Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Sachin At 40 - A Record of Records

Since he started playing for India, we added ~375 million citizens. If we made a country of just those who were born during this period (will be a larger number, accounting for the deaths) it would be the third largest country in the world. A country where every person grew up with a lot of uncertainties and changes, besides one. Sachin Tendulkar plays cricket. And plays it rather well.

As I join millions of others in wishing the right handed ODI opener a happy birthday, I thought of focusing on something that we love as a nation - records. Here's an extensive, but surely not exhaustive, list of records that the man has accumulated and broken over the years. These are almost entirely of statistical interest, not going to be led into any debated about how if anyone plays for this long he will end up having most of these records anyway. Also, there are plenty of more interesting records he holds which I have missed out on, if you can think of more please send them my way and I will add to the list. 

Test Matches:
Image Courtesy: Yahoo!

Highest No. of

Matches played (198). Followed by Ricky Ponting (168)

Runs scored  (15,837). Followed by Ricky Ponting (13,378)

100s scored  (51). Followed by Jacques Kallis (44)

50s scored  (67). Followed by Ricky Ponting (62)

90s scored (10). Jointly with Rahul Dravid & Steve Waugh

Innings batted (327). Followed by Ricky Ponting (287)

Balls Faced (21,367). Followed by Ricky Ponting (17,046)

100 partnerships (20, with Rahul Dravid). Followed by 16 (Gordon Greenidge & Desmond Haynes and Matthew Hayden & Ricky Ponting)

Partnership runs (6,920 with Rahul Dravid). Followed by 6,482 (Gordon Greenidge & Desmond Haynes)

Runs scored at any age during his career (besides at 27, Alistair Cook had 7,117 runs to Sachin's 6,720 when he turned 27). Sachin overtook Cook by the time he was 28 with 7,869 runs to Cook's 7,307.

1st Innings runs scored (5,608). Followed by Ricky Ponting (5,403)

2nd Innings runs scored (5,608**). Followed by Rahul Dravid (4,984)

100s scored in 2nd Innings  (18). Followed by Rahul Dravid (15)

4th innings runs scored (1,625). Followed by Rahul Dravid (1,575)

Runs scored away (8,705 ). Followed by Rahul Dravid (7,690)

100s scored away (29). Followed by Rahul Dravid (21)

50s scored away (36). Jointly by Rahul Dravid (36)

ODIs
Image Courtesy: Times of India

Highest No. of

Matches played (463). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (445)

Runs scored  (18,426). Followed by Ricky Ponting (13,704)

100s scored  (49). Followed by Ricky Ponting (30)

50s scored  (96). Followed by Ricky Ponting (82)

90s scored (18). Followed by Nathan Astle, Grant Flower & Aravinda De Silve (9 each)

Innings batted (452). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (433)

100 partnerships (26, with Sourav Ganguly). Followed by 15 (Gordon Greenidge & Desmond Haynes)

Partnership runs (8,227 with Sourav Ganguly). Followed by 5,462 (Marvan Atapattu & Sanath Jayasuriya)

Single innings partnership (331, with Rahul Dravid). Followed by 318 (Rahul Dravid & Sourav Ganguly)

Runs scored at any age during his career after 23 years. (Shahid Afridi holds the records for the ages of 16-22)

1st Innings runs scored (9,706). Followed by Ricky Ponting (8,630)

100s scored in 1st Innings (32). Followed by Ricky Ponting (22)

2nd Innings runs scored (8,720). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (5,742)

100s scored in 2nd Inings scored (17). Followed by Chris Gayle (10)

Runs scored at home (6,976 ). Followed by Ricky Ponting (5,406)

100s scored at home (20). Followed by Ricky Ponting (13)

100s scored away (12). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (11)


Runs scored at neutral venues (6,385 ). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (5,463)

100s scored at neutral venues (17). Followed by Saeed Anwar (15)

Man of the Match awards (62). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (48)

Man of the Series awards (14). Followed by Sanath Jayasuriya (11)




World Cups
Image courtesy: Telegraph UK

Highest No. of

Runs scored  (2,278). Followed by Ricky Ponting (1,743)

100s scored  (6). Followed by Ricky Ponting (5)

50s scored  (15). Followed by Jacques Kallis (9)

90s scored (3). Jointly with Michael Clarke.

Innings batted (44). Followed by Ricky Ponting (42)

1st Innings runs scored (1,622). Followed by Ricky Ponting (1,177)

100s scored in 1st Innings (5). Jointly with Ricky Ponting (5)


Man of the Match awards (9). Followed by Glenn McGrath (6)


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All of us must have been told at some time or the other to do anything, but to do it well. Sachin Tendulkar is perhaps one of the very few human beings who can confidently say he did one thing, and did it well. Here's wishing the Master a very happy 40th birthday!


NOTE: The only source for all records and stats was the redoubtable ESPN Cricinfo Statsguru


*All numbers valid as of April-24-2013

** Not a typo! He's actually scored the exact number of runs in the first innings (Tests) as in the second


Monday, April 22, 2013

Restaurant Review - Safari Njema (Kenyan Cuisine)

The fact that this place prompted me to review a restaurant after close to two years is endorsement enough for the experience, isn't it? 

