January 14, 2006
Afridi is back!
Scored a century :D... and hit four consecutive sixes...
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November 6, 2005
World Cup 2006 (soccer) tickets
I was checking the World Cup website and I found out that the U.S. team has qualified for the World Cup. Hooray! Actually, the main reason I cheer is because FIFA allocates portions of tickets for matches played by U.S. to the national soccer federation. Tickets for the U.S. games go on sale on Dec. 12. I just hope the U.S. team is in the same group as Holland. That would be real cool. I would love to see Holland play. However, it looks like only U.S. citizens are eligible for buying the tickets from U.S. soccer federation; don't know why it is not based on residence instead.
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September 25, 2005
funny how biased newspapers can be...
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September 22, 2005
Ganguly unfit to lead: Chappell emails BCCI
Ganguly unfit to lead: Chappell emails BCCI
nice...
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August 31, 2005
fantasy football draft
i am playing fantasy football with some people at work...
we held the draft for our league today... the draft is not picks based on lottery... it is actually more like an auction where each team manager can make a stake at the player... we get a total of mock $100 that we use to buy players for the first few rounds and then it becomes a regular lottery-based draft...
fyi, the way that fantasy football works is that we pick players at different positions... if they score touchdowns in the actual game, we get credited... whoever performs the best wins the season... it is a little more complicated than that, but this shud suffice...
these are the players that i picked... lets see how these guys do in the regular season... of the players in our roster, we can have 9 starters: 1 QB, 2 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE, 1 K, 1 D/ST... only the stats of the starters count...
P. Manning (Ind - QB)
T. Barber (NYG - RB)
I. Bruce (STL - WR)
D. Davis (Hou - RB)
D. Driver (GB - WR)
J. Witten (Dal - TE)
W. Dunn (Atl - RB)
A. Boldin (Ari - WR)
K. Warner (Ari - QB)
R. Brown (Mia - RB)
E. Kennison (KC - WR)
D. Mason (Bal - WR)
Ro. Smith (Den - WR)
B. Roethlisberger (Pit - QB)
S. Janikowski (Oak - K)
Baltimore Defense
Posted by kjagasiv at 1:14 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
June 23, 2005
Rasheed Wallace is a leader of Detroit Pistons?
I was surprised when I read this title in New York Times: Wallace and Duncan Are Leaders With Different Decibel Levels.
Rasheed has been my favorite NBA player ever since Scottie Pippen moved out of Portland... but he has always been the bad-boy of the league gaining probably more technical fouls than anyone else in many seasons... and I didn't think he was doing that well in the Finals (but I have seen only like half-a-game on TV... so I can't really say)... I go over to ESPN website to check his stats in the series... and what do I find on the front-page? Photo of Duncan and Wallace... sweeeeeeeet!
his scores this series has been 6, 11, 8, 14, 12, 16... not very impressive... and he took blame for the open 3-shot that Horry made in game 5 that allowed Spurs to win that time... but i suppose in a team with no superstar and several good players, one of the main positives of 'Sheed is his unselfishness... he doesn't hog the ball and passes it on without hesitation... most of the time i see him in a game, it seems he doesn't have the ball and he is just setting screens for others...
hope Rasheed does extra-well in tonight's Game 7...
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June 16, 2005
Afridi more scary for bowlers than Sehwag!!!
It seems bowlers from various countries were asked to vote on who they thought was the scariest to face... Gilchrist came in first, of course... but the good news is that Afridi came in ahead of Sehwag :-)...
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May 22, 2005
Afridi declared Player Of the Series in Pak-WI ODI series!
Afridi has won the Man-of-the-Match award in the third ODI between Pakistan and West Indies... he has also clinched the Player of the Series award...
so much for complaints by his detractors about his inconsistency :-)...
Posted by kjagasiv at 5:43 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 21, 2005
Afridi keeps rolling, with his bowling!
