The Factor of Five

I took birth late, very late. The India was a free nation and on the verge of the happiest time it gonna see in her lifetime. The century which redefines the human hunger of land and power was about to over.

As i do not want to discuss anything political here, leaving my soul-cry behind, lets talk about the game we all play, watch and above all, love.
If we talk in terms of cricket,i was born when it just came out from the grips of Kerry Packer. Few months before my birth, Australia was crowned as the World Champions, just a few hundred miles away from my birthplace. The white days of ODIs were almost over and Asia was emerging on the sky of this colonial game.

I am 105 years younger than Ashes and 12 than World Cup. I would have loved to born 15 years earlier to see India becoming World Champion but perhaps God decide to send me in a country which is a World Champion already. Anyhow my declaration of late birth wont do. This late hour is not as late as it seems to be and i m fortunate to watch many of the finest athletes doing the class acts.

The first memory in my mind is of World Cup 1992, i cannot remember anything exactly,

but yes i made out that it is the same game my dad and elder brother used to play every evening with me in which i use to get the underarm ball without any bounce.

My serious acquaintance with cricket could be considered in 1996 World Cup, i remember when a day my dad told everyone that Sri Lanka is the team to watch and we all know that he himself would not have thought what happened in that march evening.

In last 13 years if i have to list down the things or moments which changed the Geography of World Cricket, in my opinion they are 5 in number and i mean which changed the World Cricket.

As discussed by few of my friends we could not consider the personal achievements of individuals, like 400 by Brian Lara or achievements which affected a single team no matter up to how much extent, as Australia winning 16 tests in a row.

Here i mean the moments which changed the course the game and affected the Cricket in whole.

I seriously feel that after these events the game is not the same as it was.

I heard somewhere that we must tell bigger things later so its just to follow that i m giving it as increasing order of importance..

Its strictly my personal opinion but comments are welcome and i will be thankful if you have any..

5. 2005 Ashes-

It was something this whole World was waiting for. The game which for last 6 years became man vs robots. The Australians made this game as boring as some movie whose end we know. Right from that evening in England where Alan Donald can not complete those 22 yards in World Cup semi final to defeat Australia, it became routine for all the teams to try that same job and failing. Be it ODIs or Test matches. Australia became stuff of fiction, sometimes the things we hear about mythical characters, simply unbeatable. And in 2005, rest of the world saw towards England in hope and they did, something that would go into English folks... The Australians were defeated in the form which never lies and never hides the true champions. The super heavyweights were knocked down. The Team packed with Mcgrath and Warne and Ponting and Hayden and Gilchrist and many more was defeated.
That Ashes was something which put cricket again in World Sport and Test Matches again in World Cricket. After this Ashes only we start watching the rank list and point table. Everybody smelled, sooner or later this era of complete Australian domination will end for good where cricket is played between many teams not 1 against all. More importantly Test Cricket which was on its way to comeback finally showed us what entertainment it could deliver. Something other 2 formats can only dream of. No one remembers ODI performance for long unless its World Cup. Ashes 2005 reincarnated test cricket which we all can say is ready to give a good fight to his own new son, Twenty-20.

4. 17 June 1999

World Cup Semi Final

Australia Vs South Africa



Australia 213 all out. South Africa 12 overs 48 for no loss. After first boring semi final it was really going to be anticlimax and everyone wished final not to be so boring. Last match was saved by Steve Waugh where he produced one of the best innings of all times but this time who ???? Shane Warne..... the answer is Shane Warne who turned this draggy match into the stuff of legends.. The match was just like a bollywood fight scene between two heroes where one hits a jab followed by a jab of other... Match swung a million times before it all came on to one man, Lance Klusener, whose name still creates goosebumps to many cricket fans like me. 14 balls 31 runs, I bet many centuries and double can not match those 31 runs.. Played like God he was at last human, I do not know whose mistake that was but match ended up in a tie, the best ODI this game ever produced... Tie between two teams who that day played on same ground, one left the pitch to touch the divinity and other, the Doom. One captain went on to become immortal and other met with agonizingly most painful end a cricketer or a man could have. A team whose every player went on to become super star and a team who was cursed by someone that day. Donald retired after injury, Pollock played under boys and sat on bench every third game, Rhodes retired with injury and bad form, Klusener with one more blame of World Cup exit ended up playing in minor league which no one watched. Above all Captain and Coach met with something most excruciating in Cricket till now.. Captain Cronje died on a hill in a plane he took lift on 1 july 2002(i remember this) and Coach Woolemer died in his Room of James Peagasus Hotel in april 2007. Many still thinks both were murders. All of them were there on that ground and that match was WHERE IT ALL BEGINS !!!!

