‘South Africa test series as important as WC’ : VVS Laxman

[Chalks]

Like I said, I want to win it all. If we are to aspire to be a great side, we CANNOT pick and choose - we need to have the hunger to win everything. Part of the reason Aus were on top for so long.

[rkt.india]

No I don't know! Tell me all the "critics" names you can come up with. Your count is zero at the moment. This is the most ridiculous comment I have ever come across. Let's say for example Ian Chapel has been mocking team India for not winning overseas. 90% of India doesn't find out nor cares about what Ian Chapel has to say. Now let's say India wins the SA test series 3-0 and that's equal to a huge slap on Ian Chapel's face. Hurraaayy...India shut Chapel MOFO's mouth! This news will make it to about 1% of the newspapers in India and satisfy about 0.01% of the Indian cricket fans. Test match cricket is not popular in India, it's just a few people here and there who really give a damn about it. On the other side, Let's say India wins the worldcup. I can promise you that 90% of Indians will enjoy the moment and care for it. It will be like a souvenir memory that about 1billion people will keep until they die. I remember growing up in India when I never really watched test cricket because it was really boring. Everyone just said that test matches are for practice before the real cricket (ODI) series starts. It's after I joined ICF I got to know a lot of people who actually "cared" about test cricket. The world cup is absolutely the finest and the most important tournament in cricket world.

Sir ji, I am a test cricket fan. Its not that I do not like one day matches, but I always prefer tests over one day matches and for that there is no reason why I should tell you whether winning in SA is imp or winning the ODI WC. Its my personal opinion. Both are important milestone, but as a Test fan, SA test series is more important for me. You are talking about critics, every Indian Cricket Fan poster will become a critic and give their advices if India lose the test series in SA.

[fineleg]

1. Winning tests involves inherently less of luck element and more of skill. You can easily check that with the odd ODIs that minnows manage to win, but will not win any tests.

Precisely, and esp winning a tough series in SA

[spectre]

Since when is tough equated to being 'important'. A WC win will be the most proud and joyous moment for billions of fans. It will stay in their minds for days, months and even years. Compare that to a test victory, after few days of pride and exhaltation, it will be confined to stat churners and test cricket enthusiasts, even that will be put to the backseat, once the next series or challenge starts. Accept it or not, there is nothing more proud in sport than when your team and the country are crowned CHAMPIONS.

Precisely' date=' and esp winning a tough series in SA[/quote']

[yoda]

1. Winning tests involves inherently less of luck element and more of skill. You can easily check that with the odd ODIs that minnows manage to win, but will not win any tests. 2. Past results indicate winning the World Cup is easier than winning a series in South Africa. 5 different teams have managed to win the World Cup, but only 2 have won a series in South Africa. When you factor in that none of the sub continent team has even drawn a series there, the task becomes even more formidable. 3. At the end of the day this year's WC is about winning 3 straight ODIs - faltering the round robin stage is pretty much impossible. Winning 3 ODIs in a row is not a big deal, yeah the margin of error is smaller because of the knockout nature, but many teams win 3 ODIs in a row against good opposition. How many teams win 2 out of 3 test matches in South Africa? 4. India have a notoriously poor record in South Africa - one test match win in history. Comparatively, our World Cup record is pretty good and our home ODI record is just on a complete different plane.

Ok, good points overall, but how do you explain the fact that we as a team have won so many test series even against top teams in the past, but have made it to only one WC final since 1983? Regarding SA specifically, we all know that teams change and past history has simply no meaning regarding this team's chances.

[don_corleone840]

Nothing is better than being best in test cricket. ask australians are they feeling like world champions now???

[Sachin=GOD]

^if this Aussie team goes on to win the World cup next year, the entire world will hail them as the World champions irrespective of their test match performance but if they play very badly at the world cup and perform very well in tests, they will not be regarded as true champions. Test matches are important but IMO there is nothing, absolutely nothing which can be compared to World Cup glory.

[Guest BossBhai]

-- Removed on request of the user --

[Sachin=GOD]

IMO, for the people who have seen India win the 1983 World Cup, the SA series would be more important because they have already seen the team win a world cup and now would like to see India establishing itself as the no1 in Tests. For people like me (who were'nt even born when India won the 1983 world cup) a world cup victory is the biggest thing there can be and I would absolutely love to see India win the World Cup even if we don't win in South Africa.

[ludhianvi]

:hysterical: @ some of the comments in this thread Here are some of the statements from the players that I vaguely recall after winning the Cup Tendulkar : It is the ULTIMATE feeling Harbhajan : It means the world to me This doesn't even include the joy that it brings to the WHOLE of the nation. How it unifies the nation into the same feeling of pride and joy trickling from the rich to the poor, even to those don't follow cricket, make it a point to watch the match,etc

[vvvslaxman]

:hysterical: @ some of the comments in this thread Here are some of the statements from the players that I vaguely recall after winning the Cup Tendulkar : It is the ULTIMATE feeling Harbhajan : It means the world to me This doesn't even include the joy that it brings to the WHOLE of the nation. How it unifies the nation into the same feeling of pride and joy trickling from the rich to the poor, even to those don't follow cricket, make it a point to watch the match,etc

To be fair to Laxman, he meant as a player you take every match seriously. He didn't say which result is more important. I don't think Tendulkar is going to say "I will play world cup more seriously than a SA series".

[Prakat]

Since when is tough equated to being 'important'. A WC win will be the most proud and joyous moment for billions of fans. It will stay in their minds for days, months and even years. Compare that to a test victory, after few days of pride and exhaltation, it will be confined to stat churners and test cricket enthusiasts, even that will be put to the backseat, once the next series or challenge starts. Accept it or not, there is nothing more proud in sport than when your team and the country are crowned CHAMPIONS.

:hmmm: I guess it's the difference between appreciating a blockbuster and an art film. Also this divide could be caused by pure spectators vs. people who've played cricket to some degree.

[Holysmoke]

Actually, come to think of it. I dont think the SA series was "tougher" or demanded more skill than this WC win. Just look at the amount of pressure the players had to go through here. One small mistake, one small run-out and it could be curtains for the team. Just listen to Dhoni talking about the kind of pressure the team was under. Yuvraj has been vomiting throughout this WC due to anxiety. Just read this article Basically, if absorbing pressure is considered a skill in cricket, then I think this WC win was "tougher" than a SA test series win.