Are Indians the best team in the world?

Hi Guys,

It has been a very very long time, since I wrote about cricket. I was writing about lot of fascinating things and didn’t think of writing about cricket. Cricket seemed to be boring. But, now the Ashes and the India- South Africa Series turned things. They have created lot of interest and I also thought of writing, after seeing India bundled out for 136. As I am writing this, South Africans are leading by 100 runs with 8 wickets in hand.

Indians are currently the No. 1 Test Team in the world and the South Africans are No.2. From the way things have been going on, Indians don’t even look to be closer to the spot. I decided to take a look at India’s previous results. From July 2008, Indians have played 10 series. Of that they have won 5 of 6 in home and drew 1 with South Africa. Outside, they have won at New Zealand, Bangladesh. They once drew with Sri Lanka and the other time they lost to the Island nation. So apart from the New Zealand series they have not been very impressive even in Sri Lanka. They haven’t toured England, Australia and South Africa. This has been very much helpful to claim the top seat.

Let’s look at South Africa. From July 2008, they have played just 8 series, 3 in home soil and 5 away. They have toured India, West Indies, Australia and England. Of that they won Australia, England and West Indies series convincingly and drew with India (that too mainly because, after losing the first test, the organisers made a spin friendly track). In home, they drew with England, won Bangladesh and lost to Australia.

After going through, these stats I think South Africa deserves to be in the top spot. In ICC Rankings, the current rank of the teams is considered. Another factor to be considered is the location. India beating Australia in India is not big, but India beating Australia in Australia is big. But in both cases ICC awards same points. So, the rankings are name shake being at No. 1 doesn’t mean India is the best team in the world.

Again coming back to the series, what happened to our fast bowlers? Even in the fast bouncy pitches they are not taking wickets. Particularly Ishant Sharma who was rocking in Australia 3 years back isn’t even near to that form. Other bowlers are newer to the zone and so again and again, India relies on only one bowler and when he is injured our bowling department fails, irrespective of the pitch.

The top score in Indian innings was Sachin - 36. Currently all the 4 South African players have scored above him. What a pity? So currently it seems that Indians are going to face innings defeat and this means India will come down from 130 to 126 and SA will move from 116 to 120 in the rankings.

Rather than boasting on the home records, India should try to improve their game, before losing the top spot. Also, mind you India has won only 1 test match in South Africa.

To me, this test seems to be over for India unless some miracle happens and let’s look forward for the next one.

Happy Reading!!!

My Favorite movie list published in Newspaper!

Hi Guys,

Today morning, a surprise was waiting for me. My list of favorite movies appeared in Newspaper with my name on it.

Every Friday there a supplementary issue named MetroPlus Weekend comes along with The Hindu Newspaper. In the issue, there is a column named My Five in which readers can contribute their favourite five movies. As I see a lot of movies, I got the idea of sending my favourite five. I emailed it some 15 days back. I checked the next issue eagerly, it was not there and I forgot it. Today morning, I read the paper as usual and after reading the paper, I took the supplementary (I usually read supplementary issues at the end). There was the list, the list I sent. Well, I was shocked for some time. I was unable to believe it for some time.

When I said to dad he was too happy, even I wasn’t that happy. Don’t know why he was so excited?

Here is a photo of the column.

Click the image to get an enlarged view

Well, there were a few corrections in the sentences. Some words were deleted, included or altered to give a better look. As far as the list is concerned, it is my favorite list. I saw the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ after sending the list. If I had seen it earlier, I would have inserted it in the 4th place and that would have pushed ‘Fight Club’ outside.

You can also view it online at

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2010/12/10/stories/2010121050250500.htm

Happy Reading!!!

Enjoying Nature!

Hi Guys,

It is quite long since I wrote. I am having my semester exams and have to concentrate on that. Just, finished my Thermal Engineering exam and did it quite well. Also, thanks for the overwhelming response for my previous post on Vaigai River. This time my Indiblogger Rank (Indiblogger is a website that supports Indian bloggers) has went up to 73/100 which I have never imagined of taking.

I don’t have very much to write, but will write a very words of how I enjoyed nature in the past few days.

The first delight was Migratory Birds. As the Northern parts gets freezing cold in winter, birds living there travel 1000s of miles to tropical region. My locality is sort of a hub for these birds as there is a lake nearby. The birds will be filled with lot of colors (unlike our usual black and white birds). A blue bird (that I later found to be a Kingfisher) frequents often. Yesterday I saw another bird which was peculiar. Its body was yellow and feathers were coffee brown. It had sort of a long tail like structure. When it flew the tail like structure expanded and offered it stability. Well, the total time I saw the bird was less than a minute it was just awesome. 

The blue color kingfisher that frequents often (this photo was taken last season)

Apart from these birds, if you look at the sky these days you can see flock of birds with superb formation flying synchronously. It will be superb. As I go to terrace in the evening to study I can watch at least 3-4 wonderful flocks a day. Some will be flying in pairs whereas some flocks will contain even 20 birds. These birds are an inspiration to me. See, how tirelessly they from North pole to here for days in the hope of finding food and shelter here (also a few days later they must fly back to the North Pole). We must learn confidence and determination from them.

Another wonderful being I saw was a Dragon fly. Dragon flies are abundant in our locality, but I have never seen them keenly. A few days before I saw picture in which dragon fly was amazing in its appearance. I became interested. Yesterday I had a chance to watch it closely when it was sitting on a cloth line. It was just awesome. Each and everything on its tiny body had structures. Its wings were divided into patterns and were equally colored on both sides. Its body was filled with minute hairs and its head was so beautiful. Well, it was just nice.

The picture of dragon fly that inspired me to look at dragon flies closer

Thats it for now. Will see you soon.

Happy Reading!!!