Movie Review of Kavan

Movie Review of Kavan

            This movie by KV Anand is a path breaker in Indian Movie industry. I stopped writing review for movies probably a decade ago and this movie has forced me to write a review for a movie once again. What is refreshing to see in the movie is its straight forward and honest depicting of scenes mimicking actual happenings in the real world. Hats off to KV Anand in taking such a brave venture and also bringing it out successfully.

            The movie starts with usual lover boy Thilak (Vijay Sethupathy) going after a gal. Later Thilak joins a media company called zen one. During his visit to the company for joining he captures scenes of riots outside the media company. Later when he joins the company for the first day, he gives this video to media manager Pillai (Pandiarajan) and he publishes this scene with edit version in his channel. Thilak gets lot of praise for his action but he is perplexed by the edited version of his video. This is when his tryst with media company zen one starts.  

            Then the movie moves to the parallel love story between Abdul (Vikranth) and Kalpana. They both are protesting against a pesticide company for the farmers in the region. The company uses its muscle power against the protesters and Kalpana has to face the ultimate ordeal of being gang raped. This is when her friends Thilak and his love Jennifer join the mayhem and start to project her version to people. The next tipsy and curvy events of how the media company initially supports the gal and later on for business motive turns its head to politicians defines the rest of the movie.

            What happens next is the ultimate level of honest depiction, which probably Indian Movie industry has never visualized, the story shows how the politicians and media company gang up against these protesters and their newfound media company Mutthamil headed by our own TR. The depiction of Abdul as terrorist by media zen one is something every Muslim is familiar to India but probably no one in the movie industry had guts to show this in mainstream movies. This is where I would take my hats off to Director KV Anand for his real time depiction of the scenes. The scene where dance shows are made fun by the Director is so real that people who have seen dance shows in TV can relate to.

TR entertains with his usual wits and humour and is refreshing to see a veteran experimenting with character roles. Sir we (TR fans) hope to see you like this in many more movies. You were definitely the best addition to the movie. Vijay Sethupathy has slowly but steadily established himself as tangible star along with Jayam Ravi, Arya, Dhanush as the present generation superstars. The heroine was mostly without any character role and it was more Kalpana who was the heroine of the movie. Overall a real entertainer of movie with good message in the end. I will give it 4.5 stars out of five. Must watch if you are a media critic and also must watch if you want to learn about how media works.

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England wins the T20 World Cup 2010

Yes finally English Team has won the world Cup. It took 35 Years and 18 attempts to get this far. No other team has taken it thus far. Even SriLanka, (a team considered to be minnows like Bangladesh is now in 1979 WC) won their first World cup in 17 Years and just their 5th attempt. Therefore this has got to be the longest test that any national fan could have for a team. The fact that it has come on the brink of so many South Africans playing for England should not take any sheen out of the triumph. After all they did undergo the normal process to get this far.

Coming back to the tournament itself, it was the most clinical triumph seen from a a cricket team excepting Australia. No cricket team has won a world cup with so much domination except Australia in recent past. The two standout performers were Kieswetter and Petersen. Petersen being a star performer and a batting stalwart, he was expected to deliver but Kieswetter was a complete novice at least as far as international audience is concerned. To deliver in such a big tournament and in such a big stage (WC Final) speaks volumes on his abilities and promise that he holds in future for England. Another one man who needs special mention is Graham Swann, England have always been known for the pacemen or swing bowlers that you rarely get to see an attacking spinner come from English soil. It is perhaps for first time in my memory that I have seen England unearth a really talented and definitely the most promising spinner that England has ever had. In fact he is arguably the best spinner presently in International circuit on current form (with all due respects to Murali, Vettori and Harbhajan).

England lost only one match in this tournament but that too only due to Duckworth Lewis method otherwise they have been very clinical right from the start. Special mention should also be made of their final match. The way they played it so professionally and not even once letting Australia to claw their way back into the match was very refreshing to see for a neutral fan. This was exactly the need of the hour for a cricket fan to see some healthy competition developing between the rival teams and more importantly to see English team showing more interest towards shorter formats. English teams in past have always had tendency to ignore shorter versions of the game)

All the English fans should be rejoicing this victory and hoping for a similar triumph in the purer version of the game when the Ashes start later this year. I think this is a very good platform for England to defend their Ashes and to win a series in Australia after around 20 odd years. English team have all the firepower in all the departments of the game for winning Ashes series in Aussie soil and perhaps for first time in a very long time would start as favourites for the series. I sign off wishing England All the Best for Ashes.

Movie Review: 3 Idiots

Well I was very lucky to get hold of a movie ticket to this movie for almost first day first show (actually it was second day). The reasons were obviously Aamir and Hirani. Both of them haven’t delivered a flop or a dud at box office for a very long time. I knew the perfectionist that Aamir and the entertainer that Hirani is, this movie is sure to be engrossing if not fulfilling. I have to say that I was more than happy with the outcome of the movie. It was natural, soft and last but not least touching.

