Cricket Etc...

Ram Guha has written about laurels given by foreign cricketers to their Indian counterparts and vice versa through the years. He has restricted himself to off-the-field compliments. But one great compliment I can remember was on-field.

The utter bewilderment that Shane Warne showed when he was foxed by a Tendulkar googly in a recent test in Chepauk is probably the best compliment Tendulkar can ever get for his bowling skills! Ian Chappell iced the cake by adding "If there was anyone in the world that you would hope to pick a wrong 'un it should be Warne. This time he couldn't!"

While talking about cricket followers, he rues the fact that today's Indian cricket fans are more fanatics than fans in the way they sometimes abuse cricketers of other nations. As weird counter examples to this we can point out how Javed Miandad made his team do a victory lap in Chennai during their last tour and the team was given a standing ovation at the end of one of the most gripping games in recent times. And a banner that cried out "Kill Azhar!" shown when Azhar was returning to the pavilion in the infamous 1996 world cup semi-final against Srilanka.

By the way, these are not counter examples to the fact that fans today are fanatics. Only that their eccentricity and chauvinism does not have a definite orientation.

The award for giving the "oddest of all compliments" should go to Tendulkar himself. As captain, when he was asked to comment on Jayasurya's 340 on a dead wicket, Tendulkar said he hadn't seen Bradman bat but has seen Jayasurya. He went on to explain why Jayasurya was simply the best batsman that he has seen in his life. Not that Jayasurya doesn't deserve such praise, but I just thought it was too odd in this particular case. To compare Jayasurya with Bradman for making 300-odd on the flattest of wickets against an Indian bowling that can't in anyway be called a "bowling attack" just seemed a little out of place.