Some 'Cricket' thinking

        The short rest for Indian cricket team is over with the start of its test match against Bangladesh and the cricket extravaganza continues. Even though most of the cricketing countries play extensively, the annual Indian Premier League (IPL) added two months extra work on almost all Indian cricketers (includes national as well as first class players). As a cricket fan I’m happy to see more cricket, if everything happens in fair manner.

         Even though a number of sports are followed greatly in India the space got for cricket has been safe with it for a long time. This influence or the importance of cricket on Indians praised as well as questioned by many. But the fan following for cricket never reduced, even the match fixing and scams couldn’t affect it. I think the acceptance of cricket is because of ‘the ease of doing’ it. Let me explain it. I do see kids playing cricket everywhere I go (in Kerala). No restrictions apply there, no rules. They just needed something to hit (coconut leaf base; midrib base, most commonly used weapon here), something to throw and 6 sticks as stumps (just forget bails). They play in roads, under shades or wherever they get a chance. I’m not saying everybody play like this. Well even in my childhood we used to play with heavy bat and the rubber ball (couldn’t afford any kookaburra) even though not everyone playing own these. I just wanted to say kids start to play cricket with anything and then learn the rules and become addicted to the game (unfortunately this not happen with other sports). So the attachment to cricket is not only limited to watching it in television but also playing it in real (or at least most get a chance to watch a match live in front of them).

       Thus cricket is popular in India than politics. I favour India whenever we play. But my favourite team is Australia (South Africa and New Zealand follows). Well, the positive about Australia I felt is it always proves cricket a team sports and it play like a team. Other teams have something to learn from Australia on how they behave in the fields. They are always active and aggressive; they try to challenge opponents at every time even when they are at the verge of failure (they are always ‘hot’ not ’cool’). I wish India may copy that quality.

       Team India proved in all format of cricket that they can be the king of this sport. But the aggression of Indian players in the fields is inconsistent. In many occasions it stumbled before huge totals, or gave away too many runs at crucial times. But the change that happens in Indian cricket now may help it to overcome this flaw. The matches before world cup and world cup itself show some sign of revival. After the England visit India toured Australia. The result of 2-0 failure may show a disastrous failure, but it was nothing like that. Yes, it is true that Australia won convincingly but team India showed its resistance and maturity throughout the series. Even in the absence of Indian cricket legends and a pointed bowling attack India managed to frighten the Australia throughout the series. The followed tri series was actually a time wasted program for India, like Mr. Ravi Shastri said. India should have rested well before the world cup.

      The continuous 7 match victory in world cup was another feast. Well, I hadn’t given India a chance in the world cup. I didn’t even feel the team was the right one for a world cup. In my view India had better players who sat outside to watch the matches in TV. And the bowling unit of India was a nightmare for me until the start of the world cup. But they proved me wrong. Yes, they stumbled before Australia in the semis. But whatever the bowlers did in the world cup was praise worthy since it led India into semis, mainly. And if we consider the real situation, avoiding the media hype and all about India regaining world cup; it was not a bad world cup for India. The 2011 world cup which was taken place in India was almost the last opportunity of the legend Sachin Tendulkar. And it had to be won by India for that reason (well, winning world cup for the country would be something else for the players of course). But for me it was a boring world cup if excluded ‘we won’ and ‘Sachin got it finally’. I consider the 2003 finalist India was more deserving than 2011 champion India.

        Actually it was the 2003 world cup which made India a contender team in the cricketing arena. Under the captaincy of Saurav Ganguly India became a team or showed the sign of a team which has competence (no offence to the previous versions). The following people have just to maintain that and they did it okay. The Australian demolition of India in the final of 2003 brought tears into my eyes, it was heart breaking. But I really felt very proud of that Indian team (reached finals from the scratch). I heard some players had tears in eyes when we lost the semifinal against Australia this year. Well, after the loss of first wicket we stopped seeing match and started to play cards. I knew the result of the match even then. But my brother checked scores at intervals as he had some hopes till the end. I knew the inevitable couldn’t be stopped. And I didn’t see anything to get emotional. Bowled badly, batted badly, there was no sign of a fight from a single player, so how could somebody expect something positive. India had everything this time, even the experience of winning the world cup. But it never acted serious about the world cup, starting from the team selection to the attitude of team mates. So reached semis with total experiment, well done!

         I wanted one of the semis; South Africa vs. New Zealand as the finals even though I gave 90% chances to Australia even before the World cup start. (I always profess the win of Australia before every world cup). It was so sad to see both AB and McCullum in the losing side in semis and finals. But last the most deserved won. 

        Apart from the 2003 finals, one of the matches that always comes into my memory is an India vs. Pakistan match (it has to be). I haven’t seen a single ball of that match but enjoyed the complete commentary through radio (that too in Hindi!!). It was my board exam time, March 2004; if I’m right it was India’s tour to Pakistan. This particular match was the fifth one day international and the 5 match series was 2-2 then. So whoever wins that day night match would take the series. And I came back from school after my second last exam in the noon, for the first few hours I had resisted the urge to know about match but before reading a sentence for the next day’s exam I sat beside the radio to hear the commentary (the TV cable connection should be disconnected in the houses of kids who have board exams; it is a common and normal ritual in my place). In the First innings India scored some huge total (considering) that time and Pakistan then started its chasing and thunder and lightning started at our area. Power went off at sometimes, the signal had some troubles; we could hear only some muttering sound at times. So then my brother and I who were very bad at Hindi, trying to grasp something from the commentary, lost all ideas. Then nearly at 11 pm Pakistan lost the match, India bowled out Pakistan. With heart filled happiness and a lot of tension about next day’s exam I went to bed. That match is a happy memory and I can’t think what would have happened if India lost it.

       The first T20 world cup of 2007 was also something special apart from winning it. The group match tie against Pakistan and then won it by first ever bowl out, Yuvi’s 6 sixes against Stuart Broad, and the never losing attitude and fight against Pakistan in the finals were just amazing. Even though it was not an India’s match, one England vs. West Indies match also stays in my memory (can’t tell which series and when). Well, it was a tight match and England lost. I saw the English players in tears and I started to hate West Indian team (but almost all individuals starting from Gayle to Narain in the West Indies are my favourites). The South African famous chase of Australian’s 434 is another match that floats in my memory. After the first innings I started to calculate how big Australia’s victory would be. Bang! Next day’s news mocked at me, how could I consider South Africa as a small fish!

       India is a country where cricket can be considered as another religion. But at present the plight of cricket is not good in India, the news of bookies approaching players, internal corruption of governing bodies, politicizing the cricket are not at all positive. In addition to that if Indian team can’t showcase its mettle in the fields, then whatever it have been built for some decades will be lost; the cups, top ranks and especially the fan base. So it will be better to concentrate on matches rather than the show offs outside, for the players. The new era of aggression may take India into its heights (oh, I don’t like ‘cool’ much). The test match against Bangladesh ended in a draw; still it put India in number 1 position in the ranking. Hope it is a good new start.