We've had so much of Twenty20 action in the last three odd months that the final of the World Cup at Lords will be anticipated by most for both relief as much as for an end to a long continuing saga of skill,money,entertainment and most of all cricket in itself-something that might not be in today's "slam bang thank you mam" terms as important as the others but indispensable to keep them running nevertheless.
Why Sunday's final is important to this non stop T20 action,which started out right from the time IPL-2 went under way is also because of one very special reason.It is going to be a match pitting two teams from the sub continent that were torn apart mid way through an on going series.As a matter of fact an on-going match.The Lankans were on their way to a test victory riding on Samaraweera's double ton and Mendis's first go on Pakistani soil in tests.The Pakistanis were fast losing credibility as a bankable team,better yet trustable hosts.After the Lahore attacks,both these nations had unfinished business in various degrees to tend to.
How time catches up.
Sri Lanka have almost rummaged through teams this season on their way to the final on the 21st while the Pakistanis-besides probably the semis to some extent,have had a roller coaster ride,as has been their cricket story in the last 2 years.Players failing dope tests like they were taken straight out of sleazy pubs,bowling actions going wrong,management turmoils and so on.
The Lahore attacks have made them a certainty for at least the next year or so to not host a major tournament on their soil,for no nation would be willing to field their players,worried more about how they'd make it back to their hotels safely without having to see themselves or a mate blow apart with their team buses.
What that incident did do was set fire in the belly of one of the most underrated and the most dangerous cricket playing nations.Diplomatically and monetarily hurt enough on the world stage,the one thing that the Pakistanis do hold very dearly to their heart,as do all sub continental teams is cricket.It wasn't something they wanted anyone to take away from them just as one thing after another was being snatched away or forsaken by them under pressure or willingly either around the border or to the union of 50 states some 7000 miles to the east.
Sri Lanka on the other hand were traumatized.More physically yet even more so mentally.Theirs is also a nation traumatized by wars and naxalites.Sri Lanka is also a nation that doesn't have much to boast about than their cricket.And god help those who were going to stop them from playing it with mere bombs and bullets.More than pride and glory to redeem,the Lankans are trying to ascertain yet again of their weight on the global stage as a powerful cricketing nation that can win games away from home,as small a format as it might be.
The Pakistanis have no choice but to force the impression on the nations that do comprise the entity that is the ICC,that theirs is a respectable unit and a singular unfortunate event shouldn't end any chance of further negotiations for an international event to be held on their turfs.For this,they seem determined to go any distance.And that is good for cricket,if not merely for the confidence of the 11 men who comprise the squad on a given day.
Sunday's event is going to be huge.Given the intricacies of how things have unraveled,and considering Afridi has already played out his all his luck for the entire year against the Africans,the Lankans shouldn't have much of a problem lifting the cup and being T20 world cup winners for 2009.
But considering it's going to be Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka,it's any body's guess who the real winner is.
For the time being,let's just take it to be cricket itself.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
Urn-est spirit conquers all
Come this July,one of the most anticipated sporting events in world sport shall commence.Monetarily or star valued,it may not be as big as the IPL or the coinciding Wimbledon,but the Ashes will more than easily make up with toil,sweat and pride at stake alone.While Center court accommodates Roger Federer as he gambles on one of the last few chances of his professional life to prove the last year and a half was merely bad luck,some of the most picturesque cricketing grounds in Europe will be witnessing a battle,that for the first time in many years-in fact decades,promises to be evenly fought.
Australia's dominance in all forms of cricket was slowly dismantled by South Africa's methodical claim to the throne with aid from India to break them down brick by brick.With most of the war horses either retired or sacked,the Aussie team is as vulnerable as an infant snatched from a mother and wounded as much within.Without Ricky Ponting himself,none of the top or middle order speaks of much experience or class,not counting Micheal Hussey's first class dexterity or Micheal Clarke's energy to be gunning to usurp the inevitable throne vacancy.
England seem to have found themselves a brutally determined statesman whose bat seems to have suddenly picked up to speak from Pietersen's seems to have suddenly halted.Pietersen is
still batting only marginally less than what he is usually used to.And by that,it means a singular century every series and a 50 every alternate match.That is still top notch by English standards,but only few could truly swear of Pietersen's ancestral belongings as being genuinely English.
Andrew Strauss has been able to come up with spectacular colors that in all probabilities even he wasn't aware of until recently.In the last year and a half,he has scored 7 of his 17 centuries and averages a good 10 runs higher than his career stats indicate.The Pietersen drama led the crown to find it's way to a person's head,where it should have rightfully landed even before he took over for the Pakistan series,resulting from Flintoff's injury.Not to say that under Strauss,the 5-0 drubbing could've been avoided in Australia as even under Strauss himself,Sri Lanka did exactly that and so too on England turfs.
Places for the seamers are up for grabs in the Aussie camp like never before and even though they don't have an official spinner,Nathan Hauirtz's veteran 4 match Test record not
withstanding,2 of the spots are already guaranteed.Ponting would be labeled insane to let go of Peter Siddle,so earnestly has he flung the Kookaburra and it would only be fair reward if he at least got one end to do the same with the red Wales cork.Mitchell Johnson could do only so much to not make skipper if both Ponting and Clarke failed to get up to the alarm on match day.
As far as the other 1 or 2 places,Stuart Clark and a fitter looking Lee will be dueling with Hilfenhaus while a triple threat ensues on the sidelines between Watson,McDonald and Marcus North for the No.6 position.
With most or all of the finest of players that made Australia the team it was for more than a decade missing from the current squad,Ricky Ponting will be riding against time to get his hands on the urn in England-the one achievement still missing from his impeccable list of achievements.He has been part of 18 Ashes triumphs,7 of them in England and 10 as skipper but never once has he led the team to win in a series in England.
Another worrying factor is that of the 7 he did lead the team in,his average is a dismal 32 with only 1 ton.That's one of many rare blemishes that'll haunt him to his grave if he finishes unfinished this time around.
While Strauss seems to have suddenly found a hunger that has only come in great timing for the English camp,Ponting seems to be on a downward spiral for his standards.Since 2008,he has added only 4 tons to his mind numbing bank of centuries and averages around 10 lesser than his career average-in complete reciprocal of Strauss's new found drive.
As like Strauss,Ponting too has an outstanding record playing as captain against England(as against other countries)and like some eerie co-incidence both of them average close to 60 as captains,a different deal being that Ponting has been captaining his side right from around the time Strauss made his debut for England as player.
England will be missing the services of some of their star players from 2005 as well with the likes of Simon Jones,Matthew Hoggard and even if Flintoff plays,one can't be really sure of his contribution with recurring injuries worse than when Ashish Nehra once donned the Indian colors.In the midst of all this confusion,one man the England camp might trully miss is the man who actually led them to their only triumph in almost 2 decades-Micheal Vaughaun.They might not only miss the best 1 down player to ever play for their team,they might well miss out on the best strategist they could afford on field to go along with Andy flower off it.
