Bat or Bowl ?

Cricket is all about scoring runs?

These days cricket has become the Batsman's game. Flat pitches, super power shots, power plays, shorter boundaries, short versions like T20, IPL and what not?

In short everything is favoring the batsman. Crowd too wants to see players hitting 6s and 4s. They are happy when some bowlers slog the opponents out. That's the reason why now a day we see lot of all rounder’s in the teams then earlier. Even sponsors in various tournaments count no.of 6s or 4s or max runs scored by batsman to donate equivalent amount to charity.  Teams prefer playing with extra batsman then an extra bowler in playing 11. Batsman has lot many options of choosing the type of bat they want heavy, light, long-short handle, various types of grips and what not, but I hardly remember ball being changed to help bowlers to get wickets like extra shine or may be extra rough on one side etc. Moreover, after 35 over’s balls get changed, so batsman get harder ball to hit out of the park.

Once 275 was considered to be the best fitting score to defend. But now days even after scoring 350 teams are not sure or confident of there win.

Even for Man of the match award Batsman are given more preference then the Bowlers. While selecting team for the match, we always focus to select batsman first then the bowlers. This is not just the case in international cricket. Just see forums and stats people are hungry for more runs. You will see in forum people searching for batsman or all rounder. I hardly saw request for searching for fielder or bowler :).

Consider this example :

A Batsman scoring 50s and 100s are considered more valuable while the whole team score could be around 300 i.e. just 1/3 or 33% of the runs scored. But for bowlers to be on outstanding performance we expect from him 5 wickets or so which is 50% of the total wickets.

In our tournament too, avg. team score is roughly around 75 runs. Batsman on an avg. scoring more than 15-20 runs is considered to be great contribution and fetches him MOM most of the time. 15-20 out of 75 i.e. 20-25% of contribution.

While how many time do you remember bowler with 2-3 wickets has been fetched MOM i.e. 20-30% of total contribution.

Best part when Batsman crosses the boundary line it’s given a maximum. While bowler crosses the line it’s declared as wide or no ball what an irony ;). Batsman has 360 degree and 180 yards of circle where he can play his shots, while bowler is restricted just 22 yards and 3 feet from stumps to bowl and get his target out. As per me more pressure is on Bowler than on Batsman during the game. Lets support our bowler and get more competitive games in coming play off.

Today being Friday, Thought of changing the CricFantasy team after a long break. Browsed through various stats and end up writing this article. In CricFantasy too its clearly evident that CricFantasy too supports Batsman than the bowler ;) 

Hopefully this will help me create team for next season. Create team with all Batsman than the Bowlers :D . Rather select Batsman who can Bowl.

Top 3 Batsman and their CricFantasy Points

1 Rajat Sar Spartans CC 8 177 --- 378

2 Ajit Apte Yuva XI 6 149 --- 320

 3 Raghav Swaminathan Weekenders 8 265

Top 3 Bolwers and their CricFantasy Points

1 Badal Chhatbar Spartans CC 8 16 --- 199

2 Kottureshswamy Hiremath Darkhorse CC 8 16 --- 186

3 Prasad Vaddi Hurricanes 8 15 ---  200

This are my views and thoughts about cricket in today's world. Some how I miss to see fast bowlers of old times like Ambrose, Walsh, Wasim Akram, Waqar, McGrath, Kapildev, Srinath, Vass  and many more. I am pretty sure there were lot many other fast great bowlers before that but I have seen these guys as I grew up.

Keep Smiling Always
Dharme
Bhavnavho ko samjo ... Grammar mein mat uljo :)

Mr. Confident

Mr. Confident
So many times we have heard people saying have faith in me ? Trust your instinct ? Captain have confidence in his player ? We are confident about Win or loss ;) I think key behind all this successful wining team is Confidence. Amir Khan in 3 idiots by saying Allz is Well meant have confidence … it will help in solving the problem.
I had recently to airport to drop my friend, while coming back at midnight I got this Auto Rikhshawala Mr. Confident, who looked like real jerk. While talking with him I understood he was very smart guy, he used to drive auto from 11 pm to 2 am and from 4 am to 7 am. I asked him reason, he said after his analysis and years of experience this time is perfect time to earn best fares. First you get one and half times of the fare due to nighttime. Second there is less competition for you. Thirdly you get long distance fares. So as per him this was business at right time and at right place. I think this is applicable to our Cricket. We have to be smart enough to grab these opportunities and go ahead of competition. No one plays for losing. Trust me have confidence to beat the opponents and you will see the difference.
Mr. confident then told me, faith/trust and confidence is such a thing in the world, which no one can give you. It's who you decide what you want. We do not get things, which we think we wont get. I think that’s so true. He told me that I trusted myself and believed I will be safe in his Rikhshaw although it was late in the night and he looked really jerk tapori some sort of gunda ;). When you trust/faith or have confidence in yourself other will automatically have same in you. This is really what each player in team should be looking at. Have faith in yourself and team.
Later I found he had younger brother who was outstanding student (Mr. Performer) and giving his IAS exams and never failed in his life. Though their family was not so good financially, but everyone in family supported his brother in studies indirectly by various ways. He was happy for his success and considered himself and other family members for his brother's success. Golden words from him, success is something not only for yourself its for other too. Be an instrument for other success, and success will follow you. Yes, what an insight about success. In our cricket game also we have some people are really good and some are really good in helping them to achieve the win for the team. Team is about playing together and complementing each other.
Too much sentiments/ gyana in the blog ? humm  :) …. chalo no more talks. Blog dedicated to Auto Rikhshawala … you helped me learn some valuable lessons in life.
Are you Mr. Confident in your team ? Are you helping your Mr. Performer in your team ?
I am Mr. Confident in my Team and Amol is our Mr. Performer.
What about you and your team ?

Apple has come with new generation of revolution in digital world. Yes, iPad will be soon available to market in March with so many exciting features and new applications. They have already put lot of hard work and let see how it performs in the market. Book your iPad now :)
Similarly, are you ready with your team for upcoming tournament? Get all your fine-tuning and right combination in team done before tournament starts. 2010 is going to be more fun and competitive cricket with lot of new teams and new talent battling for the championship. Did you register for upcoming tournament? If not, what are you waiting for :)
All the Best for upcoming games.


Keep Smiling Always
Dharme
Bhavnavho ko samjo ... Grammar mein mat uljo :)