Sreesanth Swinging His Bat…. Dhoom Machale?!
It’s my first time, Mutineers, so be gentle. I’m a total Cricket virgin and if you’re mean to me about what is sure to be an amateurish post, I’ll be scarred forever– whether I end up a frigid fan or not is in your hopefully kind and capable hands. 😉
After hearing about Mallu hotness Sreesanth (thanks, DTK), I had to visit ye olde YouTube to find out about this right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler, who is a right-handed tailender. Apparently, excessively lippy South African Andre Nel questioned Sreesanth’s heart/courage/skillz after Sreesanth evaded something called a bouncer. Sreesanth responded by hitting Nel for a six and then performing a dance I’d normally associate with an end zone. Oh, that was just brutal to write. I can’t imagine how many men I’ve just annoyed. 😉
I may not know a damned thing about what is arguably the most popular sport in all of South Asia, but I know the art of trash talk well and if anything could get me to fall in love with this very Brown game, it’s the video I’ve posted above. Set to some probably-famous song I’ve never heard before (“Dhoom Machale”), it’s way more fun than the other YouTube clips which came up when I searched for the new object of my lecherous (he’s eight years younger) affection. Not since I was kicked off our co-ed IM team in grad school for illegal (and may I add, utterly justified and deliciously violent) tackling during a flag-football game have I been so delighted by the immaturity of declaring “in your face!”. Gopu, I heart you. 🙂
UPDATE: The Google Video seems clearer, so I swapped it.
Thanks! Or should i say nanni? on the other hand, i already waste too much time on sepia mutiny (no offence intended), and cricket threads during the World Cup may well be the final blow to my productive life. oh well, priorities, shmiorities.
This is excellent news! I can’t wait for SM to cover cricket – it’s such a great game. You can be like the Mandira Bedi of the blogosphere. She’s a very popular Indian TV cricket correspondant who also happens to be unapologetically glam (I hear. I’ve never actually seen her on TV).
she certainly is glamorous. but i fear if ANNA dresses like this whilst giving us all the World Cup cricket dish, it might be too distracting for us mere mortals.
Anna, he’s all yours.
Like most men, Sreesanth digs older hotties, be gentle with him
Here’s a compilation of some classic sledges for you noobs.
Shouldn’t this be titled “How your Appa, Nel?” or whatever the Mallu equivalent is?
more info on Sreesanth…
“His favourite food is rice and fish curry. For breakfast he likes Kadala and Puttu (a traditional dish prepared from rice and gram). In fact, he wants Kadala and Puttu every morning; he loves it so much,” his mother says.
happens to be unapologetically glam (I hear. I’ve never actually seen her on TV).
In one of my visits to India, I have seen her.
She is certainly a treat – Mazaa, mazaa………
She is known for her spaghetti strap blouses, and is certainly “cricket” happy on TV.
Harsha Bhogle goes all condescending on Sreesanth in this clip. According to the Bhogle, Sreesanth, in case you didn’t notice, brings a refreshing rural touch to the game. And I thought the whole Gentleman vs Players classification was a relic of an obsolete British cricket system. Harsha is an IIM-Ahmedabad grad, & back when I used to live in India in the late 90s, was ubiquitous on all media as the cricket pundit du jour. I don’t see/hear/read much about him anymore, but that may have to do with the fact that watching cricket in North America is an expensive proposition…
well.. bhogale can munch a jackfruit in his ass. typical elitist shithead. we love him. today, we are all pindoos and that’s a good thing.
Oooh, Mandira Bedi is not a bad comparison. I mean, A N N A should be offended if she pretended to be a cricket expert — since Mandira is clearly not there for her cricket knowledge — but since the sense is that she will blog about the culture of the game and not game analysis, Mandira Bedi is an apt comparison.
Aside — I’ve not only seen Mandira Bedi on TV, I actually saw her at a party I attended in Bangalore in 2004 that featured the Aussie cricket team. Mandira kind of MCed the evening, and she was hilarious. I think she had 3-4 costume changes over the course of the evening. During a Q&A session, she asked Brett Lee (who was sat a foot away from me during dinner) about his dating life, and his response was a tongue-in-cheek “Don’t you people read your newspapers? I’m apparently dating Preity Zinta.” When Mandira pressed on and asked him what qualities he was attracted to in a woman, he smiled and said “I like dimples.”
