Wimbledon Finals'08...Wat a Match!!!

First of all,i wanna admit dat i m not a very big lawn tennis follower as sum oders may be...and this blog is not intended in taking d favour of any of the 2 greats,its just my views,so die hard supporters of any1 of dem...u know wat i mean2say. But at present i feel really lucky dat i have actually witnessed one of d greatest match ever played.
1st of all , congratulations to our new Wimbledon winner... Rafael Nadal...who has shown to this world that Federer can be actually beaten on grass and in a tournament which has been his unchallenged arena for d last 5 years.

i actually watched d match in d 3rd set after r INDIAN teams debacle in d "Finals",yet again, and couldn believe wat was happening.Federer in d 3rd set tie breaker,after loosing 1st 2 sets and is looking down d barrel...No doubt Nadal has yet again played some exuberant tennis after d last finals.He was down 1-4 in one of d 1st 2 sets but 2 come back and win it was truly exceptional.The energy he maintains throughout his game (5hrs dis tym) ,make u wonder does he belong to this world,or gets charged up by sunrays lyk an alien...cant be ,it ws cloudy yesterday.
Anyways,I said hold on fr a min,r we seeing history in d making in d next 5 mins???
i was actually very wrong...bcoz wat i witnessed after dat, was d character of a genius:Roger Federer.
Can u come back from stages wen u r almost on d verge of loosing??
yes...u can ...once,twice,thrice...wen u see sum1 coming back from such a frontier again and again...u have to admit he is a Champion.After winning d tie breaker of 3rd set...he was put 2 immense pressure in d tie breaker of 4ths set...score being 5-2(in tie breaker),wid nadal serving,he makes it 6-5den looses again to give a championship point at 7-8 with Nadal serving.He stil comes out of it and wins d set 10-8.He lived life at d edge.
Finally wen federer won d 1st game of 5th set...it was d 1st tym he had taken up a lead.Just goes to show how well Nadal has been playing 2 keep roger behind him in d 1st 4 sets.Anyways,wen rain interrupted play fr d 2nd tym.game was 2-2 in 5th set...and deuce with Federer serving.When the game resumed,we witnessed two aces of Federer two took d lead 3-2 and gave a message"Its as tough as it was,mr Nadal".Abt his aces,dey have been his rescue weapon at all dangerous moments.Federer denied 4 championship points 2 Nadal...and wenever u seem match is over for Federer he comes back,as if he had intensionally fallen in dat graveyard 2 come out fighting.I was wondering during d 5th set wen it was 7-7,dat 2 come out from d position where federer was, 2 dis stage, is virtually impossible fr a person,even on a video game...How can u hold on 2 ur nerve, at such points and come out victoriously again and again??truly Incredible
Anyways,d 26year old,expressionless nd classy Federer actually made many mistakes to prove he is human.
Finally,it ws d sheer brilliance of Rafael Nadal to hav won d Finals,for a game which went for around 5 hours.Its was not just talent,it was a test of 1s stamina and above all ur mental strength.
Spending 5000 pounds(4lakh Rs) fr a couple of tickets in London for this final wud have been worth fr all those spectators who watched dis game live.They couldnt have asked fr something better dan a game going til d 5th set and sum1 winning it 9-7.
I feel lucky to watch such a match and experience those tense and crucial moments.
Do any1 of us, who has seen dis match, deny the fact that we have watched lawn tennis being played at another(far above d good) level???

For people who have not seen it wud have got an idea from d scoreline,that d game was a close 1...bt for ppl who actually watched dis 1, know dat it was far above dan just close.

I'll sum up the 2 finalists as... Roger Federer:A living Legend , Rafael Nadal:An Emerging one.

Was this Final, a spectacle, v have never seen b4....(or am i just exaggerating a bit)?
Was "Wimbledons Finals'08" -The greatest match ever played???

VIT Video of 2004-2008 Batch:"Memories"Check Out now

Hi frens...I and probably most of our friends will agree that we lived the best moments of our lifes in these last 4 years @ VIT.When it was so tough to say goodbye to Friends who have been your family in these last 4 years,but with tears in our eyes and with very heavy hearts we finally did so... Unsure of when we'll meet next , when v 'll be able to have d same night outs at hostel etc etc ...all those FUN.....Jus feel that,we all will MISS dose moments a lot...
This Video:"Memories" is a small effort from my side to just relive dose moments again, from the limited no of pics that could be used, and from those i had.
Its dedicated to all my "FRIENDS"...who made my college lyf journey an unforgettable one.
Watch out now:VIT VIDEO OF 2004-2008 Batch-"Memories"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sthGS2AAWtk

If ever during the Video u felt a bit touchy , felt lyk going back to that same world of ur frens,
or just felt anything plzzzz drop in a comment about the video, ur feelings or anything
.... do lemme know how it was....

I hope u ' ll like it.....

Ur FRIEND
---SHUBHAM

IPL:Take a bow...Its Shane Warne 's "MIND"

There are many things that would come to ur mind on hearing "Indian Premier League"...Entertainment,some team names,probably some player names too...But probably the most prominent ones would be Rajasthan Royals(RR) and above all "Shane Warne".When i saw the great leggie lifting the 1st IPL,a moment flashed by my eyes.Around 40 days back,a boy came running in our hostel room to inform us about a match,which he termed as the "1st upset" of the tournament.It was actually RR's 1st win of the tournament,and here we are witnessing the most underrated players rejoicing over there TEAM's victory.Finally we come down to a point where we have to analyse whether its the Talent,Captains decisions,luck or something else that has been the key ingredient of success in this 1st DLF-IPL.Watching the performance of the Deccan Chargers,talent is out of question now.According to me, what RR has proved that the team that gels together well,has emerged victorious.Who would have given the likes of Mohd Kaif,Munaf Patel to be the ones having their hands on the trophy when IPL started?.Who had actually heard the name of the little dynamite Asnodkar,the player from Goa,Ravindra Jadeja and all...HATS OFF to one man..."SHANE WARNE".

What a champion player he has been!!!What he has proved that there is something above raw talent in cricket...that has probably been the mindset.As his australian counterpart Mc Grath says,cricket is 95%mind and Warne has given a practical example of that.There was a not a single player in RR who didnt mention his captains name in post final interviews.The topic will be incomplete without mentioning our so called lucky captain-MS Dhoni.Lets not discuss about his teams journey to the finals but the fact is, they were just one ball away from the trophy.The question is were Rajasthan and Chennai the best two teams of the tournament???

The answer would be "No",when the parameters are experience and number of star players.Then what has Dhoni and Warne done,which others failed to do???i'd like to cite few incidents from the final.

1.When Dhoni's men lost off the final ball,generally any team would have the expression of dejection, and blame game will be the one,played now.This was not the case with Chennai super kings.Dhoni called all his team players and had a huddle where he probably would have just up the tempo.

2.During the presentation ceremony,if u have noticed,Dhoni was seen standing between the young badrinath and L.Balaji,the man who bowled the unsuccessfull last over and both his hands were on the shoulders of the two players.

Now no matter how normal these 2 incidents might seem,but the magnitude they carry tells us the success story of Dhoni's team.In the case of the 1st incident,any team would have dispersed after such a big loss but it was Dhoni who made sure to keep the team integrated specially at the time of adversity. While in the 2nd case,his gesture just said look mr Balaji u might not have won the cup for us,but i(captain) m with u,u tried hard and i appreciate that.

Similarly in case of Warne,apart from the right strategy and clever captaincy, he is the one who got the best out his limited(as felt by many) resources.He personally appreciates a gud save,a gud ball, a fighting effort by his players on the field.On the contrary,once Shane Watson bowled the last over of the 1st innings,going for plenty.Warne came running down to him and just went chatting back with him.Man of the match:Shane Watson for his brilliant batting.He has made every player realise his importance.He has been very aggressive but only towards the opposition.He stood up as a role model especially in the two last over finishes,one obviously being the finals.Actually there was only one "TEAM" (Together Each Achieve More) whose success story poses some questions infront of us.Is the cricketing arena ruled by teams with dream 11 players or by teams with the right level of confidence ? Which1 is more Dominant : Talent or Mindset ?

I ll personally go with the latter in both the cases.As two almost equally talented players(acc to many), Vinod Kambli and Sachin Tendulkar have absolutely incomparable success rates. It was not that when Sachin was born, the nurse would have handed over and said "Here is 80 0dd hundreds for u".He actually worked really hard, had the correct mindset to carry himself out of all odds unlike the former.Warne just instilled the same in his team.He didnt buy any star player probably to build a team of underrated players,which can go according to his sensible plan.

Deccan Chargers finishing last and Rajasthan Royals emerging victorious has just made me wonder ... "What all a man can do when he is confident and has his captains hand behind him in all his performances?"Yusuf pathan hitting Murali for consecutive sixes,Asnodkar taking on all world class bowlers,Ravindra Jadeja and Niraj Patel finishing off games and above all.... Munaf Patel diving on the field to save few runs(i personally think ,this is the biggest change in approach).... Rajasthan Royals won because they were the champions on a arena named "MIND"...The Motivator and the Executor- SHANE WARNE