Kohli's generation may go down as the greatest

[mancalledsting]

Go back in time. India just won the 2011 World Cup and had nearly won their first ever test series in South Africa. They were ranked number 1 in Tests and ODIs and were World Champions. Life couldn't get any better. Yes exactly……life couldn't get any better, but it sure as hell got a lot worse. Here are the key events that contributed to India's epic demise. A demise so great that arguably the ensuing embarrassment somewhat erased the previous fond memories. 

 

late 2010- Sehwag best batsmen in the world

has a shoulder injury and needs surgery 

SA tour and world cup coming up 

surgery delayed because of these two major events

draw in south africa and win world cup- arguably the risk and damage was worth 

ok now quick….go for surgery 

NO

plays entire IPL and damages his shoulder further

undergoes surgery and skips Windies test series 

Now india 2-0 in England with poor opening stands- Sehwag's rehabilitation hurried 

has a horrible performance in England and was never the same player again and struggled for the rest of his career

 

 

Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam gambhir

 

played against south africa

played all world cup games

have a rest in the IPL right?

NO

plays entire IPL 

skips West Indies test series

never the same player again and struggled for the rest of his career

 

lost 3 world class top order batsmen over the course of one summer, which team in history would that not devastate?

 

Current generation:

Kohli, Ashwin, Jadeja and Murali Vijay gave blood, sweat and tears in longest home test season ever

When are they all recovering?

 

during IPL, i.e. the least important of all Indian cricket activities 

 

how lucky we are that the new generation are showing how its done. It makes me so proud. Long live the prioritisation of international (and especially Test) cricket 

 

Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gauti will have to live with this black mark over the rest of their careers…unless they can prove it was BCCI pressure that forced them into making these stupid decisions 

 

[speedheat]

No doubt bro, we went through a nightmare called dhoni era, kohli will heal the damage done by him

[sensible-indian]

This is all situational.

 

In another world, Kohli, Ashwin, Vijay, Rahul after winning 2011 WC may have played IPL and got injured while Tendu, Gambo and Sehwag would have skipped IPL for CT and looked heroes.

 

The only major culprit was Sehwag who knew he had to sort his shoulders but played IPL and ended up damaging it big time.

 

Tendulkar was bound to decline after such a long career. Luckily it happened after WC 2011.

 

Gambo after concussion and pokemon tendencies was done.

 

Also what's up with Dhoni criticism? What has Dhoni got to do with what is discussed in this thread? That's just sad.

Edited April 9, 2017 by sensible-indian

[deathmonger]

They will go down as greatest because they are good not IPL or anything. India being the best cricket team was more or less a given considering our population. Problem was we were not a rich country so the effective pool of quality cricketers was very small. As the economy has grown the quality has gone up. Even our 2nd tier - Pant, Jadhav, Pandey etc are decent nowadays. Scary thing is India still is growing. The next generation will be even scarier and the next even more so etc etc

[Sajid_Rana]

Same thing was said about Dhoni and Ganguly generation.

[BCCI]

There is some truth in what OP has said.It was shambolic how Veeru delayed his surgery and Sachin pathetically skipping WI tour post IPL for "vacations".And ofcourse Dhoni missing SL series right after IPL,I remember Kumble was rightfully pissed at Dhoni's decision.

[Gollum]

Spot on OP. This team has more willpower, guts and pride than that Indian team. 

 

Dhoni chose IPL over Lanka test series and CSK over his country.

Sachin and Gambo put IPL over WI series.

Sehwag put IPL over England series.

Bhajji always chickened out when the going got tough eg his mysterious stomach cramps after 0/200 in Lords test. Even the physio was unable to diagnose his ailment. 

Zak never bothered about his fitness and batting(he had ability). Moreover he would never put his body on the line like Umesh/Shami.

Only Laxman and Dravid should be applauded for always putting India first. 

 

This team is different. Kohli is a character whose likes Indian cricket has never seen before. Same with Ashwin who sacrificed his health, fame, reputation to get India over the line against England and Australia. Same with others like Umesh, Shami, Rahul, Vijay etc. God bless these players and hope they have the same mindset going forward. They are destined for greatness. 

 

If you leave aside nostalgia for a moment that Indian team, though blessed with amazing individual talents was a gutless, cowardly team with constant infighting and other interests. They could have achieved a lot more with a better mindset. 

[jusarrived]

2 hours ago, Gollum said:

Spot on OP. This team has more willpower, guts and pride than that Indian team. 

 

Dhoni chose IPL over Lanka test series and CSK over his country.

Sachin and Gambo put IPL over WI series.

Sehwag put IPL over England series.

Bhajji always chickened out when the going got tough eg his mysterious stomach cramps after 0/200 in Lords test. Even the physio was unable to diagnose his ailment. 

Zak never bothered about his fitness and batting(he had ability). Moreover he would never put his body on the line like Umesh/Shami.

Only Laxman and Dravid should be applauded for always putting India first. 

 

This team is different. Kohli is a character whose likes Indian cricket has never seen before. Same with Ashwin who sacrificed his health, fame, reputation to get India over the line against England and Australia. Same with others like Umesh, Shami, Rahul, Vijay etc. God bless these players and hope they have the same mindset going forward. They are destined for greatness. 

 

If you leave aside nostalgia for a moment that Indian team, though blessed with amazing individual talents was a gutless, cowardly team with constant infighting and other interests. They could have achieved a lot more with a better mindset. 

