Abdul
ODI Debutant
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2015
- Runs
- 9,212
PakPassion.net : What is one thing that you dislike about the Indian Cricket and would like to change?
Varun : There are several issues, but if I had to point at one in particular I'll pick our cyclical animosity with the unlucky boards of the season who have to endure our wrath from time to time. While I didn't enjoy the West Indian players for pulling the plug on their tour mid-way, our response was beyond extreme. Such is the bully boy attitude that I'm not a fan of. Similar themes were replicated with South Africa a couple of years ago, and with Pakistan all the time. Ultimately it is the everyday Indian fan that is affected, be it due to culled tours to the West Indies, a Test snatched off from a South Africa bilateral or no interaction with Pakistan whatsoever.
If we're that much of a powerhouse I'd much prefer us to be a giant yet silent elephant perched up top; a figure that doesn't need to shove other beings around like a wolf on the loose to get things that it desires. And do I even need to get started on our attitude to the DRS?
PakPassion.net : Do you think that Gautam Gambhir can make a comeback into the Indian squad?
Varun : Doubt it. His career reached its zenith in the 2008-10 period and his best performances were from this bracket, including the long-haul rearguard in Napier and the 2011 World Cup Final. Post the latter though, he slid into terminal decline and never recovered in time before we had to move on. Likewise with Sehwag.
We were fortunate to discover Vijay, who for all intents and purposes seems calm and mature during this interim phase in our cricket. Dhawan I'm not a fan of in either format, but the selectors are persevering with him for better or for worse. Throw in KL Rahul as well, and the doors are firmly shut for Gambhir at the moment.
PakPassion.net : Who is your favorite Pakistani player at the moment, and why?
Varun : For the last few years it has been Misbah-ul-Haq by a country mile. Or as the English would say - Misbarul-Hack!
I've always fell for consistency and stability in sport, and he gets all the plaudits for leading Pakistan through a five year phase where calm has largely prevailed in a team and set-up which has seen vitriol and churn a lot more often. Sure, things might fall apart when Pakistan tour England and Australia later in the year, but that doesn't take away Misbah's contributions to Pakistan's Test and ODI teams in the slightest. Pakistani fans who don't rate Misbah would be best advised to await his eventual retirement and watch it all fall apart soon after. The current fracas between Hafeez, Azhar and the rest might be a sneak-peek of things to come. Misbah won't things like that fly under his watch however.
PakPassion.net : Thoughts on the of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Cheteshwar Pujara for Tests?
Varun : They're not as good as their predecessors, I'll tell you that much. Pujara is the one I'm most disappointed with, as he has failed to kick on from the prodigious start he had to his career. He has technical issues against fast bowling in particular, and he leaves a gap between bat and pad that you can see from the moon - little wonder he kept getting bowled through our tours of 2014. But credit where credit is due - his play against spin is superior to everybody else in the team, and his century in the circumstances of the 3rd Test in Sri Lanka recently was testament to that.
Kohli is a better ODI player than he is a Test batsman, and that's not a good sign. It won't be an ideal result if he ends up averaging only 45 or so in Test cricket, but it's better than nothing, though nowhere close to the hype he has received over the last half a decade or more and certainly not like our previous #4 - he was a good one I hear.
Rahane is the best of the trio, and he strangely doesn't get the recognition he deserves. I see him having a 10-year Test career from hereon, and I hope he isn't disturbed and shunted up and down the order to accommodate other *cough* talented players.
PakPassion.net : Why do you like Cricket? What interests you in this game?
Varun : I like attritional sports overall, and Test cricket has all the hallmarks of that vibe. There's little room to be rowdy, and the more hardworking and dedicated team will end up on the winning side more often than not - scratch that - always. This is unlike a flukey goal in football (recall Greece in Euro 2004?) or an unlucky swerve and a crash in F1 that throws a driver out of the reckoning in the space of ten seconds.
Fifty over cricket used to be much the same until around 2007-08 when they were downgraded (in my eyes, anyway) from short Test matches to long T20is. Not fun.
PakPassion.net : Will Kohli be able to fill the void left behind when captain Dhoni retires?
Varun : This might be a slightly controversial response but there is hardly much of a void to fill in Test cricket; he can't do much worse than Dhoni who was a mere placeholder in the team. And unsurprisingly, he has surged ahead of Dhoni in the format already, by going for a win (*gasp* horror!) in Adelaide 2014, and coming back from a deficit to win the series in Sri Lanka 2-1 all in under a year. Dhoni wasn't up to any of this, and past captains like Ganguly should be his aspirations instead.
While he hasn't yet been passed the baton in ODI cricket, I suspect this will be a slightly more difficult task as this is the only format out of the three where Dhoni came into his own. Our ODI team - especially the batting - has been coasting for a few years and this is something he should change pronto. I hope he realizes that it doesn't reflect well on our cricket when we lose all our bilateral series and do well only in the ICC tourneys, though that is a better proposition than the opposite scenario (South Africa, anybody?). I presume Dhoni will retire along with his captaincy as well, which also leaves Kohli bereft of a finisher in the line-up. And Raina has been left out of the selectors' reckoning looking ahead to the new year. Some interesting times ahead!
