Scorecard

Sidhu, Crickets Strokeful Blunder

Why everyone loves to hate this cricket expert
N OA H SEEL A M /A F P ( VA LT H AT Y ); M A N A N VAT S YAYA N A /A F P (PAT H A N ); IN D R A NIL M U K H ER J EE /A F P (H A L A PPA); JA SPER J U IN EN /G E T T Y IM AG E S (R A M O S); R A B IH M O G H R A B I /A F P (R A J P U T )

Life On and Off the Field

BY M A NISH A DHIK A RY

avjot Singh Sidhus metamorphosis from an influential batsman into a purveyor of streetwise wit on the small screen has been as mercurial as the sixes he hit off Shane Warne. He has, post-retirement, also scaled great heights in politics, winning the general election from Amritsar three times in a row and becoming one of the Bharatiya Janata Partys star election campaigners. Then there is his positively hilariousand commercially fulfillingstint as a judge on the Great Indian Laughter Challenge. His immense popularity on the small screen meant he was an obvious choice for ESPN STAR Sports as a co-presenter of the pre- and post-match shows during the cricket World Cup. But every silver lining comes with a cloud. In Sherrys case, on Cricket Extra, the cloud wafted out of his mouth. The uber enthusiastic gent from Patiala cut the hapless Harsha Bhogle short more times than he had any bowler during his days as an opening batsman. He sliced Ian Chappells observations dead

with garbled clichs. Tony Greig chafed at asides that were nothing short of insults and smiled before resigning in the face of the attention-seekers tirade of one-liners. Sourav Ganguly put up a poker face. Pat Symcox ducked out of the line as Sherry went about trying to win the Cup for India with his one-linerssinglehandedly. Some TV viewers watched all of this. Most of them, like the anti-Hosni Mubarak Egyptians, took the obvious recourse. They logged on to Twitter. About the man who had once famously said, Deep Dasgupta [former India wicketkeeper] is as confused as a

around, tweeted vadapoche on the man who had described one of Sachin Tendulkars back-foot cover drives played standing on his toes by saying, He played that shot like a dwarf in the urinal. The rocks were clearly aimed at the rock star himself. But, unlike in the case of a cocaine-driven icon rambling about world peace, it is difficult to pinpoint Sidhus first snort of the ungraceful. It wasnt so much what he said during the World Cup that hurt but the way he said it. Overtly conscious of the camera, unwilling to share on-air time with fellow experts, eagerness to interject, a

come ahead of the in-form Yuvraj Singh in the batting order in the final: Any jackass can take down a door, but it takes a carpenter to build a great one. Sidhu has built more doors than most men who are not carpenters. But in the business of expressing his views he seems to be jumping out of windows. Why, most of us wonder. Especially when you know for a fact that ungentlemanly is the last thing Sidhu is outside the small screen. He is supposed to be a really nice, educated man. Delhi University professor and cricket enthusiast Debraj Mookerjee feels

Benaud is the cricket sage, Lawry the Victorian chauvinist and Sidhu a LICENSED COURT JESTER.
child is in a topless bar, a certain chondhe tweeted: Navjot Sidhu is like a penny stock in a bull market. His value (money he gets) keeps rising tho u cant justify it with any fundamentals. Somebody pls tell Navjot Sidhu that Jesus Christ is not a phrase that any idiot tosses propensity to trivialise and the tendency to laugh down argumentsthe list of accusations is long. His verbal calisthenics did not hit home. As is the case with a batsman trying to play a forced shot, the ball did not find the middle. Not even when he metaphorised Dhonis decision to Sidhus evolution may have to do with the degeneration of the game itself. Weve reduced the game of cricket to a tamasha. The entire spectacle is hyperbolic. Its tough to find Sidhu analysing the game in cricketing terms, he says. He ratchets up the pitch to make his comments parse with the madIL LUS T R AT I O N: V I V EK B H A RDWA J

