Revival of the Art of Sledging By IPL Players

I'm not sorry for having a sense of humour... ha! XD

Well, I find this article quite funny. I didn't know this kind of thing happens regularly on the field. I know about the slapping incident that barred Harbhajan for 11 matches in last year's edition of IPL but I didn't know it's an accepted and even an expected thing in cricket.

I hate the fact that KR is becoming the butt of everyone's joke now, but hey... supporting a team that has consistently been losing every match except 2 (and even those wins were said to be due to divine intervention) and being vocal about your support for it to people who're ridiculing it right and left requires you to have a sense of humour. When they lose, we say "tough luck, try harder next time" and when they win, we say "that's it, now do it like that again for the next one". Although, we didn't get to say the latter as often as we want to this year.

I got into it because of Shah Rukh of course, but no way am I going to defend the losses by spouting about his goodness, hotness, and whatness. He's not one of the players on the field and he's not involved in the cricketing decisions (except when Mr B tries to get some veto power in support of his brilliant suggestions, I guess).

I don't find any point in bringing to the table Shah Rukh's achievements in promoting the team as a valid argument against KR's detractors for the same reason I think there's no point in getting him chopped off body part by body part with a guillotine blade for KR's poor performance. Losers are always getting kicked around anyway, at a school playground or a widely broadcasted IPL playing field. And even when you're a winner in almost all your previous ventures, if you find yourself currently saddled with a losing team... you just have to accept the brunt and move on.

In this last week though, I feel as if us KR supporters are cheering for a game that's separate from everyone else's. While their eyes are trained on the finish line, ours are trained firmly on one direction... the faltering horse at the back (hey, I like that Derby analogy, okay). You can do it, kiddo! Just a coupla feet more! Yes, I'm inwardly slapping myself. Happy?

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If you have thought sledging is a lost art reserved for special applications during the test matches, you seem to be in dire need of revamping your cricket knowledge. The international cricket stars playing in the IPL are not only resorting to sledging in a big way, they have actually elevated it to the level of an art form. From Shane Warne to senior Indian cricketers, all are brushing up on their sledging prowess, while a few formidable veterans stay immune from the sledging. Read this cricket funny news to learn about which IPL player is up to what kinds of banters.

Sledging has always been a part of international cricket. This is what adds spice to the game. Though employed with the prime objective of diverting opponent’s focus from the game, sledging is basically funny and at some points of time it even becomes hilarious. After the Harbhajan-Symonds incident during India’s tour to Australia, the ICC called for banning sledging in cricket. While the malicious remarks are rarely reported, the funny ones still making their rounds in the cricket pitches and it is the Indian Premier League, which is reviving this lost art in a big way.

How do you feel when your worth is questioned after you fare poorly for the organizations/ teams that have been paying you! Well, it plain hurts us to the hilt and that is the purpose of the sledger who asks you bluntly “So, how much did you cost your owners? Man, look at him, he’s our million dollar wicket, no?”

No matter whether you have made your owner poorer by millions or gave a pocket pinch of few thousand dollars - you will be attacked by a volley of queries by your opponents about your pay package in the ongoing tournament. Yes! This is the latest IPL trick that every team has been employing in vogue to disarm his opponents.

Even the senior cricketer like Shane Warne can’t help bantering about the price tags when it comes to pulling the leg of his opponents! Every time a batsman on the other end of the crease makes a six or four, he makes matter of fact queries as to how much he is billing his team for each four or six! A leading Indian batsman, unable to bear the brunt of the spinners’ unending queries anymore, retorted back, “You still don’t seem to be earning much anyway. You were the cheapest team last year and the cheapest this time again.”

Shah Rukh’s Knights are however the ones to suffer the worst kinds of sledging. Every time a Knight Rider batsman is packed off to pavilion, the inevitable comment that hurls upon him is: “He’s decided to put you all on sale? Is it true? But who’s going to buy you?” The sledgers seemingly picked up their cues from the rumors about Shah Rukh’s possible sale off of the team, as well as his practice of sacking the under performing cricketers!

For Kings XI Punjab players, it is even more unsettling. As a batsman starts taking a few big shots, the players from the opposite camp start yelling at each other hinting at the player’s attempt to impress the beautiful owner of the team, who would positively reward her players with a hug if they manage to cut a good show at the crease. “Well, look who wants to be the Man of the Match today! He’s really excited,” a comment such as this is sure to get the target where it is meant to and that after all is the goal of the opposite side.

It is mainly the younger players who are making the good target of sledging tactics of the opponents. Young Parthiv Patel for instance has been advised a number of times to give up his hope of doing it for Indian cricket team as he is making a fortune out of IPL. For Dirk Nannes it is even worse; every time he tries to concentrate, he is reminded by the opponents that he is actually playing at the cost of Glenn McGrath.

However, for Indian Premier League, there is a tacit code of sledging; no sledging for the senior and well respected cricketers. And as such, the likes of Tendulkar or McGrath or Jayasuriya remain largely deprived of such disconcerting experiences that go by the name of sledging.

Of course not all the senior cricket personalities are immune from sledging. As KKR keeper Brendon McCullum started walking toward pavilion after being dismissed, a senior wicketkeeper yelled from behind the stump, “Hey, send the laptop in next!” It is too obvious, to whom the slur was actually directed (Mr. Buchanan, the genius coach of the team, in case you are too bad at guessing).