The Indian Premier League is progressing in full steam. Each day brings with it fresh dreams, new highs and what not, even as the never-ending line of cricket lovers lap up basketfuls of sixes and fours, the prime attraction of the T20 version of the sport. The excitement never dies, only soars as the days go by with the competition growing in sharpness and individual performances demanding attention. Cricket indeed has evolved from those days of relaxed, even lazy Test settings to an action-a-minute version and led the sport to riches that could make other sporting disciplines envious. If there was ever a suggestion that a youngster, boy or girl, could make a career in sport, then it would seriously be cricket that comes to mind!

Sports may evoke different feelings to different people. There is this Olympic gold medallist from Botswana, Letsile Tebogo who said in an interview to a leading English daily the other day that had his primary school teachers not lured him into athletics he would have probably ended up being a criminal in his later years! The reason: he grew up in an area where criminals abounded. Sports organised his life early and in due course provided dividends and a life of achievements, believed Tebogo who is the World Athletics ambassador for its Kids Athletics programme. But there is another view too. Our own Gopi Chand, a champion badminton player in his days and later a well-known national coach who stunned sports enthusiasts with his comment that children in India should not be pursuing sports........

© Mathrubhumi English