The Movie started in all too familiar way of a search for a person. It is not uncommon in Hindi cinema to search for a person. But the difference here in was not the search component but the person they were searching was quite different from any normal person. Well the name itself was very different Ranchoddas Shaymaldas Chajaad. This guy was not either the typical Hindi romantic hero or even the typical action Hero that we come across in each and every Hindi cinema. He was sensible, charismatic, entertaining and also very joyful character. Well I have to say that Aamir fitted in perfectly into this role and it didn’t seem odd at all that a forty plus person was playing a college student.







The other characters in this movie are also equally contributing and make a difference to the overall feel of the movie. The work of Sharman Joshi and Madhavan from RDB fame was expected to be good but what caught everyone the most attention and also the real surprise component in this movie was Chatur character. He was well suited to his character and made everyone in the theater to laugh his heart out. His Balatkar scene and his atypical Hindi accent were all the more good moments of the movie. The scene where Chatur impresses the most is when he reminds Madhavan and Sharman of the oath that he took of revenge and here he is delivering a perfect kickback. It sounded too childish and laughable but to think of it that is how a normal elite student of a premium institutes pit against each other nowadays. It is childish for us but that is the dirty world out there in those premium institutes.

The theme of the movie is very much coherent with the Taarae Zameen Par and the script of the Movie also had the feel of Munnabhai part one. The difference was the delivery of the whole package by different character with different story, screenplay and direction. The Movie is sure to be loved at first shot by everyone and may be people will not mind spending some more on the repeat viewing too. It is already breaking Sholay records and looks like becoming the all time favorite of Hindi cinema. Even then this Movie had certain shortcomings which needed to be addressed like for example not everyone will be as successful as Madhavan’s character if he goes away from the prescribed path. One example could be the US where every person has the maximum freedom that one can actually wish to have and you now have US president requesting his people to concentrate on Science and Maths. Well in a country like India it becomes doubly difficult to cross the paths.







Kareena Kappor did not have much to do in this Movie and it seemed more of a small role for her and Boman Irani’s character was again like his Munnabhai part one role where he was the same strict principal albeit in a engineering school. The NASA pencil scene and Balatkar scene is something we have heard of in our emails and school jokes yet it seemed different when it was put in as a movie scene. Javed Jaffrey’s brief stint was a nice gripping moment before interval but unexpectedly he just withers away after the interval.

Music didn’t seem all that great on TV and CD players but when seen in the context of the story and script, it seemed to make the cut. “Give me some sunshine” song had a nice feelings attached to it and seemed to cut across many people’s college days. Aamir’s courage in dealing with sensitive issues like student suicides, Indian education system, youth power, crossing new bridges are positive moments of the Movie. Overall this Movie felt like a complete package of message, music, masala (pregnant scene), sentiment and some non hand fights (between Aamir and Irani).

Music Review: Blue

I'm reviewing the soundtrack of the Hindi movie Blue after nearly a month of its release because unlike others I believe a musical review needs time and cannot be reviewed in an hour after listening to the songs unlike the movie which could connect to you instantly or if it doesn’t then it means you didn’t like it. Thus there is a delay in the review of this Album.

The Music director of this Album needs no introduction and movie coming from him after nearly six months gap which is long kept everyone interested. AR Rahman had a spurt of movies in a short burst namely Sakkarakatti (Tamil movie), Jaane Tu ya Jaane Na, Yuvvraaj, Ghajini, Slumdog, Delhi-6 in a span of about four months. Of late, he did not have any movies and being a fan of his, I was expecting a bit more from this. The Blue music definitely doesn’t disappoint.







The first song that I liked the most and may be the catchiest song of all is “Chiggy Wiggy”. If you listen to this number the first time, you will be instantly attracted to it than the rest of songs. The English lyrics makes a nice soothing feeling to ears and also the Hindi word coming at the mid of the song adds to its charm. Overall this song is a beautiful one but the Rahman fan always look for his melody and in “Bhoola Tujhe” we have a nice melody song. The song goes very slowly and captivates your heart as you listen to it three or four times. The USP of this song is why the review of this movie comes late as it takes time to both appreciate and enjoy this song. It also has nice visuals when watched in the theater.

The next two songs are fast paced songs in “Blue Theme” and “Fiqrana”. Both these songs are catchy numbers too and the “Blue theme” song has some amazing video to add to it. These songs are also very catchy and you feel, “Hey we are getting our value for money”. The other song “Yaar Mila tha” is actually very good too, but I do not remember seeing it in the Movie, perhaps it was edited out in the last touch.








The title song “Rehnuma” is little unique in its way as it first starts as a slow paced song and gradually picks speed that you could probably relate to this movie storyline which starts sedately to pick speed in the climax. The last song “Aaj Dil” has the AR Rahman written all over it. It’s a very neat song in its lyrics and keeps you reminding that Rahman rules as far as Indian music industry is concerned. The visuals of this song makes elderly people in your home say “we did not have this much shortage of clothes even in our freedom struggle times”.

