It is indeed a 'summer' of cricket for the Aussies down under ! Remember, they have their Christmas in summer ! In fact, even the South Africans and Zimbabweans would look forward to a summer of cricket this time of the year.
lets see how many tests "team india" can draw, let alone win... its boring to read these accolades and to watch india lose test after test, series after series.
Thanks for a nice article that contained some nice links as well.
As far as Sachin is concerned, I think, he is at a position where no person including the great Bishen Bedi joining the bandwagon called "let's bash Sachin" should bother him. He is where less mortals can just think of being there.
We (especially the critiques) will know his true value when he will hang up bat! We, the Indians, love to discard a person's ability just by checking his couple of performances that are not up to our expectations. We did it before to the two great players this game ever produced namely Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, we are doing it again to Sachin.
Let's try to enjoy the game when this man is making the history as many of us could not watch Bradman, Trumper or Sobers at work but we can still watch Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and let's hope to watch a lot of him.
I have always found Bishen Singh Bedi's mouth bigger than his achievements, the man who never know how to bat comments on batting, thats the state of Indian cricket today, wasnt he the same man who had commented that India wont even qualify in the quater finals of the World Cup, he always opens his mouth too big, try to understand Mr. BSB that Sachin Tendulkar is the only man to make Indians proud, even you could not have achieved that for your country.
Where is that match winning innings in a crucial game? where is that effort of winning a series off one's own bat as the truly greats have done? Apart from his praising his innings against Zimbabwe, Holland, UAE, Kenya (remember, in the 1999 World Cup, he went back to England and promptly "slammed" a ton against Kenya), Bangladesh and the like, what is his performance in cup finals or crucial test matches or nerve wracking situations - a la the 57 ball century of Viv Richards under pressure? He is undoubtedly great as a batsman, greater in marketing deals and the greatest in striking "deals" to get tax waivers and hit at the tax paying man so that he would not pay his taxes - today he wants a waiver of Rs.20 lakhs - but "the greatest"? Yes, to his aficionados in the press and elsewhere in India but not to the discerning, cricket - knowing, non - jingoistic cricket lover.
RE:Tendulkar is NOT Indian media hype!!
by The Big Reply on Dec 02, 2003 11:42 AM
Is that so? Well, I bet you pay your taxes on time. I bet you never try to bargain with a shopkeeper to reduce the price of something or the other. And as far as crucial innings go, none of the so-called 'greats' have won 'crucial' matches single-handedly. They have always had the support of someone or the other. Who supports Mr. Sachin Tendulkar? Why don't you go and play cricket, if you think it's so easy? As far as the 1999 World Cup goes, his father passed away. He was also pushed to number 4, which means he did not have much of a chance to score well. OK, he didn't play in the WC final 2003, but he was the main cause of India reaching there. What did the others do in the final? What did the bowlers do? Name any team who has chased 359? Name any person, who has single-handedly chased 300+? It has always been team effort. What do you expect from one man, sir? Hence, before even trying to write against a man of such stature, please check the records, and see how many players have supported Tendulkar, and how many have supported those 'greats' as you have mentioned. They are greats, with all due respect to them, but I bet none of them have won matches single-handedly.
Your following comment is wrong. "What better exemplar of that trait than the fact that the natives are looking forward, in late November, to a "summer" of cricket"
Australia is in the southern hemisphere, so when the northern hemisphere has winter (Nov) because the sun is far south, the southern hemisphere has summer.