Ian Bell has been awfully shaky at No.3 and is a safely assumed omission from the playing eleven and while Ravi Bopara has proved his presence in the team with 2 centuries in not a lot of tests both home and away,an Ashes series with a resilient and wounded Lee and an agonizingly disciplined Siddle is going to be very different than facing a Fidel Edwards concentrating more on breaking an 8 down James Anderson's visor than providing break throughs for the country he plays for.
England are on road to redemption.Suddenly,they seem to finally possess the sort of spirit they never believed they had for the last 4 years and that too only marginally while the Ashes was still on then.Under a determined new captain and a pack of wolves gunning for the middle order,they'd be foolish to not let momentum take them forward from here and not regaining the trophy they so miserably gave away only an year after having earned it so remarkably.
Australia on the other hand are also on the road to redemption.Although,probably not in the exact same way,they're riding high on handing back the stick to South Africa on their home turf.They are still the world's best team.It's going to take quite an effort from a resilient English camp to dislodge them from their mantle and let the Africans rule the world or Dhoni's newly manufactured unit start dictating terms.All said,guards shall be taken and prides set on the tables.Lips shall be smacked and Adam's apples shall wobble.
For this is one contest the queen wouldn't want to miss.Least of all us-the mere spectators.
Australia's dominance in all forms of cricket was slowly dismantled by South Africa's methodical claim to the throne with aid from India to break them down brick by brick.With most of the war horses either retired or sacked,the Aussie team is as vulnerable as an infant snatched from a mother and wounded as much within.Without Ricky Ponting himself,none of the top or middle order speaks of much experience or class,not counting Micheal Hussey's first class dexterity or Micheal Clarke's energy to be gunning to usurp the inevitable throne vacancy.
England seem to have found themselves a brutally determined statesman whose bat seems to have suddenly picked up to speak from Pietersen's seems to have suddenly halted.Pietersen is
still batting only marginally less than what he is usually used to.And by that,it means a singular century every series and a 50 every alternate match.That is still top notch by English standards,but only few could truly swear of Pietersen's ancestral belongings as being genuinely English.Andrew Strauss has been able to come up with spectacular colors that in all probabilities even he wasn't aware of until recently.In the last year and a half,he has scored 7 of his 17 centuries and averages a good 10 runs higher than his career stats indicate.The Pietersen drama led the crown to find it's way to a person's head,where it should have rightfully landed even before he took over for the Pakistan series,resulting from Flintoff's injury.Not to say that under Strauss,the 5-0 drubbing could've been avoided in Australia as even under Strauss himself,Sri Lanka did exactly that and so too on England turfs.
Places for the seamers are up for grabs in the Aussie camp like never before and even though they don't have an official spinner,Nathan Hauirtz's veteran 4 match Test record not
withstanding,2 of the spots are already guaranteed.Ponting would be labeled insane to let go of Peter Siddle,so earnestly has he flung the Kookaburra and it would only be fair reward if he at least got one end to do the same with the red Wales cork.Mitchell Johnson could do only so much to not make skipper if both Ponting and Clarke failed to get up to the alarm on match day.As far as the other 1 or 2 places,Stuart Clark and a fitter looking Lee will be dueling with Hilfenhaus while a triple threat ensues on the sidelines between Watson,McDonald and Marcus North for the No.6 position.
With most or all of the finest of players that made Australia the team it was for more than a decade missing from the current squad,Ricky Ponting will be riding against time to get his hands on the urn in England-the one achievement still missing from his impeccable list of achievements.He has been part of 18 Ashes triumphs,7 of them in England and 10 as skipper but never once has he led the team to win in a series in England.
Another worrying factor is that of the 7 he did lead the team in,his average is a dismal 32 with only 1 ton.That's one of many rare blemishes that'll haunt him to his grave if he finishes unfinished this time around.
While Strauss seems to have suddenly found a hunger that has only come in great timing for the English camp,Ponting seems to be on a downward spiral for his standards.Since 2008,he has added only 4 tons to his mind numbing bank of centuries and averages around 10 lesser than his career average-in complete reciprocal of Strauss's new found drive.
As like Strauss,Ponting too has an outstanding record playing as captain against England(as against other countries)and like some eerie co-incidence both of them average close to 60 as captains,a different deal being that Ponting has been captaining his side right from around the time Strauss made his debut for England as player.
England will be missing the services of some of their star players from 2005 as well with the likes of Simon Jones,Matthew Hoggard and even if Flintoff plays,one can't be really sure of his contribution with recurring injuries worse than when Ashish Nehra once donned the Indian colors.In the midst of all this confusion,one man the England camp might trully miss is the man who actually led them to their only triumph in almost 2 decades-Micheal Vaughaun.They might not only miss the best 1 down player to ever play for their team,they might well miss out on the best strategist they could afford on field to go along with Andy flower off it.
Ian Bell has been awfully shaky at No.3 and is a safely assumed omission from the playing eleven and while Ravi Bopara has proved his presence in the team with 2 centuries in not a lot of tests both home and away,an Ashes series with a resilient and wounded Lee and an agonizingly disciplined Siddle is going to be very different than facing a Fidel Edwards concentrating more on breaking an 8 down James Anderson's visor than providing break throughs for the country he plays for.
England are on road to redemption.Suddenly,they seem to finally possess the sort of spirit they never believed they had for the last 4 years and that too only marginally while the Ashes was still on then.Under a determined new captain and a pack of wolves gunning for the middle order,they'd be foolish to not let momentum take them forward from here and not regaining the trophy they so miserably gave away only an year after having earned it so remarkably.
Australia on the other hand are also on the road to redemption.Although,probably not in the exact same way,they're riding high on handing back the stick to South Africa on their home turf.They are still the world's best team.It's going to take quite an effort from a resilient English camp to dislodge them from their mantle and let the Africans rule the world or Dhoni's newly manufactured unit start dictating terms.All said,guards shall be taken and prides set on the tables.Lips shall be smacked and Adam's apples shall wobble.
For this is one contest the queen wouldn't want to miss.Least of all us-the mere spectators.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Canny resemblance
Gautam Gambhir is the best opening batsman in the world today.There are no two ways about it.There are 2 men who come real close in comparison of form in the current category-Virender Sehwag and Graeme Smith.Both of them have played around thrice the number of tests that Gambhir has played and have as many times the number of runs but are not a lot older.Gambhir has a long way to go.But there's another story that needs telling.
Not very long ago,another man made his test debut for a country which was then the indisputable number 1 cricket unit in existence exactly a year after Gambhir made his.While Gambhir was only 23 years when he was called in to represent the tri-color,the other was 30,following mammoth first class scores totaling in excess of 15,000 runs.That man in the frame is Micheal Hussey,as must've been easily guessed by now.
