Formerly WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) was known as WWF (World Wrestling Federation) and was the Best Television show in wrestling history. Previously matches were conducted at various arenas like The Madison Square Garden, Ford Field etc. but no Brands existed qt that time. Matches existed only of two types “singles” and “Tag Teams.” After the start of Monday Night RAW in 1993, the world of wrestling was changed forever.

Wrestlers in the 90′s included the legendary Andre The Giant, Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels etc. Those days were considered to be the golden days and was therefore known as “The Golden Era.” 1998 was the start of “The Attitude Era.” The Attitude Era was the most electrifying era as it included the likes of The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, Big Show and Divas like Torrie Wilson, Lita, Trish Stratus and the first ever woman to participate in The Royal Rumble match Chyna. It also included the formation of WWE’s best ever Tag Team, a team including Chyna, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, Triple H and Shawn Michaels known as DX (D-Generation-X). In the Attitude Era, formation of another Brand took place known was as Thursday Night Smackdown! The days were extraordinary as were the matches. Some of the most significant matches were The Buried Alive Match (A match in which you have bury your opponent in a pit and then cover the pit with sand), The Hardcore Match (A Nasty no disqualification match), The Battle Royals etc. Championships like The Hardcore championship and The European championship were also conducted. If you are a WWE fan who missed those days, then you were not lucky enough.

In May 2002, WWF transformed to WWE after its issues with “World Wide Fund for Nature.” If WWE was observed neatly at that time, you may find traces of WWF. WWE changed as days passed. Smackdown! was shifted from Thursday night to Friday night. Wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, John Cena, Chris Benoit, Rob Van Dam emerged during this time. Even Teams like NWO, The Evolution emerged. WWE was at its best till the end of the year 2007. After the beginning of 2008, it changed completely and now this Era, which we see, is called the “PG Era” (Parental Guidance Era). WWE was very aggressive and due to the usage of language, blood, violence and sexual themes. Now in The PG Era matches like The Hardcore match, Bra and Panties match (This is a Divas match where the diva has to stripe her opponent to her bra and panties) were also banned. Summerslam was the event in which a Bikini contest or a Pillow fight were always held. These things were also banned. Fans who saw both the Eras would always love those Attitude Era days.

I am watching WWE for the past decade but I also would prefer The Attitude Era days. Those days gone, wont return again.

Tournament: ICC World T20 (18 Sept- 7 Oct 2012)

Venue: Sri Lanka

As the ICC World T20 approaches, people are assigning their views about this cup.

A huge debate around the world is happening as to who is the favourite to win the championship. According to Indian batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, West Indies are HOT favourites to win the Championship. As we see that the WI batting order extends till the 9th or 10th number and 1 or 2 bowlers. If we see the batting line-up clearly, WI have many bowlers in the top order as well including Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Darren Sammy, Dwayne Smith, Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell. They also have a young spin talent Sunil Narine who has emerged a lot in the past few months. What more can you expect from this side?

The other favourite is The Indian Team, which has the likes of Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. As compared to the other teams, this team is also well balanced. If the batting part is concerned, Virat Kohli has been India’s powerhouse for the past 2 years along with Suresh Raina, who is the only Indian to have a century in all 3 formats of the game. India have a great bowling line-up as well, since it has a spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin and seamers like Irfan Pathan and Zaheer Khan. All players are outstanding and as far as Rohit Sharma is concerned, he is also back in form in the 2 warm-up Games and is giving the critics a piece of his mind.

The South African side and the English side are also considered to be favourites as SA batting line-up is excellent due to form of players like Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and the big hitter Albie Morkel. Their bowling line up is also up to the mark as Dale Steyn is a great bowler in this format, along with spinner John Botha who can bat as well. The English side this time do not have their best middle order batsman Kevin Pietersen due to his issues with the ECB. Bowling shall be good as their captain Stuart Broad is confident about his and other bowler’s performance. Their key bowler should be Graeme Swann, as he is in tremendous form.

As Pakistan have beaten India today, their confidence should be sky high. Kamran Akmal, one of Pakistan’s experienced batsmen, notched up 92 off just 50 balls along with Shoaib Malik, who scored 37 off just 18 balls. I guess this where a player’s experience comes into play. Bowlers like Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul are to look out for. Shahid Afridi is not considered as a key player for this series as his form is not up to the mark.

But, the fact is the all time favourite team Australia is not considered to be a favourite because of its poor performances in T20 against each team in the past year. Australia, this time, have only 4-5 experienced players like are Shane Watson, David Warner, Hussey brothers and Brad Hogg.  The bowlers to keep an eye on are Brad Hogg and Ben Hilfenhaus. This Australian side is completely new to this format.

