At first glance, there doesn’t appear to be much of a connection between cricket and basketball, or for that matter, cricketers and basketball players. Sports like football and volleyball have become part of the regular routine for cricket teams now, while sports like table-tennis have always been a great recreational sport.
This connection does seem to be growing however. Detriot Pistons Centre Andre Drummond paid a visit to the Lord’s cricket ground in June, where he met with Brendon McCullum and Eoin Morgan and the trio shared trade secrets on the cricket field. Even more recently, the Indian team paid a visit to the American Airlines Area – home of the Miami Heat and tried their hand at the game.
In the recently concluded Rio Olympics 2016, the men’s US Basketball Team claimed the gold medal by beating Serbia in the final. This marked the 15th time that the USA team walked away with the old, with Olympic administrators reaching out to all possible sources to end their dominance.
Stating that Olympic Basketball is becoming too one-sided, they reached out to a very interesting breed of sportsmen – the cricketers. The people in power have rallied around the cricketers to form their own team and compete at the Olympics to take on the United States (and the world!)
Read: Part 1 – The 4X100 Metre relay race featuring Virat Kohli, Andre Russell and Glenn Maxwell Also: Part 2 – Andrew Flintoff, David Warner and Jason Holder try to knock each other out
Note: This is a humourous piece and the views are not intended to be taken literally.
In part 3 of the SK Cricket Olympics series, we form a basketball dream team capable of taking on anyone:
1) Mohammad Irfan – Centre
Country – Pakistan
Height – 7’1
Strengths – Dunking, blocking, towering over people
While on the lookout for a ‘big’ player to man the ‘low post’ and claim rebounds while destorying the rim, they stumbled upon Pakistan’s giant Mohammad Irfan in his hometown in Pakistan. Standing at 7’1 feet, he is the tallest cricketer to have ever played the game and was an automatic choice at Centre. The authories have couriered a whole bunch of Shaquille O’Neal DVDs to Irfan and asked him to ape the legendary player’s style.
Upon hearing the news, the US Basketball team is frantically trying to get ‘Shaq’ out of retirement.
2) Ishant Sharma – Power Forward
Country – India
Height – 6’5
Strengths – Putting the ball in the basket after pitching it on a good length, distracting opponents with his voice
After narrowing down on Irfan, they had to look for a player who could perfectly compliment Irfan in the ‘low post’. That is when they made the short trip across to Delhi where they noticed Ishant Sharma, towering head and shoulders over everyone at the crowded Rajiv Chowk metro station. Upon hearing the possibility of a basketball team formed out of cricketers, Ishant immediately tied the knot with Pratima Singh, a national level basketball player for India. Ishant will have one of the most crucial roles in the side as power forward.
Authorities in the US planned an attack on Ishant in Miami as the India team are currently there, only to later realize that Ishant dropped himself from the T20 squad and is working on his skills at home.
3) Ravichandran Ashwin – Small forward
Country – India
Height – 6’3
Strengths – Baffling opponents with his ‘spinning bounce passes’, winning man of the match awards at will
The Miami Heat were so impressed with Ashwin when he visited the American Airlines Centre that they are frantically trying to convince the BCCI that Ashwin should represent their franchise. Ashwin, never one short on confidence, said after visit, ”I’ve played a bit of Basketball during my school days so that got me really excited while I tried my hand again after so many years.” What Ashwin also realized that while his speed across the ground in the cricket field does come under question, he floats on top of the surface on the basketball court.
Ashwin will be relied upon to do a lot of the scoring, to which he replied that ‘scoring’ has never been a problem for him.
4) AB De Villiers – Shooting Guard
Country – South Africa
Height – 5’9
Strengths – Can shoot from any angle in the basketball court
The real phenomenon in the team is South Africa’s AB De Villiers. Two-time reigning MVP Stephen Curry is still recovering from depression after watching tapes of AB De Villiers in practice, where he casually took shots from all over the court with unbelievable accuracy. His skills are all self-taught and he will play in one of the most important positions and will be expected to do handle the offense.
A think-tank has been created to analyze his playing style and they’ve also contacted Iron Man to stop him.
5) Brendon McCullum – Point Guard
Country – New Zealand
Height – 5’6
Strengths – Faster than the speed of light, has eyes at the back of his head
Only one position was left to fill and Brendon McCullum of New Zealand was chosen as the man to orchestrate the play as point guard. He will have to perform a whole multitude of tasks, from distributing the ball to stealing the ball from the opponents. It was also discovered that he starts games explosively, and the game is often out of the opponents’ reach at the end of the first quarter.
He’s a surprise entrant in the Slam Dunk contest as well, where he has promised to perform miracles.
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