Thursday, November 02, 2006
One glorious departure, one sad
In the past few weeks we've seen two departures in sport. One has been a glorious one, a great achiever, a winner always, a fighter, a name sure to arouse passion wherever it is heard, one way or other. The other one was in a torrent of could-have-beens - a departure (albeit temporary) of a sportsman always billed to be the next great, someone destined for much greater things than the things that he actually achieved in a patchy 10 odd year career.
The first departure was of Michael Schumacher - as he retired from professional F1 racing after dominating the sport for almost half a decade. The second one was of Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistani fast bowler banned for two years for taking a banned drug. At 31, the age when most (though not all) super fast bowlers either slow down or are put to pasture, the Rawalpindi Express' career is probably over.
The one thing both of them shared was flair and the ability to be completely unpredictable. Schumacher's brilliant race in Malaysia when he helped Eddie Irvine and the inglorious crash with Damon Hill and similarly, Shoaib's those two balls to Sachin, Dravid and his self destruction in the recent Indian tour of Pakistan exemplify the extent of that unpredictability. However, the difference was that while Schumacher's unpredictability was more often than not exciting and enthralling, Shoaib's was usually despairing and plain scary (What more is he gonna do now??).
Must admit, I've been a fan of Shoaib - him pounding down and hurling a 160 kmph thunderbolt at a mousy and scared batsman is quite a sight. And it is a sight which is rarer and rarer in cricket. He was one of the draws of the game for me. I've been an even bigger fan of Schumacher, who I believe has been born and raised to define the sport that he represents. He's got brilliant technique - but more importantly hes got a very sound temperament which puts him a cut above the rest in pressure situations. Unfortunately, that is one thing that Shoaib does not have in common with Schumacher. ¶ 11:37 AM
The first departure was of Michael Schumacher - as he retired from professional F1 racing after dominating the sport for almost half a decade. The second one was of Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistani fast bowler banned for two years for taking a banned drug. At 31, the age when most (though not all) super fast bowlers either slow down or are put to pasture, the Rawalpindi Express' career is probably over.
The one thing both of them shared was flair and the ability to be completely unpredictable. Schumacher's brilliant race in Malaysia when he helped Eddie Irvine and the inglorious crash with Damon Hill and similarly, Shoaib's those two balls to Sachin, Dravid and his self destruction in the recent Indian tour of Pakistan exemplify the extent of that unpredictability. However, the difference was that while Schumacher's unpredictability was more often than not exciting and enthralling, Shoaib's was usually despairing and plain scary (What more is he gonna do now??).
Must admit, I've been a fan of Shoaib - him pounding down and hurling a 160 kmph thunderbolt at a mousy and scared batsman is quite a sight. And it is a sight which is rarer and rarer in cricket. He was one of the draws of the game for me. I've been an even bigger fan of Schumacher, who I believe has been born and raised to define the sport that he represents. He's got brilliant technique - but more importantly hes got a very sound temperament which puts him a cut above the rest in pressure situations. Unfortunately, that is one thing that Shoaib does not have in common with Schumacher. ¶ 11:37 AM
