Sport Today

Some of the fun stuff I read in rsc:

1.      "Kapil is a pathetic bowler by international standards"

I thought Kapil took 434 wickets in international test matches. I must be
wrong.

2.      "Barry Richards?? Who, the man who played only 4 test matches"

Barry Richards should be informed that he should have played more test
matches for our statisticians to compare him with greats like Gavaskar.

Attention Ravi Krishna:

Same Gary Sobers who listed top ten batsmen at that time (not all-time) in
1975 listed Barry Richards as the number one pick followed by Vivian
Richards, Gordon Greenidge, Gregg Chappell, Zaheer Abbas, and Sunil
Gavaskar in that order. You need to know more about Barry Richards.

Sunil Gavaskar wrote an article in the following issue of the Illustrated
Weekly of India and replaced himself with GR Vishvanath.

3.      "Since GRV and M Amarnath sucked in ODI, so what if Gavaskar
        scored 36 in 60 overs"

For a batsman to be the best in the world, he need not succeed in ODIs,
and if other batsmen in the team failed, he can fail too. Still, he can
retain the crown as the best batsman in the world.

4.      "Vivian Richards is the only batsman I rate as great as SMG"

My favorite joke!

5.      "Kapil took 27 wickets in 1992 Aus Series. Aus won the series 4-0.
        One more series of useless bowling by Kapil"

I thought cricket is different from Boxing and it is team effort that wins
the matches. I need to update my knowledge.

6.      "I kept a lenient definition keeping in mind Kapil's standards"

what more one can say!

Kapil set his standards so high that it will be very difficult for future
cricketers to better his performance in tests or ODIs (by any individual
from India atleast!)

Epilogue:

For some, who never played cricket or never understand what it is like
playing a fast ball approaching on that 22 yard strip, it is hard to
differentiate between a batsman who patiently waits for a loose ball to
score runs and a batsman who has a stroke for every ball bowled at him.

They use "Statistics" to compare batsmen. For them, there is no difference
between Brian Lara's brilliance, Sachin Tendulkar's skill, Aravinda
Desilva's artistic and silken touch, and the batting of tailenders. They
use the same measure to compare them. "Statistics."

Of course, they contribute a lot of fun in rsc. Enjoy!

Vittal

Looks like you know a lot about cricket.  If that statement was directed
against SMG he really haven't seen him. SMG can keep the scoreboard
tickling without resorting to breathtaking shots.  I would anyday prefer
to watch fascinating duel(s) between SMG and great bowlers to some so called
stroke maker who will score some 30 odd runs and return to pavilion.  
If you get a chance see his 127 not out against Pak in faisalabad ,
specifically his duel with Imran.

-- RaviK.

Here are some of the funny statements I read in this newsgroup. Enjoy!

1.      "Kapil is a pathetic bowler by international standards"

I thought he played international cricket and got highest number
of wickets in international cricket matches.

2.      "Since GRV, MA sucked, so what if SMG sucked? I rate SMG as the
        best in the world.

Best batsman in the world can be excused if his teammates are not good.

3.      "Barry Richards??, who, the man who played only 4 test matches"

For you to be great, you need to play a lot of games eventhough your
country is banned from playing international cricket.

FYI, the same Gary Sobers who listed top ten batsmen at that time (not all
time great list) in 1975, listed Barry Richards as the number one best
followed by Vivian, Zaheer, Greg, and Gordon, and then Sunil in his list.
Sunil Gavaskar wrote an article about that removing himself from that list
and placing Vishvanath in the top ten. It was published in The Illustrated
Weekly of India. Sobers was full of praise for Barry Richards and
considered him to be the best among the ten.

Ravi Krishna need to know more about Barry Richards and his performance in
England and Australia.

4.      "Vivian Richards is the only batsman I rate as great as SMG"

This is my favorite joke.

5.      "Kapil took 27 wickets in 1992 Aus series. India lost 4-0. One
        more series of useless bowling by Kapil"

I thought cricket is played by eleven players and it is team effort that
brings success. I should know more about this game.

6.      "I kept a lenient definition keeping in mind Kapil's standards"

What more can I say.

7.      "Gavaskar is the only player from India who can come out with
        flying colors in international standards.

Gone are the likes of Ranjitsinhji, CK Naidu, Prasanna, Bedi,
Chandrasekhar, and many more other stars. Memory must have faded but what
about Sachin Tendulkar. I think he is good enough only by Indian
standards.

--------------------------------

For some, who never played cricket or can never understand what it is like
playing a ball which was coming to you at a reasonable speed, it is
difficult for them to see the difference between a batsman who waits for
only a loose ball to make runs and a batsman who has a stroke for every
ball bowled at him.

