Sehwag, Tendulkar and Akhtar

Sehwag narrating a fun incident on the field involving Sachin Tendulkar and Shoaib Akhtar -

Movie: Kick-Ass (2010)

Having no idea about the movie except that it was an action comedy based on a comic book series and based on Netflix’s guesstimate that I would most likely rate it four stars, I watched Kick-Ass last weekend with low expectations and boy was I pleasantly surprised!

It starts off slowly with Dave, a high school nobody, bothered that ‘thousands of people want to be Paris Hilton and nobody wants to be Spiderman’, deciding to don a costume and fight crime as ‘Kick-Ass’. A couple of mishaps and millions of hits on YouTube later, he gets caught up in the revenge plot of superhero ‘Big Daddy’ and  his daughter ‘Hit-Girl’ against supervillain Frank and his wannabe villain son Chris aka ‘Red Mist’. From then on, the movie coasts forward, alternating between super funny and ultra violent, and ends literally with a bang. The action sequences are brutal, stylish and over the top, borrowing heavily from Tarantino, especially ‘Kill Bill’.

The highlight (and apparently a point of controversy) of the movie is ‘Hit-Girl’ - the foul-mouthed, brainwashed, well trained 11yr old assassin. She takes a bullet at point blank range and goes for ice cream afterwards; she orders weapons while drinking hot chocolate with marshmallows; she is thrilled to get a switch blade as a gift; she handles weapons like toys. Mouthing crude expletives that would put rappers to shame and brutally massacring villains, she is dynamite on screen.

A must watch, if you don’t mind a 11yr old mouthing expletives and kicking some serious ass.

Today is Tomorrow

When my wife told our 4yr old daughter that she can have a lollipop the next day, she promptly asked the next morning ‘Amma, can I have a lollipop? Remember yesterday you said that I can have one tomorrow? Today is tomorrow, right?’.

10/10/10

Endhiran in the afternoon and Tendulkar’s delightful 100 in the evening. Could there be a more entertaining Sunday? It is like one of those swirl ice cream cones, you know, the one where some genius figured that you don’t have to choose between vanilla or chocolate but can actually have both together! What about the sprinkles on top you ask? Well, that would be too greedy.

India vs Pakistan

An intense, hard-fought, tug of war match with a nail-biting finish complete with tense face-offs, ugly verbal duels and a roaring victory cry – a delightful treat for all Ind-Pak cricket fans. Paisa vasool. Who said ODIs are dying?

Robin Singh or Sachin Tendulkar

Analyzing the IPL final, most have questioned Mumbai’s tactics while praising Chennai’s. Fair enough. But, while captain Dhoni gets the accolades for Chennai’s tactics, it’s coach Robin Singh that gets the brickbats for Mumbai’s strategy. All through the season, Sachin’s captaincy was been widely praised. He was even awarded the viewer’s choice award for best captain. But, as soon as they lose, Robin Singh is blamed. Why?

Don’t get me wrong. I am a huge fan of Tendulkar. And, I am not trying to blame him for Mumbai’s strange tactics. I just find this media double standard amusing.

CSK wins IPL 2010

What’s up with captains inexplicably promoting Harbhajan Singh as a pinch hitter? Dhoni did it in the ODI against Sri Lanka in December 2009 (If folks don’t remember, that’s the match where the Indians scored their highest ODI total of 414/7). Today, the Mumbai Indians did it against CSK. Sure, Harbhajan has swung wildly and has connected a few over the years, but there is no excuse for promoting him ahead of Rayudu, Tiwary, Duminy and Pollard.

It was a rather disappointing end to Sachin’s excellent run in the tournament. But, having scored over 600 runs in the tournament with a strike rate of over 130 with just three DLF maximums, I think he has proved that proper, consistent, skillful batting does have a place in Twenty20 cricket.

Happy Birthday, Sachin!

If Tendulkar’s feats last year were awesome, this year it got even better - five centuries in seven Tests with an average of 84.25 and more than 900 runs at 65.28 from 17 matches in ODIs! The heartbreaking 175 against Australia was bettered by the super human 200* against South Africa. And, he has left his impression on the newest format ofTwenty20 cricket as well, topping the batting charts in IPL2010.

Thanks for the runs, Sachin!

