Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly sign up for fantasy football
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Version 0 of 1. You can picture the scene: Kochi FC have slumped to another Indian Super League defeat. Fans have been restless for a while, but now they're angry. They've had enough. They want change. And it looks like they're going to get it. The hapless manager trudges up the steps to the chairman's office. He pauses outside, straightens the tie, inhales deeply. He knocks and enters. "You asked to see me Mr Tendulkar …" Football management is surely high-pressure enough without a near-deity as club supremo but that is what someone will face after the news at the weekend that Sachin Tendulkar and also Sourav Ganguly in Kolkata have signed up for franchises in the forthcoming IPL-style Indian Super League. If results don't go Kochi's way then the finger of blame is likely to point in only one direction. "Sack the board" isn't likely to make an appearance in the terrace songbook. Tendulkar says he is "a sportsman at heart who is keen to positively impact the sporting fabric of the nation", and Ganguly reckons his former India team-mate doesn't know that much about the game – "I have to teach him football. He doesn't play football that well. The way he puts bat to ball, he doesn't have that much control over football" – but it shouldn't be a surprise to see the pair trying their hands at a different sport post-cricket career. Cricketers could once double up as footballers (as Andy Bull recalled elegantly last month) but football is not the only other sport to tempt erstwhile cricketers into a dabble. Take Dean Jones. In 2012 the former Australia batsman swapped the middle order for the middle of the fairway and joined the PGA legends tour as a professional. "What I say is if you have a dream and you want to do something, have a dip and don't be 10 years later over a cold beer saying, 'I wish I had a go','' he told the Melbourne Age. And he gave it a decent stab, taking part in 18 events and finishing 42nd on the order of merit in 2012. Whether Ricky Ponting will one day follow in Jones's footsteps remains to be seen. While Jones opted for a more sedate pace in his cricketing retirement, others have looked for a very different challenge. Andrew Flintoff enjoyed an extremely brief, but still legitimate, spell in the ring. It wasn't a particularly edifying spectacle. In these pages Kevin Mitchell neatly summed up that Flintoff's one fight "was a success only inasmuch as [he] did not end up in an ambulance". Adam Hollioake's venture into the square circle was rather more visceral. "Fighting in MMA isn't totally dissimilar to cricket in that there is a lot of technique involved," he told Barney Ronay in 2012 when preparing for his debut cage fight. It ended in a draw. "I would love to do it again, but my wife was not a big fan," he said afterwards, but he's still going and remains undefeated. Stretching the definition of sport just a touch – well, perhaps more than a touch – leads us to Ashantha de Mel, the Sri Lankan swing bowler of the early and mid 80s who took four for 70 in the country's first ever Test. De Mel's career was ended prematurely by a knee injury, but he later became an international bridge player for the island. "Bridge hooks you," he said. "It's fascinating, stimulating too, and keeps you alert." It also hooked the West Indies' Everton Weekes, who played the game for Barbados, and the India wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer is also a regular at the table. But perhaps the most tantalising crossover is yet to come. David Warner and his manager have apparently discussed the potential of the Australia opener swapping the crease for home plate and Major League Baseball are rumoured to have discussed him. "Dave and I have spoken about it – it would be interesting to see how he goes," said Warner's manager Tony Connelly. "A pitch over the plate is a full toss right in his range but once they start throwing curves, it's a bit different. We talked about setting up a trial in the States and getting him in a batting cage just to have a look." The Indian Super League is tentatively scheduled to kick off in September so it'll be a five-month wait until we discover Tendulkar's style in the football boardroom and directors' box. The Spin is picturing an affable low-key Bill Kenwright-esque approach or possibly an aloof Abramovich routine. The Vincent Tan-style Bond villain look and the Delia Smith half-time cheerleading approach we can probably rule out. • This is an extract taken from the Spin, the Guardian's weekly cricket email. Sign up here |