ChinmayC Blog

  After getting over with IPL 2020 played to empty stadiums of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, and the rather loud virtual audios continuously fed in perhaps to enthuse television viewers, some of the true cricketing elements are catching our attention in all of their elegance or the lack of it. Last evening while watching the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) Vs Chennai Super Kings (CSK) duel in Dubai, the passionate display of India captain and RCB captain Virat Kohli somehow reminded me of cricket’s living legend Sachin Tendulkar in his evergreen one-day international innings, famous as ‘desert storm’, against Australia in Sharjah under the Coca Cola triangular cup in 1998. The images of the two greats got somehow juxtaposed: Kohli, with his team in a precarious state batting first, running like a hare, desperate for every single run, diving and rolling over on the ground, his spectacular shots all around the park in the most visible display of controlled aggression to his cruci...

Mumbai, Day 3: All shades of emotions were in spontaneously glorious display at Wankhede Stadium this morning as Sachin Tendulkar took the last bow out of cricket after India thumped West Indies by an innings and 126 runs in the Second and Final Test of the Tendulkar Farewell Series within the first session of play. There were cheers and tears; standing ovation and absolute adulation; ecstatic outbursts and pain of parting and unbridled show of pride, love and affection. Not only in the stadium where at least 25,000 people were there to watch their hero one last time, but everywhere across India and the world of cricket. Our newsroom was no exception as all of staff forgot to mind their work for one rare occasion and crowded around the television sets to watch and listen to the master-blaster. After all presentations and mementos the God of Cricket spoke to the whole of the world of cricket for nearly twenty minutes thanking his mother, his wife, his coach, his Wankhede where he star...

Mumbai, Day 2: The morning session of the 2 nd day of the 2 nd and final Test between India and West Indies perhaps has beaten even an India-Pakistan cricket thriller in terms of viewership, suspense, expectations and excitement. And the fans, ex-cricketers or organizers, Bollywood superstars, Chief Ministers, central ministers, political bigwigs and business tycoons who thronged the Wankhede stadium or millions of television sets were not disappointed by the God of Cricket. The master-blaster almost found his golden touch delivering glorious straight drives, elegant square cuts, lofted shots—he tried even the flick over the head of the wicket keeper that was made official by Virender Sehwag in one-day cricket. He added 36 more runs to overnight 38 crafting a partnership of 148 solid runs with Pujara to lift India out of the woods. He got out for a majestic 74 falling to Deonarayan and although fans wanted him to go on for a memorable century they were not disappointed either. It w...

Pragyan Ojha 5 for 40 Mumbai, Day 1: Indian captain MS Dhoni surprised many and disappointed more by electing to field first after wining the toss in Sachin Tendulkar’s 200 th and the second and final Test against West Indies in Mumbai today. The Wankhede track is known to take turn from the 3 rd or 4 th day making things difficult for the team batting last. However, it is also known to contain some juice and Dhoni perhaps wanted to exploit early morning conditions with his new look fast bowler pair Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami. Had the catches been taken early on the Indian captain’s decision could have been justified immediately. Finally, on the first day itself the crowds had the best of both worlds. They witnessed their team dominate West Indies completely and relished the retiring legend coming in to bat remaining unbeaten at stumps. The Indian fast bowlers, particularly Shami, maintained tight line and length reaching the speeds of around 145km per hour. Shami got th...

The retiring cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar fever has consumed his home city Mumbai with temperatures increasing as the second Test between India and West Indies after which the legend is to make the final goodbye to cricket nears. Everywhere fans are talking about him, the media channels producing special programs on him and the newspapers carrying special features on his achievements and glory. At different levels of cricket organizers and the state government felicitation programs are being held routinely or planned during the next few days. The Maharashtra Government had already formed a special felicitation committee with the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Ministers as members. Last evening a grand naming ceremony was organized at a Mumbai suburb where the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) dedicated a sprawling world-class sports facility as Sachin Tendulkar Gymkhana. In a colorful and vibrant function the legend participated expressing his deep gratitude and genuine cricket...

R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma Unbeaten at Stumps Day 2 The fans in Kolkata just about managed to have everything they wanted of their idol. They saw him jumping and running around the field, enjoyed him bowling and reveled as he took a wicket too on the first day of the first cricket Test between India and West Indies. On the second day today they wanted to see him bat early and therefore even cheered the fall of the first two wickets. Sachin Tendulkar came in to bat within the first hour of today’s play and he seemed to be in a good nick hitting two beautiful boundaries. But this wish of the fans to see him have a long innings was cut short by 'Llong'--umpire Nigel Llong to be exact--who ruled him out leg before even as the ball that hit his back thigh seemed to be going above the off stump. Problem is off spinner Shillingford—the wicket Tendulkar captured yesterday—actually beat the retiring legend and the best batsman of the world has in fact been beaten around his leg consisten...

