Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
Originally posted by 9erfanAUS:
Originally posted by 49ersMyLife:
I want an option for Cricket
My friends got me into it. I still prefer Giants baseball to it, but I'm beginning to like cricket a LOT. It's funny how much you start appreciating a sport once you play it a few times.
I'm guessing you're a big 20/20 fan?
-9fA
My friends got me into cricket by showing me some of that. But...after I while - I started to really like test cricket - especially after playing that format. It can get a little boring - but I'm starting to really get into it.
Watched a little bit of Pakistan vs England last night - pretty good stuff. Recently saw Australia collapse to Pakistan - I was shocked. Pakistan have really good bowlers (pitchers) but rest of the team sucks! Australia is damn good - so it was pretty surprising.
I got into it when one of the Indian players hit 6 sixes in a row against one of the best Brits bowler. That was some crazy ass s**t.
Yeah all the countries that the Brits colonised have huge cricket followings. India v. Pakistan is always a match to watch. Those countries don't like each other lol. I would say that it's on the level of a USA v. Mexico soccer match.
Australia has been very consistently good for the past decade. We've been blessed with good captaincy and consistent batting and bowling. There's a little bit of the changing of the guard now since many of the old time vets have gone.
The sport itself is at a crossroads. I'm a traditionalist, so I love the full 5 day test matches but the 20/20 matches receive all the ratings and hence the sport is slowly moving towards the ratings.
As for tennis, used to root for Safin mainly and a little of Hewitt. I loved Safin's aggressive play. Dude was badass. Don't really follow anybody in particular anymore.
-9fA
Yeup...been reading up on the recent history of that Sport. Aussies have been on amazing streak for last 10-12 years. With many greats recently retiring, they have lost the top spot - but are still in top 3 in the main two formats - I think. I used to like 20/20 but seriously - it's like home-run derby. You can only watch so much of it. After a while - it gets redundant.
Also, last couple years I've worked in England and India - so that def. built a lot of my interest in the Sport...especially when I was working in India - people are just nuts about it - almost like how soccer is in Europe. I have seen one or two India vs. Pakistan matches and they are very entertaining. I would say it's more heated than US vs. Mexico - it's like a proxy war.
Test cricket is fun to watch. Who are your favorite players? My favorite batsmen - Sachin Tendulkar and Mathew Hayden (who recently retired). I also like Sehwag (probably the most entertaining player) and Yuvraj - but only because of those 6 consecutive sixes. Oh, and I also like Kevin Pieterson.
Among bowlers I like Daryl Steyn, Brett Lee, and Mohd. Asif. I like the new kid Aamer or something from Pakistan. I've seen some youtube videos of Shane Warne - that guy bowled some filthy spin.
One of my favorite recent memory - McCullum from NZ hitting sixes of Shawn Tait behind the wicket-keeper. That was unbelievable. He is fun to watch in 20/20. Oh I don't like IPL...after first week I got sick of it.