Cricket Talks with Jigar Saraswat Part -1.
Cricket, like many Indians, is my beloved game. I still remember 1994 when I show my first live match on T.V that too forcibly when I was just eight years old. The first man I show on T.V was Sachin Tendulkar, and the game was against Sri Lanka.
In the last 26 years, I have watched most of the ODI, Test Matches and twenty's then, IPL, Big Bash and other leagues. In three decades, I have seen many players like Brian Lara, which I feel is the most stylish Left-Hander, Ricky Ponting, Mathew Hayden, Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Ganguly and many more. But Sachin Tendulkar I think was best out of all the greats of that era and there are many reasons.
Why I rate Sachin bit higher than others because he mostly succeeds till last against all the best bowlers of two decades, from Bradman, Sobers, Viv Richards to Gavaskar I feel Sachin, Gavaskar and Viv Richards are by far best in terms of a batsman because they have played against many good teams and Bowlers.
I have seen Rise of Australian Cricket from 1999 to 2007-08, they were just exceptional team. I still remember to play against Australia means you are going to lose the match, but the matter was how much you compete against them. Many teams tried to give the fight to Australia on their home pitches, but very few defeated them in that era. India was the only team which stopped the 16match long winning streak of Australia in India. I still remember India lost the first match and the Second test at Eden Garden India won was memorable.
India to today is going with good records as we are winning many matches against all the teams in India and abroad. But everyone will agree to the fact that it started with Sourav Ganguly our dada who showed the world that India too can win matches and series in every ground. Dhoni continued that, but I feel Dhoni was lucky to have players who were given by Ganguly Zaheer, Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Sehwag and many more were Ganguly's players.
Today Cricket is becoming dull as we are not able to see competition between teams and players. I still remember India vs Pak Rivalry, Eng vs Aus Ashes, yes Ashes is still going, but the Rivalry which I show Pieterson, Flintoff, Anderson, Atherton in the starting vs McGrath, Warne, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Hayden and langer was different and every cricket lover use to see Ashes.
Who can forget Sachin Tendulkar used to play against best bowlers like McGrath, Warne, Brett Lee, Wasim Akram, Shoiab Akhtar, Donald, Steyn, Saqlin Mushtaq, Murli, Ambrose, Walse, Olanga, Murli, Vaas, Anderson? He single-handedly ruled the Cricket for more than a decade. I feel he is the real star of Cricket.
Nowadays three Batsman ruling the Cricket in Batting Virat Kohli undoubtedly best in One day, and best chaser world has ever seen. Rohit Sharma sixer king and most stylish batsman of ODI cricket and Steven Smith modern-day Bradman of test matches. Smith is the most unorthodox batsman I have ever seen. I feel his career will be like Virendra Sehwag as his career will see a decline when his hand and eye coordination will not work.
That's it for this article will share my views and match stories, comparison of players. You will surely like my stories if you are a cricket lover like me.
In the next article on my cricket talks with Jigar Saraswat, I will talk on Virat and Smith Batting. Two greats of our era.