Stories from Blues Brothers on Cricinfo
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Psst ... Chappell's got a secret
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Sep 28, 2008
Infuriating at the best of times, the cricket media has gone completely bananas in recent days with a series of non-stories. First, there was this controversy over whether the BCCI had broken its rules in making Narendra Hirwani a selector. Apparently, the rulebook said the selector should be a former player, retired 10 years. It seems Hirwani was playing cricket after that date. It's a stupid rule and its breach shouldn't really bother anyone. Yet, the cricket press went on and on as if it were… Full Story »
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Ganguly's gangplank
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Sep 12, 2008
AFPI've been avoiding getting into this silly "Should Saurav Ganguly retire?" Part of the reason is, of course, that I'm a big fan of his pluck and derring-do, of him as a batsman and more so of him as perhaps India's finest captain. Admittedly the Big Four - Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman… Full Story »
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An opportunity to bury a dead horse
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Aug 25, 2008
Sometimes crisis provides opportunity. While one can be fully sympathetic towards Pakistani cricket fans, it is important to see the postponement of the Champions' Trophy in a wider perspective. This is a useless, pointless tournament that nobody really wants - not players, not sponsors,… Full Story »
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Kevin on top
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Aug 5, 2008
Getty ImagesHaving appointed Kevin Pietersen as captain of England, Geoff Miller, chairman of selectors at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), talked of seeking a leader who brought "fresh enthusiasm and ideas" and who could lead the team in all three formats: Tests, ODIs and Twenty20s. As a huge Pietersen fan, I must confess to being deliriously happy. Not since Ian Botham has the most talented and exciting cricketer in the… Full Story »
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The Serendip sensibility
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Jul 26, 2008
For an Indian cricket fan, the first Test match of the series in Sri Lanka was a humbling experience. The Indian cricket community and media not being given to patience, inevitably the attack will begin - on the captain, the poor spin bowling and the ageing middle order. Frankly, that is an issue I don't want to touch upon for the simple reason that one Test match is too little time in which to decide that entire careers are over and wholesale changes are needed. If the rest of the series proceeds like this,… Full Story »
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Batting from memory
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Jun 25, 2008
Getty Images This past Sunday, my niece, all of 17 and a week away from her first day in college, came over. I took her for lunch to a neighbourhood restaurant and as we ordered I found her watching the television set behind my back. A news channel was on, and a feature on the Prudential Cup of 1983 was being telecast. What're you watching so quizzically?" I asked. It's probably a silver jubilee special." I stared back, smiled what I thought was a wry smile and tucked into my chicken tikka masala. It was not that I had nothing… Full Story »
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Play, or else ...
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Jun 22, 2008
AFP It seems we're set for another round of that old and decidedly bogus phenomenon - cricket's so-called racial divide. Australia and England face the prospect of top players refusing to go to Pakistan for the Champions' Trophy. The country is violent and turbulent, they argue, and the tournament is being played on the anniversary of 9/11 - though I doubt that final factor makes the cricketers any less or more vulnerable. The ICC should… Full Story »
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The write stuff
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Jun 12, 2008
Getty ImagesThe magazine MW commissioned me to write a piece on whether T20 lent itself to good cricket writing. My response, which appeared in MW's June issue, is reproduced below. A cricket writer friend who read it says it's guaranteed to make me enemies. I wonder why ... People who had never read Neville Cardus were weeping in his memory. Those who wouldn't spend an afternoon watching an… Full Story »
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This month, that miracle
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull Jun 1, 2008
On June 25, 1983, India won the Prudential Cup. The run-up to the silver jubilee has been marked by silly controversies and spurious theories. Before the Delhi Daredevils, there were Kapil's Devils. For cricket fans of a certain generation, June 25, 1983, remains, quite without question, the date of their lives. It was the day India won the Prudential Cup and a bunch of nine journeymen and two all-time greats (one of them, Sunil Gavaskar, a trifle out of form) pulled off the biggest miracle in Indian sport. India has won much since. Especially in the past decade, after the… Full Story »
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The summer game
Blues Brothers on Cricinfo &bull May 19, 2008
I've spent most of the past week in Hubli, a small city in northern Karnataka that has been, in a strange way, an IPL eye-opener for me. Every evening, as the work machine shut down, the Indian Premier League was about the only entertainment available or accessible to the strangers in town. As such, I spent the week watching T20 games almost uninterrupted. As I… Full Story »
