Mr. Gawaskar has lost his head........

My first question is, why? Why did he have to begin with this issue before the world cup? The more I think on it, I am beginning to feel like that the old man is losing his head.

First of all, the statement that he made that Australia are not popular winners is wrong. Only if you do not support them, it does not mean that the rest of the world does not. Australia have a very big fan support around the globe. You cannot say that they are not popular, there are plenty like me, who support Australia, even after being Indians. So that is completely crazy.

Next thing, it was Ponting's turn. Of course, when someone criticizes your team like that, anyone would lose their head. I completely back Ponting on this issue. Not just because I am a hardcore fan of his, but because this time it was Gawaskar's fault. What Ponting said is all true. The man who left the crease with his partner has no authority whatsoever to lecture anyone. Had it been anyone else, then that person would have been criticized around the world. It's only his name and fame that has kept people from going against him. Old man is really losing his head.

What Ponting said is true. Look at India. Why should Gawaskar always have a go at the Aussies? Look what Pakistani players are on the stadium. Why he never criticizes them? Due to national relations? Or because we have been defeating Pak for a long time, and not Aussies, and he cannot digest it, and that is why it's Aussies and not Pak? Coming back to Indian team, it's only because Indians lack professionalism and the attitude and urge to win that holds them back. Look at the last WC. They were terrified by Aussies. Our Mr. Opening Bowler started of with a wide and then gave it all away. Look what is performance of Sachin in big games. They are afraid and they lack the attitude. Had I been in any team, I would have done what Aussies are doing right now.

Then, what Gawaskar said on this statement of Ponting is... “We are not discussing the performance of any team, but their behavior on the field”. Then he defends his decision to leave the crease. In short he is just having a go at Aussies cause he has nothing else to do. Now my question, on one hand he says that he is talking about the on field behavior and then he says that if Aussies behave like this in a bar then they will get whacked. Now I don't think that there are bars on Cricket ground. Why do you care? They might get whacked or might hit someone, or get killed. Why are you brining this issue?

And in fact, Ponting was involved in a bar fight once and he is still standing. He is right now, arguably the best batsman in the world cricket. Best batsman in test for sure and one of the best captains and fielders the game has ever seen. And according me, unless you have a mindset and attitude like Ponting, you cannot perform that well.

To sum it all up, I would say that Mr. Gawaskar should stop criticizing Aussies now. It's been quite a long time that he is having a go at them. And in my opinion, it's the attitude of Aussies which makes them the world winners and that too popular winners.

Aditya Shevade

And we were not selected......

Again, I really do wonder how these things happen in life. Today, we had a competition, we means me and my friend. It was a PowerPoint presentation competition. We were to face a screening test first and then we were going to be given some not technical subjects, on which we would have had to prepare a presentation, with the help of the Internet in one hour. That was, of course, given the fact that we were selected.

But, it all went wrong. First, the time management. The screening was scheduled at 8:30am. We were present at the spot at that time, but we came to know that screening was on 9:30. But it didn't start at 9:30 as well. Then finally it did begin at 11:30am.

We were under the impression that the screening was going to be an aptitude test, but alas. We are not that lucky. Only some 12 out of 60 questions were based on the Mental Ability Test (MAT), rest were stupid general knowledge questions, like who is president of LETTA. I don't have any idea what the hell is LETTA. Cause, I am not at all concerned with it. And I really can't see how can it be a screening test for a PowerPoint presentation contest.

They could have checked out PowerPoint knowledge or our language, the ability to present our thoughts and such things, but no, they wanted to see if we knew where the hell are the "Venkatgiri" or "Devangiri" or something like that Saree's are manufactured, like we want to start a new business there.

So, in the end, only 10 teams were selected out of some 60. And the saddest part is that ours was 11th. (I know people will not believe in me, when I say ours was 11th, but believe me, they had sorted our name, but I think they received 2 papers with scores more than ours, so my team and one more were rejected). They said that 24/60 was the last team and so, we must have had got anything from 23.75 to god knows what.

There was 1 mark for correct answer and -0.25 for a wrong one, and now I only wish, that we should not have hit arrows in air to see if we catch a pray. Those -0.25 marks did make a difference and we lost our spot. Bad luck. Maybe next time.........

Aditya Shevade