have watched the movie “Chak de India” , You’ll know that there is a scene when Shah Rukh Khan wants the job to coach the Indian Hockey Women’s team!!
He approaches the board, and they tell him,”You are fighting a lost cause!!”
These people will just waste our time and money.

That’s what is happening here.
The fact that there is no belief leads to them not getting any support..!!!
Thus until our own country doesn’t know about them, there is no going ahead with this issue.

These people want to play, they do have the courage and dedication, maybe who knows they might prosper a lot, make India proud..!!
But these are just assumptions which can be fulfilled only with them getting facilities enough to enjoy the sport.

Its funny, i recollect another team with such a scenario.
This video moved me, and really, these two teams had the same issues
with the below video showing, how the team managed to play, even without a
jersey
shoes
& more importantly,
the ground..!!

Do have a watch..
You can connect these two videos!!
Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU4oA3kkAWU

Finally all i can say is that where there is a will, there is a way!!
The love of the game is all that matters!!
With a little support from the country, these women will surely work wonders!!!

What we learnt from ” India Vs New Zealand ” 2nd Test Match

India 0-1 down in the series were looking set to worsen their record away from home.
Haven’t won a match since 930+ days. So, the pressure to win is very very high.

The Kiwis on the other hand, were on cruise mode with due performances from their seam team.
So, in a nutshell, I’ll describe each day, and then we read, what we learnt from this match.

Day 1:

Brendon Mccullum kept his losing record intact in terms of losing tosses, and India chose to bowl.
A surprising decision, but paid well in the end.
Ishant Sharma repeated his 2nd innings antics in the previous test with a 6 wicket haul again with Shami taking the rest. For the first time Indian seam line up took all 10 wickets in many years.
India batted for the post tea session making a 100/2 with Dhawan cruising for another century.
Advantage – INDIA

Day 2:

India, batted well almost for the entire day, with Dhawan missing out on a century.
The night watchman Ishant made a gutsy 26.
The tailenders contributed well for the team.(Zaheer – 22, Jadeja – 26)
Star of the day is Ajinkya Rahane who scored 118.
New Zealand seam line up got 9 on 10 wickets. not bad eh?
India got a lead of 235, Great..!!
New Zealand end the day on 24/1 trailing by 222 runs.
Advantage – INDIA

Day 3:
Mccullum and Watling rescued the Black caps after they were trailing 94/5
A partnership was forming, which was slowly rescuing them from an innings defeat, to avoiding a follow on, and then giving a decent target.
No good performances from the indians.
The bowlers were worn out.
For a while, Zaheer bowled a spell which was on the stump. Pure class!!
Advantage – 50-50

Day 4:
Mccullum and Watling made a partnership record and batted the entire day.
Phew!! What a record. 350+runs is not what you hear for the 6th wicket.
Then, James Neesham , the debutant scored a century. It’s like, whoever was batting from the home team played India like their toy.
The Bowlers like usual were a failure. it seemed they weren’t into the match and hoped it would all end like a bad dream.
Advantage – New Zealand

Day 5:
Mcculum completes his triple hundred with style thus joining the league of  Sir Donald Bradman and Wally Hammond as the only players to have scored a double century and a triple century in consecutive Tests.
Stupendous achievement!
In that course, he broke Martin Crowe’s long time record since 1991 of scoring the highest runs on this ground (Previous was 299 in the year 1991-92)
The match was declared, and thus India was given a daunting target of 430+
It was obvious nothing could be done!
But, we batted decently with our future star, Virat kohli scoring a consolatory hundred for the visitors.

Result: MATCH DRAWN

8 Things we learnt from this match:

1) Brendon Mcculum is the man everyone must thank. he truly played a captain’s knock, didn’t he? He showed everyone how a aggressive batsman can slow down his game to great lengths just for his country.

2) Ishant Sharma is the most unpredictable Indian player ever.

3) Our batting seems to have finally found the swing, not only the top order, but also the tail enders contributing.

4) The Kiwis need more variety in the spin department. Expecting everything from their seamers can backfire anytime.

5) Rohit Sharma needs to find his zing back again, if he wants to cement his place in the team.

6) Our bowling looked like it was getting back to track, but the key to success always remains Consistency.
    We need more of it.

7) Watling and Mcculum need to be given a special praise for their performance. To rescue your team from the losing stage to get them to a decent position is commendable.

8)The men in blue’s next task is England which is 5 months from now which means after 2 months,
India will have a record for not winning an away test for more than 1000 days!!

Mitchell Johnson – The next Bowling Legend?

Name         – Mitchell Johnson
Age            – 32
Role           – Fast Bowler, Sometimes an All rounder.
Nicknames – Notch, Midge, Chomps

Johnson has been a regular starter with the Aussies, spear heading their attack, acheiving success almost everytime.
The year 2013 was clearly the year of Midge.
He has been phenomenal with the ball, and contributing a little with the bat too.
Wickets have been a regular thing for him as he got his team victories too easily.
The guy with the mustache has given batsmen of many nations, sleepless nights.

Now, a little bit of history:
When we think of fast bowlers who are legends, some names we would get would be,
Glen McGrath
Courtney Walsh
Courtly Ambrose
Waqar Younis etc

These cricketers at their time, were legends on field.
Their performance was mesmerizing to anyone and everyone who watched them play.
There was one thing the above bowlers had in common, i.e Consistency!

Midge has been consistent all year in 2013, and he doesn’t seem to slow down soon.
In 2014 he is continuing to destroy every team that comes in his way.

Here is a list of a few of his last test outings right from The Ashes and the ongoing series with South Africa.
Bowling figures: (Ashes)               Bowling figures: (South Africa)
 1st test  – 9 / 103                         1st test – 12/127
 2nd test – 8 / 113
 3rd test – 6 / 140                        
 4th test –  8 / 88                         
 5th test –  6 / 73

Now, tell me, how do you rate this guy?
Too good ain’t he?
Yes he is..!!
49 wickets in his last 6 tests mean he at least picks up an average of 8 wickets a test.
That is an incredible feat.

Also he does have a fifty in one innings. That’s decent for a full time bowler.
These stats are just a piece of recent information.
He has been a legend in the making from many years with decent performances.
But this Ashes, he stole the limelight completely.
Everyone started noticing him more and more with every match.
And i think after a while, his fan base will increase to a new height.

We all know he has been bought by Kings XI Punjab for $1.15 million.
That’s a huge price but i think he fits the bill,
Mumbai Indians will surely miss his presence and yes,
Batsmen will have to beware of this guy, as he has a fetish of watching castled wickets and sad faces of batsmen.
Hoping to see him get better and better!

All statistics from ESPN Cric info:
http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/player/6033.html