India are the World Champions in One Day International cricket. Anyone remember that? I wonder what Chetan Bhagat would say ...
India had a tough time in England followed by a clean score of 4-0 in Australia. And now India has come out on the bottom with Australia and Sri Lanka.
How fantastic. And now conspiracy theories abound about the composition of the team for the next cricket tournament ... the Voldemorts Hogwarts World Championship or the Asia Cup or some such thing.
Cricket rivalries, whether between Dhoni and Sehwag or between Azhar and Sidhu or Dad and everyone or Gavaskar and Kapil seem to be commonplace stuff.
Clearly, big egos are not a recent phenomenon. Probably, it's only big bucks that's relatively new. Cricketers have been idolized for many decades now.
I guess that figures. Not many Nawabs would have bothered to play hockey. That of course begs the question of why is hockey the national game of India? Was there ever a time when hockey was clearly the dominant passion of the people of India? If not, then it doesn't make sense to pretend that hockey is the national game since cricket is what people enjoy.
The thing about cricket is that when you compare it against other games or sports, it seems to be a game that doesn't require too much in terms of physical skills.
If you look at the players in baseball or American football or soccer or lawn tennis, etc. the players appear to be far more physically strong than a cricketer.
So, it doesn't require too much hard work to acquire the skills to become a cricketer. It's more of a game of batting or bowling skills. Which other game would let the players just stand still on the ground and bite their nails?
Imagine the Indian team of 11 players pitted against Arnold all by himself. I think that would be a funny thing to see. I imagine it would be like a pack of lions trying to hunt a wildebeest in the African savanna.
I think a team of 11 Indian cricketers might ultimately prevail over Schwarzneggar but I have a suspicion that Arnold might win too. What do you think?
India had a tough time in England followed by a clean score of 4-0 in Australia. And now India has come out on the bottom with Australia and Sri Lanka.
How fantastic. And now conspiracy theories abound about the composition of the team for the next cricket tournament ... the Voldemorts Hogwarts World Championship or the Asia Cup or some such thing.
Cricket rivalries, whether between Dhoni and Sehwag or between Azhar and Sidhu or Dad and everyone or Gavaskar and Kapil seem to be commonplace stuff.
Clearly, big egos are not a recent phenomenon. Probably, it's only big bucks that's relatively new. Cricketers have been idolized for many decades now.
I guess that figures. Not many Nawabs would have bothered to play hockey. That of course begs the question of why is hockey the national game of India? Was there ever a time when hockey was clearly the dominant passion of the people of India? If not, then it doesn't make sense to pretend that hockey is the national game since cricket is what people enjoy.
The thing about cricket is that when you compare it against other games or sports, it seems to be a game that doesn't require too much in terms of physical skills.
If you look at the players in baseball or American football or soccer or lawn tennis, etc. the players appear to be far more physically strong than a cricketer.
So, it doesn't require too much hard work to acquire the skills to become a cricketer. It's more of a game of batting or bowling skills. Which other game would let the players just stand still on the ground and bite their nails?
Imagine the Indian team of 11 players pitted against Arnold all by himself. I think that would be a funny thing to see. I imagine it would be like a pack of lions trying to hunt a wildebeest in the African savanna.
I think a team of 11 Indian cricketers might ultimately prevail over Schwarzneggar but I have a suspicion that Arnold might win too. What do you think?