Team India regains form, gradually

The Indian team rallied from a position to grave weakness to almost pull of a Test victory. The team as whole deserves credit for this. Under the circumstances, it was a wonderful comeback.

Team Composition: The team management deserves some kudos for their guts. Going in with an inexperienced bowling combination was quite a gamble. The team certainly gained a lot from this experience without it proving too costly. I suspect Pathan will be back after a much deserved break in the next Test. Playing the extra batsman seems like a must at this point, though its a safer strategy than an aggressive one. Though Bhajji was certainly missed in the bowling dept., it might have been too risky to play him at the expense of a batsman as pointed out by Chappell. India might have been better served by an all rounder in place of Karthik in the 15. This would certainly have given the team management some more options.

Jaffer Strikes: Jaffer chose a perfect moment to come up with a fine knock. He has certainly cemented his position in the team for the rest of the Test series at a min. His tendency to flash outside the off stump so frequently, even at the start of day 4 (after a long innings on day 3) might be a serious weakness. It will interesting to see how he does against someone like McGrath who can bowl so easily and consistently within the “corridor”.

VVS must grab these opportunities: VVS threw away his wicket after being decently settled in both innings. He needs to grab these opportunities to seal a permanent position in the Test team (and not be an object of experimentation!). Its painful to see a batsman of his calibre squander such chances to shine. Hopefully. he’ll come good in the rest of the series.

Last over gamble: Who should have bowled the last over? It is easy to speculate after the fact. But lets look at it once again. In the last few overs India had to pick up one more wicket. This meant that there was a very high chance that India could go into the last over still requiring one wicket. Under those circumstances, it makes sense to have the most experienced bowler bowl the last over. This individual is without doubt Anil Kumble. I suspect that Dravid might have missed a trick here by not saving Kumble for the last over of the Test match. One of the prior overs could have been shuffled to give Kumble the last over. Easier said than done, but might well have been worth a try. Big player, big name, big over. Might have been a perfect setting for India’s bowling hero over the years to deliver the “jumbo” strike. But then…..

Constitutional amendment, glad it failed

Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. This is clearly a pre-election stunt by the Republicans. Thankfully it failed in the senate. At a time when issues like the worsening Iraq crisis should be getting max attention, its a pity that such (needlessly divisive) issues are being unneccessarily dragged to the forefront. Having failed twice in two years, it probably in the best interest of the country that this issue not be brought up again.

Sehwag fined, Lara fine!

While Sehwag was fined for excessive appealing, the match referee thought Lara’s on field behavior was perfectly Ok. This is completely ridiculous to say the least. Its a clear sign that the referee simply didn’t have the guts to take on the local hero. I hope the BCCI or the team management would at least make their displeasure known to avoid such inconsistencies in the future!

Regarding Dhoni’s dismissal (which triggered Lara’s tantrums), shouldn’t the benefit of doubt have gone to the batsman when the on-field umpires and the third umpire could not make a decision?

Need Help with Firefox Safe Mode

When I click the start button on my Windows XP machine the Firefox icon (from which I can start Firefox) always seems to open Firefox in safe mode. Wonder why. Any idea how to fix this?

I use a shortcut on y desktop to start Firefox in Normal mode. This works just fine. I’d like to be able to start it in normal mode from the Windows XP start button. Any help or pointers will be much appreciated.

Sulphur Creek Nature Center: Good place for a kid’s birthday party

Tired of kids’ birthday parties at pumpitup, Indian restaurants, etc. Here is good alternative in the bay area (Hayward): Sulphur Creek Nature Center.

Nice place to host kids birthday party. Kids will have fun. They bring in some animals/birds, talk about them, have a puppet show etc. You can see some snakes, birds, animals etc (in a zoo type setting) and the place is nice, cool and green.

I had never seen a guinea pig before. Saw one at the Sulphur Creek Nature Center. Also got to see an owl, real close for the very the first time.

VoIP: Taking the Plunge!

Internet phone services have been around for a while now. But taking the plunge to make the change from conventional phone service to Internet based phone was not an easy one. The biggest concern was the reliability of the Internet connect. What happens if the Internet connect goes down? The mobile phone is certainly an option if this happens.

There are several excellent features offered by Internet phone services, but the most valuable one is easily the ability to keep your number unchanged even if you change your address (in my case, this was the clincher). Voice mail messages delivered via email is feature that we have found to be very useful as well among other features.

On the downside there are 911 call issues. In other words, the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) doesn’t automatically know your details when you make a 911 call unlike a conventional phone line. Depending on your physical address this might not be an issue for some Internet phone service providers because of the Enhanced 911 (E911) services.

Vonage is a well known provider of Internet phone service. They had a recent IPO. Packet8 is another option. However, I chose Lingo since they offer unlimited calling to Western Europe in addition to US and Canada. With Skype offering free calls in the US, these services are soon going to get a run for their money.

Same Quotes, Different Report

Check out the Times of India report and the cricket.org
report on Rahul Dravid’s quotes after the recent ODI series defeat. No where does the cricket.org site refer to Dravid saying that Ganguly, VVS and Kumble were missed!

A perfect example of TOI cooking up stories starting with the very title of the article! Listen to the actual audio of Dravid’s interview.

Book Review: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Title: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Author: Mitch Albom

Another example, where I was impressed with one book by an author and almost blindly picked up another by the same author, only to be doubly dissappointed. Albom’s earlier book, (Tuesdays with Morrie) was extremely well-written and deeply moving. This book attempts to achieve the same objectives but fails to do so in my opinion. The story is about a war veteran who eventually dies in a accident while trying to save the life of a little girl. He then goes to heaven where he meets five people one after the other. The idea is that these five people have in some way influenced the path his life has taken. Meeting these folks is meant to give some kind of closure and meaning to his life. The concept of the book is very interesting but somehow as I progressed through the book, I didn’t find it as engaging and gripping as Tuesdays with Morrie. Nevertheless, its an easy read, one that you can easily wrap up on a flight.

India’s Test Team to WI

The Indian selectors once again did a better job than they have done in the past of selecting the Indian Test team. VRV Singh and Raina got the nod mostly on the basis of future potential while Powar’s call to the Test team was certainly due. Agarakar’s inclusion in the team has always been a mystery. It nice to see the selectors finally looking beyond Agarakar (though it won’t be surprising if he makes a mysterious comeback in the next series!). Dinesh Karthick’s inclusion is bit of a mystery too. With just three Tests, its unlikely that he will make the team, barring an injury to Dhoni. Then, why bother?

Sachin will no doubt be missed. The one to benefit the most from his absence is VVS Laxman. He was dumped from the Test against England (quite unfairly one could argue) to include Yuvraj and a fifth bowler. This is his golden opportunity to set the record straight that when it comes to Tests he deserves a slot ahead of Yuvi and Kaif and should never be traded in to make way for a fifth bowler. If he doesn’t goofup in the first couple of Tests he is likely to play all the Tests. He should grab this opportunity to cement his position in the Test team. Else he might find himself out of the Test side fairly quickly like he did from the ODI team. Unfortunate, given his talent and his record (especially against the mighty Aussies), but the truth is that there is plenty of talent waiting on the sidelines.