Stop Arun Lal Before I Hurt Him

I cannot stand the man: in the past few hours as a commentator in the Sri Lanka-India Test, he has talked about a) a great Continental Hotel he stayed in next to a lake; b) some reptile roaming around the Galle cricket ground (which he calls “too cute” — and which, to be fair, is); c) the particular geography of Sri Lanka, and how there’s “nothing beneath it” all the way to Antartica, which, by the way, d) is melting, not as quickly as the Arctic, but nevertheless, quick enough in the summer that polar bears will soon be extinct.

Now, I understand that he said all this during a particular lull in the match (by Sehwag’s standards, that is), but there’s little excuse for such extended sermonizing. Audiences are allowed for such chatter during Test matches; that’s the precise beauty of the format’s length. But commentators? No dice.