A Tribute to a universal icon - a legend - Roger Federer

 I can cry as well as him,but I wish I could play as well as him.-Andy Murry

Was it your forehand groundstrokes,

Or was it your backhand crosscourt

Was it your aces

Or was it your dropshots

You had us all mesmerized

 

Was it your aura on the court

Or your charisma off it

You had us all astonished.

 

Was it your cries,

Or was it your smiles

Was it your defeats

Or was it your victories

You had us all stunned.

 

You do not inspire a generation

You do not inspire a nation

You inspire an octa generation (eight Generations)

You inspire an entire universe

 

You taught us more than our teachers

You taught us never to say die until its really over.

You taught us to fight till the end.

You taught us to cry uninhibitedly ,unashamedly and unapologetically

Roger Federer you always gave a breadth of fresh air.

Mithali Raj Rewrites History

10 years later 

Journalist to Kohli: “Who is your favourite female cricketer?”

Kohli retorts back: “How often do you ask this to a female cricketer?”

We have timeless times witnessed the chants of “Sachin…Sachin…Sachin” or “Dhoni...Dhoni…Dhoni”.

This time again there were chants at Lords, the Mecca of cricket, however they were different .It was “Mithali…Mithali…Mithali” all the way.

Mithali Raj, the captain of Indian women’s cricket team lead from the front throughout the world cup,being the highest rungetter.Her captaincy was spot on,making the right bowling changes bringing on Jhulan Goswami when Taylor and Sciver were stitching a threatening partnership for England in the finals.She did show leadership of backing her players when they were out of form unlike some other captain’s in recent times. 

Yes India did lose,and it was heartbreaking,but Mithali Raj’s Team had done their job. They have changed the course of Women’s cricket in India.Women’s cricket will never be the same again.

Mithali Raj,the Arjuna Ranatunga,of Indian cricket may not play in another world cup but she has definitely rewritten history.

I think women’s IPL would add a great proposition to take women’s cricket forward.

And yes the chants like “Mithali…Mithali…Mithali” will grow in the days to come.

Anil Kumble - The Legend

619 Test wickets, 337 ODI wickets, 57 Twenty20 wickets

  "That is the way I get most of my wickets. Yeah, it was very special to get there."-Anil Kumble

Anil Kumble was one of the most underrated cricketers of the country during his playing days.When in the team,he was never given his due,compared to a Sachin or a Saurav,especially seeing that he is the highest wicket taker in Indian Test history by a long margin,much more than a Kapil Dev, or a Bishen Singh Bedi. His exploits are no less than that of a maestro Sachin Tendulkar.

Also cricket never got Anil Kumble as the captain of Indian Team,which I believe he richly deserved and would have done a lot of good for Indian Cricket.

So when he was appointed the Head Coach of the Indian Cricket Team I thought maybe ,the cricketer has finally got his due,but alas not everything is as green as it appears.

Everything seemed alright,be it his insistence on YOGA sessions or him advocating John Wright’s philosophy of taking the backseat,everything seemed to be falling in the right place for Indian Cricket.

They say performance is the criteria ,for selection,I do not know what criteria did Anil Kumble have to show either in his playing days (when he was frequently criticized by the media for not being a big turner of the ball. He did respond saying “My job is to take wickets not turn the ball.”) or during his brief but effective coaching stint.

Whether it is his squabbles with Virat Kolhi or the BCCI,we have again lost the services of a valuable human being and a patriotic team player.

Harsha Bhogle- A Global Indian Icon

A river keeps flowing with fresh water,irrespective of the obstructions.

Harsha Bhogle is easily one of the most iconic figures Indian youth 

looks upto.He has defined passion and interest with a blend of 

professionalism in a country marred with politics and religion.

Harsha a graduate from IIM's rose above corporate blue collor 

jobs in multinational companies to follow his passion.

He is easily one of the most unrated,iconic,rolemodels 

Indian youth feels to emulate.

His simple demeaneor with a class,makes him miles above the rest.

His professionalism that he brought to the work made him the 

only Indian to be on a foreign channel commentating on Indian cricket.

His commentatory makes him a world class Global Indian  much on 

power with Amitabh's and Dhoni's.

The recent events of Harsha Bhogle's contract been cancelled by the 

BCCI has been very disapointing and reminded of the times of licence 

raj system when everyone needed to bow before the powerful 

irrespective of talent.

I am sure he will know better,but as a fan of Harsha ,I think he should
look this as an opportunity to commentate for maybe an English premier
league or Spanish premier league or La liga championships.
Maybe an Indian might make it to a international football league in this century itself.

Some of  Harsha's Best:  

Harsha Bhogle on Chris Gayle's style of play during the IPL


Harsha Bhogle: "6 and 4 seems to have become the new binary code for this man (Chris Gayle)."


After Sachin Tendulkar played a trademark, glorious drive off Ishant Sharma in the IPL


Harsha Bhogle: "Open the textbook, turn to page 32!"


During the tri-series involving India, Australia and England in 2015, Harsha took a clever jibe at Sourav Ganguly


Sourav Ganguly: "To be honest, I really enjoy hearing you talk about the game Harsha. So much passion, so much in touch with the game. You've been around for a while though."


Harsha Bhogle: "But i never took my shirt off."


After multiple reprieves for Virender Sehwag in New Zealand


Harsha Bhogle"It's that kind of a day. Sehwag can walk blindfolded across a busy highway today and not get run over."

On Rajat Bhatia's gentle bowling:


Harsha Bhogle: "Any bowler has three pace variations - fast, medium and slow. But Rajat Bhatia has slow , slower and slowest."


Harsha Bhogle displays his quick wit once again to Nasser Hussain


Nasser Hussain: "When can I see India playing in a football World Cup?" (this was during 2014 FIFA World Cup)


Harsha Bhogle : "It's better not to participate rather than getting knocked out in the first round."

Disclamer: The above commentary has been  compiled from yahoo.