Tiervermittlung Frankreich » scored just once in his last 21 games in the c

The first time I really noticed Ravi Shastri was via a scorecard I pored over on June 19, 1983. A day earlier, Kapil Dev had authored a cricketing miracle in Tunbridge Wells against Zimbabwe. My dad, my uncle and I were parsing the scorecard to get a handle on how the game had played out.We habitually disagreed on everything cricket, but the family quorum was unanimous on one point - Ravi Shastri, who had scored one run off six balls and given away seven runs in his only over, was a waste of good food.Our judgement was vindicated - he didnt play another game in that World Cup. My sister, who had a poster of Shastri on her bedroom wall - with two unsightly slits in the middle from when she had ripped it out of a magazine without regard to the staples - lost interest.The Benson & Hedges World Championship, two years later, reinforced our visceral dislike. When he scored 2 and 13 in the first two games, we nodded in agreement with common consensus - he was in the team only because of Sunil Gavaskar. When he scored 51 against Australia, we contrasted the 94 balls he faced against Kris Srikkanths innings of 93 off 115 - now thats how you do it. In the final against Pakistan, we vented in disgust as he used up nearly half the innings to stodge his way to 63 not out, mostly by flicking the ball off his hips, while at the other end Srikkanth buccaneered his way to 67 off just 77.My sister ooh-ed in delight as she watched Shastri collect the keys to the Audi that marked his coronation as the Champion of Champions. We three aah-ed in disgust. Dad thought Srikkanth should have got it; my uncle advocated Laxman Sivaramakrishnan; and I made an impassioned case for the charismatic Sadanand Viswanath. Anyone but Shastri, really. He is selfish, we agreed. Limited. Boring. Cant bat. Cant bowl. And in the outfield, god, by the time he condescends to bend down from that great height…Five years later I was a young editor at Mid-Day and Harsha Bhogle was our man in England. Shastri had responded to Graham Goochs monumental 333 in the Lords Test with a century of his own, but was shaded by Mohammad Azharuddins electric 121 off just 111 balls. Then, in the third Test, Shastri batted for nine-plus hours, faced 436 balls, and scored 187.It was a monument to true grit. So? Do you like grit in your eye?Watching Shastri bat is like admiring the Qutub Minar: tall, timeless, solid, Bhogle wrote then. You admire it for the virtues, not for its style.I clipped that piece and mailed it to Dad. I remember the response, in his laboured cursive: Have you seen the Qutub Minar? You can look at it for all of two minutes. After that, its just this thing thats there… In the mental gallery of cricketers I have followed, first as fan and then as reporter, that remark captions the image of Ravi Shastri - just this thing thats there. Who in hell admires something simply because it exists?And yet, even as I attempt to distil my atavistic dislike into words, a contrarian highlights reel plays out in the back of the mind. It starts with a 19-year-old landing in New Zealand on February 20, 1981 - one day before the first Test against Geoff Howarths side. His debut series, which began with a maiden to the New Zealand captain, saw him shade the likes of Richard Hadlee, Lance Cairns and Kapil as the highest wicket-taker on either side.In the space of the next 18 months his grit - that word again - saw him climb up the batting ladder from No. 10, through every single position, all the way up to No. 1. He joined forces with Mohinder Amarnath to save the first Test of the 1984-85 tour of Pakistan, and followed it up with a century, part of a 200-run partnership with Sandeep Patil, in the next. Back home, he scored what was only the second ODI century by an Indian, after Kapils iconic 175 not out against Zimbabwe. And he followed up that century against Australia, in Indore, with another hundred two months later, against England in Cuttack.His 142 in Bombay set up a Test win against England; his encore was another century in the third Test, in Calcutta, that anchored a record-setting 214-run partnership with Azharuddin. He batted on all the five days of that Test, his 111 taking him the better part of seven and a half hours.Those highlights sum up the quintessential Shastri - a monochromatic player whose monumental presence at one end allowed the stars the freedom to shine at the other. But there was more to his play than that single note, just as there was more to his batting than the utilitarian push off the hips, enshrined in lore as the chapati shot. In a Ranji Trophy game in early 1985, he scored his first 100 off just 80 balls