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Deve Gowda backs Sreesanth, taunts BCCI again
Former Rajasthan Royals opening bowler S. Sreesanth has just been banned from cricket for life, for putting his hand-towel out of his pant pocket, as a signal to bookies that …
CHURUMURI POLL: Will you ever trust IPL again?
To the surprise of all but those who have just arrived from Mars, the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has been marred by the spotfixing scam involving …
Two kinds of people work in the dead of night
When the lights come on, two kinds of uniformed men get down to work: one for private profit, the other for public good. As the Royal Challengers Bangalore get into …
CHURUMURI POLL: Mandira, Archana or Shibani?*
Yes, it is the silly season. First we had Mandira Bedi, the wide-eyed Punjabi girl who gingerly learnt the game with experts while she adjusted her noodle-straps. Then came along …
To repeat: IPL is a circus, IPL is a circus
The Indian Premier League (IPL) has been called plenty of name by its baiters. Now, as if to live up to the label that it is but a circus—a carnival …
CHURUMURI POLL: Death of India in Test cricket?
India’s 0-3 scoreline with a match to go in the four-Test match series against England will only surprise those who have only passing acquaintance with the game, shout Chak de …
Why 1983 is still vivid, and 2011 is already a blur
Santosh Desai in The Times of India: “When it comes to the 1983 cricket World Cup, many Indians would believe that they have a ball-by-ball memory. It seems as if …
When the boys are imported, why not girls too?
When the “good doctor from the University of Southern California University” outsourced a cheer leading squad from the Washington Redskins for the first edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), …
Does IPL need Bollywood or the vice-versa?
After submitting himself to the manufactured thrills of Twenty20 cricket in South Africa, Mukul Kesavan writes in The Telegraph, Calcutta: “The IPL’s apologists tell us that the Bombay film industry’s …
CHURUMURI POLL: Mallya’s RCB, desi or IMFL?
When it took off, the Indian Premier League (IPL) was supposed to be, among other things, about building strong city-based local identities. In other words, what the Chicago Bulls and …
CHURUMURI POLL: Indians in spot-fixing too?
The spot-fixing scandal to hit Pakistan cricket only confirms a growing sense of unease about the game. The scams surrounding IPL, the haze of drugs hovering over some players, the …
How our TV networks are killing the golden goose
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: One of the popular scraps doing the rounds on Facebook is: “Thank God, India failed to scrape through to the semifinals of the Twenty20 World Cup! Otherwise …
Are Gavaskar & Shastri India’s only cricketers?
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: As I went around the now-abandoned Chinnaswamy stadium, no thanks to the Bangalore police, I spotted the Ace Sports Specialist (ASS) sitting in the clubhouse restaurant. I …
CHURUMURI POLL: BCCI—clean-up or cover-up?
A fortnight of feverish “innuendos, half-truths and motivated leaks“—of corruption, collusion, conflict of interest, tax evasion, shady franchise ownership, fixed auctions, patronage, nepotism, sex, sleaze, drugs etc—has ended with the …
IPL’s thugs are no better than Maoists and Naxals
SHAH ALAM KHAN writes from New Delhi: To qualify as an Indian, it is essential that you love cricket, it is important that you gossip, it is vital to fall …
Gavaskar of 2010 is the same Gavaskar of 1981
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: During the IPL semifinals between the Mumbai Indians and Royal Challengers Bangalore last night, one minor incident proved that the more things change in cricket, the more …
The only tree with more fruits is (perhaps) at IPL
A stone’s throw away from the M. Chinnaswamy stadium, a worker at the Venkatappa art gallery in the back yard of Cubbon Park, ushers in the jackfruit season by climbing …
Anjushathamanam janangal matrame Tharoorine…
Rajiv Gandhi didn’t have to go for the Bofors scandal. A. Raja wasn’t asked to go for the spectrum scam. Kamal Nath stays despite the rice export scam. P. Chidambaram …
‘Business is now just an extension of politics’
Swapan Dasgupta in The Telegraph, Calcutta: “At one time, politicians saw business as the milch cow of election funding and nurtured crony capitalism to ensure a reliable source of resources. …
CHURUMURI POLL: Is there a scam in the IPL?
The words of war between the IPL commissioner Lalit Modi and the minister of State for external affairs, Shashi Tharoor, over the Cochin IPL team and all the stories emerging …
TWEET THIS: Shashi Tharoor & Globalisation 2.0*
The minister of state for external affairs, “Row Bahadur” Shashi Tharoor, often uses the Princess Diana analogy to explain globalisation to the great unwashed: An English princess with a Welsh …
‘IPL threatens cricket’s democratisation trends’
Population of Uttar Pradesh: 166 million; No of teams in the Indian Premier League: 0 Population of Maharashtra: 97 million; No of IPL teams: 2 Population of UP, Bihar, Madhya …
Where there’s a Gill, there’s no way for our sport
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: I spotted the Ace Sports Specialist (ASS) at Gangothri Glades, answering questions from enthusiastic kids about the Davanagere lad, R. Vinay Kumar, who has just made it …
Hopefully, the Cochin team will do the needful
Kanishk Tharoor in The Guardian, London, on the preponderance, rather the monopoly of “white” cheer girls in the Indian Premier League: “The choice made by IPL organisers in this regard …
Bangalore boys get a thumbs up from global girls
In an effort to spread cheer and happiness to far corners of the country in these bleak times, the Hindustan Times corners the cheer girls of the Indian Premier League …