A tribute to the geniuses of Cricket

The story dates back about a decade. A tense Sunday morning brimming with palpable apprehension. The clock chimes 9 as me and my father switch our Onida on and wait for the match between India and Pakistan to start. Mother is making breakfast in the kitchen and my sister is probably dissappointed that she is not allowed to watch her regular fare of weekly cartoons. The rest of the day is spent clutching the handle of the sofa, sitting still in auspicious positions, shrieking my lungs out at every other Pakistani wicket, missing breaths at every next Indian one, cursing under my breath at every run out chance gone awry. Yes, it won't be hard for me to say that cricket gave me some of the most beautiful memories of my childhood. If it was not for cricket, I probably would never have experienced that rush of pure euphoria which accompanies a boundary, that surge of raw, unbounded emotion which punctuates every wicket, that feeling of 'I would kill the selectors if I ever get hold of them' when a Venkatpathy Raju performed his mediocre antics on the international arena. People might argue today that they have somehow grown up and have started liking more accepted and 'better' games like Soccer, but dammit, on any given day, I would be more than ready to stand on top of a building and claim my unabashed love for the beautiful game. And I would be ready to punch anyone who tries to reason the supposed incompetencies of Cricket vis-a-vis Soccer. Not because I think Cricket is better (well, it is) but because it was my childhood and no one gets to try to reason me out of loving my childhood and then walk away in one piece.

Since Cricket has given me so much to remember and love, it is only natural that I should pay my homage in whatever small way I can. Here it goes, a tribute to the geniuses of game. Names are in random order except the last one who without doubt is the greatest ever:

Wasim Akram: In my book, he is the greatest fast bowler ever, FULL STOP. He might have ruined so many of my days and dreams but none of it takes anything away from the fact that this guy had the greatest freaking control any human ever had over a cricket ball ever since the universe started about 10 billion years ago. He had more control over the trajectory, pace, and orientation of a ball than I have on my optical mouse. He could bowl 6 different balls in an over, probably 12 different ones in 2, each time hitting precisely the same spot on the pitch.

Imran Khan: The greatest captain along with Steve Waugh I have seen play. And he combined it with a truly lion heart, an amazing bowling talent, a formidable batting ability and an overall killer attitude.

Sachin Tendulkar: He is simply a god. I don't have enough words to praise his genius so I will just shut up here.

Shane Warne: The best spinner in history. Yes, Muralitharan might have overtaken him in wickets but his talent is simply insane. His repertoire is incredible. Flipper, Top Spin, googly, leg spin, arm-bowl, slider. You name it and he could produce a textbook, Oxfordian definition of the same on the ground. Some of his wickets are so mindboggling, they should be declared illegal. Case in point: "Ball of the century" where he got Mike Gatting out between his legs.

Brian Lara: That bundle of immense talent, unorthodox technique, nimble feet, lightening quick responses, graceful shotmaking ability, and above all "I can do it any time attitude", his mother decided to name Lara. He has the most beautiful batting technique ever to have graced a batsman. Most importantly, he made records at will. Case in point: 400 against England shortly after Hayden broke his records of 375 by making 380.

Michael Bevan: He had what an average of 70 ? Thats insane. I have never seen any other player who has taken his team to more victories single handedly. If Australia were chasing and Bevan was there and you did not get him out in the first 10 deliveries, you could as well just surrender for no total was too large for him. He had too much of a resolve to lose when comfortable.

Sourav Ganguly: Do I hear, "WHATs" and "HOW THE HELLs" ? Be that as it may, he is the greatest captain India has ever had. If it was not for him, Indians probably would have remained the pathetic losers they were under Azharuddin. He stood up against the establishment for the induction of new blood in Indian cricket at a time when the team was infested with parasites like Azhar, Prabhakar and their ilk and I respect him for it. He gave a fighting face to Indian cricket and that deserves a mention here.

Kapil Dev: "Did he fix matches" ? I don't give a damn. He won India its only World Cup and is that not enough ? He battled alone to make 175 when the team was teetering at 17 for 5 and single-handedly won the match. He took pain-killer injections in his knee and took 9 wickets. What right do we mere mortals have to question his integrity? He was the breath of fire in an age of subdued emotions and aspirations. A raging volcano amidst a calm sea.

Sanath Jayasuriya: People might say that he did not possess the requisite technical ability but so did Vivian Richards. After all the lengthy discourses, the fact remains that he shredded the greatest bowling attacks like no one ever could in history. He changed how the game is played for ever. Not to mention that he single handedly won the world cup for Sri Lanka (with all due respects to De'Silva).

Bradman, The 'DON': This Australian kicked so much ass, they had to change the rules of the game to avoid his kickery. If an inhuman test average of 99.94 does not elevate him to the the position of the greatest ever, I don't know what can. He had 29 centuries in 69 innings, 13 of which were doubles and 3 of which were triples. His lowest series batting average ever was 52 during the Bodyline series. For those who don't know, Bodyline was the name given to the infamous 1932-33 Ashes, a series which caused numerous injuries to Australian batsmen and ended a few careers. For crying out loud, Tendulkar has a career average of about 52 ! The most interesting statistic about his genius is given on his wikipedia page. It compares him to the greatest of other games. The jist of the exercise is that after statistical analysis, if the probability of a soccer player to have the genius of Pele among professional footballers is 1 in 9200, of a golf player to have the genius of Jack Nicklaus is 1 in 4300, of a basketball player to have the genius of Michael Jordan is 1 in 3000, the probability of a professional cricketer to have the genius of Bradman is 1 IN 184,000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I rest my case.

I know that I have not mentioned the names of Steve Waugh, Gavaskar, Vivian Richards, Sobers, Lloyds, 3 Ws, and many more but it is more due to a space and time constraint and because of the fact that I was not there to watch their games. I am sure they were great and all my respect to those who made the game what it is and who are continuing to make this the greatest game o the planet.