Cool as cucumber

What is it that brings the best out of Yusuf Pathan on T20 games? When he walked in the Royals were in a slightly precarious position. Shane Warne's experiment of playing himself ahead of Pathan had just been proved ineffective. Over the next 8 overs he was simply ruthless. Nothing seemed to scare him. Even as Shane bit off every nail and Graeme Smith huffed and puffed Pathan never flinched. He kept putting the ball out of the park at will. Every time Graeme Smith came up to ask him to "watch the ball" and "play safe" he would respond by taking an almighty crack at the ball. Just what is making him do this? That would be a Royal secret...
Speaking of secrets it was Deccan's Glichrist dodging Pommie Mbwangwa at the presentation interview on Monday. Having acknowledged that he made a mistake in not bowling Praghyan Ojha through his quota of 4 overs against Chennai, Gilly attributed it to a "theory" he had in mind. The curious Mbwangwa then asked Gilly about the "theory" to which there was a diplomatic reply that meant "no way I am gonna disclose that". Way to go Gilly - a lesson to the others to speak in interviews. But then, the "theory" was just an open secret wasn't it? Ojha is a leftie and his spin doesn't work against left handers. Isn't that the theory Adam?
And finally, speaking of the crowd at the stadiums, it was another embarassing moment for IPL yesterday. During the "strategy break", Ravi Shastri the commentator asked the roving reporter Simon Doull about the crowd. Even as Simon started speaking (it always looks like the commentators speak out from a pre-written script when talking of crowds) the camera went round showing am empty stand behind Doull. Not knowing what was on TV, Simon went ahead and completed his "dialogue" about the packed stadium and the enthusiasm.
And btw.. did you notice Lalit Modi signing autographs and tapping arms of spectators as he walked up the stairs? The WWE effect.