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  1. THE MIGHTY WALL

    Sunday, March 11, 2012

    One of the few things my geneneration can be proud of is living in era of legends like Dravid.  I really wondered if cricket will be continued to be called the gentlemen's game even after loosing one of its perfect and greatest gentlemen . He for sure will be a great loss to India and the test cricket. When people thought test cricket was extinct he was one of few men who brought it to life. I will say he is one of the few players who played the game the way it is meant to be played.


              He was calm,composed,spirited... name it any, he had all the qualities a Good cricketer needs. The wall wasn't built in a single day, It was built brick by brick,stone by stone..and cemented together by his passion towards the game. He is not just a Test cricketer,he can blaze off the bowlers and can be their night mare when it is needed but the team mostly requires him to be calm. At no.3 it is important that he plays exactly the way he usually does. He can be aggressive too,which he has shown in IPL. I'm happy we can at least see him in next IPL. 

                I would say his retirement and his motive behind it was one of the brick which completed the wall and did not break it down. There can be another Dhoni,another Ganguly another VVS , even another sachin can come up. But there will be only ONE RAHUL DRAVID. He is a perfect example of how a batsmen should be. He poised his batting like how he is..Calm,steady,passionate. He had a perfect stance with his back lift going to the fine leg which i don't see in modern day cricketers, and which was one of the things they used to teach us when we were young. Shoulders facing the bowler, giving him the perfect balance. It was a pleasure to watch him bat. I wonder how he has managed to do the same things for years. Stepping on to the field with pride..passion of representing our country which is shown clearly with the way he bats. He picks his shots very carefully like each innings is his first.Being in the same era of sachin tendulkar and still getting his share of praise is something unimaginable.People say "
    When going gets tough, Tough gets going..." When all the other players failed,he used to be the one player who just got going.Especially in foreign soil.

             He was a legend in making from the word GO! .. Century at the Home of cricket on his debut,couldn't have started his career better. With his bat, he has always been the one person who keeps reminding people what real cricket is all about . There may be lot of critics against him,but no one can deny the fact that he is a delight to watch on his day. As a young kid,i have always looked up to him. His passion and commitment towards the game has always been a quality to be admired. He was at his best at No.3, one of the worlds best at that position. But when the team needed a opener he was the one who stepped up. But what impressed me the most is..when the team needed a quality wicketkeeper he stepped up. Being a cricketer i know what it takes to be a Wicket keeper. Standing behind the stumps for 50 overs and again batting for another 20-30 overs is no joke. He did it for the team. A perfect team man i would say.


                  With No disrespect to the likes of Sachin,Ganguly or VVS..Rahul has done what many cricketer's wouldn't have done.He has stepped down to leave way to the youngsters. Yes, i would love to see him play in test cricket,he could have played another year. But he din't want to be a wall to a young kid's dream of playing for India. Which has made me love him more.Like a new feather added to his cap. I would say this brick has completed the wall. The player of his stature deserves a testimonial match and a sendoff like how lara got.We would wish he had retired after a match so that we could give him a grand send off. But he had other thoughts. When asked about that he replied "
    if i decide to retire after a match.. i had to play well for my sake to earn the respect while i leave the game... but i always wanted to play as team man for the team". This proves what kind of human he is.#TakeABowSon.
    He was a reliable fielder at the slip,210 catches is not a joke. 
    "We will miss you Rahul " The Square cut(the sound your square cut used to make..is a pleasure to hear), The Cover drive,the pull shot..we will miss everything. Take a bow son. India is lucky enough to have this gentlemen play for us.
    Some of his jaw dropping stats :

    * 1999: Ceat Cricketer of the 1999 World Cup
     * 2000: Wisden Cricketer of the Year 2000
     * 2004: Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy Winner (Awarded for ICC Player of the Year)
     * 2004: Padma Shri
     * 2004: ICC Test Player of The Year, MTV Youth Icon of the Year for 2004
     * 2006: Captain of the ICC's Test Team
     * 2011: NDTV Indian of the Year's Lifetime Achievement Award with Dev Anand
     * His remarkable fitness allowed him to play 93 consecutive Tests from his . debut to December 2005
     * As a captain Dravid had mixed success; he led India in 25 Tests, winning eight and losing six. Under him India cemented a newly won reputation for being good travellers, winning Test series in Pakistan in 2003-04 - he captained in two out of three Tests - West Indies in 2006 and in England in 2007
     * 1 in highest no. of catches(210)
     * 2 of highest run getters in Tests,
     * 4 in The list of highest Test centuries
     * involved in 88 Test century partnerships
     * four centuries in four consecutive innings,
     * scored 23%of The Total Team runs with an avg of 102.82 in The 21 Tests won by INDIA under GANGULY's captaincy,
     * involved in a record parTnership of 410 runs with sehwag vs pakistan
     * Faced highest no.of deliveries[31082]in Test cricket,
     * 2nd in highest no.of fifties.
    P.S : Im not an expert , Everybody is entitiled to their own views,so am i..

    i have just put up my views. Comments are welcome :)

