A bat, a ball and a whole lot of memories

Yes, it is true that India lost in the first round but that doesn't mean cricket has been swept under the mat for a while. Sunday was a rare weekend day in my life. I woke up early, cleaned up quick and drove towards a makeshift ball park cum cricket ground. I parked and walked towards the field covered by low fog hanging just 6 feet above the ground. It was slightly cold but the sight of cricket balls, stumps and bat just warmed me up from the inside.

Wishing my "good mornings" and smiling out my "how ya doins", I jogged towards the nearest ball I could get my hand on. I had a stiff back from a spasm I had a couple of days earlier and was a bit wary of testing it. But the spirit of playing cricket after a long break just gave me the energy to indulge. A couple of looping leg spinners dropped not far from the good length. I still had it in me. I recalled those wonderful days of competitive cricket I used to play for my school and then the college. I recalled the effort and sincerity I put to get into the school and college teams.

Getting into my school team was a no brainer. I used to play cricket all the time with my school buddies and was not too bad at it either. When it was time for school try-outs, most of us made it pretty easily as we knew eachother. It was also a fun time as our P.T. sir did little coaching and acted more as a moral supporter to the players. He had the confidence in us (or should I say that was the level of interest the school showed towards sports) to let us choose our own captain and the team. We did fair well even with little professional equipment, ground, coaching and "transport" (yea, we used to cram up the gear in our own kits and board the crowded Pallavan buses). We made it as far as the Quarter Finals of the TNCA Under-16 tournament and I am still proud of it as we got to play at the Chepauk MAC-B stadium (the little practice stadium outside the main MAC stadium). Those were good days.

Getting into my college team was a tough road. In my first year, I had to do so many things to get a chance that made me question my own integrity. Then, I gave myself the benefit of the doubt as I was young and immature. I had to give my TVS Champ to my seniors (in the cricket team) during lunch hours (God knows where they went). I had to stay back after hours just to bowl at net sessions so my seniors could play well in tournaments. I was not much of a bowler at school. But I had to do something different and something more than the guy next to me to get a chance. Finally one of my seniors (who used to take my moped during lunch) recommended me into the team. That was the chance I was waiting for and grasped it with both hands. I sat on the bench, but went with the team to all the tournaments to start with. Then, I was included in the playing eleven, playing low down in the order and bowling an over or two in between. I finally graduated to a regular middle order batsman with three or four overs a game. There were some memorable moments when I picked up three wickets in an over (unfortunately missing a hat-trick) and when my name was published in The Hindu for being the highest scorer for my college. Joyous days.

As I was recalling those wonderful days of the yesteryears (seems they were long long ago, so long ago, nobody can say how long ago...), the fog lifted up and the teams were formed. As the average age of the group of 16 was around 35 and to ensure equal opportunity to all(!!), a mandatory two overs per batsman or the fall of his wicket, whichever is earlier was stipulated (I guess it was suggested by a banker in the group!). The game was fun, refreshing and a good exercise for us. We ended up playing two games that were closely contested and both were decided by last wicket stands. The games were followed by idli, vadai, sambar and chutney, then by more Indian team bashing and Woolmer's murder speculating. It was an exhausting Sunday but turned out to be a memorable one.