• One does not wish to be a party pooper at a joyous moment like this but perhaps, as they always have, cricket fans and the media in this country have gone overboard in fawning over Sachin Tendulkar, calling him the greatest ever cricketer and so on.

     

    What is disturbing is that even experienced and supposedly knowledgeable writers who should know better have joined the bandwagon and have lost their perspective. It is absolutely fair to be happy and proud of a great cricketer’s many achievements but a certain balance should be maintained. But then haven’t we Indians always been creatures not of logic but of emotion?

     

    As I write, there is before me an opinion poll in a leading national newspaper, which has 68 percent saying that Tendulkar is the greatest cricketer ever - not surprisingly given the overdose of 'Sachin fawning' that has been seen over the last couple of days. As for me, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry after seeing the results of the  poll.

     

    It certainly is a

    Read More »

  • Before the Bangalore Test ten of the preceding eleven matches between India and Australia in this country had ended decisively. The one match that didn’t – at Chennai in 2004 – would certainly have ended in a result had not rain washed out the last day’s play. In a way this is a tribute to the approach of the two teams who have played aggressively and entertainingly.

     

    There was certainly no lack of enterprise shown by the contestants in the just concluded Test at Bangalore and this is best illustrated by Ricky Ponting's challenging declaration on the final morning that set India the tempting target of 299 in 82 overs. But with the bowling on both sides lacking in ideas there was always the feeling that a draw would be the only possible result in the series opener. On the eve of the series I had written about the batting might of both teams even while pointing out the vulnerability in the bowling.

     

    The events as they unfolded at Bangalore underlined this and it appears that it is

    Read More »

  • He leaves the scene with a sense of fulfillment that few Indian cricketers have had. Looking back on his career as he sits in his palatial bungalow in Kolkata Sourav Ganguly will no doubt recall the few setbacks and disappointments along with the innumerable triumphs and great moments.

     

    Overall, however, his place in Indian cricket history as the finest ever left-handed batsman to represent the country and its most successful captain is secure and unchallenged.

     

    It is not just the figures behind the captaincy legacy - a record 21 victories in a record 49 Tests as captain – that is impressive. Or that under his leadership Indian teams registered 11 victories overseas to take a giant leap towards shrugging off the time-worn cliché of tigers at home and lambs abroad.

     

    It was the manner in which he changed the image of the Indian captain that Ganguly will be most fondly remembered. The Prince of Kolkata became the Monarch of Indian cricket at the start of the new millennium and he

    Read More »

Pagination

  1. 428
(1,347 Stories)

Matches

Subscribe

[X]

How to subscribe

Roll over each section to subscribe using Add to My Yahoo! or RSS Feed feeds.

Yahoo! News offers dozens of RSS feeds you can read in My Yahoo! or using third-party RSS news reader software. Click here to find out more about RSS and how you can use it with Yahoo! News.