05-05-2004, 08:26 PM
<b>Little man with sharp tongue</b>
Parthiv Patel, the pint-sized, teenage wicket-keeper of the Indian Test team, is an ebullient player, never at a loss for words when rivals indulge in an unremitting verbal assault to try and break the Indians' morale on the field.
As a member of the under-19 team a couple of years ago, he shocked his mates by repaying, with interest, the abuse showered on them by Bangladeshi and Pakistani players.
That was when he let them in on a secret. Apparently, growing up in Ahmedabad's gullies, it was commonplace for little Parthiv to come across the type of gutter language that he heard from the rival players. Therefore, he had no difficulty responding to it in kind.
But having Graduated to international cricket with great panache, it seems, the quality of his verbal output on the field too has improved greatly.
In the final Test against Pakistan at Rawalpindi, when he whipped the bails off in a vain attempt to stump <b>Shoaib Akhtar, the big fast bowler was not amused. "Oye chutku!" Akhtar warned, "zyada mat ban, uthva doonga [Hey, puny fellow, don't show off or I'll have you kidnapped]."</b>
Now, a commonplace response would have been "Just try" or some such. But not for the young tyro such tame remarks. He further riled the angry young man by telling him with a straight face, "<b>Haan, ab cricket mein to kuch kar nahi saka to yahi kam kar key roti kamayega [Now that you have failed to do anything of note in cricket, this is the only way you can earn a livelihood]."</b> <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
After that, Akhtar, at least as long as he was at the batting crease, did not get into another verbal tangle with the Indian wicket-keeper.
Parthiv Patel, the pint-sized, teenage wicket-keeper of the Indian Test team, is an ebullient player, never at a loss for words when rivals indulge in an unremitting verbal assault to try and break the Indians' morale on the field.
As a member of the under-19 team a couple of years ago, he shocked his mates by repaying, with interest, the abuse showered on them by Bangladeshi and Pakistani players.
That was when he let them in on a secret. Apparently, growing up in Ahmedabad's gullies, it was commonplace for little Parthiv to come across the type of gutter language that he heard from the rival players. Therefore, he had no difficulty responding to it in kind.
But having Graduated to international cricket with great panache, it seems, the quality of his verbal output on the field too has improved greatly.
In the final Test against Pakistan at Rawalpindi, when he whipped the bails off in a vain attempt to stump <b>Shoaib Akhtar, the big fast bowler was not amused. "Oye chutku!" Akhtar warned, "zyada mat ban, uthva doonga [Hey, puny fellow, don't show off or I'll have you kidnapped]."</b>
Now, a commonplace response would have been "Just try" or some such. But not for the young tyro such tame remarks. He further riled the angry young man by telling him with a straight face, "<b>Haan, ab cricket mein to kuch kar nahi saka to yahi kam kar key roti kamayega [Now that you have failed to do anything of note in cricket, this is the only way you can earn a livelihood]."</b> <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
After that, Akhtar, at least as long as he was at the batting crease, did not get into another verbal tangle with the Indian wicket-keeper.