India’s T20 World Cup Team based on IPL performance

Now that all the league matches are over, it is time to check whether the Indian Team that has been selected for the T20 World Cup is performance based, or rather purely based on the past laurels.

Last time I chose my team based on the total number of runs scored, and wickets taken as my criteria. This time I am changing the criteria and using the Cricinfo’s Fantasy Cricket Stats (sorting it based on total points). And this time I am choosing a team of 15 that comprises of 5 batsmen, 3 all-rounders, 1 wicket keeper, and 6 bowlers (like the Indian Team already chosen for the T20 World Cup).

Team
Batsmen
Suresh Raina
Rohit Sharma
Sachin Tendulkar
Yuvraj Singh
TS Suman

All-rounders
Yusuf Pathan
Irfan Pathan
RA Jadeja

Wicket keeper
Dinesh Karthik !!!

Bowlers
Anil Kumble
Ashish Nehra
RP Singh
Harbhajan Singh
Pragyan Ojha
P Sangwan

There are two names here that anyway would not have been in the team – SRT & Kumble. Replacing them would be:
SRT – Virat Kohli
Anil Kumble – Praveen Kumar

There are some major surprises here, none bigger than: No MS Dhoni! The captain of the team is out. Karthik has been keeping better, and scoring at par with Dhoni at least in this format. Also no Gautam Gambhir, no Virender Sehwag, no Zaheer, no Ishant Sharma. Well at least for Sehwag and Zaheer, I can at least say that they did not play many matches, but Gambhir?

Anyway I do not have any problem with the team chosen for T20 World Cup, although I seriously wish that Nehra was going rather than Munaf Patel – this guy never seems to be giving his 100% (to use an oft-used cliche).

Wishing that this T20 brouhaha finishes soon, so that we can get back to the serious business of the Ashes, and the French Open, and the Wimbledon!

Adah, we meet again!

There was no doubt, it was Adah. I could have recognized her anywhere, anytime even after all those years, having spent all three years of my B.Com pining for her. Rather than putting on weight as most of our batchmates had done, she had lost few kgs and was actually looking sexier. I had always thought that if I ever met her again, I would be too embarrassed, and would not be able to even open my mouth. Surprising myself, I called out, “Adah!”, and was chatting away as if we were the best of friends when we had last met rather than I was trying to hide from her having said a bit too much at our farewell.

Seeing no ring on her finger, I had to get the most important question out of the way right away, “Are you single?”

A forlorn smile played on her lips, “Single, never married, heart-broken twice.”

“I never thought beautiful girls like you ever got heart-broken, it was always us the guys that would be left heart-broken”, I said going in flashback mode.

“You could just say I’ve been unlucky in love”, she replied.

I remembered the college days, “Till the time I knew of you, I can say you have been unlucky. Being proposed by me almost every year, how many times did I propose to you, thrice?”

“Actually it was four times, I think you would not remember our farewell night. You were completely sloshed, and opened up your heart to me. I don’t think anybody has ever talked to me that way since then.”, she replied.

“Hmmm, I have faint recollections of that night, although I have no memory of being rejected the fourth time by you. The other three rejections were etched deep in my heart and it took some time for me to pry them off.”, I tried hard to remember that night.

She hesitated, “Maybe.. Nah, let it go”

I insisted, “Come on, you can say whatever is on your mind. It has been ages since that episode!”

“Maybe… Maybe, the reason you do not remember the rejection was that I never rejected you the fourth time, I sat silent and did not say anything. I did not know what to say.”, she confessed.

I was stunned, “Why did you not say anything that time?”

“I just did not know what to say.”, she said.

I fired an arrow in the dark, “I know why you did not say anything, you were too ashamed to be seen with me. I was not the cool guy like the studs of our batch, I was but a geek who used to spend his spare time in the library. You had a reputation to maintain, and you maintained it. Ain’t I right?”.

Silent yet again, she nodded. After all those years, finally I had a confirmation of why I was rejected throughout my college life.

Now she shocked me, “I think the fifth time, I would say Yes”. There was pleading sound in what she said.

I answered, “Thanks for rejecting me in college, else I would have never realized that beauty is indeed skin deep and people who truly love each other always look beyond that. I now value my wife even more than I used to. You see I’ve been happily married for 4 years now.”

Crossroads

Ingredients: Insomnia, half-cooked idea.
Result: Yet another 55, although had to struggle a lot to get this down to 55. Maybe it would have been better off as a Short Story

—-

She was riding pillion with her boyfriend, it didn’t matter. Her beautiful face, and the simple act of brushing hair off her face – I was captivated, and went miles out of way trying to inhale her beauty.

I started believing – in love at first sight!

Turning, I resumed my original drive to meet my girlfriend.