Thursday, June 19, 2008

Desire

A list of the few things that I would want to have.

1) BMW 530i

2) Tag Heuer Grand Carrera Calibre 8RS Chronometer

3) Mont Blanc Meisterstuck Solitaire Silver Fibre Guilloche

4) A Hugo Boss Suit

5) A Vincent van Gogh

6) Signed copy of all Jeffrey Archer books

7) Cristopher Tolkien signed Lord of the Rings

9) Sachin Tendulkar signed bat

10) Arsene Wenger and Thierry Henry signed football

11) Pink Floyd signed The Wall

12) Bose Lifestyle home entertainment system

13) Arsenal Football Club

Do they say lucky no. 13?

Thursday, June 12, 2008

The Indian Premier League - A delayed review

A few years back, when the South African cricket team visited Australia, a new rivalry was born; that of arguably the greatest leg spinner the game has ever seen and of a flamboyant young captain leading the resurrection of a tattered team after an unsuccessful world cup campaign. Shane Warne and Graeme Smith never became the best of friends.

Come 2008, and suddenly, the two fierce competitors were bought by the same franchisee in the much fancied Indian Premier League. By the end of the tourney, Smith declared Warne as a 'fiery old man' and said that they 'got on like a house on fire'.

Now that is what the IPL has done to the sport of cricket. Even one Mr. Sourav Ganguly is now happy to work closely with one Mr. Ricky Ponting, something that seemed unforeseeable in either's careers.

No sport is friendly, but it must be played in the right spirit. The IPL was no different. At the opening ceremony itself, each captain signed the Spirit of Cricket statement, confirming that they intended to play in respect of the game. Another incentive for promoting sportsmanspirit was the Fairplay Award, which took into account a team's behaviour with their opposition as well as the umpires.

It might seem surprising that the Rajasthan team eventually won the IPL. They were touted as the weakest link, they had an accented English-speaking captain, they had no Indian superstar cricketer. However, they had desire. Warne's want to win a game from the most miserable situation was infectious, and it thus showed in the performances of youngsters like Shane Watson and Yusuf Pathan.

One might argue that the famous Harbhajan-Sreesanth slap incident did not do much for nurturing sportsmanspirit; but it is clear that neither of these players have behaved saintly in their past careers, so to blame the IPL for such an incident is not correct.

The inaugral IPL did its bit to promote the game of cricket. Old enemies became pals and respect grew amongst contemporaries. Cricket still remained the gentleman's game, although the viewership grew amongst ladies and children as well.