Your World Cup package stood out for its content, interview, graphics and photographs. Today, we are the most successful cricket team in the world, and we will continue to dominate the sport for many more years to come (‘Ah, class act!’, July 14).
Thanks to players like Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Anil Kumble, M.S. Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah and others cricket has today become a unifying force in the country and cuts across cultural barriers.
From this moment, Indian cricket will only grow, and like never before. India today has unrivalled power in cricket. No team can reach anywhere close to us. Some say we constitute more than 85 per cent of around one billion cricket fans globally. Wow!
Gaurav Malhotra,
On email.
Rohit, Virat and Bumrah have taken Indian cricket to greater heights. They brought a much-needed passion and aggression into the sport. There was a time when players from Australia, England and Pakistan used to sledge our cricketers who used to fear them. Back then our cricketers never stared back, or gave it back to these foreign cricketers. Today, no cricketer from anywhere in the world would dare to mess with an Indian cricketer. They are all scared of our cricketers and jealous of them.
Pranab Kumar,
On email.
Bumrah is an unstoppable force today, and he should stay away from injuries for the next four to five years. Bumrah makes his presence felt in every match, which is great. If not for Bumrah, we might not have won the T20 World Cup. He is the best bowler in the world today.
I agree with Roger Binny that Dravid’s calm nature played a big role in the victory. It will be interesting to see how the team performs under Gautam Gambhir, who is, by nature, combative and quarrelsome.
Dhruv Baweja,
On email.
India’s fielding and bowling have improved by leaps and bounds. The Indian Premier League has helped cricket grow even further with significant changes like making batsmen fitter and more adventurous. Labelled as the greatest franchise cricket league in the world, the IPL is also helping our economy. India today commands the biggest fan base globally, which is a matter of immense pride.
Ranjana Luthra,
On email.
It is good that Sharma and Kohli retired from T20 cricket. Sharma will turn 38 next year, and Kohli will turn 36 soon. I think they should retire from ODIs in a year or two, and focus only on Test cricket till they are around 41.
Kohli, I feel, is interested to score some more centuries in ODI cricket, and would want to widen the gap with Tendulkar’s centuries. Once that is done, he will retire from ODIs. If the 50-over ODIs are scrapped in the coming years, Kohli will remain the player with the highest number of centuries in that format.
Tapas Nandan,
On email.
When Tendulkar retired, I stopped watching cricket. Back then, in 2013, an entire generation of cricket lovers felt terrible. But with Kohli and Sharma, that kind of emotion is not to be seen. Tendulkar was a class apart, who was incomparable. He was so humble and never exuded uncalled-for aggression.
Peter Thomas,
On email.
It was good to see teams from as many countries participate in the T20 World Cup. There was a time when only 10 or fewer teams used to play in a cricket World Cup. It is good for the sport when teams like Afghanistan, the US and Ireland perform well. It will make cricket more popular.
Jomy Paul,
Delhi.
In the T20 World Cup it was a perfect blend of players with varying degrees of age, aggression, youthful exuberance, and guided by a cool, level-headed coach. The undefeated team exhibited superlative performance to quench last year’s heartburn of losing the all-important final.
May I congratulate Indian cricket for surmounting every hurdle to lift the coveted trophy.
Sachidananda Satpathy,
On email.
All is not well
The Karnataka Congress is a deeply divided house (‘Two of a kind’, July 14). D.K. Shivakumar is on a sticky wicket after the Lok Sabha election and has lost much of his political leverage. Who knows, he may even quit the Congress in the days to come.
Everyone knows that the Congress in Karnataka would not have won the election in 2023 had it not been for Shivakumar. Siddaramaiah is a mass leader, but he is no match for Shivakumar. Siddaramaiah heavily relies on offering freebies. Soon Karnataka politics will witness Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar bandying words with each other.
Vyas Venu,
On email.
Trump will win
Mark my words, Donald Trump will be the 47th president of the US (‘A midsummer nightmare’, July 14). There is no way that Joe Biden can become the US president one more time. Biden is a good man who has done good work as president, but he is simply not able to lead the US for another term.
Trump, who is only two years younger than him, is sharp and focused. Yes, Trump is a polarising figure, but after his recent brush with death, his fans are going to be even more faithful to their best-loved man.
Varun Gupta,
On email.
Trump is sure to become the US president for one more term. We should acknowledge the fact that he is a very smart man. Who among us can speak as alertly and confidently as Trump does at the age of 78. Very few can. So, let’s accept that Trump is a special man.
Rohit Kurup,
On email.