Overall the Music of this movie is really good. It’s unique with its new techno instruments that we have not heard of before. Those who are still wavering over whether to buy this album or not, please go fast and grab a copy of this album. It’s Goddamn good!

Cricket: Five World cups in last three years

Yes will you believe it, there have been five world cups in last three years and we used to think world cup comes once in four years. There have been five world cups in three years:

1) ICC Champions Trophy 2006
2) ICC Cricket World Cup 2007
3) ICC T20 World Cup 2007
4) ICC T20 World Cup 2009
5) ICC Champions Trophy 2009







ICC has become cash rich body and still it wants to milk the cash cow. Players have become fatigued and there has been same winner (Australia) on three occasions but still ICC wants to conduct T20 every 2 years, champion’s trophy every two years and world cup every four years which gives roughly 5 trophies in one rotation. If you go back little more time, there has been one world cup every year in the period 2002-2004 and 1998-2000.

In the year 1998 when Jagmohan Dalmiya (the clever business magnate) was the ICC president, he introduced this new trophy called champions trophy. The main reason given then was that even though ICC was the main governing body of the cricket game, it did not have any money in its kitty. Thus he gave birth to this idea of champions trophy every two years which would cough up so much money to make ICC self reliant in its methods and help to develop its smaller member countries.






Now when ICC is so rich, do we need to see so many global tournaments at such a fast pace. What it does in short is to take the sheen out of such tournaments and the main source of income (spectators) loses the interest in global tournaments. With the result that India was world champions only 2 years ago but still do not get the deserved attention. The reason why the tournaments of grand scale, be it Olympics, soccer world cup, European championship etc comes once in four years is to keep the general public always glued to such tournaments which in turns gives such tournaments such a huge popularity.

I think it is high time that the Champion’s trophy is scrapped and the T20 world cup gets lesser participating countries (probably six is right). This will give the spectators some open space to think and more importantly gives the winner the necessary attention. Pakistan the present T20 champions will be defending their trophy in nine months time is something totally inconceivable. This makes us to think whether making money is the ICC’s sole objective. Shouldn’t the tournament deserve the much needed respect?

Cricket: How many LOI's do we need?

For those of you who have seen so much of cricket and still don’t know this term LOI, LOI stands for limited over international. It’s been about roughly three years since the first twenty twenty game was played. Since the advent of 20-20 the main question in every cricket lovers mind is whether we need two separate LOI (20-20 and 50-50) or do we need to gradually finish off 50-50. The important point here is 20-20 is still in nascent stages and is yet to fully establish itself but its attraction has been huge. It’s never been common in Indian domestic cricket to attract such huge crowds. Of course the case in point here is that there are so many foreign star in display but still people get to see almost 40% foreign players in action. If India plays say a foreign country in Indian soil it of course attracts huge crowds where we have 50% foreign representation. But the important thing to keep in mind with IPL is the winner is always an Indian team irrespective of who performs.

Anyways coming back to the central point is do we see the end of 50-50 or is it going to coexist with 20-20. Lets do some comparison between the both.

20-20:

Pros: Time, Speed of the game, boundaries, close games, evening out the teams, unpredictability

Cons: Better team need not always win, no comeback chances, too fast, one person can change the game, fielding becomes irrelevant, bowlers getting demoralized

50-50:

Pros: History, comeback chances, Better team always wins, Team game, Fielding important, bowlers get more respect.

Cons: Time, speed is too slow between 15-40 overs, predictability of the game easily, very few many nail biters, fewer boundaries.

As you can see from the list, the main pro for 20-20 game has been its speed. It’s not normal for a cricket game whether test or 50-50 to have the spectator so closely gripped to your TV screens. Yes there have been many close 50 over games but if you look at it as percentage of games played, its very low. Moreover the 50 over game gets interesting only in the last 10 overs or in its initial stages which makes it watchable for say 20% of the time then what do you do with the rest o keep the spectator interested. Spectator likes to see action and 20-20 game brings loads of it and that keeps everyone interested. Also you get lot more close games in 20-20 unlike 50-50.

50-50 has its own advantages of its very long history (including its ancient 60-60 days) but the main advantage of 50-50 over 20-20 which any cricket lover who admires its game very elaborately would be its fairness. By fairness I don’t mean the discipline here but rather the necessity that the team that played better cricket needs to win and that is more or less tru here. You could always argue that a test cricket is more correct cricket than 50-50 but that is a different debate in itself. The main argument here is that in 50-50 if you need to win a game you need to do lots of things correct whereas in 20-20 you need to do say one great innings. You could always play a commanding knock in odi but unless you bowl well you need not win. Also the bowlers get so much more respect that a batsman cannot literally close his eyes and swing its bat and still are called a hero. Well in one line “50-50 is more real cricket than 20-20”.

