THE BIG BANG GANG

 

 

It’s perhaps unfair to compare sports since each requires a different set of skills to succeed. But then we couldn’t resist sticking our necks out and talking about hard hitters from other arenas. There is Andy Roddick in tennis, capable of thundering serves timed at a whooping 150 miles per hour! And then there is Tiger Woods in golf, whose drive on a golf course travels hundreds of yards. But perhaps the game that comes closest in spirit is cricket’s American cousin, Baseball. Ted Williams, the baseball legend had once remarked, “Hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports”. With similar kinds of speeds involved (80-95 mph) and in essence the same sort of slugging, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and the like could be the baseball equivalents of a Shahid Afridi, Sanath Jayasuriya or Virender Sehwag. All three have achieved what was once considered the untouchable record in baseball—Roger Marris’ 61 home runs in a season. McGwire and Sosa both broke the barrier in a remarkable season in 1998, with McGwire setting the new mark. But Bonds just shattered that touching 70 home runs in 2001! Slugging home runs off fast pitches and sending baseballs sailing past distance s upwards of 500 yards requires pretty much the same kind of mindset and approach as the cricket hitter—a quick eye, good bat speed and exquisite hand eye coordination. Whatever be the physics involved and despite the disparities in the sports, the hitters are the crowd pullers, be it baseball or cricket.