Champion's Folklore

Over the last couple of years it has been absolute joy to have been able to watch the continued evolution of a player. He has raised his game beyond where it was, even if you think it was no longer possible. He has vanquished his demons, he has slayed the opposition bowlers and in many ways is the perfect champion to bid 2020 a Goodbye with. The champion on “Champion’s Folklore” today is none other than Virat Kohli. Dare I say, there is no greater a champion in modern cricket as compared to Virat Kohli.   It was about 13 or 14 years back, in only his second first class game against Karnataka he had scored a 90, in a match in which he lost his father that was probably the display of enormous courage bubbling inside a young and chubby Virat Kohli. By 2008 Virat Kohli was in Malaysia captaining the India Under 19 side, you could see a fiery personality coming through who wanted to be at the middle of it all. It was also in those early years in 2008 with the Royal Challengers that...

Hello and welcome to yet another episode of the “Champion’s Folklore”. Well, in the previous blog I talked about a player we all loved and admired watching. But you can’t do Tendulkar in a single blog, he is too great a player to be encapsulated in a single write up. So that was Tendulkar, the test match batsman and this is Tendulkar the ODI player. Ahh, Tendulkar in coloured clothing, Tendulkar against the white ball, was there a better opening batsman int he history of the game other than the Great Sachin Tendulkar? Simply put, NO.   Yet it wasn’t always like that. You first saw glimpses of Tendulkar the attacking batsman when he hit Abdul Qadir for 3 sixes in his very first tour of Pakistan but that was in a test match. For the first 70 odd games Tendulkar was a mingling ODI player, lost at 5, 6 or even 7 at times, by the time he would come in the game was set, the ball would start to slow down, to be precise he didn’t own the game. Then came Auckland, Navjot Singh Siddhu w...

“I’ve seen GOD, he bats for India at no. 4 in Tests”, were Mathew Hayden’s exact words when he saw Tendulkar play. Hello and Welcome once again to one more episode of the “Champion’s Folklore”. But how do you do Tendulkar in a single blog? So here’s the fun gig, I thought I’ll concentrate on Tendulkar “The Red Ball Player” in this one and move on to Tendulkar “The White Ball Master” in the next.   You look at his career and it would boggle your mind that he started playing international cricket at 16 and even more so when you heard him regret the fact that he was not in that fearsome tour of the West Indies when he wasn’t even 16. And then in 1989 he made his debut, who did he make his debut against? There was Wasim and Waqar and Imran three lethal fast bowlers who were terrorising batsmen across the globe. In that 89 series he made a couple of decent scores , it was then that you saw glimpses of what a player he would go on to be. It took him a couple of series before he got ...

Welcome once again to yet another episode of the “Champion’s Folklore”. The champion I’ve got today,  man it’s an absolute delight to be able to write about someone of the caliber of this left hander. Ladies and Gentlemen I’m talking about the one and only , the inimitable Brian Charles Lara, someone who brought delight to fans and players all over the globe.   You knew when you first saw Brian Lara in 1990 against Pakistan that he was something special, even in those brief innings there was an awe in his batting. Then he went to the 1992 World Cup got some runs there for the West Indies, but it wasn’t until 1993 that the world knew who Brian Lara truly was. Only 5 test matches old Brian Lara scored his maiden test century at Sydney also the place where Tendulkar got his break out century, their careers were to run parallel for such a long time. In that innings of 277 against Australia, it felt as though he captivated Australian cricket like a few others had done at the ...

Welcome to the second episode of the “Champion’s Folklore”. This is a series where I tell you some stories regarding quite a few of those champion cricketers the world has ever seen. Back in the 1980s people would say that when you play the West Indies you’ll have nightmares about their pace battery but I can bet that to add upon their fierce pace attack was one more player you’ll have goosebumps about. He was the most destructive batsman of his era and when he would bat you’re bound to have a jaw dropped a few inches. Such was the magnificence of Sir Vivian Richards.   In the early 70s word started coming around that there was a batsman from Antigua who was terrorising bowlers in the English County. Finally in 1974 Richards arrived at the international circuit making his debut against India in a test match at Bangalore. He was dismissed by Chandrashekhar in both the innings in that game. However in the very next game at Delhi the world witnessed what was to come when Viv...

Welcome to the “Champion’s Folklore”, this is a series where I tell you some amazing stories regarding some of the champion players who have played the “Gentleman’s Game”. The champion I’ve got today has been nothing less than a Rockstar of the game. To tell you the truth his life has been more of a roller coaster ride right from the start till the end. Ladies and Gentlemen I’m talking about none other than Yuvraj Singh.   When you look back at his career you’ve to admit that Yuvraj Singh is one of the greatest white ball players that India has ever produced. The journey began way back in 2000 in an One Day Game against Kenya, he didn’t get to bat in that match but boy did he bat in his second game against the mighty Aussies. Coming out to bat when India were in a little spot of bother he scored a swashbuckling 84 runs off just 80 balls against a bowling attack that consisted of Glen McGrath, Brett Lee and Ja...