Cricket - A part of me

Cricket is a way of life in India

Cricket is the game that Indians love, the game that can bring the nation to a standstill and the game that is nothing less than a religion to us. The fact that I learnt playing pool when I was 20, table tennis when I was 19, chess when I was about 9, football when I was 8, but first held a cricket bat when I was 6, says it all.

Being from a small town, where cricket is such a ubiquity, unlike some other sports, I played cricket from a very young age. There is nothing else that I have done in my life over such a long period of time so far. I have played cricket in the evenings after school, day long on holidays and even in school recesses. No wonder, it has played a key role in shaping the person I am.

I played competitive cricket in school for the first time when I was in 9^th grade. I vividly remember the finals. Our team was chasing and I was one of the openers. My role was to hold an end and build partnerships while others around me played their shots. My opening partner and I didn’t give a wicket away while we chased down the total easily. I learnt how to just play for my team, without the need to be in the limelight. I also experienced the other side while still in school, when I was in the 10^th grade. I along with some of my teammates were considered to be among the best players in school and were favorites to win the tournament We were so over-confident, we didn't practise enough; the result, we lost the first match and were knocked out from the tournament; important lessons from both winning and losing.

After about a break of two years, I got a chance to play cricket again in college. That was the first time I played season ball cricket for more or less four straight years. Set out to be an opening batsman, I ended up being a spinner (born out of a decision to bowl a few offies in the nets, more to hold a season ball for some more time before I was thrown out of selections than anything else). I was selected, not for my batting, but bowling. Guess I was just destined to be in the team. It was simply meant to be that way. Playing cricket in college was an incredible journey in itself. There were both ups and downs, but just being a part of it was special.

I remember, in my first year, I was not a certainty in the playing XI for the first match of the season. No one played the second spinner at the cost of sitting a batsman out; certainly not my team. Unfortunately, it was a knockout tournament; we lost the first match, and were thus eliminated from the tournament. On one hand, I was excited to have watched my college team play the first match of the season, but disappointed to see us lose from the sidelines. I just kept bowling consistently accurate in the nets, and it was becoming more and more difficult to keep me out of the team. I eventually played in the third tournament of the season and put up one of my best shows till date on debut. That was the time I realized the importance of persevering.

I took a lot of wickets especially in the first two years of college. To be honest I did not think much while bowling, especially in the first half of my college cricket years. In the latter half, I used to try and outwit the batsman, anticipate what the batsman might do and bowl accordingly. I was miserly in doing this and hardly gave away runs, but I took far less wickets. I wonder if there was a pattern to it. Either ways, I can say that somehow for a large part, I used to bowl at the same uncomfortable spots to the batsman consistently. I believe, focusing and constantly keeping on doing the right things is a part of my personality as well.

Being a team sport playing cricket taught me a lot about team spirit. Our team had never gone on beyond quarter finals in the home tournament. In my first year, unfortunately, I was not available for the last match that we lost (the quarter finals). Probably, the word ‘finals’ made us jittery; sport is as much about the mental strength as it is about the physical aspect after all.

But over my four years in college, we kept improving. We reached semis in my second and third years, and went on to play the finals in my last year. After I had graduated from college, our team did finally make it the next year and went on to win the home tournament. Probably, the cultural shift in the team required time to take its full effect.

Our only tournament win in my four years in college apart from many semis and finals came in my third year. The finals will forever remain etched in my mind. We were batting first and were 5 wickets down for barely anything. We were staring at another choke on a big day. The mood in the sidelines was gloomy and our last pair of batsmen was our only hope. Everything was so dull, me and a friend of mine decided to change things a bit. We went and talked to our team mates one by one and tried to cheer them up and they did smile. Their smiles grew wider as our last two batsmen put up a fight and played out the remainder of the 20 overs. We put on a paltry 120, but the mood wasn’t bad. We had something to defend. The opposition started well, and we soon looked deflated. We needed an inspiration and inspiration we got, a brilliant diving catch! That was the opening we were looking for and we pounced on it. We dived and fielded like our lives depended on it and went on to win the match by a small 13 run margin eventually. That match taught me how a team that is down and out can be inspired back to win. It just takes someone to lead the change with individual brilliance and inspire the team.

I don’t think I am ever going to give up cricket in my life, I will continue following the sport if not actually playing it. It has after all been one of the most important things to have shaped my personality. Life has different way to teaching everyone. Cricket has certainly been that for me.

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