The Asanka Gurusinghe column and other subects

The Dean Jones column:
Prasad: prasad_s_iyer@hotmail.com: This column is quite good.

Guest column -- Au revoir, Carl Hooper:
gitesh malik: gmalik@cdotd.ernet.in: ditto, if ever there was a graceful bat, it was carl. we will miss u carl...

Sachin versus Bradman:
ConMan: conman1@mediaone.net: I guess I got to read Mr. Lavarkare's article the last (was out of town for 2 weeks) and after analyzing his whole article and giving the fact that I'm a big Tendulkar fan I must say that he definately has a point or two proved here!! I think its a very sophisticatedly written article and in my view points out to Sachin's biggest weakness only...of that being inconsistent in his cricketing career!!

Come to think of it, when a comparison is made with Gavaskar and others...it is a big fact that Tendulkar has been a slow starter in relatively everythink since the beginning of his career!! He did not score a Test Century until England Tour of 1990, before which he had two full completed tours of Pakistan and New Zealand behind him. Where as forget the Gavaskars and Bradmans who created world records on their debuts, take the case of other batsmen to done the Indian cap around the Tendulkar era and after You will find that quite a few like Manjarekar, Kambli, Ganguly, Dravid, Amre..to name a few, actually did much better on or around their debuts and remained solid batsmen for a long time!!

Now please don't get me wrong here..I'm not saying that Tendulkar is/was anyway inferior to the above mentioned batsmen, but all I'm trying to make a point is that Tendulkar prevailed over all of them and has made himself a name today in International cricket because the day he got the National cap, it was never taken away from him!! I think he had the biggest blessing in the world for starting his cricket career at 16 and the policy makers and selectors never straying from backing him!!

After all..if today he has an array of records to boast...its because they have come during a long tenure of 10 years!! Come to think of it, if he had started his career at around 20 or so, which is the average age of international cricket debuts these days (except the Pakistanis, for whom its 15 :)) He would have been over 30 years of age and have actually numbered his remaining cricket career!! And the thought or debate of tendulkar beating Gavaskar's aggregate record or centuries record would not even have come even in anybody's dreams Its only the fact that he has give or take 10 more years of cricket left in him and not 4-5 that such records are a possibility, but only along the way!!

Although I'll say one thing that he did excel in ODI's after being promoted to the openers slot and scored all those runs and centuries with a very brisk rate (dosen't matter is they came on flat pitches). After all, who would have thought that an Indian will beat haynes record of centuries and thatt too with 4 more to bag after looking at the maximum # of centuries belonging to Kris Shrikanth (4) when Tendulkar started to open!! But, those too I must say wouldn't have been a reality if Tendulkar had not drastically slowed down in the 90's of every match no matter what the conditions applied!! He made sure that he gets a century, and that too Safely!! I don't blame him...personal records do have a meaning and playing a selfless innings everytime takes a very big heart and an attitude with which u have to be born with!! Something like a Miandad!!

These were just random thoughts that I have put down...please feel free to give ur comments...I'm one of yours and I know that u are one of mine!!!!

bye Con!

Celebrating Sachin:
ConMan: conman1@mediaone.net: Just for the record...taking about statistics...and like Prem pointed out that if Statistics were everything... If one looks at the statistics of Michael Bevan of Australia...this man has a current average around 70s...that right folks (those who don't know) and has played a little less than a hundred ODIs...so the way he is going, I'm sure that he is going to achieve one record that eluded the great Don himself (although in tests)...an average of 100.00 and over!! But look at how its come...he hasn't scored more centuries than Tendulkar...nor does have the record of the most score of 90+, instead the bloke has simply been Not Out in roughly 1/3rd of all ODI innings he's played he bats right where Mr. Jadeja bats for India and hence very often comes back after seeing the side thru....But, that doesn't mean that he is the Greatest One Day Batsman of all time!!! Although his perfomance is simply incredible!! ConMan

Sachin versus Bradman:
Dhiren Sheth: dhirensheth@hotmail.com: Don Bradman is the grestest. comparision starts after him. u have said that in the first 105 matches tendulkar had scored at an avg. of 34. it seems that u have forgotton that he has opened only after 70 matches. before that he had not got to play longer innnings. If u compare avg. wise then lara or kirsten also do not come any where near micheal bevan.

