Controversies, festivals and the mean streak running through me...

The Indian cricket team starts the third cricket test match against England at Headingly today. In fact, the match has just started off ... i.e. at 10:00 AM GMT (thats exactly 1530 hrs IST). England are boosted by the return of two of their better bowlers, Caddick and Tudor (though Gough hasn't recovered from injury). Indians, on the other hand have been having problems with their seamers and had to drop Ashish Nehra (very talented but careless bowler). I am surprised that SS Das wasn't included in the side especially after he hit a double century in the practice game last week.Strange!... Anyways, I wouldn't blame the team. They've had a nightmarish time in the last few days.

Its all bcos of this controversy involving the International Cricket Council (ICC) and their sponsorship deals. It seems the ICC signed a contract with their sponsors for some major cricket tournaments like the Champions Trophy (in September '02) and the World Cup (next year). Well, the contract had a clause which said that none of the players from any teams will not be able to endorse any brands other than those of the tournament sponsors. Now, this isn't an evil clause per se. But, you see, a lot of cricketers have personal contracts for endorsing various brands. So, the clause in the ICC contract clashes with the personal contracts of the players. Even this isn't much of a problem on its own. But the real point is that ICC signed this contract in 2000 and the players have been made aware of this clause only less than a month before the Champions Trophy starts. Thats why the players revolted and said that they will not sign the contract which will enable them to be available for selection for the team that plays the Champions Trophy tournament early next month. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on its part is desperately trying to find some middle ground in this dispute and ensure that all the star players appear in the Champions Trophy matches.

The point is... with all these off-the-field activities, its difficult to expect the players to be able to focus on the job they know best, i.e. play cricket. Well, anyways, lets see what happens as this Test match unfolds!

I think I have bored you enough with all this cricket talk. But, I can't help it... I just love the game!... *LOL*

By the way, today's Raksha Bandhan as I mentioned in my blog yesterday. So, early morning... we had this little ceremony at home in the morning. Ashwini tied this really cute Rakhi on my wrist and I gave her sweets and a little present. Then, we had lots of those sweets... lots!!. Anyways, this rakhi is great!... its got a very tiny peacock feather (I suspect its not a real feather... so all you PETA oriented people can relax!). The point is... its so good that I kept my sleeves rolled up the whole day just to show off the Rakhi... LOL

And then, today morning, I played a prank on Richa. It was all done in good humour. And I bet she had a great time calling me a big meanie... ha ha ha!! ... but I couldn't help it... I'm an idiot!! (well, not a complete idiot yet, there're still some parts missing!) :-))

By the way, I just came across a great anti-smoking sign (I got it by email from one of my friends)... It says...

"Thank you for Not Smoking -- Cigarette smoking is the residue of your pleasure. It contaminates the air, pollutes my hair and clothes, not to mention my lungs. This takes place without my consent. I have a pleasure, too. I like a beer now and then. The residue of my pleasure is urine. Would you be annoyed if I stood on a chair and pissed on your head and your clothes without your consent?"

Good one, isn't it?!!

well, that brings to an end another one of my huge blogs... I think I'm getting too verbose!! ... What do you ppl think?! ... Just let me know through the comments. Thank God, enetation.co.uk has started working now (it gave me lot of grief in the last few days). Ok, so... thats it for now, I guess... unless I sneak off like yesterday and do some karting/bowling or stuff like that... *LOL*.

cheers!