LOOKING FOR THE GAME

An India-Pakistan test series where the on-field action is reduced to a sideshow? The ongoing series has achieved this dubious distinction, with reams and reams of space cornered by the likes of Dilip Vengsarkar and Gary Kirsten.

The headlines kept shifting inch by inch. One day Vengsarkar was angry, soon he felt humiliated and then the buzz was that he would throw it all away. Only to end up with blurbs of 'Vengsarkar relents', with the Colonel still holding on to his job as Chairman of Selectors. An uneasy calm for now, but it seems just a matter of time before further twists in the tale.

And then Gary Kirstem popped up out of the blue as the coach-in-waiting. One operation BCCI carried out stealthily. But could suspense be far behind? The 'will he, won't he' question arose after reports (conveniently fed by relevant sources?) that senior players were unhappy. This conundrum was solved in public by Kirsten, when he conveyed over the phone to news channels that he was on board.

Despite all this, the team's done pretty well on the field. Probably because BCCI, Vengsarkar and Kirsten diverted the media.

Things were quiet with Pakistan initially, with Shoaib Akhtar not coming up with any tantrums on the field. Rather, he was playing the prima donna when it came to Bollywood offers. It was just a sorry tale of a weak side futher crippled by injuries, and struggling to field 11 fit men on the field.

But now as the third test approaches there is more than a hint of drama surrounding stand-in-captain Younis/Younus (there was a big debate over his spelling in the newsroom) Khan. If you want it straight from the horse's mouth, it's Younus.

Younus Khan is now apparently refusing to lead the Pakistan side, if he does not get the side he wants. All that was missing was some action directly to do with the teams. Now we have it.

There is the blast from the past too, for good measure. Javed Miandad's claim that Imran Khan had faced a player revolt during the course of Pakistan's World Cup triumph in 1992.

Cricket's been reduced to a carnival of big egos, verbal spats and controversies. It doesn't hurt the cause of news one bit though.

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