Ends and Beginnings

What a sporting weekend! I am about this close (picture me pinching my fingers close together) to quitting watching sports all over again.

Let's start off with the Champions Trophy. As has been the case over the past, the teams I want to win matches are just being contrary. The Pakistan - England game for instance was not good for me. I wanted England to win - for no particular reason, except that I like the English team this season - again, for no particular reason. Or perhaps, it is their awesome uniform. Speaking of uniforms, apart from the New Zealand and English teams, all other cricket teams should consider revamping their very ugly uniforms. But I digress. Pakistan consistently improved with every match they played. Versus England, their batting and bowling was clinical. The Bangladesh - India game predictably went the way of the Indians. But I always felt that they should have won that game with more ease than they actually did.

With the semis settled, Sunday had the promise of an epic battle. Two arch cricket rivals facing off. The battle lines drawn, the two countries poised to fight it out again (pun maybe intended). My genetic make-up does not often lend me to support the Pakistan team in cricket - it just doesn't happen. The last time I supported the Pakistan team was when Wasim Akram was on it - ah, now that was a team worth supporting. Besides, I was inclined to go with the entire insensible bleeding blue tag line. It was pretty simple - I wanted the Indian team to win, and I was sure they would, provided they restricted Pakistan to around 250 runs. You can then understand my annoyance when Pakistan's Fakhar (all comments on his name will be politely avoided in this post) scored 114 runs. India was doomed. And then the indomitable Indian batting line up crumbled against an attacking and well thought out bowling performance by Pakistan. I turned off the TV when India was at 6 men down. I had no intention of being a grumpzilla because of a cricket match - I mean it is not even one of my favourite sports. After the Pakistan team lost their first match, their coach said something about how the manner in which they lost was unacceptable - well, kudos to the team for the fantastic turn around in the tournament. Teams have good days and bad days, of course, and I am not a crazy Indian fan who will spend the next few months criticising the team, but I will say this - fans have it a lot worse than the players! At least I was right on one note - I figured the finals would be a one-sided game: It was

In other news, the confederations cup started off without a bang - which is often the case with the confederations cup, isn't it? The Russia - New Zealand game was dull. Russia won it 2-0 and deserved to win, but there simply was no spark to the game. What is worse, the commentator for the match was, simply put, stodgy. I really hope he is not going to be commentating for the world cup. The Portugal - Mexico match was more promising. Again, I only watched glimpses of it, and this was certain, Portugal had better get their defence into order, or they are going to concede far too many goals! And can Christiano Ronaldo please share some style tips with certain other sportsmen! Please, Christiano? I wish I had watched the Cameron-Chile game, but like I said at the beginning of this post, I was very close to hibernating from sports again. The score card for this game was somewhat predictable. The Chileans took the game 2-0. I am unconvinced about the prowess of the Cameron team - however, I will hold judgement until I watch them play. For now, here is to an exciting rest of the week as I thank my lucky stars that the curse of the confederations cup won't affect my favourite teams!