But we already have another format called Test cricket which will always be the cricket in its purest form and the question is do we need one “middle pure” and one “completely impure cricket”. The thing is 20-20 could never become a fixture in international calendar like 50-50. The reason for it being it’s not possible to always get a fair result. But club 20-20 games would be the most popular form of the game. Looking at the initial interest, it is possible people might show more interest in these country leagues like IPL, Champions league than say a international 50-50 games. But its interest will probably rest with club matches and may be occasional international games (World Cups). The test and 50-50 could be the fixtures in any tour calendar. What will die is probably not the 50-50 game in itself but those meaningless 50-50 tournaments we used to have in Sharjah, Malaysia, Singapore etc and also possibly the champions trophy.

Champions League: The Caribbean Flair

It has been a great champion’s league and one team that has stood out in this campaign has been Trinidad & Tobago. The Caribbean flair has been at its best in this tournament. The way they have played has made people go nostalgic of their supremacy in seventies and eighties. Though twenty -twenty format doesn’t give too much ground to exhibit fast bowling action, the little bit we have seen hasn’t been that attractive and it’s more of their spin bowling that has attracted spectators to their team.

But let’s get back to their batting prowess that has kept everyone of their opposition team stunned. In the initial stages, whether it was the Deccan chargers or Somerset the thing that caught my eye in their batting was relentless hitting even when they lost continuous wickets. In the match against Somerset they were tottering at one stage due to loss of bulk wickets but they kept the run rate going and did not get bogged down at any stage. The important thing in 20-20 is not to lose momentum. Because unlike in ODI or test match where you get at least 3 to 4 comeback points for odi or even more for test matches, the 20-20 gives you none. Once you lose momentum it means the game is out of your hands. One important comparison here would be the semifinals between India and Australia in inaugural 20-20 world cup. Australia were literally cruising at one stage and just one wickets turned the tide in India’s favor and Aussies never got back into the match.

The next stage was even more interesting one when their bowling department which is their weak point was exposed to a great deal. They simply didn’t have any bowlers to restrict rampage from New South Wales openers. They were continuously hitting their way to take T&T out of finals in one innings but they were kept somewhat tight down to a reasonable total of 170. This was the perfect setting to test Windies batting flair versus Aussie bowling machines. The stage was set nicely but the main question in everyone’s mind is will the T&T batting hold its end till the target is achieved. What unfolded was something remarkable. The bloke from Trinidad called Pollard had something we hadn’t seen for long time, at least in the Common Indian Viewers context. He simply destroyed NSW bowling and did something which everyone in the world except Australia of course loves to see, the perfect Aussie demolition. We have seen umpteen batsmen in the world trying to threaten Aussie bowling but what pollard did on that special night was something totally outstanding. He not only made sure T&T won that match but he also made sure there were absolute no hiccups in achieving the target and NSW bowlers were totally stunned at the end of it. This flair just continued in the next match in this second stage against Eagles where we saw the highest score of the tournament. What T&T achieved in these two matches was very enjoyable to watch for any neutral spectator.

The next stage was semifinals and T&T was the only team out of the four teams who qualifies for the semifinal to be unbeaten. Therefore the expectations were as expected huge this time as they had gathered many more fans than their usual T&T fans. But the way they won this match against S.African champions cape cobras was again very pleasant to watch. They chased down this time an even bigger target than the NSW target but the more important point was they did it without using Pollard and Ramdin who had been their stars in other matches. This set them up for a title clash against NSW who have already had a taste of their bitter medicine.

The final was initially completely dominated by T&T bowling which seemed to have cut across the spine of the NSW batting but T&T were in for surprise as Brett Lee adopted T&T tactics of not getting bogged down by flurry of wickets and he continued to show positive intent throughout his innings. This led to a more than respectable total of 159 which they successfully defended too. What let down T&T this stage was too much of hitting and very little sensible batting. Especially Pollard’s wicket where he had just scored couple of sixes and the target was still at some distance and he needed to stay till the end. His hot at that’s stage was inexplicable. Anyways even though T&T did not win the tournament, they had won the hearts of many spectators around the world. Hope there is lot more Caribbean flair in future for us to enjoy.

Paruthiveeran: A movie of real Class

I saw this movie with little high expectations thinking that its Director Ameer won't disappoint me and I should say that I got more than what I bargained for. Though the movie was very villager theme and had no real city values attached to it, I liked it. I personally did not like the rude story, rogue hero or heartless heroine. But when you consider that the amount of effort that the director has put in to each of the scene and each and every character of the movie then you cannot do anything but bow your head to this breathtaking director.

Ameer is supposed to be assitant to another great Director Bala and I personally feel he has become touch better than Bala in this movie। People talk of selva ragavan as next Mani Ratnam, I think now they should think Ameer as next Mani Ratnam. The reason is not that his direction is great but rather unique. His parallel clips (showing two different shots in same clip) show he is not afraid experimenting. Riducling fan clubs (rasigar mandram) of famous and top actors shows he is not afraid of anyone. His audacity to pick newcomers and make them act in his movie shows that he wants himself to play the hero and his story and movie to be the selling point and doesn't want to rest on hero's laurels.






