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Morkel and Irfan sizzles as Delhi beats Kolkata by 8 wickets in a rain affected 12 over per side match with 5 balls remaining. Chasing a par total of 97 runs in 12 overs, Finch and Sehwag began steadily. Finch made life difficult for Kolkata bowlers as he find couple of boundaries in each over. Surprisingly, in the first 15 deliveries, Finch faced 12 while Sehwag faced only 3. A period of 6 balls where Finch fetched 4 boundaries almost took Delhi to a safer side. However, Delhi lost Finch for 30 and skipper Sehwag for 20 once they reach 50. Pathan, coming up the order ,ensured that there is no more hicccups in the chase. His innings of 20 ball 42 had 3 sixes. Pathan's hits were clean and were right from the middle of the bat. Pathan finished the chase with a boundary towards the square leg with 5 balls remaining. For Kolkata, Kallis and Batia took a wicket each.   Earlier, Light showers in the later evening delayed the start of matchat Eden Gardens and Delhi Daredevils skipper Virender Sehwag won the toss and asked Kolkata to bat first.   Kolkata opened their innings with McCullum and Kallis. Neither of them contributed much and so did rest of the players. At the end of 4 overs, Kolkata were struggling at31/4. Morkel made full use of his height and swung the ball well. Two yorkers in two balls meant Kallis and Tiwary were sent back hut to early. Gambhir was looking good as he middled the bat well. Sooner he was played on by a ball from Morkel. He was dismissed for 16  (15). A cameo from Debabrata Das [18(9)] and LR Shukala [26(17)] helded Kolkata pile up 97 runs in deduced 12 over innings. For Delhi, Morkel's 3/18 and Yadav's 2/9 helped in restricting the target to below 100. A last ball run out by Yadav by hitting the middle stump from deep extra cover to remove Lee sums up Delhi's good fielding performance.

Levi powers Mumbai home in season 5 opener

A powerpacked performance from Levi and some poor batting by Chennai saw Mumbai winning the season 5 opener held between the two teams at Chennai by 3 wickets with 19 balls remaining.



Chasing a modest target of 113, Mumbai Indians began their chase well. Coming with a tag as latest T20 sensation, Richard Levi showcased his power hitting and talent in front of Chennai crowd in his IPL debut match. He being the dominant player in the 69 run opening partnership with Sachin, overshadowed Sachin's 6 over long on, with his 3 flambouyant maximums. Sooner he reached his fifty in 34 balls. However Bravo deceived Levi in the very next ball and sent him back. On his departure, Rohit came in and unfortunately went back without disturbing the scorers. Sachin too was retired hurt for 16 at the end of 9th over as he injured his finger while trying to defend a bouncer bowled by Bollinger. At the half way stage, Mumbai were strongly placed at 76/2. Rayidu and Franklin steadied the ship by chipping in singles and doubles which was more than sufficient when bundaries looked dry to come. Mumbai reached 100 in 15 overs and eventually reached the target by 17th over with a 6. For Chennaoi Super Kings, Albie Morkel frequently passed the batsmen edges and was unfortunate not to pick a wicket and R.Ashwin as usual was economical bowler.

Earlier in the night, Mumbai Indians Skipper Harbhajan Singh won the toss and elected to bowl in a pitch that had a few grass over it which was unlike usual Chennai pitch.

Chennai Super Kings started their innings in a poor manner as debutant Faf du Plessis was run out in the 4th ball of the innings. M.Vijay who looked off-colour right from the word PLAY, consumed more deliveries without scoring and added pressure to Raina who was looking good for a big innings in the other end. He went back to hut for 10 (17) at the end of powerplay overs. In came Dwayne Bravo who took some initiative to built a partnership with Raina to put forth a target that is descent enough to defend. A period of 10 balls where Raina and Bravo hit 4 boundaries gave a sight of good score untill Raina departed for 36 (26). Ojha scalped Raina and Bravo [19 (19)]. Apart from their 22 run partnership, no real partnership was there. Wickets trumbled like a pack of cards as 3 run-outs in the Chennai Super Kings innings added salt to the injuries. The 2 million USD  man Ravinder Jadeja couldn't add much to scorecards either and was out for 3 and eventually bundled out for 112 within 20 overs with no real contributions from any players. Ojha, Malinga and Pollard took 2 wickets each.

From Cricket to Cokkery Role Model.

India is having a tuff time downunder. They have experienced a lot of chin music from Aussie bowlers and were belittled by Aussie batsmen. Suffering two continuous loss in the tournament, India's chance of entering the final is looking bleak as days pass by. If a team is emerging victorious, the success in posted upon all team members unlike a lose where skipper has to take up all the blame and has to remain under the hammer. Looking back, from the first match of CB series, we can analyse a player's contribution in the ODI series.

