The Cricket World Cup Thread

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VikramS
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by VikramS »

Regarding Cricket not being a global sport. BS.

Cricket is actively played in Canada, US, Caribbean, UK, continental Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia. Come to think of it Guyana is in S. America :)

It is just that best teams come from the top 10 nations where the sport is most popular. This is true of most other games.

And like soccer it has the street appeal too. And once 20-20 becomes more popular, I am sure that its popularity will go up in other parts of the world. It is just a question of marketing it properly. It is a game which while being very simple, has a LOT of nuances.


American Football and Baseball are played in very few countries but are huge money machines. I wish the ICC did not do what they are doing in 2015. They should at least allow two teams to play a tournament and come through. Going from 10-12 will not be a big deal
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by Chandragupta »

Marten wrote:
Chandragupta wrote:How did I 'denigrate the sport of cricket' by stating what is true & obvious? We had a gentleman calling Cricket the biggest sport on earth, I merely corrected him, no need to get your chaddis in a twist please. If we have to compare Cricket, then Baseball, Rugby, American Football, even Basketball are all good, but please leave Football out of it, unless you want to use some Lahori Logic.

PS - Someone please direct me to the Sports threat, can't find it onlee.
No chaddis onlee saar. Ever since Lt Gen Singha issued orders.
What is so true and obvious? This?
Viewership cannot and should not be a criteria to decide the 'biggest' sport.
Since when do you decide what should be true and obvious for me or anyone else? Point is both you and the gent have a right to an opinion, but one of those opinions is off-topic. And if he thinks it is the greatest sport, why are YOUR chaddis in a knot? :)

I made a simple point - Football is followed by more countries, but cricket is followed by more people (and there doesn't have to be mutual-exclusivity). Choose your criterion and your words, but don't impose them on me. For instance, you could choose to leave out words like "Lahori Logic" because they're completely nonsensical in this context. Unless you absolutely insist on using these in any context... :)

btw, wtf should I be comparing any other sport on the CRICKET dhaga? My last post on this topic.
My reply is here -

http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 1#p1064491
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by abhijitm »

svenkat wrote: We believe Sachin is greater than Don Bradman
Its the fact. There is colonial mentality in media which insists common asian man to believe whatever goras say is true whether it is based on just sheer opinion. Bradman played 66 innings against England vs 20 against rest of the world and mind you the rest of the world (especially WI and IND) at that time was not very competent in Cricket. I dont even see a point of comparison between the God and Don. The conditions in which they played is so darn contrast that even if I say apple to orange then still its unfair since both are at least fruits.

P.S: these goras invented Cricket and now the powerhouse is shifted to Asia (read India). They have ceded everything... popularity, class, money etc etc. There is just one thing left for their pride and they want to cling on to it, no matter what. That is "Brandman is the best". Thats the last string they are holding on to. If they concede then there will be a big huge void for their ego.
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by ramana »

True purists claim WG Grace was the best!
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by abhijitm »

We can counter that with C. K. Nayudu :)
Born 1895.
wiki quote:
He is one of the few cricketers to have played the first class game in six different decades. He made his last appearance in the Ranji Trophy in 1956-57, aged 62, scoring 52 in his last innings for Uttar Pradesh. Earlier in the season he had made 84 against Rajasthan, striking Vinoo Mankad for two sixes.
AT THE AGE OF 62!!!!!
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by SaiK »

going full post.al here..
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/co ... 09570.html
The best World Cup of all time

But the ICC's decision to chop out the Associates - especially Ireland, who were integral to the excitement - is both baffling and tragic

Four years ago in the Caribbean, it was said that the ICC got the World Cup it deserved. The 2007 tournament was a bloated, corporate, soulless sell-out of an event, infused with a noxious blend of controversy and apathy that turned the self-proclaimed Carnival of Cricket into a six-week wake. In Asia in 2011, however, the ICC got the World Cup that it needed, and that is not the same thing whatsoever.

By the standards set in 2007, not to mention those in South Africa in 2003 and England in 1999, the 2011 tournament was a resounding triumph. In fact, an impromptu survey of approximately 1.2 billion people might well conclude that it was the best World Cup of all time. Admittedly some non-Indian observers might suggest those findings had been skewed a touch, but try telling that to the jubilant masses who spilled out of the Wankhede Stadium and onto Mumbai's Marine Drive on Saturday evening, or to anyone who shared the scenes of delirium in every street of every city, town and village of the world's second-most populous nation.

