Cricketing shots are still the strokes giving highs

Everybody might have already read enough about the master innings by the master himself in Hyderabad agains the Aussies. Yes, the innings is a spectacle to watch and worth in gold (am I being miserly?). And yes, it is disappointing that India ended up losing a nail-biter. But to me the most interesting and defining moment during the game came when I saw Tendulkar react the way he did after he hit a cover drive, of the umpteen number of shots on his way to 175 runs, when India needed 69 runs from 55 balls or so.

The shot he hit was as good a stroke coached by all the masters, which you can find in any cricket manual, a cover drive sweetly driven along the ground and all timing no brute power. There was an instant change in his body language - the kind you see when somebody completes a fantastic century, breaks world record in a track and field event, wins a grandslam in tennis and the like. Its a sensational feeling, a kick, a high - a blissful experience of achieving the utmost that takes your confidence levels soaring to a level that nothing else in the world matters to you at that moment because that’s your moment and defining at that.

All the spectators want more of thundering strokes that can go either across or over the boundary line. It’s reasonable for them as they are watching the game to enjoy that exciting stuff. But for batsmen, and I guess even for cricket pandits, cricketing shots are still the strokes giving highs.

A salute to Sachin: Even with that thorn in the flesh aspect of his career, “Not able to see the match through”, Sachin Tendulkar’s career is not less than any immortalized hero’s stories like Achilles and Karna.

When Cricket meets Chess

Guess what happens when a Viswanathan Anand walks the greens of a cricket ground and actually puts his brains into the strategy-mind games? May be, that’s what happened to Australia in this edition of Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India annihilating them 2-0 in the four test series.

The third day of the fourth test gave it all away for Australia. When they were served with a completely unexpected strategy, an 8-1 field on the off side tightening the run leak, men from Oz were caught short of imagination. They were caught unaware on the wrong foot. They could not come up with any overpowering plan that would tilt the game in their favor. Instead they cried over it by claiming that Indian tactics were negative. There is something called defence and offence and none should forget that.

Having a good defence is not the same as negative tactics. There is either a defensive stroke or an offensive and a defensive tactic or an offensive. Though there are instances when people called the art of Ashley Giles, of bowling left arm over into the rough, as negative. But the same set of people fail to see the same effect when Shane Warne, the world’s greatest leg spinner ever, bowls around the stumps into the rough and picks a load full of wickets. Is this not double-headed? Or is it that Giles hails from England and Warne from Australia? I would rather call Giles and Warne as defensive more than anything else.

The removal of the tag of invincibles, the dethroning from the world’s best cricket team pedestal, two humiliating test defeats; as the sorry state piles on, it might be getting difficult for the Aussies to handle as they find themselves in unfamiliar waters. It would do a world of good if Australia imbibes humility, which the Indian team has in abundance with Mahendra Singh Dhoni leading from the front.

The days of brains with brawn have come to the fore with Dhoni at the helm of Indian cricket. By the way, is it luck or something else that India won both the matches under Dhoni? Whatever the answer is it promises to be a great season awaiting the Indian cricket fans with a bunch of International matches round the corner and the domestic Ranji season in full flow.

Sachin, the Sachin

It is only with blood and sweat that we get contentment. We seek the blood of those who fail one day and drench in the showers of the sweat of the same proclaiming their success as ours, the next. Pulling down people with one hand whenever possible and taking shelter under their success is not new to this cricket-mad country.

If there is anyone who withstood all this, time and again, for eighteen years of his career, it is Sachin. (The last one year saw vultures seeking even his blood). Today, this landmark of being the highest run getter in the history of test cricket is a moment parallel to a nation’s flag being hoisted. It is no mean achievement. All one can do is stand with veneration and bow to this small man with all humility.

Whether the record remains forever or overtaken as years go by is immaterial. Let us all cherish this moment and wish the Indian team all the luck to come out on top in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar test series against Australia.

P.S: I personally am at a loss of finding adjectives that describe him. Sachin cannot be anything other than Sachin himself.

