I have seen that when I define a goal and give a deadline, most often than not I tend to achieve it. This has made me believe that having a goal and having a plan to back it up is very important in life. I know for sure that all are not in your control but assuming that things go according to plan will definitely help you reach your goal.
Sometimes I miss out on achieving my goals but due to a plan in place, I can go back and find out the reasons behind the failure. This then helps me to tweak my plans so that I go forward with the same zest the next time and try and achieve the goal.
As stated above, from my personal experiences, it’s very important to have “Goals” or “Objectives” when you first sit to plan it out. And this planning could be for anything, personal or professional.
Bear one thing in mind that goals should be measurable. Always, keep it simple. Do not write a goal that is 3 sentences long. Remember, in the future, you can come back to this document to connect the dots and at that time it should be easy for you to remember/understand. After writing down a goal, put an imaginary question mark and the answer to that question should always be in yes or no. If the goal can be answered in yes or no then it’s a measurable goal.
You can’t have a goal like, “I will read books this year”. This is not really a measurable goal. As I say it, you are your own competitor so write down, how many books you plan to read this year and then measure it month on month.
Types of Goals:
There are two types of goals
Long Term Goals
Short Term Goals
Write down your goals on paper (Notepad or Google docs) and give a definite deadline to both short and long-term goals. It’s always important to have a deadline for your goals. Once you have a deadline, you will plan out how you are going to reach that deadline. A goal without a deadline is not really a goal. But, remember do not stress yourself out if you miss a deadline. It’s not imperative that you will reach all your goals within a specified time. You can fail too. But the advantage here would be that since you are monitoring and measuring your performance, you will know why you failed, what you learned and this will effectively mean that you will now know what you need to do, to avoid this failure next time around.
Once you have completed writing your goals, next, write down the pointers or the pathway to reach that goal.
These are generally the activities that you need to do on a daily or regular basis to reach your goals. Habits fall under this category too. We are all slaves to our habits. So change your habits that align you towards your goal. Say, for example, you have a goal to write a book this year. So you will have to plan the title, the plot, the characters, the chapters, the number of hours you will need to put in to write the book, editing, publishing, and marketing plan, etc.
Now that you have written down your goals and you have defined a pathway, it’s extremely important to keep monitoring yourself. Once in a week go back to your goal sheet and update how far you have reached. If you have been able to break down your goals into micro short-term goals then keep a close watch and see to it that you are on track.
If you see yourself faltering then you need to ask yourself why it happened and how you can get yourself back on track. When you do this every week, you can’t veer away too much but if you don’t monitor regularly, at least initially then you might lose the habit and if you veer too much away from the set goal then it might become very difficult for you to reach your goal within the specified time.
Ideally, you can have:
A 10-15 year long term goal (ambition/dream etc)
One 3 year goal
One yearly goal that can be broken into quarterly goals
As you keep hitting your quarterly goals ask yourself if you can do slightly better than the previous quarter. Try and stretch your goals a little bit to keep yourself uncomfortable! Use the concept called, “Power of 1%“. Try to be better by 1% each day than the previous day. Remember, you are your competitor. You are not competing or comparing yourself with anyone. It’s you who is important and hence trying to be better than yourself every day, is a very good habit to have.
Too much comfort, in the long run, takes you away from your goals, and hence this weekly monitoring and trying to do better than the previous month or quarter helps you to keep yourself on track! This is the reason I always advise to remain slightly uncomfortable. Once comfort seeps in, hubris set in, and once hubris set in, you are bound to fail, sooner rather than later. So, never get too comfortable.
You can only reach your ambitious goal by shooting down your short-term goals.
The keyword here is consistency. Keep up with your set habits and show up every day and keep hustling.
So what are you waiting for?
Get a notepad and start writing down your goals!
Are you doing it?
One of the reasons that Mumbai Indians are the most successful team in IPL is because of the continuity that they have had in their team over the years. The core team has been together for a pretty long time and cricket being a team sport that strategy definitely helps.
Over the past few years, they have had a tremendous eye in picking up good youngsters and now all these youngsters have become international cricketers. This is the only IPL team that will have a First XI devoid of uncapped players or retired cricketers. The long-term thinking by the team management must be given kudos for creating such a strategy and sticking to it.
Mumbai Indians have been the champions of IPL for 2 seasons in a row. Will they make it 3 times in a row? Let’s see what’s in store for them this time around.
Predicted First XI:
Rohit Sharma
Quinton de Kock
Surya
Kishan
Pollard
Hardik
Krunal
Rahul Chahar
Adam Milne
Bumrah
Trent Boult
Here is the SWOT analysis:
Strength: Big batting lineup has always been their strength and it continues to remain so this season too. Top Order, Middle Order, and Finishers, everything is in order and there lies their biggest strength. A couple of wickets at the top doesn’t stop this team from changing their strategy because of the long batting lineup. Their pace bowling resources are equally eye-catching with Boult, Bumrah, and Adam Milne. They also have Nathan Coulter-Nile as a backup. A bench comprising of Piyush Chawla, Neesham, and Lynn is equally mouth-watering.