Afridi was instrumental in Pakistan's victory in the second ODI against WI... he got 4 wickets...
again, he got his photo in the BBC article...
Posted by kjagasiv at 5:36 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 20, 2005
The man's back in the news!
Check out who BBC spotlights in the preview for the second ODI in Pakistan-WI series...
Afridi, you the man! :-)...
in the warmup game (against a President's XI team), afridi hit 104 from 46 balls and took four wickets... looks like 'mera form sahi hai' still holds true :-)...
in the first ODI, afridi hit only 24 out of 21 balls before being run-out...
man, in all three news items, BBC featured Afridi's photo... Afridi, kalakkite po! next ODI is tomorrow...
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May 7, 2005
Blind cricket
I saw this news article about blind cricket a few days ago and I wondered at that time how blind people play...
I finally got the chance to find some information about it from BlindCricket.org.uk...
it seems not all players are totally blind...
here is some more information about the rules of blind cricket:
The main difference between standard Cricket and Blind Cricket is the ball. A size three football is used in UK Blind Cricket to help the partially sighted players to see it and it is filled with a quantity of ball bearings to allow the totally blind players to hear it. The MCC Laws of Cricket have also been adapted in other ways in an attempt to allow blind and partially sighted people to compete on equal terms. The major variations are as follows:* The wicket is larger, making it easier for the partially sighted players to see and easier for a Batsman or Bowler to touch for the purpose of orientatation.
* The ball must pitch at least twice before the crease of a totally blind Batsman but must not be rolling.
* The ball must pitch at least once before the crease of a partially sighted Batsman.
* A totally blind Batsman is given one chance before being given out LBW and cannot be stumped.
* The Bowler must ask the Batsman if he is ready before beginning his run up and shout "play" as he releases the ball.
* A totally blind Fielder can make a catch after the ball has bounced once.
Posted by kjagasiv at 7:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 22, 2005
Sehwag needs to be consistent: Richards
=))
I love this title... Check the rediff article...
All those people who said Afridi was inconsistent... now I can say that Sehwag is also inconsistent :-P
Posted by kjagasiv at 7:42 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 17, 2005
Pakistan wrap up series 4-2!
Each person played their part... from Shahid Afridi who swung the bat around to get fast runs and build up the run-rate (check his stats in games that Pak won)... to the middle-order batsmen who knew their role was to build up partnerships... to the pace bowlers who came into form near the end...
It is noteworthy that Pakistan was victorious during the two times that the chasing team won the game...
I cannot understand why Inzy didn't win the Man-of-the-Series award... true that Naveed got the breakthrough wickets in two or three games... however, the man in the middle was responsible for inspiring confidence in the team by being calm and collected... I thought he showed one of his strengths when he apologized to the team for blowing up during the second game saying that as a captain, he should lead by example...
What can I say about Afridi? Afridi, you proved your critics wrong and you have guaranteed your place on the team at least for the near-term... Afridi, you backed up your Mera form sahi hai words with superb batting in the last two games... In my opinion, you deserved the Man-of-the-Match for the last game as well for your all-round performance... 44 in 23 balls, hitting your nemesis Nehra (who was brought in to the team specifically to get your wicket) for 22 runs in his first over, two wickets, two catches... good job, man!!!
Posted by kjagasiv at 10:18 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 15, 2005
Shahid Afridi is a worthless cricket player
BBC website
Shahid Afridi's stats speak for themselves:
Shahid Afridi b Harbhajan Singh 102 46 10 9
He scored the second fastest century (it should be noted that he holds the fastest century anyway)... anyone who says that strike rate doesn't matter must see how the 4th and 5th ODIs were affected single-handedly by Afridi's blistering attack...
In the post-game interview, Dravid said that every batsman was having trouble hitting except Afridi when asked why Pakistan won so easily...
Pakistan was able to slow down the pace to one or two runs an over for the spin bowlers and still finish the game with about 10 overs to spare... all because of Afridi... I knew he could come through...
heck, even he knew he would come through... Afridi said a few days ago...
