Continue playing the IPL at your peril

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Suddenly I am curious about rotten apples and bad eggs. I wonder if they mutate into rottenness on their own. Or does the air and water around play its part? Some apples in a bunch stay healthier than others. Bad eggs, I am reliably told float to the surface if you dip them in water. Apples and Eggs. They've been on my mind since the president of the Indian cricket board looked straight down a camera lens and offered this bit of comfort, 'A few bad eggs or rotten apples can't sully the game'. There was controlled rage in his voice, but we'd heard him say that before. A year or so ago in fact in ironically the same hill-town getaway. Say it if you will sir but the truth is inescapable - our game is sullied. The rotten apples and the bad eggs have left behind an unbearable stink. ....

Forty, you can't get to Sachin!

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Forty. Most men my age live in the anticipated dread of its arrival. Unless you are a career politician, forty tends to strongly hint at the passing of youth. Girlfriends are fading memories from another decade, exercise is that much harder, loan repayments dominate daily thoughts and spicy food needs medicinal intervention after. But as I hurtle towards Four O, the idea that Sachin Tendulkar is now that old is oddly comforting. For my generation, growing up alongside Sachin was a quirk of destiny. Sachin was zest and joy, energy and resolve, ambition and decency. Youth certainly won't dare abandon him at forty. And perhaps there is a smattering of hope for the rest of us too when the day arrives! I remember 1989 well. It was dreadful. I was 13. A friend went to America in our summer break while I was yet to see what a passport....

Shed a little light please

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At 11:17 a.m. on Saturday, a media release from the BCCI popped up in my inbox with names of 30 probables for the Champions Trophy in England. As journalists are trained to do, I scoured the list for the big headline. Virender Sehwag's exclusion was the obvious one. And with Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan also missing, one message was loud and clear. Reputations no longer mattered. In India's one-day scheme of things, time had run out for players who were once certainties. While seemingly putting a full-stop on the one-day careers of these three players was a significant statement, it wasn't entirely unexpected. It was the decision to not include Cheteshwar Pujara among the probables that was more perplexing. Here is a player with an impressive record at domestic one-day level, has barely put a foot wrong in his Test career so far and....

IPL 6: Hissy fits and shallow symbolism

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I guess we needed reminding that the IPL is nearly here. So a cosmetic controversy erupted with a week to go before nearly two months of breathless Twenty20 cricket takes over our lives. The IPL has a parasitic relationship with controversy. The cynical view suggests the tournament goes hunting for it, almost as some sort of oxygen to keep breathing life into the edifice. The more considered view wonders if the IPL with its profile and stature is almost a sitting-duck vehicle for agendas and cheap symbolism. Pick the merit of each argument and align yourself to one, but don't tell me this episode with the Sri Lankan cricketers isn't farcical. The 13 Sri Lankan players who will be in India as part of IPL franchises are the latest victims of an established dynamic now. Identify a high-profile sporting event and draw attention to your petty agendas riding on....

Virender Sehwag - for the muddle in the middle?

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There was a time, not so long ago in the lives of us cricket people, that this was India's top six in a Test match- Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman. In Mohali next week only one of these gents will front up to Michael Clarke's Australians. That he was the first among them to debut is staggering, but then all things Tendulkar usually are. Three of these decorated six have traded the whites for crispy suits and sit comfortably perched in the commentary box these days. One traverses between Twitter accounts while finding phrases not too dissimilar to the ungainly pokes that cost him his Test spot. And the last of those, first in the batting order, has just been cast aside from the third Indian team in a quarter of a year. Serendipity is one of my favourite words: A fortunate accident. Virender Sehwag as....

At war with the wrong enemy

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Waqar Younis told the story with relish of a one-day game in 1989 when he dismissed Kris Srikkanth twice in two balls. First an lbw appeal was upheld that 'Cheekaji', as Waqar likes to call him with a naughty twinkle in the eye, protested vehemently was wrongly given. Imran Khan was in a generous mood and decided to give him another go. On the very next delivery, Waqar found the outside edge of 'Cheekaji's' bat. While we waited just recently between our broadcasts, Waqar told the story. We found the video online. Everyone in the room laughed. Srikkanth joined in as well! In the cauldron of a sporting contest, the combatants do get feisty. They compete for every inch with ferocity - one wins, another loses. And it ends. Sport is the exact opposite of war. It is largely that moment and that moment alone, and then....

At war with the wrong enemy

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Waqar Younis told the story with relish of a one-day game in 1989 when he dismissed Kris Srikkanth twice in two balls. First an lbw appeal was upheld that 'Cheekaji', as Waqar likes to call him with a naughty twinkle in the eye, protested vehemently was wrongly given. Imran Khan was in a generous mood and decided to give him another go. On the very next delivery, Waqar found the outside edge of 'Cheekaji's' bat. While we waited just recently between our broadcasts, Waqar told the story. We found the video online. Everyone in the room laughed. Srikkanth joined in as well! In the cauldron of a sporting contest, the combatants do get feisty. They compete for every inch with ferocity - one wins, another loses. And it ends. Sport is the exact opposite of war. It is largely that moment and that moment alone, and then....

Sachin - A sort of forever

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1989 was dreadful. I was 13. A friend went to America in our summer break while I was yet to see what a passport looked like. And to make it worse, he came back with stories of how he kissed a girl on the sly! A real girl! Amitabh Bachchan starred in and as 'Jaadugar'. And then appeared in and as 'Toofan'. One Prime Minister had frittered hope of a new direction away by then. His replacement was a demagogue who questioned my right to a future in my own country. There was just so much awful stuff around in 1989. And then one day, my dad in a casual conversation said two words: Sachin Tendulkar. Now I was into cricket. But not in a nerdy, thirsting for information kind of way. I was yet to confront the reality of a terrible lack of talent. So I played. In....

Sachin - A Sort of forever

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1989 was dreadful. I was 13. A friend went to America in our summer break while I was yet to see what a passport looked like. And to make it worse, he came back with stories of how he kissed a girl on the sly! A real girl! Amitabh Bachchan starred in and as 'Jaadugar.' And then appeared in and as 'Toofan'. One Prime Minister had frittered hope of a new direction away by then. His replacement was a demagogue who questioned my right to a future in my own country. There was just so much awful stuff around in 1989. And then one day, my dad in a casual conversation said two words: Sachin Tendulkar. Now I was into cricket. But not in a nerdy, thirsting for information kind of way. I was yet to confront the reality of a terrible lack of talent. So I played. In....

Hello Mr De Mello, where have you been?

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The battle for the Anthony De Mello Trophy is about to begin. It should be fascinating. England hasn't won the Anthony De Mello Trophy for nearly three decades now. They have brought over a pretty good squad this time, but will it be adequate to return home with the Anthony De Mello Trophy? India are threatening to prepare raging turners to ensure the Anthony De Mello Trophy stays in their possession. In case you need reminding, India are the current holders. What's that? Weren't India walloped 0-4 last year by England? So how are they holders of the series trophy between the two teams? That was for the Pataudi Trophy, silly. This one is for the Anthony De Mello Trophy. You know, the one that's been in existence since 1951 as a tribute to the BCCI's first ever secretary. No? Tsk, tsk...you must really brush up on your....