Sachin’s Blasters will take on Warne’s Warriors in the first Twenty20 of Cricket All-Stars 2015 in New York on Saturday. A customary reading of the team sheets will probably make cricket lovers tear up with nostalgia and joy. For a child of the 1990s who never watched cricket till the early 2000s, some of the names on the list invoke a sense of awe without a lot of memory to go with it. By now we have all heard of the legendary fielding skills of Jonty Rhodes, the menacing presence of Curtly Ambrose, and the searing pace of Allan Donald; but not a lot of modern cricket fans would have seen these men in action. READ: Cricket All-Stars League 2015: Inaugural ceremony and 1st T20 on Saturday night
The very thought of watching Wasim Akram bowling with Donald and Courtney Walsh is an enticing one, as is the idea of Ambrose tearing in with Shoaib Akhtar and Shaun Pollock. And of course, there is the prospect of watching Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag open batting, followed by Sourav Ganguly, Brian Lara, and Mahela Jayawardene. On the other hand, we have Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Matthew Hayden, and Ricky Ponting crossing blades.
The match is unlikely to be a highly competitive one of outstanding skill and fitness. As much as we love these cricketers, not many would be delusional enough to imagine that Ambrose, Donald, and Akram will cross 140 too often. As for the batsmen, running twos may not be too common, and threes will almost certainly be out of the question. READ: Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Warne go unrecognised on streets of New York
But that will not matter. To the cricket fan, this is the fantasy cricket match that has already been played a thousand times in our minds. Tendulkar stepping out and hitting Warne inside out over extra cover; Rhodes pulling off a spectacular run out; Akram cleaning up a batsman with a fast in-dipping yorker; Lara scything a cover drive with his characteristic high back-lift; none of these may happen at all. But the very fact that there exists a possibility is enough to soothe the minds of many of a cricket lover.
Regardless of the quality of cricket on display, it is the very idea of these legends playing with and against each other that makes the Cricket All-Stars such a wonderful idea. Whether or not the match succeeds in bringing cricket to USA in a big way, it will undoubtedly offer some happy moments to a lot of fans. READ: Sachin Tendulkar says Cricket All Stars League is meant to inspire people to play cricket
Squads:
Sachin’s Blasters: Sachin Tendulkar (c), Moin Khan (wk), Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene, Lance Klusener, Carl Hooper, Glenn McGrath, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shaun Pollock, Shoaib Akhtar, Curtly Ambrose, Graeme Swann.
Warne’s Warriors: Shane Warne (c), Kumar Sangakkara (wk), Matthew Hayden, Jacques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Michael Vaughan, Jonty Rhodes, Saqlain Mushtaq, Daniel Vettori, Courtney Walsh, Ajit Agarkar, Allan Donald, Wasim Akram.
(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek who loves cricket more than cricketers. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)
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