Gujarat Titans Lift The IPL-2022 Trophy Routing Rajasthan Royals In Gujarat!

Powered by inspired bowling performances by captain Hardik Pandya (3 for 17), Rashid Khan (1 for 18) and Yash Dayal (1 for 18 in 3 overs) Gujarat Titans, joining the IPL for the first time, broke the backbone of Rajasthan Royals restricting them to just 130/9 in 20 overs and won the IPL-2022 Final by 7 wickets, tonight, the 29th May 2022. Playing at 'home' for the first time the Titans have indeed made the Gujarat fans ecstatic, but the match played in a jam-packed 1.2 lakh capacity crowd stadium in Ahmedabad, perhaps the biggest crowd in IPL history, was not a befitting climax of the absorbing tournament as it proved to be a low-scoring and languidly one-sided one. However, the No.1 team at the league stage, GT have maintained their supremacy beyond any shred of doubt. An astounding performance by them in all the departments of the game. A deserving winner indeed, and mind you, I billed them as hot favorites to lift the Trophy! After early jolts Gill and Pandya steadied the chase, then then Gill and Miller ensured GT become the Champions.

Having the 800+run Orange Cap Jos Buttler firing all the time a rollicking Royals looked very confident and spirited, deciding to bat first after winning the toss. Unfortunately, after a brief blitzkrieg by Jaiswal (22 in 16) the fire in them flickered out, in painstakingly suffocated manner. Buttler did try hard to stick on, but amid the carnage perished to Pandya for 39 runs in 35 balls. No other batsmen could take the game back by giving the most required charge as captain Samson too fell cheaply. RR tried very hard on the field, but it was too low a target to defend and dropped catches didn't help their cause either. 

Captaining for the first time in his career and that too for a brand new team, Hardik Pandya has really scored a few strong points in leadership and in individual performances. He has thus become a hot contender for a future India captain, provided, of course, he maintains his all-round consistency plus fitness and cements his place in Team India in all three formats. Now, it's back to official international cricket: first, India Vs South Africa in 5 T20Is, and second, India go to England to complete the Test Series they lead 2-1after COVID confusion kept the Series hanging. 

Movie Heropanti-2: The Pinnacle of Insanity!

I had the misfortune of going for a movie in 2019 in a big theatre before the Pandemic put a stop to it, titled Pagalpanti (Madness) and was nearly driven mad. It was not my fault as the movie was having a lot of superstars and we went particularly because of Anil Kapoor. But now, after watching the new movie Heropanti-2 (heroism or hero antics) the previous movie seemed to have at least some kind of a method. The question arises then as to why I’ve made the mistake again! Well, firstly it was streaming free where I can ruthlessly go forward at will. And most importantly because I love the kid Tiger Shroff, son of my beloved Jackie Shroff, and ironically, Heropanti (2014) was Tiger’s debut film where his athletic and gymnastic skills plus his lithe, dancing and almost flying body were noticed. I watched only parts of that film some of which seemed a bit sensible, giving Tiger some scope to showcase his acting skills too, perhaps because it was a remake of a Telugu film. Of course, the movie flopped.

 

Coming back to this sequel, not clear why it was necessary at all, Heropanti-2 has absolutely no method in the sheer madness unfolding before your unbelieving eyes. All the characters are raving maniacs except perhaps for the goons who always know what exactly to do, thanks to their exhaustive exposure to the Bollywood tamasha. The immensely talented actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, named Laila God doesn’t know why, did his best as a grotesquely comic monster that the script demanded and what he has been doing on the screen from the beginning he would’ve fitted a mental asylum much better. His sister, supposedly the heroine of the movie, is even madder than her brother, always jumping and pouncing on Bablu (Tiger) anytime and anywhere, irrespective of the situation they are in.

 

Rather sadder than madder is the fact that the movie doesn’t even try to utilize Tiger’s intense action skills. His character is also reduced to ridiculous mockery, all the time flying, prancing and jumping like a cat in a bid to escape from the attacking goon, again God doesn’t know why; till the last few scenes where some real fighting was required as suddenly Bablu got infected with a rare kind of ‘patriotism’, inculcated in him by a mysteriously comic-serious figure called Khan Saheb, purportedly the chief of an intelligence agency. At times, I couldn’t help thinking: is this meant to be a satirical take on something, nowadays popularly known as the ‘caged parrot’. Maybe the ‘insanity virus’ is affecting my brain too.

 

I really feel sorry for Tiger Shroff who has so far been used only as a stunt-hero, not giving him any chance to prove his acting talent except perhaps for the Baaghiaction franchise (three movies so far) where we can see his intensity as an actor to some extent. Well, Akshay Kumar and John Abraham are also called action heroes, but they’ve been getting ample opportunities to act in serious roles and also in good comedies. I think Tiger should start selecting his films very carefully from now onward and Jackie Dada should also give more attention to the kinds of movies his son’s being asked to ‘act’.

