Calcutta: John Michael Brearley is back in the city, this time not after decades, but around 21 months after delivering the 2016 Tiger Pataudi Memorial Lecture.

The talismanic Brearley’s latest trip, in the company of ever-smiling wife Mana, is in connection with the Library Talk at Bengal Club on Saturday.

Brearley will be conversing with Arun Lal, with the focus largely on his newest book, On Form.

Incidentally, Brearley first came to Calcutta as a journalist — during the 1972-73 series, when Tony Lewis was the England captain.

Not much later, of course, the Fourth Estate began following Brearley everywhere and his reputation as an extraordinary captain reached unprecedented levels after the 1981 Ashes.

Mana’s roots are in Ahmedabad and, so, the couple spends some weeks there each winter. Brearley got there last week, after a week in Taiwan.

By the way, Brearley first met Mana, who is from the Sarabhai family, on England’s 1976-77 tour of India.

Brearley and Mana’s meeting took place in Ahmedabad during the visitors’ tour match there. Brearley had a stiff neck but that didn’t come in the way of his impressing Mana. The rest is, well, ...

“A fellow-psychoanalyst and I went to Taipei to deliver lectures at a hospital and an institute. The audience knew mandarin only, but our translator appeared to be very good...

“The people in the Taiwanese capital looked happy and, from what I saw, Taipei has many flyovers, quite like this city,”

Brearley told The Telegraph on Friday night, grinning as he helped himself to crisp tandoori roti at the Bengal Club.
Having arrived rather late in the day, one just asked Brearley about Virat Kohli, India’s captain across the three formats, and the ongoing Ashes.

Brearley’s views...

On Kohli the captain: I admire Virat for the impression he gives me (at least) of being very clear about his priorities...

I imagine Virat knows with clarity how to prioritise fitness, practice, family, availability for media commitments and money-making opportunities. I am impressed with Virat’s authority and clarity of mind.

Kohli the batsman: Virat’s quite exceptional... He truly is... I won’t be surprised if, like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat scores 100 International hundreds. He’s already got 52 of them.

On the Ashes: Is it all over for England? Can’t say, but only an extraordinary performance will help them recover from a 0-2 deficit.

Finally, whether Joe Root should have inserted Australia in the just-ended Adelaide Test: In two words, probably not.