World Cup 2011-India Vs Bangladesh Update - Match -1

   What a way to start the World Cup....Can't ask for a better treat , ain't it ? The first match of the Over Hyped tournament surely lived up to its expectations. The Mirpur crowd surely got their money worth for the second time after the Maha-Opening Ceremony. Indians were on a tremendous high after acing through both their warm-up matches. Bangladeshis, on the other hand had the home advantage though, all sub-continent pitches are alike.

   No surprises in the Mirpur pitch, as always it was on the slower side . India made a couple of surprising changes. Dhoni played Virat over Raina and plugged off Fuze and played 2.5 pacers (No, Munaf is not a complete pacer). As expected, Dhoni lost the toss. Bangladesh let India bat first (Maybe , they were trying to get lucky the II time after 2007 WC). Little did the poor Shakib know what was in store. So the Revenge match went underway. Viru and Sachin took strike. They started off like a dream until Viru suddenly woke up and ran Sachin out. Then came his Jodi, Gauti who looked set and solid, but eventually crashed out. On the other hand, Sehwag was playing a very Un-Sehwag innings, ducked for bouncers and played the ball at its merit. C'mon, people don't pay to watch him like that. In came another Delhi'ite, Kohli and their partnership blossomed beautifully. They were cautious,yet attacking and kept the rate ticking. There was never a moment that Bangladesh were on top. Viru and Kohli  hit tons.

   With a Himalayan (say Alps over  Himalayas) target of 371, Tamim and Imrul took strike for B'desh. Sreesanth swung the ball all over the pitch and paid heavy price for it. Imrul pounced on him like a hungry lion does for its prey .Sree din't budge, he continued the same. Bangla were off to a flyer till Munaf drew first blood. From then on, it was boiler plate stuff. Spinners pegged back the scoring rate assisted by Zaks and Munaf in the later stages. B'desh ended up scoring 283/9 in their quota, which meant India won by a good margin of 87 runs, which would boost their NRR .Finally,India had the last laugh and took revenge in style.

Match Summary

India  : 370/4
Sehwag  175
Kohli      100*                                            Shakib 1/61


Bangladesh : 283/9
Tamim  70
Shakib  55                                                Munaf 4/48

No prizes for guessing the Man of the Match.
P.S-Another match just got over , NZ humiliated Kenya badly at Chennai.As expected the crowd meter was almost zilch.Expecting a similar result against Lanka and Canada.

India Vs Australia - POST MORTEM REPORT #1 Warm up match

  Funny thing about warm ups is that it doesn't boil enough. The players don't seem to care enough when the going is tough, the spectators who pay for their tickets are made to look like douche bags all along. Coming to this particular match, it was pre-decided the full squad will be given a chance and the brittle ones in both camps will have a day off. For a warm up match the settings were all wrong. Or so it seemed at first. The pitch at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore looked like the ones we were witnessing not so long back in South Africa. Only this was not South Africa playing India at home.

   It seemed like a waste of practice game, Australia went in with Krejza in their spin armory on a track that offered a lot of bounce and his bowling was aided plenty. But most damage was done by the seamers early on. Lee, Johnson, Bollinger never made it easy for the Indians except for a certain Mr. Virender Sehwag. He seemed to batting on a typical Bengaluru wicket at the other end. Pre-match he had announced his desire to bat out 50 overs in a match to get the maximum benefit of his stroke making abilities. Almost half way into the innings it seemed Sehwag was serious. But, in the 23rd over Viru got out to Krejza after hitting a 6! No surprises. His 54(56) was the contrast in the Indian batting card. John Hastings, David Hussey picked up 2 wickets each and that should summarize how hopeless the Indians had performed. There were no demons in the pitch, neither was the bowling attack fiery. The mental block of the batsmen kept them on the back foot even when they were at the non-strikers end. Patient innings by Yusuf and contributions from no.10, 11 Ashwin & Nehra helped post a score of 214.

