Monday, May 17, 2010

CRICKET - DILUTED SEASON BEGINS

With the World Twenty20 Championship coming to an end, a hectic schedule of cricket for Indian cricket fans has come to an end. In 2010, after a non-interesting and futile ODI tri-series in Bangladesh with the hosts and Sri Lanka, India played a 2-Test and 3-ODI series back home against South Africa. That was followed by a month and a half long Indian Premier League 2010, and five days later, it was the World Twenty20.

Now, about a couple of weeks of rest will be by a tri-series in Zimbabwe with the hosts and Sri Lanka and a couple of Twenty20s with the hosts from May 28. In June, the team travels to Sri Lanka for the Asia Cup. Not a very interesting schedule, I'd say.

Even on the world cricket front, we have:
1. South Africa's tour of West Indies for 2 T20s, 5 ODIs and 3 Tests
2. New Zealand v Sri Lanka in USA for 2 T20s
3. Bangladesh's tour of England for 2 Tests and 3 ODIs (and 2 ODIs v Ireland, 1 v Scotland and 1 v Netherlands)

I can hardly imagine following each of those tournaments / tours religiously. So I consider myself lucky that I take genuine interest in other sports too. The European club football season has almost ended (just waiting for the Champions League final between Inter Milan and Bayern Munich on May 22 in Madrid), but there is the FIFA World Cup in South Africa from June 11 to look forward to.

There is always the Formula One season to follow. Three Grand Prix scheduled over the next month and a half (Turkish 29-30 May, Canadian 12-13 June, European 26-27 June) will provide some action for sport - starved people like me. And then, there will also be the French Open (beginning May 23) and the Wimbledon (beginning June 21) to look forward to.

So for me, a cricket-diluted season has begun with the end of World Twenty20 at Barbados. My support will be extended to the likes of Wayne Rooney, Sebastian Vettel, Adrian Sutil, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick and Justine Henin more than Suresh Raina and his Team India.

10 comments:

Wes playforcountrynotforself said...

We also have Australia touring Europe in two weeks for a handful of T20s, ODIs and Tests, an immediate opportunity for a quick revenge, but I understand if your blog is Australia-free zone :P

Cheers,
Wes ;)

~ Play For Country Not For Self ~

Unknown said...

Hey Wes, good to see you on the blog again...

Actually, it's not an Aussie-free zone (it just can't happen... they always manage to be in news... right from Roy to Pup)...

But I just did a quick search on tours and tournaments starting over the next 30 days... The Aussie tour starts later in July... so it didn't show up in my search, and as a result not in the post...

Wes playforcountrynotforself said...

... and I obviously can't tell 2 weeks from 4... pardon me good Sir ._.
They start in mid-June, not end of May. This T20 madness has really fried my wires.

Are you going to blog about the football World Cup? We have lost skipper Ballack to injury, doesn't look good for our boys :/

Cheers,
Wes

Unknown said...

Oh, so you support Germany! Well, I have followed football closely only over the past few years...

So whatever I blog about the World Cup will not be very refined... but that's never stopped me...

Wes playforcountrynotforself said...

Yes, I'm German. But will of course support Oz as well. Too bad that they are in our group *lol*
NZ are in a death group too :(
Poms should make it out of their group I guess. How come that Indians automatically support England (also in cricket)?

Cheers,
Wes

Unknown said...

It's not an automatic choice... English football is the most visible football on Indian television... Spanish football comes much later at night, so its difficult to follow... Bundesliga and Serie A come on channels that are not very commonly available... and South American football is never available...

So I guess England becomes an automatic choice in football... N in cricket, I guess the reason why English team is an automatic choice (after the home side of course) is the fact that even they love to see the Aussies lose ;)

Wes playforcountrynotforself said...

Alright so you are united against the big bad wolf :P

Anyway, looking forward to your football coverage then!

Cheers,
Wes

Unknown said...

Will there be any football on 'Play for Country Not for Self' over the coming weeks?

Wes playforcountrynotforself said...

I think it will be hard keeping up with both football and cricket, maybe the odd rant when we have done badly; but it will certainly not turn into a football blog, because although there is no cricket going on there is so much cricket going on... if that makes any sense @_@

Cheers,
Wes

Unknown said...

I guess it will make sense once I read your posts over that period...

Though let me assure you that this blog will remain a cricket blog even when the international cricket in progress is not too appealing... the other sports are just the supplementary items...

SAVE OUR TIGER!