Virender Sehwag:
Thanks for yor presence. We were happy to see you playing. Virender Sehwag was seriously considered upon as an role model for cookery class. Instructions given to their students in the cookery class for making noodles.

1. If Sehwag enters in the ground to open the innings, open your Maggi noodles pack and put it in the fry pan.
2. Add Masala, water and essential vegetables and stir it.
3. Turn off the stove and remove the pan, when Sehwag loses his wicket. Your Maggi noodles is ready

Sachin Tendulkar:
 We don't need a century from him. We need a good start. A 40s and 50s could do wonders. But Sachin has been a shadow of himself in this one day series.

Gautham Gambhir:  Unlike R.Ashwin, ever since Gambhir was married, his form dripped. However, consecutive ninetees in tournament have made him a leading run scorer for India. Oldsaying goes that those who have strong reflexes should field at short legs in Tests. I knew a few cases in world cricket, where a batsman can dominate one form a cricket but will be adolescent in the other form. Despite being critizied for being a poor fielder in One day cricket, Gambhir fields at shortlegs. Is fielding too have multiple dimensions?

Virat Kohli:
 Finally in this tour, Kohli has learnt to use the middle of the bat rather than using the middle finger. This Consistent and aggresive batsman holds the record of speaking the F**K word more number of times than used in the De Caprio's DEPARTED movie. Ofcourse, he has talent enough to bowl a last over of the one day innings.

 Rohit Sharma: He showed his good form in last CB series. He is showing his poor form in this CB series. His is second to Sehwag in consideration for cookery class role models.

Suresh Raina:
 @bcciindia tweets to @ImRealBrahma, " Sir my needs are -Some cameos; Some good fielding; Some ridiculous fielding; Talent, enough to clear the boundary; Should be the first person to congratulate the bowler, if takes a wicket. "

 @ImRealBrahma to @bcciindia "Huh, You are so lucky. I have a package that fulfills your needs. Here it is, take @ImRaina "

 @ImRaina retweets @ImRealBrahma's tweet.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni:  Taking the pressure to the opponents is Richards' way of winning a match. Taking the pressure to himself and the nail biting audience is Dhoni's way of winning a match.

Manoj Tiwary: What Ganguly, Sachin and Dravid did for Badrinath is done Kohli, Raina and Rohit to Tiwary. - Block a place.

 Parthiv Patel:
 All he needs is a paid trip by BCCI to have a dinner at Hayden's and injury/ban to Dhoni for a place in playing XI. If he gets, he has fullfilled his lifequench.

Ravindra Jadeja: Played an innings of his life time in the t20s and second ODI, to get a $2 million contract for Chennai Super Kings, which means the next time he tours to Australia, he can have dinner at Hussey's.

Ravichandran Ashwin: It was roller coaster ride for him in this tour. He didn't bowl to his calibre but brilliantly gave warnings to Lahiru Thirimanne and ran him out to give Sehwag a chance to show his "Dhoni-Bell" spirit of cricket attitude.

Praveen Kumar:  He is in search of an Aussie girl friend. Please help him. He is missing a chance in playing XI because of that.

 Zaheer Khan: Completely, he is in the shadow-of-himself phase. May be its time to marry his girl friend and have a honey moon to regain his lost form.

Vinay Kumar:
Afridi bowls faster than Vinay kumar and Mike Hussey swings the ball to better extent the Vinay does. Needless to say anything else about him.

 Umesh Yadav:
 India also has pace factory. India is also capable of producing world class pace bowlers who can consistenly bowling in the later 140 kmph. Former players see Yadav as a bowler who despite leaking runs take important wickets. Sorry, we already have one S.Sreesanth, we don't need another one.

Rahul Sharma:
 A kumble in the making. The difference is this guy is disguising a straighter delivery amidst turning ones while Kumble does the vice versa.

Irfan Pathan: 4 five-wicket haul in 5 matches of recently concluded Ranji season bought him national contract which he is effectively using, be it batting or bowling. One thing he has to remember he is the team primarily for his bowling skills not for his batting skills. History repeats itself. If Irfan gets a contract, Yusuf loses his contract and if Yusuf gets a contract, Irfan loses his. BCCI is keen enough, not to give twice the amount of money to the pathan family

 P.S : This post has no intentions to harm any Indian Cricket fans. Written just for fun.

