If India had boycotted Pak match, it could have won T20 World Cup

 

Indian Cricket team has defeated New Zealand 3:0 in T20 series. It clearly shows the class and form of Indian Cricket team. The series was conducted only a few days after T20 World Cup was over. What does this series and India’s excellent performance in it tells about India’s bad performance in T20 World Cup?

I think it tells that India's defeat from NW during T20 WC was only because of morale issue since it had lost from Pak team in first match. It is a sane argument that if India had boycotted Pak match, it could have won World Cup.

India was best team predicted to win T20 World Cup. Still, its first match was with Pakistan. As per the maths, India did not need to win against Pakistan to be able to qualify for Semi Finals. Even if it boycotted that match and won against NZ, it would have gone to Semi Finals. Therefore, India could have afforded to boycott that match, protesting against Pakistan sponsored terrorism. But, team management did not boycott.

Secondly, India started its game against Pakistan with a “take the knee” gesture to support violent protests which happened in the USA. This political gesture was not needed even before our players had put their feet on the ground of their World Cup campaign. The players should have only “winning” on their mind when they entered a game, not any political agenda. Someone must question the team management which made our Cricket team act like political agents making a political gesture making use of a Sports event!

Now, think about the reasons the BCCI gave for not boycotting our match with Pak. If you say that Sports did not have anything to do with politics and Sports and politics were two isolated matters, why was our team made to "take the knee" to support a political movement of another country? Is it not hypocritical? It is clear that our Cricket team was made to support a political cause, but just a foreign cause and not our cause. What can be more illogical and hypocritical than this? Why should our Cricket team stand and make gesture for political cause of another country, but not do anything for political cause of our country? Why should not the human rights violations in Pak occupied Kashmir and thousands of people harmed and affected by Pak sponsored terrorism matter, but an American political movement matter in the eyes of BCCI? I am really surprised that government has not taken any action on this matter. 

To summarize, I think that India’s loss against NZ in T20 WC was only due to morale issue after losing against Pakistan for the first time in World Cup history; and our loss could have been avoided. This exit from World Cup is going to haunt Indian team for some time and I think we only have a political leadership of BCCI to blame for missing this T20 World Cup despite being the best team. 

- Rahul Tiwary

Some Movies - III

'A California Christmas' (2020). It is a beautiful rom-com movie. Felt like a typical Bollywood movie too. 

'Father Christmas Is Back' (2021), a comedy and family drama. Nice one. 

'Colonia' (2015), a historical thriller film about of the 1973 Chilean military coup and a cult in the South of Chile which did human rights abuses. Good movie but disturbing plot, so skipped half. 

'Eye for an Eye' (2019) (Spanish: Quien a hierro mata), a crime thriller film. Good but sickening violent movie. Also shows how rich and famous people can be killed by a mere "nurse" if admitted to hospital. 

'The Intruder' (2019), a psycho thriller film. Brilliant one. 

'Red Notice' (2021). Entertaining but useless action comedy. Until Dwayne Johnson is on the screen, we know what we are watching is not real :) 

‘1922’ (1997). Watched half of this movie which was a horror film. Liked it till I and then the movie tried to create horror using "rats" and it looked silly enough and hence I dropped it at the right time. 

'The Woman in the Window' (2021), a crime thriller. Great movie. Except the typical Hollywood racial bias: good husband and good cop were African-American while bad husband and serial killer were White male. 

'Last Christmas' (2019). Tried to watch it. I was supposed to like Emilia Clarke despite her over-acting and eyebrows; Henry Golding just because he was Asian and this movie just because it was rom-com, but I had to quit it by half to save me from torture. 

'22 July' (2018) a film about the 2011 Norway attacks. These were carried out by Anders Behring Breivik, a far-right man, to protest against Europe's multiculturalism policy and increasing role of Islam. Good movie. 

'Family' (2019) which is about a workaholic woman who had to look after her niece for a week, which changes her life. Great one. 

'The Laundromat' (2019), a movie around Panama Papers, and how shell corporations are used at tax heavens. Good one. 

'Richard Jewell' (2019) based on the life of a righteous security guard wrongly accused by FBI for Centennial Olympic Park bombing of 1996. Directed by Clint Eastwood, this touching movie is a masterpiece. 

'The Angel' (2018), a movie based on Ashraf Marwan, a double agent who tricked Israel and enabled Egypt to wage a surprise attack on Israel. Great movie. 

'Nowhere to Run' (1993), a typical action film. Van Damme at his best. 

'The Resistance Banker' (2018). It is a Dutch World War II period drama film based on the life of banker Walraven van Hall who financed the Dutch resistance during the war. Good movie. 

'Isn't It Romantic' (2019). Good comedy. 

'Small Crimes' (2017). Did not like plot which messed up while trying to get all the characters killed. There should be a silver line somewhere; and parents killing sons is not a brave moment. 

'Unknown' (2011). Great movie; Liam Neeson's after all. There may be dozens of such movies where Liam Neeson is shown firefighting in stressful situations to save the day, and all come out great. 

'The Pledge' (2001). A brilliant one; Jack Nicholson's movie after all. But then, the ending was too unreal and sad. He should not have made that pledge to that religious woman. Example of how over-religious people harm others. 

'Venom' (2018). I do not like supernatural movies, but I was able to tolerate this one. Partly because I like #TomHardy and partly because I liked the story. 

'Blind Intersections' (2012), an Arabic film covering sad story of a poor exploited boy whose life is destroyed because of lack of family. This is a Lebanese movie and well made. 

'Gloria Bell' (2018) and did not like it. Fine for one episode of a sop; but nothing like a movie. 

‘Mystic River’ (2003). A brilliant movie. Directed by Clint Eastwood after all. 

‘A Simple Favour’ (2018). Very good plot but I did not like the endingSmiling face with open mouth. If they made the ending a bit dark, it would have been a masterpiece. 

‘Army Of Thieves’ (2021) which is based on bank robberies. Good one but could have been better. 

'Dhamaka' (2021) is movie of the decade! Have not seen such a brilliant and realistic thriller in long time! It is better than even Hollywood thrillers! Hats off to extraordinary Kartik Aryan for his acting too

'Holiday in the Wild' (2019), about a recently divorced woman who finds purpose of life in taking care of wild elephants during a holiday trip to Africa. Very nice movie. 

'Smoke & Mirrors' (2016) (Spanish: El hombre de las mil caras), a Spanish thriller film using subtitles. Found it really brilliant suspenseful movie. 

- Rahul Tiwary