Thought Beans Blog

Cricket, a gentleman’s game, has undergone many changes since the days British played it. Since the globalization, there is no dearth of people complaining about the long duration of cricket. Circa 2007: The twenty 20 world cup, a twenty overs cricket match is being played for the first time in South africa. I really feel it is much better to watch twenty 20 than 50 overs match. The teams would have to have  hard hitters, aggresive bowlers & quick in fielding compared to 50 overs. Though it has taken many years for ICC to come out with the World cup for twenty 20. Lets hope atleast 20-20 is free of scandals & ensure a good team play for all.

The 2006 football World Cup is coming to an end in a few days. This worldcup has given us some great results, upcoming players & what not.Some of the matches are memorable. Notable among them are Italy vs Australia match. I am sure Australia would have won the match, if there were no penalty.(Sure it was a bad luck for them). Even the England team didnot play well in this world cup. They won the first match against paraguay because of a self goal. This helped them to get 3 points.Among the major exits from from the first round are Korea, USA & the Check Republic. Even the Ukrain match in the 2nd round was very good. They played superbly. Among the african nations Ghana, Coasta Rica played well. This enlightens the world about the up & coming african football playing nation. Many people around the world had no idea Ghana would reach 2nd round in the world cup. Even the favourites Brazil didnot play well in the opening few matches. Ronaldo made a big comeback in the 2nd round. He became the highest goal scorer in the world cup surpassing muller. This should come as a big surprise to critics of Ronaldo for his overweight.The quarter finals is going to be a very interesting one. Notable among them are Germany vs Argentina & France vs Brazil. Whoever wins, this world cup is certainly very memorable. The next world cup will be in south africa. By then most the current players would have taken retirement from football. Many will be dreaming to play in the next world cup. Who will will this years golden boot? Will have to wait some more days to get answer to that question. I think the organizers should be praised for good arrangements. This is the sports which is viewed by everyone in the nook & corner of the world. We have six european countries & two South American countries in the quarter finals. The wait will be over in a few days………..!

This football worldcup has proved to be an eyeopener for Indian sports.Countries like Toga, Trinidad & Tobago, with population of a few lakhs have advanced into world cup finals. This world cup football has enlightned many an Indians as to where we stand in sports compared to other countries. The GDP growth rate of these countries, technological development, human resources & what not is way beyond when compared with India. Inspite of good resources, high GDP growth, etc India still couldnot make into world cup finals. India stand at 117th position in world football rankings. Inspite of a country with a billion plus population what is the reason for India not gaining an entry into world cup?. Most of the major sports like tennis, swimming, football, cycling, athletics, etc in the world has more than 30 to 40 countries playing in it. Only Cricket is played by 10 to 12 countries. Out of it, hardly 6 to 7 countries are in the high rankings. Remaining 5 to 6 countries are still in the infant stage. Is this the reason why Cricket is the only sports in which indians excel playing against 5 to 6 good teams? Even playing against 5 to 6 teams they are tigers at home & outside India their performance is not consistent. While they fail to make a mark in other sports where one can find atleast some 20 good teams competeing. Some of the reasons like politics, reservation, no future for sportssters, less fund for training, red tapism, can be cited for the poor performance by Indians in sports. Many excellent sportsters of yesteryears are in a very bad condition today. Also we should stop giving too much media attention to sportsters once they acheive something. Sania Mirza is the classic example of this. After the adworld embraced her, she has hardly won any tournaments.(Forget about the grandslams!) Only a concerned effort by the government, sports organizations, NGO’s & citizens would bring improvement in Indian sports.