The Surfer

The culture of cricket now seems to be going the way of Troy, or indeed of the Roman Empire. The glory of cricket, with its intelligence and the complexity of the interplay, is sinking into the past. We are moving, surprisingly rapidly, into the dumbed-down cricket of Twenty20. Cricket first developed on village greens such as Hambledon, it looks as though it may come to an end at Bangalore.

The ads have been good, some of the anthems have been excellent; the fireworks have gone off and the dancers are showing a lot of energy. But cricket is winning, as we always knew it would. The first week of the IPL has worked. Now it must draw repeat crowds, it must be a success in its fourth week. Chances are it will do more than just that; I sense we are seeing a lifestyle change, like the personal computer, broadband and digital music.

The feud apparently began in the early 1930s and ended only when Fingleton died in 1981. Nobody has ever got to the bottom of why they disliked each other so much, although everyone has assumed religion had something to do with it. Bradman was a Mason and Fingleton a Catholic.

It is not the Indian crowds tormenting Symonds – as happened on last year's Australian tour – but his own form. In his first two games, Symonds, the IPL's most expensive non-Indian player, has gone for 55 runs from four overs at an economy rate of 13.75 runs per over. He has scored 44 runs off 52 balls. With Symonds earning an estimated A$200,000 for his fortnight in the IPL, he has yet to turn Deccan's investment into value for money.

If not, TV money will devour the sport. Once it is done, it’ll spit out the corpse, which will by then consist of a Twenty20 championship in India, some low-level club tournaments around the world, international “friendlies”, a la soccer, and that’s about it.

People putting in the most effort at this point? That's an easy one. It's the cheerleaders. They never stop. And the cameras never stop showing them never stopping. The odd thing being, of course, that you have never seen crowds less in need of leaders for their cheering.

The best of sport allows for the pause. It lets us sit back and savour the has-been and dream of the still-to-come. Nothing that is breathless — and therefore leaves no room for a complex cognitive process leading to emotional fulfillment — can lay claims to sporting greatness.

Salunkhe had not played for any of the Mumbai age group sides, but after playing for Jhunjhunwalla and Khalsa College, he was picked for the university side thanks to the insistence of selector Sanjay Patil. Kapil Dev rewarded Salunkhe with a stint in Leicester cricket in 2007. Air India then took him on scholarship and he has rewarded them with consistent performances.