Flat opinions in the round world

Whenever I hear Mahendra “M S” Dhoni coming to bat, I leave all business to watch smiting Dhoni playing his shots. It’s not only me who holds this view about one of the greatest finisher India has so far got. I remember watching a live interview of M S Dhoni on a news channel in 2004 before his debut in Indian ODI squad. He was being interviewed at JSCA International cricket complex, wearing a red t-shirt, his signature long locks drenched in sweat. Who could imagine a desi cricketer speaking in Hindi will soon become the most favorite sportsperson in the world. Soon after he joined Indian cricket team in 2004, he was offered the captaincy of the team in 2007 when Rahul Dravid, the then Indian cricket captain decided to give up the challenging role. Dhoni was quite young at that age, just 26 to shoulder the responsibility. But with his flamboyant personality and fearless attitude towards the game, he soon became trepidation for the oppositions.  His contribution to Indian cr...

What is meaning of technology and what role has it got to play when we talk in terms of cricket? Technology is something which is relatable to automation of modus operandi and reduces human intervention and thus saves time, the most limiting factor in today’s frenetic world. Yes, it involves the cost but we have to make a choice between time and cost and hence the quality. No doubt, in cricket also, the advent of technology has given ultra-edge benefits in the areas where umpires had to take manual decisions which could turn out to be good or bad. In the last few decades, the technology has progressed by leaps and bounds in the area of cricket as a sports. Needless to say, there was dire need to do it. In cricket, recently there have been technological advancements such as pitching of Hotspot, Snick-o-meter, Hawkeye, LED stumps and bails, stump camera to name a few. Hotspot is the technology used to review the smallest nick of ball and bat. In snick-o-meter, a sensitive micropho...

Had India and Pakistan not faced the impediment of division in 1947, the gathered Indian soil could have had more pace bowlers in its kitty. Indian cricket team, no doubt is and has been one of the best cricket team in the world and is a tough competitor. Indian soil has produced few greatest cricketers such as Dilip Sardesai, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev (first Indian all-rounder), Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli to name a few. However so far as the pace bowling is concerned, India has never been that fortunate as Cricket Australia and Pakistan cricket team who hold the best pace bowling attack of all times. In my view what matters most in game of cricket is consistency in performance. A cricketer can be called dependable and consistent when he plays his natural game of cricket in almost all the games he plays, against all the bowlers and in all the conditions whether favorable or not. One such batsman in Indian cricket has been...

The small island country of Jamaica located in Caribbean Sea has produced some of the all-time great sportsmen including the yester year’s cricketers George Headley, Michael Holding and Courtney Walsh. While Headley had been the greatest batsman of his times, the speedy piercing bowling of both Holding and Walsh had given nightmares to all the batsmen around the world at a time in history of cricket. Deadly combination of both batting and bowling skills was still awaiting to bless the Caribbean island till Jamaican land gave nativity to “Christopher Henry Gayle” in 1979 and Andre Dwayne Russell in 1988. Chris Gayle popularly by named as “Gayle storm” amongst his peers and the cricket fraternity is considered to be the best batsman in T20 cricket. Indian Premier League kick started in 2008 and Gayle was signed to join Kolkata Knight Riders in year 2009. Shortly after that he has been a part of Royal Challengers Banglore and is currently the part and parcel of KXIP since IPL s...

The Indian cricket festival, Indian Premier League has successfully entered into 12th season this year and in the first few days only we are witnessing many new records being already made, Rishabh Pant going hammer and tongs over Mumbai Indians in first 2019 IPL match playing for Delhi Capitals, Chris Gayle being back in form playing for KXIP, Chennai Super Kings continuing to sail the victorious boat and many more. IPL is not just a cricketing series to many. It is like a long festivity which keeps people engrossed for almost over a month and you will come across a lots of madness in the coming time. The tough competition between world class cricket players makes it more appealing and interesting to watch. However this season of IPL has witnessed something which has never happened before in its history. There has been much hullabaloo over Ravichandran Ashwin (Captain of KXIP) mankading Jos Buttler (hitman from Rajasthan Royals). Mankading is a term used in cricket named aft...