McCullum Leaves Bangalore in Tatters!!

Brendon McCullum's merciless 158 helped the Indian Premier League on its way in remarkable fashion, as Kolkata Knight Riders walloped Bangalore Royal Challengers by 140 runs in a one-sided game on Friday night.

McCullum's score is the highest in T20 cricket, beating the previous mark by 17 runs. The short-statured but strong-armed wicketkeeper from New Zealand hit 13 sixes and 10 fours in a breathless exhibition of batting before a packed house at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Kolkata's score of 222-3 in seam-friendly conditions under lights was too much for Bangalore, who had chosen to field.

Embarrassed at home

After Bangalore lost captain Rahul Dravid to Ishant Sharma's first ball, there started a sombre procession of wickets in an embarrassing performance where extras was the joint top scorer with 18.

It was McCullum's day from the start. He kick-started the innings in style in the second over from Bangalore's Zaheer Khan - three cross-bats for four and miscued pull that flew over third man for six set the tone. McCullum had moved to 29 by the time his opening partner, captain Sourav Ganguly scored his first runs. The fifty of their innings was up off the last ball of the fourth over. Ganguly fell for 10 to Zaheer, and in came Ricky Ponting. He wasted no time in moving to 20, the highlight of his innings being a trademark hook off Jacques Kallis for six.

Breathtaking pace

McCullum crossed 50 in 32 balls, 100 in 53 and 150 in 70 balls. Not a shot from his blade went wrong, not even the mistimed ones that flew over the fence comfortably. The previous record for the highest score was Cameron White's 141 not out. Today, White was at the receiving end, hit by McCullum for 23 runs in his only over.

The Kiwi went into the last over on 136. Two huge sixes off the first two balls took him past the record in style. His 14 sixes is also a record for most sixes in a T20 innings, comfortably beating Chris Gayle's 10 during his 117 that had started off the Twenty20 World Cup in similar style last year.

No bravado from Bangalore

Kallis had been famously kept out of South Africa's T20 side last year. Today, he had the whole stage to him to prove he can be equally spectacular in this variety.A huge six over extra cover started his innings. But he hit the very next ball to mid on. Ajit Agarkar is making a comeback of sorts to cricket and he had a useful outing, finishing with three wickets.

With edges flying all around, Ponting's slip catching was easy on the eyes. He gobbled Wasim Jaffer and B Akhil with consummate ease. After Bangalore were reduced to 4-24 in the sixth over, the rest of the game became a formality. Ganguly chipped in with two wickets after Ishant's fiery spell.

Highlights Of IPL Launch!!

Cinema, cricket and commerce will combine to make a heady mix when the DLF IPL debuts this evening in Bangalore with SRK's Kolkata Knight Riders taking on Vijay Mallya's Bangalore Royal Challengers.
Clash of 'kings': Cheerleaders from the US, Bollywood stars, foot-tapping music and a laser show will herald cricket's richest event this evening. The DLF IPL, with Bangalore Royal Challengers taking on Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore on Friday.

• A 45-minute long ceremony would precede some entertainment with foot-tapping music and a laser show to herald cricket's richest event.
• Nearly an hour of glitz and glamour show will precede some serious Twenty20 cricket between the teams led by two former India captains, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly.
  One of the highlights of the ceremony would be when all the captains jointly read out a pledge reaffirming the IPL's faith in the spirit of cricket.
• Other attractions of the opening ceremony include fireworks, aerial gymnasts and the presence of Shah Rukh Khan and Priety Zinta, co-owners of the Kolkata and Mohali franchises respectively.

Spotlight toss: The Chinnawamy Stadium would be plunged into darkness as Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, skippers of the Bangalore Royal Challengers and Kolkata Knight Riders, respectively, would walk out for the toss. The spotlights would focus on the two skippers

• One or two players from the fielding side would be "miked up" to chat with the commentators during the match.
• In a bid to attract more fans to the stadium, 12 cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins, the 'First Ladies of American Football' have been flown in.

Lights and music light up Bangalore at IPL launch!!

Shankar-Ehsan-Loy got off the Indian Premier League to a musical start in front of a jam-packed Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The first game of the IPL - Bangalore Royal Challengers against Kolkata Knight Riders - is scheduled for a start at 8 pm local time.

Bangalore won the toss and elected to field on a wicket that looked firm and in conditions that might assist swing bowling. The musical trio treated the Bangalore crowd to some of their recent hits like Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. A light and sound show followed as artists walked the park on stilts. Fireworks lit up the sky just before the Bangalore CEO Charu Sharma introduced IPL's governing committee members Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri.

