CricDigs Blogs

I am sure most of you would agree that Dravid probably is the most technically correct batsman India has produced in recent times (I am not considering Gavaskar & earlier). What has happened to him? Ever since touring West Indies in 2006 and especially during India’s tour of England under his captaincy and Australia under Kumble, Dravid is getting more and more into his defensive shell and at times potentially messing up team goals. His knock of 12 in 98 balls in the 3rd Test against England when India was on the top is an impossible thing to understand or explain. One can disagree with his decision of not enforcing the follow-on but can understand it, but playing that slowly (12 from 98 balls is ultra-slow by any standards) at such a strong position is not only impossible to agree with but impossible to understand.

That was not an isolated incident. His ultra-defensive approach and lack of interest in doing any sort of effort to make runs or at least rotate the strike, is fast becoming annoying to watch. Even in the current test against SA, when Sehwag was batting with such an attacking way, Dravid “did” all he could to take the momentum away from India and presented it to SA.

Now that he has 2 more landmarks under his belt, one for exceeding 10,000 runs in Tests and second by scoring 25 Test Centuries, where will he go from here?

Though I might be coming across as someone who dislikes Dravid, I really hope that this great Indian batsman does not finish his extremely successful test career at such a low note.

Viru Rocks!!! The visitors’ mouth was left wide open just gazing the amazing shots played by Viru. He showed to the world what he is made of, with his mind boggling knock of 318. Hats off to Sehwag, with what an ease he lead the ball across the boundary rope is really commendable. He has even set a record for scoring the fastest triple hundred in test cricket. Unfortunately his claim of breaking Brian Lara’s record was not accomplished but his score of 319 spoke volumes about his talent, fitness and commitment. This was enough to shut the mouths of his critics including mine. The visitors were helpless in front of this legend just left every spectator of the game spellbound. This was a much needed knock for Sehwag and of course marks a fresh beginning to Sehwag in world cricket.

I found this Marathi Poem on Sachin in a thread in Sachin’s orkut community. I am very impressed by it and hence thought of posting it here for the pleasure of Sachin fans here It is written by Suresh Shirodkar a Sachin fan. The English translation which follows the Marathi version is done by another person in the community who calls himself: Still Rocking. Nice piece of work! To read the poem in its original form and Devnagri script you can visit the poet’s blog: http://skarsuresh.blogspot.com/2008/02/blog-post_14.html He also has other interesting poetry in Marathi.

Veeranchi hi virat nagari
Shuranchi hi ranbhoomi
Jithe tyanchch gatat kirti
Tithe ek janmali lahan murty

Ranangani ya chendufalichya
Thikrya udavuni golandajanchya
Vikaram modnarya ya vikramaditylalch
Sosava lagto aaj tikecha maar

Khelala tar mhantat tyaat kai vishesh
Nahitar kartat tikecha abhishek
Marava shatak tar mhantat swarthy
Nahitar padtat dharatirthy

Chehara tyacha pahuni gonads
Miyan mhanala batli dya tondat
Pan hantach shatkar quadirla
Vishvachi sara hadarla

Moothmati deuni swatchya pityla
Gela rananganat punha ladhayla
Pan kase mhantat khulchatpatu
Miltat nota mhanun ladhto beta

Don hi vadle bolavuni ghara
Mazyasama hach khara
Pan mahabhaganchya aklecha tora
Hyachyapeksha dhobi bara

Sharajat hota prasanga baka
Tyat aankhi aala vadalacha dhoka
Pan jiddine ladhla khandaveer
Nahi rokhu shakle kangarooche teer

Match fixing ghdale tyachyach kalat
Pan kadhi nahi govala bookinchya galat
Garvane khelela deshasathi sada
Nahi kadhi aanli desh-hitavar gada

Gurujini hi sodla fusaka ban
Ki nahi urla yachyat ram
Pan gurujich gele vanvasi
Aani hyane galala khara gham

Ek karma ani ekach arjun
Ek bhishma ani ek abhimanyu
Yugamaguni yuge geli
Nahi janmale dusare ajun

Mag dhyani theva ananyano
Itihasachi hi parampara
Zale bahu hotilahi bahu
Pan yasam hach khara

