A Rohit Sharma Masterclass!

 Rohit Sharma is playing a very important innings in the 2nd Test between India and England. Well deserved hundred showing once again that form is temporary but class is permanent.

He made a very difficult pitch look easy with such a great batting display. As far as the test goes it is definitely advantage India, also lucky toss to win on this pitch. Need to push the total to 350 to 400 tomorrow. 

Test Cricket is so interesting!

This post is based on the ongoing Cricket Test Match series between India and England happening in India. Everyone expected India to dominate in their home turf but English surprisingly dominated and won the 1st Test. This write-up is one the eve of the second Test Match.

I am feeling excited to see how wounded India respond to the English charge. Will be see another comeback or will we see another capitulation? 

In the meantime English team has made 4 changes to their squad. 1 forced and 1 owing to poor performance and 2 based on their rotation policy. These many changes will be a gamble. If English win then it'll be a statement supporting their bench strength. But if they lose then they will lose all the momentum they have gained. It will be a very interesting game both ways. Test cricket is so interesting.

The power of Belief

Declare a man he is a Knight, and he will fight like one. The power of belief is immense. 

One team makes net bowlers believe they are bowling superstars and they play like one. Another team asks seasoned domestic performers to be a support act. In professional sports self-believe and confidence is often very important as at that level everyone has the talent.

Strength of the Weak and the weakness of the Strong!

 There is strength in the weak and there is weakness is strength. 

When backed into a corner even the weakest person shows immense strength.  In contrast, when the strong, in their hubris, start underestimating the weak then themselves become weak. 

This lesson holds true in all spears of life and we have seen the same in recent Test cricket matches that India has been part of in Gabba (Australia) and Chepauk (India). At Gabba the Indians showed great strength even when they were the weaker team, and in contrast Indians showed weakness in Chepauk in spite of being the stronger team.

Playing XI for upcoming 2nd Test Indian vs England (Feb 13, 2021)

 Predicted XI

Rohit Sharma

Shubhman Gill

Virat Kohli (c)

Cheteswar Pujara

Ajinkya Rahane (vc)

Rishabh Pant (Wk)

Washington Sundar

Ravichandran Ashwin

Axar Patel

Ishant Sharma

Mohammad Siraj

Playing XI

Rohit Sharma

Shubhman Gill

Virat Kohli (c)

Cheteswar Pujara

Ajinkya Rahane (vc)

Rishabh Pant (Wk)

Ravichandran Ashwin

Axar Patel

Kuldeep Yadav

Ishant Sharma

Mohammad Siraj

The Angst of Youth

When we are young and have the whole world ahead of us, in today's day of age of information overload, all we are looking for is confirmation that the choices we are making is the right one. The angst of youth is the fear of lost opportunities and that is what drives their quick mood changes, volatile behaviors and fickle nature.

All I would like to say to all young, having been gone through the same phase recently, is that it's alright to sometimes make the wrong choices. life if not as short as they believe. Yes, you live only once but the once is long enough to give you many chances even after your mistakes. So just slow down, relax and keep working hard. Life will give your enough chances!

What is Tolerance?

 More and more in the current times, I am seeing that it is becoming difficult to express any thing without offending one of the many passionate groups/factors/communities/casts/tribes/clans. 

This is where I remember the word TOLERANCE!

What is tolerance? 

According to me tolerance is the ability to accept others who may have a different opinion than one's own self. Tolerance teaches us to accept others' different viewpoints and have a more richer dialogue. By being tolerant we can think beyond pandering to short sighted conflicts to create more fruitful and sustainable long term solutions.

I pray that all of us learn this virtue and be more tolerant in our thinking. I promise that this will go a long way in solving many of our problems.