|
| Gautam Bhimani at his Sunny Park home. (Rashbehari Das)
|
How many hundreds did Sri Lankan batsmen score in the 1996 World Cup?
Which team won the game on St Patrick’s Day (March 17) at Kingston in the 2007 World Cup?
When commentator Gautam Bhimani isn’t wielding the mic, he is thinking up cricket brain-teasers. t2 caught up with the cricket buff at his Sunny Park residence to quiz him about Who-Zatt, a quiz book on World Cup that he has compiled with Navneet Prabhu, and more
How long did you take to put this book together?
Less than a month, really. It was all about getting the questions together. And with the World Cup happening, one suddenly had so many questions in mind! My favourite question has always been: “Of which father and son duo did one play for East Africa in 1975 and the other for England in 1992?”
(The answer? Don Pringle and Derek Pringle.)
How did you go about compiling the book?
If you are filling a book, there are bound to be a lot of formatted questions. Like “Who captained this team in that World Cup?” For someone who’s going through the book for information, those do make sense. So, there are some formatted questions to make up numbers and few clever ones.
What is the most interesting question in the book?
Which is the only venue at the 2011 World Cup named after a current country premier?
(The answer? Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Hambantota, Sri Lanka.)
Yuvraj Singh inaugurated the book in Bengaluru. Did he get any of the answers correct?
He was very nervous. When I told him that I would ask a few questions, he was like: “Boss, mere bas ki nahin hai!”, as is typical with many of these cricketers, Yuvraj and (Mahendra Singh) Dhoni being the two of them! Yuvraj says, “Let my bat do the talking” and Dhoni says, “If you want me to talk about fighter planes and bikes, I’ll tell you. Don’t ask me about cricket! I go out there and play the game.”
We held a quiz for all the teams with ESPN as a build-up to the World Cup. I stole many questions from the book. Dhoni was one of the four interviewees. He said he would happily say ‘I don’t know’ to all of them! Question to Dhoni: “Who was India’s captain in the 1979 World Cup?” MSD’s answer: “I don’t know. Too early. I wasn’t even born!”
Sachin did pretty well because he reads up a lot on the game. When he got one question wrong, he was like “Can I do a bit of a match-fixing and re-do it?”
Zaheer Khan did not do too badly either. Harbhajan Singh took it very seriously. He knew a little bit.
Shane Watson came across as very good. Ricky Ponting was asked who has played the most World Cup matches. He said Sachin Tendulkar. The answer? Ricky Ponting!
Let’s quiz you: Sourav Ganguly or MSD as captain?
Sourav Ganguly any day! He made Indian cricket what it is today. This is not biased at all because I am Bengali and we are from the same school. Everything that Sourav did, Dhoni is just reaping the rewards. He changed the attitude of Indian cricket and the dressing room. Dhoni is just India’s luckiest captain. Sourav had the odds against him.
Sachin Tendulkar or Sunil Gavaskar as batsman?
I am a little old-fashioned there. I would go with Gavaskar because he played in an era when things were more challenging. Yes, Tendulkar’s a genius. But Gavaskar played without helmets and against much fiercer fast bowling.
Harbhajan Singh or Anil Kumble?
Kumble. Too much of a legend. Different and unique style. There are enough off-spinners like Harbhajan.
Gautam Gambhir or Virender Sehwag as next Indian captain?
Can I say neither? Virat Kohli may be. He has the class to be there for the next 15 years. Viru is too airy-fairy. Gambhir is too much of an angry young man to be the captain.
KKR with Sourav or Eden with SRK?
There’s no such thing as KKR without Sourav. I have always believed that the basis of IPL is less about cricket and more about fan base. So, you cannot have a Mumbai Indians without Sachin and KKR without Sourav. The fans don’t give two hoots about Shah Rukh Khan.
1983, 2003, 2011...the best World Cup Indian XI?
I wouldn’t say 1983 was a fluke. But if that World Cup was played nine more times, West Indies would win every time. 2003 was there, but not quite there. So, of the three, this team is the best.
Harsha Bhogle or Ravi Shastri or Sunil Gavaskar the best commentator?
Harsha any day, because he is a commentator. The other two are players. Commentary is their second coming. Ravi is great. Very popular. A man of many words, cliches. For Sunny there is great respect. But there is a difference between a commentator and an analyst. They are great analysts.
Winner of World Cup 2011?
England or South Africa. Much as I am a patriot and would love to be proved wrong.
Player of the tournament?
At the moment a toss-up between Shane Watson and Shahid Afridi.
Last word on Sachin Tendulkar?
The ideal script would be if he completes his century of centuries in Mumbai (in the World Cup final). It’s too much of a perfect script.... So far, with all due respect to him, when push has come to shove, chasing, staying there, right till the end, he hasn’t done it. If he does it, like all of India, I’ll love it.
Gautam Bhimani the commentator or the quizmaster?
Probably commentator. Much as I love quizzing, commentary is something that I have enjoyed doing and is more challenging because there are enough people who don’t want you to do it, purely from the point of view of you not being an ex-player.
five fast-selling titles this world cup
 Title: Cricket! All You Wanted to Know About the World Cup
Author: Diptakirti Chaudhuri
Price: Rs 199
What: Fun facts, quirky history, trivia, games, cartoons and information on players, teams and even stadiums...
t2 trivia: The author was born and brought up in Calcutta
 Title: Sachin: 501 Things You Didn’t Know About The Master Blaster
Author: Suvam Pal
Price: Rs 175
What: Quizzes, facts and trivia about Sachin, both on and off the field.
t2 quiz: What was Sachin’s batting position in his Test debut innings at Karachi? (Answer: No. 6)
 Title: The History of World Cup Cricket
1975-2011
Author: James Alter
Price: Rs 495
What: Abbreviated scores of each World Cup game from 1975 to 2007, brief summaries of each semi-final and final, highlights of memorable games from the previous nine World Cups...
t2 thumbs up: Foreword by Harsha Bhogle
 Title: Sach
Author: Gautam Bhattacharya
Price: Rs 395
What: Not just another book on Sachin’s cricketing achievements. Anecdotal and attractive.
t2 fact: The first time Bhattacharya interviewed Sachin was in
1988, when the gawky
teenager had just got into the Mumbai team
 Title: ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 Official Guide — Collector’s Edition
Price: Rs 200
What: Details about the host countries and cities, World Cup
history, legends of cricket, statistics, over 500 photographs, articles by sportswriters, interviews, analysis, tourney fixtures, group structures…
t2 pick: An ‘All Time World Cup XI’ chosen by those whose word matters in cricket
| 
