It is that time of the year. A time when you look back and share what you saw...
Here are a series of blogs on what I saw in the year 2016.
Looking back at 2016 - 1
The REVIVAL of the year - test cricket and Indian cricket
If one had read up cricket articles at the beginning of 2016, one old have assumed that test cricket was on a death bed.
There were theories that we need to have day/ night cricket, we need to have test championships, we need to curtail events like IPL etc.
As the year unfolded, it proved how wrong the views were.m
Thankfully, today Test cricket is (even without the day/night pink ball) in the pink of its health.
The beauty about test cricket is that it is a memorable experience, exploits in white stay permanently in the mind.
In some ways, it is like Wimbledon in tennis (another event that stipulates only white clothes). Any decently informed tennis fan will put a Wimbledon win many notches above other grand slams,
May be it has to do with the tradition, the court, the crowd, one does not know - but Wimbledon wins stay etched in fan's minds for far longer.
Similar is test cricket- like any literary classic where the story unfolds page by page, here it unfolds session by session. Like a Sherlock Holmes mystery, the pace is slow, but it is gripping.
2016 has seen some of the most exciting test cricket we have seen in decades. Interestingly, the two South Asian neighbours - India and Pakistan have been at the forefront of this transformation.
Pakistan in whites is an absolute delight to watch. You never know what they will do.
When the pundits write them off, they show indescribable resilience and fighting spirit - think about their tour to England and their match at Gabba. When they are carting towards a win, they show all signs of a brain freeze and throw it away. They have made test cricket really lively.
And, India.
Under Virat, India has indeed made giant strides. There is a sense of purpose, a thirst for a win and killer instinct which was hitherto unknown and unseen in Indian sports.
We see the phrase "who says winning is everything, winning is the ONLY thing" come alive in every match.
In his short stint as Captain, he has helped tumble almost all previous records,
Where earlier captains thought of Draw and defeat in that order, Virat has changed it to Decimate, Defeat and if either are not possible, look for a draw.
Whether it is Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand or England, they have been forced to leave the Indian shores dazed and distraught after being drubbed. We have been able to create a sense of awe about us.
The real test for Virat and India lies in sustaining this intensity. Can we repeat this for the next five years?
Can we be the West Indies of the Eighties and the Australia of the 2000's?
Can this be the start of an era where the world follows the Indian way of cricket?
Only time will tell whether this will happen but the promise is certainly there...
Here are a series of blogs on what I saw in the year 2016.
Looking back at 2016 - 1
The REVIVAL of the year - test cricket and Indian cricket
If one had read up cricket articles at the beginning of 2016, one old have assumed that test cricket was on a death bed.
There were theories that we need to have day/ night cricket, we need to have test championships, we need to curtail events like IPL etc.
As the year unfolded, it proved how wrong the views were.m
Thankfully, today Test cricket is (even without the day/night pink ball) in the pink of its health.
The beauty about test cricket is that it is a memorable experience, exploits in white stay permanently in the mind.
In some ways, it is like Wimbledon in tennis (another event that stipulates only white clothes). Any decently informed tennis fan will put a Wimbledon win many notches above other grand slams,
May be it has to do with the tradition, the court, the crowd, one does not know - but Wimbledon wins stay etched in fan's minds for far longer.
Similar is test cricket- like any literary classic where the story unfolds page by page, here it unfolds session by session. Like a Sherlock Holmes mystery, the pace is slow, but it is gripping.
2016 has seen some of the most exciting test cricket we have seen in decades. Interestingly, the two South Asian neighbours - India and Pakistan have been at the forefront of this transformation.
Pakistan in whites is an absolute delight to watch. You never know what they will do.
When the pundits write them off, they show indescribable resilience and fighting spirit - think about their tour to England and their match at Gabba. When they are carting towards a win, they show all signs of a brain freeze and throw it away. They have made test cricket really lively.
And, India.
Under Virat, India has indeed made giant strides. There is a sense of purpose, a thirst for a win and killer instinct which was hitherto unknown and unseen in Indian sports.
We see the phrase "who says winning is everything, winning is the ONLY thing" come alive in every match.
In his short stint as Captain, he has helped tumble almost all previous records,
Where earlier captains thought of Draw and defeat in that order, Virat has changed it to Decimate, Defeat and if either are not possible, look for a draw.
Whether it is Sri Lanka, West Indies, South Africa, New Zealand or England, they have been forced to leave the Indian shores dazed and distraught after being drubbed. We have been able to create a sense of awe about us.
The real test for Virat and India lies in sustaining this intensity. Can we repeat this for the next five years?
Can we be the West Indies of the Eighties and the Australia of the 2000's?
Can this be the start of an era where the world follows the Indian way of cricket?
Only time will tell whether this will happen but the promise is certainly there...
