Shashi Tharoor's penchant for using little-known words is, perhaps, matched only by his passion for cricket.
Therefore, it was only fitting that Tharoor dug up a word of the day after India's awe-inspiring victory against Australia in the fourth Test match in Brisbane on Tuesday. The win in the Brisbane Test gave India a 2-1 victory in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. It is the side's second successive series victory in Australia.
Tharoor shared the word 'epicaricacy', which he defined as "taking pleasure (usually malicious) in the misfortunes of others".
Tharoor tweeted "I am not the gloating kind but there’s a special pleasure in reading these comments today... When everything else has been said,what remains but 'wow'?! #IndvsAus"
Tharoor shared an image of comments by prominent retired cricketers: Former England captain Michael Vaughan, Australian captains Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke, Australian batting great Mark Waugh and former Australian wicket-keeper Brad Haddin.
All these cricketers had predicted India faced a tough time, including a possible whitewash, in the four-match Test series in Australia, after the visitors lost the first Test match at Adelaide in December. India's loss at Adelaide was compounded by the embarrassment of being dismissed for 36, their lowest-ever Test score, in the second innings of the Adelaide Test.
India's victory in the Brisbane Test has been lauded the world over for the manner in which the side came back after the humiliation in Adelaide. India's victory was made sweeter by the fact that by the Brisbane Test, India's entire front-line bowling line-up was injured, forcing the side to play a woefully inexperienced bowling line-up, including two debutants.
Michael Vaughan, who is renowned for his Twitter banter, tweeted India's win was "The Greatest Test series win of all time".
Tharoor praised a number of cricketers for their performance in the match, including the "brilliant" Rishabh Pant, "reliable" Cheteshwar Pujara and "emotional" Mohammed Siraj.
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However, Tharoor reserved the most praise for captain Ajinkya Rahane, who took over the reins after the Adelaide debacle as Virat Kohli went on paternity leave.
Tharoor tweeted, "Rahane took a team that had been drubbed in the First Test, lost its captain & best bat, had a star paceman injured, &were considered no-hopers. He moulded them to bring the best out of themselves,& made winners out of them w'out ever raising his voice or flaunting his authority."
Tharoor described Rahane as a "great captain". He tweeted, "That is true leadership. I'd say "take a bow", but @ajinkyarahane88 won't. He will give all credit to his team, the way he handed the winner's trophy to its most junior member. That's the mark of a gr8 captain: he makes his team stakeholders in, &owners of, his greatest triumphs."
