While Virat Kohli broke Tendulkar’s Indian ODI run scorer record, Wednesday’s ODI between South Africa and India was not destined to be a team win. South Africa played fiercely last night at Boland Park, Paarl, with a 296-run goal that India failed to reach.
Cricket can be quite dramatic with the possibility of the game going either way even if we have the last few overs. Often referred to as “death overs,” they usually refer to the last 10 overs of an ODI match and the last four overs of a T20 game.
After the first one-day match between South Africa and India, a tweet from former Indian leg spinner and cricket commentator Laxman Sivaramakrishnan started going viral:
Request to all commenters, please don’t say “DEATH OVERS”. Call it slog-overs or end-overs. We are going through a difficult time. Death is not a nice word. The last ten overs are definitely important overs, but you won’t die if the team doesn’t cooperate.#SAvIND
— Laxman Sivaramakrishnan (@LaxmanSivarama1) January 19, 2022
Also known as ‘Siva’, the veteran bowler’s words were aimed at the ongoing COVID crisis.
While it’s unclear whether he experienced a personal tragedy that left him sensitive to the language cricket commentators use, his words are a stark reminder of the rising death toll in India, with nearly half a million Indians having succumbed to the virus.
Indian cricket fans react
Unsurprisingly, Siva’s message resulted in a barrage of ironic replies. Since the sport is almost 300 years old, it has also amassed a lexicon of colorful and funny phrases – everything from ‘fine bone’ to ‘rabbit’ has a specific meaning focused on the game.
A small handful of fans understood Siva’s point that ‘death’ can trigger people during a global pandemic:
Some people in comments react funny to this. Sad. Do they lack empathy or lack maturity?
— Sunil (@sunil_sachin) January 19, 2022
Sunil is right here – many users had an absolute field day with the tweet, making joke comparisons to Harsha Bhogle and taking Siva’s point to illogical extremes:
Harsha bhogle level reached
— Sagittarius (@posearcher) January 19, 2022
Please don’t say “NICE LEG”. Call it a hairy leg or a limb. Because all the players on the ground are fully clothed so that none of their bare legs are visible. Even if they weren’t dressed, I’m sure none of them have fine legs. #INDvsSA
— Gora Madrasi (@ashwinreddy1) January 19, 2022
Time to stop calling it “NO BAL” because the ball is in the ground right there. Why spread false information in this time of crisis?
— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) January 19, 2022
While most fans have not taken the death over talk seriously, perhaps the Indian team should. New skipper KL Rahul said the same in a statement after the match:
“There is so much to learn. We started very well, we couldn’t get any wickets in the middle. The middle order could not get going. We were level in the first 20-25 overs of the game. I thought we would chase it down easily but SA bowled really well and got crucial wickets.
I didn’t hit after the 20th over, I don’t know if it has changed drastically. Virat and Shikhar said it was a good wicket to save, you just had to spend some time in the middle, unfortunately we couldn’t get the partnership going. ”
With only two games left to prove their worth, it’s all or nothing for the Boys in Blue.
(Image sources: @LaxmanSivarama1)