Mera form sahi hai.... enuf said...
Posted by kjagasiv at 4:50 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
April 12, 2005
Inzy's opinion of Afridi
Inzy's opinion of Afridi's batting (Inzy is being very modest about it, but still he included Afridi's name):
The real contributions came from the top order - from Afridi, Razzaq, Butt and Malik.
Inzy's opinion of Afridi's bowling:
"On using Danish Kaneria so late"
You have to use a bowler according to the match situation. Afridi was bowling well at the time so I didn't use him.
As an aside, I am actually amazed by what Shoaib Malik has done the last two games... he bats consistently and he bowls pretty well as well (except the last over when he gave like 19 runs away). No wonder the coach had so much trust in him when everyone else questioned his place in the team.
Posted by kjagasiv at 6:58 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
What a game!!! Pakistan levels the ODI series!
This is the most exciting game that I have seen since the India-Australia test match tie.
It was nail-biting till the very end... Pakistan needed 15 or so runs from the last three overs and there was only Inzy left as a true batsmen... on the other end was Sami. But Sami played superbly and got the easy singles without wasting too much strike. He even managed a 4 if you can believe that.
Then in the last over, it was 3 runs needed and Sachin was bowling to Inzy... the first two balls were dot balls... then Inzy hits for 2 runs... it seems it should be easy victory for Pakistan at that stage... 2 more dot balls follow adding to the tension... Pakistan already assured of a tie, but needing a single to win... in the last ball, all the fielders move in to cut the single and what does Inzy do? he clears the fielders for a 4. super game by Inzy... when everyone around him was panicking and hitting needless shots or taking unnecessary runs leading to run-outs, he was calm throughout the innings.
Credit also goes to the Razzaq-Malik partnership which was the lynchpin for Pakistan's innings... they were getting 6 runs an over without lifting a muscle. they made it look too easy.
Also crucial to the victory was Afridi's innings... his no-holds-barred batting laid the foundation for pakistan to ease into a run rate of 6-7 runs an over and allowed the following batsmen not to take any risks at all until the last few overs.
The truth is that Pakistan should have won the game with more margin than this, but I am sure they will take it. When there were 15 overs remaining , the required run rate was about a run-a-ball... At that stage, with malik and inzy batting and youhana, younis, akmal still left to come, it should have been a cake-walk for pakistan... but pakistan players needlessly threw their wickets away.
still, it was awesome that they won... i was dreading what i would have to face if they had lost, even if it was a close game... people were doing witchcraft and what not and telling me that pakistan will lose by 57 runs... telling me that "pak is gonna be down 1-3" after seeing just the indian innings... telling me it is "time to celebrate" after afridi got out...
i will admit that afridi didn't score a 50 and didn't take any wickets either... so now it is left to him to get a 50 and 3 wickets in both of the remaining matches to prove himself... i will stick with my agreement, but if afridi plays the way he played today, i personally would be content... i suppose he could have got out very early in the innings, but i think chasing a huge target needed someone to be extra aggressive... similar to what india tried to do against australia in world cup 2003 final, but didn't succeed. if pak is batting first, i admit that he should cut down his aggression and look to stabilizing the innings.
Posted by kjagasiv at 5:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 9, 2005
Pakistan finally win in ODI series
No, I won't say anything...
I won't mention that someone stated India would win, not once but twice, that too emphatically as "WE will win"... itha vechiye adutha game varaikkum ottidalaam...
I won't mention the fact that Tendulkar again scored less than Afridi...
I won't mention the fact that winning the toss did make a difference...
I won't mention the fact that Afridi just showed an inkling of what he has to offer...
Instead, I will offer just two words: expected result!
