It’s quite a symphony playing out in Sydney now. On the field it is Ricky Ponting and his men as concerto and conductor, while off it, in the staid offices of the Australian media, there is a brass band in loyal pursuit.

It may, in the face of it, sound a different tune altogether, a soprano for a foxtrot maybe, but close inspection could see stains of those tasteless mind-games.

An article this morning, in the Sydney Morning Herald has dug out some extraordinary bits of information that even Indians weren’t probably aware of, or couldn’t have cared less about anyway.

It is this senseless issue of caste differences in the Indian team, as it sees it.

The article, written by Andrew Stevenson, looks like an academic study of caste differences within Team India. But if one considers its timing, and the sheer uselessness of such vapid information, such looks turn deceptively mischievous.

It has the potential of creating a divide.

Read this excerpt: “The Brahmin caste, which only forms only a tiny fraction of India’s population has always dominated the national cricket side... Even today, with the game reaching further and further into the countryside, and the so-called lower orders, the Indian team has a decided flavour with Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, R.P. Singh and Ishant Sharma all Brahmins. Wasim Jaffer is a Muslim, Harbhajan Singh a Sikh, while, of the Hindu players, only Mahendra Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh come from “lower” castes.”

... contd.