Rahul Pathak

Lionel Messi's first football club

It is a freezing cold but sunny July morning. Two teams of five-year-old boys play on a dusty pitch, watched by a small but enthusiastic crowd of parents and children.

Has the fire gone out of West Indies cricket?

While on my holidays back home in the UK I was lucky enough to catch a new documentary called Fire in Babylon.

It tells the story of the all-conquering West Indies cricket team of the 1970s and 1980s, who not only thrashed any team unlucky enough to play them, but were a great source of pride to those from the Afro-Carribbean community, both back home and in places like England.

The film had a special resonance for me as many of the greats that played in this side, Viv Richards, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Clive Lloyd, were the names I grew up with as a cricket-obsessed youth in the 1980s.

I grew up with the notion that the West Indies were simply the best, not only that but also probably the best there had ever been.

They set the benchmark when it came to fitness, professionalism, ruthlessness - and of course attacking batting and fast bowing, very fast bowling.

Sachin Tendulkar - too cool for school

Superstar, Genius, God… all words that at some point have been used to describe Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.  

While most cricket fans around the world are aware of the huge popularity of the "Little Master" it's only when you come to India that you realise the near religious devotion the one billion strong Indian public has for the man from Mumbai.

And when you're in Mumbai you can take that devotion and multiply it by a thousand. If Sachin (no one calls him Tendulkar round here) scores his 100th international hundred to help India win the World Cup final against Sri Lanka then this city may well spontaneously combust.

Michael Yardy - lessons learnt?

The sudden departure of England all-rounder Michael Yardy from the Cricket World Cup because of depression has brought into sharp focus the huge pressures that are placed on international cricketers, and the resulting stigma and ignorance that is still attached to the issue.

I was at a press conference given by the Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene when he was asked by an Indian journalist why it was that South Asian cricketers were so much tougher than their English counterparts, who kept pulling out of tours for mental health reasons.

This was also a pointed reference to Marcus Trescothick, another England player who withdrew from the 2006-07 Ashes Tour for stress-related issues.

Former England batsman Geoffrey Boycott was also initially scornful of Yardy's departure saying that it was his critical comments of Yardy's bowling that had upset him.