The names on the back of their jerseys said one thing, but the telecast showed another. In fact, there was nothing unusual about the names on the back of the players—Shivam, Samson, Shreyas... But when the scorecard and other graphics came on screen, it was a different story.
T. T. V. Namboori, S. Viswanadh, S. S. Iyer—some of the names were very unfamiliar for an average cricket fan from the subcontinet. Internet trolls immediately connected the scenario to the popular PC game Cricket 07 by EA Sports, in which similar-sounding, made-up names were used for Indian players due to copyright issues.
As it turns out, there is nothing wrong with the names that popped up on your screen during Team India's Asian Games cricket campaign. Just as Sachin Tendulkar is Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, Kapil Dev is Kapil Dev Nikhanj, and Irfan Pathan is Irfan Khan Pathan, Sanju Samson is Sanju Viswanadh Samson, Tilak Varma is Namboori Thakur Tilak Varma, and Shreyas Iyer is Shreyas Santosh Iyer!
The simple fact is that in official documents, the names of these players have always been like this, but fans are only used to the shortened versions commonly used during matches.
However, athletes are generally registered with their legal names while applying for accreditation with the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Reports point out that the Asian Games organisers in Japan were given details of the players from these databases for broadcasting, hence the change. Those who took a closer look would have spotted similar changes in the names of Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, and Pakistani players who were in Japan.
FULL LEGAL NAMES OF INDIA MEN'S CRICKET ASIAN GAMES SQUAD:
- S Viswanadh — Sanju Vishwanadh Samson
- TTV Namboori [Namboori Thakur Tilak Varma] — Tilak Varma
- WS Mani Sundar [Mani Sundar Washington Sundar] — Washington Sundar
- SS Iyer [Iyer Shreyas Santosh] — Shreyas Iyer
- JJ Bumrah [Bumrah Jasprit Jasbirsingh] — Jasprit Bumrah
- Dube Shivam Rajesh — Shivam Dube
- Patel Axar Rajeshbhai — Axar Patel
- Thakur Yash Ravisingh — Yash Thakur
- Sooryavanshi Vaibhav — Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
- Sharma Abhishek — Abhishek Sharma
- Kishan Ishan — Ishan Kishan
- Bishnoi Ravi — Ravi Bishnoi
- Singh Arshdeep — Arshdeep Singh
- Nigam Vipraj — Vipraj Nigam
Another Asian Games gold for India!
India completed a golden double in the Asian Games cricket on Saturday after the men's team beat arch-rivals Pakistan by 19 runs in the final in Nisshin. Team India managed 211-6, the highest total of the Aichi-Nagoya Games, thanks to blistering half-centuries from opener Abhishek Sharma (61) and Tilak Varma, who smashed 51 not out off 22 balls.
Hasan Nawaz's defiant 96 kept Pakistan in the hunt, but they finished on 192-6.Abhishek took charge after India captain Shreyas Iyer chose to bat at the Korogi Sports Park.
