Obituary: Indian test cricket

Once the bollywoodization / bling of cricket started in the early 2000's, I stopped watching the game.

The bling brigade has now spied the potential of F1. I shudder to think what will happen if they make any headway :mad:
 
No Gavaskar wore a special skull cap under his hat. On the other hand, Viv Richards never wore a helmet in 1st class cricket and he faced the fastest world over and won most of the battles.

This is not completely correct. Sunil Gavaskar wore the skull cap only towards the end of his career or at least mid-way through. I have personally watched Gavaskar bat without the cap till I went abroad in 1981. I have also seen him score centuries in both innings at the Eden Gardens against Malcolm Marshall in Marshall's debut series. Eden Gardens those days had the most lively pitch in India. The ball used to carry through and with the breeze from the Ganges it used to swing a lot. Once in the sixties, a bouncer from Wes Hall reached the boundary in one bounce.

I do not think it is fair to compare Gavaskar with Richards. Gavaskar was an opening batsman. He had to face the new ball and all the quickies of the world. If any of you are an opening batsman, you would know what I am talking about. Even if you field for the whole day or two, you may have to come out and open the innings for a couple of overs at the fag end of the day. There is no night watchman for an opener. Believe me, it is the hardest job in cricket. Also remember, Richards used to come in at number 3 or 4 for most of his career after a formidable opening pair of Greenidge and Haynes. And, yes, he did not have to face the West Indian pace bowlers except at the nets. Of course Richards was a great batsman, perhaps the most attacking batsman of all time and he played that way for a significant period of time (I will tie Sir Garfield with him).

Some of you may know what Richards once told Gavaskar when he chose to come in once in tests at number 4. India lost 2 quick wickets without any run on the board. As Gavaskar walked in, Richards told him, "Doesn't matter when you come in (to bat), man, the score is still zero".

Another aspect of Gavaskar's game many tend to ignore. He had all the strokes of the game. He probably cut down on the cuts and pulls once he started playing for India, because India for a long time depended very heavily on him and his brother-in-law Gundappa Vishwanath. I have watched Gavaskar play for Bombay before he made his debut for India, and he was a very attacking batsman in those days. No problem, many of you probably were not born then :).

Regardless of whether he wore a skull cap during later stages of his career or not, can anybody remember how many times Gavaskar got hit on the head or any others parts of the body? He was hardly ever hit even on the gloves. Yes, he was that good. Having played for that long, having opened the innings, that too for India (in those days) without facing enough fast bowling in domestic games or at the India nets, he ended his career with an average of more than 50 in test cricket. I salute him, unconditionally.

Regards.
 
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Great post Asit. Those were the days although I was in school. I was a fervent follower of cricket then.

I salute those men ;)
 
When the chairman of the selector committee says that "mid-off and mid-on are on the boundary line" (when he is live on a match commentating) what can you expect from the team they select. I hope we don't start digging noses and stop playing cricket.
 
BCCI's indifferent attitude and IPL are definitely responsible for these fiascos. BCCI is just in it for the money, thats why our politicians are lining up for plum positions in it. They dont even get their accounts audited. Do you know that BCCI has stated in the court that they dont select indian cricket team but they select the BCCI cricket team.

What BCCI wants is to kill test cricket anyway, players play for 5 days and hardly make any cash for the company. Their dream come true will be when only ODIs and T20 exist and test cricket is dead.

IPL wont stop till people are watching. Its very easy to say IPL is responsible, but how many of us are willing to boycott IPL?
 
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We love cricket too much, that's why our expressions/reactions towards winning and loosing is also too much.
It is only a temporary phase I think, by the way Indian record in foreign soil is not so great.
Don't write away the seniors, atleast sachin, after all test cricket is not all about just bang the ball all over the park.
 
We love cricket too much, that's why our expressions/reactions towards winning and loosing is also too much.
It is only a temporary phase I think, by the way Indian record in foreign soil is not so great.
Don't write away the seniors, atleast sachin, after all test cricket is not all about just bang the ball all over the park.

I don't have too many friends who are into cricket, but the few who do follow this game only seem to love watching India win. As soon as the batsmen start to get out in a heap or the bowlers begin toiling fruitlessly, they would rather be elsewhere.
Football lovers on the other hand really 'love' the game.
Perhaps the reason why we get up at unearthly hours to cheer, support and discuss teams that are based continents away.
Be that as it may, I just hope this non-performance overseas is just a temporary thing and that India will bounce back once again and everything will be ok.
 
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I somehow dont share some of the optimism being shown here. Even if the seniors come to form, they will retire soon. khan is also pretty much at the end of his test career. Our pace and spin cupboards are bare.

Another huge problem is that odis and ipl are being used as a criteria for selection rather than picking from the domestic long form cricket. The players that have been tried in the past 5-6 years have all flopped for the number 6 position, they all came to the test team on the basis of their form in odis and ipl. There is hardly a place for a guy like badrinath or others from domestic circuit. But first they try people like yuvraj, raina, kohli etc. How many domestic long format games these guys have played is no secret. I wonder when our selectors are going to give up on yuvraj singh as a test player. He just doesn't have it, he cant face quality fast bowling, tricky surfaces, or even mediocre spin bowling. The only decent player we've seen so far is pujara and we have seen so little of him.
 
Well...as if the question of what format is best test, ODI, T20 was not fuel enough to burn bridges, India has gone ahead and added yet another format into the fray - 2.5-day Test Match.

Personally I feel that the new shorter test match format should satisfy most fans...most fans of the Australian team that is...
 
T20 (read IPL) is definitely the culprit. Bowlers have to bowl just 4 overs and batsmen have to hit every ball. The art of surviving (in case of batting) and sustaining/percieviering (sp?) (in case of bowling) has been lost. On top of it people get paid huge money. After a three hour party on the field, there is an all-night party waiting in the 5-star hotels with the hotest of the hotties.

Who wants to play boring five days cricket after this? RIP.
 
Cricket is supposed to be a game which should be played / enjoyed at a leisurely pace. Class and sophistication which is inherent to the game is part and parcel of its original culture. It is not meant to be a vigorous small game like football or basketball.

In the current / popular smaller and vigorous forms, the game and the culture has attained a mutant structure which is abhorrent to say the least.
 
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We, as spectators too are to be blamed for it .... right? Don't we (well, I don't ... prefer to watch on TV) flock the stadium to have a peek at the hemlines of the bouncing hotties!

The cricketers have a different level of a 'ball'. No wonder they are missing out on the 'red' cricket ball coming at them at 90 mph, when they have gotten used to 'handle' white balls which aren't hard .... :cool:
 
I am glad to see there are young pace and swing bowlers to keep us entertained in the Test level. We certainly have dearth of quality fast bowlers in world cricket. Good to see Aus, Eng and SA are producing some exiting new talent. I am fine even this is done at the cost of "RIP" for Indian test team. To put this in perspective, can you name one fast bowler whom you can call as "Legend"? We can easily name 10 batsmen claiming to be legends in the current crop..but not a single fast bowler..Dale Steyn..may be..This is pathetic..
 
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