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is it only me or have you also noticed that since robbing singh was sacked from the job... team india has started fielding well...
fielders are attacking the ball... curbing the singles in inner circle... hitting stumps too with regularity as jadeja showed with the dismissal of ponting...
i would attribute all this to the 'after effects' of robbing singh...
Showing posts with label Ravinder Jadeja. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ravinder Jadeja. Show all posts
the after effects of robbing singh...
Tears in my eyes
this is from my personal archives…nothing duplicated, feel like sharing it now, after a chat I had with NC:
Some dreams are truly beautiful!
When I was six years old, I used to play tennis ball cricket with folks from surrounding areas. Most of them were about 10 years older than I was, which meant I was the last one to bat, no one taught me how to bat, and wicket-keeping came naturally. I remember a couple of occasions when I took a breathtaking catch or made the crucial last 5 or 10 runs needed to win the match and fill my teammates(who had lost hope, of course) with tremendous joy.
As I grew up, the breathtaking catches became a norm and the batting as well as the number at which I batted, improved. I enjoyed the tests the most. The tests were 2-innings a side games which lasted for five days, each day consisting of 2 hours maximum or till lights permitted. I proudly bragged about two ground records I held for around 4 years. ( I think I still hold one of them). They were:
- Highest Individual Score: 142 off 83 balls (set in June 2000, got broken in June 2003)
- Fastest Fifty: in 14 balls. I ended up scoring 73 off 23 and we ended up chasing 106 in near dark conditions on day 5. (set in June 2000, still unbroken)
Such are memories which stick. And are sweet even now. They used to call me the "velcro cheetah”, for obvious reasons…
Meanwhile, I was always improving. I could field at all positions save slip (keepers suck at slip, its the 180 degrees habit), I could take ultimate reflex catches, and would have tears in my eyes whenever, when I was batting and would hit an excellent cover drive or one over long off(my favourite), dad would cross the street and tell mom or whoever was with him- “look, he is my son!”
Around 2003, I was in 9th grade and the only thing I wanted to do in life was to play for India one day. Suddenly, one fine day, I was told not to go and play – by my dad. He did not give any reason. No he did give me one: “koi bhee aira gaira parthiv patel nahin ban jaata hai. padhai pe dhyaan do! (every tom, dick and harry cannot become Parthiv Patel, Concentrate on your studies.” I had tears then too, and hated him for about 2 years. No, I hated both of them (dad and Parthiv).
I did not play a single day for 2 years. In 11th, when I was in DPS NOIDA(high school), I started again as I was in boarding, and could never be the velcro cheetah again! 
I worked hard, but people always seemed to be much better than me. I mean, I got into the Hostel Team (was their second best batsman), but I knew this was never going to be good enough. I thought this would be the time to decide between my dream and my career. Alas, the 2 years of no cricket had already made the decision. The day I realised this fact, I had tears in my eye…
Ravindra Jadeja made his debut this february, and scored a fifty. He might not succeed in the long run, he might not be a great, but his story touched the chords of my heart like nothing till now ever has. Here it is:
In the morning, ahead of Jadeja’s first one-day international, Sachin Tendulkar gave him the India cap on the ground. It’s been a 12-year dream for Jadeja. It’s the story of a young boy and his mother standing firm on the path to walk in life.
When he was just eight and beginning to fall in love with the game, his father, a security guard, decided he had to join the army and was just a day away from enrolling him. Jadeja cajoled his mother to persuade his father from doing it.
Jadeja’s mother passed away in 2005 and he has been nursing her dream. "She wanted to see me in Indian colours. Losing her was the saddest moment of my life." The young boy has fulfilled his promise.
Mr. Ravindra Jadeja, you are the “lapku bhagoda” I could never be! Live my dream…Right now, I have tears in my eyes.
PS: It all right, Parthiv. And yeah, dad stopped me from playing as he had seen one of my teammates carry a gun on him. Nothing against you now, love you dad.
Ankit Mishra also blogs at Paddlesweep
Q Moment 4 of IPL Match #53
Jadeja bowled.
I slam the top of my laptop.
Look up at the TV.
Shane Warne slams his bat on the pitch.
Similar sentiments.
Sadness!
But it ain't over till its over.
The champions will not go down without a fight.
A few more moments left in this match.
You can be sure of that.
Malfunction
Noun: mal’fúngkshun, A failure to function normally
I was searching for the “one word” that would best describe the Indian teams T20 performance today and found this one.
If anyone thought it is not, then sample this
94 for 5 in 13.2 – Almost 50% of your batting arsenal spent even before you crossed 100 and that to after exhausting 65% of the batting quota, not forgetting that fact that it was a T20 on a ground that was only bigger than the ones where we used to play book cricket those days (read classrooms)
MS Dhoni - Youth icon, inspirational captain, the mainstay of Indian middle order decides slow and steady wins the race, in a must win T20 scoring (a near run a ball) 28 runs in 30 balls
Ravinder Jadeja after having middled a couple beautifully decides enough is enough and holes one out to a hungry Guptill (16.5). Left one to wonder what the Indian strategy was
Irfan Pathan opening the Indian bowling started off on a great note, a six to Jesse Ryder. Bowling one of the shortest of short balls, at an express speed of not more than what would have been Anil Kumble’s “slowest” slower ball
But it was still a close match, or at least so it seemed. The Kiwis could win only in the last ball of the match
If you try and hide everything else and only look at the fact that NZ took their full quota of 20 overs to win or things like 86 of the Indian runs came in boundaries or that the Indians cleared the ropes more than the Kiwis then I must tell you that the grass is still very green on the other side of the septic tank.
But I thought the Indians were never in control of the T20’s, both the first match and this one. It makes one think if this is the beginning of the end, of what most of us call the great Indian cricket resurgence. I wish, I hope & pray that I be wrong when I say this. The verdict we dread would be out in the open in a couple of more weeks.
Ok, now to the most important part of this post. Why did one title this Malfunction?
One of the great Indian news channels called it so. Nope, they weren’t discussing any cricket when they said this. Apparently Ishant Sharma got his bottom exposed (of course not bare bottom, one could only see his thermal suit inner) and they called this a sacrilege and a wardrobe malfunction on the cricket field. The most interesting observation made by the esteemed channel was that the clothing sponsor Nike has to now answer a few difficult questions about how this happened.
This is what I call the great Indian news television malfunction.
Rohit Sharma, a very good 12th man
Finally, Rohit Sharma is where we will all cherish him.
In the dugout. If it was the IPL or the ICL, he would have yapped a lot.
And who comes in his place – Ravindra Jadeja. Not Ojha, but at least he has a J in his name. And he’s a slow bowler, and if and when India throws 6-7 wickets, he will come handy, and be expected to win the game.
Left arm over the wicket, c’mon Jaddu 2.
Ignorance is selection bliss
by Sam
He was in form
He hit 100s
He hit 300s
back to back
In ranji, u-19
everywhere, anywhere
but it wasnt enuf
it wasnt good
to get him in
we blogged
we scoffed
we yearned
we pissed
but petition fell on deaf ears
Pujari of runs failed
to get in to the team
to the useless ODI trip
to the land of M&M
to the land of Jaya & Sanga
Jade jaa jade jaaa
puja ra tu baahar baithe jaa
Dhoni tu chup baithe rahe jaa
Mere rabba kabhi to hum
bloggero ki pukar to sune jaaaa
PS: This is a musical tribute to selection of Ravinder Jadeja in the team and ignorance of Pujara series par series!!!
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