Common Wealth Games - Opening Ceremony

After a lot of allegations and criticism by media, India has come up with one of the grandest ever opening ceremonies at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi showcasing to the world the spirit of the games, Indian culture and tradition, music, rhythms, dance, colors, diversity of its culture and lifestyles. The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, the representative of the Queen, inaugurated the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (#19 CWG). More than 60,000 spectators with the participants and officials from 71 countries enjoyed the whole celebration.

The huge helium filled aerostat balloon of diameter 40 meters x 80 meters x 12 meters made at a cost of Rs.70 crore was a major attraction at the opening ceremony. While the whole stadium was sparked with colorful dances and music with huge puppets, the balloon was suspended above the main stage at a height of 25 meters. The lights were programmed to bounce off mirrors on the aerostat while sound effects of the magnitude of 500,000 watts made the whole crowd dancing. This shows the technological advancements in India apart than tradition and culture. 

Chennai Super Kings - King of Kings

Airtel Champions League has come to an end with a wonderful closing ceremony. This huge tournament starts on 10^th Sep 2010 and lasted for 17days with huge crowd, fun and entertainment. It has been a great show in terms of boundaries, wickets, thrills and of course super over too. The champion teams from India, South Africa, Australia, West Indies and New Zealand with a total of 10teams had played and finally Chennai Super Kings sealed the Champions League Twenty20 winners with their eight-wicket victory over Warriors in the grand finale in Johannesburg. It is the first team from India to bag this title.

In the most expected final match, Warriors won the toss and had got off to a violent start with bat. It was a reverse sweep by Davy Jacobs that changed the entire complexion of the game. After his wicket, the game came into the Chennai’s control with tremendous bowling performance from R Ashwin, Muttiah Muralitharan and L Balaji. They restricted the Warriors to 128, which was never going to be tough to chase. M Vijay and Michael Hussey played both pace and spin very well providing a steady and solid start with assured knocks shutting warriors out of the contest. When Vijay and Suresh Raina fell in quick succession, Dhoni did his job well. CSK were richer by USD 2.5 millions for winning the second edition of the tournament, their second crown in five months after their IPL triumph in April. Warriors received USD 1.3 million for finishing runners-up. It was a real emotional moment as this was their last match playing as a unit as they may lose some players in the auctions. Dhoni thanked the whole crowd, their coach Stephen Fleming, Hayden, Muralitharan and Hussey for constantly helping the youngsters.

 Murali Vijay is the Man of the Match for scoring 58 runs off 53 balls. Ravichandran Ashwin is the Man of the Series for taking 13 wickets in the competition. Vijay wins the golden bat for becoming the highest run scorer in the competition. Ashwin wins the Golden wickets for being the highest wicket taker in the competition. The Super Kings are now the Emperors of the T20 world. This tournament has produced some entertaining cricket, Chennai were clinical right throughout and it's been a joy covering this.

FLINTOFF says 'Bye' to Cricket

Andrew Flintoff, usually called as Freddie by all with love, a great asset to England Cricket team in all formats has announced his retirement after suffering with injuries. In the international cricketing career, he has played 79 Tests for England, with five centuries on his way to 3,845 runs at an average of 31.77 and 226 wickets at an average of 32.78. He has taken 52 catches of which most of them in the slips. In his 141 ODI matches, he scored 3394 at an average of 32.01 at a strike rate of 88.82. he had his test debut against South Africa on 1998 and ODI debut against Pakistan on 1999. He was one of those loveable rogues and an iconic figure within the game and his reputation was gained as much off the pitch as on it. He was voted BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in 2005 for his role in England's famous Ashes victory. Unfortunately, he had been plagued with injuries for much of his career, most of them affecting his back and knees. The latest of his injuries though, which required yet another operation on his knees, proved one too many and after consulting with medical advisers he decided to quit his career in cricket. In his final note, he said “My body has told me it's time to stop.I would like to thank my family, Lancashire, England, all my sponsors, friends and advisers for all the help and support they have given me throughout my career." Australian Captain Ricky Ponting was surprised to hear his retirement adding that he's been a great figure in the game. The way he's gone about his cricket, the way he's played the game and how much he's enjoyed the battle - probably particular in Ashes cricket - is something that's been very fun to be a part of for me. Freddie was the higher paid cricketer next to Kevin Pieterson in IPL. He was a fierce competitor till the end. His innings with Pietersen against Australia in Ashes, 2005 is an unmemorable moment. Let us wish him good luck for all his steps in the rest of his life.

First Indian in London Olympics

Shooter Narang becomes first Indian to qualify for London Olympics. He won the bronze in the 10 metre air rifle event at the World Championship in Munich and became the first Indian to set for the 2012 London Olympics. World No.2 Narang shot 597 in the qualifying and 102 in the final round for a total of 699 to win the bronze. the most expected Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra finished with 25th spot which disappoints almost everyone in his nation and also he failed to qualify for the final round. Italian Niccolo Campriani bagged the gold, who shot a total of 702.5 (599 qualifying + 103.5 final) while Hungarian Peter Sidi bagged the silver with 700.4 points (599 qualifying + 101.4 final). As of now, Narang is India’s best bet in the Commonwealth Games He shot the bronze in his pet 10m air rifle event at the Beijing World Cup and qualified for the World Championships.

