IPL 8 - CSK turning out to be Srilanka of IPL

IPL 8 is over, once again it was CSK in the finals and once again they lost it. The new Champions are MI and now they have done it twice now. CSK is making this as a habit, losing in the finals. But, they were very inconsistent and it was a surprise to see them play in the finals. It's all Dhoni's fault I would say, persisting with out-of-form players like Jadeja, reluctant to change the combination and trying out new players like Pathan or Abott. And, Raina was not in his usual touch, he usually transforms into a superman once he wears the yellow this was very off season. But, Nehra ji surprised everyone with some inspiring performances.

MI on the other hand, started with 4 consecutive defeats just like last year, they were at the bottom of the table for sometime. To everyone's surprise they were the first team to reach the finals and to win it. Simmons and the pace attack Malinga and McClenaghan played a big part in their revival.

Some good moments in this IPL for me,

As usual CSK starts with a thriller in their very first game against DD, where Albie ex-CSKian almost pulled this for DD. With 6 to win he hits a four which lands few inches inside to give CSK a winning start and they were unbeaten for first 4 games until they met RR.

And, CSK's big hitter was Mac's this season and they depended on him heavily. In the match against SRH he hit a brilliant  100 and Dhoni in that match zoomed from 0 to 49, when Mac at the other end scored just four more runs (81 to 85). That was the best of Dhoni we saw this season.

There were many spectacular catches this season as well especially from Bravo, Simmons and Warner. The best one belongs to Southee and K Nair's catch against KXIP to get rid of Bailey, followed by Bravo's one-handed leap at the boundary to get rid of Watson.

MI was playing bad when CSK were at their best. Mac and Smith hammered MI at their home ground and chased their target 183 in just 100 balls. Wish, CSK have played similar to this in the finals as well.

MI's first win came against RCB, in that match when umpire warned Pollard not to talk too much with the opposite team he came with a plaster on his mouth. And, Gayle played an un-Gayle like innings which worked in MI's favor. Then, came ABD towards the end and who almost took the away from MI with a sensational 43 from 11 deliveries.

Bravo, apart from winning purple cap, he was brilliant in the field for CSK who took many unbelievable catches, but his ran-out Kohli during his own bowling was fantastic which was the turning point of that match. He showed unbelievable reflex just like the other day when he took Watson's catch near the boundary rope which was a turning point in that match.

This year's find of the IPL is Shreyas Iyer, kid who opened for DD and played fearless cricket who scored bulk of the runs for their team. I just hope he continues to play the same way in the next season as well and not a one-season-wonder like many others we have seen in the past years.

Sarfaraz Khan, another lucky kid who was 9 or 10 years old when IPL begun now shares the dressing room with the likes of ABD, Kohli and Gayle, with ABD walking off the pitch with his hand around this kid's shoulder. He played on good innings against RR, looking forward to this kid's batting next season.

CSK's biggest flop of this season must be our Sir Jaddu except for one good game with the ball and Negi played much better than him. He batted and bowled before Jaddu in most of the games.

Just like list of spectacular catches we saw too many dropped catches as well. That too from the fielders who took many blinders. Bravo, ABD, Duplessis, Mac, all these players dropped atleast one catch.

RCB's biggest enemy of this season was Rain, which affected most of their games. And, KX1 took advantage of it in a 10 over game and won it which was only their second victory also many games washed out which costs RCB second spot in the table.

Defending champions KKR was knocked out from the first round itself. And, in their match against MI which they choked in the last over. It was a surprise move from MI to bowl Pollard to defend 12 runs who haven't bowled any over in that match. He took the wicket of Yusuf in the very first ball who was playing well and bowled three dot balls to Piyush to win the game for MI.

Among the seniors Shewag and Yuvi continue to flop and Zak after missing most of the games he came back good. Among the foreign players Maxwell was biggest flop of the season along with his team.

Before the start of the IPL, I have predicted the top four teams and to my surprise the same top four teams qualified exactly in same order.

And, this time played some game online in twitter called vetti-betting. It started with 100 players and people get eliminated and I managed to play till the end. Look forward to playing and win some prizes next year. The thing is, I don't even any one of those 100 players, but many funny tweets in this hashtag #smk_betting.

I hope at least next year CSK wins the IPL, just reaching the finals is really not enough. Dhoni must not be too reluctant to change the combination and they must pick some fresh players in the auction.

3G to G3 - Apple to Android

After using Apple 3Gs for few years, I am back to Android. My very first smartphone, Xperia X8, was an Android phone which ran on an Android 1.6 version. My very first touch-screen mobile. Its 3-inch touch-screen looked so big in my hand.

