Player of the Decade

I read this (or got this forwarded to me) and it got me thinking! Ofcourse, am not a paid writer for cricinfo, so i dont have to be politically correct!!http://www.cricinfo.com/decadereview2009/content/story/440770.html

If you’re from the subcontinent and you don’t know a thing or two about cricket, even the autorickshaw guys will mock!! They may not know the technicalities, but they are updated all the same! Our gang was a little on the extreme, favourite passtime (after playing the game ofcourse and sitting down drippy and tired!!) was a modified word building game.. building cricketer names! So ofcourse its no surprise one of the first blogs of the decade should be this!!

Well if it was the 1990’s the choice would have been extremely difficult – with Sachin and Lara the gods with the bat, Mcgrath, Warne, Donald in their prime, Akram, Ambrose, and a few others either in their last few years before hanging up their shoes or settling in to the demands of international cricket! Special mention to Sachin and Lara towards the end of the decade where they won games single handedly with a relatively uninterested team or the sheer lack of quality bowling attack (not to mention match-fixing!!) Sachin though is my god, Lara, Warne et al are very difficult to overlook by all means!!

This decade – the 2000s is a relatively easier choice, not to undermine the achievements of many!! The forward mentions a few names. Through this blog, names are mentioned in no particular order. Starting at home – Virendra Sehwag had an amazing decade, with sheer domination terrorising every bowler who rolled his arms over.. He clearly redefined what one’s attitude can do to his game and the team as a whole! He brought a weird sense of stability.. Rahul Dravid “The Wall”… His achievements always overshadowed by the more worshipped players in the team.. Anil Kumble – his sheer dedication and consistency and the never let go attitude.. Laxman – for his rare strokes of genius.. Ganguly – attitude, aggression and the hunger to win.. And the God himself – Sachin Tendulkar – enough said!!

The once brothers in arms – Pakistan. Muhammad Yousuf, a.k.a Yousuf Youhana, consistency, work horse like, though not known for his attitude.. Inzy – its amazing the time he has to play a delivery, again consistency and managing such a unit is never easy… Don’t think anyone else warrants a mention here.. Moving south – War torn hidden pearl - Lanka.. Sanath – redefined hitting hard or hitting out, for some reason was also successful in tests.. Sangakkara – to me the best SL ever produced, and arguably the second best keeper bat.. Murali – for the sheer record if not anything else.. Vaas – probably the Walsh of this generation..

Further south – Down Under – No list is complete of 3 players from here is not mentioned.. Ponting – what a decade he has had, no one can question the dominance in terms of record or presence at the crease.. Somehow I don’t like him!! I cannot put my hands on why! I don’t think I can ever!! He is questionably a great great batsman.. but I never can judge why I don’t like him… Moving on to a step ahead, Gillie and Hayden have been the most entertaining cricketers ever in 2000s save only for Sehwag (occasional brilliance of Gibbs and Gayle eliminated) The most daunting one day opening ever, Hayden went on to prove a point in tests with Langer most part of the decade in tests also.. Gilly proved what an asset he is at no 7??!!! Wow what depth they had.. and enjoyed.. one mention to his sportsmanship (albeit, I have a grudge on the Sachin incident leafed upon (mentioned but albeit very tangently!!) in his book!) No one in the English camp did steal my fancy.. (Pietersen was the only one who was close, but next decade if he plays enough maybe!!)

And then moving west (no new Zealander ever caught my fancy, forgive me!) to SA – Polock bowled his heart out.. Gibbs (who I put my bottom dollar would be the man to reach 200 in ODI!! Not to mention Gayle and his floyambant attitude!) whose sheer dominance is unparalled but for Hayden and Sehwag!! (too damn difficult to choose there!) ABD and Duminy only flowering and may warrant a place in 2010s.. But to me, the un-paralled would be Jacques Kallis.. who bowled his heart out and batted ever truly. Only to be masked by a team who made it a habit to be unsuccessful in almost all big events when the world was watching (and hoping probably!!) that they shine like the Sirius!! Never happened in the decade that went by.. He probably stole the show with batting and bowling.. ever so reliable, ever so consistent!! To the list mentioned above, this was not easy… but he did record his presence more than anyone else.. saddening-ly not on world cricket, for no mistake of his!!

A decade bygone – and my humble thanks to all those who entertained us, who may or may not have a mention here!! You conquered hearts, stole more!! Who play, I pray continue… Players to watch out for in the next decade – Tyagi, Virat Kohli, Gambhir, Yousuf Abdullah, Umar Akmal, Mohd Aamer (probably??!!), Duminy, AB De Villers, Al Cook, Haddin?? And many more to come… Fingers crossed, lets hope you entertain and rock!!