My Thoughts

A captain is as good as his team

girisopinion — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:38:12 +0000

There is a famous saying in cricket “Wicket keeping is a thankless job”. For 6 years in the Indian team Dhoni has donned the keeping gloves and he should be pretty aware of the saying. The Indian cricket team has for sure hit a road block, all the good work done by Kirsten and Dhoni seems to have been undone but Dhoni alone is not to be blamed for this fiasco. When a team is doing well, whatever the captain does is appreciated. The captain makes a change and the ball goes there and people say that he is an astute captain; he has a great cricketing brain etc. But as soon as the team starts to lose he becomes a villain.

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The ODI series should mark the start of transition

girisopinion — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:35:37 +0000

The disastrous test series is finally over and with yet another overseas whitewash there have been calls for sweeping changes in the team. The fact is that this time it is kind of justified. The Indian middle order which has been the pillar of strength for the team over the years has started to crumble. Changes are meant to happen and this is the right time to do it.

The final test in Adelaide could have been used to blood Rohit Sharma in the middle order an opportunity which I felt was wasted.

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Hard work always pays

girisopinion — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:59:47 +0000

I always believe in hard work. Working hard is always important in any field and once you do that success will always follow. I have been a pretty hard working individual through my life. Nothing comes easy in life which is something I realized a long back. I wasn’t a good student, studies was a struggle, getting work was a struggle but in all these things there was one common factor “Hard Work”.

There was an incident which further emphasized my belief. This happened in 2005 while I was doing my masters here in the US. I had graduated in December of 2004 and the only thing left to complete was my project documentation. I was involved in a research project which was tied to my final semester course. I did all my research and my document was ready. I submitted the same to my professor and left the town and went to Chicago for training. Chicago was 8-9 hour drive from the place I was studying.

I requested one of my friends to help me with the communication with my professor but I kept getting the document back. The professor wanted changes in the documentation and it was definitely becoming difficult to coordinate. I kept making the changes and the document kept coming back to me. It wasn’t pleasant as I had graduated in December and it was already the end of March. The grades were already in place, the only thing left was getting the document signed off.

This is where I decided to take the bull by the horns and took a break from my training. I left to my college and said to myself, I am not coming back until this document is signed off. I met my professor in college and requested him to spend some time with me in explaining the changes he needed. He pointed out the same and I noted down everything, made all the changes and came back the next day. Even though he said they were fine he did find another couple of errors/changes in the document and again I went and worked on the same. The next day when I met him he sat with me and reviewed the document and he was impressed. He said he already liked the content of my project and he enquired about what I was doing at that point.

He appreciated my hard work and was very impressed that I just drove down to get this thing done. He hugged me and wished me luck on my future endeavors and finally signed off my project document. I was absolutely thrilled and relieved to see the sign and the seal. I had already received the grade for the course which was A- and I just wanted to get my certificate. I left my college for one final time and was extremely happy with what I had achieved over the past couple of days. Few months later I received my degree certificate and also a corrected mark sheet. I checked why I received the mark sheet again as I already had it and I noticed that the professor changed my grade to A+ from A-. Even though it wasn’t a huge change and hardly contributed towards my GPA it was a change nevertheless.

I just felt that my professor rewarded me for the hard work I put into my project. It was further emphasis to the fact that even though luck plays a huge role in a person’s life hard work is the only thing you can control. If you do the work luck automatically follows. At that point the only goal for me was to get the document signed off, getting a better grade was not even on my agenda but that was a great bonus.

Djokovic reigns supreme and Paes completes career slam

girisopinion — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:27:29 +0000

Djokovic once again proved why he is the number 1 player in the world. He came through in a cliffhanger of a game against Rafael Nadal in 5 sets. The game was a perfect ending for a great tournament in which the top 3 ruled the roost again. Nadal who played a brilliant match in the semis to knock out Roger Federer lost out in the finals to the brilliant Djokovic. Novak Djokovic who had a brilliant 2011 continued in the same vein by winning the first grand slam of the year.

The game itself was a see-saw ride for the fans. Nadal started well by winning the first set 7-5 but Djokovic came back to dominate the next two sets 6-4, 6-2. At the end of the third set Nadal looked down and out but put in one last great effort to win the 4th in a tie breaker 7-6 to push the game into the 5th. Djokovic though held his nerve to clinch the final set 7-5 to win the match and the title.

It was a brilliant start for Djokovic in 2012 but for Nadal this was yet another loss to the Serbian in a grand slam. Nadal will now want to wait for his favorite surface at the Roland Garros for revenge if at all they face each other in the finals.

