The top order is firing, the middle order has proved its mettle when needed, they are enjoying each other’s success, and coach Rahul Dravid’s plan seems to be working. But the revelation of this Cup has been the consistency of the pace bowling attack.
Between optimist and pessimist, the difference is droll
The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole
When he wrote that, Oscar Wilde was riffing on the dilemma of Indian cricket fans and lapsed cricket journalists of a certain vintage—euphemism for “old”—who, having been burned too often, have grown to dread the heat and fire of ICC events.
Other teams wait for an implosion before they launch into lamentation; we, of said certain vintage, prefer to get our pessimism in early.
Take Pakistan, for instance. With a bowling attack led by the swing of Shaheen Shah Afridi and the …
Prem Panicker has been a journalist for over 30 years. From daily newspapers to weekly magazines and digital news portals—he was one of the seven journalists who were part of the Rediff.com start-up team—he has written and edited features extensively across mediums and publications. Since quitting his job at Yahoo in 2014, he has been working as a freelance writer and editor, as well as teaching narrative journalism.
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