Tag: cricket

  • OK Dada Bye bye

    and that was a stupendous performance against england and pakistan.. and the politics of the BCCI notwithstanding, it could very well be the end of one Saurav Ganguly.. for perhaps only the second time in his life, Ganguly is now the underdog, and the favourite to seal the matter is none other than the chap from down under, whose candidacy (ironically) Ganguly himself had vociferously supported …it has been a see-saw battle, which started even under Ganguly’s reign… Ganguly’s tirade against Chappell, the leaked e-mail and Chappell’s stoic silence..
    Unfortunately Ganguly spoke when his bat should have done the talking, and perhaps Chappell was indeed betting on that not happening.. and while everything else worked for Ganguly – selectors, crowds, commentators, one thing was conspicuous by its absence – the batting form that had made him the captain of India… and its persisting absence then made everything else stop working, and Ganguly was out… Chappell gave in to pressure and brought him back into the team… and still betted on his batting not working.. he was right again…
    who knows what might have happened if dravid had not shielded Ganguly in pakistan and opened the batting.. because all said and done, ganguly possesses one other thing than his batting skill, that might have saved the day for him – a champion’s heart.. he might have ducked the bouncers, fished outside the off stump, given a fewchances, displayed a technique with a million flaws, and at the end of it all made a century…thats exactly what sachin had done to his critics, slapped them in the face with a century…
    I am by no means a Ganguly fan, but the bottom line was that he had transformed Indian cricket,made India win matches, supported a young bunch of talent and in the process, made himself a persona which aspiring youngsters could look up to..he showed what India was capable of.. maybe for selfish reasons, maybe not… It is ironical, that just when it was time for Boycott’s (and Kolkata’s) prince to become king, he was dethroned..
    until next time, up against a wall

  • Turning 35…

    No, you evil people, not me. It’s still a decade away, okay, 8 years away. I was referring to sachin’s record breaking 35th century. During the initial years of his career, i had always been a skeptical ‘okay, how long before he burns out’ observer. A bit later, when his schoolmate joined him in the team, i was supporting him – vinod ganpat kambli. (i have this default thingie of supporting the underdog). Ironically, it was kambli who burned out, and never played to his potential. Well, almost never ever. And then the match fixing controversies made me less of a keen observer of the game…

    But while all that was happening, my admiration for the ‘little master’ was growing, grudging at first, but growing nevertheless. I even remember a friend during my post grad days, who was a die hard fan, whom i used to chide whenever sachin failed to score. Times had begun to change from when i used to counter his high scoring with the point that he never clicked when we needed him most to applauding his efforts. I still remember the two matches against Australia in Sharjah ,centuries in consecutive matches – match winners. But wait, before i digress and throw off the non cricket aficionados, this isn’t about the game, its about the man…

    I think what makes him great (yes, IMHO) is that he remains untouched by his greatness. On the contrary, it has made him better. It takes great character to resist the temptation of letting yourself talk instead of your bat, especially when there are jibes and barbs hurled at you by people far inferior to yourself. And so, when the man finally silenced yet another group of question marks after a year (between #34 and #35) it’s definitely an occasion for a post.

    I couldnt help but notice the contrast between the two men occupying the crease – Sachin Tendulkar – an all time great who had just scaled another height, and yet the epitome of humility… and Sourav Ganguly – who has fallen from heights, and who is perhaps just realising that in the path to greatness, humility is indeed a great asset…

    until next time, bowled over…..

  • Silly points

    I have a feeling that my esteemed host, Blogger, is beginning to have problems with longish posts… have been trying for quite a few days now to post, but though the system accepts my test posts, the moment i post my real post, there are problems…maybe thats the way it is now,from blogger to cricket, short is sweet…. and so small posts and twenty twenty cricket may just be the future…
    But having said that, i do recall a good punchline i saw recently for some local crickettournament which said ‘The future of cricket is limited’… i really believe they were also referring to the indian team.. inspite of having perhaps the maximum number of potential match winners in a team, as a whole, they just ain’t good enough.. although it is said that the sum of the parts is always lesser than the whole, we have a sad case of some of the parts being too big for the whole!!
    Meanwhile, have been hearing the Pakistan captain Inzy requesting the English team to play a test in Karachi, but the English team has been vehemently refusing citing security reasons… i am actually wondering, after 7/7 and with Javed Mian as the proud dad after his son’s marriage to Dawood’s daughter, Karachi might just be the safest place on the planet, at least, as far as cricket venues go…
    until next time, maybe maybe Dawood XI vs Dravid XI is the future….