“Jab India mein yeh log aayengey, tab dikha doonga” reads almost like the dialogue from a Bollywood masala film in the 70s except that it was voiced by a certain Virat Kohli, the new age fearless Indian cricketing superstar after yet another abysmal tour of the Antipodes. This from a man whose attitude made us believe that no target is unachievable and no territory unconquerable, was disappointing in the extreme. […]
A hero is just someone who is brave for a little bit longer… and thus believed Benjamin Andrew Stokes to play a defining innings for several generations to come. Almost a superhuman effort which probably a 15 year old stokes could not have imagined when his folks took that jet leap from Kiwiland to Old Blighty to stoke the lionhearted spirit. We have been witness to several outstanding knocks in […]
Victory is not always winning the battle, but rising every time you fall … Thus spake Napoleon Bonaparte but one suspects now is not the best time to administer this motivational dose to the New Zealand cricket team. In a single day they found themselves putting in a lion-hearted effort to put up a fighting total after being derailed a number of times, but dug deep and put themselves on […]
Dhoni, finisher par excellence, but given his onerous responsibilities the title of an ‘enforcer’ would probably have been more appropriate. Not only did he ensure that the matches ended on the right note, during numerous crises, he shielded the less able, guiding the team towards safer shores, before launching the final assault. Age has evidently blunted his reflexes if not his instincts and rendered him less efficacious in certain situations. […]
During the 1987 Cricket World Cup in India during one of the group matches, England were set a target of 240 runs in their 50 overs by Pakistan. This was of course a formidable score during that time. At one stage England were cantering along, with Mike Gatting and Allan Lamb scoring relatively easily. The commentators marveled at the ‘professional’ approach of the Englishmen, who having being weaned on a […]
The eminent British Critic Neville Cardus once said “We remember not the scores or the results in after years: it is the men who remain in our minds, in our imagination. A true batsman should in his most of his strokes tell the truth about himself”. And so they do, but while the object of Neville’s subjective, romantic pieces and his flowery prose were the flamboyant wizards of the willow, […]
Batting may be cricket’s heartbeat but fast bowling is its pulse. The pulse though is witnessing a rapid descent of sorts with the tearaways somewhat losing their way. Never a constant feature in any bowling lineup, apart from possibly the West Indies till the nineties, the speed merchant is now, due to unresponsive pitches, unkinder rules and cruel schedules, almost approaching extinction. Rabada !!! … say the optimists but that […]
Referring to child prodigies, celebrated Israeli-American violinist, conductor, and music teacher Itzhak Perlman described them as “ a curse because you’ve got all those terrible possibilities.” The operative word here is of course ‘possibilities’. In the sporting sphere too many have been blessed with tremendous potential, many labeled ‘gifted’, proclaimed as the ‘next big thing’ and quite a few precocious performers who have lost their way completely to disappear into […]
Virat Kohli had once said that he sees himself as more of a Cristiano Ronaldo than a Lionel Messi. According to him, “Messi is a freak (genius) but this guy (Ronaldo) is giving him a run for his money because of his hard work”. While this could be a corollary to the talent vs. hard work debate, it points to a trend that has gone beyond the truism it has […]
Drama does not walk into your life. You either create it, invite it or associate with it. Barely 2 weeks into IPL season 12, and the drama unfolds to bring the game and the cricketing administration into disrepute. While the resultant attention will no doubt contribute to the eyeballs the unsavory aspects of the controversies can only take away from the game in the long run. Two particular instances draw […]
