Of cricket, cricketers and Ganguly
It sucks that I have not been able to watch the Super Test. My life's pretty much been a super test these days, what with research deadlines, quizzes and homeworks. Voldy and Haydos got stuck into the World XI and I guess have led some of their Ashes demons to rest. And I can't help but feel extremely happy for Katich's failure. There are some cricketers who look like they belong on a cricket field; who, to quote Ian Chappell, look every inch a cricketer. You know, like Warney, Lara, Sachin, Dravid, etc. And then there are the Darren Lehmanns and the Saurav Gangulys. Katich, to my mind, falls in the latter category, a misfit in a team of modern day greats. I would dare any cricket fan worth his salt to point out how he is more worthy of a test spot than Damien Martyn. Does he play those silken drives of the back foot? Does he play those beautiful Mark Waughesque cover drives? Does he bat with the guts of a Steve Waugh? Does he have a sense of timing that would rival VVS? On the same note, while I am happy Ganguly is out, I am not overly thrilled about VVS' exclusion. I hope it's limited to the one-dayers only, and that he is not put on trial everytime he comes out to bat in a test match. Like I mentioned in another post, VVS brings to the side something no one else does; neither Sachin, nor Dravid.I am all for giving youth a run though, and I hope some of the young guys do come good. The dropping of Zaheer has clearly sent out a signal, I should hope, that indiscipline and laziness would not be tolerated. I am also not thrilled about Sachin's induction without sufficient match practice at the domestic level. I seriously think it's time for him to think about giving up on that prostitution of the great game, and concentrate only on playing tests. He has already made sure he will go down as the greatest ODI player of all time. But he has some way to go before he earns close to the same stature in tests. And the sooner he endeavors towards it, the better it is for Team India as a test match side. And Ganguly, ah Ganguly, good riddance to bad rubbish I say, at least for the time being.
3 Comments:
I think Laxman's laxity in the field and running between the wickets cost him his place.
I don't think the selectors will dare to drop him in tests. He is an excellent , excellent player at that. I'm not too convinced of his ODI abilities.
You are right about Sachin. He should take a lesson from Warne. He is too senior a player to know that Test cricket is real cricket. There is nothing left to prove in the ODIs and surely money is no longer a motivation!
agreed with Minal that Laxman's laziness causes him his spot. And stop calling onedayrs a prostitution of the game. No one has time to watch the game for 5 days(even though I like it). Its the big money maker which drives test cricket and moreover it requires different set of skills than test. You have all the time in tets, but onedayrs is all about shifting gears at the right time.
Ketan
@Ketan: Wohi to na! It is a big moneymaker and little else the way it pans out these days. And like it says, "Paisa Paisa kya hai, paisa to XXXXX bhi kamati hai"
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