Weakness: This is one team that hardly has any weakness with all their bases covered. The only place they have a little bit of weakness is in their spin department. Rahul Chahar is not very experienced and Piyush Chawla is past his prime. Krunal Pandya can go for a lot of runs. With Hardik not bowling regularly, expect Pollard to bowl quite a bit this season.
Opportunity: Big opportunity for Rahul Chahar to establish himself in the Indian team. He needs a very good season to get into the playing XI of the Indian cricket team. Krunal Pandya needs a very consistent season to get into the Indian XI too. He got some opportunities with Jadeja not available but he has not been consistent enough. This season he got to make it count. Opportunity for Surya Kumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan to establish themselves in the Indian team by having another great season.
Threat: They have quite a lot of players who are prone to injuries namely, Rohit, Pandya, Pollard, and Milne. Injury management and proper rotation of players would be very vital this season especially because India has some big series coming up after IPL. How the Mumbai Indians’ team management works that out would be interesting to see. They will also hope that their weakness with the 5th bowler doesn’t turn out to be their liability.
All in all, I think Mumbai Indians would be the team to beat this season too. Individual flashes of brilliance might still trump them but I doubt any other team would be as consistent as Mumbai Indians throughout this season.
So what do you think? Will Mumbai Indians lift the trophy once again? Which team according to you can beat the defending champions?
Let the fun begin from 9th April and I will be back every day with my views on all the matches.
Delhi Capitals over the past few years, invested in youth and finally reaped rich dividends last season. Led by a young and astute captain, Shreyas Iyer, the team reached the finals. Some of their young guns had a fabulous tournament especially, Rishabh Pant. This year they bolstered their batting prowess by getting Steven Smith. In hindsight, it turned out to be a very good decision because of the unfortunate injury to Shreyas Iyer.
The injury to Shreyas Iyer which has ruled him out of the tournament meant, the team needed a new captain. Rishabh Pant has been having a great 2021 and it was hardly any surprise when he was declared as the captain for this season. How well he leads the team would be interesting to watch.
Here is my best XI for Delhi Capitals:
Prithvi Shaw
Shikhar Dhawan
Steve Smith
Rishabh Pant
Ajinkya Rahane
Marcus Stoinis
Axar Patel
Ravichandra Ashwin
Kagiso Rabada
Anrich Nortje
Ishant Sharma
Here is the SWOT analysis:
Strength: Their top order looks very good and with the form Rishabh Pant is in, I don’t think they will feel the absence of Shreyas Iyer. Two crafty spinners who are equally adept with the bat is another advantage for them. Two out and out fast bowlers to complement the spinners bring balance to this team. Marcus Stoinis is their X-factor. He had a great tournament last season and would like to continue in the same vein this year too.
Weakness: However strong the first XI looks, the same can’t be said about their bench strength. IPL is a very long tournament that runs for more than 7 weeks and hence you would need some replacements in the middle of the tournament to rest some of the tired legs. The team might struggle in that front which would also mean too much pressure on a few players. How the team management balances the workload would be interesting to see. Another weakness that I see in this team is the fielding. more than 4 players in this team are slow movers and that could affect the team in the field.
Opportunity: Biggest opportunity is for Prithvi Shaw to show the world once again why he was touted as the best thing to come out of Mumbai cricket in the last 5 years. He somehow lost his touch over the last couple of seasons. He came back very strongly in the recent domestic tournament and he should look at building on that form and have a big IPL. The T20 World Cup will be held in India in another 6 months’ time and I am sure he is eyeing a spot in the Indian team. India has been struggling off late with spinners in white-ball cricket. Both Ashwin and Axar Patel would love to take this opportunity to make a comeback. I look forward to their all-round skills in this tournament.
Threat: Bench strength of Delhi Capitals is a cause for concern and hence injury management would be one of their topmost priorities. They have some players in the team who are prone to injuries, namely, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandra Ashwin, and Prithvi Shaw. There lies their biggest threat because they have already lost Shreyas Iyer to injury even before the tournament begins.
All in all, if the team plays to its potential, I see them reaching the playoffs and from there it’s always anybody’s game. I think both Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant are going to rock the IPL season. Seeing both of them bat together would be some fun for sure.
What do you think about their playing XI? Should there be any changes to the XI I gave?
Sunrisers Hyderabad is one team that has always been consistent in the IPL. Even in adversity, they find ways to turn around their campaign. Last year they had to deal with a lot of last-minute injuries in their team but they went above their means to reach the playoffs and finally lost to Delhi Capitals in the 2nd Qualifier. David Warner is an inspirational leader and Kane Williamson plays a big role too in making this team a consistent performer.
So how are they looking this year?
Here is the best XI for SRH according to me:
Johny Bairstow
David Warner
Kane Williamson
Manish Pandey
Vijay Shankar
Abdul Samad
Abhishek Sharma
Rashid Khan
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar
Sandeep Sharma
N. Natarajan
Here is the SWOT analysis of Sunrisers Hyderabad:
Strength: Their top order is too good and will give a lot of headache to the opposition teams. If Warner doesn’t get you, Bairstow will and if Bairstow doesn’t get you, Kane Williamson definitely will. They have a good middle order too led by Manish Pandey and a great bowling attack. Last year they were handicapped with the injury of Bhuvaneswar Kumar– no such problem this year and with Rashid Khan amongst their ranks, this is definitely a team to beat, this IPL. They have good backup players too on the bench like Jason Holder, Priyam Garg, etc.
