IPL / BCCI - The Media's selective Bashing ?

THE DRAMATIS PERSONAE OF THIS BLOG

Vijay Mallya - Liquor baron, Owner BRC, VP Karnataka State Cricket Assn

N.Srinivasan - Industrialist , President TamilNadu Cricket Assn , Owner CSK, Secretary BCCI

Suni Gavaskar - Former cricket Player, Commentator , Member IPL Governing Council

Ravi Shastri - Former cricket Player, Commentator , Member IPL Governing Council

Brijesh Patel - Former player, Secretary KSCA and Manager BRC

Suhel Seth -

There are three Major issues raised in this blog.......

WHY IS THE MEDIA SO SELECTIVE IN IT'S BASHING ?

Everyone mentions that Mr.Srinivasan has bought a team , while being the BCCI Secretary etc. This was done after express written permission of the BCCI. This was questioned by Shri Muthiah ( I shall not get into that Politics here) in the Madras High Court and the Court held that what Mr Srinivasan (NS) had done was not illegal. Now the issue is on appeal in the Supreme Court. Being a matter Sub Judice I shall not comment on this case.

However, What NS did was to pay money , ie he spent monies that he was in charge of (technically India Cements' shareholders money). He did NOT take money from anyone to whom he was in a position to do favours or grant contracts.

Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri are in the Governing Council of the IPL. The IPL had awarded a contract to Sony , then rescinded and then Sony covers the same through another company which was paid a facilitation fee etc etc , this tangled web need not be discussed here.

HOW CAN THESE TWO DRAW FINANCIAL BENEFITS FROM A SUB CONTRACTOR TO A VENDOR ,THEY HAVE GIVEN THE CONTRACT TO ?

I understand that these two plus the Nawab draw a salary from the IPL - please clarify......Media - ask the relevant questions please.

The media has conveniently forgotten about this....who is the "badder" man , one who spends his money or one who takes money.?

These two gentlemen are Commenting on the current IPL and drawing a salary from a Vendor. Is this not Pecuniary benefit of an "interested" kind ?

Now they even have the gall to suggest that Ravi Shastri head the IPL or be part of the three member team to manage it. No problems , he may do an excellent job ,but do not gloss over his alleged misdeeds and sins of omission and commission. The media must be fair in its comments and tar EVERYBODY with the same brush.

THE NEXT ISSUE -

Vijay Mallya is the vice president of the KSCA and Brijesh Patel the Secretary of the KSCA , by this , they are in the BCCI - de facto. They are owner and manager of the Bengaluru Royal Challengers - this is acceptable ???? but the CSK cannot be owned by NS.

What double standards ? Media , wake up. or are you just pretending to sleep.

THE FINAL ISSUE

Mr Suhel Seth made an offensive remark on a National TV Channel that should make every Tamilian's blood boil. I am seriously contemplating suing the man.

He said - why should the BCCI be in "that" Tamil Nadu, why should it be registered there? Let us move it out of there......

Implying that the BCCI being in Tamil Nadu is the root cause of all evil and that Tamil Nadu and the Tamil People are the source of corruption.

What gall....

Mr Seth , the BCCI was registered here in the early 1960s when Mr. M.A.Chidambaram was the president ( 1960-63) , this was at a time when the Association had little or no money - not the millions it has now. So please get your background check done before you shoot off your mouth.

IS TAMIL NADU NOT A PART OF INDIA ? THE HEADQUARTERS IS MUMBAI , SIR , ONLY REGISTERED HERE SOME 47 YEARS AGO.

I appeal to all self respecting Tamils to mute the volume the next time this obnoxious man comes on Television spouting his wisdom - why do the channels call him ? I do not know , he has a nice , albeit artificial accent - clipped and what not , uses decent english but there it stops.

I do not know what businesses he has promoted and run so successfully ? - Mallya at least expanded his father's empire and NS turned around a massive loss making company to a profitable one.

He is not an acclaimed Philospher like Jiddu Krishnamurthy or even a thinker /writer like Nirad Chaudri - just a petty, offensive human being. Who thinks that Tamil Nadu is a den of vice and that Tamilians are corrupt and tainted - wish the Chief Minister will launch a campaign against him - his remarks are defenitely more injurious to the Tamil image than what Khushboo said.

He and Arnab Goswami who allowed it to be said must apologise to the Tamil people.

