I’m starting to sound obsessed with Samir Chopra, but I can’t help responding to yet another of his posts. This one has to do with Lalit Modi’s haughty response to those foreign players who worry about the tournament’s securty.
Now, Chopra and I share a particular distaste for Modi, but he gives him a pass on this issue. I won’t. Look, I agree that we need to live with the ever-persistent threat of terror these days. And, as I’ve said before, it annoys me that players are willing to play in England — where the threats are as real as anywhere else — without a fuss, but not South Asia.
But I have two qualms: first, Modi has been profoundly undiplomatic during this entire episode (and calling him ‘undiplomatic’ is a very diplomatic way of putting it). Take this little bit from Cricinfo:
So far the IPL has rejected dealing with players’ associations, a move which forced unions from Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa to commission their own safety report on the situation in India. Reg Dickason, who has worked as a security advisor for the England and Australia teams, delivered his findings to the associations at the weekend and Marsh outlined the details to most of the 22 Australian players signed up for the tournament.
Why reject dealing with players’ associations? And then, why simply offer an ultimatum to foreign players, which essentially boils down to, Your money or your life? Again, I realize Indian — and especially Bombay — residents will say they live with terror every day, but that’s hardly a comfort to an Australian, or even a Sri Lankan, who recalls the very real threat faced in Pakistan when a cricket team was attacked.
That brings me to my second qualm: Modi’s cocksure attitude leaves him absolutely no wiggle room if — and this is a horrible if — something awful happens during the IPL. Again, God forbid and all that, but if a single incident breaks out and a cricketer is injured during the tournament, that could deal a serious blow. (Because foreign players will then turn around and say, ‘See! We told you!’ Had Modi been a little under the radar about this, and said, ‘We’ll do what we can to accommodate their concerns, etc. etc.’ that may have tempered tensions.)
A Partial Defense of Laxman Sivaramakrishnan
I’ve said before — again and again, in fact — that I don’t like Siva.
My animus boils down to one big thing: Siva comes across as a person impersonating a commentator, rather than an actual commentator. He knows the textbook things to say, and he dutifully says it, but that doesn’t necessarily make for good television. Ravi Shastri, for instance, understands the dynamics of drama — “Now this should be interesting!” — and he knows how to manipulate his voice and tone appropriately.
But I must say I appreciate Siva in certain aspects: first, the guy knows spin. I didn’t know he coached spinners until the recent series against South Africa, when he also simply and quickly demystified the googly (“As a batsman, if you see the bowler’s back of the hand, you know it’s a googly.”). That might be common knowledge to others, but it wasn’t to me. (And it isn’t to A.B. DeVilliers either, apparently.)
Second, Siva is unmistakably a dork. That too an Indian dork: he has oil in his hair, he’s kind of demure and wears big glasses. But I realized the other day how rare that is to see on television, where only the perfectly made-up people, or cricket legends, are allowed access. The thing is, while Siva may not banter easily or show much hints of originality, he still seems more sincere than, say, Sunil Gavaskar, whose jet black-dyed hair and perfectly accented English occasionally annoys me (especially when he harshly scolds onfield cricketers for some cricket foible or the other).
Also, I think my dislike stemmed from a post-colonial insecurity. Siva’s accent used to make me cringe; the way he can’t say words like “aggression” without tripping over it. That relates to my own insecurity as an Indian in America, where I learned the difference between the ‘v’ and ‘w’ and had to deal with the Apu jokes. I wonder: why do I find Geoff Boycott’s Yorkshire accent charming, but Siva’s own embarrassing?
So, keep your job, Siva. I still prefer Ravi over you, but, really, I’m not that impressed with the rest of Neo Cricket’s crew.