Those 15 men!

Come Feb 19, 2011 and the whole of India would be glued to their TV sets for the next 40 odd days. The reason-World Cup of Cricket is back and this time in India alongwit Sri Lanka & Bangladesh. India went out in the semis both in 1987 & 1996, the other editions of the WC that were held in the subcontinent. Can we do two steps better this time around??

The team on which the onus lies to win back the World Cup for us after a gap of 28 years has finally been announced, and those 15 men are:-

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yousuf Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, R Ashwin

Most of the players actually picked up themselves either on the basis of performance or image. These are the ones in bold. The rest of the players were dependent on what balance the slectors and Dhoni wanted in the side. Some of the major names that missed out despite decent performances would be Rohit Sharma, Sreesanth & Pragyan Ojha.

So, there might have been some discussion about Yousuf or Rohit but Yousuf's explosive style and bowling abilities must have taken things into his favour. The thing that confuses me the most is Why our selectors have gone with 3 spinners. I know its the Sub-Continent and the ball will spin but 2 spinners with Sehwag, Yuvraj and Pathan as more than average part time spinners would have been a good combination. Taking an extra spinner at the cost of poor Rohit Sharma has been a bit harsh on him

Sreesanth performed very well in South Africa and deserved a call up but in place of whom? His biggest positive has always been the ability to pick wickets and the biggest problem has always been his ability to ball bad deliveries in every over. The selectors must have thought his as a high risk-high gain proposition so they decided to hedge their risk by taking a Munaf Patel who can contain the batsmen after the field is spread out.

The third major name to miss out- Prayan Ojha has been a bit undone I feel. He has virtually done nothing wrong whenever he has played for India and his performances in the IPL for Deccan Chargers have also been exceptionally well. Maybe his inability to bat and provide some useful runs played into the hands of Piyush Chawla who can bat decently.

Overall, I feel there is noone in the side who didn't deserve it, but some surely have missed out who deserved it a bit more. Will this side win the world cup for us? Let us hopse so!

At the airport

What does a person do when his or her flight gets delayed and he/she has to wait agonizingly long hours at the airport? Some people start reading a book, some start working on their laptops, some go to the food court and eat something, some decide to do some shopping and some like me decide to do a bit of all this and observe other people doing whatever they are doing.

So while doing the same, I decided to start off with the people sitting just next to me. My immediate neighbour seemed to be totally engrossed in his digital camera-taking pictures and looking at the clicked pictures. His utmost interest in the same made me guess that he had recently purchased that camera. As he started to notice that I am noticing him, I looked for someone to observe, a little boy of 4-5 yrs made it easy as he came running to me, passed me a smile and offered me a sachet of tomato ketchup. I, trying to be a sport, smiled back and took forward my hand to accept the offer and he suddenly took back his hand. He again extended his hand to offer me the ketchup. I, knowing his intentions very well, decided to play on with him. As he took back his hand once again, he started laughing and ran back to him mother shouting, “Mummy,Mummy” probably hoping to recite the whole incident to her.

The next person I set my eyes on was totally immersed in his laptop. Observing a bit closely, I realised FRIENDS was the thing that was keeping his mind and his head still. He was totally unaware or rather not bothered about what all was going around him. You must be thinking that this isn’t something new. You always find people lost in FRIENDS no matter what the place is. I thought the same and couldn’t hold back a smile. In the meanwhile, I noticed a lady in her mid 40’s sitting at the back of that person staring at me in disgust. I think she was of the opinion that I trying to make a pass at her daughter sitting alongside her. To make myself clear, I wasn't!

Now I decided to move around the airport and explore some other areas. As I moved into the shopping arcade, I saw a couple of girls busy in their shopping. Moving from jewellery to clothes and back. One of them received a call from someone, I suppose, close to her. This supposition is based on the way she addressed him( I am sure about this). But the poor guy soon enough realised that nothing can come between a girl and her shopping when the girl frantically kept saying, “ Bye, Bye, Bye. Let me shop.”

I started feeling hungry and went to a eating joint inside the airport. As soon as I entered the cafe, I saw a couple trying their best to explain to their son that their flight was ready for departure and they had to leave. The son, on the other hand thought finishing his sandwich was higher on the priority list. After much persuasion, the child agreed to carry along the sandwich but not without a pout on his lips.

As I moved towards security check, I saw S. Sreesanth( Indian Cricketer) walking a few steps ahead of me. As we moved towards the escalator, Sreesanth preferred stairs over the escalator. Whether for fitness reasons or for the fear of escalators, I am wondering the same myself.