Asura

India was never going to win test series in SA.. NEVER... until now. This was the best chance with SA not being that great and India arguably the best cricket team right now.

The biggest achievement India had in SA was to win THAT test match under Dravid's captaincy where sreesanth was on fire in 2005. 

I don't know about any others but as an Indian growing up in the 90s, the only pak batsman I was genuinely worried about was Anwar. 

On 30/12/2023 at 09:18, Beelzebub said:

Top 10 Greatest cricketers from Pakistan

1. Imran Khan 

Not many in history could genuinely bat in middle order and also lead a pace attack at their prime. One of the greatest all-rounders in history; never bowled a no-ball in Tests. 

2. Wasim Akram

Greatest in skills with the ball. Got batsmen out methodically. Played at top level for around 20 years which is exceptionally long for a pacer.

3. Waqar Younis

Had more raw power and was aesthetically and arguably for a period better than Wasim. 

4. Javed Miandad

Greatest overall batter and an influential, tough, gritty character on and off the field. 

5. Zaheer Abbas

Greatest ODIs batter unless Babar wins us a trophy.

6. Younis Khan

Greatest Test batter but an average ODIs career is a gap in the CV. 

7. Inzimam-ul Haq

A great match winner. His 50s & 80s won us more matches than some other players' useless centuries. 

8. Saqlain Mushtaq

Revolutionized not only off-spin but the sport at large with his doosra. No one knew how to play him for a good amount of time. Murlidharan said in a podcast he asked him to teach doosra and it took him three years to learn. Sadly retired early due to injuries, would've been in top 5 otherwise

9. Abdul Qadir

Revived leg-spin after it was considered an obsolete art. Warne had tapes of him and came to meet him during tour. He told Warne a good googly is when your hand muscles start hurting and keep shadow practicing even with an apple. 

10. Hanif Muhammad

Put Pakistan on the map. 337 away to West Indies in 50s against that Windies attack, still the highest away runs in history. 

Saeed Anwar should be there somewhere

Sorry, I havent been active here at all lately but I still browse and read some great posts by our friends here. Is there still an option to donate rather than a monthly subscription or an yearly plan? I would like to do a one time donation if thats a possibility.

Also, good to see the forum back again.

Thank you 

The most funny thing about Maguire is that he believes there is a reason why both the managers started him every game.... 

Added $20 and if we fall short for the year, will contribute again later.

Im unable to post much these days due to many things but I do enjoy reading the posts every now and then, Keep up the good work all the active members and admins.

I probably said this here before but not sure.

Super cups are stupid and those trophies should not be counted by any big clubs if they have any shame. You dont win a trophy by playing one match, that would be a friendly cup if anything.

Cant pay the wages of a mascot and now this against Ozil... Arsenal are losing their class every day... ridiculous to remove him like this

pathetic that the club cant pay wages for the mascot.

Also not happy with the fact that Torreira was shipped out, I like him and assuming it would be like another Ox, Gnabry kind of regret to let him go 

On 24/07/2020 at 11:25, nudge said:

@Mel81x @IgnisExcubitor @Asura @Stan - has anyone read anything by Ashwin Sanghi? Got recommended his latest book, The Vault of Vishnu, today. 

no I havent read anything from him.  Sorry, couldnt help 

13 hours ago, IgnisExcubitor said:

Can't be @Mel81x. There's more chance of you and me doing it, maybe @Asura  . Those are the only Hindus here. 

 But on a serious note, those idiots are known idiots who often do these shitty stunts after calling the media to cover them to get their 15 mins of fame. And the media obliges. Most people don't drink it. Only few idiots like him do. And cow dung is used as fuel in methane gases in villages, which are also on the decrease now with more and more LPG gas connections.

@Harvsky

Yeah, read that about inflammatories. 

I don't think @nudge and I were speaking on Turmeric for Corona. But normal colds and sore throats. Though turmeric might help make your immune system stronger. Also, garlic.

 

Where I am from (the south), we dont even take cows really that serious and its urine is way far off to even consider lol. 

This whole cow worship is mainly in some of the northern parts of India is what I feel, especially in and around the states of UP, Rajasthan, Delhi, Bihar etc. Im not even sure if its that big in Gujarat where Modi is from.

On 27/02/2020 at 13:38, LFCMadLad said:

Apparently Klopp has aproached Saka's reps? That would be interesting? 

yeah been reading news that Saka is being approached by clubs like liverpool and also chelsea... hope he stays, he looks like a good player and become even a lot more better

Its ridiculous how the once bench warmers at Arsenal like Scezney and Gnabry have turned into starters for potential champions league and league winning teams elsewhere.. I always liked Gnabry when he was at arsenal but never understood why didnt start more ahead of other players.. 

