I was lolling about my living room as my Grandfather switched channels on the TV. He stopped at one where a sage, seated under a tree, was giving out a religious discourse to a largish audience.

The well-fed, hirsute, saffron clad man caught my attention when he suddenly went, "Our Gods are not like the Indian cricket team."

Just as I began ruminating to myself about how outdated and cliched Indian cricket team bashing was, the Godman added, "Gods don't become number 1 one day and number 3 the next." This was received with loud laughter and chuckling. The devotees enjoyed it. The Godman had put me in my place about the outdated-ness bit, demonstrating how tuned in he was.

He then went on, voice rising to a crescendo, "Lord Rama is a batsman who never gets run out!!". The devotees met this with a large round of applause and wild cheering.

There were days when cricketers were revered as Gods in India. You may have thought it couldn't go beyond that, but we have now apparently reached a level where Gods are revered as cricketers.