Seriously this sport is crazy. I could fathom the wild side of admiration for Cricket in India through idol worship, hair implants, face coloring etc etc. But speaking about India-Pakistan match in a world cup a day before is a absolute delight. Not being a good statistician, I don’t remember how many times these two countries have played against each other in world cup tournaments, but this one is getting pretty uglier than before. The honorable Prime Minister’s meet at the stadium adds to the exhilaration. The stadium at Mohali has turned out to be fortress rather than a playing ground. Thousands of police and army forces have been deployed, the stadium has been declared as no-fly zone, fighter planes have been geared up for any emergency… it all looks as if the two teams are going to play with an bomb. Consider this, if Afridi miss Sachin’s catch at square drive and Gul makes a strong gesture to the Sachin, then maybe fighter jets would be called upon to signal a warning..!! Or maybe Yuvraj pushing out a live ticking bomb towards the boundary and the fielder may not be lucky enough to receive his final catch..!!!
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Anyways this game was never too exciting and scary before. My association with Cricket was not strong enough as with other people. I used to call myself a good batsman, but couldn’t play the ball higher than my waist level. Then I started practicing bowling. Not being good in shape (not even now); I had resorted to spin rather than fast bowling. I still remember batsman used to stroke my 5 deliveries to boundary and finally get out casually in the last…!!! I felt happy but my captain used to thank his God. Like invention of fire brought revolution in the world, the same goes with ‘rubber ball’ for me. I could actually turn the ball in any direction over any kind of pitch.
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In those days, the ball that was meant to be used in cricket was often used by us for ‘maara-pitti’. The game is so un-recognized that there isn’t any English translation in the dictionary. In short, one guy has to hit the other in a team with a plastic ball to knock him out. The one who survive till last wins the game. The game was often not famous in front of girls, and it was natural (how difficult was to refrain ourselves from showing our pain, actually red bumps, in front of school girls). Apart from these I had also played many significant games like ‘kho-kho’, ‘kabbadi’ and badminton. Badminton is the only game that gave me fame (atleast in my resume and interviews), for which I stood runner’s up in district level championship in junior category, around 17 years back.
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When I was in college, table-tennis excited me a lot. Of course I couldn’t play cricket with my high-profile background. Table tennis involved just two players, so less of humiliation. But I must admit, it was difficult to track the ball when the game picks up. Being poor on eye-sight, I had learned to animate my hand’s movement when the game gets fast. But I was always good in TT.
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Anyways, with this background I must admit that everyone should be associated with sports right from the beginning till the end. It builds up your stamina and teaches team work. For now, let’s wait for the big war tomorrow; Indo-Pak cricket match was never less than a field battle..!!!
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(By the way, I forgot to mention, I was good at being goalkeeper in football matches too..!!! I thought not to exaggerate myself at the moment)
