My Romance with Cricket - A love story

I have often been criticized for the love and the bond I share with cricket. I have been advised time and again to make space for other things in life. I would not say that I did not try but my romance with the game is as strong as the covalent bonds. Defying the laws of Solid Chemistry, it fails to offer a tinge of space for bigger things in life. I have also been condemned for overstating or fabricating my love.

I would be termed a maniac if I admit that I ended up enlightening my Girlfriend the nuisance of a rank turner on a date. As I explained her, the science of wobbling the ball on the rank turner, the frown on her beautiful face grew wider and wider. Yes, yours truly has done it. Do I need to tell that she has moved to a comfortable slot which the world terms as ‘Ex'?

As a child, I was fascinated to see Alan Donald gushing in and timing his jump with utmost perfection obeying all the laws of Physics to deliver a beauty. I wondered this guy should have invested so much into the Newton Laws of motion.

I was taken aback to see one of the greatest batsman ever taking guard with all the cricketing gears, stepping ahead and whacking Shane Warne for a six right over his head. I was stunned to see Jonty Rhodes timing his jump in the aptest manner to tame the red cherry. It would be a lots of hard work for mathematicians to deduce the equations on the flight Jonty took in every other game. This is how my romantic dates with cricket have been.

‘Passion would not be an apt term to use’

Each day, I am able to learn a new art. Have you ever seen VVS Laxman hitting those boundaries at will? Have you ever seen Shoaib Akhtar dismantling the furniture into two? Have you ever witnessed MS Dhoni hitting a Yorker for a six? This is the analogue to the tunes of any beautiful song to me. You want to hear a melody time and again. In the same way, you crave for cricketing beauties time and again.

Passion would not be an apt term to use. Passion is hard coded in any dictionary in the world. Reading through the detailed meaning does not satisfy or to be precise does not do justice to the urge I have for this game. I feel an inner urge which I think cannot be defined by any word. Maybe, it hasn’t been nailed yet.

Joy, tears, sorrow, ecstasy, conviction, courage, emotion, defeat, victory – I have gone through each of them in 17 years of relationship, I have so far had with this game. I started following when I was seven. Just to prove, that I am an adult and the love has not been etched from the time I came into this world.

Cricket has transformed lives

“I am taken aback emotionally seeing the after scenes of any victory of the Afghanistan cricket team”

The sound of the ball hitting the middle of the bat gives me the musical feeling which is same when I hear Hotel California. Yuvraj Singh hitting sixes with ease, Brendon McCullum advancing down the track or the ABD magic – all these things makes me believe that hard work does pay off. Whenever I have seen Shane Bond hitting the stumps with the cleanest action ever, I fail to believe that this guy once used to wander on the streets of New Zealand delivering letters to the commoners.

Ravi Ashwin once said, “MS is a great man and I can die for him if he wants me to”. I fail to decipher “Is MS the same man who a decade ago was standing on the Kharagpur railway station checking tickets”? Cricket has transformed lives!

Pathan brothers who used to sleep on the floors are minting crores every year in the Indian Premier League. Pandya brothers, who used to survive on a packet of Maggi Noodles, have distinguished themselves in the crowd.

It also isn’t about winning or losing. It also isn’t about India or any IPL team that I favor. It is about the game. Each tournament across the world, irrespective of any country, caste, creed or religion teaches you and portrays before you something special. I am taken aback emotionally seeing the after scenes of any victory of the Afghanistan cricket team. I have seen people breaking down in tears whenever Bangladesh has created history.

Where else in this world will you find solace? Love, Passion, Romance, Emotion – Cricket has offered me every parameter which any love story portrayed in Bollywood will fail to decipher. It has been a dream, a dream which I can term as grand cinema style.