Shastri then took charge of the proceedings and introduced the eight captains of the IPL teams, starting with local hero Rahul Dravid and ending with Mumbai Indians' captain Sachin Tendulkar. Shastri also called the captains to come forward and sign the MCC Spirit of Cricket declaration. IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi then began a lengthy speech much against the wishes of an impatient crowd, but not before long, he declared the tournament open.

"Aegan" In Vizag!!

Ajith's ‘Aegan’ is on at a brisk pace. Directed by Raju Sundaram and produced by Ayngaran International, the movie is being shot in Vishakapattinam at a rapid pace.Ajith sports a fresh look and is shaking legs with Nayantara. Touted to be an action-packed thriller, ‘Aegan’ is a movie laced with action, humor and romance.

With fans thronging in large numbers to have a glimpse at Ajith, Raju Sundaram has hired few private security personnel to exercise vigil at the shooting spot.The first schedule of the movie was shot in Hong Kong.

The Hour That Made The Difference!!!

After matching India blow for blow on the most alien of surfaces and conditions for two days, South Africa slipped up - decisively - in the first hour with the kind of display in the field that is usually associated with their rivals. It's India who are supposed to struggle with getting the tail out, but here South Africa allowed 46 runs to be added for the last wicket, and once that happened, they were always likely to struggle to get back on level terms.

Mickey Arthur had sounded the warning yesterday, saying they needed to get the last wicket "ASAP", but Dale Steyn and Makhaya Ntini, the bowlers who began the day, made a wayward start. They slipped quite a few down the leg side or full on the stumps.

Every streaky run by run, South Africa saw the match slip away at the hands of Nos. 10 and 11. Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma played the sort of irritating knocks that every opponent dreads. When they edged, they either found the gaps or one of the South African fielders in a rare inattentive moment, and when a mis-hit finally found two hands, it was off a no-ball. To rub salt into their wounds, an edged boundary would immediately be followed by an immaculate forward-defensive push. Smith tried all the bowling changes, the bowlers tried different things, but nothing worked until Sreesanth and Ishant had worked "some magic", as Sourav Ganguly had put it yesterday, taking the lead from 23 to 60. This is the second time in recent Tests that the India's last wicket has troubled South Africa - in Johannesburg in 2006-07, Sourav Ganguly and VRV Singh had added 44 in another low-scoring game.

On a pitch which was misbehaving increasingly, South Africa's only chance to get back was to get quick runs. Scoring runs off every opportunity, before the inevitable unplayable delivery came along, was the only way to bat on a pitch like this one. That is exactly what Graeme Smith, Neil McKenzie, Hashim Amla, VVS Laxman, and Ganguly did to counter these conditions in the first innings.

In the second innings, though, the South African batsmen seemed to have forgotten the value of looking to score on this pitch. Much of this was to do with the Indian bowling and the condition of the pitch, but a lack of intent to score was conspicuous. Till this match, their gameplan against spin had worked perfectly well, but this pitch required something extra: some out-of-the-box adjustments, which usually comes with prior experience of batting on such pitches. Ganguly and Laxman did that, but the South African batsmen could not.

The Indian bowlers deserve credit too for bowling much better than they did in the first innings. They were the better equipped side to utilise the conditions, and they did it perfectly in the second innings. Mahendra Singh Dhoni's move to open with Harbhajan Singh was a smart one, as he had seen the fast bowlers spray the new ball around in the first innings. This time India made a controlled start, making sure a repeat of first innings wouldn't happen this time round. And when they saw a lack of intent from the batsmen, they knew it was only a matter of time when venomous deliveries would get the edges even if the batsmen had moved back and across in the most perfect manner.

The lack of boundaries was the most conspicuous difference between South Africa's first and second innings. McKenzie had hit the third ball of the first innings for four; the first four in the second innings came in the ninth over. Smith played 66 balls before he hit his first boundary. Consequently, a partnership that lasted 11.3 overs hardly put India off their track as it added 26 runs only. All along the bowlers knew they would be able to bowl deliveries that would be vicious, which is what McKenzie and Amla got in quick succession.

The 16-over third-wicket partnership between Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis fetched 38 runs, which just about got them past the deficit they had started with. During the course they kept getting unplayable balls, which only accentuated doubts in the heads of the two at the crease and others who followed.