 

I wonder the sheer wastage of money, to the tune of 70 crore in this mad scrap, which could’ve been used for more humanitarian purpose like for the Pandemic-hit poor in the way Sonu Sood has been doing. This is, of course, very unfortunate that the virus has damaged Bollywood very heavily, snatching away many great artistes forever from us, reducing many others to depression due to lack of work and earnings, and perhaps driving a lot others just nuts, not knowing what to do for a recompense, thus landing up with such absurd projects. The best course of action at this juncture should be to go for low-budget serious movies or sensible comedies without keeping the focus constantly on the big stars only.

 

The story? Well, I don’t actually know if there was a story. Laila is supposed to be a magician who wants to loot all the money from all the banks of India on 31^st March with his ingenious App, God doesn’t know why once again. Bablu was supposed to be a government undercover agent, also a rouge at some stage and again a something between a villain and an agent. Once, perhaps two years back, Bablu helped the authorities to nab all of Laila’s gang; however, later the same team appears in New York to rob India from there. Maddening, you see! Don’t get into it even if it’s free, my advice. Get away from for sure, stay safe…and sane.

IPL-2022 Final: Gujarat Vs Rajasthan!

Jos Buttler has notched up his 4th century of the IPL-2022, a new record, and sealed his team's place in the Final on March 29  routing Bangalore by 8 wickets. RR won an important toss on a bouncy pitch and put RCB in. Except for Patidar whose brilliant ton enabled RCB to reach the play-offs all Bangalore batsmen were hopelessly below par. It is surprising how this team with consistent non-performing stars and the worst net run-rate has progressed thus far. Super cricketers like Kohli, du Plessis etc are expected to perform at least in crunch games. Sheer pace of the RR bowlers, Prasidh Krishna in particular, damaged Bangalore beyond repair.

The Qualifier-2 played in the stadium of the country in Ahmedabad has disappointed the huge crowd. The only moment of crowning glory is indeed Buttler who hit 106 not out in 60 balls with 10 fours and 6 sixes including the winning one. He has almost ensured his Orange Cap leaving KL Rahul behind and out. Anyway, we can expect cracker of a final with the best two teams fighting again for the trophy. In their Q-1 encounter GT beat RR despite Buttler innings. RR who is in the Final since the first IPL in 2008 that they won will be going all guns for a repeat victory. Fingers crossed! 

Miller-Pandya Catapult Gujarat In IPL-2022 Final: Rajasthan Can have Another Go in The Ahmedabad Q-2!

Led by captain Hardik Pandya and David Miller the No.1 Gujarat Titans (GT) at the league stage beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 7 wickets in the thrilling Qualifer-1 at the packed Eden Gardens, Kolkata tonight and catapult their team in the IPL-2022 Final, playing in the IPL as one of the two newbie franchises. In the last over by Prasidh Krishan GT needed 16 runs to get into the Final and Miller hit the first ball to a towering six.  Tensions ran high for both teams. But the South African southpaw had none of it and hit the second ball too over the boundary almost nonchalantly, reducing the equation to 4 in 4 balls. And then the third consecutive six in the third ball and all was over. No.1 has thus kept up its persistently classy performance throughout and at this stage looks to be the clear favorites to lift the trophy.

 

Chasing a rather stiff target of 189 runs in 20 overs the consistently successful opener Wriddhiman Saha got himself caught behind for a duck in just the second ball of the first over by Boult at his home ground Kolkata. The other opener Shubman Gill and Matthew Wade took charge, but Gill (35 in 21) was unfortunately runout at the team score of 72 in the 8^th over.  Soon after Buttler took a brilliant boundary line catch to dismiss Wade (35 in 30) off the bowling of Obed McCoy. But then David Miller and Hardik Pandya took full charge of the proceedings neutralizing the spinning duo of Ashwin-Chahal.

Earlier, put into bat, a glorious innings of 89 runs in 56 balls by Orange cap Jos Buttler with the highest individual 629 runs in 14 matches at the league stage (a record 3 tons and 3 half tons) has gone up in smoke as the momentum could not be maintained by other batsmen except for Sanju Samson (47 in 26) and Devdutt Padikkal (28 in 20). The turning point for them was that they were restrained effectively by the GT bowlers including prominently Rashid Khan in the middle overs, and Buttler singlehandedly took them to a score of 185/6 in seemingly the last ball of the innings when he ran himself out rushing for a suicidal second run. And then a comedy of sorts. The Umpire declared a no-ball and a free hit. Ashwin came to take the free hit with Parag at the other end. As Ashwin left the ball go as it was a wide Parag rushed to the other end thinking the former had failed to connect and got himself run out. Finally, Ashwin could hit the free hit and added a couple of runs taking the score to 188. In the chase by GT several dropped catches by RR also did not help their cause at all. 

