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FanFare

Dravid gets jam, Boof gets a carrom ball

We asked readers what's their favourite ad featuring a cricketer

15-Jun-2015
Which advertisement featuring a cricketer is your favourite? Mail us about it at fanfare@cricinfo.com

Jam, jam, Jammy

Rahul Dravid may have taken on different responsibilities in his career, but nothing can match the range of the roles he plays in a span of 30 seconds. Seeing Dravid as a girl, Dravid as a monk and Dravid as a vampire makes you think if he was strategising a winning entry for a fancy dress competition. Before he earned the title of "The Wall", the nickname "Jammy" was associated with Dravid: his father worked for a company that made jams and it's said that Dravid always carried a jam jar with him.
Suggested by Nitin Sundar and Sunny Nagpal

The carrom ball

Shane Warne and Darren Lehmann are out roaming on the streets of Pakistan with a man in a suit, and they get challenged to a match by a bunch of kids for a soft drink. Who would you back?
One of the kids smashes Warne in Tendulkar-like fashion. But neither that, nor the computer-aided fielding from the kids is what would surprise you: it's the 'finger spin' that bowls Lehmann. Warne doesn't seem to get a grip on the delivery post the loss, or else we might have seen a carrom ball years before the likes of Ajantha Mendis and Sunil Narine came onto the scene. And the man in the suit? Well, he's one of our favourite commentators, isn't he?
Suggested by Syed Mujahid Hussain

Tubby's mandolin

You knew Mark Taylor had quick reflexes when you saw him in the slips but his work in this advertisement is absolutely outstanding. Taylor dazzles us with his nimble fingers - we wonder how many times they move in a second - playing the mandolin while rattling off the wonders of the product he's trying to sell. And though it's not an ad for a mandolin, it may tempt you to buy one.
Suggested by Ben Larsson

Cricket crazy

Cricket is a rage in India, but this ad takes it to a whole new level: on the roofs of cars, buses and a container truck. With their bus stuck in a traffic jam, a couple of boys from a cricket team decide to get on with it. And where there's cricket, everyone around has to be interested. In an ad that has a hen and an elephant, you could very well miss Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth had they not worn India jerseys.
Suggested by Christian Ramirez

A drawn arm-wrestle

On the field, Sachin Tendulkar may have overshadowed his school-mate Vinod Kambli, but in this ad, there is no clear winner. Actually, there is: Mohammad Azharuddin, who was India captain at the time.

Ironman Warnie

In this ad:
1. Shane Warne appears to be romancing a clothes iron Bollywood-style.
2. Shane Warne makes more revolutions with an iron than what he managed to impart on his deliveries.
3. Shane Warne's final expression suggests he realised the folly of throwing the iron given that he would still need to press his shirts.
Just for fun: Play the ad on another tab with the volume up and watch the 'Ball of the Century' video on mute.
Suggested by Sean Vrana