Boxing Day test and a Patiala Peg

During the early days of my initiation to the wonderful game of cricket, I was often intrigued by few terms associated with it. Topping them was, where does ‘Ashes’ derive its name from? What is the significance of a ‘Boxing Day’ test?

It was the second query that lingered for some time. Much longer, in fact. And when I attained enlightenment, the Australians had started on what seemed like a never-ending ascendancy.

Wiki has this to say about the Boxing Day:

The celebration is traditional, dating back to the middle ages, and consisted of the practice of giving of gifts to employees, the poor, or to people in a lower social class. The name has numerous folk etymologies and the Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to the Christmas box the verb box meaning: "To give a Christmas-box (colloq.); whence boxing-day."

As India starts a much-anticipated series on 26th December 2007, it should not expect any such goodies or boxes from Australian team, even though in terms of cricketing prowess, they, along with most other teams, still count from amongst the ‘poor’ or the ‘lower social class’.

With its newly acquired muscle (read money) power, India has succeeded in forcing Australia (probably for the first time in years) to change its cricketing calendar and start the series on a ‘Boxing Day’. It bodes well, especially for the fans in India. Imagine a regular schedule, so, by the time the Aussie juggernaut reaches Melbourne, the series more often than not, is a dead one. Such has been Australian domination over the decade.

From my recollection, I cannot think of any team in last decade, that has gone into a Boxing day test with its slate clean, let alone being in the lead. India did that on their last tour, only to trip at the goal post.

Here’s something that might help them avoid a repeat:

Unlike ‘Boxing Day’, which had no connection whatsoever with the game, but has become a cricketing folklore since, ‘Patiala Peg’ actually owes its origin to cricket.

In its early days, cricket used to enjoy princely patronage in India. Maharajah of Patiala was one of the few royal bloods, who played the game on the field too. It was commonplace for the visiting English teams to play a friendly match against the ‘princely’ states. But the Maharajas simply loathed losing and so the visiting Irish team, supposedly stronger than the local team, was treated to extra large pegs of whisky on the eve of this match. Needless to say, the locals won the tie with ease, and Maharaja’s famous reply, "Yes, in Patiala our pegs are larger" became a part of cricketing history.

Indian team’s support staff has couple of days more to work behind the scenes and ensure the lead Aussie players guzzle a few ‘Patiala pegs’ on the test match eve.

Therein lies India’s best chance.