Punjab's English-speaking Sundays

Like a lot of Indian cricketers, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh improved dramatically as English speakers over the course of their careers. Halting and diffident when they first started playing for India, they were well on their way to mastering the nuances of "process" and "right areas" when they became established internationals.

Naturally, whenever they found time to play domestic cricket, Yuvraj and Harbhajan tried to pass on their English-speaking prowess to their juniors in the Punjab dressing room, where they instituted 'English-speaking Sundays'.

"Hardcore Punjabis that we are, the first few Sundays were hilarious, as the players would run into the dressing rooms or washrooms or reply with sign language just to avoid the agony of speaking in English," Yuvraj said, during a recent promotional event. "At times, we would end up having marathon runs on the field just to chase the shy players to hear the much-awaited one-liner reply in English.

"We even imposed a fine for every line of Hindi uttered. Some players would give us the fine amount right at the beginning of the day."