<p>‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,’ said William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. But if one looks at it more intensely, it means a lot.</p>.<p>In the November 2021 Test match between India and New Zealand in Kanpur, there was an instance when Patel and Ravindra batted together for a long time to defy Patel and Ravindra. </p><p>Actually, Ajaz Patel and Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand’s last batting pair, effectively countered the spin bowling of India’s Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja to draw the match. There was also a picture of Axar Patel, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra and Ravindra Jadeja standing in that order with their backs to the camera. When read from left to right, the names on the back of their jerseys read, “Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja!”</p>.<p>In early 2021, the England cricket team that toured India had two sets of players with similar or rhyming names – batsman Ollie Pope and bowlers Olly Stone and Moeen Ali, in addition to all-rounder Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. The 2018-19 England team that toured the West Indies had three players with rhyming names – Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes and Chris Woakes. Interestingly, ahead of the third Test match, all three of them were nursing minor injuries – Stokes with a bruised arm, Foakes with a bruised elbow and Woakes with a knee injury!</p>.<p>The most memorable incident, however, that involved cricketers with rhyming names occurred in the second innings of the Ashes Test between England and Australia at Perth in 1979 when the Aussie fast bowler Dennis Lillee was caught by England’s Peter Willey off the bowling of Graham Dilley. </p>.<p>Going beyond names that rhyme, we had cricketers with the same first or last names being involved at the same time. In the third T20 International between India and New Zealand at Kolkata in November 2021, India had Iyer and Iyer (Shreyas and Venkatesh) batting together. When both were dismissed in quick succession, they were followed at the crease by Patel and Patel (Axar and Harshal). In the early part of this decade, we saw three wicketkeepers with similar first names represent their respective countries simultaneously in international cricket – Dinesh Chandimal for Sri Lanka, Dinesh Karthik for India and Denesh Ramdin for the West Indies.</p>.<p>However, the most fascinating of them all was when three players with perhaps the longest last names in first-class cricket were involved in a single dismissal in a Ranji Trophy match between Andhra and Kerala in November 1990. </p><p>“V Chamundeshwaranath of Andhra was caught by K N Balasubramaniam of Kerala off the bowling of his brother K N Ananthapadmanabhan.” </p><p>This is probably the longest entry in the scorecard of a first-class cricket match. If one were to expand the initials of the Kerala brothers, it would be even longer – K and N standing for Karumanaseri Narayana-Iyer. And guess where that match was played? At Visakhapatnam, most appropriately!</p>.<p>These are but a few pieces of trivia that make cricket, or any other sport, fascinating. Certainly, there’s a lot more to come in the future. </p>
<p>‘What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet,’ said William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. But if one looks at it more intensely, it means a lot.</p>.<p>In the November 2021 Test match between India and New Zealand in Kanpur, there was an instance when Patel and Ravindra batted together for a long time to defy Patel and Ravindra. </p><p>Actually, Ajaz Patel and Rachin Ravindra, New Zealand’s last batting pair, effectively countered the spin bowling of India’s Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja to draw the match. There was also a picture of Axar Patel, Ajaz Patel, Rachin Ravindra and Ravindra Jadeja standing in that order with their backs to the camera. When read from left to right, the names on the back of their jerseys read, “Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja!”</p>.<p>In early 2021, the England cricket team that toured India had two sets of players with similar or rhyming names – batsman Ollie Pope and bowlers Olly Stone and Moeen Ali, in addition to all-rounder Ben Stokes and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes. The 2018-19 England team that toured the West Indies had three players with rhyming names – Ben Stokes, Ben Foakes and Chris Woakes. Interestingly, ahead of the third Test match, all three of them were nursing minor injuries – Stokes with a bruised arm, Foakes with a bruised elbow and Woakes with a knee injury!</p>.<p>The most memorable incident, however, that involved cricketers with rhyming names occurred in the second innings of the Ashes Test between England and Australia at Perth in 1979 when the Aussie fast bowler Dennis Lillee was caught by England’s Peter Willey off the bowling of Graham Dilley. </p>.<p>Going beyond names that rhyme, we had cricketers with the same first or last names being involved at the same time. In the third T20 International between India and New Zealand at Kolkata in November 2021, India had Iyer and Iyer (Shreyas and Venkatesh) batting together. When both were dismissed in quick succession, they were followed at the crease by Patel and Patel (Axar and Harshal). In the early part of this decade, we saw three wicketkeepers with similar first names represent their respective countries simultaneously in international cricket – Dinesh Chandimal for Sri Lanka, Dinesh Karthik for India and Denesh Ramdin for the West Indies.</p>.<p>However, the most fascinating of them all was when three players with perhaps the longest last names in first-class cricket were involved in a single dismissal in a Ranji Trophy match between Andhra and Kerala in November 1990. </p><p>“V Chamundeshwaranath of Andhra was caught by K N Balasubramaniam of Kerala off the bowling of his brother K N Ananthapadmanabhan.” </p><p>This is probably the longest entry in the scorecard of a first-class cricket match. If one were to expand the initials of the Kerala brothers, it would be even longer – K and N standing for Karumanaseri Narayana-Iyer. And guess where that match was played? At Visakhapatnam, most appropriately!</p>.<p>These are but a few pieces of trivia that make cricket, or any other sport, fascinating. Certainly, there’s a lot more to come in the future. </p>
