!!!!!

I've been asked to start writing for Cricinfo as a freelance contributor.

O-M-F-G.

All that obsessive cricket-devouring, all those years of filling my cerebral hard drive with reams of statistics to support seemingly pointless arguments about who should bat at Number 3 and who's the best pick as an opening bowler on a bouncy Adelaide pitch, all that ear-splitting yelling at the TV - apparently some people find those opinions and stories interesting. And (even more surprisingly) they are people whose outlook on cricket matter! I'm still in a state of shock but of course SO unbelievably happy.

It's a bit of a long process to actually start getting published on the website (5 articles have to first be approved by the managing editors, I have to 'attend' an online workshop, I must pick up all the tricks of the trade in dropping technical lingo...plus I need to start writing well [the baap of all my obstacles]) but I am ready for all of it :D As most of you know, this has always been an unspoken but very real dream!

I am already fantasizing about my life as a full-time sports blogger. I imagine spending my days watching obscene amounts of International cricket, hobnobbing with the best sporting minds (and bodies *ahem*), and writing witty and informative articles which influence verbal expression and popular culture (a MP in England will be heard to say, making a direct reference to an article of mine that he had read earlier in the day: "Now, good sirs, let us not pull a Yusuf Pathan and try to swashbuckle our way through this very important budgeting process - it really requires more of a Gautam Gambhir type stay at the crease"). All the while living in a beautiful apartment overlooking Marine Drive with my (by then) hubby, Mahi Dhoni. "You may say I'm a dreamer..."

How will you be affected by all this? Well it means that the number of cricket-related blog posts (IPL and beyond) will decrease greatly as I'll probably be turning those ideas into articles, which legally cannot appear in any other published form... Oh at least try and ACT disappointed you lot :P

But for all (all = one) of you who're interested, here's a bite-sized take on the goings on in the IPL world:

- my heart bleeds for my poor KKR (although I haven't totally lost hope yet)...

- Gilly & Warney are my fave captains of this season (and before you ask: I hate Kumble & Sachin's playing with the talent equivalent and team balance of an IPL equivalent of FC Barcelona so psht)

- Lalit Modi, as I have always maintained and as is slowly being proven, is an enormously corrupt a-hole...plus he wears ugly grey suits with baby pink shirts. Jackass supreme.

- politics and cricket should not mix - but in India, this is impossible

- watching the Indian batsmen openly struggle against the short ball in today's CSK vs DD match made me shudder...we need to shape up before the T20 WC next month in the Indies, or else we should be prepared for another repetition of 2008.

- someone should really think about shooting down that goddamn MRF blimp

- I know it's gross, but I think I have a crush on Danny Morrison. Yes he's a bit of a loud-mouthed, alpha-male, unbalanced freak, but c'maaaaan we all know that's my type.

And on that note, my mind has to get back to pumping some iron and come up with ideas and arguments for the first piece that I'm sending in to the panel tomorrow. I think I'm going to write about the need for franchise owners in the IPL to change their tactics when building teams. Argument will probably be along the lines of how they must recognise that the winning formula is found in creating well-balanced teams with a heavy dose of young Indian talent (for godssake hire someone to watch more domestic matches yo!) and a splash of strong International players. Oooh I can feel the clogs a-whirring :)

And before I disappear for the night, I just want to wish all my dear Bengali readers "Shubho Naboborsho"! May the new year bring you much joy and many successes. Also, if it's not too much to ask, please don't forget to send lots of positive energy and goodwill to our Kolkata Knight Riders. Yes, I'm being 100% serious...

With lots of leather love (cricket balls are made of leather...oh, get your mind outta the gutter)

S xxx