What you shouldn’t do…
Cricket, baseball and tennis!
Can you think of some similarities between cricket, baseball and lawn tennis? Probably they are all played with balls and bats/rackets, all require good reactions etc. Anything else? Well, there is a beautiful correlation between these three sports.
Let us have a look at cricket. A cricket pitch is 22 yards i.e. close to 20 m. The fastest bowlers bowl at around 100 mph i.e. close to 160 kmph (about 45 m/s). Thus, the reaction time for a batsman facing a delivery is 20/45 = 0.42 seconds
In baseball, the pitcher has no run-up. The counterpart of a fast bowler in cricket is the power pitcher in baseball. The pitcher is at a distance of 18.44 m from the hitter at the time of the release of the ball. A pitcher usually generates a speed of 100 mph (45 m/s). Thus, the reaction time for a hitter in baseball is 18.44/45 = 0.41 seconds
In the case of lawn tennis, due to the advent of better racket technology, the players are able to server faster these days. The faster serves are in the range of 140 mph (62.6 m/s). Now, assume that the serve is diagonal on the court. The length and breadth of the triangle on the court are 78 and 27 feet. Thus the distance covered by the ball is 82.54 feet (square root of 78 and 27) or 25.16 m. Thus, the reaction time for a tennis player to pick the serve is 25.16/62.6 = .40 seconds
This shows us the striking similarity between the reaction times in these popular sports.
PS: Inputs from the book, “100 essential things you didn’t know you didn’t know about SPORT” by John D. Barrow
You might have won the game, could not win our hearts…
Winning and losing does not matter if you play your heart out. India has exited the world T20, but it is by no means a heroes exit. Dhoni might boast that team India won 4 out 5 T20’s in the World Cup and cannot control the outcome of other matches, but in reality team India did not show enough passion on the field. The way the team fielded against SA was just pathetic, it was as if they are playing a veterans game! The way the top order lost its wickets was shambolic. Sehwag’s dismissal is still echoing in my mind.
If Pakistan could defend 150 odd against Australia with a margin of over 30 runs, India could also have achieved the same, but had they shown the courage and grit to do so. Cricket is the only religious sport in the nation (though I hope others also catch up soon) and still there are management issues/power centers in the team. The team formation against Australia was a total mess, no Sehwag and 3 full time spinners, it was a surely a recipe for disaster if you think you can manage against the mighty Aussie attack with 6 frontline batsman. Gambhir is constantly under-performing; Sehwag also needs to show some more maturity. I know he is flamboyant, but that slog after the six off Peterson was uncalled for. The team is over relying on Kohli, middle order is found wanting usually. The fielding is just too banal. Zak is also getting predictable each day! The players are in the team are highly talented, but what good is the talent when not put to use?
Team India needs to work hard, players should work on their fitness, better their fielding, improve their temperament etc. etc. But will all the money pouring in, all the sponsors lined up for the cricketers, all the glam in the world at their footsteps, will they really push hard? For the sake of the nation may be, for some national pride, not sure if these sentiments exist for the Indian National cricket team players!?
It is truly an apt satire: Haar kar jitne waale ko baazigar kehte hain, aur jeet kar haarne waale ko team India kehte hain.