It was a superbly executed strategy by the Pakistan team. They made use of all their wickets. When Salman and Shoaib were slowing things down around overs 17 to 30, I was wondering if Pakistan was playing too conservatively, especially when they have more attacking players like Inzy and Razzaq in the pavilion. But the two players went on the attack at the appropriate time and if anything, perhaps a few overs early... because by the time the innings was about to end, Pakistan was in its tail end and the run rate slowed dramatically. It is true that if the middle-order batsmen played more cautiously, they would have survived till the end, but it goes against the overall strategy of attacking every hittable ball when they have so many wickets remaining. When they were only around 120 or something at 25 overs, I had doubts whether they would be able to reach 300, but they showed what having plenty of wickets in the bank translates into...
In addition, many of the batsmen were in-form. Shoaib Malik proved why he should be in the team in place of Hafeez. When Shoaib and Salman started to do on the attack, Shoaib was just pure rampage. One only imagines what would have happened if he had survived the poorly placed hit near the boundary line. Another batsman who showed class was Youhana... When Salman sacrificed his wicket in a run-out for Youhana, I wasn't sure if it was profitable to have Youhana in-place of the steady Salman... but Youhana showed his talent when he belted three 4s (I think) out of a Pathan's over.
Another distinction of these two players was their running between the wickets... it might be too dangerous when the batsman on the other side of the crease is hesitant, but if these two manage to be on the field at the same time, it would be deadly.
Of course, you cannot forget Salman Butt whose innings proved the lynchpin around whom the Pakistan innings was built... it was a remarkable scenehttp://usa.cricinfo.com/link_to_database/PICTURES/DB/042005/059523.jpg to see him kneel down and kiss the ground that gave him his century.
Afridi didn't play to the expectations, but because other Pakistan players played their roles properly, I would still say that Afridi's role as the as the aggressive batsman is justified and might even prove necessary one of these games... a lot was made by the commentators about his attitude being linked to being Pathan... it was funny how when Irfan Pathan came to the crease in Indian innings, Afridi went up to him and had some words... I could see that Afridi was learning and letting the dangerous balls go by without swinging at them... but when he had three dot balls against Nehra, I started worrying that he is going to loose his cool and start looking for shots and too bad, it happened as expected... hopefully, he will learn some more from this game and improve his performance in all three aspects of the game.
One ugly incident in the game was when a clay mug was thrown out of the stands at Hasan after he had wrested three wickets from the Indian innings... luckily, it was just a stray incident.
Kudos to the Man-Of-the-Match Naved-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Sami for their controlled bowling... when Pathan and Zaheer Khan were belting the spinners for 6s and 4s near the end, when the outcome was already decided, the two main pace bowlers were brought back and showed how good they were. Within three overs, the two remaining Indian wickets fell.
In the Indian innings, Dravid again proved himself a class apart by showing resilience when everyone around him were gifting away their wickets and he took the remarkable diving catch of Afridi as well... Sehwag's wicket though in the second over was probably the turning point... did I mention that it was Afridi who took the superb catch of Sehwag?
Posted by kjagasiv at 9:22 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
April 7, 2005
Pakistan's (hopeful) batting order in 3rd ODI
Looks like a strong batting line-up, especially with Younis Khan...
Bowling though looks really shaky... Anjum (inexperienced - only 6 career ODI wickets), Hasan (decent), Razzaq (decent), Afridi (terrible this series), Kaneria (only reliable wicket-taker) and that's it... it seems Shoaib Malik doesn't meet ICC bowling requirements... in the first two ODIs, they had six bowlers though having the extra bowler didn't really help either.
1. Salman Butt
2. Shahid Afridi
3. Younis Khan
4. Inzamam-ul-Haq
5. Yousuf Youhana
6. Abdul Razzaq
7. Shoaib Malik
8. Kamran Akmal
9. Naved-ul-Hasan
10. Rao Iftikhar Anjum
11. Danish Kaneria
Posted by kjagasiv at 11:55 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
April 5, 2005
Shahid Afridi disappoints again in 2nd ODI
Shahid Afridi got duck out and didn't get any wickets in the match. If he plays like this for the rest of the series, I wouldn't have any problem in saying that he is a worthless cricket player, but I hope it doesn't come to that... at least for my sake. I know someone is just waiting for this to happen so that she can peethufy that she made a Shahid Afridi fan admit that he is a worthless player. Shahid Afridi, your maanam and my maanam is now in your hands... I am begging you man, hit at least two 50s in the series.