The funny thing is, those 1.2 billion people are almost certainly right, but not necessarily for the reasons they might assume. Of the 10 World Cups to have taken place since 1975, none has come close to matching the narrative and drama of the tournament just completed - not even 1992, which is commonly cited as the pundits' pick to date. The greatest triumph of this edition lay not in the final outcome but in the journey that was required to reach that crowning moment, for the excellence of the entertainment was not simply an illusion glimpsed in the moment of India's victory. This would have been a World Cup to savour, irrespective of whether Gautam Gambhir and MS Dhoni had managed to turn the tide of the final in their country's favour.

All of which makes Monday's mood-darkening decision in Mumbai so incredibly hard to countenance. The decision to slam the door shut on cricket's Associate nations - in particular Ireland, whose role in the narrative was so fundamental - and revert to a ten-team formula in 2015, makes a mockery of the spectacle we have just been privileged to witness.

Ratnakar Shetty, the tournament director, admitted as much on the eve of the opening ceremony, when he let slip that the group-stage elimination of both India and Pakistan had torpedoed the entire event in 2007. Every available precaution was taken to ensure against a repeat of such a financial disaster, but when England tested the rejigged format to its absolute limits by threatening a group-stage exit at the hands of Ireland and Bangladesh, the doubts crept in. At the time England's struggles appeared to vindicate the tweaks that had been made, but at boardroom level it became clear that changing the locks alone wouldn't be enough to guard against future intrusions. It was time to roll out the razor wire.

The decision has been shocking both for its timing and its finality. A sop has been offered for 2019, but by then Associate cricket will have been stagnant for a generation. Even George Dockrell will be in his late twenties and in all probability an England regular - why would or should he squander the prime of his career waiting? - while John Mooney, Kevin O'Brien and all the other heroes of Bangalore will have long since retired. And the fact that the ICC reached their decision a mere two days after the tournament's conclusion suggests that there was never a decision to be reached in the first place. It was simply a matter of announcing the fait accompli.

The wider concern is the lack of concern. The public's initial reaction has been gratifyingly furious, but if ever there was a good day for the ICC to bury bad news, it is the Monday after India have won the World Cup, just as the IPL hype machine is beginning to grind into action. If enough righteous indignation is to be summoned to force the board into a change of heart, then a sizeable proportion of the 1.2 billion are going to have to speak out as well. But with some justification, they are a bit preoccupied right now.

The tone of this article was never intended to be so downbeat. A remarkable event took place in Mumbai on Saturday, and quite rightly, the celebrations throughout India will resonate for weeks and months to come. Dhoni's decisive six in the final could yet become the most replayed shot in cricket's long history, while no one who claims to love the game can take anything other than delight in the decisive role that Sachin Tendulkar played in his sixth and (presumably?) farewell campaign. Moreover, the best team in the tournament emerged with the spoils, and while everyone loves an upset now and again, it's right that class should prevail in the end.

Kevin O'Brien landed some huge sixes to keep Ireland fighting, England v Ireland, World Cup 2011, Bangalore, March 2, 2011
Kevin O'Brien's astounding century was a performance the like of which we may never again be privileged to witness © Getty Images
Enlarge

But regardless of all that, the World Cup's postscript is one that ought to freeze the blood of all sports fans, irrespective of how much they've loved or loathed the campaign that preceded it. The most common complaint - particularly from those frequent flyers who took part in the six-week game of subcontinental hopscotch - was that the event was at least a fortnight too long, although that issue is one that is stipulated by the ICC's long-standing broadcasting deal with ESPN Star Sports, and hence a ten-team all-play-all format in 2015 will not lead to a significant reduction of matches or days on the road.

What it will lead to is the loss of one of the key reasons behind the success of 2011. Ireland's victory over England, powered by O'Brien's astounding century, was a performance the like of which we may never again be privileged to witness - it was so unexpected, yet so majestic, that when the deal had been done, and Ireland really had chased 328 to beat England, having at one stage been 111 for 5, it seemed churlish to demean it as an upset. Not even Australia in their pomp could have won a game with more confidence.

