Archive | ESPN Cricinfo

3 December 2008. New Zealand cricket has been reduced to its present low state chiefly by a lack of cohesion. New Zealand cricket is at low ebb. Although it may not return to the desperate days of the last century – when individual deeds were celebrated in the absence of any hope of victory, a […]

12 November 2008. Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a forthright, straightforward cricketer unburdened by the baggage that generally accompanies a man onto the field, thereby restricting his outlook. At once he is intelligent and simple, aggressive and canny, tough and respectful. He did not come to cricket as a youthful dreamer but as a young street […]

06 November 2008. Gangles was fun. Every now and then a fellow feels like tearing off his shirt and waving it around like Mick Jagger with a microphone. Of all places, Sourav Ganguly responded to the urge at Lord’s, holiest of cricketing holies. So much for decorum. He might as well have burped in St […]

29 October 2008. Memories of Australia’s last Test match at Kotla are hazier than the smog that holds the capital city in its grip. Certain things linger in the mind: the result, a catch, an opening batsman’s fate, two trenchant innings, and a wonderfully innovative and sustained piece of cricket writing, but all else has […]

22 October 2008. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Ricky Ponting might as well come from the same street, the same school, the same suburb. They emerged from the backwaters and arrived on the cricket scene with sharp minds and hardened games. As time passed, both learnt to use the right words and sometimes to think the […]

16 October 2008. At stumps on the opening day of the Bangalore Test match the Australians were confident of winning. Already two significant advantages had been secured. Ricky Ponting had won the toss on a pitch expected to fall apart as rapidly as an American bank that has given mortgages to anyone with a dollar […]

8 October 2008. Let the games begin! After an eternity of speculation about pitches and selection and injuries and retirements, and with unsuspected newcomers eagerly sandpapering bats, and veterans anxiously oiling their joints, the Indian and Australian sides can finally get down to business. Everyone remembers the recent exchanges, the hot and the heroic, and […]

1 October 2008. Although he bounds around like an especially cheerful buck and retains in his eyes the brightness of youth, Michael Clarke has undertaken and almost completed his maturing. Insofar as any male ever does, he has put aside daring and given productivity its due. For a time his spirit rebelled against the cramping […]

17 September 2008. Over the next few weeks Andrew Symonds will realise that he needs the game more than the money, the commitment more than the independence, the fuss more than the peace, the attention more than the solitude, and the dressing rooms more than the boat. He will understand that the time for fishing […]

3 September 2008. Kevin Pietersen has not lost his Midas touch. Of course it is sheer folly to assess a captain’s worth after a few matches played on home terrain against a waning opponent whose most accurate leather-flinger is sitting in a nearby commentary box. Still, Pietersen has grabbed the reins in the same way […]

20 Aug 2008. Sorry Sourav, but the sands of time have run out. It’s been an extraordinary career that deserves to be saluted and celebrated, but all good things come to an end. How many captains have led their team to a series victory over Australia, and also to a World Cup final? How many […]

6 Aug 2008. Michael Vaughan produced a rousing England side that for several years played some spirited cricket, culminating in one exhilarating and exhausting campaign. Then he suffered as his team omitted to build upon its breakthrough. Frustrated by injury and weakened by the loss of important players, Vaughan ran out of runs and inspiration. […]

23 July 2008. Since he took over the captaincy of his country, Mahela Jayawardene has so surpassed expectations that it has become necessary not merely to take a closer look at him but also at our own complacencies. Cast as a man of moments, appearances and dalliances, as a rootless stylist, a member of the […]

9th July 2008. Graeme Smith embarks upon his second series in England as a more rounded character blessed with a more established game. Not that he did so badly last time. To the contrary his visit five years ago surpassed all expectations. Smith managed to turn a suspicious and fraught team containing a variety of […]

28 June 2008. At no point in the last 50 years has the country that invented the game stood at the top of the rankings. They have only themselves to blame. Kevin Pietersen’s nomination as captain of the England side confirms that the game in the land of its origin has come to a pretty […]

May 14, 2008. The IPL has shown that the shortest version provides as many insights, dramas and stories as any other form of the game. The IPL continues to provide rich revelation of character. Twenty20 continues to offer a hundred short stories in the space of a few hours. Like all sport it is about […]

May 1, 2008.  The IPL has showcased a high standard of cricket, emphasised sportsmanship, fostered camaraderie, and treated spectators right. More power to it. Alhough still in its infancy, and therefore capable of experiencing a troubled adolescence and disappointing adulthood, the IPL has so far surpassed expectations. Reports indicate that India has been in a […]

16 April 2008. The mishandling of the Zimbabwe crisis is perhaps the most shameful chapter in the ICC’s history. Cricket has plunged into the darkest period in its history. Never can the game have so disgraced itself as it did at the most recent ICC meeting. Presented with an opportunity to confront the malign in […]

March 26, 2008. Not the least of Brett Lee’s achievements this summer has been how he has managed to keep his temper and dignity while all about him were losing theirs. Brett Lee deserved every plaudit that came his way in 2007-08. Everyone held him in high regard. From the first ball to the last, […]

March 12, 2008. Their tour of Australia showed that India’s time has come, both on the field and off it. Over the years India has been colonised, scorned and patronised. Inevitably, the hackles of its more abrasive citizens have periodically been raised. Always the struggle is between earnest reformers and rankled revolutionaries. It can happen […]

February 27, 2008. Batsmen in what should be their most prolific years are more prone to falling prey to the weight of expectations, and thereby being brought face to face with their limitations. As a breed, batsmen are haunted by the prospect of failure. It hardens them, tightens them, sometimes exhausts them. A centre-forward unable […]