While many might dispute the theory of resemblance between the two batsmen,one can't help but notice the string of scores that Hussey made as soon as his sojourn with the national team started back in 2005.He was already a veteran then.A veteran of around 180 four and five day matches at the first class level.Critics and former cricketers,while welcoming him with open arms,could only do so much by not hurling themselves at selectors asking them as to how such a talent could not have been spotted earlier.
Hussey made century after century,piled up the runs by heaps and went on to become an indispensable vertebrae of the Aussie spine.Mr.Cricket-he was called and no one dared to dispute it.Heck it wouldn't have been shocking to see a score card carrying a batsman's name on the left followed by a "ct.Mr.Cricket b.Lee" on the right.
Hussey's rise was almost destined.There was a stigma attached to every one of his innings.Much like Rahul Dravid's in the mid 2000s.Or when Gavaskar made sure the West Indians cursed their career's time span co-inciding with his.Australia breathed easy every time a 3rd wicket went down.Their pulses settled at the sight of a brisk,responsible looking Hussey with his trademark sunscreen on the nose,striding-in fact hopping to the crease,taking his guard,rubbing his foot to mark it,flashing the thumbs up sign to the umpire,ready to face the first ball,all in a single sweeping moment.
Michael Hussey was branded to be the next Donald Bradman,and so he seemed to-age on his side or otherwise.The way he was going,Sachin Tendulkar's test records and stats or Ponting's mercurial centuries burst after 2001 or Rahul Dravid's world wide acclaim as the strongest pillar of any batting team in the world seemed to be in grave danger with the way Hussey was headed.He was invincible.Nothing seemed enough to stop him.
Hussey avenged his late calling into the team with every opportunity he got in the form of a test innings or an ODI or a T20.He made the best of everything.And the opposition payed.They payed dearly.In a way,it was almost like the selectors of the national team had done more good than bad by calling him in so late.They had unleashed a run machine on the world.A machine that demanded redemption by churning out run after run with dizzying consistency.
Over time,something else seemed to stop Michael Hussey's dream run.Something gradually stopped every innings of his that seemed to grow from single to double to triple digits in no time.Something seemed to be creeping into those eyes that never betrayed fear,concern or dismay if any.Something was stopping him from taking off his helmet after yet another century and saluting a standing crowd at Colosseums all over the world.Something was turning Hussey from coming up with unbelievable herculean antics to measly human failings.
Something to the tune of reality.
While Hussey battled with the harder face of test match cricket,another relatively smaller boy with equal amounts of determination and focus started making rapid strides in the world of bigger names and flashy flamboyant styles of stroke making.The other added dis advantage that Gambhir faced as far as his own notice in people's eyes was concerned was the fact that his partner was none other than Virender Sehwag himself.A man,considered by most to be the most destructive player of any kind of attack on any surface,provided it was his day.
The advantage was also the very fact that it was Sehwag that Gambhir had as a partner to open with.After all,Sehwag was a monster with the bat but a gentleman with his mates.He aided Gambhir's growth and enjoyed his sucess.The chemistry was sizzling.The coordination-exemplary.The result being that India,under MS Dhoni,is arguably the best team in world cricket today.
Why it is also important to notice along the eerie co incidences and comparisons is the fact that Hussey's and Gambhir's graphs have met mid way through their careers.But not after starting at the same point and continuing along.It has now met after Hussey's graph has spiraled down from what people refer to as "bradmanesque" standards to more humane platforms.An average of 55 from over 90.While Gambhir's has grown from 32 in 2007 to 54 right now.In the last 12 tests he has 5 centuries and 7 half centuries.Gambhir punches his bat on his pads with disgust when gets out after scoring 167 on the most grueling of cricket grounds,at not having been able to make a double hundred.That's the standard he has taken himself to.Whilw Hussey is scared now at being out to 40s and 50s.He is desperate to convert.And that's where his graph has met that of Gambhir's.
Gautam Gambhir will never be talked in the same breadth as a Sehwag or a Gavaskar.Well,not if even his career spirals down the Hussey way.This is not to say either that Hussey's time is over.But with not a lot of years to go,it would be but wise to at least question his dominance in the world charts if not completely write him off.
This is a tale of two differently rated individuals.One a little over rated perhaps and the other well lesser than deserved.But it's a tale of two heroes.Two men with hearts larger than their chests can fill.One seems to be on his way to write history in his own uncluttered,unassuming,calm,mature,responsible manner.Just like the other opening south paw after being once dropped from the national side many many years ago.Someone called Matthew Hayden.
Whether Gambhir can go on to become India's greatest opener is dependent on two crucial factors.1)Virender Sehwag's sanity,2)Gambhir's own ability to keep going.By the time Sehwag is finished,assuming he finishes on his own and not because of the team believing he is too dangerous for his own cause,he would definitely finish around in excess of 10,000 test runs.And that would put him in a completely different league,if stats and prowess alone haven't already.Calculating all that,it would take more than just will and focus that Gambhir currently has in abundance to be talked in that very league.
If he doesn't it still wouldn't be too bad,considering his focus is to help his team get starts and not to overshadow a man most consider Sachin Tendulkar's more dangerous clone.One can only hope he doesn't have to end his career,finishing off where he started exactly a year and a half ago,averaging 32.If that does happen,other comparisons will take place.That with a man called Vinod Kambli.Or a certain Sadagoppan Ramesh.
And it won't be as pretty as being compared to men allegedly at spiraling downward curves of their careers,still averaging 55.
Not very long ago,another man made his test debut for a country which was then the indisputable number 1 cricket unit in existence exactly a year after Gambhir made his.While Gambhir was only 23 years when he was called in to represent the tri-color,the other was 30,following mammoth first class scores totaling in excess of 15,000 runs.That man in the frame is Micheal Hussey,as must've been easily guessed by now.
While many might dispute the theory of resemblance between the two batsmen,one can't help but notice the string of scores that Hussey made as soon as his sojourn with the national team started back in 2005.He was already a veteran then.A veteran of around 180 four and five day matches at the first class level.Critics and former cricketers,while welcoming him with open arms,could only do so much by not hurling themselves at selectors asking them as to how such a talent could not have been spotted earlier.
Hussey made century after century,piled up the runs by heaps and went on to become an indispensable vertebrae of the Aussie spine.Mr.Cricket-he was called and no one dared to dispute it.Heck it wouldn't have been shocking to see a score card carrying a batsman's name on the left followed by a "ct.Mr.Cricket b.Lee" on the right.
Hussey's rise was almost destined.There was a stigma attached to every one of his innings.Much like Rahul Dravid's in the mid 2000s.Or when Gavaskar made sure the West Indians cursed their career's time span co-inciding with his.Australia breathed easy every time a 3rd wicket went down.Their pulses settled at the sight of a brisk,responsible looking Hussey with his trademark sunscreen on the nose,striding-in fact hopping to the crease,taking his guard,rubbing his foot to mark it,flashing the thumbs up sign to the umpire,ready to face the first ball,all in a single sweeping moment.