For them, to differentiate between Sachin Tendulkar, Aravinda De Silva,
Brian Lara and other batsmen, they use statistics.

For these people, cricket is nothing but "statistics." They can never
appreciate anything else.

Vittal

Congratulations

Here is a classic case of two great cricketers who at one time were the
highest scoring batsman and the highest wicket-taking bowlers.  We have
their stoopid agents fighting a newgroup war.
Are you guys just plain dumb or did Kapil and Sunil just steal your
place in the team when u were at ur prime. It quite apparent that u 2
and ur fellow swollen heads were at Calcutta one fine day in March '96.
This is just a game, our favorite... so...
DON'T RUIN IT FOR US

: Very clever of you to completely twist the meaning.  I said that why blame
: SMG when GRV , MA also sucked in ODI.  This is not to excuse SMG but to
: point out the bias.

Could u tell me how did u declare MA sucked in ODIs. As I had
already pointed out MA had 8 Man of Matches  in 85 ODIs, in Comparison
to SMGs 5 out of 108(three of which were against SL). Only SRT has better
rate of MOMs. MA had 46 wkts in 85 matches at economy rate of 4.33.
His strike rate might have been worse than SMG's. But one really has to
be stupid to say MA sucked just because SMG sucked.

: time Kerry Packer circus was going on.  More crowd came to watch Ind-Aus
: test series than watching some pyjama cricket , despite the fact that KP circus
: had world's best cricketers.  This was told by Asif Iqbal who was also in the
: KP circus. Asif Iqbal also told that SMG's batting impressed a lot.

Today ther is more crowd for Pyjama. Does that imply Pyjama is better
form ?

: Once again you cleverly snipped out the rest of that post.  I clearly mentioned
: that inspite of Kapil's 26 wkts in that series India could not bowl out
: Australia cheaply (except Adealaide first innings where Aus were bowled
: out for 145).   How come when Imran,Hadlee,Marshall bowl well they bowl
: out the opposition for low runs while our own Kapil despite taking 5 ( with
: analysis of 5 for 120) allows opposition to score around 350-400 runs.
: Perhaps in your cricket runs do not matter only wkts matter.  That explains
: why india does not win despite 'oh-so-great' bowling by Kapil.
: For a change instead of hero worshipping Kapil try to go thru the scorecard
: of other test matches and see how other great bowlers demolish opposing side
: which your idol clearly clearly lacks.
: Strangly the argument "cricket-is-a-team-game" never applies while bashing
: SMG for indian defeats.  Double standards.

Same is true while bashing Kapil. If IMran says India got a raw deal from
umprires that is accepted. But while bashing Kapil somehow 5-120 is quoted.

: >7.        "Gavaskar is the only player from India who can come out with
: >  flying colors in international standards.
: >Gone are the likes of Ranjitsinhji, CK Naidu, Prasanna, Bedi,
: >Chandrasekhar, and many more other stars. Memory must have faded but what
: >about Sachin Tendulkar. I think he is good enough only by Indian
: >standards.

: Here I admit I should have been clearer.  I was talking about batsmen only.

Nope u were bashing Kapil while making the above statement.

: I have high respect for Bedi,Prasanna,Chandra.
: Regarding Sachin time only will tell where he ends up.  It's bit premature now.

: >For some, who never played cricket or can never understand what it is like
: >playing a ball which was coming to you at a reasonable speed, it is

: Oh, did you play for India or Karnataka.

: >difficult for them to see the difference between a batsman who waits for
: >only a loose ball to make runs and a batsman who has a stroke for every
: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

: Looks like you know a lot about cricket.  If that statement was directed
: against SMG he really haven't seen him. SMG can keep the scoreboard
: tickling without resorting to breathtaking shots.  I would anyday prefer
: to watch fascinating duel(s) between SMG and great bowlers to some so called
: stroke maker who will score some 30 odd runs and return to pavilion.  
: If you get a chance see his 127 not out against Pak in faisalabad ,

Great knock. Still hevnLt forgotten that MA's 78 that match.
: specifically his duel with Imran.

: >ball bowled at him.
: >For them, to differentiate between Sachin Tendulkar, Aravinda De Silva,
: >Brian Lara and other batsmen, they use statistics.
: >For these people, cricket is nothing but "statistics." They can never
: >appreciate anything else.

: Like appreciating GRV's string of failures or MA's binary digit scores.

I'd rate SMG' failure against  Cowans Ellison Pocock Edmonds and Foster
on par with MA's 5 ducks against Marshall and co. The English bowlers
would never qualify as decent bowlers leave alone comparing with likes of
Marshall.

Narayanan
--
Standard Disclaimers Hold