Six and Out - Some Serious Cricket

Heroes (read: losers) of the Week

by Dinsa Sachan on October 4th, 2007

This space is meant for honoring the players who do well and bring good to the sport, but I am in no mood for honoring today, that’s fer sure.

Hero Turned Loser # 1 Andrew Symonds aka Roy:

The guy with the brown (or is it golden, or golden+brown, you better judge) streaks is one of the most active players on the field despite his size. He’s ran out more batsmen than I have seen any other player do. And I share Shakespeare’s philosophy:

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o’ nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

I like plump folks; most of them have good humor in them.

But what’s with saying T20 is crap “since you can lose to the lesser sides” and slamming India’s post-victory celebrations as “over the top”. I didn’t rant about that, because I guess it’s okay to exercise your freedom of speech, but I don’t like players locking horns with each other on the field.

Hero Turned Loser # 2 Shanthakumaran Sreesanth

When I saw him dancing in SA, I was like, “Here is an Indian cricketer who isn’t shy, who isn’t scared of expressing himself.” And he took that last catch in the T20 final. He became a hero. And although he won’t make it to my hunk list, it was cool about him that he was a dance champ and was comtemplating a career in Bollywood.

But there he was bickering with none other than Roy. A little bit of weirdness is acceptable, but when one goes overboard, titles like neurotic, maniac start springing to mind. I think I am going to settle in for “maverick” for the while. That’s not that insulting. So if he thinks that if he’s playing well, he has the liberty to do just about anything and that the world is his cricket ground…I would better warn him.

Actually, I will tell ya what, he’s one of those x-generation Indians (me, Aishwarya Rai, Sania Mirza included) who flaunt American accent and are desperate to tell the world what stuff Indians are made of. But chill, Sree, chill. You need to channel all your adrenaline to more constructive pursuits.

Oh, and you know what his first name literally means? Man of Peace!

Hero Turned Loser # 3 Harbhajan Singh

At the risk of sounding judgmental, I am going to say he’s been overrated. He’s talented, yes, but his lack of consistency has always put me off. Big time. But I had still liked him for this stints at bhangra.

I have heard he uses obnoxious abuses on the field. Now this isn’t news, I know. You put a bunch of guys on a field and what else do you expect (this was an ongoing problem over the sports fields at school)? Sledging comes naturally to them. BUT. This is ODI cricket! Can we expect some etiquette, Sir?

Full stop. Rant over. Your turn.

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POSTED IN: Beyond Cricket, Cricket, Heroes of the Week, Major Tournaments, MeThinks, ODI Cricket, Players, Whispers and Gossip