January in Melbourne is all about The Australian Open. Billboards and hoardings in all places; the town busier than another time of the yr. Restaurants are working full; getting a reservation at a Farmer’s Daughter and Supernormal is as tedious as securing last-minute tickets for the Grand Slam. Directives to succeed in the Melbourne Park are laid out at each nook of the streets and the locals are braving the warmth to seek out the proper spot on the Fed Square to observe Coco Gauff face Karta Kostyuk on the large display screen.
Like Tendulkar, the legend of Virat Kohli too has grown exponentially in Australia.(Aditya Bhattacharya/HT)
But even because the tennis season grips Melbourne, the spirit of cricket lives on. The sports activities bulletin of the prime-time hour was led by Josh Brown’s joint second-fastest century in BBL historical past that took Brisbane Heat into the ultimate, whereas Glenn Maxwell’s hospitalization following a reported ‘incident’ in Adelaide and Pat Cummins’ red-hot tackle the identical has actually taken Melbourne, the sporting capital of the world, by storm.
Stay tuned for all the most recent updates on Ram Mandir! Click right here
“Oh, Maxwell. He’s in trouble. Such a shame” are the primary phrases this author hears as he enters the historic Melbourne Cricket Ground for a tour of the MCG. “Such a gifted player, such a beautiful striker of the ball, and then such things come out in the news. You never know. Maybe that’s what makes him what he is, you know? He may just get up, decide to have a couple of pints and go bonkers, like he did against Afghanistan. But yeah, it’s weird. If I’m not mistaken, didn’t he also pick up a concussion after falling off a golf cart?”
The baritone voice is that of Myles Walker, member of the MCG Club Services and Heritage. He has been main excursions on the ‘G for 17 years and says he derives the identical thrill out of speaking about this iconic floor as he did in 2006. He begins off by speaking in regards to the drop-in pitches and the way the MCG ranges up after the cricketing season equivalent to readying itself up for the soccer after which the Taylor Swift live performance on February 17. “The stage will be on that side,” Myles factors in direction of the Shane Warne Stadium, “… and if there are some damages incurred, they (the organisers) will pay the price.”
Myles, 83, is as old skool a cricket buff can get. Not one to get carried away by feelings, his ever-so-enthusiastic supply hits a sudden pause on the immortal portrait of Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar, one of many solely 5 to ever exist. “Golly! What a player,” Myles says with a sigh. He is among the only a few people who has seen each Bradman and Tendulkar bat in entrance of his eyes – actually, he has Tendulkar’s Test runs and common dedicated to reminiscence, as in the event that they have been behind his hand. The world recognition of Bradman acknowledging Tendulkar because the participant who most resembled him has turn out to be legendary, and Myles insists it might probably’t get any more true.
“People in Australia realised that Tendulkar is as good as Bradman. Tendulkar played 200 Tests while Bradman played only 52. That’s why his average was 99.94, whereas Tendulkar’s 53.78. Both great players. He was loved in Australia, still is. He always got claps, whether he got nothing, or fifty or a hundred. People in Australia liked him very much. He had the skills when he was 14 and he just got better,” he tells Hindustan Times.
“I met Bradman many years ago. I saw him play here in 1947 when I was 7 years old, and then I saw Tendulkar play here in 1999. Believe me, he really is the closest to Bradman the world has really seen. Bradman kept the ball on the ground all the time. He only hit 6 sixes in his Test career so I’m told. I’ve read all his books. He was a fabulous player. So if you had to get him out, it had to be either bowled or LBW because he wouldn’t give you that opportunity to catch. I believe Tendulkar was similar. He was a lot more arial but when those shots flew out of his bat, they still looked safe.”
Like Tendulkar, the legend of Virat Kohli too has grown exponentially in Australia. He has come a good distance since 2012, when a brash and conceited youthful self of Kohli flipped off the gang on the SCG. The 2014/15 Border-Gavaskar was the true arrival of Kohli – Almost 700 runs, 4 centuries, the Adelaide twin, the on-pitch scuffles with Mitchell Johnson, the fiery press conferences Blockbuster stuff. Over the years, though the Adelaide Oval turned Kohli’s favorite searching floor in Australia – 509 runs from 4 Tests – his heroics at Bradman’s den aren’t precisely afterthoughts both.
Think of the bullish 169 throughout which Kohli turned the youngest to attain 1000 Test runs towards Australia, or how in 2018, Kohli’s India retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by romping to victory by 137 runs – it has a particular at MCG’s tickets counter. Or fairly merely how he owned the MCG in the course of the magnitude of his epic 82 not out towards Pakistan on the 2022 World Cup. But past the numbers and the pure genius of Kohli, the true purpose, Myles reckons, why the Australians love Kohli is as a result of they see plenty of themselves in him. Who would have thought that an Indian participant would give it again to the Australians whereas taking part in on their soil? The Aussies love a little bit of combat, and extra so if it is of their caliber.
Unlike Bradman and Tendulkar, Myles hasn’t seen a lot of Kohli batting reside however boy, he’s fairly excessive on him. He by no means thought anybody might match Tendulkar’s tally of fifty ODI centuries. Yet, 24 years after Myles noticed Sachin placed on a traditional towards an assault comprising Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Brett Lee, he’s amused at what Kohli continues to do. As for whether or not feels Kohli can match Tendulkar’s 100 lots of, Myles believes there is just one approach he can achieve this.
“Kohli… if he plays long enough, he can certainly get up to Tendulkar. Can he surpass him? I don’t think he will. I don’t think he will play long enough. Because one of the reasons that Test cricket is at the crossroads at the moment. A lot of them are playing ODI cricket and Kohli now realises he can’t play all three formats. It would help if he stops playing ODIs and concentrates only on Tests. They love him here. Australians love him here. He is a great player; an attacking player and he is value for money here. He was brash, aggressive; good to watch, and brought the people in.”
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
