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Is Cricket a Lazy Sport that is meant for the Unathletic and Unfit guys?


rageaddict

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Growing up in the 90s, it was natural for me to become a Cricket fan because since everyone was obsessed with the Sport so I jumped on the bandwagon too and absolutely loved my Gully Cricket days. 

 

However,  a lot of youngsters these days  don't share the same ethusiasm for the sport and many even have a degrading attitude towards it. Cricket is regarded as a Sport for the unfit guys,  for the ones who can't do much of the running and lack stamina. It's an easy sport which anyone can play and where players stand in same place for most of the time hence no need of endurance. Some don't even consider it as a Real Sport as no athleticism is required to play it. It's a Sissy Sport played by those who are afraid of injuries in other rigorous Sports like Football.

 

Now it's a question about how much of it is true or it's just the youngsters going hippy ?

Edited by rageaddict
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cricket was a sport where u could get away with being more rotund and not being a pure athelete unlike in Football Rugby or Tennis or any form of athletics cricket is not as intense as those games . Especially as a batsman u had Inzis and Ranatungas.

On a street level yes u can get away with it.

But nowadays fielding is so important with the rise of T20 cricket and even boards like PCB have fitness tests and require a certain level of athleticism or muscle to fat ratio to get picked in the national team.

it is a more leisurely game but at the higher levels u will be exposed for being unathletic or unfit.

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Cricket requires lot of discipline. It all depends at what level you are playing the game and whether your performance is getting judged. Do a net practice with leather ball for two hours and believe me it will drain you, requires lot of stamina. Bowl 4 over spell and you will realize what athletism is. Wear full kit including helmet and run 20 singles you will realize what laziness is. So whoever says cricket is a game for lazy people has never played profesional cricket at any level.

In addition , cricket might be the only game where so much brain is used in strategizing. This might be the only game where captain has lot of extra thinking to do. So no, cricket being game of lazy is myth and neither it is a game for unathletic people. It is a game which involves lot of hand eye coordination, athletism, presence of mind, discipline, strategic ability, swiftness.

Edited by Khalpat
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53 minutes ago, Khalpat said:

Cricket requires lot of discipline. It all depends at what level you are playing the game and whether your performance is getting judged. Do a net practice with leather ball for two hours and believe me it will drain you, requires lot of stamina. Bowl 4 over spell and you will realize what athletism is. Wear full kit including helmet and run 20 singles you will realize what laziness is. So whoever says cricket is a game for lazy people has never played profesional cricket at any level.

In addition , cricket might be the only game where so much brain is used in strategizing. This might be the only game where captain has lot of extra thinking to do. So no, cricket being game of lazy is myth and neither it is a game for unathletic people. It is a game which involves lot of hand eye coordination, athletism, presence of mind, discipline, strategic ability, swiftness.

Agree with most points that you have made but it's also a fact that teams especially the ones in SC carry a lot of Unathletic players. 

 

Take a look at Ashwin for example,  most skilled spinner in India atm and also the laziest player in the team.  Unlike other Sports where full fitness is a must,  Ashwin gets a free pass due to being the number 1 Spinner and hence his fielding skills are allowed to be compromised. It's just  better to play a less athletic but Great Spinner over a More athletic but Average spinner and Skills  take precedence over fitness. 

 

It was same with a few batsmen like Laxman for example,  Excellent batsman but very slow in the field but since there was no other better option to replace him,  he was allowed to contribute as a Batter and his lack of athleticism was tolerated. Less said the better about the likes of Sehwag,  somehow there is no incentive on being 100 % fit. 

 

IMO Fast Bowling is the only discipline of Cricket where a Good Fast Bowler has to be a Good Athlete,  well built  and must possess raw strength,  endurance and stamina. 

Edited by rageaddict
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Fitness can be linked with intensity and speed. And both are non-concept in cricket. Speed is a non-essential thing in the game while intensity is extremely limited. What's the most one has to do run in 1 minute? Compare that with other ball team-sports.

 

Next, from a muscles point of view,  cricketers don't need strong legs. Rather it's focus is mainly on the rotator cuff muscles. Overall, today cricketers should not seen as fat and that's different from fitness.

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It never was a lazy sport and never will be. Ofc you can't compare it to sports like athletics, basketball, boxing, football, tennis, rugby, hockey but it is no easier than say badminton, TT, baseball etc. If you want a lazy game look no further than golf. 

