Best Photos from our year end vacation















Elephant ride in Sakrebylu training camp















Kshiti trying her hand at shuttle badminton; future Saina Nehwal at practice ;) (Eagle Eye resort Chikmagalur)
















kshiti enjoying Sun (Eagle Eye resort Chikmagalur)


















Kshiti inspecting the sorrundings

This Week In Cricket ( 4/1/2008 - 11/1/2008)

Australia - SA series

Australia won the last test match to stay at the top of the ICC ranking by winning the last test match. The scenes were similar to last year's Sydney test match with Australia winnig with few balls to spare. SA have to become more ruthless to replace Aussies at the top.

Overall this series proved test cricket is more entertaining than one day or 2o/20 is played between two evenly matched teams; it is pity that this was not a 5 match series. I am keenly awaiting the return series in SA.

This week in cricket (older - 23/12)

What a week for test cricket; we saw 2 among top 5 chases of all time recorded in last one week. It was pleasant to see SA give Aussies their own medicine by turning the match on hits head during the last 2 days. I was trying to find the reason for this phenomenon; here is the list I came up with.
1. More consistent and neutral umpiring.
2. Teams feel that runs are gettable mainly due to the confidence from chasing in ODIs.
3. Pitches have got better as there is immense pressure (TV rights) to prepare pitches that last 5 days.
4. 2 bouncers/over rule and protective gear that make ordinary batsmen become good/great players.


India - England test series
---------------------------
India lived up to their superior billing after some good performances from England in Chennai test match. Sehwag was the real difference as his inning made sure that none of the other batsmen came under any kind of pressure to score runs at a brisk pace. Another highlight is the bowling performances of Zaheer and Ishant that has resulted in fast bowlers getting man of the series awards in succession in Indian conditions. IMO, we should stop calling 2 match series as series as this hardly provides any chance for teams to come back.

This Week in Cricket ( week ending 28/12/2008)

AUS - SA test series - 2nd test

Awesome test series so far!; Duminy played one of the best test innings to turn the match on its head; he got good support from Steyn; SA seem to be winning all the key battles in this series so far; this is a clear indication that they might win the series. I am supporting them in this series.

I had vacation from 12/22 onwards; we had planned to spend 3 days at Eagle Eye Resorts and then proceed to Shimoga (my wife's home town) from there.


We started at around 5.30 AM; Bangalore-Hassan road was better than expected. We stopped for breakfast at Kamat hotel around 8.45 AM. food and ambiance were really good; their gesture of providing newspaper stood out. We crossed Belur around 10.15; road to Chikmagalur is narrow and not well maintained from there.

The resort is around 45 KMs from Chikmagalur; the road is adequate in certain patches but the route is too scenic to be concerned about the road. This was my first driving experience through hilly terrain and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The sound of birds and trees was magical; most of the villages along the way just have few houses near the road and rest in far off estates.

We reached the resort around 1 PM. The final stretch of the road is really bad; the resort staff were really helpful; the view from the top is awesome; food was fine. I thoroughly enjoyed the morning walks amidst the coffee plantation.

This was the first time we stayed outside with our daughter (1 year 9 months old); she was very co-operative and also seemed to enjoy the close proximity to flowers and fishing.

We took Balehonnur - N R Pura road towards Shimoga; the route was again pleasant with lot of trees around; in fact we started missing them as we got closer to Shimoga.

This Week In Cricket (7/12/2008 - 14/12/2008)

India - England test series

At the beginning nobody expected England team to be a in a position to focus on the cricket let alone winning it. England won the toss (most important thing in Indian conditions) and batted adequately in first innings(second most important thing in Indian conditions); then surprisingly, Indian team decided to gift England for coming back with shocking batting performance; now they find themselves chasing history to save the match on last 2 days.

Rahul Dravid's stocks are falling rapidly; unless he scores big in next 3 innings, his career will be over; it will be sad if India's best ever number 3 batsmen has to bow out this way.

SA - Aus test series

Things are hotting up with both sides dishing out verbal volleys. This SA team seems to be the best suited to win Australian conditions after mighty WI of late 80s. Hope thier fast bowlers stay injury free and trouble Aussie batsmen. Australians have had it too easy for sometime now except couple of series in India and England.