Talking about the hero of the movie Karthi, he has done wonderful job. Infact Superstar Rajinikanth was surprised to hear it was his first movie and his brother Surya said that in his first movie he did no acting and this performance from his brother was impeccable. The scene where Karthi impresses the most is when he shows love for heroine. He looks so natural and his wit (nakkal) scenes with his uncle is very comical and hilarious. Heroine of the movie has proved that when given a proper character the heroines can also influence the movies. She was so good and true to her character that it seemed as if she living the character and not acting. Same goes for other actors too. The credit for that should go to the Director Ameer to bring out so much from newcomers is remarkable achievement. This is where Ameer impresses me the most and promises a lot for Tamil Cinema.

Coming back to the movie it is a must go for all village people and the city dwellers might not quite like movie and would certainly hate the climax. This means movie might be hit but will not have huge collections. It is a every critique's hit movie but am not sure how good will it be in box office. The comedy scenes are great with subtle dialogues from hero and his uncle is wonderful to watch. For first time atleast for me I saw a tamil heroine in a tamil movie having equal character as her counterpart. She was simply breathtaking with her dialogue delivery and performance. The comedian deserves a special mention for his simple yet wonderful scenes in the movie. I would love to see Ameer take a city subject with bigger moolahs and that would probably set the ball rolling for making Ameer the next Mani Ratnam.

IT IS JUST A GAME, NOT A WAR!!!!!!!!

How many times and how many years and how many lives will it take to realize for our impulsive, reactive, angry, so called patriotic, intelligent, gruesome, nasty and ugly Indian and Pakistani crowd to realize its just a game and not a war. Are u guys crazy? Are u guys insane? Or are u guys plain stupid. Bob Woolmer (the Pakistani coach) died due to whatever reasons but he jus could not have beared emotional backlash that Pakistani crowds would have had in store for him. Tomorrow no foreigner would like to coach such senseless nation anymore. What is this? It is worse than anything you can imagine. You guys should learn to be bit more sensible and be bit more selfish. Yes selfish. The problem with us Indians and Pakistanis is that we are not selfish. You will never see an American fan dying for America if America loses in sports because he is selfish. You will never see Flintoff swearing an Aussie in Ashes clash because he is selfish professional. But you will see Prasad swearing at Sohail or Afridi swearing at Indians because they are not selfish.

Yes the reason is not tat we are too bad but rather we are too good. We are very emotional people. It is important to be emotional. We are unselfish people. It is important not to be selfish. We are very patriotic people. It is important to be patriotic. But the problem is we are selfish, unpatriotic, unemotional when we need to be (like in real life situations) and we are patriotic emotional and unselfish (like in this bloody game called cricket) when we do not need to be.

I have been a student of game called cricket for 16 years now. Recently I was in for a shock and deeply hurt when my so called close friend called me Pakistani!!! Then I heard of Bob Woolmer’s death and this prompted me to write this article.

Our Indian team for this World cup had so many deficiencies that it was bound to fail and not because Sachin did not score, Dravid did not stay, Ganguly had hatred for Dravid etc. Our fielding standards are so low that we just could not stand in the world arena. Moreover in not selecting Mohd Kaif, Pathan, Raina, Powar, our selection committee gave Dravid a very lame team strong on experience less on youth. It was only natural that we were going to fail in the World cup and there is no reason for us to be so disappointed.

And we have to realize that "It is just a game and not a war!!!” You guys out there got to understand this is just a game formed by clubs representing our country. Our club is BCCI. Only difference between club matches and cricket match is that u have to be Indian citizen to play for Indian club. So if tomorrow India becomes so developed and Pakistan so poor. Then India can hire players from Pakistan and make them Indian citizens and they can play for India. Yes Pakistan born Pakistani citizens can play for Indian Team. It is true and it’s a fact of life. This is a club game. They play for a club called BCCI and not country called India. The only difference is they are so called Indian citizens. So this time living in American continent, I am supporting a club called West Indies. Yes West Indies, the club called West Indies. This fortunately or unfortunately have people from Indian origins. I will support this club no matter what other guys call me, because I know am correct. Call me unpatriotic, Pakistani, Muslim terrorist, Indian traitor.

Cricket WC 2007 - Part 2

As I said before am going to talk about minnows in this section and this is going to be much shorter than the other top 8.

The so called Minnows in this world cup according to their strengths and weaknesses are:
1) Bangladesh
2) Kenya
3) Zimbabwe
4) Scotland
5) Canada
6) Holland
7)Ireland
8) Bermuda

Bangladesh: I honestly think this is the best bangladesh side to have toured WC. I suppose its their third WC and I think they will be expected to be perform the best with their best team. Their best perfomance in WC was defeatin pakis in 1999 WC. I expect to them to do the same here, trounce one of the big 8's and reach super eights. Tht wud be awesome and incredible. Their main problem is with batting, their batsmen shd make more runs on the board and bowlers shd follow suit. Mashrafe Mortaza and rafique is wat bowlin wud be dependnent on and Habibul Bashar their skipper and Shariar nafees is wat battin wud depend upon.






