Scabbards and seax: beating India at their own game (New BC FP article)

**Zunaid** · #1 March 16, 2015, 10:38 PM

Scabbards and seax: beating India at their own game
Zeeshan Mahmud

In ancient India a ritualistic display of murder used to take place in the form of a martial art called kalaripayuttu. Mimicking each others moves in graceful aerodynamic style, the combatants armed with a sword and a shield would attack each other. Excorcizing this swashbuckling personae the Indian team will come with all guns blazing. For India and her one billion devotees, nothing would be more dishonourable than getting knocked out. Again. They will not- shall not- bow down this easily. They will fight to the hilt. Cricket is a national sport of India, one can say, a religion. And for to beat them in their own game, all scabbards and seax must be unleashed and we would have to strategize with the display of our own array of armoury.

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Tausif · #2 March 16, 2015, 11:09 PM

Nice article Zeeshan! Enjoyed reading it

be_friend_13 · #3 March 17, 2015, 12:51 AM

Correction: Cricket is NOT India's national sport, its field hockey.

Zeeshan · #4 March 17, 2015, 12:53 AM

I know. That is why I annexed it with 'one can say' beta.

be_friend_13 · #5 March 17, 2015, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Cricket is a national sport of India, one can say, a religion.

Wasn't "one can say" meant for the religion part? Anyway, all good if you know its not our national sport.

Dilscoop · #6 March 17, 2015, 01:15 AM

Field hockey is a girls sports. Fact.

It doesn't matter what's listed as "national sport." It's pretty clear which sport is more popular in India.

be_friend_13 · #7 March 17, 2015, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
Field hockey is a girls sports. Fact.

It doesn't matter what's listed as "national sport." It's pretty clear which sport is more popular in India.

Girl sport, fact? Could you please quote the literature/study that made you conclude that its a girly sport?

Its okay to love cricket but not at the expense of putting down other sports, if that was what you were trying to do by calling it girly. Try playing hockey once, if it at all is a girly sport (apologies for my ignorance) hats off to all those women out there who play the game.

Yes, Cricket is the national game in Indian, in fact, way bigger than a national sport could ever be and as the OP rightly mentioned "its a religion". You have to walk around Mumbai to really know how strongly we feel about cricket.

I have had the opportunity to intern for a major micro finance bank in Dhaka (you know it!) and I noticed, cricket not being HALF as popular, football still is. They play football in evenings around Dhaka. I stayed at "dui number" very close to the Mirpur stadium and also grand prince hotel.

Dilscoop · #8 March 17, 2015, 01:50 AM

Google field hockey and all you'll see is girls playing it. https://www.google.com/search?q=fiel...ed=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

It's a predominantly girls sport, specially in places where they have actual hockey. But that's besides the point. Point is, Cricket IS India's game. Indians love to think so too.

be_friend_13 · #9 March 17, 2015, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
Google field hockey and all you'll see is girls playing it. https://www.google.com/search?q=fiel...ed=0CAYQ_AUoAQ

It's a predominantly girls sport, specially in places where they have actual hockey. But that's besides the point. Point is, Cricket IS India's game. Indians love to think so too.

You sound like you've been here for a long time, my friend. Is that how you conclude if a certain sport is girly or not?

True though, we are very passionate about cricket, which is also evident with the support Indian team enjoys wherever they go but it also depends on the city. Like in Bombay, its CRICKET everywhere barely any other sport played, I know because I was raised there but in Calcutta its a healthy mix of Football & Cricket. Chandigarh is actually pretty big on field hockey but overall agreed Cricket is the rockstar sport back home.

Nocturnal · #10 March 17, 2015, 02:08 AM

I dont know about any where else but i do know in North America "field hockey" considered to be "girly" as men play real hockey aka "ice hockey" .... I only came to know that after I moved to Canada 12 yrs ago! Kinda shocked!
Dilu lives in USA ... So figure ....

Dilscoop · #11 March 17, 2015, 02:46 AM

I never called field hockey not a "girly" sports. I said it's GIRL'S sports. There's a huge difference between the two. For ex. Soccer IS a quote-unquote girly sport, it's soft af. Field Hockey is a girl's sport, as in it's played mostly by girls, specially in North America, as Noc pointed out, and other winter places where they place hockey (it's just hockey for them, not ice hockey).

Now that we've cleared that up...

