One more World Championship gone!!!

Watching India in the 2010 T20 World Cup was like watching a replay of last year.
Cut to T20 WC, 2009 England. Indian players had just come out of an exhausting IPl. In a super 8 match against West Indies. India faced a barrage of short pitched bowling from the WI pacers. An obvious tactic by the Windies to exploit India's weakness against the short ball, it worked wonderfully for them and they restricted India to 153 and subsequently chased it down.. In the next match England picked up on the obvious cue and adopted the same tactic, and it earned them a victory, knocking India out...

India returned to their paradise, low, slow, flat pitches at home and every thing was hunky dory again. Batsmen were back to their best driving on the up, without bothering about the nitty-gritty s of foot movement. In between they became the number one in tests almost as an action replay of last year yet another IPl began with its exhausting matches, post match parties and travel schedule.
Even as it ended. Another T20 world championship began, the jaded Indian team coasted through to the super 8's (just like last year) and met Australia in their first super 8 match, who on a bouncy pitch adopted the same tactic the Windies used a year back and mauled India into submission.. Next up was the Windies, it was deja-vu for the Indian batsmen-the famed, flat track bullies- the Windies completed what they had originally started in 2009 bounced India out of yet another World Cup(2010)... With Sri lanka completing the formalities by striking the last nail in the Indian coffin...
The Indian senior players will return home for some much needed rest, the other players and some new guys will take on Zimbabwe and Sri Lanks in yet another inconsequential tri-series... There after we will be playing at home again on flat pitches and everything will be forgotten until the next WC.

But it is time for some serious introspection starting with the administrators with regards to scheduling. After 6 weeks of intense ipl action in the sweltering Indian summer, where players were asked to attend post match parties, they had just 5 days time to re-group for the WC...
Next up the selectors should be made accountable. Both the five wise man as well as the team think tank who came up with the playing eleven.. Why wasn’t Robin Uthappa picked especially considering the fact that he was in the form of his life during the IPL. He is one Indian player who can play the pull shot with some degree of confidence.. Kris Srikkanth has some serious answering to do... Even after Sehwag( again mysteriously injured just before the world cup) was declared unfit, Robin didn’t find a place in the fifteen, instead Murali Vijay an inexperienced untested player at the international level as well as at the shorter format of the game was given a go-ahead.. Yet another case of regionalism?
And finally the team think tank which came up with the playing eleven have some answering to do. On a pitch which had good bounce it didnt make any sense to play just 2 seamers and have part time bowlers bowling spin.. This combination was persisted even after they lost to Australia...
And what was Zaheer doing sitting out of 2 matches without any explanation...
Why did the batsmen play like millionaires against Australia and get bowled out in 17.3 overs losing by 49 runs and thus creating a huge dent on their run rate making it a difficult proposition to qualify...

These are questions that every cricket fan must ask , after all it is we who make the game what it is... Are the players above all accountability...? They are playing for my country and we as fans need answers. Sadly everything will be forgotten by the time the next tournament starts...

We as fans will be left hoping that at least next time...........
I call it the Great Indian Hope....

ajmal kasav/ kasab

Arent we in a quandary. Capital punishment isint something we as civilized society should clamor for, at the same time keeping him alive at the expense of the taxpayers isint feasible. As a Tv channel rightly pointed out. With the money spent on keeping him alive the govt could have bought 40,000 bullet proof jackets... With the mention of "bullet proof jackets" ones mind flashes back to the defective bullet proof jacket that killed Mumbai Police Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare, which very conveiniently was lost by the ( God knows who) . The media after following up on the story for some time forgot about it for the sake of another TRP increasing controversy... These depressing episodes bring out the cynic in me.
But Im trying hard , I dont want to be like millions of our youth who are so cynical about their country.. I still believe there is hope...