  The score of 215 was never going to challenge Australia in a 50 overs game. The only hope was to pick 10 wickets and do that convincingly. MSD dint have Zaheer's services to help him do that. Nehra, Munaf, Sreesanth led the pace attack on the same track where Lee and co. picked up 7. Watto and Paine went about their duty from the word go. The Indian attack had no sting, no discipline what so ever. Nehra bowled 2 overs and was then replaced by Munaf, who then bowled 2 and was later taken off. Sree at the other end picked up Watson who was going all bazookas after the Indians. Sree then, played his wild card i.e. he got into the  'Are you smarter than a 5th grader?' mode. Needless to say MSD had to rely on his spin attack for the rest of the game. The Aussies dint mind, they just steam-rolled their way to 100/1.

   This is when the Bengaluru track kind of transformed from Perth to Patna as if the aliens wanted to see a fair game. Fuze Chawla was turning the ball in every way possible, like he was playing with his XBOX game pad. From 118/1 the mighty Aussies had a windfall. When Chawla had White and Hussey in consecutive deliveries it was game on!!! Ponting was set at one end and the finish line was visible. Then capt. Dhoni brought on Bhajji, shortly then the well set Ponting was well settled in the dressing room. Punter Vs Bhajji lasted 14 balls in which 4 runs were scored and a wicket. Bhajji had his man! So, Valentine's day came early for the two love birds err.. Ricky n Bhajji. Now, the tail were facing Bhajji who had his tail up. In the 38th over the final wicket fell and Aussies were short by 38 runs.

   Australia have lots to ponder upon with their spin tackling abilities, as there will be lot more coming their way. India on the other hand escaped from the knife's edge, but their inconsistent batting form and glass like seam attack will be giving a few sleepless nights to the coach and captain to choose their world cup eleven.

Oz  lose their Fuze!
© Getty Images

ICC Awards 2010

    Yet another gala nite organised by the ICC or was it, the 2010 ICC Awards had the makings of a special kind. The sheer emergence of India as the no.1 test playing nation and some super performances had seen Sachin, Sehwag dominate the nomination list for the top honors. So was 2010 gonna be the year when Sachin was finally receiving something new, after he has claimed several man of the match/series honors across the lengths of his playing career, apart from that the top honor he received from the state and central government, the wax statue at Madame Tussads and most recently the the honorary rank of Group Captain by the Indian Air Force. Ah! the list can go on... So, easy to say the focus of the awards nite was certainly the little master.

   Dutchman Ryan Ten Doeschate won the associate player of the year hands down. England's 21 year old, 6 ft 7 in fast bowler Steven Finn was named the Emerging player of the year, ahead of the likes of Umar Akmal and Angelo Mathews. It was surprise indeed. T20 performance of the year was a close one with two big knocks from Mahela Jayawardene and a match winning effort from Mike Hussey but, it was Baz who stole the honor for his whirlwind knock against the aussies. The Kiwis took the Spirit of cricket award, where I felt the Lankans deserved to have played India so so so many times their spirit needs to be applauded the most. Umpire Aleem Dar won the Simon Taufel award of the year, and Billy Bowden dint even get a nomination. Sachin bagged the people's choice award needless to say.

ODI team of the year : Ponting©, Tendulkar, Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, de Villiers, Paul Collingwood, Dhoni, Daniel Vettori, Stuart Broad, Bollinger and Ryan Harris.

Test team of the year: Dhoni©, Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Swann, Tendulkar, Hashim Amla, Simon Katich, Dale Steyn, Jacques Kallis, James Anderson and Doug Bollinger.

   AB De Villiers won the ODI player of the year after scoring 855 runs @ an average of 71.25. phew! Virender Sehwag took home the Test player of the year honor with 1282 runs to his name and figures that will blow your mind. Shelley Nitschke  was named the women cricketer of the year. So, with 2 big awards already out of the way Sachin had the biggest baddest award left to fight for. So, it was Sachin, Sehwag, Swann and Amla fighting for the top honor of the nite and Sachin swept it and made it one more happy moment for the millions of Sachin fans. Another feather added to the humble man's cap. Take a bow!