The other side of the Blue Brigade

[NOTE: This article is just to break the stress in Indian Cricket Fans’s mind and make them fit to support TEAM INDIA in ICC WORLD CUP 2011. Read fully before scolding the author]


The Series down under against Proteas just concluded few days ago.Now they are having a span of 18 days for their world campaign. What will they do in these 18 days.


“Few” will practice, while few like Rohit Sharma and Pragyan Ojha will think where they went wrong.
Right let us go in depth in this issue.


Mr.Mahendra Singh Dhoni
The Captain-cool of Team India, will be keen on some game plans (obviously). On the Otherhand, he will be worried thinking “How did Gautam get 11Cr ? ?”

Mr. Yuvraj Singh
Face 1:
The “Out-of-form” stylish left hand batsman will obviously drive down the streets of Punjab just to get Paani Puri ,his fav dish, and will come into the tournament with a bigger Tummy and gives a chance to Mr .Super-fit-Kirsten to comment about Indian Players’s fitness.

Face 2:
The “In-form” orthodox left arm off-spinner will be on cloud nine after his contribution to Team India after the recently concluded India- SA series. He will also feel guilty for grabbing Ojha’s spot.


Mr. Sachin Tendulkar
Since it gonna be his last world cup, this man would be fighting with his ball-machine and would be practicing hard. A billion hopes rest behind him.


Mr.Virender Sehwag
The Delhi Dasher will be thinking why IPL was postponed after the world cup. Else he would have been playing in the tournament,thereby he injures himself and would be in the squad till warm matches and then will break up with the skipper. Now he will be searching for the reasons to skip the tournament.

Mr. Gautham Gambhir
“Yes. I did washed out Kiwis under my captaincy” will be the lines that would often cross this man’s mind. He would walk down the road of Delhi thinking where would he be playing in the Playing XI since Openers Sachin and Virender and number 3 batsman Virat are doing well in their places.


Mr. Virat Kohli
Besides being nervous to play his first world cup for India at higher levels, this “in-form” royal challenger will be trying to contact Genelia-De’zousa to date her. He is mad about her.


Mr. Suresh Raina
This man would be lying down in his mother’s lap and will be crying for wasting 2 ODI series (10 Matches) without showing any signs of regaining his form. He is now in a situation of sitting and warming up the benches in the world cup.


Mr. Harbajan Singh
This man would be highly worried thinking how he gonna spend 40 days sharring the same dressing room with his pal-turned-rival Andrew Symonds. Besides he have to work hard trying to learn the art of taking wickets rather than being economical

Mr. Praveen Kumar
He has already booked a place in playing XI by praising the skipper that he is the OBAMA of cricket. He will also be crossing the borders to spend a honeymoon with his wife.


Mr. Ashwin
Being a south-paw, this man will be visiting most of the Temples in South India to pray for their Victory .


Mr.Yusuf Pathan
This man will be texting to Steyn and Morkel in abusive language  for bowling too many short balls to him. He would also be challenging them to bowl a short ball in the Sub-continent condition against him. He would also be worried that why his step- brother Irfan Pathan missed out a cut even in WC 30 probables.


Mr. Zaheer Khan
After being elected as the 3rd Desirable Indian Cricketer by Times Of India, this man will be on cloud nine and will be thinking hard to pick his bowling partner.


Mr. Ashish Nehra.
This young boy will be shouting at his mom for being forced by her to eat. He will also try to learn how to field from his pet dog.


Mr.Munaf Patel
He would console himself by saying "I don't know to Swing.. I don't have a threatening pace.. But I have the most bruatal factor.. Line and Length and it got me 2nd world cup spot." 


Mr. Piyush Chawla.
He will be thinking “Thank God.. I managed to attend Dhoni’s marriage and now I am in WC squad” He will also try to convince the Star Cricket to display his action as Right- Arm-Leg-Spin as he uses Leg spin as a variation in an over containing 5 googlies.

Hope that your stress is down now.
Jokes apart. 


Billions of hopes lies on these Fifteen people. Everyone is thinking that all the above will get INDIA, the prestigious ICC WORLD CUP. Come out and Support for Team India in huge numbers.


Cheers and Claps for Team India.!!

The Cup that counts...

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You don’t want a bad start than I had on 14^th Jan, 2010. I was all set to go to play with my college friends near Tambaram.  My dad didn’t permit me saying that he doesn’t know everyone near Tambaram. I soon bursted into anger and shouted at my mom by asking her, “ Why dad is like this? As if he knows the entire globe, he is saying that he doesn’t know anyone in Tambaram and not letting me to go” I went to bed again

Just after 5 minutes from then, My mom brought “THE HINDU” newspaper subscribed by my neighbour. They went to their native place for celebrating pongal. The newspaper-waala, not knowing that, threw the newspaper from downstairs (as usual, though). My mom picked it up and gave it to me.

