2 years

July 7, 2003 this was the day when i entered into this corporate world. Now its 2 years since then and i am trying to look back at what all i've gained (?) or lost. I can still remember sitting on the front row of the conference room in Sec-24 amongst the 25-odd ppl batch. Now after 2 years what i do ? Just go sit in front of the monitor, check mails, attend some utterly useless meetings n ya play TT too. That has become the routine. Somehow the bright talented programmer [which ppl thought] has gone for a long sleep and me has simply become what we popularly known as a SOFTWARE ENGG.: A person who just do the above mentioned things n get paid (in my case even tht pay is pretty scarce !!). Listen to the ur PL's in every meeting...the never ending discussions, the useless brain-storming sessions over things which neither me nor anyone else in the meeting understand ! These 2 years i've stayed here only....'coz of factors like laziness to look for a change, which i better describe as the human nature of being of being afraid of CHANGE. It seems its a human nature to keep doing routine things/or live a routine life unless until a time comes when a drastic measure is inevitable. This laziness combined with the personal health problems have left me here only.....But well now it seems the time to take a drastic measure has come, infact it seems me has overdue it.....Hope this feeling takes me somewhere better....July 7th in anycase is a pretty important date for me....coz it happens to be the birthdate of my best frnd :). Well another big incident happened this time on july 7th tht was the L'ndon blasts !! n more coincidently few more blasts happened @ L'ndon on july 21st, n tht happens to be my bday !! ooops too much coincidence n too dangerous of dates !! The best thing i think i've gained in 2 years is a few gud frnds...as about the work ? after 2 years all the work thing seems to be a maaya [/mithya] :) .I guess its enugh for now..............

PS: Dravid led india to a victory over a C-grade WI team..
PPS: Warney might just get to 600th wkt in the coming Ashes test..
PPPS: I might just win the bet over Warney taking the KP as his 600th Test victim..

Over to Ashes....

Idolising Warne

Found a great article by Harsha Bhogle....
http://www.espnstar.com/studio/studio_coldetail_1556974.html
how true... :)

Aus v/s Eng

Well what a thrilling finale it was between Australia and England....Australia raced off to their usual final start, blasting Simon Jones and Gough.....but this England team hasn't become the second best team in the world by chance...they have two players in Harmison and Flintoff who can really take the game with the scruff of the neck, and that's what they did. Both Harmison and Flintoff bowled exceptionally well taking full advantage of a helping wicket to take Australia from 50/0 to 93/5. Harmison has been all over Ponting this series, though this time it was a soft dismissal down the leg-side, but this doesnt augur well for Ponting in the upcoming ODI series and the big thing ASHES. It was again down to 2 inform Aussie batsmen Symonds and Hussey, Symonds was scratchy throughout but did well to keep his end and score few valuable runs..Hussey was really fluent. He is one of the few positives Australia will take away frm the series, he batted with authority and composure rare for a newcomer and scored few crucial runs with the tail to take Australia to a fighting 196. Vaughan actually let Australia off the hook by bowling Giles and Collingwood where he could have brought in Harmison or Flintoff to close off the Australian innings...They were economical but didn't took wickets and Australia reached a decent score of 196. He might have thought that 196 is too low a total, but i guess he forgot the Aussie duo of Mcgrath and Lee.

The start of England innings was a bit surprising with Trescothick who has looked totally out of sorts against Mcgrath in this series trying to hit out at Mcgrath inspite of a low total. That was followed by a beamer from Lee to Trescothick and things were hotting up in this already heated series..Trescothick poor run against Mcgrath continued and he gave a relatively easy catch to skipper Ponting. In next over Lee bowled Strauss on a full ball [a clear weakness of Strauss which Aussies have took advantage of in this series]. It was followed by dismissal of Vaughan of an over-ambitious pull off Mcgrath. Then came the danger man Pieterson, he started off with a fluent drive off Mcgrath, but the Lee got him with a real good delivery, Mcgrath soon accounted for Flintoff, another danger man and soon England were reeling at 33/5. But England's newly found self-belief and Australia's weakness of having just 2 wicket taking bowlers in Lee and Mcgrath [with Gillespie out of form] paved the way for an English fightback. Symonds bowled a miserly spell of 0/23 in 10 overs but England kept up with the asking rate through some good hitting by Jones of Gillespie and Hogg. And as they extended their partnership to dangerous proportions Ponting was forced to bring on Lee and Mcgrath but to no avail. It looked ominous signs for Australia with just 9 overs remaining and just over 6 an over required with 5 overs to be bowled by part-time bowlers. At this crucial time Ponting turned to Hussey who showed a great temperament in bowling too after a gritty batting display....A couple of dot balls of his bowling led to a pressure on Collingwood and Jones which led to a risky run, resulting into runout of Collingwood and Aussies were right back into it. Then Hogg accounted for Jones, while Hussey bowled Simon Jones out and Aussies were in control. But Giles and Gough the two experienced campaigners had other ideas. A streaky boundary over the Gilchrist's head brought them closer. In last Mcgrath's over they needed 9 runs. It was going to be tough against the meanest of bowlers, but Mcgrath bowled a no-ball on first ball which gave England crucial 2 runs with 6 balls to spare. A couple of Gough drives brought them to 3 runs of 2 balls. On penultimate ball Gough was runout with a cool headed throw from Mcgrath. Last ball 3 runs were needed with Giles on strike. Mcgrath bowled an in-cutter which might just have hit outside the line of off-stump and there was a huge appeal for lbw, between this appeal the ball went to third-man and Giles and Harmison scampered across for a couple to TIE this ever exciting match.

