The athlete known as the Payyoli Express is

The correct answer is A, Kapil Dev. The all-rounder from Chandigarh who played for Haryana was called the Haryana Hurricane for the pace of his bowling and the speed of his hitting, and he captained India to the World Cup of 1983. Option B is wrong because Virender Sehwag, who comes from Najafgarh in Delhi, is the Nawab of Najafgarh and also Multan ka Sultan, after his century at Multan. Option C is wrong because Chetan Sharma, although also a fast bowler from Haryana, carries no such nickname and is remembered chiefly for the first hat-trick in a World Cup. Option D is wrong because Yuvraj Singh, from Punjab, is called the Sixer King for his six sixes in an over, and Yuvi by his team-mates.

The correct answer is A, Milkha Singh. The sprinter won gold in the four hundred metres at the Asian Games and at the Commonwealth Games and finished fourth in the Olympic final at Rome in 1960, and the name was given to him in Pakistan after he beat the local champion there. Option B is wrong because Fauja Singh was the marathon runner famous for competing at a very advanced age, known as the Turbaned Tornado, a different nickname of the same kind. Option C is wrong because Bishan Singh Bedi was a left-arm spinner and captain of the Indian cricket team. Option D is wrong because Balbir Singh Senior was the hockey centre forward who won three Olympic golds, and the trap in this question is to pick any well-known Sikh sportsperson instead of the sprinter.

The correct answer is B, the Wizard of Hockey, also given as the Magician of Hockey. Dhyan Chand played centre forward in the Indian teams that won Olympic gold in 1928, 1932 and 1936, and his control of the ball was so complete that opponents suspected the stick itself. National Sports Day in India is observed on his birthday, the twenty-ninth of August, and the Dhyan Chand Award is named after him. Option A is wrong because the Flying Horse is a nickname of the hockey player Leslie Claudius in some accounts and is not the standard answer here. Option C is wrong because no such title is in use. Option D is wrong because Iron Man in Indian public memory belongs to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, not to a sportsperson.

The correct answer is A, Mary Kom. The boxer from Manipur, a multiple world amateur champion and an Olympic medallist from the London Games of 2012, was called Magnificent Mary by the international boxing federation, and the name has stayed with her. Option B is wrong because Nikhat Zareen, the world champion boxer from Telangana, has no such established nickname. Option C is wrong because Lovlina Borgohain, the Olympic medallist from Assam, is likewise known by her own name. Option D is wrong because Sarita Devi, also a boxer from Manipur of the same generation, is the closest distractor that an examiner can offer in this question, which is why the state alone is not enough to identify the answer. The safe way to answer a boxing nickname question is to pair the nickname with the decade: Magnificent Mary belongs to the boxer of the London Olympics, and the later world champions of the same weight classes are known simply by their own names.

The correct answer is C, Shoaib Akhtar. The Pakistani fast bowler came from Rawalpindi and bowled some of the quickest deliveries ever recorded, which earned him the name Rawalpindi Express, built on the same pattern as the Payyoli Express and the Chakda Express. Option A is wrong because Wasim Akram, the left-arm bowler who mastered movement with the old ball, is the Sultan of Swing. Option B is wrong because Waqar Younis, his partner in that attack, was known for reverse swing and toe-crushing yorkers but carries no train nickname. Option D is wrong because Imran Khan, the all-rounder who captained Pakistan to the World Cup of 1992, was called the Lion of Lahore, after a different city, which makes him the trap in this question.