 

RR under the captaincy of the late legend Shane Warne had won the inaugural IPL-2008 Final despite being billed as the weakest team of the tournament. After that, they qualified for the play-offs only twice till 2015 and got mired in spot-fixing controversies that year getting banned for two years from the IPL along with CSK apart from their sloppy performances after 2018 and an unending change of captains. This time they’ve been playing much better thanks mainly to the batting mainstay of Jos Buttler and captain Sanju Samson with spirited bowling by Trent Boult, Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. Of course, RR can have another go in the Qualifer-2 in Ahmedabad on 27^th May when they’ll meet the winners of the Eliminator between LSG and RCB tomorrow at the Eden.

IPL-2022 Play-Offs Decided: RCB Gets The 4th Spot With GT On Top And RR, LSG 2nd And 3rd!

It has turned out the way I’d analyzed in an earlier post that either RCB or DC is going to fill up the only vacant 4^th spot in the play-offs as MI defeats DC at the Wankhede tonight by 5 wickets. In fact, the five-time Champs Mumbai, coming to its true potential much too late with Ishan, Bumrah and to some extent Rohit firing with the batting mainstay of Tilak Varma and Suryakumar Yadav the latter being sorely missed in the last few matches due to injury, has become the virtual eliminator of the tournament: they first threw CSK out of contention; then they nearly did the same to SRH much earlier than yesterday when Hyderabad was finally ousted as RCB defeated GT by 8 wickets; and today they ousted a very deserving Delhi who needed only a win to secure a berth based on its much better net run-rate than Bangalore. Opting to field first Mumbai restricted Delhi to 159/7 in 20 overs thanks to superb bowling by Jasprit Bumrah who took 3 for just 25 in 4 overs. Delhi has been badly missing its opener Prithvi Shaw for the last few matches as he was suspected to be suffering from typhoid; Shaw came back today, but could not do much as David Warner failed in this crunch game. It was due to cameos by Rishabh Pant and Rovman Powell that enabled Delhi to post a modest target of 160 runs. With tonight’s convincing win notwithstanding MI remains at the bottom of the table locked on 8 points each with CSK, but lower down due to its lesser net run-rate. Still, some consolation for the last three performances indeed. 

 

Anyhow, the play-off games have been decided now: Gujarat to take on Rajasthan in Qualifier-1 on 24^th May and Lucknow to take on RCB in the Eliminator on 25^thMay, both matches to be played at the Eden Gardens Kolkata. The winner of Qualifier-1 will enter the Final straightaway while the loser will wait to meet the winner of the Eliminator. Qualifier-2 between the loser of Qualifer-1 and the winner of the Eliminator on 27^th May and the IPL-2022 Final on 29^th May are to be played at the Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad. Immediately after this cricket extravaganza South Africa is to tour India from the first week of June to play five T20 International matches.

 

It’s been indeed good to see that the last few matches since my ‘dubious’ view have been very tough and fought competitively, giving no scope for doubt to true cricket lovers. In fact, tonight Tim David (34 in just 11 balls) again delivered massive hits before getting out perhaps due to rush of blood one more time, but making the victory quite easy at the end. The last league match between Punjab and Hyderabad tomorrow is now inconsequential, it may just change the order of the ousted teams in the points table. In all, the 15^th edition of the IPL has been a rather absorbing affair with crowds let in and steadily swelling for the first time since the pandemic.

Lord Shiva Dwells In Your Heart And Home Always!

Lord Shiva is believed to be the most powerful God in the Hindu Trinity with Brahma and Vishnu. Lord Shiva is described as a destroyer and also a recreator and transformer. He is also referred to as Mahadeva or Maheshwar—the Great God. In his benevolent form he lives like a simple householder with his family of other Hindu Gods and Goddesses and spends His time in Kailash with the simplicity of an ascetic. But when He is angry, he becomes the Destroyer in which form he can obliterate demons, impurities in human minds and even the whole world. He is everywhere like any other omnipotent and omnipresent God. You can find Him in your heart, in the environs of your home and do your prayers accordingly; and if you want to worship Him in the form of an idol you can install a Shivling or Shiva Linga, the mark or sign or symbol of Lord Shiva, in your home or visit a temple or a shrine or a place of worship even under a big tree that are found almost in every locality in India. There are even artistic priests available in the country who can come to your home, create a perfect idol of Shivling in clay and do a most gratifying Puja for you. You absolutely need not launch yourself in a journey of finding and discovering Him.

 

History is a process of evolution and change. Mother Earth keeps on changing through wars, conflicts, rivalries, reforms and recreation in an endless cycle. Mother Earth belongs to the whole of humankind, and not to any particular section of it. Since evolution has been the eternal cycle human discoveries and inventions definitely mark the progress of humankind. In modern times archaeological surveys lead to priceless discoveries of civilizations, scriptures and monuments. Such priceless assets add to our knowledge and should ideally be preserved in museums and research institutions. Such discoveries should never ever lead to disputes or quarrels over the rights of ownership as we just said Mother Earth belongs to all. Petty quarrels make Lord Shiva very angry and we’ve been watching the devastation caused by Mother Nature in the recent decades, and mind you, the Shakti or the energy of Lord Shiva’s better half Parvati or Durga or Kali gets channelized through the Lord only.

