Li Na fails to bloom in Australian Open

The grand Australia open has come to an end where the third seeded Belgian Kim Clijsters bagging her fourth grand slam title after defeating Li in the final.  Li Na from China, seeded ninth, had already surpassed expectations as she played exceptionally well though she does not have the experience of her opponent but was outclassed. Her home crowd reacted with sadness and disappointment after Li Na failed to win the Australian Open women's title on Saturday but said they were still proud she had managed to get as far as the final. If she had won the final, she would have become her country’s first grand slam singles champion. In an instant, Li Na has become a new national idol. She has made history for Chinese tennis, recast the record books of Asian tennis, and she can become the queen of this pursuit.

YUSUF PATHAN - The Brutal Hitter

There is a great relief to Indian cricket team as Yusuf Pathan filled the no.7 perfectly who is considered as a match winner/saver who strongly brings the match of any type under his control. This real hero can keep getting hit in the shoulder off the bouncers, and still keeps coming back to smack the fuller deliveries into the crowd. He sends all the balls to boundaries and he never waits for power play. He has turned three of the last four games he has batted scoring at a strike rate of 134.95 by hitting 18 sixes in 216 deliveries. Two of those knocks have won India games from the dead, and one of them gave South Africa a mighty scare after India had been 119 for 8, chasing 268.

Considering the India’s preparation to world cup, India is having the much attacking opening batsmen among all the Teams. Middle order batsmen failed to shine in the recent tour in South Africa but they could do well in Indian conditions. Though Yusuf was getting in down the order, he can lead the attack even with the tail enders. His bowling is another advantage with 30 wickets under his belt, where his best 3/49 comes from a match against New Zealand. Moreover he is one of the Best Fielder among the young Indian squad. Let’s see this explosive batsman in action the World Cup.

Accident Victory by Chiefs

On Sunday, everyone were surprised by the unexpected dominance by the Kansas City Chiefs over Seahawks. Yes, it is an another victorious slip-up that baffled players, coaches, and fans alike, the Chiefs accidentally defeated the Seahawks 42-24, inadvertently outplaying their opponent by scoring more touchdowns. Matt Cassel said of his team's unintentional dominance of the game that they have no idea what even happened, because on most of the plays they didn't even mean to score. He tried to throw the ball away at least three times, but it kind of floated and ended up in Dwayne Bowe's hands. It must have startled him, too, because he started screaming and running with the ball towards the end zone as fast as he could.  During the postgame press conference, players on the Chiefs' defensive line apologized to the Seahawks for frequently tripping and falling on top of their running backs.

Funny Sledging Incidents in Cricket

Hi guys. I found these sledging incidents in the cricket world and I enjoyed reading it. I am posting here to make you laugh and it is not to hurt anybody. Sometimes, sledging sound funny but at other times, they just turn ugly.

Sunil Gavaskar (India) and Viv Richards (West Indies)

To ease the pressure on himself, Sunil Gavaskar had decided to come lower down the order and bat at No 4 for that particular match. But, Malcolm Marshall fired out Anshuman Gaekwad and Dilip Vengsarkar for ducks, setting the stage for Gavaskar to walk in at 0/2. Viv Richards said “Man, it don’t matter where you come in to bat, the score is still zero.”

Rodney Marsh (Australia) and Ian Botham (England)

Rodney Marsh to Ian Botham in an Ashes match: “So how’s your wife and my kids?” Ian Botham’s reply – “The wife’s fine. The kids are retarded!”

Javed Miandad (Pakistan) and Merv Hughes (Australia)

Javed Miandad called Hughes a fat bus conductor during a match. A few balls later, Hughes dismissed Miandad. “Tickets please,” said Hughes, as he ran past the departing batsman.

Glenn McGrath (Ausrtralia) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (West Indies)

McGrath to Ramnaresh Sarwan: “So what does Brian Lara’s di*k taste like?”Sarwan: “I don’t know. Ask your wife.

Douglas Jardine (England) and Bill Woodfull (Australia)

England player Jardine complained that one of the Australian players called him a bastard. Australian captain Bill Woodfull turns to his team, points to Jardine and asked “Which one of you bastards called this bastard a bastard?”

Steve Waugh (Australia) and Parthiv Patel (India)

When Steve came (Steve’s last test match) to bat, Parthiv said, “Come on, just one more of the famous slog-sweeps before you finish” Steve-”Respect Me…for when i made my test debut You were still in your nappies”.

Glen McGrath (Australia) and Eddo Brandes (Zimbabwe)

Aussie paceman Glenn McGrath was bowling to Zimbabwe number 11 Eddo Brandes – who was just missing each ball. McGrath, frustrated, went to him and inquired: “Why are you so fat?”Quick as a flash, Brandes replied, “Because every time I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit.”

