@Cricket Tadka: March 2012

Thursday 29 March 2012

'When you've played at the top it's hard to settle for second-best'

It has been a fortnight since Rahul Dravid retired and already the world has turned upside down.First ,he couldn't grab a helicopter to beat the Banglore morning traffic to get to the interview on time.Then he couldn't take his eyes off a large glass jar of what looked like multi-coloured sweets,grabbing a few on his way out of the coffee shop at the Leela palace.And finally ,this otherwise studious,decorous and meticulous man is completely relaxed about the fact that the lastleg of his players career will pan out in front of an adoring ,singing,dancing IPL audience,for whom "dot ball" might as well belong to children's activity books and "well left" is a Google Map instruction.

Just before setting out for his stint with the Rajasthan Royals,Dravid gave his first interview after retiring from International cricket,where he looked back on his career,the way ahead for the team,and taking the hard road to retirement...

World Final Was Not Sold Out

The 2011 World cup in Mumbai may have been the hottest ticket in town ,with reports of individual tickets selling for as much as $10,000 on the black market, but according to the Mumbai cricket Association,the final was not actually sold out.A report prepared by the association shows that 405 tickets remained unsold,ESPNcricinfo understands.These include 96 tickets in the Sunil Gavaskar stand (lower) at a cost of Rs1,500 each.The total value of the unsold tickets was Rs 73.4 lakhs..

The news that the association was not able to sell all tickets comes as a surprise given prior reports of the match being sold out and the thriving black market that arose around the game.A day before the final,even RR Patil,the home minister for Maharashtra,said "all the tickets have been sold".

Demand for tickets for the final soared to the point that the official ticketing website-Kyazoonga.com-

was crashed amid a scramble for 1,000 tickets that were offered online..
While the report did not unearth the evidence suggesting that ICC official tour operators were responsible for black marketing of tickets...

Wednesday 28 March 2012

"Dravid Walked Through Obstacles,not around them"

It was an evening filled with emotion in Mumbai-Rahul Dravid almost cried and VVV laxman had moist eyes,while Anil Kumble,Sourav Ganguly and MS Dhoni, one of the flagbearers of Indian cricket's golden generation.

The ocassion was Dravid's felicitation by the BCCI ,following his recently announced retirement from international and first-class cricket.Two of the biggest men in India cricket,BCCI president N Srinivasan (unwell) and Sachin Tendulkar (reasons unknown) migh have been absent,but the event,which took place on the plush lawns of a five-star hotel,was still very well attended. Many prominent former Cricketers and the entire India squad that will play one off the T-20 against South Africa along with senior cci officials,were there.

"He was someone who would talk through obstacles,not someone who would go around the obstacles"....

Before he said Goodbye ,Dravid told Dhoni and the rest of the India squad that he was certain that Indian cricket's legacy was now in safe hands..

'I may not be playing for India anymore but to the present Indian team what I would like to say is : guys ,I will watch with great interest what I think is very exciting and really talented group of young cricketers",he said.....

I hope that u will do better and you guys achieve great things..

Monday 26 March 2012

Cairns wins Libel case against Modi

Chris Cairns,the former New Zealand allrounder,has won his case against Lalit Modi and has been awarded damages 0f $142,000.Modi was also ordered to pay costs-which amounted to around $2.4million- by the judge,David Bean,who delievered his judgement on Monday morning.

Neither Cairns nor Modi was present in the court.

The judge also said that cairns was entitled to an injunction,preventing the accusations from being repeated...

Sunday 25 March 2012

Sammy Heroics In Vain As Australia Draw Series ::

Somehow, a 2-2 draw seemed a fitting result for a series that was so closely fought.That was the outcome after Australia's best all-round performance of the tour so far finished in a 30-run win, although the West-Indies captain Darren Sammy did his best to carry the hosts home on his shoulders with a powerful 84 that gave his team unexpected hope.But in the end ,Australia had more performers: half-centuries to David Warner,Shane Watson and Peter Forrest set up a big total of 281 for 9 and Brett Lee led a disciplined bowling display to wrap up the victory......