The lexicon of Indo-Pak cricket

At first, this column was going to focus on the wonders of punctuation in the Indian language

The lexicon of Indo-Pak cricket

At first, this column was going to focus on the wonders of punctuation in the Indian language. But punctuation sounds paltry, since all that people can talk about currently is the Indo-Pak cricket clashu00a0 at Mohali on Wednesday.

So, with a little bit of help from the English language, (never mind the punctuation) here is what India hopes will happen on Wednesday (with a little divine intervention).

A: Afridi. Who is afraidy of Afridi?

B: Balle, balle. For Punjab da puttar and homeboy Yuvraj Singh.

C: Century. Waiting for Sachin's ton, but a win is all India wants.u00a0u00a0

D: Dhoni. Unimpressive with the bat, but anhoni ko honi kar de, Dhoni.

E: Electric. Livewire performances, megawatt action, current lag jaaye.u00a0u00a0

F:u00a0 Fans. They die of heart attacks, so intense is their passion during the game. Players, where would you be without them?

G: God. We heard Pak asked God to help it win. God replied: I cannot. I open the batting for India.

H: Helicopter shot. De ghumaake maar.

I: India ufffd as simple as that. WIN-dia ufffd as hopeful as that.

J: Just another match? You must be joking.

K: Keys. The skipper MS Dhoni, who is yet to fire with the bat, holds the key to this one.u00a0

L: Leave. Looks like most of the working world is going to take leave that day.u00a0u00a0u00a0

M: Mohali. The battle plan needs to be as well-organised as the host city of Chandigarh.

N: No holds barred. Every player should give it his all.

O: Oscillate. Fortunes are predicted to swing wildly, but then, that's one-day cricket and Indo-Pak matches for you.

P: Precautions. Security will be tighter than a B-grade actor's attire.

Q: Quiet? Not a chance. The decibel level at Mohali will break all recordsu00a0u00a0

R: Run-outs. No Gautam Gambhir- type mix-ups this time please.u00a0u00a0u00a0

S: Sachin. Tendulkar. What else do you think S could stand for?

T: Tadka. India-Pak tadka maarke.u00a0u00a0

U: Upfront. Exactly like Dhoni speaks. He said after the Oz win that people would say 'win the semis, we don't care about the final'.

V: Virender Sehwag. India needs him to be particularly Viru-lent on Wednesday.u00a0

W: Whack. The ball meeting the middle of Sachin's blade is sweet music.

X: Xerox. A copy of the India vs Aus result will do just fine.u00a0

Y: Yuvraj. Pakistan's sunblock may not stop 'Yuvi rays'.u00a0u00a0

Z: Zardari. PM Manmohan Singh's invitation to him gave rise to a new phrase: cricket diplomacy.