THE INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE – 2016

This is a Projection based on total imagination : Although the names are real , all these “reports” are totally fictitious , just for a good laugh. Remember a laugh , even at one self does wonders for the soul.

Cricket and Politics have always held hands and been strange bedfellows right from our own Pataudi standing for elections, Sidhu and Azharuddin too to boot – Jeyasuriya winning one recently in neighbouring Sri Lanka.

Cricket Administration with its Powar , I mean Power has attracted politicians of all shades and Parties. Jaitly and Narendra Modi to name just a few.In the Post Independance era Big businessmen took over from the Maharajahs who ran and played the Game alongside the Brits. Now the mix is the Political Business of the Game….

Let us see what may happen. Shashi Tharoor is a visionary, a fore runner for he opened the eyes of the politicians to the fact that they need not fight hard battles and later legal ones to take control of the cricket machinery of a State , all they need to do is to acquire an IPL Team.

The year 2011 saw new electoral alliances both in Politics and Cricket. This was the post Lalit Modi era. Readers may remember the expose that all Channels , after the Sun TV Network splashed it all over , ran of the Nithyananda like episode involving him and two starlets , one of whom , an Ammu Kutty from Vadaserikara was found to be underage. Modi claimed that she was planted by “politicians of Malayalee origin” keen to destroy him.

Sri Shashi Tharoor who was the Chairman of Satyam Computers claimed a moral victory and that he had nothing to do with this as he was in Mogadishu working out a deal for his company.

In any case the PM’s office quickly stepped in and the BCCI appointed Sri Rahul Gandhi , the IPL commissioner.

The BCCI President Shri. Narendra Modi , (whose election was a political masterstroke suggested by the Tamil Nadu Leader M.Karunanidhi , thereby mollifying the Gujaratis and the saffron groups in one stroke) , was being ably assisted by Vice Presidents Sri Rahul Bajaj ( that kept the Industrialists quiet) and Mrs Deepika Mallya, wife of Liquor Baron Vijay Mallya’s son.

Readers may be well aware that Mr Mallya was also the first successful man to take his Team as a Public Limited company , issue Shares ( currently quoting at 16 paise – Face Value of Rs 100.) as against the Mumbai Indians whose share is quoting at Rs 1,234 , face value Rs 10.

Needless to say the aggrieved Ambani sibling claims that the price is rigged and that his brother has hived off the entire share premium generated –a staggering 17,000 crores and is promoting the Indian Premier Kite flying League in West Bengal with the active help of Shri Pranab Mukherjee. He also accused his brother of divesting over 70 percent of his shares in the company.

Thereby gaining in total a staggering 73,000 crores.This charge was totally denied by the Companies Cricket CEO and former Player Mohammed Azharuddin. The Board’s Secretary was Shri. Jagmohan Dalmiya and the Treasurer Ms. Kani Karunanidhi. You will also recall that she had shortened her name to facilitate it’s easy pronounciation by all Indians , especially Tamils. Her step brother Azhagiri however retains his name .

The last appointment you will recall came about as the earlier Treasurer had sold his Team , the Chennai Super Kings to Kalanidhi Maran for an undisclosed sum believed to be in excess of 3000 crores (although the Market Value of the Team was easily 10,000 plus crores.) and shortly thereafter the company went Public – An IPO of 25 percent shares valued at 4000 crores.

As a quid pro quo for his suggesting the Election of the BCCI President , Sri Karunanidhi swung the appointment of the Treasurer and to sweeten the pill back home in Tamil Nadu he was able to obtain Two new franchises for Tamil Nadu , the Madurai Marauders owned by Dayanidhi Azhagiri and the ECR Easyriders owned by Gunanidhi Stalin. The entire cricketing community was aghast at the fact that a single state had 3 franchises.

They were all mollified when Smt. Sonia Gandhi, threatened to resign as the Patron of Indian Cricket and all dissent died down. Shri L.K.Advani and his spokesperson Shri. Jaitly , called on Sonia Ji and briefed her about the affairs of the DDCA and how Virendra Sehwag has been successfully bought back from the clutches of the Kolkatta Knight “Red”ders – note the change of name which happened when the ownership went from Shah Rukh Khan to the nephews of Buddhadeb and Prakash Karat.

