Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Gully Cricket Rules

The Wall Street hype, corporate linens and buildings touching the sky. The interiors reflecting luxury and streets filled with people experiencing life. In contrast to that, tattered and dusty clothes, patch-work roads, box like houses and a not-so-luxurious bicycle awaits for kids in India who live their Tendulkar-dream every day, travels a mile or more to reach the destination. Where it all begins, maybe an old school government owned ground or a 22 yard street, just a red colored rubber ball or in case if the budget is fine then a fluorescent colored cosco ball and a bat without a kookaburra tag. Three equal sized sticks from the bushes and two slippers instead of bails, and all is set to start a Gully Cricket match. Gully cricket has its own rules and regulations, not conducted by ICC. They follow their own set of rules irrespective of them being illegal in the legal format of game. Here are such 10 rules listed below:-

1) One Tip One Hand Rule


While batting, if a fielder appeals after taking a catch single-handedly and the ball has hit the ground once, in that case according to the one tip one hand rule , the batsman is given OUT! 

2) First Trial Ball Rule



On the first ball of an innings, if a batsman loses his wicket then according to the Gully Cricket Book of Rules, that ball is declared as a trial ball. 

3) Bully with a Bat Rule



Whoever owns the most expensive/fancy-looking bat gets a chance to bat first. 

4) Seniors above Juniors Rule



Clash of the Titans in the world of Gully Cricket happens when there are more than one group of kids who play on the same ground, in that case the senior group gets a chance to play first. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. No matter how long the seniors take, juniors have to wait for their turn. 

5) Run for your life Rule



In case if by mistake the batsman sends off the ball directly inside the neighbor's house after smashing the window glass, the one universal rule that works would be, take a step back, turn around and run for your life. Don't look back, just run your way back home. 

6) Introduction of a New Ball Rule



Even while playing Gully Cricket a new ball is introduced but here's the case is a bit different. A new ball is introduced only when the old one is lost. And every member of the group has to contribute a penny or two in order to buy a new one. 

7) GCCI Rule



The unofficial Gully Cricket Council of India makes the major decision for the teams in the age-old style. To decide the batting order, the team members and which team will bat first are all part of GCCI's Rule Manual. 

8) Six and Out rule 



The ball flies high, lands outside the boundary but it's not a six until the ball is found. If the ball gets lost or lands beyond the ground's region then the batsman is out. No wonder in Gully Cricket, Christ Gayle must have made another record for maximum number of dismissals. 

9) The ball went where? Rule



The batsman gets in trouble if he manages to hit the ball straight inside the drainage system. It's the batsman's duty to find the ball, wash it and bring it back to play. In case the ball is lost then the batsman has to buy a new one. 

10) After match party Rule



Not like the IPL after match parties but every serious Gully Cricket match ends up in a little party. Because there is a very famous saying 'a little party never killed anybody '. 


Crickters and bharatnatyam

Indian Classical dance is a hypernym for various compiled art forms embedded in Hindu musical theatre styles. Dance is an Art. Whereas, on the other hand, Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams with 11 players apiece on a field and the center comprises of a 22-yard long rectangular pitch. Dance and Cricket are convincingly two different fields. But here is the list of ten such astonishing pictures that proves that Cricketers can be good Classical Dancers:-


1) "The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word"
     Wicketkeeping?




2) Wrist movement and fingers produces miraculous acts. 
    Narine! Narine!



3) Do it with elegance but without pom-poms.




4) Not just a Shah Rukh Khan swag. 




5) Catch it, in style. 




6) Kohli's Chance pe Dance.




7) Bharat-Cricket-Natyam.




8) Dance like no one's watching.
    Boom-Boom.




9) When you stumble stumping, make it part of the dance.




10) Just kajraare-ing. 



Junior de Villiers' future profession forecast

As heroic as he is on the field, there are equatable amount of praises that echoes out lout off the field. Abraham Benjamin "AB" de Villiers is definitely on the list of most loved players in the cricketing world. Recently, he's been blessed with a baby boy on Wednesday. The news about Baby de Villiers' arrival trended on all social networking sites. Without a doubt, AB de Villiers fulfills the criterion for being a good parent by scoring ten on ten marks already. As we all have known a lot about AB's all-rounder abilities, then without a doubt, the future of Baby de Villiers is surely in great hands. AB de Villiers is such a perfectionist, that he leaves Baby de Villiers with 10 professions that are already in his genes:-

1) Cricket



Cricket, you don't say. Baby de Villiers' unexplored cricketing abilities have already attracted large audience over Twitter and Facebook. Like father like son. 


2) Hockey



AB de Villiers got shortlisted for junior National Hockey squad. Baby de Villiers might end up having a Chak de South Africa moment someday in the future. 

3) Football



AB de Villiers was shortlisted for junior National Football squad. So what about having a Bend It Like Baby de Villiers moment? 


4) Rugby



Here's another one, AB de Villiers was the Captain of junior South Africa junior Football team. Go Waka Waka Baby de Villiers. 


5) Swimming



AB de Villiers holds six South Africa school swimming records. Get, set, dive in Baby de Villiers. 


6) Tennis



AB de Villiers was also a member of South Africa junior Davis Cup team. 

7) Athletics



AB de Villiers also had the fastest 100m time in South Africa junior athletics. Bhaag Baby de Villiers Bhaag.


8) Badminton



AB de Villiers was once also a National Badminton U-19 champion. 


