More »
Showing posts with label century. Show all posts
Showing posts with label century. Show all posts
He falls to rise - Rishabh Pant
He falls
He falls
He falls
He falls at the striker’s end
He falls
He falls at the non-striker’s end
He falls
He falls
To rise
To fall
To rise
To fall
He falls as he sweeps you
He falls
He falls as he creeps up on you
He falls
He falls as he reverse sweeps you
He falls
To rise
He falls
He falls with one hand on the bat
He falls
He falls with one hand on your balls
He falls
As he barely completes a run
He falls
As he barely makes it into the 90s
He falls
To rise
My boy, Rishabh Pant
He falls
My man, Rishabh Pant
He falls
To rise
And if he didn’t fall
And if his team didn’t fall
What good would this rise have been
If he didn’t fall at all
He falls
That’s a one handed six
He falls
That’s a one handed six
He falls
That’s a one handed clap
He falls
That’s a one handed thumbs up
Of course
He’s squealing
He’s freewheeling
He’s sealing
The match
Across foreign shores
He’s my boy, Rishabh Pant
He falls
My man, Rishabh Pant
He falls
To rise
To rise
He falls
To rise
He falls
To rise
How Virat Kohli breached the chase-code.
It would be wrong to say that it’s too easy for Virat Kohli. If you look
closely at most of his innings, he hardly ever takes the easy way out. If
anything, he takes the rough way, replete with thorny bushes, sudden drops, a
flight of steep steps, abrupt darkness, a classic video game chase on a higher
level. It’s another thing, he’s mastered the chase. To borrow, Sunil Gavaskar’s
new oddity, he’s a “chase master”.
Much like an obsessive teenage kid, he’s mastered this game but refuses
to tire of it or the approach that ushers him to the top score each time.
Rather than be an excited 20 something, quite bored of his toys, Virat’s
prime toy is the chase. And he wants to play it, more or less the same way each
time.
Virat doesn’t want a new car. He doesn’t want to step up or simulate a
highway when he’s driving in the street, he knows the city limits and he’s
always within kissing distance of them - if and when he breaches the limits, no
cops, no cameras, nobody can tell. For all you know, he might well be
intoxicated but the breathalyser has been breached by him.
Virat has breached the chase code. It looks simple because he has. That
he refuses to relay this truth, to even himself, is what makes the breach
appear so seamless. Nothing is taken for granted. Not the boundaries, nor the
tight singles. And if at the altar of a tight single, a batsman is sacrificed,
so be it. The chase code is entered before he walks out to bat. There is no
going back. Sometimes it will be Dhawan, sometimes it will be Rohit, sometimes
it will be him, sometimes you just have to run against the damning odds. For
that’s what brings about a rush of blood, from the legs to the head.
For each such magnificent chase, often adding to an equally magnificent
statistic, is the thing of building, nay laboured construction, but not just
day labour - often it’s what breaches into the afterhours, into extra time, at
night, under lights. Often you will be led to believe that he’s playing these
innings between the sheets. That each Virat innings is nothing short of sex.
There are way too many different ways to describe a Virat innings. But
what shines through each time is his commitment to stay committed - to not play
that ball in the air. We’ve seen it repeatedly, it’s been spoken of repeatedly,
and should be said, without wordplay or smart phrase repeatedly, Virat refuses
to play the ball in the air. Neither Virat’s head nor the ball he plays is in
the air. It could be on the up, but rarely is it in the air.
It’s a learning for Virat, and through each innings he teaches himself
that same old boring lesson again. Ajinkya Rahane marked his return with two
sixes, Virat stayed put with 10 fours but no six.
In 203 ODIs, Virat has 98 sixes. In 175 ODIs, Rohit has 164 sixes. When
it comes to boundaries, Virat has 849 fours to Rohit’s 553. A comparison
between two of the world’s best ODI batsmen throws a difference in batting
average that’s over 10 – Virat’s 56 to Rohit’s 45.
Rohit has 16 ODI centuries, Virat has 33. Rohit has three double centuries, Virat none. Chances are, Rohit, like most top order ODI batsmen,
will often be dismissed attempting to play a big shot in the air. Rohit pulled
Morkel for six in the third over, he perished attempting another such shot in
the seventh over. With 13 needed for a win, Virat allowed himself the luxury of
playing the ball in the air.
While we delight in the statistic, the 33rd century, the records that
lie broken, strewn at his feet, Virat delights, roaring in the dressing room,
at another Indian chase gone right. Dhoni and Pandya are at the crease, Virat
appears like just another foot soldier, playing it, with a jump, in the air for
a change.
First published here
I was flying when Sachin Tendulkar made his 100th 100.
I sneaked up to the airhostess – is the captain a cricket
enthusiast, can you ask him to let us know when Sachin makes his 100? Think I
was still speaking to her when she got on to the intercom, mumbled something into
it, and then whispered to me, with that dumb, distant airhostess smile – yes,
he’ll let you know, if he finds out…
From the moment Gambhir was dismissed, I could almost smell
a Sachin hundred. I could, like him, also smell the Bangladeshi bowling.
