Blitzkrieg

Lying on the floor in Madras, 9 and a half hours ahead of Antigua, at 2 am, I was wondering if I would turn my TV off at the end of the next over, when the Windies (my third favourite cricket team) need 104 from 10 overs to chase down an improbable 301 against South Africa, with the ever so elegant Bravo and the unsure Ramdin at the crease. In that over, Ramdin fell, sixth fallen wicket (note, Sarwan was injured, so, retired hurt) and in walked the man from St. Lucia, whom I always love to watch, the dynamite who can explode more often the much more known Keiron Pollard, introducing, Darrel Sammy. OK, 9 overs 100, 2:15 am, yawn... Bravo + Sammy... Well, lets watch it!

Oh boy! That was one good decision I made that day! Power Plays came in, and it was sort of 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' sort of thing. Dale Steyn, the ripper, with all his might, firing those bullets of the white ball at Sammy could only watch them sail over the ropes into the stands!!! Two sixes off the first two balls of a Steyn over. Ever dreamt of it? Two more dot balls and a single later, things were evened out, but last ball cost Bravo's wicket, caught slogging to deep cover. So, that tipped the scales in SA's favour.

7 down, and in came Ramnaresh Sarwan. He had earlier injured his hamstring while takinga quick single. I, who was lying on the floor watching till now, got up in respect. Graeme Smith, was near the crease with 'keeper de Villiers, and he knew how it was for Sarwan to be there... Smith himself was in a similar position one and a half years ago down under. Sarwan took 5 minutes to trod to the middle, he had Keiron Pollard as his by-runner, and Pollard took guard for him (you all know his traditional style of marking guard) and Botha consumed him first ball, caught behind. Sarwan, heart broken, trodded back :-( .

In came Rampaul at 8 down, Nikita Miller, also injured, could come 9 down, if at all the WI looked like in a situation to need him. A single then brought Sammy to the strike. Bang Bang!!! Two more sixes !!! Woohooo! And Windies, were down on paper, but not out yet for sure! Next over, in comes Steyn again and he gets another big one off Sammy! This guy was on fire!!! In just 15 balls, he had amassed 37 runs by now, courtesy 5 biggies! In comes SA's most economical bowler, Morkel to size him up... Boy did he know that he was in for a big over??? 2,2,4,4,6,1 and that tipped things in WI's favour, courtesy one man, one big powerful man, Darren Sammy. With the fastest fifty by a West Indian being brought up by the six in that over, the West Indies fan so much wanted to enjoy this situation, half of them drunk and excited, the other half was sober, too excited, nevertheless!

23 from 3 overs. With no option left worth risking, the poor-so-far McLaren is given the ball... Only singles all through the over and a run out in the last ball (Sammy hit back to the bowler, and Rampaul was running early, so, was caught off crease) and thus the match became all so tense... Heard of a quiet Caribbean ground? Ever? This noisy ground became silent... Sammy applauded Rampaul's effort, patted him on his back, thanked him for the partnership (3.4 overs, 47 runs) and welcome the injured Nikta Miller to the crease. Miller, again assisted by Pollard was just told - 'hit, we'll run' and Sammy was in some conversation with Pollard... How hard is 18/2 gonna be?

In came Morkel, to Miller who tapped it to short cover and Pollard was sprinting like Ussain Bolt... Smith at short cover rushes to the ball, grabs it while moving across the pitch, and then back flips it to the non striker's end and IT HIT THE STUMPS AND THE BAILS WERE DOWN... Up went to the decision tot he box, but Smith and co were sure this was out and in came the confirmation... Nikita Miller (errr. Pollard), run out by Smith to break the heart of the 20000 odd crowd. Absolute pin drop silence surrounded Darren Sammy's fallen soul. He was crestfallen by spirit, devoid of words, a tear in his eye, wept away and stood tall once again to exchange the customary hand shakes and move on.