For all the haterade being dished out to the gora teams, I actually admire the heck out of the Aussie team. They play hard, and they are damn good. They do sledge, no question, but I think they keep it within limits and it is no different from the mild trash talk that occurs in all American sports. Plus, they are the team most responsible for transforming test cricket from a boring game into an exciting one in which most matches these days produce results. It used to be scoring 250 runs in a day was decent, now most teams regularly score in excess of 300 runs per day, and it is fair to say that this change was started by the Aussie’s aggressive play. Another thing I like about the Aussies is that many of them really look forward to the challenge of touring India. In 2004, several members of the team brought their family and vacationed in Kerala after the tour. Brett Lee actually took the trouble to learn some Hindi and used it in interviews. He also learned a punjabi (I think) folk song and sang it for TV and other audiences (he plays the guitar), much to the joy of the screaming females in said audiences.
Hmmm. “Who’s Your Appan, Nel?” Does that work better for you? “Who’s Your DADDY?” is just so obnoxious. 😀 Besides, if I use “Appan” then I’m tempted to translate the whole thing (“Ninde Appan Arra, Panthi?”) and we all know my Malayalam transliteration skills are painfully shite. 😉
Neophyte that I am, this still irritated me. I didn’t know who “Bhogle” was, but I thought he was a bit of a dick. I’ve got your rural right here, beeeeitch. (See? The art of trash talk! 🙂
Are you not counting Nasser Hussein? Hussein was England’s captain, and scored over 5,000 runs for them. I think it is a wee bit early to put Monty in the same discussion. (Hussein, of course, was part of the hilarious exchange between Jess and her mom in Bend it Like Beckham. In response to her mom saying that England would never let a brown girl play for the national team, Jess says something like “Things are changing. Nasser Hussein is captain of the cricket team.” To which Jess’s mom replies, “But he is muslim. That is different.”)
Overhyping him much? If you accept Muralitharan as legit (I’m not sure I do) and a finger spinner, he’s not only the best finger spinner in the world, he makes a serious claim to being the best bowler in the history of the game. His stats are amazing. And even if you discount Murali’s controversial action or don’t think of him as a finger spinner, Monty still isn’t the best finger spinner in the world. Heck, he’s got quite a bit to prove before he can even claim to be the best turban-ned finger spinner in the world, an honor that for now belongs to the Turbanator.
They’re a great team. They’re so great they’re like a machine – they don’t make mistakes, they don’t fuck up. I just don’t get excited seeing them wreck their opponents, ESPECIALLY when it’s India :(. But when I see Tendulkar and Sehwag up there batting their little hearts away, I cheer till I go hoarse.
I suppose you have to live in England to understand the impact that Monty is having. Nasser Hussein was cut from different cloth. Half English, private school educated. Monty is second generation and streetwise and the whole vibe is different. Hussein wasnt an exciting player. Panesar is. And other stuff too.
“Brett Lee actually took the trouble to learn some Hindi and used it in interviews.”
have you seen/heard about the asha bhonsle-brett lee collaboration on her new album? india is an advertising goldmine for non-indian cricketers.
Mandira Bedi speaks beautiful, fluent Hindi (rare among the ‘posh’ crowd of Mumbai), as well as English, and I THINK maybe Punjabi too…it adds to her sexiness IMHO (great pic of her by the way, WGIIA).
Here it is folks…
Brett Lee v Asha Bhosle
Woah. That was weird.
That was an awesome video!!!
P.S: Doesn’t the south african bowlers histronics remind you of MAMOOTY ??
Anna writes too well to be compared to Mandira Bedi, who is a total idiot not unlike a lot of people on reality shows. It’s all about revenue now, so we’ll have more Mandira Bedis on TV – at the cost of smart, articulate women who know the game. There are a number of great women sports writers in England – I’ve enjoyed reading Sue Mott on Daily Telegraph, for instance. On TV, you have Mary Carillo (who I met in Melbourne airport last year!), Pam Shriver and Martina (of course, they’re all former players so they have an advantage). As a cricket fan, I hate Mandira from my guts. But more than that, she’s an insult to our intelligence.
Care to elaborate?
Ende Ammaye kettiyavan, of course. Trick question or what?
Guess I was too serious in that previous post!
