T20: Plebian Cricket

Tishani Doshi has finally said what all those hacks at cricinfo consider heresy. That Twenty20 is a good thing and it is inevitably more entertaining than Test cricket. Dont get me wrong, I love reading Gideon Haigh and Ramachandra Guha for their diligent chronicling of the game. But most intellecutalls see T20 as a dumbing down of the game. This is hardly the case. At 3.5 hrs T20 is still longer than the Football and Basketball matches. If tons of evaluation can be done on each of these games (inspite of their percieved short timeframe and low quality), then cricket can be far richer and complicated.

In many ways cricket (atleast in its early days) was a game for the anglophiles. This anglophile nature tells us Lords is the home of cricket, Neville Cardus was the greatest cricket writer, W.G.Grace was the greatest batsman (after Bradman).

I for one dont mind the democratisation/plebinisation of cricket. Its just difficult to skip office to watch Dravid gracefully "leave" a ball from Dale Steyn. While it is good to read about the metaphysical interpertations cricket, a few wham-bang sixes dont hurt.

McCullum by Pasternak

Tishani Doshi on her cricinfo blog has said that McCullum's IPL journey may just have been scripted by Chekhov. A glamorous team that excels only at losing has something tragicomic about.

Let me go a step further and add another Russian writer to that idea. McCullum's current script can also be scripted by Boris Pasternak (Doctor Zhivago). In many ways McCullum is the inherently decent guy caught in a crossfire. Like Zhivago he tries to do the right thing, but is often undone by forces beyond his control. It is a classic Russian tragedy. The protagonist, like McCullum, can try, try and try but will eventually only lose, through no fault of his own.

The ugly IPL trophy

Tishani Doshi has brilliantly interpreted the ugliness of the IPL trophy and the cultural reasons of its garishness. Indians often confuse beauty with opulence. We prefer life-less concrete and glass facades to aesthetic values. Our wedding ceremonies are simply gaudy displays of wealth and jewellery. Its almost like there is no place elegance and sensitivity in this ugly exhibition of wealth.