Google Hearts Cricket

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Wicked Google-y, originally uploaded by suitablegirl.



…just like most of you do. Me? I heart Google Doodles, those logo variations which Googler Dennis Hwang wittily creates to celebrate holidays or significant events. It takes very little to thrill me. Close your mouth, darling…flies will make a home there…that and it’s not polite to be so shocked. 😉

This doodle wasn’t on the Amreekan search page (desi, please*), oh no. Obviously it was on Google.co.uk as well as Google’s Indian page. Interestingly enough (though I’m sure there will be a hugely obvious reason as to “why” which I will be edified with via comments in, oh, four or five minutes) Google’s pages for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were not so festive.

Since I famously and rather foolishly promised to attempt to cover the World Cup, I thought I’d commence this mutinous cricket mania with an easy post; besides, my cricket tutors have all been wayyy too busy to field my frantic and stupid questions. 😉 . . .

*This hilarious phrase was coined by Maisnon. Ya heard? 🙂

95 thoughts on “Google Hearts Cricket”

  2. I loved this article posted in the news tab about the cricket in the West Indies all about the history of Indians in those societies and the historic tensions between them and Carribeans of African descent all seen through the prism of cricket. Great stuff.

  5. Google is the shit.. I am kicking myself right now for not having bought google stock back in 2004 !

  7. I saw a short film recently at the NY Arab and South Asian Film Festival titled “Explosions” that climaxed in a cricket scene. It was the classic “main character overcomes unassailable deficit to win match” film convention. The only thing was that the film kept cutting to shots of the scoreboard to document the come-from-behind win. It was all totally inscrutable to me, I started cracking up at the yawning cultural chasm. Good short though.

  8. Anna, go ahead cover it! And don’t worry about messing up, there are enough ardent emotionally chraged fans reading this blog to do that for you! cheers

  9. Way to go Anna; keep them coming.

    To all the Cricket fans out there,

    I’m the proprietor of a small factory in Bangalore that manufactures effigies, and we specialize in cricketers. Burning effigies has been an effective way for Indians to display their disapproval for their team and we have been catering to the masses in India for many years – my father made effigies of Kapil Dev and Gavaskar, his father made effigies of MAK Pataudi and such. This year we hope to go global and what better platform than the World Cup to do that! We stock effigies of all teams in our warehouse and will ship as soon as you place an order. We use environment-friendly and readily combustible materials in the manufacture of our effigies and guarantee cent percent customer satisfaction. Please mail me and we will assist you with your requirement.

    Burning hot regards,

  10. What is it about the World Cup (or any India-Pak series) that turns us into excited schoolkids again, and brings out our superstitious side? 😉 It also makes me long to be back home – sucks to be in a place where people around you don’t quite get why it’s so exciting.

  11. Last world cup for Tendu, I am going to miss watching (mostly reading on Cricinfo) him bat… hope he gets it this time

    good luck to India!

  12. “Last world cup for Tendu, I am going to miss watching (mostly reading on Cricinfo) him bat… hope he gets it this time”

    incredible that this is his fifth world cup. the 2003 final was a real wasted opportunity. good luck to the men in blue (well, a more silvery-white-pale blue in the sun by the looks of it). when it comes to the fans, they have more pressure on them than any other team.

    pakistan/west indies match in 15 minutes. the first real match of the world cup! so exciting. last world cup for lara and probably for inzamam as well. good luck to both teams today.

  14. have you heard of this crazy kid?

    Dhoni the jatt is crazy. But so was Sehwag when he started out and now look at how he has been playing. These youngins can never touch dravid, tendu & ganguly however Yuvraj is brilliant and shows a lot of promise

    “Form is temporary but class is permanent” or something like that

  15. have you heard of this crazy kid? Dhoni the jatt is crazy. But so was Sehwag when he started out and now look at how he has been playing. These youngins can never touch dravid, tendu & ganguly however Yuvraj is brilliant and shows a lot of promise “Form is temporary but class is permanent” or something like that

    um. i don’t think you get what i was trying to say.

    the kid is crazy. wanting to SELL HIS KIDNEY to go to the world cup, or kill himself? this is not an article about players.

  16. “have you heard of this crazy kid?”

    that is just par for the course. for his sake, i hope it’s just a publicity stunt. but the real craziness will be on show when (and fingers crossed, it won’t happen) india loses a match badly at the world cup. india was thrashed by australia in their first match at the last world cup and the reaction at home probably made UMM’s family millionaires many times over 🙂 . on a serious note, players like kaif had their homes attacked (i think it was him) and ganguly had to make a plea for sanity – this is the dark side of the wonderful and almost unmatched passion for cricket that exists in india. but then the team went on a winning streak – beating england and pakistan on the way — until the final when they were again steamrolled by australia. that sense of being under siege at home really sparked something in them. hopefully this time they won’t need that as a spark.

