The other night, I was watching Tendulkar and Jayasurya smash every bowler to all nooks and corners of the ground in the IPL match. Watching that performance, made me that little kid, giving me the same old excitement when the 4s and 6s were smashed. It made me think how I fell in love with cricket at a very young age.

My first memories of cricket was invariably watching Sachin play. He was the first cricketer I knew by name. At 6 or 7 years old, despite not knowing the difference between silly point and deep fine leg, I knew one thing – Sachin was a legend. He was my first hero. As years went by and my cricketing brain developed I found other heroes to worship, some of whom I liked more than Sachin. But then he had a special place. Maybe because he was my first hero, or maybe it was because his career coincided with my growing up days. Whatever it is, Sachin was, is and will be very very special.

I mean can you imagine (if you are Indian, that is) any other player in the whole wide world like Sachin, for whom your heart sinks into a bottomless abyss when he gets out? I don’t think so. And the genuine bliss you get watching him hit a four or a six you never get from anyone else. It’s not Lara’s flair, Sehwag’s flamboyance, Warne’s rock-stardom, Murali’s charm or Dhoni’s charisma. It’s something different – unique only to Sachin. I mean, for a second just forget what he is and then look at him for a while. It beats me, how a person can be so humble, calm and quiet despite being the most paid, most adored, most famous and arguably the best cricketer of all time. He is the perfect role model. This is how you should treat success according to me. I can’t remember one incident of arrogance in his entire career. That is just absolutely incredible for a person of his stature.

I cannot imagine the day he hangs up his boots. I’m sure I’ll be that emotional child again who weeps in his heart when he gets out. Oh how do we explain to the next generation that such a man walked the pitch one day. We were lucky, to be born in that generation to see a legend in all respects in action.

Two very exciting matches today, the Ashes test between Australia v England and the ODI India v West Indies. Both thrilling… and both a relief to every loyal cricket fan… Cricket’s magic is still working.

What a wonderful test match it was! I would have never thought Australia would have reached so close, needing more than a 100 runs to win with just two wickets remaining. For the first time, in a long time, I could see Australia having to fight for a win… and boy wasn’t it good! The match was outstanding even before the last day, but the final act made it truly unforgettable. Kudos to Warne, Lee and Kasperowicz. I knew Lee and Warne could bat a bit, but Kasperowicz… that was a surprise. It was fun seeing both sides fighting till the end… congrats to England, for not letting their heads down even when it was all slipping away. But amidst all this let’s not forget Andrew Flintoff, who made it all possible. If it had not been for his explosive batting and accurate bowling, the Aussies would have simply walked away with all honours. Too good a match to miss folks!!

Whoever that told me test cricket is boring, must have been joking!

Further Reading:

• Scorecard » cricinfo.com
• When defeat is beyond unthinkable » cricinfo.com
• England beat Australia and level the series » the corridor of uncertainity
• ‘I’ll replay the ball for life’ – Kasprowicz » cricinfo.com
• Great Tests that went down to the wire » mirror.co.uk

ICC decided to bring in two new laws to limited-overs cricket that will supposedly make it more interesting. Now that the first experiment was tried out during the recent England vs. Australia Nat-West series, we have some idea over whether the whole thing is going to work.

I like the first rule. Three blocks of fielding-restrictions (now called as Powerplay). That I think should really add some twists to the same-old-story during the sleepy overs from the 15th to the 40th. During the Nat-West series however this wasn’t really tested, since all the matches were low scoring and almost always the team had a very slow start allowing the teams to finish off the powerplay blocks by over 20. It still looked like a normal ODI. But in high-scoring games say when a team has to chase a 300 plus total, this is definitely going to be more exciting.

Rule #2 was substitution. Previously the substitutes could only field and hence were almost of negligible importance (They didn’t even appear in the statistics of the game!). But now this option is now made more powerful, trying to make it at par with substitutions in football. Substitutions can now be made at any time and they can bat, bowl or field just like the other 10 on field. So is it working? Frankly, no! I do support the idea of substitution, but in the current form of implementation, I seriously doubt whether it adds anything more to the “excitement” of the game. It makes the toss even more powerful I guess. Suppose Australia wants to bat first and goes in with one extra batsman, thinking that they can substitute him for a bowler in the second innings. This will work if they win the toss and elect to bat. However if England wins the toss and they decide to bat, the whole plan is spoiled. Australia will have to substitute their player right at the beginning of the innings, absolutely wasting their extra batsman. The reason for this problem is that the playing 11 has to be submitted before the toss. One solution I can see for this problem is that instead of the playing 11, the entire 12 member team is given before the toss and the captain after the toss can decide who the substitute is.

In my humble opinion, substitution must either be improved or scrapped completely and the powerplay rules must be retained. Lets see where all this would bring cricket to. Anyway nice to see that ICC is innovating and are genuinely interested in promoting the game :)

Further Reading:

• ICC to trial one-day rule changes » espnstar.com
• ODI changes: revolutionary or gimmicky? » cricinfo.com

Wow!! This was probably the biggest upset in the history of one-day cricket. The team that is ranked last in the international ratings (by a long way) beat the team that has been on the top ever since the ratings were introduced.

Just think about it… It is somewhat like a Division 2 side in the English league defeating Brazil in football! Consider Bangladesh’s record before this match. Played – 109, Won – 9, Lost – 96. The odds of Australia loosing was tipped at 500 to 1 by Ladbrokes! Now that puts it into perspective doesn’t it?

I have always been a strong critic of Bangladesh. I never understood why the team was allowed to play at the highest level of cricket. It never seemed like they were even trying to win a match. But however yesterday’s performance was just so good. It wasn’t as if the Australians didn’t score any runs. Bangladesh had to chase a fairly good total of 250. Honestly before their innings started I wasn’t expecting them to cross even 200. But what a performance by the young team. They just withstood all the pressure against probably the best bowling attack in the world. Amazing!

I just hope this isn’t just a one-off. They are a very young side. People have already started drawing analogies with Sri Lanka, who were once a struggling side like Bangladesh and in the end managed to win the world cup in 1996. I think it’s a bit too pre-mature for that. But still this victory will immensely improve their confidence and more importantly will earn them some respect.

Further reading:

• Scorecard (Cricinfo)
• Match Reports : Rediff | ABC Sport | Bloomberg
• Cricinfo – Ten biggest one-day upsets