The Good, Bad & the Ugly ft. Steve Smith, Gianluigi Buffon and Afghanistan cricket
SportsCafe
Yet another week and sports continued to influence its lovers in all three ways- good, bad, and ugly. This week too, we look at a host of things ranging from Steve Smith’s return to playing cricket, Ireland’s encouraging loss against to Gianluigi Buffon’s retirement and Afghanistan's tragedy.
The Good
The only Aussie, who actually managed to turn public condemnation into sympathy following a heart-wrenching press conference after the infamous sandpaper scandal in South Africa, was former skipper Steve Smith. Possibly one of the greatest batsmen of this generation, even missing one year of Smith’s batting would be a huge waste for the sport and when the possibility of him returning to Canada’s T20 league came to the fore, people welcomed it with open arms.
Ireland’s performance against Pakistan in Dublin will fill any cricket lover’s heart with pride. Though not new to the game, Ireland had to toil really hard to acquire the Test status and when given the chance to prove their mettle, the players performed unbelievably. Though they started off shakily as Pakistan bowled them out for just 130 runs, they regrouped the second time and came up with a solid batting performance of 339 against one of the world’s best bowling attack. It didn’t end there though as Pakistan were given a run for the money as they were reduced to 14/3 chasing 159, thanks to some brilliant bowling by Tim Murtagh.Â
The Bad
IPL, this season, hasn’t seen many superstars performing on the big stage. While the likes of MS Dhoni, Shreyas Iyer, Virat Kohli and more have managed to pile on the runs, old horses Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh have given enough hints that they are done and dusted. Kings XI Punjab had decided to buy Yuvraj Singh against all odds in slim hopes that the once golden boy of the country will shine one last time. But, Yuvraj has looked a shadow of his former self this season, managing just 65 runs in 8 games, and his terrible display at the face of adversity against Mumbai Indians on Tuesday pretty much reflected up how the almighty has fallen.
Moving away from cricket, because it is not the only source of sadness, Gianluigi Buffon’s retirement would be a sad news for football fans all around the around. While at a club level it will be a deja vu of Francesco Totti’s retirement last season, at a more international level football would be losing one of its biggest gems from the field. Making his debut in 1997, the Carrara-born shot-stopper went on to earn a whopping 174 caps for the Azzurri, winning the World Cup once and was probably the last of Italy’s golden generation.
The Ugly
While on other weeks, I struggle to unearth instances that would be fit for this category, it was fairly easy this week. Afghanistan has been one of the most successful stories of modern-day cricket. Not only have they been granted Full Member status by ICC last year, the brilliant performances by Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman in the IPL has kept the excitement of their upcoming Test match with India at the peak. However, they were given a stern reminder on Friday that cricket alone couldn’t be their way out of the throes of terrorism. During a cricket match held in the city of Jalalabad, a series of bomb explosions killed as many as eight spectators and 45 more were wounded.
“The terrorists did not stop killing our people even during the holy month of Ramadan," a statement from the president Ashraf Ghani said.
Another development, not nearly as terrible as the one above, but could be called ugly is the ongoing feud between ICC and CoA that has taken a new turn – this time for an all the more petty issue. BCCI had reportedly asked the Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators to choose an Indian speaker, preferably someone who had played alongside Nawab Pataudi, to preside as the speaker in the auspicious occasion of Pataudi Memorial Lecture next month. But, after Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara cited unavailability for the CoA’s invitation, the committee decided to invite Kevin Pietersen instead of turning to the likes of Nari Contractor, Chandu Borde, Erapalli Prasanna, or Abbas Ali Baig. BCCI acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary has expressed his annoyance with CoA’s pettiness in a mail asking them to reconsider the decision as a small tussle between the two India cricket heads continue.