PakPassion.net : Are you looking forward to Pakistan Super League? Do you think it will be a success?
Varun : As many on this forum might know, I'm hardly the biggest fan of T20 leagues of any hue. With that said, the PCB have figured that this route is as good as any other in generating some much needed revenue, so good on them. It's being held in the UAE which isn't ideal, but hosting it in Pakistan might have been a bridge too far for foreign recruits at this stage.
I believe it'll hold a similar place in fans' eyes as the Caribbean Premier League - slightly niche but followed by dedicated quarters. I wish it all the best.
PakPassion.net : What are your hobbies beside Cricket?
Varun : Pretty much the generic stuff - Music, Food & Drink and other sports to name a couple (Formula 1 in particular). I do dive into a couple of other networking opportunities as well, even if you can't refer to them as hobbies per-se: Commercial Aviation is one of them, and I've also been into the world's oil industry in the past few years.
I make sure most of my hobbies have a healthy online outlet, as that is where I can quickly find like minded people rather than scavenging for the same kind on the ground. Though in due course of time an interplay between online and offline routes does quickly develop.
PakPassion.net : Tell us a little bit about yourself please. I.e. where you grew, how many siblings etc.
Varun : I was born in erstwhile Bombay to parents who worked in oil companies. A couple of years after that saw us move to a country called Kuwait where I spent the next decade and a half. I've been back in India for the last seven years and am a marketer by profession. Needless to say, I've interacted with many Pakistanis over the years and don't share the same attitude that Indians living in India have, which is fueled primarily by ignorance and the one-eyed media out here. After all, you folks eat the same food, follow the same sports and speak the same language as us and are allies when we are outside of our home territories.
I had a Pakistani family from Karachi as neighbours in Kuwait for a few years and they were jovial, friendly people to get along with. I'd go so far as to say that if I live abroad again and don't have an Indian across the door, a Pakistani is the next best option. Not even Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi or whoever else, it just isn't the same.
PakPassion.net : As an Indian supporter, what brings you to a Pakistani cricket forum?
Varun : This is the best cricket forum out there. I'm a member of all of them including the Indian one, and the diversity and quality of discussion here is second to none. The other sub-continental forums aren't much better than a YouTube comments roll, and the Anglo-Australian ones are too inward looking for my liking. On none of these places will you find folks from outside the home countries, leave alone a genial bunch of users here who hail even from the associate nations, which brings about perspectives from all over the world.
Varun : There are several issues, but if I had to point at one in particular I'll pick our cyclical animosity with the unlucky boards of the season who have to endure our wrath from time to time. While I didn't enjoy the West Indian players for pulling the plug on their tour mid-way, our response was beyond extreme. Such is the bully boy attitude that I'm not a fan of. Similar themes were replicated with South Africa a couple of years ago, and with Pakistan all the time. Ultimately it is the everyday Indian fan that is affected, be it due to culled tours to the West Indies, a Test snatched off from a South Africa bilateral or no interaction with Pakistan whatsoever.
If we're that much of a powerhouse I'd much prefer us to be a giant yet silent elephant perched up top; a figure that doesn't need to shove other beings around like a wolf on the loose to get things that it desires. And do I even need to get started on our attitude to the DRS?
PakPassion.net : Do you think that Gautam Gambhir can make a comeback into the Indian squad?
Varun : Doubt it. His career reached its zenith in the 2008-10 period and his best performances were from this bracket, including the long-haul rearguard in Napier and the 2011 World Cup Final. Post the latter though, he slid into terminal decline and never recovered in time before we had to move on. Likewise with Sehwag.
We were fortunate to discover Vijay, who for all intents and purposes seems calm and mature during this interim phase in our cricket. Dhawan I'm not a fan of in either format, but the selectors are persevering with him for better or for worse. Throw in KL Rahul as well, and the doors are firmly shut for Gambhir at the moment.
PakPassion.net : Who is your favorite Pakistani player at the moment, and why?
Varun : For the last few years it has been Misbah-ul-Haq by a country mile. Or as the English would say - Misbarul-Hack!
I've always fell for consistency and stability in sport, and he gets all the plaudits for leading Pakistan through a five year phase where calm has largely prevailed in a team and set-up which has seen vitriol and churn a lot more often. Sure, things might fall apart when Pakistan tour England and Australia later in the year, but that doesn't take away Misbah's contributions to Pakistan's Test and ODI teams in the slightest. Pakistani fans who don't rate Misbah would be best advised to await his eventual retirement and watch it all fall apart soon after. The current fracas between Hafeez, Azhar and the rest might be a sneak-peek of things to come. Misbah won't things like that fly under his watch however.
PakPassion.net : Thoughts on the of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and Cheteshwar Pujara for Tests?
