Obama's Inauguration

1. Speech:
Bottom Line: Not inspiring enough to meet the high expectations set by his acceptance speech. The “Yes We CAN” flavour was missing.

2. Oath Taking:
Unimpressive because of the fumble - for which the oath giver is to be blamed. He spoke long string of words which were not easy to repeat.

3. Overall Ceremony:
WOW! Americans do have a sense of drama. Good entertainment. Kept us glued to the TV. I wonder if even Pakistanis & Sri Lankans would have watched their 1st daynight ODI of this series!!!

Harbhajan & Zaheer Guilty Of Not Showing Proper Respect To Yusuf Pathan

India made 292/9 against England in the 2nd ODI of the series in Indore, no thanks to Harbhajan and Zaheer. Coming straight from victory against Australia and also scoring some runs against them, Harbhajan and Zaheer got too cocky. They forgot that the senior batsman, Yusuf Pathan, is standing on the other end, twidling his thumbs. It showed lack of respect to Yusuf's batsmanship. Certaintly, they would not have dared playing in this fashion, had Yuvraj or Dhoni been on the other end.

Dhoni would do well by speaking to them. With so many overs in hand, all they had to do was to try taking a run and put Yusuf Pathan in charge. But no, they had to show that they can hit too (and keep missing the ball)!

It is these little things that differentiate a champion team fron a non-champion one. Australian cricketers will not do such a thing. At every stage of the game, win or lose, one gets the feeling that Australians are thinking what is best for the team. They rarely get carried away by some recent high profile win. Perhaps one reason is that they are used to winning. If that is the reason, Indian players too should get used to winning so that they continue to think in balanced manner, win or lose.

When you are world class, you must continue to do the small, little things right; good results will follow.

India Is Over And On The Moon!

Yes, today the proble landed on moon from Chandrayaan with Indian Flag. It has also sent some (at least one) pictures. So yes, we are ON the moon.

We are also OVER the moon because today we beat the heck out of English cricket team in first of seven ODIs in Rajkot.

India 387 for 5 (Yuvraj 138 NO, Sehwag 85 and Gambhir 51).
England 229 All Out.

Sourav Ganguly Hits Master Stroke

In chess if you sacrifice a pawn which was worthless anyway and gain some advantage, it would be considered a smart move.

Well Mr. Sourav Ganguly has done the same by announcing his retirement today. With Yuvraj and Badrinath scoring centuries against Australian Test Team and Mr. Sourav Ganguly who managed to force an entry into India 'A' team (at expense of some non-celebrity player) to have some practice before the test, scoring hardly anything against New Zealand's 'A' team, the writing was clearly on the wall.

The current Indian cricket team is selected for 1st two tests only. Now suppose Sourav Ganguly fails again in these 2 tests, then with the back drop of recent Sri Lankan disaster, Ganguly may not have found place in 3rd and 4th tests, what to speak of next seriez! And in any case, the FAB 4 (5 if you include Kumble) have their days numbered as far as future seriezes are concerned.

So by announcing his retirement, Sourav Ganguly has hit a master stroke. Now he is likely to play in all 4 tests. The selectors would now be unwilling to drop him from the team, whatever may his contribution be. In addition he will now play without pressure, so there is a good possibility of him clicking.

And if he does click, and scores a century or two, what do you think all the TV channels, fans et al will do? They will force 'Dada' to review his decision "in national interest"! And if he doesn't click, well, he has already retired!

Wow Sourav, I am impressed with your immaculate game plan. You would give good competition to Anand in chess.