Mandy 2.0

Yesterday was a hell of a day. I spent two hours trudging from north Goa to south Goa in search of an ENT specialist who took one minute to studiously inspect my ears and tell me that the reason I felt like I had a bucket over my head was because I had wax in my ears. (Sorry, not a pleasant subject, I know). Then I trudged all the way back to put drops in my ears and settle into some serious cricket watching, and the weather came out to play havoc again. Not satisfactory!

Speaking of wax, I have to say that the Extraaa Innings presenters are pretty good at waxing eloquent about everything under the sun, including the weather. It takes some talent to be able to fill in the gaps with something while rain stops play for the umpteenth time.

Personally, I've taken quite a shine to Mandira Bedi. She's come a long way from her noodle-strap days. I found her quite annoying back then, and I think part of it was due to the fact that I felt her presence on the show was entirely gratuitous. She didn't know much about cricket, and yet she was talking shop with some of the greats.

But I think the first lady of cricket has evolved significantly since then. For this season she's got a funky new haircut, which suits her personality, and instead of that permanent grin smeared on her face, she seems more relaxed and appears generally to be having the time of her life. Her knowledge of cricket has obviously improved, she's had more time to get comfortable in her role, and I think she actually has an edge over her male colleagues when it comes to interviews. It's the male-female thing again. Basically, men are less threatened when talking to a woman, and vice versa for women.

In terms of the IPL, though, no amount of waxing and waning on Extraaa Innings is going to make up for the actual game, and in that sense, I felt pretty let down by yesterday. What looked like it was going to be a cracker of a match between the Knight Riders and the Kings XI fizzled into another Duckworth-Lewis result. And the highly anticipated showdown between the Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals was abandoned without a single ball bowled. All in all, the only silver lining in my entire day was Chris Gayle - his sixes and his accent. I could suffer through a lot more rain delays and ear doctors in order to hear that voice again!