 

Throughout history many of the kings or emperors, irrespective of their religions, had either done a lot of good or did a lot of evil deeds and acts of destructions. Many invaders coming from various regions of the world ravaged and savaged our countries on many occasions leaving a trail of pain and suffering; however, the next rulers repaired again, and therefore, the process goes on. We cannot bring those to court for doing wrongs over the centuries, neither can we reward those benevolent ones in public events. But we can do indeed learn, gather knowledge and follow the good ideals.

 

We should consider ourselves very lucky to be living in a modern and digital world of today where everything is at our fingertips. We can even find our beloved gods and goddesses in our handy devices and sing or listen to prayers, either alone with oneself or with others, within them. If we find something objectionable or we disagree with something/someone we can always exchange our views openly in a peaceful and a virtually-built environment, instead of breaking out in open physical conflicts that definitely anger the divine powers, Mother Earth and Mother Nature. The best option is to go on enhancing our Gyan or wisdom rather than be vapid about it.

 

We should also shift our focus on how to further the all-round progress of our country in all fields of activity. We’ve seen how the Pandemic nearly destroyed us; how the economies have been hit; how the inflation is becoming uncontrollable; how the gas cylinder prices have shot up beyond the 1k mark and the fuel prices have crossed the 100+ mark, still rising; how the unemployment has been becoming a scourge; and what has been happening to our neighboring country Sri Lanka. We have much to ponder upon while keeping our prayers pure and within ourselves. Besides, should we go on with our relentless hunts/quests/pleas to overburden our courts that have already been reeling under extreme pressure?

Quinton Quake, Shattered Records And Kolkata Bows Out Of IPL-2022 In A Breathless Thriller!

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) opener Quinton de Kock, the South African southpaw and keeper, created an incredible chapter of a superlative batting display in the Indian Premiere League history by scoring an unbeaten 140 off just 70 balls with 10 fours and 10 huge sixes. He has become the first cricketer with the highest individual score of IPL-2022 so far and the third highest in IPL history after Chris Gayle (175 not out in just 66 balls with 13 fours and17 sixes) in 2013 and Brendon McCullum (158 not out in 73 balls with 10 fours and 13 sixes) in 2008 editions. Quinton has also created the highest opening partnership of 210 runs with captain KL Rahul (68 not out in 51 balls) in IPL history, this being the first time ever when not a single wicket of a team fell in the full 20 overs. Both of the openers showcased a batting display that can give precious lessons in cricket to the budding cricketers, apart from entertaining cricket lovers to their heart’s content. This is indeed the triumph of cricket.

 

Quinton de Kock took the lead from the very beginning accelerating the momentum from phase to phase in the innings and leading to a crescendoing climax in the 19^th and the 20^th over. In the 19^th over he hit four huge sixes off Tim Southee and four consecutive fours in the 20^th over off Andrew Russel. Normally, when the opening partnership goes on and on the momentum invariably decreases as the batsmen get tired and any new batsman coming in at the fall of a wicket cannot immediately pick up and accelerate; but not this time, in this unforgettable partnership where the scoring rate went on gaining more and more momentum with Quinton hitting and Rahul providing solid anchoring.

 

With nothing to lose Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) gave a terrific chase, never giving up despite early jolts. Quinton, following his incredible innings in batting, took a brilliant diving catch in the very first over to dismiss Venkatesh Iyer off the bowling of Mohsin Khan who delivered another severe blow by taking the scalp of Abhijit Tomar in his second over to reduce KKR to 9/2. Then there followed quickfire cameos by Nitish Rana, captain Shreyas Iyer and Sam Billings. Finally, there was a spirited last-ditch effort by Rinku Singh and  Sunil Narine made it 21 in the last over. 

And Rinku (40 in 15 balls) made it 5 off 3 balls, and in the fifth ball of that last over a brilliant one-handed catch by Lewis ended his incredible efforts. Needing 3 in 1 ball KKR failed to achieve the target by just 2 runs, thus bowing out of the IPL-2022. But not after taking the match down the wire. Andrew Russel a huge disappointment again in both bowling and batting while LSG never relaxed and fielded magnificently. In fact, despite this veritable thriller, one of the best IPL matches ever, Kolkata never deserved to be in the play-offs, their early promise breaking into smithereens thanks to inconsistent and fragile performances by their supposed celebrity players, sloppy fielding and an utter lack of team work. It’s a real dampener for the spirited crowds of Kolkata as the first two play-off matches are going to be held there.

 

Now LSG officially enters the play-off stage joining the Gujarat Titans (GT), both of them being newbies which can also be a record in IPL history. LSG’s entry into the play-off has been a foregone conclusion after it became evident that except for either Bangalore or Delhi no other team could reach 16 points.

 

However, we’ll keep on following the proceedings in the remaining four league matches of the IPL-2022, still very closely. 

SRH Vs MI: A Tim David Dubious Moment In IPL-2022?

