I miss those days.......

I spend a lot of free time on my tablet, watching random videos. More often than not, I watch advertisements, documentaries, short films and cricket videos. In the last few days, I have watched several videos of various test matches played in India during late 90s and early 2000s. I miss the electric atmosphere (even for test matches) that we used to have in the stadiums in those days. 

Among all forms of cricket, I enjoy test matches the most. However, I feel that in recent times, the quality of test matches have gone down. Probably it is because of the dearth of truly 'exceptional' talent. We still have Tendulkar, Kallis, Ponting, Chanderpaul, Laxman but overall, the contests lack the quality of earlier days. I do miss batsman like Lara, Gary Kirsten, Andy Flower, Saeed Anwar, Arvinda De Silva, Steve Waugh. I will not add Rahul Dravid in the last as India is yet to play a test match post his retirement but his absence would be truly felt. However, it is the bowlers that I really miss. Warne, Mcgrath, Murali, Ambrose, Donald, Walsh, Akram, Waqar Younis....the list is big. 

Among the Indian bowlers, I miss Kumble and Javagal Srinath the most. Additionally, I miss the past brilliance of Harbhajan Singh as well as Irrfan Pathan. These players used to make watching test matches a really exciting experience. Most will agree that with Anil Kumble bowling with a slip, leg slip, silly point, and forward short leg to save a test match, there cannot be a dull moment!!! 

I wish the old days could come back just for once. I would pay anything to watch a test match with the following playing XI (I am not including any player prior to 1990s as I was bitten by the cricket bug only in 1992. Will not include Kapil Dev, though I am a big fan, as he was not at his best in the 1990s)

Lets imagine that all the players are in the best form and have no dirty tricks up their sleeves (especially the batsman at Number 5). So here is my wishlist;

1. Virender Sehwag (Bizarrely, one of the most successful Indian test batsman) 
2. Navjot Singh Sidhu (Because of his strength against the spinners and the entertainment value of his fielding and running between the wickets)
3. Rahul Dravid (India's Steve Waugh)
4. Sachin Tendulkar (As he is the God)
5. Md. Azharuddin (The most stylish batsmen ever; the wrist work used to be unbelievable). And in this team, I would approach him and ask him like Raj Singh Dungarpur, " Miyaan, Captaani Karogey?" 
6. VVS Laxman (For the 281, the best test innings ever)
7. Nayan Mongia (The best Indian 'keeper', at least since 1990s)
8. Anil Kumble (for the 10 wicket in an innings, for making test matches so exciting, for bowling with a broken jaw, for everything)
9. Javagal Srinath (The best fast bowler India has ever produced; for helping Venkatesh Prasad take so many wickets)
10. Zaheer Khan/Ajit Agarkar/Irrfan Pathan (I am a big fan of all three though Agarkar and Pathan were a disappointment in later years)
11. Harbhajan Singh/Rajesh Chauhan (Bhajji used to be awesome; Chauhan Saab, as we did not do justice to him)
12. Vinod Kambli (as if you look at just "raw talent", he was probably better than Sachin)

It is a random list prepared in precisely 3 minutes. I wanted to include several others like Ganguly, Prabhakar, Hirwani, Sunil Joshi, Venkatesh Prasad, Abey Kuruvilla, Nilesh Kulkarni.....there are many more but for now, I will go with this list.  I wish I could watch this team play a test match at fully packed Eden Gardens.

I miss those days...