As soon as she gave the paper, I just went to sports column. My mouth went wide-open as soon as I read “ World Cup Trophy unveiled at Chennai” First I was disappointed as it was in the past tense. It was unveiled at Citi Centre on 13^th Jan, 2010. By the time I read full article, I was on cloud nine as I came to know that it is up for display again at Sky Walk in the Morning Session and Express Avenue in the evening session

 

The Hindu newspaper dated 14 Jan2010

Soon I took my mobile and called Saikumar Natarajan and asked him if we can go. He too was excited to see the cup and said in affirmative instantaneously. Then I called Pramodh Venkatraman and asked him the same. He replied negatively saying that he have some work at Citi Centre (Obviously, he went to get me a Yuvi branded mug). So Sai and Me planned to leave my home for Sky Walk by 10:30 AM. As usual we were 10 minutes late. We went to St. Thomas Mount RS and I was standing in the “LONG” queue while Sai went to sight some girls.

Just when I was getting near to counter, Sai came near me and said “Hey I want to go home right now.. Seems that Dad is getting me a new system.. “ With disappointment, I said “Yes” and we were ready to return to home. He said, “Don’t worry.. We’ll go to EA in the afternoon without fail” when I dropped him near his house. I trusted him as I know that he is a big cricket fan just like me.

I returned home by 11:40 PM. Meanwhile, Bharathi Ramadoss, one of my college friends, started to mock me as my plan of seeing the world cup was dropped. I checked Express Avenue website for the timings and it showed that It would be coming by 3 PM. As time was getting near 3, I called Sai  time and again and checked his status. Meanwhile I called Pramodh to say if he can join us to EA. He  affirmatively said that he was already at mylapore and he is accompanied by Aishwarya Natarajan and will join us soon.

www.expressavenue.com

Sai came home only by 4:30 PM. We started at the very moment and went to UTI BS so that we would have more buses to catch. We were fortunate as Bus no 52K was already standing and we boarded it. We were happy that we boarded a through bus.

You can’t see a better love story than I saw in the bus. Some really good-looking girl came and stood very next to Sai( Note the word “Really” . I mean it. She was damn good-looking).As soon as he saw her Sai asked me to sit in front so that he can make her to sit near by him. I refused as I was jealous of him as he was damn close to her. Soon Sai hummed some old Tamil romantic songs “Rasathi Manasula…Rasa un nenapu daan….” We didn’t take our eyes from her. 

We came to Thousand Lights. We didn’t wait for the signal to turn RED. We crossed the road while the cars and buses were on their wheels. No wonder one man shouted at me for not following the signals. We reached EA. 

Express Avenue

There we met Pramodh and Aishwarya. Soon we came to know that “Only If we give them a empty PEPSI bottle/can, we would be permitted to take a close snap” I didn’t have any money in my wallet otherthan my lone 10 Rs note and so do Pramodh.  I handed over that  10 Rs note to Sai and Pramodh and asked them to get 4 pepsi bottle. Pepsi bottles were not available inside EA. So they went outside and brought 4 pepsi.

Meanwhile Aishwarya met some of her friends there, while I took the snaps of sizzling World Cup with my cousin’s  brand new 15 MP Nikon Camera. They bought 4 pepsi bottles and Pramodh himself drank 2 and half bottle and I drank 1 and a half bottle. Sai and Aishwarya literally didn’t drink anything. We stood in the line for taking the snap.

The ICC WORLD CUP

The moment finally arrived. 6:40 PM. Sai was first and then me, pramodh and Aishwarya followed him. We received a small card, on returning which we’ll have our copy of a snap that we took with WC. Then each took a snap of the other three and we did it in a round-robbin method and a man who was seeing the whole scene took all 4 of us a snap.

We were at EA to see the world cup

By 7 PM, it was the time for the world cup to leave for delhi, so they took it in a trolly to car shed and then it went OFF.

The WC was taken to Delhi later

Getting the photocopy was the most toughest job ( both for mind and for body ) in the whole day. The pepsi volunteers just showed us all the snap, that were printed until then, and we couldn’t find any one of our’s. As time went by, more and more photos were printed and still we couldn’t find our’s. The EA officials asked the remaining people to come and get in the next day. We ended a day in a disappointment ( Me ,the most of all) I didn’t know how should I react. Should I feel happy for seeing the cup ? or Should I feel sad for not getting the copy of the snap?