English translation by another Orkut user: Still Rocking

In the great city (or battlefield) of great warriors
And in the land of warriors
And where He always get worshiped by people
There born a short man (but only by height)

On the battleground of cricket
He always used to bang opposition bowlers
But Alas! That record king is always get targeted by critics

If he plays then critics says, what’s great in that?
Otherwise they (critics) scold him with curse
if he hits century critics says, he is selfish
otherwise they used to scold him regularly

By seeing his gorgeous face
Miandad barks “give him nipple “
But when he banged Quadir
Whole world get stunned

After buried his father
He goes to battlefield with big heart
But mad pupils said that
“He is playing for money”

Even Don Bradman invites him to his house
And tell that “You’re really like me”
But, what to say about those peoples?
Who said that washer man, is better than him

In Sharjah when we were in critical phase
And when twister is in front of us
But he played like warriors
And even kangaroos were failed to stop him

Match-fixing also happened in his time
But he never forgot his ethics and not falls upon bookies offer
He always plays for nation’s pride
And always looks for nation’s interest

Guruji(Greg chappel) fires useless bullet (i.e make nonsense comment)
That now his time is over
But guruji got kicked-out
And Sachin remains untouched

There was only one Karna and one Arjun
Only one Bhishma and one Abhimanyu
Even after years and years
They would not born again

Then keep this in mind anonyms
One thing never change
There was many, there will born many
But He is ultimate

Hi friends…

www.sachintendulkar.co.cc
Itz my article on sachin tendulkar

Plz read and enter your comments in the gust book.

hi
friends here i have a website which give you all latest happenings in cricket and latest score cards news and more
http://www.cricketsinfo.webs.com/

Any comments on the ongoing cricket test match between India & SouthAfrica ? I’m mighty pleased that i din’t actually buy tickets to watch this match live @ chepauk. The first thing that i seem to hate about this test match is the lifeless, ruthless pitch that has been set. It looks like even my grand dad would score a double hundred on this track. There’s hardly anything for the bowlers, and least should i mention about the burning hot climate here at Chennai. Yeah i do agree 20 wickets have fallen in 3.5 days. But would anyone object if i rather say, it was the batsman who lost their wickets out of exhaustion rather than the bowlers claiming it

Oflate there’s been too much for the batsman’s on offer. Bowlers are not taken into account whatsoever. Should the ICC rise to the occassion, and make sure pitches are prepared in such a manner that there’s something in for the bowlers aswell. I feel sorry for each and every bowler who were asked to bowl on this DEAD FLAT BATTING TRACK. One helluva boring test match, and im surprised to see people smiling and dancing on the isles.

Pitches in India have always been this way. There’s hardly anything in there for the bowlers. Well this to me doesnt looks a best practise to nurture budding bowlers. Its time the Indian cricket board have a serious look at this aspect of the game and do the needful to ensure quality pitches in place. Quality pitches not only makes the contest fascinating, but also gives a fair chance to both of the teams to compete. I am not sure how many of you guys out here would agree to me, Well to me i do feel this is not how Cricket should be played

Same old same old. India’s playing 11 for the First Test in Chennai?

The 10 spots are quite obvious (or are they?) It is the 11th that is always most interesting.

Jafar, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman, Dhoni, Pathan, Kumble, Sreesanth.

Who would get the nod for the 11th spot? Bhajji or Chawla or RP? Or will Pathan open with Sehwag again and allow for 5 bowler attack of Pathan, Sreesanth, RP, Kumble & Bhajji (Chawla)?

If Jafar plays then considering it is Chennai, India will play 2 seamers, 2 spinners attack, so one of RP or Sreesanth will miss out.

Makes sense?

Last night, I was watching Cricket Controversies on NDTV. The host Sonali has always been my favorite sports anchor and Jadeja is probably the only guy in media who is levelheaded and gives out sensible comments as far as cricket in India is concerned. But last night, I was in for a surprise.

Dean Jones was called upon as the special guest and he was in for a surprise too. There were lots of arguments about the sledging, the controversies, and all that jazz. But the one that got my goat was Sonali’s argument that India is the number one team in the world.

