Top Menu

Archive | The Hindu

Articles that Peter Roebuck wrote for The Hindu between September 2009 and January 2005.

Kumar Sangakkara

Inspiration is Sport’s Primary Purpose

16 April 2011. Never underestimate sport’s ability to inspire. Certainly it also provides opportunity and entertainment. It is, too, an outlet for youthful energies that might otherwise be directed into less savoury activities. Now and then a noted sportsman stoops but it’s a small price to pay. Overwhelmingly sport takes the sting out of young […]

Continue Reading
Kevin O'Brien

Top Five Moments of the WC

2 April 2011. 1. The Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan shaking hands. Sport cannot cure all the ailments of the world but it can open minds. Tensions had been high since the Mumbai bombings in 2008. Then India and Pakistan were drawn to meet in the semifinals of the World Cup. All sorts of […]

Continue Reading
Virender Sehwag

This World Cup has Surpassed Expectations

02 April 2011.  After long weeks of slow progress, India and Sri Lanka arrive weary and footsore in Mumbai with a single aim in mind – capturing the World Cup and so securing glory for their country and cricketing immortality for themselves. These entertaining and skilful sides have much in common, a reliance on spin, […]

Continue Reading
Afghanistan national cricket team

An Insult to the Associate Teams

16 March 2011. Between them the Associate teams scored 523 runs on Sunday. Unused to facing top class bowling or playing in front of large crowds they still managed to give an excellent account of themselves. Nor were they playing the weaker sides. Canada reached 261 against the Kiwis. Kenya attained 262 against mighty Australia. […]

Continue Reading
Kemar Roach

Focus Should be More on the Present

5 March 2011. The crushing defeats suffered by Zimbabwe and Bangladesh in the latest round of matches confirm that the line drawn between Test and the rest is artificial and requires review. Certainly, it ought to revive debate about dividing the top 12 nations into leagues with promotion and relegation permitted. Granting Test status is […]

Continue Reading
ICC cricket world cup logo 2011

Opening Ceremony Surpasses Expectations

19 February 2011. The decision to sack the Associates from the 2015 tournament counts amongst the worst taken by any sport. Forty years ago George Harrison organised a concert for Bangladesh. Bob Dylan and Ravi Shankar played, and the Indian maestro teased his American audience by saying that since they liked his tuning up so […]

Continue Reading
Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Daunting Task Ahead of Dhoni

12 February 2011. Mahendra Singh Dhoni has an immense task on his hands. Of course it is only a sporting task and not to be compared to clearing up Brazil after floods or Queensland after a cyclone. However, the challenge is not to be underestimated. Emotions are going to be pitched high. On paper India’s […]

Continue Reading
Eden Gardens cricket ground

A Sad Jolt to Much-loved Ground

29th January 2011. Eden Gardens is one of the game’s best loved grounds. In terms of fame and atmosphere Lord’s and the MCG stand as its only rivals. Every cricket player in every touring team yearns for the opportunity to play in that teaming amphitheatre with 100,000 Indians intently following every ball. To walk along […]

Continue Reading
Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Brave New India

21 January 2011. Dhoni’s side has acquired the ability to will itself to victory, writes Peter Roebuck India’s fighting spirit bodes well for its prospects in the coming World Cup. Twice Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team has managed to scrape across the line in South Africa and on each occasion the players have celebrated exuberantly. Both […]

Continue Reading
Indian Premier League match

IPL, Entertainment Posing as a Game

15 January 2011. India’s hopes of winning the forthcoming World Cup have been badly damaged by the latest IPL auction. Of course the two are connected. Morale is critical in any team. Moreover a community with a compromised culture cannot expect to conquer. The sight of respected men huddled alongside fripperies and jewels whilst bidding […]

Continue Reading
Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan SinghSingh