Anyway, more power to Sreesanth. That test match win was completely unexpected and the way it was achieved made it all the more special. I hope they win the series too – it’s a tough ask, but I’d like Graeme Smith’s face if we pull it off 😉
And I agree with the comments about Harsha’s condescending tone. I had the same reaction the first time I saw the clip. Rural touch my ass.
My 2 cents on the Sreesanth issue, sledging and Harsha Bhogle
Andre Nel deserved what he got. Andre Nel is that type of bowler that sledges regardless. He sledges, when his team’s going great, and sledges when his team is staring down the barrel of defeat. During that test match, South Africa was staring down the barrel, and Nel goes off shooting his mouth. The South African team did a similar thing on their 2005-2006 tour to Australia, with Greame Smith, Andre Nel, Mark Boucher et.al, shooting off their mouth. The Aussies, play aggressive, and take great pride in exposing shallow talk, which they did, with South Africa. Back to the point, GO SREESANTH!!!
On sledging, there’s a fine line between competition, and then making a fool out of yourself. I have been a victim of sledging, but nothing of the racial, or personal nature. I was the last man in, and after playing and missing across the line of the ball, 1st slip said something like, “in cricket, to get runs, you have to hit the ball mate”. The next delivery, I went hard at it, got a thick outside edge, and went straight to 1st slip. I’m not sure if you call it a sledge but it worked. Steve Waugh tried it with brilliant results on his home turf, but then failed miserably on the Australia’s tour of India in 2000-2001 when it backfired on him. IMHO Sledging is no substitute for competition, and those who think it is, live in a fool’s paradise (does Greame Smith and Andre Nel visit this blog?)
Harsha Bhogle is one of the finest cricket commentators in the circuit, certainly the BEST (IMO) in India. While Sanjay Manjrekar comes close, I reckon Harsha occupies a very exalted position. That being said, it was rather dissappointing for him to have said what he did say, and I do not condone his statements. One other reason Tipu in #109 may not have watched Harsha Bhogle lately, may also do with the fact that ESPN-Star hasn’t won cricket rights, as regularly as they did in previous years. Now Ten Sports, Nimbus, Zee Sports have all jumped into the fray, although, given my experience of television viewing, ESPN-Star is the second best in cricket broadcasting (coming second to Channel 9’s Wide World of Sport cricket commentary team)
Anna, I see you updated the title 🙂
Oh nothing. I think my own reaction was what weirded me out. I thought it was really cute, but also really awkward (and I’m not just talking about the horrible music). And then I figured I was being hyperanalytical. Everything IS political, but we don’t always need to politicize everything.
113
DTK, ItÂ’s not my opinion. The hype strangely comes from the guy who kept him out of better part of Ashes (hence the hater tag).
Re: Finger Spin Monty is an orthodox left-arm spinner. His craft comes mainly from his extra long fingers. MuraliÂ’s spin depends on fingers + wrist + freakish bend of his arm. Generally offies and leggies (to some extent) canÂ’t just depend on fingers. Wrist work is important as well.
Currently most of the lefties are part-timers (Jayasurya etc.) or barely adequate (Murali Kartik, Asley Giles etc.). The dearth of world-class left-arm spinners makes him the best finger spinner by default. To be in BediÂ’s league Monty needs to prove himself on all kinds of tracks and against all teams. The chances are good as he did fairly well against India and Pakistan. ItÂ’s remarkable because even the great Shane Warne got his ass handed to him by Indians on regular basis. (Shastri in WarneÂ’s debut match. Azaruddin, Siddhu, Tendulkar etc. later on).
Harsha Bhogle is so pathetic !!! Rural my ass!!! Sreesanth did what competitive sportsmen do, everywhere in the world, no matter what sport. Harsh Bhogale looks like he cant even lift a cricket bat. WTF does he know about playing at the international level?? How the fuck is he a pundit?? The only thing he seems to know is to speak English in effeminate way. One can be a pundit of a sport after mastering the sport, not just by being a dick !!!! WTF….
Bravo Sreesanth BTW!!!
RC (#129), to be fair, Harsha does know quite a bit about cricket. He has played at the University level in Osmania, which requires you to be fairly good. Please keep in mind that he is not an expert commentator, he is usually the host. He said something without much consideration in this case, but that doesn’t take away the fact that he is very good at what he does and is usually quite balanced.
