Concerto for Trumpets - Outlook India

[fineleg]

Concerto For Trumpets Many 'glorious' pages in Indian cricket were written in spurious ink V. Gangadhar Remember the bloke N.D. Howard? Among his men were Frank Lowson, Jack Robertson, Don Kenyon, Alan Watkins, Reg Spooner, Malcolm Hilton and Roy Tattersall. In the absence of top ranking English cricketers like Len Hutton, Cyril Washbrook, Denis Compton, Godfrey Evans and Alec Bedser who were scared to tour 'dark continent' India with its heat, germs and what not, poor Howard led his third rate England cricket team to this country in 1951-52 and even managed to win the fourth test match at Kanpur. But India finally defeated this weak English combination in the last test on a spinner's track at Madras to record its first-ever official cricket victory. This was hailed as a 'great' triumph! For Indian cricket, this was the beginning of similar 'great triumphs'. In 1959-60, on a Kanpur track which had pebbles on it, an acknowledged 'chucker' offspinner Jasu Patel from Gujarat, spun out Australia twice. In the 1977-78 (away) and 1978-79(home ) series against Australia, we scored some 'great' triumphs when the genuine Aussie stars were playing for the Packer circuit. Ajit Wadekar's men in 1971 scored a 1-0 triumph against a West Indies side which was undergoing a painful transition from the Sobers' era to that of Clive Lloyd. The Windies had no bowling attack to speak of, their batting revolved around a lackadaisical Kanhai and Sobers and the latter led them as though in sleep. In the same decade, Alvin Kallicharan led a hugely depleted Windies team to India (the stars were with Packet), lost the series and the victory was a 'major triumph' for the home team which was in full strength. Packer did not think any Indian to be good enough for his circus. Thus it went on, both in test and the one day game. Indian cricket and its supporters firmly followed the Tamil saying, 'Mookilla Rajyathale Muri Mookhan Raja' ( in a country of noseless people, the one with the broken nose is the king}. There was seldom the right kind of assessment of the nature of these 'great' triumphs, achieved mostly at home, on dusty turners, tailormade for local spinners in front of fanatical mobs for whom victory was everything. The end always justified the means. The few sensible, dissenting voices were shouted down. Can anyone dare mention that Anil Kumble's 'great' ten wickets in an innings haul in a Delhi test against Pakistan could not have been achieved without some dubious decisions from Karnataka umpire, Jaiprakash? Today, the air is rent once again with shouts of 'great victories' with India well set for a 7-0 white wash in the one day series against England. A series win is always a series win, but look at the rag tag opposition! Though one day cricket was born in 1971 with England featuring in the opening game, it had never taken to it and yet managed to reach the 1975 and 1979 World Cup finals only because they were played at home and the other nations, barring the West Indians, were only learning the new concept. No wonder Kevin Pietersen and his not-so-merry men are not having a great time in India. Pietersen is the only class one-day batsmen in the team. During his frequent injury-induced absences from the game, Flintoff appears to have forgotten the art of batting. Bell, Collingwood, Owais Shah, Bopara, Prior and the rest made guest appearances at the crease and disappeared. On the bowling front, James Anderson conceded more than six runs per over and after four matches was yet to take a wicket. And he is their opening bowler! Pietersen and the English team management were so scared of the Indian batting strength that their best spinner, Monty Panesar was watching the matches from the stands. The reason? O, he can neither bat nor field. But what about other members of the team who were in same boat? Even the English cricket writers acknowledged that Matt Prior was not a 'natural' wicket keeper.The approach of the English men in the fourth one dayer where, they scored just 21 runs in the first six overs while chasing 196 in 22 overs indicated the entire outfit could do with some balls transplants! Add to their troubles the slow turners, sight screens which seldom worked properly, light which faded around 4 pm, the stupid refusal to switch on the lights and get on with the game. Cricket is a game where both sides should have similar playing conditions. In India, particularly in the eastern venues, there was heavy dew in the mornings and in the day and night games, the ball became wet because of the dew. The one day game was a farce in this country and being hailed as 'world champions' is a bigger farce. You don 't become world champions by whitewashing this John Bull's rag-tag army of alleged cricketers. That Grand Old Man of cricket, W G Grace will agree. http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20081129&fname=gangadhar&sid=1

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Holysmoke]

In the 1977-78 (away) and 1978-79(home ) series against Australia, we scored some 'great' triumphs when the genuine Aussie stars were playing for the Packer circuit.

Is that our fault?

Ajit Wadekar's men in 1971 scored a 1-0 triumph against a West Indies side which was undergoing a painful transition from the Sobers' era to that of Clive Lloyd. The Windies had no bowling attack to speak of, their batting revolved around a lackadaisical Kanhai and Sobers and the latter led them as though in sleep. In the same decade, Alvin Kallicharan led a hugely depleted Windies team to India (the stars were with Packet), lost the series and the victory was a 'major triumph' for the home team which was in full strength.

Is that our fault?

Packer did not think any Indian to be good enough for his circus.

His problem. Maybe the players didnt sign?(no idea, just a guess).

Today, the air is rent once again with shouts of 'great victories' with India well set for a 7-0 white wash in the one day series against England. A series win is always a series win, but look at the rag tag opposition! Though one day cricket was born in 1971 with England featuring in the opening game, it had never taken to it and yet managed to reach the 1975 and 1979 World Cup finals only because they were played at home and the other nations, barring the West Indians, were only learning the new concept. No wonder Kevin Pietersen and his not-so-merry men are not having a great time in India.

Is that our fault?

