IPL/CL/T20 Flip Flops

[asterix]

Although the advent of IPL might have harmed the young player's focus (and we have to see the implications when the Maharathis leave the scene), it has also helped the Maharathis to do well Test cricket in which they were able to focus and also keep fit by not playing all the tamasha kirkut (ODIs). Tem being in IPL also helped them to have good moneytory incentive coming in..Young players who have good temperament, attituted and focus will definitely come through, IPL or no IPL (Like Raina, Vijay, Pujara etc.).

[saneindian]

who really cares about international t20.ipl is more important' date=more interesting,more famous and more tough than t20 world cup.t20 worldcup is more a fluke.not much time is there for teams to comeback in t20 world cup.As far as players are concerned , We have best test and odi team we ever had.

Yep you are right. I give up.

[Gunner_Mania]

Yep you are right. I give up.

I gave up 4 posts ago:)

[achilles]

We'll bump this thread everytime an absurd 'T20 is killing cricket' post comes about. Wonderful write-up by Zap in the OP.

[ravishingravi]

The elitist points to the people who think that T20's are a waste of time and tests are the best. What is this pattern you speak off, please educate us?

Well tests are greatest examination of cricketing skills. I would love to hear an argument which can prove otherwise. If being in love with test cricket and not rating T20s as high as tests means being an "elitist", then I am more than happy being an elitist. I would at any point rate Laxman over Uthappa as a cricketer. The points you have mentioned in OP are not necessarily wrong. Individually all of them have happened but that still does not vindicate the presence of IPL or CL. As for pattern, which youngsters have come up in the Indian cricket team in last 2-3 years. In fact, what were touted as great talents i.e Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Rohit, Kohli etc have just regressed exponentially. If you are talking about ranking, it is on the back of perfomance of our seniors Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Sehwag, Zaheer, Bhajji some of whom are more or less towards end of their career. You had put up a very fitting pic. of an avg. Pak. fan with their head stuck in sand. I think we would be doing the same if we fail to address that our cricketers are not coming up the way we would expect them to. With IPL and CL, I don't have a personal issue with the concept except that I refuse to take it seriously. It is mediocre cricket and the format itself does not allow us to know the cricketer's true potential. I evaluate it more in terms of opportunity cost. 1) Indian cricketers often blame the tight schedule of international cricket. So wouldn't they be better served taking a break for that time? 2)Wouldn't India's potential youngsters be better groomed playing county cricket than this pyjama cricket, where they will understand their game and hone their skills. Look what wonders it did to Zaheer Khan. Instead, they are working on their dance moves here in the after match parties. Yuvraj touched on how difficult it is getting for the youngsters to focus on their games when someone like Kohli who is not even a finished article in and out of Indian team is earning millions from ads or someone like Rohit Sharma is teaching Gilchrist how to talk hindi to Indian girls where he could be learning about few things about batting. Staying in the present is a good thing. But as the era of our golden generation nears the end, looking forward, one can't help but see a steep fall if we keep dancing with preity Zinta and not address the cricketing issues. Just my thoughts

[ZodiaC]

Not IPL per se but ANY overdose of tontee-tontee will most certainly kill proper kirkut. Just wait and watch when the likes of Flatappas(copyright Proff ) and Virats start thinking like they are the sooper stars without playing a single Test match while their bank balances have multiple commas in them. WTF in the right mind will bother about doing the hard yards required for Test kirkut when jujubi tontee-tontee pays the bills of their entire neighbourhood ? The people who took us to No#1 i.e MSD,Baasu,RD,VVS,AK,Gangs,VS,Zack,Harbi are all from the pre tontee-tontee generation ... come back when we are still the test champions with Joginder , Ashwin , MV , Viratji, Badri, Flatappa, Baasu-in-waiting (a.k.a Rohit Sharma) form the core of "Test Team" ..... half of them will never play test kirkut. Test Kirkut is the Big Daddy of all ball games ... and pwns tontee-tontee

Top post BossBhai.. couldn't iave put it better myself

[Zap_Brannigan]