If this match is any indication then the remaining 3 ODI's are going to be pretty interesting as well, and so is the BIG thing ASHES. Though i believe in Ashes Aussies will have an upper hand 'coz they will have 1 more wicket-taking bowler in SHANE KEITH WARNE, the magician. I believe now Brett Lee must have ensured his place in the team. English top-order has been completely shaky against Mcgrath and Lee. While Aussie top order has been the same against Harmison and Flintoff !! Both have to come good.

So with new ODI rules, the Natwest challenge is going to start. I guess Australia will have an advantage in it because of substitution rule they will be able to play one more bowler.

Hope..

Hope, it is the quintessential human delusion, simultaneously the source of your greatest strength, and your greatest weakness.
-- The Architect, Matrix Reloaded, 2003

Well hope was all what i thought, will improve my day after that "Unique Day"...and yes it did. The Brazlians played an amazing football to beat the arch-rivals Argentina. It was an impeccable display thrashing a team which has just beaten them 3-1 recently. Without the likes of Ronaldo, Carlos and Cafu it was amazing. Once again it was proved the big teams [/players] come good in big matches. And this indeed was a big match. In this tournament Brazil had lost to Mexico, drawn against Japan...but none of that was going to happen today. As Adriano, the great Brazilian opened the scoring with a powerful left-footer from outside the area in the 11th minute..The strength and power are the Adriano's big assests...he can muscle through the defenders...then inthe 16th minute Kaka doubled the lead with a great shot right into the corner from 25 yards out. Kaka seems quite promising, but do misses quite a few chances...Argentina had a couple of looks at the Brazilian goal and that was all...without Crespo and Saviola their attack was weakened..Just after the break Ronaldinho added the third...and Adriano finished off a great night with a clear header of Cicinho's [another promising youngster] cross. He had chances to get the hat-trick but couldn't. Robinho also hit the post once...Argentina were dominant in last 10-odd minutes with Aimar getting them on the score-sheet with brilliant diving header, and the Dida making a couple of good stops to keep them at bay. In the end it was a great 4-1 victory for Brazil. They have found a new star in Adriano, ironically he scored a couple of goals in Copa-America final against Argentina too! Guess he likes the big stage..[esp against the Argentina :)]. Robinho is good but misses quite a few chances..lacks the strength and power too...should get better with days....Cicinho was great.....as a left back playing in place of Carlos...

Well hope again is what all hewitt can have against federer and that's all :) Just finished watching Federer v/s Hewitt semis @ Wimbledon...another meek performance by Hewitt against the King...just doesnt seem he can beat him at all...has now lost the last 8 matches and 15 sets against him in a row...and the last match he won against him was from 2 sets down and 3-5 down in the 3rd !! and yes that was 2 years ago.... literally seems like a novice against the King Federer..now it seems the Wimbledon is again Federer's. There's no Safin or Nadal here to beat him.....

Normality Restored..

Well after a week of some strange results, the normality is restored. Last week saw some startling resluts in cricket n football. Australia losing 4 games in a week including 1 against Bangladesh and 1 even after scoring 342 runs. Anyway now the normality is restored. Lee & Symonds are back and back with a bang ! They have now beated England and thrashed Bangladesh by 10 wkts....England still playing pretty well especially their bowling...All leading up to an exciting Ashes !
In football the World Champions were beaten by a Mexico side....and then they just managed a draw against the Japanese to sneak through to the semis on goal difference..But now yesterday they beat the mighty Germans with 2 brilliantly taken Adriano's goals and now we are well on our way to see the most awaited and most expected Brazil v/s Argentina finale...
On the other side Wimbledon is going on...seems like King Federer and Hewitt are well on their way to meet in the semis..with Safin & Nadal out, i think this match will decide the Wimbledon champion..don't think Roddick is going to be a fight for these two, though Gasquet maybe a fight ! Hewitt's performance against Federer has been atmost dismal in last one and a half years. But i hope he can put on a better show this time round, was serving exceptionally well in the lead tournament to the Wimbledon..
enugh for now.............

Brazil Rocks !!!