Boy did he give West Indies a jolt!!! He had ripped apart a bowling line up that boasted of Steyn, Morne Morkel and Johan Botha, single handedly took West Indies to within victory's reach. With the integrity and support of Sarwan and Miller for Sammy, it kept pumping him up, he was a proud man. I thoroughly enjoyed his blitz out in the middle, something which I guess all of you missed... NO.. no no , don't tell me you saw the replay on tv the next day or today or will watch it later... You will never know what the innings meant. It was legendary. Sir Viv Richards will be happy about this innings, after what happened last summer in the same place (#abandoned-test). This was an innings to remember!

The man of the match award went to Hashim Amla for his cool gritty near-hundred performance early in the day, but this match was all about 'How Sammy gave the Windies a glitter of hope to come back to the world of cricket', like Taylor and Benn gave them last summer, like Gayle gave them in the winter...

Bagrat
- Proud fan of the West Indies and the St Lucia big hitter

Another delayed post

So, its been another one month and a lot of sporting and sport-related actions been happening in and around this world of sports!

What a wonderful season of IPL it was, outside the stadium, of course... My least favourite player Lalit Modi got good beatings from everywhere. I celebrated by giving away sweets to all my friends! And what an occasion to sack that idiot - right after the final was done :-) . Enjoy joblessness, you idiot! I hope the world's worst league goes down the drain soon.

Then came the end of the EPL season... A rock and roll ride for Chelsea, which lost a crucial game to Spurs, and led by just one point with two games to go, one of them against Liverpool. Thanks to Did-yeah (courtesy, Steve-G) and Lamps, Chelsea sped past Liverpool and went on to stamp Wigan for an emphatic victory, the one which sealed the title! Didier Drogba had a hat-trick here, to take his tally to 29 goals, three more than Wayne Rooney, who subbed after Did-yeah got his second... What a season it was for Chelsea! Three games with 7 goals or more (7-1, 7-0, 8-0....also, there was a 6-1). Most number of goals in a premier league season - a whopping 103! Most number of goals at home - 68! a Goal difference of nearly 70! A double over each of ManU, Arsenal and Liverpool (ok, spurs are in the new top-4, and they did get the better of Chelsea at White Hart lane... ManCity is a team i wanna forget this season). This season was truly Chelsea's. Anelka, Malouda, Didier, Lampard, terry, Cole, Ivanovic, Alex deserve special mention in the success. I hope to see more of gael kakuta this season. Also, I should add that Chelsea soon completed the domestic double, with the FA cup also in the kitty soon, after a soft victory over Pompey... Proud to be a True Blue.

The EPL was a real topsy turvy one... Liverpool knocked off the top four, Spurs taking its place. Arsenal continued its seasons of pointless flair capped with nothing but a dunce-cap. Portsmouth with all their nice play could manage nothing but admin, docked 9 points and assured relegation... Lets hope the next season is just as good or better :-)

NBA

This is where I live Boy o Boy!!!

While the Lakers took some time to wake up against the thunders, but when they did, they showed us why they were the defending champions and they showed that possessiveness in those games. With due credits to Westbrook and KD, and their Coach Scott Brooks...I think they were just short of experience.

Utah did Lakers a favour by eliminating the Nuggets. Coming from a game down at home, they battled well to down the nuggets, who were not at their resurgent best. Thanks to this, the Lakers had it easy over the short Jazz, and advanced to the finals.

On the other side, the Mavs were upset (or not) by the Spurs, who again got swept by the exceptional Suns (credits to their bench). The suns had battled all odds and believed in their form to get past the Blazers in round one prior to this.

The East looked pretty much like only the top-4 would get past round one...

The Celtics were too hot for the Heat. The Bucks who seemed to upset all odds and reach a conference semis with a 3-2 lead and home game to play next, lost it all and were eliminated by the Hawks. Cavs had no problem getting past the Bulls, who were expected to put on a show after dramatically making it to the playoffs and also, for their round one show last season...not to happen this time! Magic swept past the Bobcats, who were pitted to be Cavs' best opponent from the regular season match-ups, again, not to happen, and out she went!

