Wearing hearts on sleeves

A good cricket writer writes with passion and flair. Dispassionate analysis? Boring. So, lets look at Dileep Premchandran, of 'coruscating' fame. A year or so ago, Premchandran wrote a spirited defense of Kumble that led a friend to query, "Did you read Premchandran's piece? He told Kumble critics to take a flying f**k at the moon?". I had read the piece and yes, I did get the feeling that I was being told something along those lines. Pretty heart-on-sleeve type stuff I thought.

Now, again, here is Premchandran, blasting away at those who would ever have doubted Yuvraj's ability (Not me,thankfully, I wouldn't want to be subjected to such ire):

"But while Agarkar's innings spoke of the great depth of India's batting, he had to cede the day's honours to a man who came to the crease with everything to prove. His first-innings failure....had reopened the debates about Yuvraj Singh belonging at this level and, shamefully, there were quite a few people willing him to fail here just so that their warped designs for Indian cricket could be carried on." [second set of italics mine]

And:

"the management and selectors that reposed faith in one of India's brightest young talents are fully entitled....to show contempt for those who doubt the efficacy of a long-term vision" (italics mine)....today's masterclass from Yuvraj suggested that India, despite such widespread paranoia of change(italics mine), might finally be ready to embrace the less-travelled road that is the preserve of champions."

Amazing stuff. Just how angry was Premchandran during the Ganguly dispute? On a scale of 1-10, dear reader, do write in, and let me know what you think.