Team India's school of SWEARING AND CURSING

[Number]

Anyone who's been following Indian cricket lately has been subjected to exhaustive swearing and cursing lessons (irrespective of whether one needs them or no). A few players in Team India have come up with what one may call "Team India's school of cursing and swearing." The school is headed by Prof. Gautam Gambhir as he can effectively swear in both Hindi and English better than anyone in the team. The Vice-Principal of this school is Prof. Yuvraj Singh who's almost as effective as Gambhir with both the languages (In fact, it is rumoured that he also adds a Punjabi Tadka to his swearing at times). The senior Professors would include Prof. Zaheer Khan, Prof.Ashish Nehra and Prof. Harbhajan Singh (A rather limited English vocabulary is to blame for Professors Yuvraj and Gambhir beating Professors Khan, Nehra and Singh to the top posts despite being junior to them). The new recruits, who joined in as trainees but have been quickly elevated to the post of Asst. Professors, include Mr. Virat Kohli, Mr. Munaf Patel and Mr. Suresh Raina. Though Mr. Patel's English vocabulary is undesirably weak, it is believed that he is being groomed by his colleagues and is likely to catch up with them soon. A whole lot of trainees are waiting in the wings hopeful of being recruited by the school sometime soon in the future. Now, on a serious note, all jokes apart, this ever-increasing cursing and swearing on the field is something I've been wanting to express myself on for a long time now. To begin with, I think most, if not all, of this new breed of cricketers, the T20 generation so to say, need to be given a strong reminder of the fact that Cricket is supposed to be a gentleman's game which is to be played and enjoyed in a very good spirit. Swearing and cursing on the field thus strikes at the very foundation of cricketing spirit resulting ultimately in a lot of bad blood between the players of the competing teams. On the one hand, we accuse the Aussies of being highly unsporting because of their frequent indulgence in sledging. But when it comes down to us, a lot of our players today are also doing the same thing and doing it in an utterly disgraceful and unacceptable manner. Watching the likes of Gambhir, Yuvi, Zak, Bhajji, Nehra, Kohli, Munaf and Raina engaging themselves in swearing and cursing randomly without any provocation is disappointing to say the least. These fine players, who are hero-worshipped by over a billion people, fail to realise the fact their doing so compromises the integrity of the India cap that they are donning. As members of Team India, they represent not only themselves but the entire nation. More importantly, they are ambassadors of a sport which has a very strong heritage of gentlemanly conduct and are hence duty-bound to ensure that their behaviour, at least on the field, is in consonance with that heritage. I simply fail to understand as to how and why these players don't realize the impact such indecent conduct is likely to have on the impressionable minds of the millions of children who idolize them and who watch the game to specifically see their idols in action. I sometimes wonder how they face their parents and other loved ones after indulging in such rowdy behaviour which is captured live on satellite television. I know a lot of people may justify this behaviour saying that there's been a sea change in the way this game was played when it first started and now and that the manner in which it is played today demands a great deal of aggression. Agreed, that the game of cricket today is far more competitive and also the stakes involved in it are higher than ever. However, nowhere is it said or written that aggression has to be in the form of swear words or curses. In fact, the best of players rarely need to speak on the cricket field. Rather, the aggression needs to be reflected in one's game, in the way one plays. What disappoints and amazes me at the same time is how and why these players have turned this way despite having played in the company of some of the finest gentlemen one can come across , be it Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly ,VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and even MS Dhoni for that matter. Also, who better than Sachin embodies the principle of expressing your aggression through your game or as they say in cricket, "letting your bat do all the talking"? Let's just go down the memory lane and recollect a couple of the innumerable such instances when Sachin has done it. In the 2000 Knockout trophy, after having beaten Sachin with a bouncer, McGrath came up to him and said " Is it too high for you, shorty"? The next ball, Sachin stepped out and hit McGrath for a six over mid-off after which he went up to him and said "Go fetch the ball now, mate." Another infamous incident involves Sreeshanth when the latter, after beating Sachin had gone and glared at him. The next ball, Sachin hit him for a six over his head and said "Don't ever come that close to me again. " Even Venkatesh Prasad bowling Aamir Sohail the very next ball after being hit for a boundary in the 1996 WC Quarterfinal is a great example of letting your game do the talking. I do agree with the fact that the intensity with which the game is played these days does require a few words to be exchanged between players of the opposing teams and this verbal warfare just adds to all the excitement. However, one sees these days that it has become a regular practice among a lot of players to engage themselves in swearing and cursing which is mostly unnecessary .The only point I'm attempting to make here is that one must avoid swearing or cursing on the field as far as possible. I really hope these players look within themselves soon and concentrate on the finer aspects of the game rather than displaying their abusive skills ,

http://www.cricketcountry.com/cricket-fan/posts/-Team-India-s-school-of-SWEARING-AND-CURSING-/post-2564/comments/page/1 Shantanu Kanade November 28, 2011.

