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2 days ago
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Musheer Khan of Punjab Kings celebrates the wicket of Mayank Agarwal of Royal Challengers Bengaluru during the qualifier 1 at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur. (Sportzpics)
Punjab Kings pulled their biggest, OG superfan Gurdas Mann, who at 68, has kept the vibe around Punjabi music upbeat, ahead of their Qualifier 2 against a star-studded Mumbai side to gee up the team.
The Punjab Kings are not particularly known for an aggressive massive fan-base, but the franchise and broadcasters ensured they hooked in one of the most popular Punjabi figures to drum up some last minute excitement and a general glee of balle balle positivity from Mann.
In a recorded message, Mann said, “Punjab Kings de saare sheranu, merewalo that is all the Punjab fans, lots of shubhkaamnaayein for Punjab Kings. Raazi rakh.” He essentially joined all of Punjab in wishing the team the best.
Mann evoked a well known prayer, Chardi kalah vich rakhe – willing on the team to stay exuberant and keeps positive mindset. Punjab lost the first qualifiers to Royal Challengers Bangalore but still can make their final after several disappointing seasons and Mann egged them on using a wrestling analogy. Urging them to take the Guru’s name and show there is no match to them, he added, “…..baaki galla baad, mela lut ke lioana ae.” It meant, “forget everything, play like you will steal the top prize.”
The reference is to a wrestling mela, an infinitely more popular event than cricket in sporty Punjab, where if you win, they call it “mela lut liya.”
Fortified by the return Yuzi Chahal, PBKS will hope Priyansh Arya and Prabhsimram take off on the day. Mann in what was a promotion for Punjabi commentary clearly, said, “When I listen to Punjabi commentary na yaar, swaad aa gayaa. Swaad nu barkraar rakhiyo. Rab rakh.” It loosely translated to keep the good run of the season, the Punjab flavour, going.”
Mumbai’s big guns Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah fired against Gujarat Titans who exited in the playoff. MI have lost their last five games at Ahmedabad but saw some Bumrah magic against Gujarat which pushed them into the qualifier. The MI SM team leant on the ‘Ghaleel lotangan…’ Ganpati aarti with lime-chilli warding off evil eye for its own stars, including Bumrah and Mitch Santner.
English (US) ·