THE SACHIN PHENOMENA IN INDIAN CRICKET

It is good that Mr.B raised the cudgels on behalf of Sunny.Well I used to be a strong critic of Sunny in my early days primarily due to my affection for Vishy but over a period of time as one gets to be more appreciative of the game it is very clear Sunny remains one of the greatest batsmen to have graced the game in history.But for all his exploits his one day records do not have anything great but that has more to do with his rather textbook style of game.

There has been a lot of debate over the years about the Sachin Vs Lara -who is the greatest of this era?.Just have a look at the stats guys-out of 34 hundreds lara has scored 18 scores of 150 and above.And if the win quotient has to be looked at I am sure the decline in West Indies bowling would be more to be blamed.It is also to be remembered that probably sachin has played during the times of Kapil Dev,Anil Kumble,Harbajan who are match winners in their own right.Also see the freedom with which Lara plays his innings -simply unbelievable.So When Sanjay Manjrekar says that it is the fear of failure that is hampering Sachin nowadays it is true to a large extent.

I think the earlier that Indian Cricket learns to live without a Sachin the better it is for them.

INDIAN CRICKET-THE SORRY STATE

The last two matches in South Africa has left lot of Indian Cricket supporters in total despair.The issue has been raised in parliment and there is a lot of outcry among the parlimentarians.However to my mind this thing was coming for quite sometime.

If one has closely followed Indian cricket for the last few months and years the decay had started quite sometime back.For me the most critical position in the batting order is the No.3 slot.Here in the Indian team we have Dravid coming in at that position.Now in the last match which is a classic example of how Dravid has built his averages and his reputation in part,India were 40-3 or so and everybody watching the match would have realised that the match was lost (except for some magical batting by Dhoni) Dravid was pottering along to score some 60 odd runs.What he was trying to do is well known only to him.At some point one gets the feeling Dravid is playing for a draw in one dayers.In the past Sunil Gavaskar was blamed by various people for trying to play for a draw in one dayersBy comparison look at how Ricky Ponting plays in such a position.It is the attitude at that critical position that determines how the team performs.More on the travails of indian cricket in days to come.

Comments are welcome.


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