So what do Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Muthiah Muralitharan and Inzamam Ul-Haq derive from a dubiously set, unwanted, farcical tournament held under the banner of developing Cricket in Africa and Asia? (Short answer: Nothing. For the long answer, read on…). “Cricket for Unity” is the slogan of the Afro-Asian cup and the irrepressible Jagmohan Dalmiya, president of the Afro-Asian Cricket Co-operation (!) proudly proclaimed “Singly we are strong, together we are even stronger”. Hmmm…that strength doesn’t seem to convince either the players on the field or the absentee spectators. Nor did it convince broadcasters, who usually tear each other apart for rights to a cricket Series. And the much maligned Zee TV, which was on the wrong-end of a court decision, finally got the cricket telecast experience it needed…even though nobody probably bothered to watch the game. Dalmiya’s pet projects in recent years have usually been short-sighted money-making, vote-seeking exercises in disaster. His Asian Test Championship, the Toronto Ind-Pak series and the inclusion of
Related Articles
Normally, a Cricket Match in which one team wins by a 2-run margin is classified a thriller. In some rare cases, like in Edgbaston, it becomes an epic. But never is it a dry boring spectacle as it was in
Neil Manthrop aptly sums up the mood of the match in one paragraph
“Players came together to celebrate wickets in the same manner that accountants gather to discuss a book-keeping oddity and the tiny band of Indian supporters waving their national flag allowed it to droop in confusion when Shahid Afridi and Kumar Sangakkara teamed up to dismiss Nicky Boje.”
Cricket probably gained millions of new fans in the space of two pulsating Ashes test matches. But what does holding this series for three years propose to achieve for the game, the players and the spectators? Long story short: Nothing.