Print

Please post once and this message will disappear! Introduce yourself, say hello, jump into a discussion...

[achutank]

you remember when you wanted to watch the match because SRT was playing?

yesterday i concluded hving seen that spectacular catch that yuvi is that now. the over against asif was magical bordering on the whimsical, but they were all technically correct shots except nobody else could have played them.

yuvi is the man.

[k-slice]

achutank
why did the excitement go away in the first place?

[achutank]

brilliant question kslice

but i guess it had gone as my 20s did

[k-slice]

so excitement lasts only between the age of 20-29? or is it that you get jaded on hitting 30? or is it that i am not fully understanding what you mean? i prefer to think the latter is the corrct reasoning.

[dhruvdeepak]

yuvi is invincible at the moment - he is batting like SRT of '98, and better (ODIs). Those 4 balls of mayhem will stay in the memory for a while. Hopefully in Asif's too.
for some reason i have to place yuvi over dhoni at the moment. i cant quite figure out why.

[achutank]

so excitement lasts only between the age of 20-29? or is it that you get jaded on hitting 30? or is it that i am not fully understanding what you mean? i prefer to think the latter is the corrct reasoning.

 it was not a generality in any way, just a personal observation in my life. the disinterest in sachin happened by 2002 when i turned 30 guess. mybe just a  coincidence of sorts maybe.

but i do know one thing , i thought sachin tendulkar was really the divine child of cricket. he still is for me. but the sachin till 2001. once the injuries started for him,the chariot came down to earth. (like yudhishter's in the war)

[toney]

achu, I know exactly how you feel and I completely agree. While I didnt watch a ball of this series, I was definitely excited and was following almost every ball from the chat sessions. There are some players who just catch your imagination and Yuvi certainly seems to be a candidate.

[ramshorns]

yuvi is invincible at the moment - he is batting like SRT of '98, and better (ODIs). Those 4 balls of mayhem will stay in the memory for a while. Hopefully in Asif's too.
for some reason i have to place yuvi over dhoni at the moment. i cant quite figure out why.

Yuvi did nothing in tests to even be mentioned in the same class of SRT '98.  He just had a great one day season and credit to him for that.  I think this guy is far from being a complete batsman that SRT was.

[toney]

hey rams, no one says so yet. But he has an ability to dominate, yet doesnt seem to be taking any risks. That is a very SRT like trait

[ramshorns]

hey rams, no one says so yet. But he has an ability to dominate, yet doesnt seem to be taking any risks. That is a very SRT like trait

No I disagree there as well.  I will only agree when he does that in WI, AUS, SA as SRT did.  At this point he is just good. Nothing more nothing less.  No need to getting carried away.

[keep-it-cool]

I think Rams the general sentiment behind the comments was that Yuvi seems to have that X factor (Dhoni does so too) that grabs you by the collar and makes you want to watch him .. whether he is batting, bowling or fielding ... he may not sustain that in tougher conditions, in which case it will wear off ... but for the moment, his game is what you would want to see over and over again

[ramshorns]

whether he is batting, bowling or fielding ... he may not sustain that in tougher conditions, in which case it will wear off ... but for the moment, his game is what you would want to see over and over again

I am in agreement with the above part of your post.

[pieterSAN]

I am easily on Ramshorn's side here. There is no other batsman that brought on the intensity of emotions that Sachin did. The anticipation was something else...there was an energy that would consume all of us that watched. If anyone has seen a penalty shootout in the WC you would understand....the first over that Sachin faced was always like a penalty shootout. With Yuvraj, Sehwag, whoever else you think of the same feeling is not there. Tendulkar captured our imagination like nobody else did (and perhaps nobody else ever will).

Sadly the feeling has gone in recent years. But boy it would not take much for it it to comeback. A couple of good innings...and I will be on the edge of the seat the next he takes guard.

[natty]

Agree that Yuvi is exciting to watch and is an amazingly clean hitter of the ball..  But he does not have the same control over the bowlers and spectators that SRT did right from the first ball. Bowlers also got extra energy when bowling to SRT and so did some umpires     I dont think we have a replacement for SRT.  I cant compare anyone else in contemporary cricket to SRT.

[gouravk]

natty
This control over bowlers that you mention. Id like to know if we can point to a particular point where it disappeared. Or a particular period when it started declining. My guess is start of the 2004 season in real sense. Altho even in the early 2000s he was not quite the sachin of old with the honorable exception of that incredible month in south africa.

[k-slice]

WOW!!
i think this is one of the few times i actyally agree with ramshorns!! well partially atleast. i think YS VS and MSD all have the it factor. but i do have to say that these guys dont seem to have the same panache or class that SRT showed as a 16 year old and then for the years to come.

[gouravk]

Agreed about VS and MSD. Not about Yuvraj. That boy is a special talent - talent out of this world.

[keep-it-cool]

Guys

I am fully in agreement that the kind of excitement that SRT brought in when he burst on the scene as a 16 year old was unprecedented and is most definitely not matched by anyone till date ...

But it is only the extent or degree that varies ... of course YS or MSD (maybe I should put it the other way round) still do not capture the imagination like SRT did once, but that is not to say that they do not at all. Both these players have that something extra, which makes you want to watch them in action. Note, this is not a comment on their technical abilities and how they compare with SRT (there is no comparison), but then since when has technique been the reason for a fan to get hooked. If that were the case RD would be the one that every fan wants to go miles to watch.

The point is that today, after a long time, when one asks kids or the average person on the street who their favourite cricketer is, we get an answer beyond SRT (and here Dhoni comes up more than even YS) ... imagine, 16 years after SRT came through, it is only now that a different name comes to the lips first up. We have had a lot of good players (even great ones) in that period - but no one other than SRT has got that kind of mass adulation.

Obviously if you compare this to what SRT came with, it would still fall short ... but probably this is the closest we have got to that ... this was the thought behind my post (i believe achu's too) and not an attempt to compare YS with SRT

[k-slice]

gouravk
i can explain why i clubbed them together.
the biggest reason was that YS took a very long time in finding his feet in top level cricket. the other 2 were slightly quicker. ys has a weakness outside off stump when he first starts his innnings. SRT on the other hand was literally a weirdo when he came in. weird in that he came in almost like a finished product who could butcher attacks. he has now evolved into a machine like performer who simply anhillates attacks. well not lately but still.