England's 1000th Test - Analyzing England's Test Cricket history

England is taking on India for it's 1000th Test match at Headingly, Birmingham starting 1st August. As inventors of this modern game, it is quite appropriate that they are the first team to achieve this unique feat.

They played the first Test match against Australia in 1877 at Melbourne. Below are landmark Tests which they had played in their long journey. Looks like they didn't had much of a success in those; winning only their 700th and 900th Tests. England lost their 1st Test and 100th Test to Australia, while drew their 500th Test with Pakistan.

India were their opponents for the 300th, 400th and upcoming 1000th Tests.

World Cup in Russia | Racism and contrasting situations in France and Germany

With the winning of World Cup by France, the immigration debate has entered the world of soccer with a force. In this World Cup France was the team most of whose players had roots outside the country i.e. they were descendants of immigrants to France; mostly from countries which were once colonized by France.
All this has led to the often used reference of the World Cup being won by Africa, which got a bit more serious with the French ambassador replying to an American comedian and talk show host.

Indians must be pretty familiar with this scenario. We have a large diaspora scattered all through the world who continue to achieve great success and glory for their adopted countries. However we in India also boast about the Indian origin of the greats and the achievers do not themselves shy away from such accolades. After all who would not want to loved and respected in the country from where they or their parents hailed.

World Cup in Russia | And the Grand Finale

 At the end of a month long journey involving 32 national teams playing 64 matches we have one champion and that is France. No first time winner, no surprise but France.  Along with Uruguay, Argentina it became the third country to win the cup twice; Brazil, Germany and Italy have won it many times over.

France made through the tougher half of the draw. On to the way they beat some of the heavy weight names in world football in the knockout stages; Argentina, Uruguay, Belgium. They beat Argentina, Uruguay convincingly and escaped a talented but reluctant to win Belgium. Never did their knockout stage matches went to extra time; which is actually the first a champion team has achieved so.

Croatia had on the other side managed to win all their knockout games in the extra time; twice even on penalties. All the games were won after being initially down by a goal. They were a battle hardened unit, relentless in their pursuit of victory. On the way they bettered Denmark, Russia and England.

World in Russia | Unlikely Finalists in an Unpredictable World Cup

We are all set for the final showdown in this edition of the FIFA World Cup. And it's France against first time challengers Croatia. Who would have predicted Croatia in the final but again that's the beauty of the game.

This world cup also highlights the supremacy of European football in all aspects. In the quarterfinals we had 6 European teams against 2 from South America. Both the South American teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals and we were left with an all European semifinal. Last time that happened was in 2006 when too France was the finalist.

The quarterfinal stages had 4 previous winners and 4 aspirants competing for the cup. And appropriately we have 1 previous winner and 1 aspirant making it to the finals. Last time an aspirant reached the final was Spain in 2010; which they won.

If Croatia wins the world cup it will be a record of sorts; it would probably the smallest country since Uruguay in 1950 to achieve that feat. And surely the youngest one having been born just in 1991 as a nation.

So as we edge towards the finish line lets take quick re-look of the matches in the quarter and semi final stages as I had done so for the group stages and round of 16 in my earlier posts.

World Cup in Russia | Fall of Data Science

This world cup has turned out to be the death bed for Data Science and Machine Learning algorithms. Before the world cup I had seen at least two prediction reports coming from well established sources. One from UBS and the other from Goldman Sachs both concluding that it would Germany yet again.

Today I saw another prediction done by Sports Illustrated (image by the side) after the conclusion of the group stages. This one predicted a Brazil - Spain final.

World Cup in Russia | Recap of the Round of 16

The quarter-finals will be starting tomorrow. So here is a quick recap of what happened in the round of 16. The first day of this round was quite tragic with two of the best footballers of our times being eliminated. While that was on the first day, the next 3 days were no less interesting.

Spain vs Russia: I am not sure if result of this match could really be termed as a surprise. To me Russia were the clear favorites coming into the contest. The handball of Pique for which the penalty was awarded was comical. I have never seen a footballer jumping with his one hand up to head the ball. Reminded me of the way Ganguly used to duck the bouncer keeping his bat still hoisted; he even got out once because of such an awkward positioning of the bat.

Though Spain had the lion’s share of ball possession and passes, those are useless stats if the scoreboard reflects a different story. In the penalty shootout Russian keeper Akinfeev did tremendous job by stopping twice while Russians didn’t miss any against deGea. I always think Spain plays a regressive football keeping the ball to themselves. Their football only attains the charisma because of the scoring abilities of Messi and Ronaldo. This match also was the last international appearance of another legend; Iniesta.

