My Favourite Batsmen

I have six favourite batsmen – Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden & Jacques Kallis. Each of them are in tremendous form at present and each one of them has been playing terrifically well for the last 20 years. And they are the best batsmen of the world – the best of their generation and among the greatest ever. They are a class apart from the rest and have been ruling the game ever since they made their debut. Sachin Tendulkar has been a master since 1989. He started at the age of 16 and has played with the likes of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock. Curtly Ambrose too had been a great bowler of his time and had dismissed many a batsmen with his fierce deliveries. Brian Lara also belongs to the generation of Sachin Tendulkar and was his contemporary and competitor for most of this time. They were compared throughout their playing days. If Sachin was massively consistent, then Lara had the capability of hitting big centuries. Ricky Ponting came in 1996 and Jacques Kallis in 1995. Both were good players from the beginning but they were not of the class of Sachin & Lara. They rose to this class eventually. Ricky hit 1500 runs in Tests in 2003 and ever since has been hitting more than 1000 runs in both Tests and ODIs in each calendar year. He has been breaking all records and now is behind only Sachin in all types of statistics in both Tests and One-days. Jacques Kallis was not an extraordinary batsman till 2004 but ever since he lost his father in 2005, this event had a major impact on him as a person and this has shown in his batting. He has grown in phenomenal form and has hit 2000 runs in 2006. He now belongs to the class of the greatest batsmen of the world and is one of the finest of the last decade. Rahul Dravid was a classy batsmen ever since he made his debut against Eng in Lords and scored 95. He has been awesomely consistent since then specially in Tests. He is a Test specialist and had recorded batting average of 58 or 59 for most of his career. His batting average in One-dayers is also close to 40. Though his Strike rate is not great but his stability in the team is immense. He was also a very good captain and led from the front. He inspired great performances from others through is able captaincy. Matthew Hayden came in 2001. He started his career by hitting 549 runs against India in a 3-Test series and hit a double century in that. Ever since then he has been a great batsman. He hit 20 centuries in 4 years and finished at 30 in the end. His average in ODIs also is 46. He was an aggressive batsman and one of the most destructive of his time. These 6 batsmen are among the greatest ever and it can be said that the present phase of cricket is of great batsmen and explosive batting as there are many great batsmen in the world. All this started with the new rule of field restriction in 1995 which stated that one two fielders could be outside the 30-yard circle in the first 15 overs. The NZ were the first team to take advantage of this rule and start the trend of hitting big shots and scoring runs in bulk in the first 15 overs. SL realized this possibility next and made use of it in the 96 World Cup. Ever since then it has been normal practice.

