Cometh the hour, cometh the man

149 of 107 balls with 13 fours and 8 towering sixes. The innings of his lifetime. It was a delight to watch Gilchrist come back to form and play his usual game. He was struggling the whole tournament, especially the later half. And boy, what a time to regain your confidence and touch !!! It was his last innings in the World Cup and he definately is gonna cherish it for his lifetime. I guess, not just he, but every person who saw him butcher the Sri Lankan attack would cherish his innings. There was no slogging, pure timing in his shots. I was very delighted to watch his innings. And it was even more crucial, since none of the in-form Aussie players were able to find their usual touch. Hayden, Ponting, Symonds were all out of nick on the day it mattered all. Thanks to Gilchrist's beautiful strokeplay, Aussies had it easy third time in a row in the finals.

Gilly scored a boundary or a six of each of the Lankan bowlers. Not a single one was spared. His six that he scored of Murali was his best. But, the best six of the match was not from Gilly's bat. It was the captain, Ponting who scored the most beautiful six of Malinga. It wasnt a bad ball, but the six was shot from the middle of the bat and was struck with great force. It was a classic shot. Malinga was the best bowler among the Lankans on that day, and to score a six of his bowling speaks a lot in itself.

Its funny to see that in all the 3 World Cup finals that Australia have won, its been one of the sub-continent countries whom they beat. All the time, the team that reached the finals was the best in that tournament, and once they played the finals, you felt like they actually handed over the trophy to the Aussies in a plate, knealing down on their knees. Thankfully, it wasnt such a bad match after all with the Sri Lankans giving them a good fight. In fact, the match could have gone either way when Jayasurya and Sangakarra were at the crease. It made the match interesting and not a one sided event as most of the matches in this tournament have been. If it was not for Clarke's fluke dismissal of Jaysuriya, we certainly had a tight match in hand.

It was Jaysuriya's, Arnold's and Murali's [ is it really ? ] last World Cup bout and they definately gave their best. But, it was Glenn McGrath, playing his last one-day match, who got the most attention. He was the highest wicket taker in the tourny and was bowling his usual immaculate line but was not finding the wicket. In fact, he got hammered a lot too in his bowling. I was doubting if he would even get a wicket in this match. His first wicket that he got in this match was from a runout !!! But, then it doesnt count as a wicket on his name. And as it was with the Test matches, he got a wicket of his penultimate ball in his one-day's too. He is probably the only player in this tournament having a fairy tale retirement

Russel Arnold c Gilchrist b McGrath 1

All the 3 players involved in this wicket were playing their last match :), well atleast the last match in a World Cup.

I dont know about others, but I am really gonna miss watching the immaculate McGrath and the entertaining Gilchrist ...

Boring

It was a very boring game of football. Ofcourse, both the teams were attacking well but both lacked the finishers. The match was very boring to say the least. Damn it. I spoilt my sleep over it ... yyyyaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn

Kaka's attack

Its often said "Attack is the best form of defence" and Kaka proved it right, when he scored 2 goals on a counter attack beating the out of place Manchester United defense.

This was the first time that i saw Kaka in action and for my luck, he scored 2 good goals. The precision and the ease with which he scored the goals made me realise why people talk about him with so high regards. The first goal that he scored was simply amazing. It was a simple flick with his right heel to the far end of the goal and all the goalkeeper could do was to watch it pass by him. Probably he thought that the ball would not go inside the goal. What struck me was the confidence with which Kaka hit the ball in that far angle. I tried to catch some clues as to how he figured out the angle in the replays, but it seemed like he never moved his eye from the ball. Wonder when he calculated the angle and decided to strike the ball. Guess its the practice of scoring goals from such angles that gave him the confidence to shoot it.

This was the first leg of the first semi-final of the UEFA Champsions League 2007. It was between AC Milan and Manchester United. Thanks to Kaka, AC were able to score 2 away goals which might come in handy in the next leg. ManU won the match 3-2, thanks to some silly errors by AC goalkeeper Dida. How strange that the land that produces so great football strikers has never produced any great goalkeepers !!!

It was a high pressure match. But the first half was more interesting than the second. ManU were lagging behind AC by 2 goals to 1 at the end of the first half and it was Rooney who came to their rescue. He scored the equaliser in the first 10 minutes of the second half. But the best goal came in the dying moments of the match, 91st minute to be precise, when Rooney struck hard from the right corner of the D, to score the winning goal. The power with which he struck the ball was amazing. Though Ronaldo, being crowned the PFA's Player of the Year just a day before this match, played some very fast and I should say a bit selfish football, it was Rooney who won the hearts at the end.

Its been a really long time since I had a chance to follow things on the EUFA Cup. Another 4 more matches to go now. Hopefully, I get to watch all of them ... and they are of the same quality as today's match :)

More Movies

Forgot to write about a couple of other movies I saw in the past couple of months...

Monsoon Wedding

For a change I saw this movie on DD !!! Yeah, was surfing for anything good on TV and surprisingly found that only DD had something good going on at that time. Its been almost a decade since I watched a movie on DD. I cant believe how I was able to spend my time in front of the TV with just one channel playing on it !!! Those days, watching the Sunday evening movie was nothing less than a party. Buy some snacks, close the curtains, make yourself comfortable and wait for the movie to start. Sometimes, less is good :D

Coming back to the movie .. I liked the movie. There were atleast 2 tracks of stories in the movie. And definately, it was the पी. के. दुबे who steals the show from all. The way he introduces his name as 'drank and drowned' [ thats the literal meaning of his name when read fast :p ] is really funny. Its his expressions that make the scenes more cute. the ups and downs of his new found love and the way they both communicate just with their eyes and so few words is marvelous. It was this story that kept me interested than the main story. The main story was a bit out of place. It wasnt the groom who looked like American, but the bride. Even the characters that they portrayed were not in line with their background.

