Test Cricket: And India Crush Australia, Take Unbeatable 2-0 Lead!

The end came much sooner than expected to cause a lot of embarrassment for the Michael Clarke led Australian cricket team. Powered by the Indian spinners Ravindran Ashwin (another five wicket haul) and Ravindra Jadeja (three wickets) Australia never gave a worthy fight and folded up for a miserable 131 in 67 overs with more than one and half days to spare. India crushed Australia by an innings and 135 runs in the second Test in Hyderabad taking an unbeatable lead of 2-0 in the four-match cricket Test Series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy being played in India. It was indeed sweet revenge for the absolute drubbing India received at the hands of Australia in Australia. While England spinners denied India a similar revenge in 2012  Australia has failed to deliver in batting and in pace or spin bowling so far and thus face a looming Series defeat in the last frontier they always wanted to conquer. 

It was also a huge relief for the troubled Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who delivered all cylinders firing in this Series and became the most successful India captain ever with 22 Test wins as against 21 of the most aggressive Sourav Ganguly. Cheteshwar Pujara was the deserving man of the match. Though limited to only a few 'individuals' Indian batsmen showed tremendous determination, patience and application in this Series so far. Such was the balance between Pujara and Vijay in their classic 370-run partnership that the natural aggressor Vijay exercised defensive tactics waiting for the right balls to hit and the new 'Wall' for India Pujara became the real aggressor.  The Scorecard:

The third Test between India and Australia starts in Mohali on March 14, 2013. Normally Mohali has a lively pitch with some touch of green, but seeing Australia's spinning woes authorities there may work overtime to convert it into a 'first day turner' as always demanded by Dhoni. In fact, Australia is not just vulnerable to spin only as their performance shows that they need to improve all-round to give themselves a fighting chance to draw level with hosts. At the moment Team India led by MS Dhoni looks a neatly woven together unit. They look formidable, invincible and triumphant. Michael Clarke would need to pull all possible and impossible tricks out of his sleeve to stop India. 

Test Cricket: India Poised To Go Up 2-0 Against Australia!

India continued to dominate Australia in the four-match cricket Test Series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to be in a position to go up 2-0 on the third day of the second Test in Hyderabad today. At close of play Australia reeling under Indian spin were 74 for 2 still needing 192 more runs to avoid an innings defeat. Earlier after a record breaking partnership of 370 runs between Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara the Australian agony lessened considerably as India folded up quickly for 503 runs losing the last six wickets for only 43 runs. At the moment the speculation going around is that of the margin of Australian capitulation—an innings defeat or by some number of wickets. Barring a dramatic batting recovery it would be extremely difficult for Australia to prevent India taking an invincible lead in this Series.

Yesterday had been a tremendous day for Indian cricket as the much talked about Indian batting matched the reputation with an incredible display all through the day except for the early dismissal of Sehwag—a continuing disaster in the opening slot. Two young newcomers Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara batted on and on remaining unbeaten on the second day yesterday taking India from 17/1 to 311/1 both achieving brilliant hundreds. On the third day today too they continued in full flow with Pujara completing his double hundred and Vijay becoming the first wicket to fall for a massive 167. Pujara could not last long after the milestone and fell for 204 superlative runs. They broke several records in the process—the biggest second wicket partnership for the country and the country’s fourth biggest partnership overall. After the spectacle in batting except for Dhoni who made a quick fire 44 in 43 balls other batsmen could not capitalize, but India raced to a massive lead of 266 runs.

This time in Hyderabad Australia got a pitch with some pace and bounce, but their batmen could not tackle either Indian pace or spin falling in heaps making a pathetic total of 237/9 after electing to bat first. The innings was lackluster except for a sterling innings of 91 from captain Michael Clarke. There was some drama in the end when Clarke declared the innings at 237/9 leaving India to bat only three overs. There was noting wrong in that gamble as he must have sensed the bounce in the pitch and hoped to capture a couple of Indian wickets. Nothing of that sort happened though. Australian bowlers too failed to fire up in both pace and spin despite a better pitch than the last in Chennai. Their spinners became productive only in the later part of the Indian innings today, but that increased only their worries and increased the appetite of the Indian spinners. With Ravindran Ashwin capturing both the wickets to fall today the ominous spinning signs were already showing up. The Scorecard:

Indian batting always boasted of individual brilliance rather than an all-round team effort and that showed in these two Tests too. India won the Chennai Test by 8 wickets thanks mainly to the incredible Dhoni double, hundred by Kohli and a good knock from Tendulkar. In this Test we have already seen who the individuals are. One only wonders what happens when all Indian batsmen deliver simultaneously.