Ravi Shastri (India) and Mike Whitney (Australia)

Shastri hits the ball towards Mike Whitney (the 12th man in the game) and looked for a single. Whitney said, “If you leave the crease i’ll break your f***ing head”. Without battling an eyelid, Shastri retorted, “If you could bat as well as you can talk you wouldn’t be the f***ing 12th man”.

Shane Warne (Australia)  and Arjuna Ranatunga (SriLanka)

Warnie told the press, "[Ranatunga is] probably slotting himself around at 150 kilos at the moment. Swallowed a sheep or something." The former Sri Lankan captain quickly hit back, "It is better to swallow a sheep or a goat than swallow what he has been swallowing."

Viv Richards (West Indies) and Merv Hughes (Australia)

Viv Richards hit Merv Hughes for four consecutive boundaries in one over. Merv stops halfway down the pitch, farted loudly, and said to Viv: “let’s see you hit that to the boundary!” Viv was dumb-founded.

Kim Clijsters bags WTA Championships title

Kim Clijsters bagged her third WTA Championships title after defeating No. 1 ranking Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in OHA. Clijsters was sidelined due to an infected foot, played in her first tournament since winning the U.S. Open in September. Clijsters earned $1.4 million with the win and she said that it was a tough match and glad to win it. Also she added that she doesn’t how many more years she is going to keep doing this. This is her 40th career title after victories in Brisbane, Miami, and Cincinnati and at the U.S. Open this year. She became the fifth player in WTA history to win the tournament three or more times. She also backed Wozniacki by assuring that she’s young, she’s No. 1 and she will win a Grand Slam if she keeps on working the way that she has been working.

Pakistan's Baseball Team @ Asian Games

Pakistan's baseball team is very serious in its preparation for the forthcoming 16th Asian Games starting on November 12 in Guangzhou, China. This event lasts for 6 days till November 17 and Pakistan is very keen to win in this event. There are on their way with a training camp at the Pakistan Sports Complex (PSC) with all prospective players from the national tournaments attending. The final team will be selected on the performance basis in the training camp. As of now, the Squad includes Mohammad Imtaiz, Sarfraz Ahmed, Ehsan Ullah, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Farooq, Zafar Iqbal, Mohammad Aseef, Zaheer Ahmed, Usman Azam, Salim Hyder, Dura Hussain, Musadaq Hanif, Hafiz Usman, Umair Bhatti, Mohammad Zubair, Irshad Ali, Tusif ahmed and Sumair Zawal.

 

Bangladesh's Victorious ODI series ever

This is the first time for Bangladesh to win the ODI series by 4-0 of five match series. Really it’s a bad time for New Zealand as they experienced a white wash lost against Bangladesh, which is considered to be under performing cricket nation. Of the 5 matches, Bangladesh won the first match by nine runs at Dhaka whereas the second match at Dhaka was abandoned due to rain. After then Bangladesh tasted the three consecutive victories. It won the third match by seven wickets, fourth match by nine runs and the fifth match by three runs. Rubel Hussain who captured four for 25 bagged the Man of the Match award and Shakib Al Hasan bagged Man of the Series award for his all round performance. As of now, Bangladesh won 61 ODIs in its history. There are some interesting facts at the end of the series like BB McCullum has an aggregate of 196 dismissals {189 catches and 07 stumpings} and against Bangladesh he has an aggregate of 30 dismissals {29 catches and 01 stumping} just one spot behind KC Sangakkara of Sri Lanka with 39 dismissals. DL Vettori became the 15th bowler to capture 275 plus wickets in one day games.

IPL scraps Punjab and Rajasthan

It’s been shocking news to hear two IPL teams have been ruled out of the world famous IPL Twenty20 tournament for breaching ownership rules. BCCI terminated franchises of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab who were active participants in first three editions of the Twenty20 tournament, and of course Rajasthan Royals were the first to hold the IPL title. Also it has warned Kochi franchise to resolve their ownership issues soon to get out of trouble. BCCI gave no specific statements so far regarding the breaches and it is known that former IPL chairman Lalit Modi was earlier accused of having financial connections with these two teams. BCCI honorary secretary N Srinivasan told reporters that the decision to terminate the contract of Punjab and Rajasthan franchises were taken purely based on legal opinion we received and the breaches committed by these franchises. Rajasthan Royals was acquired by Manoj Badale, Lachlan Murdoch and co for $67 million. Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty and her husband Raj Kundra paid approximately US $15.4 million for an 11.7% stake later. The big faces were Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Graeme Smith, Yusuf Pathan in Royals. Kings XI Punjab was bought by Ness Wadia, Mohit Burman and actor Preity Zinta for $ 76 million. Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, Brett Lee, Shaun Marsh, Irfan Pathan and Yuvraj Singh were the big faces in it. Let’s wait and watch the future actions and auctions of IPL-4.

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.