Kenya: My fav minnows team since 1996 when they upset mighty WI. They have somethin tat none of the other minnows have. Fearless attitude. This is wat seperates kenya frm other minnows and the reason fr their so many upset wins includin impeccable WC semifinal performance in last WC. Still ICC is so god damn crappy tat they dont give them test status and even worse no odi tournaments to play for. Wat the heck is ICC doing and how will kenya improve further with this white dominated politics in ICC. Politics!!!! I hate it. I expect kenya to easily trounce england and reach super eights. Yups I expect 2 minnows bangladesh and kenya to reach super eights. Well to victor goes the spoils.
Zimbabwe: One of the weakest zimbabwean team ever to tour WC. May be weaker than even 1983 WC team. Thus I expect them to tamely exit after first round. Lots of ground work to be don and again politics is the reason, this time black dominated politics in zimbabwe. I hope they can atleast defeat Ireland.

Canada: John davidson is the name u remeber when u think of canada. His awesome battin against WI in 2003 WC. I expect them to lose all their matches but play well as they seem good outfit. Hope Anderson Cummins (former windies player) now representing canada can save them some blushes.

Scotland: Shd try to defeat Holland and learn in this WC.

Holland: A real good minnow team and played well against India in last WC and shd try to defeat scotland.
Ireland: Nothing special I know abt them. Shd try to give zimbabwe run fr their money.

Bermuda: Shd try to learn than perform.






Overall Prediction: Yups here is the overall prediction.

Super Eights:
1) Windies
2) Pakistan
3) South Africa
4) Newzealand
5) Australia
6) India
7) Kenya
8) Bangladesh

Semifinalists:
1) Windies
2) Pakistan
3) South Africa
4) Newzealand

Finalists:
1) Windies
2) Pakistan

Winners:
Windies

Let me warn u this is not astrology. Its basically a mix of my so called expert analysis(yaa I know u are better than me) and intuition ( sixth sense).

Cricket WC 2007 - Part 1

In this blog, I bring to you the Cricket WC 2007 in 2 parts. First part will deal with introduction and chance for the big 8 as I like to call it. People who follow cricket know who those big 8 are. Fr others, these ar the big 8 in the cricket, viz India, Pakistan,England, Australia, Newzealand, South Africa, WestIndies and Srilanka.

This is the ninth Cricket WC in its history. So far there have been five teams that have tasted Wc success, viz WestIndies,India,Australia,Pakistan and Srilanka. England,SouthAfrica and Newzealand are yet to taste a world cup triumph. There is something in Asian teams that once they are slightly good, they win WC. Same was the case with India, Pakistan and srilanka. So tat leaves us wit only one asian team without cup success tat is bangladesh. Now I expect bangladesh to win cricket WC in the year 2019 twenty years after their ICC trophy triumph (1999) following the lankas tradition of winning the world cup(1996) after sixteen years of ICC triumph (1979). Wateva this WC is played fr first time in the land where cricket is festival time and those who admire cricket like anythin in WestIndies. Carribean brings to cricket which noone has never brought or will bring. So it will be great to see a WC there.

Now coming to the teams analysis. Lets analyze the teams one by one in the ranking which I feel is suited to them to their chance in WC according to their strengths and weakness.

1. Australia
2. South Africa
3. Newzealand
4. India
5. Pakistan
6. Srilanka
7. West Indies
8. England

Australia: Yaa they are still the worlds best whether u accept it or not. It is not because they are most talented or most disciplined. Its because they are the most complete team in the world. Though they like most teams have their weaknesses and strengths.

Strengths: Team skills is what comes first to mind when you talk of australia, if the going gets tough, australia gets tougher। Remember 99 WC, everyone said australia is finished fr this cup when they lost to pak, nzl and struggled against other teams but then inspired by steve waugh they made comeback. If it was Indian team, we wud have given up when everyone said so and never have tat steel to show the fight within and prove the distractors wrong. (Exception was 2003 Indian team). This is where aussies differ and other teams lack. Whether they are strong or not, they show they are strong and whether they are mighty or not they show they are mighty. Ponting is obvious strength in batting and rest of batting looks weak. Bowling isnt might as it used to be and fielding and team skills are their only strong point in this WC unlike previous 2 editions.

Weakness: Batting looks weak with no Martyn, Lehmann, Bevan, Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh. Hayden in not best of form. Clarke, Hussey, Hodge too new to create stability and watson too injury prone to sustain WC tornament. Hayden doesnt seem to be in his best of forms. Bowling is also weak wit abilities to allow team to chase 300 scores. Only bracken looks economical. Glenn Mcgrath looks too old and worn out to have same effect. Rest can be smashed. No warne means no spin and brad hogg isnt the best replacement. Also they had problems with keepers as gilchrist initially wanted to skip few matches and then later on decided against it which means it saved australia some blushes. There is also no experience in this side unlike previous sides like 2003 and 1999. Just no experience in middle and lower order and bowling especially. This means lots of chances fr opponents and this aussie team is most fragile since 1992 when they had first round exit.

Predictions: Very Big upset. Australia are gonna get out soon. Wont qualify fr semis. Lose badly and have lots of brickbats. Super eight exit is my prediction.

