Robin Williams called it “Baseball on Valium”. Ajay Sachdev, a true Indian fan of cricket (who has previously guest-posted on Wodehouse and on advertising) gives us his view of the game...
Cricket, Glorious Cricket
The Last Genteel Game
By Ajay Sachdev
I was all of seven when my neighbor a Group Captain in the Air- Force gifted me a cricket kit for my birthday. Thus began a lifelong love affair with the glorious game of cricket. On the face of it, cricket seemed like an absurdly long game, with a “test” match spread over five whole days. Imagine, a spectator sitting through five whole days of a game to see which team wins? You Americans must be saying that the rest of the world is crazy! (For my American readers, a cricket test match is played between two opposing teams of eleven players each, and each team is supposed to bowl out the opposition twice over an unlimited number of balls spread over five playing days)
Boring? But, not at all! The lush green fields, the players immaculately clad in spotless white, the cherry red ball, the loud ‘thwack’ as bat connects with ball and sends it speeding to the boundary line for a ‘four’; the cry of eleven manly voices in unison shouting “Howzzat! ” as they appeal to the umpire for a decision for a batsman’s wicket; the blue skies and sunshine, make cricket the only sport in which a spectator can truly unwind over five whole days, with nothing to do in-between except relax. Where in today’s high pressure world will you find a sport like that? The English team even has a group of dedicated fans called the “Barmy Army” who follow it around the world and cheer it on during its matches!
Cricket, devoid of the rough play which accompanies other team games such as football, rugby and hockey, can truly be called the last genteel game. While it’s common to see players and even umpires assaulted in other sports, in cricket, an extreme of hostility occurs when a bowler glares at a batsman who hits his ball out of the ground, or when a team resorts to “sledging”, a technique made famous by the Aussies, where bowlers and fielders try to psych a batsman out by verbal intimidation. But a player assaulting another player? Never! Or assaulting an umpire? God forbid! The International Cricket Council’s strict code of conduct ensures that.
Apart from the sheer pleasure, nay the pure joy of watching a cricket match, cricket in the Indian sub-continent, has evolved into a truly unifying force. In nations bereft of true heroes, players achieve instant stardom by their feats of valor on the playing field. The Indian, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka teams have succeeded in evoking a strong patriotic fervor; a national spirit in these trying and divisive times.
The national pride when the Indian team wins a tournament or a vital cricket match is to be seen to be believed. Spontaneous joy erupts across the nation. People carrying the tri-color Indian flag pour out into the streets, riding motorcycles and whooping with joy. Fireworks are lit. Perfect strangers are stopped on the road and their hands shaken. Sweets are distributed, drinks stood all around. Nothing evokes patriotic fervor more than a cricket team victory.
Cricket has experimented with shorter forms such as a One-Day-International, lasting just a day and comprising fifty overs each; and the latest T-20 cricket matches which comprise just twenty overs a side and last just three hours.
These shorter versions draw the spectators in droves and are more watchable, since they produce results in a shorter time span. But for technical cricketing perfection and a languorous laid back experience, there’s nothing to beat the traditional five day Test Match. Unfortunately, in today’s high paced high pressure world, test cricket is slowly waning away.
P.S. Thanks Ajay for contributing this post.
P.S. 2: If you would like to locate Ajay's previous posts, or any other posts the easy way, click this link to see all previous posts on this blog in flipcard view. After you click the link, navigate to the top right hand corner of the page to select other view options (mosaic, sidebar, snapshot, timeslide). As always thanks for reading and hope you have a great weekend.
1 comment:
We miss Pataudi!
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