The Winners:

Associate Player of the Year - Ryan ten Doeschate (Netherlands)
Emerging Player of the Year - Steven Finn (England)

People's choice award- Sachin Tendulkar (India)
Spirit of Cricket Award - New Zealand
Umpire of the Year - Aleem Dar (Pakistan)

T20 performance of the year- Brendon Mc Cullum - ( 116* v Australia.)

ODI player of the Year - AB De Villiers (South Africa) 855 runs, 71.25 avg, 103.38 S.R., 4 100's
Test player of the Year - Virender Sehwag (India) 1282 runs, 85.46 avg, 97.34 S.R., 6 100's, highest score - 293

Women's Cricketer of the Year - Shelley Nitschke ( Australia)
Cricketer of the Year - Sachin Tendulkar (India) 1828 runs, 9 100's (Tests + ODIs)

Quick Updates : India Vs Bangladesh ODI#2

Today was the second match of the Asia Cup,played between India and Bangladesh . Both the teams were coming out freshly after defeats . India after getting thrashed in World Cup and Zimbabweans . Bangladesh lost against the Poms,but did show some character and of course the World Cup. So the teams were eager to fight it out and find out who was the Biggest Loser. Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat first without any hesitation . TONim Iqbal and Imrul Kayes took strike .TONim looked in quite a hurry  . Post Lunch problem I guess . They started BANG BANG BANG and Out ! Within no time they reached 35 and lost Iqbal.CrashaFool was trying to stick on without going for any extravagant shot early on . Then , as expected his brain froze and got out followed by Kayes and Shakib in quick succession. Mushfiqur and Mahmudullah put on a decent partnership of 55. Now call it Dhoni's thinking or magic or luck, he bought on Viru .All hell broke loose for the Tigers. He let the ball rip and picked up 4 wickets in jus 2.5 overs .  It looked like the doctors over worked on his shoulders .Indians were set a target of 168. With the present line up , you never know . Gambhir and Viru opened . Viru departed early without causing any further damage . Kohli dint do much either . Dhoni and Gambhir played sensible cricket and steered India to victory .Gambhir piled up 82 and yet and NOT OUT innings for our Indian skipper which will boost his average further .  So , the blue billion stamped  their authority in Dambulla. The Man of the match went to Gambhir for his sensible knock.

Look who's on the bike . Its Rohit for change . Dhoni must be angry . Look out Nohit , you may be bench warming the next match. All the best

Carribean T20 - Attention Indian Fans! Vijay replaces injured Sehwag

As expected , an INDIAN player is injured. Courtesy: IPL. It is none other than the swashbuckling opener, Virender-JATMAN-Sehwag. The details of the injury is not known yet,must be the usual hamstring/ribs/shoulder injury or maybe mental disorder because of the fact that Double Ds dint make it to the semis. No prizes for guessing who flying to the Carribean to replace him, its Murali-Now you know why I scored in IPL-Vijay. Its a great oppurtunity for the guy to make a mark in T20s and thus make it to the ODIs too. The advantage for Vijay is that there are no other backup openers in the Indian Squad. So,even if he doesn't perform he still plays, but we hope it doesn't happen.Ya, we know people may say Rohit Sharma may open. Cut the Crap right now. Period. Vijay entered the test arena as a replacement for Gambhir too. Viru's loss is Vj's gain. All we can say is ALL THE BEST to VIJAY and GET WELL SOON, WE WILL NOT MISS YOU to VIRU. To show your love & affection send your best wishes directly to Viru @sehwagvirender.


P.S- Sehwag has injured his shoulder , now don't ask if its Left or Right :)

DLF IPL 3.0 DareDevils tame the Zintans

It's finally happening, not just the 3rd edition of the IPL and Lalit Modi shimmering in the Indian heat. But, the first ever IBIB... ummm .. Inter-Blogatic IPL Battle.

