The Asanka Gurusinghe column

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
Sundhar: sundhars@hotmail.com: Hi there,
I'm one of those eager Indians waiting to see the repeat of !983. Be it the technical prowess or the political shrewdness, of Sachin, he is one cricketer to look for. His killer instinctness, and the urge to win matches as you would have seen in the Sharjah matches against Australia is enough to give a winning edge for the Indian team !!
Hoping that India Wins, An ardent fan of Sachin's will power, Sundhar

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
alok: amlu@aol.com: new champ ___INDIA

The Asanka Gurusinghe column:
mahan: mahan@cce.net: ridiculous article. clearly indicates that you are biased. how can he ever think of comparing sachin and sanath? i dont want to waste any more time commenting on this insipid article...

RajC: diehardcricketfan@sportsaddict.com: I can't believe Gurusinghe has written a few words and Rediff calls it a 'column'. Is Asanka such a renowned writer ? I have made the following observations:
1. There is neither news nor information in the column.
2. The title of the column is equivalent to that of a hindi film title : No connection with the content.
3. He thinks 'the sub-continent' consists of India and Sri Lanka. What about a country called Pakistan?
4. Battle between Sanath & Sachin... paah! He must've been laughing when he wrote that.
Rediff / Gurusinghe : You guys should no better to fill pages... RajC(diehardcricketfan)
C. Lawton: claw@smartchat.net.au: Great stuff Guru - most entertaining and upfront piece. Pity you won't be in the side - they could use your steadying influence.
The greatest tradegy was the removal of Dav Whatmore who inspired the Sri Lankan team to believe in themselves & to start playing for their country and not just for themselves.
Sri Lanka needs to employ a coach who is not scared to voice his thoughts - for e.g. Dean Jones.
Sri Lankans have a tragic trait where every one becomes an instant expert after someone else has busted their backside and flown in the face of the loudly exclaimed doubts (by other Sri Lankans, especially the bar or lounge room experts). I don't expect Sri Lanka to show one iota of the form they displayed in 1996.
Their record to date is evidence enough where they rely heavily on the likes of Murali, Aravinda, Hashan Tillers., Sanath & Kalu, with an occasional brilliant display by someone such as Mahela Jayawardne - his superb century in the 98/99 Australian Summer is worthy of mention.
I sincerely hope that the BCCI gets a complete "check up from the neck upwards"; follows India's lead & asks Deano Jones to guide them. He has a terrific Limited Over match record plus an equally impressive Test record, what's more he's available for hire.
1999 will be between India, Pakistan South Africa and Australia.
The West Indies have to get their act together by realising that they represent the hopes and dreams of many people who may never have the opportunity to experience the thrill of representing their country and stop being a bunch of self-centred, weak wristed, namby pamby "Home Boys". The truth is that the 1999 Australian tour clearly showed that basket ball & soccer have a greater attraction for the youth and are fast overtaking cricket in the Caribbean popularity stakes.
Future poor showings by the Windies will no doubt lead to further reductions in patronage at matches.

dushyanth: dpx2004@rediff.com: hi,hope u guys doing great.this is column is great very informative,keep up the the good work and best of luck for future. bye.

