David Warner the Kulhaadi

David Warner is what folks in Delhi call a kulhaadi player. That roughly translates as "axe" but a better translation to capture the flavor of that word would be "chopper" or "hacker". "Bludgeon" would be an even better description of Warner. I'm not sure that Warner will ever, ever, make it into the Australian test or ODI team, but his place with the Daredevils seemed assured, especially if he continues to make it easy for folks to apply local lingo to him.

I have never seen a pitch as green as the one on display in today's Delhi Daredevils v. Kings XI game - in Delhi. Harsha Bhogle is right; someone should have taken a photo of this for posterity. Why can't we see this in a test?

Full disclosure please

Conflicts of interest seem to be quite common in the IPL. Today, Harsha Bhogle has an article in Cricinfo, talking up the IPL. But Harsha works for the Mumbai Indians. That makes his article on CI a press release. The least Harsha (or Cricinfo) could so, in the interest of full disclosure, is make a note of the fact that he is employed by the Mumbai Indians.

I'm used to the merger of the media and the establishment here in the US. Seems like it's catching.

Hat-tip to Mukul Kesavan for pointing this out to me.

Another take on Empire on Cricket

I've already talked up "Empire of Cricket", a new BBC documentary with four segments on England, Australia, India, and the West Indies. This past weekend I watched all of them, and then repeated the segment on India. I intend to do the same with the other three segments.

EOC's strength lies in several areas: a decent balance of social history and cricketing action, selective and judicious focus on a few stars, wonderful archival footage, and that ineffable editing skill that sets apart the very good documentaries from the run-of-the-mill ones. It is weak in one very significant area: its producer is afflicted with a disease that makes him or her want to mess with action footage (either by adding special effects, or running graphics across the screen, or cutting away abruptly and so on). I wish producers and directors would let the action be and let it speak for itself.

There will be disagreement amongst viewers about the folks interviewed (were they the best for the task at hand?) and about what the interviewees said. That's inevitable. For my part, I wished Harsha Bhogle had indulged in a little less essentialism about the Indian character.

Anyway, go see it. Some of it will bring a lump to your throat. Some of the footage of the West Indian greats in relaxed moments off the ground is truly electrifying, reminding us that no matter how strong a modern team gets, they will not have the same, wait for it, aura.