Champions 'whatever' League
The Champions League is less than a week old
Kanishkaa Balachandran
25-Feb-2013
The Champions League is less than a week old. Do many in India really care? Kadambari Murali Wade in the Hindustan Times lists ten reasons why the tournament hasn't yet matched the hype of the two IPLs.
4. Howzatt! You mean, ‘Who's that’? We Indians also like our designer foreign brands. And they're not around. No Smith, Ponting, Hayden, Flintoff, Pietersen, Warne, Vettori, AB… and no melodramatic Pakistanis! Okay, so we have Gilchrist holding the Deccan flag aloft and Gibbs disappearing before he can say hello for the Cobras. Then there's Brendon McCullum (traitor!) on for Otago, that quiet Kallis, and a subdued, shorn Symonds. Not enough, mate.
But it's a different story in the Somerset camp, where the club's chairman Andy Nash, chuffed after upstaging Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad, stood up and said that he felt it was the greatest night in the club's history. Somerset allrounder Peter Trego gives a behind-the-scenes account of that victory and what it's like being a part of the Champions League, in his blog for the Guardian.
On the the morning of the game we managed a successful swim session at our pool – now restored to the correct shade of blue – which was a good chance for the lads to get together and have a laugh. The usual jokers were on top form – Craig Kieswetter wrestling Marcus – but the, er, undoubted highlight, was seeing the "Prince of Malaysia", Arul Suppiah, strutting poolside in the tightest hotpant Speedos I've ever seen. No matter how in shape you are, that's never going to be a good look.
Kanishkaa Balachandran is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo