Not just cricket

Why are cricketers forced to speak in English, when they don8217;t speak English and make elementary mistakes which we then snigger at inst...

Why are cricketers forced to speak in English, when they don8217;t speak English and make elementary mistakes which we then snigger at instead of admiring their talent? Quite apart from the fact that often, they8217;re incomprehensible. So, pity poor Shabir Ahmed, the man who ducked Sachin Tendulkar. His mind explored his limited vocabulary for the right words: 8216;8216;I really enjoyed,8217;8217; he achieved. Did he receive any assistance from the pitch? 8216;8216;Yes, there was some moisturiser8230;8217;8217; slipped out before he could stop himself. Er.

Now, Imran Khan8217;s English is almost as starched as his pathan suits and like his bowling, he aims it at his opponents. So, he has used every opportunity, on air, to york the boys in green. 8216;8216;Embarrassing8230; senseless, brainless batting,8217;8217; was his kind description of Wednesday8217;s performance. Khan is a poor TV expert: he is long in the face, short on generosity, deficient in humour and intent on settling scores. Otherwise, he would have said more about India8217;s performance which he dismissed in one observation: they kept their nerve. Moments such as these deserve soda fountain Navjot Singh Sidhu. As American Presidential candidate John Kerry says, 8216;8216;bring-him-on8217;8217;!

We do not know if Khan was more expansive as the night went on because as we had feared, cable operators are using the Supreme Court ruling on Ten Sports sharing its telecast with Doordarshan to block out Ten Sports and go with DD. After the stipulated 30 minutes post-match Ten telecast, DD unceremoniously blanked out Imran8217;s sour cream face and replaced it with Krish Srikkanth8217;s India Shining features. Why, even his beard glistened.

It8217;s now standard practice for news channels to visit the homes of players and the live celebrations in different cities. How this enhances the viewer8217;s pleasure is a secret viewers are still to unravel. Never mind. A good analysis of the match would have been more absorbing. And so the prizes go to Sahara Samay which had rustled up Azharuddin, Ajay Jadeja and, and, Waqar Yunus don8217;t ask what they have in common and Star News who had Wasim Akram and Sandeep Patil.

You knew this series is not just about cricket when political leaders are quick off the mark with their media messages: Sonia Gandhi danced down the pitch first, followed by the PM who was grave and statesmanlike as if a smile would strain Indo-Pak relations. As we saw in subsequent TV commercials, the idea was to exploit the win for electoral purposes. However, it might have been more politic if the PM had recognised the entire Team India rather than 8216;8216;11 players8217;8217;. What of weak-ankled as opposed to weak-kneed Ashish Nehra, Karachi8217;s six-ball wonder, who sat forlorn in Aaj Tak8217;s Delhi studio?

Zee News8217; lengthy coverage of the two women involved in the kidney donor exchange in Chandigarh was authentic, touching and such a relief from elections and cricket, blasphemous as that sounds. It8217;s so much more humane and real somehow than our politicians who still discuss Ayodhya, Sonia Gandhi8217;s bloodtype and how good or bad they8217;re feeling about the country.

We know Mrs Gandhi must be feeling awful after The Indian Express-NDTV-A.C Nielson poll on Friday. Her commendable media accessibility has not dispelled voters8217; doubts. Perhaps because in every interview, she gives the impression she is fighting the elections out of duty to her husband, her mother-in-law, her mother-in-law8217;s father and his father, quite apart from Feroze Gandhi who got an honourable mention last week. Her media managers might tell her to say she wishes to serve the country, not the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty.

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TV serials are brazenly shrinking the big picture. Watch Kasauti Zindagi Kay and Sara Akaash. Kasauti8230; is Kuch Kuch Hota Hai with a replication of the famous hill station camp scene sardar boy, shooting star the works, Sara Akaash is making a post-colonial feminist caste statement a la Lagaan. Heroine Monica is Aamir Khan who takes up the cause of the villagers and a challenge from the Raja Sahib8217;s son. However, since Rajas don8217;t play cricket and because the story has to field horses as in Lagaan, they8217;re to play polo.