Thursday, February 4, 2010
“The contest within the contest involves Zaheer and Steyn. Both are masters of swing, and on abrasive Indian pitches, the ability to get the ball to reverse as soon as possible is priceless. After a slow start against England, Steyn ended the series looking like the best bowler in the world, while Zaheer, who’s now played five Tests in three months, insists that his rhythm improves the more he bowls” – Dileep Premachandran analyses the upcoming India-South Africa contest for The Guardian’s sports blog.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
“Any sport wants to see the top two teams in the world go head-to-head against each other. And if cricket administrators cannot see the value in that, then not even Barack Obama will be able to save Test cricket” – another prediction of the demise of the long form of the game, this time from South Africa’s Independent Online.
“It is fantastic to be the number one Test team. I have been waiting a long time to get to this position. Not just me, but the entire country waited for it” – Sachin Tendulkar on the news that India have deposed South Africa from their number one Test nation status.
Monday, September 21, 2009
“India and Pakistan need to stage their Test cricket somewhere else; in stadiums that might actually fill up with loud, enthusiastic fans, of which there will be plenty in England for both teams. Pakistan can regard North England as “home” and India can do the same with the South. Many expats will fly in to watch the games (I would seriously consider flying over for one Test at least), and hopefully, English pitches will co-operate with the weather to produce some result-oriented cricket. The India-Pakistan cricket relationship needs a shot in the arm, and this might do it” – Samir Chopra, writing on Cricinfo’s Different Strokes blog.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
“The 25-year-old had excellent control of his googlies” – BBC Sport write-up of Amit Mishra’s performance in the India v Australia second Test, via its Sport Quotes of the Week feature.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
“At different times we put up a bit of a fight but we weren’t good enough. They deserved to win, they outplayed us in every aspect of the game” – Ricky Ponting, reflecting on Australai’s 320-run defeat to India in the Second Test.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
“A young kid of 15 stormed on to the international scene and completely took over the imagination of the millions of cricket-crazy people. This guy was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. Now, every kid, including me, wanted to be like him. It holds true even now, without realising that geniuses like Sachin are not made but born” – Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra on teammate Sachin Tendulkar’s feat of setting a new record for the most runs scored by a batsman in Test cricket, finally beating Brian Lara’s total.
“Maybe the attendances in Bangalore were simply a blip or has the grip of Twenty20 taken its first hold on Test cricket?” – Phil Long, writing in the TMS blog.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
“We were the only ones trying to take the game forward. I am not surprised by the way they played, the Indian team do play a lot of drawn games” – Ricky Ponting has to settle for a draw against India in the first test.
“This will be my last series. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be picked for this series. Before coming here, I spoke to my team-mates and hopefully I will go out with a winning knock” – India’s legendary batsman Sourav Ganguly announces his impending retirement from Test cricket.
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