The Dean Jones column:
Sujit Upadhye: sujitu@pune.tcs.co.in: Test posting

The Dean Jones column:
Sagar: nikkidata@vsnl.com: India will win the 1999 Cricket World Cup. Any doubts?!!

And Sachin will score the maximum runs - 4 centuries, no less. Any bets?

Dean Jones, this is 1999 and not 1987.



The Dean Jones column:
Jim: the_doors99@hotmail.com: well i can add my wishes to the team i think they are one of the toughest performers in todays scenario......luck to guys!!

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Rahul Pahuja: rpahuja@students.wisc.edu: All I have to say is that it is ridiculous to compare Sanath Jayasuriya to Sachin Tendulkar right now...1996 world cup maybe...but not right now ..Sachin is in a league of his own, and Sanath is no where close to him..!!!! I would advise Asanka Gurusinha to shed a little bias...

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
nandu: kgnandu@hotmail.com: Hi, Comparisons made between Sanath and Sachin When?, Where?, How? This is just a case of a donkey praising his own tail. I don't think Jayasuriya is even in the class of Dravid or Ganguly. He can really whack the ball so can many others. He is (I am sorry WAS) very effective in the 1st 15 overs (sorry again that was before all the bowlers in the world sorted him out, not just Pollock). Figures the way he has been struggling. Even in '96 though he was the scourge of all bowlers, he never looked in the class of sachin / lara / anwar. It was always going to be a matter of time before everyone figured him out and thus it turned out to be. As of today he may be compared to someone like Afridi, In fact even Afridi's better and more dangerous.

Sorry to burst your bubble of imagination Gurusinghe. Regards Nandu

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Amit Deshpande: agdeshpande@hotmail.com: This guy gurusinghe is nuts I tell you. HE says Sachin is vulnerable to the swing and pace of the SA pace attack. Nuts!

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
skanth : skanth@cem.msu.edu: you cant say that sachin is vulnerable to swing bowling. he has even got out to spin bowling. that dowsnt mean that he is vulnerable. this world cup he will perform well since he knows that if he performs well he can get world cup for india.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Ashok: arun_kp@hotmail.com: Asanka Gurusinghe Has tried to compare Sachin with Sanath. That is unjust to Sachin's credibility in any form of cricket.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Srinath: jsrinath@hotmail.com: "The most eagerly watched battle in the sub-continent would be the one between Sanath and Sachin. There have been many comparisons made between these two players in one day cricket." Are you joking ?!!! There is nothing to compare between these two in any form of cricket ! The only battle that would interst me (if it happens) is one between Akram and Sachin.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Harsh: harsh35@hotmail.com: What sort of an article was this??? No substance ... ???!!!

Weatherwise and otherwise:
Bharadwaj Goteti: goteti@hotmail.com: I found the following in an AFP press report : Coach Bob Woolmer said he would approach Sussex, Kent and Middlesex, who are scheduled to provide opposition in warm-up matches starting Friday, with a view to all 15 South African squad members being able to play in each game, either by drafting some South Africans into the county sides or by mixing up the teams.

I think this is a wonderful idea, to let all 15 players to get enough exposure. I wonder if something like this is/can be implemented in the training the Indians are giving themselves. Comments ?

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Ramesh K Sistla: rksmiles@hotmail.com: oooooooops! one more. This is just like serving the same item under diffferent names and by different servers. I think this much of 'coverage' is not needed. May be rediff wants to assert its international character by publishing all such stereotypical articles by all and sundry!

