The Asia Cup is important

I may have claimed otherwise in my last post, when I said it wasn't worthy of Sachin's presence (still isn't), but for for the rest of the team, there are things that need to fit into place.

The World Cup will be in the subcontinent, and India's first team need to see where they are. The ability is redoubtable, but they are back from a long break and they will need to iron out the kinks and get rid of the rustiness ahead of a busy, crucial season.

Obvious issues are

1. How we play the short ball
2. Our fast bowling
3. Fielding

That's pretty much all departments of the game, and #1 is why Pakistan's presence is important in the Asia Cup. They have three of the finest quicks in Asif, Akhtar and Aamer, and how we handle them could be indicative of how we might fare against other fearsome attacks like those of Australia, South Africa and Zimbabwe (I kid, of course). Dinda has made the jump to the big-boy team, probably for his yorker-filled death bowling. Most importantly, we need to find out if Dhoni will regain his magic touch.

Otherwise, the FIFA World Cup is on, it's bloody brilliant, and Argentina has begun well. Germany looks brilliant, England is meh, and Brazil scored two quality goals against a spirited North Korea.

I also submitted a short story to the Watty Awards - it's definitely not my finest, as I wrote it between two episodes of Family Guy. But check it out, it's not too long, vote it up or something.