Sachin: A Billion Dreams: A glorified account of an over-glorified celeb

Like his book, Tendulkar's biopic is a nostalgic cruise through his career

As I walked out of the cinema hall after watching Sachin: A Billion Dreams, I wondered: Would I have thought differently of this biopic had I not known anything about the person it is based on? James Erskine’s documentary on one of the most celebrated cricketers in the world – one who has achieved a near-deific status in India – went along expected lines.

But was that because I, like many Indians and cricket followers around the world, already knew so much about Sachin Tendulkar? How would someone living under a rock for the last quarter of a century, and did not know who Tendulkar was, have liked it?

Sachin: A Billion Dreams starts off rather nicely, showing us a naughty curly-haired boy of seven or eight years living in Mumbai’s Bandra suburb, getting up to the usual seven-or-eight-year-old boy things like annoying his neighbours with pranks. The boy then receives a cricket bat as a gift from his elder sister, and this is where the story that most Indians and cricket followers already know begins.

This wasn’t the first time I was watching the celluloid adaptation of a story I already knew. I wasn’t, of course, expecting any suspense or plot twists, but I have been far more entertained by some of those other movies where I already knew what was going to happen, than I was by Sachin: A Billion Dreams. Maybe our man under the rock might think differently, but then a story still needs to be told properly, completely and honestly, and this is where Erskine’s attempt is found lacking. (more)

BCCI's plan for IPL matches: Use treated sewage water for ground maintenance

With the Bombay High Court raising questions, the BCCI today said that it will procure treated sewage water for ground maintenance for IPL matches in drought-hit Maharashtra.

"We have tied-up with Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) to procure treated sewage water for the IPL matches to be played in Pune and Mumbai," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) counsel Rafiq Dada submitted.

The high court bench of Justices V M Kanade and M S Karnik was hearing a PIL filed by NGO Loksatta Movement, challenging the use of large quantities of water in stadiums despite the state being drought-hit.

Nine Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches would be played in Pune and eight in Mumbai. Of the eight in Mumbai, one has already been held, the BCCI's counsel told the court.

Three matches are slated to be held in Nagpur, and IPL franchise Kings XI Punjab has agreed to shift matches to Mohali or elsewhere if the HC tells it, he said.

Everyday, 7-8 tankers of treated sewage water would be supplied to the stadiums, Dada said.

The concept of using treated sewage water should be encouraged because after treating the sewage water, it is released into the sea and goes waste, he said.

"In this case, instead of discharging treated sewage water into the sea, we are using it in the stadiums," the BCCI counsel said.

The high court had pulled up the BCCI during the last hearing on the use of large quantities of water for ground maintenance.

The BCCI has taken very seriously the issue of using water in stadiums in view of the drought situation in Maharashtra, he said.

The matter has been adjourned after lunch as government pleader Abhinandan Vagyani sought time to file an affidavit on the stand of the state administration on the issue.

BCCI sacks Harsha Bhogle from IPL commentary, leaves fans enraged

The ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament has lost its most authoritative voice. An Indian Express report on Monday noted that Harsha Bhogle, one of cricket’s best known commentators worldwide, has been unceremoniously dropped by the Board for the Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) for the ongoing edition of the IPL.

According to The Indian Express, Bhogle, 54, was informed about the termination of his contract with IPLonly a week ago.

Bhogle tweeted on April 9 that it "would have been nice to be part of @IPL again".

Bhogle, who is known as the voice of Indian cricket, has 3.66 million followers on Twitter where, predictably, his ouster, for which no official reason has been given yet, elicited howls of outrage and protest.

Speaking to the Sunday Express, Bhogle said, “No one told me anything. I have not been formally told of the reason even now. All I have been told is ‘it is a BCCI management decision’.”

What’s more, BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur and IPL 2016 Chairman Rajeev Shukla refused to comment on the sudden move.

However, the report adds that some board members have referred to an incident which occurred last month during India’s opening World T20 game at Nagpur.

According to the report. Bhogle had a heated exchange with a Vidharbha Cricket Association official over locking a door to the VIP box that separated the commentary boxes for English and Hindi; this meant that bilingual commentators, such as Bhogle, had to climb flights of stairs up and down to get around the VIP box each time they needed to switch from one language commentary to the other. Some BCCI officials hinted that that incident could have caused the sudden termination of contract. BCCI president Shashank Manohar is a native of Nagpur, which is in the Vidarbha region.

Earlier last month, after India's nail-biting victory over Bangladesh in the World Cup T20 quarter-finals, Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan had tweeted his displeasure with a cricket commentator, who he didn’t name, saying Indian commentators talk more about foreign players than Indian ones. 

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