SRI'S Blog

A Test series in England is always exciting . Plenty of reasons for this .. First the fickly English Weather that plays true spoilsport , the grounds and the lush greens , the ball swinging and seaming ( at times ) – Conditions  that truly test the technically best equipped batsmen. Bowlers always have a better day on English soil. With that background , the first test at Trent Bridge, Nottingham was a bit of a damper ( not to do with the weather ). The wicket was easy paced and the weather stood firm on all days and the ball rarely did its bit in the air. So , if you were thinking there will be tall scoring , it was not. Both sides had their period of ascendancy and both sides could have lost the match ! In the end , it was some stoic batting by bowlers that helped both sides to get to a draw. To me , it was a fair result . It just warmed up both sides for the rest of the Four test matches . The Lords ground where the second test was on is known for its richness to tr...

Well Well... This post would be my 300 th post .. I am sure many bloggers would have  blogged more than what I have done over the last eight years that I have tried to keep this habit of blogging alive. It all started in the summer of 2006. I had the habit of writing emails to few colleagues and  friends  and sharing thoughts with them.  I realized that it was becoming difficult to maintain track of what I wrote and also keeping and retrieving from the archives of the emails was very challenging. At this point , someone suggested –“ Why don’t you try blogs and Srividhya Venkataraman ( thank you Vidhya ) helped me set this page up. I did little to improve the look and feel of the blog page set up but I have over the years increased the content and so getting to the 300 th post was not that difficult .  In the initial years , I was writing and posting every week . There was no structure , I just put in what I felt I want to in a very random manner . ...

 It was Germany who had the last laugh. In a tense final that went to  extra time , Germany found the winner through diminutive Gotze . Gotze showed perfect technique to chest down a cross and slam it for the winner. Till then it was Argentina which had more chances. Germans had more possession close to around 64 % .  Messi was so well marked that he hardly got free space .Germans, I think were well prepared for the entire tournament and  it was no surprise that they won this title . And I think that they will not end with this. The team is very young ( yes it has veterans as well but more of the youngsters ) and is a sure bet to retain the title in 2018 in Russia four years from now.  Do not laugh this off – See my link from the 2010 FIFA final – How true it was the Germans will be ready for this title and that  Thomas Mueller will be a star in the 2014 eidtion ? See: http://srisweeklymagazine.blogspot.com/2010/07/fifa-some-of-my-thoughts.html .  ...

I am sure that headline would shock you --- everyone knew that it was not Boris  Becker nor Stefan Edberg who were slugging it out on the grass courts of Wimbledon for the  2014 Gentlemen’s title.. But the fact of the matter was that Boris is the Coach of Novak Djokoviv and Stefan is the Coach of Roger Federer who were fighting for the title. It looked like the game had turned on its head and the former champs were out on the court.  Djokovic won the title  and so my reference to Becker  winning the title rather than his ward. The path to the final for both Federer and Djokovic was made easy due to the exits of Nadal and Murray in the earlier rounds. Nadal lost to little known Nick Kryigos and Murray lost to Grigor Dimitrov. Kryigos is someone that will do well in the future. He played brilliant tennis against Nadal, serving hard and running out first serve winners and was played his shots without inhibitions. Nadal looked very troubled and was not qu...

France beat Algeria and Germany beat Nigeria to move in the last sixteen of the tournament, while Argentina and Belgium did the same beating  the Swiss and the USA. While France struggled in the first half, they kept the attack up in the second half and were able to prevail. Germany did the same .  Argentina huffed ,puffed and finally  managed by the skin of their teeth to win and get to the next around . Swiss were defiant and the match was very close to extra time when Argentina managed that solitary goal that helped them to go through. Belgium found reserve and energy  to defeat USA  So, down to the last eight that will determine four teams  that will get to the semis.If one thought that these matches between the best teams will be tough ones with exciting play , it was not . None of the matches  triggered excitement for the manner  in which it was played. May the Dutch versus Costa Rico was the best  of the lot and the match ...