More Cricketing Post-Mortem

I was browsing through Cricinfo this morning and came across some interesting lines in one of the articles. Funny how the author compares India and Pakistan to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Although they're not quite my thoughts and I don't endorse them, they're most definitely worth a post and present an interesting perspective.

Osman Saimuddin writes on Cricinfo:

'It's strange, in fact, how India and Pakistan resemble each other so. On the field, there has been a spooky sameness; results and performances in South Africa were nearly identical, the Champions Trophy and World Cup, both failures. Both batting line-ups struggle in alien conditions, as fielders both are poor and both leaders increasingly embattled and embittered. Both now rebuild.

Off it, they are cricket's Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. One, pure monied trash, influential for no other reason than having too much of it, the other straight-up trailer trash, cricket's true basket case. They are tabloid fodder, stumbling from one front page to another: religion, player factionalism, spats, coaching intrigues, politicking, doping and even possible murder. How much of the news that you have read about these two sides recently has been about their cricket?

In this world, how much could they have really enjoyed playing cricket when they know that failure, among other things, means hysterical reactions from fans and contract suspensions? Their love of the game shouldn't be questioned but they walk the field burdened, their cricket joyless. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka either have no burdens or they have managed to put them aside. They are floating in a rare time, in the midst of substantial development and progress and it shows.'

It is indeed noteworthy to see how everyone is talking about 'enjoying cricket' and you can almost see how important it is to enjoy something that you do to bring out the best performances. Jonty Rhodes mentioned that he ensures his fielding drills make the players enjoy fielding, Ravi Shastri recently said that he'd like the Indian team to enjoy their time in the middle in the next few matches. On a rather amusing note, Venkatesh Prasad being appointed as the bowling coach? Not quite a wise move for Indian 'pace' bowling, especially after our only genuine pace bowler, Kumble, has retired from one day cricket;) I can almost see Pathan bowling 6 slow balls per over now, if he can bowl any slower that is.