It’s been 24 hours since I was given the freedom to start blogging by Cricinfo’s editors. It’s also been 24 hours since I decided to read Mukul Kesavan’s last post. “Blues Brothers” succeeds – perhaps replaces is a better word – “Men in White” and I attempt to fit the shoes of someone of a bigger size. It was appropriate, I felt, to read that valediction, in homage if nothing else.
Then I read the responses; at the time there were 126 readers who’d mailed back following that final post. Some liked Mukul and said they’d miss him; others loathed him and couldn’t wait to share their glee at him leaving the crease. Either way, there was strong emotion and great vehemence. It scared me. In India, in cyberspace at least, we take our cricket seriously. Writing on politics – which is my day job – seems almost tension free in comparison.
Well, 24 hours are enough to battle trepidation. It’s appropriate to start with an introduction. Like all cricket fans, I’m a contradiction. I grew up reading of the Golden Age of Cricket, of Trumper and Clem Hill (with whom, I discovered to my utter joy, I share a birthday). Yet, as March vanishes into April, I can’t but confess I’m looking forward to the IPL razzmatazz. True, it’s not the same game – but it’s the only one we have.
This blog is supposed to be a wide-eyed fan’s view. As a journalist, and one who writes occasionally on the business and politics of cricket, I cannot entirely escape the cynic’s view. So this blog will perhaps reflect the inner confusion of the blogger. So much like the great game isn’t it – immaculate defence one ball, cross-bat swipe the next? Cricket brings out the paradox of life.
It’s a strange day to start. A Test match has begun and I haven’t been able to watch it. I don’t get Neo on my television, Doordarshan is not showing the matches – more correctly, not stealing pictures it couldn’t legitimately buy – and even old All India Radio has walked away from ball-by-ball commentary.
I’ve followed the match on Cricinfo. By tomorrow, I’ll have to make amends and contact my DTH service provider and get that damned Neo signal. Maybe radio commentary will come my way too in the coming months. India has a plethora of private FM stations but they’re banned from broadcasting news. Live sports matches constitute news and so there’s no commentary on private FM stations.
The government, I hear, is considering, allowing news broadcast on private radio. So is cricket on FM the next media revolution my generation must encounter and come to terms with? Will my son, all of 17 months, grow up listening to Delhi Daredevils pulverise Chennai Superkings (and are those corny names) on FM? Will he read my collection of cricket books? Will he watch Test cricket at all?
Come to think of it, will we watch Test cricket at all, at least this year? After a pulsating tour of Australia that was, really, the best advertisement for Test match cricket, with all the attendant ceremony and drama, the BCCI has just announced that it’s cutting down the England series in India from three Tests to two. To make up, Mr Sharad Pawar and his friends will torture us with a meaningless ODI tri-series in Bangladesh in the midsummer madness of June!
What was that about carefully nurturing Test cricket and not allowing it to be overwhelmed by ODIs and T20 and IPL? Oh just another BCCI yarn ...
"MEN IN WHITE" DONE GREAT JOB. MUKUL IS A FANTASTIC GUY. EVEN I READ HIS BLOGS ONLY.
SO MY CONGRATS FOR YOU & DO THE SAME.
Posted by: Nipun Rastogi on 03/27/2008
First of all a huge WELCOME!!!!
I have huge respects for Mr. Kesavan and hence, part of it extrapolates on you as you are the "chosen one" to replace him. We share one thing in common. This is your first blog and this is my first comment on any blog. Its good that you have a background in writing etc. for public. Its good because you will give the least concerns to diplomacy and stuff and give us your view, your blog. Hope we find an avid critic and a more avid cricket fan with this blog.
Cheers and good luck ....
and yes happy blogging!!!
Nipun Rastogi
Posted by: sandeep on 03/27/2008
i liked your style of writing so i hope when you blog you will blog from fans view not really the politically correct view !!!
Posted by: Bharath on 03/27/2008
All the best!..you have made a nice start.I was tearing my hair apart yesterday with the same problem you faced....I use DISH and it does not give me NEO. After the first two days of play, I dont think I care :)
Posted by: ShankarNarayanan on 03/27/2008
Welcome to the crease that MK occupied. I was an avid reader of MK's blogs.Agreed with some disagreed with some but overall found it an interesting read. Hope you continue in the same vein.
In one of the last blogs of MK I had said Test cricket will live and my stand continues to be the same. Prepare wickets which offers opportunity to both batsmen and bowlers and results are bound to be there which will engage spectators. But this Chennai pitch seems to be a batsman's paradis and the heat is already taking a toll and not only on the players. Why do they prepare such wickets for a series opener. And with this they hope to bring spectators to the ground..what a pipe dream
Will keep watching your space
Posted by: Abhishek on 03/27/2008
I face a peculiar dilemma....as an optimist I’d like to believe that the game that has withstood the onslaught of other popular sports that necessarily don’t take up 8 hours of your day and actually increased its reach over the last decade or so can actually embrace Twenty20 just like it took ODIs in it’s stride way back in 1971.
