Indian Society At Tufts

Aussies giving a truly exemplary performance to lift the ICC world Cup. Indians did try their best on Sunday, We can all take pride in the performance of our cricketers.

A month of exciting and exhilarating cricket viewing would not have been possible , with out initiative and responsibilities taken by Parag Mantri, Vice President ISAT, and unparallel support provided by Ritesh , Rakesh, Shri, Abhay in spite of having to endure the noise and viewers with thier adrenalin running high. I am grabbing this opportunity to thank you all on behalf of ISAT, we do really appreciate your effort.

We can take lot of positives from our performances at the world cup

The discovery that there is more to Indian batting than Sachin Tendulkar is one -- and it means that Tendulkar can now perform as first among equals where, previously, he was often like a minibus carrying 10 passengers along. Rudyard Kipling wrote it best when he said, "The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack." (quoting)

Minutes before the Namibia game, the players trotted out into the field, warmed up, then got together in what is now famous as the Indian huddle. And a team was formed. From then on, the batting fired, the bowlers smoked, the team began winning in emphatic fashion. That huddle was the outward indication of an internal change -- the 15 players had finally come together as one unit, taking joy in each other's accomplishments, backing each other to the limit and beyond.That is for me the outstanding gain of this Cup -- it took a collection of talented individuals, and forged it into a team. I am sure we can expect more out this team and as usual we will back them up to the end.

Another important gain out of this world cup has been the formation of ICC- ISAT Cricket Council.

Last but definitely not the least, Viewing cricket for a lot of people would probably mean, sitting back relaxed on their lazyboys or sofa, with pepsi or having a copuple of swigs of beer as you hear to expert comments. Nitin, the President of ISAT Cricket Council, Father of the science of Long distance Intimidation and mental disintegration, brought a whole new dimension to cricket viewing, with experts comments and expletives flying out even before the commentators could think about it. Parag, Nitin, Abhay put forth their artistic best in generating some extremely hilarious and fun posters. How can we forget the Natraj Pencil and huddle after each wicket and boundary and Akella's Black magic. Man it was fun. " Ahistaa Abbu......" was voted the best poster of the year specially designed by Abhay for the pakistan encounter, followed by Chus.. and Sariya availabilites.

It has been great, and has been made memorable by passionate and undeterred fans of Indian cricket Our SHERs and SHERNIs.

Yours Truly,
Sumugam Balachandran

It was a match but by no means a contest. Well Kenyans tried, they were the underdogs but hey what the hell, they talk too much I mean just too much and Indian’s “pooh poohed” them on their way to finals. I can’t get my fingers to type the match report … with great difficulty I am presenting ‘kal ka taaza kabhar’

Match Report:
Dada won the toss, did the right thing, decided to bat. Kenyans with their frustrating lack of pace intended to test Sachin and Veeru. Some wishful thinking. India cruising wicket less until 15 overs. Dada came in with Veeru giving his wicket away, from then C.Obuya, one from the long list of Obuyas the Kenyans carry, supposedly their attacking leg spinner was taken to the cleaners by some artistic batting by Dada. Sachin was putting up with this opposition. The only way Kenyans could have got Sachin out was if he gave a catch, Sachin obliged, understandably how long can one put up with such a nondescript bowling attack? 270 was always on with Dada completing yet another century and Sachin closely missing yet another one.

Only interesting thing about the Kenyan innings was Nitin’s comments and Parag's spicy one liners on the Kenyan cricketing class. Decimation was clinical how else should I put it. One thing that’s worth the praise is Kenyan fielding if only they could talk less I would some better words to put forth on their performance.

Well that’s that with Kenya. Having sent them to pack their bags, our lions are ready… I mean ready to take on the Aussies. We did have the Kenyans for dinner I am sure we are ready to have a great dessert “ kangaroos deep fried with tandoori masala” sort of out of the line for dessert but who cares, there is nothing sweet about the Aussies either.

Be there hamarey she aur sherni’yon to take up your positions for the match of the decade

Yours Truly,
Sumugam Balachandran

Bahuth log boltey hain ki... hum unko ruladengey.... but very few get to accomplishing it. Aaj hamarey sher'on ney vaakey hi kiwis ko garam aur tanda sariya dey deykey rulaya. This is by no means an exaggeration, I am now quoting Stephen Fleming -"As for that dropped chance by Brendon, I could not really see it because I had tears in my eye," he said.

