Mark this Waugh

Life throws strange results at times….. kings grow humble…..millionaires become paupers…. Even the demon Bradman got a duck in his last innings….

The same can be said of Mark Edward Waugh….. After entertaing people the world over…. At the Wanderers….. M.C.G……. Sydney….Old Trafford…. And our very own Chidambaram… he finished it up in the obvlivion of Sharjah… playing at 3rd party venue.. with feeble attendance and against a feebler team…. Waugh too like Healy must be thinking he needed atleast one innings more to show that he still had runs left in him..

Well as an ardent fan I watched his last innings in tests at sharjah fully aware that I was seeing the very last of him…. Runs eluded him … but he still was Mark Waugh.. elegance being his hallmark…. The wristy flick…. How the hell??? How can he conjure up something like that?????????? What a shame it can fetch only four runs… had Keats been the scorer he wud have given him a hundred…. I can very well sense the agony the fast bowler might feel at this….. so many calories spent meeting such a spiteful end…???? Just because of a flick of wrists??? The same can be said of the cover drive….. the off drive.. the late cut…. Everything had poetry in it…. Perhaps the only batsman who could freeze time…. I have strong belief that the bowlers through sheer agony must have known this was fine art at its best….. thus giving them a strong reason to fake their agony??? Who knows they too might have enjoyed it!! Who with eisthetique wudnt??

What a pity he was always compared with Tagga…. To compare them was akin to flair vs guts… talent vs temperament… though it would be preposterous to state that.. steve after having a 50+ avg.. didn’t have talent… or Junior having got selcted 128 times didn’t have temperament… They say for junior it was always style above steel…. What rubbish??? Style wud be prevalent only for a small period of time…. But for 13yrs..style wud come definitely a distant second to steel….

To watch him was to see a Da vinci pads on….. nah I wudnt demean him.. it was mark himself… taking batsmanship to the heights of craftsmanship….
Though pseudo wise men always made attacks on him.. saying he didn’t value his wicket… but good observance shall teach ye that… at the top of the order as an opener he neednt cut and slash and slog…. He seemed unhurried … but the scorers were kept busy….
What if he never valued his wicket?? What if his avg isn’t good??? Who asked u to judge him?? Who are we to do so?? Why not take time off to watch him… just for the sheer pleasure of watching beautiful batsmanship…. A treat to senses.. can be as relaxing as a Turkish bath…..
For a person who isn’t keen on records .. he might value his 181 catches a lott… an awesome 1.5 catches per match…. And also he is supposed to have been holding the (unofficial)world record for the longest ever…. He hit Vettori out of the WACA.. onto the street….. they say the same hit at Lords would have seen the ball ascending even after clearing the media centre…

Its all over as they say…. The past is dead…. But then again.. why do they say that the ghosts of the gr8 cricketers of yore lurk in the S.C.G??? whatever it is…. One thing is assured…. Whenever , upon the beginning of the season…. The scoreboards are read at the GABBA… ull sense a hole in the middle…..