Against my wishes as a true lover of the game of cricket, I’ve still preferred to use the word ‘dubious’ in the title of this piece. This is essentially because what happened in the 18^thover in the match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) belied all logic and tenets of professional cricket. Further, this basically business-driven tournament has had its long history of controversies and scandals over the decades. Even now, if you surf the internet over IPL matches, you’ll find a whole lot of sceptics who think most the matches are always stage-managed, primarily through the scourge of the game called spot fixing. Well, their views cannot be correct in general, because we’ve been witnessing fiercely competitive cricket in most of the IPL seasons, and on many occasions this writer has commented about the triumph of cricket over business. Okay, now to that moment that happened last evening at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.

 

Mumbai, opting to field first, eventually faced a very imposing target of 194 runs to win thanks basically to SRH captain Kane Williamson’s decision to demote himself in the batting order following his series of failures as an opener and the team’s five losses on the trot, and this tactic paid dividends instantly with Priyam Garg (42 in 26) and Rahul Tripathi (76 in 44) almost took the match away from MI with, for a change, a good contribution by Nicholas Pooran (38 in 22). However, again for a change, MI raced to an opening partnership of 95 runs in the 11^thover and was very much in the game. But then, an inspired bowling by the Indian pace sensation Umran Malik and Washington Sundar jolted them badly, Rohit Sharma narrowly missing what could’ve been his first fifty of the ipl-2022, and MI was finally reduced to needing 67 runs of the last five overs which was near definitive with all recognized batsmen back in the pavilion.

 

And then Tim David who was given only three matches prior to this with insignificant performances happened. He started hitting all around the park from the word go notching up 46 runs in just 18 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes. In that momentous 18^thover David collected 26 runs off the first five balls of Natarajan, suddenly making MI looking at a magnificent victory needing only 19 runs in 13 balls which was immensely achievable considering the standards of the tournament. But unfortunately, in a desperate move to retain the strike David raced to the other end. It was hardly convincing that he failed to notice that the ball never actually went beyond the bowler. To bring it to a horrible disaster, Ramandeep Singh, also started running to the other end instead of taking the most professional and logical step of sacrificing his wicket. And can you believe it? In the 19^th over with a new batsman at the crease the much-discredited veteran pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar delivered a maiden. Perhaps a never-before incident in IPL history. Ramandeep tried this best in the last over, but SRH went on to win by just 3 runs.

 

Now was this ‘dubious’ or ‘rush of blood’ or ‘unprofessional’ or a combination of all? ‘Rush of blood’ perception is valid to the extent that both of the batsmen involved were rookies—Time David a Singaporean-Australian batting all-rounder who made his debut in T20 cricket only in 2019 for the Singapore National Cricket team playing, so far, only T20 cricket in various leagues and became the first Singapore cricketer to feature in IPL when he was purchased by Chennai in 2021 while Ramandeep Singh, a bowling all-rounder and a Ranji Trophy player, was playing his first IPL. But even then, they’ve been playing in tough competitive cricket and should’ve at least been aware of the professional cricket standards.  Besides, one rookie should not so much doubt the ability of another officially all-rounder rookie to take a single. In all, combined with the stark unprofessionalism, lack of any logic this act verges on the absurd, and therefore, I stick to my word ‘dubious’.

 

Now, what are the ramifications that could follow this action? IPL-2022 is already hit from the business side with the consistent franchise MI set to figure at that bottom and not only that the same team also ousted the commercially more viable franchise CSK; and had MI pulled off the match SRH would also have been out of contention. If Kolkata wins today against Lucknow the former will reach 14 points; if Bangalore loses tomorrow against Gujarat the former will remain on 14; if Delhi loses against Mumbai the former remains on 14 points; and in that scenario the last league between Hyderabad and Punjab is set to be a do-or-die match, if the former wins, they will also be on 14 points. This signifies a five-way locking of 14 points with the net run-rate becoming the decisive factor. So much for keeping the excitement of the tournament on. Of course, other options are immensely possible and one or two of such possibilities could still make the last league match inconsequential. Anyway, we’re going to observe the proceedings of the tournament very closely here onward. Very closely indeed. And we’d like to be proved dreadfully wrong.

Tributes: Legendary Santoor Maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma And Cricketer Andrew Symonds!

I did indeed have some regrets though as I couldn’t pay my homage to the legendary Santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on time, and as an aftereffect failed to write about the Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds. Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma passed away in a Mumbai hospital on 10^th May 2022 after a prolonged period of kidney ailments and dialysis, at the age of 84. The glowing and flowing tributes paid to him from the music world, particularly the field of Indian Classical Music, and from all other fields which are still continuing show what a music stalwart he had been since the fifties. Panditji had introduced a folk string instrument called Santoor that used to be played in Kashmir and had Persian origins to Indian Classical Music and popularized it immensely with his learning, concerts and fusion all over the globe and through an invaluable collection of albums. At his very initiation to this instrument by his vocalist father Uma Dutt Sharma young Shiv Kumar observed the playing styles of the instrument that integrated Sufi notes with traditional Kashmiri folk music.