Yes, we are the latest to join the rest of the bunch . We maybe last but its God given.. cos we now support the one n only Dilli Daredevils. Oh, the joy and fulfillment bla bla bla.. as u can see i'm running short on the buzzer. Just 15 mins to go for their nxt game and I need the points secured. So, this is wat hapnd in the opening game for Delhi. Zintans bat 1st. Screw up to make a good total (it was less even on a green track). Dirk Nannes breathes fire! 4 overs 2 wkts for 12 runs! Whoz da man now !!?? Mahroof & Nannes dont allow the Kings from Punjab to build partnerships. Bopara get 56(48) Punjab end at 142. Dilshan, Viru, AB, dont seem to be interested in a low scoring match which means capt. G does the rest himself!

DD were at 45/3 and then 79/4 but,Mithun Manhas played along with his capt. not sure whether he got recognised. DK got a start too. Capt. G fined 20,000 $ for slow over-rate. 1st win and 2 points in the bag. Gr8 start to DLF IPL 3.0 Period!

IPL 3.0 DEVILS PARADISE

DELHI DAREDEVILS

The only team in the league whose name and game is pure EVIL! Batting order that excites the ladies and a barrage of left arm bowlers that make any ordinary man facing wet his pants. Its quite disturbing that this mean side has not won the IPL yet. Missing out on both times in the knock-out phase. Perhaps, bcoz every member in the team seem to be on a suicide mission and is looking to hit every ball for a DLF maximum!! This has resulted in upset victories for the opponents and despite topping the table in season by a mile. One Gilly performance ended the journey for the Daredevils in the semis.

The Virender Sehwag left-arm fast bowler fetish just seems to have gone too far, they purchased yet another Lefty - Wayne (not Rooney) Parnell! Oh yea, Sehwag might not be the one leading the team but, he surely has got the men he would rather not face at the crease. Nannes will have stiff competition from Parnell, while Warner's form will be sweet poison for the Delhi team whose batting order already boasts of Sehwag, Gauti, AB DeVil, Dilshan, Karthik. Choosing the 4 foreign players may become a new concern for the team which has already kept the likes of Glenn Mc Grath, Paul Collingwood & Owais Shah on bench. They have also got in Moises Henriques from KKR in trade. No worries, no regrets as far as the squad is concerned. Champion stuff!


SQUAD:Amit Mishra, Ashish Nehra, AB de Villiers, Avishkar Salvi, David Warner, Dirk Nannes, Gautm Gambhir, Joginder Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Kedar Jadhav, Mithun Manhas, Moises Henriques, Farveez Maharoof, Pradeep Sangwan, Rajat Bhatia, Sarabjeet Ladda, Sarandeep Singh, Dilshan, Umesh Yadav, Virender Sehwag, Yo Mahesh, Wayne Parnell, Yogesh Nagar.

STRENGTH: Explosive Batting order. Captaincy of Gauti.

WEAKNESS: Success or failure is just decided by the man on the boundary. HIT or MISS strategy!

WATCH OUT FOR: Warner, Dilshan, Parnell, Nannes... we shall just stop there.

WAH'S XI:

• Sehwag
• Warner
• Dilshan
• Gauti©
• DeVil
• Karthik
• Bahtia/Manhas
• Parnell/Nannes
• Mishra
• Sangwan
• Nehra

WAH SAY:Anything less than winning the championship will be tagged as failure. That pressure is sure to be on the players. Most likely to see Nannes & Parnell fight it out for one spot. Would have played both if Warner consistency is a question. Gauti playing lower will steady the team if needed. Overall, Excited from the looks of it. Dare to beat the Devils anyone?

p.s: Just a reminder of the famous bench-warmers the side has produced. A small tribute to those guys!

