Post 2011 - Part A

The approaching 2011 World Cup of Cricket is probably going to be a milestone...and for morose reasons that too.

It is more or less common knowledge that in the short window of time to follow after the 2011 World Cup, Cricket is all set to lose the services of magnificent batsmen such as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Jaques Kallis, Ricky Ponting, Mahela Jayawardhane, VVS Laxman, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Mohammad Yousuf (if he manages to not get ousted till then by the fickle-minded PCB). The careers of all these fabulous stars hinge on the notional milestone of the 2011 world cup. (I realize that VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid  have long stopped starring in the One Day roster, but still the 2011 time-frame will likely be a wind-down trumpet call for their Test careers).

Mark Boucher, one of the best wicketkeepers of all time, will likely retire too in the same window, already having collected all possible wicketkeeping records under his belt. Daniel Vettori, New Zealand's lone Test superstar will have seriously begun considering taking the pension at  about the same time too.

I also realized that as of today, none of the top 15 Test wicket takers are in play. Harbhajan Singh with 357 Test wickets, stands 16th in the list of the all-time highest wicket takers, and all the 15 above him are no longer playing, which could be a unique occurrence in the bowling fraternity. The last 3 years of cricket have seen the demise of Murulidharan, Shane Warne, Anil Kumble, Glenn McGrath, Shaun Pollock, Makhaya Ntini and Chaminda Vaas. One of the more genuine allrounders - Freddy Flintoff also hung his boots in that period. Technically there's nothing much by way of stature to lose in the next few years after this, in the bowling world

That's that for what was lost and what will be gone shortly. Part B coming up with things to look forward to in the next decade of Cricket.