The Dean Jones column:
sanju: sanju_kna@hotmail.com: Good article DEANO ,

Bevan shld be rally at 4-5-6 . He is the best onedayer ever is and ever was and ever will be . Not even the so called best players can match to this guys temperament . And he shld be really given a oppurtunity to bat more . And of course Aussies r goin to win this cup for sure .

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
ajit: ajit_18@hotmail.com: Mr.Gurusinghe with all due respect to you there is absolutely no comparison whatsoever between Sachin and Jayasuriya. Jayasuriya is nowhere near Sachin in any aspect of the game be it batting bowling or feilding. How many Hundreds does Jayasuriya have or it is very evident from comparing their averages in both varieties of the game. Jayasuriya is a good one day player but he doesnt have decent enough scores in tests though he has got a couple of big scores on dead tracks.

Guest column -- Why India is a favourite for the Cup:
Rajesh: rajesh@hd1.vsnl.net.in: A weel written article. At this stage, the team should start believing in themselves and we as fans should give them all the support they need and stop cribbing about anything. The columnist has rightly indicated the capabilities of the Indian team. I think each player should believe in himself and play with passion and killer instinct as told by the columnist. If done so we can win the world cup. Good Luck to the team.Rajesh

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Sriram Duvvuri: gt7866a@prism.gatech.edu: Hey man,

Don't you have ANYTHING new to tell us ? The same old "sachin can take apart any attack" etc. has become stale. PLEEASE give us something new which can hold our interest, not something that is obvious.

This is useless gossip.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Rajesh Chandra: r_chand@ix.netcom.com: I usually respect Gurusinha's views in his columns, but this time I would like to differ with him. Sachin Vs Sanath. I would be delighted, if the article reads Sachin Vs Aravinda. Sanath is not a batsman who is technically sound. He knows to blast when the bowler and pitch help him. His record outside the subcontinent is always below par. And now a days bowlers figured him out how to do him, so far, it is a big question mark, how he is going to bat in WC99. Sachin, on the other hand, proved how he can put the bowlers as a mat, number of times. This article shows only one comparision for both Sachin and Sanath. Everyone knows, during South Africans visit to India, how Fannie De villiers troubled Sachin and how Sachin finally figured him out. Sanath doesn't have such adjustment. Give him the close fielders, a bouncy pitch, and overcast condition to swing the ball, you can expect, Sanath is walking towards pavilion, ASAP. No hard feelings against Sanath J. But the article's comparision is irrelevant.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
trim pershad: tpershad1@worldnet.att.net: There is no comparison between Sanath and Sachin. Sachin is nautical miles ahead of Sanath. Just because Sanath performed well in 1996 semi-finals does not mean he is equal to Sachin. Against very high quality pace bowling Sanath cannot perform whereas Sachin has scored (at will) against all top bowlers in the world. No one, except perhaps Lara could come anywhere near Sachin. When it comes to destructive batting I would rate Sachin even higher than Lara. Perhaps the area where Sachin needs to improve is to convert the 100s into 200s.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Satish: ssundare@yahoo.com: He keeps saying the same thing over and over again in his columns...try to be more innovative Mr Asanka!

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Kapil : kapzaveri@hotmail.com: What if any are the chances of an India-Pak encounter in the semi-final or final match

Our sports editor responds: If both teams make it to the Super Six -- which they should -- they will definitely meet then. And chances are they will meet again, in the last four stage.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Samir Doshi: samdoshi@hotmail.com: After reading this article I am there is a great deal of battle between the greats. But at this level, what I think is that it is a battle of the minds than anything else. Because these players are talented and the best. The issue is how well they put their cricketing genuis to play and defeat the opposition. Samir Doshi 5/5/99 Atlanta U.S.A.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Goby-1: sd@jhv: Gurusinghe: Please dont talk of an India-Srilanka as if it were an equal contest. The memories you splurge are of the 1996 cup and we all know the massive difference between the Sri Lanka of today and 1996. SL has lost everything it touches, how can you talk so bravely even if you consider "heart of a champion and all that Blah"....

