Sir, - The Bangalore Test might have ended embarrassingly for India, but for the intervention of rain. Our batting could not stand up to a mediocre bowling attack sans Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough and our bowling lacked bite.
The floodlights at the ground were on almost right through. Despite them the umpires stopped play often because the red balls could not be sighted by the batsmen. Now that the ICC has made it mandatory for test venues to switch on lights wherever available and whenever necessary, they should also standardise on white balls so that it makes sense to have the lights on.
V. S. GOPALARATHNAM, CHENNAIA magnificent playerSir, - Sachin Tendulkar scored his 27th Test century in the first innings of the second Test against England at Ahmedabad. It was wonderful to watch this magnificent player.
One can say with confidence that he is the best batsman in the world at present. Some of his sparkling innings in Tests as well as in one-dayers have put him on top of the cricketing world. The Indian genius was also given the honour of leading the Rest of the World XI against MCC at Lord's.
Sachin has age in his favour. If he keeps going this way he is sure to create many more records. Former Indian captain Bishan Bedi described him as the "greatest living Indian to-day". Once Kapil had said that, "the strong point of Sachin's batting is he can play as he wants".
There is a complaint that 20 of Sachin's centuries have come when India has lost and out of these nine have come in the first innings and not in the second when the team needed them the most. This complaint has no basis because under the pressure to perform, in which Sachin is in, you can't expect him to deliver all the time.
Coming to another topic, it was wonderful news for cricket lovers that a Lord's suite is to be named after veteran Dilip Vengsarkar. Not only for Vengsarkar but for all those who love this game this is a Christmas gift.
Vengsarkar has scored three consecutive hundreds at Lord's, which is a unique feat. It is a good idea to honour past cricketers thus naming suites at Lord's. This is only for three years and after that the honour will be given to someone else.
The MCC members deserve full marks for this gesture. Cricket lovers who go to England will certainly visit Lord's and now it will be an added attraction to visit the Dilip Vengsarkar suite.
SHIRISH J. BUCH, RAJKOTNot matchwinners in the real senseSir, - The Cover Story on our spin twins Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh made interesting reading (Issue dated December 22 2001). The author has appreciated the achievements of both the spinners. But both Kumble and Harbhajan cannot be regarded as "matchwinners" in the real sense of the term. A true matchwinner is one who can win matches for his team not only at home but also abroad. True, Kumble and Harbhajan have won matches for India at home and the figures vindicate it. But their level of performance on foreign soil is certainly not up to the mark. In foreign conditions, they appear to be containing bowlers rather than strike bowlers. And this is one of the main reasons why our country has not been able to win a single Test outside the sub-continent (barring the recent win in Zimbabwe) for over a decade.
The real matchwinners for India were Bedi, Chandrasekhar, Prasanna and Venkataraghavan. They had not only won matches for India at home but also performed very well and earned victories for the team in alien conditions. They did not require extra bounce or any aid from the pitch to scalp their victims. Sheer skill was enough for them.
Kumble and Harbhajan are good bowlers, no doubt. But for them to be regarded as "matchwinners", they must perform consistently and win matches for our country abroad.
SOYUZ CHANDA, SIVASAGAR, ASSAMA great tributeSir, - Thank you for bringing out a special section on Brian Charles Lara (December 15). Though a good number of columnists have written about the cricket maestro Lara, the best (to me) was Nirmal Shekar's "The Last Emperor". He writes by way of comparison, "Sachin Tendulkar is marginally above the Trinidadian, but not even the Mumbai maestro can offer such great watching pleasure as does Lara at his very best". Actually the West Indians have never treated their greats as "demi-gods" as we do Sachin Tendulkar and others. The West Indians treat cricketers as flesh and blood human beings. Naturally when player like Lara fails, they are shocked.But they take it as a part of the game. And when there were grave doubts whether Lara was serious enough to tour Sri Lanka, he changed his technique following the advice of the great Sir Garfield Sobers.The rest is history. Like Mohammed Azharuddin (one of the all time great cricketers India has produced) Brian Lara is as popular as he is controversial. But both have shown the equanimity to accept both bouquets and brickbats.
Really, I thank The Sportstar for giving us some nice articles of such a great cricketer, "who tempts the Gods out of heaven and on to cricket grounds when he is on song". It is sad for cricket lovers that they will have to miss the music of such a great cricket maestro's batting for a few months owing to his injury in Sri Lanka.
BIDYUT KUMAR CHATTERJEE, FARIDABAD
Comments
SHARE