cricket takes for the entire family | ✉ cricbctwitter@gmail.com | youtube.com/@cricbc7089?si=6…
Joined April 2012
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It's fun when someone complains about the word count of the post instead of the actual content. It's almost like they feel offended by how someone can write so many sentences.
No need to write such a long post you can just say you are too stupid to understand test cricket
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And you missed the point about hypocrisy. Full respect for people who choose the jobs that gives them satisfaction and act virtuous. Most of the cricket establishment today is running after T20 money, yet praising Test cricket.
Jun 9
You've written an essay while missing the point entirely. There are jobs which earn you money and sustenance, and there are jobs which give you satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. Both are not always the same.
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Folks responding to this with "But Sooryavanshi said he wants to play Test cricket". That's the entire point of my extended rant. Everyone has to say this. I hope he says it because he really wants to. But imagine if he had declared he doesn't care for Test cricket. Cricket media would hound him over that statement. So it's best for everyone to say the established politically correct thing and get on with their lives. Just say that my ultimate goal is to play Test cricket. That Test cricket reigns supreme. You don't actually need to go play First class cricket to back such a statement these day. Just a declaration of intent appeases the flag bearers of Test supremacy enough to keep them off your back.
I find the whole "Test cricket is the pinnacle" conversation almost sickening now. Every cricketer, former cricketer queues up to get a share of IPL riches as player, coach, commentator etc while parroting praises of Test cricket. It's like everyone trying to get a job in AI while saying how they feel civil engineering is the best.
Like it's amusing they keep running clips of Kohli saying Test cricket is the best and its the format he enjoys the most. Then what stops Kohli from turning up for Delhi in Ranji or heck play a season of county cricket in England. Jimmy Anderson is still doing that. You turn up for a domestic T20 competition because that is where the most money and maximum fan engagement is. It should be perfectly acceptable to say that "Look Test cricket was great, but we all love T20 the most now since the concept of five day cricket is outdated and the fans don't like it as much"
But no. Almost no one can say that without getting brickbats from the whole cricket establishment. No one (other than Lalit Modi) openly says that Test cricket is past it's prime and is just a niche sport now and will continue to be.
Ashwin was talking in a panel discussion on cricinfo recently where he said we should force kids to play Test cricket. It was an absurd statement. I mean T20 is simply just a bigger job market now. A kid can grow up only playing T20 and make a living play Tamil Nadu Premier League even if he doesn't qualify for IPL ever. Can Test cricket give that kind of job market to a kid today? Would you force your kids to learn abacus if they are interested in learning python coding?
The center of all this nonsense is the shadow of how cricket is still "gentleman's game". It is just an unwritten law in the old boys club that runs the game that everyone who picks a bat needs to pay homage to the holy spirit of cricket. The spirit that dictates what cricket ought to be like even when it is far separated from the reality of its existence.
Cricket is not the only game that has evolved. Of course cricket is unique in having different formats of the same sport. But tennis also changed because the racquets became superior and players became muscular and the serve and volley game of the bygone era got extinct. Basketball changed when everyone started shooting 3-pointers in NBA. And while other sports also sometimes get nostalgic about the past, they don't bring arguments or discuss methods to turn back the clock at the expense of what people actually want to watch.
And that is exactly the elitism in the Test cricket superiority argument that irks me the most. It goes against vox populi. People have spoken long back about the format they prefer. Yet the commentariat looks at empty cricket stands in Test matches and almost gets judgemental about cricket fans. As if you need to turn up to the stadium in a Test match and do your time in the stands just to be deemed worthy of being called a cricket fan.
So yea. I almost secretly hope Sooryavanshi actually never plays Test cricket. Just to piss off Test supremacists. Quietly becomes bigger celeb than Jordan and Kohli combined playing only T20. And then as he wears that highest crown in sport, he has the authority and honesty to for once state the truth. That the gospel of Test cricket is an elitist lie. That Test cricket isn't supreme anymore. And you know what, the world is a better place because of that coz it the will of the people made it happen.
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I find the whole "Test cricket is the pinnacle" conversation almost sickening now. Every cricketer, former cricketer queues up to get a share of IPL riches as player, coach, commentator etc while parroting praises of Test cricket. It's like everyone trying to get a job in AI while saying how they feel civil engineering is the best.
