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[CLR James]

Ok, this is a nostalgia trip, so people slightly young please don't feel offended. I am just claiming that people like me, who were old enough to catch and understand the fervor of the 1983 World Cup win belong to the 'greatest generation' of fans in Indian cricket (or call it the luckiest Generation). We also saw that sense of arrival being consolidated with the Mini World  Cup win in 1985.

1. In the World Cup final I remember something funny happened. Jeff Dujon was mounting a rear guard action that was a bit worrying. And then he hooked someone (I think Madan Lal) for six! Even Lloyd was back in the pavilion by then. West Indies were eighty odd for six. I was so scared that I promptly went to sleep! I had school the next day, so my dad did not wake me up till the final overs (that is, maybe an hour or so later). And then Amarnath trundled in and trapped Holding in front of the wicket. The entire thing was so new! We did not really know what to do in school the next day.

2. It was one my cousins who won the Mini World Cup of 1985 for us. I remember cricket watching used to be a joint family affair back then. Whenever this cousin of mine went for a pee, India took a wicket (India took all ten wickets of the opposition in every match that tournament except in the finals  against Pakistan, who escaped with nine). He went on peeing and India went on winning. The entire family developed a killler instinct around this secret weapon, especially since there was no over limit or field restrictions to this one (nah he never went to the fields). The problem started in the finals, when he risked my uncle's ire. My uncle, usually not a superstitious man at all, was so taken in by this that he demanded the impossible from my cousin -- that he pee in installments and give Kapil a chance to perform a hattrick! That unfortunately never happened. Kapil got Mudassar and Qasim Omar with successive balls and then the pee ran out. Miandad survived the next delivery (which was very good).

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

[Libran]

Ok, this is a nostalgia trip, so people slightly young please don't feel offended. I am just claiming that people like me, who were old enough to catch and understand the fervor of the 1983 World Cup win belong to the 'greatest generation' of fans in Indian cricket (or call it the luckiest Generation). We also saw that sense of arrival being consolidated with the Mini World  Cup win in 1985.

1. In the World Cup final I remember something funny happened. Jeff Dujon was mounting a rear guard action that was a bit worrying. And then he hooked someone (I think Madan Lal) for six! Even Lloyd was back in the pavilion by then. West Indies were eighty odd for six. I was so scared that I promptly went to sleep! I had school the next day, so my dad did not wake me up till the final overs (that is, maybe an hour or so later). And then Amarnath trundled in and trapped Holding in front of the wicket. The entire thing was so new! We did not really know what to do in school the next day.

2. It was one my cousins who won the Mini World Cup of 1985 for us. I remember cricket watching used to be a joint family affair back then. Whenever this cousin of mine went for a pee, India took a wicket (India took all ten wickets of the opposition in every match that tournament except in the finals  against Pakistan, who escaped with nine). He went on peeing and India went on winning. The entire family developed a killler instinct around this secret weapon, especially since there was no over limit or field restrictions to this one (nah he never went to the fields). The problem started in the finals, when he risked my uncle's ire. My uncle, usually not a superstitious man at all, was so taken in by this that he demanded the impossible from my cousin -- that he pee in installments and give Kapil a chance to perform a hattrick! That unfortunately never happened. Kapil got Mudassar and Qasim Omar with successive balls and then the pee ran out. Miandad survived the next delivery (which was very good).

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

Beautiful !!

Also, CLR, in those days getting up early to watch a match in Australia was a thrill in itself. Setting up the alarm...ensure that every ball is watched. The joy of listening to Richie, Tony , Lawry. Eight cameras...WoW !!! in those days....talk about it endlessly in school and think of what we were missing with DD ...sadly, DD has not budged an inch from then

[dhruvdeepak]

as I've mentioned before, a penny for your thoughts
lovely stuff.

nostalgia is always nice, especially when we were winning tournaments and had a cartload of greats gelling as a team at the same time. your story is quite funny, considering i was watching the tv channel that shows all the intl cricket going on here, tonight, and they were showing some useless zimbabwe vs NZ match from the tri-series last september. anyway, it was the lunch break, and harsha, ravi and sunny were sitting in the commentary box doing the show, and they completed the match analysis quite quickly.

how strange that they decided to devote the rest of the lunch time show to that very world series of cricket, with narration by the captain of that team, and the star of that tournament. they showed some highlights of ravi taking wickets, of ravi and kris opening, gave us glimpses of siva's bowling. you could sense in just those little snippets, that that indian team was united. skilled, well-balanced group of match-winners no doubt, but strongly united under sunny.

just my thoughts, a 'new' generation cricket lover, who wasnt even born when that world series of cricket happened. i hope our indian team can reach those levels of togetherness. no doubt the ingredients are there, but recently we have gone through a rough time (because of the media more than anything else), and hopefully the team will come out stronger than ever.