and then raced to his double-century in a further 43, including the storied over off left-arm spinner Tilak Raj that disappeared for six consecutive sixes. It was the fastest double-century in first-class cricket then; it remains the joint-fastest till date - who woulda thunk, huh? In the final of the 50th year of the Ranji Trophy, in 1985, he took a match-winning 4 for 91 and 8 for 91 to go with a fighting 76 in the second innings to earn Bombay their 30th title.I can get plenty of first violinists, ace conductor Leonard Bernstein once said. But to find one who can play second violin with enthusiasm - thats the problem. Yet if there is no one to play second fiddle there is no harmony.When he had to, Shastri could step up and lead the orchestra. But he was an equally committed second fiddle - to Srikkanth, Gavaskar, Viswanath, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin and Tendulkar among others with the bat; to the likes of Siva and Maninder Singh with the ball.The highlights reel spins its way to Bridgetown 1989, where Shastri was at the receiving end of one of the greatest sledges ever. It was on a venomous Kensington Oval track, against an attack led by Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, abetted by Ian Bishop, the most recent addition to the overstocked arsenal of brutal pace. Facing a 56-run deficit in the first innings, Shastri came out to bat with India 0 for 1 (Sidhu). Marshall, in the midst of a masterclass in the lethal beauty that is true pace, produced a ripper that bored into Shastris groin. The fielders crowded around Shastri as he writhed on the ground. Desmond Haynes bent low and, in a voice of infinite concern, said Ravi, that girl you were to date tonight, can I have her number? You are no use to her now, maan! Shastri laughed as he writhed in agony. And then he got back on his feet and played one of the most defiant knocks by an Indian, ever - an epic that lasted close to seven and a half hours, in which his first 17 runs took nearly three hours, even as Arun Lal, Vengsarkar, Azharuddin, Manjrekar and Kapil were scythed down at the other end. He took everything the pace quartet could throw at him, and ended with a Man-of-the-Match century in a lost cause.The reel winds down in a soft whirr of nostalgia, and the rational part of me recognises that enduring legends have been constructed of less compelling material. Perhaps if he had walked off into the sunset after that last Test, against South Africa in Port Elizabeth in December 1992… Perhaps if he had left me to savour the memories, to miss him a little on the innumerable occasions when the team could have done with a bit of his doggedness, his grit, his guts… Perhaps then, in the light of the rear-view mirror, admiration would have been unalloyed.But no, he came right back, an over-loud presence in the commentary box spraying a limited set of stock phrases, like so many tracer bullets, all over the action. And he reminded me of what he used to do on the cricket field - make very little go a very long way. A rare and valuable quality, no doubt - and I admire hate the man for it.Illogical, yes. Irrational, certainly. But that is how it is, and I cannot explain why. The closest I can get is to recall the English poet Tom Brown. Caught in some schoolboy mischief by John Fell, dean of Christ Church college in Oxford, and challenged to extemporaneously translate a famous Martial epigram to avoid expulsion, Brown produced this:I do not like thee, Doctor Fell The reason why, I cannot tell; But this I know, and know full well I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.Thats my problem - the reason why, I cannot tell. Maybe if this argument were to go right down to the wire… Air Max 720 Uk Sale . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Air Max 720 Cheap Online . Robinson finished with 17 points, all but two in the second half, and Lawson had 14 after halftime and finished with a game-high 11 assists as the Nuggets handed Dallas its first home loss in eight games this season. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 22, and Kenneth Faried added 10 points and 10 rebounds. http://www.airmax720outletuk.com/ . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Cheap Air Max 720 . Nigeria beat surprise package Ethiopia 2-0 in the second leg of their playoff for a comfortable 4-1 aggregate victory. Victor Moses converted a 20th-minute penalty after an Ethiopian handball, and Victor Obinna made certain of Nigerias place in Brazil with his powerful free kick in the 82nd at UJ Esuene Stadium. Air Max 720 Uk . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout.Swansea are likely to bring back several of the players rested in midweek when they take on Norwich on Saturday at the Liberty Stadium. Angel Rangel, Federico Fernandez, Neil Taylor, Leon Britton, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Alberto Paloschi all are available for the crunch relegation battle after being stood down for the shock 2-1 win at Arsenal in midweek.The match represents a fantastic opportunity for the Swans to pull nine points clear of Norwich in 18th, with the Canaries position looking more perilous as we approach the business end of the season. Get ready for a mammoth month of football on Sky Sports as the Premier League title fight continues Norwich were dealt a huge blow in the run up to this encounter, with Alex Tettey ruled out for what could be the rest of the season - making boss Alex Neils task all the more difficult.Despite boasting a good recent record against the Swans, confidence will not be high going into the encounter in south Wales, as they are without in a win in their last eight in all competitions.Team newsSwansea head coach Francesco Guidolin will miss the game as he has been in hospital with a chest infection since Wednesday, and doctors have advised the Italian needs extra time to continue his recovery. Alex Tettey will be a big loss to Norwich Numerous changes are expected, but it remains to be seen if the Swans stick with the players who dented the Gunners title hopes in midweek.Tettey will definitely be missing for the Canaries. Robbie Brady lost teeth in a clash of heads with Gary ONeil, who was left with a deep gash, during the midweek home defeat by Chelsea, but both are expected to be available at the Liberty Stadium. Ed Chamberlin and Jamie Redknapp preview Watford v Leicester and Saturdays other Premier League games Forward Steven Naismith was rested against Chelsea because of fatigue, but should return to the squad, along with centre-half Sebastien Bassong and on-loan Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford, who was ineligible to face his parent club.Defender Andre Wisdom, on loan from Liverpool, remains out with a knee problem. Defender Ivo Pinto talks about Norwichs terrible luck and his belief that the Canaries fortunes will soon change Opta statsSwansea City and Norwich City have met 52 times in all competitions with both sides winning 21 games.ddddddddddddhe Swans have won just one of the seven Premier League meetings with the Canaries (W1 D2 L4).There have been 15 goals scored across the three Premier League meetings between Norwich and Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. Norwich manager Alex Neil has confirmed Alex Tettey will miss the rest of the season with an ankle injury Swansea have won just two of their last 12 Premier League matches at the Liberty Stadium (W2 D5 L5).The Canaries have kept the joint-fewest clean sheets in the Premier League this season (three, along with Sunderland).A league-low 25.7 per cent of Swanseas passes have been in the final third of the pitch this season.Only bottom club Aston Villa have conceded the first goal of a Premier League game on as many occasions as Norwich City (20 matches) this season. Swansea assistant coach Alan Curtis will remain in charge for the clash with Norwich Norwich have conceded more goals from crosses than any other Premier League team this season (15).Swansea City have conceded a league-high 10 goals from corner situations in the Premier League this season.After scoring in each of his first four Premier League appearances this season, Swansea striker Bafetimbi Gomis has scored just once in his last 21 games in the competition.Mersons predictionIf you had asked me three days ago, I would have said that this is Swanseas cup final, but now if they win this game that is it, I think they are safe - all within a matter of a week. No one expected them to beat Arsenal - I dont think they did either given the team they sent out! But fair play to them.I am going to go for 1-1 here. I think Norwich will have a go and one day they will put away all these chances they create.Paul predicts: 1-1 (Sky Bet Odds 5/1)BettingSwansea caused one of the upsets of the season when 2-1 winners at Arsenal on Wednesday evening but are Sky Bets odds-on (19/20) favourites to get the better of Norwich, who find themselves level on points with Sunderland but inside the relegation zone due to a less favourable goal difference. The Canaries are 2/5 for the drop and 3/1 to pick up all three points from their trip to the Liberty Stadium. Its 12/5 against the draw, with 1-1 the 5/1 favourite in the correct score market. Sky Sports experts Charlie Nicholas and Phil Thompson are both backing the Swans Ghanaian forward Andre Ayew to score the opening goal of the game, with is also available at 5/1. ' ' '