Strike out

Keen to ensure that Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad8217;s visit was not overwhelmed by the sensitivity of the Left, the Centre decided to make the ongoing Indo-UK naval exercise a low-key affair with zero media coverage. Suffering in the process were the Americans, who have sent USS Cole as an observer for the exercise. They had planned a baseball match with a local team in Goa as a 8220;goodwill8221; gesture but had to call it off after a terse signal from South Block last week. The US ship wanted its share of media coverage too, but once that was disallowed, the game was off8212; like the joint media briefing on the entire exercise.