[Libran]

CLR...I may be wrong...But, I get the feeling that the current team is smiling a lot lesser than earlier ...Your thoughts

[sudzz]

Ok, this is a nostalgia trip, so people slightly young please don't feel offended. I am just claiming that people like me, who were old enough to catch and understand the fervor of the 1983 World Cup win belong to the 'greatest generation' of fans in Indian cricket (or call it the luckiest Generation). We also saw that sense of arrival being consolidated with the Mini World  Cup win in 1985.

1. In the World Cup final I remember something funny happened. Jeff Dujon was mounting a rear guard action that was a bit worrying. And then he hooked someone (I think Madan Lal) for six! Even Lloyd was back in the pavilion by then. West Indies were eighty odd for six. I was so scared that I promptly went to sleep! I had school the next day, so my dad did not wake me up till the final overs (that is, maybe an hour or so later). And then Amarnath trundled in and trapped Holding in front of the wicket. The entire thing was so new! We did not really know what to do in school the next day.

2. It was one my cousins who won the Mini World Cup of 1985 for us. I remember cricket watching used to be a joint family affair back then. Whenever this cousin of mine went for a pee, India took a wicket (India took all ten wickets of the opposition in every match that tournament except in the finals  against Pakistan, who escaped with nine). He went on peeing and India went on winning. The entire family developed a killler instinct around this secret weapon, especially since there was no over limit or field restrictions to this one (nah he never went to the fields). The problem started in the finals, when he risked my uncle's ire. My uncle, usually not a superstitious man at all, was so taken in by this that he demanded the impossible from my cousin -- that he pee in installments and give Kapil a chance to perform a hattrick! That unfortunately never happened. Kapil got Mudassar and Qasim Omar with successive balls and then the pee ran out. Miandad survived the next delivery (which was very good).

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

CLR brilliant and nostalgic as usual...great stuff

I remember i pretty much went through the same things...I remember going down to meet my friends in between the innnigns and one of the bada log as we used to call boys older to us (I was 10 or 11 then) told us kal headlines pad na it will say Windies does it again..I came home and went to bed feeling sad, just to be woken up by my dad around the time Kapil took that magnificient running catch of Richards and then one by one all the wickets fell.

CLR do you remember the bad decision that Dickie Bird gave -Foud Bacchus was run out as showed the replays and Bird ruled him not out and I screamed my head off at about 11 in the night only to be stared down by my dad. But then the inevitable happend and boy did i scream ...so much so that a couple of my friends in building opposite to me heard me screaming and started shouting themselves....boy those were the days....

[Libran]

Ok, this is a nostalgia trip, so people slightly young please don't feel offended. I am just claiming that people like me, who were old enough to catch and understand the fervor of the 1983 World Cup win belong to the 'greatest generation' of fans in Indian cricket (or call it the luckiest Generation). We also saw that sense of arrival being consolidated with the Mini World  Cup win in 1985.

1. In the World Cup final I remember something funny happened. Jeff Dujon was mounting a rear guard action that was a bit worrying. And then he hooked someone (I think Madan Lal) for six! Even Lloyd was back in the pavilion by then. West Indies were eighty odd for six. I was so scared that I promptly went to sleep! I had school the next day, so my dad did not wake me up till the final overs (that is, maybe an hour or so later). And then Amarnath trundled in and trapped Holding in front of the wicket. The entire thing was so new! We did not really know what to do in school the next day.

2. It was one my cousins who won the Mini World Cup of 1985 for us. I remember cricket watching used to be a joint family affair back then. Whenever this cousin of mine went for a pee, India took a wicket (India took all ten wickets of the opposition in every match that tournament except in the finals  against Pakistan, who escaped with nine). He went on peeing and India went on winning. The entire family developed a killler instinct around this secret weapon, especially since there was no over limit or field restrictions to this one (nah he never went to the fields). The problem started in the finals, when he risked my uncle's ire. My uncle, usually not a superstitious man at all, was so taken in by this that he demanded the impossible from my cousin -- that he pee in installments and give Kapil a chance to perform a hattrick! That unfortunately never happened. Kapil got Mudassar and Qasim Omar with successive balls and then the pee ran out. Miandad survived the next delivery (which was very good).

