Cricket Australia does it again

As I was watching the second day of the last test match of the Ashes, I got a nice surprise. John Howard, the Prime Minister of Australia was invited to the commentary room. This wasn't the first time a 'celebrity' had been called into the commentary room but what was impressive is the man's knowledge of cricket. He talked about the current performances of the members of the Australian and the English team and about the time when Viv Richards was the captain of the West Indies. I would be happy if his Indian counterpart can even name the current test-playing countries. Here's what a fictional commentary with him would go like. Of course it would have to be in Hindi - "Yeh achhiiii baat nahi hai! Ganguly ko phront phoot pe aake khelna chahiye".

While Ian Healy addressed John Howard as John, the Indian commentator would have to address the Indian PM as Manmohanji. I agree that respect should be given, but when respect takes the ugly face of sycophancy, I can't take it.

While the Aussie PM was by his own in the commentary room, the Indian politician would need a few of his faithful chelas to make the scene complete.

The way politics is separated from sports there, or for that matter, from religion is what we need to emulate.