Deepak Malik was a delighted man after guiding India to a 34-run win over Sri Lanka in the second game of the five-match blind T20 series at Islam Gymkhana yesterday. But would the news of his match-of-the-match-winning performance (an unbeaten 106 off just 62 balls) please his truck-driving father back home in Bhainswal, Haryana? Unlikely!

"My family want me to stop playing cricket, get a job and earn a living. My father reminds me that I have to earn money, more so because he is ageing. I realise that he is right, but cricket meri jaan hai [cricket is my life]. How can I leave it? I urged papa to manage for a few more years," Malik, 23, told mid-day yesterday.