Showing posts with label Deccan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Deccan. Show all posts

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Buchanan questions Tendulkar in Twenty20

It seems one of the ways in which you can attain instant recognition for a book you have authored is by creating a controversy by belittling a well known personality. To me Mr. Buchanan has resorted to that only. He says he has just voiced his opinion on some players but not disclosed why he chose those players only.

If Sachin Tendulkar is a misfit in twenty20 cricket what about Saurav Ganguly on whom Mr. B has heaped a lot of praise. I don't think I need to present the statistics because it is obvious to any rational cricket fan that Tendulkar is a much better player than Ganguly in twenty20. If he commented on Ganguly he should have mentioned his dismal performance in twenty20 format. What is pretty clear from the two editions of the IPL is that Mr. B is a misfit for this format of game. But still I should not say that because cricket is a team game and ostracizing a coach or a player for loss is not fair. VVS Laxman looked a misfit for the Deccan Chargers in both the editions of the IPL but he gave a scintillating performance for Lancashire last fortnight. Who knows Laxman turns out to be a star performer in the next edition of the IPL.

Getting cheap popularity by devalueing a popular figure doesn'y suits someone of Mr. B's stature. Please dont read a book that is full of hatred for one player. I would not have used the word hatred had Mr. B been consistent in criticizing players for he might have set some standards and Tendulkar might be below those. Obviously this is not the case and therefore I request you not to read this book by a garish former coach.

Friday, May 29, 2009

IPL2 Final and memories of 1992

Recent victory of Deccan Chargers in IPL2 brought memories of 1992 World Cup final. The similarities are many. Chargers were fourth team in the semi-finalists of IPL2. So were Pakistan. Deccan were put in driver's seat by two in two of Symonds while Wasim did this trick for Pakistan. With me the analogy does not ends here. Pakistan managed to sneak into semi-finals by an improbable victory against New Zealand through exploits of young Inzy and got a favorable decision in their favor by victory of Australia over West Indies. Similarly, Deccan achieved an incredible victory over Knight Riders through genius of young blood Rohit Sharma and nervousness of Mortaza. They were also helped in their cause by Punjab failing to chase even at less than run-a-ball. These knock-out stages can shatter the rosy dreams of the best team in tournament. This is what happened to New Zealand in 1992 and now Delhi Daredevils must be more than just 'disappointed'. 

Once one of my teachers said "Life is not fair". Very true, indeed