Michael Hussey was branded to be the next Donald Bradman,and so he seemed to-age on his side or otherwise.The way he was going,Sachin Tendulkar's test records and stats or Ponting's mercurial centuries burst after 2001 or Rahul Dravid's world wide acclaim as the strongest pillar of any batting team in the world seemed to be in grave danger with the way Hussey was headed.He was invincible.Nothing seemed enough to stop him.
Hussey avenged his late calling into the team with every opportunity he got in the form of a test innings or an ODI or a T20.He made the best of everything.And the opposition payed.They payed dearly.In a way,it was almost like the selectors of the national team had done more good than bad by calling him in so late.They had unleashed a run machine on the world.A machine that demanded redemption by churning out run after run with dizzying consistency.
Over time,something else seemed to stop Michael Hussey's dream run.Something gradually stopped every innings of his that seemed to grow from single to double to triple digits in no time.Something seemed to be creeping into those eyes that never betrayed fear,concern or dismay if any.Something was stopping him from taking off his helmet after yet another century and saluting a standing crowd at Colosseums all over the world.Something was turning Hussey from coming up with unbelievable herculean antics to measly human failings.
Something to the tune of reality.
While Hussey battled with the harder face of test match cricket,another relatively smaller boy with equal amounts of determination and focus started making rapid strides in the world of bigger names and flashy flamboyant styles of stroke making.The other added dis advantage that Gambhir faced as far as his own notice in people's eyes was concerned was the fact that his partner was none other than Virender Sehwag himself.A man,considered by most to be the most destructive player of any kind of attack on any surface,provided it was his day.
The advantage was also the very fact that it was Sehwag that Gambhir had as a partner to open with.After all,Sehwag was a monster with the bat but a gentleman with his mates.He aided Gambhir's growth and enjoyed his sucess.The chemistry was sizzling.The coordination-exemplary.The result being that India,under MS Dhoni,is arguably the best team in world cricket today.
Why it is also important to notice along the eerie co incidences and comparisons is the fact that Hussey's and Gambhir's graphs have met mid way through their careers.But not after starting at the same point and continuing along.It has now met after Hussey's graph has spiraled down from what people refer to as "bradmanesque" standards to more humane platforms.An average of 55 from over 90.While Gambhir's has grown from 32 in 2007 to 54 right now.In the last 12 tests he has 5 centuries and 7 half centuries.Gambhir punches his bat on his pads with disgust when gets out after scoring 167 on the most grueling of cricket grounds,at not having been able to make a double hundred.That's the standard he has taken himself to.Whilw Hussey is scared now at being out to 40s and 50s.He is desperate to convert.And that's where his graph has met that of Gambhir's.
Gautam Gambhir will never be talked in the same breadth as a Sehwag or a Gavaskar.Well,not if even his career spirals down the Hussey way.This is not to say either that Hussey's time is over.But with not a lot of years to go,it would be but wise to at least question his dominance in the world charts if not completely write him off.This is a tale of two differently rated individuals.One a little over rated perhaps and the other well lesser than deserved.But it's a tale of two heroes.Two men with hearts larger than their chests can fill.One seems to be on his way to write history in his own uncluttered,unassuming,calm,mature,responsible manner.Just like the other opening south paw after being once dropped from the national side many many years ago.Someone called Matthew Hayden.
Whether Gambhir can go on to become India's greatest opener is dependent on two crucial factors.1)Virender Sehwag's sanity,2)Gambhir's own ability to keep going.By the time Sehwag is finished,assuming he finishes on his own and not because of the team believing he is too dangerous for his own cause,he would definitely finish around in excess of 10,000 test runs.And that would put him in a completely different league,if stats and prowess alone haven't already.Calculating all that,it would take more than just will and focus that Gambhir currently has in abundance to be talked in that very league.
If he doesn't it still wouldn't be too bad,considering his focus is to help his team get starts and not to overshadow a man most consider Sachin Tendulkar's more dangerous clone.One can only hope he doesn't have to end his career,finishing off where he started exactly a year and a half ago,averaging 32.If that does happen,other comparisons will take place.That with a man called Vinod Kambli.Or a certain Sadagoppan Ramesh.
And it won't be as pretty as being compared to men allegedly at spiraling downward curves of their careers,still averaging 55.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The sword has fallen.One final time.
Edward Aloysius Murphy wouldn't have dreamt in his most bizarre hang-overs that there will be an extension to his proposed philosophy by some margin-"What was always waiting to go wrong,will be forced to,by the people knowing that it could."
The fate of a country producing one of the finest cricketing talents in the world in the past many years has been at least officially sealed.By only 6 masked gunmen representing metaphorically,the hordes of people running the most debilitated political and social systems in the history of modern civilization.
Before this year,test cricket was organized in Pakistan 14 months ago.Some of the most ardent cricket lovers I am friends with,had difficulty making out a full 11 man squad of players from the team they last saw when asked to.Teams were petrified at the idea of flying down to Karachi International airport at the prospect of their planes being either hijacked or shot down by unassuming militia of either the Taliban or the LeT or the hordes of other so called "men of god".
It wouldn't be fair to just say that this marks a black day in the history of Cricket in general for it seems like competitive cricket was almost phased out from Pakistan,step by step,as easily as Hutch turned from orange to pink and from Cellforce to Vodafone,without most people even realizing it.People have almost come to terms with the fact that there shall be no cricket held in or around Pakistan(not counting Gujarat,but that's in India!)and even if there is an ODI series involving the 9th most failed state in the world,it'll probably be held close to some desert in a country,most people would ask for your bat to try and dig up a well of oil.
For the next many more months,or probably years to come,there shall be no cricket in Pakistan.At least with players of countries who still want their citizens to live on with all the parts of their bodies intact.There shall be many more Nadeem Ashrafs either made to be the proverbial scapegoat or actually taking a dip in the country's misery like it was all part of a "plan".Mumbai attacks or Ahmedabad blasts not withstanding,Pakistan in itself is going down to forces it probably has fed with fertilizers with it's own hands.Or so we should be thinking,for even this could be a neatly devised political agenda to attain the world's sympathy under whose scrutiny it faces immense diplomatic and military pressure.
But this has come a far way from Politics.Beyond any possible stage of repair.I only shudder to fathom the enormity of the repercussions had India decided to keep sports apart and toured the country like England did to us.Try to think of the kind of pressure Pakistan would have had to deal with had a bullet even scratched the shirt of someone like a Sachin Tendulkar.This is not to say that the lives of equally talented players from a Sinhalese kingdom far south are less important.No.But in that scenario,we could have possibly faced the prospect of an all out war.Mohammad Asif's drug sojourn and Shoaib Akhtar's night club brawls seem to deserve a reprimand from a kindergarten teacher in comparison.