Well tests are greatest examination of cricketing skills. I would love to hear an argument which can prove otherwise. If being in love with test cricket and not rating T20s as high as tests means being an "elitist", then I am more than happy being an elitist. I would at any point rate Laxman over Uthappa as a cricketer. The points you have mentioned in OP are not necessarily wrong. Individually all of them have happened but that still does not vindicate the presence of IPL or CL. As for pattern, which youngsters have come up in the Indian cricket team in last 2-3 years. In fact, what were touted as great talents i.e Sreesanth, Ishant Sharma, Rohit, Kohli etc have just regressed exponentially. If you are talking about ranking, it is on the back of perfomance of our seniors Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Sehwag, Zaheer, Bhajji some of whom are more or less towards end of their career. You had put up a very fitting pic. of an avg. Pak. fan with their head stuck in sand. I think we would be doing the same if we fail to address that our cricketers are not coming up the way we would expect them to. With IPL and CL, I don't have a personal issue with the concept except that I refuse to take it seriously. It is mediocre cricket and the format itself does not allow us to know the cricketer's true potential. I evaluate it more in terms of opportunity cost. 1) Indian cricketers often blame the tight schedule of international cricket. So wouldn't they be better served taking a break for that time? 2)Wouldn't India's potential youngsters be better groomed playing county cricket than this pyjama cricket, where they will understand their game and hone their skills. Look what wonders it did to Zaheer Khan. Instead, they are working on their dance moves here in the after match parties. Yuvraj touched on how difficult it is getting for the youngsters to focus on their games when someone like Kohli who is not even a finished article in and out of Indian team is earning millions from ads or someone like Rohit Sharma is teaching Gilchrist how to talk hindi to Indian girls where he could be learning about few things about batting. Staying in the present is a good thing. But as the era of our golden generation nears the end, looking forward, one can't help but see a steep fall if we keep dancing with preity Zinta and not address the cricketing issues. Just my thoughts

I never said that T20 is a better test of skills than Test cricket. All i am saying is that there are people out there who can watch T20 for what it is and at the same time love test cricket. In movie parlance, Michael bay's movies are not oscar worthy but they are entertaining. A person can watch Scheindlers list and Transformers and enjoy both. I am not vindicating IPL at all. What i am trying to say is that people shouldnt blame T20's. Its too early to vindicate or condemn T20's in any respect. Utahppa was a FTB before IPL. Now he is just a millionaire FTB. We have no right to criticize players to earn quick money when we ourselves are slogging it out overseas and in private firms instead of public sector. Would people who work for 80000$ with lots of holidays go back to India and take a job requiring 10 hours a day and pay 10000$? Even then, If Utahappa would rather play T20 than test, then blame his commitment (rather hypocritically) but it is his choice.

[riwi999]

I don't know why a case for Test cricket is invariably made by beating up T20 cricket. It looks like many Test cricket followers feel it necessary to run down T20 just like classical music fans often run down pop music. There are different types of cricket followers out there. Those who never followed Test cricket and got into cricket only because of T20. These are not a loss to Test cricket because they were never into Tests in the first place. If anything, there is a small chance that they may even get interested in Tests. Then there are those who were fans of Test cricket. For them T20 is an additional format which they can choose to enjoy. Or not. Nobody is taking away their right to enjoy Test cricket. Each format has its place and its set of followers. I like all three formats - it is more the state of the match that makes me interested in it, rather than the format. We will all agree that in each format we have seen very exciting games. And we have also seen dreary, one-sided games. As for T20 cricket eating into the cricketers' desire for Tests, I think it differs from player to player. Yes, there is easy money in T20 but still some players like Test cricket for the sheer "test" it offers. The money that T20 offers them is certainly a nice-to-have. If a cricketer like Kohli (just using him as an example here) gets carried away by the glitz, money and glamour of T20 and does not do the hard yards required for Test cricket, I would say "good riddance". We don't need players to play in a format if they are not willing to give their 100%. Lastly, I think the criticism of Uthappa is unfair. Yes, he has come back into contention because of his big-hitting but if he is not considered for Test cricket, it is not because he does not want to play Tests. In fact, I think there is hardly a player out there who does not want to play Tests. All of them realise that it is a special format, calling for special skills. It is a bit like a top actor who makes loads of money in easy roles in lots of popular films but still looks to do that career-defining role that tests his ability as an actor the most.