The Fallen Empire!!

                        When the eldest of the five Pandava brothers Yudhishtir became the king of Indraprastha and then was crowned the Chakravarthi of the world, there was no one below him. It was then Sage Vyasa reminded Yudhishtir that this status is not permanent and may change any day. This is what exactly happened. He played dice, lost his kingdom, his wife and lost all glory and was forced to go to exile.

                         This is a good lesson for life. When you are on the top, you have to be careful of what you do and not indulge in any wrongdoing. When everything is under your control, you ought not to misuse it. You will fall from the top and the fall will be really painful. That has been proved yet again. The fall of Indraprastha is history. But very much in the present, Another Empire has fallen. An Empire which was truly popular, an empire which had no boundaries, an empire which overshadowed many other kingdoms, has now fallen. Rather made to fall because of one man.

                        Yudhishtir atleast had the rights to bet his kingdom during the game of dice on that fateful day. Because it was he who built the kingdom. But What rights Gurunath Meiyappan had to bet on the team not built my him? What rights he had to do actions which could (it now has) damage the reputation and even the existence of a team and a legacy built by Dhoni and Co.? When you are on top, you ought to be careful. It was such a big empire that Team CSK had built for themselves across the nation. Facebook Fan Maps for CSK matches was yellow and just yellow barring a few kingdoms. Other teams had kingdoms, CSK had an empire. And the Chakravarthi was Dhoni.


                   But for no fault of his, The Chakravarthi has had to suffer. The Empire has been dethroned. But like faithful people who waited for the Kurukshetra war to get back Yudhishtir as their king, there are a lot of faithfuls who wait for CSK to return. Whether that will happen or not is immaterial, but the brand has taken a hit and the empire will not be the same it was once.

                   Even I didnt expect to be writing back to back articles, but this one was about to come immediately after the Lodha committee judgement and but didn't have the time for this. For a "change" (Why Quotes here---If you dont know then you must not be a regular reader of my blog), This article is also short (I hope you find it short) and Hoping to write longer but interesting articles in the future. Bye!

Cricket's Most Consistent Impact--Part Two

             Well, I'm back after quite a long break, considering the rush of articles at the beginning of my blog!! For those who didnt read Part One of Cricket's Most Consistent Impact, I think better stop right here, go back and read that and come back. For it wont make sense to read this without the previous one.

              As I said, Change has been cricket's most consistent impact. I did receive a few negative comments about the first part being tediously philosophical. So Let me take this one in a bit different track. The original and the sequel are a part of a series which you might be able to guess what it is all about. If you haven't guessed yet, Try.

              Yet again, Change thrust itself upon the game. Creates more impact when it is so visible in a series of a very big legacy as the Ashes. When New England won at Cardiff, Nobody expected Old England to turn up at Lord's. Old England didnt turn up, but New England made Old Mistakes. Australia played the perfect match, and England also played the perfect match. Visitors played in perfectly well, Hosts demonstrated perfectly how not to play a test. A 405 run drubbing "Changed" the series scoreline to 1-1. Change again.

           Bangladesh were a minnow who could cause upsets. Not regular ones though. But their fortunes "Changed" drastically once Mortaza took over. Then they knocked out England from the WC. A failure which "Changed" England into New England. They swept Zimbabwe at home. Well that was expected.

       Then They swept Pakistan. Rather Banglawashed them. For a "Change", India sent a full strength side to face them. And for a "Change", the hosts went 2-0 up before losing the last one. Steyn didnt want to waste few of his last deliveries in International Cricket in a bilateral at Dhaka or Chittagong. But this time, for a "Change", Mustafizur and company showed he could have wasted a lot of the last.

So many things happen in cricket for a "Change". Even in Life. Even in this blog. For a "Change", I will keep this article short. And For a "Change", I will dwell into more intriguing topics in upcoming articles. Hope you didn't feel bored. Bye!!

Cricket's Most Consistent Impact!!

Change. This is cricket's most consistent impact. Cricket's most consistent impact on people's lives. It brings about a refreshing change in people's lives. It provides a change from our hectic lifestyles. A change from stress of everyday life.

Not Just in our life. Cricket as a game also keeps changing. Strengths of teams and players, keeps changing. Time seemed to stand still over extended periods of West Indian dominance in 1970s and Australian domination in 1990s and 2000s. Yet Change is something which has kept the game enthralling to watch. That is the beauty of this game of glorious uncertainties.