This was of course possible as the Polit Buro had cleared all these dealings even before it happened. This of course left the heir of the home Minister, PC , extremely unhappy as his similar request - for a franchise "The Chettinad Chutneys" was not cleared by the CWC. ( A procedure followed post the Shashi Tharoor controversy)

The Pune Punishers bought over by the Thakarey Group ( a wholly owned subsidiary of Raj and Udhdhav Thakarey, captained by Ajit Agarkar and his team ( Salgaonkar, Wadekar Jr , Rohan Jr , Jaideep Sardesai , etc ) of Pure bred Maharashtrians has just resolved to admit a few “foreign” players like the three Khan lads (children of Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir) as they are second generation Mumbaikars and have no links with any other State and as they could not play for the Mumbai Indians being under age at 13, 11 and 7 respectively. This was considered a master strategy politically for they had by this erased the “Hindutva” tag at one go. The first Child of Sania and Shoaib being a Girl was also being considered , more on that later. Sources say that the Ministry of Child welfare may well object and Arnab Goswami had already started a stink on "Child labour". Rajdeep Sardesai was being circumspect.

Laloo Prasad Yadav and Navin Patnaik have resolved their internal differences and a new look Team under the Captaincy of M.S.Dhoni is likely to enter the Tournament - “The Kalinga Konquerors” . Ram Vilas Paswan though has objected to the fact that the Team is not truly “Mandalised”. This sentiment was echoed by Mayawati and Anbumani Ramdas – who is miffed that his bid for a Team the “ Panrutti Payalgal” was rejected on grounds that the owners were fictitious and no such persons existed on the electoral roles. Mayawati’s team the “Ambedkar Adventurer’s” will however be Mandalised over the next few Season’s said a franchise spokesperson.

Selvi J.Jayalaitha , has claimed that IPL must reach the Tribals , and has suggested that they Play a few matches in Kodanad – she has assured that a world class Stadium will come up there. Much against her wishes her Party wants to name it as the Puratchi Thalavi Stadium and the IPL Team – “ Jaya – Sashi Josiars”. This name suggests that more than the Coach and Physio all decisions will be based on the Projections of "amma's" astrologers/Vasthu consultants/Priests/Numerologists and Sashikala's nephew who is a big cricket fan"

The reason this cannot happen say Political Pundits is that she wants the IPL Commisioner to come to her house and collect the needed signatures and that the entire BCCI working committee must join her for Breakfast and request her to join the bandwagon. They are to report at the main gate at 6 AM , gates will open at 8 AM and breakfast will be served at 9.30 AM , the next day.

Needless to say , with 32 Teams – a total of 4 groups and a League of the 3 winners in each group in another League the IPL runs into 10 months and 360 odd matches. Most Cineplexes have a dedicated Theatre for IPL and there is an add on Film as a bonus shown as well both before and after a match. As IIT’s , IIM ‘s and all other Colleges have had no takers – no one scoring the minimum marks to qualify for admission , they have all been converted to Sports Acadamy’s .

Brinda Karat and Mamta Bannerjee are proposing a bill to amend the rules so that each team will have at least 3 women players. This Bill was neutralised when , after much acrimony , Smt Sonia stepped in and proposed that 30 percent of all profits from the IPL will go to Women related causes. Smt Neeta Ambani was quick to point out that her franchise had already taken this up and in fact had spent over 37 percent last year. One of the Tamil Nadu franchises has taken up the rehabilitation of Ms. Ranjeetha ( of Nithyananda fame) while the Cochin franchise is actively considering the case of Ms.Sunanda Pushkar.

Bollywood , Kollywood and even Hollyood is hoping that like the “Mega Serial” , this IPL phenomenon too will fade away. Meanwhile just to add glamour a mixed sex Team of Stars is being considered – one each from North and South. Talks are on as to who will Captain the Tamil side – Vijaykanth fans have gone on fast that by virtue of his name their “thalaivar” alone has the right to be "Captain". Ajith appealed to the CM , that actors like him should not be "forced" to Play as racing and not Cricket was his passion, he assured the CM that he will gladly race even a bi cycle to protect the pride and honour of the Tamils.

Rajinikanth is considered for the post of Coach and Kamal has left for a 6 month tour of England/Australia and South Africa to study the Cricket leagues there. He has already suggested a few changes on the basis of the Japanese Karate League of which he claims to be an avid fan , in fact the only fan from India. Vijay’s father is waiting to see what will happen and if Vijay is be called for a ‘regular” team itself , if so which one to Join ? Hence , Vijay is busy shooting in Mauritius.