We silently went to bus stop and boarded a bus and in a few minutes from then, Aishwarya received a call from the friend whom we saw at EA. He called her to say that he had seen all our snaps. I was happy for a second and soon second thoughts came into my mind. Did he see my face? Did he remember my face?

That night was the most terrible one. It was even more terrible for Sai, as his parents shouted at him as we reached home late.

The next day me, pramodh and aishwarya went to EA to collect our photos. Sai couldn’t join us as his parents let him go this time. Right at 1 PM, we entered EA for the second consecutive day. I went to help desk and asked about the photos(only I know that I was chanting mantras that moment). To my surprise, or To my happiness  or whatever you call it, my photo was first snaps. I was smiling as soon as I saw it. You know what “I am the happiest man in the world” at that moment. Soon we got sai’s and pramodh’s. Unfortunately we didn’t get Aishwarya’s. We searched again and again. We didn’t get her’s. I think she herself lost the hope. Finally after enquiring the girl in receptionist, the girl checked Aishwaya’s photo in the bunch of employee’s photo and there it was. Everyone was happy and we conveyed the news to sai.

We finally received our snaps

Our ancestors have said everything correctly. “Don’t take any decisions when you are too happy or whey are too sad either. “ Those words were true. At bus stop, Aishwarya and pramodh asked if we can walk till mylapore RS and I said “A big yes” and obviously I faced the consequence.

I got the punishment

This is it. This two days 14-1-11 and 15-1-11 going to be those days that I will  cherish till my life time.

Lost: Not Everything is in one's hands

He hugged Natesh and said “Not everything in my life is in my hands dude.” and then went toward the train and once again turned back and smiled (with tears) at them. He finally bided them and boarded the train to leave for Delhi for the job.

Tears welled in the eyes of Sam, Venkat and Natesh. They were as thick as thieves till that date. The four shared the same room right from their Under graduation till their post graduation. Now its time to be apart from each other.

Sam is tall and stout. One can hardly find a difference between his hair and his skin tone. He is the one with the most short-temperament among the four. Venkat fancies himself as a bollywood hero. Yet he is fat and is of normal height. Athith is fair, fat and is of normal height. Athith has a great sense of humor. He makes his environment always happy. Natesh is unique among all the four. One can’t say that he is lean. He is even leaner than the meaning-of-lean-specified-by-oxford-dictionary. If the other three chooses to spend holiday by playing, Natesh will spend it with books. One can even start a mini-library with his collection. His doodles will always be related to Science. He loves Science to the core.

Athith just took his ticket and saw that he had reserved the seat in S-Compartment. He then went to S-Compartment and made himself comfortable. He was still seeing Sam, Venkat and Natesh through the blue tinted window. He felt a jerk. The train just started to move. He then took a book, which he took from Natesh’s rack without his knowledge, and started looking at it. He opened the last page. He just closed his eyes but not before a drop of his tears fell on the book and started to recall few moments of his life.

He was doing his UG then. All the four went to a mall for watching a movie. They decided to get into the landmark shop and have a look at few books. However only Natesh bought a book “The Eight phases of a human life”. Having watched the movie, they returned to their room. Three days later , Athith was searching for a visiting card in Natesh’s rack. Accidently, he saw that book. He decided to read that book and started reading it. After two days, he finally read the concluding page. He suddenly noticed something scribbled by Natesh. He read it and started laughing. He called all the three at once and asked Natesh read the sentence scrippled by him aloud.

“I wish I could spend my remaining three phases of my life with sam, venkat and Athith. Hope we won’t apart.”

After hearing him ,Athith said “Why are we going to be apart? Its our life yaar. Everything is in our hands”

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - A Man or Myth?

He is no less than the God in the Subcontinent. He is regarded as a living legend, as a live encyclopedia of cricket. He is the idol for many young cricketers. He has set benchmarks for himself to beat it and also for others to beat it. If you want to commit a error, then commit it when this LITTLE MASTER is batting.

He is none other than Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

Domestic Career:

Being inspired by India’s world cup triumph in 1983, He began his cricketing carrer with a bang early in his school days. In Azad Maidan Trophy in Februaury 1988, Sachin and his very own friend Vinod Kambli shared a record unbroken stand of 664 for third wicket while playing for their school Sharadhasram against St.Xaviers. Sachin remained 326 not out at the end of the match.

Even his maiden first class season was awesome. Watever he touched has turned to be gold. Scored Centuies in the maiden match of each of Indian Domestic Tournament, Viz – Ranji Trophy, Irani Trophy, Duleep Trophy.