Brewer in Bulls

Ronnie Brewer confirmed that he has agreed to a three-year contract with the Chicago Bulls. The deal reunites Brewer with former Utah teammates Carlos Boozer and Kyle Korver, who became Bulls earlier this month. Brewer finished last season with Memphis after being dealt from Utah at the trade deadline in February. Because of a strained hamstring, he played in only five games with the Grizzles.  The three-year deal with the Bulls is worth of $12.5 million. Brewer figures to get a chance to start at shooting guard in Chicago alongide All-Star Derrick Rose.

Serena Out of Upcoming Tournaments

The top-ranked women's player, Serena Williams will miss three tournaments leading to the U.S. Open, the WTA Tour as she needs surgery on her right foot after cutting it on a broken glass at a restaurant last week. Williams has withdrawn from tournaments in Istanbul, Cincinnati and Montreal. She said that she was as upset as she could not play in the upcoming events because of this foot surgery.  Her Washington Kastles team said she cut the bottom of her foot and needed stitches. On July 10, Williams attended the wedding of Denver Nuggets star in New York. In a wedding photo of Carmelo Anthony, she appeared with two bandages on the top of her right foot. Williams won her fourth Wimbledon crown and 13th major title in July. She lost in the French Open quarterfinals in June before capturing Wimbledon. The Rogers Cup in Montreal begins Aug. 16, and the U.S. Open starts Aug 30.

M S D ahead of SACHIN

The newly married Indian cricket captain Dhoni has signed 200 crore endorsement deal with the talent Management Company, Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes. It will manage the Dhoni’s list of segments and brand associations, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, images, visibility on social networking sites and merchandise for the next two years through a joint venture. By doing it, he has surpassed Sachin Tendulkar in the corporate contract sweepstakes. Earlier Sachin had three-year deal with sports management firm Iconix signed in 2006. It was worth Rs 180 crore where the value is low by 20 crores and a year when compared with Dhoni’s statistics. Apart from Dhoni, Rhiti Sports also manages his teammates R P Singh and Harbhajan Singh. As of now, Dhoni is associated with 22 brands such as PepsiCo, Reebok, Aircel etc and is India’s most expensive sportsperson. Still Dhoni stays ahead of Sachin after his first clash victory in IPL final.

Sachin Tendulkar hits Double Century

The only record left for sachin in ODI has also been achieved by him now. Yes, Sachin Tendulkar has become the highest run scorer in international one day cricket. The master blaster scored a double ton to create history in cricket surpassing Charles Coventry’s 194* and Saeed Anwar’s 194 runs against India in Chennai. Sachin played a masterclass innings to complete his double ODI double century in 147 balls. He thrashed the Proteas bowling for 25 fours and 3 sixes. He was cramping towards the end of the match, but didn’t give up. SA was in deep trouble from the beginning, after setting out on leather hunt in Gwalior. As the master blaster seemed in tremendous form there was not stopping; overwhelming the Gwalior crowd.  Eventually Sachin dabbed a full and wide ball through the point to score his double century on the third delivery by Langeveldt. This was Sachin’s 46th ODI century following his century at the test match in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. There could hardly be an attribute to befitting the legend of Indian cricket who has always spoken with his bat. It was a match celebrated like a festival by the fans whenever the ball reaches the boundary. I am still thinking, is there any records left for him to be made? What a player he is!

ICC honours Cricketers

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named ODI Player of the Year. He also features in both Tests and One-day International Cricket Council (ICC) World Teams of the Year as wicketkeeper and captain. Opening batsman Gautam Gambhir won the best Test Player of Year award, and also features in the World Test Team of the Year. Australian fast bowler Johnson bagged the most coveted Cricketer of Year Award. Australian fast bowler, Peter Siddle won the Emerging Player of the Year award. Sri Lanka's opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan has won the Twenty20 International. The New Zealand cricket team was named as the recipients of the Spirit of Cricket Award. Besides Dhoni and Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar also featured in the world Test Team of the Year. Spinner Harbhajan Singh was named twelvth man of the squad. The World ODI Team of the Year has three Indians in Dhoni, Virender Sehwag and Yuvraj Singh. Earlier, Rahul Dravid (2004), Andrew Flintoff of England and South Africa's Jacques Kallis (joint winners in 2005), Ricky Ponting of Australia (2006 and 2007) and West Indies Shivnarine Chanderpaul (2008) were given these top awards.

Sachin’s idea – Will save ODI format ?

Sachin Tendulkar has given a suggestion over the future of the 50-over game. To save One-Day Internationals from extinction, revamp them by giving both sides two innings of 25 overs each. Think of it as a sort of 'Test T-25'!. Tendulkar said such a split would ensure increased excitement and closer games, since it would negate the luck factor of the toss and ensure a level playing field for both sides in case of day-night games, when batting becomes difficult under lights. "Today, we can tell the result of close to 75% of matches after the toss. We know how conditions will affect the two teams. But it (splitting the game into two innings) is not too dependent on the toss because, (if) for example it's a day-night match, then both the teams will have to bat under lights. In those 25 overs you can use your 10 wickets the way you want. Suppose if it rains, then (also) you can plan," Tendulkar said.  But Kapil Dev opposed this idea and he wants to be continued in a same format. Let see what the future decides…