Sunday evening, after a sound afternoon sleep, hot coffee, Cricket on Television and Sachin Tendulkar at the crease. What better way to spend the evening than watch the "GOD of cricket" playing his classy shots.
Having been a huge fan of "GOD of Cricket" a.k.a Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, making his appearance in the IPL T20, I decided I was going no where until he gets out! Seeing him play the game after a long time I did not want to miss on a single ball that he faced. A nice start and quick innings coming to an end in a sad manner, never the less I got a glimpse of a great cricketer showcasing his skills. As I sat through the remainder of the game I recalled all the memorable games that I have played for my teams - NIT Calicut College team, The silencers, Yo Mechs, and currently Adobe cricket team, the Red Caps as we call it.
Joining NIT Calicut I was thinking ways of keeping myself busy. I decided to give it a try at the college cricket team selections. Sadly I could not make it through to the team. Having got rejected i thought its going to be a hard 4 years ahead with no sport activities :) . But somehow got lucky one day. I was asked to replace a player who had gone on a vacation and I utilized this chance to the fullest and proved i am worth a position in the team. The captain decided that i will be part of the team for the remaining matches in the season. Job well done :)
Inter NIT Cricket Tournament was scheduled and a team had to be selected. I did not want to miss this chance of going on an all expense paid trip to Bhopal ;) Tried hard, played hard and made sure the coach had my name included in the list. Finally i was traveling to Bhopal for a tournament, something which i always dreamt of. Did not get a chance to play any matches in the tournament but never mind, I enjoyed the trip to the maximum. Being the youngest in the team and also being the first year student i got ragged in the whole trip along with my other two batch mates. A Ragging which was more fun than punishment. 12 days, spent away from the boring classrooms and boring assignments and tests, were truly one of the best days of my college life:)
Inter University cricket - south zone - Our coach decided that we will take part and I happened to be part of the team that was selected for the tournament. We had to travel to Mysore this time and being a bangalorean i was happy to come back to a place so close to Bangalore. Playing at the university level, something that i never dreamt I will do. I was selected for the playing eleven too. First time in my life i was playing a full fledged 50 over match. i was so excited and looking forward to the game that i could not sleep the previous night. The day of the match - Lovely weather a prefect setting for a great match. We bowled first and played well to restrict a strong Mysore university team to a decent total. After a nice light lunch it was our turn to make our willows talk, but not a very good start. Losing wickets early, i walked to the crease. Took my time before i could face the bowler. The bowler started on his run up and before I could realize what happened I heard the bowler shouting and appealing for a LBW and the umpire was happy raising the deadly finger. Walking back to the pavilion i was praying that we should not be giving away the hat trick to the bowler, but the prayers were not answered - very short notice probably ;) - We gave away a hat trick and we ended up losing the game. It was a knock out tournament and we were heading back to the college.
Third year of college and another tournament lined up. This time it was Warangal, and the event was of a much higher magnitude. Inter college sports meet. On this trip it was not just playing for the college but we also had to cheer for our college mates trying to prove themselves in other games. A nice train journey to Warangal - spent well playing cards and just makes it better when you end up on the winning side. The tournament was flagged off and we had our first match on the day 1. We ended up winning this with not much contribution from my side :). The other matches went well too and we ended up in the semi finals and me showing no signs of any form. Had been performing under par and was under the scanner already. Semi Finals... and what better stage to prove yourself. I walk slowly towards the crease and determined to stay there for a long time and prove my worth in the team. By the time i realize that we were in trouble i had wasted 24 balls making just 2 runs... well i better not look towards my captain. The asking rate just went up and i was under tremendous pressure and I made the mistake of getting out. I was so scared to walk back to the pavilion. The Captain just gave me a ferocious look and I just sat there looking down at the ground and did not want to talk anything. We ended up losing the game and i knew the team meeting was not going to be a goood one for me. I just wanted to forget the day and get on with my cricket for the rest of the season. I still feel the blues every time i remember this day.
This was just the start to my cricket career as i call it. Not a very good start to be discussing here :) I got better each time and I am performing much better now I suppose ;)
Cricket Trivia:
A number of words are thought to be possible sources for the term cricket, which could refer to the bat or the wicket. In old French, the word criquet meant a kind of club which probably gave its name to croquet. Some believe that cricket and croquet have a common origin. In Flemish, krick(e) means a stick, and, in Old English, cricc or cryce means a crutch or staff (though the hard "k" sound suggests the North or Northeast midlands, rather than the Southeast, where cricket seems to have begun).
Alternatively, the French criquet apparently comes from the Flemish word krickstoel, which is a long low stool on which one kneels in church. It may appear similar to the long low wicket with two stumps used in early cricket, or the early stool in stoolball. The word stool is old dialect for a tree stump in a forest, but in stoolball it may well refer to the milking-stools which are believed to have been used as wickets in early times.
Stoolball is an ancient sport similar to cricket, still played in southern counties of England, especially Sussex, and is considered a precursor to cricket, rounders and baseball.