Weakness: I do not find much weakness in the team other than probably the inexperienced middle order but with such a top-heavy batting lineup, I doubt if the middle order would be called up in many games. They also seem to have a slight weakness with the second pacer but Sandeep Sharma did very well last year and there is no reason to believe that he won’t repeat his performance this year too.
Opportunity: I really liked whatever I saw of Abdul Samad last year. Also, Priyam Garg looked well in some of the matches. Samad bowls as well and I am particularly eager to see if he has improved his bowling skills. Abhishek Sharma is also a genuine allrounder in the Jadeja mold and it will be interesting to see how he does this year. It’s an opportunity for all the youngsters to show that they are ready for the National call-up. Over the past year, Manish Pandey has fallen off the radar from the national selectors. This is a good opportunity for him to show that he can still command a place in the National XI.
Threat: Injury remains a big threat to this team. They have some heavyweight superstars in their team and we all know these superstars are not easily replaceable so they need to keep that in check. Last year, even with injuries they were able to reach the playoffs but that might not happen this year if the injuries resurface.
Overall, this team has all the ingredients to win the IPL. They have the perfect blend of experience and exuberance. They also have some match-winners who can win them matches single-handedly.
What do you think? Will Sunrisers Hyderabad be able to reach the finals this year?
Royal Challengers Bangalore has always been a very colourful team of IPL. Having been owned by Vijay Mallya initially, that’s not surprising but the band of cricket they played over the years made them a colourful unit too. After KKR if there is another team that is backed by passionate fans, it’s RCB. Unfortunately over the last 2 years, due to the ongoing pandemic, spectators have been kept out of the tournament and hence we have lost that fervour of crowd support which is such an integral part of IPL.
RCB is one of those teams which is yet to win the tournament and though reaching the finals on quite a few occasions the coveted trophy has still been out of reach. Their team composition has always let them down and their over-dependency on the top order led to many a meltdown in important matches. Will it change this year? Let’s first see how does their first XI shape up.
Here is my best XI for RCB:
Devdutt Padikkal
Virat Kohli
AB DeVilliers
Glenn Maxwell
Washington Sundar
Sachin Baby
Dan Christian
Kyle Jamieson
Yuzvendra Chahal
Nitin Saini
Md. Siraj
SWOT analysis of RCB:
Strength: Their top order has always been their strength and it’s no different this time around too. They have had some high profile sign-ups this year and one of them is Glenn Maxwell. Maxwell has always flattered to deceive when it comes to IPL and RCB will hope that it’s a break out year for him. Virat Kohli, AB Devilliers, Devdutt Padikkal and Glenn Maxwell makes an awesome top 4 and any opposition could be intimidated with such a top order. Their pace bowling resources are also very good with a lot of like-for-like replacements on the bench.
Weakness: The middle order is weak. Not only in the first XI but on the bench too. Secondly, you can’t have like-for-like replacements for the top order they have. This is a big disadvantage. The spin bowling department looks relatively weak especially with Yuzvendra Chahal not looking the Chahal of old in the last couple of months. Adam Zampa would be a better choice but that would mean sacrificing a foreign all-rounder. How they balance this out would be interesting to see once the tournament starts.
Opportunity: Devdutt Padikkal had a great debut season in 2020 and he has been in tremendous form in the domestic circuit. To be frank, I was quite surprised that he was not picked for the ODIs against England which finished recently. He would like to showcase his talent once again so that he remains on the radar of the national selectors. Washington Sundar is a genuine all-rounder and I feel he is a very good batsman who deserves a place in the top 6. He needs to have a very good IPL to cement his position in the first XI of the Indian team. Nitin Saini fell off the radar in the last few months and he needs a good IPL to get his place back in the Indian team. Kyle Jamieson has had a great start to his international career but he is yet to get an opportunity to play in the Indian subcontinent. It would be interesting to see how he goes here. With the World T20 to be played in India later this year, his performance would be closely watched by the New Zealand selectors too.
Threat: They have a top-heavy batting line up and all are aggressive players. Their middle order being weak could lead to Kohli and AB Devilliers not playing the aggressive brand of cricket which you expect them to play. Their spin bowling options are thin too and with the matches being held in India in the peak summer, it could be a problem for them. How they manage the workload of Nitin Saini and Md. Siraj would be interesting to see because India has a long summer ahead of them.
All in all, this team lacks balance. This has been a problem for RCB for many years now and unfortunately, they have not been able to plug that gap. Only due to the individual brilliance of some players this team might be able to reach the top 4 otherwise, I do not see them in the playoffs this season.
What do you think about the team composition? Will Virat Kohli be able to get back his century making form to prove me wrong?
Holi is a festival of colours. It’s a festival of joy and people spread joy by smearing each other with colours. When I talk of colours, the first thing that comes to my mind is the rainbow. People love the rainbow in the sky and it just portrays that human beings love colours and coming to think of it, I feel one always enjoys the company of people who lead a colourful life.