Leander’s Career slam:

Leander Paes finally won the Australian open to complete the career slam. This was the only title which was missing from his resume and he will be relieved that he finally got the monkey of his back. Leander and Stepanek were unseeded in this tournament and were brilliant in the finals. The Bryan brothers were chasing their 12 doubles title which would have given them the record currently held by the woodies and it was understandable that only a special effort from their opponent can deny them the prize. Leander and Stepanek were absolutely brilliant in the finals and provided no opening for the number 1 pair in both the sets.

The Paes/Stepanek pair had defeated the number 2 and number 3 seeds on their way to the finals which would for sure have given them a huge boost. It was a great tournament for Leander and he deserves the career slam. It would have been particularly sweet win for him as he had lost to the Bryan brothers at least 3 times in the finals of the Australian open in the past. Kudos to the Indian legend and I hope that he wins more titles this year and continues to succeed at the world level.

Overall it was a great open and the weather was fantastic throughout. The men’s tennis once again proved the domination of the top 3 as they ended up in the Semis once again. Roger, Nadal and Djokovic have dominated the slams over the past year or so and it will be great to see others stepping up in the remaining 3 slams in 2012.

Top excuses avoiding exercise

girisopinion — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:28:32 +0000

All of us want to be healthy and fit. Most often exercise is the only way to achieve that and most of us have different reasons to avoid the same. Some of us like me openly admit that we are lazy but others give really funny reasons to avoid the same. Here are the top excuses I have heard from people,

Excuse 1: I have lots of work and have no time for exercise (Even though this might actually be true in some cases, the people who say that to me I know have none after they go home)

Excuse 2: I am married now; don’t have to worry about my looks (The funniest excuse. I would think that being married and having a family should make your health more important)

Excuse 3: I get bored while walking on treadmill (Another excuse which I have heard from some people. Saying that it is the reason for them not to do cardio)

There are more funny excuses people give but whatever it is, there is no simple way to stay fit. What are your excuses? Or what excuses have you heard from people?

Renu follows Ajeesh’s footsteps

girisopinion — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:11:31 +0000

Ajeesh’s “Idhuvarai” from Goa was a chartbuster and he even got an award for best young singer. Now it is the time for Renu to shine. Her song “Pappara paa…” from Vettai is a huge hit and hopefully will give her the necessary boost in her singing career. Everyone who followed the 2008 super singer would know that Renu always used to stick to melody most of the times and never attempted anything different throughout the season.For her to pull off a mass song in Vettai with considerable ease was a revelation. Kudos to her for the same and congratulations to her for getting her first hit. Nice to see the Super singer 2008 candidates succeed in the music world. Hope to see more success stories.

Change is unavoidable but needs to be planned

girisopinion — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:51:23 +0000

As Dhoni said after India’s loss at Perth, the seniors need to be phased out. The Indian selectors during the golden Dhoni-Kirsten period did not try too many middle order candidates and sudden influx of young players isn’t going to help the situation. India needs to start by giving Rahane and Rohit Sharma a chance in the final test. The series is already lost and this will be a great chance to try out these youngsters.

The phasing out should be carefully planned. There are reports that VVS Laxman might retire after this series so this will be ideal time to test out Rohit Sharma at number 5

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Time to think ahead for team India

girisopinion — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:37:01 +0000

The Indian test team has hit a road block and has pretty much gone downhill over the past year or so. In spite of the high of winning the world cup in 2011, the Indian team has for sure taken a step back in test cricket. The legends Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are at the cusp of retirement and we still havent got any replacement tested at this level. The big three have been great servants for the Indian team and with more than 35000 test runs and close to 100 centuries between them they have been one of the best players in the world. Replacing them is going to be hard task for the management. Let us look at some possible candidates for the middle order.

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Happy New Year!!

girisopinion — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:55:34 +0000

Wishing you all very happy and prosperous new year. I hope that 2012 brings more joy and happiness to everyone.

Year in Review: The year of the world cup

girisopinion — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:52:48 +0000

The year has come to an end and it’s time to look back at a great year for the Indian cricket fans around the world. This has been the year of the world cup. Let’s look back at the year, the ups the downs and obviously the world cup.

The World cup

The World Cup returned to the subcontinent after 15 years and every Indian fan was hoping to see MS Dhoni lifting the coveted trophy. India did have a tough group and did come through reasonably well with just one loss. The quarter-final game against Australia was fantastic and Yuvraj Singh (Man of the tournament) played a blinder along with Suresh Raina to get India home. The semi-finals against arch rivals Pakistan was an emotionally charged one but a great knock by Sachin and some disciplined bowling effort got India through that.

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