I guess most of the cricket fans would be aware of the ongoing cricket one day international series between India and Australia. Both the teams are considered as the best in cricket and so the rivalry between the two is pretty much obvious. Yesterday, the stage was set for the fourth ODI match between the two great teams. Venue being Mohali in Punjab which is just 15 kms from my home. Mohali’s PCA Stadium holds the record for most Day n Night One day matches in whole of India. It’s one of the finest grounds in the world. So watching a game between the two best sides in cricket world on the best-est of all grounds in the world was too much of a temptation that one couldn’t afford to miss. Specially for a cricket maniac like me.

I made to the ground in time to watch the match. I would have to say i have never been in a better position to view the match ever, as i was sitting right in the VIP box just above the Indian team dug out. I could see all the Indian players walking by and it was really very exciting. Australia batted first and scored 250 runs only on what seemed to be a superb batting pitch. Herein i would have to give credit to India fielders. It was one of the best performance by the fielding team. India somehow couldn’t bat well and failed to chase the meager score of 250. Although India lost the match, i still had too much fun over there. It was a good contest. Deep inside i wanted India to win but you know, a game is a game and Australia outplayed India this time. So all is well until and unless we get to see a great contest between the two.

Anyways, the match environment, the enthusiastic Punjabi crowd and the best lit stadium in the world under the night sky was very enthralling. It was an amazing night. I took some pics from my Samsung Omnia II and would like to share few of them with you!

Ind-Aus Match

I so wish i could take pic of Ricky Ponting, every time he gets out or when his appeals are turned down. He makes such a funny, crying, depressed face that it’s almost impossible not to laugh at that sight. I agree he is a great cricketer but at the same time he is the worst sportsman ever. I mean if you are such a great cricketer, that are you talked among the likes of world’s best batsmen Sachin Tendulkar, then you really need keep your mind, attitude and etiquette right. Look at Sachin, there is no down to earth person in cricket world than him, even though he is greatest of all. Anyways…..

India was leading 2-1 in the series before this match. Unfortunately, India lost this match and thus Australia leveled the series at 2-2. There are three more matches coming up pretty soon and it’s all going to be very exciting. Down to the wire as one would say. Full support to India whatsoever.

I got up early, switched on television an hour later, while having a nice cup of morning coffee! Pretty excited about yesterday’s news of cricket match wherein India beat SriLanka which was a comprehensive win. And then i heard the news that the fuel prices got slashed. Petrol got cheaper by INR 5.00 and diesel got cheaper by INR 2.00. Even LPG cyclinders got a price cut of INR 25. Now that’s a good news for everyone. Even for me. But still i felt bad. Very bad.

Reason being that i own two cars. One petrol based and one diesel based. And i got their fuel tanks filled up, right up to the brim, yesterday morning. Damn! Only if i had knew i would have waited for another day. There was really no urgency. But…my bad luck!!

Moral of the Story: Keep up with the latest news and save some pennies!

I guess it ain’t a breaking news for you to know that India beat Australia in Common Wealth Bank series final and clinched the historic series win over the one day world champions. Australian players were just not good enough for Indian team at all. They only know how to speak all rubbish on and off the field. Indians just told them how the cricket is to be played and what world champions really are. Once could have been luck or fortune. But Indians won best of three finals by 2-0, third game of course not required. So they proved that this was not a fluke. Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symmonds definitely have lessons to learn. So does Ricky Ponting. For once they thought that they were Kings of cricket. How cruel, how wrong they were doing to themselves. Huh?

Anyways, Indians clinched the series, proving that Australians, even if they are world champions does not mean that they are invincible. Let’s see the Jubilant Indian Cricket team.

This had been a very pleasing moment. So many youngsters in the team gives you the feeling that you will see many many coming years of success for Indian cricket team. However, i cannot end this post without mentioning about the great brave man, the great spinner, Harbhajan Singh. Ahh, he has been such a brave person. Aussies gave him lot of troubles. They put him so many controversies, with Andrew Symonds, Matthew Hayden and Ponting and party. And to lot of etent, the Australian media and people also. Harbhajan was never found guilty, rightly so. Aussies just wanted to make something out of nothing, as usual and this time Harbhajan was the one targetted. Anyways, Harbhajan took it bravely, he handled whole of the situation very very well. He played so well the whole series. The best of him came out with this unnecessary added pressure. Harbhajan really played very very well and his emotions came out just at winning the final. That was the right moment. Aussies’ mouth were all shut. No one could speak a thing. That’s the best way to answer. Go to Bhajji

Some great moment of jubilant Harbhajan Singh…

Some other players also emerged from Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team such as young and lethal Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Robin Utthappa and many more. Ofcourse there were greats like Sachin Tendulkar, the God of cricket. And MS Dhoni of course a great aggressive captain. No problems if Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan were little off sometimes in series, but they are still great assets.

Okay…enough of disgrace brought by Ricky Ponting and his team to Australian Cricket. And enough of praise for Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni‘s team. There is just one case that most do not know about. There were three instances where nude streakers came into field while the match was being played. Once it so happened that nude streaker, saving himself from security personnels, running nto field, came right in front of Andrew Symmonds while he was standing at the non striker end. And Andrew taking out his frustration, just knocked down the streaker with his shoulder, in the rugby style. Everyone enjoyed the knockout. But few know that how serious mistake Symmonds made. If the umpires decide to bring this matter up, then Andrew Symmonds can be banned from 5 test matches or 10 one day internationals to a lifetime ban. Wow. That would be such a wonderful insult to Symmonds. Poor he, taking all his frustrations out on that bloody streaker. Ha Ha. Let’s have a look at this incident. Sorry about little nudity….

India definitely deserved the win. They outplayed Aussies in every department whether it be batting or bowling or fielding.

I personally felt that Ricky Ponting and his team should have publicly apologized to Harbhajan Singh and all the rubbish they did in this series. And also that Ricky Ponting should have announced his leaving the captaincy. He is really not good enough to lead his side. In fact he is not even good enough to lead any side. He is a disgrace to the word captain.

Umm.. Brad Hogg, congrats on retirement. You did fairly good job in your career. Adam Gilchrist, you were a great cricketer. A great wicket keeper. A great person. Cricket world will miss you. Congrats on your retirement as well. God bless you.

Okay, i am tired of writing my reviews. I really wanted to take it out on Australian Cricket team. I just couldn’t stop myself. It was such a great match

Frankly, he is one of the few good looking guys in the Indian Cricket Team. Strong built, with long hairs down his shoulder. He looked pretty cool. As a matter of fact, he even looks better than good percentage of India movie actors. Few months back, Dhoni went for haircut. Nothing shocking, he just trimmed his hair. It was as good as normal. But now… Surprisingly, Dhoni went for a good sleek well cropped haircut. I’m guessing that his crush over the gorgeous Deepika Padukone could be a good reason behind this haircut.

Alright, i wasn’t initially planning to do this. But i have added Dhoni’s new look image for all of you. Let’s see your reaction to the same.

Update: I never knew that Mahendra Singh Dhoni and John Abraham were that damn close friends. The news is that Dhoni got his new haircut from none other than John Abraham’s stylist. Guess what, his stylist is getting used to cut long hairdos into shorter ones.

Alright, the serious questions being asked now is whether Deepika Padukone made him do it or was he just eliminating competition from John Abraham?