9) Singer



Baby de Villiers also have an option of choosing the stardom. 

10) Scientist



AB de Villiers once received a national medal from Nelson Mandela for a science project. The Big Bang de Villiers Theory. 

Sourav Ganguly- Dada of Cricket

Sourav Ganguly is undoubtedly India's one of the greatest captains of all time. He has captained a legendary team, pulled out the talents of many and explored his own abilities and finally, projected a world class player, none other than, he, himself. The Bengal Tiger, as people say, Ganguly has never allowed his voice to go unheard. The man of his words and master of Indian cricket drama, Ganguly's always had many winning entertaining moments on the field and with his witty commentary skills , now he also has mastered the art of bantering, off the field. He is popularly known as 'Dada' with love and respect. But here are seven such incidences that prove that Sourav Ganguly is really the 'Dada' of cricket. 

1) Dada's Dadagiri.


Geoffery Boycott : "You must mention your experience about taking your jersey off and flying it in the air at the Mecca of cricket - Lords. Oh, you naughty boy!"

Sourav Ganguly : "One of your boys also took off his jersey here in Mumbai."

Geoffery Boycott : "Yeah, but Lords is the Mecca of cricket. "

Sourav Ganguly : "Lords is your Mecca and Wankhede is ours. "



2) Do not mess with Dada. You dare not.


"I am just saying, keep away. Don't f*** around."- Sourav Ganguly to Russel Arnold. 

3) The Bengal Tiger's Den. Eden. 


Ravi Shastri : "Shouldn't there be a 'Sourav Ganguly Stand' at Eden Gardens?"

Sourav Ganguly : "The entire ground belongs to me Ravi." 

4) Dada can troll anybody. Even Rahul Dravid was not spared.


Rahul Dravid : "If Ganguly had been a yard quicker and just a little bit fitter, he would have been a match winner."

Sourav Ganguly : "I wish I was Prime Minister of India, I could have done a whole lot of things."

5) Straightforward, on your face.


Ganguly simply said to Mohd. Yousuf to take his time but the umpire should dare not fine him instead because of the delay Yousuf was causing. Talk to the hand Yousuf.

6) Spill those guts.


Rajdeep Sardesai : " Does Greg Chappell owe an apology to Indian cricket? To Sachin Tendulkar, to Sourav Ganguly, to Dravid?"

Sourav Ganguly : "He can call up Tendulkar or Dravid. But he dare not dial my number. If he is hearing this on TV, he dare not call Sourav Ganguly." 

7) Go home kid.


Dada was kind enough to make Stuart Broad realize that he is Stuart Little in front of him. 















Billy Bowden: The Funniest Umpire



Brent Fraser "Billy" Bowden is a famous international umpire from New Zealand. He was a cricketer until he started to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. His passion for cricket held him together and he took up umpiring. Billy Bowden is famous for his "crooked finger" signals, which people find different and entertaining. Undoubtedly, Billy's umpiring signals are distinctive and the spectators accepted them all as one of his quirks. 



 1) Billy goes wild. 




The batsman sends off the ball straight to the boundary and Billy signaled a Fo-fo-fo-FOUR!


2) It's a Billy Bowden SIX!


To signal it as a SIX you just have to do the "double crooked finger six-phase hop" . 


3) Billy just wanted the lady to shift aside.



Billy's signals are pretty much direct and clear. 


4) 





5) Leg bye signal. 


Even at an event, Billy showed off his umpiring instinct.


6) Billy just inserted a moment of delay.



Mitchell Johnson appealed, batsman took a run. Billy took three steps forward-and back , comes back at his position and signaled it as OUT! He inserted a moment of delay, increased the suspense and trolled the batsman. Billy Bowden's surely got some swag.


7) Billy showed Red Card to Glenn McGrath



 Even the commentators said "The stage is made for Billy Bowden"

8) And lastly, one cannot resist oneself from imitating Billy Bowden


Billy Bowden's crooked finger swag is so fabulous that even Suresh Raina couldn't stop himself from imitating him. 




Top 10 Ashes sledges of all time

The players are not renowned for being able to keep their emotions in check whenever there is a match between Australia and England. But comparatively the temperature during the most important historic series, The Ashes series, is known for crossing the line. At times, the banter ends up with a smile but not always. On one hand, not every player has got a strong convincing smile like Joe Root and on the other hand players like Mitchell Johnson and James Anderson are the crowd's favorite as they add up a bit of spices to heat up the moment. To reflect the heat, only glistering sweat of the forehead is not enough, sometimes exchange of few words is also needed. So, as the Ashes series has begun, let's have a look at the list of top 10 Ashes sledges of all time. 

1) Tony Greig, England’s South African born captain, to Aussie rookie David Hookes :-



2) When the not-so-famous England bowler James Ormond was preparing to bowl to Mark Waugh:-




3) England's captain Douglas Jardine complained to Australian captain Bill Woodfull, having just been sworn at




4) Ian Botham to Rodney Marsh






5) England’s Robin Smith to Merv Hughes.





6) England slow left-arm bowler Derek Underwood was hit on the hand while batting. Ian Chappell showed his concern to Underwood.  




7) Australia’s Glenn McGrath tried out some words on England captain Michael Atherton






8) Shane Warne to Paul Collingwood






9) When England captain Michael Vaughan kept his views simple and straight (to Ricky Ponting)




10) Michael Clarke to James Anderson.