It's the end of many a tumultuous decade;it's even surprising to say that turbulence can last so long.World cup,Champion trophies being far cries,a Rahul Dravid Lahore or a Virender Sehwag Multan seem like being one off events lost permanently to history.There shall be no such orchestras in the land of the Pathans.At least not in the foreseeable future.Pakistan can try harder now and promise even further security or even arrange for the Border Security Force to form a wall around the boundaries,if only a decent test playing nation wishes to tour.
But then it won't be cricket.No one wants to be in or around a playing field,where a batsman looks in circles trying to spot a sniper in the stands than look for gaps in the field to get some runs at the depth.
It's all over for a country indispensable for a powerful and selfish few,and hated by most for reasons including cricket alongside politics.But in hindsight,Pakistan cricket was the bad boy of world cricket.Everyone wanted it to be in the bar and loved to pick fights but still wanted it to stay.Now it isn't the same anymore.The end has come.It had to sooner or later for sure.But it still hurts.
For reasons even I can't comprehend,it hurts to know that a land where histories were re-written and symphonies orchestrated,there won't even be a band anymore.
It hurts.Truth always does.
The fate of a country producing one of the finest cricketing talents in the world in the past many years has been at least officially sealed.By only 6 masked gunmen representing metaphorically,the hordes of people running the most debilitated political and social systems in the history of modern civilization.
Before this year,test cricket was organized in Pakistan 14 months ago.Some of the most ardent cricket lovers I am friends with,had difficulty making out a full 11 man squad of players from the team they last saw when asked to.Teams were petrified at the idea of flying down to Karachi International airport at the prospect of their planes being either hijacked or shot down by unassuming militia of either the Taliban or the LeT or the hordes of other so called "men of god".
It wouldn't be fair to just say that this marks a black day in the history of Cricket in general for it seems like competitive cricket was almost phased out from Pakistan,step by step,as easily as Hutch turned from orange to pink and from Cellforce to Vodafone,without most people even realizing it.People have almost come to terms with the fact that there shall be no cricket held in or around Pakistan(not counting Gujarat,but that's in India!)and even if there is an ODI series involving the 9th most failed state in the world,it'll probably be held close to some desert in a country,most people would ask for your bat to try and dig up a well of oil.
For the next many more months,or probably years to come,there shall be no cricket in Pakistan.At least with players of countries who still want their citizens to live on with all the parts of their bodies intact.There shall be many more Nadeem Ashrafs either made to be the proverbial scapegoat or actually taking a dip in the country's misery like it was all part of a "plan".Mumbai attacks or Ahmedabad blasts not withstanding,Pakistan in itself is going down to forces it probably has fed with fertilizers with it's own hands.Or so we should be thinking,for even this could be a neatly devised political agenda to attain the world's sympathy under whose scrutiny it faces immense diplomatic and military pressure.
But this has come a far way from Politics.Beyond any possible stage of repair.I only shudder to fathom the enormity of the repercussions had India decided to keep sports apart and toured the country like England did to us.Try to think of the kind of pressure Pakistan would have had to deal with had a bullet even scratched the shirt of someone like a Sachin Tendulkar.This is not to say that the lives of equally talented players from a Sinhalese kingdom far south are less important.No.But in that scenario,we could have possibly faced the prospect of an all out war.Mohammad Asif's drug sojourn and Shoaib Akhtar's night club brawls seem to deserve a reprimand from a kindergarten teacher in comparison.
It's the end of many a tumultuous decade;it's even surprising to say that turbulence can last so long.World cup,Champion trophies being far cries,a Rahul Dravid Lahore or a Virender Sehwag Multan seem like being one off events lost permanently to history.There shall be no such orchestras in the land of the Pathans.At least not in the foreseeable future.Pakistan can try harder now and promise even further security or even arrange for the Border Security Force to form a wall around the boundaries,if only a decent test playing nation wishes to tour.
But then it won't be cricket.No one wants to be in or around a playing field,where a batsman looks in circles trying to spot a sniper in the stands than look for gaps in the field to get some runs at the depth.
It's all over for a country indispensable for a powerful and selfish few,and hated by most for reasons including cricket alongside politics.But in hindsight,Pakistan cricket was the bad boy of world cricket.Everyone wanted it to be in the bar and loved to pick fights but still wanted it to stay.Now it isn't the same anymore.The end has come.It had to sooner or later for sure.But it still hurts.
For reasons even I can't comprehend,it hurts to know that a land where histories were re-written and symphonies orchestrated,there won't even be a band anymore.
It hurts.Truth always does.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Who's going to refer the referral?
Ever felt the sickening nausea hit you when you realize a system you have planned and built meticulously has boomeranged so hard that people find it hard to believe someone actually let you build it in the first place?
That's the kind of feeling the guys over at the ICC chambers must be feeling rushing through every bit of their nervous system after almost 10 months since the referral system was introduced,allegedly on a trail basis and heaven-knows-why,directly at the biggest arena of the game,a player,spectator,writer and everyone associated with the game aspires to be-test match cricket.
Enough has been debated about this referral system by now but quite frankly cricket is already in enough turmoil,what with the management at the Caribbean seemingly having resigned to the fact that there shall be an incident every single time an important tour takes place there.Viv Richards must've wanted to erase all memories of him taking his bat out in the field,arms swinging,gum chewing,splitting balls in two and in the process getting a tribute by means of getting a whole stadium built in his name.And what happens?Oh,well someone forgot to make sure it wasn't built on a beach.Big deal.Scmucks!!Keeps happening all the time at the Caribbean fellas!
Fast forward to test no.4 at the newly laid out lush green Kensington Oval.1st Innings,WI trailing England by more than 300 runs,4 wickets down.Anderson bowls to Chanderpaul,batting on 70.Ball hits in line,nips back,Chanderpaul raises his arms,doesn't offer a shot on the front foot;Ball clips the top of the pad way above the knee roll and the umpire gives this one out.Shiv,as does everyone watching the match on their sets,thinks the on-field adjudicators have gotta be kidding their wits.So he decided to use the newly laid out system supposed to usher in an era of justice,where no one goes back to the dug-out at least,unfairly.
The rule book states that,unless the 3rd umpire has absolute and "conclusive" evidence so as to clearly know of their being no discrepancy in the on field umpire's decision,only then can he revoke a decision.The catch here is,even after the 3rd umpire is allowed the use of technology,for some unimaginable self-righteous code,he isn't allowed the hawk-eye,or at least the movement of the ball after impact.
