Cricekting Foibles!

The year is 1996... A 10 year old boy is sitting in front of the TV. World Cup Cricket'96 is on... Today is the big day...Semi Final Match between India and Sri Lanka at Eden Garden... What a day it has been.... A splendid beginning by India... Sri Lanka are 2/3... This indeed is India's day... The little boy jumps with joy for every wicket that falls...and boos out loud for every four that is hit...Every now and then he prays for the Indian Victory....It is indeed a big day...Sri Lanka settle for 251... Competitve, yes...But what the hell...India had just trounced Pakistan in the Quarter Finals (and that too spectacularly!)....Sri Lanka can't possibly stop India!!!...And India begin to chase....And then the dream becomes a nightmare!... Tendulkar is playing, but the rest of them just keep coming and going... The young boy is saying his prayers furiously now.. He can't believe it! this is a riot!.... And it was a riot that finally saved India from losing all out!.... The match was called off... India had lost... Kambli was crying on the pitch... and theYoung boy was weeping in his heart...

He swore He'd never see any more matches... They were nothing but a waste of time...and anyways... India always lost... Those losers didn't deserve to be viewed!.... And he held on steadfast to his promise....He skipped World Cup'99 when the rest of the world was going gaga over it... And later he thanked his stars for having saved him from the agony....And then came World Cup'03.. The young boy is now 18 years old... India is once again on the winning spree.... Once again he is glued on to the TV set... Board Exams be damned.... India winning the world cup happens only once in a lifetime...And this was the time... The emotions were more restrained this time.. There was no jumping for ever run scored or crying out loud for every wicket lost... But the adrenaline was flowing... The whole atmosphere was charged....This was India's time.... India would surely win... And there it was... World Cup'03 finals... India Vs Australia.... This is all it came down to....And disaster struck once more....The 33 million Indian Gods in the skies above couldn't rescue India as it was shoved, pushed and Kicked away from the World Cup Trophy by the Kangaroos...The young man swore to never watch Cricket once more... Only this time he would stand by it...Forever....

The young boy himself was never a Cricketing Genius... He bowled mostly Wides and No Balls... His Over usually lasted 10 balls.... At times, his team mates would ask him to bowl a Baby over... But then He'd astonish them with his accuracy, to the extent they'd ask him to bowl the rest of the over and then he'd return to his usual style of balling (no balls, wides and a lot of runs).... His Fielding was much worse though... He was never able to see the ball that high in the air... Balls destined for his cupped hands would usually fall between them.. He'd jump and dive but the rolling ball would be still a mile away....He stood close in the gully to harass the batsman, but it was the batsman's shots that mostly harassed him!.... His Batting was legendary... He was adept at those ones and twos.... but any attempt at a six, would land the ball in the fielder's ever welcoming hands... Several times he was caught in the peculiar situation of rescuing the team from certain annihilation... but unfortuantely he mostly led the path to it!... He played and he failed... He played more, hoping for some heroic transformation of his Cricketing skills...But nothing did ever happen... Slowly he quit!

What can I say?.. Perhaps, only that I failed Cricket and Cricket failed me!