6 June 2013, ICC Champions trophy kicks off. I
stay raptly in front of TV screen. It’s India Vs South Africa, two giants of
International cricket. South Africa wins the toss and elects to field first.
Two openers, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan make their entrance to the ground.
Entire stadium shakes up with thunderous noise. Morne Morkel strides behind the pitch
counting his steps and takes a run up to throw his 1st ball.
Audiences roar once again expecting a boundary or may be a wicket depending
upon their team. Sharma simply avoids
the ball. No run of 1st ball. Stadium fills with utter silence.
Sharma and Dhawan build up their inning slowly. Few overs later, they begin to
test themselves with some brilliant strokes after a great show of solid defense. Ball rolls off the boundary in every alternate delivery, at least twice an over. Cricket is at its best. Ironically, I feel
cheated. I don’t enjoy any shot. Tight
running between the wicket does not stop my breath. I don’t find myself
unconsciously standing from my chair in ecstasy. I miss something. Something very very special. I miss my childhood hero
Sachin Tendulkar.
I was in Hyderabad when he
announced his retirement from ODIs. Suddenly, I saw Sachin Tendulkar trending
world wide in Twitter and as I clicked on the name, I came across the news that
left me perplexed like never before. Never
in my life had I been so much disheartened. How could he? He does not have right to. I still want to see him. There are millions of
people like me still wanting to see him. I had a childhood dream to see Sachin playing live in the filed. The
dream shattered within less than a
minute. I had never in my life felt so
much betrayed.
Emerging player, Virat Kohli
comes in after Rohit Sharma gets caught by Peterson. Show gets even better.
Some square cut, some cover drive and few sweep shots , crowd in stadium cheers for all of that. However, I lose my
concentration. In my head, I start comparing
this Champions trophy 2013 with the Champions trophy 2000, from when I'd
started watching cricket. I was in class 6 then. Australia was led by the great Steve Waugh, India by Sourav Ganguly
, New Zealand by Stephen Fleming and Sri Lanka by Jayasuriya. Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan were playing in
International platform for the first time. What a tournament it was! Legends
like Wasim Akram, Shane Warne, Shaun Pollock, Sachin Tendulkar and many more fighting for the same trophy. Those were the players who took
Cricket to the different level. The legacy they gave to this sports is now
trembling in the weak shoulders of youngsters
of modern Cricket. Only few like
Dhoni , Clarke and Sangakkara are capable enough to carry forward the legacy
that has been bequeathed by those great players.No denial to the fact that still
some world class players do exist but
the game of cricket will never be same again. Will Ashes be as much interesting without Ponting, Gilchrist, Warne
, Flintoff, Trescothick and Vaughan as it used to be with them on field? Moreover, Sachin smashing Shane Warne straight over his head, Wasim Akram swinging the ball and uprooting the middle
stump , Johnty Rhodes coming from nowhere and taking a catch , these all are
just a bunch of memory now .
31st over ends. Dhawan
is at 93, Kohli at 32. Kleinveldt
puts 32nd over. Kohli
is at strike. He takes single of 1st
ball. Dhawan shoves 2nd
ball to third man to take single. Kohli once again pushes the ball and gives
strike to Dhawan. Dhawan is at 94. He reaches to 98 with four. He completes his century in style with
one more four towards square leg. Crowd
bubbles uncontrollably. Smile is seen all over stadium. Once again, I remember
Sachin Tendulkar. He has done this 49 times in ODI and 51 times in Test. He has
given reasons to smile for people more often
than any other player in the history
of cricket or any other sports. I used to feel my heart beat each time he would
cross 90. His century always brought a
relief from a strange sort of pressure
that I just can’t explain. Being a spectator, I
used to get nervous for him .How must have he felt to carry a burden of billions’
hopes? He knew that uncountable eyes would stuck at him expecting him to play
without making a bit of error every time he comes to bat .How much pressure he must
have felt to bat on such circumstances? It’s something we can’t even imagine.
He has carried this brunt for more than 20 years. Undoubtedly, he is the greatest
. Not because statistics says so. It’s because
he was the conquerer of billion hearts. He was the reason for billion
smiles.
These days , cricket is getting
vulgar. T20 has ruined the beauty of game. Every alternate good delivery gets a treatment of boundary.
Until few years back, batsman used to
give respect to good deliveries, defensing it with straight hand.
Now a days, batsman swings with cross bat for each and every delivery. If he connects, it’s boundary, if he misses ,it’s bowled. A solid defense with a class of Dravid is now
a myth. Once, cricket used to be the
game of skill and timing. Now it has turned out to be the game of strength and
power. Stronger one is, better batsman
he becomes. Gayle and Pollard are few examples. I find gentle men’s game losing its charm . Recently, Gambir and Kohli belonging to same national
team lost their temper and ran towards
each other to wrestle in cricket field. Few years back, Bhajji slapped his
own team mate Srisanth. Such
activities adulterates the purity of game. People have started saying that cricket is no more a
gentle men’s game. Unfortunately, it’s true.