This week in Cricket - 30/11/2008 - 6/12/2008

This week was a dull week for cricket with hardly any action on the field. It is a strange situation after so much action during last few months.

Indian team for England series
No surprises; Yuvraj scored heavily at the right moment to get himself another shot at test cricket. Personally I would have liked to see a technically sound young batsman like Rohit Sharma get that chance but Yuvraj's claim is hard to ignore after back to back centuries( on placid wickets and an England attack not suited to the conditions).

England - India test series
If England return to India for test series, it will go a long way in removing the fear of touring India for countries. Tour looks to be on track at this point of time unless any surprising events take place. I am not sure how much cricket will be on every body's mind as now England do not have any practice match before the first test.

Australia - SA test series
I can't wait to see this series get started; an Australian team that on slight decline against a SA team that is on ascendancy. SA's attack looks enviable in Australian conditions with Steyn and Morne Morkel in their ranks. I think SA's main confidence booster will be from the knowledge that they will not be tormented by Warne again. This is a great chance for SA to put one across Australia.

Wish we had no religions in this world

It has been frustrating last few days watching few miscreants killing lot of innocent people. My first thoughts after seeing was:"why do we have different religions in this world". This would have reduced the unrest we have in our world today.

My condolences to all the people who died or got injured. it is high time we got serious about our internal security. It needs a focus planning and budget.

This Week In Cricket (24/11/2008 - 30/11/2008)

India-England one day series

India seem to be far superior to England in these conditions. India are finding match winners in all positions. Zaheer and Sehwag have been a revelations in last one year. Yuvraj has been unstoppable in this series. Dhoni's captaincy has been adequate so far. England seem to be confused about their best 11 and by the time they figure it out series will be over for them. On flat pitches it is difficult to except bits and pieces bowlers to succeed. England should have had Monty in their lineup.

Regarding India, my concern is that we will be in the same position as England when we tour Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa. Key thing is to plan ahead so that you have the best 11 for the conditions from match one.

Australia - NZ test series

New Zealand were competitive for first three days but Australia were much better batting team in the given conditions; this helped them to win the match. New Zealand had promising performances from Tim Southee and Ross Taylor. Australia's batting lineup for this match was really deep with both Symonds and Watson in the team.

My travel log

I traveled for a week to San Francisco (SFO). Here are some of the things I noticed

1.Our(Bangalore) new airport

a. it is pleasant , problem is that again it will be just enough in few years.
b. Immigration was a pleasant experience without any big lines. It felt like I was at some other international airport.

2. Singapore airport

a. Awesome!; feels like a huge shopping complex.
b. While returning, went on a short city organized by SIA (Singapore airlines). City looks like one big park (at least parts shown to us). I felt that Singapore will be nice city to work in; it is closer to India and is a beautiful city.

3. Food and entertainment options from SIA ranged from adequate to good; I can't understand why they have to give yogurt with every Indian meal when there is no rice to eat with.

4. Hotel in SFO was excellent(Hotel Vitale). Close proximity to Autodesk office was a huge bonus.

5. SFO airport looks like a old one in comparison to Singapore.

Cricket updates

I have not been able to blog for last few weeks for couple of reasons
1. I was down with a viral fever for a week.
2. I traveled during the last weekend (SFO) and have been busy with all day meetings till end of this week.

I shall leave for India tonight.

In cricket lot of things happened during this period. Here is my take on main ones.

1. Ganguly's retirement
Ganguly performed admirably in his last test match; playing against turn while facing first ball during second innings showed that he had already lost focus about the match by then; it could have easily been catastrophic if not for lucky partnership between Dhoni and Harbhajan.

2. Kreja
What a debut! he purchased wickets, but showed his potental by troubling Indian batsmen whenever he bowled in the right areas.

3. Ponting
What a miss!; I can;' understand him not bowling Watson after tea; one more wicket at that juncture and they had excellent chance of winning the match. I can't think over rate was the only issue here. I would have treaded missing a test macth against Newzealand( do Aussies need him against them?) to test victory to level the series. is there match fixing in play here?

