Cricket - FOREVER

Wiz I am thinking Baba Appu will reap the harvest of all this as just when he is good enough to play for India, mAma will lose power and all the Appu will be applied on TN players as retaliation

^why go that far, Ash is reaping it, before he wanes completely and gets replaced by 'latchia' spinner from Jalandhar, Appu should look to get a beer gut so we have yet another smart/thinking/unfit offie from south  though his bro Indrajith who is touted as a better bat got some serious competition coming his way.

Neenga innum cricketlAm follow pandreengla? After 2nd edition of IPL, I haven't watched a full match - test, ODI or tondy-tondy and not even a half-match or highlights in the last 2 years. Was a theevra test cricket rasigan once upon a time - waking up at 4 am to catch India down under match level...

perusa follow pandradhilla fring. Twitterla epdiyum latest cricket news vndhurum so up to date on results etc. But I follow Ranji Trophy and Domestic Cricket closely.

Gus Fring, cricket ennaku oru social obligation loop, still got friends who only talk cricket,forgoing cricket will be forgoing them.

Kohls been compared to King Viv by Carib fans  

http://caribbeancricket.com/topic/1069364

plum wrote:perusa follow pandradhilla fring. Twitterla epdiyum latest cricket news vndhurum so up to date on results etc. But I follow Ranji Trophy and Domestic Cricket closely.

Interesting that you follow domestic cricket. I have always been clueless on that front. 

IPL just completely ruined it for me. The whole idea behind it and the way people fall for the hype, masala and marketing - cheerleaders, the obnoxious DLF maximums etc eventually drove me nuts. I can't believe any real cricket fan actually enjoys that shit when it is so obvious that neither the players or the commentators take it seriously. The retirements of the Aussie greats, Laxman and Dravid eventually put me off cricket completely...

Wizzy wrote:Gus Fring, cricket ennaku oru social obligation loop, still got friends who only talk cricket,forgoing cricket will be forgoing them.

Kohls been compared to King Viv by Carib fans  

http://caribbeancricket.com/topic/1069364

Puriyudhu...due to social obligation I went for the IPL final n 2011. Felt stupid and embarrassed for several days afterwards.
Andha Carribean sitela mukkavasi comment pandra payaluga namma payaluganu oru feeling  . Idhe vela, ooru oorA, blog blogA poi validation theda vendithu..

Kids haven't watched 189*.  No ODI batsman has outdone 189* to date.  Forget Kohli, even Tendulkar never played an innings like that though he has overall records to surpass Richards.  And Richards struck a 56 ball century in a TEST match for chrissake  ; even such a wonderful batsman like Gilchrist couldn't beat that though he got close.  

Why can't people at least wait for Kohli to accumulate more achievements (there's no doubt he's very talented)?  Why does everybody have to be born a Mahler/Mozart/Sobers/Richards?

I used to follow cricket deeply and even wrote regularly on it.  But I think some part of the love died the day Warney hyper enthusiastically called a Yusuf Pathan IPL slog special the best innings he had ever seen.   Many sports are commercialised now but cricket has sold even its legacy and history at the temple of commerce.  I still write once in a while, catch up with a few games every now and then but the obsession is gone.  More the better, it's not that important imo unless you play it yourself at some respectable level.

crimson king wrote:Kids haven't watched 189*.  No ODI batsman has outdone 189* to date.  Forget Kohli, even Tendulkar never played an innings like that though he has overall records to surpass Richards.  And Richards struck a 56 ball century in a TEST match for chrissake  ; even such a wonderful batsman like Gilchrist couldn't beat that though he got close.  

Why can't people at least wait for Kohli to accumulate more achievements (there's no doubt he's very talented)?  Why does everybody have to be born a Mahler/Mozart/Sobers/Richards?

I used to follow cricket deeply and even wrote regularly on it.  But I think some part of the love died the day Warney hyper enthusiastically called a Yusuf Pathan IPL slog special the best innings he had ever seen.   Many sports are commercialised now but cricket has sold even its legacy and history at the temple of commerce.  I still write once in a while, catch up with a few games every now and then but the obsession is gone.  More the better, it's not that important imo unless you play it yourself at some respectable level.

 Really?? Maybe it's reasonable to assume he meant T20 though, right?


