Sad to think this era is coming to an end?

[Tendulkar_Bhai]

ANyone else feel like in our lifetimes we'll never see a combination of players play together who are so talented and with such great allround games as we have seen over the last 15yrs i.e. Shewag, Laxman, Ganguly, Kumble, Bhajji, Zaheer, Dravid..havent missed anyone have i :winky:? Im still quite young so for me these are the guys who i grew up with (aged 10+) and were a big part of my life and people who i looked up to during the good and bad times. Was lucky to see Shastri/Mongia/Srinath in 1995 v england but all i remember from tht was the crowd shouting something abt Shastis celeb gf!! Also the memories they have provided us will stay with us for the rest of our lives, something which got me thinking when looking through the youtiube videos posted in the other thread. With the T20 format of the game taking over i just dont think we'll ever see such a calibre of players, as players can become big names by simply clearing the boundary. Oh well...Indian Cricket RIP...am planning a final trip to see the remaining players play a test match over the next 12-18 months, alongisde the WC.

[fineleg]

I feel very sad at this era ending. I don't think the heights of Team-India: Shewag, Laxman, Ganguly, Kumble, Bhajji, Zaheer, Dravid, SRT can be achieved in next gen. We may get few good batsmen like Pujara, but I doubt even they can touch greatness like VS,Srt,Rd, Vvs. I don't see such class anymore. We get more FTBs. Can the new ones play in Eng, NZ, SA and score 100s or regular 50s? Kumble - we have dartthrowers and mishra,ozhas now. ZK - we have munaf daadajis now Happy to have seen a greatest era. Sad the future has weaker players.

[Jersey #10]

^please don't include SRT in that list. He is immortal :orderorder:

[jhakati]

ANyone else feel like in our lifetimes we'll never see a combination of players play together who are so talented and with such great allround games as we have seen over the last 15yrs i.e. Shewag, Laxman, Ganguly, Kumble, Bhajji, Zaheer, Dravid..havent missed anyone have i :winky:? Im still quite young so for me these are the guys who i grew up with (aged 10+) and were a big part of my life and people who i looked up to during the good and bad times. Was lucky to see Shastri/Mongia/Srinath in 1995 v england but all i remember from tht was the crowd shouting something abt Shastis celeb gf!! Also the memories they have provided us will stay with us for the rest of our lives, something which got me thinking when looking through the youtiube videos posted in the other thread. With the T20 format of the game taking over i just dont think we'll ever see such a calibre of players, as players can become big names by simply clearing the boundary. Oh well...Indian Cricket RIP...am planning a final trip to see the remaining players play a test match over the next 12-18 months, alongisde the WC.

no i think the great thing with this generation is that people like ganguly., dhoni, john wright and gary kirsten have set a legacy which will see good indian teams in the future as well they may not be as great as the current lot, but will be in the top 3 in the world [unlike the horror teams of the 90s!] so its allright

[punjabi_khota]

It will be alright. Sehwag will play for 5 years, and with Gambhir being there, we will have a stable opening partnership in tests and ODIs for a long long time. It is a luxury we didn't have even 3 years ago, and its importance cannot be overemphasized, since it will take some pressure off the new middle order. Regarding bowlers, Ishant/Sreesanth

[The Dark Horse]

The future doesnt look good, whenever there has been testing conditions the youth brigade has struggled- barring very few. I hope i am wrong.

[vamos_rafa]

yeah its saddening for sure... and it hasnt been only abt the great crciket tht they hv played.... its also abt the conduct of em... both on and off the field..... wud be missd 4ever... :-((

[thevortex]

What is sadder is that we could have done more with this elite middle order that we had. Arguably the world's strongest batting lineup. We could have thrown more challenges their way. But we did not. We played and still tend to play defensively.

[King]

Every good thing comes to an end one day and give rise to even better things. A big bulky black and white TV was an amazing thing in the 50s must be, then came the colour TV, then the flat scree, plasmas/LCDs... things do get better. In the 80s not many would have thought there can ever be better batsman than Sobers, Viv Richards, Gavaskar, Border, Greg Chappell and the likes. Perhaps not all the batsman you have mentioned may be at the same time but even Tendulkar will be bettered I am sure. The spinners have been better, batsmen have been better and the only area that has been wanting is the all rounders. I guess the number of games that is played currently, the all rounders will find it hard to equally do justice to batting and bowling.

[Ram]

Not sad at all, not even a bit.. On the contrary, I feel fortunate to have watched Indian cricket in an era when we became the world’s best, surmounted peaks that we had never done before and earned the respect of other teams. It took us nearly a half a decade to get where we are today. Its time to savor this moment, not contemplate and wallow in nostalgia.

[SachinTheGr8st]

It will be very saddening the day God of cricket Sachin retires from all formats he gave us so many great memories which we can never forget grew up watching Sachin remember the days when Sachin single handedly use to win matches for india the famous knock at Sharjah 1998 taking India to 2003 world cup finals remember the days when people use to shut tv off when Sachin got out . It wont be same Team India the day Sach retires the greatest cricketer of any era.

[The Outsider]

What is sadder is that we could have done more with this elite middle order that we had. Arguably the world's strongest batting lineup. We could have thrown more challenges their way. But we did not. We played and still tend to play defensively.

Yeah, play 5 bowlers and get our asses kicked! :hysterical:

[King Tendulkar]

And a new era will begin. Anyway Tendulkar is playing for another 5 years. It will take 2 years of some of our new batters struggling a tad(maybe they wont and will pile on runs immediatley). But then they will come good and we will be the galiticos once again! The doom and gloom based on one odi result is frankly pathetic!

[yoda]

I think we will be ok with batting with the likes of Raina and Kohl and othersi. Bowling has always been worrisome with the exception of Kumble and flashes of brilliance from Harby and Zak and will continue to be so.

[Karan114]

Not sad, more happy to have seen this phase in our cricket history.

[SachinTheGr8st]

One thing i m proud that India is the first Asian team to reach no.1 test position a team which has been labelled weak in 1990s has made a big turn around after 2001 test series India did reach no.1 odi spot for atleast a day thats more enough which no other Asian team could do it . Players like Dravid Kumble Dada Sehwag Laxman are irreplacable and not to forget the immortal Legend Sachin is the greatest cricketer and we r proud 2 have this batting genius

[Online]

Not sad' date=' more happy to have seen this phase in our cricket history.[/quote'] I like that attitude

[Sooda]

^^Yeah well said Karan and Morris... more than that Im just about the right age (as are a few others here Im guessing) to remember when we were quite poor so often in the 90's having started following cricket properly then. So the last 10 or so years have been pretty good indeed And older members will have a greater sense of perspective still and the knowledge that these cycles happen. Also I think its safe to say that whilst we will not be as good as we are/were, I dont think we will too bad at all . And THAT is reassuring. Perhaps the best thing the current gen have done for Indian cricket -bring in that sense of professionalism and winning attitude. Anyways, as Fall Out Boy so eloquently put it- Thanks for the memories

[f.b.m]

Same here. I'm happy that this era lasted for this long. My own growing up has more or less coincided with the rise and rise of Indian cricket. Also coming to think of it SRTs game matured as I did, so he always batted the way I wanted him to (: edit: Scary thing is SRT has played international cricket for longer than I have lived.