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

CLR brilliant and nostalgic as usual...great stuff

I remember i pretty much went through the same things...I remember going down to meet my friends in between the innnigns and one of the bada log as we used to call boys older to us (I was 10 or 11 then) told us kal headlines pad na it will say Windies does it again..I came home and went to bed feeling sad, just to be woken up by my dad around the time Kapil took that magnificient running catch of Richards and then one by one all the wickets fell.

CLR do you remember the bad decision that Dickie Bird gave -Foud Bacchus was run out as showed the replays and Bird ruled him not out and I screamed my head off at about 11 in the night only to be stared down by my dad. But then the inevitable happend and boy did i scream ...so much so that a couple of my friends in building opposite to me heard me screaming and started shouting themselves....boy those were the days....

DD did not have the telecast rights for some time in between the match and we poor souls could not watch the match till probably LLoyd got out. All we did was watch the replays of the great catch.

[CLR James]

Ok, this is a nostalgia trip, so people slightly young please don't feel offended. I am just claiming that people like me, who were old enough to catch and understand the fervor of the 1983 World Cup win belong to the 'greatest generation' of fans in Indian cricket (or call it the luckiest Generation). We also saw that sense of arrival being consolidated with the Mini World  Cup win in 1985.

1. In the World Cup final I remember something funny happened. Jeff Dujon was mounting a rear guard action that was a bit worrying. And then he hooked someone (I think Madan Lal) for six! Even Lloyd was back in the pavilion by then. West Indies were eighty odd for six. I was so scared that I promptly went to sleep! I had school the next day, so my dad did not wake me up till the final overs (that is, maybe an hour or so later). And then Amarnath trundled in and trapped Holding in front of the wicket. The entire thing was so new! We did not really know what to do in school the next day.

2. It was one my cousins who won the Mini World Cup of 1985 for us. I remember cricket watching used to be a joint family affair back then. Whenever this cousin of mine went for a pee, India took a wicket (India took all ten wickets of the opposition in every match that tournament except in the finals  against Pakistan, who escaped with nine). He went on peeing and India went on winning. The entire family developed a killler instinct around this secret weapon, especially since there was no over limit or field restrictions to this one (nah he never went to the fields). The problem started in the finals, when he risked my uncle's ire. My uncle, usually not a superstitious man at all, was so taken in by this that he demanded the impossible from my cousin -- that he pee in installments and give Kapil a chance to perform a hattrick! That unfortunately never happened. Kapil got Mudassar and Qasim Omar with successive balls and then the pee ran out. Miandad survived the next delivery (which was very good).

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

CLR brilliant and nostalgic as usual...great stuff

I remember i pretty much went through the same things...I remember going down to meet my friends in between the innnigns and one of the bada log as we used to call boys older to us (I was 10 or 11 then) told us kal headlines pad na it will say Windies does it again..I came home and went to bed feeling sad, just to be woken up by my dad around the time Kapil took that magnificient running catch of Richards and then one by one all the wickets fell.

CLR do you remember the bad decision that Dickie Bird gave -Foud Bacchus was run out as showed the replays and Bird ruled him not out and I screamed my head off at about 11 in the night only to be stared down by my dad. But then the inevitable happend and boy did i scream ...so much so that a couple of my friends in building opposite to me heard me screaming and started shouting themselves....boy those were the days....

Ah yes! Those were the days. I don't remember the Faud Bachchas incident (I was following the match in and out of home work), but given that he had hot a 250 against us four years back, it must have caused a strong reaction in you! Some how, I had faith. Our team was full of medium pacers. Binny and Madan were picking up 3-4 wickets each in every match (Binny was the highest wicket taker with 18 in the tournament). And then there was Kapil. Sandhu too was bowling magnificently in the finals. Do you remember the Greenidge delivery that rocked back and uprooted his off stump while he was shouldering arms? I have been subsequently told that Sandhu uses an image of that in his visiting card! Makes sense. It was a defining and immortal moment in his brief international career.

[CLR James]

Ok, this is a nostalgia trip, so people slightly young please don't feel offended. I am just claiming that people like me, who were old enough to catch and understand the fervor of the 1983 World Cup win belong to the 'greatest generation' of fans in Indian cricket (or call it the luckiest Generation). We also saw that sense of arrival being consolidated with the Mini World  Cup win in 1985.

