Bye bye Pakistan, and welcome to the maidens!!

A second upset on a single day. Ireland's grit got the better of a certain bunch of Pakistani cricketers. Sad for the World Cup stakes to see such an exciting team already headed home. Minnows alright, but winning the toss is becoming a huge advantage. I bet if this were in the subcontinent there would have been a big hue and cry over the pitches. But all's very fair and good for cricket when it happens outside of our place!!

Feel terribly agrieved that a player of Inzamam's stature took his last bow from World Cups in such a way. His exit has been as incredible as his entry was in '92. He deserved better but alas. Agree, all the conditions against them but Pakistan were poor like India were on the same day. And, you can't make two mistakes in such an early stage of the tournament.

Ireland showed a lot of grit and fantastic captaincy. They held their nerves, and cricket will only be richer with the spirit they showed yesterday. Looks like they have some decent players too. Super 8's will be richer with all the colors they bring in to the game. And it all looks much better with the pretty girls that follow them. I hope they keep winning ;)

Tigers vs Lambs

Father Losing, Son Winning - this was a placard held up by an enthusiastic Bangladeshi cricket fan at Queen's Park, Trinidad today. Bangladesh cricket is buzzing. If you have any doubts about this statement then go have a look at banglacricket.com. Their performance today makes a clear statement: they no more are minnows. For me, ICC and cricket was a winner because the tigers were simply brilliant today.

Disciplined bowling, electic fielding and stunning batting was on view. What more, the batsmen in question looked exuberant, classy and wily old foxes all put together in young 17 and 18 year olds. Tamim Iqbal's shimmy down the track to deposit Zaheer Khan in orbit created a superstar in cricket. He could be another Saeed Anwar in the making. Abdur Razzak beating Sachin in flight to get him caught behind was another sight of the day. Bangladesh didn't win today by luck. They outplayed the Indians.

A poor day at the office for the Indians. They looked the minnows!!

Agreed, the conditions were conducive to the bowlers. But I thought the batsmen weren't creative enough. Spinners were allowed to dictate, and they were too predictable when they attacked. Bangladesh exploited a lot of holes in India's lineup which are going to hurt as this Cup progresses. Well, that is if we are going to progress too far :)

All's not lost though because we have always been slow starters. But, today belonged to the Bangladeshis. Today was their day in the Sun. Take a bow folks. They just gave us a kick on the backside. The Tigers playing against the Lambs.

The Intelligent

We always chase the stars, always the ever elusive. We go on and on, working and solving problems (you bet, am a software geek working on what else - fixing bugs) for somebody we don't even know. But am I becoming so very intelligent, that I am starting to miss the obvious? Isn't this something to think about?

And yes, the pun with the headline is intended....

World Cup – India and my dark horse.....

Cricket's greatest extravaganza and how can I resist not turning into a writer. These days we see predictions, team analysis and what not from almost everybody around. Maybe I am not the expert, but that does not stop me from jotting down my 2 cents of knowledge (or crap!!).

The first week has already floated away and I don't think we are disappointed. We've already had a tie, and all the top players have been spectacular of the blocks. All that bodes for the best world cup ever. It's exciting when the world's very best are going to be in their top form when they do battle in 'the' premier tournament.

India kick-off on the morrow. Where do we stand? For once everything looks relaxed. Well, is it?

There is a sense of coldness developing in our performance these days. I see a constant effort to get the job done, which means we've cut of some frills associated with our game. We have a captain who accepts our shortcomings. Nobody as yet gives them us chance, but nobody can ever write down such a dangerous side. I find this good enough for our boys. But you know what – all the bicker is going to start from tomorrow (lol).

This is going to be a swansong for most of our big boys, so we should expect a feast from them. Do you expect Sehwag to do better? Well, I do. Expect a few surprises up the order too because I feel something's cooking in our dressing room. We can expect Saurav, Sachin and Dravid to be rock solid. Take away every else people. These folks are going to win us a few matches. Yuvi and Dhoni are our focus players and very important one's too, and for once we have a pace attack that people are looking up to. Well, I see a team I can look forward too...

Coming to my other favorite – The Black Caps. New Zealand are on a hot streak, that's as if today's performance wasn't testimony enough. They have the best captain (I think so, and believe me there are a few who say so), steady bowling, Bond – for sheer pace and almost everybody can bat. They are no more the dibly doblers of cricket. They are serious contenders now. I have a gut feeling that they are on a roll which is probably going to take them a long way and surprise a few teams along the way.

I cheer for India, I have a very strong feeling that it's the Black Caps this time. I would like to stick my neck out and say that I'd be happy if my favorite teams can make it to the semis. Well, wait and watch.