The Badshah of Bollywood is taking his role as the Czar of modern-day cricket with the same seriousness he reserves for giving an emotional tearjerker of a shot for a Karan Johar film. Shah Rukh Khan, co-owner of the black and gold ribbon Kolkatta Knight Riders (KKR) has lambasted erstwhile skipper and the great opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar by bowling him a judicious yorker, akin to a in-swinging dipper from Imran Khan, no less.
The latest sardonic exchange between the two super celebrities is the perfect curtain-raiser for IPL-2; cricket and entertainment are merging as seamlessly as Bank of America and Merrill Lynch. In my frank opinion, Mr.Gavaskar whose penchant for making acidic personal digs is as legendary as his long-on drives was asking for a sock in his jaw for his rather insufferable inquisition. He ridiculed the KKR Australian coach John Buchanan, terming him as an abject failure who was only attempting a novel experimentation like the four-captain theory as a capricious whim on a good old Indian summer afternoon. It was palpably nasty.
The problem with Sunny bhai is that he is so convinced that he is the Lord of the Kings of all that he surveys that he frequently puts his short foot in his big mouth with masterful dexterity. For instance, Mr.Gavaskar conveniently forgot that Buchanan presided over as coach of probably the greatest team ever in Test and One-Day international cricket history that the world has seen. That is an indisputable fact; so running down Buchanan was in pathetic taste and a tad humorless. By no means is he a Greg Chappell, for sure who was selected by
Mr. Sunil Gavaskar himself. Perhaps the fact that even Gavaskar's favorite fall guy Ricky Ponting has equally supported the four-captain theory may have got Sunny even more riled and restless. Hence the caustic column.
In making statements on Buchanan's selection of his support staff, Sunny touches abysmal depths of pedestrian allegations. It is strange how Mr.Gavaskar has himself held several positions simultaneously during his post-retirement career even while doling out his pearls of infinite wisdom to us as a TV commentator? I wonder then who was "milking" whom, Sunny?
Since Shah Rukh Khan is the man who controls his own purse strings, he has every right not to just repudiate Gavaskar's puerile and petty comments, but also ask Gavaskar to tone down his verbal diarrhea. Khan has hit the bull's eye in stating that Sunil has sub-zero experience in the "underwear" format of the game .The truth is that everyone knows that IPL T20 is nothing but an entertainment spectacle, a cocktail masala, a bizarre tragicomedy and whodunit combined. It is just 3 hours of intense cricket played on a Viagra pill.
Shah Rukh Khan is right when he talks of some "breathing space", an iota of respect for his tall lanky coach and giving the mini-version of mini-cricket opportunities for some tomfoolery in the testing laboratory. Since the buck stops at the top, Khan has every right, as does Buchanan, to develop their own game- theory. We all grew up admiring and respecting the Little Master for his batting genius, but Gavaskar seems to be afflicted with a peculiar agenda, which is frequently manifested in his weekly columns. I see something fishy here; is he fighting a "proxy war" for someone???
Maybe Shah Rukh Khan should have asked Gavaskar just one question," Sunny bhai, respectfully Sir, you scored 36 runs in 60 overs in a one day match. How many would you have scored in a T20 match?"
Your guess is as good as mine.
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