Naaraayan L.R

Engineer 🫠
Real Madrid 🤍
Just spitting facts 😉

[Clark_Kent 🇵🇹 @Clark_Kent_1_8]

People here don’t know how much joy this man has brought in my life . Imagine being 41 and still pushing beyond limits to achieve your goals .

Thanks for inspiring an entire generation idolo @Cristiano ❤️.

[Anuj Nitin Prabhu @APTalksCricket]

December 13, 2014. A day for which I will never forgive Virat Kohli and forever hate him for spoiling me.

I was someone who used to bunk some days of school during the 2011-12 season Down Under just to wake up and see India being absolutely wolloped by the Aussies. Same old story of Australia scoring 600 plus..then India replying with an effort to avoid follow on..and then it was just about "when will this misery get over." This was after seeing India handed humiliation by a rampant England team 4-0, just weeks after winning the World Cup.

So when in 2014/15 Dhoni not playing, Kohli captaining..again same old story..Australia scoring 500-plus and then India battling for their lives to come near that target. Once again for 4 days it were Aussies who were dictating tempo of play and what they wanted to do.

So when they gave 364 to chase on December 13, I had made up my mind that by around 11 am India time, Ishant Sharma will lose his off pole and India will again be battered by around 150-200 runs.

Everything was going just as planned..but this is where this Kohli guy comes and says "We will chase down whatever they give" and spoilt me by giving me hope.

At 240/1, I began dreaming dreams that should have never been sold. We were the Indian Test team, we were used to getting bullied and not be the bully, that too against Australia in their own backyard.

A sudden collapse followed by THAT shot from Kohli that got caught at deep mid wicket by Marsh brought me crashing down to ground. Kohli was distraught..but the way the Aussies were celebrating was not normal. You thought "Weren't they sure they would win despite setting target as 364?"

That moment, that moment right there when Kohli dragged himself off the field..is when I realized that everything was about to change.. Indian Test cricket was about to change. A 7th place good for nothing team with a potential decent few individuals and an inexperienced pace attack had just got the crowned jewel who would lead them in the right direction.

What was so horrible about Virat Kohli's Test team..was that they just didn't understand what giving up meant.

"For 60 overs, they should feel hell out there"..saying this is very easy..but to walk the talk..to make things happen with his infecrious energy..to make a pace attack that TERRORIZED opposition with relentless consistency..are some of the accusations I have against this man for spoiling me. Opposition skippers like Faf said "It is unfair, these guys bat for two days..score 500..then declare when it is dark..and then we are 3 down by the start of next day"..no Virat..we are Indians. We are not supposed to make others feel so helpless. Meek surrender is the keyword, remember?

But after all this..Virat, who gave you the right to first raise my expectations like this, raise the bar of Indian Test cricket, promise everyone time and again that you want to score 10K Test runs and then just leave like that one fine morning? Who gave you that right?💔

Winning at home became something so normal that people stopped valuing it and began focusing more on how we did overseas. Why did you spoil us so bad that now we are craving and begging for this new Test team to win sessions at home, forget Test matches. Who gave you that right Virat?

I always felt even after BGT 24/25 that one last hurrah will come..that one last wind of change will come..that Virat will breach the 10K mark.

But the Frank Sinatra song on your Instagram post made perfect sense..you did it all your way. And while walking away..you taught the people that maybe..just maybe..sometimes letting go hurts a lot less than trying to holding on.

A man who waited 18 years for an IPL trophy..wins it and still says Test cricket is the pinnacle.. there couldn't have been a bigger advocate of the longest format in the 21st Century.

I will always hate you for showing me what total domination looks like..only to take away those dreams on May 12.

I just hate you 🥺 @imVkohli

[Abhishek AB @ABsay_ek]

Krunal Pandya was never supposed to be the headline. For years he was just the other Pandya, elder one who carried the kit bag while Hardik got the slow motion entries. But cricket has a way of rewarding the hungry & Krunal’s hunger was never metaphorical.

At 16, he & Hardik ate Maggi once a day. Their father Himanshu had shut his car finance shop in Surat & moved to Vadodara so the boys could train at Kiran More Academy. Brothers shared everything. Once Hardik’s only bat broke during a Ranji match & Krunal had to borrow from a teammate.

Then came the speed post. A government job offer for Krunal. 15-20k Rupees, stable money. His father said take it as family was tired. Krunal was 22 & had just been dropped for a game from Baroda Under-23. He tore the letter. Chose Syed Mushtaq Ali trials instead. That was not a supporting character move. That was a man who thinks he is the lead.