1. In the World Cup final I remember something funny happened. Jeff Dujon was mounting a rear guard action that was a bit worrying. And then he hooked someone (I think Madan Lal) for six! Even Lloyd was back in the pavilion by then. West Indies were eighty odd for six. I was so scared that I promptly went to sleep! I had school the next day, so my dad did not wake me up till the final overs (that is, maybe an hour or so later). And then Amarnath trundled in and trapped Holding in front of the wicket. The entire thing was so new! We did not really know what to do in school the next day.

2. It was one my cousins who won the Mini World Cup of 1985 for us. I remember cricket watching used to be a joint family affair back then. Whenever this cousin of mine went for a pee, India took a wicket (India took all ten wickets of the opposition in every match that tournament except in the finals  against Pakistan, who escaped with nine). He went on peeing and India went on winning. The entire family developed a killler instinct around this secret weapon, especially since there was no over limit or field restrictions to this one (nah he never went to the fields). The problem started in the finals, when he risked my uncle's ire. My uncle, usually not a superstitious man at all, was so taken in by this that he demanded the impossible from my cousin -- that he pee in installments and give Kapil a chance to perform a hattrick! That unfortunately never happened. Kapil got Mudassar and Qasim Omar with successive balls and then the pee ran out. Miandad survived the next delivery (which was very good).

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

Beautiful !!

Also, CLR, in those days getting up early to watch a match in Australia was a thrill in itself. Setting up the alarm...ensure that every ball is watched. The joy of listening to Richie, Tony , Lawry. Eight cameras...WoW !!! in those days....talk about it endlessly in school and think of what we were missing with DD ...sadly, DD has not budged an inch from then

Oh yes! That coverage was such a revelation. It showed us what TV could be, and to what extent batting, bowling, and fielding could be read and understood in terms of minute detail. See I think cricket, ever since, has become more analytical. I feel it has benefitted subsequent generations of cricketers immensely. Previously, if a batsman had a weakness with the in coming delivery, or a champion leg spinner like Kumble could be countered by being played like a in swinging medium pacer, it would take months or years to figure that out. Nowadays you get caught in months. I remember the Douglas Jardine character in the excellent "Bodyline" series looking at old cinema footage of Bradman to discover a chink in the great man's armor. Nowadays, it would take minutes, not four years to realize in 1932 that Bradman hopped a few short pitch deliveries in the series of 1928.


Getting up in the morning was indeed a loving ritual to watch those telecasts. Those were less professional days, so in terms of a father and son conspiracy, both school and clinic (my father was a doctor) were expendable.

[CLR James]

CLR...I may be wrong...But, I get the feeling that the current team is smiling a lot lesser than earlier ...Your thoughts

Oh yes, you bet they are smiling a lot less. But the funny thing is that the 83 Word Cup winning team too had come out of three absolutely disastrous series defeats in England, Pakistan, and West Indies. They drew the only test against newbies Sri Lanka, being 135 for 7, chasing 175 for victory.

And then there was the Kapil-Gavaskar conflict. I feel this team spirit and unity thing becomes functional and pariseworthy only when a team wins (have you ever heard the team spirit of a losing team being lauded?). The defining moment of WC 83 was when Gavaskar held Kapil's hand aloft on the balcony of the pavilion at Lords. I hope Sourav does the same to Dravid a few months later. But yes, I also hope that Greg Chappel is nowhere to be seen at that moment, and India has a new coach. But that is a different thread and perhaps a different dream.

[rajg]

Power shut down used to happen during crucial stage of the game....turn on that old transistor......happy memories.

[dextrous]

Now, 1983 was a bit ahead of my time...but, I've read a lot about it and watched the occasional clip. I think last year or so there was a whole DVD that came out--did anyone get a chance to see it?

[Sahir]

Now, 1983 was a bit ahead of my time...but, I've read a lot about it and watched the occasional clip. I think last year or so there was a whole DVD that came out--did anyone get a chance to see it?

I've seen the DVD, but unfortunately, the picture quality is rather poor.

[sudzz]

Ok, this is a nostalgia trip, so people slightly young please don't feel offended. I am just claiming that people like me, who were old enough to catch and understand the fervor of the 1983 World Cup win belong to the 'greatest generation' of fans in Indian cricket (or call it the luckiest Generation). We also saw that sense of arrival being consolidated with the Mini World  Cup win in 1985.