Varun : They're not as good as their predecessors, I'll tell you that much. Pujara is the one I'm most disappointed with, as he has failed to kick on from the prodigious start he had to his career. He has technical issues against fast bowling in particular, and he leaves a gap between bat and pad that you can see from the moon - little wonder he kept getting bowled through our tours of 2014. But credit where credit is due - his play against spin is superior to everybody else in the team, and his century in the circumstances of the 3rd Test in Sri Lanka recently was testament to that.
Kohli is a better ODI player than he is a Test batsman, and that's not a good sign. It won't be an ideal result if he ends up averaging only 45 or so in Test cricket, but it's better than nothing, though nowhere close to the hype he has received over the last half a decade or more and certainly not like our previous #4 - he was a good one I hear.
Rahane is the best of the trio, and he strangely doesn't get the recognition he deserves. I see him having a 10-year Test career from hereon, and I hope he isn't disturbed and shunted up and down the order to accommodate other *cough* talented players.
PakPassion.net : Why do you like Cricket? What interests you in this game?
Varun : I like attritional sports overall, and Test cricket has all the hallmarks of that vibe. There's little room to be rowdy, and the more hardworking and dedicated team will end up on the winning side more often than not - scratch that - always. This is unlike a flukey goal in football (recall Greece in Euro 2004?) or an unlucky swerve and a crash in F1 that throws a driver out of the reckoning in the space of ten seconds.
Fifty over cricket used to be much the same until around 2007-08 when they were downgraded (in my eyes, anyway) from short Test matches to long T20is. Not fun.
PakPassion.net : Will Kohli be able to fill the void left behind when captain Dhoni retires?
Varun : This might be a slightly controversial response but there is hardly much of a void to fill in Test cricket; he can't do much worse than Dhoni who was a mere placeholder in the team. And unsurprisingly, he has surged ahead of Dhoni in the format already, by going for a win (*gasp* horror!) in Adelaide 2014, and coming back from a deficit to win the series in Sri Lanka 2-1 all in under a year. Dhoni wasn't up to any of this, and past captains like Ganguly should be his aspirations instead.
While he hasn't yet been passed the baton in ODI cricket, I suspect this will be a slightly more difficult task as this is the only format out of the three where Dhoni came into his own. Our ODI team - especially the batting - has been coasting for a few years and this is something he should change pronto. I hope he realizes that it doesn't reflect well on our cricket when we lose all our bilateral series and do well only in the ICC tourneys, though that is a better proposition than the opposite scenario (South Africa, anybody?). I presume Dhoni will retire along with his captaincy as well, which also leaves Kohli bereft of a finisher in the line-up. And Raina has been left out of the selectors' reckoning looking ahead to the new year. Some interesting times ahead!
PakPassion.net : Are you looking forward to Pakistan Super League? Do you think it will be a success?
Varun : As many on this forum might know, I'm hardly the biggest fan of T20 leagues of any hue. With that said, the PCB have figured that this route is as good as any other in generating some much needed revenue, so good on them. It's being held in the UAE which isn't ideal, but hosting it in Pakistan might have been a bridge too far for foreign recruits at this stage.
I believe it'll hold a similar place in fans' eyes as the Caribbean Premier League - slightly niche but followed by dedicated quarters. I wish it all the best.
PakPassion.net : What are your hobbies beside Cricket?
Varun : Pretty much the generic stuff - Music, Food & Drink and other sports to name a couple (Formula 1 in particular). I do dive into a couple of other networking opportunities as well, even if you can't refer to them as hobbies per-se: Commercial Aviation is one of them, and I've also been into the world's oil industry in the past few years.
I make sure most of my hobbies have a healthy online outlet, as that is where I can quickly find like minded people rather than scavenging for the same kind on the ground. Though in due course of time an interplay between online and offline routes does quickly develop.
PakPassion.net : Tell us a little bit about yourself please. I.e. where you grew, how many siblings etc.
Varun : I was born in erstwhile Bombay to parents who worked in oil companies. A couple of years after that saw us move to a country called Kuwait where I spent the next decade and a half. I've been back in India for the last seven years and am a marketer by profession. Needless to say, I've interacted with many Pakistanis over the years and don't share the same attitude that Indians living in India have, which is fueled primarily by ignorance and the one-eyed media out here. After all, you folks eat the same food, follow the same sports and speak the same language as us and are allies when we are outside of our home territories.
I had a Pakistani family from Karachi as neighbours in Kuwait for a few years and they were jovial, friendly people to get along with. I'd go so far as to say that if I live abroad again and don't have an Indian across the door, a Pakistani is the next best option. Not even Sri Lankan or Bangladeshi or whoever else, it just isn't the same.
PakPassion.net : As an Indian supporter, what brings you to a Pakistani cricket forum?
Varun : This is the best cricket forum out there. I'm a member of all of them including the Indian one, and the diversity and quality of discussion here is second to none. The other sub-continental forums aren't much better than a YouTube comments roll, and the Anglo-Australian ones are too inward looking for my liking. On none of these places will you find folks from outside the home countries, leave alone a genial bunch of users here who hail even from the associate nations, which brings about perspectives from all over the world.
