Renowned sociologist Ashis Nandy said that cricket was an Indian game accidentally discovered by the British. And you'll believe it when you see how completely the game has been adapted to the Indian setting, to the extent that different parts of the country have own unique cricketing lexicon, which is just a posh way of saying there's a lot of cricket slang in India.

HYDERABAD

Khaya nahi, piya nahi, khaali peeli glass toda

Translation: You came to a restaurant, ate nothing, drank nothing and still ended up paying for breaking a glass.

Used when a player, usually a sub, does something stupid. For instance, a runner who runs the batsman out, or a substitute fielder who drops a catch.

Scooter

Also known as: Tempu/tempo, for a slow-moving vehicle.

A slow runner or a slow fielder. Often affectionately used for VVS Laxman.

Sur sur batti

Translation: Something that slithers along the ground.

For a ball that hits the pitch and doesn't rise. Legend had it that Abid Ali could bowl such a delivery on demand after he got a couple of wickets with it.

Darpuk dalli/dilli

Translation: A coward at heart.

A batsman scared of fast bowling.

Kya soot diya, miya!

Translation: How he hammered it!

Used in appreciation of a fine shot.

Kantop

Translation: A reference to the game of marbles, used for a fielder who excels at bringing down the stumps from anywhere on the field.

PUNE

Ek aahe, ek aahe

Translation: There's a single, there's a single.

Used by batsmen, while rotating the strike.

Goli de rey hyala

Translation: Throw a bullet, won't you?

To ask a bowler to bowl a bouncer.

Bundhyaat tak

Translation:Put it in the hole.

To ask a bowler to bowl a yorker.

Bindook

Translation: A brainless player.

KOLKATA

Lyataa maach dhora

Translation: Grasp a live spotted snakehead.

A common reproach by coaches, captains and even spectators to censure a sloppy fielder who fumbles the most innocuous ball approaching along the ground, much in the fashion of trying to clutch an especially slimy variety of fish, notorious for its evasiveness.

Gallery

Used in phrases such as "gallery deowa" or "gallery maara" (do a gallery). It refers to a fielder's tendency of adding an unnecessary degree of flamboyance to a regulation fielding effort, with a view to getting applause from spectators.

Lowppa

Translation: Characterised by a lob.

Describes a type of slow, flighted delivery, sent in by a bowler of any style, which tends to dip, deliberately or otherwise, in front of the batsman and ends as a full toss. The term also refers to an easy catch that follows the trajectory of a gentle lob and eventually presents itself as a dolly.

Jhaata deowa

Also known as: Jhaaru maara.

Translation: To sweep.

Often used when an attempt at playing the sweep shot results in the batsman inadvertently ploughing a chunk off the pitch or whipping up a puff of dust without reaping any other rewards.

Khaja

Also known as: Jaali (Counterfeit)

Translation: Good for nothing.

A lamentably incompetent player.

Hawaa deowa

Translation: To whisk air.

The hapless phase during a batsman's stay at the crease when he continuously plays and misses a string of balls pitched outside the off stump.

As they say in Hyderabad, "Kya soot diya, miya!" Getty Images

MUMBAI

Tadi/tadi dili

Translation: The outer limits of the city.

A big hit.

Leg in leg

Translation: Directly translated from paayaat paay in Marathi.

When you've had a very tiring day in the field, and can't walk straight.

Laghori

Translation: A street game in which you aim a ball at a pile of stones. Another word for a chucker.

Light bulb

Used to describe a reflex catch. "Light bulb pakadla." (Caught the light bulb) - when you raise your hands and the catch sticks.

Khadoos

Translation: Stingy, mean-spirited.

A term that has come to describe the "Bombay style" of batting, which gives nothing away.

Popatwadi

Translation: Popat is parrot in Marathi.

A mediocre cricketer.

Third man-fine leg

Deployed in an off-field context to describe a receding hairline.

Paata

Translation: Flat.

A flat wicket.

Bhingri

Translation: A spinning top.

A rank turner.

Baithak

Translation: To sit.