 

Born on 13^thJanuary 1938 in the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir, then a princely state, Shiv Kumar was taught vocals and tabla from the early age of just five by his father. Later his father introduced him to Santoor and a legend was born.

 

Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma released his first solo Santoor album in 1960 and started performing all over the country. In the process he collaborated with the legendary flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and legendary tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain in many of his fusion concerts or jugalbandis and in various instrumental music albums. Before getting deeper and deeper into classical music he was open to composing film music too, and as early as in 1955 he scored a piece of background music for V Shantaram’s classic film Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje. Settled in Mumbai he actively collaborated with Hariprasad Chaurasia that created the famous music director duo known as Shiv-Hari. They composed music for several of Yash Chopra’s superhit movies: Silsila (1981); Faasle (1985); Chandni(1989); Lamhe (1991); and Darr (1993). However, as we indicated earlier, he started delving into the depths of classical music, and famously said later, “Classical music is not for entertainment. It is to take you on a meditative journey”, which resulted into his moving away from composing Bollywood movie music. Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma has been showered with numerous national and international awards including the Sangeet Natak Akademy Award in 1986 and Padma Vibhushan in 2001.  

 

Personally speaking, I knew Panditji as a music director of the Shiv-Hari duo since the early eighties and saw Zakir Hussain as an young boy with long hair playing tabla like a magician on various Doordarshan clips. I didn’t know much about classical music those days. Only after my marriage to Ragini, a Hindustani Classical Vocalist herself, in the late eighties I began my guided initiation into classical music, both Hindustani and Carnatic, and started enjoying immensely. Thus began our musical journey in the musically enriched Mumbai environs, attending and listening to various recitations in various popular auditoriums in various localities of the city of dreams. We watched the classical legends perform live. The concerts of Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharm with Zakir Hussain were unforgettable and we never missed an event when the duo was to perform. In the meantime, Ragini too started her vocal recitations on various famous Mumbai stages and I got immersed into the depths of classical music, now understanding why Panditji referred to classical music as a meditative experience; although primarily for the performers it’s for the sincere listeners too.

 

A globally famous musician, but a very humble and modest human being, and with striking good looks and a tall astute figure. Being a disciple of Padma Vibhushan Dr. Prabha Atre, Ragini had several opportunities to meet and interact with the legend during music conferences and concerts, and she says till today what a great musician he has been; what a modest soft-spoken gentleman he has been; an imposingly handsome person, but with striking simplicity. Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma leaves behind his wife and his two sons, the first son Rahul is already an established Santoor performer. We salute the Santoor legend.

 

Cricket Australia has been hit again with the third tragedy in the last few weeks as one of its most lively cricketers Andrew Symonds died in a single car crash on 14^thMay 2022, at the young age of 46. This comes after Rodney Marsh and Shane Warne passed away within twenty-four hours of each other. We remember Andrew Symonds as a feared Aussie cricketer as India fans, thanks to his ferocious hitting with the bat and effective attack with the ball—both pace and spin—and of course, and a fielder of extraordinary abilities and reflexes; former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting described him as the best fielder he had ever seen. During his active cricket career from 1998 to 2008 for Australia he played in all three formats, however, made his impact mostly in the one-day internationals, at a time when the Aussies were invincible. He had been a part of Australia’s ICC World Cup triumphs of 2003 and 2007. Symonds, unfortunately, had had his share of controversies mainly due to his alcoholic habits and the infamous ‘monkey gate scandal’ involving India spinner Harbhajan Singh during India’s tour of Australia in 2008. It is really tragic that still in the prime of his cricket career Andrew Symonds had to finally retire in 2012 and his life ended now by another fatal tragedy. We mourn his demise and pay our tributes to a great cricketer.

(With some inputs and photos from Wikipedia) 

IPL-2022: As Rajasthan Beat The Giants Only One Play-Off Spot Is Effectively Up For The Grabs!

Rajasthan Royals thanks to an intensive bowling effort by all their pacers and spinners, Boult, Prasidh, Ashwin in particular, easily defended their score of 178/6 against the Lucknow Super Giants beating them by 24 runs at the Brabourne stadium on 15^thMay 2022. By this super victory Rajasthan moves to the second spot in the points table with 16 points with a healthy net run-rate while the newbie Lucknow slides to the third position, remaining with 16 points. Bangalore in the fourth spot has to win their final match against Gujarat convincingly to move to 16 points and better their sluggish net run-rate. Once they achieve that it’ll be very difficult for the other 4 teams to have any chance of making it to the play-offs. Essentially, with three teams on 20 and16 points each, it means that only one spot is up for the grabs for four franchises with a possibly 14-point deadlock between them.

 

The real contest is now between Delhi and Punjab, both of them with 12 points and each having two matches left. Tomorrow it’s the crucial contest between them win for either of them is set to enhance their chances of making it to the final four. If Delhi wins both of their remaining two matches, they’ll end up with 16 points and may even edge out Bangalore on net run-rate and vice versa for Punjab. If they win one each, they’ll be locked with 14 points each. Mumbai, hurt and pain written all over them, can spoil the chances of Delhi and Hyderabad of making it to the final four if they produce the kind of vengeance displayed against Chennai. Incidentally Rajasthan will play their last match against Chennai.

