SEX AND THE CT, AND OTHER CRICKET TALES

I HAD stopped my weekly blog on cricket about three years back but the buzz around the Champions Trophy has blown my veil of a sabbatical from cricket blogging into smithereens. And what a week we've had! Struggling for its own survival, the One Day game has showcased some of the more intriguing contests seen all year, proving quite conclusively that what might kill the ODIs is overexposure and meaninglessness, not the format. Put some needle in the contests and suddenly you have pricked the balloon of apathy. And the upsets did not hurt either!

Having started as two of the weakest teams on paper, New Zealand and England (West Indies were not fielding their first squad) have suddenly upset the equation driving Sri Lanka to the brink of elimination and lettinf South Africa complete the formality of crashing out early of another tournament. The difference has been the approach to the game from these teams. Especially England, who have taken a fresh, positive and exciting view of things yielding great results. Here's a team that had lost 6 straight ODIs and now they have won 3 straight! What a difference a week makes. By the way, their victims include the ICC top ranked ODI team as well as couple of more top 5 scalps. Meanwhile all the hullabaloo about Gary Kirsten's apparent decision to play out his own version of 'Sex and the CT (Champions Trophy!)' throwing out the playbook for the Kamasutra and proposing to swap performance enhancing drugs with Viagra, India's on field concentration has wavered as evident from a disjointed bowling and fielding performance in that big match against Pakistan at Centurion. West Indies, unwittingly reduced to a minnow in a test nation's clothing (they were drubbed 3-0 by Bangladesh - a team not even in the Champions Trophy - at home) have fought hard too, sadly their inexperience caught them out short against the Aussies.

But the moment of the week for me remains one from the India-Pakistan encounter. It was a classic match and had many brilliant moments (Afridi's superb spell, Shoaib Malik's calculated end innings assault, Mohammed Yousuf's calm and fluidly effortless innings) but when Mohammed Aamer bowled a superb delivery to get rid of Sachin Tendulkar having him caught at slip, the beauty of the moment was hard to miss. Here was a teenager who'd just dismissed a master who's been playing the game for a longer time than Aamer's been on this earth! Whether you're an Indian or a Pakistani fan, a supporter of the shorter or the longer format, you cannot but help admire a moment of this sort. It provides you with the perspective of how the game can bring joy to life. The India Pakistan encounter had hype surrounding it because the two teams hadn't clashed since the 26/11 attacks last year. Maybe there's a lesson in there for the ICC. Familiarity has been breeding contempt for the One Day game and remedying that may hold the key to saving the format.

If sex has been the flavour of the week, then here's a bit of advice for the One Day format. Ask anybody and they'll tell you that the secret to great lovemaking is the foreplay. If ODIs are to hold on to their mojo, the audience needs time for that foreplay to sink in.