Ireland have caused 2 upsets already in the warm-up matches, defeating Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Ireland looks focused like never before. I guess this is because they are frustrated as they will not be allowed to be part of the ICC World Cup 2015. Will they make an upset in the league matches?

ICC World T20 should be a great tournament as this is the most open T20 World Cup ever.

]]> http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/09/17/icc-world-t20-favourites/feed/ 1 12043 http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/09/04/mahindra-slpl-a-quick-glance-at-the-latest-t20-extravaganza/ http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/09/04/mahindra-slpl-a-quick-glance-at-the-latest-t20-extravaganza/#comments Mon, 03 Sep 2012 19:38:23 +0000 Saumil Madgavkar http://www.sportskeeda.com/?p=684459

The recently concluded Mahindra Sri Lanka Premier League (SLPL) was a 20 days affair in which 7 teams participated namely Nagenahira Nagas, Ruhuna Royals, Kandurata Warriors, Basnahira Cricket Dundee, Uthura Rudras, Wayamba United & Uva Next. After much debate, the league ultimately got under way as Indian tycoons came forward as franchises. In fact, the league was named the Mahindra SLPL.

The league was a moderate success. One of the reasons may be the scheduling of this league as many overseas players could not participate in the league due to their respective countries’ international itinerary. Current players from Australia, India, England, South Africa could not participate in this league. The other reason was the uncertain weather conditions. Rain played a spoilsport in certain matches. Even the likes of Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara, fast bowler Nuwan Kulasekara and the West Indian great Chris Gayle could not participate in the league due to their injuries.

However the league was beneficial for the local talent. The lads got a chance to play with leading cricketers of Sri Lanka as well as other countries. This will surely be a great experience for budding cricketers. It was heartening to see that the youngsters who participated in the league went all out to show their potential. Some of the notable performances were by Dilshan Munaweera who was the leading run-scorer (212 runs with an Average of 35.33), Shaminda Eranga and Isuru Udana were among the leading wicket takers. In fact 2 players have found a place in The Sri Lankan T20 squad for the ICC World T20 championship.

The league was won by Uva Next in a rain curtailed match against Nagenahira Nagas. Uva Next became the champions by the Duckworth-Lewis method. While Uva Next had shocked Wayamba United which was a strong contender for the title, their opponents Nagenahira Nagas entered the finals as their match with favourites Kandurata Warriors was washed out due to rain.

The umpiring was not however of international standard. In one of the matches, Mohammed Ashraful was clearly run out but the on-field umpire declared him not out without referring to the third umpire in spite of the available technologies. The replays showed that Ashraful was clearly run-out. Another incident was the decision of Mahela Jayawardene (Wayamba United) who was given lbw to Oram against Uva Next. Such blunders proved crucial in the ultimate result of the game. While umpires are prone to mistakes, technology available must be used without exceptions.

I hope the next SLPL will be a huge success as this was their inaugural year.

Yesterday, in the morning session of the 3rd test match between England and South Africa, there was a controversy regarding the dismissal of Jacques Kallis. Umpire Dharmasena was unmoved when the English players appealed for a decision of caught behind, down the leg side. But as the English team was convinced, they took a referral of the 3rd Umpire (Rod Tucker). It was a tough decision for the 3rd umpire as he had to be convinced that the batsman’s right glove was touching the bat when the ball brushed the glove. On the big screen, it was clear that the batsman’s right glove was not touching the bat when the ball brushed the glove.  So the expectation was that the decision should stay with the on-field umpire.

But to everybody’s surprise, Rod Tucker overturned Dharmasena’s decision, declaring Jacques Kallis  out. While the English players were overjoyed with the decision, the South African camp was stunned with the decision and the commentators, as well, termed the decision as “ridiculous”. You don’t see the umpires making such errors with the available technologies very often, but it appears that Rod Tucker was not aware of the rule that the batsman should be given not out in such case.

A case happened in November 2010 where South African batsman AB de Villiers was given out (stumped) vs Pakistan in Abu Dhabi when his foot was clearly behind the crease. This was also a controversial matter which was discussed a lot. In this year as well, in the Commonwealth Bank series, Michael Hussey was given out (vs India), but as the fault was immediately detected that the 3rd umpire himself  had pressed the wrong button, he came running from the umpire’s box to stop Hussey from going into the pavilion. This was an clear example of an umpire’s fault which was accepted and corrected by the respective umpire.

Alviro Petersen was also given out after a catch down the leg-side where the glove may well have lost contact with the bat, although the batsman declined the opportunity to review that decision.  The players of both the teams as well as Rod Tucker will wait to see the decision of the English Cricket Board (ECB).