One Genius Retires, Another Returns
bye bye Schumi is passe,
Welcome back Sachin is IN!
What an innings vs WI it was. To call it a masterful knock would be the understatement of the year. It was a perfect innings, with one slight blemish right at the beginning. The best thing about the knock was not how Sachin paced the innings, or how he carried his bat(stayed not out till the end) throughout the innings, neither was it the way he exploded in the end to carrry India over the 300 run mark. The best part about that innings was that it was an answer to all the critics who have managed to voice their opinions on how Sachin is now "past hist prime" et al. And What an answer it was!
Many a times it has been said that Sachin has not performed when required from him, well Sachin performed when it was required. The only batsman to support him was Irfan Pathan and Sachin relished the opportunity to accomplish his 40th century. Alas, the critics still had their say because ultimately India lost the match[more about the insanite of D/L in this situation later], but in the third match of the series Sachin delivered yet again, this time the only suport he got was from Harbhajan Singh, who is usually known for his ability with the ball turning and sometimes for throwing his bat around for getting some quick runs. On this occasion it was able support for Sachin, getting a few good shots, some clean hits down the ground as well, giving Sachin much needed support and a good stand. Ultimately it was this stand that took India to somewhat modest total, and ultimately it was Deja Vu for the West Indian team supporters (1983 WC final).
The best part in yesterday's innings for me was not how Sachin held his ground but the anguish when he got that freak dismissal. There was huge disappointment written clearly on his face. That to me shows that this man is out there and he is VERY HUNGRY for runs. May he get thousands of more runs and may he take India to many a series win(WC 2007 Included). Amen!
Coming to the Duckworth Lewis rule, In my opinion the latest rule change from ICC, cutting down of minimum length of innings to 20 overs from 25 for application of D/L, is totally insane. Mainly because the first 20 overs are the ones that the fielding captain chooses to use the Power plays, therefore giving the batting team a chance to take risks and get some quick runs. In future it would hold teams in good stead, if they would delay their power plays in rainy weather so as to avoid falling behind in the net run rate.
What, in my opinion, would be a much better thing to do in rain affected matches is, to take the score after the same number of overs from both the innings and expand them using D/L to 50 overs(to take the exact effect of the wickets lost) so that it is fair to both the teams. If such a rule comes into effect, i believe, it would be a lot more fairer for both the teams, because as of now the declaration of result is more of a gamble! If a team loses more wickets initially, but manages to settle down but just as they were abt to accelarate to reach their target, rain comes and WHAM! they have lost the match.
I think the rules for rain affected matches need a major relook.
But more than that what needs a through look through is the way these tournaments are being organized. Dont localites know what months are parts of the rainy season? Why plan a tournament when such a period is going on? We saw an example of it in Sri Lanka and then again in Malaysia. What baffles me is, that even after the first match was washed out it was well known that there was a high probability of rain for all the matches but only in the evening, so why still continue to hold the matches as D/N? Why cant the matches be shifted to the morning? Or atleast prepone the start a bit so as to get more overs before rain gets a chance to spoil the game
Update: finally the authorities have woken up and the games starting from WI vs Aus(2nd match round) will start 1 hour before the scheduled time.
Note: This article has been written over a large period of time, and therefore there might be some ambiguities in the way things have been mentioned. I started writing this article after the century from the boss, and have finally managed to finish it!
Welcome back Sachin is IN!
What an innings vs WI it was. To call it a masterful knock would be the understatement of the year. It was a perfect innings, with one slight blemish right at the beginning. The best thing about the knock was not how Sachin paced the innings, or how he carried his bat(stayed not out till the end) throughout the innings, neither was it the way he exploded in the end to carrry India over the 300 run mark. The best part about that innings was that it was an answer to all the critics who have managed to voice their opinions on how Sachin is now "past hist prime" et al. And What an answer it was!
Many a times it has been said that Sachin has not performed when required from him, well Sachin performed when it was required. The only batsman to support him was Irfan Pathan and Sachin relished the opportunity to accomplish his 40th century. Alas, the critics still had their say because ultimately India lost the match[more about the insanite of D/L in this situation later], but in the third match of the series Sachin delivered yet again, this time the only suport he got was from Harbhajan Singh, who is usually known for his ability with the ball turning and sometimes for throwing his bat around for getting some quick runs. On this occasion it was able support for Sachin, getting a few good shots, some clean hits down the ground as well, giving Sachin much needed support and a good stand. Ultimately it was this stand that took India to somewhat modest total, and ultimately it was Deja Vu for the West Indian team supporters (1983 WC final).
The best part in yesterday's innings for me was not how Sachin held his ground but the anguish when he got that freak dismissal. There was huge disappointment written clearly on his face. That to me shows that this man is out there and he is VERY HUNGRY for runs. May he get thousands of more runs and may he take India to many a series win(WC 2007 Included). Amen!
Coming to the Duckworth Lewis rule, In my opinion the latest rule change from ICC, cutting down of minimum length of innings to 20 overs from 25 for application of D/L, is totally insane. Mainly because the first 20 overs are the ones that the fielding captain chooses to use the Power plays, therefore giving the batting team a chance to take risks and get some quick runs. In future it would hold teams in good stead, if they would delay their power plays in rainy weather so as to avoid falling behind in the net run rate.
What, in my opinion, would be a much better thing to do in rain affected matches is, to take the score after the same number of overs from both the innings and expand them using D/L to 50 overs(to take the exact effect of the wickets lost) so that it is fair to both the teams. If such a rule comes into effect, i believe, it would be a lot more fairer for both the teams, because as of now the declaration of result is more of a gamble! If a team loses more wickets initially, but manages to settle down but just as they were abt to accelarate to reach their target, rain comes and WHAM! they have lost the match.
I think the rules for rain affected matches need a major relook.
But more than that what needs a through look through is the way these tournaments are being organized. Dont localites know what months are parts of the rainy season? Why plan a tournament when such a period is going on? We saw an example of it in Sri Lanka and then again in Malaysia. What baffles me is, that even after the first match was washed out it was well known that there was a high probability of rain for all the matches but only in the evening, so why still continue to hold the matches as D/N? Why cant the matches be shifted to the morning? Or atleast prepone the start a bit so as to get more overs before rain gets a chance to spoil the game
Update: finally the authorities have woken up and the games starting from WI vs Aus(2nd match round) will start 1 hour before the scheduled time.
Note: This article has been written over a large period of time, and therefore there might be some ambiguities in the way things have been mentioned. I started writing this article after the century from the boss, and have finally managed to finish it!
posted by MountCleverest at 9:52 PM
1 Comments:
Congarts finally u finished it.
And this comment posting also works.
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