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Gambit

State your allegiance  

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32% dont care ! Whats wrong with you people ! :omg:
Errr maybe whats "wrong" with us is that none of the 32% grew up idolising cricket paid for a fisftul of dollars perhaps? Maybe the Test cricket still rules and the pride of a cricketer is not in the amount of money that he was "auctioned" for but what he eventually did for his country? Too early to say but I wonder if India's everlasting contribution to world of cricket would be directly related to money.
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And just for record my respect for English team went up a notch since they did not succumb to this money greed. xxx
hheard their domestic season is clashing with ipl thats one of the reasons .dont mind this sort of thing . as along as its entertaining. btw mumbai team sucks would go for chennai or mohali
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Errr maybe whats "wrong" with us is that none of the 32% grew up idolising cricket paid for a fisftul of dollars perhaps? Maybe the Test cricket still rules and the pride of a cricketer is not in the amount of money that he was "auctioned" for but what he eventually did for his country?
Well put Lurker. Most of the greatest moments we watched in cricket like Tendulkar battling cramps and a back problem at Chennai or Waugh scoring his Oval ton in 01 on one single leg, or Lara defying Australia's finest to score that magic 153 at Bridgetown didn't come because people were throwing dollars around. And I echo what you said about the England players. A lot of them, especially Flintoff, would have found it too easy to go to India and just play. With Flintoff's fitness problems in the past, it'd have been the softest route - go play a few weeks each year, make a monstrous amount and not risk his body for England. While I've bashed the England team a lot, I appreciate the characters of most of their players and have a tremendous respect for many of them especially with the fact that Collingwood, Flintoff and co. aren't being blinded like Symonds and rushing for the IPL's cash.
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Agree, more is better with cricket. You're talking games, I'm talking overs. Let the T20s take place to boost a few coffers, then give me back my test cricket.
Errr maybe whats "wrong" with us is that none of the 32% grew up idolising cricket paid for a fisftul of dollars perhaps? Maybe the Test cricket still rules and the pride of a cricketer is not in the amount of money that he was "auctioned" for but what he eventually did for his country? Too early to say but I wonder if India's everlasting contribution to world of cricket would be directly related to money.
Agreed, Test cricket is the mother all cricket, the ultimate cricketing challenge. I myself will agree to that. But we need different flavors of cricket. Who here will bravely come out and say you didnt watch the T20 final between India and Pakistan ? Of course all of us watched it. I, as a cricket fan, appreciate and understand the nuances that go into making test cricket the truest test of cricketing abilities, but I also like to be *entertained* with different versions of the same game. 20/20 cricket is not going to steal any spectators away from test cricket, rather it will bring in a new set of audience, those previously unexposed to cricket, into the game. Whatever said and done, Test cricket will die its natural death within the next 2 decades, because of the natural progression of the game and commercial forces.
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And I echo what you said about the England players. A lot of them, especially Flintoff, would have found it too easy to go to India and just play. With Flintoff's fitness problems in the past, it'd have been the softest route - go play a few weeks each year, make a monstrous amount and not risk his body for England. While I've bashed the England team a lot, I appreciate the characters of most of their players and have a tremendous respect for many of them especially with the fact that Collingwood, Flintoff and co. aren't being blinded like Symonds and rushing for the IPL's cash.
I have tagged this post. I will not forget to bump it, when we see, without fail, further instances of English "unselfish and patriotism". You would be extremely naive to think its just cricketing reasons that forced most English cricketers to stay away. There's more to it than meets the eye, make no mistake about it. At the end of day, EVERY player would want to maximum mileage out his cricketing career, deserved or undeserved. Of course, not to say that there's something wrong with it. Trust me, the last line hasnt been written yet, vis-a-vis, the English participation in IPL
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I've watched a hell of a lot of T20 cricket. Lots of English domestics, Aussie domestics and then a lot of the international games and even bits and pieces of some of the ICL. Only three real moments stick - that India/Pak final, Hamish Marshall's spectacular hairdo v. Aus and Rohit's 50 against South Africa. T20 has its own flavour of cricket and it only shows well (like the two cricket-related moments above) once in a very, very brief while, and fades too quickly to be savoured. As far as thinking test cricket will die; won't happen just yet. Thankfully there are enough traditionalists in the game and others trying to move into the game's administration (Mark Taylor may push for the new CA chairman spot in a few years, which I would be delighted by) who realize where the game's true core audience lies. Test cricket has survived for 120+ years for a good reason, and it's lasted through worse things like Packer. It'll survive this.