+Veni and I moved to Seattle last August and have explored the Seattle food scene quite extensively. From the more talked about seafood joints in Pike Place Market to some of the best Puerto Rican & Mexican places in Ballard, from Indian buffets to a variety of brunch places all over the city. However, in terms of African food our experience so far was entirely limited to the more popular Ethiopian 'family combos' - their version of the thali, where everyone eats out of a large plate, with a Injera wheat bread serving as the base, along with different kinds of meat and vegetables.

This afternoon we made some amends to that by visiting this cosy, little Kenyan restaurant in Central District - Safari Njema. A quick Yelp search for African places had this in the top results, and the unanimous verdict seemed to be great people, great food, not-so-great speed of service.

Veni in front of Safari Njema
We were welcomed into the restaurant by George, a most friendly person, who we soon realized was wearing the hats of the manager, server and chef! He patiently took us through the menu, with some historical backgrounds of the items and made some recommendations as well.

A lion hearted menu!


The restaurant is painted in a very lively orange colour and the walls are adorned with traditional African paintings. In fact most of them are for sale, so you can have your food and take some art too. There's ample seating area and though it was empty when we arrived, well past lunch time in these parts of the world, while we were there quite a few regulars came in.

The brightly coloured interiors and the paintings
Then started the 45 minutes wait. We totally understand that running a restaurant all by oneself is no mean feat, but given it was close to 2:30 PM and we hadn't had any breakfast the hunger pangs were forcing mean thoughts into our heads! Sometime later the Chef - Jane Kagira and a young man - Eli - who started serving the tables and managing the cash counter, came in and provided George some much needed help. 

The first dish to arrive was the health drink, who's three letter name I can't remember for the life of me. It was like a very sour gruel, reminded me somewhat of the texture of barley, and Chef Jane informed us that it's made of millet, naturally fermented. Apparently it keeps the skin young and fresh.

The health drink whose name I forget. Shameful!
The entrees were completely worth the wait. The Samaki (deep fried Tialpia fish in a spicy, coconut gravy) was actually this massive, whole fish that came on the plate, far more macho than the usual fillets we are used to by now. Even by my exalted standards it managed to provide a worthy challenge. The homemade coconut gravy that came along with had this fantastic tangy and spicy feel to it, which further accentuated the tangy spices that was used to garnish the fish. The entree came along with Ugali (a form of African corn bread, was more like grits though) and Sukuma mix (collard greens and spinach). 

The fried Tialpia with collard greens and cornbread
The Mbusi (fried goat meat) was well cooked, and the meat was falling off the bones. I don't think we could recognize all the spices used in preparing the goat but all of them came together rather nicely and hit the spot. This was accompanied by some stir fried vegetables and African style French fries, which are not as crispy as the normal American ones.

The melt-in-your-mouth Goat meat and vegetables
The food was too delicious to remember that we were full by the halfway mark. It was a great introduction to a very exciting cuisine, incidentally with strong hints of Indian influence, by some of the most lovely people. And not to forget all of this at very affordable prices. A meal for two will come to ~$30-$40, all inclusive. We will definitely be back there in the near future.

Satisfaction!
Details:

Name: Safari Njema Restaurant
Location: Central District, Seattle [map]
Phone: +1-206-723-3058
Email: safarinjema.us@yahoo.com
Contact: Jane Kagira (Chef)

Sunday, April 07, 2013

Reality Check

In multiple 'About Me' columns in online portals, or talking about things I like to frequently mention writing as a hobby. But that's being modest because in my head I am more than that. I am a writer. A writer, who due to time constraints, hasn't had a chance to write in a while, but can come up with the next best-seller in a heartbeat. And I blog. Again, not as frequently as I'd like to, but 10-15 posts a year is decent by today's standards where Twitter has killed the Blogging star. Besides +Greatbong Bongosontan, and +Tanmay Mukherjee .

For some reason I happened to check my past blog posts this evening and that's when reality struck. I have not written anything for three years. Nothing. Nada. I have blogged indeed, but continuously taken the easy way out through reviews, statistics, bullet point based posts, photos and other crutches which has just given me the illusion of being in touch with writing. And that's perfectly fine. Not everyone is a writer, and even if I nurtured lofty images of myself being one, my lack of writing isn't taking anything away from anyone's lives, even mine. Besides the vast fame and fortune that rightfully belonged to me. 

However the biggest impact of this has been the impact this has had on my thinking process. Lack of writing has led to a dilution of clarity of thought, especially on subjects I personally care about and have strands of thoughts that don't seem to come together like they do inside my mind. This post itself is an apt example of what this post is about. 

Hopefully more of such rubbish on a regular basis will have some positive impact in the long run. They say the 10,000 hour rule hardly fails. That's a lot of writing ahead, and I am not complaining.


Wednesday, April 03, 2013

Know Your Beef Cuts

I love trivia. And beef. Also, am hungry.

Cuts of Beef
Cuts of Beef infographic by visually.

[Via Sumant]

P.S: I first tasted beef in April 2002. In a Kolkata restaurant. Was introduced to it by my friend Salim. Spent a majority of my dinners at Al Habib (near Park Street) during my college days in Kolkata having Beef Biriyani (Rs. 15) and Beef Kathi Roll (Rs. 6). I am hungrier now.