Laxman’s Inning Of 281, v Australia, 2001 Is The Best Test Inning Ever

VVS Laxman’s inning of 281 against Australia in the 2001 Test series was the greatest ever played in the history of Test cricket. It was the most memorable match I had ever seen. Never before had I seen any team win a Test match after coming back from such a backward point. India were trailing by 274 runs in the first innings and followed on. It was only the third instance in the history of Cricket out of the 1535 Test matches played thus far that a team had won a match after following on. It was a thriller of a match. Never ever had a better fightback been witnessed by anyone. Steve Waugh himself gave this comment. It indicates that he must have been awe-struck by India’s performance. The three main heroes of India’s victory were VVS, Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh. It was the second Test of the series played at Calcutta. Australia batted first and scored 291/8 on the first day. The situation was even on Day 1 as Aus had scored a good 291 runs but India too claimed their 8 wickets. Harbhajan Singh had taken a hat-trick – India’s first hattrick in Tests and 29^th overall. The Australians seemed overconfident as they batted aggressively even after losing a good number of wickets. On Day 2 Aus went on to make 445. Steve Waugh scored a century (110) and Jason Gillispie made a career best 46. It was a good recovery by Aus after the late evening-lower order collapse on day 1. When India started batting, none of the batsmen could stand the fierce bombing of the Oz bowlers. Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne, Kasprowich and Brett Lee were delivering fire from both ends. India were 171/8 on day 2 and Laxman was the only survivor with 59 to his credit. On Day three morning the Indian lineup got dismissed for 171. The first inning trail was 274 and the team had to follow on. It was a mammoth task and even saving the match was looking unlikely. But destiny had something else in store of India. In the second inning Indian batsmen showed a different character. They fought hard and built 232/4 on Day 3. Laxman was batting on 107 and Rahul on 11. Both the batsmen were looking in good rhythm. But still the target was a mountainous one. VVS had come at no.3 and Rahul at no.6. Rahul was demoted in this match because the selectors and the team management were not happy with his recent form. I was extremely disappointed with this decision as it was a great insult to a batsman of his class. He is too extraordinary a batsman to be given this treatment by the board. He had played so many big innings and centuries in the past that he could not have been punished for a little slump in form. Class is permanent, form is temporary. India needed to make a huge score to save this match as they were still behind Aus’ first inning total by 42 runs. Nobody had thought what could happen on Day 4 but Laxman and Dravid proved that they were made of steel metal. They both batted the whole day and finished the day on 275 and 155 respectively. Laxman had surpassed India’s highest individual score of 236 in the course (Sunil Gavaskar). The Board was happy with him and announced a prize money of Rs.1000 per run as soon as he went past Gavaskar’s score. It was a classy performance by the two batsmen. Their partnership was of 376, the highest for India for any wicket. Laxman in his inning had hit Shane Warne for a number of fours over mid-wicket in a very stylish way. Warne used to bowl him at the leg stump and he used to jump forward and push away him for four. It was a thrilling contest. He smashed all the bowlers for boundaries and it was an epic inning to watch. Rahul Dravid’s knock too was no less. On day 5, Laxman got out for 281 and Dravid for 180. India declared their inning for 657/7. Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan played some lusty shots in the end and took the team’s score farther from Aus’ reach. The bowlers then did the remaining task as Harbhajan Singh took a magnificent 7 wkts and the visitors went all out for 212 chasing the target of 384. Harbhajan Singh finished the match with figures of 13 wkts (6 in I inn and 7 in II). But the biggest hero of the match was VVS Laxman (Very Very Special Laxman, as the Oz players started calling him from then onwards) who scored a big 340 runs (59 in I inn & 281 in II). Never in the history of the game had such a great inning been witness because never before had such a difficult match been played. VVS Laxman deserves all the credit for this hero’s win. His performance was truly magical. He is a giant of a player and is capable of playing many big knocks of this quality. India from there went on to make history by winning the third Test and beating Aus 2-1. It was India’s greatest ever performance in Tests. Any amount of praise is not enough for this performance. Thank you India for giving us this win. We are all extremely proud of this.

Sachin’s Knock Of 143, Sharjah, 1998 Is The Best One-Day Inning Ever

Sachin’s knock of 143 at Sharjah against Australia in 1998 was the best One-day inning of all times. It was a thriller of a match. Australia had batted first and scored 285. It was a daunting task to chase that target. But Sachin made it not only possible but also easy to achieve it. India needed 265 in that match to qualify for the finals. It was a triangular series involving Zimbabwe. Pepsi was the title of the Cup. Sachin scored a mammoth 143 off 134 balls and took India past the target and fell just before India were close to the target. It seemed that Laxman and Azhar who were at the crease at that time will take India past the required figure but that could not happen. India had sufficient wickets at that time but those batsmen did not show enough hunger to attain the goal. But still Sachin had done a mountainous task by reaching the qualifying figure. I think it was the most difficult match in the history of the game because Australia were an extremely tough team and they had set an extremely high target for India. Also Glenn McGrath were bowling extremely lethal deliveries from both ends. Both are world class bowlers. And the following match which was a final was again a thriller one with India having to chase 272 again against a difficult Australian team. And the master batsman did it again. These two matches I think were epic innings and there are very few matches in the history of One-day cricket which come close to the charm of these two matches. This final match was in my opinion the second best inning of the One-day history. I congratulate Sachin on his performance in these to matches. He is surely a champion and a figure in the history of the game. He rightly won a car as the prize of the Player of the Tournament. It was enchanting to watch that.

It Was One Of India’s Greatest Wins Ever (The Q/F)

The quarterfinal tie between India and Australia was a thriller of a match. It was one of India’s best wins ever. Beating Australia in a World Cup knockout was always going to be tough because the Australians have very good big match temperament. They always raise their game to a higher level in important matches. They have shown it in World Cup 2003 final, the second final of the VB Series 2004 and at numerous occasions in the past. When they are playing an important match they rise to extraordinary level and put in all their life into it. They play like tigers. But this time India undid them. They outplayed them in all the departments. First they did a brilliant job by restricting them to 260. Australians are not easy to restrict around 250 in big matches like this. It always takes enormous effort on part of the bowlers and fielders to stop the run flow. And that is what India did exactly. They bowled and fielded aggressively and showed the killer instinct. After that India did even better with the bat by batting dominantly throughout their innings. Tendulkar and Sehwag did a brilliant job by giving India a good start. Sehwag missed a big score but by the time he was out India had build a solid foundation to work on. Tendulkar went on to hit a half-century and scored 53. It was his 95^th half-ton. He really is a master batsman. He needs just two more hundreds to complete a half-century of hundreds in ODIs. If he achieves this feat he will become a figure in eternity. He already has a place there but this accomplishment will take him a step higher in that zone. There are two matches to go now to win the trophy. India needs to put all their life in the ties to sweep them. After beating Australia I think it should not be difficult for India to beat South Africa or England. India are already on their march to the championship. The only need now is to put in a little more energy in their efforts. The results are sure to fruit. All the best India. You are about to create history.