Rainbow consists of 7 colours, namely, Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, and Red. But to lead a colourful life, one needs to have enough wealth so that you need not stress yourself out for the need for money. Human beings’ needs are ever-growing and my late father used to say that though money can’t buy you happiness it does get you food on the table and help you buy the medicines. So money can’t buy you everything but it does buy you something. Hence to have a very colourful life you need to create enough wealth so that you do not need to wake up every day and do the jobs which you probably do not like to do. Once you have that wealth, you can lead a life of self-actualization wherein you get up every day and do what your heart desires to do and lead a life of fulfillment.
Just like Rainbow has 7 colours, here are the 7 must-have habits that you can build to create long-term wealth for yourself and your family.
1. Live Frugally
Just as I said above, human needs can be very aspirational but the fact is that if you decide to live a life within your means and don’t overspend, you will be able to garner enough wealth in the long term to live life to the fullest. I learned this the hard way myself. When I was in college, my pocket money was Rs. 2000 per month. Out of this Rs. 1600 used to be spent on rent and food and I had Rs. 400 for myself to take care of my personal stuff. It was difficult but I learned to manage. When I got my first job, my salary was Rs. 4,500 per month and what I did first was to buy a bike for which I ended up paying an EMI of Rs. 1800 per month. How dumb of me that in place of saving, I ended up paying the additional money on a materialistic need. I had learned to live within Rs. 2000 per month and there was an opportunity to save money but I ended up adding to my expenses. It was not only the price of the bike that hurt me but the fuel that went into it also added up plus the maintenance after a few months. So, you see it’s important that you live within your means because that’s how you will be able to garner wealth in the long term.
Whenever you feel the need for buying anything, first ask yourself if you can live without it for 3 months. If the answer is yes then put that expense out of your head for 3 months. Two things happen in such a scenario:
You save in these 3 months
After 3 months you might realise you do not need it.
This is how you can curb your spending habits. We are living in the world of social media and the FOMO effect (Fear Of Missing Out) makes many of us buy stuff that we might not have done. Living frugally is a good habit and it’s important to keep doing that because the savings build up over time and your goal of financial freedom will come that much closer.
2. Invest First, Savings Next, Expense Last
Now that we spoke about living frugally, what do we do with the extra money that we have in hand? People keep it lying in their savings account. It’s still better than spending it but one needs to remember that your money doesn’t grow in banks. Well, it does but it doesn’t cover inflation in the long run. So, you should plan up your investment first.
Start with the 80-20 rule if you have not yet started this habit. It means, 20% of your earnings will be for investments. Over a period of time, once you build up the habit, you can increase it. It doesn’t mean you should spend the other 80% though because 10% you should keep for emergencies. Try and lead your life with 70% of your earnings. As I wrote earlier, when we start, our needs are less, it’s just that over a period of time we keep adding our expenses. But if you have a frugal mindset, you won’t do that and if you have the goal of financial freedom and dream of living a colorful life in the future then you need to build up this habit as soon as possible.
Now, investments are of various kinds, Gold, Real Estate, Mutual Funds, Fixed Deposits, PPF, Stocks, etc. and I will come to it in detail later but for now make it a habit and mark it in your calendar that 20% of your earnings are to be earmarked for investments.
3. Insurance
If you are married or about to be married then the first thing you need to do is to buy a Life Insurance Policy. Do not fall for the various endowment schemes that all Life Insurance companies have, just buy a term life insurance policy. Now the question that will come to your mind is how much you should insure yourself for? Well, the thumb rule is, to buy a policy with a sum assured of 10 times your NET Annual income. So if you are earning, for example, Rs. 3 Lakhs per annum then purchase a policy of Rs. 30 Lakhs. As your income grows you need to increase the sum assured too by purchasing additional policies.
Other than a life insurance policy, you need to have health insurance too. Today health expenses have gone pretty steep and you must cover yourself and your family well in this regard. Never disregard this because at a younger age people feels that insurances are an additional burden on the expenses but believe me if you purchase a policy early on in your career, then the premiums are pretty low and do not increase by leaps and bounds than if you purchase a policy for the first time in the middle age.
Remember this golden rule, that insurances are not your investments but it does help you in getting tax rebates. Also never start a family without having yourself properly insured. Start a recurring deposit with your bank so that you do not feel the pinch of paying the premiums at the end of the year.
4. Short Term and Long Term Goals
What are your goals? What is your ambition? What is your dream? These are some questions which you should ask yourself quite early in your career. Also equally important is to write down the goals and give a timeline to each of the goals. Once you give a timeline, you get a deadline for yourself and when you give a deadline you can then plan on how to reach there within the specified time.
Long-term goals can be achieved only by passing through short-term goals. So other than the long-term goals have a few short-term goals too because when you reach those short-term goals you will get extra motivation to reach your long-term goals. Also by reaching your short-term goals you will start having confidence that you are on the right track towards financial independence.
Now, what are short-term goals? It could be your younger sister’s marriage in 3 years? It could be your son’s admission to school? You define your goals and then plan how you can reach them. Always have a budget and while calculating keep inflation in mind. While budgeting, keep it on the higher side so that you do not get last-minute surprises. Once again everything starts with the habit of living frugally. If you do not curb your expenses, you will never be able to reach your goals. Expenses find their way of creeping up but if you are focused on attaining your goals then nothing can stop you from living frugally and within your means.
