Monday, March 19, 2007

An obituary, a salute and a hope

I saw my first International match at Green Park stadium in Kanpur in India between India-South Africa. This was last test match of the 3 Test match series held in Nov-Dec 1996. Bob Woolmer was the coach of the buddying South African team under the stewardship of late Hansie Cronje. He used to take a round of the stadium with some young lady of ESPN. Myself and my friends hooted him in Hindi and he smiled and waved his hand towards us and that was my closest encounter with Bob Woolmer. A tough coach and a good human, that is the defining line of Bob. He was the person along with Hansie Cronje who took South Africa to such an envious great height. He will be missed in the Cricket world and World cricket has lost a true coach. May his soul rest in peace. But surely his last coaching assignment result was very bad and that led to his breakdown.

Inzamam, Sachin and Jayasurya are the legendary figures of subcontinent. Inzamam was a great fighter in both forms of the game. He was a true batsman. 20,000 runs under his belt what else is needed, his only bad luck was he messed up in wrong team. No one can forget his hitting in world cup 1992 (semi final and final). My favorite inning is his 122 runs against India in Karachi due to which Pakistan came very near to beat Indian score of 349. A gem of all his innings. Hope to see his farewell in a decent form against Zimbabwe.

India will be pulling her socks against Bermuda in order to save a place in super 8. Now the time has come for the big three (Tendua, Dada and Captain) to take all the responsibility and to take India home. They should remember some thing, Before the sun rise the night is darkest so be it. Let give your fans a toast of joy. Amen.

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