Finally A Blog

Roy Emerson's record of 12 Grand Slam titles stood the test of time for three decades when Pistol Pete surpassed that number to create the new record at 14 Grand Slam titles.  This figure of 14 looked insurmountable in 2002 as it should be because of two reasons: One,the previous record took three decades to be broken and two, there was nobody in sight who manifested the kind of potential which made Pete Sampras rule the tennis circuit for seven years. That was 2002. More often than not, we need to look into the annuls of history to find out where is it that history was started to be made. We must go to 2001 Wimbledon fourth round to see the history being started to be written. That was when a 19 year old Roger Federer defeated Sampras thereby ending his 31 match winning streak at SW19.  Its hindsight now, although people took notice of Federer then, but not many knew that he will be a worthy successor of Sampras at Wimbledon and surpass him. He piled on 7 at SW19, ...

From the last post, we have come a long way in IPL. Lalit Modi has been shown the door out. Srinivasan, who was possibly the most powerful person in Indian cricket has been wrapped in the knuckles by the Supreme Court of India.  The initial detractors have dwindled in number and intensity. The crowd loves the feisty tournament. TV viewership has led to increased ad spending on TVC spots. It looks like the classic happy-ever-after scenario. If Kerry Packer Circus was the first wave of sweeping changes to cricket, IPL is the second wave. The sporting success parameters have changed, the batting averages and the bowling averages need a totally different yardstick. There is still the perfunctory tribute to Test cricket being the ultimate form of the game but everyone knows the reality.