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
sneha: sb243791@oak.cats.ohiou.edu: oh!such a silly article. you try to compare sachin and sanath? come on! it's like comparing CLASS vs FLUKE. No doubt jaya was a good player and destroyed several bowlers in the past. but, deliver a ball straight onto the bat, or bowl it high onto his ribs- he is nowhere the same batsmen. once the bowlers observed his weekness, he was never the same batsman. that's where you can observe the class of TENDULKAR. one more point-Tendulkar is the BEST BATSMAN in the world. Jayasuriya is NOT EVEN 'One of the best batsmen in the world'. I hope readers agree my point.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
ariel. j: jayasoorya@hotmail.com: mr gurusinha could have been better off if he hadn't forced the comparison between tendulkar and jayasuriya. the former is cricketer par excellence while the latter is the typical hit -and- miss and try-your-luck guy. it is one thing being proud of a remarkable cricketer of your country but it is partisanhip to try for comparisons which are not there. if gurusinha had taken a look at the career graphs of the two, he would never have gone for such a stupid comparison. sympathies my dear. your"sanath" is a player who lacks in technique. don't you try to compare him with the only cricketer on circuit currently who is nearest perfection in both versions of the game. slogging amanoj prabhakar and asif karim(kenya) is a boy's game. where boys had to give way for men, your "sanath" has run for cover- into the pavilion. remember this i am not one of those sycophants who fall ill when tendulkar fails to score in a match. this is objective analysis.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
prabu: pbabu@stpaulsoftware.com: Hi, I think Kumble is also a great bowler to watch this time. After his 10/10 he may shake the great players like sanath, lara. And interestingly Kumble is in great form now!

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Imran: imranhanif@yahoo.com: India will do well against any bowling attack with batsmen like Sachin ,saurav,Dravid and Azhar.The real problem would be for Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Guest column -- :
anandamm@cisunix.unh.edu: Cup of "Hope" runneth over: 1975 was the year when all the mayhem began. "Big Bertha", "Whispering Death", "King Richards", "Thommo" ... all those glorious apellations would have made a WWF wrestler sound like Brer Rabbit. All those names were etched in history for having struck unmitigated terror in rival camps.

Never before the first World Cup did passion drown ability - the best simply had to win. Never before did genius outgrow discipline - cricket was no more for the Boycotts and the Gavaskars. And never before did hope drown despair - "You never know until the last ball is bowled".

The crowds got into their act pretty soon. "If Lillee ain't killin' you, then Thommo must", they hollered. The mob bayed for blood when Andy Roberts ran in with all his fury. Cricket, the gentleman's game was turned into a gladiator's showpiece. The cricket field was turned into a bloody arena filled with raucous supporters. And the mob only grew bigger.

The game has come a long way since then. The bloodshed is now extended beyond the realms of a noisy stadium. Millions the world over can experience the mother of all wars on their seemingly harmless television sets and computers. They can share their glee at having "massacred" their opponents. And express their angst on having watched their team get rolled over. Hope appears to override all emotions.

Hope is what drives every Indian to keep supporting India with seemingly logical reason, though South Africa might be infinitely better. Hope is what makes a Pakistani feel that 1992 will be repeated even though Miandad won't be there to marshal the team's fortunes. Hope is what makes a South African feel that all the erstwhile unfair happenings will not show their ugly heads and they win fair and square. Hope is what makes people feel that Sachin Tendulkar or Brian Lara will put up superhuman individual performances to capture the cup. Hope overrides common sense, hope kills despair, hope slaughters history. And yes, hope breeds disappointment.

I shall illustrate my point with some quotes from the Rediff guest columnists:

"Let's HOPE the stylish, wristy batsman from Hyderabad silences his critics by lifting the cup." - Prasanna Desikan

"Prasad will play a key role, and one HOPES that his performance at Sharjah keeps his confidence high." - Pradeep Bhatta

"Let us HOPE the team does well, and doing well doesn't mean winning always" - R.Dharmarajan (a column full of hope!)

