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by Raja Baradwaj
That is perhaps what Shashank Manohar, the president of BCCI would have told the waiter who brought him the bill post his meeting with the ICL officials.
David Morgan, the ICC honcho had wanted the BCCI to meet the ICL officials to discuss the possibility of legalising the ICL. This as we know happened during the course of last week or thereabouts. There was a deadpan silence from the BCCI side about this meeting, and now we know that they indeed met.
Kapil Dev, Himanshu Modi & Shashank Manohar met at a coffee shop, I believe the meeting got over even before coffee could be served. It is reported that the meeting got over in 15 minutes or so.
Here is my take on what one could do in all of 15 minutes.
On an average it takes about a minimum of 5 – 7 minutes to shake hands and settle on the seats. And then we have the customary “it’s very hot outside”, “the monsoon this year has been disappointing” etc., which would take another 4 – 5 minutes. By which time the waiter would have come in with the menu. And it would have taken another 5 – 7 minutes to settle on something from the menu and order it. That makes it 14 minutes going by the minimum standards. And then an okay seeya, bye and another shake hands would have taken another 2 – 3 minutes.
So effectively the 15 minutes is over and out, even before the coffee they would have ordered got hot (ready) in the kettle. And then I am sure Mr Manohar in his grandiosity as a BCCI honcho would have announced loudly that no one associated with the BCCI can have coffee with the unofficial league guys. If anyone does have or is seen paying up for the unofficial league guys coffee, then he shall be banned for life. Walked off, he would have updated Mr Pawar on his mobile.
And now, for the scoop of the day…
While all this was happening a source tells me that there was a guy keeping a close watch on the three from the mezzanine floor. This guy was seen leaving as the other three were, and was seen calling / talking on his mobile phone with someone. I am told this person had a distinctive lisp. I wonder who it would have been !!
I didn’t drink that coffee officially…
They called me too… But said no
By Raja Baradwaj
That is what Mr. Mashrafe Mortaza of Bangladesh has said about ICL and the formation of the new Dhaka Warriors team (cricinfo). We need to remember that Mr. Mashrafe is the Vice Captain of the Bangladesh team, one of the most senior & responsible members of the team.
The moment I saw this piece of news I wanted to ask Vice Captain Mashrafe Mortaza a couple of questions.
1. It is commonsense that when they asked you to join Dhaka Warriors there must have been at least 10 other Bangla players who had or who were willing to sign-up. As Vice Captain why didn’t you take this to the notice of your board or the team management and try and stem the exodus??
2. Why do you disclose that you had an offer now? Are you expecting Mr. Modi to hear or read your interview and say “Good Boy, here’s your IPL contract”?
3. I heard you have a dodgy knee, till when do you think your board would support you and keep playing you in your national team?
4. Do you know T20 is for the supremely fit players (prima donna’s excluded!!)? What do you think are your chances are of making into a starting 11 of an IPL team?
Let’s hope Mr. Modi has seen this interview of Mr. Mashrafe and let us hope he has already fixed a base price for Mashrafe and asked his typist to send the letter out to the teams!!
Good luck Mr. Mashrafe… In case you come across this blog do try reply.
