Rishi Kapoor chills out at The Oval

LONDON: Lost amid the sea of blue at the Oval on Thursday was veteran actor Rishi Kapoor, busy soaking in the atmosphere and taking in the cricket with wide-eyed glee. "I have been a cricket fan all my life and this is my first live match in England," Kapoor said when TOI caught up with him. "I am actually going to Mauritius for a shoot, but I thought I should take a long detour here instead!" Kapoor, intelligent, articulate, outspoken and ready with a unique perspective on things, feels cricket still thrives on personality cults as much as it did in the 1970s or 1980s."I don't agree that modern coaching methodologies have killed individualism in sport. Just look at the reception Hardik Pandya is getting," he says just as the cricketer walks in to bat. "There are Dhoni fans here, Virat fans here. The sport's personality cult is intact. It's only the coaches who want an assembly line of cricketers."
The thing he enjoyed most at the Oval, he says, was sitting down with a quiet beer while watching the game in peace. "I can never do that in India. Here, nobody was bothering me. Only once or twice has someone come and asked for a selfie!" Kapoor found the Oval atmosphere, and the overwhelming support for India, therapeutic. "When it comes to Indian cricket, I am a true patriot! It's good to see that wherever India go to play, it's like home."