5. Assets
Your net worth is (Asset – Liabilities). So if you focus on increasing your assets without increasing your liabilities, your net worth will soar and one day you will be able to reach your goal of financial freedom and colourful life. Assets cannot be built overnight. I remember as a kid I used to live in a rented house for close to 16 years. After that, my father bought a piece of land and then built a house on that land after a year, and finally, he had his first asset. It was a very happy day for him because years of hard work went behind having his own property – a property built fully on cash, nothing on debt. This is only possible if you have a frugal lifestyle. Each penny saved is each penny earned. Keep faith in this theory. Today loans are very easily available and most of us buy cars, properties on loans. But if you do a small calculation you will understand that you are paying much more than what the asset is worth in terms of interest. Remember inflation is only going northwards so your net worth is going to fall if you believe that increasing your assets by taking loans is a good strategy. It never was and it never is. Many people will tell you that buying a car by taking a loan is not a good idea but buying a house on loan is a great idea. It’s not because no one can predict the future and if something untoward happens then quickly this asset would become a liability.
So purchase and build up your assets by liquidating your investments but only when you are reaching your goals. This is exactly the reason why I advised above about writing down the goals. After writing down the goals, keep monitoring the progress.
What I do is, I have a master excel sheet (google sheet) which is shared with my wife where I keep a track of all my investments. The sheet has many tabs with each tab being one goal. Each goal then has a target figure (amount) along with a date by which I need to reach the goal. Then every year, I update that sheet and see how far we have progressed across each goal. Thereafter we plan the next year. It’s a simple habit which anyone can follow which in the long run will give you great benefits.
I have seen people who get a good raise and immediately end up spending the extra cash. This is a very bad habit. Remember the 80-20 rule I told you about above? Follow the same rule when you get a raise too and this way you will be able to reach your goals faster.
Assets take time to build and hence if you do not save and invest regularly you will always feel that you are not earning enough. I hear many people telling me that he or she earns very less so they can’t save or can’t invest but that’s an excuse because it’s your habit that is stopping you from investments and savings. First, build the habit of living frugally and then start investing right after getting your paycheck. Do not look at your investments more than once or twice a year and then one day you will save enough to build your assets.
Gold is another asset that takes time to build but with the Government of India coming up with the Sovereign Gold scheme once every 2-3 months, I would suggest investing in that. If you do not have a dream of acquiring physical gold this is a good way of building your assets.
6. Equities
The best investment with great long-term returns is an investment in legitimate businesses. If you understand the stock market and have a Demat account then purchase good stocks and hold them for the long term. Long-term means 10-15 years. Do not buy stocks based on tips. Only invest in businesses that you understand. I generally do not invest in more than 4-5 stocks at a time. I have made mistakes too when I did not understand the markets properly and ended up losing money. Never buy stocks based on the stock price. Buy stocks based on the value of the business. If you do not understand the stock market, then start reading some books. One of the best books that I can recommend in this field is The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. The fact of the matter is that you will have to learn the tricks of the trade if you wish to retire wealthy and retire early. When I talk of early retirement, I am talking of retirement from your daily grind. Once you are financially independent, you can then do stuff that you love to do or follow the passion that has long been hidden inside you. Remember one thing, stay away from negative people because when you enter the stock market you will get a lot of advice, and mostly the advice would be about the stock market being a gambler’s market. It’s wrong because it’s gambling only when you are trading daily but here we are buying businesses for the long term to build up our assets and increase our net worth.
Even after all this if you feel uncomfortable entering the stock market right away, start with investing in mutual funds. Have a basket of mutual funds (Large Cap, Mid Cap, Small Cap, Balanced and Diversified Equity). You can also invest in Index funds. Take the SIP route to start your investment journey. When I started investing in mutual funds (I am a late learner and a late groomer) we did not have the opportunity of directly investing in the mutual funds and had to take the route of investing through the mutual fund agents. Things have changed now and you can invest directly online. This will save you some extra money which in effect goes to the agents. Once again, most of these investments can be easily liquidated and hence resist looking at your profit/loss regularly. Once in 6 months is more than enough to see how things are shaping up. If you are new to this, start with Large Cap, Diversified Equity, and Index Funds. These are relatively less volatile than small-cap and mid-cap funds. One necessary caution, do not be overly aggressive. Build your portfolio slowly but stay put.
7. Debt Free
I already touched on this point earlier that building assets via debt (loans) is never a good strategy. The profit that you build up with your investments can be completely wiped out due to the debts. Remember, Assets – Debts (Liabilities) = Your Net Worth. So keep debts at the bare minimum and keep increasing your investments to improve your net worth.
My father always told me that he might not be able to leave me with a lot of cash but he will ensure that he will never keep any debt on my head and that’s what should be the motto for everyone too. No one knows the future and building up an asset class by increasing debt might end up putting you and your family in despair in the future. To get a good night’s sleep get rid of your debts today. If you have already taken a lot of loans then first create a plan on how you are reducing them. Maybe as per the 80-20 rule, when you get a raise, in place of investing the new 20%, service your debt instead.
