Aditya Kane, Author at Cric Talks

Don Bradman’s tormentor Alec Bedser dies

Alex Bedser is not exactly a popular name for most cricket fanatics and many would not have even heard the name. But in his time he was on of the best bowlers around in Cricket and it was a reputation he polished further by taking Don Bradman’s wicket six times in a single test series.

Alec Bedser was 28 when he made his debut against India in 1946. This was quite unfortunate as he did play for nine more years with 236 wickets from 51 tests. As a fast bowler playing he was playing since the age of 28 which meant he was playing Test cricket well after his peak which is usually early to mid twenties.

Unfortunately World War 2 was taking place in those days and Bedser lost many of his Cricketing years. When he retired he was the highest wicket taker in Test cricket.

In the glitz and glamour of today’s cricket not many would remember a 91 year old ex-test cricketer but Sir Alex Bedser was someone who truly deserves to be remembered. Afterall not many bowlers could really boast of taming Bradman six times. Sir Alex Bedser died after a short illness on 4th April 2010.

Link: Wikipedia | The Corridor

Who will make it to IPL semi-finals?

IPL has reached the stage where the points table is taking shape and the men from the boys are being separated quite drastically. Mumbai Indians have left their last two year’s dismal performances far behind and have won all but one of their seven matches. Mumbai Indians do look a certainly to get into the semi-finals unless ofcourse they ended up losing every game from now on.

Bangalore Royal Challengers and Delhi Daredevils are the other three teams I feel will make it to the Semi-finals. Both teams have decent balance and even though they do not have as good a record as Mumbai Indians but Delhi Daredevils with 12 points and Bangalore Royal Challengers with 10 points are pretty much a certainty. DD and BRC might not make it if one of their teams does hit a roadblock and just about loses every game which is a little difficult to imagine.

That leaves the 4th place up for grabs. We can count Kings XI Punjab because they have had a disastrous IPL with only 4 points until now.

So now it leaves Chennai Super Kings (8 points), Kolkata Knight Riders (8 points), Rajasthan Royals (8 points) and Deccan Chargers (6 points) as teams which can take the 4th place. I personally back CSK as they are already at 8 points and look strong with the resurgent form of Murali Vijay scoring and surprising many who thought he was only good for Test cricket.

So who do you think will make it to IPL semi finals? Do drop in your comments and let me know.

IPL comes out with a comic book version of IPL 2009 Final

The Indian Premier League has done something again that is quite unique. They ave produced a online comic book which covers the 2009 Final between Bangalore Royal Challengers and Deccan Chargers. This is quite interesting and is one of the many unique features of this year’s IPL. Some of it has been getting active on social networks to reaching out with the world with You Tube.

You can view the comic page by page at IPL website. The illustrations are done wonderfully and does capture a lot of the drama and interest that goes on behind a final match. The illustrations are done by Campfire.

I liked the look of the comic and a lot of good detailing had gone into it when it came to the visuals but I felt the drama behind the match and the individuals who make it happen was not so prevalent.

Do look up the comic and go through it. Drop in your comments with your views.

Is Ricky Ponting’s famous look-alike George Bush?

Ricky Ponting has become someone everyone respects as a cricketer. He might not have a lot of fans in India and the sub-continents in general but certainly all his rivals respect his ability by wildly celebrating everytime he gets out.
Recently Australian media was singing praises that a Ponting would be very hard to come by again and once he retires Australia would lose a great captain and a legendary batsman. Agreed they might not find a replacement but a remarkable look alike has been found. He is no other than former US President George Bush. 😛

Look at the image above and there is a marked resemblance between the two. It is strange in a way; Bush was the leader of the most powerful economy which is now a bit in shambles while he left office and similarly Ponting was the leader of the most powerful cricket team which has dipped down considerably from its previous glories.

Hope you enjoyed the look-alikes, do drop your comments of more instances of cricketers and their famous look-alikes.

Pune IPL teams fictional jersey [Funny]

It is common knowledge that next years IPL tournament will have 10 teams instead of the current 8 teams. I had written over a month ago on which two cities I felt were favorite to win the bids and I got Ahmedabad wrong as Kochi was the winner but I did manage to predict Pune as the new IPL team correctly.

Now the exciting part for us at rtBlogs (network of blog under which Crictalks comes under) is that we are located in Pune and having an IPL team in our city will be quite a lot of fun.

Here is a fake or fictional IPL jersey for Pune someone came up with and mailed us about it. It is quite hilarious.

This one is quite funny as it has sponsors like Chitale Bandhu and Joshi Wadewale who are old and iconic brands in Pune but unlikely to be sponsors for the IPL team. The sting in the tale seems to be inscription on the bottom part of the t-shirt which hails the team owners to not keep advertisements there as it might distract the players to wear so many ads. 🙂

Do you have such funny stuff regarding Cricket to share ? Do share it and we will certainly put it up on our blog.

Watch live IPL matches on YouTube

In my previous post I wrote about IPL website allowing a great interface for setting reminders with the IPL season schedule. So now after reminders what next? The Cricket for obvious reasons. IPL matches will be streamed live on YouTube right through the season.

Is IPL a test run for YouTube?

YouTube later in the year is schedule to partner FIFA for the Soccer World Cup. I guess the viewership will be massive for that event and showing IPL live will allow You Tube a test run before a truly massive event. This makes sense and also makes YouTube a great brand in India. I recently saw many hoardings in innocuous places like buses and train stations. We never had a website being promoted in such places.

So when it is match time and you cannot see a television set around for you to tune into, watch it live on YouTube IPL channel.

Set reminders with IPL 2010 complete schedule for teams and matches

The IPL 2010 season is about to start within the next couple of days. I thought I would publish the calendar for IPL matches to be played this season but I think it would be more prudent and helpful to have a calendar which was interactive as in something with which we could set reminders for following our favorite teams.

Visit the IPL calendar website and you can look through all the matches being played through the next 7 weeks. I could toggle the view by either selecting your favorite team or the venue. Then you can select the matches you want reminders to by checking on a box.

This is great as now can be notified by email or SMS. I could also download the entire season schedule as a PDF file. 🙂

I think the IPL has been really proactive this year in reaching out to people through the internet and also really making accessibility very easy. The easy method of buying tickets including allowing people access to information online which is customizable for your own needs is a great leap for Indian cricket administration.

My only wish is when a Test match series is plays or a ODI series for that matter would BCCI give people the same sort of friendly accessibility? I guess only time will tell.

For now regarding IPL, I guess we can say let the games begin. 🙂

Play Twenty 20 Cricket on Facebook

If Cricket can have a zillion groups and fan pages on Facebook would a interesting strategy game be too far away. That is exactly what Twenty 20 Cricket, a Facebook application is all about.

The application is quite simple but the game a little complex. It pits you as a manager and lets you recruit your friends as players. I guess the players who play the Facebook T20 Cricket game with higher ranking or points will obviously be better players in your team.

The options are quite a few and you can play against other teams in different sorts of tournaments. There is also a reward system. As a captain/manager you can set the batting order, bowling preferences and also field settings.

I have been playing and trying out the interface only for a few days but it has a decent community and a lot of options.

For trying out the Twenty 20 app click here. Do drop in your comments; I would really like to read them.

Is IPL a test run for YouTube?

Here is a compiled list of all records the great man owns…