The "Nadigar Sangham" - the actors Union is divided as the President and Vice President do not see eye to eye Politically and the Secretary is an avid "Gilli" fan. The Treasurer along with 5 of the committee members have all decided that "Marbles" will be a safer game to play. The TV actors Union not wanting to be left behind assured the CM of their fullest co operation as in any case post IPL no TV actor was getting any work and all channels were only re telecasting the old serials - Chiththi was doing its 7 th re run , its first at the old slot time of 9.30 PM.

A separate “religious” crowd has started another movement – If they can play at Dharamsala – where the Dalai Lama is, why not play at Sringeri , Poori , Kancheepuram , and other Holy places for Hindus , they have threatened to dig up all the pitches with a “Trishul”. There are some rumblings on Naagore and Velankanni being adopted by a few franchises keen on scoring brownie points from the minorities.

The chief spokesman for the minorities Shri N.Ram , the editor of " The Secular" , (yes, they changed the name after a brief power struggle in the company before it was bought over by the Pope and Al Jazeera newspaper group ) whole heartedly supported this move and spoke at length on National Television to Barkha Dutt , another espouser of the cause.

AYYO , where is all this going ?

Trick or Tweet - The IPL Franchise Halloween Story

Shashi Tharoor and Sunanda Pushkar

Shashi and lalit Modi

These days if you want news you better be an active Twitter - and if you do not want to be in the news ensure that you and all those whom you contact are NOT in Twitter.

An unseemly controversy has erupted over the Cochin Franchise and is bound to rock both the Parliament of the Country and the Cricket establishment. In a way it is good, for the cupboard is now opened before more skeletons can be shoved into it.

This is like an old Hindi /Tamil film a Love Triangle - with the the three corners being Lalit Modi , the Commisioner of the IPL . The Hon'ble Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor and a lady from the Middle east , Sunanda Pushkar , Sales manager of TECOM ( A real estate company).

Let us take the dubious roles of each of the three - Ladies first . She has been given a sweat equity in the Cochin IPL franchise valued today at 75 Crore Rs ( media report). The Franchise representative Mr. Gaikwad says her name was recommended by a "friend" and this is for her Professional expertise over the next 10 years - unbelievable !!!

It is more than the base salary that Indira Nooyi draws - In fact annualised at 7.5 crores - which is wrong as this has been given up front and assuming this Marketing whiz is not going to draw any compensation from the Franchise - the salary is more than what any of the CEOs draw in any company here. It is at least three times the salary that people like Ratan Tata , Rajiv Bajaj , Azim Premji and Muthuraman ( Tata Steel) draw as salaries - Sunil Mittal of Bharti draws a salary of 12 odd crores.

I have not heard of this lady being any kind of Brand Manager, Media expert, Cricket expert, Advertising Creative Head . This compensation is certainly not for just "expert marketing advice"- Who are you trying to fool Mr.Gaikwad ? You could have hired almost any Top Indian Executive for that Price , Indeed even taken the best brains from the European Football League for the first two years and then sent them off , without diluting your stake and parting with shares that will probably double in a few years. Have you not heard of the report that the Punjab franchise is up for sale and each share holder will probably triple his/her investment.

Now for the "external affair" , the second corner of the Triangle singing "Dost dost naa raha..." - He claims that he was just a "mentor" because he wants to spread cricket in Kerala , give the State a fillip etc. The motives are great and worthy of emulation. A mentor does not have to follow up every bit of the way - a mentor will guide and let them take the needed action - what is the need for such a mentoring ? If the stature of a Minister is required to counter "other" pressures or neutralize other forces then Shashi should have brought it up to the attention of the PM and got the process made transparent and open. After all was this not done in the 3G spectrum auctions ? , much to the chagrin of Shri Raja and his band of supporters. This obviously shows that all is not above board with the IPL. This clearly implies that there is much more than what meets the eye and the Minister has not just been a mentor but more a Tutor and the Tuition fees was paid not to him for his hands are clean - paid to his friend and he "did not know of her business deals". Amazing !!!

What is more shocking is that Mr Gaikwad accused lalit of many things , which would have come to the mentor's attention , after all when you can call for delayed forms etc , you must have been in the know of things , especially such a shocking "bribe" attempt, WHY DID YOU NOT BLOW THE WHISTLE THEN....? Why did you not ask Mr Gaikwad to at least complain to the BCCI President the very same day.? Why wait till now to unleash all that dirt on Lalit Modi ????

