Ahmedabad: With the marquee event hosted by India, Meenakshi Rao brings various aspects of the World Cup to the fore starting from Virat Kohli-Naveen-ul-Haq banter to the touch of art to be provided to various venues in the ongoing tournament. Also, former cricketing greats are going to share their journeys in the form of audiobooks and the author sheds light on them as well.
- Kohli-Haq beef buried
When Afghanistan’s mercurial quick Naveen-ul-Haq came for a mid-field chat with Virat Kohli, the cameras went on hyper-click mode. As Haq talked to Kohli, the latter patted his back and head in a gesture that suggested "Let bygones be bygones.” Kohli and Naveen have some IPL beef which gathered flesh at a match in Lucknow and spilled over to the social media platforms with the Afghan posting pictures of mango every time Kohli has come into a spot while batting.
Naveen’s taunts have prolonged the saga which was played down for the cameras during the latter part of the India- Afghanistan match. "Crowd will chant for their home cricketers and that is what they did. It is his (Kohli's) home ground. He is a nice guy, a good player and we shook hands," Naveen told PTI.
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Kohli, on the other hand, said, "It was always in the ground, it was nothing outside the ground. People make it big. They need that stuff for their followers. We are done with that, we shook hands and hugged.” The two players may have hugged and made up but the Kohli fans have taken it upon themselves to defend their star.
As former India opener Gautam Gambhir said in the post-match midfield chat on television, “I would like to tell the crowd and those outside the stadium that are trolling a player on social media, saying weird things about a player or calling them names, it is not right. Because when you are representing a team, you have to understand the passion. And it is important for you to understand what happened is now in the past. And it is a big thing for players coming from Afghanistan.”
Art is life and Cricket
Padma Shri Paresh Maity, a renowned Indian painter will capture the distinct essence of each of the 10 world-class Indian venues and the electrifying atmosphere for this World Cup on canvas. This extraordinary spectacle will unfold in cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Ahmedabad, where Maity will bring his creative genius to life.
Amidst the electric atmosphere of the matches, he will paint cricket masterpieces, infusing the spirit of the game with his vibrant colours and imaginative strokes. As the matches unfold, spectators and art enthusiasts alike will have the unique opportunity to witness Maity's creativity in action, adding an entirely new dimension to the World Cup experience.
His live painting sessions promise to be a celebration of both cricket and art, merging the thrill of the game with the beauty of artistic expression. The inaugural artwork was unveiled during South Africa’s victory over Sri Lanka at Delhi’s opening World Cup fixture on October 7.
"It is a privilege for India to be hosting the cricket World Cup to showcase the finest sportsmen from across the globe. I watched and painted the game in Delhi between South Africa and Sri Lanka and felt that this tournament is a festival that unites everybody. I am honoured to be ICC’s In Stadia Artist and look forward to capturing the magic of the 10 venues, four during match days,” Paresh Maity said.
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Nuggets From Cricket Greats
Quite another product that is making itself audible in this World Cup is one of those time-bound products that carry ageless information. A lot of cricket-related products pop up on the shelves when the cricket summit happens and this time it is the turn of audiobooks. Capturing the magicians of cricket over the ages, Audible has come out with interesting nuggets around the journeys of cricketing greats across continents including Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, and Ravi Shastri to Chris Gayle and Wasim Akram.
What’s great about these nuggets of cricket romance is the fact that they have been scripted by the players themselves and narrated by known voice-over artists like Akshay Ghildiyal and others. The Dhoni Touch, for example, is written by Adelaide-based cricket writer Bharat Sunderesan and it takes listeners beyond the cricketing career of the maverick, highlighting what makes him the renowned sportsman he is!
Then there is the story of Wasim Akram, the Sultan of Swing, who has scripted his story himself, talking about how he was picked up from the streets of Lahore and groomed by Imran Khan to finally star as the Man of the Match in the 1992 World Cup Final which Pakistan won. The memoir also sheds light on his scandalous rivalries with West Indian batting great Viv Richards and Ian Botham to Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne and the ball-tampering and match-fixing controversies.
The Chris Gayle edition, titled ‘Six Machine’ appropriately, is chronicled by the great hitter himself and tells us the story of the only man to have ever hit a six off the first ball of a Test match. Gayle truly lives by the statement he once made “If the ball's there, hit it. Don't worry about what might happen. Play for the glory. Play for the six”. The story uncovers how a shy, skinny kid from a cramped tin-roofed shack in the dusty back streets of Kingston made his way to the top of the cricket world.
This outrageous, unfiltered, and engaging memoir will keep you hooked but what makes the ‘Six Machine’ more enticing is the authentic narration by Leroy Osei-Bonsu with a Caribbean touch as well as the anecdotes about Gayle’s life.
And then there is Virat Kohli, the comet that landed on international cricket from the Under-19 World Cup winning squad, the extraordinary character of whose journey is not just about cricket but a story of passion, perseverance, unyielding belief, and fitness.
Rubbing shoulder with him is Ravi Shastri, the coach, commentator, and former cricketer for whom a billion hearts used to beat. He, too, has taken a deep dive into his personal story and has talked about the Indian captain who, he feels, did not do full justice to his talent.
