What’s In A Number

A cricketers life revolve around numbers ,they are known by the number of runs they scored ,numbers of wickets they have taken ,number of catches ,the position at which they bat ,in fact these numbers are their identity and players do take care of them .

Players choose a number to get better numbers against their name ,superstition or what ever you call it but they do believe in this number game .Yes you guessed it right, I am talking about the sincere effort which the players put while choosing their jersey number from years and the first number which came in every ones mind first is no. 10 which has become synonymous with Sachin Tendulkar .Well theses numbers says a lot over years and now the numbers have reached to triple digits .We have seen in recent IPL Chris Gayle wearing number (333) to signify his highest test number , Muttiah Murliatharan with number (800) which denotes his number of test wickets .Sourav Ganguly seems to be strong believer in this thing as he has changed his number many times ( 99 and 24 the famous ones)and some times even wore different number jersey in same match, another cricketer who has a numerical quirk is Herschelle Gibbs who has had a dalliance with different numbers ,(00 most famous one) is now back with the number 74 which probably denote the year of his birth .M.S Dhoni wear number 7 jersey that signifies the date and month of his birth  .Many players change their numbers in the same tournament , recently Mumbai Indians skipper Harbhajan Singh changed his number to 93 from 3 just to fetch some luck . Amid all there is one man -Virender Sehwag who seems to be fed up of this numbers and chosen not to go with any ,well that may also be a superstition as this thing he has adopted in his comeback !!

Well when one performs to his strength the lesser luck they required but if such numbers helps players to perform to their strengths and achieve big figures to their names then the  spectators wont mind enjoying this number game too and mind you these numbers speaks a lot !!!         

The Middle Order Wobble

India’s strength is batting no doubt about that .Indian batting legends were once best described as “FAB Four” which  Sachin Tendulkar ,Rahul Dravid ,Sourav Ganguly , VVS Laxman- well its difficult to replace any one of them , as they are a definitions in themselves ,they  are defined by many facts and are part of many historic moments of cricket which no one can take away from them .

I am not going to take the credit away from anyone and also not going to compare any batsman , they all are playing for their country and are selected because of their talent but if we look at the current Indian batting talent which are emerging, we have some very good options for opening slot but their continues to be a wobble in middle order specially at number 6.With so much stiff competition among player as opener these youngsters has not yet been able to prove themselves at no.6 chances .The image gets clear in the real longer version of game .Enough chances are given to Kohli, Raina and Yuvraj Singh but non of them are able to perform at this position constantly and the fab three of our team has covered this position with there performance so far ,but now as the great wall of India has retired it would be more interesting to see who is going to take his position well Virat Kohli seems to be a idle choice but at no.6 there is still a question mark .Raina and Rohit Sharma seems to be strong contender for this position but they still have to prove themselves  at this format and even Dhoni have to prove himself in this format .

These players are performing well in the shorter version of the game and excelling to all batting positions but are constantly failing in the Test cricket  ,well probably that’s the point which  experts want to make by  not favoring the T-20 and IPLs a they consider it as the major cause of lack of quality and temperament in young cricketers .Well this India team has proven itself in all format but it is also true that they are not playing like champions ,every time they play with an uncertainty not sure of what their strengths are .The excess of cricket might be the problem ,but no option they have to deal with that .

Talking about the experience and senior players well India exactly know the importance of that ,that’s why they played with their best batting and experienced bowling combination in the the world cup .It’s a team in making for sure and it will take time but how much and can we get some reliable ,consistent player ..??probably not..with the tough competition for the positions it has now became very  difficult to have  any player in “Fab” category now. 

Schizophrenic IPL

Lights Cricket Action – That’s what IPL is known for!!!! It have got every thing with it -name , fame and money , unpredictability at its best both in the game and for the players of their career. Many experts have mixed opinion about this format probably it is the last thing they recommend about cricket and hence as they are uncertain about its future.

IPL has entered into its fifth successful year and no doubt it has given a perfect platform for the youngsters to play with the best international players of different countries and learn from them , it can make any one hero overnight and can also take one to the astray. But choosing only this format can proved to be biggest mistake .As many youngsters are focusing on this format only, as short cut always attract every one but it cut short your career .Therefore it became very important for the players to give priority to the first class cricket if they want a extended career in cricket.

As if we analyze the international players who play IPLs then maximum of them, are either retired ,some are not currently in their international team ,those who are playing have proven themselves in all format of the game and obviously every member of current Indian is playing but there are some also who  put their country first .Well if we talk about the first category about the retired ones they have nothing to loose but have many thing to give to the youngsters ,if we  take the ones who are currently  not  in the team then they are focusing on first class cricket and IPLs to perform well and get their position back and the third one have nothing to prove they are just enjoying their game and their success and failure in IPL wont affect their stature and international career but talking about the untold category i.e. of the players who just play for IPLs and even ready to skip the first class cricket so as to not get injured what they are going to achieve out of this ,where are they all going ?? The one of that category should also decide their priority if they have to make career in cricket with domestic cricket first and then IPL .Of course playing IPL is not harm it has very positives associated with it but one should try to go in at least one of the recognized group having some purpose.

IPLs gives a international exposure to the domestic players and can prove to be great learning experience. With so man fomats introduced ,international cricket it can be rated now as Test Cricket>ODI Cricket>T-20>IPL and the domestic player which lie between  ODI and T-20 the players should decide their priority and try to go up in the order rather then going down the order.

From an international audience point of view also the rating is same ,but for now its time for that part of the year when cricket has maximum fan following ,it the time for electrifying IPL5 so hold on your nerves get ready for some  power packed hefty performances…!!!!!!!!!!