A truly unique sport

There are thousands of games people play around the world. Every game has its peculiarities. What sets Cricket apart? What is so unique about Cricket that makes it shine amongst other games.

The first thing that always strikes me about cricket is how the most little and completely unrelated things can affect the game and its course. For example, a small duration of little cloudy weather can turn the game on its head. A little patch of grass on the pitch is enough to get a bowler going. Even the smallest movement around the sight screen can get 'Sachin' distracted. A tiny bit of seam if goes out of shape on a ball can result in such nasty deliveries that umpires have to carry scissors.
Wow ! I have not seen a single other game which is so... if I may say so ...'delicate'. Do you agree?

We are just getting started... next thing, umpiring ! Now this is very interesting. Do you know any other game where umpires or referees have to judge so many complex decisions in a split second? The ball has to be over the shoulder and below the head height to be adjudged as the one bouncer per over... In the first second umpire needs to check whether the bowler's front foot is not crossing the front crease and in the next second ... well the next second is a hell's visit for the umpire. Next second has to decide anything among 'whether the ball is within the batsman's reach' or 'did batsman nick the ball' or it needs to check 'whether the ball crossed boundary or it bounced before that' All of this before he can blink. Can you blame the guy if he takes an early retirement :)

next thing, weird rules ! Just now we talked about decisions that umpires have to dish out in seconds. What's the root cause? Its because the game was designed by a computer programmer. Don't believe it? What other explanation is there for the LBW rule ?

If the batsman intended to hit the ball but missed it and the ball pitched exactly in line with the stumps; not too high as to go over the stumps, not too wide as to miss the stumps then he can be deemed out protecting his wicket with his legs.
But wait, what if batsman didn't intend to hit the ball at all ? well, in that case, the ball doesn't have to be inline with the stumps but it needs to be concluded that the ball would hit the stumps if the batsman was not in the middle of the ball and the stumps. That's just one rule ! There's a whole book full of such weird rules. I hear its bigger than income tax rule book.

Now one last thing before I rest my case ! the pre-game setup; We have to have a huge ground, that's a starter. Then we have to have a specially made strip which has to be guarded like a bucket of water in the desert. We have to have some grass on it; but not too much; few cracks are allowed but it shouldn't be like a cracked glass either. Then we talk about various gears that players need to wear. Shin guard, chest guard, elbow guard, pads, gloves, talk about protecting yourself !! I wonder why we don't call it Rich gentleman's game :)

Now there are many more such things that make the game that it is, and one little article is not nearly enough to cover all of them; but one thing is sure. All these little quirks, little uncertainties make our beloved game so much more interesting, so much more unpredictable and that is a big reason why we love it. Can we imagine if all the grounds, all pitches in the world behaved exactly same ? Would we like the game if every ball that got bowled ended up in the same place. No we won't like it; we have baseball for that ;) And baseball or any other game for that matter is not Cricket. And that's what Cricket is 'A truly unique sport'

Cheers !

Leading from behind the wickets

What's common between a captain and a wicket-keeper ?
When they are at their best; they are invisible.

Have you noticed that the wicket keeper is prominently noticed when he goofs up? Like a dropped catch or a mis-field that goes for four.
If he collects every ball as he should or catches a batsman out , well that's his job !!

So the sign of a really good keeper is that he doesn't get noticed.
Similarly a captain gets into limelight most often when something's not going the way it should.

Now combine these two things and you have yourself a hell of a job. Now add 'Indian' in front of these 2 skills and you have even more trouble coming your way (I don't need to explain why!!)

So when the whole nation calls M.S. Dhoni the 'captain cool', it is not without a reason. Very rarely have we seen in Indian cricket a player so unanimously accepted as a captain by the whole country without even a tinge of objection. Even more rarely have we seen the player respond to this trust with so much consistency and with so much calmness.

A very important reason why Dhoni has become the most successful captain in India's cricket history is the simple fact that Leadership is always by choice and never by force. The captain has to feel that he can lead his team to victory and at the same time all the other players have to share the same belief about the captain. And this is where M.S. scores big time. Be it T20, ODIs or test, players seem to respond to him and that is the essence of our success for last few years.

Another aspect where he gathers a lot of respect (and this quality is my personal favorite) is his honesty and ability to criticize himself and his team. I think we heard some of the most straight forward statements from Dhoni in last couple of years.

'If you want to irritate someone that should be the opposition and not your side.' to Shreesanth or ''Lets be honest, we are not going to be the best fielding side" such comments had been unheard of before Dhoni stepped into captaincy.

Even with players like Sachin, VVS, Kumble, Zaheer, for a long time what was missing in Indian cricket was the leadership. Ganguly started the modern aggressive style of captaincy; Dravid, Kumble carried it with their own unique dignified style for a bit and now it rests with Dhoni. And with Dhoni it rests for good. This is the best thing that could've happened to Indian cricket; a strong, balanced and shrewd captain. The captain who can take the team to a new high level; the one who can induce confidence into players that they can achieve what others might consider impossible.

With batting lineup other teams can only dream of; quality bowlers and the best possible captain to lead the troops, Now is the time to dominate over the Cricketing universe; now is our time;
I am sure I represent all of the Indians when I say this.
What we are seeing now is just a beginning of an era. Team India is THE team; blue is THE color and Dhoni is THE captain. Indian cricket is in very good hands.

Cheers to that !