Now, Daryl Harper,the 3rd umpire is forced to make a decision on the basis of the half-available hawk eye and the rule book stating there to be no revoke in case of credible evidence not being present so as to overrule,this in spite the other fact that clearly there was no need of a man to have attended any geometry lessons in his entire school and college life to know the ball was going over the top .So forced to make a decision,in spite of knowing it to be the wrong one,Mr.Harper asks the guys on field to stick with the earlier decision.
Similar incident,half an hour later with the new batsmen at No 6.Brendan Nash.Struck in line,ball not doing much,seems high and given not out.This time Andrew Strauss and company appeal.Out of some un-foreseeable reason,where in Harper seemed to have suddenly grabbed his own hawk from the sky,allows for a sudden change of plans in the "conclusive evidence" part and judges it to have been a wrong decision by the guys at the middle.Aleem Dar crosses his arms at his shoulders(a sign of revoke,but more a sign of disgust to the game in reality)and gives it out.Where did the evidence of the sudden surety of the path of the ball come in from suddenly?Who cares?It's the Caribbean.No?Yeah.That's right.It's test match cricket Sir.
Now,either there is an additional rule in the ICC book not everyone is aware of.Or 3rd umpires get to have a drink or two occasionally as and when time permits while the game is still in progress for this sort of a bias to be explained or someone has got to come out with a system where in a re-referred referral could be referred to a 4th party,may be on the Internet while the game is conducted in the most shameful of ways possible,while people on the other hand still keep coming up with ways to make a test match possible on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean aka Viv Richards stadium.
It's a very simple logic that people still decide to play a game of cricket with human beings.Technology can go only so far as to make things more believable while even 'it' can't actually ascertain in totality,an occurrence of an event which never did occur in reality.There are only two ways as far as even thinking about implementing this new system goes.Start from the county level(something tested not satisfactorily)and make sure every possible resource is available to the 3rd umpire after a referral is made.
To put it in simpler words,if a referral is indeed made,the decision on whether or not it's out should be allowed to be taken by the new adjudicator in his individual capacity,by providing him with the latest in gizmos and technology and not ask him to having to be a judge on whether or not the previous decision was right or not.If a revoke is indeed made,the previous decision automatically becomes void as not having been taken with conclusive evidence on the mere merit of it having being over turned by the 3rd umpire!!If not,forget everything and let the guys in the middle use all their impulse as it has been happening for a century and a half and let's have a game in our hands!
Some one's got to make a referral on this new referral system.Cricket's having it's own tough times.Zimbabwe is virtually extinct.No one's wanting to watch test matches.Cricket is slowly becoming a movie show with 3 hour matches.Australia are going downer by the day(which in more ways than one is actually good for cricket).Pakistan hosts tests in leap years.Test matches are being played on make shift pitches on beaches and like the proverbial cherry on the cake,we have the referral system being used by the 3rd umpires who need to have to carry the rule book along and still not being able to tackle the "conclusive" evidence part.
We already have enough on our plates so far as knowing what things are to be sorted out to carry the legend of the game ahead.Adding in newer and bitterly confusing methods to an already struggling form of the game is like actually telling the handful of audience to make sure they surf through live broadcasts,acting as if a match never really was in progress.
Put an end to this now.At least it'll be a beginning away from the end.
That's the kind of feeling the guys over at the ICC chambers must be feeling rushing through every bit of their nervous system after almost 10 months since the referral system was introduced,allegedly on a trail basis and heaven-knows-why,directly at the biggest arena of the game,a player,spectator,writer and everyone associated with the game aspires to be-test match cricket.
Enough has been debated about this referral system by now but quite frankly cricket is already in enough turmoil,what with the management at the Caribbean seemingly having resigned to the fact that there shall be an incident every single time an important tour takes place there.Viv Richards must've wanted to erase all memories of him taking his bat out in the field,arms swinging,gum chewing,splitting balls in two and in the process getting a tribute by means of getting a whole stadium built in his name.And what happens?Oh,well someone forgot to make sure it wasn't built on a beach.Big deal.Scmucks!!Keeps happening all the time at the Caribbean fellas!
Fast forward to test no.4 at the newly laid out lush green Kensington Oval.1st Innings,WI trailing England by more than 300 runs,4 wickets down.Anderson bowls to Chanderpaul,batting on 70.Ball hits in line,nips back,Chanderpaul raises his arms,doesn't offer a shot on the front foot;Ball clips the top of the pad way above the knee roll and the umpire gives this one out.Shiv,as does everyone watching the match on their sets,thinks the on-field adjudicators have gotta be kidding their wits.So he decided to use the newly laid out system supposed to usher in an era of justice,where no one goes back to the dug-out at least,unfairly.
The rule book states that,unless the 3rd umpire has absolute and "conclusive" evidence so as to clearly know of their being no discrepancy in the on field umpire's decision,only then can he revoke a decision.The catch here is,even after the 3rd umpire is allowed the use of technology,for some unimaginable self-righteous code,he isn't allowed the hawk-eye,or at least the movement of the ball after impact.
Now, Daryl Harper,the 3rd umpire is forced to make a decision on the basis of the half-available hawk eye and the rule book stating there to be no revoke in case of credible evidence not being present so as to overrule,this in spite the other fact that clearly there was no need of a man to have attended any geometry lessons in his entire school and college life to know the ball was going over the top .So forced to make a decision,in spite of knowing it to be the wrong one,Mr.Harper asks the guys on field to stick with the earlier decision.
Similar incident,half an hour later with the new batsmen at No 6.Brendan Nash.Struck in line,ball not doing much,seems high and given not out.This time Andrew Strauss and company appeal.Out of some un-foreseeable reason,where in Harper seemed to have suddenly grabbed his own hawk from the sky,allows for a sudden change of plans in the "conclusive evidence" part and judges it to have been a wrong decision by the guys at the middle.Aleem Dar crosses his arms at his shoulders(a sign of revoke,but more a sign of disgust to the game in reality)and gives it out.Where did the evidence of the sudden surety of the path of the ball come in from suddenly?Who cares?It's the Caribbean.No?Yeah.That's right.It's test match cricket Sir.
Now,either there is an additional rule in the ICC book not everyone is aware of.Or 3rd umpires get to have a drink or two occasionally as and when time permits while the game is still in progress for this sort of a bias to be explained or someone has got to come out with a system where in a re-referred referral could be referred to a 4th party,may be on the Internet while the game is conducted in the most shameful of ways possible,while people on the other hand still keep coming up with ways to make a test match possible on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean aka Viv Richards stadium.
It's a very simple logic that people still decide to play a game of cricket with human beings.Technology can go only so far as to make things more believable while even 'it' can't actually ascertain in totality,an occurrence of an event which never did occur in reality.There are only two ways as far as even thinking about implementing this new system goes.Start from the county level(something tested not satisfactorily)and make sure every possible resource is available to the 3rd umpire after a referral is made.