These are some tips if you follow diligently will lead you to financial freedom. Once you have your financial freedom, you will see this world in a different light and your life will be colourful too.
So what are you waiting for? Start planning today!
Wishing you all a very happy and colourful Holi. Last year we didn’t celebrate Holi due to Covid-19 and nothing has changed this year too as new cases keep rising once again. So stay safe and enjoy your day with your family.
Till we meet again, take care and God bless!
When the IPL journey started in 2008, I was not very sure if I would be lured into the T20 frenzy that much. But seeing that my hometown had its own team made me attracted to the tournament. I always loved watching matches in the stadium and IPL gave me that opportunity to see the matches from close quarters. With most of the matches starting late in the evening, I could go and watch the matches at the Eden Gardens without disturbing my work schedule. What also helped was the way KKR started the tournament in 2008 – the 158 runs blitzkrieg by Brendon McCullum. The sad part is though that KKR is yet to register another century thereafter. Though the team won IPL twice, it has always been about team play and less about individual flashes of brilliance especially when it came to batting.
KKR has been one team that always hogs the middle of the table. They have been finalists only twice and both the times they won the tournament. Over the last few years, the team has become way too dependent on a couple of players namely Sunil Naraine and Andre Russell. So when both of them started having average form, the team eventually struggled.
It was no different last year too with Andre Russell becoming extremely unfit. Most of the days the team was playing with 10 fit players on the field. To be fair even Sunil Naraine didn’t look 100% fit on the field. There were no like-for-like replacements last year and it hurt the team very much. So how is it looking this year?
This is my best XI for the team:
Nitish Rana
Subhman Gill
Karun Nair
Eoin Morgan
Shakib Al Hasan
Dinesh Karthik
Andre Russell
Pat Cummins
Harbhajan Singh
Prasidh Krishna
Varun Chakravarthy
SWOT Analysis of KKR:
Strength: Getting Shakib back in the squad is the best decision taken by KKR. It straight away improves the balance of the team. He has played for KKR when the team won the tournament twice and his all-round abilities will help the captain to rotate his bowlers properly. Too much pressure was on Andre Russell earlier and that dependency will reduce. Though they have inexperience at the top of the order, their longish batting lineup gives their top order to play to their potential. Another advantage this team possesses is like-for-like replacements across the board. The bench strength looks very good with both experienced and youngsters across all the three departments waiting for their turn.
Weakness: This is one team which always backs youngsters and this also means they have a lot of players with a lack of international experience. Their top order is pretty inexperienced and hence Morgan, Karthik, and Shakib have a lot on their plate. Kuldeep’s recent loss of form means Varun becomes their premier spinner who though talented doesn’t have international experience. Harbhajan Singh has not played any kind of cricket for close to two years and it could be a cause for concern too. If Andre Russell is not fit enough as per international standards then he can become a liability in the field but his six-hitting ability would hamper KKR’s chances in case they replace him with Ben Cutting. It would be interesting to see how they balance this factor in the tournament.
Opportunity: Big opportunity for Varun to show the Indian selectors that he belongs to this stage. India at the moment is struggling in the spinning department especially in white-ball cricket. Last year he made an impact in most of the matches and always bowled in tough situations and turned matches. He needs to do even better this year to get into the Indian team. Prasidh Krishna has been generally inconsistent while playing for KKR but he showed his potential when given the opportunity in the recent ODIs against England. He would love to put up a grand show this year to get into the T20 team of India. Nitish Rana is a very handy cricketer because he bowls too and India needs someone in the top 5 who can bowl a few overs. Last year it was hot and cold for Rana but if he needs to get into the Indian team then he has to perform consistently throughout the tournament.
Threats: There is not much threat this year for KKR because they have like-for-like replacements across the board but their main threat is the form and fitness of 4 players. They are, Shakib, Russell, Naraine, and Kuldeep. If these players end up playing true to their potential then it could turn out to be a very good tournament for KKR.
I am hopeful of a top 4 finish for this team in 2021. What do you think? Is this team capable of breaking the jinx of being elbowed out from the Top 4 consistently? Who would be their trump card?
Superstitions and human emotions go hand in hand. People tend to believe in such activities even though there might not be any logic behind such thinking. When IPL started in 2008, KKR’s brand colour was Black and Gold. At that time Shah Rukh Khan, the superstar owner of the team declared that black signifies Maa Kali (a Hindu deity) and though black signifies negativity, he believed his team being based out of Kolkata should have the brand colour as black since it signified Maa Kali. Unfortunately, the team did not do well in the first 3 seasons and he changed the brand colour to purple and with the change of colour came the change of fortunes because KKR went on to win the IPL twice in the next 4 years. It’s a different matter that the team is yet to reach the finals in the last 6 editions.
Many other IPL teams also changed their brand colours and some changed their names too. This time, Kings XI Punjab has decided to follow the same route and have rechristened themselves as Punjab Kings. Will this bring about a change in fortune for the team? Well, only time will prove that.