  17. “that is just par for the course.”

    and i didn’t mean that to sound callous. it’s just that in india these sorts of threats are not unheard of, whether they are prompted by really dire circumstances or something more frivolous like cricket or a beauty pageant (like feminists threatening to set themselves on fire during the miss world pageant in india in 1996).

  19. um. i don’t think you get what i was trying to say.

    apologies. I saw “dhoni” in the link and didnt even read the article

  20. This World Cup is bringing all the fascinating and amazing histories and ironies and cultures of the global brown world together. Ramnaresh Sarwan and Shivnarine Chanderpaul, two cricketers of Hindu background whose ancestors were taken to the Carribean generations ago as indentured labourers, are being bowled at by Pakistan, one of whose best players Danish Kaneria is a Hindu in a country created for Muslims. Should England and India or Pakistan play each other they may face two Sikh players with English accents as well as a Pakistani lad from Bolton. This is the game of the diaspora versus the ‘motherlands’ and watching the stories of these players and matchups is one of the most fascinating things.

    I’m supporting England and then the West Indies! Rep the diaspora!

  21. Al Mujahid — BBC has good live commentary and scorecards but I don’t know of any free streaming sites although I’m sure there’s someone working on it. I will keep a look out.

    Windies are 61-1 after 18 overs.

  23. Yeah but I’m listening to the BBC radio commentary live on my headphones at work 🙂

  24. “Is there a place where the World Cup can be watched online for free?”

    I dont think anyone offers it for free. The package is offered by dishnet on the net through willow.tv for $199.99. If you want it cheaper you can explore http://onlinetv.apnaitv.com. They have options for the entire package ($55) or individual matches for a fraction of the price.

    Of course they obtain the feed “creatively” and I would not guarantee the signal at all times.

    On a different note, I was not sure if this was mentioned by anyone previously, but cricket is played extensively on the east coast. I play for a league in NJ, which is one of the three cricket leagues in this state. The teams are generally made up of a mix of players from the sub-continent and the west-indies with an odd englishman thrown in for good measure. The matches will commence generally from the end of April and will continue into September (causing immense consternation to my wife – “why do you guys need to play all the time?”). The atmosphere during the matches is great with the spectators and the player’s wives making a picnic out of it just outside the ropes.

  25. Damn Windies are tottering 77-3

    Don’t let Pakistan win the opening match please God!

    Brian Lara coming in to bat

  27. The commentary at Cricinfo.com is hilarious

    24.6 Danish Kaneria to Samuels, no run, pushed to Inzamam at extra cover who pounces like a rather slow middle-aged accountant to prevent the one

  30. Yes, I love the Guardian’s OBO commentary, but it’s best when England are playing. Esp Ashes commentary. But I think the Cricinfo commentators are more desi-oriented and I like their geeky details.

  31. pushed to Inzamam at extra cover who pounces like a rather slow middle-aged accountant to prevent the one

    Jeet

    Watch this youtube of Monty bowling to Inzamam last summer it’s hilarious, he collapses backwards over his own wicket the big fat lump. The guy who posted the video should have left the commentary on instead of putting the music in there because the entire BBC commentary team were in stitches.

  33. Hehehe…but really, Inzamam isn’t that large in real life. He looks rather tubby on screen but I was very surprised at how fit and thin he looked.

    Doesn’t stop us from shouting “aloo, alooo” though.

  36. Metromallu – can you do Pakistani cricketer effigies too?

    harpoon

    Are these matches played on the weekends? And where in NJ? I suppose you must have players from NYC coming down.

    I used to play in a league in Vancouver when I was in high school, but haven’t played properly since.

  38. Am I the only desi who gets bored senseless by cricket? The only reason I even watched the opening ceremonies was because I glimpsed hot shirtless South African drummers at one point while channel-surfing, and my libido took over.

  39. 30 dollars onlyone….??http://cricketsc.com/

    anywayz…..les bleus all the way….gawd that 2003 final still hurts…..as in hurt real bad…..wish tendu et all would just thrash/smack/slap the aussies all around this time….

  43. okkay,

    i think i am supporting pakistan for todays match…..windies are the better team and derailing their points seems more strategic…..

    Pakistan Zindabad…

  44. 18.4 Powell to Inzamam-ul-Haq, 1 run, pushed to Lara at mid-on and Inzamam calls for the quick single as Lara misfields … Inzamam was motoring there and ran a good 30 yards past the stumps … once he gets going he’s not easy to stop

  45. “Yousuf and Inzamam look so calm, and this is what scares me…” Sir Viv Richards on TMS

    Ditto…

  47. Sin: You’re not the only desi that doesn’t get excited over the World Cup of Cricket…I’ve tried to understand the game…its too long and complicated. Love sports but cricket hasn’t been one that i’ve been able to get into..

  49. Good to set up the tournament by having the home team win the first match, get the positive carnival vibe and irie vibrations going strong