nuances

Test cricket and life

I’d say Test cricket grows on you.

In the beginning, there was only Test cricket, you knew of nothing better. Tests were cricket, cricket were Tests. Then India won the World Cup in 1983, and you realized that there was an exciting, faster-paced brand of cricket, a form in which India were world champions, a form that could bridge the gap between good teams and great.

And if you were a schoolkid, Test cricket paled in comparison. Who had the time to follow five gourmet meal of a game over 5 days, when you could get instant Maggi and masala?

But you grew older, and just like your appreciation of music finessed, so did your appreciation of the nuances of the longer version of the game.

Sure, you still found it difficult to find time to enjoy 30 hours of timeless cricket but you discovered that it mirrored life. That patience pays more, that it’s about plugging away and hoping that things will turn around.

It’s life, in a microcosm.

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Bolshoi,The Boxer, Believes It Paes to Be Leander’s Muse (Satire)

Bolshoi, my pet Boxer, wishes to act in a Hollywood picture.

“I have decided that I will become a film star. I want to win an Oscar for the country.”

“Sure. And pigs will fly.” I reply.

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Rafael Nadal: How Our Disbelief Obliterates His Many Achievements

Now that Rafael Nadal has staked his claim to being the Greatest Of All Time (GOAT), let us examine the reasons why tennis aficionados are still leery of anointing him the heir to  Federer’s not yet vacated throne.

Is it that he is a Spaniard not too familiar with the nuances of the English language?

Is it that he does not typify the usual tennis player? Is it that he appears to be a muscle-bound hulk?

Is it that he’s built more like a boxer or a sprinter?

Is that what blinds us to his ever improving court craft?

Or are we just peeved with the alleged illegal coaching by his Uncle Toni from the sidelines?

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Roger Federer: Now A Fish Out Of Water

The writing is on the wall.

We’ve dismissed suggestions that Federer is fading and have hoped against hope to be rewarded with another Slam this year but we were destined to be disappointed.

Federer has lost his aura of invincibility. We just failed to recognise it for what it was.

We believed that it was only Nadal who stood in his way. How we have demonised that man from Mallorca!

But we forget that our Gods are human too. We forget that they age too.

That they succumb to their mistakes.

That their creaking bones may no longer withstand the rigors of a gruelling tour.

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