After a rain affected World Cup final, which saw Australia tear apart Sri Lanka.. thanks to a certain Adam Gilchrist.. who if I remember correctly..went nothing short of berserk..
We had a Ponting in smiles.Australia in smiles. As Punter retained the World Cup. That was 2007. I had just joined SASTRA.
Then 2007 bought the T20 World cup. A format, I,as a cricket connoisseur certainly will never approve of. However, to each his own. India won the Cup, and Yuvraj went blazing against England. 36 in an over.Fine.
Then 2008, the Indian Premier League. A flashy, glamorous version of T20. Auctions with player prices in the range where one could buy a decent.. for that matter a good car for the family.Whatever.
Then more IPL‘s followed. IPL-2 went to South African Lands. The third version went back to India.
If that were not enough, a Champions League for T-20, which pitted the top T-20 teams in the world against each other.
This was the period when the future of Test Cricket was in serious, well beyond serious doubt.
That is just the mentality. Cricket is no longer a sport. It is a business. One may call it something to similar to drugs these days.. A lot of money involved but just to provide you with temporary,cheap thrills.
But i digress,… cut to year 2011.. my final year at SASTRA.. and India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are joint hosts of the 2011 50 over Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan, no offense intended.
So away we go.. India opening with a victory, Sehwag doing a Kapil Dev.. All eyes were on the big teams like Australia, the hosts, South Africa, England, Pakistan, New Zealand, and if you may please, West Indies.
Associate nations included Ireland. Amid much questioning by Ricky Ponting, and ICC themselves, yet the associate nations were here to play.
Little did anyone know they were here to stay.
Netherlands almost beat England. Surely they deserved to win.
Kenya held their own against a pace trio of Lee, Tait and Johnson.
Canada battled till the end against Sri Lanka.
However, Ireland stole the show.
Almost won against Bangladesh.
Then, if you will, on a day when my net was not connecting at all, I wondered why the hostel was cheering so loudly. The reason ? Ireland had beaten England convincingly. Chased down a target of 327 odd.. Now,that is not something that you could call a fluke.
Read about the Ireland-England game here :
Gave India the shivers,even when not defending a large total.
Gave tough times to West Indies coming very close to beating them.
Had a bad day at the office against South Africa.
And comfortably chased down a 307 total against Netherlands. What a way to bow out in style.
It does not matter that they did not qualify for the quarters. What matters is the heart they showed in every game. It was entertaining to watch them.to say the very least.
It definitely would be stupid if ICC does not support their development from here on. In short, to say.. Ireland deserve respect. A great team in the making.
And that is where Ponting, ICC and also IPL have got it all wrong. Its not the money, the glamor, the spice factor, or crazy hitting.
It is performances like those of Ireland which make you truly love the game and proud to be a cricket fan.
Way to go Ireland.
We had a Ponting in smiles.Australia in smiles. As Punter retained the World Cup. That was 2007. I had just joined SASTRA.
Then 2007 bought the T20 World cup. A format, I,as a cricket connoisseur certainly will never approve of. However, to each his own. India won the Cup, and Yuvraj went blazing against England. 36 in an over.Fine.
Then 2008, the Indian Premier League. A flashy, glamorous version of T20. Auctions with player prices in the range where one could buy a decent.. for that matter a good car for the family.Whatever.
Then more IPL‘s followed. IPL-2 went to South African Lands. The third version went back to India.
If that were not enough, a Champions League for T-20, which pitted the top T-20 teams in the world against each other.
This was the period when the future of Test Cricket was in serious, well beyond serious doubt.
That is just the mentality. Cricket is no longer a sport. It is a business. One may call it something to similar to drugs these days.. A lot of money involved but just to provide you with temporary,cheap thrills.
But i digress,… cut to year 2011.. my final year at SASTRA.. and India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are joint hosts of the 2011 50 over Cricket World Cup.
Pakistan, no offense intended.
So away we go.. India opening with a victory, Sehwag doing a Kapil Dev.. All eyes were on the big teams like Australia, the hosts, South Africa, England, Pakistan, New Zealand, and if you may please, West Indies.
Associate nations included Ireland. Amid much questioning by Ricky Ponting, and ICC themselves, yet the associate nations were here to play.
Little did anyone know they were here to stay.
Netherlands almost beat England. Surely they deserved to win.
Kenya held their own against a pace trio of Lee, Tait and Johnson.
Canada battled till the end against Sri Lanka.
However, Ireland stole the show.
Almost won against Bangladesh.
Then, if you will, on a day when my net was not connecting at all, I wondered why the hostel was cheering so loudly. The reason ? Ireland had beaten England convincingly. Chased down a target of 327 odd.. Now,that is not something that you could call a fluke.
Read about the Ireland-England game here :
Gave India the shivers,even when not defending a large total.
Gave tough times to West Indies coming very close to beating them.
Had a bad day at the office against South Africa.
And comfortably chased down a 307 total against Netherlands. What a way to bow out in style.
It does not matter that they did not qualify for the quarters. What matters is the heart they showed in every game. It was entertaining to watch them.to say the very least.
It definitely would be stupid if ICC does not support their development from here on. In short, to say.. Ireland deserve respect. A great team in the making.
And that is where Ponting, ICC and also IPL have got it all wrong. Its not the money, the glamor, the spice factor, or crazy hitting.
It is performances like those of Ireland which make you truly love the game and proud to be a cricket fan.
Way to go Ireland.
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