Exactly this aspect is on display (as I write Aussies are seven down), at Cardiff. England have changed, so have Australia. England for the better, Australia for the worse. New England is not unreal. Australia have discovered that. For all their sledging and press meet lectures on how "New England" was just a hype, they have received a rude shock.

England provided enthralling entertainment, with their new approach and in the process, caught Australia off guard. And given their fans reasons to cheer about. Several of them. Their change of approach has relieved the fans of the burden of having to watch similar cricket. Similar to 2013-14, as Australia predicted.

Australia, hoped that England would not have changed. Haddin dismissed what he called as a "hype". They were in for a rude shock. Not just that they were caught off guard, Changes in their own team was not for the better. Harris retires. They missed him. Johnson missed him. Pitches changed. Johnson missed the bounce, and hence his threat. The visitors missed this threat. Starc was a change, the pitch nullified him.


England ensured that they changed, they changed for the better and not just that they nullified Australia's changes as well as strengths. And then they preyed upon familiar weaknesses of the visitors. Australia didn't expect the change, rather expected it but ignored it. Now they have to accept it. They are seven down and would go to Lord's one down most probably. Well a change could still be on the cards. The Match state may change. Johnson and Starc could even win this. Or Rain may save Australia. They can go to Lord's one up, one down or all square.

THAT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER. WHAT MATTERS IS CRICKET'S MOST CONSISTENT IMPACT. CHANGE, YES CHANGE IS WHAT MATTERS. NEW ENGLAND HAVE TURNED THE ASHES TIDE AND THEIR FORTUNES. AUSTRALIA WILL COME BACK HARDER FOR SURE. AFTER ALL, WE ARE HERE TO ENJOY THE CHANGE.

Hope you enjoyed cricket's most consistent impact. Not just cricket's, change is something that happens everywhere. Even in my blog. Yet i hope you continue enjoying my blog posts and that doesn't change!!!

Its THAT SERIES Again!!

Well, Its THAT Series again!! The greatest rivalry in cricket, is back!! The battle for the little urn, which has been a legendary one, is about to start!!

From being ripped apart by one man....IT was Mitchell Johnson's Whitewash.....Until beating Brendon McCullum's New Zealand in their own game, England have come a long way!! While all the hype of New England may disappear very soon if the Mitch Magic (Not just Johnson, there's Starc as well) finds its form, I personally hope There is no Starc(k) contrast between the teams. And both teams produce evenly Matched performances.

The Ashes begins on Wednesday and on current form I pick Australia as clear winners. But England's attempt to regain the Ashes may even be successful if but only if they can sustain the flashes of brilliance shown by their young team a few weeks ago against NZ.

They last won it at home. A couple of years back. Could hold it just four months. Then they went Down Under and went down so emphatically. One match and there was no Trott, Two more matches Swann ended his career. End of the series, KP was thrown out. They lost just five matches, in a five match series though, but lost three players.

Having lost what they got in the famous 2006-07 whitewash in 2009, they failed to regain it at home even in 2010-11. So when Mickey Arthur was sacked days before the 2013 away series and Lehmann was appointed, Clarke's men didnt have any great chance. They were in disarray. Even picked Ashton Agar ahead of their lead spinner Lyon. Agar was meant to bowl, but he batted well...98 on debut from No.11. And he did bowl, but didnt bowl well. Home series four months later, They were 136-7 batting first in Brisbane. The problems didnt seem to have gone. Enter Johnson. Gave Haddin company to take the hosts to 295, then oversaw England slide form 82-2 to 91-8, with his feroicous aggressive bowling.

As the teams take the field at Cardiff, Much has changed for both teams. Trott came back and retired. Matt Prior is gone. Anderson and Broad are ageing. Crashed out in the group stage in the WC. But seemed to be going up with wins over NZ. Australia have discovered Starc. A man who debuted in 2010-11 to have fun and help others have fun, is now No.1 Test Batsman with five centuries in last six tests. And days before the first test, Ryan Harris has lost the battle of his knee.

Current state of the teams says, Australia are clear winners. They might even inflict a home whitewash on England. But, This is THE ASHES. THAT SERIES WHICH IS FIERCELY FOUGHT.

Hope this biennial spectacle thrills us this time. Expecting to see some wonderful battles in this Ashes. And You can expect to see my article every match day in this series.

Cheers. LETS GET READY FOR THE BIGGEST BATTLE IN TEST CRICKET.