 

Hyderabad is in a poor shape after losing all the last six games despite having probably the best bowling attack this season, mainly because of the batting failure of captain Kane Williamson, and they can only reach up to 14 points if they manage to win both against Mumbai and Punjab. Besides, they have a very poor net run-rate. Kolkata is in a far worse condition despite their spirited win against Hyderabad in the previous match and a positive net run-rate, for the simple reason that they have only one match left which is against the Giants and even if they beat Lucknow, they can only achieve 14 points, thus joining a possible five-way 14-point deadlock. Lucknow can win any match if captain KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock fire with the bat. In last evening’s match both of them failed to lethal blows by Rajasthan’s Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna and their team lost the match. It’d be a real pity with Kolkata not figuring in the first two play-off matches to be played in their ‘home’ ground, Kolkata’s lively Eden Gardens.

 

The tournament cannot be said to be wide open now as Gujarat has already made it to the play-off and Rajasthan and Lucknow are almost sure to join them. As we said earlier there is effective suspense only about which team’s going to make it to the last spot available. Our bet is either Delhi or Bangalore. What about yours?

IPL-2022: As We Bid Goodbye To MI And CSK The Bairstow-Livingstone Blasts Save PBKS From Us!

Putting ‘goodbye’ in the headline could have more significance than perhaps you can possibly imagine; of course, the very few who ‘read’ these pages must have understood. Yes, we’re referring to the Goodbye post a few days back. However, that apparently painful post did not contain any kind of commitment or decisive action on the part of the writer which is significant in light of some famed international cricketers saying quits to the game through public announcements and then coming back again as if nothing was the matter. Therefore, that ‘goodbye’ meant nothing to the public, even if it could’ve hurt this writer a lot since he’s been rather harassed four times in the last four months for the purportedly suspicious visitors to the site who never read, but don’t care to go on a sabotaging rampage. Out of a morbid fear I've stopped posting my links on the social media too. What a pity! But still, why should I care who read and not read but try to damage! This site is very dear to me and it’s not at all surprising that cricket has changed the ‘goodbye’ to ‘welcome again’! The last league match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) last night acted like a gamechanger for me, if not for IPL-2022 or cricket.

 

The MI, already thrown out of the IPL play-offs, started nonetheless with a vengeance igniting fiery spells by Daniel Sams taking two scalps in the very first over of the match, then going on to take his third in the fifth over and joined in by an equally lethal Jasprit Bumrah, a tad too late for his team, who took one, thus reducing CSK to a shaky 17/4 from the scary start of 5/3.

 

Why this vengeance? Well, perhaps it has everything to do with the reinstated CSK captain MS Dhoni or MSD who, in fact, literally threw MI out of contention reliving his role of the Finisher on 22^nd April, at a time when the ‘home’ franchise was desperately looking for its first win after losing six on the trot. CSK could never recover from this nightmare last night, getting all out for a pitiful 97 which is CSK’s second lowest score in IPL history. Although MI captain Rohit Sharma failed once again his team managed to win the match by 5 wickets. Most significantly, this MI win now threw MSD’s CSK out of contention for the play-offs. And therefore, we bid goodbye for the five-time Champs MI and the defending Champs CSK.

 

Gujarat Titans (GT), the titanic newbie, became the first team to seal a play-off spot with 18 points followed by the second newbie Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) with 16 points. With MI and CSK out of contention and LSG almost in needing to win one out of the remaining two matches, there are still six teams still in contention for at least two of the four play-off spots, and every one of them needing to win all their remaining matches to form probable locked-in situations with 16 or 14 points each when the net run-rate comes in as the decider. Of course, Rajasthan Royals has a better chance at 14 points with two matches to go. Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) is the only team with 3 matches to go and at 10 points, losing all the last five matches on the trot after a resurgence. 

 

The Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) had 14 points with two matches left and tonight they have faced the Punjab Kings (PBKS), still in contention at 10 points with three matches left, hoping to get the precious two points to virtually secure its spot. However, put into bat the PBKS’s opener Jonny Bairstow blasted away with incredible 7 sixes and 4 fours in his innings of 66 runs off just 29 balls (scored his fifty in 21 balls). The other Englishman in the team, Liam Livingstone, followed him religiously, blasting 70 runs in 44 balls with 5 fours and 4 mammoth sixes. The English duo thus ensured their team score beyond 200, and all others fought hard to finally score 209/9, setting a target 210 in 20 overs which looked beyond RCB despite du Plessis, Kohli, Glen Maxwell and Karthik. For RCB, fast-bowler Hazelwood suffered the most conceding 64 runs in his allotted 4 overs. Finally, PBKS won the match by 54 runs and joined the Delhi Capitals (DC) at 12 points each and two matches remaining for each. RCB has one last match and a tough one too against the No.1 GT on 19^th May to get to 16 points that could possibly give them a spot in the top four.