Posted by kjagasiv at 7:47 AM | Comments (33) | TrackBack
April 4, 2005
Afridi's position in Second ODI
From BBC article... finally, looks like Inzy is coming to his senses...
Hard-hitting all-rounder Shahid Afridi may be moved back up to the top of the batting order after coming at eight in Cochin.
Also on NDTV.
Posted by kjagasiv at 10:55 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
April 3, 2005
ODI Cricket format
I read the piece written by Inzy in Hindu... He predicts that whoever wins the toss is going to win the match in the remainder of the series... His reason is that the heat makes the fielding team so tired that they have little energy to bat... It is partly true...
So I was thinking how we could change the ODI format to make the toss less of a factor in deciding games... I remember in the last world cup, there were similar complaints regarding the day/night matches... whoever played first seemed to always win.
One solution is to bring some aspects of baseball into cricket... Have it so that a side plays until it loses 2 wickets... then the other side comes in and plays... in this way, one team doesn't get undue advantage because of the toss.
Another choice is instead of wickets, it could be based on overs... so each side switches after 5 overs... then it will be like 10 innings... close to what baseball has.
Posted by kjagasiv at 11:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
April 2, 2005
Pakistan about to lose the first ODI
Momentum changed from side-to-side in the ODI until it was clearly with India after Pakistan lost a string of wickets around 50.
Shahid Afridi didn't do any magic in this ODI, but there are still five left... so I will hold my judgement.
Posted by kjagasiv at 2:50 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
March 29, 2005
Afridi's breakthrough series
Check out rankings of India/Pakistan players by cricinfo,
8.5 Shahid Afridi
Afridi's breakthrough series? An irresistible force when the mood takes him, he was irrepressible in the two Tests he played. At Kolkata he provided gusto to a deflated top order and then briefly scared the life out of the Indians on the fourth afternoon. But at Bangalore, Afridi turned the game on its head, with both bat and ball. His batting gave Pakistan time where previously there had been none, and the following day, he provided the key breakthroughs with what he terms legspin Sachin Tendulkar is a nice bunny. In your face, intimidating, annoying and ebullient, Afridi was at the heart of Pakistan's aggression.
Posted by kjagasiv at 9:21 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
March 28, 2005
Nice test series
Afridi did some wonders with the ball as well... he got the wickets of Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman.
His stat says it all:
S Afridi 17 7 13 3 0.76
Posted by kjagasiv at 8:40 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
March 27, 2005
Shahid Afridi is the man!
I was seeing the Pakistan 2nd innings in the India-Pakistan 3rd test. It was amazing how Shahid Afridi was playing... every ball he played, you could expect a four and he delivered almost every single time.
I couldn't understand how Pakistan played after Afridi got out... they had to get only about 150 runs and they still had 9 wickets in hand... but they were playing so defensive... I guess it was a lot of factors. one was that the pitch helped the spin-bowlers. Also, the field was predominantly on the leg-side and the bowlers left little choice for the batsmen but to hit towards the leg-side. There were a lot of reverse-sweep shots in the game... Only goes to show how easy Afridi made it look when he batted. The funny thing is that he almost got out a few balls earlier, but he didn't change his style of play... he was looking to play as if that was his last ball... it was classy when after he went for a sixer and missed the ball completely, he knew he was out... he didn't even turn back, but simply went to the pavilion.
The match looks set for an exciting finish... India need about 360 runs and they have all 10 wickets... the match could end any way... I hope India doesn't play for a draw.
Posted by kjagasiv at 3:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack