Silly M(a)id-on

Yessir...I have been charmed by Wordpress and the idea of having my own domain name.

You can find me at www.sillymaidon.com now. Please update your feeds and blogrolls to reflect the same.

A big thank you to my friend Varun for a) putting this idea in my head and b) ensuring this happens.

Here's my father on the art of getting one's exceptionally large feet into one's even bigger mouth!

Two Words.

MUST. READ.

Part 1
Part 2

I received an email from Nidhi Makhija of Experience Commerce, who are running a competition for Royal Challenger Bangalore.

Experience Commerce is a digital agency in Mumbai, and we’re currently running Club RCB’s Fanatic Fans Challenge. Fans are invited to apply for three positions – Chief Blogger, Chief Photographer and Chief RCB Fan. The winning three will tour Champions League with Club RCB next month and will receive preferred treatment at RCB matches! All expenses (travel, accommodation, incidentals) will be covered.

It’s a great opportunity for hardcore fans to meet the team up close and personal, and for budding sports bloggers, photographers, commentators etc. to get hands on experience and mass exposure! ..

You can apply online at the official RCB site – www.royalchallengers.com/FanaticFansChallenge. The deadline is September 27^th.

So all you IPL fans, here is your chance! If you are in India, go on and take part. Drop me a line and I will be glad to support your application. The only catch is that if you win the Challenge, you will have to get me Rahul Dravid's autograph :)

..is the one person who got me addicted to Cricket in the first place. He was mentioned briefly in my very first post. And now you can read some more about him through this wonderful post by Samir Bhaiya.

And while we are on the subject of family, may I also point you towards a post that describes my mom's evolution as a cricket fan. She is the Type 1 fan, just to clarify :)

Obviously mindful of the fact that I was disappointed to see NZL fold up for a paltry 155, Team India has obliged and lost 4 wickets for 84.

Aww...thanks you guys! (no really, I'm not being sarcastic)

With all these discomforting talks going on about ODIs being past their prime, I have been asking myself what exactly is it about ODIs that I don't want them to die out. Am I just refusing to give up something I have enjoyed so much for as long as I have been following cricket? Or do ODIs still have something to give to the game?

Shane Warne thinks we don't need them anymore. Harsha Bhogle has a point when he says "If you remove the ODI from the mix, the gulf between T20 and Tests, from a batting point of view, becomes way too vast, and over time you end up with a situation where players are good enough to play either the one or the other."

Peter Roebuck thinks There Is Life In The ODI Yet. While Dileep Premachandran calls for an overhaul.

There has been a lot of talk about ODIs needing "a context". Lots of ideas are being thrown about. No more bilateral series, no phony 4-match triangular series, playing ODIs as a build up to Test matches on tours, splitting each innings into 2 etc. Leela made a point about ODIs series being an interesting watch these days only if there is some off-field drama associated with it, and I find myself agreeing with it. But then there wasn't always some kind of drama associated with ODIs when I used to stay up late and see all those matches, was there? (or was I really fokat those days?)

I mean, all of India's matches were seen simply because India was playing. All of Australia's matches were seen because they were the numero uno team and I wanted to see if any of their opponents were giving them a run for their money. Pakistan's matches were followed cheer the other team because earlier Pakistan losing used to be equal to India winning somehow. All of South Africa's matches were seen because when they were not busy choking, they used to play good cricket. And for Shaun Pollock.

And now when I find myself trying to write a preview for the Compaq Cup, I don't know what to say. I mean yeah, I'm happy that India is finally back in action. And I am super excited to see how Dravid will fare and all. But it's not how it is supposed to be. This series (and the Eng-Aus one) seems so pointless that I am tempted to label it as another Fake ODI Series. As someone commented on someone's blog (and I paraphrase here because I don't remember where I read this)

It takes just 4 matches to decide a tri-series, but it takes 7 one-dayers to conclude that England suck at pyjama cricket.

Indeed.