Taking an auto-rickshaw ride anywhere in India is an experience, but in Kerala it would probably be

an enlightening one. On the eve of the first ODI between India and West Indies, it is natural that
cricket is what everyone is talking about. Kerala has a rich sporting culture, and it won't be wrong to
say that the popularity of football eclipses cricket here; but when it comes down to talking cricket,
you will find a well informed crowd.

So a 45-minute auto-rickshaw ride from the hotel to the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium was
not only a harrowing journey through narrow lanes and two-way traffic, but turned one with an
intriguing conversation about cricket.

Varghese must have been in his mid-40s; bald, slender in figure. He talked with a pleasant slang
exclusive to Kochi. After roughly five minutes of silence amidst the commotion on the road and a
failed attempt to match the speed of the 'super fast' passenger buses - and in very literal sense they
are super fast - he asked," Are you here to cover the cricket match?"

On hearing me reply in the affirmative, Varghese took it as his cue to start off the conversation. He
was not very pleased that Chris Gayle was not playing and predicted that West Indies will lose
heavily.

"They don't have players like Desmond Haynes, Richie Richardson or (Viv) Richards anymore," he
lamented. "It is not fun to watch the West Indians now. The West Indies of the 80s were something
different. If Haynes and Richardson were in the middle they will plonk and plonk until they got to
their fifties and Krishnamachari Srikkanth would return the favour."

I offered back a reply about how it is hard to replicate such a team, and then gave the example of
the current Indian team. Varghese wasn't taking it so easily.

"No, it is not about skills anymore, I used to love the Indian team of the 80s. They played cricket with
fervour, with devotion and they were truthful to their profession," came his sharp counter as he
sharply swerved the rickshaw in to a lane that was so narrow that I could knock on any of the houses
dotting either side. "Only one bowler could remove the menacing West Indians and that was Kapil
Dev."