Shane Warne was my favourite
bowler. I can’t explain how much bewildered I was by the sight of batsman avoiding his bowl in
leg side thinking that it would be wide and getting bowled in off stump after
the stunning turn of almost 90 degrees. He was not just a bowler, he was a
magician indeed. I always wished for his wicket unless the man in the crease was
Sachin Tendulkar. I started loving Warne even more when he stated that he used
to have nightmare of Sachin pounding his spin. Although, my dream to watch Tendulkar playing ODI has been shattered, I consider myself blessed to
have a privilege of watching him play in Test match. It was a match between India and Kiwis in Uppal
stadium , Hyderabad. I had to buy a ticket on black to witness it. Sachin was
on the crease when I entered into the stadium. Unfortunately, he got bowled in
less than 5 minutes after my entrance. I could not see him play his trademark
strokes. However, nobody can take that 5
minutes away from me. It’s a moment that I will cherish through out my life.
Cricket has been part of my
childhood more than anything else. If cricket is removed from my childhood,
nothing else remains. I used to be an obstinate brat
fighting with parents for no reasons. It was from Cricket, I learned some
discipline. During my learning phase in
Cricket , I used to swing my bat blindly trying each bowl for a boundary. Later , I realized that it’s
the game of patience and self control. It helped me a lot in my real life.Cricket
taught me many things.I learnned to be calm through this game.At times, I used to
see mirror with a bat in my hand and find myself more attractive and complete
than I would look without bat in my hand. Me
and bat were not separate. It was part
of me.Those days, playing a cricket match used to be the most thrilling experience. Winning a
match meant like winning the whole world. Losing a match used to give deep
frustration and insomnia for few nights. Managing a money to bet for a cricket
match was the hardest thing to do. Prajit, one of my friends used to get 10
bucks per day for his tiffin. He used to save that money for matches. Unfortunately, my mom
used to prepare tiffin for me by
herself. I had no means to manage the money for cricket matches. Prajit used
to give loan to other boys including me.
In order to pay him back ,I had to make an agreement with my dad that I would get 2
bucks every morning if I wake up at 6
and go to bring a packet of milk. Waking up early , specially in winter used to be really daunting. I did it for more than
3 years.
By the time, I was in class 9, I
was already a celebrated player of my
village. I used to be an opening batsman of my team . No bowlers used to be in an opposition
team, who didn’t fear to bowl against me. Fall of my wicket always filled ground with the wildest noise, a byproduct of
opposition celebrating my exit. By the
time I was in class 10, I was not allowed to play against some weaker teams. They
would agree to play with my team only if I were dropped. However, I always
wanted to be connected to the game in any which way and umpiring was the only
option left behind for me. I have done umpiring in more number of matches than
I have ever played. During my +2, I used to get invitation from various friends of other colleges to play for their teams.
Most of the time, I rejected, as I was afraid of myself letting them down. Later, I got admission in IOE, Pulchowk for my
BE. It was always a dream to study at IOE. Not because the
college was highly reputed. Circular cricket ground inside IOE was the only reason for my interest in this college.It
was just a second day of my college when
I got chance to play at the national level field of Pulchowk campus. It was a
match against Mechanical team. I went as an opening batsman and played an unbeaten knock
to chase the target. All boys of my faculty
(Electrical) came towards me and congratulated me for my knock. I was
already a famous guy in the class. Everyone knew my name only in second day.
Change is the only constant.
Things never remain same. With circumstances, I had to change myself. I
completely stopped playing cricket from my 3rd year of Engineering. I hardly found myself free from vivas,
assignments , assessments, projects, lab reports and exams. Getting 32 (pass marks)
was the only thing we used to be concerned about. 4th year fully went on
making a final year project. By the time I finished my Engineering, I had
already lost my authority over the game. Cricket bat was no more a part of me.
I started feeling its weight. Me swinging bat was no more involuntary, it
became mechanical. It seemed as if playing cricket had never been a part
of my life. I felt like I was punished by game itself for ignoring it for a
long time. Luckily, it did not matter much to me as I was an Engineer, not a Cricketer. However, I still play cricket whenever I get chance. Sometimes with
the children of half of my age.These days, my bat hardly makes any good contact
with the ball. Nevertheless, I still enjoy playing cricket. I get immense
pleasure in just holding a bat. It reminds me of my childhood. It brings back reminiscences from the sweetest days of my
life.
South Africa gets all out in 305
while chasing a total of 331. India wins the match. It makes no difference to
me. I don’t feel anything for any team these days. Indian squad celebrates on
the ground. I manage to find flaw in celebration too. No Dravid picking up the
stumps. No Ganguly running round the field in joy. No Sehwag giggling below
hat. South African team drowns in frustration of loss. I don’t see Herschelle
Gibbs annoyed by his own performance. No Pollock regretting for his decision of batting 1st. No glimpse of Boucher trying to hide his agony. I find
myself so much attached to the cricket of bygone days that I can’t enjoy modern criket
anymore. I switch off the TV, turn on my laptop, log in to Youtube.com and
type "Sarjah final 1998, India Vs Australia" . I click on 1st
video link appearing on the screen. Shane Warne leaves a ball in air. Sachin takes front foot and strikes with straight bat. Ball rebounds in opposite direction.
It’s six. Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, McGrath, Gilchrist, Bevan; all are in shock. Once again, I feel cricket.
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