Like it's amusing they keep running clips of Kohli saying Test cricket is the best and its the format he enjoys the most. Then what stops Kohli from turning up for Delhi in Ranji or heck play a season of county cricket in England. Jimmy Anderson is still doing that. You turn up for a domestic T20 competition because that is where the most money and maximum fan engagement is. It should be perfectly acceptable to say that "Look Test cricket was great, but we all love T20 the most now since the concept of five day cricket is outdated and the fans don't like it as much"
But no. Almost no one can say that without getting brickbats from the whole cricket establishment. No one (other than Lalit Modi) openly says that Test cricket is past it's prime and is just a niche sport now and will continue to be.
Ashwin was talking in a panel discussion on cricinfo recently where he said we should force kids to play Test cricket. It was an absurd statement. I mean T20 is simply just a bigger job market now. A kid can grow up only playing T20 and make a living play Tamil Nadu Premier League even if he doesn't qualify for IPL ever. Can Test cricket give that kind of job market to a kid today? Would you force your kids to learn abacus if they are interested in learning python coding?
The center of all this nonsense is the shadow of how cricket is still "gentleman's game". It is just an unwritten law in the old boys club that runs the game that everyone who picks a bat needs to pay homage to the holy spirit of cricket. The spirit that dictates what cricket ought to be like even when it is far separated from the reality of its existence.
Cricket is not the only game that has evolved. Of course cricket is unique in having different formats of the same sport. But tennis also changed because the racquets became superior and players became muscular and the serve and volley game of the bygone era got extinct. Basketball changed when everyone started shooting 3-pointers in NBA. And while other sports also sometimes get nostalgic about the past, they don't bring arguments or discuss methods to turn back the clock at the expense of what people actually want to watch.
And that is exactly the elitism in the Test cricket superiority argument that irks me the most. It goes against vox populi. People have spoken long back about the format they prefer. Yet the commentariat looks at empty cricket stands in Test matches and almost gets judgemental about cricket fans. As if you need to turn up to the stadium in a Test match and do your time in the stands just to be deemed worthy of being called a cricket fan.
So yea. I almost secretly hope Sooryavanshi actually never plays Test cricket. Just to piss off Test supremacists. Quietly becomes bigger celeb than Jordan and Kohli combined playing only T20. And then as he wears that highest crown in sport, he has the authority and honesty to for once state the truth. That the gospel of Test cricket is an elitist lie. That Test cricket isn't supreme anymore. And you know what, the world is a better place because of that coz it the will of the people made it happen.
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cricBC retweeted
It's an affront to Christianity that Pope has been replaced by Gay. #ENGvsNZ
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OG Padamshree awardee
Jun 1
Last question of the day. Who is this batsman in this photo 👇
Do answer this without using google or something else
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RCB/Kohli following isn't limited to Bangalore. It is insane all across Karnataka. I drove through bunch of villages from North Karnataka and spotted scores of RCB jerseys with Kohli's name at the back. At least one even had Kohli's face with the IPL trophy. Kohli was already revered in these parts. Back to back wins may elevate him to Demigod status in this region.
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If someone asks what is the benefit of capitalism. Show him this. Bunch of privately owned teams driven by nothing but profit have been democratising cricket talent in India, creating opportunities where none existed for decades.
36 year old seamer from Meerut who was considered completely washed up for India for more than three years is best Indian bowler this season. He joins a wet behind the ears kid from Samastipur as best batter of the season. The beauty of IPL is in completely erasing age, reputation, background from your resune and only value skills.
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36 year old seamer from Meerut who was considered completely washed up for India for more than three years is best Indian bowler this season. He joins a wet behind the ears kid from Samastipur as best batter of the season. The beauty of IPL is in completely erasing age, reputation, background from your resune and only value skills.
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cricBC retweeted
May 31
Sachin has never praised someone this often. He sees something special in Vaibhav
His first prediction was a double hundred T20s and a triple in ODIs for Vaibhav.
May 30
Sachin Tendulkar said that the most fascinating aspect of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s batting is his wrist work.
According to Tendulkar, Sooryavanshi is not merely slogging the ball; he is picking the line and length earlier than most other players.
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Bit sad I have to clarify this. It's my fault that I posted a picture of Shaw while writing a long post. Some people probably didn't read the full post and thought this is a comparison of Shaw vs Vaibhav. It isn't by any means. I only talked about how pressure of expectations can be hard to handle irrespective of who you are. And how one should cherish even a fleeting glance of genius. If anything I compared it to my own experience in life than Shaw.