To put it in simpler words,if a referral is indeed made,the decision on whether or not it's out should be allowed to be taken by the new adjudicator in his individual capacity,by providing him with the latest in gizmos and technology and not ask him to having to be a judge on whether or not the previous decision was right or not.If a revoke is indeed made,the previous decision automatically becomes void as not having been taken with conclusive evidence on the mere merit of it having being over turned by the 3rd umpire!!If not,forget everything and let the guys in the middle use all their impulse as it has been happening for a century and a half and let's have a game in our hands!
Some one's got to make a referral on this new referral system.Cricket's having it's own tough times.Zimbabwe is virtually extinct.No one's wanting to watch test matches.Cricket is slowly becoming a movie show with 3 hour matches.Australia are going downer by the day(which in more ways than one is actually good for cricket).Pakistan hosts tests in leap years.Test matches are being played on make shift pitches on beaches and like the proverbial cherry on the cake,we have the referral system being used by the 3rd umpires who need to have to carry the rule book along and still not being able to tackle the "conclusive" evidence part.
We already have enough on our plates so far as knowing what things are to be sorted out to carry the legend of the game ahead.Adding in newer and bitterly confusing methods to an already struggling form of the game is like actually telling the handful of audience to make sure they surf through live broadcasts,acting as if a match never really was in progress.
Put an end to this now.At least it'll be a beginning away from the end.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Ah! How the mighty bow!
What began less than couple of weeks ago as a mere puff of dust of the then discreet brawls inside the English dressing room,ended with a tornado wiping off the posts of two of the most important people in the England and Wales cricket unit.
Articles will be written and ground to chowder of how Kevin Pietersen-one of the greatest wielders of the Cricket bat of the modern era,was humiliated beyond what would seem allowable for the most prolific run scorer in any invented form of a particular game for his country in the last couple of years.
Pietersen's "I've never felt more loved" after the Lords applause to his century,the "We did what had to be done.We had to come back to India", his "I shall lead you hounds into the field and take you back as 10 gentlemen" demeanor might have all been parts of James Cameroon's most romantic epic as yet,his switch hitting might well be the invention of the century,the madly highlighted Mohawks replaced by tonsured,more civilized crops might all have been the signal he so desperately wanted to send out to the cricketing fraternity since he permanently took the road from Pietermaritzburg to Johannesburg and there-on to Heathrow more than half a decade ago,that the toughest,bravest and the most flamboyant boy in the cricket field had arrived and god help those who dare to take him look him in the eye.
Unfortunately,what started off as one of Leonardo-di Caprio's magical paintings sank just as suddenly as the Titanic.The only difference being that Pietersen's Kevlar-certified vest of principles took the form of a trillion ton iceberg and took along with him someone else doing just as good a job-Peter Moores.Moores in his prime,single-handedly built and structured and gelled together a domestic team that couldn't even pull of a single county championship when he took things in his hands.Pietersen was probably trying to figure out the cheapest flight deal on the Johannesburg-London sector while Moores sent out high-air catching practices with his baseball-gloved,one handed swings.
Right from the time the flamboyance came to the fore on an otherwise gloomy day at The Oval way back in 2005,one thing was certain about the man.Kevin Pietersen wanted to impress.The methods-he didn't care of.15 test hundreds in 45 tests is a phenomenal record.Even by Sehwag's blitzkrieg standards,it's humongous,although the latter probably has another 15 hidden in each of his massive 100s.Every day at the field was a different hair-do,with a different color,all bright and flashy.Blue,Blond,Red.Hell,KP might have well been a peacock up Shane Warne's and McGrath's you know where.The boundaries travelled all over and around Vauxhall main-land area and not even the London Eye could've provided a spectator with a wider horizon of entertainment.
Pietersen was always known to be a man to show an overwhelming sense of wanting to immediately turn himself "totally British" and with every passing test and with his ever growing indispensability,it only cemented in his brain,a lie he had been telling himself for a long time.The cheers,the adulation soaked in and Kevin Pietersen led himself to believe that the three lions stood proud as a result of him and not the reverse.Tattoos of the queen herself on his 16" bicep instead of the three lions couldn't have made this lie a reality.Pietersen was digging himself a pit and filling it himself with the very best of pit-mines,created unnecessarily as a result of an ever lasting desire to show case that his principles and his beliefs wilted under no one.Not even himself.Pietersen had,without his own knowing,dug himself a grave,fit for the bravest of knights.
To think that only 3 months ago,a chapter waiting to be written by the best of biographers with his own bat,would see before it such a humiliating and sudden full-stop is not just tragic.It's heart-breaking.Pietersen was touted to be the bravest captain the country had seen.Or even the world,had a certain Mr.Smith not been secretly devising and executing plans to be Napoleon Bonaparte of the kingdom with his custom manufactured GM 2 pound 10 oz weapon for a long time-slowly but surely.The irony being that the famous words which could've been Smith's own was patented by Pietersen-He came,He barely saw,he Switch hit,he lost his job.Not that Smith would be complaining but the world surely would.
If all goes even remotely well and Pietersen manages to somehow regain the trust of his dressing room mates and co-operates with a man who only a month ago wasn't sure of his own place in the team plane to the Carribean,and the same someone who had suddenly been thrust a job,which should've rightfully been his to start off with,England can even start daring to think of having a feel of the urn again.At the background of all the turmoil back home,Chris Gayle and company would've already started rubbing their palms and smacking their lips at the prospect of winning a major series home and make up for some points lost in the table last year.Shivnaraine Chanderpaul's hunger looks insatiable and the signs look ominous for the men,who would only weeks from now be checking in at the very airport where Pietersen arrived yesterday after an "un-relaxing" vacation at his other home.
Andrew Flintoff is the one man whom the English can rest their hopes on to deliver.Kevin Pietersen will be expected to play his level best cuz whatever the situation be,his massive ego wouldn't let anything dent his career figures.He usually has his level best reserved for the worst of "street fight" battles and the Aussie battle will surely be one of them.
Pietersen might not fight the battle on behalf of the governing body which might pay him his wages at the end of the match but he will in all possibilities bludgeon the in-experienced attack just for the heck of it anyway.We can expect him to turn up black-eyed as a result of an overnight altercation with the ECB chief himself and yet tear apart Peter Siddle's 145 kmph 'canon-balls' to such an extent that might make him wonder if he was still well off bowling beamers at senior college kids with captain Cameron White laughing all the way to the tea-break and gawking at what the whole Pietersen Vs Moores Vs ECB fuss was all about.
Kevin Pietersen was and will in all likelihood live on as the Achilles of world cricket.He may be the most diplomatic and the most accommodative of post match speakers.But at the end of whatever his career may be,people will know,to his mis-fortune that he played for only one person-Kevin Pietersen himself.A boy forced to abandon his place of birth in search of people better ready and equipped to appreciate his physical talents.A man who kept telling people that he's one amongst them now,but deep inside he was one amongst no one.Ah!The irony!
