Left versus Right match

Onkar Singh

Bombay's cricket fans will be treated to a unique one-day match between 'Left' and 'Right' at the Wankhede stadium on April 29.

It is not one which features the CPI and CPM combine, better known as left parties, on one side and other political parties, also known as right parties, on the other, but teams which will respectively be led by present India skipper Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar.

"When I looked at the names in the two sides I was terribly disappointed not to see the name of comrade Joyti Basu, who is the best known leftist in the country," said legendary spinner Bishen Singh Bedi jokingly.

He regretted that some former cricketers force their wards to bat left hand or bowl left arm because they like it that way.

"Lala Amarnath forced his son Surinder Amarnath bat with the left hand," he said.

Kapil Kapoor, managing director of Timex watches, which is sponsoring the event, said the moment he learnt about the concept of staging a match for right handers and left handers, he jumped at the idea of affixing his company's name to it. If the venture proves a crowd puller, he added, the company may expand the idea and organize a smiliar event on the international level.

Sanjay Lal, chief executive of advertising agency Percept D'Mark, told rediff.com that he had been toying with the idea of staging such a match for more than two years but could not give it proper shape.

"Last year, because of various controversies involving the game, we decided to hold back the idea. Once the India-Australia series was over, I discussed the project with my sponsors. To my amazement, I discussed the idea in the morning and by evening I had the sponsorship letter in my hand. The proceeds of the match will go to former Mumbai Ranji Trophy wicketkeeper Sulakshan Kulkarni," Lal said.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, Javagal Srinath, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh and Pravin Amre are the notable players in the 'Right' team while 'Left' has Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Hemang Badani, Vinod Kambli (wicketkeeper), Sunil Joshi and Sadagopan Ramesh.

"How many times have you wondered who is better -- the left-handed legend [Gary] Sobers or the right-handed genius [Sir Don] Bradman. I think matches like this would help in resolving the controversy. But in this particular contest the right hand team is likely to win," Bedi predicted.

"The pricing of tickets has been kept to the bare minimum. They range between Rs 50 and 100 only," said Lal, who hopes the public will turn out in numbers to help raise funds for a former cricketer.