ness that best describes the game in our country today. He is quite obviously playing to the gallery. Historian and novelist Mukul Kesavan alludes to the image that Sidhu has created over the years. Its important to realise that he is not a buffoon who accidentally became a commentator. A Test cricketer, Member of Parliament, reality show star, commentator Sidhu is a remarkably successful person, he says. Like most popular commentators, he has consciously created a persona which allows him to say things others would not dare to. So how do you describe the Sidhu of today? In fairly simple terms, says Kesavan, Richie Benaud is the cricketing sage; Bill Lawry was the Victorian chauvinist; Ian Chappell is the straight-talking Aussie; Bhogle is like a maitre dhotel; and Sidhu... Sidhu is a licensed court jester. Cracking jokes never hurt anyone but when a jesters image begins to invite a shrug of the shoulders, you know its not the rib-tickler which is at fault. Brand consultant Suhel Seth is one of those people who cannot stand Sidhu the commentator. His Sidhuisms have turned into Sillyisms, he says, referring to the moniker accorded to the commentators memorable one-liners. He has taken cricket commentary to a despicable level. He used to be funny and relevant once. But now he is not only disruptive, its also tough to get a word of information out of him. Seths argument may well lie at the heart of Sidhus lack of selfrestraint on TVthe fact that, by concentrating on living up to his loose cannon persona, he is failing as a commentator. And, perhaps for the first time, it is a commentator at the receiving end of unfulfilled expectation and not a player. Navjot Sidhu used to be a fine commentator and we know he means well. But, to use one of the lines coined by Sidhu himself, you may have a heart of gold, but so does a hardboiled egg.

Whos Hot Whos Not

VALTHATY STEALS THE SHOW The 27-year-old from Mumbai has emerged as the new superstar of the IPL. With his two match-winning knocks for Kings XI Punjab, he now features on the list of the highest run-getters in the event. Against the Chennai Super Kings, he scored 120 not out, enabling his team to successfully chase 189 runs. Fans now call him Paul Volcano Valthaty. MUTAI RUNS TO A WIN Emmanuel Mutai, 26, won the prestigious London marathon, setting a new course record to take the victory in 2:04.40the fourth fastest marathon of all timeahead of Martin Lel and Patrick Makau who nished in 2:04.45. Mutai broke the previous London mark of 2:05:10 set by fellow Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru. Hed nished second last year. HALAPPA WALKS TALL Veteran midelder Arjun Halappa lappa e has replaced Rajpal Singh as the captain of Indias national hockey ey n team. With the Sultan Azlan n Shah tournament starting in Ipoh, Malaysia, from May 5, the Karnataka player has a lot on his he plate. Halappa has never led the efore. national team be before. ABHIJEET MAKES THE KILL Former World junior champion Abhijeet Gupta became the rst Indian to clinch the Dubai International Open chess title, overcoming compatriot Parimarjan Negi. He nished the tournament with 7.5 points out of a possible nine and moved past the 2600 rating barrier for the rst time in his career. RAJPUT SHOOTS TO WIN Sanjeev Rajput won gold at the 50m 0m ing g Rie 3 Positions nal at the shooting es World Cup in Changwon, Korea. He is r the third Indian marksman to qualify for gan n the 2012 London Olympics after Gagan hot t Narang and Hariom Singh. Rajput shot ias s a total of 1278.2 points to beat Serbias e Nemanja Mirosavljev (1272.5) and Ole way. y. Kristian Bryhn (1271.9) of Norway. BALOTELLI HAS A GO The combustible Manchester City forward is in the news for all the wrong reasons. After Citys 10 win over cityrivals Manchester United in the FA Cup seminal, the Italian forward goaded the opposition fans by kissing the badge in front of them. Ugly scenes followed, when he was accosted by United skipper Rio Ferdinand and Anderson. PA PAT PATHAN IN A SPIN The bowling all-rounder from Baroda e s has performed dismally in the IPL so far, faili failing to justify the `8.5 crore ($1. million) the Delhi Daredevils .9 ($1.9 cou ug coughed up at the auction. With scores of 0 9 (not out), 14 and 5, and just two 0, wic ck wickets at an unattering economy rate of 7. in his rst four matches, Pathan is 7 7.94 u d und some serious pressure. under MCILROY DROPS THE BALL Ro M Rory McIlroy suffered a major me eltdo meltdown as he conceded the Gr reen Jacket and the Augusta Masters Green J tit tle title on the last day to South African Ch Schwartzel. The 21-year-old Irish harl Charl S los con st lost condence after losing his overnight four-s four-shot lead, eventually nishing dow down the leaderboard to nish in jointjoint-15th place. RAMOS DOES THE SPILL The Real Madrid team was celebrating its 10 Copa del Rey victory over erce rivals Barcelona on top of a bus when winger Sergio Ramos dropped the trophy from the roof. Falling to the road, the prize was promptly crushed under the front wheel of the bus. We know now why Ramos did not give goalkeeping a shot. SCHOLES KICKS TO SCREAMS H He can control the mideld, inspire y yo younger players and score stunning g go goals. But Paul Scholes still cannot ta tackle. The Man U midelder, who is is probably playing his last season, la launched a dangerous studs-up, thighh hi high tackle on Manchester City defender P Pa Pablo Zabaleta, and was immediately sh shown a red card by the referee.

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