Finally it took a 'badshah' to publicly tell Sunny bhai to shut his trap. Whether the 4 captain theory put forward by John Buchanan works or not, Gavaskar's smugness was getting more than irritating...

2009-07-20T02:10:00Z

Finally it took a ‘badshah’ to publicly tell Sunny bhai to shut his trap. Whether the 4 captain theory put forward by John Buchanan works or not, Gavaskar’s smugness was getting more than irritating.

While there is no doubting Gavaskar’s greatness in his playing days, once he hung up his boots, his contribution to Indian cricket or any cricket for that matter has been zilch. For that reason itself, the smug righteousness with which he makes his comments gets my goat.

One of his big arguments is that John Buchanan is a failed cricketer? Maybe that is true but I would politely suggest that 99.9% of the Indian population is a failed cricketer. Who in our country wouldn’t be a world class cricketer if he had the choice? I would, for one. If Sunny bhai feels that to be a factor, then first he should tell the Indian public to shut up with their thoughts on how cricket should be run and who the captain and the playing eleven should be for every match. Would he dare?

Gavaskar’s article brings forward a stalemate with its suggestion that a failed cricketer shouldn’t go about telling players what to do. The successful cricketers, a la Gavaskar himself, would never put themselves in such a position of accountability as that of a coach. So who does that leave? Madan Lals, Gaekwads, Rajputs and other sundry names which keep popping up every now and then whenever the foreigner vs Indian debate comes up? Give me a break! When a franchise, KKR or any other, has money to hire good people, why would they even look at these non-entities? SRK’s idea is really good in that way; maybe Gavaskar can buy one of the franchises and appoint the Gaekwads as coach?

Gavaskar’s diatribe against Buchanan loading up the KKR support staff with his friends and family – with the team owners, ‘poor souls’, having no clue of being milked – is again a bit over the top. For someone who has been on thousands of committees, sub-committees, panels and advisory teams, his notable contributions to cricket after retirement are notable by their absence. Sunny also is not someone who would just be on some committee or other for the betterment of the game; like they say ‘it takes a milker to know one’. I also wonder if Gavaskar knows what these pals, including Buchanan’s son, does at KKR? Sunny’s son not being so good at what he does doesn’t really mean Buchanan’s son isn’t good at whatever he is supposed to be doing.

All said and done, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is a private entity. As succinctly put by Shah Rukh Khan, he has paid money for the franchise and will do as he pleases with it and others (successful cricketers included) need not poke their nose into its affairs.

One might say that SRK’s comments are enough for sensible people to understand when they are being asked to butt out, but cricketers generally aren’t among the brightest. Maybe that skull cap wasn’t all that it was made out to be?

Esha

2009-04-28T04:51:00Z

The IPL is a fun tournament and will make excellent wallpaper in sports bars around the world in years to come. But South Africans are already beginning to see it for what it is, rather than what it portrays itself to be. It is an entertainment circus, rather than a sporting one, designed primarily to enable a very small number of fabulously wealthy people to become even wealthier.

A full page newspaper advertisement appeared nationwide last week depicting Sachin Tendulkar against Saurav Ganguly above the caption: â€œWhose side are you on?â€ The problem was, Tendulkar was alongside the Rajasthan Royals logo with Ganguly smiling next to the Delhi Daredevils motif.

The IPL. Itâ€™s an Indian thing. And will forever remain so until the owners and administrators who so desperately want to become a â€œglobal brandâ€ actually stop and think about what that means and how it can be achieved rather just splashing cash and blowing kisses to themselves in the mirror.

The one caveat for IPLâ€™s dissenters is this: yes, itâ€™s not cricket as we know and love, but the very fact this sport has managed to spawn such a beautifully bonkers tributary almost from nowhere deserves some acclaim. I have always been drawn to the game for its eccentricities – the rigidity of the laws, the absurdity of the fielding-positionsâ€™ names, the length, the breaks for lunch and tea – so before I write the IPL off in its entirety, for now Iâ€™ll accept that itâ€™s a wacky branch off a particularly wacky tree, growing in a meadow of ridiculousness.

In time, someone will probably lop it offâ€¦else itâ€™ll grow into something else entirely. Enough gardening-related analogies (Iâ€™ve just cut down a tree, as it happens).

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Finally it took a 'badshah' to publicly tell Sunny bhai to shut his trap. Whether the 4 captain theory put forward by John Buchanan works or not, Gavaskar's smugness was getting more than irritating...

Esha