This is what a friend of mine Ruchir Dalal wrote to me abt the whole Rahul Sachin 194 issue.....beautifully put.....

The world is divided into Sachin fans who do anything to defend him, and Sachin critics, who do anything to criticize him.
At times when statistics are discussed and critics have a field day with quotes like :

"Never performs when India needs him".
"Chokes in big matches".
"Record in India better than record abroad".
"Big scores always in dead matches".
"Low averages or numCenturies against X team".

In an era of Americanized statistifying, there will be a statistic on how many balls it took for Sachin to get from 100 to 138, in matches played in December
when Dave Shepherd was umpiring. A statistic like "all Sachin's double hundreds have been in drawn matches" can be quite damning.

That is why Sachin fans want a Sachin double hundred. (probably more than he wants it, since he doesnt have to defend himself using statistics, unlike his
fans).

So if India go on to win this match, I would have liked a watch him get those 6 runs. Sure it doesnt matter to him, but I guess it matters to me. We play
testmatches in Pak every 10-15 years. Probably 2-3 times in a long career. Long after those who actually watched the match are dead, it is only cold numbers
which will speak.

And dont get me wrong here, because I completely agree with the thing that its Dravid's decision. God knows, he has been stranded in the 90s enough number of
times when Ganguly has declared. And there's no end to this milestone business.But given the circs of the match, I think we could have afforded to delay
declaration by 2 overs. But like Sachin said, once the decision is taken, thats it.

The worst fallout of this is that the media (and some hyper Sachin fans) are going to get after Dravid's blood. And he might get bitter by that experience.
Which is sad, since he's a fine cricketer and gentleman. Hope he is unaffected by what follows.


P.S. here is Razzaq's reaction after Akash took a stunner to get him.....awesome....another for the archives!!!!!




Balls

Read This article on Cricinfo, brilliantly written, especially this quote --

As Henry Longfellow wrote, Not in the clamor of the crowded street, Not in the shouts and plaudits of the throng, But in ourselves, are triumph and defeat .

The old workhorse Clums has done it again.

My views about the present hot topic in cricket. Should Sachin have been allowed to score a double?
Well,definitely. He deserved it since he played an impeccable knock mixing caution with agression ( cliched ). He knew that the declaration was to come at any time and was aptly accelerating .It was just a matter of an over or two before he got his double.But I agree that he should not have said in the press that he was surprised by the declaration, since he couldnt have done anything about it anyways. But its a common practice nowadays to interview the player on the ground itself before he comes back to the pavilion and this might just have triggered the most unlikely event of the Little Master opening up to the press. Dravid definitely erred in not allowing Sachin to complete his double, but Sachin erred too.
Pakistanis are bad losers and definitely the treacherous and cranky Miandad is trying his best to play mind games by fueling the discussion that he would have allowed Sachin to score a double, had he (sachin) been in his (miandad's) team. The reason given by him is that Sachin wins so many matches for India that he deserved the double. Mind you, this is the same Miandad who blabbered after the Rawalpindi one-dayer that Sachin is good, but he still has to win many matches for India.Opinions change so soon!! Imran Khan had made a hue and cry about India getting Ashish Nehra at the last minute in the Pindi one-dayer. Imran had accused India of playing mind games. But Mr Imran , your team is doing the same, playing mind games and this is definitely in the worst possible taste. Now, where are you, have you gone deaf ?
Mid-day, the perfect tabloid had published that there was an animated discussion between Ganguly and Dravid which ended with the former walking out and then Dravid declared. Mid-day is of the opinion that Ganguly had a say in the declaration and he is jealous of Sachin and blah blah blah. I think people are really misguided by the press ( that includes yours truly ) and we believe that there is a fair degree of truth in print. Dravid is jealous of Tendulkar and the adulation he (Sachin) gets ,was another ridiculous comment in the Mid-day. But I would say that these are all the contemplations of the cheap and crooked mind and we ( the people ) would be better placed casting this inconsequential incident in the limbo of oblivion. All the best India !!

One Fabulous picture of Sachin, thought we should archive it...

Ok all said and done in Jammu......this is wat my dad said happened in Bbay.....

1. No Rickshaws on Taxis plying on the road....a few those were, had tuned into the match via radio (on 'ispecial' patented Jhankar beats 'Shystam').

2. Dad was in the temple during the paki batting. Ladies were reading 'Vishnu Sahastranamam' (with Navratri goin on....). When news seeped in abt the fall of a paki wkt.....there wud be a huge roar for a few secs (much to the dismay of all the 'Wadhiyaars'(read priests....dad included!!!)) and then 'Vishnu Sahastranamam' wud start again.
For whom the bell tolls..................

3. Every man with earplugs on is asked "Boss..... score kya hua??" (Doesnt matter if he is listening to Sushil Doshi's commentary or Altaf's 'Rum Vodka Tharra beeer')

4. Maximum number of patrons outside an Electronics shop! (Chai/Panwalas have their own share of celebrity status too)

5. Not to mention the fireworks.......it happens in Bbay even if we ROI in a drab Irani trophy match. But this victory had to special.....the fireworks went on till wee hours of the morning culminating with a '15 Min Maala'!!!!!!!

24th March my friends......forget ur Bday but this day......at ur own peril!
Bring on the Tests suckers.

Balls

Pakistan grieve, India exult - The Times of India

Have a look at what Shoaib Akhtar did after the match. In that the best part is what his team-mate says: "More than the loss he was stunned by the six that L Balaji hit off him."

Balaji Rox ! Totally !!!

An excerpt from cricinfo:

"While Rahul Dravid and Mohammad Kaif were building a partnership during the fourth one-dayer, superstitions were rampant in the Indian dressing room. The Indian Express found out that VVS Laxman could not leave his seat till the game was over, while Yuvraj Singh was ordered to stay horizontal on the massage table until the game was sealed. Amrit Mathur, the media manager, was persona non grata in the dressing room while the match went on, because of the belief that a wicket would fall if he were around"

Bala, looks like we are not alone !!!