Yehi chand lafz merey is aaj ka taaza kabhar ki prerna hai ;)

Match report -

As usual at the Centurion park , where India had pakis for lunch, atmosphere was electrifying, due to the presence of the Indian Team and passionate Isat Cricket Council fan support from 302 Boston Ave. Anthems were played and as the players got ready to get in to the field, our in-house cricket council got ready for its war against Kiwis via long distance
mental disintegration and intimidation. Posters flashing with each ball that bet the clueless kiwi's bat due an inspired spell of pace bowling by the troika Dada was driving the Garam sariya in to the Kiwis slowly but steadily. Dada was the conductor of this dream symphony with fluid bowling changes and immaculately fortifying field placements.

The man who was bent on opening our "puraney ghaav..." the best modern oneday captain Mr.Fleming was mesmerized and clueless. Well pundits say he lost his head today when Dada all of sudden offered him to bat when India won the toss.

With Kiwis losing wickets in the first few overs they had already boarded the flight to New Zealand. 146 in 50 overs is pooh pooh for a batting line up like ours. Indian team on the basis of urgent request from ISATCC chair committee is trying to float a proposal that if the team batting first does not score more than 300, India would not come on to bat and chase the total.

Indian batting .. well what can be said, Dada had instructed Veeru not to try and finish up the match in 5 overs , he wouldn't listen.. well these sort of things happen. Ganguly fell to what I would call the delivery of the match.. ripping yorker hurled at his feet at 150 kmph by Bond not James Bond. Seeing them go Tendulkar hit the overdrive button to execute 2 classic offdrives and brutal pull. The 2 balls after that, Jacob Oram did the worst thing for the world of cricket, pulling of a scorcher of a catch to stop the Tendulkar exhibition. ICC has ordered a probe in to such on field behavior.

People thought India lost its course a bit, Until kiwis ran in to Kaifi and Rahul. With brendon Mccullum dropping the berth to semifinal ..sorry the Dravid's catch, the pair put forth some exciting and sensible batsmanship to undenture the Kiwis and romp home the victory.

Semis- with Kenya what a joke thats going to be.. We have to just show up for semis give our attendance and then go and wait for Aussies at Johannesburg.

Yours Truly,
Sumugam Balachandran

Trivia:
Incident worth mentioning- Craig Macmillan was brought on to bowl for his spirited bouncer in a bid to make something happen, started up a tiff with Kaif. Kaif calmly pointed the scoreboard and airplane flying over it.

Well how should I start, :) Probably the toss.... The injury to Jayasuriya, which all the cricketing pundits thought was the key to the result of this match, did turn out to be the the turning point of the match. Khaas sutron sey kabhar mili hai ki Brett Lee bhai ke "ball" key karan, JayaSariya..ooops Jayasuriya ( I tend often slip of my toungue.. bear with me .... ;) ) key haathon sey jyaada uskey dimag pey asar pada, warna - how in the holy freaking world can somebody reason why he inserted India to bat knowing that its Shers were on the prowl hungry for the kill. Sachin aur Sehwag ney milkey laga diya paani mey aag aur dada ney banaya lanka ka faluda. I am not exagerating here ... How else can one put in words Sachin's picasso like grace in bludgeoning the ball to ropes or Sehwag taking the opposition's attack to the cleaners or Sourav's clinical decimation of the bowlers. Srinath, Zaheer and Nehra the Indian pace troika hit the final nail in to the Sri Lankan coffin. The performance these guys have putforth today would make the once famed West Indian pace battery proud.

Wait a minute Sri Lankans did put a great fight Man of Penultimate and last over for the lankan innings Murali.. his display showed the existance of vertebral column in that part of the world.

Future.... We are ready polishing our artillery , training our guns for Newzealand dhulai. We have some scores to be settled,
with semifinal slot being already booked for us, We have one hell of a contest awating us.. see you all there

Yours Truly.
Sumugam Balachandran

Few Thougts on Indo-Pak Match. - March 2, 2003
Few realistic Targets for our loved brothers that I am sure are going to achieve with much ease. Of course what else would you expect from a team who has the fastest chucker..oops slip of my tongue "bowler" a.k.a Rawalpindi express a.k.a Shoaib Akthar, mercurial opener and makeshift keeper Taufeeq Umar, who mouths expletives better than he bats and Maulwi Anwar ... Man he wakes up only when the opposition speaks Hindi. Not to forget The Man with a golden arm Abdur Razzaq... after Sachin's let off 'Khaas sutron sey yeh khabar mili hai ki, paki team key log usey khana nahi khilatey'. Who have i missed here mmm.... Younis Khan and Inzi most amicable and deadly duo in the line up I guess they should put up a great show if they dont cut each others throat out and wicket keeper with a broken Skull bone .. HE HEHEHEHE ...(Sorry guys I have sold my soul to the devil today).

Waqar can pray that his only performer, one with the name Akram with 500 ODI wickets under his belt most of which were LBWs against Indian batsmen in Sharjah render an miraculous performance.