UNPREJUDICED CRICKET VIEWING IS DELIGHTFUL

I am no different from other Indians when it comes to cricket. Cricket has been a weakness and continues to be a major distraction to me personally; following the fortunes of Team India irrespective of my work location across different parts of the world.

I have been a great admirer of Philanthropist, Steve Waugh, Gentleman cricketer, Adam Gilchrist and Mr. Cricket, Michael Hussey apart from   scores of Indian players. The admiration of these players may be partly due to non-cricketing reasons and exemplary personal traits. Nevertheless, there have been so many great players and few greatest players as well whose game, I was unable to appreciate and enjoy all these years, since patriotism had masked my unprejudiced admiration.

I am an ardent fan of Test cricket over the shorter versions. However, IPL 5 has helped me in removing my prejudices towards supporting a particlular team and taught me how to enjoy the game, irrespective of the end result and the competing teams. This is the first IPL tournament I have been watching from day one due to my stay outside India and in countries where Cricket is an alien game and is not available for viewing in TV.

In fact, it is Steven Smith’s cricketing exploits in IPL 5 that has inspired me to write this article. Although, I had watched a few games he played for Australia, I could not distinguish his special talent. He continues to impress greatly with his batting and fielding skills; but his bowling skills are not yet exploited by his captain Sourav Ganguly in this tournament. Trust we get to watch it too shortly. It is also delightful to watch, unprejudicedly, the performances and skills of other offshore promising talents; Sunil Naraine, Kevon Cooper, Owais Shah, Duplessis, Shaun Marsh together with Chris Gayle, Kevin Pieterson, Brad Hodge, Shane Watson and Azhar Mahmood who had been very consistent and successful in this years IPL.

It is a great pleasure and joy to watch Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, the Indian greats who are past their prime together with Indian Internationals; Virendra Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and promising talents; Ajinkya Rahane, Umesh Yadav, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, Dhawan, Ashok Maneria, Ankit Sharma, Parwinder Awana, Pawan Negi performing exceedingly well.

On the other hand, it leaves me greatly perplexed and sad to see the skill gap between promising Indian players and offshore cricketers. The greatest concern is the ground and aerial fielding which are many rungs below par. Moreover, the local talent looks to lack self belief and confidence. Trust the IPL exposure and interaction with offshore players will improve their self belief and talent.