World Cup in Russia | Exit of the legends

Yesterday was a day not to be remembered in the history of FIFA World Cup. It was the day which saw the fall of two of the greatest footballers our time has seen. Both Messi and Ronaldo exited the world cup on the same day.

It was not that the results were unexpected but having seen these two men spin magic over the years, the heart always felt some last minute magic to happen. But alas that was not to be.

First match of the pre-quarter-finals had Argentina against France. It is not that France was a much more superior side and their football so far didn't display anything convincing. There were chances that a strategized approach from Argentina could help them. France was the faster team. They had young players like Mbappe whose speed couldn't be matched by Argentine defenders.

World Cup in Russia | Preparing for the knock-out stage

So here is the second post on FIFA World Cup following first one few days back listing the Top 10 matches till Match Day 2 of the competition. All the groups completed their Match Day 3 yesterday and today is a rest day after the conclusion of a grueling group stage.

Match Day 3 virtually was a pre-quarterfinal stage for many of the teams. Some of the them like Uruguay, Russia, France, Croatia, Belgium and England had already qualified for the knock-out stages after having won both of their first 2 matches. But for others the fight for survival was still on. Teams with large following like Argentina and Germany were still on the brink of an early exit.

The last 4 days of the competition generated quite a few surprises. And its time to take a stock of those before we start the Quarter Finals from tomorrow.

World Cup in Russia | Top 10 matches from the first 10 days

FIFA World Cup in unarguably the greatest single sport extravaganza in the world. Even though the Summer Olympics would have a worldwide viewership and following which challenges the World Cup but consider that it’s a multi-sport event with participation from way large number of countries. The final stages of the FIFA World Cup is a contest between mere 32 countries.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 edition of the cup. There were some questions raised regarding the initial bidding process and how Russia won it; nevertheless, Russia has so far been doing a great job. 

The event which started on 14th June has so far traversed the journey of 10 days. For all the groups 2 match days have been completed. It’s time to take a stab at the 10 most interesting matches played so far. The matches are arranged in the order they were played and not any other ranking

Euro 2016 Finale - A night to remember for a long time

It was sometime around 2:49 AM IST when Eder’s long distance shot landed at the back of the French net. It was the 109th minute and France knew that was it. The ultimate dream has come true.

Portugal won their first major international trophy. They had Eusebio, they had Figo but they required a Cristiano Ronaldo to achieve the glory. This has been a fairy tale tournament for Portugal. At the onset no one would have thought they would be there in the finals leave aside being the champions but now they are the topmost team in Europe.

The final was nothing less than a fairy-tale too. From the onset of the match it was clearly evident that France was the team with a complete upper hand. They had most of the ball possession and had a couple of attempts at the Portugese goal itself in the first 20-25 mins. Portugal was on the other hand struggling the control the ball in the midfield and there was no supply to their forward line. The Portugese defence and goalkeeper were being tested and they did a good a job to hold Griezmann and company.

Euro 2016 Finale

So the stage is set for the Finals on Sunday. Portugal will be meeting hosts France in Paris. Both the semi-finals have now ended in the identical 2-0 score line. The odds are heavily stacked up against Portugal but still my bet is with them. And the reason for that would be the same because of which many people would love to see France win…..Cristiano Ronaldo.

Portugal was ultimately able to halt the dream run of Wales. The first half of the match was equally played out with Wales having a slightly upper hand. Bale made some really sharp entries into the Portugal half but they missed a finisher. They also missed the services of play maker Ramsey who was ruled out because of successive Yellow cards.

Euro 2016 Semifinal | Battle of Galacticos

The first seminal of Euro 2016 will be played tomorrow between Portugal and Wales; each team lead by two Galacticos of Real Madrid. Portugal additionally is being led by also the man who is one of most hated players on earth at this moment.

Our generation is fortunate enough to have seen two of the greatest footballers of all time, Messi and Ronaldo, in full glory. While there is a never ending debate going on as who is the better between the two, the two have continued to go in fame and glory. Both have achieved tremendous honors for their clubs and personally but glory for country is something still eludes them.

Iceland @ Euro 2016

This was tweeted by Iceland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to show how the national football team of Iceland was selected. That team has now beaten England to reach the Euro quarterfinals in their debut appearance itself.

A Summary of the Mexit

Source: ToI Kolkata (28th June, 2016)

A summary of the Messi exit saga which took place yesterday.