4. Dhoni
If keeps amazing.; perfect captaincy record so far. He has also scored some crucial runs in this series.

5. India Australia test series

Excellent cricket throughout. Good advertisement for test cricket. I am firm advocate of cricket getting away from toss; this will make test matches more evenly contested. I would suggest that weaker team should always get the chance to decide wheter they want to bowl or bat.

This Week In Cricket (1/11/2008 - 9/11/2008)
Excuse me or not posting for last 2 weeks. I went to Chennai during Diwali and was down with viral fever after coming back. Lot of things have happened in cricket during that period. I shall try to post my take on these events in installments.

Delhi test match
Again an excellent advertisement for test cricket. Laxman and Gambhir batted beautifully to make sure that India were ahead in this match. Indian disappointing bowling and fielding created some tense moments in Indian second innings after Australia posted a healthy first innings score. At least now people should stop questioning Laxman's capabilities; I agree that he is not the most athletic player around but makes up for it with his boundary scoring abilities.

In the end draw was a good result for Australia after losing the toss and considering 600+ runs in the first innings.

Kumble has retired
Kumble's retirement had to be fast tracked as he was not sure of playing the last match of the series after suffering an injury Delhi test match. He chose the right occasion to have a grant send off that he richly deserved.

Kumble is the greatest match winner India has produced so far. I have fond memories of him bamboozling England batsmen during 92-93 series. This was the start of Indian domination on home soil. He has picked up wickets all around the world and has been the first man his captains looked for containing and picking wickets as well.

This Week In cricket(11/10/2008 - 18/10/2008 )

Excuse me for not posting this week in cricket for last week.

India Australia first test match

This was a good test match with gripping action till last day. Pitch was slow and did not permit fast scoring. I watched the action live in stadium on Saturday (3rd day). India batted poorly after a good start. It was fascinating to watch Ponting set different fields for different batsmen. They almost has sweeper cover stationed for all the batsmen to reduce the number of boundaries. This ploy was to a good effect by Australia during last series. Over all, India did well to salvage a draw. Ponting put to rest his doubts about his ability in these conditions with a fine century. I think India would have won the match if we had batted first considering the amount of spin available during later half of the match.

Ganguly is retiring
It was coming; it was unfortunate he was not picked for Irani trophy match. Ganguly added a different dimension to Indian cricket when he took over captaincy from Sachin in 2000. He was one of India's smart one day batsmen; he took aerial route to a good effect. After watching him field and run between wickets during Bangalore test I feel that he has made the right decision; his batting might have been still fine for one more year but his fitness levels are going down rapidly.

India Australia second test match
Dhoni won a good toss; won winning toss is like winning half the match in our conditions. Amit Mishra came in for Kumble, I sincerely hope that we not pay for choosing him over Chawla as backup spin option. Match is well balanced at end of day 1. We would have been in good position if Tendulakar was still at the crease.

This Week in Cricket (28/9/2008 - 5/10/2008)

Indian Team for first two tests

Even though selection panel and its working process were changed, team is on expected lines except for the side kicks and Ganguly. Only beneficiary seems to be Badrinath in the place of Rohit Sharma; looks like extra batsmen is selection committee chairman's pick;). Having said that, Badri deserves his place on merit alone; he has one of the top averages in Indian domestic cricket. Not sure what special Amith Sharma has done recently to pip Chawla and Ojha for third spinner's position.

Bringing back Ganguly holds no logic after he was dropped from the team for Irani trophy. This shows lack of understanding between different selection panels.

India - Australia test series

This is India's best chance to defeat Australia if batting clicks and right pitches (spinner friendly) are provided. Australian batting looks little shaky and bowling is heavily dependent on pace. It will be foolish if pitches have any resemblance of grass. Series against Australia is not the time to provide sporting pitches for game's development; India never gets batting wickets when we play at Perth or Durban.

Indian 11 for the first test looks well settled with 6 batsmen,4 bowlers ( Zaheer, Ishant, Kumble, and Harbhajan). Australia on the other hand will have to think whether it makes sense to play spinner for the sake of variety.

Australia Vs Board President's XI

Highlight was RIcky Ponting' struggle against Chawla. Rohit Shrama and Virat Kohli batted with lot of confidence and got deserving centuries in first innings. I was surprised to see that, this was Rohit Sharma's second first class century; some of the youngsters like him and Kohli have got thier chances very early; it is up to them now to justify their fast tracking to big league. I almost forgot: Yuvraj scored a century in second innings; as things stand now, Badrinath and Rohit Sharma are ahead of Yuvarj in the race for extra batsman's in the test team.

