Everyone is born an off spin bowler
(Left-arm Jadejas are off spinners too)
That flailing baby, trapped in its stroller,
Has flighted one that’s spun and beaten you.|
Leg breaks come later, a learnt perversion,
Seam bowlers trade in their birthright for speed,
Selectors reward this coarse conversion:
Slow maestros starve as brisk journeymen feed.
Why, in England, do we Mankad Ashwin?
Can’t cricket allow a spinner to scheme?
Must a genius with more tunes than Gershwin,
Be subbed out in favour of one-note seam?
By Sunny G, why play a bloody Test,
If you’re too spooked to even field your best?
Reading
-
1
Centre changes election conduct rules days after HC tells EC to provide poll documents to petitioner
-
2
Shirish Patel: The urban planner who looked beyond the vanity of Mumbai’s privileged
-
3
2024 Jawad Memorial Prize for Urdu-English Translation: Read the winning poems
-
4
Maharashtra: Devendra Fadnavis retains home ministry, Ajit Pawar gets finance in new Cabinet
-
5
How Zakir Hussain helped bridge the North-South divide in Indian classical music
-
6
Backstory 2024: When I trekked two hours in Himachal for an interview
-
7
One hundred years of Nissim Ezekiel: What the poet’s life and work tell us about him
-
8
‘Bride in the Hills’: Kannada writer Kuvempu’s novel depicts life under the ruthless regime of caste
-
9
1971 surrender photo removed from Army chief’s office, replaced by Mahabharata-inspired painting
-
10
Why has the number of Hajj pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir fallen sharply?