People call him a defensive bowler, as if that is an insult. Since 2016, only 4 spinners in IPL history have a better economy than his 7.56 (Min 50 wickets). 2 are all time greats in Narine & Rashid Khan, third is Axar Patel; a regular in Indian T20 team.
But here is the thing: none of those 4 have scored more runs than Krunal since his debut. Not Narine who opens many times. Not Axar who bats at 5 these days. Krunal has 1897 runs at 22.85 while keeping the runs down better than almost everyone.

He left Mumbai Indians in 2022. Since that exit, his IPL economy is 7.81. Only Narine has taken more wickets with a better economy in this period. Meanwhile Mumbai’s best spinner in these 4 years has been Piyush Chawla at 8.4.
Look at what happened to Mumbai Indians after he left. Bottom of the table twice. Already eliminated this season. On the other side, Krunal’s teams have made the playoffs every single year since 2022. LSG first, then RCB. Trophy in 2025. Top of the table right now in 2026. This is not coincidence. This is what happens when you remove the glue & wonder why the furniture is shaking.

Hardik gets called clutch. Fair. But Krunal is the only player in IPL history with 2 Player of the Match awards in finals. 2017 with MI. 2025 with RCB. The elder brother, the one who supposedly just does the dirty work, has delivered on the biggest stage twice.
In 2025 final against Punjab, he took 2 for 17. Got Prabhsimran & Inglis. RCB fans who once abused him for taking AB de Villiers wicket were now calling him legend. That is the thing about sports. It does not care about your Instagram followers. It cares about who shows up.

11 seasons, 2 final POTMs, 1 trophy that RCB waited 17 years for. All from a boy who once ate Maggi for dinner & travelled 25 kilometers to prove he could be something. Bollywood got it wrong this time. Elder brother was the main character all along. He just needed a different city to prove it.

[Naaraayan L.R @ft_lrn_wayne]

TN 2026 Elections deserves a netflix documentary !
#TVKVijay‌ #TNElectionsResults

[𝐟𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐯 @heis_fede]

Pepe finding out that you’re allowed to fight in the Real Madrid dressing room after he retired

[The Touchline | 𝐓 @TouchlineX]

🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: During the match vs Bayern Munich, PSG goalkeeper Matvéi Safónov was purposely long kicking goal-kicks to result in a Bayern throw-in on their right side.

When Bayern played the throw in, PSG players would overload that area, put 2 players on Olise, and quickly win possession to start a counter.

This sequence happened over 5 times during the match, resulting in Olise losing possession, or Bayern playing an uncomfortable back pass, where PSG players could press higher up the pitch.

Luis Enrique was already praised for his unusual method of kicking the ball out of bounds to start high pressing from kick off, but this is next level. 😳🧠

[Mk @__mk11_]

2017 Steve Smith ku final over a deep square la aal nikka vechadhu
2019 Shardul thakur ku slow yorker
2015 la quick fire 50
2020 la holding one end for a comfortable chase

Ipdi almost ella trophy layum thalaivan touch irundhuchu. Oru trophy dhan complete dominance la kedachadhu. Mathadhu lam needed utmost temperament and calmness.

My man delievered in most of the crucial moment to be decorated as the greatest IPL captain.

Cricket is not a trump card game where you could win with just strongest team assembled.

Two of the greatest captains in this tournament is the two of the best man managers of our country. It is the first skill to be a T20 captain.

[Joy Bhattacharjya @joybhattacharj]

SKY and most of India's WC stars are struggling, can't be easy to get back in proper mental gear after the emotional high of a World Cup win a month ago!
Even more respect for Dhoni and the batch of 2011 who returned to IPL action literally in less than a week, with Dhoni, Raina and Ashwin winning a title that year!

[🫂 @meltalkschels]

psg moving like this post-mbappe is a life lesson lol sometimes the thing you think you’d die without is exactly the thing that was holding you back from your full potential 😭

[Mark Goldbridge @markgoldbridge]

This is a game for the ages this! End to end quality. Makes the Premier League look like a pub league

[Naaraayan L.R @ft_lrn_wayne]

Backing PSG to go through over two legs. Kudos to Luis Enrique for building a team and brand of football that’s a treat to the eyes. #PSG #UCL

[Naaraayan L.R @ft_lrn_wayne]

It’s been 6 years since I started watching football, and this current Paris Saint-Germain F.C. side are playing some of the most entertaining football I’ve ever seen. Absolute madness and mayhem — such a free-flowing attack. One of the best UEFA Champions League matches ever.