balaji: : "Hmmmmm. It obviously means something doubtful!". Yes many can read my mind already from these expressions. My doubt is not about the talent of the players like Sachin, Mark, Sananth and Lara mentined above. But the trick lies in the fact that, who is the best suited player to the English conditions. I am not a "Big Pundit" of the game, nor am I a statistician. But being from India, I obviously know, atleast I hope that i know, the versatality of Sachin. Given his exposure to English condition, his dynamics to play swing bowling surely puts him atop his pears. The same pertains to Mark who has the credit of representing the Aussies squad in atleast couple of the Ashes Series.
I would rather contend myself while accrediting Jaya, in his ability to play genuine swing bowling in conditions presented by Oval, Lords and so forth. Coming to Mark no doubt he is a 'no let down player', but again his recent form puts a clog in my thought picturing him taking it against the bowlers. I would rather bet on the likes of Aravinda, Dravid, Steve Waugh capturing the throne. This is solely because of their ability to stay on the wicket and to attack when required. Though aggression has been one of the most recent hobbies of Dravid, his over all technique like Arvinda and Steve, proves more creditable. One has to keep in mind that we are no more served with the flat tracks and this time around Pollack, Donald, McGrath, Srinath, Chaminda, Akram will prove to be more lethal than anytime before.
Though as an ardent fan of agressive form cricket, I would rather like to see all these great batsmen getting on top of these bowlers, I would still reserve the edge to that individual who can customise his stroke making/line control according to the conditions of the gound on that day.
Vandemataram
jimmy patel: jimpats_3@hotmail.com: no elobrate discussions the final point is " Dare not to compare Sachin to the likes of sanath's, sachin is class apart in all fields.Period."

raju: prajendran@iname.com: Sanath vs Sachin? What a laugh.

arnab: arnab48: best of luck ! to the INDIAN CRICKET team.

cease_fire: cease_fire@mailcity.com: one more interesting combat to watch for will be azhar boss playing the english fast bowlers who will be bowling wicket to wicket

darshan: darshan_ram@hotmail.com: comments are pretty good. but frankly sanath cannot be compared with sachin.

PIYUSH AGRAWAL: PIYUSH85@HOTMAIL.COM: WELL IN MY VIEWS SANATH IS NOTHING IN FRONT OF SACHIN.SANATH CANT BE COMPARED WITH SACHIN. SACHIN IS GREAT BATSMAN.SANATH DOSENT EVEN KNOW THE TECTICS OF GAME. HIS LUCK WORKS. SACHIN IS WORLDS GREATEST PLAYER.

G.Bharadwaz: gbharadwaz@wipsys.stph.net: I am a fan of your site. Please describe about the training events that are going in England for the world cup

Mahesh VA, USA: jmahesh@hotmail.com: Dear Rediff,
there is no comparison between Sachin and Sanath as Sachin is too young,consistent and dynamic when compared to Sanath whom it has been proved that he is a flash in the pan. When was the last time Sanath a good innings in One-day. I believe Sachin is the best and will be the best


Joseph Fernandez: Joseph.L.Fernandez@British-Airways.com: Well, thats a good thing to come up with but I reckon India verses Pakisthan would be much better. Its not that I dislike Srilanka but when it comes to one-day cricket, everyone knows that the best match to be watched any day would be a match between India and Pak.
To think India or Pak or Sri Lanka to reach the finals is much early to say. You must never forget South Africa who are in top form and also the Australians. Shane Warne is one of the best bowlers that Ausies have at the moment. It will definietly be great to see how he performs with the ball and the bat in this world cup.
I am sure Sachin will be the key player for India but he alone cannot win all matches (although he can win matches all by himself), this world cup will be a team work win and not just a one man show.
Talking about your opinion, Sanath is definetly a key player to be watched in this world Cup.
Lets wait and watch how he performs in the first match on the 14th.

hanumanth rao: arzahrao@hotmail.com: Watch for small teams which can upset the final standings. I think every point is important to top the pool table.

Rahul Shah: Rahuls_shah@hotmail.com: Dear Sachin,
Pls. Give a good start to India with Ganguly.I you will succeed to do this. I am sure no one can beat us. India will be the word champion. All the best to you and all our team member. Convey my warm regards to Bapu ( Ajay Jadeja ).

Nikhil Shah: nikhils@netpeoplecorp.com: As long as there is a competiteve rivalsry between Sanath and Sachin, it's Ok. But dont suggest equality between these two, its like chalk and cheese. Sachin is the best pal !

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.

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.

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....

: : not a logical comparison.Sachin is technically sound whereas Jayasurya is nowhere near him.

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