Ah ha!
Cricket was my second language. Memories go back to early 1990’s. I think I really started following cricket from the 1992 world cup. I remember getting up at 3:30am to start watching the matches. A fanatic zeal then developed and the amassal of stats became natural and easy.
Sachin became my favorite - and after a while he was replaced by Lara. So naturally, I made some enemies among my friends. The debates were fierce, and in those moments, we weren’t friends. We were warriors defending our own clans. Another of my friends was a Pakistan fan. It wasn’t normal - we don’t know why he was a Pakistan fan. That made our debates and fights worse.
1996 world cup was the peak of intensity as I was in college that time and our spare time was spent discussing cricket. I particularly savored the day India beat Pakistan in the quarterfinals, in Bangalore!
It was a bad day for my friend.
I kept this cricket momentum for a few more years after that. But I never would have imagined the fever would fall off. It just withered after Isha. I don’t even follow matches or statistics. The only time I got involved again was during the final of the world cup in which India won. My heart was beating for Sachin - I just wanted him to be part of a world cup winning team. They telecast the finals here and someone came with a dholak which was beat whenever there was a boundary. Dhoni was fabulous!
Now I just follow it peripherally. But all that effort I put in earlier comes in handy. I can just dip in right away and dip out when done without any context switching effort.
PS: During school, we played a match with a real cricket ball. I was the opener and there were no pads, helmets or guards (anywhere!). I was sweating and palpitating. I scored one run and became run out. The next match I was promptly demoted to 9-down. And I do not bowl or field! As fate would have it, that match, our team needed 22 to win in three overs. I and another guy had to see the team through for the last wicket. We did it! The underdogs triumphed! Take that suckers.
Cricket was my second language. Memories go back to early 1990’s. I think I really started following cricket from the 1992 world cup. I remember getting up at 3:30am to start watching the matches. A fanatic zeal then developed and the amassal of stats became natural and easy.
Sachin became my favorite - and after a while he was replaced by Lara. So naturally, I made some enemies among my friends. The debates were fierce, and in those moments, we weren’t friends. We were warriors defending our own clans. Another of my friends was a Pakistan fan. It wasn’t normal - we don’t know why he was a Pakistan fan. That made our debates and fights worse.
1996 world cup was the peak of intensity as I was in college that time and our spare time was spent discussing cricket. I particularly savored the day India beat Pakistan in the quarterfinals, in Bangalore!
It was a bad day for my friend.
I kept this cricket momentum for a few more years after that. But I never would have imagined the fever would fall off. It just withered after Isha. I don’t even follow matches or statistics. The only time I got involved again was during the final of the world cup in which India won. My heart was beating for Sachin - I just wanted him to be part of a world cup winning team. They telecast the finals here and someone came with a dholak which was beat whenever there was a boundary. Dhoni was fabulous!
Now I just follow it peripherally. But all that effort I put in earlier comes in handy. I can just dip in right away and dip out when done without any context switching effort.
PS: During school, we played a match with a real cricket ball. I was the opener and there were no pads, helmets or guards (anywhere!). I was sweating and palpitating. I scored one run and became run out. The next match I was promptly demoted to 9-down. And I do not bowl or field! As fate would have it, that match, our team needed 22 to win in three overs. I and another guy had to see the team through for the last wicket. We did it! The underdogs triumphed! Take that suckers.
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