New stars on the cricketing horizon
Posted on Jan 01, 2009 at 15:49 | Updated Jan 02, 2009 at 15:31
0 Comments
New Delhi: The world order is changing in cricket and the game is attracting newer audiences. The onus of keeping those audiences coming back for more rests on the shoulders of a fresh brigade of emerging superstars.
India's zestful youth brigade is waiting for its time in the sun. From the sublime Rohit Sharma to the skilful Suresh Raina, to the feisty Virat Kohli and the domestic run-machine Cheteshwar Pujara.
The bowling attack, too, has the variety to ask questions from the best in the world. The foxy leg-spinning skill of Amit Mishra and the lanky Ishant Sharma, who made an impact across the cricketing globe last year.
"I've been reborn this year," Ishant says. "No one knew me until that spell I bowled at Perth. Now the world knows about me and I think it's a big achievement."
South Africa too are building a formidable unit on the strength of their up and coming players. Morne Morkel, attractive as much for his schoolboy good looks, as for his ability to generate awkward bounce on dead surfaces.
The calm Jean-Paul Duminy, who in two Test matches has shepherded a historic run chase and set up another victory with a poised hundred. And the jewel in Graeme Smith's crown — fast and persistent Dale Steyn brings the X-factor to the stage with the red cherry in hand.
"If we can start winning like this, we can continue because we are fresh in our careers and take it forward," Steyn says. Maybe this is the beginning of a new generation of cricket."
But in his fingers resides a talent that will flummox and confound. Ajantha Mendis was the ICC's Emerging Player of the Year. In 2009 he will fill stadiums and make young men around the globe search for that mystical twirl of the fingers.
They call cricket a game of glorious uncertainties. A year now beckons where that cliché will be tested.
| Ads by Google |
Be the first to comment.