“The presstitutes deserve it”

Responses to my previous post, about the MS Dhoni presser, have been illuminating. I’ll just say thank you to the positive responses — and to my surprise, there have been many such — without elaboration.

On the negative side, two responses — or rather, two types of responses — surprised me. One view, expressed in different ways by a few people, said in sum that “presstitutes” deserve that kind of response. On a related note, someone suggested that public figures should stick with one word responses in future.

MS Dhoni and match analysis

In the game against Bangladesh last night, MS Dhoni produced a stumping for the ages — and that is applause-worthy. He also kept his head in the final ball of the game when, with the batsman attempting to scramble a single to tie the game, he judged his pace against that of the onrushing non-striker, and ran him out with space to spare. For that, too, he deserves kudos.

But his response to the first question of the post-match press conference (watch from 23.15) is totally uncalled for. It is also a surprisingly cheap shot from someone who has, for the most part, epitomised level-headedness and grace both on and off the pitch.

Praise the lord and pass the potatoes

So many things happening that are worth commenting on, so little time (yesterday was bad, today promises to be worse). And in the middle of all that, I find this:

I totally agree with Amitabh — oh, and just for the record, Bharat Mata Ki Jai!

For instance, this is what the commentators should have said in the last over of the game: