You must be wondering why the time lag in writing this post( my last was when India won the World Cup). Well to be honest it has been an overdose of Cricket for the past 6 months & i did not want to bore you guys with some more gyaan. Also i did not want to write about the IPL this year as i don't prefer writing about Entertainment: my area is Cricket & i want to stick to it.
India's First assignment after the Cup was a depleted tour of Windies where they sent a Second string team in the ODI's & barring a few senior players, the Test team too was off the hook. India managed to Clinch both the series 3-2 & 1-0 respectively though.
Typically Indian style, we ended the series with a controversy. The Media & Cricket pundits have been venting their anger on Television, Paper, Radio & Social Networking sites(read twitter) and god knows where else. They have been disappointed by " How the No. 1 team in the World has bowed down & refused to chase a minimal target " which would have given them a 2-0 victory in the series. What they have failed to acknowledge is the fact that we have come back victorious from the trip. Though we were playing against a WI A side, our team was not full throttle too. A series win abroad must always be cherished and that too in the Caribbean.
I strongly recommend you watch the documentary " The Fire of Babylon" for it makes you realize how lethal the Windies Bowling attack was in the 70's & 80's. Some of these pundits who have been blabbering their lungs out in anger have even failed to put bat to ball then. Bowlers like Marshall, Gardener & Holding were a terror for the batsman. I was surprised to see that a SG led India abandoned a match in WI because they felt that the WI bowlers were bowling to kill and were too lethal in their approach.
Don't get me wrong here. I understand being No. 1 comes with an added responsibility of being aggressive & thrashing each opponent which comes in your way till you are dethroned by a worthy successor. Similar fete was meted out to Windies & Australia in the past. Like my cricket fanatic friends & countrymen , i was also awake till 3 am wanting India to chase down 180 odd runs and i think 86 from 90 was gettable. But the point I'm trying to drive home is that it was a tactical error & must not be judged as a blunder by Dhoni. Reports of him losing his sheen of captaincy & all that bullshit was not called for. A mountain was created out of a mole. India should have welcomed their heroes with open arms after wining the series & the decision of not going for the runs should have been debatable after the Coach & Captain clarified. As a cricket player & enthusiast i could see that the pitch was difficult to Bat on. Run scoring was not a cake wake as most have made it sound. If they felt that they could have endangered a series win and played safe it was done in the interest of the country not an individual. This controversy has overshadowed the victory which we achieved in WI, where a few years back saving a series was the biggest task.
What would MSD be thinking of now? He must be wondering what went wrong. They played well in all 3 tests & would have won all three if rain hadn't intervened. They have directly flown to England for the Test & ODI and they needed to be in the right frame of mind to be able to give their best shot. This is a series where it will matter the most. And look what we've done. Rather than giving them a morale boost for the tougher series we have made his mind wonder from captaincy to an issue of lesser significance.
India is a weird country. We thrive on controversy it seems. No wonder we open the Newspaper in anticipation of the Front Page being flooded by new scams & controversies. The same guns who were praising MSD for his heroics have criticized him for playing safe.They need to realize that it might have been a tactical error & every captain does that. Why did Dravid declare when Sachin was on 194 in a test? or Why did Ganguly win the Toss in WC 2003 & bowl first?
A deep feeling rises from within which says that Cricket is not what it used to be. With the influx of flop cricketers as analysts, media gets it's own masala out of it. Commentary is more of dull comments rather than energetic smooth speech to the ears. No wonder stalwarts like Boycott are no longer chased & Tony Grieg appears on post match shows rather than Live commentary.
Cricket has evolved & Media has played a prominent role in its evolution. Good or Bad? its for you to decide.
India's First assignment after the Cup was a depleted tour of Windies where they sent a Second string team in the ODI's & barring a few senior players, the Test team too was off the hook. India managed to Clinch both the series 3-2 & 1-0 respectively though.
Typically Indian style, we ended the series with a controversy. The Media & Cricket pundits have been venting their anger on Television, Paper, Radio & Social Networking sites(read twitter) and god knows where else. They have been disappointed by " How the No. 1 team in the World has bowed down & refused to chase a minimal target " which would have given them a 2-0 victory in the series. What they have failed to acknowledge is the fact that we have come back victorious from the trip. Though we were playing against a WI A side, our team was not full throttle too. A series win abroad must always be cherished and that too in the Caribbean.
I strongly recommend you watch the documentary " The Fire of Babylon" for it makes you realize how lethal the Windies Bowling attack was in the 70's & 80's. Some of these pundits who have been blabbering their lungs out in anger have even failed to put bat to ball then. Bowlers like Marshall, Gardener & Holding were a terror for the batsman. I was surprised to see that a SG led India abandoned a match in WI because they felt that the WI bowlers were bowling to kill and were too lethal in their approach.
Don't get me wrong here. I understand being No. 1 comes with an added responsibility of being aggressive & thrashing each opponent which comes in your way till you are dethroned by a worthy successor. Similar fete was meted out to Windies & Australia in the past. Like my cricket fanatic friends & countrymen , i was also awake till 3 am wanting India to chase down 180 odd runs and i think 86 from 90 was gettable. But the point I'm trying to drive home is that it was a tactical error & must not be judged as a blunder by Dhoni. Reports of him losing his sheen of captaincy & all that bullshit was not called for. A mountain was created out of a mole. India should have welcomed their heroes with open arms after wining the series & the decision of not going for the runs should have been debatable after the Coach & Captain clarified. As a cricket player & enthusiast i could see that the pitch was difficult to Bat on. Run scoring was not a cake wake as most have made it sound. If they felt that they could have endangered a series win and played safe it was done in the interest of the country not an individual. This controversy has overshadowed the victory which we achieved in WI, where a few years back saving a series was the biggest task.
What would MSD be thinking of now? He must be wondering what went wrong. They played well in all 3 tests & would have won all three if rain hadn't intervened. They have directly flown to England for the Test & ODI and they needed to be in the right frame of mind to be able to give their best shot. This is a series where it will matter the most. And look what we've done. Rather than giving them a morale boost for the tougher series we have made his mind wonder from captaincy to an issue of lesser significance.
India is a weird country. We thrive on controversy it seems. No wonder we open the Newspaper in anticipation of the Front Page being flooded by new scams & controversies. The same guns who were praising MSD for his heroics have criticized him for playing safe.They need to realize that it might have been a tactical error & every captain does that. Why did Dravid declare when Sachin was on 194 in a test? or Why did Ganguly win the Toss in WC 2003 & bowl first?
A deep feeling rises from within which says that Cricket is not what it used to be. With the influx of flop cricketers as analysts, media gets it's own masala out of it. Commentary is more of dull comments rather than energetic smooth speech to the ears. No wonder stalwarts like Boycott are no longer chased & Tony Grieg appears on post match shows rather than Live commentary.
Cricket has evolved & Media has played a prominent role in its evolution. Good or Bad? its for you to decide.
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