Watching the news you’d think we were in the finals. Every day. Cricket is headline news, every day: Ganguly is back in favour — with the sponsors — the Indian team’s got a new outfit (more absorbent for sweat, was one of its more interesting features, reportedly, and you couldn’t help but stare at Rahul’s, Sachin’s and Gangs’s armpits!), Irfan’s back, Ponting’s spine, Yuvraj’s knee, Brett Lee’s ankle, Haydn’s toe, Symonds shoulder, Clarke’s whichever-part-of-the-body — all top of the line stories.

Next, daily analysis of these injuries, and a motley assortment of former cricketers on subjects as wide-ranging as team selection, team selection and team selection. Gavaskar, Srikkanth, Amarnath, Manjrekar, Patil, Jadeja, Kapil Dev, More, Shastri, Madan Lal, Srinath — not a bad 11 to field for the World Cup. More players (Kirti Azad, Saba Karim, Yashpal Sharma, Ashok Malhotra...) journalists, historians, and the average compulsive obsessive cricket lover tell the selectors, coach and captain how to win the Cup. One bats for Laxman, another bowls for Romesh Powar, a third raises his finger against Sachin Tendulkar as vice captain (that yorker from Kapil Dev) — and most fielded for the inclusion of Virendra Sehwag. There are statistics, graphs, replays, sms questions, panel discussions (Big Fight, NDTV), audience debates, interviews... why, even Ian Chappell’s assessing India’s chances (Times Now). One missing person is our favourite Yorkshire terrier, Sir Geoffrey. Has he Boycott-ed us?

Sports channels don’t waste time on words, they bring us the action — India’s 1983 World Cup victory for the billionth time. And every other victory we ever achieved in the one-day that was recorded — you never see Kapil Dev versus Zimbabwe in 1983 because no one bothered to broadcast the match, no doubt believing the teams had about as much of a chance to win the WC as the team we see playing cricket on the bus roofs and roads of Mumbai in the latest, wonderful Nike TV commercial.

... contd.