Neel Here · #12 March 17, 2015, 03:07 AM

Quote:

and other winter places where they place hockey (it's just hockey for them, not ice hockey).

just the one place, canada i.e 51st state of US. the world doesn't revolve around US however much CNN believes it does. other places call it ice hockey.

by the same logic isn't ice hockey a criminal's sport ? since it is played mostly by hooligans who crash into each other to injure them ?

be_friend_13 · #13 March 17, 2015, 03:17 AM

Not good to play around with semantics, kind sir. Besides, you said, Field hockey is a girl's sport and pronounced it a "fact". Are you still going to defend that.. Fact?

So its a fact that hockey is a girl's sport because in North America only girls play the game. Does that sound right to you? Because to me that oozes of ignorance than it being a "fact" that the world often accuse Americans of, you know. Just saying'

tanvir_nus · #14 March 17, 2015, 03:21 AM

^Debate above: Who cares

Dilscoop · #15 March 17, 2015, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neel Here
just the one place, canada i.e 51st state of US. the world doesn't revolve around US however much CNN believes it does. other places call it ice hockey.

by the same logic isn't ice hockey a criminal's sport ? since it is played mostly by hooligans who crash into each other to injure them ?

Wrong. I'm not a hockey fan, but I know enough to know there are more places where they play hockey, not just Canada. And other places call it field hockey, whereas it's just hockey for some. So? But don't know what this has to do with any of it, but FYI yes, the world does revolve around the US, whether you accept it or not. I won't get into that with you, this is as extremely off topic as it is, and that's completely my fault.

Second part of your post made just as much sense as the first. How's that same logic? Unless you're saying they're getting criminals out of the jails to play hockey, how's hockey a criminal sports? Hitting is part of their sport. That doesn't make them criminals. Hitting the batsmen is legal in cricket, not in baseball, so that must mean bowlers are criminals?

be_friend_13 · #16 March 17, 2015, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
Wrong. I'm not a hockey fan, but I know enough to know there are more places where they play hockey, not just Canada. And other places call it field hockey, whereas it's just hockey for some. So? But don't know what this has to do with any of it, but FYI yes, the world does revolve around the US, whether you accept it or not. I won't get into that with you, this is as extremely off topic as it is, and that's completely my fault.

Second part of your post made just as much sense as the first. How's that same logic? Unless you're saying they're getting criminals out of the jails to play hockey, how's hockey a criminal sports? Hitting is part of their sport. That doesn't make them criminals. Hitting the batsmen is legal in cricket, not in baseball, so that must mean bowlers are criminals?

Okay. I-am-going-to-defend-it-for-the-heck-of-it. You win, sir. *smh*

Dilscoop · #17 March 17, 2015, 03:38 AM

Idk why you feel insulted by the fact that field hockey is dominated by girls, because you clearly took a light comment way too seriously. Again as I said, you're mixing "girly" vs girl's.

Clearly this won't go anywhere. I started it and I'll end it. Once again, I have taken a Zeeshan thread off topic. And I apologize to Zee for that.

Dilscoop · #18 March 17, 2015, 03:46 AM

For the sake of bringing this thread back to topic, I finally read a Zee article! Once you get past the usual heavy load of metaphors you get the gist. But I think you'd be crazy to even dream of keeping Ind around 250! That's 150 of the old age. They will score 300+ runs batting first! Bank on it. Depends on plus by how much. 300-320 is an avg score in this WC and we should be happy with that type of scores.

We need more than Tamim and Shak. Mash will have to be top of his game. They will target him. Hope he can concentrate on his bowling and make good decisions while captaining. Don't expect Riyad to score another 100. I hope Sabbir and Nasir can contribute in all 3 dept. That will make our life lot easier.

Night_wolf · #19 March 17, 2015, 04:31 AM

i thought the world revolves around the sun!

BengaliIndia · #20 March 17, 2015, 08:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
Field hockey is a girls sports. Fact.

It doesn't matter what's listed as "national sport." It's pretty clear which sport is more popular in India.

Clearly takes the cake as the most ignorant comment that I have read so far in this forum.. "Field Hockey is girl sport"....

It is by far the one of the most physical intense and equally skill based sports out there played by far more countries than cricket---- and have been a mainstay of Olympics since its beginning-- making a conclusion on a sports based on google image ...

BengaliIndia · #21 March 17, 2015, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dilscoop
I never called field hockey not a "girly" sports. I said it's GIRL'S sports. There's a huge difference between the two. For ex. Soccer IS a quote-unquote girly sport, it's soft af. Field Hockey is a girl's sport, as in it's played mostly by girls, specially in North America, as Noc pointed out, and other winter places where they place hockey (it's just hockey for them, not ice hockey).

Now that we've cleared that up...

so you emigrated to North America ans started believing that is the definition of the world? like they call the MLB and NFL champions as world champions because no one else play those sports that seriously? ... What about rest of the world..?