3.2006 South Africa chased 434 in 300 balls.



Someone told SA chased down 434 and i thought its good because i knew previous record was 420 something but one small thing i missed, it was an ODI... My GOD !!!! I felt scared as i heard some ghostly story. You name 434 and the image comes to brain is this match. 400 was task which no team ever achieved in 35 years but was done twice inside 6 hours. The effect of this match was so enormous that now no team put their head down no matter what the target be. I bet if India would have got the target of 360 in World Cup final after this match, they must have played for getting those 360 runs rather than just playing 300 balls. It completely revolutionized the chasing. Prior to this match a team batting first was considered in an advantage of putting pressure by setting good target but this match levelled that. Now the chasing only stops when it stops unlike previously when it stops just when batting first crosses 325 something. If not best, that was the biggest ODI ever played. Cricket was the game of uncertainties and this game raised the bar....

2.1996 Sri Lankan strategy of power play

Many will argue its not Sri Lanka but New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and its Mark Gratebatch not Sanath Jayasurya are the guys started this concept of power batting in the first 15 overs but they just innovated it as a tool in the armoury but it was lankans who built their whole gameplan aroud this... ODI could be devided into 2 parts... Before 96 and after 96.. 300 was something every team dream to touch but those were the Lankans who taught everyone how to surpass it repeatedly and successfully... No team could counter this Guerrilla warfare and World Cup was gone before any team could come out of this shock... Something which made Cricket interesting not only in last 10 overs but lot more than that and helped pinch hitters who were considered as non serious batsman to become heavyweight of their teams... Many came after like Gilchrist and Gibbs who flourished by walking on the path which was first followed by Sri Lanka to shook the World and to lift the most desired Trophy of Cricket in an evening in Lahore... The time when classic cricket was meeting the modern one...

1.2007 Indian winning first T20 World Cup.

India Vs Pakistan in a World Cup final, most awaited event in any cricket. It took 32 years since first international final to bring these two teams playing for stakes so high and pressure so intense. Very few rivalries in world could match this, be it cricket or any other sport. And what a match that was, last over 12 needed with 9 man down. Misbah ul haq pulled his team so far and last few minutes more. But this is something Sports are infamous for, turning a hero into villian in blink of the eye. He tried something, usually considered as intelligent if works, but that was India's day.. India won the first T20 world cup. Coming generations of players will thank Misbah for not winning this for Pakistan, no matter which country they belong to. It was this shot which resulted in India's victory.. It was after this shot Indian team had a victory rally in Mumbai after winning, where BCCI felt the might of the Indian Cricket... On the very day of Final, IPL born to change the World Cricket... From 10% of total money produced(this is what they get previously), players share rise and will keep on increasing for good... Before IPL, if National team drops any player like Dhoni for Parthiv Patel in 2003 WC, he becomes unemployed... Now there are plenty of teams to prevent deserving players going through something which asks them to change the profession and to forbid others to think it as suicidal profession... After IPL, many states and cities started numerous professional leagues, which will help parents considering cricket as a serious career option other than studies.. IPL could help cricket to go 200 years back in the Golden Age of cricket, only MCC and Hambledon are reincarnated and RR or MI... Players of World cricket could thank misbah for that.....
Beware EPL, Beware NFL..... IPL is on the fire !!!!!