March 1st 1992, Brisbane: The 12th match of the 1992 World Cup was turning out to be a real cliff hanger due to the impudent intervention of rain. Even if this was the pre-Duckworth Lewis era, the absurdity of the calculations left no one in doubt. A mere 15 minutes of rain tilted the odds in favour of the … Continue reading The Sydney Send Off

Following a shambolic Ashes debacle in 2013, Matt Prior did not mince any words in assessing his team’s failure to turn up during the series. Bemoaning a spineless display by England, Prior opined that, England had finished ‘third’ in a two horse race. The Australian version of cricket has always been characterized by the laudable … Continue reading Gold, Green and a Silver to Boot – Australia’s Appetite For Destruction

Minimalist in his eloquence, and magnificent in his stillness, Richard “Richie” Benaud redefined the world of cricketing entertainment. Unassuming and unpretentious, he was to the sporting media what Donald Judd was to art. His demise marks not only the end of the proverbial epochal era, but also the passing of clarity – a clarity that … Continue reading Richie Benaud – The Voice of Reason

Mark Waugh was a medley of infinite grace and glorious talent. He was also the purveyor of the image of a preternaturally disinterested cricketer. Whether gently dispatching clueless bowlers to all corners of the ground, or miraculously catching disbelieving batsmen out of the game, he lent a curious impression of having found himself in the … Continue reading Markonomics – An exercise in exelcis

The beauty of cricket lies in its simplicity. Nothing lends more credence to this fact than the joyous art of batting. One just needs to look back wistfully at the languid stroke making of Mark Waugh or the lazy elegance of David Gower to grasp the fundamentally simplistic grace that is batting. But no one … Continue reading Virunomics – The Atonality of a Weapon of Mass Destruction

Once in a way, there materializes a cricketer who has this unique potential and extraordinary ability, which makes people just sit up and take notice. One such cricketer is the Kiwi batsman, Kane Williamson. The beauty of Williamson’s batting lies in its fundamental simplicity. A style of batting that is in sheer contrast to the rampaging … Continue reading Kane Williamson – Batting’s Precision Engineer

“You must have confused me with myself” – Michael Palmer in The Promises of Glass Writing an autobiography must be an enervating task, as any task which involves holding a mirror to one’s conscience undoubtedly is. However in “Driving Ambition”, as Andrew Strauss successfully demonstrates, an act of voluntarily revealing an original face clothed in a perennial public … Continue reading Driving Ambition by Andrew Strauss – Timed to Perfection

Some sportsmen are blessed with an uncanny sense of prescience that allows them to express themselves in resplendent fashion on the global stage. Every time Usain Bolt crouches down like a starved tiger eyeing its prey, one can almost sense that the finishing line is just an extension of a destiny that has been foretold. … Continue reading Kohli – The Nostradamus of Chases