Luckily Saka is starting enough now and I hope they will lock him down on a long term contract.

On 17/01/2020 at 08:46, Carnivore Chris said:

He is actually the only manager to beat Barcelona at Camp Nou in a good 3 or so years and even the last loss before that was against Real Madrid in the Super Cup. His record at the Bernabeu is also great. 3 games, 2 wins(with Real Betis) and 1 draw(with Las Palmas), so he certainly knows how to make newly promoted and mid-table sides more competitive. It's whether he can prove it at a bigger club now where the expectations and pressure is much higher.

 One thing I do like about Quique is that he always has his teams playing nice football so it could be an appointment that works out well.

yes, I like his style of football and I watched most of Betis' matches when they finished sixth that season... I even followed him a little when he was at Las Palmas before that...

true though about the big club expectations... his attacking style and his cruyffian principles made me watch him a lot and I wish he succeeds at barcelona

I like Setien and wanted him to be Arsenal's manager when Wenger was stepping down along with few other names... I think he will do well at Barcelona. Good luck 

Looking forward to the season... looks like Arsenal did a decent piece of business but still missing centre backs...

What a final, dont think I have seen anything better in cricket (except the kolkata test, natwest final and SA chasing 434). Incredible match but felt very very sad for NZ, they didnt deserve to win at all. Congrats to England for fighting it till the last minute and a little bit of luck also helped them but very deserving overall. 

Im pretty sure majority of the cricket fans are more unhappy about NZ than happy about england, such a cruel match this was. NZ can keep their heads really high and be proud of what they have achieved, hopefully they win one soon.

3 minutes ago, Stan said:

I agree with the advantage for the batsmen but there's been several games in the IPL recently where it's not just throwing the bat at every ball or second ball. It's an explosive format but it's not always like that - that's where teams and batsmen value their wickets. Maybe that's the misconception that just because there's a lot of big-hitting they think it's constantly like that. It's not. You even said you've not even watched it that much in 10 years!?

 

Maybe, but the general trend of the cricket has definitely moved to big hitting and bowlers dont get much help starting from the pitches to free hits to the number of overs in T20. But yeah agree, I havent watched much cricket in the last decade, just been following some test matches and the world cup thats about it so maybe Im missing something that you mentioned above. 

30 minutes ago, Stan said:

Games could be done within about an hour and it wouldn't be viable as a sport to watch. 

not really.... teams will value the wicket more, they wont try to hit every second ball for a boundary or sixer, granted the scoring would be lower but I believe that will be more balanced than what we see now with a scoring range of 160-200 in 20 overs... I thought the goal of the T20 is to shorten the playtime which Im fine with, but the current format gives batsmen too much advantage. Where is the value for the wicket? Every batsmen can more or less throw their bat at everything not worrying about getting out in most cases since there are so many more behind him that can come in and bat... 

EDIT: Also, the 4 wkt thing is an arbitrary number but you get the point im trying to say. Maybe 4 or 5 or 6 wkts for 20 overs is good but having 10 batsmen bat in 20 overs is giving the batting side way too much power in the match. 

Im fine with reducing the match time and making it a 20 over game but there should be an equal platform for the bowlers too... 50 overs cricket was good with 10 wickets, why dont they change the format to 20 overs and let each team play only 4 batsmen? Once a team is down 4 wkts means they are all out, otherwise its all smashing the sixers at an RPO of 10 and im with TAD on this. I stopped watching cricket after about 2009 or so, I dont follow much and the reason for that is T20 in general and IPL especially.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Why would they go for him on a permanent move? He's not exactly a player unfamiliar to Emery... and he was training with the Arsenal squad and couldn't make the first team. Why waste part of the transfer budget on someone who's not going to cut it based on the evidence the manager's seen?

Well thats probably the only reason I can think of too, that emery didnt like him. But im surprised Emery didnt give him much chance at all either, he is definitely not a bad player and can bench some of the midfielders Arsenal currently have.

So Denis Suarez who was with Arsenal on loan (not sure how many games he even played and I dont remember seeing him play at all to be honest) was sold by Barcelona to Celta Vigo. Always liked him as a player when he played for Barcelona and probably was not at their level but why havent Arsenal given him enough chances to play while he was there on loan and why didnt they try for him for a permanent move?