The semis were superb...differently so... On one side, the Magic swept the Hawks like they were born to do that. On the other side, the Celtics and Cavs delayed Magic's game plan for the finals. Every single game would yield a lopsided result...home losses... and finally, the Celtics in 6!

I think the Celtics might just have killed a franchise! Mike Brown, the coach of the Cavs got fired the next day, LeBron James might be making choices about his future by now. Shaq and Z might be considering retirement. Lets wait and watch... Conference finals are underway!

oooh yes... the Englishmen won the T-20 cricket world cup title

And, Indian Hockey team finished on top in the most decorated Sultan Azlan Shah Tourney, had a final with Korea, but was washed off, so, ended up being named joint winners with Korea. A good show nevertheless, losing only once over 6 games showed some consistency in Asia's best hockey tournament..the one which is not telecast on Indian TV...just shows you how much these people respect the national sport.

Aah well, here's what's next :-

NBA conference finals, NBA finals

South Africa touring WI,

NZ and Sri Lanka fancy-playing in the USA,

India-Zimbabwe-Sri Lanka trination

Football World Cup

4 nation hockey @ Nederlands/Poland/China

Asia cup in Sri Lanka

and lots more.

Until some more (undecided) time, bubbyeee

Thank you, NBA

Apart from the Lakers franchise team, there are a few other people whom I have to thank for this wonderful season!

 

1. KD - thank you for the mercurial rise in your performance, breaking up umpteen franchise records in an unbelieavable fashion. I became an instant fan of you before the end of November

 

2. OKC - thank you for showing what young blood can do... Russel and Thabo, apart from KD, will get the special mention. I'm pretty sad that you had to draw up the Lakers for the first round playoff matchup, but it has been a great season, nevertheless.

 

3. Blazers - hundreds of injuries, throwing the team out of balance, but still, you managed to pull victories after victories and showed why you are a great ball team... Roy, Alridge, Jamal, and also, Camby, Miller, thank you...

 

4. Amare in the desert - Thank you Suns, for holding on to Amare... he has been phenominal with Nash, and separating the two would've been a sin!

 

5. Hawks - Thank you, primarily for bashing the Celtics 4-0 in the regular season, but I was an instant fan oof the Hawks, that boasted of J-smoove, Bibby, Crawford, Horford and the accurate Joe Johnson! i hope you go further up the ladder in the playoffs

 

6. Celtics - thank you for your superb home record!!! :-P lol .. as a laker, LOVVVVVVVVVVVVVED IT :-)

 

7. Vinsanity - Thank you, for signing up with the perfect team to lend your brilliance to something brilliant :-)

 

8. Nets - Thank you, for bringing up so many surprises this season...the biggest of all on the unforgettable 27th of Feb, 2010...Lakers and Celtics fan would remember the day with different moods associated to it :-)

 

9. Heat -Thank you, for two of the best regular season matches against the Lakers, without which the season would've been lacking something big

 

10. Thank you, Derek Rose, Deron Williams, Rondo for taking the status of PG to a whole new level....

 

 

Special thanks to David Stern and all the franchise managers to sign in the superb (winning) set of rookies, primarily, Curry, Evans, Ty, Heavy-D, Omri and Thabeet! they have been phenominal... Special mention about the D-league call ups, and one name which i cannot forget for than one shot that he made, Sundiata Gaines. jerry, please keep him signed in for the years to come..

 

 

Well now, its time to Win or Go Home!

April 17th, let the playoffs begin!

 

 

Where will amazing happen this year? Repeat??? Hell yeah!

Who's hot, who's not?

Well... the NBA season is into its last phase when the teams sweat it out to claim a playoff berth, which if assured of, would like to move higher and higher up the ranks for the all important home advantage!

Its easier to eliminate many teams in the West and easier to see who is qualifying in the East.