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8 minutes ago, Gollum said:

It never was a lazy sport and never will be. Ofc you can't compare it to sports like athletics, basketball, boxing, football, tennis, rugby, hockey but it is no easier than say badminton, TT, baseball etc. If you want a lazy game look no further than golf. 

And even Golf is part of Olympics these days. 

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16 minutes ago, rageaddict said:

And even Golf is part of Olympics these days. 

There are many ridiculous sports in Olympics these days. Winter Olympics is even worse. Check curling and I promise you will burst a rib laughing. 

Edited by Gollum
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23 minutes ago, someone said:

You can't compare an individual sport with a team sport. Fitness which really insists of speed, intensity is not much part of cricket

Agree but even Cricketers have to run full speed on some occasions,  like quick running between the wickets,  Steaming fast -run-up or Fielding in T20s.

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38 minutes ago, rageaddict said:

Agree but even Cricketers have to run full speed on some occasions,  like quick running between the wickets,  Steaming fast -run-up or Fielding in T20s.

Of course but that's just few instances. Cricketers also get more than enough rest in the match itself. So that's what I mean by limited intensity. Also speed and pace has a different meaning in cricket, which is mainly about bowling speed. It's like selecting footballers who can hit the ball the hardest. Actual fitness, speed, intensity is really non-essential parts of the game.

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14 minutes ago, someone said:

Of course but that's just few instances. Cricketers also get more than enough rest in the match itself. So that's what I mean by limited intensity. Also speed and pace has a different meaning in cricket, which is mainly about bowling speed. It's like selecting footballers who can hit the ball the hardest. Actual fitness, speed, intensity is really non-essential parts of the game.

Agree but I don't think Fitness is non-totally non-essential in Cricket,  othwise how can you become a good fielder or a  good Fast bowler. Even a WK has to be swift and dive around to catch with flexibility. 

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5 minutes ago, rageaddict said:

Agree but I don't think Fitness is non-totally non-essential in Cricket,  othwise how can you become a good fielder or a  good Fast bowler. Even a WK has to be swift and dive around to catch with flexibility. 

Because if one is a brilliant player in the nets, he will very likely become a successful professional cricketer. Compare that with football, if one can shoot excellently, he still has a lot to do to become a professional player, let alone be successful. Fitness in cricket is really not the primary aspect of the game.

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An unfit player cannot do 300 squats for a span of 3 & 1/2 hrs or 540 squats for 7 hours..thats just wicketkeeping.....Same goes for short leg fielders..slip catchers...add reflexes to that, diving, running all day on the field when the opposition is in full flow, and then an alert and focused mind to grab those catches in the crunch moments...not everyone's cup of tea....I have not added the aspects of bowling and batting as yet...bowling as many as 45 overs in a day if required....bowling short bursts with extra pace and added intensity...fielding off your own bowling....you need very strong abdominal muscles to do these over and over again...and finally batting, where you need to look for the scoring opportunity every now and then...take the risky singles and push the fielders hard....convert the ones into twos.....running between the wickets need really strong legs apart from excellent understanding and coordination. Nothing escapes fitness...

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Someone said that footballers have to be fully fit. Do they play the game with finger or wrist injuries too? Does the condition of the upper body part matter as long as it doesn't affect their running?

 

A batsman or spinner can be have difficulties with any part of the body. Finger, wrists, shoulder, back, legs. It puts strain on whole body. Surely intensity is not that much, but cricket eats away players body slowly. Heck even dip in eye sight can make you lose your slot. Doubt this is the case with football. It is way too dependent on your legs only. 

 

Fast bowling is altogther at different level. No other discipline of any sport affects body more than fast bowling. Tennis comes close, where players put lot of strain on legs and shoulder, but then a fast bowler can hurt his finger and head too (while batting). 

 

1. Fast bowling

2. Tennis

3. Hockey

4. Football

5. Batsmen/Spinners

 

 

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2 hours ago, Trichromatic said:

Someone said that footballers have to be fully fit. Do they play the game with finger or wrist injuries too? Does the condition of the upper body part matter as long as it doesn't affect their running?

Actually upper body strength is way too underestimated in football, you don't need to do heavy weights to be a football player but you do need an optimum upper body strength for balance and to time your kicks.

 

The easier part about bowling in cricket is the predictability of the task, after years of practice the player develops his own natural action and does not need to do anything different while playing. That's not the case with football where the player's body experiences unpredictable stresses and strain in a very short time span making it a physically challenging sport.

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