Sports

As the aftermath of the ball tampering saga continues, today marked the day that the lead protagonists of the episode, Steve Smith, Cameron Bancroft and David Warner, all made public statements for the first time after the day it all began. Over the course of the past few days, the outrage from Australia has been vocal and sustained, by all accounts. I can’t imagine the Prime Minster of India taking upon himself to make a public statement over a ball tampering/ cheating incident on a cricket field! The Prime Minister of Australia, however, did. He was among the first to react and even used his office status to push Cricket Australia into action, not that they needed any pushing, of course. I made a reference to the Aussie way of cricket in my previous blog post and had highlighted the blurring of “the line”, wherever it may exist, for them. Soon after, the ball tampering scene exploded and while I have

read more The Fallacy in the Mind- a Ball Tampering Saga

Those following the South Africa v/s Australia test series, would have heard about the now infamous incident involving Quinton de Kock and David Warner. De Kock is alleged to have said something unmentionable about Warner’s wife to him, which resulted in the latter’s angry reaction and having to be physically separated from the former. The Australian players have been remarkably direct in their support for David Warner’s reaction to the slur. In their view, De Kock crossed “the line” when getting personal and bringing family into sledging. The South African cricket team coach, Otis Gibson, was almost poetic in his response. Sharada Ugra commented on the Aussie way with sledging and  I could not agree more with her. From the time that I can remember, the most famous sledges, on-field “banter”, flare-ups, etc. have involved Australian players. Michael Slater having a go at Rahul Dravid in a test match in India, Stephen Waugh’s sledges to Ambrose and later, to Herschelle

read more Whose Line is it Anyway?

Nowadays, I see Virat Kohli being idolized in the way that Sachin, Rahul and MS Dhoni were not so long ago. The difference in the personalities between Virat and Rahul or Virat and MS, could not be more stark. It is also quite telling that Virat is liked by all the kids. He has a certain bravado about him, the way that he talks, his body language – he knows that he is being watched and he plays his part perfectly. The nod of his head, the swagger, the carefully cultivated beard – all of these are vintage Kohli and are a part of the package of the Indian Test Cricket Captain. I was an ardent fan of Rahul Dravid. Or as I like to look at it, I was an ardent admirer of Rahul. There was something about the way that he seemed to struggle and work hard at his batsmanship that would strike a chord with me. He would

read more GenNext of Cricket