Well-2 just saw the Brazilian start of campaign to the Confederations Cup last night against the european champs Greece. And what a superb display it was....was feeling a bit bored and sad in the evening ...but the Samba display just lit up my nite :) Simply sensational......such a clinical demolition..without the likes of Ronaldo, Carlos and Cafu...the young guns did exceptionally well.....the first goal frm Adriano was breathtaking....sensational...this guy is just awesome.....2nd was build on a gr8 run by Gilberto and a clinical finish from young Robinho...and third was an exquisite free-kick by Juninho !! Gilberto & ZeRoberto work pretty hard..i guess ManU needs a midfielder like 'em now.....Gilberto will be gr8 :)
Adriano's & Juninho's goal were sensational.....Robinho missed quite a few chances before actually scoring......this guy is young and sure to improve ! i guess in big matches there's no match for Brazil be it world cup, copa america (with their B-team) and now its turn of Confederations Cup...
Mexico should be a tougher opponent though

Confederations cup......

Well mez back again.....it's half-time here in Germany-Australia in a first round encounter at first day of Confederations Cup.....and alas my favourite sporting nation Australia (a minnow in football thought) is giving a tough fight to european giants Germany !! Its 2-2 @ halftime .......a real attacking match thus
far..anybody's game.....just wish the aussies snatch this one :)
Earlier Argentina scrapped thru to a 2-1 win......Mez expecting a Brazil v/s Argentina finale here......shall be a great one...and tommorow my fav footballing nation Brazil will take the centerstage..... looking fwd to the second half......n Brazil's start of campaign......
my semis lineup: Brazil v/s Australia & Argentina v/s Mexico.

Sad news: Aussie lost a one-day against Somerset even after amassing 342 runs !!

Indian Bowling

Well i was thinking about writing over this for a long time. So finally i have got the time to write about the state of Indian bowling. In this batsmen dominated game and this batsman crazy country somehow people tend to ignore bowlers. For me Indian bowling has been in quite a pathetic state for sometime now. In the WC '2003 it was the Indian bowling which took us to the finale. But it was them who blew it away when it mattered most. Recently India lost the ODI series against Pakistan and drawn the Test series. Indian bowlers regularly gave away 300 odd runs in almost every match. Even in test matches Indians were treated badly by the Pakistan batsmen. In the first test lesser test batsmen like Akmal and Razzaq played out almost a day. And in the final test Younis & Inzamam took Indian bowling to the sword. Pakistanis are a decent bat, but not as good a batsmen as the Indians made them to be especially in the Test matches. I couldn't remember the last time a Pakistani batsman scored over 150 in last few years before they did against the Indians. Their batsmen are not known to stay at the wicket for long. Even the West Indian bowling attack which has been treated like novices for last 2 years managed to restrict Pakistan to decent totals. But still somehow whenever we lose a match, the media points to the failure of Indian batsmen. Yes they too have to be better, but for how long the Indian bowlers will need a 300 plus total to defend successfully. The failure of Indian bowlers tends to be ignored and same old bowlers keep rotating in the team. It’s pretty rare that an Indian bowler takes a 5-er for less than a hundred and by that time opposition is close to a big score of 400.

India boasts of bowlers like Irfan Pathan, who become a star without too much to show in his records. He looked promising in Australia, good in Pakistan. Then his first 5-ers against Bangladesh and he was a star. The result, against Pakistan in the recent home series he looked an amateur! He is yet to take a 5-er against a Test Playing Nation (except Bangladesh) and he is India's best fast bowler. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra are injured more often than not. Both have dropped pace off late like Pathan and before they get into the rhythm the get injured again!! Balaji has looked good in home and away Tests against PakistanAustralia for long. Apart from a few 5-ers here and there for more than 120 odd runs he has been just an average bowler for long. And finally a bowler, who has been in and out of the team for past 6-7 years. The bowler who keeps coming again and again in the team by promising a lot, just to fail again. And as Harsha Bhogle once aptly commented about him "He's a great bowler when he gets going, it's only when, that has been a problem for him". Infact Agarkar's story shows us a few points: but is just an average in ODIs. Kumble has always been a star for the home pitches in Tests. While Harbhajan has been living on '01 series performance against

1. The difference between Indian domestic cricket and international cricket is just too much, that he keeps performing domestically to regain his place and then fail again at international level.

2. The Indian bowlers [in general players] don't improve by time. They just boast of a certain natural talent they have at the time of their debut and keep making same little mistakes again and again.

I think both the points are true to quite an extent, first one somehow the result of kind of pitches we have here in India. The second maybe because of the way the Indian players become stars overnight? This is a professional game and its high time that Indians start learning from their past mistakes and improve upon their natural talent. The Aussies are the best example of that, most of their players except for Ponting and Clarke have faced tough times like being dropped from the side. But they have made a comeback to be some of the finest players of all time like Warne, Hayden, Martyn, Symonds et al...

On a high note, well Indians have got a new Aussie coach in Greg Chappell, so i just hope he brings some professionalism into the Indians and make them a force to be reckon with in the upcoming WC '2007.

~Kon ??

Dated: Monday, June 13, 2005