Swings and sweeps

8220;About an alliance,8221; I replied.

8220;For whom 8212; for the BJP or for the Congress?8221;

8220;Neither. I was thinking of an Indo-Pak alliance.8221;

8220;An Indo-Pak alliance? For what? Against whom?8221;

8220;Against the rest of the world 8212; in cricket.8221;

8220;Oh, a cricketing alliance.8221;

8220;Yes, just think of a team that has the awesome Indian batting line-up and the swinging Pakistani bowlers. We could rule the cricketing world.8221;

8220;That we could. Or maybe you don8217;t have to look for alliance partners from across the border. Our own politicians can step in to help.8221;

8220;Politics and cricket? How does that tie-up?8221;

8220;Very easily. Talk about the art of swing! Look at the unabashed speed with which our politicians swing in and out of alliances. They make the 8216;Sultan of Swing8217; look pathetic in comparison.8221;

8220;You have a point there, I must say. In swing and out swing. But what about 8216;reverse swing8217;? Shouldn8217;t we learn that from the Pakistanis?8221;

8220;Not at all. Haven8217;t you noticed how quick our politicians are at it? If a party suffers early reverses, the trend can be 8216;swung back8217; at any given point of time.8221;

8220;So that is what you mean by early reverse swing and late swing. Not bad at all. And what about spin?8221;

8220;That8217;s simple. Just get the political spin-doctors to do their bit. They can lend a spin to anything.8221;

8220;Quite right, quite right.8221;

8220;And look how professional these politicians are. They switch sides depending on which way the wind blows. So bowlers can take advantage of that factor, too.8221;

8220;Amazing.8221;

8220;Yes, and as they are always in the 8216;running8217;, they could help us improve our running between wickets.8221;

8220;True. Lastly, what about the sweep shot? We need to work on that.8221;

8220;That can all change with the poll results. We can always ask the candidate who makes a 8216;clean sweep8217; at the hustings to do their bit for our team.8221;

8220;Well! All I can say is that I am swept off my feet by your arguments!8221;

My husband had the last word as usual: 8220;Now ours is what I call a 8216;Feel Good8217; alliance!8221;