Movie: The Hangover (2009)

There are chick flicks, romantic comedies that target the female audience. And then there are dick flicks, raunchy comedies that target the male audience. The Hangover, falls in the second category.

Set in Las Vegas, the gags involving a missing groom, Mike Tyson, a tiger in the bathroom, a missing tooth, a baby, a stripper and a naked Chinese villain among others are outrageous and funny. The jokes are raunchy but not juvenile. And, the script is clever enough to keep you engaged. The guy who plays the oddball Alan (I have no idea who he is) in the movie is brilliant!

Ultimate batting machine

The superman exists…and he’s Sachin Tendulkar! (I just watched Watchmen a couple of nights ago). History was made today at Gwalior with Sachin scoring the first ever double century in ODIs. While no adjective can adequately describe the inning, the statistics - 200 off 147 balls with 25 fours and 3 sixes, tell the story sufficiently and succinctly.  It’s fitting that the greatest one day cricketer (greatest cricketer, period, for fans like me) ever now holds the record for the highest score. Congratulations Sachin!

India vs South Africa, 2nd ODI

The good thing about the last ball win in the previous match is that it exposed the folly of going in with only three specialist bowlers in the playing XI. I don’t understand why we need eight batsmen to bat out 50 overs, especially when batting is our strength. On the other hand, more often than not we have seen one or more of our specialist bowlers have a mediocre outing. Going with one bowler less only further exposes the weakness in the bowling department. Hopefully, one of the specialist spinners – Mishra/Ashwin will replace Yusuf Pathan for today’s game.

India is No.1

After an incredible nail biting finish, Indians have retained their spot at the top of the ICC Test cricket ratings. Congratulations Team India! My wishes came true - Paul Harris was treated like the mediocre bowler that he is and to add icing to the cake, the umpires even wided him quite a few times for negative bowling!

Just when the teams seem warmed up after a win each, the series has come to an abrupt end and that is hugely disappointing. Just one more match to crown the true series winner would have been great.

Essentially, the matches were a tale of two first inning batting collapses. While the Indians collapsed in Nagpur unable to cope with Steyn’s outstanding swing bowling; the South Africans collapsed in Kolkata, to some mediocre batting (the bowling was good, without being great).

Despite the positives – centuries by Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman, Dhoni; good bowling by Khan and Harbhajan, there were a few disappointments. This was a wonderful opportunity for the youngsters – Ishant, Mishra, Vijay and especially Badrinath, to shine but all failed to grab. The opportunity, that is. And personally, I had hoped to see more of the battle between the  no.1 batsman (Gambhir) and the no.1 bowler (Steyn).

After a tightly fought Test series, it’s time to move on to the ODIs.

M Vijay

Still very early, but, I hope he doesn’t end up like the other openers we have had in the recent past – Aakash Chopra, SS Das, Sadagopan Ramesh, Dinesh Karthik etc. who were impressive the first few games but could never raise their game beyond well made 30s/40s.

India vs. South Africa, 2nd Test Preview

Typically, I rate Test matches involving India as -

• Good, when India wins
• Better, when Sachin enthralls with a totally awesome inning (or two!)
• Best, when Sachin enthralls and India win

This time, I am slightly adjusting my ratings as -

• Good, if Paul Harris gets thrashed
• Better, if Paul Harris gets thrashed and goes wicketless
• Best, if Paul Harris gets thrashed by Sachin and goes wicketless

Yep. I don’t care if India wins or not. Well, actually I do. But, I am really hoping that the Indians teach Harris a lesson or two.

Gambhir vs. Steyn/Morkel and Sehwag/Sachin vs. Harris, I think are the key matchups for India’s batting. As for the bowling, turning pitch or not, I have no idea how we are going to get twenty South African wickets. Maybe Sreesanth will deliver a miracle?

Dinner Conversation

Here is a conversation I had the other day with my three and half year old daughter during dinner -

She: Appa, I want to marry you.
Me: But, I am already married to Amma.
She: Okay, can I marry Venu mama (uncle)?
Me: No, he is too old for you.
She: Hmm. I will marry Amma then.
Me: Ha ha. But, she is a girl.
She: That’s okay. Sometimes girls can marry girls and boys can marry boys.
Me: Hmm. Ahh. Ahem. Who wants to eat Rasgulla?
She: Me!