This Week In Cricket(21/9/2008 - 26/9/2008)

Irani Trophy

This is our traditional season opener that puts previous season Ranji champions against rest of India (ROI). Main reason for starting this tournament was to challenge Mumbai (then Bombay) Ranji team during their domination of Indian first class scene. This time it is more colourful due to the availability of all the Indian test team players except for Tendulkar. The match so far has been keenly contested with ROI having upper hand at this point of time. It has been fascinating to see Indian batting face up to Ishant and Sehwag against Zaheer, Kumble ,and Harbhajan Singh. Dhoni has been the stand out batsman so far with Munaf and Ishant sharing the spotlight on bowling front. There was also a verbal spat between Munaf and Sehwag that has taken interesting turn with Delhi team lodging complaint against Munaf.

Akash Chopra's cricinfo blog

This week I came across this blog (http://blogs.cricinfo.com/beyondtheblues/). It is a interesting read with insights from a player's view.

This Week In Cricket (13/9/2008 - 19/9/2008)

Ganguly's exclusion from ROI team

This is a bold move from selectors. Last time they did this rest of the batsmen performed so badly that they were forced to recall Ganguly. We definitely need to start finding replacements for 'fab four' and hopefully more deserving candidates will get a chance instead of Yuvraj, who has been found lacking time and again in test cricket. Kaif looks to be in good form and can be a good replacement at no.6 if he tries to be solid instead being flashy..

exodus in Bangladesh

Bangladesh along with New zealnd and Pakistan is more vulnerable to ICL due to lack of financially lucrative domestic competitions. Bangladesh cricket will fell the pressure due to their small talent pool. Sooner or later some board has to allow players to play in ICL and represent their countries as well; other option is for IPL to have more players from these countries in their league; this potentially can harm free market promise of this league.

This week in Cricket (9/7/2008-19/12/2008)

ICC annual awards 2007

Chanderpaul getting recognized as the premier cricketer of the year was the highlight of these awards for me; he has been veryconsistent over last few years amidst heavily inconsistent Westindies batting line up. Dhoni's stocks in world cricket are soaring by every passing day, one day cricketer of the year award is another step in the right direction. It is hearting to see a bowler (Dale Steyn) get test crickter of the year award;Dale Steyn at full flight is a sight to behold; his performances with the ball over last year have been phenomenal.

Australian team for Indian tour

Leaving out Symonds from the team was a statement from Cricket Australia to rest of the team and aspiring Australian players that discipline is top most priority irrespective of the stakes involved. Another point to note is the eagerness of Aussies to start the tour early with an extra practice match. This kind of attitude to game and team is what makes Australians the great team that they are irrespective of the individuals.

I have Blackberry 8320 Curve now

Yesterday I received 8320 curve model for official usage. It feels very intuitive to use from the outset. I have not explored the phone features of it as yet; I have started to like the keyboard and trackball capabilities.

This Week In Cricket (1/9/2008 - 7/9/2008)

England SA one day series

Last match of the series was abandoned. This allowed SA to stay in 2nd position in ICC rankings. This brings curtains to busy international summer in England. For England, return of Flintoff and Harmison looks promising along with confident start by KP on captaincy front.

For SA, as hinted by their coach, Micky Arthur, it is time for some seniors to give away for youngsters in shorter form of the game. The most likely ones to get the axe seem to be Ntni, Gibss, and Kallis to a certain extent. SA should give chances to Prince as he seems to read situations well and is an excellent runner between wickets.

Australia - Bangladesh one day series

Aussies have completed 3-0 whitewash. I doubt whether these kind of tours help Bangladesh to improve their cricket as they hardly showed any kind of resistance. One clever thing on CA's part is to host smaller teams during off season; this allows them to avoid small teams during their summer calendar and hence helps preserving public interest and money.

EventHandler generic delegate for events

While reading one of dotnetslackers article, I came to know that now we have a framework defined generic delegate for events. This will reduce the need for having delegates for common events that you have to in your code.