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I have tagged this post. I will not forget to bump it, when we see, without fail, further instances of English "unselfish and patriotism". You would be extremely naive to think its just cricketing reasons that forced most English cricketers to stay away. There's more to it than meets the eye, make no mistake about it. At the end of day, EVERY player would want to maximum mileage out his cricketing career, deserved or undeserved. Of course, not to say that there's something wrong with it. Trust me, the last line hasnt been written yet, vis-a-vis, the English participation in IPL
At least they didn't stoop down to blackmailing their board like the aussies have.
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hheard their domestic season is clashing with ipl thats one of the reasons .dont mind this sort of thing . as along as its entertaining. btw mumbai team sucks would go for chennai or mohali
Isnt our domestic season clashing with IPL circus as well Suma? Right now as this whole bidding/auction circus is ongoing we have our Duleep Trophy in the process with West Zone taking on North Zone. Can you honestly tell me that Indian cricketers/Administrators/fans are more interested in Duleep Trophy than IPL today? Heck check CricInfo and see how they carry the bidding "live" while Duleep trophy game merits a footnote some place. In the morning I read of a little snippet on CI where a journalist ran into Akash Chopra, their exchange pretty much summed it up really. "And there's a Duleep final going on behind," I said to Aakash Chopra as he walked out of the Wankhede Stadium after the first day's play of the Duleep Trophy final. I knew Chopra would see where I was coming from. "And there's a Duleep final going on," he echoed. We were seeing the sign of the times. xxxx
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In that case they atleast had the decency to do it behind closed doors unlike the public show put up by the aussies.:D
Or unlike Symonds still saying comments about how he probalby won't go to Pakistan even if the tour goes ahead - after all his hot air about T20 not being up to test cricket a few months ago. Hypocrite.
Who isnt a hypocrite ? Or not a money-lover ? Bond gave up his international career for $. Was he called hypocrite ? Its only in cricket that playing for the national team is considered a true test of patriotism. International players in other sports like Basketball, Tennis routinely give national/world events a miss to concentrate on their professional careers. At the end of the day, having a healthy bank balance when you retire also makes a difference. Money speaks, the loudest !
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With Bond it's one thing. He just went for the money straight away. Look up the definition of hypocrite. It fits Symonds - who first says one thing about Twenty20s and the importance of tests, then throws that ideal of his out of the window the second some cheques are written by the IPL. I'm not calling any of the others hypocrites, just Symonds for being such a sanctimonious ****** and running his mouth non-stop to show the world how he disliked the Twenty20 idea and so on before suddenly taking it over a test series.

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Who isnt a hypocrite ? Or not a money-lover ? Bond gave up his international career for $. Was he called hypocrite ? Its only in cricket that playing for the national team is considered a true test of patriotism. International players in other sports like Basketball, Tennis routinely give national/world events a miss to concentrate on their professional careers. At the end of the day, having a healthy bank balance when you retire also makes a difference. Money speaks, the loudest !
:omg:
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With Bond it's one thing. He just went for the money straight away. Look up the definition of hypocrite. It fits Symonds - who first says one thing about Twenty20s and the importance of tests, then throws that ideal of his out of the window the second some cheques are written by the IPL. I'm not calling any of the others hypocrites, just Symonds for being such a sanctimonious ****** and running his mouth non-stop to show the world how he disliked the Twenty20 idea and so on before suddenly taking it over a test series.
Of course Symonds is a hypocrite, never said he isnt one. BUT, most other players are also hypocrites, or perilously close to it.
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