Anyone for Tennis?

I am supposed to write about sport today, but find that there is not much that I have to write. I could write about India thrashing the Poms but unfortunately given that this is one of the weakest Pom sides ever to visit the country in recent times it does not make for interesting copy.

So perhaps I should write about the Indian Davis Cup team. After all we won a series rubber against the Pakis and if one were to read news reports it would seem like we won the Davis Cup itself. Are the Pakis any good at tennis? I don’t think so but so long as beat up on the Pakis it’s time for the nation to rejoice. Never mind that both nations are just as bad at the game. Never mind that this is some insignificant Asia-Oceania group relegation match. Never mind that there is not a single grass court in Mumbai and that we had to cordon of some part of the Brabourne stadium to prepare a makeshift venue. Never mind that Leander Paes sidelines Rohan Bopanna and decides to play the final match himself, (it was a nice win-win situation for Paes. If he lost he would have been described as a warrior who gives all for the cause of the country and if he won then he would be a warrior who never lets the country down). This time around he was the warrior who never lets the country down. Never mind that dynasty was on display once again with Prakash Amritraj managing to play for the country though he has barely ever lived in India, although one must say that it’s a smart decision considering he is unlikely to even make a tenth string American Davis Cup team (I wonder when we will get to see Ramesh Krishnan’s son in the Davis Cup).

Mr Historian

The sudden appearance of a cricket appearance in the form of one Mr Borai Majumder always mystified me. I found it strange that this cherubic Bong had come out of nowhere and was suddenly on every TV channel which wanted the historians views on everything related to cricket. I thought the chap looked too young to be a real historian (somehow historians are these old grey-haired chaps for me) and then again no one mentioned anything about his qualifications other than saying that he wrote a book on one of India’s tours to Pakistan. I confess that I also found him rather pompous and over-enthusiastic quite Like one Mr Sidhu and one Mr Srikanth. It turns out now that the historian was born when Jagmohan Dalmiya and the BCCI commissioned him to write a book on the tour. They actually paid this chap to write the book, something that our historian friend never cared to reveal and we would never have known but for the Pawar-Dalmiya battle which led to the revelation. Just shows that you can’t even believe all that you see these days. As for our news guys not being able to figure this out on their own, just shows you that we don’t much care to o into the history of the people we use.