Twenty20 - Excitement galore!

The sweetest sound of the ball hitting the juicy part of the willow, followed by a huge roar in the crowd – You’ll get to hear these very often now. Yes, the Twenty20 world cup has kicked-off and its time for some excitement. Initially, I was one among those who criticized this format of the game citing various reasons like no scope for bowlers, etc., But, I had to soften my anti-Twenty20 stance after watching the Australia v Zimbabwe match. It was a cracker of a match and Zimbabwe’s stunning triumph sent the most significant message to all cricket teams around the world – On any given day, any team can beat any team, no matter how strong you are.

It has been said that the bowlers don’t get a chance to show off their talents, but I don’t see that happening. Though it is a batsmen’s game, there are a lot of things to do for the bowlers. Bowling in the Twenty20 game requires a lot of skill and character. Its all about showing variations, putting the ball in the right areas
and bowling well in tandem. They should start attacking from the word 'go' and they cannot afford to relax at any point. We saw the Proteas bowl exceptionally well during the death overs against England and the lights of Vettori, Flintoff, Jayasuriya were impeccable with the angle they bowled, making life difficult for the batsmen. It’s all about skill which really matters. In fact, the batsmen don’t have many options but to somehow find the boundaries. When the shots in the book don’t work, they should probably play a few strokes like Dougie Marillier. The power plays, free hits and the most sensational bowl-out are all included to spice up the game. The crowd could not have asked anything more at Durban when they witnessed a truly spectacular game of cricket. It’s hard to express those joyous moments when India clinched the thriller with a bowl-out.

Let us wait and see how this Twenty20 cricket is gonna affect the 50 over format. 300 was once a impossible target but today, even 400 is being chased. The evolution of Twenty20 could well take the one-day games to another level. We can hopefully see teams scoring over 400 consistently and also chasing it successfully. I see this as a major opportunity for the minnows to narrow the gap between them and the test playing nations by playing more Twenty20 cricket.

ICC hopes for globalization of the game with this format. We can also hope that cricket becomes a part of the Olympic Games as the time duration is reduced to just three and half hours per game. I can now expect a true competitive cricket match even when Australia plays Bangladesh. Cricket, a game of glorious uncertainties gets even more uncertain when it gets much shorter.

Though ICC is eyeing on the financial implication of the game, there should be no negligence shown for the test matches. The real essence of cricket lies in test cricket. The real skills of a cricketer can be evaluated only in test matches. Besides watching the willows behave violently, we would like to watch a good battle between the bat and the ball. The ICC should encourage Twenty20, without diluting the number of test matches in future which is very healthy for the game.

Cheers….!

I swear – iPod is the best invention of this decade. Undoubtedly, it is the best of all the gadgets that I have. iPod is too good but at times, that itself becomes a problem. The following poem (not sure whether it really is a poem) is an outcome of my frustration on an insomniac night….

In search of sleep....

It was another weary day

I lay on my bed

Trying hard to rest my brain

Too many problems thrust upon

Eyelids refuse to kiss each other

In search of sleep, I scuffle

I finally decide to switch on my iPod

Sleep comes on click of a button

A perfect example of how mechanical

My life has become

Music makes its way to my ears

I enjoy the pleasurable sensation it creates

In search of a better song, I browse

Too many choices to make

Not convinced on one,

I keep hopping from one song to another

It makes me impatient

Yes, man’s soul is a monkey

Realization happens again.

I decide to give-up the search for song

And get back to the search of sleep

The struggle continues….

Too many cooks spoil the food

Too many choices spoil the mood

The two great idols

I am not a movie buff basically, but I do watch a lot of movies. Besides watching Rajini movies, I prefer watching a few selected movies again and again. One of them is Virumaandi. I happened to watch it recently and that made me write this article. Now, don’t raise your eyebrows. I am a die-hard Rajini fanatic, but I never dislike Kamal. He is indeed a rare phenomenon in the Indian Film Industry. With a bundle of talents in him, Kamal has the potential to take Indian cinema to the next level. Virumaandi is one movie, which showcases his all-round talents – direction, screenplay, singing and of course acting. The screenplay of this particular movie is so brilliant which is a best example of Kamal’s direction skills.

I don’t really understand one thing. Most of the IT nerds, topnotch guys who are Kamal’s fans take pride in criticizing Rajini’s movies as dumb. They think that they are the most intelligent audience in the world and sound like they have never seen any Tamil movie. Let me put this question to them – Just look back at Kamal’s career. Where did he come from? What kind of movies was he acting in the 80’s? He may now give flamboyant movies like Hey Ram, Anbe Sivam, etc., but what about movies like Sakalakalavallavan which was a blockbuster in the 80's? Both Rajini and Kamal were acting the same kind of movies. Kamal’s zeal for cinema drives him in trying out various things, risking the producer’s money. Anbe Sivam and Hey Ram are masterpieces, but they were utter flops. It becomes difficult for the common people to understand his movies, though they bear a significant message.

Rajini, on the other hand has always been the czar of the box office. Though Baba was a flop (as per Rajini’s standards), the loss was made up as the money was returned to the distributors by the superstar himself. This is a known story though.

Sivaji – The much expected movie which is already a super hit, is approaching its 100th day. Lot of people complaint about the logic of the story, but with Rajini and Shankar, both the super-hero and the super director, its no wonder that a “larger than life” story has come out in grand style. Labeled as India’s costliest movie ever, you cannot expect this movie to be so realistic and very story-oriented. Shankar’s stories have always been a fantasy. For brainy people who discuss about the missing logic in this movie, I would like to say one thing – We all know that the black money issue cannot be sorted out the way it has been portrayed in the movie, but at least we can be happy that it has happened on the silver screen! The movie was very much enjoyable and entertaining. Understandably, this is a huge business. Nearly 60 crores of investment has to be taken back and then the profits are to be made. Returns would only come if the movie is like this and not like Anbe Sivam. We all know that Kamal’s “Marudhanayagam” is a world-class effort, but who is ready to fund for it?

It’s always not wise to compare a Lion and a Tiger. Both Rajini and Kamal are here for different purposes. If Kamal takes his movies to Oscar nominations, Rajini’s movies set a fire in the box-office all over the world. I personally feel that both of them did not get the recognition they really deserve. Only the bollywood stars are seen as the representatives of Indian Cinema. In terms of fan-following or business, tamil cinema is infact far better than the bollywood, except that Bollywood movies are watched by almost all people across the country whereas tamil movies are being marked as regional movies. Otherwise, our idols - both Rajini and Kamal would've reached the pinnacle by now!

Kamal amazes...
Rajini inspires !!