f storylines.ROX and Samsung have never really b

Well, that didnt go to plan. At all. Three-zip at the coin toss. No individual hundreds. Three losses. Sickness, injury and some calls for an inquiry into the coaching and preparation for the tour.Heading into this Test series, a historic one for India, given the first match was their 500th Test and the third one was at a new Test venue, there would have been some realistic and some lofty expectations around the New Zealand changing room and among the squad. Perhaps also thoughts of spoiling Indias party. More than likely there would have been talk of three individual hundreds, 300-plus scores in all innings, 20 wickets in two Tests, at least two drawn Tests, and if they got the moments right, one win - and of course, win at least one toss, hopefully two!No personal hundreds. Brendon McCullum scored more in one innings against India than the whole New Zealand team did in any of their batting innings in this series. No draws. Missed a lot of the big game-changing moments. And not even one damned coin-toss win - Come back, Bmac, your Test toss success record of 37.5% is forgiven!Listening to former Indian allrounder (he has a Test ton) Ajit Agarkar on his impressions of the New Zealand batting on ESPNcricinfo was to hear that New Zealand got worse as the series went on - they went backwards.I think its fair to say the batting did go backwards, and not just statistically, as the series went on. Why? And is that all bad news? I dont think so.Backwards to go forward. Im hoping so.Every now and again, the Bible throws up an aphorism. Proverbs 13:20 says: He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. Basically you are only as good as the company you keep.Firstly New Zealand dont have, and therefore cant play on, pitches that do what Indian pitches do. This means New Zealand dont have spinners who do what Indian spinners do. Which equates simply to the fact that New Zealands batsmen cant do what Indian batsmen can do. The company you keep.Jeetan Patel, virtually straight to India from a hugely successful wicket-taking season in the UK, wasnt as effective a wicket-taker as hoped. Good, consistent, could keep the Indian batsmen quiet, but taking wickets, making batsmen make mistakes - those things werent quite in his arsenal. Indian batsmen are better to spin. They play differently. Forward, and back - a long way back - often playing the line of the stumps with the bat, pads out of the way. Indian batsmen are used to playing spin bowling that spins. Spins big, grips, rips, bites and jumps. New Zealand batsmen are, because of the pitches that are used in domestic cricket, used to the subtleties of flight, pace and drift - the deception through the air, not the violence off the pitch.I was never a Test-quality batsman. I learnt to play spin by playing Tests. I had two options that I learned on a tour to Sri Lanka: defend (small step forward and bat as close to where the ball pitched as possible) or sweep. Its all I had. So, one option to prevent me from getting out, and I might be able to sneak a single here or there if it brushed the edge with soft-enough hands; and the other a possible scoring option if the delivery was outside of my eyeline (outside off stump) and it wasnt delivered too flat or quick.If I tried to do anything different, Id normally end up in trouble. I once went back to a delivery that pitched outside leg - my plan was to just kick it; it jumped, and I wore it, no shot offered, squarely in the box. It was time to rethink. The point here is that I had to learn to play that kind of spin, on those kinds of pitches, in a Test match.New Zealand defended well and showed aptitude for the task in the first Test. But as the series went on, the batting changed. I also think the Indian bowling got better, but the New Zealand batting, from outside looking in, didnt improve.I genuinely believe the New Zealand batsmen were making changes - trying to do it differently, better, more the Indian way. Practising and experimenting to not get so far forward, and thus locking themselves into only defence, they were trying to get back further and open up scoring shots through cover-point and midwicket. They swept less, they stayed taller. They just werent good enough. There just wasnt enough time.Is a Test match the right time to be doing this? Is there any better time, given the bowlers and conditions? The issue is, the process takes time. Learning to play that kind of quality spin, on those kinds of pitches, it means learning and practising in a Test. Only so much you can do and so good you can get practising in the nets against your own spinners and the net bowlers. Discount Asics Shoes . -- In a span of seven Washington Redskins offensive plays, Justin Tuck sacked Robert Griffin III four times. Wholesale Asics Shoes Authentic . