The Surfer

Here in the IPL, the pressure is a little less because you have a lot more games to play and you can always make a comeback if you lose a game or two. I think the pressure is a little less, but the whole event is definitely amazing. The way the crowds come in and back their team, it's a real good thing to see.

None of this is new of course. By being as opaque as it is, the BCCI does a great disservice not just to its largest stakeholders but also to its own work. In my experience, most selectors and even board officials aren't as devious and conniving as they are often painted out to be. A large proportion of them have a deep love for cricket and enjoy serving the game. But I find it incredibly hard to fathom why they see no reason to change the way they communicate. Why they refuse to acknowledge that the world around them has changed. Why they fail to understand that in this era of rapidly flowing information and opinion, veils of secrecy can no longer exist without question.

There is the idea that bums on seats is the only way to judge interest, and empty stadiums across the world have been taken as proof that this or that format is dying. However, if a little-advertised tournament with very few international superstars can generate a healthy amount of viewership - a viewership which has grown exponentially in a year, in a country where cricket isn't even the number one sport - surely the game is still doing all right?

The story of Ballu becoming a medium pacer is amazing to say the least. He was playing in 'D' division of a Mumbai Cricket Association tournament for Sind sports club. One day their main medium-pacer didn't turn up. The captain GT Punjabi threw the new ball to Ballu, who then was an off spinner! From that day, Ballu always bowled with a new ball.

" Their batting is the issue and Jimmy Anderson will pose the biggest problems. Australians struggle against good swing bowling and Anderson is the best in the business. Steve Finn is also very impressive. He's a big tall bowler who hits the track hard. He's got a good engine and runs in hard all day. There's a lot to like about Finn. Anderson will pitch it up and move it around while Finn runs in and gets bounce. [Stuart] Broad does both so it's a good, balanced attack and [Tim] Bresnan and [Graham] Onions can fill roles accordingly. And Graeme Swann is the best finger spinner around. They're in a pretty good place."

These women are soft - and extremely unfair - targets. Why complain when we know, all too well, that they weren't recruited for their cricketing knowledge. The people who must really be blamed are the channel bosses at Max and producers of Extraaa Innings T20, who have for six consecutive years made a very conscious strategy out of choosing women who know absolutely nothing about cricket, dressing them up in skimpy clothes and getting them to ask foolish questions on television - a trend they kick started during the 2003 World Cup.

On this trip, Team South Korea have a few practice games lined up against local clubs and academies - footage of which will be recorded by their video analyst Na Hyun Tae and studied very carefully back in Seoul. But most importantly, Lee and his boys have two main items on their agenda. One is to buy proper cricket equipment and kits to take back home and the second must-do in their check-list is to watch Sachin Tendulkar in action.

The sport used to be considered almost a religion for most Indian men but that seems to be changing: viewership hasn't really gone up in the past few years despite the launch of new formats like IPL. Meanwhile, advertising rates continue their stratospheric climb and many advertisers are raising questions on the return on investment the sport offers. So much so that some companies have slowed their game while others are talking about returning to the pavilion.