Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Cricket, the insect.

Doordarshan keeps adding new dimensions to the word heinous. Their coverage of the Indo Pak clash
is nothing short of it. Here are some commentary excerpts from a 'two hour' viewing:

1. Misbah ul Had didn't quitted the wicket.

-the hopelessly intolerable Atul Wasan.

2. Its a rare way of getting out but happens commonly in cricket.

-again, the over paid genius, Atul Wasan.

3. The ball pitched outside the off stump so it can not be given out even though it hit in line and was going to hit the stumps.

-some non celebrity chap, supposed to be masters in Cricket Honours to be commenting on National TV., didn't know LBW rules.

2007 is about to end and it marks the end of one decade of being a cricket fan in my otherwise useless life.

So, it was time I announced my totally TOTALLY uninvited, unintelligent cricket awards of the last ten years.
Please note that no stats have been referred for this post.

Best Innings(test): there is a tie between Nathan Astle and V.V.S. Laxman.
Astle killed English bowlers to pile the fastest and bestest double century ever in world cricket. You gotta watch it to believe it.
Laxman did the unthinkable. If I wrote such a thing in my book, it will be trashed as unrealistic. His 281 reminded me of my own batting.


Best Innings(ODI): Again a tie between Gibbs and our very own Ganguli.
Chasing 434, Gibbs would not have taken his captain seriously in the lunch break when he would have said we can do it. They did, with Gibbs getting 175. Some batting display it was.
Ganguli hit the Sri Lankan bowlers to every part of the Trentbridge ground, an innings I would forever remember for his uncharacteristic reception of ovation before leaving the ground.

Best bowling(test): Bhajji obviously, the hatrick against the Aussies.

Best bowling(ODI): Ashish Nehra got six wickets against the English in the world cup. The ball defied all concepts of momentum and traveled in weird trajectories.

Most important catch drop: This category has been specially included to discuss the Gibbs dropped catch of Steve Waugh which changed Cricketing history more than any event ever did. Steve Waugh's eventual century and win of the 99 world cup marked a new era and Aussies became what I am in electronics: undisputed champs.

comments on the present team:
What is common between Dinesh Karthik and Ajit Agarkar?
For two years, Agarkar asked himself every night that what did he have to do to get out the Indian Cricket Team.
Dinesh Karthink has just begun the act but he is fast picking pace.
Why does Ishant Sharma not look Indian?
Slim, tall, five wicket haul, long hair, Ishant Sharma has everything a usual Indian pacer does not.
Why is Dada having a great year?
Bat with the old dead unswinging unbouncing unchallenging ball idiots. As a bonus you get to avoid Shoib Akhtar.
Why am I writing this?
Normally, I hate criticizing cricketing events. Today, I don't.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

nice post... but i love criticizing the cricket insect

Anonymous said...

thanks mayank.
welcome to the blog.

durjoy datta said...

best post on sachinopedia ever:
the one on december 11

Anonymous said...

It seems forty five of them werent useless after all.

Anonymous said...

So true about the doordarshan thing....!!!
N yep... Not to forget how hindi commentators wud talk bout the most outlandish of things, but cricket....!!
Agonising experience this.... watchin cricket @ DD...
Oh how i miss the Gavaskars and the Bhogles.....
Nyways... As to the Cricketing awards....
Quite a list this one....!!
Cud'v included Lara's Antigua connection... (the 375 n 400..)
Bouncing back to snatch his record from Hayden...!!!
N wowowo...
Where's jumbo's 10-wkt haul....??!!
As to comments on Dada, i'd surely disagre...!!!
Alrite, he may not be 'God' on the off-side anymore, but the comeback stint is commendable 4 sure....!!!!

Wobbout ur buk...??
Heard u'r almost done...!!!

Sachin Garg said...

@anshul,
firstly lemme congratulate on your debut on the blogsville.
lemme tell you that a great audience is waiting for a blog from you.

there was some stuff from mohinder amarnath in Hindi but it crossed the threshold of being mentionable or discussable and i thought better not clutter the post.

how i wish i could go back to cable TV from dishTV which does not offer Neo Sports!

Bhogle, the man from our would be graduate school, is a multiple winner of BBC's best commentator award and that too when all sports' commentators were competing.
no wonder.

as for Lara's innings, few of the major considerations for the list are pitch condition and match status.
Lara's 400 was the most selfish innings in world cricket sacrificing a match which west indies could have won. The pitch, moreover, had no devils.
But an eye candy of an innings it was, i must say.

as for jumbo, a teeny weeny bit of the credit also goes to shiv sena for having dug up the pitch to make it unplayable on the final day.

And Dada, personally i have my doubts. He looks spectacular and is middling the ball in a way even sidhhartha pai might find difficult, but i am not sure what kind of a challene have the pakis have been putting up.
and again, these are personal opinion and as reliance aptly says in its latest commercial:
'cricketers ko toh bhaiya sabhi se advice!'

as for the book, its a torture. god save me.
having a hard time taking care of my marbles.
but it will be done, i assure you, it will be done.

P.S. Our buddy apoorva called up today. bc sab studd ban gaye hai yar. he is apping to seven of the top fifteen univs in US.
DR in top 2!
fat gayi yar sun ke.
kuchh kar yar.

Chronicler said...

everybody seems to be so well opionated and informed bout cricket even while critising it...no wonder other sports get neglected..

Sachin Garg said...

true..
but i am the last person to be blamed for neglecting other sports..
i am not bad at most of them..
:-D

Anonymous said...

It was extremely interesting for me to read this post. Thanx for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to this matter. BTW, why don't you change design :).