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. http://www.cheapasics.com/ . -- San Francisco 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks was fined $15,570 by the NFL on Wednesday for his hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees last Sunday. Cheap Asics Shoes From China .J. Jefferson has been charged with assaulting his girlfriend. Cheap Asics Shoes Online We are down to four clubs at the 2016 League of Legends World Championships. Four distinct, separate dreams, but all wanting to end up at the same place: hoisting the Summoners Cup in front of a sold out Staples Center crowd as the best team on the planet.Reigning and defending world champion: SK Telecom T1.Last years Worlds runner-up and current South Korean domestic champion: ROX Tigers.The 2014 world championship organization that fell to nothingness in 2015 before returning to power in 2016: Samsung Galaxy.And the last Western hope, a team of individually talented misfits whove come together at the perfect time to contend for the ultimate prize: H2k.A quarter of the original 16 teams remain, and there are four possible finals were left musing over until the semifinals kickoff next Friday night, incidentally a rematch of last years Summoners Cup Finals between SKT T1 and ROX Tigers. Narratives abound for each final, so which final, at least for me, the guy who will have to write extensively about it, has the most potential in terms of drama and intrigue?You only need three words to know which possible final tops the list: Faker versus Ryu.1. SK Telecom T1 vs. H2kIt has been a little over three years since League of Legends most iconic play in the 2013 South Korean domestic summer finals between SK Telecom T1 and the KT Rolster Bullets. Back when fifth game blind-pick matches were still a thing, the two best mid laners in the world at the time, SKTs Lee Faker Sang-hyeok and KTs Ryu Ryu Sang-wook, battled in a Zed mirror matchup. Although the game was far in the favor of SKT T1 by the time the play actually happened, Fakers duel with Ryu has become a hallowed moment for both players in their careers since.Faker: the devilish genius, assured in his victory and becoming a champion for the first time off his technical outplay on the flashy Zed.Ryu: stone-faced in his booth, looking like the entire world had collapsed around him after losing the one-on-one with the upstart mid laner who was in only his second domestic season as a professional.A final between SKT T1 and H2k would have -- cue up the Konstantinos-Napoleon Forg1ven Tzortziou soundbyte -- by far the most interesting storylines heading into it. You would get to see Ryu -- who has been playing fantastically this tournament, by the way -- get his one shot to redeem himself entirely for three years ago. A Summoners Cup win on the grandest stage of all, beating Faker in the final, and cleansing the demons of the past would be the storybook ending for the player that left his homeland of South Korea two years ago to begin an odyssey in Europe that eventually ended with him on H2k Gaming.For Faker, this would be his chance to bookend his career. He won his first major championship against Ryu in a gigantic final; winning his third world championship, which would put him galaxies ahead of any other player to ever play the game, against the same mid laner would be poetic in almost the cruelest of ways to Ryu.Aside from the mid-lane showdown, youd also have a contest between two players who believe wholeheartedly they are the best AD carries in the world: H2ks Forg1ven and SKTs Bae Bang Jun-sik. Both marksmen have been playing out of this world this tournament, and a meeting between the two would produce fireworks in the laning phase.On top of that, you get a Korean vs. non-Korean final. While that doesnt always push the viewers preference above a Korean vs. Korean final, and well get into that soon enough, the international feel of the final (even if six of 10 starters would be Korean) is an easy storyline that will catch the eye of a casual viewer. H2k would champion its role as the last remaining non-South Korean survivor in a tournament that has three South Korean giants left, and it has battled its way to the final stage.Also Neil PR0LLY Hammad would be coaching for H2k, so North American fans could pretend theyre also in the final, too. Everyone wins.2. Samsung Galaxy vs. SK Telecom T1The final of all finals. The 2014 world champion organization against the winner of the 2013 and 2015 titles. It would be the Clash of Champions, a final that would either put Samsung right up there with SKT T1 as the best organization in League history, or a final that would cement SKTs place as the king of kings in the world of esports today.Samsung has not reached a final since the Worlds in 2014 where Samsung White faced Chinas StarHorn Royal Club. There, SSW proved to be the best team in the world by a mile, and the team celebrated as alternative rock band Imagine Dragons serenaded them with a post-finals concert that seemed to go longer than the final itself. After the ecstasy of victory came the harshness of reality, and Samsung