On IPL, I have to paraphrase what you said in the other thread on 'Waeld peace music'.
"Never in the history of the sport has so much cricket amounted to so little impact  ". Also more than the cricket, it is the nauseating coverage given to this farce of a tournament by 24/7 media hawks that made me boycott the whole damn sport. 

And comparison with Viv Richards is a no-brainer. Let Kohli smash Dale Steyn or James Anderson all over the park consistently on bouncy pitches in a 4 or 5 match AWAY test series. Then maybe we can start with the comparisons. Btw, people say Viv was not very good against spin, particularly the Indian quartet - obviously, having only watched highlights and not watched him bat continuously over a period of a few sessions, it is hard for me to to judge. What do you guys think?

Warney:  I will reproduce the quote that made me feel like punching him in the face.  

"I have played first class cricket for 21 years and Sachin Tendulkar has been the best batsman I have bowled to. I have seen him thrashing pace and spin alike as well as Brian Lara but today's innings by Yusuf is the best I have seen," gushed Warne after his team nearly won against Tendulkar's MI after chasing an imposing total of 212 for 6.


  



Er, how many pegs did he tank before he said that? It did not singlehandedly contribute to my disenchantment with cricket but it did add up, along with the desperation of former cricketers like Manjrekar to make people accept IPL (or Harsha Bhogle's signature changing to "Writes on IPL and other cricket").   

As for Viv, he launched himself with a 192 at Delhi against Prasanna, Bedi and Venkataraghavan.    It is said he was not so comfortable playing Chandra and how things would have transpired had he played him regularly we don't know (because World Series intervened and after normalisation the quartet was gone).  But he did hit three centuries and a half century against India (including Bedi, Prasanna and Chandra) in the 1976 series in WI.   From whatever archival footage I have seen of his, I thought he used his feet very well against spin.  Not like Thala Gayle groping around from the crease..he danced down the pitch beautifully and lofted the ball out of the ground.  I think overall, like Lara or Tendulkar, he had no significant weaknesses.  But he combined it with such irreverent audacity and unconventional shotmaking - more than just a great player, he was an iconoclast, a groundbreaking batsman.

Why can't people at least wait for Kohli to accumulate more achievements (there's no doubt he's very talented)?  Why does everybody have to be born a Mahler/Mozart/Sobers/Richards?

And comparison with Viv Richards is a no-brainer. Let Kohli smash Dale Steyn or James Anderson all over the park consistently on bouncy pitches in a 4 or 5 match AWAY test series

Why go that far, Kohls couldn't put bat to ball against Junaid during India-pak 2012 odi series, Junaid was literally toying with him @ Chepauk.


CK, Warnie was/is on a hyperbole after his retirement, his ability to big up IPL stars and only for them to fall flat on their faces
is well documented, latest addition to this lore is Faulkner and Hussain bhai had gala time in squeezing Warnie on the same.

Mike Selvey on Pathan's flogerama

Yet for recent public consumption Warne reckons that a brief flogerama in a domestic T20 competition, on a dinky ground, against Ryan McLaren, Rajagopal Satish, Ali Murtaza and Sanath Jayasuriya knocks them into a cocked hat? He knows it is rubbish, really, which makes it all the worse. Perhaps I am too sensitive, but I find it offensive: in saying such things, whatever his motive, Warne is offering up an insult to a game that he once graced and made him the undisputable legend he is. It is not even funny.

Wizzy wrote:

 Perhaps I am too sensitive, but I find it offensive: in saying such things, whatever his motive, Warne is offering up an insult to a game that he once graced and made him the undisputable legend he is. It is not even funny.

My thoughts exactly.  Warne is one of my favourite cricketers but this was the pits....irresponsible stuff.   But he is not alone, he just blabbered it in an obvious way.  Ian Chappell hailed Warner as the next Richards or Sobers (which I forget, couldn't care to remember!).   This kind of hyperbole based on domestic T20 achievements is all over the place.  Would be glad if it goes bust one fine day and these venerated former cricketers are suddenly unable to generate all this wealth they are craving for.  That would be exactly what they deserve for wantonly destroying the heritage of cricket just for the sake of a few bucks.

Is this any different from Bharathiraja comparing GVP to IR or Ani fans comparing him to ARR? LOL. Similar things happening on all fronts..

As George Orwell so rightly observed, history is meant to be erased and re-written.

Although I liked Mudhal Mariyadhai, I never had any attachment to Bharathiraja's work.  Warne is different.  As I said, it is not that I don't follow cricket anymore, but the attachment is gone.  We know cricketers play for money but right now they have made it so obvious that it seems ridiculous for us spectators to invest emotionally in it.

crimson king wrote:Although I liked Mudhal Mariyadhai, I never had any attachment to Bharathiraja's work.  Warne is different.  As I said, it is not that I don't follow cricket anymore, but the attachment is gone.  We know cricketers play for money but right now they have made it so obvious that it seems ridiculous for us spectators to invest emotionally in it.

Absolutely. It is so ridiculous and naive for CSK fans (or even national teams, now that the players' motivations are quite clear) to be so passionate about their teams. Also, people make absurd comparisons to the EPL or UEFA champions league.  Duh, to state the obvious, the football they play in the EPL is the real deal, often at a higher skill level than intl football and often more . Yes, the players may have no atttachment to their clubs, but at least the game they play is not some ludicrous dumbed down version of the sport. A sequence of passes or goal n a UEFA final can to some extent justifiably be called the 'greatest ever', but an IPL innings??

Speaking of passion, I was watching the last over of yesterday's match.  As Faulkner pulled a beauty of a long hop from Vinay Kumar for six and finished the game, a young woman in the aisles had her hands up on her head in disappointment.  I felt amused.  I used to be like that but now I only watch it for entertainment because I'd still much rather cricket than the Big Boss-type reality shows.  I really don't care anymore if India wins or loses because it's just a game both sides play for money.


And re football:  exactly. And that is why the likes of Warney, Chappell and others have rushed in to try the elevate the prestige of T20.  They have used their influence as former cricketers to dismiss the voice of Test fans and project T20 as equal in every respect to Tests, whether or not they say so expressly.  There was never any need to do such a thing in football because the format is the same, it is not a diluted version of the game unlike IPL.

crimson king wrote:Speaking of passion, I was watching the last over of yesterday's match.  As Faulkner pulled a beauty of a long hop from Vinay Kumar for six and finished the game, a young woman in the aisles had her hands up on her head in disappointment.  I felt amused.  I used to be like that but now I only watch it for entertainment because I'd still much rather cricket than the Big Boss-type reality shows.  I really don't care anymore if India wins or loses because it's just a game both sides play for money.


And re football:  exactly. And that is why the likes of Warney, Chappell and others have rushed in to try the elevate the prestige of T20.  They have used their influence as former cricketers to dismiss the voice of Test fans and project T20 as equal in every respect to Tests, whether or not they say so expressly.  There was never any need to do such a thing in football because the format is the same, it is not a diluted version of the game unlike IPL.

You have alluded to to Chappell a couple of times, so he is also promoting T20 now? Is he on the IPL commentary team? As I said I havenn't watched an IPL ( or intl match) in close to 2 years, so I am slightly out of touch. Chappell used to be quite a purist test cricket advocate once upon a time. What about Michael Holding. If I remember, there was a time 2-3 years ago when he was speakign out about IPL and T20. Being a huge fan of him, I hope he hasn't sold out too 

And on your post on Viv's iconoclasm, have you read Dickie Bird's autobiography? For me that was a fascinating peak into the 80s Windies team's mindset and Viv's utter disdain for bowlers. 

CK, IIRC Chappelli was never fan for IPL/T20s, his attempt to talk up Warner is his own fetish for all out attacking cricketers being it a bat/bowler/Captain. In similar vein he bigs up Sehwag or even not so known cricketers from his era like Doug Walters at any given chance.

fring151 wrote:And on your post on Viv's iconoclasm, have you read Dickie Bird's autobiography? For me that was a fascinating peak into the 80s Windies team's mindset and Viv's utter disdain for bowlers. 

Nope, I haven't.  Must do so since Bird himself was one of the iconic figures of cricket.

Wizzy wrote:CK, IIRC Chappelli was never fan for IPL/T20s, his attempt to talk up Warner is his own fetish for all out attacking cricketers being it a bat/bowler/Captain. In similar vein he bigs up Sehwag or even not so known cricketers from his era like Doug Walters at any given chance.