1. In the World Cup final I remember something funny happened. Jeff Dujon was mounting a rear guard action that was a bit worrying. And then he hooked someone (I think Madan Lal) for six! Even Lloyd was back in the pavilion by then. West Indies were eighty odd for six. I was so scared that I promptly went to sleep! I had school the next day, so my dad did not wake me up till the final overs (that is, maybe an hour or so later). And then Amarnath trundled in and trapped Holding in front of the wicket. The entire thing was so new! We did not really know what to do in school the next day.

2. It was one my cousins who won the Mini World Cup of 1985 for us. I remember cricket watching used to be a joint family affair back then. Whenever this cousin of mine went for a pee, India took a wicket (India took all ten wickets of the opposition in every match that tournament except in the finals  against Pakistan, who escaped with nine). He went on peeing and India went on winning. The entire family developed a killler instinct around this secret weapon, especially since there was no over limit or field restrictions to this one (nah he never went to the fields). The problem started in the finals, when he risked my uncle's ire. My uncle, usually not a superstitious man at all, was so taken in by this that he demanded the impossible from my cousin -- that he pee in installments and give Kapil a chance to perform a hattrick! That unfortunately never happened. Kapil got Mudassar and Qasim Omar with successive balls and then the pee ran out. Miandad survived the next delivery (which was very good).

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

CLR brilliant and nostalgic as usual...great stuff

I remember i pretty much went through the same things...I remember going down to meet my friends in between the innnigns and one of the bada log as we used to call boys older to us (I was 10 or 11 then) told us kal headlines pad na it will say Windies does it again..I came home and went to bed feeling sad, just to be woken up by my dad around the time Kapil took that magnificient running catch of Richards and then one by one all the wickets fell.

CLR do you remember the bad decision that Dickie Bird gave -Foud Bacchus was run out as showed the replays and Bird ruled him not out and I screamed my head off at about 11 in the night only to be stared down by my dad. But then the inevitable happend and boy did i scream ...so much so that a couple of my friends in building opposite to me heard me screaming and started shouting themselves....boy those were the days....

Ah yes! Those were the days. I don't remember the Faud Bachchas incident (I was following the match in and out of home work), but given that he had hot a 250 against us four years back, it must have caused a strong reaction in you! Some how, I had faith. Our team was full of medium pacers. Binny and Madan were picking up 3-4 wickets each in every match (Binny was the highest wicket taker with 18 in the tournament). And then there was Kapil. Sandhu too was bowling magnificently in the finals. Do you remember the Greenidge delivery that rocked back and uprooted his off stump while he was shouldering arms? I have been subsequently told that Sandhu uses an image of that in his visiting card! Makes sense. It was a defining and immortal moment in his brief international career.

Do I remember the Sandhu delivery-boy yes I do...having myself tried to bowl like him many a times...in fact the one time that I met Sandhu at the RCF grounds in Mumbai I even asked him how did he manage to bowl that ball and he just laughed and said it was just one of those things.

By the way do you know that the richest member of that Indian team was a player called Sunil Valson he did not play any game but was a part of the touring party and got paid handsomely.

[sudzz]

Now, 1983 was a bit ahead of my time...but, I've read a lot about it and watched the occasional clip. I think last year or so there was a whole DVD that came out--did anyone get a chance to see it?

I've seen the DVD, but unfortunately, the picture quality is rather poor.

I was one of those suckers who went and purchased that DVD and it was pathetic

[Blwe_torch]

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

Marvellous post CLR!
I fondly remember the semifinal. India played a magnificent game against England. Excellent play by Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil. Infact that match gave us the belief that India has come of age after all. I was at Calcutta at that time, and I remember, everyone in the otherwise pre-occupied neighbourhood, come down on the streets.......and, no bhangra, etc, but just plain revelling in the collective 'good -feel'.
If ever the Indians felt good, it must have been at that time...and ofcourse after the final.
The final saw a brilliant Srikkanth...and a dependahttp://www.votegupta.com/cricketf2orum/index.php?action=post;msg=6849;topic=674.0;sesc=59c71802cbf071cf5d842acb46f36716ble Amarnath perform. Amarnath collected his second Man of the Match on the trot.
I have bold-formatted your mention of Azharuddin. Thanks for mentioning him. Matchfixing or not...this guy deserves more than a mention, if we talk about Indian cricket. Azharuddin in full flow, is what I can describe as effervescent, scintillating and absolutely brilliant.
I wish someone comes up with a deserving thread on Mohd Azharuddin.
It needs mentioning that we must not forget Azhar.
This thought has been bothering me off late, as I notice people trashing SG.
Popular opinion may rule the roost in a democracy, but again,  it goes without saying that popular opinion is not always correct.

