Not just IPL 2020: A notable round-up of out-of-shape cricketers  

Sometimes you wonder if the camera is a carbohydrate. It often makes people look bloated. When players appear out of shape on TV, as some did in the IPL opener between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings, the role that the lens and wide screens play must be factored in.

Certain athletes have traditionally looked on the heavier side on the screen. Chris Gayle, Sachin Tendulkar and Leander Paes come to mind. But one can say this from first-hand experience, that when you see them in the flesh again, you realise the tricks a camera can play.

Nonetheless, there have been many cricketers who did have weight issues. Either by generating debate or by displaying genius despite physical flaws, they have contributed to cricket’s evolution.

Rahkeem Cornwall: The ball looks like a cherry tomato in the 6’6 West Indian’s hands. The bat looks like a stump. At 140 kg, Cornwall weighs almost twice as Virat Kohli and is considered the heaviest man to play Test cricket.

Rahkeem Cornwall

Despite the noise and curiosity over his size, and the problems it may cause him, the 27-year-old is a serious professional who can transform the game with his off-spin or his batting. After making his Test debut against India last year, Cornwall played in the recent Caribbean Premier League and targets to play the IPL someday.

Inzamam-ul-Haq: A mindboggling cocktail of batting elegance and weight troubles, Inzamam had a legendary career. Running between the wickets and agility, however, were aspects of the job he never warmed up to. Inzy, who once got into a scuffle with a fan after being called ‘aloo’ (potato), got run out 40 times in One-dayers, among the highest in history.

Losing weight actually bothered him more than benefit him. Before the 2003 World Cup, he was put on a diet and lost 17 kg. But he was cranky and did not score too many runs. Let the man eat and the runs will flow. That’s how it was with Inzy.

Also Read: Vasoo Paranjape: Life lessons from a cricket guru

Eddo Brandes: Not many people with a batting position of No. 11 and an average of 10.08 in Tests and 13.03 in one-day cricket could stand up to Glenn McGrath. The Australian finished with 944 wickets in Tests and one-dayers and was one of the greatest bowlers of all time.

Eddo Brandes (Image: Reuters)

But Brandes did. Unable to get the Zimbabwe tailender out, an exasperated McGrath got personal. “Why are you so fat?” he said to Brandes. “Everytime I ---- your wife, she gives me a biscuit,” he replied. And thus a professional chicken farmer and part time player earned permanent place in the game’s history.

Shane Warne: Most athletes gain weight post career. It was the opposite with Shane Warne, who is lean now but was rounder in his playing days. In fact, one of the controversies of his career resulted from weight troubles.

Shane Warne

At the 2003 World Cup, he tested positive for a banned substance. Warne said that the ingredient was in a diuretic pill his mother gave him to lose the kilos. Prior to that, in his carefree youth, Warne didn’t seem to care much about eating right. Ian Healy, his teammate, once said that Warne’s idea of a balanced diet “was a cheeseburger in either hand.”

Mike Gatting: The Lord’s lunch. Oh, the Lord’s lunch. To quote Jerry Seinfeld in his show’s ‘The Soup Nazi’ episode, “your knees buckle.” The will of generations of cricketers has collapsed at the door of the Lord’s kitchen. Soup, starter, roast lamb with roast potatoes, chips and vegetables, dessert and cheeseboard and then cake during tea time would often be on the menu.

For many years, the kitchen was bossed by Nancy Doyle, MBE, a prickly Irishwoman who took no prisoners. According to former England cricketer and writer Mike Selvey, when captain Mike Brearley deferentially suggested to Doyle that she go easy on the feasts, Doyle, all of five feet, told him, “I won't tell you how to f-ing bat if you don't tell me how to f-ing cook.” Mike Gatting, the former England captain rarely immune to sensory pleasures, was known to sport a full plate at Lord’s.

It is interesting that ‘the ball of the century’, in which a Warne leg-break spun 120 degrees to dislodge Gatting’s bail, featured two men with a rather wide circumference.

Piyush Chawla can breathe easy.