• Sachin scored 100* for Mumbai against Gujarat in his Ranji debut season 1988-89 to become only the second youngest player then with 15 years and 232 days.
• He scored 103* for Rest of India against Delhi at Delhi in Irani Trophy debut season 1989-90 season.
• He scored 152 for West Zone against East Zone at Guwahati in 1990-91 Duleep Trophy debut season.

Man In white:

When he debuted for Team India in test, he was only the third youngest player (16 years, 205 days ) to do so. The other two were Mushtaq Mohammed (15 years and 125 days) and Aaqib Javeed (16 years and 189 days). With the tag of leading run scorer in Test, He is only second Indian after Sunil Gavaskar after scoring 10,000 runs.

Tendulkar scored his maiden century in 1990.He was only second youngest cricketer then to achieve this feat. Mushtag Mohammed was the youngest player in the history of test cricket. He scored a ton in early 1990. However now he has been pushed down to third by Mohamed Ashraful in 2001-02 calender.

He made himself a “World Figure” before he completed 20 years. He had already scored 5 centuries then. This unique feat is yet to be achieved by any cricketer in the history of test cricket.

On December 2005, in a Test Match against Sri Lanka, he achieved a unique feat of most test centuries then (35 then) surpassing the count of original MASTER Sunil Gavaskar (34). He currently has 48 test centuries under his belt. Aussie Skipper Ricky Ponting is next in list with 39 test centuries. He just 6 shy of 100 international centuries with 46 in One day internationals. He is first cricketer to score 50 international centuries.

When we take into account of 50 plus test scores, it again this man who tops the list. With 48 test centuries and 55 fifties under his belt, he currently has 103 fifty plus scores. Its again Ricky Ponting, who is second in the list with 91 fifty plus scores.

On January 3, 2007 Sachin edged a run to score 5751 test runs away from home surpassing Brian Lara (5736). However he achieved in 75 away tests while Lara achieved in 66 tests.

In 2008-09 Border Gavaskar Trophy, Sachin guided Peter Siddle towars thirdman to score run to surpass Brian Lara (11,972) as a leading run scorer in Test cricket.

Although he begun his career as No 5 batsmen, he batted for India at No 4 position. Incidentally once when Matthew Hayden was asked Sachin Tendulkar, he said “I have seen the GOD. He bats at number 4 for India in tests.” He is again top in the leaderboard for scoring most number of runs in test cricket at number four positon. He has scored 11,534 runs with 42 centuries and 46 fifties.

He is only such player who easily gel with others. He has been involved in many partnerships. He and Rahul Dravid has involved in 18 hundred plus partnerships in tests. They holds the record for most centuries by any pair. He has been involved in 17 double hundred partnerships.

He is only player to aggregate 1000 runs against 7 different test playing nations. Moreover he has scored centuries against all test playing nations. He was third cricketer then to achieve this feat after Former Aussie Skipper Steve Waugh and Current Indian Team Coach and Mr.fitness Gary Kirsten.

On August 3, 2010 by appearing in a test match against Srilanka, Sachin have become the most capped test player in tests (169) overcoming Steve Waugh (168).

Sachin further have a unique record of having been in the winning side in 56 matches while playing for India. He also has a dissimal record of being in loosing side in 45 matches when playing for India.

When coming to captaincy, He is not that good in it. He won India the inaugural Border Gavaskar trophy in a one-off match at Delhi. He also holds the record for highest individual score by any Indian Captain by scoring 217 against New Zealand in 1999-00. The previous record was held by Sunil Gavaskar (205 ).

Man in Blue:

Sachin has been considered as “Most Destructive Batsmen of this Era” in One Day International. When he debuted for Team India at the age of 16 years and 238 days, he was only second youngest cricketer to do so. Only Aaqib Javeed debuted younger than Sachin at he age of 16 years and 127 days.

Having scored 17,598 odd runs then in One Day Internationals, he is currently the leading run scorer in ODIs. He scored those runs at a stunning average of 45.12.

He holds record for most number of centuries(46) and most number of half centuries(93) in one day internationals, the most by any batsman. He is only 6 shy of 100 international centuries(46 + 48) and 1 shy of 150 international half centuries(93 + 56). Besides that he has been dimissed 24 times in the range 90-99.(17 in ODIs and 7 in tests). On one occasion,he remained not out on 96.

He once scored back-to-back centuries at Sarjah, out of which one is the final against Australia. He scored a flawless century to guide India home. He was brutal against Shane Warne in that match. Warne himself accepted “I’ll bowl with my helmets on. I fear that he would down the pitch and hit me for a six over my head.”