The knock-on effect was to electrify the permutations in Group B, where Bangladesh's fluctuations created a six-way tussle for four places. Though they wilted at the last against South Africa, their own story was a vital subplot in itself. It started with the youthful vigour they provided at the opening ceremony - a concept that tends to look laboured at sporting events where there's no Olympic flame to provide a focal point - and continued via the West Indies debacle and the subsequent stoning of the team bus, through to their own crowning moment against England. And all along the way, they - like the musically fuelled Sri Lankans - kept contributing the thrill of packed stadiums, a factor that had been so miserably absent throughout the previous World Cup.

But in the end the whole narrative reverts back to India, and quite rightly so, because this was their year, and they earned it the hard way, soaking up the pressures and the doubts, as well as 28 years of World Cup failure. That they won the final in such style was magnificent, but their journey to that Sri Lanka showdown was every bit as gripping. Along the way they faced up to each of their major rivals, and there was not a dull contest among them. England battled to a tie, South Africa secured a thrilling run-chase, before Australia were dethroned and Pakistan denied in consecutive knock-out encounters.

And then the party that kicked off on Saturday night was something to behold. If the purpose of sport is to fulfill a utilitarian brief of conferring the greatest pleasure for the greatest number, then the 2011 World Cup hit the spot like no other event in history. Sadly, however, there is so much more to it than that. Any sports fan with a moral compass, even one whose every wish has been granted this past week, will recognise that the tournament's true conclusion was signed and sealed not in the Wankhede Stadium, but in a Mumbai board-room, two days after the main event.

Andrew Miller is UK editor of ESPNcricinfo
KJo
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by KJo »

abhijitm wrote: AT THE AGE OF 62!!!!!
Gawd will beat that!
He's be playing long after Arjun Tendulkar retires. :D
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by anishns »

A question to the guru's...shouldn't India be throwing its weight in support of teams like Ireland, Netherlands etc.....or just because ultimately they are goras we should let them continue with their bickering?

What are the advantages/disadvantages of supporting such teams?

BTW this bunch are big fan's of Mr.Integrity looking at the background on this page http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by Stan_Savljevic »

Because of their peculiar history, the irish may act against the english or the white world for awhile. In the long term, skin color is bigger than any ideological commonness. If BCCI is putting its weight on the irish, it better prop another equal sdre such as Nepal. Afghanistan could also be a decent bet on the other side, but again religious affinity is bigger than ideological commonness in the long run. That should be clear from the way some Bangladeshis still could nt find anything wrong in supporting pakistan over India. There is also some takleef in these small countries when they see India make more money or win it big, these takleefs show up at some random points in power flexing.

US and Canada if they become members could have a ton of subcontinental players, but oopar management may still be gora-held.
VikramS
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by VikramS »

The Irish right now are in deep distress because the common Irishman is bailing out the bankers. The obviously have no love lost for the English.
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by Tamang »

Singha wrote:It may count only cable TV households.
Yes, that figure is only for cable TV households.
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by anupmisra »

Look at what the Indian junta has forced Afridi to resort to. With no post match rewards, no official gifts, no rich IPL contracts, no nothing.... he now has to kill his own dinner. Yesterday he bagged a snake and a bird.

Image

Image

Image
Stan_Savljevic
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by Stan_Savljevic »

Soldiers are "real heroes", I am not: Harbhajan
http://sports.ndtv.com/world-cup-2011/n ... -harbhajan

Btw, I did nt put that within quotes, its ndtv's.
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by Dilbu »

Can we lock this thread now? The celebration has subsided and given way to the usual halla gulla and paki bashing. Mods can we edit these out and archive the thread now?
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by Mahendra »

KJoishy wrote:I agree, football is still the greatest sport. Real football, not the American version.
I respect your opinion saar but I feel that cricket is the greatest sport.

One always brings up the argument that Football is played in more countries than cricket. Going by the same logic, Islam has more followers than Hinduism, does it make Islam a greater religion? I don't think many Hindus would agree with that sentiment.
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Re: The Cricket World Cup Thread

Post by archan »

Allright, guess that is enough.
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