Sachin, Sehwag and other guys

After clinching the 3 match ODI series at Gwalior and safe-keeping the #2 position in ODI's India will now tease the Saffers in the 3rd ODI at Ahmedabad. They are going in well prepared to lose at the looks of it. Remember Yuvi, Gauti, Zak are injured now Sachin & Sehwag have been rested quite expectedly. But, look at their replacements.. Rohit the no-hit Sharma is back! and an opening in the team means "Tamilian" festivals yes, you guessed it Murali Vijay is also in the squad Abhishek Nayar ruined his chances by fielding well and making his presence felt 'cos he's been axed mercilessly. Mithun my boy has come in for P.K. that was the only relief. so, whether Saffers play well or not get prepared to lose either ways..

Ind Saf 2nd Test in Pics

Day 1 - SAF win toss, dominate play



After tea: Ind's spinners rise to the occasion



Day2 - Indian batsman come to the PARTY!




Day3 - Laxman, MSD continue the act as Saffers begin to feel kinky.





Day4 - Rain, Bad lights just 39 overs of play, SAF still have 7 wickets in hand.



Day5 - Final day, SAF lose wickets initially, though Amla continues to frustrate the Indians.



In the end it was race against time for the Indians, Amla kept his cool but, Bhajji struck just moments before close of play taking Morkel's wicket and with that the match. India level series 1-1. Top spot in the ICC World test championship secure.



Excellent exhibition of cricket from both teams.

Ton & Out

The 1st test at Nagpur saw the world no.1 test team go down tamely without a fight to the no.2 team. So, what was it that they did differently here..

India started the match on the backfoot with injuries to some big names like Rahul-the-wall-Dravid, Very-very-special-Laxman, Yuvraj-cant-sing-Singh and also Rohit-no-hit-Sharma. MSD then pciked a weak team thinking I dunno what. So, Badri, VJ after having carried drinks for over a year finally playing together for the national team. WOW!! and... Wriddhiman-the-buddhiman-Saha got to make his debut due to the inauspicious circumstances. Clearly MSD missed a chance to play 5 genuine bowlers. And he needed that as he picked 2 genuine spinners (yes, Bhajji is one). So, just 2 seam bowlers playing a 5 day game is ridiculous these days. What MSD needed was a 3rd seamer or even someone like Abhishek Nayar who can do a bit of both. With Sehwag in the team he could use his bowling as well.

Now with VJ who bowls slow spinners and Badri who is the same (none with quality) and Saha who cant throw past 15 yards none of the replacements were more than 1 dimensional. Add to that Sachin-I'm-getting-Old-Tendulkar seems reluctant to bowl and Gauti cant pick a wicket even in his wildest dream. This was particularly well timed as Saffers won the toss and elected to bat and after the initial hiccup they were on the highway to victory. Credit to Amla and Kallis who negotiated the tough period with care and then never turned back. Together they help SAF put up a mammoth total. AB Devil and Boucher were handy partners.

When it came to India's chance to bat the Saf seam bowlers were spicy hot. Morne Morkel and Dale Steyn were making batsmen hop & dance. Sehwag was the lone batsmen who played confidently in the 1st innings. But, another irresponsible shot after having done all the hard work meant Sehwag walked back where he could have made the opponent sorry. Badri stuck around for a while and then Steyn cut through the line-up. During the second innings batsmen again never seemed settled and wickets continued to fall only Sachin showing what needs to be done. He brought up his 46th ton in the process and then threw it away. The shot he played was just unacceptable let alone the negative line Harris was bowling throughout the match. I'm sure Sachin would not attempt such a stroke when on "0" or on "99" then why should he try once he's reached his ton. Indian bowlers played aggressively with the bat but could not avoid the end result. Proteas going up 1-nil in the 2-match test series.

Battle resumes at Eden gardens, Kolkata for the 2nd test.

Steyn-tastic!!

I may have missed most of the test due to weekend and other customary activities but, I have no reasons now. Steyn blew the Indian batting order apart super-man style!! Sad he tried to fly as well(see pic) but could not. Biff consoled him tho' all's well.. Steyn took 7 wickets and wrecked India in the 1st test at Nagpur. India all out for 233 still 325 runs behind Saffers' 558 1st inn score.