On that note, I’d like IPL to succeed big time. I’m sure that’d trigger another wave of collective anorexia for this format of the game amongst cricket-writers in its country of inception where I happen to reside.
However, the alarmist in me gives a not-too-comforting signal that with the success of IPL, BCCI’s stand of running after megabucks by playing more and more Twenty20 and ODIs at the expense of test matches would be vindicated and that would cause great harm to Indian cricket in the long run.
Anyway, I’ll refrain from jumping my guns as of now and wish both IPL and Blues Brothers all the best at the start of your innings.May the Force be with you!
Posted by: Ashok on 03/27/2008
Welcome my namesake! Looking forward to read some insightful articles on your blog here!
Posted by: Keerthivasan on 03/27/2008
"it’s not the same game – but it’s the only one we have"
welcome, Mr.semi-purist blogger!
I predict that baseball and 20-20 will lead us to a fused version in another 10 odd years...hope people know test cricket then! :)
Good luck and happy blogging!
Posted by: deepak2 on 03/27/2008
ashok,you really have a job cut out for you,filling in mukul's shoes.all the best without much hope though.
Posted by: Ralph on 03/27/2008
The decision to cut the England tour down to two tests is a very strange one, by both the BCCI and the ECB. It's unthinkable that the Ashes would ever be reduced to two tests, and really the Ashes, Australia-India, and England-India are the top series in test cricket nowadays, in every sense.
The ECB's excuse - that the England players wanted Christmas off - doesn't explain why they considered a two test series preferable to rearranging the tour for some other time.
I suspect the usual power politics was at the root of it. It is not hard to imagine the BCCI - masters of the world of cricket and eager to display their power at any opportunity - quite happy to give the impression that an England series is as easily reduced to two tests as one against say Sri Lanka. In this case, it is equally easy to imagine that the ECB would rather call their bluff than plead for a rearrangement.
Posted by: Pratik on 03/27/2008
Good luck Mr Malik. Looking forward to your blogs.
Posted by: ajaya on 03/27/2008
daredevils
royal challengers
royals
kings
superkings
and my absolute favorite.. (NOT!!) the knight riders
what a ridiculous bunch of names these IPL teams have... the people in charge of naming them should be beheaded for their lack of originality
the only name thats actually any good is the deccan chargers. and just for that, ill be supporting them when it all gets under way
the mumbai team naming themselves 'indians' was imho a masterstroke. watch them corner a large fanbase outside of mumbai
Posted by: Grud on 03/27/2008
I cannot believe they got rid of Mukul. To me, he was one of the few writers who always get at least 250 replies....But I do hope you are from the same league.
Posted by: Abdul on 03/29/2008
Nice thread to start of with. I look forward to reading more from you in the future and hope you experience the same success as Mukul did.
Posted by: CG SESHAN on 03/30/2008
After the wonderful Friday when Shewag showed why test cricket can be pulsating, Indians gave it away all on Saturday. It is unfortunate it happened on a day when Dravid reached another milestone, but in my view if Dravid had pushed along a bit faster throughout his innings, the results would have been different.
The pitch was flat, but Ntini and Steyn showed what Sreesanth and RP lack. RP in particular was looking unfit and slow, all along. I wish Ishant was fit, but it is likely when Zaheer and Ishant come back (we can't have both Sreesanth and RP together in the next one), they are likely to be flat as well for the first match!
Overall, a performance below expectations from Indians and but for Shewag, many would have swicthed off their television(s).
Posted by: Kamal Karanth on 03/30/2008
Will miss Mukul for sure. There was something he used pluck out of thin air which used to make me feel strongly agree or disagree. Hope Ashok you will be able to invoke us as well
BTW mukul where can we read you next ?
Posted by: shanx999 on 03/30/2008
On the fourth day, just cannot understand why the Ver Very Special one so diligently takes a single off the first ball of every over when there is a bunch of tailenders on the other side. He has done this many many times, isnt there a sense of responsibility in the last batsman? is he really that obtuse that he cannot appreciate what seems to be obvious ?
Posted by: Senthil Vel on 03/30/2008
Can someone shed light on why MK has been replaced.
Posted by: Parvez on 04/01/2008
Mr Malik! Turn those top spinners once again... am sure the son will be happy to pick them up early in life.
BTW, where's MK?
Ashok Malik has been a journalist since 1991 and is currently senior editor at the Pioneer. His one unfulfilled journalistic ambition is to be a gossip writer in a film magazine. The cricket buff inside him is a split personality. The newsperson is convinced of IPL's potential and that, inevitably, it will gobble up the rest of cricket; the romantic dreams of a glorious day at the Elysian Oval, with Trumper scoring a century before lunch – and batting on forever.
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