THE RISE FROM THE ASHES
Too much was spoken and written about this great rivalry off the field. And once on it, it was England this time who raised their levels of commitment and shocked the world by defeating the Aussies.
And to stand up on their toes thanks to some machoism from Andrew Flintoff, Giles and Kevin Pietersen, the Poms pushed Ricky Ponting onto the mat and ringed the bells!
CHANGE OF GUARD
A kiwi flapped his wings and flew; An Ostrich lapped up the void left by him. Out went John Wright, in came Greg Chappell. And along came polly – in the form of Saurav Ganguly and brought about a furore over practically nothing. Greg Chappell, the Scientist is getting some good results and he is doing some bhangra as well whenever Team India is winning.
DADA-ISM BY FIRE
Ganguly first made headlines by getting to 10,000 ODI runs. Then sadly, made media spend more newsprint on Saurav vs Greg than India winning 5-1 against Sri Lanka, no mean feat that! Ganguly not only lost his Crown, also his place in the side. Of course, his “batting all-round abilities” won him a place for the New Year. It’s a cliffhanger for this Prince to keep reminding the Selectors that he is worthy of a place in an Indian team for a while!
PAWAR PLAY AT THE TOP
Sharad Pawar power played out the Dalmiya-Mahendra-led BCCI and brought in the whiff of the paddy fields – the Agricultural Minister became BCCI Chief.
TSUNAMI AND WORLD CRICKET
The unfortunate turn of the TIDE made world teams wake up to reality. There were Tsunami relief matches all around the globe, with world teams breaking themselves into Asia XI and World XI, and playing for a good cause.
WORLD SERIES/ SUPER SERIES CRICKET
Utopian Dreams were always considered to stay that way – imaginable but impossible. The Ultimate Fantasy of every cricket fan was to see all their heroes of all teams play under one roof and against each other in a series of matches. That dream came true when the world cricketing fraternity brought about the Super Series – Australia versus Rest of the World! Thus began a journey in the fantasy world – something that all of us shall cherish for a while! Even though the sparks didn’t fly as much as one would have imagined.
SACHIN TENDULKAR – TONS GONE PAST
Some things happen so often, once too often that they are taken for granted. One person taken for granted to make such things happen was Sachin Tendulkar. Centuries are exquisite symphonies composed by the Mumbai Maestro. The vocals are obviously the bowler’s and the fielders’ grunts and curses, and the beautiful music comes in the form of some sweetly timed strokes. Well, it wasn’t particularly rhythmic when he got his 35th ton to go past Sunny Gavaskar, but the record belongs to Sachin now. That makes one great living legend.
LARKY LARA DOES A BEARDED BORDER
Lara conquered Mount Runs-more, and is still around lurking for scaling new peaks! This was the major highlight of an otherwise lackluster year for the Caribbean. Lara overcame everybody and is currently perched on top of the world in terms of test runs!
WHIPPER SNAPPER WITH A FLIPPER
Shane Keith Warne was the Most Perfect Chef for the Year. First he served pudding to the Poms with 40 wickets and plenty of runs for his team, even as they lost the Ashes! Then sprinkled chocolate sauce on the cake with his creamy red “cherry” by creating a new record for maximum wickets in a single calendar year (Dennis Lillee was holding that record until now). Truly a Master Act in the world of “delivering” the goods. The Master Chef laid out the best-laid plans for himself and on the World Rankings “Table”!
KERRY PACKER DEAD
The end of the era of the Grand Showman of Cricket. The man who brought the colors to the game both in terms of pajamas and “professionalism” quietly got bowled out. Kerry Packer was a man with a vision; they dubbed him, “Pajama Packer” when be brought about his own World Series games. They shunned him, abused him. Finally he had the last laugh when the Super Series was started in 2005! Then of course, the world had woken up to fantasy, the Utopian Dream that Packer had already packed in!
Well, it’s a new year, new sunshine, good old cricket is getting better – Australia are playing South Africa at home, India are playing Pakistan in the Land of the Pathans! So centerfolds of cricketers shall flutter on this year!
May cricket bless itself with Blue Blood and Blue-eyed Boys endlessly in the New Year so that the Banter and the Ballads shall continue!