This India Vs Australia Series is doing immense good for MS Dhoni. He became the first highest scoring (224) Test wicket keeper in India, the fourth Indian captain to score a double ton after Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and MAK Pataudii the highest scoring Indian captain against Australia and the highest scoring keeper-captain of the world after overcoming Englishman Alec Stewart’s 164. His troubles seem to be over at last with the cricket extravaganza called the IPL beckoning round the corner.

Heist Movie ‘Special 26’: An Engaging Real-Fake Drama!

You cannot call them criminals or gangsters or thieves though their job is to steal only! They are all educated, suave and very intelligent. They show tremendous zeal, patience, will power and even ‘patriotic’ feelings. Their conviction is that they are only trying to mop up the surplus money or plainly speaking black money from corrupt politicians, unscrupulous traders and opulent businessmen. They are not the Robin Hood type either as they use their booty to maintain themselves rather than helping the poor and needy. Problem is you cannot help but love them and love-adore-enjoy this heist-drama-thriller movie ‘Special 26’ because of them!  The movie written and Directed by Neeraj Pandey released all over on 8^th February and is declared a super hit—one of the finest from Bollywood this year. Special 26 is not a suspense flick, but you are sure to be regaled with a huge twist in the very end.

The leader of this pack of thieves…sorry…con artistes is Bollywood action-comedy-masala hero Akshay Kumar and you love him too for his honest, realistic and powerful performance keeping his glamour totally away. You also love his chief associate Anupam Kher who is a normal village householder with an ever increasing pack of children and yet capable of posing as a stern intelligence officer mouthing powerfully convincing dialogues bordering on patriotism. The two other associates—Rajesh Sharma and Kishor Kadam—also belong to normal God-fearing families, but get transformed while on the ‘job’. No problems if you would lovingly like to call them the gang of four.

The gang of con artistes poses as CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation)  or Income Tax officials armed with proper IDs and conduct cleverly planned raids on corrupt politicians and trading houses relieving them of their opulence and even getting documents signed by them. Normally these people do not report the matter to the police or the media because of black money issue. The gang also takes along local police officers in the process of the raids and makes perfect fools of them in the end.

Special 26 opens with a CBI recruitment drive organized in a Mumbai five-star hotel where grave looking Akshay and Kher take the interviews, and then the movie gets into a flashback about earlier raids on a New Delhi politician and a Kolkata trader to bring you close to the plot. From the very opening frame the movie flows logically, convincingly and delightfully at a super pace never tiring you in the unfolding except for the totally unnecessary songs that interrupt the superbly woven script and takings. In fact, Kajal Aggarwal in the female lead too looked unnecessary except for adding some glamour dressing to Akshay. 

Manoj Bajapai

Manoj Bajapai plays the real CBI officer chasing the fake ones. In a bid to establish a very tough officer pitted against the very intelligent conmen the director takes you through a chase scene where Manoj finally traps and captures the fleeing criminal. The chase looks too long and too well crafted as it has no other relevance to the plot.

It is refreshing to see Jimmy Shergill in a somewhat major role of a conned police officer who teams up with Manoj to track the gang. Such a gifted actor utilized so rarely and sparingly in Bollywood. Such a pity!

After the most thought provoking and taut thriller  

A Wednesday (2008) young writer-director Neeraj Pandey delivers again with another finely crafted film—based on real life happenings in 1987 when 26 con-men posing as CBI officers raided a big jeweler joint in prime Mumbai. Neeraj painstakingly created the sets and locations pertaining to the eighties and it was spot on. He has a strong eye for details, characterization and relationships with doses of subtle humor thrown in expertly. And there is no statement or justification on morality in his film which is a huge relief. With the con artistes becoming successful in the end that was kept wide open we can safely expect a sequel and why not.