Dhoni and team watch Agneepath movie???

Just read the news in the ndtv site that some of the Indian cricket team in Australia went to watch a show of Agneepath...
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pacer Umesh Yadav and spinner Rahul Sharma were spotted going to watch Agneepath in Sydney, Australia.

After the drubbing that the Aussies gave us down under, I guess the players were too much pressurized that they decide to take more breaks :) 
Am not against them watching or having some fun.. but time and again, this series they've been found lacking match practice and having more fun than usual.. Anyways, hope they come up with a better show in the shorter version of the game...

 

Captain Dhoni with Umesh Yadav and Rahul Sharma to watch Agneepath movie in Sydney

 

Dhoni is ready with popcorn to watch Agneepath movie while Rahul Sharma and Umesh Yadav carry the drinks inside the theatre.. hope they had a good movie show

Pics courtesy: ndtv site

I hope our team plays well in the one day triangular series atleast... and salvage some pride!!!

Wedding bells for Zaheer Khan-Isha Sharvani?

Zaheer Khan and Isha Sharvani, the bollywood actress are supposedly getting married in March 2012 as per the reports going around. So, are these reports of Zaheer and Isha Sharvani's wedding a rumour or fact?? Only time will tell...

 

Zaheer Khan and Isha Sharvani wedding on cards - Rumour or fact??

 

Zaheer Khan's girlfriend Isha Sharvani (or should I say fiancee?) 

 

Stylish Indian pacer Zaheer Khan going to wed Isha Sharvani in March

 

Bollywood star Isha Sharvani reportedly marrying Zaheer this year

 

Isha Sharvani and Zaheer Khan - hottest couple in the current cricket circle

The Indian star pace bowler had first met Isha Sharvani in 2005 after her Bollywood debut in Subhash Ghai's flop movie Kisna. After dating for a couple of years, Zaheer and Isha split. But Zaheer got back together with Isha Sharvani in 2010 and its been going strong as per the reports.

 

Zaheer Khan and girlfriend Isha Sharvani together (for life?)

According to reports, Zaheer and Isha's marriage is likely to happen in March. But the final decision will be taken once Zaheer Khan returns from the current Australian tour. There are also reports that if they don't marry in March, then they might tie the knot in October.
Despite repeated attempts, Isha and Zaheer remained unavailable for comment.

Wishes for this lovely couple... I would definitely like them to settle down.... :)

Chris Gayle retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore

So with the first window of transfers for IPL 2012 season closing on 20th January, 2012, the big question in everyone's mind was where will Chris Gayle go? Will he be retained by the Royal Challengers Bangalore or will he go into the open auctions?

 

Chris Gayle retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore for IPL 2012 and the next season too

No prize for guessing where he goes.... with an impact player like Chris Gayle in hand, no IPL team would let him loose even if they've to shell out a huge sum of money. And, as expected Royal Challengers Bangalore retain Chris Gayle for an undisclosed amount. This amount though would be disclosed before the IPL Auctions begin this year and the amount would be deducted for the Bangalore IPL Team from the 2 million cap for each team.

"We are delighted to make Chris Gayle a permanent member of our IPL squad. We are confident that with players like him in our side, we will take the extra step this season, and win our maiden IPL title," Sidhartha Mallya, Director of Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd, said in a press release. 

"To me, Bangalore has been a home away from home. I wanted to continue playing for them, and it turned out that they were keen to retain my services," Chris Gayle said.  

Pragyan Ojha is the other person to be transferred for this season of IPL. The India left-arm spinner Ojha has been transferred from Deccan Chargers to Mumbai Indians for an undisclosed fee for the fifth season of the IPL.

 

Indian left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha transferred to Mumbai Indians for IPL 2012

In other IPL news, Sourav Ganguly and Allan Donald have been added to the Pune Warriors coaching staff ahead of the IPL 2012 season. South African fast bowler Donald will be the team's bowling coach and left-handed Ganguly will play a dual role as player and mentor. The Pune team would be without the services of a head coach as Geoff Marsh took the coaching role for Sri Lanka. You can recall that Pravin Amre was their batting coach for their first season in IPL which turned out to be a disasterous one. 

Now, the action shifts to the IPL Auctions to be conducted on February 4th 2012...  With a lot of good players in the auction list, it'll be interesting to see who the big buys will be in this IPL auction for the 2012 season....

Ishant Sharma's turn to show the finger in Australia

Its Ishant Sharma's turn now to show the middle finger to hecklers after Virat Kohli showed the finger to the Sydney crowd and got fined.

This incident happened last Monday when Ishant Sharma had just finished a go-karting session in Belmont. The whole Indian team minus some seniors had gone for a go-karting session before heading over to Perth for the third test match.

