ExpertDabbler

This is a cricket post I wanted to write for some time and henceforth all cricket posts will be dedicated to my buddy Sundar. Now ladies please hold on. I am not going to bore you with some vital stats about some arcane cricket match played during Don Bradman’s era. It’s actually more about cricketing personalities than about cricket.

Actually cricket does not top my interests list anymore.
Gone are the days when I used to wake up @2.30 AM to watch Sir Richard John Hadlee’s unique, yet-to-be-imitated bowling action and one Martin Crowe torment the bowlers with his magical batting, much to the delight of the Auckland crowd. I don’t wonder anymore at the Auckland ground’s unique shape which would be a challenge to even Pythogarus.

My ability to get up on my own just in time for the first ball used to evoke much curiosity at home.
“ Oru dhadavaiyavadhu ipdi padika elundhirkariya da?”
(“Have you ever got up like this to study?”) My dad used to admonish.

Thanks to CAS in Chennai and the great form that Indian players are with the commercials, i dont follow cricket the way i used to. The last time I saw a cricket match with fervor was when our Mumbai Maestro cut one big mouthed Shoaib Akhtar to size with a six over backward point in 2003 World cup.

But my awe, respect, wonder for some cricketing personalities remain intact.

I’m going to talk about two guys who would walk into an all-time great test team just like that.

First the G. (Ajith fans please excuse)

G for Greatness. G for Gilly. Adam Gilchrist to be precise. It’s a love-hate relationship. I hate this guy when he torments India. I also love this guy for his flair and talent. How I wished India had one No. 7 batsman half as good as him.

There are lies, damn lies and statistics some say. Being the Harishchandran that I am, let’s start with stats.
68 matches, 97 innings, 4452 runs, average of 54.00, 15 hundreds coming at No7 at a staggering strike rate of 83 in Test Matches. Most of his runs had come either when the team was at 100 odd for 5 or 300 odd and in a hurry to pile on more runs quick to have enough time to bowl out the opposition. And one among his 15 hundreds includes a death-defying 149 against a Pakistan attack which included a not-so- ordinary Wasim Akram. Chasing 350 odd for victory and being 120 something for 5, our Gilly walks in and all but dismisses the Pakis out of reckoning. An innings of his life-time.

Not to mention he is a fabulous wicket-keeper too. Not like our Parthiv Patel who should be called as a wicket-dropper batsman.

“Just hit the ball,” is how he once described his philosophy on batting. Simple nah? And boy is he good at it. All it takes is two hours with Gilly at the crease and the match is decidedly in favour of Australia. Our Gilly breezes to a hundred by the way.

For a guy who made his test debut at a relatively advanced age of 28, nobody has ever walked the hall of fame quicker than Gilly. He has played an instrumental role in elevating a great team to an invincible one.

And what’s more he is a walker. Before Gilly arrived, a walking Aussie sounded more like an oxymoron.’Paragon of virtue’ is not something you would associate with an Aussie would you? A world-cup semi final and our man walks even as the umpire says not out.

A true match winner, a great team man, an exceptional entertainer and above all a person of integrity. That’s Gilly for you.

Next comes the mean, magnificent McGrath. More on that later…

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 24th, 2005 at 8:49 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.