At the airport, I was watching Sachin bat on a TV perched
between a baggage conveyor belt – only, no baggage there. And I thought to myself,
exactly that.
 |
| Sachin played on this TV, with no baggage. |
Then in the departure lounge, another DD cricket telecast – gotta
say this new Goa government is very sorted out. By the time I was boarding,
Sachin was still batting.
By the time we took off, Sachin was still batting. By the
time the pilot made his first announcement, I nearly jumped out of my seat. He
digressed; altitude, distance, cruising – but of course, this was all a build
up, nonchalant pilot was gonna round it up with, some good news folks, Sachin
Tendulkar is flying on his 100th 100 cruising at…didn’t happen.
Was that a sign that he had not scored it? No way any pilot
would announce Sachin’s not-scoring-the-100, unless it’s Captain Chappell.
Thirty minutes later, another announcement. I felt the
seatbelt dig into me as my stomach and chest collectively swelled in
anticipation. Gotta, gotta…
Nothing. I half dozed off. Think I half dreamt. Of the
captain making that announcement, and everyone going loco B-grade Hollywood
passenger reaction WOOOO SACHIN!
I wanted a reaction. It struck me our altitude was in the
ballpark of Sachin’s runs, 35,000 no mean feat.
I had the aisle seat, and some of the unoccupied middle seat
– some flights you take, you really get to fly, with a single fancy. This was,
I could stretch, I had extra leg room, reclining emergency seats.
I was tempted to
check scores midair, to check with the airhostess, make her check with the
captain, again.
And I was until the last game, as sick of the 100th
100s pursuit as you or him or helpless hounded airhostesses. Guess I just
wanted closure. And it didn’t kill me that I didn’t get to watch it – I just
needed to know.
That I did. We landed, he landed. 114. The guy in front of
me, types in cricket. I tell him, he’s made it.
He shuts the search.
a century to remember...
before you correct me by saying it wasn't a century... let me counter in advance by saying that you are in a way supporting that act of randiv...
more than the deliberate attempt of randiv to deny it... in fact had he thrown the ball out of the boundary he would have looked more innocent... i will remember this century for the way it was achieved...
sehwag from the very beginning looked like he was on some mission... he played the balls on merit and never tried to manufacture a shot out of a good ball... for once he respected conditions... bowlers bowling good balls and more importantly being the senior most batsmen of the team he showed remarkable restraint throughout the innings and yet he scored a run a ball century!
this just goes to show, as yours truly has been arguing at various platforms for some time, that those who think that the only way sehwag plays is to just attack and dominate from the start... ought to keep the dvd of this innings of sehwag and vow to never ever comment on this aspect of sehwag's game till he/she watches cricket...
Sachin equals the Don at Cuttack - Lara remains supreme
Sachin's ninety odd runs at Cuttack were invaluable even though he missed his century. After all, nothing is perfect in life, the Don as lbw in his last innings missed a perfect average of one hundred. You could say Kartik was at fault but he would say 'I was just doing my job'. And, in fact it is quite believable that he was indeed doing his job.
But, then he could have done his job a little better. He is intelligent enough to know there was no hurry to finish the game. And, that Sachin could have completed his hundred if allowed to do so by his partner.
India however won and as Gavaskar used to say "it does not matter how the the runs come, as long as they come". Will Sachin return the favor to Kartik by perhaps running him out when the latter is a run short of his century. Only time will tell.
If i am not mistaken the Don needed four runs to achieve his hundred percent average. Sachin if i am not wrong needed 4 to reach his century. So, Sachin equals Don. All was not lost at Cuttack.
p.s. Brian Lara is the greatest because only he has scored that elusive four runs - hundred times to be the only batsman to have scored four hundred runs. Q.E.D.
by Roop Khanna
Storm and Sachin
There was Jaddu and Azah
There was Waugh and Warnie
There was you and me
There was storm and Sachin
Blowing through our heart
What’s the score? We want an encore!
What’s the score? We want an encore!
There is Punter and Pigeon
There is Viru and Yuvi
There is you and me
There is storm and Sachin
Blowing through our heart
What’s the score? We want an encore!
What’s the score? We want an encore!
There was dust and drives
There is rain and runs
There was you and me
There is storm and Sachin
Blowing through our heart
What’s the score? We want an encore!
What’s the score? We want an encore!
There was 143 and 141
There is No. 14 and 40
There was you and me
There is storm and Sachin
Blowing through our heart
What’s the score? We want an encore!
What’s the score? We want an encore!
There is storm and Sachin
Blowing through our heart
…Through our world
…Our heart, our world…
From Sept. 06, seemed apt after today's 138. Thank You Sachin, you stormbringer.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
