What's in a nickname? Really!

‘Tiger’, ‘Polly’, ‘Colonel’, ‘The Wall’, ‘Nawab of Najafgarh’, ‘Little Master’, ‘Master Blaster’ or ‘Prince of Kolkata’ are some of the nicknames or pet names that every cricket lover in India is familiar with. They are also aware about nicknames of some foreign players such as ‘Sultan of Swing’, ‘Rawalpindi Express’, ‘Pigeon’, ‘The Pup’, ‘Gilly’, ‘Punter’, ‘Super Cat’, ‘Matara Mauler’ so on and so forth.

The saying ‘Words have meaning, and names have Power’ seems perfect for the above cricketers who played the Gentleman’s Game with true grit and determination. These players were ‘bestowed upon’ with the new identity for the way they ruled the game.

Some of them got the nicknames due to their ‘cricketing character’ such as Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi who was referred to as ‘Tiger’ due to his outstanding fielding skills. Similarly, Sunil Gavaskar was called as ‘Little Master’ because of his batting prowess despite not being so ‘tall’ while Dilip Vengsarkar was referred to as ‘Colonel’ because of his batting style that replicated the great Col. C. K. Nayudu.

Another example of a player getting a nickname due to his cricketing skills is Wasim Akram fondly called as the ‘Sultan of Swing’ due to his sheer authority over the leather and swinging the ball in any direction. Our own Rahul Dravid’s capability to defend any delivery, slow or fast, with technical prowess, made the cricketing world respectfully refer him as ‘The Wall’.

Going by the definition, a name is a word or set of words by which a person or thing is known, addressed or referred to, while a nickname used instead of someone's usual first name to express fondness or familiarity. The above players and many more went on make their nicknames more famous than the names they were born with.

Not only cricket, but the sportsmen giving their nicknames a place in the history by carving a niche for themselves, are prevalent in other sports too. Who will forget ‘Air Jordon’ or ‘The Flying Sikh’ or ‘The Mercurial Wizard’ or ‘Payyoli Express’ or ‘Lightning Kid’. They not only gave a ‘name’ to their nickname but also turned out to be true ambassadors of the sport they were associated with.

Now that I have noted down the reason behind some of the biggest nicknames in the sporting arena, it’s our duty to remember them along with their names. Don’t get confused with a ‘Flying Sikh’ with a ‘Flying Jat’ or ‘Payyoli Express’ with ‘Chennai Express’. After all, they are just names, but the weight they give to their ‘holders’ is incomparable.