South Africa: yes they are no-1 odi side according to cricinfo but stats hide more than wat they reveal. Most of their wins have come in home soil and have struggled in subcontinent but the WC is played in carribean which resembles both their home and subcontinent. So it will depend on pitches fr them to prosper or lose.

Strengths: SA have lotsof strengths compared to australia this time around. Their bowling is quite solid as far as pace dept goes with pollock,ntini spearheading and nel, langeveldteyn, kallis supporting, they look to be a good set. Also there is telemachus to support in case of injury. Their allrounders are again strong with justin kemp, kallis and pollock making SA the best allrounder side in this WC. Batsman arent the strongest with gibbs and kallis being only 2 solid pros. Rest either lack experience or class. Prince, Devilliers are good but how good are they under pressure would be a question mark. Wicket keeper is solid in Boucher and fielding is world class.

Weakness: Their main weakness is going to be spin bowler. They have not had class spinner fr long time. I pesonally felt Nicky Boje was better option than Robin peterson that they have now. Simply there is no class and spin is somethin tat is not found even in part timers in SA. Graheme smith shd roll his arm more but tat is just not going to be enuf. Chokers tag cud come again to haunt SA. They lost in close in all their previous 4 attempts and on some other day cud have got 4 WCs by now but rather they have none. Such is the world.

Predictions: If they keep chokers tag away and hide their spin weakness they cud go all the way but its SA and its SA so my prediction is yet another sorry defeat in the semifinals where u will see smith breaking chairs.

Newzealand: This cud be the best kiwi side tat has played WC ever. I am sure kiwi can create lots of upsets here and cud go all the way this time. Their main stumbling block in past was skill. They had one or two great players but never had a set of 5 or 6 tats required fr lifting WC.

Strengths: Their main strength in bowling is Bond, Shane Bond. He is a police officer by profession but on cricket field he is a rogue killing every batsman in vicinity. He is going to be tat trump card tat cud mean a big difference fr this kiwi team. Daniel Vettori is a veteran and in vettori they have wat SA shd envy, a world class spinner. Daniel Vettori along with bond cud form wat mcgrath and warne formed fr australia in 99 WC and create upsets. In jacob oram they have a very good allrounder replacement fr chris cairns. There are also good bits and pieces players like styris, mcmillan. Their batting is their big weakness except fleming, there is no just no class in others especially with astles retirement. Keeper is damn class in Brendon mccullum. Their team skills and fielding is also world class.

Weakness: As I said before, its batting. In peter fulton, mason and vincent they have wat I term inexperience and highly fragile batting order. This cud backfire as a team which has good pace bowling team like idnia, australia or pakistan can ran through their battin in no time. Their lower middle order and lower order is good but it cud jus not enuf to compensate highly fragile batting.
Pace bowling is good with james franklin as good support fr bond and tuffey.

Predictions: I expect this kiwi team to repeat wat they are so famous fr, Semifinalists. They were semifinalists in the year 1975,1979,1992,1999. Super sixer in 2003.

India: Arguably the best talented side in this world cup. Does tat mean India is goin to win this W, ofcourse not. Infact I analyzed this idnian team in detail in my previous post so let me keep it short and crisp here. We are goin to have super eight exit.

Strengths: As I have said in my previous article, experience is our strength in batting. In sachin,sourav and dravid we have 3 world class batsman which none of the other teams in teh world have. In yuvraj,dhoni,sehwag we have 3 most talented young upcoming brigade in teh world. In robin uthapppa we have one of the most excitin prospect. In kumble and harbhajan we have the best spin bowling option in this WC. In zaheer, pathan,munaf, agarkar and sreesanth we have the best pace bowling set in this WC. in dhoni we have the best keepr batsman in the world at the moment arguably fightin with gilchrist who has gone past his prime.

Weakness: Well as I have said before fielding and team skills. In both India and pakistan its well known that there are things tat run deep down in them like jealousy, favouritism, power houses, cheating etc. With two former skippers in ganguly and sachin, dravid has to make sure tat there is no seperate groups formin in mid of WC. In favourin Dinesh karthick and sehwag over others like laxman,kaif,gambhir or dinesh mongia etc. He has sent a strong message tat he likes these players over others and believes they can deliver better. In not selectin powar he has again shown tat he will take wat he wants even if u perform super consistent. Also droppin kaif when he is in form, givin him chance when everyone is failing and then not givin him chance in sucontinent where pitches are flat. Playin him against aussies and if he perform well against them then drop him. He has shown he can be a chameleon and make media feel kaif deserved to be dropped. Dravid is very cunny and gets done things by using brain rather than words like dada who did things more openly and always used words and not brains. Also his usage of pathan is the worst ever seen, first pathan does well wit ball and then wit bat. Then dravid makes him regular 3. Its only natural his bowling will go down and now dravid uses this and says 'pathan go back play ranjis'. I suppose pathan and kaif shd get best support frm captain coz they are rare species in indian team. A allrounder and fielder. When was last time we had a good fielder let alone great. It was azharuddin,jadeja,robin singh but they were good but kaif is great, unsee ever before in asian circuit let alone indian. If SA wit all their best fielders can still have jonty as a specialist fielder, not a specialist bowler or batsman. Why cant India with all their mediocre fielders and mediocre runners have one specialist fielder in kaif. Pathetic!!! I have all the respect fr dravid fr his batting and commitment but as a skipper he has done things which is downtrodden politics.