We now come to Lalit Modi - the "drug peddler" - according to Shashi's aides leaked information , the man who offered a 50 Million dollar bribe to Cochin to keep away etc. A lot of crap is thrown at this man , most will not stick. The bribe part is ludicrous as the team's were auctioned off and paying 50 million to them will only result in a re auction and not transfer of Title. In any case that will not prevent them from participating in the re auction with a "new" mentor if needed. So is Lalit squeaky clean - I do not think so. He is a wheeler -Dealer and if at all he has short changed anybody it is the BCCI . I do not know if we , as Citizens can claim that BCCI's wealth is national Wealth etc.

I wonder why no one has, under the Right to Information act asked for details of franchise owners ? I agree that the BCCI is not part of the Government but it is under the aegis of the Ministry of Sports. Maybe RTI may not apply but a PIL will certainly stick.

The time has come for the entire financials of ALL the franchisees to be examined , who spent what, what is the source of funds, where did the funds originate, who gains from it, do they pay taxes , what expenses are they claiming, has Tax been paid on that - does IPL a kind of entertainment form part of the "Service Tax" net ? Are exemptions being given ? if so why ?

This should be probed and answers provided. But will they ? The answer is an unequivocal "NO" as many State associations are today under the Presidentship of the Politicians. The others are with Business men who are probably better as they at least have the "legitimate" source for Money. No one can claim that Mumbai Indians or Chennai Super Kings were financed by " dirty/laundered " money. India Cements is a listed Company and it's balance sheet available for scrutiny.

I do know that a very very large part of the BCCI's earnings ( almost 80 plus percent) is shared by all the State associations and that a few of these associations actually spend the money for the promotion of the game at all levels in the State ( Tamil Nadu does).

WHAT IS NEEDED IS A THOROUGH ENQUIRY BY A COMMITTEE OF SUPREME COURT JUDGES - THE UN INFLUENCABLE KIND - INTO THE WAY THE BCCI , STATE CRICKET ASSOCIATIONS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY IPL IS RUN (with special emphasis on the financing and spending) ..... Just like what took place in America years ago - and a regulatory agency brought in. After all did not SEBI come into being only when the Stock Market really Boomed - now Cricket has.

Manmohan Ji , can you rock the boat ? sorry Ship ?

Never , for like the Titanic it may sink.

Therefore the easy and painless way out is for two of the three corners of the Triangle to be faded away - Shashi and Lalit slowly eased out and the Philip Kotler from the middle east will by a natural process disappear - the IPL will continue and we will all still howl for sachin , anil, shane , dhoni etc to perform .... they will both on the field and in Advertisements which will go to further fund the Channels and then The IPL and then the Teams and then more auctions and more mentors - but will all mentors have such "beautiful" Marketing Gurus/Consultants....I doubt it, and that is a sad thought.

Cricket - has it changed ?

The entire sub continent seems to be gripped by the IPL fever - your truly is also affected. It set me thinking on how much the Game has changed or has it ?

The first match I recall watching was at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai when MJK Smith's team played us - Barrington and Bolus Vs Bapu Nadkarni. 1963-64 ,we moved back to Chepauk during the 1966-67 visit of Gary Sobers' Team. Bobby Simpson's team too had visited us. I remember the annual of the magazine Sports and Pastime that carried a lovely colour photograph of him. The colour snaps in that magazine were currency for the young man - the issues that had a hockey player or athelete in colour on the cover were viewed by us as a total waste of time and money as they could not be exchanged later for either a rare snap or even cash. The only source of great cricket books and the Wisden was the British Council Library.

An english willow bat was the ultimate status symbol - I had one that was signed by Colin Cowdrey and hence he became the ultimate batting icon - Oh , how I extolled his virtues that he came to the field to bat in a plaster cast despite a fracture.

Yes, the 5 day test match , white flannels , cherry red ball, have all become optional. Coloured Clothes, shortened versions , also the arrival of helmets, arm guards, mongoose bats and of course Television replays have changed the way the game is played. The latest innovation being the Mongoose.

The straight bat ( cross bat shots can break the willow ? ) is no longer the only way to play. A hoick from outside the off stump to mid wicket is today par for the course.

