1990s to 2000s

[King]

With 2000 decade coming to an end, it’s time to take a good look at how this decade has gone for cricket. Massive change if you look at how cricket as a sport was placed in the 90s as compared to now. There have been drastic changes in cricket in this decade and some of them will stick in my memory for a very long time : 1. Terrorism at its height and has caused a lot of damage to the sport and life in general. Although in the 90s Sri Lanka was often torn apart by the terrorists the visiting sports teams were not targeted. Now things have changed drastically. 2. Twenty20 cricket : Good or bad can be debated for ever but it has definitely had major impact on test cricket and ODIs. It needs to be seen if ODIs will survive in future at all. Test cricket will continue to thrive though. 3. IPL : It has changed the way cricket is played right now and the cricketers now have even better opportunity to earn their livilehood. Cricket is no more the subtle sport but is all raazmataaz. 2000 has seen the most exodus of young cricketers from test cricket. The all rounders are the most hurt of all the cricketers. 4. Bob Woolmer’s death : Not a good event and got me worried a bit about the way the sport was heading. Luckily enough it was a natural cause and not anything untoward. Still never realized pressure off the field would 5. Pakistan row : Pakistan pretty much had the worst of the decade. Coach’s death, frequent captaincy changes, players exodus to IPL and back, the Darrell Hair – Inzi row, Lahore shooting at the players and moving of all the home games over to Abu Dhabi but cricket still surviving in Pakistan. 6. Aussies decade still : Despite losing to India, South Africa and England Aussies continued to achieve what no other nations could. Three world cup wins in a row with not a single defeat in two back to back world cups. Aussies redefined the word “Consistency” in world cricket. 7. Retirement of the stalwarts : Lara, Warne, Anil Kumble, Gilchrist and McGrath. Five of these great cricketers that contributed to the growth of cricket in the last two decades retired during this decade. It will not be easy to fill the gap these five guys have left. 8. Rise of the unconventional : While the classic stars retired, it marked the rise of unconventional stalwarts of the 2000s, the Kevin Pietersen and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. These two have their own distinct style and play cricket in their own terms. They have redefined the run scoring with their own unconventional technique. 9. The rise and fall of ICL : ICL did its best to run a parallel competition but without the support of BCCI and ICC they were never going to take off. BCCI did its best to nip them and they sure did that by not allowing ICL to use any of the grounds in India. In hindsight if ICL had gone around the world playing its cricket in leased grounds around the world they may have been able to draw more attention. Twenty20 cricket was not going to be a format that was going to get the attention of the cricket world anyways.

[Mamu]

I would also add Sehwag to the list at number 8.

[Params7]

2. Twenty20 cricket : Good or bad can be debated for ever but it has definitely had major impact on test cricket and ODIs. It needs to be seen if ODIs will survive in future at all. Test cricket will continue to thrive though.

Nobody except some hardcore followers will watch an entire Test match, while ODI's drew full houses for all IndvAus games and we saw some brilliant games being played that proved how ODI's>T20's, including the one Sachin's 175, meanwhile NZvPak just had one of the most intense final ever. Its Tests that will and should be long gone before anything happens to ODI's.

[satishg]

good to see you posting again Ravi :) anyway as one of the fellow posters have mentioned above, the rise of the truly unconventional should infact must include Sehwag in it. I dont think there can be any other test opener like him again and that too averaging 50 is pretty damn phenomenal!

[Celeste]

Bob Woolmer death was sad indeed but it should not be in the list. He died of natural causes like many cricketing greats. Add Inzi & Akram to # 7.

[Lord]

Bob Woolmer death was sad indeed but it should not be in the list. He died of natural causes like many cricketing greats. Add Inzi & Akram to # 7.

n Donald n Pollock

[Sooda]

The golden era for batsmen, the last 10 years have been. With batting getting so much easier and many great bowlers retiring. Too many 50+ averages across the test world, when before it was the true hallmark of a great player.

[King Tendulkar]

Bob Woolmer death was sad indeed but it should not be in the list. He died of natural causes like many cricketing greats. Add Inzi & Akram to # 7.

Not sure? His death is still a mystery, was under very mysterious circumstances!

[Riley's Girl]

n Donald n Pollock

:dito:

[coffee_rules]

India shining marks this decade. Rising from the ashes of Match fixing in 2000, India went on to win test matches in all countries and seies wins in Pak, NZ, Eng and WI. Lost narrowly in Aus, SA and SL. Plus the WC final in 2003 was the icing on the cake. The lows were the Greg Chappal saga and the 2007 wc.

[The Outsider]

Nice compilation, Ravi. For me the greatest difference has been the abundance of patta pitches throughout the world cutting across all formats. As soon as there is some grass on a pitch, some sharp turn, or up and down behavior everyone just throws a collective hissy fit starting from the captain, players, commentators, media, ICC. At the very least Test matches should be played on tracks where you would normally get a result in 4 days and the 5th day should be more of a safety cushion against weather.

[Celeste]

Not sure? His death is still a mystery' date=' was under very mysterious circumstances![/quote'] World best police, Scotland yard doesnt think so.