Pietersen is the only class one-day batsmen in the team. During his frequent injury-induced absences from the game, Flintoff appears to have forgotten the art of batting. Bell, Collingwood, Owais Shah, Bopara, Prior and the rest made guest appearances at the crease and disappeared. On the bowling front, James Anderson conceded more than six runs per over and after four matches was yet to take a wicket. And he is their opening bowler! Pietersen and the English team management were so scared of the Indian batting strength that their best spinner, Monty Panesar was watching the matches from the stands. The reason? O, he can neither bat nor field. But what about other members of the team who were in same boat? Even the English cricket writers acknowledged that Matt Prior was not a 'natural' wicket keeper.The approach of the English men in the fourth one dayer where, they scored just 21 runs in the first six overs while chasing 196 in 22 overs indicated the entire outfit could do with some balls transplants!

Repeat

Cricket is a game where both sides should have similar playing conditions.

Yes, Mr. self loathing retard, thats why winning the toss is always an advantage isnt it? Why dont we make cricket an even game, where we have a concrete pitch, same sized grounds, make sure its played indoors so it cant be affected by clouds/sun etc How did a retard like this get hired by a magazine like outlook.. Choohiya saala

[Lord]

i'm shhocked this is actually written by an indian.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

And I'm even more shocked that it appeared on a magazine like Outlook.

[Rajan]

1. Sunil Gavaskar was approached by an agent of Packer. but Sunny did not join for his own reasons.i definitely remember reading in hindu that Gavaskar refused to join the packer bandwagon. 2.this idiot clearly has selective amnesia, he forgets facts like the same england team defeated SA 4-0 recently and defeated indian team 4-3 last year. 3.in the same 1979-80 period, india at home,under same Gavaskar defeated a full strength pakistan team with Imran, Zaheer abbas, Javed miandad, Abdul quadir, wasim raja, mudasser nazar, sarfraz nawaz, iqbal qasim.. 4. the australia team we defeated had Allan Border, Kim Hughes, Graham Yallop, Woods, Rodney hogg ( who took 42 wickets in an ashes series),Dav Watmore, Bruce Yardley,.... 5. the west indies team had sylvestor clarke, & Malcolm marshall,Kallicharan & Gomez,F. Baccus. the fact is we are a good team now. but sadly apologists dont recognise that.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

but sadly apologists dont recognise that.

BTW - why are we even giving a damn to this guy?

[Tapioca]

1. Sunil Gavaskar was approached by an agent of Packer. but Sunny did not join for his own reasons.i definitely remember reading in hindu that Gavaskar refused to join the packer bandwagon.

And Kirmani. Gavaskar was dropped as captain in 1979 for the World Cup and the Test series that followed despite winning the series against Kallicharran's team because of the above. Kirmani was dropped for the same reason and Bharat Reddy kept wickets in England. Had Packer lasted one more year, Kapil would have received a *very* big offer.

[Dinx - the Jinx]

And Kirmani. Gavaskar was dropped as captain in 1979 for the World Cup and the Test series that followed despite winning the series against Kallicharran's team because of the above. Kirmani was dropped for the same reason and Bharat Reddy kept wickets in England. Had Packer lasted one more year, Kapil would have received a *very* big offer.

I dont understand. Are you suggesting that Gavaskar and Kirmani were dropped because they were approached by Packer and they refused to join Packer?

[Rajan]

I dont understand. Are you suggesting that Gavaskar and Kirmani were dropped because they were approached by Packer and they refused to join Packer?

no, i think what he says is- because Gavaskar and Kirmani were approached by Packer's representatives, BCCI was unhappy.they stripped Gavaskar of captaincy and dropped Kiri after a successful series as keeper. they did not sign up but probably BCCI might have been unhappy that they met the representatives !!!

[Dinx - the Jinx]

no' date=' i think what he says is- because Gavaskar and Kirmani were approached by Packer's representatives, BCCI was unhappy.they stripped Gavaskar of captaincy and dropped Kiri after a successful series as keeper. they did not sign up but probably BCCI might have been unhappy that they met the representatives !!![/quote'] Oh Ghosh.. that was harsh. They dint even sign the contract and were still punished. BCCI has never been good.

[flamy]

V. Gangadhar is a BHINDIAN. What ya expect?

[Chalks]

He'd probably argue that the home win against Australia was a hollow one because of no McGrath, Warne, Gilchrist, Martyn, Langer, et al. Moron. Surprising to find one of these self-loathing idiots somewhere other than Cr@pinfo (where such self-loathing idiots belong).

[graphic23]

Cricinfo is actually a very credible sources on cricket. I have found them relatively neutral and never playing down any victory. Maybe it was a one-off article.

[The Outsider]

I think Gangadhar is fineleg's pen name.

[Predator_05]

I think Gangadhar is fineleg's pen name.

Nah. To write articles like that (even if they are garbage) you need some knowledge of the game. Whiney doesn't know anything about cricket - articles can't be made out of worthless, one line knee-jerk bullsh]t and stupid ass questions which everyone knows the answers to...

[fineleg]

aha, the peabrain villain makes an appearance to malign - whats new in the nut case called predz blabbering some boolsheet.

[Predator_05]

aha' date=' the peabrain villain makes an appearance to malign - whats new in the nut case called predz blabbering some boolsheet.[/quote'] **** me, even your insults are LAME...can you do ANYTHING right ? Serious question.

[fineleg]

only coz i intentionally kept it to be mild. i can certainly use 'stronger' words and expose harsher truth about you, but it will only lead to more mudslinging from both sides.

[Predator_05]

only coz i intentionally kept it to be mild. i can certainly use 'stronger' words and expose harsher truth about you' date=' but it will only lead to more mudslinging from both sides.[/quote'] :hysterical::hysterical: @ 'expose harsher truth'... Sorry, but the the only thing you ever 'expose' is the fact that you are an absolute numbskull