The East

Cleveland is all so very likely to stay on top until they all forget to play ball. they have been shooting well from range, and then they have LeBron. Shaq's injury has forced them to call back Z from the Wizards... Hickson isn't bad filling in for the Big Witness though.

Magic seems to have gotten into the grove with players like Barnes, Jason, Pietrus finally contributing to the firepower led by Howard, Vince Carter and Lewis.

Celtics have been less than impressive this season, given their capabilities, and the recent additions of Nate and Mason (in addition to that of 'Sheed after last season). But, even if they enjoy the home advantage on paper, I don't see that helping them in any way. They've lost more home games this season than the last two regular seasons combined!

Taking advantage of this stuation are the Hawks, which has looked very much improved over last season. Joe Johnson, Crawford, Horford, Smith filling in big numbers. But the problem is, their two biggest stars, Joe Johnson and Mike Bibby are now nursing injuries. Its upto the rest of the team to maintain the balance of the team's position on the charts.

Bucks and Bobcats have become the 'chasers' in the East. Both have been very good at home court and have constantly been a threat to the top four. Bobcats, for instance, won the regular season series over Cavs 3-1. Miami, Bobcats, Raptors and Bulls will have to fight for the last three spots in the East for the playoffs.

With around fourteen fames to go, CLE and ORL have clinched playoff births, while the pathetic Nets ( Celtics won't agree though :-P ) have been shown the doors for this season.

The West

Right on top of the table are the Lakers, who started good with most games played on home court. the 8 game road trip in January dented their speed. Their first ever 3-game losing streak, since aquiring Pau over two years ago, was handed to them by ORL, CHA and MIA in early March. This has now created doubts over the capabilities of the Lakers in crunch matches. But, they have revived since then, and Ron Artest, the only addition since last season (at the expense of Ariza) has doubled up his defensive game.

Nuggets and Mavs are a close 2nd and 3rd, with both the teams showing form and strength time and again, only to be humbled soon. Mavs' addition of Butler and Haywood seemed to have set their pace right with a huge 13 game streak (mostly over weak opponents). 13 was unlucky though... Nuggets have been tough to beat at their home court.

Jazz have shown the urgency to make it to the playoffs with a spree of victories, like in last season... Chips are down a bit of late though with the Jazz.

Now, the most improved team of the year, to me, are the OKC Thunders. Kevin Durant is giving LeBron a run for his money for the race to the MVP, though the humble kid will say LeBron or Dirk or Melo has a better go at it, the second best scorer in the league really carries the hopes of a new franchise city. ft. - russel Westbrook and Thabo Safalosha, this is one exciting team to watch in their 'debut' postseason (hopefully).

Suns, after somehow hanging on to Amare' Stoudemire, Suns are wanting to show a better playoff performance this time around. Which position they will end up at? Whom will they meet? Some questions will be answered only after all games are exhausted!

Spurs have a minute advantage over the Blazers at the seventh spot, but now face a HUGE tast over the next 7 games, where they take on some of the season's best sides at both home and road, involving two pairs of back-to-back games.

The real warriors of the season, the Blazers, battling through uncountable players gettinig injured, the biggest of all, Oden...things were looking gloomy for them. But the spirit shown by them and the ability of the last one from the Fab-Five dynasty, Juwan Howard to start as Center at times, the side has climber mountains to reach wherever they are now. Camby has now come in to boost the side's Playoff chances. If they face the Lakers, I bet, that will be SOME series!

Grizzlies, Rockets and Hornets are quite some distance away from a playoff berth, which is possible, on paper. All other sides in the West will not qualify to playoffs this season.

In a month's time, the reglar season would've ended and the playoff charts will be out...

What a season!

How to get banned

1. Don't Play.

2. Lead the side to world cup victory.

3. Lead the side to a series loss.

4. Eat the ball.

5. Fake an injury.

6. Express confidence in yourself.

7. Return to play on S.O.S. request.

8. Impose an exile on yourself.

9. Be a part of an inexperienced side that loses away from home.