I don’t think Harsha Bhogle was being condescending at all. It was simply an image (guy driving a horse or a bullock-cart) repeated by countless movies and TV shows in India covering rural life. Bhogle looked like he enjoyed it immensely.
Ishtam antho? 😀
I like the new title; there is something refreshingly rural about it;)
Anna,
The changed title adds the icing on the delicious cake of a post. However, your sporadic attempts to communicate in Malayalam make me wince 🙂
“Did you like it?” translates to “Ishtam aayo?” in Malayalam.
Cheers!
DM
Hi DM, About your comment 134, I think that depending on where you are in Kerala, it can be “aayo” or “anno” where the “nn” is pronounced as in “Panni” (Mallu for Pig) and not as in “Anna”. I don’t think there is an English equivalent for that sound and perhaps Anna was trying to create one closest to it? If Mohanlal liked it, he would say: Ishtamaayi,(pause) othiri, othiri ishtamaayi.
Peace
Ishtam aanno (ആന്നോ) wouldn’t have been the appropriate reponse, anyway. I stand by my comment, and don’t wish to argue with UberMetroMallu.
Yup, just saw the video on MTV India. Pretty cool. Brett sings most of it in English, except for the ending. Here it is…
Anna, nyaan ishtam. *** excuse my leemeeded Mallu nolledge 🙂
Anna,
Totally love the new title, amy I suggest a newer one which can really nail it?:
” Ninte Thantha Aaru, Nel?”
This is such a refreshing clip to watch. Indian sportsmen are not known for ballsy displays like these. Sledging hasnt ever been our thing, besides we ve hardly ever had a genuine pace bowler. Sreesanth has the talent and the character to be a good fast bowler. Sledging is a very important tool in a pace bowlers armor. McGrath is a skilled sledger. Nel is a bastard. Wasim Akram – you dont need trash talk when you are the best bowler in the world. Shoiab is a doping chucking sledger.
Welcome Sreesanth to the league of genuine pace bowlers.
Before its current incarnation, it was actually “Ninde Thantha Aara, Panthi?“, so I appreciate the support of my wicked proclivities. 😉
Everyone who understands Malayalam knew what she meant. You should be happy she’s using Malayalam instead of letting it make you wince. That’s why I rarely speak Malayalam or Telugu…I can’t bear it when people are snarky about my grammar or pronunciation. My grasp of Malayalam is poor enough that I have no idea if you or UberMetroMallu is right but language, like culture, is fluid…correct if you will, but bear in mind that you might not have the final answer 🙂
What’s a “Panthi”? Did you mean “Patti” or “Panni” (dog or pig)?
Thank you so much for this…I can’t bear it either. I felt so bad when I read that I made someone wince. I was born here and stopped speaking it when I was 3. “At least I’m trying,” buys me a surprisingly tiny amount of patience. 🙁
Pig. Maybe it’s the double “nn” in my name, but I can’t bring myself to write “panni” when it sounds (sort of…UberMetroMallu is right, there’s no equivalent that I know of, at least) like “panthi”. I know. You’re probably shrinking involuntarily, as if you were in pain or distress. 🙂
I don’t dare write much in transliterated Punjabi on this site b/c I’m similarly discouraged. For that reason I’m really defensive of people like ANNA who are brave enough to put their best effort out there. Snarking like this just makes the site poorer overall. If you don’t want to read our earnest efforts, then skip a post, don’t whinge — it’s tacky.
Personally, I think your use of Malayalam is a nice touch. It’s very reminiscent, for me at least, of English-speaking desi families who throw in all kinds of non-English words and expressions in everyday conversation. It might sound forced to someone who didn’t speak predominantly English at home, but I think it makes your writing more personal than if you just wrote in English.
Yeah this seems to be a common attitude. I get the same when I speak Hindi with some pompous Uncles — I used to get stressed but now I spend time being rude back to them especially over their English. Very lame, or as they say in French, c’est tres lame.
Nope, I am good, blissfully ignorant……..d’oh!!
Anna,
Good that you are trying out some malayalam. Good for you! But I have to admit that I smirk when ethnic people who are settled outside show off their ignorance of their original language. Yeah, it does come off as a bit of showing off! But hell, maybe i am being too hard on such a lovely lady! Very Good Post! Kallaki!