India-Pakistan Lovefest or Sledge Match at Mohali?
Cricket was considered a gentleman's sport until the Australians invented sledging, defined as words or phrases designed to upset opponents to gain a competitive edge in crunch matches.
Though Aussies still remain the king of sledge, Indians and Pakistanis are also known to engage in this coarse practice when emotions are running high. But somehow, they tend to get in trouble more often than their Australian counterparts.
In a 2008 encounter between India and Australia, Indian bowler Harbhajan Singh was disciplined by the ICC when Australia's Andrew Symonds accused him of using a racial slur. Upon further investigation, it turned out that Singh said to Syomnds "teri maaN ki c---" (Your mother's c---) which Symonds heard as "monkey".
The Harbhajan-Symonds incident implies that there are some rules for sledging that permit verbal salvos against the character of women in the players' lives, while prohibiting any race-based verbal attacks. It also appears to imply that misogyny is permissible on the male-dominated cricket field but racism is not. Given this background and their common language, it's quite possible that both Indians and Pakistanis will freely offer their unflattering opinions of each others' female relatives at the upcoming World Cup semifinal at Mohali on March 30, 2011.
Among the most quoted sledges is this one about Australia's Rodney Marsh and England's Ian Botham: Marsh: "How's your wife and my kids?" Botham: "The wife's fine; the kids are retarded."
Not all sledges relate to females. The one reported about Pakistan's Javed Miandad and Australia's Merv Hughes goes like this: Javed Miandad called Hughes a fat bus conductor during a match. A few balls later, Hughes dismissed Miandad. “Tickets please,” said Hughes, as he mocked the departing batsman.
Regardless of sledging and match results, I do hope that the high-energy, high-emotion India-Pakistan encounter in Mohali offers a great spectacle of fine cricket and the best possible sportsmanship the two South Asian neighbors have to offer.
