England's tour of India (Nov '16/Feb '17)

[aditya123]

He's been fired

What! I heard on the show that Najam Sethi had said somewhere that TV anchors would lose their job if Pakistan started winning. What has been given as the reason for his sacking? I used to like the banter and needle on 'Game on Hai'. Shoaib tried to take over as the host for a week during the final test but it looked like he was trying too hard. Game on hai ji!

 

[CerealKiller]

What! I heard on the show that Najam Sethi had said somewhere that TV anchors would lose their job if Pakistan started winning. What has been given as the reason for his sacking? I used to like the banter and needle on 'Game on Hai'. Shoaib tried to take over as the host for a week during the final test but it looked like he was trying too hard. Game on hai ji!

He signed a contract with the Karachi Kings on behalf of PTV Sports, which is government owned, without seeking a permission from the federal government.

 

[Rehan_24]

I have no doubts on Virat's quality as a player worldwide, but ranking him above Sachin and old time greats is bit early at the moment. No two eras can be compared too as well...

 

[LiveLoveABD]

I have no doubts on Virat's quality as a player worldwide, but ranking him above Sachin and old time greats is bit early at the moment. No two eras can be compared too as well...

There hasn't been a batsman equal to V Kohli in limited overs 'ever.' May be, just may be one guy comes close and that's AB de Villiers and I say that as a hardcore ABD fan. Best cricketer ever in limited overs? I think we can debate that. Personally, I rate chaps that go BIG in big ticket tournaments.

 

[zwarrior]

There hasn't been a batsman equal to V Kohli in limited overs 'ever.' May be, just may be one guy comes close and that's AB de Villiers and I say that as a hardcore ABD fan. Best cricketer ever in limited overs? I think we can debate that. Personally, I rate chaps that go BIG in big ticket tournaments.

It's difficult to say best batsmen ever. Can't compare different eras. Like Viv vs Kohli. Can't really decide on that. Totally different ball game.

 

[LiveLoveABD]

It's difficult to say best batsmen ever. Can't compare different eras. Like Viv vs Kohli. Can't really decide on that. Totally different ball game.

While I agree about your point on 'eras' I just haven't seen/read someone just churn out 100's like Kohli. The biggest thing for me is not the numbers, but just the consistency with which he's winning games for India. Each year ends and I go like 'Surely he's going to fail at some point' but he just takes it a notch higher. I think I've not seen a captain ever choose to chase just so that a batsman in the opposition can't. That in itself, says a lot.

Let me not come across as a buffoon. All I'm trying to say is that people like Richards, Tendulkar, de Villers and Kohli no doubt have/had an aura about them when they walk into bat and have equally good numbers but the single handed match winning ability of V Kohli in limited overs makes me fear that my eye balls might pop out one day. I cannot tell you how proud I feel that every cricketer in the world wants to be like him and he's an Indian. As good as SRT was in his pomp, V Kohli is just the ultimate package. People like to say Smith, Williamson and Root are in the same category and yes, in tests it's true, but in limited overs cricket, V Kohli is his own category. Anyone who thinks they can draw parallels with him at the current moment is delusional or blind.

 

[Rehan_24]

We should also never forget that there was no social media, much electronic media and such a liberty to say anything for anyone in the era of Viv Richards.... We as a current gen audience has just heard about Viv we haven't seen him play live... We didn't hail his match winning performances. Just like there is no comparison between batsmen from two eras, There is also no comparison between the others things of two eras, like the hype, Hapolua, Comments and celebrations across all platform for ages that you have conquered the world.

Having said that, At this time, He is certainly the Best Batsman around.

 

[Samuels]

We can't really compare Virat or Viv with nobody. They are very very different batters. It is like comparing Oliver Kahn and Manuel Neuer or Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Virat is a modern day cricketer who works on getting the results and he is darn good at that while Viv was a gifted man with a lot of courage and huge heart. Not many would like to face Jeff Thompson without a helmet or protection nor would they have heart to encourage best batsman in the opposition team to stick them when his team was 2 down for naught. I am not saying Viv was less or more skilled than Virat. All I am saying that Viv was a born genius while Virat seem to have fought his way up with his hard work. Viv was still picking Warnie's variations right from his hand at 48. Not sure Virat will be able to do that. I would say Viv is more in the league of Sachin and other naturally gifted players while Virat had work up his way at the top.

 

[Rehan_24]

When Sachin, Lara, Ponting, Inzy was there at one hand you had Mcgrath, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Shane Warne, Murlidharan on the other hand. The "Golden" Era of Cricket. All these players are born in centuries so it was like an Icon vs Icon. Like When Tendulkar facing Akram its "Icon vs Icon" Battle... So We can never ever compare the modern day batsmen with the All Time Greats because overall the Quality in World Cricket has been down. Today there is no Warne, No Akram, No Akhtar and I have to say No Sachin and Inzy as well....

Virat, Smith, Root are doing great for themselves and for modern day cricket... Plus the way Cricket play now, there is a massive shift in gear and behaviors... Class has been taken over by Boundaries now.... So Its like that today which is good for today....

Out of three modern day batsmen, The one who came out on top because of his hard work most is Steven Smith in my opinion, I can remember How ordinary he was coming at number 8th and started his career mainly as a bowler... He plays quite unorthodox but because of his conviction and hard-work, He is now among the league of best players. On the contraray, Virat and Root are more gifted as talent and technique

 

[ParkedTheBus]

Find it really hilarious that de Villiers is being mentioned along the likes of Sachin, Sir Viv or even Kohli. Now, imo Kohli isn't up there with the very best yet simply because he's playing in an era where cricket as a whole is at an all-time low in terms of quality and pitches are extremely biased towards batsmen. But if he continues like this, he will most certainly end up as one of the best of all time. On the other hand, what has de Villiers done to warrant the comparison except perform in IPL? Him and Amla are two players who are (or rather, were) elite in scoring in meaningless bilateral series but always ducked when they were faced with a challenge.

 

[zwarrior]

Saying that the current players didn't face the great bowlers and nowadays pitch suits batting and hence they can't surpass the likes of Viv, Sachin and so on, is not fair at all. Kohli / ABD could have played well during that era too, and they could have done better job than the rest or they could have even failed . They didn't get chance to play during that time. It's not their fault. It doesn't mean that, what they have achieved is less than what their seniors have.

Again, comparing different eras and telling Viv, Sachin are better than Kohli/ABD based on a sole reason that newer guys didn't face great bowlers, is not a valid reason according to me. During that generation they were the best and in this generation, Kohli/ABD are the best.

 

[zwarrior]

Coming to the match, Bhuvi should replace Yadav. And hopefully they drop Dhawan.

 

[CerealKiller]

Him and Amla are two players who are (or rather, were) elite in scoring in meaningless bilateral series but always ducked when they were faced with a challenge.

Now you're judging them on two series
AB will go down as an all-time great; whether you like it or not.

 

[zwarrior]

India need to set a target of minimum 300-315 to be in the game.

 

[ParkedTheBus]

Now you're judging them on two series
AB will go down as an all-time great; whether you like it or not.

'2 series', let's see: World Cup 2007, WT20 07, Champions Trophy 09, WT20 09, WT20 10, World Cup 2011, WT20 2012, CT 2013, WT20 2014, WC 2015, WT20 16. These were the tournaments where Amla/de Villiers/both played, often in the best team in the tournament, and couldn't even win one of them. Nope, not one. Zero. Zilch. 0/11. What's the point in beating up Sri Lanka/West Indies or some random Indian bloke in the IPL if you can't guide the best side in the tournament to the trophy?