The gentle amble of a fielder towards a speeding ball is today a think to be frowned upon. I remember many a young man copying the young Nawab of Pataudi's style of kneeling down and fielding - many a friend got his chin cut when the ball hit a stone and bounced up at the Gopalapuram grounds - where we conducted all such experiments. Parents howled when we had our "collars up" like Sobers or Rohan Kanhai. In fact Sunil has named his son after this great batsman. Jaisimha's style was also worth emulating the swagger as you walked.

These are all defenite changes...

What has probably changed more is our view of the Game, how we follow/report it, how much we encourage our youngsters to take to it.

SIR NEVILLE CARDUS

CHANDRA AT THE OVAL

THE GREAT RANJI

THE DON

OVERHEAD VIEW OF CHEPAUK - Before the Stadium

In the days of C.K.Nayudu and the likes - the 1920s/30s and 40s there was a clear distinction between Gentlemen and Players. Those who played as professionals and the "Rich and influential" who played it because they loved the game.The Book -A Corner of a foreign field by Ramachandra Guha chronicles this era very nicely.

This was when society looked upon both Cricketeers and Cinema Actors as "entertainers". It was nice to know them etc but you will not permit your son to follow this career. It was for Maharajahs like Vizzy ( remember his expert commentary) , Ranji ( after whom the domestic tournament is named and the "inventor" of the leg glance) and the senior Pataudi.

The attitude of the gentry toward "players" is nicely shown in the TV serial "Bodyline". These Games were eagerly followed by Cricket fans through that wonderful instrument called the Radio. Commentary was by so many famous voices - Bobby Talyarkhan, Pearson Surita, V.M.Chakrapani , our own Ananda Rao, Berry Sarbadhikari to just name a few. The BBC which used to be a great source of cricket info had the famous John Arlott , Christopher Martin Jenkins, Brian Johnston, and Radio Australia Alan Mcgilvray , Jack Fingleton till our own Chakrapani joined them. Tony Cozier of the West Indies too was a famous voice.

It was a pleasure to wait for the next mornings paper to read about the exploits , see a picture or two of the match that we had followed on Radio. I remember the Historic spell of Chandra under the victorious Wadekar's team - the raspy voice of John Arlott saying "Shandra moves in and bowls....", the photograph in the next mornings Hindu of a jubilant Chandra was almost exactly how I imagined it would have been. So the way we follow the game has changed.

Come the era of Colour television with live telecasts and multicameras the need to know the "queen's english" has gone. Why hear when you can see , why read when you can watch ?

Just before this era was when we had the masses of India becoming interested in the Game and hence came the Vernacular cricket Commentary - remember the time when the english commentary will be interrupted by the Hindi one and as the only Hindi Student everyone at home used to ask me how much a "ninyaanve" was - they had, however , mastered the numbers ek, do, teen, chaar and chakka. This was the era when cricket was becoming more mass based. A Game of the millions - not just the educated/ english speaking big town boy but the essence of India its Rural masses. For the first time a non metro player called Kapil Dev was ruling the roost.

It was not even during the post Pataudi, Wadekar or Gavaskar era but only now, these past 7 or 8 years that parents have realised not to stifle cricketing Talents in their kids but encourage it. credit for this must go to the Millions pouring into the Game through the Idiot Box and to that phenomenon called Sachin Tendulkar.

Where does this leave someone like me ? I still yearn for the writing of Rajan Bala , E.W.Swanton, John Woodcock , Alex Bannister, Dicky Rutnagar to name just a few.

The one thing I really miss are the lovely and exquisite writings of Sir Neville Cardus .

I wonder how many have read that great master , his wit as sharp as a Gundappa Viswanath Square Cut, the flow of English as smooth as a Gavaskar , It was as complete a package as the spin quartet was, leaving us totally sated but always ready for more like a Sachin Tendulkar Century

I really miss his essays - am wondering how he would have described some of the Modern greats like Sachin , Shane and the unorthodox but effective Murali. The spin quartet - the fluidity of a Bedi or Prasanna -the unpredictability of Chandra and the reliability of a Venkat.

The achievement and grit of Anil Kumble and the effusive Saurav. The phenomenon called

T 20. Oh there are so many lovely things he can wax eloquent on - the sheer contrast of a technical perfectionist like Sunil Gavaskar at one end and the inimitable Cheeka at the other end.

Maybe someone like my friend Nirmal Shekher of the Hindu must get down to the task of "Cardussing" these legends - in that old man's style. This in no way diminishes the style of modern writers like him and R.Mohan , just that I yearn to read more and more Cardusian writing.