None of this is true 

[mancalledsting]

7 hours ago, Sajid_Rana said:

Same thing was said about Dhoni and Ganguly generation.

Exactly. Indian cricket is progressively improving every 7 years or so 

[putrevus]

Not true about putting IPL over country. Every Indian megastar will be compensated by BCCI if they miss IPL due to injuries. Sachin skipping WI and playing England series was totally unprofessional. Sachin along with other Indians totally underestimated how good England was in 2011 and over estimated their own abilities and form.

 

 

[sandeep]

This generation will go down as the greatest - at collecting tattoos, hair and beard styling products.  So "Wrogn".   

 

Banjo, infantile chaar din ke fair weather fans, bashing ATGs just because they pant-gasm at the sight of VK and co.    Grow the fudge up.

[BCCI]

2 minutes ago, sandeep said:

This generation will go down as the greatest - at collecting tattoos, hair and beard styling products.  So "Wrogn".   

 

Banjo, infantile chaar din ke fair weather fans, bashing ATGs just because they pant-gasm at the sight of VK and co.    Grow the fudge up.

I agree its lunatic to question their integrity and accuse them of IPL over country but you cant deny the fact what Veeru,Sachin and MSD did was not ATG stuff and show them in a bad light.

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, BCCI said:

I agree its lunatic to question their integrity and accuse them of IPL over country but you cant deny the fact what Veeru,Sachin and MSD did was not ATG stuff and show them in a bad light.

Perception and reality are not always the same.   We shall see how the current brat pack goes through the rest of their career and ends up with any incidents which can be perceived in a bad light.    Bashing former players over assumed and interpreted "actions" is quite poor in my opinion.  And I will never hesitate to call such BS out.  

[BCCI]

8 minutes ago, sandeep said:

Perception and reality are not always the same.   We shall see how the current brat pack goes through the rest of their career and ends up with any incidents which can be perceived in a bad light.    Bashing former players over assumed and interpreted "actions" is quite poor in my opinion.  And I will never hesitate to call such BS out.  

I am not saying the current lot is a exalted bunch but I am unwilling to condone bad decisions of our greats in the past.

[maniac]

37 minutes ago, sandeep said:

This generation will go down as the greatest - at collecting tattoos, hair and beard styling products.  So "Wrogn".   

 

Banjo, infantile chaar din ke fair weather fans, bashing ATGs just because they pant-gasm at the sight of VK and co.    Grow the fudge up.

I can bet right now from what I have seen is that this current generation has a lot more mental strength under pressure than the bygone era. And trust me this coming from a huge fan and a sucker for nostalgia as I still think in terms of skill and natural flair the current lot may not be a match for  SRT,RD,VVS,Gangu,Sehwag,Kumble,Srinath etc man to man.

 

But the catch is this team has the talent and more importantly the temperament.

 

Also to add we have what that team lacked for the most part,A significant Pool of talented fast bowlers.

 

If I had to wage a bet I would say this current lot have the ability to be the greatest ever.

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, BCCI said:

I am not saying the current lot is a exalted bunch but I am unwilling to condone bad decisions of our greats in the past.

Veeru retired from IPl because he didn't want to occupy that spot and deny Manan Vohra for another season.  Selfish b@stard that he was.  Tendulkar played through injuries - fractured toes, fingers, back injuries, elbow issues, because he was only playing for himself.   

 

Sure, some of these guys played on, when in hindsight they should have retired.  But you can't expect a competitive athlete to throw in the towel at just the right time - A cricketer is going to have that self belief that he can play at the highest level, when in reality he may not be able to anymore.  And you have to look at the entire body of work, before you judge a guy and call him names.   

 

There is not question of condoning anything.  I will never defend the likes of Azhar or Sreesanth.  And I was a massive Azhar fan back in the day.  

 

Problem I have is with posters who come in here, make 22 out of 2 + 2, then attempt to pass it off as fact and go on a spleen-venting tirade.  

[sandeep]

1 hour ago, maniac said:

I can bet right now from what I have seen is that this current generation has a lot more mental strength under pressure than the bygone era. And trust me this coming from a huge fan and a sucker for nostalgia as I still think in terms of skill and natural flair the current lot may not be a match for  SRT,RD,VVS,Gangu,Sehwag,Kumble,Srinath etc man to man.

 

But the catch is this team has the talent and more importantly the temperament.

 

Also to add we have what that team lacked for the most part,A significant Pool of talented fast bowlers.

 

If I had to wage a bet I would say this current lot have the ability to be the greatest ever.

I have no qualms with that.  There's merit in the argument that VK and a few others have shown that they have better temperament in ODI cricket than their predecessors.  And yes, we finally have pace bowlers - in quantity and quality - that may enable us to win overseas more consistently.  But there is no need for retroactive revisionist history bashing the prior generation as "selfish".  That's inaccurate.  False.  QED.

[mancalledsting]

http://www.espncricinfo.com/indvrsa/content/story/345424.html

 

hthttps://youtu.be/MenikgNWRXY

Watch 4:00-5:20

 

 

 

 

[punjabi_khota]

Eng,Aus,SA mein ek test series draw to karne do pehle.

[mancalledsting]

^ yeah that's kind of the whole point, you're supposed to say it before it happens.