Cricket musings

Its amazing that I have written nothing about cricket so far. Considering I inevitably start my day with a look at 'cricinfo', convinced my wife to spend our first wedding anniversary watching an India- Sri Lanka game, took a two week vacation to follow the Indian team in Australia in January last year and continued to umpire cricket matches in Singapore with some zeal, I do think I am very fond of the game. I clearly enjoyed playing it as a kid first and then, in adult life, have continued to follow it with great enthusiasm.

Though I really enjoyed playing the game in my teens, I really began taking a liking for the game when I was teaching at Doon. The Masters team used to be pretty good at that time, and I would either open or come at No. 4. The square cut remains my favorite shot and I had no shot on the leg side whatsoever. I did provide some solidity at the top of the order and I remember students would often get frustrated bowling to me as I had a solid defence, seldom took chances, and ran quick singles to rotate the strike. Playing in Dehradun used to be fun- I used to roll my arm a little bit too and the heavy cloudcover on most occasions made me a bit of a swing bowler and nothing gave me more pleasure than having someone clean bowled! Thats quite a feeling.

Once I left the country, I started following the game even more. It just seemed to be a 'connection' back with the country and it just seems to me that reporting also has got much better in the last 7 to 8 years. I have particularly enjoyed the commentaries on rediff and cricinfo and now follow Prem Panicker's blog almost everyday. I do miss watching it either alive or even on television and I will try the most of my vacation in India when I can watch some old games. I am also reader of the cricket books. Bradman's Farewell to Cricket is an all time favorite for me- it is not only a treatise on cricket but also contains great wisdom about leading a fulfilling life in general.

The latest cricketing book I have read is Rahul Bhattacharya's Pundits from Pakistan which is about the historic Indian tour of Pakistan in 2004. The beauty of the book is the seamless integration of the the sociological and cricketing narrative. The book is fact based but written with feeling and takes an objective, yet touching look at the lives of common people in Pakistan and the similarities between the two countries and cultures is exemplified without at any point becoming either preachy or didactic. I continue to follow his writings for Wisden Asia as he seems to be a journalist far more mature than his young years suggest.

I was thinking of catching the Ashes series in England next month but it just doesn't quite fit into my schedule. Hopefully, I would be able to watch the games on television.

Eventually, cricket is as much a game of tactic, strategy, preparation, patience and skill, as it is a game of chance- something very akin to life itself, isn't it!