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!