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‘Doosra' bamboozles all-comers in cricket lexicon

— FILE PHOTO

MASTERS AT WORK: Muttiah Muralitharan, one of best to use the doosra in his fantastic career, explaining the technicalities of the delivery to another exponent Harbhajan Singh.

London: That cricket has a language all of its own is something that has long been acknowledged.

But now a survey has concluded that Doosra is the single most untranslatable term in cricket, after topping the poll of more than 300 language specialists with 21 per cent of the vote.

It's not hard to see why. That single word describes a delivery bowled by an off-spin bowler that turns the opposite way from a conventional off-break in that it goes from leg to off, rather than off to leg and so spins away from a right-handed batsman.

For cricket fans, that all makes perfect sense. Whatever others make of it is anyone's guess.

Googly is second

Doosra outscored second-placed ‘googly' and third-placed ‘mullygrubber' in a survey of linguists conducted by Today Translations, a London-based language firm with a global network of 2,600 linguists.

Jurga Zilinskiene, Today Translations's managing director, said: “Cricket is not just a sport but also a language in its own right. Indeed, it is perhaps the world's most untranslatable language.”

He added translation is often as much about translating culture as words.

“Sometimes, the equivalent idea — like doosra or googly — simply does not exist in both cultures.

“I believe, for example, that cricket is now starting to catch on in France,” said Zilinskiene.

“Can you imagine? But don't worry. We at Today Translations are working on finding a good French translation for doosra!

Saqlain's creation

Former Pakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq is credited with inventing the doosra, a word that in Urdu or Hindi means ‘second' or ‘other.'

It was a ball used to great effect by Pakistan's Saeed Ajmal in the tourists' four-wicket third Test win at The Oval last week that cut England's series lead to 2-1.

“Cricket has generated a richer terminology than any other sport and — some would say — than any other human activity aside from sex,” said Zilinskiene.

That will come as no great surprise to both cricket followers and those who can't stand the sport.

Harold Pinter, the late English Nobel Prize-winning playwright, once said: “I tend to believe that cricket is the greatest thing that God ever created on earth.

As many an appealing, if not necessarily attractive, bowler might have said: “Owzat?” — AFP

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