Champ' trophy day 6

Pakistan skittle Kenya for 94. So much for an upset. Afridi took 5 for 11 which should ensure his place in the team a while. How long he has been the unfulfilled talent of Pakistan cricket, we have all forgotten. Their bowling looks in good shape, though. With no exceptional weather (to aid bowling) I wonder what the captain winning the toss will do on Sunday. Arun Lal's belief remains that in England "you should be blindfolded and made to bowl first on winning the toss".

The telecast tries real hard to make a match involving the minnows interesting, but its a tough ask. Apparently, 15000 people have come into the grounds as of yesterday, and 12000 of them have been in the India-Kenya match. Phew!

Zee decides to let the battle with Espn-Star enter the court full fledged, which is not good news for ESPN, the BCCI or the Australian series. They might as well decide that the October series be telecast on DD. For me though, its a dilution of quality (at least in perception)if the rights go to Zee- which seems most likely.

Peter Roebuck seems to think Laxman is more special than we thought. Captain? I dont know... And somehow, the column doesnt feel like Roebuck to me...

Oh, the other part of the great SET MAX Cricket telecast circus ( besides Mandira Body) is 'Chikka' Srikkanth, whose commentary swings from cracking me up and making me reach for the mute button. The only missing link from the World Cup is Venky 'Cuddle' Prasad (that was his description of the post-wicket GIH*)

Great. The tennis elbow is the 'worst injury of his career', says Andrew Leipus. So SRT may miss the Bangalore Test (test#1). Shite. This is so not good. And it would seem it was healing a bit in Holland when a bouncer from that steamy speedster Agarkar hit him on the elbow in the nets and worsened it. Ajit, just try and do that stuff in real match situations instead, no?

*GIH=Great Indian Huddle