"This means that their (Pakistan's) first match of the tournament against the West Indies takes on enormous proportions, it is almost like a quarterfinal. Lets HOPE they play it as such." - Abdul Hussain

Ah! Well.... the list is endless. But one thing is for sure - it is "hope" that goads each and every one of us to support our teams to the very brutal/glorious end. And if the Indian team is to win the World Cup, I assure you that it will need a lot more than plain Hope.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Mahesh: R_Mahesh_Iyer@Yahoo.com: What a pathetic article. He should be removed from the columns. Plain & insipid comments any school kid could talk about.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Atanu Ghoshray: aghoshray@hotmail.com: Sanath is simply nowhere near Sachin. Sanath might score centuries but people would forget them...but if sachin scores 50 it will be remembered.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Vadiv: vadivv@giasmd01.vsnl.net.in: The Supremacy of Santh has been weaning down, he could be no more of his own, we shall pass the contention for top spot to Sachin,Mark,Cullinan at the moment. best of Luck to Sachin.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Anup Devidas: ddanup@mailcity.com: Please dont compare Sachin to a Sanath . I am not sayimg that he is not good or something . But the class speaks a lot different man . Being a master blaster is still far away from being a master batsman . And being both is a totally different thing . How could we compare someone in the first category to that in the third .Or else , we need to be comparing one half or quarter of Sachin to a Sanath . As someone (I think it is Gavaskar ) quoted "Form is temperory but class is permanent ." Thats what we are seeing now . We had consistent performance from one player in 96,97 and 98 . While the other failed misserably in 98 . I am not , again , saying that this great player from the island nation is not worth mention . But why dont we compare a De Silva to Sachin . Doesnt it take more of a competition . That too a player like you should have talked of things like that . I dont oversee how important a player of Sanaths calibre is to the One day games . But gimme a break , that doesnt mean that we could compare him to Sachin . Think of a Younis been compared to Akram . No way man ....just because Younis got those wickets with his inswinging yorkers doesnt mean he can stand at par with the great Wasim . Variety man . Thats the key word . Or versatality explains it more . No harms intended man . This is my openion on that article. thanks,

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Ravi Aron: rarunkun@stern.nyu.edu: If there is one game that I would NOT want to watch, it would be India vs. SL. A mindless slugfest between two weak bowling sides, it will reduce cricket to the level of a heaveyweight bout between Tyson and Holyfield.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
amitabh: amitabh@onthe.net.au: Good article... there will be interesting bouts between Donald and Tendulkar, and Pollock v Jayasuriya. I suspect the honours will be even.

I think it's unfair to compare Jayasuriya to Tendulkar in one day international cricket. Jayasuriya, like Sachin, is gifted with a good eye. But that's as far as the similarity goes. Sanath does not possess a good technique. He cannot defend, and he is very weak just outside the off-stump when the ball is short of length. Bowlers now bowl round the wickest angling the ball into him, and he's not coped with this tactic, which is, essentially, as a result of fautly technique. He loves room outside the off stump and on his pads, specially if the ball is over-pitched, giving him the chance to play a lofted drive, square cut, or his patented flick over mid-wicket/square leg. He has a limited area of play (like Bevan). I think DeSilva is a far superior player of pace and spin than Jayasuriya. Of course, when Sanath gets going, he's a monster.

