going back to cricket memory

Long before twenty20 format, Cricket still used to enthrall me a lot. But the situation is no longer the same anymore. India, in Cricket, winning or loosing now doesn’t churn out the same effect in me once it used to. While watching the first Test Match between India and Sri Lanka this season, I recalled how I used to take the lost matches in my stride proudly.

The following is one such episode during September 21, 2004 when I penned down my feelings on paper after we lost to Pakistan.

Savouring loosing points
Though we lost the Indo-Pak tie, we went down with never-say-die spirit. When we loose, all the goods inevitably appears on the other side. It feels indeed bad to be left alone on this side – where past looms around as something you don’t want to look at and the future, more than ever, hovers like a puzzle as John McLain of Die Hard fame encounters, though he always ends up with success unlike the Indian Cricket Team.

The situation on the match day in each and every home, I guess, must be same throughout the country. My home could be easily anyone else’s, as my mother constantly maintains her murmuring when Ganguly’s Gang does something silly on the field, which she, like many other moms, doesn’t approve and just not ready to accept from the men in blue. Then her murmuring turns into a one-sided argument with the players, who should thank their stars for they are unable to listen to the country moms (include Geoff Boycott’s mum too) and I end up with disgust and stop her from giving those unparallel expert opinions. I shout, ‘Let me listen to the commentators what they have to say about the game…you don’t know…hmm… hmm… I don’t know…as they do…’ and our argument continues till the end.

There is always a clash of what we expect, think about the game and how our players perform at the middle. No matter which part of the country one travels to, there be an endless discussion about the previous falter or about the imminent onslaught reverberating all the time in the atmosphere. The dying expectation never ever dies down, strange enough for non-cricket lovers.

We lost to the Pakistan team. We are out of the Champions Trophy. We have been shaken up. Oh! We are faced with that feared moment in our lives once again, which we forgot of late. But is it that bad? No. Not at all, if you think logically.

The recent comment of the Australian captain Ricky Ponting that has been hailed correct by the Cricketing Connoisseurs, suggests the maturity phase the sport has entered into and now, like all life cycles it is bound to go for a plunge. With meager contingents viz. USA, Bangladesh, etc… coming into such an important event didn’t ruin anyone’s reputation but the name of the tournament.

Coming on to the performance of the Indians, they should be praised for making the match interesting after stumbling to set up a good score for the Pakistanis to chase. Knowing the firepower of their bowling department, they could have applied themselves a bit more. I agree that after the completion of a match it is very easy to do all sorts of post mortems, but it is really difficult avoiding so being an Indian. Even we are allowed to have some negatives - is what the nation retorts, when we loose out on a key encounter.

What more than anything hurts is that the players don’t put a price on their wicket and ready to gift away their wickets even before making the opposition stoop a little. Ganguly, Laxman and Sehwag, all gave away their wickets and the rest inevitably fell flat with burgeoning pressure to achieve a respectable number on the board. Although we managed to reach double century mark, it was always short of what was needed to give our bowlers a chance to knock out a steady performing Pakistani line up. At the end we were short by a whisker. There was a sure shot element of disappointment amongst Indian cricket lovers but we were not morally down and out, which used to happen a few years back.

The scenario has changed. We might be going through a rough patch but this could just embark something good performance from the boys in the forthcoming series against the world champions. The spark, which was conspicuous in the last couple of years, was not there. Yet, I can see there is enough to come in future from this team. When we talk about cricket dying down, the matches like Ind v Pak adds up a few more years to it. So it can be said that even after we lost we gave back something to the game.

Meanwhile, we can carry on with more analysis on the team’s pitiable performance to keep ourselves busy. For me, at least, I will be able to watch the other important matches with all peace, as my mother won’t be commenting anymore. India is out of any further discussion for her. Conclusion: loosing propositions isn’t that bad for sports lovers like you and me. We will be enjoying the sport rather than praying and crucifying our boys with words throughout the finals, had they made it. What you say, hmm…?