lost all of its players to China due to not being able to match salaries with the richer Chinese organizations. The rebuild began, and it was a long one, Samsung not crawling out of the bbasement of South Koreas domestic league until 2016 and not making the postseason until this most recent summer split.ddddddddddddClash of Champions would be the story of two Korean giants that took differing paths to the top. SKT has been able to hang on to its crown jewel of Faker, and it has consistently shifted with roster movements to keep the team ahead of the pack. Instead of rebuilding, SKT is always in a state of revamping thanks to the organizations keen eye for amateur talent and rising prospects. If SKT T1 were to make the final, Faker would most likely be the only starter from the previous two world championship victories.As for Samsung, it lost all of its stars and had to go for a hard rebuild. It went through the mess of finding prospects that could become legitimate talent, and it started 2016 with an awkward roster captained by newly signed jungler Kang Ambition Chan-yong. The acquisition didnt look like much at the time, Ambition coming off a disappointing final season on longtime club CJ Entus, but it would turn out to be the perfect decision at the right time. Ambitions veteran presence helped mold the younger players under him on the Samsung Galaxy roster, and the former best mid laner in the world is currently looking like one of the best junglers, as well.Ambition will also be looking for revenge against Faker if Samsung makes the final. Fakers debut was highlighted by him solo killing Ambition on Nidalee; it was a passing of the torch of sorts between the two. Ambition at the time was the best mid laner in the world, and here was Faker, coming from the amateur scene to kill him in his opening game in the laning phase without any help.Three years later, Faker is the best mid laner in the world and the games greatest, and Ambition has had to, like Samsung itself, rebuild himself into a new role and position. If Faker represents the glory of SKT T1 as a whole, then Ambition, this current iteration of Ambition, is the personification of the new Samsung Galaxy.Rebuilt, redesigned, and ready.3. H2k vs. ROX TigersWith this series, you get the same West vs. East storyline from SKT T1 vs. H2k. Plus, wed get to see the intriguing top lane matchup of the worlds best top laner Song Smeb Kyung-ho versus H2ks Andrei Odoamne Pascu. Odoamne has been one of the breakout stars of the tournament, quietly putting together a stellar group stage before bursting out in the quarterfinals on Jayce in three straight dominating victories vs. CIS Albus Nox Luna.For ROX, the only of the three Korean teams we havent talked about yet, getting over the hump of SKT T1, in a weird way, is almost a bigger challenge than the Summoners Cup Final itself. The entire history of the Tigers has been intertwined with SKT T1. Every time the Tigers made headway to becoming the worlds top team, SKT T1 would be there to defeat them. SKT T1 has beaten them twice in domestic finals and once in a Summoners Cup Final. ROX ultimately won its first domestic title this most recent summer split, but was against KT Rolster in the final, who had defeated T1 in the semifinals.While its presumptuous to say if ROX can defeat SKT itll beat either team it meets in the final, thats almost how it feels. ROX has proven itself to be the second-best team in the world since the beginning of 2015, and against SKT T1, at Madison Square Garden in the semifinals, it will find possibly its final chance to surpass it.4. ROX Tigers vs. Samsung GalaxyAn all-Korean final without Faker. How will Riot attempt to build the story for this one? While this final might be the closest and most evenly matched of the four possible, its also the one with the least amount of intrigue in terms of storylines.ROX and Samsung have never really been rivals in the domestic scene. When Samsung was at its peak in 2013 and 2014, ROX wasnt an organization. When ROX entered the scene and started beating people up, Samsung was no longer a contender and merely just cannon fodder for the Tigers to chew upon. You can point out earlier in the year during the spring split where the Tigers had an 11 match winning streak going until Samsung surprised them to end the perfect season, but that wasnt seen as a heavyweight clash at the time; it was more, Wow, did Samsung Galaxy really just do that against one of the best teams in the world?Lee CuVee Seong-jin vs. Smeb would be a blast to watch, and Han Peanut Wang-hos wild adolescence batting heads with Ambitions grizzled farm-heavy style would be a fun meeting of opposites. For overarching narratives, though, itll be difficult to build outside of the South Korean fans; however, does it really matter as long as the two teams put on a good show? We desperately need a Summoners Cup Final that isnt lukewarm.Maybe Riot could get Faker to commentate on the analyst desk? ' ' '