 

Ishant Sharma showing his middle finger to a heckler in Perth, Australia after a go-karting session

Pic courtesy: Sharon Smith/WA News

"Why don't you go learn how to bat and bowl before you go go-karting. It will be 3-0 mate," an Australian heckler said. Ishant Sharma reacted to the taunts by showing a finger gesture to the heckler which was captured by a photographer from the West Australian newspaper.

Indian team management claimed that the paceman Ishant Sharma was simply waving to the fans :) hehe...

India will not take any action against Sharma despite the lanky quick producing an identical response to batsman Virat Kohli who was fined half his match fee for giving the finger signal to the SCG crowd during the second Test.

But these incidents did not go well with the Indian team management and led to the banning of using twitter or any social networking site by the Indian team as such comments from the cricketers might further cause trouble.

As far as I feel about these incidents, the team should take a chill pill and not worry about these incidents... there would be more such hecklers waiting now that they've got some of the junior Indian cricketers irked...
Lets hope that the team copes up with these incidents and comes up with a better performance in the Perth test. It'll be something that every Indian fan would be looking forward to.  

IPL Transfers begin for 2012 season

Indian Premier League popularly known as the IPL League has started making buzz for its IPL 2012 season transfers.

Five IPL transfers have been made till now.

Kevin Pietersen - Delhi Daredevils from Deccan Chargers
Dinesh Karthik - Mumbai Indians from Kings XI Punjab
Andrew McDonald - Royal Challengers Bangalore from Delhi Daredevils
Harmeet Singh - Kings XI Punjab from Deccan Chargers
R Sathish - Kings XI Punjab from Mumbai Indians

The auction for players from the terminated franchise Kochi Tuskers Kerala will be conducted on February 4th. The first window for trading between IPL franchises will close on January 20, 2012. There will be another short window for trading after the February 4 auction.

1) Big fish England batsman Kevin Pietersen has been transferred to Delhi Daredevils from Deccan Chargers for the 2012 season of the IPL. Sehwag will have Pietersen as his teammate for this season. What a deadly combo to watch out for - Sehwag and Pietersen

 

England batsman Kevin Pietersen transferred from Deccan Chargers to Delhi Daredevils for the IPL 2012 season

2) Another big transfer - in terms of money - was the Tamil Nadu wiketkeeping batsman Dinesh Karthik who will move from Kings XI Punjab to the Mumbai Indians. This was the first transfer to happen this year and it is believed that Mumbai Indians bought the transfer of Dinesh Karthik for a whopping $2.35 million approx. Rs 12.4 crores.

Mumbai Indians badly needed a wicketkeeper after the debacle in the last season where they struggled without a proper keeper and Ambati Rayudu, the makeshift keeper, fared poorly.

 

Dinesh Karthik has been transferred to Mumbai Indians from Kings XI Punjab for the IPL 2012 season

3) Australian Allrounder Andrew McDonald has been transferred to Royal Challengers Bangalore from Delhi Daredevils in a bid to boost up the allrounders in the Royal Challengers team.

 

Australian allrounder Andrew McDonald goes to Royal Challengers Bangalore from Delhi Daredevils for the 2012 season of IPL

Lets see who gets where in the IPL Transfers and Auctions for the 2012 season.... gonna be an interesting one..

Virat Kohli fined over finger gesture in Australia

This news is a bit odd to report.. nevertheless, here is it..

Indian batsman Virat Kohli was fined 50% of his match fee after he was seen gesturing to the crowd with his middle finger on the second day of the second test match between India and Australia in Sydney.

Kohli was charged with a level two offence by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle of Sri Lanka on the third morning of the SCG Test. Kohli went to the hearing along with manager Shivlal Yadav and pleaded guilty.

 

Virat Kohli showing the middle finger to the Australian crowd in Sydney

Pic courtesy: Getty Images

The incident happened when Virat Kohli was fielding at the boundary for much of the day and some of the spectators poked fun at him and his family. Kohli also tweeted that he had been sorely provoked before responding with the finger gesture.

 Kohli also said he had heard abuse worse than he ever had in his life. Virat posted on his twitter account, "i agree cricketers dont have to retaliate. what when the crowd says the worst things about your mother and sister. the worst ive heard"

Kohli found support in England's Kevin Pietersen, who replied to his tweet saying "ha ha ha ha ha!!! Welcome to Australia buddy!!" 

Kohli tweeted back saying that he "never heard crap like that. EVER".

Virat Kohli, after losing half of his match fee, began the third day on a more positive note tweeting, "New day new beginning! :)" 

So then, after Clarke hit a triple ton and Ponting & Hussey with hundreds of their own, Australia are sitting pretty in this test match...  What are the odds that India blame this one on the pitch :) 

Same old story.... looking forward for some brand new beginnings.. not sure when though :(