Two Smiles

Often a smile says more than many paragraphs. Today morning I saw two such smiles flashed at each other. Muralitharan came out to bat with Sri Lanka in trouble, but was batting the only way he bats - with gay abandon. After milking a few lucky ones off two Pathan overs, the great spinner faced his opposing number for the first time in ages.

Murali had a toothy grin, as he always does. Kumble started his run, came to the crease, leapt up, Murali charged! The ball fell short of a length, missed the bat and disturbed the already-oft-tormented stumps. Kumble ambled down the track with a smile very different from those that we normally see - one of triumph with a tinge of deference. Murali flashed back a different smile too - one with the helplessness of the vanquished with a tinge of bravado.

Two masters of an esoteric art sharing a private wordless joke.