This WC Had Many Exciting Matches

This World Cup has had many exciting results. At least five matches were extremely interesting. One was the stunning victory of Ireland over England where the Irish killers chased down a mammoth 327 of English. It showed they had great character, immense courage and super strength. It’s never easy to chase a 300-plus score. It was one of the greatest wins in the history of ODIs. The second was the contest between India and England which resulted in a tie. It was an extremely thrilling and enchanting match. A memorable one. Both teams fought to their best potential showing extreme intensity and passion. The third was the South Africa-England tie which was a low-scoring affair. Both teams made low scores and still managed to deliver one of the most intense fights. Eng batted first and scored 172. SA who were 124/3 went all out for 165. It was a tremendous fightback by the British – another thriller match. Another exciting match was the India-SA tie. India did a great start scoring 142/0 in 20 overs and then 267/1 in 40 overs thanks to big innings by Tendulkar and Sehwag, but went down to 296/9 in 50 overs. SA were confident from the beginning and chased the target easily. They were never out of the scene and did the required with 5 wickets in hand. The last thriller was between England and Bangladesh. BD did an excellent job by restricting the English to 226 and then managed to chase their target with 2 wickets remaining. It was another big upset of England in the tournament and made it all the more difficult for them to qualify for the quarter-final with Ireland and BD giving them competition in the points table. With the group round still not finished we have already had five thriller matches and this promises the knock-outs to be even more exciting.

India’s Concession To South Africa Was Turnable

India’s loss to SA was disappointing as India could have easily managed to win the match by scoring a few more runs in their inning. With Sachin hitting two century partnerships with Sehwag and Gambhir, India were perfectly poised at 269/1 and set for a high total. But the middle and lower order fumbled and collapsed. They completely succumbed to the situation. The fall of a few wickets is understandable but the total collapse was listless. India’s strength is batting. They should capitalize on their strength. They should build on the opening and top-order partnerships made by the upper-order batsmen. But the middle-order batsmen failed to do it. Now India may find it tough to go all the way in the tournament. Earlier they were seeming like favourites and were undefeated in the championship. But now losing a crucial game they may not be at the top of the table in the points tally and may have to face a tougher opposition in the quarter-finals. This loss to SA revealed India’s character and showed that they are not as strong in reality as they claim to be. A true champion team should win all the games in the World Cup and not just the title. Like the Australian team of 2003 and 2007 edition the World Cup winner should win all the matches in the tournament. Now it’s an uphill task for India and it’s a test of their mettle. If the have the steel inside them, they will bounce back and make up for the losses conceded in the past.

India Lost Nerves In The England Tie

The India England match of this World Cup which resulted in a tie was one of the greatest games ever played in the history of ODIs. One side batted first and scored 338 and the other side equaled the score. Very rarely has it been witnessed in ODIs that a team has scored nearly 350 runs and the other team has chased or equaled that or even come close to that. One incidence was when Aus scored 435 and SA chased that. Another incidence was in this tournament when Ireland successfully chased England’s total of 327. It was one of those special matches – extremely enchanting, exciting and entertaining. Ireland’s defeat of England was a success which should be an inspiration for all the teams not to take any team lightly. All the teams participating in this tournament are strong and none can be underestimated. The England-India tie was also a lesson for India. India took that match easily. They scored less runs than they could in the last few overs. They became overconfident. Perhaps they thought that they had enough runs on the board. Similarly they were complacent in their bowling and fielding. They took the opponent easily. They thought that their score was unattainable. But England went bang on target right from the beginning. They exploded throughout their inning. Captain Andrew Strauss specially was the most extraordinary. His knock of 158 was really awe-inspiring. England were always ahead of their required run rate in their chase. So the tie was a big loss for India as they could have easily won that match. India should now be cautious in their contests as otherwise they might lose and get knocked out from the tournament like in their 2007 campaign.