COPA 2016 | Come Back Messi

2014, 2015 and now again 2016. International glory continues to elude Argentina and with that one of the greatest footballers across generations; Lionel Messi.

Monday morning at 5:30 AM IST, Argentina met Chile for the second consecutive time in the finals of the Copa Centenario 2016. Argentina had also found Chile in the last edition in 2015 and got beaten by the same opponent on penalties 4-1. This is also the third consecutive year Argentina has qualified into the finals of a major international tournament.

Chile again provided to be a hard nut to crack. Higuain repeated what he had done in the 2014 FIFA world cup finals; squandered a golden chance. That was a decisive chance for Argentina because during the entire 120 minutes Argentina never came so close to winning.

First Pink Ball Match in India

CAB Super League final between Mohun Bagan and Bhowanipore Club held on 21st June, 2016 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.

ভারতের প্রথম গোলাপি বলের ম্যাচের ঐতিহাসিক কিছু মুহুর্ত :
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প্রথম ব্যাট : জয়জিৎ বসু (মোহনবাগান)
প্রথম বল : রবিকান্ত সিং (ভবানীপুর)
প্রথম রান : জয়জিৎ বসু (মোহনবাগান)
প্রথম উইকেট : জয়জিৎ বসু (মোহনবাগান)
প্রথম উইকেট শিকারী : গীত পুরি (ভবানীপুর)
প্রথম বাউন্ডারি ও ওভার বাউন্ডারি : বিবেক সিং (মোহনবাগান)
প্রথম অর্ধশতরান : অনুষ্টুপ মজুমদার (মোহনবাগান)
প্রথম শতরান : অরিন্দম ঘোষ (মোহনবাগান)
প্রথম পাঁচ উইকেট শিকার : মহম্মদ শামি (মোহনবাগান)

প্রথম জয়ী দল : মোহনবাগান

Copa 2016: Argentina vs Chile

Today's match between Argentina and Chile was a throwback of the 2015 Copa final. The match started with some good moves from Argentina. 

First 25 minutes of the first half was completely dominated by Argentina with Di Maria creating some good openings. But having very few chance of playing in the same team for most part of the year, the lack of coordination between the midfield and striking force was visible. Chile gradually repelled back the initial set of attacks and settled into the game. Once they grasped the game they also created chances and looked to dominate rest of the first half. There were some close misses from their side.

In the second half Chile looked to attack more from the onset. They were doing quite good but because of some sloppy work in the midfield helped Argentina pump in 2 goals in quick succession; Di Maria scored the first one (50') and provided the assistance for the second one to Banega (58').In the last minute of extra time (90+3') Chile scored their only goal. It was a mistake from the Argentine goal-keeper who charged forward to fist the shot from a free-kick but missed because the distance was too far for him to cover. 

Something which Argentina needs to look at:

• They need to look for an alternative to Higuain as their main striking force. Higuain was the top scorer in Serie A in the recently concluded season but he looks far from convincing while playing for Argentina.
• Di Maria is in prime form. If Messi can come in (he missed this match) then he should be more playing in the creative role and Di Maria as the striker.
• In today's match the absence of a striker in the middle was noticed many times. Crosses from the left and right flanks were not getting converted. In fact there was an instance when left flank crossed to right and then right to left again but no one was in the middle to collect and score.

Mexico 86...the moment not witnessed

There are moments in sporting history which create legends..give birth to gods who are not only remembered but worshiped for centuries and ages to come. Mexico 86 was one such moment.
Unfortunately I had not the witnessed the moment live. I was only 5 years old and there was no television then.

I first came to know about this god sometime around 87 or 88...exactly not sure. I was gifted a poster of Diego Armando Maradona by my uncle and he explained me who the man in the poster is. And from that moment the love started. It was love, worship; maximum and unconditional. Since then I have witnessed many other greats gracing the game; Zidane, Ronaldo, Messi, CR7. But the gap still remains.

When I first witnessed Maradona live it was in Italia 1990 but Maradona was only a shadow of his earlier magic; his passion for game and country notwithstanding. The tournament started on a sad note with a loss to Cameroon and ended with a loss to the eternal nemesis West Germany. I still remember the sadness experienced that night and the tears shed by Maradona while tearing apart his jersey. Sadness of that magnitude was equaled later on only in 1996 when India lost to Sri Lanka in the ICC World Cup Semifinal and the once again in 2014 when Germany beat Argentina by a solitary goal.

The Copa starts today. When Argentina had last won Copa in 93, Maradona was serving a ban imposed for drugs intake