On February 24, 2010 when he directed C.Langveldt to point to score a run, he began the only batsmen to score 200* in one day internationals. He scored in 147 balls. He have three 175 plus scores and five 150 plus scores now.

Sachin begun his career as a middle order batsman. Once in a match against New Zealand, he was promoted to open the innings when India was chasing 145 runs. He scored a 40 ball 82, which is even now considered as one of few aggressive innings of then time. Since then he has scored 14,482 runs till now as a opener with 41 hundreds and 72 fifties in 318 innings.

Besides being a batsman, he is a descent bowler. He has scalped 200 plus victims. Further he has captured 5 wickets in a match twice. He is the first Indian to score a century and to capture 4 wickets in a match. He did it against Australia at Dhaka on October 28 ,1998.

As said earlier Sachin is the one who could easily gel with others. He along with Saurav Ganguly formed a attacking opener pair for India in ODIs. They scored 6609 runs with 136 matches with 21 centuries and 23 half centuries. He along with Rahul Dravid involved in highest partenerships in ODIs. This pair scored 331 runs against New Zealand for second wicket in 1999-00 at Hyderabad.

Sachin has scored 1000 runs in a calendar year 7 times . He scored in the following years 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2007.

Sachin, till date has appeared in 442 matches in ODIs for India. He is currently second in the lists. Sanath Jayasurya till date has appeared in 444 matches.

Sachin was not good in captaincy even in ODIs. However he is only Indian Captain to score a century in ODI captaincy debut. He scored 110 against Sri Lanka at Columbo RPS. He won India a 4-1 ODI series Victory against Pakisthan in Toronto in 1997

He holds a awesome record of Most Man-of-the-Match awards(60) and Most Man-of-the-series awards(16) by any cricketer.

World Cup Campaign:

Tendulkar has scored the most number of runs in World Cup history. He has scored 1796 runs at a stunning average of 59.87 with 13 fifties and 4 centuries with the highest being 152 against Namibia in 2003 world cup. He also holds a record for scoring most runs in a single edition of a World cup. He scored a mamath 673 runs in 2003 world cup.

On the whole, he has scored the most international runs by any cricketer inclusive of all formats. He scored 31,350 runs till date with the bulk of them against Australia(5,753) at an average of 50.46 with 19 centuries and 25 fifties.

Too close yet too far:

Although he is considered as one of the all time greats of cricket, there are few feathers that Sachin is yet to achieve.

• Sachin has scored only 6018 runs in home soil. He is third in the list next to Ricky Ponting(6790) and Brian Lara (6217). Sachin is yet to top that list.
• Sachin is yet to score a triple hundered in Tests.
• Sachin is yet to score a century in each innings of a Test Match.
• Sachin has capped 442 ODIs, two shy of Sanath Jayasuriya (444*) .Sachin is yet to top that list.
• Sachin is yet to aggregate 500 runs in a series. His best has been 493 runs against Australia in 2007-08.
• Sachin is yet to be part of world cup winning team.

Quotes Unplugged:

The following are the few quotes about Sachin Tendulkar.

• Don Bradman, Australia: “Once When I watch him play, I told my wife he bats just like me.”
• Matthew Hayden, Australia: “I have seen the GOD. He bats at number 4 for India in tests.”
• Brian Lara, West Indies: “If Cricket is a Religion, then Sachin is the only God”
• Allan Border, Australia: “Its Scary! Where the hell do we bowl to him.”
• Anil Kumble, India: “I am fortunate that I have to bowl to him only in nets”
• Mahendra Singh Dhoni. India: “He has scored 16,000 runs. I have not even faced 16,000 balls.”
• Andy Flower, Zimbabwe: “What we need is Ten Tendulkar!”

"Sometime stones [are] thrown at you and you have to convert those into milestones"

Those are the words said by the legend himself.. When I thought of writing about him, even a day was not enough to collect informations about him.. Man...He is really a true legend...

Wish he achieves everything that is yet to be achieved by him in the game of cricket and in his personal life,

Craziest Indian Cricket Fan,

Ragul

Stunning Sai..!!

My mobile calender showed "July 30, 2010"

Received messages in bulk... All reading the same.. "Advance Friendship day wishes"... I hope almost all had got booster pack that day.. Coz even those-who-won't-reply-for-my-messages had also greeteed me...

We planned for self-financing party on the eve of friendship day.. Invited all (Hope so.. :p).. Few accepted..Few declined.. Few ignored.. All was set for the party..

The E-Banner called it as

Time for party came.. Just when I reached the party-place , Vignesh along with sai came and said "Dude..Jalaa Called me yaar.. I invited him...He told that he will join us in fifteen minutes.."

