In the last decade or so, the Gods in cricket seem to have diminished rapidly in their numbers. Gone are the days when you could pick two or three players in any team other than India and start your worship. These days there aren't too many cricketers for whom i would gladly pay and watch.
Here is my list of favorite non-Indian Gods:
1. Ambrose and Walsh bowling in tandem. Especially the thinking Ambrose, when the batsman gets better of him by hitting him over the ropes. You don't see any malice. Only a serious face thinking what went wrong and how to amend that the next delivery.
2. Shane Warne in action. There is something magical. The guy seriously thinks he can get a wicket every ball.
3. Waqar and Wasim bowling in tandem. All said, these guys were lethal.
4. Mark Waugh with his elegant drives. You wonder where he gets the timing from.
5. De Silva and Ranatunga. Especially liked the way Ranatunga defended Murali once when the umpire no-balled him.
And in this list without doubt is Brian Lara.
If i have to choose between Lara and Sachin to watch one of them in full glory, i personally would pick the former.
Heres a toast to Lara.. when he quits cricket, it sure is going to be a very haunting theme to forget!!
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5 comments:
I think so too! The reason could be we are getting old and have different interest.
Lara just became the highest run-taker in tests...why talk about retirement(though it will eventually come)...
"The guy seriously thinks he can get a wicket every ball."
thats some observation abt Warne...and i aggree...
venkat > could be! but tell me who are the guys now that invoke similar emotions.. infact my list is only those from the last decade or so.. its probably easier to write this list couple of decades back..
frissko > i dont want Lara to retire anytime soon either.. i guess WC2007 will be kind of farewell to a lot of current superstars, starting with Sachin to Lara.. Ponting.. Warne.. McGrath.. Pollock.. Inzy..
I am a firm believer that in any field people better what their previous generation actually did or achieve. Again i have always listened to my father's rants saying Farook engineer, M.A.K pataudi,gundappa viswanath are better cricketers than the likes of sachin and dravid which i think is absurd. I think sachin and dravid are best indian batsman as of now and before. But that may not remain true in the future. I just doesn't want to be the guy who just gets caught in the fascination of the past. Remember i share the same thoughts as reflected in your post but only thing is i don't believe it honestly myself
Shoaib Akthar, andrew flintoff and Dhoni one from the current crop could draw the same emotions from the fans. May be Dhoni is a bit of stretch as he hasn't played for a long time.
Balaji,Venkat > We do tend to lean towards things that were around at the time we started to understand and appreciate them. Probably our mental reception was most acute only then.
However my observation is a bit different. Home town heroes are always going to be there. The excitement around Shehwag was much more than what it used to be for Srikanth. Today there is a Pathan and Dhone. But when it comes to other countries' heroes, there is a dearth. I have a nephew who is 9. He is closer to cricket and Ganguly than any family. When i asked him to pick some non-Indian heroes, apart the usual few in the Australian side, it was tough for him to pick players to adore.
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