It was so good to use a smart phone. Also, it was wonderful when they released an update in OS. I thought this would be the trend whenever a new Android OS is released, but they stopped updates for my phone after that 2.1 update. I was struck in that OS, unable to move apps to SD cards with my limited phone memory it was painful. Then, none of the apps was getting installed since they required OS version higher than mine and even the old apps were getting hanged or stopped with an error. Most irritating app was "Call", whenever I receive an incoming call the application "Call" will get crashed.

Then, came my first iPhone 3Gs. It was my sister's, I jailbroke it myself which took me two nightouts and it was worth it. I was able to install all the apps available outside the app store. It was smooth and touch response was fantastic. And, its minimal UI was a treat to use. Instantly addicted to iOS.

But, nothing was straightforward, you can't download a song and keep it as your ringtone in one go like we do in Android, which will be irritating in the beginning, but we will get used to it. And, you can't share pictures easily via Bluetooth, I couldn't figure out the purpose of Bluetooth in that phone. It was worth it, to have an iPhone that too jailbroken was fantastic. But, as usual I was struck with iOS 5.1 and the latest was iOS 8. I can't play any video files. As usual none of the apps was getting installed and not able to update any existing apps as well. It has become another Xperia X8 for me.

So decided to go for a new phone and was in a dilemma to go for an Android or another Apple product. After much analysis and research (!) decided to buy an Android which was worth the money I pay than the over-hyped-over-priced Apple and bought a LG G3. I was planning to buy Nexus 6, but it's too-big.

This one is a bada size phone with 5.5 inch screen and bada in every other hardware spec. It was running on KitKat and there was an update to Lollipop immediately. So far, it doesn't hang, apps are running smooth. But, haven't installed many games. Except for "Home" application crashing occasionally, the system doesn't get hanged. And, the internal memory of 32GB is sufficient so far. It has many cool features which LG have customized. I like some of the features like, bringing the phone near your ear to attend a call, flip your phone to skip track, call the one who messaged, take a selfie, etc. It has its own phone lock method, Knock Code, you just have to tap the phone even without switching on the screen, to unlock. These cool gimmicks makes this phone really interesting. And, yes this phone makes me take many Selfies. Also, I don't need any tab to watch movies while travelling, thanks to the screen size and its Quad HD resolution. With its Quick circle case, it allows to access few apps without even opening the cover, it's really cool. And, it has its mandatory power and volume buttons in the back making it look like a phone without any buttons which reduces its bezel area. I really enjoy using this phone.

I think I have made a right decision to go with an Android phone instead of Apple and this phone is really great so far. I wish it works in the same way for next few years and I hope LG provides me latest updates. Switching from 3G to G3, Apple to Android is proving to be a right decision.

Uttama Villain - MrithunJeyan of Cinema - “Kamal”

Kamal’s movie finally in cinemas after two years and once again enough drama before the release. It's another movie which would have been not possible without Kamal only he can write, act, produce this kind of films.

The movie starts with a scene where fans celebrating his new movie and we see Manoranjan romancing Pooja on screen in a movie titled Veera Vilayattu, I'm sure we won't see that kind of a movie from Kamal. The plot is about an ageing superstar Manoranjan who discovers something about his life and decides to set things right. It's more of an emotional movie and also a movie within a movie. Manoranjan decides to make his last movie with his guru Margadaresi, played by KB himself and they start Uttama Villain within Uttama Villain with Gibran as a music director in it.

Apart from Kamal, M S Bhasker, KB, Nasser, Pooja and Urvasi were brilliant. Especially KB sir was super and as Kamal said in recent interview he reminds the legend Nagesh for sure. And, Parvathy Menon’s was good at her limited role. Andrea was just okay.

When the trailer released I was wondering how the 8th century portions will be connected to the present and the 8th century portions were the movie they make within the movie. But, these portions didn't work much as expected. It was supposed to be funny, but it had very few laughs. It could have executed in a better way, but still Kamal amazes as Uttaman so we can watch it for Kamal. If only it was amazing as the first few minutes of Dasavatharam this movie would have been in a different level.

Gibran was the backbone of this movie. All his songs and BGM was top-notch. Also, the art and vfx department have done their job very well. Especially the Iraniyan Nadagam was top class. Kamal’s lyrics, voice and his performance gave the perfect ending to this movie.

Manoranjan’s life was more interesting it was like watching Kamal’s life himself on screen with so many meta references. Casting KB is the master stroke. His first interaction with Kamal is really highlight of the film. His emotional scenes with Parvathy and his son was touching. Also, those two letters, from and to Yamini scenes were brilliant.

Uttama Villan is all about the superstar Manoranjan and the performer inside the superstar Uttaman. Manoranjan will remain immortal through Uttaman and his other movies.சாகவரம் போல் சோகம் உண்டோ? தீரா கதையை கேட்பார் உண்டோ?

Uttama Villan may have flaws, but it won't affect as long as we love to see this man Kamal. As KB says in the movie “Who doesn't love this guy, everybody loves him”. We love you.

Rating - நான் இன்னும் வளரனும்.