IPL-6: Moment of the tournament

THE MOMENT of IPL-6 just came up in today's Eliminator between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Delhi play-offs.
38 yr old "foreign" Brad Hodge finds a little time to use between deliveries of this knock-out match, and walks up to a forever-amused-looking "local" wonderkid (Samson) - less than half Hodge's age - to teach the latter a chapter from the book of stealing singles. 
"Don't hit it boy, work it and get that crucial extra run." The old man gestures, but only after having demonstrated it. 

Priceless. 

Almost justifies the existence of IPL...such moments.

How do we say thanks to personalities like Laxman

‎2008. 

IPL 1st season player bidding. 

5 Indian cricketers are declared as icon players by their respective 5 teams (icon player to get 25% more than highest. 
One of them finds that his team has limited buying power and to maximise his team's chances of winning, more top players are needed. 

He gives up his icon status and brings in big players. 
Subsequently he performs poorly and is dropped from playing XI midway thru IPL 2008, as his team now had a pool of better players. This player does not complain. 

Why should he? He did what was right, not because he expected a favour in return.

Vangipurappu Venkata Sai Laxman.
Incomparable.
Unforgettable.

And a total misfit in fast buck cricket...for reasons far nobler than runs or strike rates.

[photo courtesy: www.espncricinfo.com]

TV Screenshots of Dravid's 3 Test hundreds in England

Indian Cricket team do not have a Facebook account.


They do have a Wall though.


It keeps standing and doing its job come rain, fog or shine.


This Wall does not like whitewashes but it is more than ready for a scrap

Photo story of all World cup hosting sub-contin​ent cities on cricinfo

Have a look at these pictures...can't imagine that I never visited these pages of cricinfo till today.
I loved the pics and that is why I am storing the links for keeps. In fact, I was tempted to turn back the timepiece by a month and half, load my purse heavily and visit these places even as the matches happened. The last two temptations are nearly as feasible as the first one..but the photos can get people dreaming for a while.
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INDIAN CITIES:

Kolkata: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/483949.html?city=kolkata&im=126321
Mumbai: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/483978.html?city=mumbai&im=122649
Chennai: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/484175.html?city=chennai&im=122788
Delhi: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/485133.html?city=delhi&im=122874
Bengaluru: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/484372.html?city=bangalore&im=123585
Chandigarh: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/484172.html?city=chandigarh&im=123219
Nagpur: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/483804.html?city=nagpur&im=123462
Ahmedabad: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/485159.html?city=ahmedabad&im=123766

SRI LANKAN CITIES:


Colombo: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/482949.html?city=colombo&im=123033
Kandy: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/485135.html?city=kandy&im=123112
Hambantota: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/485134.html?city=hambantota&im=123398




BANGLADESHI CITIES:


Dhaka: http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/484442.html?city=dhaka&im=123639
Chattagram (Chittagong): http://www.espncricinfo.com/travel/content/site/travel/gallery/484644.html?city=chittagong&im=123701

Serendipity and cricket legends

Sneaked into cricinfo today to check the latest on the silly Randiv no-ball controversy - more precisely to check if Sangakkara was involved in asking Randiv for that no-ball as some Indian news channels claimed.

Let me confess - I was planning to get more updates on Sanga's guilt so that I could write a post relating this incident to the final sequence of the movie 'A Few Good Men' where marines Dawson and Downey are deemed guilty of "conduct unbecoming a United States Marine" (Haven't watched the movie? Check the last para of the plot section here) for executing unethical orders from their senior Colonel Jessop.

Not to suggest that Sehwag looked remotely as 'unable to fight for himself' as the movie's victim William T Santiago, or that Sanga was as hot or as brilliant on Monday night as AFGM's Jack Nicholson (Jessop).

Thank God I had this petty craving to send down an uninvited e-lecture 'coz I chanced upon a great page under development.

It is to die for - the legends of cricket section with features and videos on greatest cricketers that ever played the game. It looks to be growing - and we will need to wait for a fully developed page covering other legends. I am not complaining. We have to give it time. Such splendid stuff takes considerable time and effort to compile.

ESPN-Star's timeless cricket footages have been married at this page with the excellent cricinfo reports and stats in this never-before section. Happy watching and reading! Probably some day priceless snaps of these legends can also be linked into this section.

If you are still in two minds on investing the next few hours on this page, here's a clincher: the first entry on that page (and hence the subject of the default video feature that autoruns on opening this section) is Sir Isaac Vivian Alexander Richards.

Cric photo blog on cricinfo

Cricinfo has started this new and absolutely lovely blog on some memorable snaps of live cricket. Those are from the collection of photogrpaher Hamish Blair of Getty Images. As fascinating as the pics are the technical and situational descriptions that go with it. C'mon Hamish, we are waiting for more, lots more.