What does it take to make a Lakshya Sen?

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Editor's note: There was this time in Rediff when, for a World Cup, we got top cricketers from all participating countries to write for us. Our South Africa expert that year was Alan Donald’s new-ball partner Fanie de Villiers. I will write, he told us, but you email me questions, topics to cover so I know what to write about. Three days ahead of the deadline for his first column, we sent him an email with suggested themes and questions. No response. Morning of the deadline, and a Fanie-sized hole in our coverage plan for the day. So we call him—and a surprised Fanie goes, “Oh, you had sent the mail? So sorry, I am not good with email—when you send one, can you send a fax reminding me to check my mail?" I was reminded of that when, in response to WhatsApp questions, badminton great Prakash Padukone sent photos of pages from his notebook where he had scribbled down his responses on the grounds that “I write faster than I type”. The quirks of the greats... but I’ll leave that for …