Losing my religion

[Guest HariSampath]

I am ;-) in spirit :--D :winky:

[bharat297]

I dont think he is saying he cant accept the change but its more that he grew up watching these guys and for so long Indian cricket was about these individuals and that only. Its a rude shock (like a rug being jerked from under your feet) when they pack up leave and all of a sudden you're being hit with a bunch of brash youngsters, bright lights, T20 dominating the cricket calender, cricket cheergirls, celebrities sponsoring cricket teams, a $US billionaire starting his own T20 competition, cricket teams being named after companies (e.g. Deccan), and as Siddharth pointed out ... people getting paid over $1million for 3 hours work. Cricket is changing at such a rapid pace. Just 7 years ago, we won the BG trophy. Dravid, Laxman, Tendulkar, Ganguly were all being hailed as heroes. Test cricket was the forefront. No one even knew about T20. These guys were our heroes. All of a sudden Yuvraj Singh has become a national hero for 1 over of brilliance in T20. Cricket is changing very rapidly and imo is becoming very Americanised. They are almost trying to sell cricket as baseball.

[Guest HariSampath]

Well Long before Ganguly, Dravid and others became heroes for winning BG trophy, it was the former cricketers like Kapil, Shastri, Gavaskar, Amarnath , Srikkanth etc who became great heroes, and that was by establishing India at the pinnacle of cricket, and that did by winning World cup and World championship of cricket. That was a full 20 years before 2004/05....but my point is even for those who grew up watching these heroes, there wasnt this kind of "world is turned upside down" sentiment when they all left the game.

[coffee_rules]

After Gavaskar retired, I didn't feel like following Indian cricket until after 1989. May be when Rohit Sharma and Kohli mature, cricket will be interesting again.

[DomainK]

Please dont talk about SRT's retirement. It's a far way off' date=' and I dont want to think about it yet. :(([/quote'] Thats correct. There is a saying in Oriya which means "Dont strip down before you reach the river (for bathing).:D

[bharat297]

Well Long before Ganguly' date=' Dravid and others became heroes for winning BG trophy, it was the former cricketers like Kapil, Shastri, Gavaskar, Amarnath , Srikkanth etc who became great heroes, and that was by establishing India at the pinnacle of cricket, and that did by winning World cup and World championship of cricket. That was a full 20 years before 2004/05....but my point is even for those who grew up watching these heroes, there wasnt this kind of "world is turned upside down" sentiment when they all left the game.[/quote'] Well this is just my opinion but I think the magnitude of the change in the game between the KD,Sunny, Shastri era to the RD/Sachin/Ganguly era was not as great as the magnitude of the change in the game between the RD/Sachin/Ganguly era and the next one. Look at Test match crowds, the emergence of T20, the commercialisation of cricket in general (yes it was there back then, but not to this extent) ... Its all changing very fast and for someone who started following cricket when Sachin made his debut (as Siddhartha did) then throughout all the changes over the past 2 decades ... the one constant in Indian cricket has been the Big Five. Now over the past few years ... the rate of change in the game of cricket has increased dramatically and all of a sudden those constants are not there. He is not saying its a good thing or a bad thing ... he's just saying its a rude shock and it will take some time to get used to.

[Predator_05]

I have an emotional bond with the team, not with any particular player. Retirements will disappoint me, players will come and go, but i'll always continue to watch the team. INDIA 4EVA

[DomainK]

I have an emotional bond with the team' date=' not with any particular player. Retirements will disappoint me, players will come and go, but i'll always continue to watch the team. INDIA 4EVA[/quote'] We all will Pred. Cricket is an essential part of our lives now. Departure of familiar faces will be sad, but the game continues to rock.

[bharat297]

I have an emotional bond with the team' date=' not with any particular player. Retirements will disappoint me, players will come and go, but i'll always continue to watch the team. INDIA 4EVA[/quote'] I dont think he ever said he will stop watching. You said retirements will dissapoint you ... well SV here is just expressing his own dissapointment.

[flamy]

I excite! For my gen to REPRESENT! Maybe after 10 years I'll feel like this, or maybe I wont. Because, for me the connection is with India, not players. Heck, if India weren't a force in the sport, I prolly wouldnt be watching cricket.