For two remarkable days, South Africa had not let the pitch get to their heads, playing the ball and not the pitch. And although there was no shame in losing in conditions none of them would have encountered before, they might just have missed a trick on the final morning.

Inspirational Video!!!

Aegan Heads to Vizag!!

Thala Ajit is back to his normal looks. He has shaved of his shaggy beard and is spotting a new look for Raju Sundaram directed Aegan, being produced by Ayngaran International.
Last week Raju choreographed a peppy number tuned by music director Yuvan Shankar Raja which has a lot of cat calls and whistling on the lead pair Ajit and Nayanthara at Prasad studios in Chennai.

For the first time after "My name is Billa"…. fame, Ajit and Nayan are together in a song and this time it is a romantic number. Raju has choreographed it in a different style, and Yuvan spend a lot of time composing the number.

After the completion of the song late on Sunday evening, the unit of Aegan left for Visakhapatanam, on Monday for a 10 day shoot in the coastal town. Ajit is happy with the way the film is shaping out, nearly 40 percent of the film will be over after the present schedule.

As of now Aegan will be ready for an August 15 release.

THALA Changes - The Smartest Star in Kollywood

Ajith is no longer the beard-bearing angry young man made popular by the promo stills of his latest venture Aegan. Having filmed scenes that required his rugged look, Ajith is back to his own self, as reported by us earlier. He was also spotted clean shaven devoid any facial hair in AVM Studios for Aegan's shoots recently where song sequences with him and Nayan were canned. The song, interestingly, uses a cat's mew in the background.

Navdeep, who was recently roped in for the venture will play Ajith's brother. Hunt was on for his lead lady and last heard the director has nodded consent for the Mumbai model Piya.

Directed by Raju Sundaram, Aegan's star cast also includes Suhasini, Nassar, and Jayaram. Scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and produced by Ayngaran International, Aegan is expected to hit the screens on August 15, Indian Independence Day.

Injured Tendulkar Out Of Kanpur Test!!

Sachin Tendulkar is yet to recover from his groin injury that kept him out of the ongoing second Test against South Africa in Ahmedabad and will also miss the third Test in Kanpur, starting on April 11.

The Indian board confirmed this in a release and added that he would continue with his rehabilitation program. "This decision has been taken to give Sachin the opportunity to make a full recovery from this injury," the release said. "Sachin has a rehabilitation program to continue with and will be monitored closely."

Tendulkar didn't appear fully fit during the first Test in Chennai and missed part of the action on the first, second, fourth days. He didn't take the field on the fifth day and was rested for the next Test.

There was an injury concern over Tendulkar even before the start of the series. Tendulkar was advised two-weeks rest after the Australia tour and the then physio, John Gloster, in his fitness report, warned against the injury entering a chronic phase.

Tendulkar will now be expected to be fully fit ahead of the inaugural Indian Premier League, starting on April 18.

Proud To Be a Schumi Fan!!!

Since the Formula One World Championship began in 1950 the title has been won by 28 different drivers, 14 of whom won more than one championship. Of the previous multiple champions the most prolific was Juan Manuel Fangio, whose record of five titles stood for five decades until it was eclipsed by the most dominant driver in the history of the sport. By the time he retired, still the man to beat after 16 seasons at the top, Michael Schumacher had seven driving titles and held nearly every record in the book by a considerable margin. Though his ethics were sometimes questionable, his sheer brilliance behind the wheel was never in dispute.

The most extraordinary driver's origins were most ordinary. He was born on 3 January, 1969, near Cologne, Germany, six years before his brother Ralf, who would also become a Formula One driver. Their father, a bricklayer, ran the local kart track, at Kerpen, where Mrs Schumacher operated the canteen. As a four-year old Michael enjoyed playing on a pedal kart, though when his father fitted it with a small motorcycle engine the future superstar promptly crashed into a lamppost. But Michael soon mastered his machine and won his first kart championship at six, following which his far from affluent parents arranged sponsorship from wealthy enthusiasts that enabled Michael to make rapid progress. By 1987 he was German and European kart champion and had left school to work as an apprentice car mechanic, a job that was soon replaced by full-time employment as a race driver. In 1990 he won the German F3 championship and was hired by Mercedes to drive sportscars. The next year he made a stunning Formula One debut, qualifying an astonishing seventh in a Jordan for the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, whereupon he was immediately snapped up by Benetton, where in 1992 he won his first Formula One race, again at Spa, the most demanding circuit of them all.

