Punjabi in the press box

Manchester

Parts of the press box today rang with sounds of Punjabi —from the other side of the border. A large number of the Pakistani journalists here speak Punjabi as their first language, though they often prefer to use the calmer accents of Urdu. Among the Indian journalists, it’s mostly Hindi, English, Bengali and Tamil are the languages of choice, with a bit of Marathi thrown in. There’s much bonhomie among the journalists of the two countries — they’ve known each other for years and have come to realise that contrary to reports, the denizens of the other country are not demons.

Punjabi is heard in the field too — when Ramiz Raja, the former captain of Pakistan, speaks with Shikhar Dhawan, the Jatt Ji of Indian team who is down with injury. They chatter away in Punjabi like brothers, and a local journalist, looking at them, quips: “They’re the same people, aren’t they? Don’t know what the trouble is about between the two countries.” Dhawan has a cast over his left hand, and he tells Raja, in Punjabi, that’s he’s getting better, thank you very much.

Top spinner

“That was a top-spinner,” says Praharsh Parikh. Parikh, all of 17, bowled Mahendra Singh Dhoni out during nets today, with a top-spinner. Dhoni tried to cut the young off-spinner, missed the ball and looked back to see that he’d been bowled out. “My mind just went! It just froze,” says Parikh. “He didn’t compliment me,” grins Parikh. Dhoni is a laidback guy, but he probably wasn’t pleased on being bowled out even in the nets. When Dhoni’s wicket broke, Parikh couldn’t believe his eyes — his facial expression showed bewilderment. It’s the biggest wicket of his life though, of course, he’s aware that it was just practice. Dhoni made him an instant celebrity, but he’s not a stranger to fame — he’s represented England at the junior level, has had news stories written about him. Parikh moved with his parents from Ahmedabad to the UK when he was one-and-a-half. He says his family wants him to do well in both studies and cricket, but he himself is keener about making a career in sport. He’s a top spinner, and he wants to make the most of it.