Rainman talks Cricket

An average just touching 40 doesn’t augur well for an opener of the number 1 team in Tests who has been around for almost a decade now. But anyone who has followed the game long enough would concur with the statement that Cricket is full of numbers that blatantly lie. And anyone who has followed the career of Tamil Nadu batsman would know that the value of Vijay lies much beyond the numbers. There are two phases in Vijay’s career. The first began with his surprise call up to the Indian team upon Gambhir’s ban in 2008 to play against Australia. From 2008 to 2013 series against Australia, the series that marked his rebirth as a Test opener, Vijay appeared 14 times in India colors and scored runs at an average of nearly 40, which is almost the same as his current average on the brink of his 50 th  appearance. But this was the Vijay who was juggling between formats and trying hard to press his case as an all season opener for the team. Moreover, he was also the lynchpin of Che...

When a discussion arises about trademark shots of cricketers, there is every chance that the name of the usual suspects will be invoked. A few mentions one can bet his/her life on are Sachin's straight drive, KP's switch hit, Dilshan's Dilscoop and, in some circles, even Virat Kohli's cover drives are gaining a cult following of their own. But there is one new name I'll like to throw in the mix, and I'm sure it is going to make a few eyebrows raise. The cricketer in question has made his country's selector's blood pressure rise on more occasions than doing the same to the opposition, the opposition players almost need an urgent admission to the hospital. I'm talking about Kieron Pollard. The big man from Trinidad and Tobago has a penchant for big shots and that has meant that he has more sixes than ODIs (110 of them in 101 matches), and even more astonishingly, more sixes than fours in all T20 cricket (445 6s and 444 4s on this date). While suc...