Rajan's Wrong-Un: Boycott spices up TMS by defying Delhi police's sandwich ban

World Cup Diary

Did I detect the subtlest of digs from my hero, Jonathan Agnew, to Geoffrey Boycott yesterday? I thought I heard peerless Aggers ask the Yorkshire terrier what flavour crisps he'd brought into Test Match Special box. "Not chilli, are they?" my ears seemed to hear.

This may have referred to an incident last week when Boycott fell victim to a "food prevention exercise" by Delhi police, for the game between West Indies and South Africa. Officials told Boycott the packed lunch of sandwiches he'd brought along weren't allowed in.

Boycott, who once had throat cancer, said: "I don't eat curries which is what they normally give you. So I bring sandwiches. Anything which is spicy just burns."

Police confiscated his plastic knife and fork, but, typically, he refused to budge: "I said, 'I want to speak to the general or the brigadier, whoever's in charge, 'cause I'm taking my bloody sandwiches in.'" And his crisps, I assume.

Bangladesh in power struggle

Authorities in Bangladesh have ordered all factories to shut down during the evening. They want to conserve electricity so fans get to watch uninterrupted on big screens. If they did that in India, global warming might be a thing of the past.

Talisman's tons are written in the skies

I had thought it was just the TMS team, but it's been brought to my attention that several commentators greeted Sachin Tendulkar's century in the same fashion yesterday. Seeing him tilt his head skyward, they said: "We've seen that before... 97 times, in fact." Not true. Tendulkar did occasionally look skyward early in his career. But he himself says he only made it regular after the death of his father Ramesh during the 1999 World Cup in England. He flew back home for the funeral. Returning to the tournament, he scored 140 against Kenya, looking skyward after making the century.

Afridi appears to be a wasted talent

Shahid Afridi looked terrifyingly good with the ball on Saturday, taking a 4 for 34 off his 10 overs as Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 11 runs. And yet for all the prowess of his skiddy leg-breaks, it still seems bonkers that he should be batting at No 7. It was this fellow, remember, who scored the fastest ODI century ever, off 37 balls, in his first international innings. He was 16 at the time.