On day one of the first test between South Africa and India at Cape Town, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis were raising temperatures at Newlands with a crucial partnership. This left the Indian supporters anxious and when the camera panned on Indian Skipper Virat Kohli, he appeared rather agitated. He was later vindicated when Pandya got the better of Du Plessis. Virat gruffly said, “Faf served me a burnt Bobotie yesternight at the grand dinner, it wasn’t a good sight. No, not for me, for those who sat with me for breakfast next morning. Am told, they couldn’t bear the fragrance.”
Later in that match, Vernon Philander spat venom at Kohli for not inviting him to his big fat Indian wedding. Even as South Africa emerged victorious, Faf still rued the fact that Kohli didn’t marry in South Africa and chose Italy instead. Hence the burnt Bobotie. Maybe a beamer from Morne would’ve done the job too, but Faf realized how good a player Virat is of short bowling.
Two decades ago when Steve Waugh demanded that Curtly Ambrose reveal the secret behind that sexy smile, Ambrose was infuriated by Waugh’s lack of propriety in not appreciating his biceps. Imagine Curtly out on a date, sporting the smile and the biceps? It’s an irony, isn’t it. Romance and the phrase curtly in the same breadth. He trained day in and day out in the gym for those. If it weren’t for Richie Richardson (who deprived us of some major drama and entertainment *rolls eyes*), Ambrose would have surely demonstrated the wrath of his brawn in Antigua that day. Waugh, one assumes might have learnt a lesson: being romantic with King Curtly could’ve been fatal for health.
A few months later, When Arjuna Ranatunga went berserk in Australia in an attempt to end the match quickly so as to be able to go on a dinner night with his teammates, an irate Ian Healy suggested that Warnie put a Mars bar on the pitch to do him in. This might have forged an unbreakable bond between Warne and Arjuna – both of them always having a nice word to say about each other. Warnie was so impressed and inspired by Arjuna, that he decided to compete with him in the weight department. Not that one heard from any of Warnie’s dates about the serious pounding weight but within a year, Warne had plumped and rounded well to give the Lankan skipper a run for his money.
This was why in the 1997-98 Australia tour of South Africa, when Warne told Cullinan that he was waiting for him for over two years, Cullinan suggested if Warne had had one meal too many in his compulsive wait.
In 2008, when Gambhir and Watson had a serious altercation in Delhi, Gambhir was actually quite annoyed with Watson for not only using his washroom at the hotel, but also leaving it unusable for him. Billy Bowden magnanimously offered that Gambhir could use his washroom. This left Gambhir relieved. However, his happiness was short-lived as Gambhir’s night turned from bad to worse. As luck would have it, Bowden had indulged in some spicy Chicken curry on the streets of Delhi’s Chandni Chowk the previous night. Gauti wasn’t curious to test the freshness of the delicacy.
In 1995, when Darrel Hair called out Muralitharan for a no ball on Boxing day, it wasn’t because he thought Murali was chucking but because he was sure that Murali called him a mighty Pommie. Hair could neither forgive nor forget and he merely repaid the favour 12 hours later. Hair later revealed in his Autobiography ‘Une Pommie’ that he while had planned to give Murali a special gift on Boxing day, he decided to electrocute him instead.
In the 2005 Australian tour of New Zealand, Warnie was trying to get under the skin of Craig McMillan. Warne condescendingly said, “Don’t you have television at your home, mate?”, to which McMillan replied, “Yes, but these days there’re programmes on how to put on a few kilos so I stopped watching it as I wanted to see it in person!”
In 2010, Harbhajan abused Shoaib Akhtar in Punjabi during an Asia Cup game and made headlines. The reason behind his indecency was later revealed to be this. Harbhajan had a date that night and warned everyone that they were to either take wickets quickly or chase down the target as soon as possible, but Shoaib maliciously created innumerable delays resulting in Harbhajan missing his date.
The problem didn’t end there. Bhajji had asked out Geeta Basra- the only girlfriend he ever managed to wow.