Excuse me? Did I hear it right? The number one team in the world? What about Australia? And the funniest part was, she backed up her claim with what could be considered the stupidest argument ever. She said - In boxing, whenever a boxer knocks out the defending champion, he is considered the number one. Why not in cricket?

Oh poor Sonali. She seemed to have missed out a very important point about boxing. In boxing, the champion, the number one boxer, always defends his world title in a match. So, the match is actually for the world title. So, if the other guy beats the champion, he becomes number one automatically.

Now, contrast this with the tri-series. Was the series played for the number one spot? In other words, were the Australians defending their World Cup? Not by a long way. Then how the hell do these people in media think that we are the number one team in the world?

Indians, for a long, long time, have been suffering from something called ‘Problem in Perception Syndrome’. We get over excited about our victories and losses. Australians have won 16 test matches in a row, they have won three world cups consecutively, and even won the champions trophy at our very own backyard. And hell, they even won the one day series right here in India a few months back, right? How the hell can you simply rubbish all these achievements and say that “we’ve beaten you in a one-day series, so we are number one?”

Please note, I’m not rubbishing India’s victory. I’m not saying that it’s not a great win. All I’m saying is, we still have to prove a lot of things in international cricket. Let’s keep this momentum going. Let’s beat Australia a few more times. Let’s beat all other teams a few more times. Let’s lift the world cup. Then, we can proclaim that we are the number one. Remember - Australians didn’t become number one overnight. They did it continuously, consistently for 15 long years. Let’s take a leaf out of their book and start doing it. If we do, there is no need for us to state that we are number one. People all over the world will know that we are number one and pay the respect that we deserve.

Cricket happens to be one of the most exciting sport atleast in India. The passion for cricket in India is immaculate. This goes to show the credibilitiy fo the game. T20 form of cricket seems to be the latest mantra and it threatens to challenge the 50-50 form of game. The first time i remember following the T20 was during the recently concluded WorldCup which India won. Oflate a lots of T20 ICL matches are going on.

Well its all nice to see so many matches happening day in and day out. But having said that, dont you guys feel its a bit of too much dozage now ? Im slowly beginning to lose interest and i can easily sense that. Well this is bcos of the too much dozage of T20 cricket these days. And what makes it worse is, the Bollywood stars performing on the stage after each innings. To me, that looks as cheap as it gets. This is a sport and not a midnight party wherein people come to see glamorous queens shaking their hips all round. Well this should never be encouraged. I can foresee a future which is taking cricket nowhere. As a cricket fan,im now concerned of the future of the game. IPL is about to begin, and i have no doubts in my mind that the Bollywood intervention iz just gonna be more, and its really not gonna be the Cricket we wish to see. I am not sure if all you guys align with me on this regard, but to me this is not the way to go

Its time the ICC steps in and do their bit to have a check on all thats been going on and make sure Cricket lives. If this continues, sooner than later people out here would slowly and surely lose interest in the game. Lets also not forget, with so much money in the reckoning, the players would no longer be destined to always play for their country. Even a player is dropped from the squad, he ll feel happy cos’ better fun and better money awaits him in IPL n ICL respectively..What say guys ?

We know about England’s plans of coming up with their own league and hence the reason for the ban on English players from participating in the IPL. I was reading elsewhere about the possibility of a PPL or Pakistan Premiere League… Is this for real? I am not sure I can attest to the source of the info but if it is true I am sure other countries would jump in the bandwagon and make their respective ‘Country’ Premier Leagues.

Do you think we are going to see ‘Sri Lanka Premiere League’ or ‘Australia Premiere League’ or ‘South Africa Premiere League’ in the coming years? If that does happen to come true what are your predictions about the future of Cricket? Will it become a commodity? Will it lose its charm? There sure is room for a few other “premier leagues” not sure how many though. What will be interesting to see is for how long these leagues would remain international in the true sense of the word. Of course the good thing about this is that cricketers from all over the world will now be able to participate in international cricket. In US there are amateur leagues where players from different parts of the world form a league and the teams within the league. And this could enable that to happen at a professional level now.