Last year the team didn’t start well losing a lot of matches on the trot, though their openers did brilliantly well. They did come back strongly towards the end after the induction of Chris Gayle in the playing XI but eventually finished 6th in the table. So how is it looking this time around?
Here is my best XI for the team this season:
KL Rahul
Mayank Agarwal
Dawid Malan
Nicholas Pooran
Mandeep Singh
Deepak Hooda
Chris Jordan
Jhye Richardson
Md. Shami
Arshdeep Singh
Ravi Bishnoi
SWOT Analysis:
Strength: Very strong top-order. Last season the partnership of Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul invariably gave the team good starts and I expect the same to continue this season too. Dawid Malan in number 3 and Nicholas Pooran in number 4 just bolster their batting lineup. These top 4 batsmen can pulverise any attack on a given day. Expect some heavy-duty hitting from this team in the powerplay overs. Their pace bowling resources are equally strong. Jhye Richardson with Md. Shami makes an eye-catching two-some first up. Chris Jordan is a known performer in the T20s and Arshdeep Singh did pretty well in the last season. Their bench strength looks good too with a lot of experienced players as backups like Chris Gayle, Moises Henriques, Fabian Allen etc. Players with IPL experience like Murugan Ashwin and Sarfaraz Khan are also there.
Weakness: They have a weak middle order with a longish tail. With no all-rounders as such in the team, it can get very dicey for the team on days when one or two of their bowlers end up having a bad day. In the middle order, there is a lack of experience and hence there will be too much pressure on the top 4. This can lead to a change in mindset and when the positive intent goes missing, runs dry up in T20. This is exactly what happened last season too with KL Rahul curbing his strokeplay which finally led to run rate pressure at the end. How they balance this out would be interesting to see.
Opportunity: India is facing big troubles in white-ball cricket with quality leg-spin bowling. One spot is definitely up for grabs and Ravi Bishnoi should eye that with a superlative performance this year. He did well last season too and I hope we will have a better version of him this year. Jhye Richardson would also like to establish his position in the Australian team by putting up a grand performance this IPL. He is a very good bowler and him along with Md. Shami could become a lethal pair this season for Punjab Kings.
Threat: This team’s biggest threat is its excessive dependence on uncapped spinners. Ravi Bishnoi is the main spinner with Murugan Ashwin as the backup. The tournament will be played in India this time and quite likely some pitches will offer a lot of turn. Lack of spinning alternatives is a problem for this team. Another big threat is that going hard at the top of the order could lead to wickets and the day it happens they really are going to expose their tail. With no all-rounders around, it would be difficult on the days their top order fails to deliver.
On paper, their first XI doesn’t look bad but they have quite a lot of holes in between to fill. Their middle order looks weak and if they want to plug that by getting Gayle in then their bowling resources will be compromised. According to me, they will struggle to make the playoffs.
What do you think? Do you agree to my playing XI? Who do you think would make the top 4 in IPL 2021?
Share your thoughts!
Take Care everyone. Tomorrow I will be back again with the SWOT analysis of my favourite team, The Kolkata Knight Riders!
One of the most successful teams in IPL history, Chennai Superkings had their worst season last year. With Suresh Raina and Harbhajan Singh pulling out of the tournament held in the UAE during the autumn of 2020, they had a pretty difficult time balancing their playing XI. In between, Dwayne Bravo also got injured which further complicated matters for them.
They had believed in having consistency in their squad but none of their senior players were getting younger and that showed in their performances.
The core team of Chennai Superkings is still intact and this is what I think is their best playing XI this year. Remember, Shane Watson has retired from all forms of cricket but Suresh Raina is back in the team this year.
My best playing XI for CSK:
Ruturaj Gaikwad
Robin Uthappa
Suresh Raina
Faf Du Plessis
MS Dhoni
Dwayne Bravo
Ravindra Jadeja
Sam Curran
Shardul Thakur
Deepak Chahar
Imran Tahir
SWOT Analysis:
Strength: A long batting lineup is one of their strengths. They bat very deep and so you can expect a very positive start from their top order in all their matches. Another big strength of this team is the number of all-rounders that they possess. 7 players in this XI can bowl and that’s a luxury not all teams have in this competition. Having MS Dhoni as the captain is of course the biggest strength that the team has. Their bench strength is not bad and they have like-for-like replacements in most of the departments.
Weakness: Age is not on the right side of this team. Many players in this squad have long retired from International cricket. It was a problem for CSK in 2020 and it still remains a problem. T20 is a young man’s game and this is where this team comes short. This is an area they will have to look into next year when they will get an opportunity to reshuffle the entire squad. They will have quite a few slow movers in the field and it would be pretty difficult to hide slow-moving fielders in such a high-paced game of T20. This would put more pressure on their batting unit to score at least 15 runs more keeping this problem in mind.
Opportunity: Big opportunity for Ruturaj Gaikwad. He showed his class in the last 2 matches in 2020 and I hope to see him continue that in 2021 too. He has been on the Indian radar over the last couple of years and this IPL could be his breakout year. An opportunity for Suresh Raina too to show the world that he is not a spent force yet. I also look forward to seeing Ravindra Jadeja back in action who had been on the sidelines for the last couple of months due to the injury suffered during the Sydney test match.