The Bday boy Mass (a) Mendis (a) Manoj (a) Mr. Toad-Crusher led us to the hotel.. We partied..

Fun time... 2 hours of fun.. Apart from me , Psycho, Bammu, Envy, Jalaa, Braga, Mr.piles, Mass (The premium sponsor for Mr Piles) and few forgot-to-invite-friends came.. We partied..

.

MS, S.Ka and Noor couldn't attend the party.. MS and Noor had other plans while S.Ka was on bed suffering from jaundice..

It was 1st og Aug.. It was around quarter past 8 in the morning.. I was all set to prepare for Maths Unit Test ( in an attempt at least to clear all in this ut) Which was scheduled to be conducted on Monday.. Just then, My mobile rang..

My mom shouted " Ragul...Didn't I say you to switch off your mobile while studying"..

"Mom...It is Bammu ma"

Bammu : "Dude.. Shall we go to S.ka's home and see him...He is not well "

Me: " Yup...When?

Bammu: "In about 15 minutes"

Me:" I'll be ther in 5 min"

Then I called Sai to ask him "Should I pick him?"

He replied me "I am already in Bammu's house...Come soon"

I then switched to formals from shorts and took my vehicle's key...

"Mom...I m going to Bammu's house... Will return in a hour"

"Ragul...Have your breakfast and go...It will be ready in 5 min"

"No ma...I don't have time...Bye..."

I reached bammu's house and as soon as i entered the first question I asked was " Where the hell has envy gone..? Has He went shopping with dhoom?

Bammu: " I'll call him"

Bammu:"Hey..He had cut the call da,,"

Sai:" I'll ring to landline"

"Aunty...is Envy there...__________________________________ Oh kk."

"He is taking bath"

Me:"My foot..."

Finally he came...We 4 along with Mr.Piles were all set to go...

Bammu: "We'll get him a Horlicks..Else it won't be descent:

Me:"Yup..Oh...Here it is my share 20 Rs'

We got 100 rs...

We went into a shop...

Envy: " We'll get him Horlicks"

Me: " Hey Juniour or Seniour one.. lol..."

Sai: "Hey.. We'll take Horlicks lite da"

Bammu: "Dude..It costs 145 Rs da"

Sai: "Dai.. We'll change the tradition...We'll get his BOOST "

Bammu: "Thu....I told you guys not to bring him na..see him..."

Meanwhile Mr.Piles suggested another idea..

Mr.Piles: "We'll get him some apples... These apples are very BIG in size"

Me @ labour: "Excuse me...How much a Kg of apple costs."

Labour: "Rs 112 0nly... Would you like to have some?

Me: "No thanks...Just asked.."

In meantime sai said "Dude...My Stomach is upset da....I wanna go home yaar.."

Soon Bammu Bursted into laughter..

We went one wrack after the other,..

From cookies to Pedigiries... From Noodles to chocolate drink.. we tried all...

Sai suddenly took a AXE Body spray and sprayed it...

Bammu began to Shout "I don't know who the hell is he"

Finally Envy came at a good idea and asked us to buy OATS for him...It costed 85 rs...We had 15 rs in hand..

Sai: "Its mine.."

Me: "****"

Bammu: " We'll get s.ka's bro a chocolate da..."

I opted for Gems while Envy opted for Kit Kat..

Bammu picked a chocolate...

We all then went to S.ka's house...

We thought that S.Ka would be in bed and we would wake him and just talk for half an hour...

To all our surprise, he danced and came to the door to welcome all...

Bammu gave the horlicks bottle to his mom while I gave his cute bro Anu the chocolate which we bought for him...

From Jaudice,The topic shifted to Unit Tests... From Unit tests, It shifted to Rajini's Endhiran... From there, it went to Envy... We chatted for about 1 hour.. Meanwhile ME and BAMMU received LIFE-THREATENING CALLS from respective homes..

In the 1 hr chat ...we arrived at only one message... and the message courtesy was Psycho (a) Sai....

"நாம ஒரு ஜோக் கேட்டால் உடனே சிரிக்கக் கூடாது... அத ரசிச்சி கொஞ்ச நேரம் கழிச்சி தான் சிரிக்கணும்"

[ Soon after hearing a Joke, We should never laugh.. We should enjoy it and we should laugh after few minutes or so ]

It was then I realized " When friends meet each other,even a day is not enough to share few things"

I never wanna forget this day ~ 1 Aug,2010 and I never will..it was all but SAI (a) Psycho Who made this day of mine a sweet one with lot of Humours....