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It's a very commonly used term and yet it's very hard to define. Whatever it is, it is definitely something the Indian team has been known for, and they demonstrated it once again on the third day's play in Chittagong. Sehwag and Gambhir put on 90 for the first wicket in double quick time. The bowlers don't look like getting a wicket if their lives depended on it. Ideal time for Rahul Dravid to come in. Not so fast. Enter Amit Mishra, India's latest nightwatchman. To his credit, Mishra takes on the bowling in a manner Dravid seldom does. 24 off 21 balls and India are piling it on with Shakib and an assortment of slow bowlers at the other end. Why then would you take the light? There have been enough overs lost already and you would think the number one side in the world would show its intent to win by not taking the light against the bottom ranked team in test cricket.
For all we know India may still end up winning this test and all this would be forgotten. However, this attitude is going to cost them a number of test wins like the ones at The Oval, Bangalore, Mohali and Wellington. The number one spot may still belong to us thanks to the regression of other sides, but that is not what you play cricket for. On second thought, when you've spent so many years playing out mindnumbing draws that were decided on first innings lead it's understandable why our team lacks the "killer instinct".
Killer Instinct
The timelessness of Indian cricket
First off, why the heck must we have series like this triangular? To say it's boring would be to attribute more substance than it deserves. God what an utterly meaningless bore....If there's to be any balance - not to mention interest - at all in these kinda series, the next time they field, say, a New Zealand team outside New Zealand, they need to ensure its a rugby game with the NZ rugby team playing our cricket team. Still suffering the effects of yesterday ...It was an evening when Paul Simon would have changed his lyrics to "....i'm empty and aching / and i DO know why / (It was that game)"
Right. On to subject line. Ok, you watch Ashish Nehra open the attack and you're in 2003. Couple hours later you see Rahul Dravid come in to bat and that takes you to 2005.
Two years in a couple of hours !
You get a sense of how fast and how quickly forward Indian cricket is moving.
But then you consider the bevy of trundling beauties slow mo-ing in like an ultra efficient line of left handed robots feeding a run feast, dishing out their 120-130 kmph pies to be carted around the ground. Take this brother - may you massacre my figures. And this. And this again.
It feels like acute Deja Vu but then you remember the deal.
Forget 2003. Forget 2005. Forget 2009.
Not for nothing is this the no.1 cricketing nation.
Indian cricket is timeless.
SHAK is Numero Uno!
By Q
Call him our very own, call him our favorite son, call him our hero, call him our favorite minnow player, call him our favorite cricketer, call him BCC!'s Shak.
That is Shakib Al Hasan.
Bangladesh's favorite son.
We at BCC! rate him very highly and have so for a long time now.
Now the ICC have caught up with us as well.
His latest 3 wicket, unbeaten 30 odd, match and series winning performance has taken him to the top of ICC's ODI Allrounder Rankings.
Ahead of Andrew Flintoff, ahead of Jacques Kallis, ahead of Shoaib Malik, ahead of Chris Gayle, ahead of Sanath Jayasuriya, ahead of Yuvraj Singh, ahead of Paul Collingwood, ahead of Shahid Afridi.
Those are a lot of big names he's ahead of.
And he definitely deserves to be.
That's our Shak!
