pakistan

Gavin Larsen: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

Gavin Larsen

What he said:

“What we did was in the first game of the tournament, we were playing the Yellow Team. We just called them the Yellow Team. We played Zimbabwe at Napier, we called them the Red Team. Pakistan was the Green Team. That made us focus on what we needed to do as a team to beat that Yellow Team. That took away some of the emotion.”

Former New Zealand seam-up bowler, Gavin Larsen, reveals the psychological mindset behind the extraordinary performance of the Kiwis team at the ’92 World Cup.

He said:

“We had some good experience in the team. A lot of guys had played a lot of cricket domestically and for New Zealand. It wasn’t a young, raw, immature team. First and foremost, there was some mental strength across the individuals in the team. The other thing that I do remember is how Martin Crowe insisted that we depersonalised each of the teams. New Zealand has played Australia in the past and you can get caught in the Trans-Tasman hype – playing the old enemy from across the ditch.”

Russell and Martin Crowe (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What he really meant:

 “We, of course, were the All-Blacks. It wasn’t that hard a stretch to color code our opponents. And we certainly made them eat Crowe.”

What he definitely didn’t:

 “How’s that for Emotional Intelligence?”

Usain Bolt: What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t

English: Usain Bolt at the World Championship Athletics 2009 in Berlin (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Usain Bolt

What he said:

“A cheetah would be cooler. I can see the headlines, ‘Usain Bolt beats cheetah’.”

The champion sprinter was replying to a question whether he would like to race against a fast car or a cheetah.

The cheetah is the fastest land animal and can reach speeds of 90 to 128 kmph. Bolt, however, has clocked a top speed of about 45 kmph.

(1936 four-gold medal winner Jesse Owens raced against  horses in exhibits but he cheated. The starting gun was fired next to the thoroughbred’s head startling it and giving the sprinter a head-start.)

Bolt was in Bangalore to play a seven-a-side exhibition match against a team which had some of India’s top cricketers including Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan. The face-off was titled ‘Bolt and Yuvi – Battle of the Legends’.

On breaking new records:

“It’s possible. After running 9.58 seconds I’ve never said, ‘Never again.’ My coach knows there is no limit because I never knew I was going to go that fast. But when you go there, you have great competition, you push yourself to the limit and if you are in great shape anything is possible. No, I don’t have any magic number in mind. To me, the 100m record is not the one which matters now. It is the 200m where I want to go sub-19.”

Asked if yam and chicken nuggets were his secret ingredients:

“Yeah, but chicken nuggets was just one time in China as I didn’t want to take a chance with other food. Otherwise, I eat normal food. I’m not the kind of person who would give advice on diet (laughs) because I’m bad when it comes to my diet as I eat anything that I like.”

On Sachin Tendulkar:

“Everybody knows him. Sachin is one of the greatest ever in the sport. I remember the days when he depressed me by beating West Indies. There is another funny story. When I was growing up I never supported West Indies. I was a Pakistan supporter which my dad could never understand. But then I was a huge Waqar Younis fan.”

What he really meant:

“I’d like to prove I’m the fastest beast on the planet—I’m not a machine. I get injured and no mechanics can repair me.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Let’s race cars and we’ll headline it ‘Usain goes to Hollywood'”.

Gautam Gambhir: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

What he said:

“It looks like Afridi is still behaving in the manner as if he is still the 16-year-old making his international debut. He is still immature. It was my personal wish to pay tributes to the 26/11 victims."

Gautam Gambhir believes that Shahid Afridi has not yet outgrown his adolescence and behaves like a spoilt brat. The left-hander was reacting to the former Pakistani skipper’s comments that Indians are not large-hearted after Pakistan lost to India in the World Cup semis.

What he really meant:

“Afridi has not changed—neither his batting nor his behaviour.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“I learnt how to win friends and influence people from Afridi.”

What he said, really meant and definitely didn’t: Tillakaratne Dilshan

Rehman Malik is Pakistani cricket team’s enemy No. 1

Yuvraj Singh is the hero of the night: India face Pak in semis

Pakistan stroll into the semis: West Indies roll over and play dead

Ross Taylor destroys Pakistan’s bowling attack: New Zealand top group

If you die in an elevator, be sure to push the Up button. Sam Levenson

Source: http://quotes4all.net/quote_567.html

[Powered by QuotesPlugin v1.0 for Windows Live Writer]

Team selection for the Asian Games at Guangzhou: BCCI miss their cue

Image via Wikipedia

The BCCI have been roundly criticised for their decision to abstain from the 16th Asian Games at Guangzhou. India are the only major Asian cricketing superpower to not send a team. Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have squads representing their respective countries.

The BCCI bailed out claiming that they did not want to send a second string team since the Games clashed with the India – New Zealand Test and ODI series. The Ranji trophy is also scheduled around the same time—sending a team would rob the tournament of it’s sheen.

Risk Management & IPL

For all the hullabaloo about how the Pakistani players were snubbed at the IPL players auction, it just seems a case of smart risk management on the part of the IPL team owners.

Risk is about uncertainty and exposure.

There was uncertainty if the Pakistani players would be available to play for the IPL teams, for various reasons.

Was there exposure? Yes, if you had a Pakistani player on your team.

So, it was risk management and the reason why it appeared pre-planned was because it seems that all the IPL team owners looked at the situation through the same lens.

No cricketing logic to it! Just not cricket, as they say! But then who says the IPL is just about cricket? Are any of the IPL team owners cricketers?

Have a good day!

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Share this post :