The Surfer

Why Saheba has decided to deny a conversation that took place with his consent at his residence in Ahmedabad over several plates of yummy kesar-pista ice-cream as he happily posed for pictures is a mystery to us.

"There was a lot of hype with the tournament and the amount of money invested at the start," Katich said. "But in a way that has helped the intensity because everybody knows this was high stakes which put extra pressure on the performance.

Sport is ultimately about a deep emotional connect between players and fans and not about transient pleasures derived from being part of a three-hour extravaganza. There is almost something sacred about this relationship that cannot be diluted by flashy music videos, glamorous cheerleaders and even more magnetic film stars. When on-field tension is matched by off-the-field hype, when the camera focuses relentlessly on the stars and the dancers instead of the cricketers, then questions must be raised about the direction the sport is headed.

The IPL's first week has revealed a flaw that could prove fatal, an identity crisis that looks like it will need the last million dollars of the marketing men to be resolved.

It’s essential for the captain to stay cool and not put pressure on the players in the team, even if he is upset. If the captain shows he is upset, the bowlers get upset and commit more mistakes. But if the captain is relaxed, the bowlers will draw confidence from that. Mahela is a lot like that, he doesn’t take pressure and he doesn’t put pressure. But Dhoni is cooler than any other captain because he takes it so easy.

Cricket Australia has commissioned extensive research in a bid to protect and promote the sport - and its brand - and is confident soccer will never dampen the interest in cricket. The Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young has suggested soccer could even work hand in hand with cricket.

If there is a queue at the international airport of late, it's because Australia's cricketers are lining up to pay excess baggage fees for the sackloads of rupees they plundered during their brief, but profitable, excursion to India. Cricket has seen nothing like the Indian Premier League and the players' bank accounts have seen nothing like it either.

Crucially for its future success, the players have taken to it wholeheartedly. This is not surprising when you consider the financial rewards on offer, but when, after the first match, Brendon McCullum, the New Zealander who scored 158 for the Kolkata Knight Riders, said that he could not feel his legs for the first eight balls he faced because of nerves, it was a good sign.

Speed's early exit is expedient, an exercise in damage limitation at a time when the ICC is in turmoil. He has been made a scapegoat, just as he once made Hair one. Speed had been at loggerheads with the ICC's South African president, Ray Mali, over the non-publication of an independent forensic audit of the finances of Zimbabwe Cricket, an audit that found evidence of irregularities.

At 20, Khatri has survived the biggest storm for a chinaman spinner. That of retaining his bowling-style, which comes with copious cautionary notes, equal in length to a chinaman’s definition. Predominantly a batsman in his seven years at Sawai Mansingh Stadium’s RCC nets, Khatri was called aside one day by the late Hanumant Singh three years ago. His left wrist had twisted a couple of deliveries prodigiously from off to leg, during what Khatri calls a “faltoo, time-pass practice session”, and Hanumant was impressed.