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Australia vs Pakistan: Stern Boxing Day test for buoyant Misbah and Co at fortress MCG - Firstpost

The fixture itself, though, is a visitors’ nightmare, with only three wins in the past 20 years, since the end of West Indies’ lengthy period of dominance. In this period, only South Africa (once) and England (twice), have put it past the Australians, in front of intimidating crowds which Ian Chappell once memorably described as “an atmosphere so charged that it would make the Christians feel like the Coliseum was a home game.” In the middle of the grand theatre that is the MCG, you can only empathise if visiting sides experience a vertigo inducing effect a la Paul Kelly’s Leaps and Bounds, shot not very far from the arena.

The greatest gift you can give an athlete - Livemint

It’s a pity because if athletes are always playing for something, they also want to play for somebody (it’s easier to chase something if somebody is out there). The crowd never comes alone either; it brings pressure and inspiration and partly validates an athlete’s life-choice. Athletes wear pain in practice because they’re searching for perfection, but also applause. Roger Federer, that limping thespian, often speaks of the power of occasion and how performing in grand arenas to those calling his name keeps him in tennis. Like many athletes, he is a show-off of the nicest kind.

P Gopi: The Friend, the Opponent, the Legend - Arré

We finally got a chance to team up at the Sudirman Cup & World Championships in Scotland in 1997. By then I’d warmed up to the guy. He was aggressive and arrogant but had the goods to back it up. One day, as we stood watching Dong Jiong (the then World #1) play, I asked Gopi if Dong would win this championship. Gopi looked me in the eye and said in his most calm, unexcitable voice, “I will win”. Unlike most of us, Gopi didn’t suffer from the paralysing feeling of inadequacy that most Indian players face on the world stage.

Andrew Fernando: Kusal Mendis' triumph over improbability | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo

"He's one of our guys who really has a technique," coach Graham Ford had said of him last month. How rare that is in a nation where pure technique is a breakthrough, rather than a birthright. There were at least seven years in international cricket before Kumar Sangakkara worked out a set-up that satisfied him. Aravinda de Silva needed a summer with Kent to unlock his gifts. Yet, seven Tests in, and 21 years old, Mendis sees through the dip and away-spin from Steve O'Keefe in the morning. He milks the turn into his body from Lyon. He pushes away and picks off Hazlewood's full length. Then in the afternoon, when the ball begins to reverse-swing, the drives come fresh and flowing, like a scent on the breeze. […]