The Surfer

IMRAN KHAN: A lady-killer in the true sense of the word. The ruggedly-handsome pathan from Pakistan made maidens swoon on either side of LoC. Women found his killer looks and his flamboyance on the field hard to resist. Of his many dalliances, the one with Bollywood star Zeenat Aman received most publicity, but it was his link with Sita White, the daughter of an English tycoon, that all but ruined his reputation. Imran allegedly sired a daughter out of wedlock through Sita before he became involved with Jemima who he later married and divorced. He is also alleged to have had a relationship with the late PM of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto.

Now the viewer and the spectator will sit in judgement and that is how it should always be. They are pretty uncomplicated fellows and they don’t really care much for either heritage or the future. They will look at the offering, if it’s good they will buy it, otherwise they will move on. And this tournament will give us a very good idea of which way they are going.

India have to take a serious look at their overall selection strategy, keeping in mind the busy season ahead. In this case, there were few options for specialist middle-order batsmen and that is worrying. Rohit Sharma was injured in the season opening Buchi Babu tournament, Robin Uthappa has done little apart from one brilliant ton in the final of the Corporate Trophy and S Badrinath, the other obvious candidate, does not seem to find favour. What’s especially worrisome is the fact that this paucity of middle-order options is after recalling Dravid, who wasn’t even in the one-day frame of things for two years.

Quite rightly, England are being careful not to rush Rashid into Test cricket. His bowling is extremely useful at county level, but he would be learning on the job if he was promoted to Test cricket too soon. When he played a first-class match against Australia for England Lions at Worcester earlier this season, he bowled too short, too often. He must be given as long as possible for his bowling to mature. Once he has been picked for the Test side, he must be given a decent run to establish himself.

One day he might need counselling, for it must be an unnerving experience for a young boy to have his parentage questioned by his own dad. He laughed again. I resolved to bounce the crap out of him. Even at my best I rarely bowled bouncers, and then only to people who didn't hook and just ducked. It was an inexpensive game I played to keep Mike Brearley happy when he thought I wasn't being sufficiently aggressive enough and it never cost runs.

If captains could place their fielders where they wanted to, rather than where regulations dictate, there is a chance they might start to think again and a chance that one side’s tactics might differ significantly from another’s. If a captain could bowl his best bowler for more than the stipulated ten overs, there is a chance that he would and that attacking cricket played by the best players would become more a feature of a one-day match. Powerplays dictate the pace of the game to batsmen; do without them and watch batsmen take the initiative again.