Sachin, as we all know, is extremely gifted. At 26 years, he has 7800 runs in One Day cricket with 21 centuries, and since opening for India in late 1994, he averages close to 50 runs per innings. He scores at a pace as quick as anyone else, and possesses all the strokes in the book. He's techincally very sound, and has the greatest eye among contemporary cricketers. Ask Donald, Warne, Waugh brothers, ... the list is endless. The Aussies lost a lot of matches against India squarely because of his work. He also is the hardest hitter of the ball, hits a lot of sixes, and fours, and once settled, is very dangerous. He has only one rival when it comes to talent - Lara. Brian also all the qualities that Sachin has, but his shortcomings exist only in his mind, his mood - otherwise a fantastic batsman, the best left-hander on the planet without doubt. It is true that he has been a victim of McGrath on 8 or 9 occasions, but I suggest that it wasn't McGrath's brilliance that got Brian out but was Brian's own carelessness and hunger for runs and dominence, and poor shot selection which cost his wicket, one of the world's two most prized wickets (the other being Tendulkar's wicket). Any bowler at international level can take, and will take, the wicket of these two great modern day batsman, but not consistently or regularly. McGrath's strength lies more in his nagging accuracy rather than his ability to penetrate. Donald, however, beats batsman with sheer pace (like Shoaib Akhtar).

Hope we enjoy a great time at the World cup - may the best team win.

The Wasim Akram column:
hari: haridas_d@hotmail.com: Yes, the pak team is looking good,and its understood by all now,especially indians.But whether their batting will be consistent in england is another questions.To me austrailia is the the favourite 'cause of their experience in english conditions,especially Glenn Mcgrath,Warne ,waugh brothers who have done well there.Also bevan is there.Add in ponting & an extra hard hiting batsmen like gichrist ,Moody & lehman they have a great team And about majid been dropped by Imran ,i would say at that time it was very cruel on the part of imran to do that & akram is simply making a reason out of that. Haridas

The funny side of cricket :
Suryapant: pantkanth@yahoo.com: This one is really funny! I enjoyed and I wish many people would contribute to the funny side of cricket while players contribute to the other side. Good Luck and keep posting

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Dharma: hemadharma@hotmail.com: I dont think sanath is in the same class of sachin, may be he has had some good outings on flat pitches but gurusinghe's assessments tries to sort of make it look as though jayasuria and sachin are in the same class.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
sandhya bhatt: sanbhat1@hotmail.: dear cricketers,we fans are waiting to see you at war on fields against your contenders.all the best from us.waiting to see you as the WINNERS!! GREAT FANS.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
jastesh: : Sachin make a century in England

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Suji: sujikaruna@hotmail.com: patriotic

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Shielesh Damle: sdamle@pacific.net.sg: Asanka Gurusinghe is unnecessarily commenting that Sachin is vulnerable against SA bowling. Sachin has scored against tham too. Asanka is not ready to accept Sachin the world best batsman and is more consistent than Lara, Jaya and Mark Waugh

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Amitabh: amitabhsm@hotmail.com: I think Asanka is a biased writer and he cannot think beyond srilanka and Sanath Jayasurya. In srilanka if there is any batsman worth mentioning then it is Arvinda and no one else.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Chalapathy: bim-classof97@egroups.com: World Cup 99

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
not a logical comparison.Sachin is technically sound whereas Jayasurya is nowhere near him.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
firodiya@hotmail.com: kishore: I think you have forgotton one opener batsman who can demolish any bowler & he is adam-gilchrist...He will be player of the world-cup..There will be keen compotetion between sachin-adam-mark-lara-gary....Sanath will not be able to make a 50 also....

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
ram: krk@wam.umd.edu: Get a life dude. That jayasuriya is nowhere near sachin in terms of talent or brilliance. Please dont try to compare apples and oranges in future. And to rediff, u can save ur name by discouraging articles like this and that lavakare's 'bursting the sachin bubble'. Cheers to sachin and indian team.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Rajneesh Gupta: rajneeshgupta@yahoo.com: This is a nicely framed column. There should be more persons or cricketers included int his column. but overall its good.

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Anand: anandraman@rocketmail.com: Sounds much better than what Sanjay Manjrekar writes about ..His was a total Nonsense.

Gurusinghe makes sense on what the public feels.But Sanjay talks nonsense about his own thoughts , which to me is so stupid to be published in this site.

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