There is every chance in the world that if Andrew Strauss fails to deliver in the Carribean,the board will be resigned to hand over the captaincy back to KP.At the end of all the drama,he may still remove his gloves,put his bat under his armpit and walk off with the "i was right all the while" grin.But all that might prove to be too costly a price to pay for a heavy loss in front of a struggling team so far away or an impending disaster,immediately back home.If not,a captaincy record of 3 tests,1 win,1 loss,1 draw and a 4-0 and 0-5 ODI record would only show to the world,a good 50 years from now,the tale of a brave man who could've died leaving a legacy of un-parelled successes and adulations behind,knowing he was second to none and yet knowing that very fact ultimately brought him his downfall.
If only switch hits worked in real life too.
Articles will be written and ground to chowder of how Kevin Pietersen-one of the greatest wielders of the Cricket bat of the modern era,was humiliated beyond what would seem allowable for the most prolific run scorer in any invented form of a particular game for his country in the last couple of years.
Pietersen's "I've never felt more loved" after the Lords applause to his century,the "We did what had to be done.We had to come back to India", his "I shall lead you hounds into the field and take you back as 10 gentlemen" demeanor might have all been parts of James Cameroon's most romantic epic as yet,his switch hitting might well be the invention of the century,the madly highlighted Mohawks replaced by tonsured,more civilized crops might all have been the signal he so desperately wanted to send out to the cricketing fraternity since he permanently took the road from Pietermaritzburg to Johannesburg and there-on to Heathrow more than half a decade ago,that the toughest,bravest and the most flamboyant boy in the cricket field had arrived and god help those who dare to take him look him in the eye.
Unfortunately,what started off as one of Leonardo-di Caprio's magical paintings sank just as suddenly as the Titanic.The only difference being that Pietersen's Kevlar-certified vest of principles took the form of a trillion ton iceberg and took along with him someone else doing just as good a job-Peter Moores.Moores in his prime,single-handedly built and structured and gelled together a domestic team that couldn't even pull of a single county championship when he took things in his hands.Pietersen was probably trying to figure out the cheapest flight deal on the Johannesburg-London sector while Moores sent out high-air catching practices with his baseball-gloved,one handed swings.
Right from the time the flamboyance came to the fore on an otherwise gloomy day at The Oval way back in 2005,one thing was certain about the man.Kevin Pietersen wanted to impress.The methods-he didn't care of.15 test hundreds in 45 tests is a phenomenal record.Even by Sehwag's blitzkrieg standards,it's humongous,although the latter probably has another 15 hidden in each of his massive 100s.Every day at the field was a different hair-do,with a different color,all bright and flashy.Blue,Blond,Red.Hell,KP might have well been a peacock up Shane Warne's and McGrath's you know where.The boundaries travelled all over and around Vauxhall main-land area and not even the London Eye could've provided a spectator with a wider horizon of entertainment.
Pietersen was always known to be a man to show an overwhelming sense of wanting to immediately turn himself "totally British" and with every passing test and with his ever growing indispensability,it only cemented in his brain,a lie he had been telling himself for a long time.The cheers,the adulation soaked in and Kevin Pietersen led himself to believe that the three lions stood proud as a result of him and not the reverse.Tattoos of the queen herself on his 16" bicep instead of the three lions couldn't have made this lie a reality.Pietersen was digging himself a pit and filling it himself with the very best of pit-mines,created unnecessarily as a result of an ever lasting desire to show case that his principles and his beliefs wilted under no one.Not even himself.Pietersen had,without his own knowing,dug himself a grave,fit for the bravest of knights.
To think that only 3 months ago,a chapter waiting to be written by the best of biographers with his own bat,would see before it such a humiliating and sudden full-stop is not just tragic.It's heart-breaking.Pietersen was touted to be the bravest captain the country had seen.Or even the world,had a certain Mr.Smith not been secretly devising and executing plans to be Napoleon Bonaparte of the kingdom with his custom manufactured GM 2 pound 10 oz weapon for a long time-slowly but surely.The irony being that the famous words which could've been Smith's own was patented by Pietersen-He came,He barely saw,he Switch hit,he lost his job.Not that Smith would be complaining but the world surely would.
If all goes even remotely well and Pietersen manages to somehow regain the trust of his dressing room mates and co-operates with a man who only a month ago wasn't sure of his own place in the team plane to the Carribean,and the same someone who had suddenly been thrust a job,which should've rightfully been his to start off with,England can even start daring to think of having a feel of the urn again.At the background of all the turmoil back home,Chris Gayle and company would've already started rubbing their palms and smacking their lips at the prospect of winning a major series home and make up for some points lost in the table last year.Shivnaraine Chanderpaul's hunger looks insatiable and the signs look ominous for the men,who would only weeks from now be checking in at the very airport where Pietersen arrived yesterday after an "un-relaxing" vacation at his other home.
Andrew Flintoff is the one man whom the English can rest their hopes on to deliver.Kevin Pietersen will be expected to play his level best cuz whatever the situation be,his massive ego wouldn't let anything dent his career figures.He usually has his level best reserved for the worst of "street fight" battles and the Aussie battle will surely be one of them.
Pietersen might not fight the battle on behalf of the governing body which might pay him his wages at the end of the match but he will in all possibilities bludgeon the in-experienced attack just for the heck of it anyway.We can expect him to turn up black-eyed as a result of an overnight altercation with the ECB chief himself and yet tear apart Peter Siddle's 145 kmph 'canon-balls' to such an extent that might make him wonder if he was still well off bowling beamers at senior college kids with captain Cameron White laughing all the way to the tea-break and gawking at what the whole Pietersen Vs Moores Vs ECB fuss was all about.
Kevin Pietersen was and will in all likelihood live on as the Achilles of world cricket.He may be the most diplomatic and the most accommodative of post match speakers.But at the end of whatever his career may be,people will know,to his mis-fortune that he played for only one person-Kevin Pietersen himself.A boy forced to abandon his place of birth in search of people better ready and equipped to appreciate his physical talents.A man who kept telling people that he's one amongst them now,but deep inside he was one amongst no one.Ah!The irony!
There is every chance in the world that if Andrew Strauss fails to deliver in the Carribean,the board will be resigned to hand over the captaincy back to KP.At the end of all the drama,he may still remove his gloves,put his bat under his armpit and walk off with the "i was right all the while" grin.But all that might prove to be too costly a price to pay for a heavy loss in front of a struggling team so far away or an impending disaster,immediately back home.If not,a captaincy record of 3 tests,1 win,1 loss,1 draw and a 4-0 and 0-5 ODI record would only show to the world,a good 50 years from now,the tale of a brave man who could've died leaving a legacy of un-parelled successes and adulations behind,knowing he was second to none and yet knowing that very fact ultimately brought him his downfall.
If only switch hits worked in real life too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
