PUMA Cricket News Archive
July 2012
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The Convenient Purist
July 06, 2012They saw it as nothing else but blasphemy – after all it was the country that was home to test cricket that was conceiving its latest offspring, Twenty20 cricket. Its approach seemed to be perfect for victims of attention deficit disorders and its rules slightly demented for those into long sessions of play, but the purists had no option but to see it flourish – first in Australia, then South Africa, then like wildfire through the Indian sub-continent. Cut to 2012, roughly a decade and a few T20 World Cups later, many purists have jumped the fence, while many are conveniently seeking the format’s joys while not budging from their I-only-watch-test-cricket stance.
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Advantage West Indies
July 06, 2012In almost every fantasy war game, there are core characters of a team capable of destroying an opponent team. There is the frail magician, a keen-eyed archer, a sturdy warrior, and of course a hero – You. Each character with its own specialty, strengths and weaknesses could well be utilised to advance to any level, without a cheat code. Moreover, they gain experience points, their finesse increases with new stages and so does your belief in them. The West Indies cricket team at this moment seems to be at level one of the above scenario.
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Here’s to the Davids
July 06, 2012‘We expect to win,’ said Hashim Amla as his South African squad landed in Zimbabwe earlier this month for a tri series against the home team and Bangladesh. It may be seen as one of the most predictable, non-news statements by a visiting captain and the result of the series too might be that. Surely no one with enough cricketing logic expects any upsets and if the ‘minnow’ word is going to be reiterated, the question is why have this series at all?
June 2012
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The ‘Fan’tastic 4
June 04, 2012How closely did you watch IPL 5?
The summer carnival has just ended but we’re not making any insightful analyses, nor pointing out the biggest winners and duds as all your back pages of newspapers are doing. We’re rather asking you, the cricket fan how closely you followed the mega tournament, not only on field but off the field as well! PS: For best results, do not Google and as for theoutcomes of this quiz, take them with a sack of salt! -
Gilchrist Walks Off!
June 04, 2012Life begins at retirement, or so they say. But unlike other professions that leave long-standing servicemen with creaky knees a monetary promise to get by the rest of their lives, cricket is kinder. It sends the retiree with relief, photo-finish memories and in most cases, a content feeling. Adam Gilchrist, undoubtedly the greatest wicket-keeper-batsman the game has seen and one of the top opening batsmen, is finally hanging up his keeping gloves, after the ‘retirement postponement scheme’ of the IPL this year.
May 2012
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Indo-Pak cricket – The Warm-Up Has Begun!
May 23, 2012Last week at Chennai, the BCCI agreed to have a team from Pakistan participate in the Champions League T20 tournament to be held later this year. While the Board’s Working Committee would have considered economics and politics before announcing this, we’re seeing this as India’s first concrete step in years to resume modern cricket’s fiercest rivalry.
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The Invisible Heroics of IPL - Bowling!
May 23, 2012A warm evening at Wankhede not too long back, as Dale Steyn roared in with the ball, watching him closely was his South African colleague on the other end, the $400,000-worth Richard Levi. As the Mumbai Indians fans’ cheers reached a crescendo, the 130-plus kmph delivery, seam pointing at first slip, bounced at good length and broke through the batsman to strike the timber. This first ball of the innings stunned the crowd, and Steyn celebrated by feigning a yawn as if to say, ‘routine business’!
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Class of ’98! IPL and the joy of yesteryear stars
May 16, 2012There is a reason why Googling ‘Sachin Sharjah 98’ shows more than a dozen videos of Tendulkar’s twin blitzkriegs, many of them having garnered more than 100,000 views. There is also a reason why a cricket fan, having clicked on one of these, ends up watching many related clips featuring Jadeja, Kambli, Azharuddin or for that matter, Imran, Waugh or Hadlee. Cricket nostalgia received its biggest boost with YouTube, but with the Indian Premier League from the past five years, it has entered a different realm altogether.
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Not over until the last over - IPL 2012’ fascinating finishes
May 16, 2012Formula 1 has its final few laps, football has the golden goal. Cricket on the other hand, whose gentlemanly games don’t really have a similar relationship with adrenaline, only occasionally feature half this excitement. That said, the gentleman’s younger, glitzier cousin, Twenty20, has been giving a dose of the above to millions of excitement-starved fans ever since the famous final of its first World Cup in 2007.
