Bad timing, getting friendly, and anticipation

The way things are looking for my schedule tomorrow, I'll be lucky if I manage to check scores a few times during the day: work with a colleague, meetings with students and departmental colleagues, commuting. Sigh. Much as I complained about time-zone problems during test matches in India, this cricket series in the West Indies is going to be tougher in one very important sense: most of the action will take place during work-hours. Yes, yes, I know academics have the summer 'off', but not really.

But on to the cricket. The first one-day international starts tomorrow, and I'm hoping that India's youngsters make some friends amongst the crowd at Kingston. They can be generous if you get on their good side, and one good way to start is to be friendly during the practice sessions when there is tons of advice flowing from the early-risers. Another is to hit hard and lustily. Which Dhoni seems to be doing and, unsurprisingly, is making friends for doing so. I quite like this little snippet from Vaidyanathan's preview (yes, I know it includes the inevitable "maan"):

"But the real excitement surrounds Dhoni, especially because of his instinct to dominate, his audacity to invent new strokes, and his attacking methods even when put under pressure. "This boy born in the West Indies maan," said one spectator when Dhoni spanked a six outside Jarrett Park in Montego Bay. "You stole him away from us."

The last part is nice. Back in 1997, during the first test at Kingston, a West Indian batsman edged to slip, where Azhar apparently held on to a catch. But no. He indicated it was on the half-volley. At this, a middle-aged gentleman, intently listening to the radio commentary, suddenly yelled out: "Sportsmanship, MAAN!" See? Even I fall for it. Have fun watching the game. I'll be busy writing, talking, (and sneaking trips to the closest terminal).