Was that really me?

Man, its wierd to hear your own voice .... realized it so very much while watching this video ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc_pI3r9Kdg

Was embarassing, don't know if it was tooooooooo bad, but definitely thought there is a lot of scope for improvement.

All in the game

First you say you're always with me,
Coz being with me is fun.
Say you'll go the whole distance,
Since the love that you found all right.
Come on. What's going on?
What you're thinkin'?
Then you say you need me,
Like the garden needs rain.
Then you go and deceive me,
Like it's all .....
.... in the game...
All in the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R00T80pwKmE

Love the ad .... and more so, the jingle.....fabulous it is.

Recession Times

There was an interesting analogy that came to mind while reading through a cricinfo article today. The article said that Tendulkar recently criticised the pitches on the last tour to New Zealand thus: "The wickets are great [this time around]. Not only players, but the spectators are also enjoying it. Last time we came here the bowlers got false confidence and the batters were looking for technical problems which didn't exist. I have at least not played on tracks like those and it wouldn't be ideal for the spectators either."

Most of it is fair comment, but the pitches are not great this time either. Not with the small boundaries at least, where edges and dabs go for boundaries and sixes. Won't the easy runs give some of the batsmen false confidence? Wouldn't bowlers be looking for faults that might not even exist when they look at their figures?

A booming economy, like it was in the last five years or so, is like a batting paradise: small boundaries and a flat pitch. Even edges and dabs go for boundaries and sixes and batsmen get a false sense of confidence. There is no distinguishing between a Tendulkar and a Ryder, everyone scores hundreds.

On the other hand, a period of recession is like a hard seaming pitch. Or a pitch that offers sharp turn and bounce. Only batters of the highest quality can survive, score and do well. Champions flourish wheraeas others perish in such conditions. I bet the Dravids and the Chanderpauls get more pleasure scoring runs in such testing conditions. Its in such conditions that they get distinguished from the rest. Flat track bully's like the Jaffers and the Laxmans who score tons of runs in good batting conditions, are not good enough to survive on such a pitch. They blame the pitch and the conditions for them not doing well.

I think this is a perfect analogy with what is happening with the economy right now, we keep blaming the economy for whatever is happening with us.

Thats why I think batters should try to improve their batting skills rather than blaming the conditions! Atleast not unless the pitches are as bad as the New Zealand pitches of 2002-03 tour :)