It’s good to see that the Pakistan cricket team knows what are the requirements of diplomacy. After all, if Pakistan had won, India would probably have invaded. India survived its contact with the unclean Pakistanis, and thus it means that the Indian team only has to bathe in the Ganges at Benares, and not carry out the Ashvamedha, or horse sacrifice.
However, the evidence of typical Indian double-facedness and treachery came by the way set batsmen threw away their wickets to Shaheen Afridi, in the hope that this would further the cause of him getting on the same page. However, the top score of 86 by the Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, shows that he has ambitions of his own, and knows the people with whom he wants to get on the same page. So far, those people have never tried to interfere in Indian elections, but if they can handle the logistical problems, what’s to stop them?
After all, Indian politicians are as venal, corrupt and self-serving as ours, with even larger constituencies, so they would not mind at all the sort of help that enables one to win. Why do you think the BJP is cultivating ex-servicemen so assiduously? It’s not just because the Indian military men are both Hindus and nationalists, but because it wants to ensure that any interference takes place, it’s in their favour. If anyone gets on the same page, it’ll be them. So now you’ve got Rohit Sharma, a good Brahmin boy going by his name, not only captain of India but making runs against Pakistan. If India wins the World Cup, who knows?
But then you had crucial wickets being taken against Pakistan, who in fact precipitated the whole collapse, were Muhammad Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. One a Muslim, the other a Sikh. This must have been disgusting for the BJP, but I don’t think Modi celebrated any less harder.
Besides, it reflects the old English division of batting amateurs and bowling professionals. You see, you need someone to bowl when you are batting. The hierarchy is expressed best in the childhood game in the West Indies of ‘Hit the ball, bat’. If you hit the ball, you continued to bat. If you missed, or were out,
But then you had crucial wickets being taken against Pakistan, who in fact precipitated the whole collapse, were Muhammad Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah. One a Muslim, the other a Sikh. This must have been disgusting for the BJP, but I don’t think Modi celebrated any less harder.
Besides, it reflects the old English division of batting amateurs and bowling professionals. You see, you need someone to bowl when you are batting. The hierarchy is expressed best in the childhood game in the West Indies of ‘Hit the ball, bat’. If you hit the ball, you continued to bat. If you missed, or were out, you were replaced by the bowler. Who bowled? The fielder, who thus was presumably the lowest of the low. Did anyone notice that another impressive Indian bowler was Pradeep Yadav. From UP, where Yadavs are classified as an Other Backward Caste.
Incidentally, though Bumrah was born and brought up in Ahmadabad, Gujarat, his Bumrah caste is classified in Punjab as Ramgarhia Tarkhans, who are also OBC. Siraj is from Hyderabad. There’s another Sikh in the team, opener Shubnam Gill, who, as his name fairly shouts, is a Jat Sikh. Interestingly, both Bumrah and Gill are ‘mona’ Sikhs, who cut their hair. That makes them closer to Hindus, and thus perhaps more acceptable to Modi.
However, Sharma, who replaced that Khatri, Virat Kohli, as skipper, should have given more of the ball to Ravindra Jadeja, who took the last wicket. As his name proclaims, Jadeja is a Rajput, who is married to another Rajput, who is a BJP MLA from Gujerat, Modi’s home state.
Somebody must have noticed that both Gill and Kohli only made 16 apiece, the Brahmins, Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer, both got 50s. Of course, Iyer, being from the South, only got 53, while Rohit almost reached his century. Iyer almost seems casteless, being born in Mumbai, and playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders. One would have expected him to be born in Chennai and play for the Super Kings.