IPL-2022 Sidelights!

The cameras involved in the coverage are extremely sensitive and emotive. They capture all emotions of the spectators. When a wicket of a certain team falls its supporters look as if they'll drop dead in grief, but the moment they see themselves in the big screens they burst into uncontrollable cheers! So much for IPL loyalties. 

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Several times during a match the umpire raises his hand and points a finger very emphatically to his watch. The gullible might feel that it reminds them for how long they've been couch potatoes. No! It's a reminder of a very strategic kind like that of Putin, Biden and the like. For the knowing watchers it could be a signal for a tea or drinks or snack-chaat strategy. So much for strategies. 

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The phenomena called The Cheerleaders have not been seen in the three editions, due credit to the Pandemic. With crowds allowed in this edition they could very well have been imported. However, the bio-bubble involved in the cheering process could've rendered them pitifully cheerless leaders. So much for the cheers.

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Thanks to the Pandemic, of course, we've been served with the unique spectacle of Virtual Guest Boxes. The apparent jokers, as per the behavior pattern visible in the boxes, are making all kinds of movements, waving and dancing all the time whenever you behold them in the boxes in your screens. Well, for us they are virtual, but in their reality the quantity of jerks they are producing is bound to virtually drain them of all their sweat in the real heat of the raging summer heat. So much for virtuality. 

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Finally, you cannot but help feel sorry for the players running around on the field when the weather department has been sounding yellow, orange and such kinds of heat wave alerts. The tons of sweat they are shedding is increasingly making their tons really scarce. However, the kind of money they get is more than enough to make them play as much as they sweat in the process. So much for humanitarian feelings. 

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IPL-2022: Ravindra Jadeja Gives It Back To MSD As Mumbai Registers Their First Win!

Right from the beginning of the IPL-2022 Ravindra Jadeja who was handed over the captaincy by Mahendra Singh Dhoni (MSD) had been going through an extremely lean patch. Being one of the greatest all-rounders of the game he had been consistently failing with the ball, with the bat and failing even in his specialty in fielding, dropping catches that is rare in his international career. Under his leadership CSK lost the first five games on the trot, then won the next two and again lost the 8^th; and Jadeja hardly contributed anything worthwhile in those games. So, it has been on the cards that something is going to happen as a captain cannot possibly be dropped. Finally, on Saturday, the 30^th of April 2022 Jadeja called it a day as captain and requested his leader-mentor MSD to take over again. And Dhoni obliged, and he will be leading CSK again in a crucial game against the tough SRH tonight. However, it’s not clear if Ravindra Jadeja was forced by the team management to step down or he found the burden of leadership too heavy to perform well which he in fact said in his official statement.

 

Now, the question arises as to why MSD should accept the captaincy again after resigning from the position prior to the start of the tournament. A young leadership was very much needed for the ageing franchise. Is it only his experience that counts? If so, how long would experience go on taking precedence over performance? Dhoni has performed hardly better than Jadeja except being the most dependable wicketkeeper and except for that match against MI when he brought back the vintage MSD as a Finisher that we wrote about recently. Besides, while in Team India as the wicketkeeper he had been captain Virat Kohli’s mentor for several years, and so, why has he not done so for Jadeja too. Or why the team management has not gone for a younger alternative instead of sticking on to experience. Perhaps it has more to do with ‘commercial’ reasons as CSK and MSD had been inseparable since the beginning of the tournament and if that is so, we have nothing to say since IPL has everything to do with commerce, much more than cricket. Anyway, it’d be interesting how Dhoni lead the team in Pune in the second game this evening. One more loss would virtually rule them out of the tournament.

 

Meanwhile, the beleaguered Mumbai franchise won their first game against RR, again thanks to the only successful batting duo of Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma as captain Rohit Sharma failed again. Jasprit Bumrah went wicketless again, but the rookie off-spinner Hrithik Shokeen along with Meredith restricted Rajasthan to a manageable 158/6. However, this victory is more of a face-saving affair than staying on as a tough contender in the hunt for a berth in the play-offs.

 

In the first of the double-header between RCB and the top performing GT last afternoon, Virat Kohli did pick up his first half-century of the tournament, but lost the match giving GT 16 points now with five games still left for them. Having played ten games so far gaining only ten points, for RCB the journey to the play-offs is going to be tough while Hyderabad has played only 8  and has 6 left to add to their ten points. Delhi who are playing against the formidable LSG in the first game today still has the chances to make a comeback with six games left to lift their present 8 points. Kolkata is struggling miserably at 6 points out of 9 games thanks to their celebrated non-performers.

PS: LSG gets back to the second position defeating DC in a tough match by 6 runs, opting to bat first). CSK beats SRH by 13 runs under MSD put into bat. Tough luck for Jadeja because  only in this match the opening duo of Ruturaj Gaikwad (missing a glorious ton at 99 out) and Devon Conway (85 not out) happened to fire all cylinders helping the team put up a huge target of 203 for SRH to win.