Predicitions: If the game was played in paper India will win this WC 3 times again and again. But unfortunately its played in cricket field and we will have a shocking super eight exit after excellent start.

Pakistan: With shoaib akhthar and mohd asif missing this WC due to things tat look much bigger than juz minor injury, pakis have the work cut out. (u know they dropped him coz they don want asif and akhthar coming back afer failed dope test). Actually it cud be blessin in disguise as it wud mean they are weaker which fr normal teams its a bad sign but fr a team like india or pakistan its a good sign. It means they will be more united and cud juz spring in a surprise this WC.

Strength: Their strength is their batting. With inzy, yousuf and younis they have solid middle order. They have attackers in afridi,kamran akmal. Also they have good allrounders in odi format in afridi, akmal and shoaib malik. They do miss razzaq badly and he cud have made this team even stronger. Their lower order is quite okk thouh none of the specialist have any great talents with bat. Their pace bowling is juz decent wit umar gul,anjum,naved and yasir. There spin is led by danish and supported by shoaib and afridi which is also no great especially considerin danish lack of odi experience. Also surprisingly pakis are more united than ever under leadership of inzy and cud have good team skills.

Weakness: Their main weakness is in fielding dept with no specialist fielders they have big gap wit other teams. Their pace and spin bowlin isnt all great as well.

Predictions: I think they mite win this WC if they peak at right time coz they juz have correct ingredients but havin said tat u never know it cud juz backfire if inzy gets injured as he is bonding player and pakis cud be all splits again without him. More correct prediction cud be finalists or winners.But I think tey will reach semifinals fr sure.

SriLanka: This lankan team is good team under able leadership of jayawardene but they also have good set of weakness which cud expose them. Sanath jayasuriya cud just hope to add another cup to his tally before biddin a final goodbye.

Strengths: Sanath provides a good openin option in battin along wit sangakkara, atapattu and jayawardene. The comeback man arnold cud do somethin special in this WC. Basically they have some problems tat needs to be sorted out in battin as they lack experience and class except the top 4. Basically their lower middle order is weak and needs arnold to do well like he used to do in past. They have good allrounder in farvez maharoof and vaas is also good lower order batsman but no great class in them. In malinga they have fiepower in pace bowling and mutthiah gives the world class spinner to lanka. Their fieldin is decent and best in Asian teams as it has always been.

Weakness: Basically as I said before lower middle order, bowling isnt tat good except vass and murali.

Predictions: I think a super eight exit or may be bangladesh can send them packing first round.

West Indies: This west indies team is special and is much better than 2003 or 1999 team whcih cudnt qualify super sixes. They are good not coz they suddenly have all class players but they are playin well as a team and gelling together well as it cud be seen in the recent ICC champions trophy.

Strengths: Their strength is their batting in gayle, sarwan,chanderpaul, lara, samuels and bravo, they have amazing talent in batting. Their keeper batsman ramdin is also okk. In lower order in bradshaw, he provides good support. Taylor is a good fast bowler along wit powell. Economical bradshaw and good set of fielders.

Weakness: One day they cud be tigers, other day they cud turn croppers in batting and there bowling can be taken to places many a time.

predictions: I predict a westindies triumph in this cricket WC 2007. Windies are gonna lift this WC and windies are the team I will be routin fr in this WC. Fr everyone else hostin is a burden, fr windies it comes naturally. Lara will play his skin out. Other will just follow him. At the end of it all I see brian lara liftin this cricket WC 2007. My prediction is

England: The team tat u wud have said has no chance, has some chance because it did well against aussie in australia but was it england performing well or was it australia depletin will be known in this WC based on the both team performances. I personally feel it is aussie depletin and its end of an era fr this australian team like windies team of past.

Strengths: Their strength is the allrounder in flintoff who doesnt need to share the burden of captaincy after vaughans return and pieterson who provides tat charisma and flair which is very much unengland like except botham and flintoff. In paul collingwood they have a fighter. But except flintoff, collingwood, pieterson and andrew strauss to an extent rest of batting literally su***. With no trescothick or nick knight their openers are too weak and inexperienced and also ian bell doesnt seem tat much an odi batsman and everyone knows odi battin isnt vaughan's repertoire.

Weakness: Their bowling isnt world class wit james anderson supposedly leadin a pack of newbies. Paul nixon hasnt proved much as a keeper as well. Monty panesar is a good spin option but how good will he be in high pressure odis is again a big question mark. In simple words they just arent a complete team except 3 or 4 world class players and cud struggle.

Predictions: A simple super eight exit or may be a even harsher first round exit if kenya can spring in a surprise.