[BERGKAMP]

it is the way of the modern world and even cricket cannot keep it out. after the likes of tendulkar, dravid, hussey etc go there will not be many players left who show class both on and off the pitch.

[vamos_rafa]

Too looooonnnnngggggggggg

[J P K]

McGrath came up to him and said Is it too high for you, shorty? The next ball, Sachin stepped out and hit McGrath for a six over mid-off after which he went up to him and said Ũo fetch the ball now, mate. Another infamous incident involves Sreeshanth when the latter, after beating Sachin had gone and glared at him. The next ball, Sachin hit him for a six over his head and said Å¥onÃÕ ever come that close to me again. sachin :adore: cannot believe even raina is included in that club :mad:

[Magneto]

Raina and Samit Patel had a slanging match going on between themselves throughout the England-India ODI series.

[BeautifulGame]

I dont think too many of our players try to slegde but mostly respond when sledged. The likes of Raina and Kohli sledged during the England series because English players sledged and try to use that as a tactic.Ofcourse we too have the likes of Sree Santh who act stupidly and try to sledge unnecessarily and often cross the line which is disappointing.But dont think most others are like him We didnt see the likes of Kohli and Gambhir try to sledge the west Indies players.Did we? And I dont think there is any wrong in responding when some one sledges like English players does.

[JeffThommo_fan]

Fight fire with fire. Gandhigiri ka jamana gya

[Magneto]

We didnt see the likes of Kohli and Gambhir try to sledge the west Indies players That's because both were fielding at forward short leg and silly point most of the time and didn't want to risk getting hit. There's no FSL or Silly Point in one-day cricket so there is no risk:winky:

[Sachinism]

We didnt see the likes of Kohli and Gambhir try to sledge the west Indies players That's because both were fielding at forward short leg and silly point most of the time and didn't want to risk getting hit. There's no FSL or Silly Point in one-day cricket so there is no risk:winky:

I think its more to do with the English just being a bunch of knobs and getting it back. Though the younger generation pour out way too much filth. Genera sledging is all good but some of the swears you see from these guys is quite sick

[Karan114]

I think its more to do with the English just being a bunch of knobs and getting it back. Though the younger generation pour out way too much filth. Genera sledging is all good but some of the swears you see from these guys is quite sick

:dito: I have absolutely no issue with them giving it back to the opposition but some of these guys just abuse like hell for the sake of it.

[vamos_rafa]

Sledging need not be abusing.

[bulbul]

I think its more to do with the English just being a bunch of knobs and getting it back. Though the younger generation pour out way too much filth. Genera sledging is all good but some of the swears you see from these guys is quite sick

i dont think we have to Blame others .... These guys Swear,curse even in IPL matches so the Decennt , gentlemen Indian cricket era is passing... Once Dravid,Sachin,Laxman all gone i dont think there will be any difference between our players or OZ,English players...Cricket is becoming like Footbal

[bulbul]

Sledging need not be abusing.

for that you need Talent in that department...i dont think these guys have vocabulary for that Sehwag may have that....but rest of the guys are like Gulli cricketers

[ganeshran]

Kohli was mouthing off even after getting out in Wankhede. The key to sledging is to do it subtly rather than getting into a mudslinging match with the opponent.

[Sachin=GOD]

These young cricketers think they look cool while sledging.......................IMHO they look like fools. There's class even in sledging and these guys don't have it.

[Talwar]

Who cares if they win...gentlemen *******s must go watch golf..

[bulbul]

Who cares if they win...gentlemen *******s must go watch golf..

Mentlemen like u can watch WWE...leave Cricket to us :winky:

[Talwar]

^, wwe is for pussies like u.:winky:

[vamos_rafa]

for that you need Talent in that department...i dont think these guys have vocabulary for that Sehwag may have that....but rest of the guys are like Gulli cricketers

There's enough on their plates already in terms of talent. If you are not good at it, then why do you want to do it? Just let it be and play like normal aam aadmis. And this whole abusing business looks pretty cool. I also use a lot of abuses in hindi, thinking it looks cool but deep down i know, it's irritating. It's just a habbit. I prefer calling them as my helping verbs :winky:

[Sachin=GOD]

There's enough on their plates already in terms of talent. If you are not good at it, then why do you want to do it? Just let it be and play like normal aam aadmis. And this whole abusing business looks pretty cool. I also use a lot of abuses in hindi, thinking it looks cool but deep down i know, it's irritating. It's just a habbit. I prefer calling them as my helping verbs :winky:

I prefer not to use them at all.