Perils of the premature tweet

This is the reason I don't like Twitter, at least not on a day like today. Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief, had announced that Lord's might host a 'timeless' Test to determine the inaugural World Test champion in 2013. It was a statement strong enough to erase the remnants of my day-old jet lag.

Having filed the Lorgat report, I thought of walking around Lord's, a ground not as imposing as the MCG or even the Gabba. At Lord's, everything is in its appropriate place. Though I had been here many times, most recently when the spot-fixing scandal broke in 2010, I wanted to get reacquainted with the ground.

As I was about to leave the Pod (pressbox), I read a tweet from Yuvraj Singh. Soon after the Indian team's arrival in London from Taunton, he had posted two messages at 3.00 pm. "I'll be there at the HMV store in Oxford Street, London for an hour from 5.30pm; your chance to get the official world cup DVD signed by me," he said. "I'll be signing the DVD only, so no other material for signing pls. See you there!"

I considered whether it was worth going. A slow but incessant drizzle had commenced. Still, I was curious to see how the fans in London would receive the Player of the 2011 World Cup. In any city in India, at least a couple of thousand would have turned up.

As I walked to Oxford Street, a newspaper vendor (I had asked him for directions) told me curtly that the HMV store was closed. I tried arguing and further annoyed the man, who told me in no uncertain terms, "my friend, the store here is closed. There is one in Oxford Circus."

"Thanks Yuvi!" I muttered under my breath and then slithered through the 'leaving-office-going-home-don't-you-dare-get-in-my-path' traffic to eventually reach the correct store, which was not at all dressed up to suggest that one of the most eligible bachelors in world cricket was indoors. I wondered where Yuvraj's fans were, especially the women. Even the bouncers were missing.

I found an attendant and asked her if there was any event today involving a cricketer. "Yes, indeed, there is one. But it is tomorrow, I'm afraid," she said. "I have got an awful lot of people, some 300 at least, who have come here in the last two hours and I have had to explain the same to them."

She said she had informed the HMV PR about the mounting queries and was told they were trying to get in touch with the player to correct his Twitter message. "This is not the first time it has happened. We have had personalities, who I can't name, who have tweeted about the event the day after."

After I said thanks and was walking out, the woman asked: "will you back tomorrow?" My answer lay in my half-hearted smile. As I made my way to the crowded Oxford Circus station, I thought, "Yuvi, mate, if only you were taking the tube now."

Next stop: to gatecrash MS Dhoni's gig - the auction of the bat with which he hit the six that won the World Cup. I've heard it costs 100 pounds to get in. If so, I'll pass, my per diem doesn't quite cover it.