Used to describe a batsman getting down on one knee and hitting a bowler over midwicket. The story goes that Vinod Kambli would sometimes call from the non-striker's end, asking the batsman to give the bowler a baithak.

Kawla udavla

Translation: Made a crow fly.

For a shot that goes vertically up from a top edge.

Kaakdi shot

Translation: A shot that sounds like a cucumber being snapped in half.

A cracking shot.

Gyanba Tukaram

Origin: Varkaris, a sect of Hindus in Maharashtra, take out an annual procession where they chant "Gyanba Tukaram" and dance to the beat of the lezim, a musical instrument with small jingling cymbals. The dance involves taking one step forward and one back

Used to describe a batsman playing and missing - the reference being to the action, which resembles the lezim dance.

RD Burman

Origin: RD Burman was a famous Hindi film music composer.

Code for the slip cordon to join in chorus with the wicketkeeper in appeal. Said to have been invented by former Bombay wicketkeeper Sulakshan Kulkarni.

Nariman na jooey le

Translation: (from Gujarati) Take a look at Nariman (here referring to the point fielder; "point" referring to Nariman Point in Mumbai).

Used when telling the bowler's-end umpire to keep an eye on the point fielder, who is deliberately wandering outside the 30-yard circle.

DELHI

Surra

Translation: Shooter.

A delivery that goes along the ground, especially on muddy pitches.

Lappa

Translation: Hoick.

A wild swing of the bat, or a slog towards the leg side.

Chala ke khel

Translation: Push the run rate along.

When batsmen go for their shots and keep taking singles and twos to rotate the strike and raise the scoring rate.

Batta

Translation: Chucker.

Beech ka bichhoo

Translation: The common one.

When an odd number of people playing gully cricket are divided into two teams and the last one left, the weakest player, bats for both teams.

Ulta bat out

Translation: Back of the bat out.

A batsman being declared out if the ball hits the back of his bat while playing a stroke.

Kacchi mitti

Translation: Clay.

Also: Kaccha limbu (an unripe lime)

A very young player, who is allowed to bat for an over or so, disregarding any dismissals that may occur in that time.

Chor bowling

Translation: To bowl like a miser.

Used when a bowler deals in tight lines and lengths to keep the run-scoring down.

A firecracker of a game on the streets of Nadiad, near Ahmedabad Getty Images

GUJARAT

Pittaliya

Translation: Brass.

Also known as: Bhatha.

A term for a difficult delivery - one that requires effort and precision, like, say, a yorker. From the fact that brass, being a metal, is hard.

Patharmar

Translation: To stone.

Used by the keeper or close-in fielders, to ask the spinner to bowl a quicker delivery.

Dhokabaji

Translation: Beating up (Gujarati); betrayal (Hindi).

A pinch-hitter or a hard-hitting batsman. "A dhokabaji, like Yusuf Pathan, can do the job when the required rate is quite steep."

Kagdo

Translation: Crow.

A clever/street-smart cricketer. Someone who can chip in here or there and change the course of the game.

CHENNAI

Manga

Translation: Mango

"Manga adikkaranda" (hitting mangoes) is used to describe a bowler with a suspect action. It involves chucking the ball as though one is aiming a stone at a mango on a tree to bring it down.

Katta viral la raththam varudu

Also known as: Kuri pathu podu / Kala pathu podu Translation: The toe is bleeding.

To say that a bowler has dropped it very short: so short that it's like the ball landed on his toes.

Kaththi podran

Translation: Inserting a knife

For a cross-batted shot played across the line, like how one might wield a knife.

Poi bowling/bowler

Translation: False bowling

Used for a spinner who does not turn the ball or do much, or one who puts in a lot of effort but does nothing and seems a lot more dangerous than he actually is.

Arai kozhi

Translation: Half a chicken

A long hop.

Mooku mele

Also known as: Dhanakoti sixer (after Dhanakoti, a stonewaller in local cricket) or "local six".

Translation: On top of your nose.

Describes a mistimed skier that ends in a catch within single-saving distance.

Compiled by: Vishal Dikshit, Akshay Gopalakrishnan, Annesha Ghosh, Shashank Kishore and Sharda Ugra