  2. That Amazing Night

    Thursday, March 8, 2012

                                              
    Hey people ! *grin* i know it's been long since i blogged. Not that i din't have anything to blog about, but just din't feel like posting one. But yesterday night was a special one for me so could not resist posting one. So yeah i can say I am back xD. I have gone through kinda grey patch in last few weeks, so to cheer up myself i needed something like this. And it is all about my first love--> ARSENAL :).
    Few weeks back we played the Italian giants AC Milan at San Siro( their home ground). We were ofcourse the underdogs considering the form of both the teams. And we were affected by few injury problems too. With Arsene Wenger (Our manager)  complaining about the pitch ,we had too much problems even before the game started. As the game started we actually realized what wenger was talking about. And the problems got worst . We were unable to cope up with Milan's striking force.Very early in the match kevin prince boateng shot was too good for wojciech szczesny to stop. And as the game went we looked more and more sloppy and the pitch din't do any good to us either. There were many talking points like penalty incident involving RVP which must have been given but at the end of the day the score board read AC Milan 4-0 Arsenal. We were devastated. We were humiliated.
    Then again yesterday second leg was awaiting us.With 4 goals defeicit we were clearly the underdongs again. We had nothing to loose. We played to restore some pride. Though we believed we can Do the impossible knowing only one team has pulled back 4 goal deficit in Champions League history we din't have our hopes high.
    Groove was fully packed with almost 60,000 fans. We again had lotta injury problems with only two midfielders available we had to play Alex oxlade chamberlain in the midfield instead of arteta. With Gervhino-RVP-Walcott upfront it looked like we were going the improbable.Prematch shows were pretty much filled with Almost every pundit ruling off arsenal from pulling this off.
    Match kicked off we started to create chances from the word GO! . With just 3 mins on the clock we already created a chance. And it looked like every one in the red and white were ready to give their everything. Arsenal were awarded a corner early on and Alex went on to take it and did a decent delivery and Laurent kosienly came in running from behind and headed the ball on to the net LIKE A BOSS.6" on and arsenal were already 1-0 up. We looked fired up. The crowd started to getting behind the team. Few minutes later Sagna penalised and given yellow card(Never a yellow card in million years),Wenger was furious at the refree. 17th minute there was a mix up in Milan's defense and RVP and Rosicky had a easy chance to make it 2-0 but missed it completely.We started playing our very own passing game and Rosicky was the one in the center distributing the balls. Zlatan got a sight of goal but the flag was up,credit to arsenal back four they looked solid. At 17th min RVP forced a superb save from abiatti powering a similar shot to that against spurs. With Arsenal fans gettin behind the team so well,pressure was up on Milan. Walcott and gervhino got the better of their fullbacks. 26th minute the little mozart Thomas Rosicky fires one for the gunners. Arsenal 2-0 up. AC Milan's coach Massimiliano Allegri was screaming and looked worried as the mighty Arsenal continued to play their beautiful passing game. With Thomas Rosicky in the form of his life,Every pass was inch-perfect and every turn left the defender in his wake. Alex made a dangerous run through the middle dribbling between two defenders and they were closing on him. Alex went to the ground inside the box and a penalty awareded to Arsenal. The captain stepped up and decided to take the crucial penalty. And BANG he goes. Robin Van persie scores for arsenal. As the fans started screaming "Arsenal ! Arsenal FC We are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen" pretty much true i would say. Half time and arsenal are 3-0 up. Who on earth expected this ?? It looked like it was a dream..dream 45 mins for every arsenal fan. There was no Henry,bergkamp,pires,vieira,flamini,adams playing and it was not Higbury. But still it was like Good Old ARSENAL . Emirates was electrifying. and yeah AC Milan looked shocked being on the receiving end  they just couldn't handle us. We looked like champions. Fearless.Brave. Committed.

    Second half underwent but the players looked tired. Liverpool match should be the reason. Second half was a pretty ordinary performance from arsenal. With Alex and walcott injured we were lacking some pace. Park and chamakh din't do any good. With RVP missing a easy chance it pretty much summed up our second half and how tired our players were. With no first team midfielder in the bench wenger was forced to go with chamakh in the midfield *Facepalm*. The match ended up 3-0. Arsenal falling one short of making history. And fans and players looked disappointed but fans went on to scream with pride and boys walked out with their heads held high up. And a big sigh of relief in the face of Milan players and fans as the ref blew the final whistle. First leg performance has cost arsenal the qualification .
    Arsenal's players stood on the pitch after the final whistle blew with their heads in their hands in utter despair after going so close to the greatest fight back in Champions League history.For 45 glorious minutes at the Emirates, Arsenal dared to believe and overwhelmed mighty Milan with a breathtaking display full of never-say-die spirit, determination and glory.They made mission impossible look possible with a performance which made Arsenal's players heroes..Gods rather than nearly men.
    One of the games which will go to the history books. and with all the tough time arsenal fans have experienced recently it was a night of pride and pure passion for them.SO NEAR YET SO FAR.
    I know it wouldn't interest many of you but it was a special night for me. It was good crying and screaming the hell out at 2..2 30. Only arsenal can make me do that. I went crazy for RVP Goal and it was an heavenly feeling. And even though we were out of CL we were proud of being an ARSENAL fan(like everyday)  :).
    Gooner till i die. ARSENAL <3 COYG :)
    P.S :  Will come up with a better and interesting post next time. xD