But suddenly this summer, beginning with IPL and continuing into the second World Cup, Twenty20 has gone deadly serious on us — it is being played with grim determination as if lives depended on it (well, careers just might). As the scorecard seldom crossed 150 and batsmen were out before they were in (!), some of the joy tumbled with the fall of every wicket. At 40-4 in the fifth over it was no longer the happy-go-lucky game that could be enjoyed by all spectators, not just the connoisseurs. If it continues like this, we suspect the women will defect to their serials and the men might be forced to watch soaps.

Star Cricket of course tried its tricks to keep us in our seats with energetic cheerleaders and the even more energetic Gautam Bhimani explaining how EVS brings us slow-motion pictures and replays in the match. How interesting is that? More interesting than watching Pepsi First Ball, in which a contestant bowls one ball to a cricketer. We saw a man from Hyderabad lope in to spoon a ball to Saurav Ganguly (yes, he and many other famous present and former cricketers were there, including Sachin Tendulkar), the ball pitched so way outside the off stump, he had to walk towards first slip to meet it. For this outstanding piece of bowling he received a signed bat. Hmmn.

Right, since last week, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has appeared in at least three more TV commercials which leads us to suspect that advertisers flocked to him hoping for a much better showing from the Indian team — at least a semi-final berth. Have they heard of the phrase, “too much of a good thing”?

... contd.