My Brewing Romance with Cricket

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2 My Brewing Romance with Cricket Better than any Love Story X Shashank Kumar IDEA PUBLISHING i

3 Publishing-in-support-of, IDEA PUBLISHING Block- 9b, Transit Flats, Hudco Place Extension Near Andrews Ganj, New Delhi Zip code: Website: Copyright All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of its writer. ISBN: Price: D 210 The opinions/ contents expressed in this book are solely of the author and do not represent the opinions/ standings/ thoughts of idea publishing. Printed in India ii

About the Author X Shashank hails from Patna in Bihar. He holds a B.Tech in Electronics & Instrumentation from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore.

4 About the Author X Shashank hails from Patna in Bihar. He holds a B.Tech in Electronics & Instrumentation from Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore. He is currently into Business Operations/Analytics working with ZS Associates, Pune as an Associate Consultant. The enormous love he has for Cricket a game that he has worshipped since advent has pushed him to pen down his first book. Cricket holds a sacred space in his life and has been a source of optimism for him in tough situations. It has kept him grounded and stable in various scenarios life has thrown him into. You can reach out to him on: krshashank1312@gmail.com Facebook: iii

5 About the Book X This book depicts the life of every 2nd kid who has grown up watching and playing cricket. The book appeals to the psychology and mindset of a cricket fan and provokes him to create an analogy between characters in real life versus the happenings in cricket. This book is a prime time example of a person who has grown up devoting much of his time to his favorite sport. As a kid, he has been fascinated wildly towards this game and has managed to carry forward his zeal till date. He has been able to connect his dots of life with the bits happening in the cricketing world. He sees cricket as a source of energy which has kept him aloft in tricky situations of life. He has depicted each event which has left an impact small or big in this book. iv

6 CONTENTS X 1. The Onset 1 2. The Emotional Connect And the Teacher 7 3. The Defining Moments The Dhoni Saga The Biggest Sources of Inspiration IPL A dream Getting Realized for Many The Undying Romance A Thank You Note 105 v

7 Shashank kumar 1 The Onset X The saga between the cherry and the willow E ver since childhood, you dream big. Your dream revolves around the various dots trying to connect in your surroundings. You see the aircraft flying high up in the sky and you dream of becoming a pilot. You watch a 90s Bollywood movie and you figure out in your 1

8 My Brewing Romance with Cricket Better than Any Love Story mind that you have to become the lead hero. There are n number of things which you see transpiring and your dream keeps fidgeting between them. As a child, there is something special which fascinates him so much that he carries forth the passion as he grows up and pushes himself into the rigors and ordeals of the world. Cricket has played that part in my upbringing. It has an essence attached which has always pulled my chin up in various aspects of life. May be it has something to do with being in our cricket crazy nation. A toddler picks up a plastic bat facing throw downs from his father and that is where the journey begins. As a kid, there was always an aura of excitement around any cricket match India played. From school to the other people around you, the match day had more freshness embedded than any other normal routine day. These were the times when most of the people you met were seen inquisitive about the match. These were the times when we had so much time that we used to sit back an hour before the TV just to listen to pre-match show and wait for the toss to happen. India has always been a crowd puller for this game. Our economy might not be the best in the world; still we have managed to fill in the 2

9 Shashank kumar seats every time India has played at home. One of the major reasons for our love towards this game was also that we were not doing well in any other sport. I might be wrong but it also can be attributed to the publicity other games were unable to garner. Hockey, as our main sport was on a path downhill. In those days, Olympics featured once in 4 years and all we could manage was a bronze medal. Naturally, you follow something which gives you tinge of happiness every now and then. As a kid, fascination was not limited to the technicalities of the game. It was not just about sixes being hit or wickets tumbling. It was about the Indian tricolor fluttering all across. It was about crazy folks sitting in the crowd cheering up for their country with the loudest ever human pitch. It was about various cultures coming as one to support one cause. It was about the emotions attached to each victory and defeat. It was about the fire crackers going on after each special victory. Cricket gave us reasons to celebrate Diwali at any time of the year. It gave us a sense of patriotism. Those were the times when we did not have the internet. We did not have our own personal computers to play video games. Social media platforms did not exist. All we had was the 3

10 My Brewing Romance with Cricket Better than Any Love Story television. We had time to play our favorite sport. This also paved way for the integration of my love for cricket. We watched our heroes play and tried to ape their batting stance. As a kid, we all have aped Sachin s stance at least once. We have aped the bowling actions of most of the fiery bowlers in the world. We all thought ourselves as one of the best in the business. We were not batsmen or bowlers. We were all-rounders. We touted ourselves as someone who could hit centuries and at the same time take a five for in every single game. We all had a run up equivalent to that of a Shoaib Akhtar. We had a self-belief that for fast bowling you got to run in and deliver. It has nothing to do with the arm strength and the body position. We all used to count in and tally the magnitude of runs and wickets we have had so far in our kitty. I swear, each one of us must have hit at least five double tons as a child. Yes, matches played on terrace count in as well. The Britannia or the MRF sticker on our bats gave us a sense of happiness which most materialistic things in the world failed to offer. We all used to collect those playing cards coming as freebies with the chewing gums which existed during that part of the century. I think the entire revenue of Big Fun was not because 4

11 Shashank kumar of the chewing gum but the playing card which came along with it. Happiness was buying a brand new tennis bowl with the green fluffy skin. Mind you, each ball was made to suffer until and unless its skin got peeled off and till the time it developed cracks and stopped bouncing. We all have collected the biscuit wrappers during world cups for the scratch card that could have paved way for something big during World Cups. Unfortunately, it did not. The most it gave me as a kid was another pack of biscuit. The hope did not die and the cycle used to repeat. We all have dreamt to represent India. Sadly, for most of us the dreams died down as we grew up. This was the age when it was more about cricket and us. It was more than the stars of the game. It was a relationship that we shared with the game. Of course, we were always there to support our team. I would say more about us as individuals and cricket because at that point of time not much cricket was played. It did not have a jam packed schedule. This added spice to the love we had for this game. The dosage was just perfect enough to keep up the passion for the game. 5

12 My Brewing Romance with Cricket Better than Any Love Story Over the years, I have seen myself shift gears from being a high school/college brat to moving towards the formal shirts and trousers with polished shoes. Somewhere the energy has drained. Routine has etched into the daily ordeals of the life. Somewhere somehow I miss those days, those evenings. Checking scores on Cricinfo has become the penchant to follow your passion. There were times a decade back when sitting back and watching each delivery of the game was a ritual. The advent of T20 has also been responsible for emptying the glass which was full of passion the passion to watch and play. Somewhere inside the deepest corners of my heart the dream remains with heart beats offering it the life line to survive. X 6

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