Over the next four seasons with Benetton he won a further 18 races and two world championships. His first, in 1994, was somewhat tainted in that Benetton was suspected of technical irregularities and in their championship showdown race in Adelaide Schumacher collided (deliberately, some thought) with his closest challenger, the Williams of Damon Hill. But Germany's first world champion was unquestionably worthy of the 1995 driving title, following which he moved to Ferrari, then a team in disarray and without a champion since Jody Scheckter in 1979. The Schumacher-Ferrari combination began promisingly with three wins in 1996 and five more in 1997, though that season ended in infamy when in the final race, at Jerez in Spain, Schumacher tried unsuccessfully to ram the Williams of his title rival Jacques Villeneuve off the road. As punishment for his misdemeanour Schumacher's second place in the championship was stricken from the record books he would thereafter begin to rewrite.

After finishing second overall in 1998, Schumacher's 1999 season was interrupted by a broken leg (the only injury of his career) incurred in crash at the British Grand Prix. From then on there was no stopping 'Schumi' - who in 2000 became Ferrari's first champion in 21 years, then went on to win the driving title for the next four seasons in succession. In 2002 he won 11 times and finished on the podium in all 17 races. In 2003 he broke Fangio's record by winning his sixth driving title. In 2004 he won 13 of the 18 races to secure his seventh championship by a massive margin. Disadvantaged by an off-the-pace Ferrari in 2005 he still managed third overall in the standings. In 2006 he finished his career with a flourish (though at Monaco he was found guilty of deliberately parking his Ferrari to prevent anyone from beating his qualifying time): extending his pole position record to 68 (Ayrton Senna had 65), scoring seven victories to bring his total to 91 (40 more than his nearest rival, Alain Prost) and nearly winning yet another driving title.

Like all the great drivers Schumacher had exceptional ambition, confidence, intelligence, motivation, dedication and determination. What set him apart and helped account for his unprecedented length of time at the top of his profession was a pure passion for racing and an endless quest for improvement. Blessed with a supreme natural talent, he had a racing brain to match, possessing spare mental capacity that enabled him to make split-second decisions, adapt to changing circumstances and plan ahead while driving on the limit, which with his superb state of fitness (he trained harder than any driver) he was easily able to do for lap after lap. The smoothly swift and mechanically-aware driver operated with a keen sensitivity for the limits of his car and himself (he made comparatively few mistakes) and his feedback to his engineers (led by technical director Ross Brawn who worked with him throughout his career) was exceptionally astute.

No Ferrari driver worked harder for the team, nor were any of them more appreciated than the German who led the famous Italian Scuderia to six successive Constructors' Championships. He led by example, frequently visiting the factory at Maranello, talking to the personnel, thanking them, encouraging them, never criticising and invariably inspiring everyone with his optimism, high energy level and huge work ethic. The team was totally devoted to the driver who often said he loved the Ferrari ‘family’.

Life with his own family - wife Corinna and their children Gina-Maria and Mick - was deliberately kept as normal as possible (the children never came to the races) and held sacred by the essentially shy and private man who reluctantly became one of the most famous sportsmen in the world. Rich beyond his wildest dreams (he reportedly earned as much as US$100 million a year), he generously supported charities, especially those for underprivileged children, and to help victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami disaster he made a personal donation of US$10 million.

In his last season the 37-year-old driver who had made Formula One racing his personal playground was still at the peak of his powers. No champion had been so excellent for so long, but Michael Schumacher finally grew tired of the effort necessary to continue to excel and decided to quit while he was still ahead - so far ahead that his achievements are unlikely to ever be surpassed.

Meeoww!!!... The Cat Song!!

The shooting for Ajith’s Aegan is in full swing and the latest is that a huge set has been erected in AVM studios in chennai for shooting a song sequence between Stylish Ajith and Hot Nayantara. The song has a interesting cat sound effect in between the lyrics.

The song will also feature top models from mumbai. The song to be choreographed by dance master Dinesh is said to be a sizzling number between ultimate star Ajith and senseous Nayantara.

Aegan movie which has Ajith and Nayantara in the lead is directed by choreographer turned director Raju sundaram. For the past few months the shooting for the flash back scene was on which required Ajith Kumar to sport a beard. The shooting of these scenes is over in Hong Kong and now the clean shaven stylish Ajith will be romancing Nayan and doing emotional scenes with Navdeep. Navdeep plays the role of younger brother for Ajith.

Ajith and Nayan are all ready to set the screens once again after Billa…Meeowww indeed!!