It was an Outstanding Show by the Indians

08 January 2011. India’s feat in securing a drawn series in South Africa counts amongst the most outstanding in its history. It is an indication of the team’s maturity and high expectations that the response was slightly muted. Admittedly a draw is not to be mistaken for a victory but all things considered it was […]

Continue Reading
Neville Cardus

Cricket as a Means of Liberation

1st January 2011. Decades ago it was said of Neville Cardus that he “changed the course of the writing of cricket. He showed what could be done. He dignified and illuminated the task.” Cardus’s ability to combine music and cricket, his insights into character, his images and asides, the sheer quality of his prose, altered […]

Continue Reading
Indian cricket fans in Melbourne

Prepare or Perish

18 December 2010. India’s preparations for the match underway at Centurion were threadbare. No sooner had a one-day and Test series against New Zealand been completed than the players were packed onto a plane and sent to a distant continent full of hostile creatures, some of them able to aim cricket balls at their bodies […]

Continue Reading
English cricket team in Brisbane 1928

England’s Performance was its Best

10 December 2010. Ponting’s dreams of recapturing the Ashes sit on the brink of ruin. India and South Africa will be playing for first place in the rankings when their series begins, but they need to listen for footsteps because England is on its way! Andrew Strauss and pals have the ability and ambition to […]

Continue Reading
Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium

The Impact of an India-Australia Brand

2 October 2010. As part of the deal whereby they secured an interest in the Champions League, the Australians promised to visit these shores once a year. Accordingly, Ricky Ponting has brought his team along for this curious little series. India and Australia need to take care not to turn an epic into a soap […]

Continue Reading
Kieron Pollard batting

Champions League could Renew Optimism

11 September 2010. Thankfully cricket is back. Everyone has had enough of the scandals. Cricket is at the mercy of its players and administrators. It is a glorious game that can be spoilt only by its supposed stewards. Selfishness is the enemy. Cricket’s creed includes the notion that team and game come before the individual. […]

Continue Reading
Mohammad Asif

Cricket Adjusts to its Times but Retains its Essence

28 August 2010. Cricket is a game of skill. Observers can talk all they like about how the game has changed but in the end it all comes back to technique and temperament. Every generation thinks it has invented the wheel. Newspapers, films, telephones have been consigned to the rubbish dump but all remain intact. iPods […]

Continue Reading
Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Dhoni and Comrades Deserve Praise

7 August 2010. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and comrades deserve commendation for their fightback in Colombo. It was a rotten toss to lose and the Indians might easily have dropped their heads. Instead they worked hard and looked sharper and it took a splendidly defiant ninth-wicket partnership to stop them romping to victory with a day […]

Continue Reading
First Asian Games opening ceremony

A Short-sighted Decision by India

12 June, 2010. India’s decision not to send a team to the Asian Games soon to get underway in China is short-sighted. Here was a rare opportunity for the two great and growing powers of the sporting and wider world to join forces on a cricket field. And it was spurned. China worked hard, built […]

Continue Reading
Suresh Raina

India was Lame and Tame

15 May 2010. India’s wretched performance in the Caribbean was a rude awakening. Defeat is part of any game but sometimes its manner is so telling that a strong response is required. For the second time in a few weeks, India has been forced to undergo a period of severe self scrutiny and for a […]

Continue Reading
The Pavilion at Old Trafford 2009

Dampening the Spirit

5 September, 2009. It was ridiculous to let a wet patch scuttle a match, writes Peter Roebuck Nothing has been more ridiculous in the last few weeks than the sight of highly paid cricketers solemnly prodding the ground at Old Trafford. Throughout they looked as serious as Colombo examining a crime scene. A packed house […]

Continue Reading
England vs South Africa 2005

Did You Break the Code?

17 January 2008. Cricket, unlike other sports, lacks a code that – although not mentioned in any rule book – is universally accepted and lends the sport a commonness of purpose. Every game has codes and customs handed down by the generations and honoured by tradition. Often it is these customs that supporters point towards […]

Continue Reading