Mohammed Shami West Indies got dismissed cheaply for 234 runs just after tea on the first day of the first cricket Test between India and West Indies at the majestic Eden Gardens, Kolkata today. This was brought about largely by a tremendous burst of swing bowling by Mohammed Shami who made his Test debut too being preferred over Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav due to his good performance in the recently concluded 7-match India-Australia one day international Series. Shami took four wickets for 71 runs and was also instrumental in a run-out. The second debutant for the first Test was Rohit Sharma who was finally given the Test cap thanks mainly to his Series winning innings of 209 runs in the final ODI against Australia in Bangalore. Test specialists Murli Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, spinner Pragyan Ojha, and of course Sachin Tendulkar featured in Team India. West Indies (WI) won the toss and elected to bat first on the slow pitch at Eden Gardens. The pitch hardly helped the bowlers—be ...

India's maiden mission to Mars was successfully launched today with its polar rocket placing the Mars spacecraft precisely into an intended Earth orbit in its first-ever historic inter-planetary odyssey. The ‘ Mangalyaan ’ or Mars Orbiter was launched on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota, on the Andhra Pradesh coast, at 14.38 Indian time. The mission is a bid to reach the Red Planet in September 2014 and test the Martian atmosphere for hydrogen and methane gases. As the launch vehicle soared space-ward scientists from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) could be heard shouting "Buriah!" – Brilliant! All prominent leaders and personalities have been showering praise and congratulations on these worthy Indian scientists. The mission will cost $73 million (£45 million), compared with the United States’ ‘Curiosity’ mission to Mars, which launched in 2011 at a cost of $2.5 billion (£1.56 billion). With...

Sachin Tendulkar today played his last innings in Indian domestic cricket in Lahli, Haryana where the Ranji Trophy Group A match between Haryana and Mumbai had been on for the last four days. The best cricketer of the world led his team Mumbai to victory by 4 wickets himself remaining unbeaten with a gritty and trademark-Tendulkar innings of 79 superlative runs. Thanks to the living legend of Indian cricket this first class domestic match has been getting all the media attention and craze of the cricket-loving nation which is so unusual otherwise. To make the occasion most memorable the pitch in Lahli had a lot of green and a lot of seam in it making it very difficult for the batsmen to get runs. And, the match has been very exciting all through with both teams having chances to win. Set 240 runs to win in the fourth innings to the match Mumbai had a torrid time chasing the target yesterday with wickets falling at regular intervals. But the master-blaster stood through as if determine...

Now it is final. Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is going to be missed fully in the cricket field in a matter of days. Sachin has announced his retirement in Mumbai today from Test cricket after his 200th Test likely to be played in his hometown Mumbai this November. At the moment he has 198 Tests to his credit and two Test matches have been specially arranged by the BCCI inviting West Indies in short notice. West Indies has already agreed and the BCCI succeeded in its bid to capture the momentous occasion for the world's best cricketer. Sachin Tendulkar had earlier retired from one-day, IPL and all varieties of T20 cricket. The greatest cricket spectacle will no longer be in display and a superlative records-breaking career spanning more than twenty years is coming to an inevitable close. Meanwhile the hurried through fast-paced Australian tour of India for which Cricket Australia has faced a lot of criticism back home has taken off tonight with a T20 international match in Raj...

The Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has crossed forty years of age having a glorious 24-year-long career during which he created and broke many world records and made 15,837 runs in 198 Tests with 51 hundreds. He has achieved the unique feat of scoring a century of centuries when we add 49 one-day hundreds to his Test tally. However, all good things finally come to an inevitable conclusion and therefore in case of this unbelievable cricketer too speculation about his retirement has been rife, particularly after he announced his retirement from one-day and T20 cricket rather suddenly. During the IPL-6 he suffered an injury to his left hand which perhaps advanced his retirement from IPL too. Meanwhile, he did recover fully from his injury and has been included in Mumbai Indians team for the Champions League this month. But two basic problems persisted all the time, first his age and second his indifferent form in Test cricket for the last 38 innings that did not witness a single...