Why Youngsters in cricket

mmmm….. this would be a very debatable topic. Nevertheless I put forth my own theory on why India is strongly looking towards “new blood”. For a very long time Indian middle order is filled with four of the greatest cricketers that the country has produced. Sachin, Rahul, Sourav and Laxman (The Famed Four). OOOh! You name them and you can see the confidence being built, if you are an Indian supporter. Their batting prowess is above any critical analysis from a layman like me. They stand way apart from a lot of batsmen from their generation on the International scene. But when it comes to fielding, I don’t have to say much about Sourav and VVS, and I would call both Sachin and Rahul as only safe, if not anything else.

In the present scenario, fielding takes the primary department which brings in a difference between 2 teams. All teams will have almost the same batting and bowling abilities. It all boils down to how best a team could field on any given day.

You don’t see any of the ‘Famed Four’ diving hard to stop runs, (may be sometimes they do while attempting a catch?) or bringing out a brilliant run out as people of the same age in other teams like Ponting or even Jayasuriya do. And people like Sehwag also add to our woes in fielding. The entry of a couple of lithe and agile cricketers some time back into the Indian team has transformed the whole outlook towards Indian cricket. Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh. They brought in a fresh flavor to the normal fielding standards people are so used to (and even forgot that there could be more) from the Indians. People have realized that courses in matches can be turned on their heads through brilliances in fielding when batting fails.

This influx of the so called Youth in Kaif and Yuvraj brought in the need for better all round fielders in the side. This prompted the selectors to slowly look into youngsters who can also don the roles of the “famed four” successfully in the Indian team. And definitely, looking at the present Team India, selectors seem to be going in the right direction.

Note: If the “Famed Four” were to be brilliant fielders as well, I assure you all, that this stage of looking for youngsters wouldn’t have come.

Spare a thought (Continuation)

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It is accepted that the domestic players who are roped in to the IPL teams have to be exceptional or the best of the lot from those respective Ranji state teams. And as a rule, the Organizers have given berths to 2 players each from the U-22 and U-19s. This, they claim as providing a platform for the young-lot to play along with International stalwarts of the game. Right? When each team figures 8, 9 or 10 International players, where is the possibility of the domestic players playing in the final eleven? Even if some play, how many players will get the opportunity to play matches? We will have to wait and watch till the matches actually start to get the right answers.

But, till then, to me, the IPL serves more as entertainment provided to the cricket-starved nation than a grooming platform for the domestic cricketers. True, they are getting the exposure to play (bat and bowl) against the famed guys in the nets (practice sessions), but how far will this be useful. The experience from a match is far greater to the experience in practice. So, if the organizer’s priority is providing entertainment, they could have opted for the best possible players (age-no-bar) who suit to this T20 format. This brings out an even better contest as the weak links, if at all they have, are minimized.

Why should the organizers have an ordinance to have compulsory U-22 and U-19 players? If they fit the bill, they obviously walk in. Let them mingle with the team players and take whatever they could from the practice and interactive sessions, rather than have them in the squad. I have my own reservations against the “youngsters” mantra. How many youngsters do we find in the Australian team? With the exception of Pup (M. Clarke), we find hardly any. Isn’t the team doing well? I can’t hear many voices negating this. Then why is it that India is calling for “new blood”, in the recent past? I think I have my own theory for this but you will have to wait till my next post.J

Spare a thought

People are ga-gaing and already planning their schedules to witness atleast one IPL match at the venue. As the match will last only three hours, the visit rounds off more like recreation, close to a movie. A worthwhile time spent, one must say. And there’s plenty to talk about, once the viewer steps out of the stadium, the sheer impact of the man of the match or pieces of brilliance from the famed International stars. You name it, you can start a hearty discussion. But that’s as far as the fun-spreading is concerned.

Similarly, people are stumped at the whopping monetary figures that are being thrown into the league on the players. Oh! What a life? Each player is a multi-millionaire in no time. Even the selected lucky domestic cricketers are said to be benefitting from the league. Two players from U-22 and U-19 each from domestic cricket are also included in all the teams. True, even the budding youngsters are given an even platform. There’s never a doubt about all these facts. But amidst all this, do spare a thought to the players who are hanging between 26 and 30 yrs, who might have blossomed or started late.

To be continued….

Spare a thought (Continuation)