For the love of cricket.....

Today, I got into a bit of a tangle.This is what happened.

I had no business being in this debate. What have I got to do with the Pommies or the Aussies or Ricky Ponting or even Sachin Tendulkar for that matter. He does not give any of his runs to me, nor does he give me any money.

Same can be said about other participants in the debate (except for Shankar sir, who has a fair bit of experience in professional cricket). But still look at the comments and the emotions involved. In its place, each comment is valid, each point of view correct.

And its just for the love of cricket that we are all involved in it.

But the point that comes across is there has to be a line beyond which you get out of the game and get into personalities. If I hate Ricky Ponting for his arrogance (not that I myself am the humblest of all people, but life has taught me enough not to think less of anyone), there are people who call Rahul Dravid selfish, VVS underachiever, Murali a chucker, Pakistanis as cheats. In most cases, this is a matter of how people interpret - Ponting has been a consistent batsman, Dravid technically the best (a technician, in Siddhu's words!!), Murali the greatest bowler ever and Pakistanis , well , you can never say one thing about them.

Someone read through the comments and said I am being aggressive here - but all I am stating is that if I like SRT or Rahul Dravid, i do not say they are great because they are better than this player or that. They are great on their own merits on the field and may also have some shortcomings. But in a team game, that too something like test cricket, where quantity of runs or wickets do not really reflect the quality of the effort - its useless comparing individuals.For eg. in 2007, in the first test of India - England Test series Dhoni batted in unfriendly conditions, in a subdued manner with the tail for a better part of the fifth day. In Harsha Bhogle's words, it was the inveterate racer driving in the first gear. It rained soon, and the match was drawn, with just 1 wicket remaining. India went on to win the next test match and the series. Does that make Dhoni the greatest batsman?

Unless you are comparing on a case to case basis, such comparisons are useless.

To all those who lament SRT has not really won a Test match for India or some say he is selfish, i have one question : At the end of a match, has anyone seen him pack his bags with all the runs he scored and take them home?