A mixed bag

Today's been kind of a mixed bag actually .India's dismal batting performance against Bangladesh made me wonder if we are actually the number one test side in the world.Virendar Sehwag who is leading the side in Dhoni's absence will be wondering what went wrong.He had earlier called the Bangladeshi team "ordinary" and incapable of beating India in test matches at the pre match press conference.The Bangladeshis however proved him wrong by rattling the Indian top order.Had it not been for Sachin's patient knock India would probably have been all out within the first day.However I still feel India is on top , if they can add another 50-60 runs tomorrow we have a game on our hands.In the U19 World Cup , it was pretty easy for all the major nations except Zimbabwe who suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Canada.It was also heartening to see the kind of fight Hong Kong gave England hence proving that as days go by cricket is definitely developing and improving outside the test world.

Apart from that the much awaited Australian Open kick starts tomorrow at the Rod Laver arena down under.With Roger Federer not in the best of his form and Rafa Nadal just making a come back , the first grand slam of 2010 has many contenders.Defending Champion Novak Djokovic , British number 1 Andy Murray and Juan Martin Del Potro are the other major stars competing for the grand slam.The Indian dream , that of Somdev Devvarman came to an end in the Qualifiers losing to Slovenian Blaz Kavic in straight sets.In the womens section , its the usual story with the Williams sisters among the favourites to win the title apart from Dinara Safina , Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniaki .Sania Mirza meanwhile has a difficult draw playing Arvane Rezai of France in the first round.If she does manage to move past the first two rounds, she runs into third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova .In doubles ,Indian hopes as always rests on the shoulders of veterans Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi.

Coming to football , Chelsea thrashing Sunderland did nothing to help Fergie's man who beat Burnley at home but now face the prospect of going down to third place for the first time this year.Arsenal are level on with Manchester United with 2 games in hand.With United playing rivals Manchester City next week , Fergies has his work cut out.

Moving away from sports , my heart goes out to all the victims of the Haiti earthquake and I hope such a disaster never happens again.Also the death of veteran CPIM leader Jyoti Basu was another disheartening incident.A great leader and a great visionary , he shall be missed.

Its been an eventful sunday and a lazy one too.Until next time adieu !!!!