[Abhishek AB @ABsay_ek]

Josh Hazlewood played his first T20 match in 2009. He was 18 years old, already 6'4", already hitting a good length like it owed him money. You would think a bowler with his height, his control, his ability to make the ball talk without saying too much, would have been everywhere in the format that was exploding around him.
He was not.
Between 2009 & 2020, Hazlewood played 30 T20 matches. That is less than 3 games a year across 11 long years.

While batters built empires in T20s, Hazlewood watched from the sidelines, or more accurately, he did not watch at all. He was bowling in whites somewhere, taking 5 wicket hauls that nobody remembered by Monday.

Then 2020 arrived. Since then, 102 T20s, 140 wickets, Economy 7.58, Strike rate 16.2. No pace bowler this decade has taken more wickets with better strike rate & economy. Not one.

RCB found him in 2022. The franchise that could not defend totals. That wasted Gayle, AB, Kohli season after season because their bowlers cracked under pressure. The memes wrote themselves.
Hazlewood changed that immediately. 20 wickets in 12 games in his first seasoj for him in 2022. He just landed the ball where he wanted, again & again, until batters ran out of ideas.

Then he disappeared. Only 3 games in 2023 & missed entire 2024 season. But the universe, or perhaps RCB's scouting team, had a plan. They paired him with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Another man who started in 2009.
Unlike Hazlewood, Bhuvi had played everywhere. Proved himself for multiple teams. Survived the format's evolution while Hazlewood was locked out of it.

Two veterans. Two men who should have been finished. Two men who instead decided to make life miserable for batters in the era of impact players & 220 plus scores.

From 2025, they sit one & two for most powerplay wickets in IPL. Bhuvi with 15, Hazlewood with 14. They are not young. Not too fast in the modern sense. They just know where the stumps & what is the perfect line. And they keep hitting them.

Here is the lingering shame. Hazlewood has played only 44 IPL games. For a bowler of his quality, that number is almost offensive. Yet out of those 32 games made him RCB's most successful overseas bowler in 19 years. 52 wickets in just 32 games. The math is embarrassing for everyone who wore that jersey before him.

RCB will want him to reach 100 wickets. They should. He owes them nothing, but they owe him everything. The man the 2010s forgot is now the bowler the 2020s cannot ignore. And if he keeps going at this rate, the next decade might finally give him the credit he should have had all along.

[Naaraayan L.R @ft_lrn_wayne]

Looks like IPL 2026 is heading toward an Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Punjab Kings showdown again—possibly the title decider. RCB look more balanced, while PBKS are playing fearless, entertaining cricket. Mega auction impact sums it all up. #RCB #PBKS #IPL

[Soman. @Shreyasian96]

Those who are saying Punjab Kings is a superteam:

Priyansh Arya is uncapped
Prabsimran Singh is uncapped
Nehal Wadhera uncapped
Shashank Singh is uncapped
Xavier Bartlett is back-up bowler of Australia
Cooper Connolly has played hardly 10 t20s and flopped in most .
Shreyas Iyer was never considered as a T20 player
Marcus Stoinis is retired
Vijay Kumar Vyshak is uncapped
Yuzi Chahal is dropped from the national team.

Many teams struggle to win even with stars like Jos Buttler and Mitchell Starc in their lineup. That’s why people are quick to label Punjab Kings as a “superteam.”

But anyone who truly understands the game knows the reality, cricket isn’t won on big names alone, it’s about balance, execution, and consistency which Shreyas Iyer brings into the team.

[🇦🇷🇧🇷 @edgeandgonee]

It used to be beautiful 🥺💙

[Prasanna @prasannalara]

Biggest injustice will be if Shreyas doesn’t captain Indian T20 team moving forward.

[Naaraayan L.R @ft_lrn_wayne]

Pona match Enda akeal hosein aa drop pantu , Matt short aa eduthu vandhinga , andha match um jeichurndha 4 on the trot da dei , table la 4th poiruklam , mutta pasanga oru 195 chase panna vakku iladha mazhumattais
#Mivscsk #IndianPremierLeague

[Mitsuki Das 🐧 @mitsuki_x_10]

How it feels watching Dube bat:

[Naaraayan L.R @ft_lrn_wayne]

Personal Opinion : Watched Dude in Netflix yesterday for the first time , it feels a lot better when watched after watching LIK in theatres .