The 54 ba*ls that he bowled to the world's highest-ranked Test batsman Ricky Ponting was the ‘turning point’ of his life, says India's pace sensation Ishant Sharma. The gangling 6'4" Delhi speedster, hailed as the find of the just-concluded Australian tour, has cool head despite being thrust into limelight suddenly. The 19-year-old cricketer said, "the nine overs during which I bowled Ponting out (in Perth Test) are very important for me. That was the turning point of my life. This tour was very crucial for me. It has changed my whole life". Big bucks, hysterical fans and media adulation that comes with cricket stardom have not gone to his head. "Everyone tells me don't forget from where you've come. Never forget your roots," said Ishant, son of an air conditioner mechanic. While Ponting lavished praise on Ishant for producing ‘outstanding’ spells, his predecessor Steve Waugh described the Delhiite as ‘next best thing in Indian cricket’

I saw highlights of the ceremony felicitating heroes of the World Cup'83 champs as part of silver jubilee celebrations. Sunny Gavaskar praised Kapil Dev's 175 n.o.against Zimbabwe (India were 17 for 5) as the real inspiration for team.

I vividly recall watching the final on TV... 25 years ago. When Viv Richards was butchering Indian bowlers there was absolutely no hope. Then he was caught brilliantly by Kapil off Madan Lal's bowling which really turned the game.

Man of the match & series was Jimmy Amarnath! It's a different matter that the subsequent Windies tour of India was a forgettable series. Amarnath was out on a duck in maybe 5 out of 7 innings.

Cricket, like markets is a great leveller.

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, now pretty old guys, 75 and 80
years old, are sitting on a park bench feeding pigeons and talking about
cricket,like they do every day.

Sachin turns to Sourav and says, "Do you think there's cricket in
heaven?"

Ganguly thinks about it for a minute and replies, "I dunno. But let's
make a deal: if I die first, I'll come back and tell you if there's cricket
in heaven, and if you die first, you do the same." They shake on it and
sadly, a few months later, poor Sachin passes on.

One day soon afterward, Ganguly is sitting there feeding the pigeons
by himself when he hears a voice whisper, "Sourav... Sourav!"

Ganguly responds, "Sachin! Is that you?"

"Yes it is, Sourav," whispers Sachin's ghost.

Ganguly, still amazed, asks, "So, is there cricket in heaven?" "Well,"
says Sachin, "I've got good news and bad news." "Gimme the good news first,"
says Ganguly.

Sachin says, "Well... there is cricket in heaven." Ganguly says,
"That's great! What news could be bad enough to ruin that!?"

Sachin sighs and whispers,

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"You and I, We are going to open the innings on Friday."

dada's going, so will dadagiri???