Anyways, from next time I should stop paying attention to what modern SM algo experts tell you. Always add a picture to a post for more engagement. They might be right but I probably don't have the skill to find the right pic.
Many have talked about how people are needlessly projecting a future for Vaibhav and either predicting how he will be found out or how if he is so good now, he will only get better.
I have a problem with all projections about Vaibhav. The nature of genius can be at times fleeting. Genius is not a fixed deposit on which you get to see the so called power of compounding in finance influencer terms.
Last time we propped up a teenage prodigy like that when we compared him to Lara, Sehwag, Tendulkar in his debut series itself and we all know what happened to him. Not everything grows northwards. Vaibhav may never play like he did in 2026 and he should know that it is perfectly fine. Or he may become the next Bradman and that's fine too. He should be (and more importantly we should be) content with getting to witness a genius at work even for one season even if that is all we ever get.
I can say this based on minor personal experience as well. I write code for a living. But I have never been able to code or problem solve as clearly or as effortlessly as I did in my teenage years. I have been told by people that "ohh based on how good you were, you should have done much more in tech". I had struggled with such comments and my own self appraisal of my career for several years.
It wasn't like I became a brat and didn't work hard or got into bad company or bad habits. None of that. It's just that my mind never ticked as gloriously as it did in my teenage years. It took years of maturity to accept and understand the fact that it wasn't in my control and I didn't owe it to myself or anyone else to do anything with my life, and also what I did was enough and I should be proud of being able to hold my own in a demanding profession for best part of two decades.
And I worry for Vaibhav coz if it took me so much effort to grow out of the shadows of self imposed expectations even as there were only a handful of people witnessing my life. How would the current national obsession handle it if he falls short of his own expectations. I hope it doesn't happen and he comes good on all the promise. But yea, I worry sometimes.
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cricBC retweeted
May 29
What if this was an elaborate ad campaign by Sai Sudharsan? Next match, he walks out with a new bat, looks into the camera and says: "for better grip and sheer comfort, switch to MRF."
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Many have talked about how people are needlessly projecting a future for Vaibhav and either predicting how he will be found out or how if he is so good now, he will only get better.
I have a problem with all projections about Vaibhav. The nature of genius can be at times fleeting. Genius is not a fixed deposit on which you get to see the so called power of compounding in finance influencer terms.
Last time we propped up a teenage prodigy like that when we compared him to Lara, Sehwag, Tendulkar in his debut series itself and we all know what happened to him. Not everything grows northwards. Vaibhav may never play like he did in 2026 and he should know that it is perfectly fine. Or he may become the next Bradman and that's fine too. He should be (and more importantly we should be) content with getting to witness a genius at work even for one season even if that is all we ever get.
I can say this based on minor personal experience as well. I write code for a living. But I have never been able to code or problem solve as clearly or as effortlessly as I did in my teenage years. I have been told by people that "ohh based on how good you were, you should have done much more in tech". I had struggled with such comments and my own self appraisal of my career for several years.
It wasn't like I became a brat and didn't work hard or got into bad company or bad habits. None of that. It's just that my mind never ticked as gloriously as it did in my teenage years. It took years of maturity to accept and understand the fact that it wasn't in my control and I didn't owe it to myself or anyone else to do anything with my life, and also what I did was enough and I should be proud of being able to hold my own in a demanding profession for best part of two decades.
And I worry for Vaibhav coz if it took me so much effort to grow out of the shadows of self imposed expectations even as there were only a handful of people witnessing my life. How would the current national obsession handle it if he falls short of his own expectations. I hope it doesn't happen and he comes good on all the promise. But yea, I worry sometimes.
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A better informed critic would have looked at that bat swing and feet position and frowned that it looks like baseball not cricket. But Sir here shows that he is unaware of the rigours of the great game of gilli danda.
May 28
The reason I can hardly enjoy T20 cricket. Look at where the ball has pitched and moving, look where is front foot is and where at what angle the bat comes to meet the ball. This is more Gilli Danda than cricket.
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They should start calling his spinning spiraling bat the Sudarshan chakra now. An unstoppable force of nature that destroys every stump that comes in the way.
ICYMI - here's how Sai Sudharsan was out hit wicket for the second consecutive innings 😬
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