Friday, 14 March 2014
Cricinfo's cricketer of the generation award should have been gone to?
'Cricinfo' or 'EspnCricInfo', a well known sports news website among cricket lovers recently announced various awards including the 'Cricketer of the Generation' award which went to Sachin Tendulkar. But there were other worthy candidates in the race to win the award, including Australia's leg spinner Shane Warne, and South Africa's allrounder Jaques Kallis, both of whom could have won it easily.
While it is foolish to argue about who should have been the real winner, especially when the jury includes former greats of the game like Barry Richards, Rahul Dravid, and Martin Crowe, no one minds if someone puts up his point as to why the award should have gone to a 'looser' than a 'winner'.
Sachin Tendulkar was arguably the most correct batsmen the world has ever seen. The back lift of the bat, straight blade, decisive footwork, elegance and grace and what not, all were there to see in tendulkar's batting. When it comes to dynamics of the batting, the technical aspect, there is no one even close to matching tendulkar. But is this enough to crown him with cricketer of the generation awards? Mind you he scored more runs in international cricket than any other batsmen with that technique of his. So it's not about only looking stylish, the guy produced the runs as well. He produced runs all over the world in all conditions, from humid chennai in India, to cool london in britain, bouncy Perth, and seaming Durban.
Jaques Kallis, who in my opinion is the best allrounder a world of cricket has ever seen, his tally of runs and wickets is there for all to see. Kallis would come to batting crease with his head down, approach to bowling crease with his head up, and do what he does the best i.e to score runs and bowl meaningful wicket-taking overs to help South Africa boss the game. There have been many a occasion where this calm and quite looking man has turned the cricket matches around. These were exactly the reasons as to why he was called 'King Kallis'. But then why he ended up not winning the title? May be his performance against the top team of the era Australia in Australia was not up to the mark. May be jury thought he had more quality cricketers accompanying him in the team as compared to tendulkar who had 'none' for most of his career as such the task of kallis was made much simpler than the tendulkar. But I still say that Jaques kallis should consider himself very unlucky not to have become the generation's cricketer.
Shane Warne, for who I think the slowmo (slow motion) cameras were invented. It was amazing to see the visuals on the television when Shane Warne used to rip a ball and and slow mo camera would show the revolutions on the ball in the air on its flight path. Then suddenly the ball would drop and it will turn one way or the other and it was a delight to see many a great batsmen beaten by the champion bowler. There was a feeling of tension in the air among the opposition whenever australian captain used to call Shane Warne for a spell. He was magician. His bowling action was clean, something to be jealous of, and his mastery on leg spin bowling was unparallel. He has a shrewd brain as well and it was fascinating to see how he would lure the batsmen into false sense of confidence before completely fooling him. He was always on the hunt. Many former Australian captains think that he would have been the greatest cricket captain ever if he was given the responsibility to captain Australia. So why he failed to win it? May be the controversies he got involved in, or his record in India where Sachin Tendulkar himself took him to cleaners, or also as was the case with Jaques Kallis he too was surrounded by many a great players, especially those fast bowlers.
In the end I am as happy as I am sad that Sachin Tendulkar won the title while Jaques Kallis and Shane Warne missed out to become the CricInfo 'Cricketer of the Generation'.
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| Best batsmen of the generation |
While it is foolish to argue about who should have been the real winner, especially when the jury includes former greats of the game like Barry Richards, Rahul Dravid, and Martin Crowe, no one minds if someone puts up his point as to why the award should have gone to a 'looser' than a 'winner'.
Sachin Tendulkar was arguably the most correct batsmen the world has ever seen. The back lift of the bat, straight blade, decisive footwork, elegance and grace and what not, all were there to see in tendulkar's batting. When it comes to dynamics of the batting, the technical aspect, there is no one even close to matching tendulkar. But is this enough to crown him with cricketer of the generation awards? Mind you he scored more runs in international cricket than any other batsmen with that technique of his. So it's not about only looking stylish, the guy produced the runs as well. He produced runs all over the world in all conditions, from humid chennai in India, to cool london in britain, bouncy Perth, and seaming Durban.
Jaques Kallis, who in my opinion is the best allrounder a world of cricket has ever seen, his tally of runs and wickets is there for all to see. Kallis would come to batting crease with his head down, approach to bowling crease with his head up, and do what he does the best i.e to score runs and bowl meaningful wicket-taking overs to help South Africa boss the game. There have been many a occasion where this calm and quite looking man has turned the cricket matches around. These were exactly the reasons as to why he was called 'King Kallis'. But then why he ended up not winning the title? May be his performance against the top team of the era Australia in Australia was not up to the mark. May be jury thought he had more quality cricketers accompanying him in the team as compared to tendulkar who had 'none' for most of his career as such the task of kallis was made much simpler than the tendulkar. But I still say that Jaques kallis should consider himself very unlucky not to have become the generation's cricketer.
 |
| Best allrounder of the generation. King Kallis, a great cricketer |
Shane Warne, for who I think the slowmo (slow motion) cameras were invented. It was amazing to see the visuals on the television when Shane Warne used to rip a ball and and slow mo camera would show the revolutions on the ball in the air on its flight path. Then suddenly the ball would drop and it will turn one way or the other and it was a delight to see many a great batsmen beaten by the champion bowler. There was a feeling of tension in the air among the opposition whenever australian captain used to call Shane Warne for a spell. He was magician. His bowling action was clean, something to be jealous of, and his mastery on leg spin bowling was unparallel. He has a shrewd brain as well and it was fascinating to see how he would lure the batsmen into false sense of confidence before completely fooling him. He was always on the hunt. Many former Australian captains think that he would have been the greatest cricket captain ever if he was given the responsibility to captain Australia. So why he failed to win it? May be the controversies he got involved in, or his record in India where Sachin Tendulkar himself took him to cleaners, or also as was the case with Jaques Kallis he too was surrounded by many a great players, especially those fast bowlers.
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| best leg spinner of the generation |
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