Viru though seemed to be playing on a different track and he got his 18th test ton in the process. Viru played particularly well despite wickets tumbling around him. Innings wasn't bang bang boom booom à la Seh-whack but, he looked to score with ease and a big score was for the taking. I was genuinely surprised to see Smith dint use more of Wayne Parnell against Viru. Viru seemed settled after a while against Morkel Sr. and Steyn. And knowing his history against left-arm pacers I wud have bowled Parnell a lot more than what Biff did. Be it Bracken, Mitch Johnson, Tanvir, Perera, Mirando, Aamer... all have seemed to disturb Viru time and again. And surprisingly not Parnell only got Viru out herem actually Viru threw it away and Doominy caught it. So, I hope this dismissal sends Biff a clear cut message.



Apart from him debutant Badri made a half-century in India's cause. He can be better described by the pics below.

2009 - gone bys & good byes 4th QTR

In the ongoing series of the Quarterly review of 2009, we have finally reached the last of the four quarters. Nevertheless, the cricket has not. In the final quarter the quality and quantity of cricket was taken to a new level.

First, the tests. Sri Lanka visited India for a battle of the spin stars. So, that was Murali+Medis+Herath Vs Bhajji+Mishra+Ojha. Disappointing to say the least, Lankans went down 2-0. Murali was simply attacked, Mendis was even dropped, Herath was a bit of “if - but” throughout. Sehwag continued destructing attacks as a routine thing. Gambhir notched up 4 test centuries in a row, after 2 in kiwi-land. Sachin, Dravid, Laxman got runs and more runs. Sri Lanka were overpowered and a list of injuries to players dint help either. As a result, for the very first time since India began playing test cricket.. they became the #1 test side in the world courtesy some crap rating system (read ICC). West Indies toured Australia, with the players and WICB finally putting down their swords. But, that dint change the course of the test series. Aussies easily winning 2-0. Australia then beat Pakistan 3-0 in tests, winning from losing situations thanks to the generous Pakistanis. The far more interesting test series were played between Pakistan-New Zealand and South Africa-England.

Pakistan toured New Zealand in November, a side which saw a new captain in MoYo and few ICL stars returning to the side along with the i_wanna_be_ShoaibAkhtar Md. Asif. Kiwis too were playing with the return of ICL stars like Tuffey and Bond. The test series was closely fought closer than it seems 1-1 the final result. Players who impressed were Umar Akmal, Md. Asif, Aamer, Bond, Tuffey, Vettori. Not so surprisingly Bond got injured after m.o.m performance winning the first test. This left Kiwis losing the final test and helped Pakistan drawing level in the series. The England-South Africa series up the stakes even higher. England managing to draw the 1st test with just the last wicket remaining, denying Saffers a victory. Upbeat Proteas then lost the 2nd test to the Poms after a batting slump. Proteas fought back hard in the 3rd test, once again England managing a draw, denied victory by one wicket. This confirmed England were now the most annoying side in test cricket. Remember the Ashes – Cardiff test? Saffers somehow did manage to pick 20 english wickets and thus won the 4th and final test leveling the test series 1-1.



ODI’s first saw the Aussies thrash England after losing the Ashes test series.
Australia beat England 6-1 in a 7 match ODI series. The tri-nation series held in Sri Lanka featured India, New Zealand and the hosts. India won the tri-series all geared up for the prestigious Champions Trophy in South Africa. Australia won this major event in the cricketing calendar without pulling a muscle. Shane Watson was impressive, taking his role in the team to a new high. Pakistan for once was very impressive, only losing to the Kiwis in the semi-finals, raised questions about the match being fixed. England surprisingly made it to the semis of an ICC tournament, losing to their friends, defending champs and eventual champs = Australia.
Australia then played another 7 match ODI series this time in India. Beating India at home 4-2. Pakistan lost the ODI series in NZl, but won their area of expertise the T20’s. England beat SAf at home 2-1, becoming only the 2nd nation to beat SAf at home in ODI’s. Sri Lanka – India continued playing cricket as though nothing else was left to do. India won 3-1, with the final ODI at Kotla, New Delhi being abandoned. Ind, Bangladesh and no prize for guessing Sri Lanka played a tri-series, this time Sri Lanka winning the finals.



