9 pins of the 90's

Imagine F.R.I.E.N.D.S without the ugly naked guy. Or a Shankar's movie devoid of a hundred colorfully painted man bellies for a 3 second segment. Or the Big Bang Theory without Howard's Mom screaming. Or a Vijaykanth movie lacking a scene where he bullies bullets. Each of the aforementioned examples are peanut parts of one complete entertainer. Take em off, the main plot doesn't lose its way. But these teeny-weeny parts, though insignificant, cannot be forgotten. On similar lines, Indian Cricket through the 90s, though dominated by Sachin-Dravid-Sportstar-Dada-Kumble-Dalmiya, had its own share of ugly naked guys ( pardon the crude metaphor). And this post is about them.

Note: Vijaykanth illustration doesn't really fit in here. Those scenes are in fact the crowd pullers for reasons the director would never have expected. But who doesn't love taking a dig at our Captain? :D

It is the 90's.

Dhoni is still a kid, with rising milk theft reported in his area; cricket watchers are safe from Arun lal's nonsense; Tony Greig dons the role of cricket God's prophet; Mandira Bedi knows no cricket and wisely stays away from it; and the rest of the cricket fraternity?

Mark Waugh : "Funny that team India opens their bowling with that spinner bloke who has an extended run-up and doesn't really spin the ball well ". Venkatesh Prasad : :-@

Lakshman Sivaramakrishnan (on his premature retirement ouster) : "My childhood dream was to torment the cricket world. I tried doing it with my tight off-spin and it din't work. But someday, I'll be back to realize my dream. I swear."

True to his word, he is now an annoying commentator :-(

Manjrekar : "So what if my batting makes people groan and yawn? At least they can catch some sleep when India's matches are telecasted live late in the night. Sachin has absolutely no concern for the peace of the nation."

Harvinder Singh : "I would be better off competing in high jump competitions."

Deepdas Gupta : "****g*** *ib** ***b** ***er*i* ** * **s**h" (U really care what he was upto?)

Vijay Bharathwaj : "What am I doing here?"

Sadagopan Ramesh's school coach: "Ramesh! Move dammit. Move your legs during the drill. You stubborn little monster. You are gonna end up in cinema, not cricket."

Azar : "Ganguly, move to the point position and dive to stop singles."

Jadeja : "Azar, 50-50."

Salman Butt (8 year old) : "Daddy, I wanna emulate Azar."

Match Fixers : "Attention, dealers! Sachin goes. Betting begins."