T20 = Terrible Twenty

We went to the Bangalore Royal Challengers vs Rajasthan Royals IPL match. On Saturday night. 8 PM to 11 PM. Now this whole IPL thingy is not very appealing to me. If I had to vote either way, I would vote against it. What with the big shots and their over-fed cricket players. Its not like Vijay Mallya isn't rich enough that I should spend money and watch some crappy cricket and make him richer. But I went. To keep company. Subhash's IIM friends were going and this was one opportunity to meet all of them. So 4 couples, us counted, went on our way.

We went with K and his wife G. They live in the apartments next to ours. S and S also live in the same place. So all of us set out around the same time. We were going to park in STs office which was near MG Road. After everyone parked we started walking towards the stadium. Stopped at a place called Tavern Inn or something to eat a little bit and set off again. We reached the stadium a little after the laser show was over. Such a pity! At least that might have been worth watching.

Anyway, so the match began and we had something to eat again at the stadium (tickets came with complimentary dinner and beverages). Initial part of the match I was somewhat excited because I got to see Shane Warne :D One check mark done ;) Then the cheerleaders of course. I didn't particularly like the Royal Challengers' cheerleaders. I hated their outfits. I think cheerleaders should look cute. And I think they look cute in frilly short skirts. When they are wearing really tight and really short bottoms, they look needy. Not cute. But anyway, the Rajasthan Royals' cheerleaders looked much better, they were a sight to my eyes which went sore after I saw the RC cheerleaders ;)

The cheerleading part was a little awkward too. It was funny, one has to see it. The cheerleaders for RC would sit and laze and whenever someone hit a 4 or a 6, some loud and blaring music would start and that was like a whip to these cheeries and they would stand up as soon as they heard that music and start dancing. It was so artificial, it was funny.

The RC innings was OK. Not too great. But the Rajasthan Royals' innings was even more insipid. The RC team hardly put up a challenge. It was as if they saw where the batsmen were tending to hit the ball for a 4 and then removed all fielders from there. Absolutely no energy, no enthusiasm and no spirit. I saw Kumble bowling, which was another check mark done. But other than Shane Warne and Kumble, really it would have been just as well if I took that money and threw it down the drain. I really think, at least for the sake of their team's song, the RC guys should have shown a little more spirit. (What with "Khel nahin ye jung hain" and all that!) It was as if Vijay Mallya just took money and gave away the match. Damn!

After the match we had ice cream on the Kwality Walls cart and then later at a Kulfi corner. S and S drove us back and we called it a day.

A huge waste of effort, time and money. That is what my T20 experience was :( I think the Deccan Chargers match was a much better option, but they weren't playing it in Bangalore. I will cheer for Deccan Chargers any day. They belong to Hyderabad and their owner (Deccan Chronicle) is probably the least moneyed of all IPL big-shots ;)

Go Deccan Chargers!

An ode to the Indian Test Win..

They said it was impossible. They were celebrating even before it all started. Notwithstanding the pressure, Kumble and his team made it:) Here is a small clip to their win.

Want to win, no matter what!

I did the unthinkable. After 8 years of giving up on watching cricket, I followed a match closely last night. With the gang. At the end of it, I was glad that I emotionally detached myself from Cricket a long time ago. Otherwise, for what happened yesterday I would have been heart-broken.

No point in going into gruesome details here, I am sure everyone already knows how attrocious yesterday's match was. For once I felt sympathy for our pathetic team. And Kumble proved once again that he was the gentleman through and through:) I always liked him, he had the appearance of being a very honest player and a very down-to-earth one. Yesterday, he proved it.

Two examples in the near past that I didn't miss much by not following our team closely all these years. One was our pathetic world cup stint, and the second was the even more pathetic umpiring (and shameless dishonesty on display by the Australians, just to win) in the Border-Gavaskar trophy. I am sure I am not going to test waters again anytime soon!