The Champions League T20, held in India saw some of the top domestic teams fighting it out T20 style. Which means the top 3 teams from the IPL, 2 teams from Aus, SAF, Eng and 1 each from W.I. , S.L., NZl. 12 champion teams and only one possible champion of the champions. The tournament did raise a few questions as the current world T20 champs dint have any representative side i.e. Pakistan were booted out. Nevertheless, the tournament took off to a flier, the current IPL champs i.e. Deccan Chargers were blown out in the very first round. This left Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils in the next round but, in the same group. But, it dint stop there, none of the Indian teams qualified for the semis. Trinidad & Tobago team the surprise package. In fact, they beat the Cape Cobras and met New South Wales who beat Victoria Bushrangers in the finals of the Champions League. New South Wales emerged as the winners of the first champions league T20. Being crowned champion of the champions. Kieron Pollard left an impact with a batting strike rate of 197!


So, in a year action packed with cricket it wasn’t easy summing things up. Major tournaments like the Ashes, ICC Champions Trophy, T20 World cup, Champions league T20 and of course the IPL all featuring in a single calendar year. Hope, you’ve enjoyed reading as much as enjoyed watching the cricket and wishing 2010 takes the competition to the next level. Until then say “Wah”.

B.B.O.T.D. – Bombay Duck

Today, is perhaps the most important day in Indian cricket.. Heck world cricket perhaps! For today is the day, the most swashbuckling entertainers to have ever played the game was born. Ajit Agarkar. Yes, his majesty was born on this very day some 30 years ago. It was not destiny that brought him to the game but, it was destined that if the game was to have a hero, a role model, an iconic image, a beasty profile it would be in the form of Ajit Agarkar. Agarkar was no ordinary cricketer, not just another one in a million boys, from Indian towns and cities who would play cricket for the joy of it. Agarkar was different, he was always special. Remembering some of his great achievements is like showing light to the sun. No ordinary feat but, Agarkar was the quickest to reach 50 ODI wkts at a record pace of 23 games (only). 50 wickets! not kidding, you can check all the stats you want. Only recently Mendis got the better of him but, he is now forgotten and forgiven. Agarkar was such a talent with the bat that he dint need runs to prove his selection in the team. Unbelievable? Yes, he had 7 ducks in the tour to Australia, 5 in a row. But, no Tom, Dick or Harry could question his selection for he was not chosen to score; he was not like the rest, not another mere mortal. He dint have to win games to show his patriotism for his nation, just his presence in the team was pride for the entire nation. Neither did he have to get wickets everytime he ran into bowl nor silence the runs scored, he knew that. He very occasionally picked wickets and very generously gave the boundary ball every over he bowled. Yes, every over. He scored the fastest 50 by an Indian in odi’s cos, it was impossible to think of any other doing it but him. His test ton against England at Lord’s came in the most difficult conditions, unimaginable for you and me. It is pure blessing from the almighty that, we were fortunate enough to have seen that knock. He could have played at the no.3 slot in odi’s as long as he wanted but, that was not what he intended, it was not meant for him. No slot was good enough for his class and stature. He dint have to be the next Kapil Dev for india cos, he was not set to be just Kapil, Kapil was nothing in front of Agarkar. For today is his birthday is a well known fact all around the world, for that very reason Sehwag decided, not to break another world record (scoring his 3rd triple ton)today and distract the millions in the joyous mood. Sehwag knows it, he respects it more than his triple. It is in honor of the mighty one, the only one.. Ajit Agarkar.