Laxman and the tail

[CC1981]

wasn't Shehashish supposed to be more talented than Ganguly?

Meh...no comment. 'Talent' is such an overused, overrated and vague word for me to really engage in. What really is talent ? hand-eye coordination ? great eyesight ? foot-movement/getting into position early ? or is something purely 'mental' as 'tough as nails, play each ball as it comes, last ball is history,etc' mentality of a Steve Waugh/Alan Border not count as 'talent' ?

[cochise]

True. Talent could be all of the above, a larger set than all of the above, a subset of the above or perhaps just one of the above listed (and unlisted but talent specific) attributes. I suppose we should be more specific.

[CC1981]

Such and elegant offside player...smooth as silk...wonder what his brother was like? CC, any observations on his style?

Also a leftie, with a bit more square-on stance than Gangoo Jnr. Silken smooth through the offside but had a withering pull-shot that Saurav lacks. I've bowled against him in the past- nothing 'serious' ofcourse, as it was one of those 'lets go to moidan and play on a bandh day' (well it was for me- its not often i got to bowl to professional cricketers!) and he was one of those guys who had 'all the time in the world' to play his shots, wasn't afraid to go for his shots either. If anything, he was a bit too 'old school' with his batting- he would take first half of an over against any new bowler to 'scope him out' rather than launch his shots based on the merit of the ball. I was impressed with his batting,especially against me- i was one of those guys who bowled fast, furious and with a slingshot action.Tennis was my forte, not cricket, so i was supremely fit in my teenage/early 20s but i didn't give a damn about cricket- it was purely old school 'a day at the park style fun' for me. Which means that with my slingshot action ( i clocked myself at 80-82mph at 17), i would get pasted often but i'd ALWAYS pick up wickets- coz the few balls i got 'right' would uproot a stump/pole-axe the batsma. I particularly enjoyed bowling to a batsman who hadn't seen me before- for even the few FC guys i've bowled at, were genuinely 'shocked' to see a few gems come outta my hand in midst of all the tripe- but Snehasish made me feel like he'd scoped me out completely- played his 3-4 dot balls, got my ego puffing and then laced atleast two-three boundaries every single over i bowled at him (IIRC i bowled 5 overs at him in total), dispatching even the best deliveries while curiously, blocking/letting go some tripe....

[cochise]

Slingshot eh? Jeff Thomson style? You maybe should have tried cricket seriously. 80 odd mph at 17 is serious. And Snehashish sounds like an overlooked talent, to use a vague word. Bet there is more out there in India that can't get a look in.

[CC1981]

Slingshot eh? Jeff Thomson style?

Bit of a hybrid of Thommo's slingshot and Marshall's chest-on action. I am a 5'7 guy and i've been this height since 15- i am not tall enough to do a pure slingshot and if i tried doing a Malinga, my shoulder would've been dead. It might sound silly, but the way my arm came down bowling was quite similar ( one might say almost identical) to how my arm came down while serving in tennis. As per trying cricket seriously- nah, was never interested in playing cricket THAT much. I mean, the occasional game in the park/streets was serious fun but playing for the whole day ? gimme a break! I prefer the high intensity sports like tennis/badminton, not a low intensity sport like cricket- i would never make a good fielder, since i'd be too bored watching the ball/getting distracted by stuff by the boundary(for eg: hot chick), etc. Besides, i had my studies to do (which i still do to an extent). And i don't think 80-82 mph was that big a deal really- remember, i was very fit- i could run 5km without almost any prep those days, was super-flexible and used my whole body to generate pace- i don't think i could've sustained that in my late 20s/30s. In terms of fitness, i was far fitter than what Ishant or Sreesanth looks like for eg.Plus i bowled 100% each delivery and i was more of an Akhtar than anything else- ask me to bowl more than 5 overs and i would resort to spin... anyways, enough about me, i think its getting a bit OT :haha:

[cochise]

i think its getting a bit OT

A little leeway is surely permissable. I am intrigued. What did you study and what are you studying today? You come across as very erudite.