Goan cricketers show their mettle
His Indian Premier League (IPL) team, Rajasthan Royals, may have got dumped, thanks to the prevailing politics in the Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI). But Goa batsman Swapnil Asnodkar showed his class in a relatively low-profile Ranji Trophy match last week, in which Goa almost managed to upset a fancied Madhya Pradesh (MP) team in Indore.
Goa is football country. Cricket generally fails to make the news. But in that game too, Goa is making strides. Two Goans have made a name in the IPL. Swapnil Asnodkar, dimunitive in size but big with the bat, was opener for the Rajasthan Royals. He played a sterling role in the team’s victory in the first IPL. Shadab Jakati, a spinner, made a major impact in the second IPL, playing for the Chennai Super Kings. And both played big roles for their state in the longer version of the game last week.
Goa started badly in its Group ‘A’ Plate division match in Indore on Monday, when skipper Sagun Kamat’s decision to bat first on a lush green wicket after winning the toss backfired. MP’s bowlers moved the ball well, and had Goa reeling at 6 runs for 3 wickets. Ajay Ratra and Rahul Keni added 55 runs for the fourth wicket, but it was bowler Shadab Jakati that steadied the innings, with 49 runs, to take Goa to 170. MP replied with 67 for one at stumps on the first day. The media reported that it had taken ‘firm control’ of the match.
At the end of the second day’s play, Madhya Pradesh was bowled out for 328, the highlight of which was a second-wicket partnership of 132 runs between Naman Ojha and Mohnish Mishra. Goa went in to bat on Day 3 facing a first innings deficit of 158. But this time, the Goan batsmen sparkled. Swapnil Asnodkar (84) and Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (58) enabled Goa to reach 268 for three that day. On the fourth and final day, Vaibhav Naik (65 not out), Robin D’Souza (36 not out), Ajay Ratra (47) and Rahul Keni (35) helped Goa declare the second innings at 423 for seven, setting the hosts a target of 265 runs in 35 overs.
Madhya Pradesh went for an outright win. Openers Naman Ojha (62) and Zafar Ali (68) put on 134 runs for the first wicket in just 17.4 overs. But after Jakati bowled Ojha, MP lost its way. Seven wickets fell for just 27 runs in the remaining 18 overs. MP survived by the skin of its teeth at 161-8, as Goa bowlers Vidyut (4-13), Jakati (2-64) and Amit Yadav (2-18) shone. Had they managed to get two more wickets, Goa would have earned a famous victory. Sadly, that was not to be. But more important than winning is the ability to fight back against the worst odds. It shows character. We can be sure that we will hear more about our cricketing boys, too, in the days to come.
Defining racism
What would you call a 20-year-old thug who beats an Indian student in Melbourne, Australia, till he is unconscious, all the time calling him an “Indian dog” and telling him: “Shut up you Indian motherf——-; shut up…”?
But Judge Meryl Sexton felt there was “insufficient evidence” to categorise 20-year-old Shayne Casey Comensoli’s savage attack on Lucky Singh as a “race hate crime”. The judge said that at the point in time when Comensoli was attacking Singh, he hated him, but there was no evidence that the “offence was wholly or partially motivated by hatred for Indian people in general”. What’s Australian for racism?