My point is he should at least wait till Warner has played a few Tests before comparing him to Test legends.  Otherwise, I will have no option but to believe that he is trying to appeal to the next gen audience and is anxious not to alienate them by bashing T20 stars.  Warner hadn't even debuted in Test cricket at the time Chappell compared him to those legends, which is ridiculous.

fring151 wrote:

crimson king wrote:Speaking of passion, I was watching the last over of yesterday's match.  As Faulkner pulled a beauty of a long hop from Vinay Kumar for six and finished the game, a young woman in the aisles had her hands up on her head in disappointment.  I felt amused.  I used to be like that but now I only watch it for entertainment because I'd still much rather cricket than the Big Boss-type reality shows.  I really don't care anymore if India wins or loses because it's just a game both sides play for money.


And re football:  exactly. And that is why the likes of Warney, Chappell and others have rushed in to try the elevate the prestige of T20.  They have used their influence as former cricketers to dismiss the voice of Test fans and project T20 as equal in every respect to Tests, whether or not they say so expressly.  There was never any need to do such a thing in football because the format is the same, it is not a diluted version of the game unlike IPL.

You have alluded to to Chappell a couple of times, so he is also promoting T20 now? Is he on the IPL commentary team? As I said I havenn't watched an IPL ( or intl match) in close to 2 years, so I am slightly out of touch. Chappell used to be quite a purist test cricket advocate once upon a time. What about Michael Holding. If I remember, there was a time 2-3 years ago when he was speakign out about IPL and T20. Being a huge fan of him, I hope he hasn't sold out too 

I do not know what his motives are, maybe he has some interest in BBL.  It was a surprise to me when he decided to prematurely talk up Warner.  Holding hasn't (yet) joined the club.  I hope he won't...I love his outspoken nature too even if I don't always agree with what he says.

crimson king wrote:Speaking of passion, I was watching the last over of yesterday's match.  As Faulkner pulled a beauty of a long hop from Vinay Kumar for six and finished the game, a young woman in the aisles had her hands up on her head in disappointment.  I felt amused.  I used to be like that but now I only watch it for entertainment because I'd still much rather cricket than the Big Boss-type reality shows.  I really don't care anymore if India wins or loses because it's just a game both sides play for money.


And re football:  exactly. And that is why the likes of Warney, Chappell and others have rushed in to try the elevate the prestige of T20.  They have used their influence as former cricketers to dismiss the voice of Test fans and project T20 as equal in every respect to Tests, whether or not they say so expressly.  There was never any need to do such a thing in football because the format is the same, it is not a diluted version of the game unlike IPL.

Exactly. I did that till 2011 WC. The match against SA that we lost at Nagpur after the Sachin hundred, I was disturbed for an hour. But now, it's all gone. Something snapped after Sachin retired. I still watch the games, I like to watch Kohli bat, I admire certain qualities in Dhoni but the passion in me is missing. A part of me still lies with the late 90s and 00s. The '98 series in Sharjah, the test series that preceded it, Champions Trophy Semi Final in Colombo vs SA or the Natwest Final in '02, THAT test series vs Aus in India in '01. That was the peak of the passion I had. Sadly or for good, I don't know yet, it's gone. The overall quality in world cricketers has slumped. And to invest the same passion and compare the new age to the old guard sounds ridiculous to me.

I cried when Aus beat India black and blue in the WC 2003 final.    Oh, what was I thinking.     Even as late as BG trophy 2007-08 and the CB series ODIs, I was still passionate about cricket.   That was the height.  After one or two IPL seasons, I sensed what was going on and the passion began to recede.  I watched the entire WC final of 2011 but I was never in tension and my reaction when Dhoni hit the six was also controlled.  Since then, it's gone down even further.  The shabby handling of VVS's farewell function (which both SRT and MSD bunked) hasn't helped at all; I always had a soft spot for him.  I kind of sensed something like that would happen because he was always ill treated and I wasn't surprised when it did.

Drunkenmunk wrote: The overall quality in world cricketers has slumped. And to invest the same passion and compare the new age to the old guard sounds ridiculous to me.

On the topic of quality of cricket, this is an interesting, if flawed, statistical argument for why Test cricket is better today than before.   

http://www.espncricinfo.com/blogs/content/story/680115.html

And this is my response to the same article, which I wrote today morning only.

http://www.cricketcountry.com/cricket-articles/Can-numbers-capture-the-drama-and-intensity-of-Test-cricket/32403