The screenplay was also good. Especially since it never felt that the actors were speaking on cue but as if they were actually preparing for the wedding and talking impromptu. The guests being welcomed in colorful umbrellas in the rains was fun to watch. Shefali did a good job and she is definately a very good actress who unfortunately never gets any "main" roles to play. The pick of the actors in this movie though is Naseerudding Shah. His role is very central to the non-main theme of the movie and he makes his role look so very natural. No over-acting, just plain simple things done right.

गंग्स्तेर [ Gangster ]

Heard a lot about Kangana in this movie and wanted to watch it since long. Watching the first 15 minutes of the movie, where she gets the meaty presence on the screen, I was shocked to see her speak so broken Hindi. I was shocked to see that they were talking so much about this actress who could not even speak Hindi properly. But, later on as the movie progressed, I realized that what she did in the start of the movie was part of her role. She was trying to portray they she was drunk !!! It was a good try I should say. Shiny too got a good role in this movie, but was not allowed to utter a single word for almost 80% of the times he is seen on screen. I dont know if it was for good or bad :D ... His character steals away the show from all, when he reads out these words in the letter that is sent to Kangana. "I now know why I came running to your house on that rainy day ... " Kudos to the guy who wrote this script and the dailogues ...

सिनेमा का भूत उतरा ॥ अब चलो कुछ काम कर लेते है :p

Movies

एक और बड़ी लंबी जुदाई blogging से. Wow !!! It really works :) Its really nice to see that hindi text there just as you type in the phonetic equivalent in English. Hectic life, but got some time to watch some nice movies. So thought of penning down some of my reviews about these movies.

डोर

This is one of the best movies I have watched in recent times. Its a very slow movie, but you dont get bored with it. Its like reading a book which takes you into its grip and you keep turning the pages in anticipation of the way its gonna end. अयेशा has certainly given a very good performance in this movie. The story itself is so simple and good and since she is the central character in the movie, I guess thats the reason she has got so much attention. But, yeah, she has lived upto the expectations of this role.

The movie backdrop and the setting is so good, there are so many interlinked stories or rather aspects to the characters. It makes them look so much more real, when compared to other movies when the characters have only one dimension in life and nothing else. The movie talks about what "friendship" is. How you can fall in love with your friend, and that "love" doesnt always have to end up into a relationship. Its the bonding that matters. The movie also talks about how widows are "made to behave" without even a single person giving a damn to what she feels in her heart. On the other hand, it also shows why the lady accepts this discrimination, only to be enlightened at the end to break all the shackles and lead her own life. The reasoning and the changes that come into her life are quiet convincing. The more central theme of the movie though is "capital punishment". The movie makes its point clear at the end that, its not always an eye for an eye that everybody wants. The lady who was hell bent upon punishing the culprit of her husband's death, realises that by not signing the forgivance letter, she would be implicitly committing the same crime that caused her husband's death and in turn making another woman go through the same torture that she has been through. The last scene of the movie is very फिल्मी ॥ पर इतना चलता है :p

Red Eye

Another gripping kidnap drama. Only that this time, the kidnapper is sitting write next to you in the flight and you cant run away from him !!! Its only between you and the kidnapper and nobody else has a clue that you are actually kidnapped. You are held hostage and cannot get any help from all the other passengers in the flight. Its a very unique idea and keeps you on the edge of the seat throughout. Except that the motive for the kidnap is very dull and it doesnt sound convincing at all. But, its a good one time watchable movie.

The flight of phoenix

Another plane crash movie, just that its in the middle of the desert caught in a sand storm !!! A strange calculation is done by the pilot and they come to the conclusion that if they all walk [ they are about 12 of them ], the water in their reserves would finish off in a couple of days. But, if they wait there hoping that someone would find them, then the reserves could last for 30 days !!!. There is a aeroplane design engineer among the people stranded and he convinces them that he can rebuild the damaged plane. But, it would be a single propeller plane and they will have to join the wings and reuse the undamaged tail. At the end of the hard work of making the plane, they come to the harsh realisation that the plane can hold only the pilot and no passengers. They all get angry on the design engineer but they cant do anything to him, since he the only hope they have. Finally, they all tie ropes to the wings, and hang on to it while the plane named "Phoenix" takes flight.

हमको दीवाना कर गए

One lazy weekend afternoon after lunch at home and nothing else to watch on TV. Thats how i ended up watching this movie. Its a खीचिदी of all the hindi movies that have been made till date. Not a single penny of innovation. Girl is engaged, boy meets her before wedding, they fall in love, but dont tell eachother. Just before wedding, guy meets the girl again [ oh yeah, this time they meet by co-incidence !! duh .. ] and this time the guy runs away with the girl. The settings, the locales and the fashion show in this movie were only selling points. Katrina has a brilliant taste for dresses that look good on her :D

50 first dates

I had watched this movie long time back and happened to watch it again this time around. Adam Sandler has done a wonderful job in this beautiful movie. The girl with whom he falls in love, has a memory problem. She can remember things only for 24 hours. When she wakes up in the morning she cant remember anything that happened the previous days. So, every day, her brother and dad, keep her drawing canvas clean, and give her the same newspaper to read. She wakes up, reads the newspaper, draws the same things everyday on her canvas and visits the restaurant. Its in this restaurant that Sandler meets her, and each day, he starts from the beginning trying to win her heart. All this carries on for 50 days. Each day morning he meets her in the restaurant, spends a lovely time with her the whole day, and even proposes her a few days in the evening, but the next day morning, he has to start all over again !!! That guy really has a lot of patience and personifies perseverance. A good watchable movie.