[CLR James]

That was the beginning in terms of feeling like world beaters and frustrated, potential world beaters alternately. We watched the heart breaking exit of Vishy, the magnificent twilight of Gavaskar, the resplendent rise of Azhar (perhaps the most watchable batsman I have ever seen), the long and arduous treck of Kapil Dev, the spectacular rise and fall of Siva (oh what could have been!) and Sadanand Vishwanath, the same of Hirwani, and then of course the coming of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. The advent of Dravid and Sourav, along with the quiet assuming of the role of the collossus by Kumble prepared us throughout the nineties for the SG-JW era. Today, even that batch is on the way out. But I have a feeling something good is around the corner.

Marvellous post CLR!
I fondly remember the semifinal. India played a magnificent game against England. Excellent play by Yashpal Sharma and Sandeep Patil. Infact that match gave us the belief that India has come of age after all. I was at Calcutta at that time, and I remember, everyone in the otherwise pre-occupied neighbourhood, come down on the streets.......and, no bhangra, etc, but just plain revelling in the collective 'good -feel'.
If ever the Indians felt good, it must have been at that time...and ofcourse after the final.
The final saw a brilliant Srikkanth...and a dependahttp://www.votegupta.com/cricketf2orum/index.php?action=post;msg=6849;topic=674.0;sesc=59c71802cbf071cf5d842acb46f36716ble Amarnath perform. Amarnath collected his second Man of the Match on the trot.
I have bold-formatted your mention of Azharuddin. Thanks for mentioning him. Matchfixing or not...this guy deserves more than a mention, if we talk about Indian cricket. Azharuddin in full flow, is what I can describe as effervescent, scintillating and absolutely brilliant.
I wish someone comes up with a deserving thread on Mohd Azharuddin.
It needs mentioning that we must not forget Azhar.
This thought has been bothering me off late, as I notice people trashing SG.
Popular opinion may rule the roost in a democracy, but again,  it goes without saying that popular opinion is not always correct.

I totally agree with you on Azhar Blwe. There has been no better sight in cricket for me than to see Azhar bat in full flow. I say this despite the fact that I have seen Gower, Majid Khan, Sobers (on TV) and Zaheer bat.

[gouravk]

Oh yeah, me a huge fan of Azhar - I just cant forget that Kolkata 100 against south africa. EVER.

[Libran]

even for FC matches, there would be huge crowds to watch him bat.I remember a time when SouthZone played North in Blore and believe me....half the stadium walked out after he was out to a low score....Srikkanth got out...the crowd expectantly waited for Azhar...he got out making a score in the mid 20s.....and that was it...Day One.....empty stands..

[dhruvdeepak]

thats a nice story.
I think interest in cricket in India can be better gauged by a combination of Ranji/Duleep and U19 match attendance, as well as TV ratings (if they manage to get it on air). Anyone can say they watch Indian intl cricket, but what about Indian Cricket?

[CLR James]

thats a nice story.
I think interest in cricket in India can be better gauged by a combination of Ranji/Duleep and U19 match attendance, as well as TV ratings (if they manage to get it on air). Anyone can say they watch Indian intl cricket, but what about Indian Cricket?

They definitely used to be big at one point Dhruv. I have read about the huge crowds and titanic passions that used to mark the Bombay pentangulars. I have heard from my father how a big crowd for instance went to see Pankaj Roy battle it out for Bengal against Roy Gilchrist turning out for Hyderabad in a Ranji quarterfinal. This was a battle royale in which Gilchrist at one point ran in to bowl a killer beamer at Roy's head; the latter guessed it from the maniacal look of the frustrated bowler and moved towards the squareleg umpire in the last minute. Roy scored a hundred in each innings, but the defining moment of the match apparently was when the temperamental fast bowler Gilchrist took the second new ball, showed it to all sections of the crowd and ran in to bowl one that no person in the field could see with naked eyes. My father just saw Roy's middle stump being uprooted and reaching the keeper's hands.

Besides, cricketers like Mankad, CK, Mushtaq had legions of followers in the domestic circuit. I think what destroyed interest in fc cricket were the lifeless wickets of the eighties. The battle between bat and ball became uneven. Who would want to go and sit in the sun all day to watch a Raman Lamba, with his graceless batting, comical shuffle across the stumps and horrible technique pile up those unfair three hundreds in match after match? It was also during this period that frontline bowlers like Kapil thankfully desisted from exerting themselves in domestic cricket.