Threats: Injuries can play a big role in this team mainly because many of the team members have not been playing competitive cricket for many months. Though they have like for like replacements on the bench, it would be difficult for new players to come in and perform straight away. IPL has been the grooming ground for many up-and-coming cricketers and that has spurred many individuals to give superlative performances for their respective teams. But a team which is filled with retired cricketers, I am not sure what motivation level they would have to put up a grand show.
Overall on paper, this team looks good especially in their all-round abilities and the bench strength that they possess but I feel they will struggle this year too because of the lack of match practise of many of their players. IPL is a very high-intensity tournament and it will be played in peak summer and hence players who have retired from international cricket might feel the heat as the tournament goes on.
They will hope that their younger players play exceedingly well on a consistent basis and that’s the only way I see them making a difference in 2021. Another thing I hope they do is to try the younger players early on rather than playing them at the fag end. If any experimentation is needed then do it in the first 3-4 matches.
What do you think? Will CSK do better than last year? Will they reach the playoffs?
Please do share your thoughts. I am all ears.
Tomorrow I will be back with the SWOT analysis of another IPL team – a team who changed their name this year – from Kings XI Punjab to Punjab Kings.
Till then, have a great day ahead!
Indian Premier League is upon us and the cricketing extravaganza will be on our TV sets in another 2 weeks’ time. Last year, the tournament got postponed due to the ongoing pandemic and it was held in the UAE in October. It was a highly successful tournament because we had many close matches and the teams were pretty much evenly matched. Going into the last week of the group matches, all teams other than Chennai Superkings had the opportunity to finish in the top 4. The team that finished last eventually, Rajasthan Royals had the same number of points as CSK and Punjab Kings. In fact, third place to 8th place was a difference of 2 points with the separator being the net run rate. Though it’s pretty difficult to expect a similar encore this time around, as fans we will be looking forward to some thrillers no doubt.
As a buildup to the marquee tournament which is being held across 5 venues in India, I will be doing a SWOT analysis of each of the 8 teams over the next few days. I will also predict the best playing XI of each of the teams. And of course, as the tournament starts, I will be penning down my analysis just like the previous year.
Today, we look at Rajasthan Royals.
Rajasthan Royals were led by Steve Smith in 2020. But this year they let go of him and made Sanju Samson the captain of the team. It’s quite a bold decision but I guess they believe that Sanju can bring continuity to the team in the long run. He is young and had a great IPL last season so it’s a just reward. How he balances the act of captaining the side without letting his performance slip would be interesting to see.
Here is what I see as their best Playing XI:
Yashasvi Jaiswal
Jos Buttler
Sanju Samson
Ben Stokes
David Miller
Rayan Parag
Rahul Tewatia
Chris Morris
Shreyas Gopal
Jaidev Unadkat
Kartik Tyagi
SWOT analysis:
Strength: They have a very balanced team with a lot of batting and bowling options in their chosen playing XI. This kind of balance would mean that the top order can play with a lot of freedom and we all know how dangerous Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Ben Stokes could be on their day. A very strong batting unit.
Weakness: Jofra Archer has pulled up injured and in all probability will miss the IPL. Without him, their bowling looks weak because he was one bowler who gave them a good start with the ball and came back at the death and picked up crucial wickets. The team doesn’t have big names when it comes to their bowling. Bowling is definitely their weakness. Another problem they have is with their bench. They have a good playing XI but if someone is injured or has a spate of bad performances they do not have like for like replacements across the board.
Opportunity: The biggest opportunity is with Sanju Samson. He missed the bus with the Indian team because of a lack of consistency. With the captainship role, he has got full backing from the management and I hope he uses this confidence to bring in some consistency to his game. When he is in full flow he is terrific to watch. He needs to do it consistently. The Indian middle-order is filled with good players so for him to break through, he needs to have a very special tournament, and in that lies his and his team’s biggest opportunity. Another opportunity is for the rising star, Yashasvi Jaiswal. He couldn’t do much last year in the limited opportunities he got. I hope he lives up to the talent this year. Kartik Tyagi who was a part of the squad in Australia as the net bowler would have learned a lot over the past few months. I am excited to see how he performs this year in the IPL.
Threats: The team looks heavily dependent on Buttler and Stokes. Samson had been inconsistent in the previous editions and so too has been Miller. This put too much pressure on the English stars. Stokes has been playing non-stop cricket over the last few months across all the 3 formats and if he has a sudden dip in form it could be a real problem for the team. No proper batting backups could come back to hit Rajasthan Royals hard.
So this is what I think about the team of Rajasthan Royals. What do you think? What is your best XI for the team?
Write down your goals on paper (Notepad or Google docs) and give a definite deadline to both short and long-term goals. It’s always important to have a deadline for your goals. Once you have a deadline, you will plan out how you are going to reach that deadline. A goal without a deadline is not really a goal. But, remember do not stress yourself out if you miss a deadline. It’s not imperative that you will reach all your goals within a specified time. You can fail too. But the advantage here would be that since you are monitoring and measuring your performance, you will know why you failed, what you learned and this will effectively mean that you will now know what you need to do, to avoid this failure next time around.
