Fab 5 of Indian Cricket

I started watching cricket during the 92 world cup and right now i have very hazy memories of those years. Those were the days of Jim Courier, Agassi and Sampras was also rising fast. I grew with watching Sidhu hitting sixes and watching Venkatpati raju and kumble bowling in tandem. Just like any other Indian sachin became my favorite and when the 96 world cup came in our subcontinent I was 12 years old and I keenly followed the cup which gave many famous moments ranging from jadeja firing on all cylinders and kambli and raju crying in the semi finals at eden gardens. Those were the days of agression of Venkatesh Prasad and Abhey Kuruvilla if you guys remember.

India was opening up as in liberalizing it self after the debacle in the 91 and confidence was coming in the Indians also. But on cricket field the aggression was not much aggression was only
visible when a team player was scolded by another member for misfield.

Then one day at lords the mecca of cricket rose two stars Ganguly and Dada. One very aggressive and other composed. They joined my list of fav players gradually which already contained Kumble and Sachin and Sidhu also.

I have grown up watching Sachin, Saurav , Dravid , Kumble and Laxman and they all are my heroes. I relate to these players more compared to Kapil Dev to whom our fathers relate as a fighter who won us the cup in 83.


To be very frank from the fab 5 my favorite is dada for various reasons. Sachin is sachin he is so perfect making mistakes seldomly , he is god gifted but saurav is like common people, life is full of ups and downs.

He is my idol he inspires me that one can achieve what he dreams of, and even when you are hit it you have confidence in you your time will came and he came back after being kicked out . I remember many arguments I had with non dada supporters regarding his form. My moron friends said that dada only hit centuries against weaker nations like bangladesh and kenya , we defended it by saying that many players take these teams casually and give away their wickets so its an art to hit century agianst weaker cricketing nations also :) .


All of these fab five have given a one memorable moment which we all will remember througout our lives :

Laxman the historic 281 in the famour follow on test. The test which gave us the Indians the
confidence that any thing is possible if you dream.

Kumble bowling with plaster on his head a spirit of a fighter man which inspires many Indians like me is saying never say die.

Ganguly two events shirt waving in lords signalling to the world that we have come and we are not even afraid of our collonial rulers and we are ready to give a fitting reply to any one be it
Australia or England. Another was famous century in Adelaide which gave india the confidence that we can win in Australia. We went on to draw the series 1-1.

Dravid the wall has given us famous double century in Australia in Adelaide where he made 233
highest oversees score by an Indian and gave india a famous win. 270 in Pakistan and many more double centuries. The Wall saved India many times and is truly mr dependable.

Sachin the legend from Perth to Sharjah to thrashing of Shoaib Akhtar list is endless and words are less to define such a genius player.


Perhaps with these players the era of long careers in cricket will end also as 18-20 years long careers in cricket will be hard to imagine now.

The Lord of off will be missed by all of us. 2 stalwarts have gone and now 3 are left and its hard to imagine of a day when we 20-30 years fans will watch the game without these icons who changed the way cricket is being loved in India.








But the big questions is will we be able to watch cricket?. Ya life moves on and great people come and go.

How strange is it that without touching us how much they affect our lives and leave a big mark on our hearts.

Captain Saga

Rumors are rife in the market regarding Sachin being made the test captain and dhoni the ODI captain. Captaining the Indian cricket team is one of the toughest job in the world because of the pressure it brings with it.
Dravid has resigned and I respect his decision a lot, infact it is a good slap on the mismanaged BCCI. They might have kicked him after a year or two, so a good decision time for him to enjoy his game and try to win the series downunder.

So now what options we have

Saurav Ganguly : Both for ODI and Test
Pros : One of the most successful captain of India
Very aggressive
Experienced

Cons: Captaincy can effect his form
Fielding
Doesn't have the respect from the players which was there 3-4 years earlier

Should say no for captaincy if offered and let his record of most successful captain stay intact


Sachin:

Pros: Has huge respect from the team
Experienced
Can lead from front with his fine batting

Cons: Past 2 failures

He has said no to the ODI captaincy but I think he is ready for Tests captaincy. In the past 2 occasions this role affected his batting, he should not take the role of captain and with the last tour of Australia of all the three stalwarts he should try to end on a winning note i.e a series victory in Australia.

Kumble : For Tests

Pros: Real Fighter bigger then the above three you all will agree
Team man
Has not been given his due for the services he has done for the Indian cricket

Cons : I don't find any

Kumble should be made the Test captain in my opinion

Laxman can be the dark horse but his batting form is a big drawback

Now ODIs'

Dhoni :

Pros: Age .. can lead India for the coming 6-7 years

Cons: Inexperience (though Smith was also made when he was 21)
His batting (I doubt he can win matches for India outside India)

Yuvraj:

Pros: Age
Batting.. for the past 1.5 years he has shown fine batting display so can lead from front
Aggressive

Cons: Not a permanent player in test side ... but we should understand that when the stalwarts
will retire he will be the backbone of India in Test cricket

I am not able to understand why his name is not being considered



Yuvraj for ODI and Kumble for Tests from my side

Share your views ...



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Its Prayer Time...!!!

No pre-match discussions, no predictions, no prophecies, its time to pray
Let us pray so that we don't become Sri Lankan Lion's prey;

A prayer from heart is what they say, will help the Men in Blue save,
but don't let the prayer be too strong,
as the Blue may become darker and the colour a lil wrong;

The last one for Dada, Dravid and Tendulkar,
the first one for Dhoni and Pathan,
Let all the firsts lasts and middles go on,
Not tumble upon and fly back home so torn;

Somehow I feel the prayer will succeed, as will our team,
but we are habituated to hiccups and our team to indigestion,
even if they win it will be surreal and even if they loose it will be quite away from real;

But still let come together and Pray,
as I, we and everyone from India doesn't want this to end up as a messed up fray.

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