The next cricket calender is going to be the toughest year for true cricket .. Test Match Cricket. The ICC move to make modifications to the current format makes me worried that the best format of the game will have to undergo changes.
The proposed 4 days for tests can make the game more spectator friendly but not the true test of character of the game. I know people will argue that the format was changed even in the past like having a rest day after the 3rd day and so on but for purists the 5 day format of Test Cricket is true cricket even though there are few phases where the game can get boring.If test cricket is restricted to 4 days initially there will be few no result matches. Over a period of time things will settle down and we will see results but we will see the end of players who painstakingly spend hours and hours in the middle to fight to save the match and show character and technique (Just imagine Artherton's match saving 5th day innings against SouthAfrica and many such innings from Dravid).
I would blame the various cricket boards to have dragged the best format of cricket to this stage with poor planning and unmindful push to the slam bang version to fill their coffers. It was a pity to see empty stand in WI when Aussies toured and the same was seen even in cricket crazy country like Srilanka and India. Many factors like pricing of tickets,lack of initiative to market the format has brought down the most important format of the game down to this stage.
Finally it will be sad if the format is changed in any way and the talk of playing with color dress & day-night just hits the last nail in the coffin.I can not even think of seeing the players in color dress in the true cricket "TEST CRICKET".
On Indian Tour to West Indies
Rohit,R.Jadeja & Y.Pathan all wasted the god sent chances they got to play in this series. I am disappointed with this pathetic display purticullarly by Rohit. Rohit was so promising when he entered the international scene and some how he is yet to cement his place in the team.Good to see D.Karthick get some runs but this is not good enough for him to assure himself of a place when the big guys come back. Dhoni is back among runs and after a long time his batting has won a game for India. Not much to write about our bowling it just suffers and need a lot of discipline to put up some decent performance.
On Selection Matters
I know Cheeka as a selector is doing his bit to make sure that TN players are part of the team and Dhoni does his bit to keep them out of the playing XI. Unfortunately for Dhoni this time the youngsters he backs has failed more often than perform. I expected Badri to get a chance after dismal show from R.Sharma & Y.Pathan but yet to get his chance. On all merits M.Vijay should have got the openers slot at the first place but some how dhoni preferred karthick for reasons best known to him. Saving grace is karthick has performed well. I think at least now the people who back dhoni for all his decisions will agree with me on his prejudice against TN cricketers.
I would also feel that I.Sharma needs to be handled carefully, we have lost some good young talent in the past due to some poor handling of players. I see that I.Sharma is shot of confidence and needs a lot of hand holding so that he gets back to his prime.
Overall i would say this tour to WI is played just because of some obligation between the two boards and there is no real interest or intensity. The cricket administrators should put an end to these sort of meaningless series in the future, more so because the players are already overworked.
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2 comments:
Vasu, unfortunately too much money is now involved in the game and we the fans are paying the price. The administrators are simply milking every possible drop unmindful of where this could lead. Its clear the objective now is quantity and not quality. They are taking this globally getting countries like USA, Serbia to play, so the format needs to reduce the quality gap between teams and what better than T20 !! We just have to reset expectations I guess. No more Warne bowling long spells to Sachin or Lara !!
I guess they could make T20 club based (EPL like) and test matches country based (Euro, WC soccer, Davis cup tennis). Allow only 4 or 5 test teams, but play 15-20 quality test matches and have a yearly champion ! 50 over can remain just for WC !! But there is also too much tradition involved like ashes so MCC will not allow this to take off.
Thats lot of rants, coming to the current scenario, no I still do not agree Dhoni was wrong in not selecting TN players. DK is from TN !! I agree its a fact they were not chosen to play, but why should I believe Dhoni is doing intentioally without any strong reason ? Why are you not seeing it as he is making decisions to maximize results and not provide chances to everybody in the queue ? If we were 2-0 up, he would have taken a chance.
But a good 2 months rest for team India and us !!
Interestingly Dravid has been named in the probables of the champions trophy. This shows the importance of a quality test players in the game. Their class and technique are so sound that they can play any format of the game. Players of his caliber will be missed in the future.
As Rajesh has mentioned the next generation of viewers will be deprived of a chance to watch long spells from "Spin wizard" Warne to "Little master" Sachin.
Regarding the TN players I think its their destiny or what else you can call. Getting to play a very few matches, and failing to make it big on those occasions.
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