One of the earliest memories I have of myself, I remember watching cricket. It was during 1987 when I was a kid of merely 3 years. Coming from a family of cricket lovers and cricket players, this is quite natural I guess. My old pictures show me playing with a plastic cricket bat and ball too :-)
Talking about the cricket I watched during '87, I very well remember that my idea of cricket at that time was that the game is played with one batsman, one bowler and one umpire! (The people I could see on TV most of the time). Also, when my family went to see the '87 world cup matches at Eden Gardens they brought back lots of sun hats for me. Those colorful paper hats with elastic strings for support are fondly intertwined with my early memories of cricket.
From the Benson and Hedges world cup of 1992 I was a regular cricket fan. We had cricket matches on our terrace in the afternoon and I started keeping a scrapbook of cricket pictures and news. I think that was the only time I supported Pakistan (ever!) as they were Asian as opposed to England. Also I started appreciating Vinod Kambli's style of game. His two double centuries (Telegraph reported - Kambli buried the ghost of Harare) and my fascination for left handed people made me quite his fan.
In the mean time I started reading more about cricket, watching more games. It is a standing verdict in our family that you need to watch test matches if you want to learn cricket. I picked up bits and pieces about the game everyday, from my father and uncles and mostly from my great uncle (mejdadu), the late Sourendra Nath Ghosh who was an avid player and long term president of a famous cricket club in Calcutta. Mejdadu's cricket stories mostly came in the form of funny anecdotes ("apology 5th year" was the greatest among them).
My first cricket coach was Basanta-da. He came as a domestic help to our family from some village in Orissa, but he stayed on to be my coach and a companion for my boyish activities for a while. That included cricket, flying kites, fireworks during Kali Pujo (Diwali) and the like. He taught me strokes like square cut and how to bowl off spin. When India won the 2011 world cup, I called him from here to share the celebrations!
Watching cricket matches, be it at the ground or on TV was simply AWESOME with our family. I very well remember the 1996 quarter final between India and Pakistan. How we were all shouting when India batted first, encouraging for 5 more runs, and then 5 more....Kakabhai's short sharp yell "BOWLED" when Pakistan lost Saeed Anwar (or maybe the other opener) made us fly downstairs in a matter of seconds...all still ring in my memory.
By that time I became fan of Aravinda de Silva (my teenage hero). When Sri Lanka came to play Pakistan at Eden Gardens on May 27, 1997 for the second final of the Indian Independence Cup, I had to call Kakabhai at his work (his office was at the famous Tata Center) and ask him to take me to the match. So pampered was I, that Kakabhai came home from there and took me to Eden Gardens!!
I played some cricket in school and barely some in college. It's a pity that girls' cricket is not even 10% popular compared to the men's. However, I had the chance to experience women's world cup at Eden Gardens. That was in '97 as well, at the end of December. Bundling up in the morning, I went to see the match with my mom. That day, only women were allowed at the stadium! I saw the legendary Belinda Clark in action....what a woman!!! The only person so far to score 227 in a match.
A friend of my dad suggested I should take up cricket. He said I could play club cricket as a hobby. (Perhaps he was impressed at my knowledge, I don't know), but with my school leaving and engineering entrance (HS-JEE) exams round the corner, cricket was not an option to be considered. That's my only regret in this life - I wanted to play cricket on the lush green grounds with a real willow and leather!
I hate the IPL. I hate Facebook being flooded with inhuman praise about some player one day and unbelievable cursing the next. I hate cricket being brought down as a marketing commodity. What I hate most is film stars and industrialists "owning" teams!! I don't have words enough for hating them. In my mind's eye (I am so grateful that nothing can do anything to it) I always see the cricketers as they play test matches.
Even though I watch super bowl and (sometimes) stop by the TV at our office break room to see Seattle Mariners or Sounders at play, the snow white clad cricket players with typical V-necked sweaters, bright read leather ball and seasoned willows have got instilled somewhere deep. If I am not too attentive, the occasional stroke of a Mariner player suddenly reminds me of cricket, a couple of days back Arnab and I were discussing about top spin, googly and doosra....it stays on, somewhere.
Talking about the cricket I watched during '87, I very well remember that my idea of cricket at that time was that the game is played with one batsman, one bowler and one umpire! (The people I could see on TV most of the time). Also, when my family went to see the '87 world cup matches at Eden Gardens they brought back lots of sun hats for me. Those colorful paper hats with elastic strings for support are fondly intertwined with my early memories of cricket.
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| "Discipline thru cricket" |
From the Benson and Hedges world cup of 1992 I was a regular cricket fan. We had cricket matches on our terrace in the afternoon and I started keeping a scrapbook of cricket pictures and news. I think that was the only time I supported Pakistan (ever!) as they were Asian as opposed to England. Also I started appreciating Vinod Kambli's style of game. His two double centuries (Telegraph reported - Kambli buried the ghost of Harare) and my fascination for left handed people made me quite his fan.
In the mean time I started reading more about cricket, watching more games. It is a standing verdict in our family that you need to watch test matches if you want to learn cricket. I picked up bits and pieces about the game everyday, from my father and uncles and mostly from my great uncle (mejdadu), the late Sourendra Nath Ghosh who was an avid player and long term president of a famous cricket club in Calcutta. Mejdadu's cricket stories mostly came in the form of funny anecdotes ("apology 5th year" was the greatest among them).
My first cricket coach was Basanta-da. He came as a domestic help to our family from some village in Orissa, but he stayed on to be my coach and a companion for my boyish activities for a while. That included cricket, flying kites, fireworks during Kali Pujo (Diwali) and the like. He taught me strokes like square cut and how to bowl off spin. When India won the 2011 world cup, I called him from here to share the celebrations!
Watching cricket matches, be it at the ground or on TV was simply AWESOME with our family. I very well remember the 1996 quarter final between India and Pakistan. How we were all shouting when India batted first, encouraging for 5 more runs, and then 5 more....Kakabhai's short sharp yell "BOWLED" when Pakistan lost Saeed Anwar (or maybe the other opener) made us fly downstairs in a matter of seconds...all still ring in my memory.
By that time I became fan of Aravinda de Silva (my teenage hero). When Sri Lanka came to play Pakistan at Eden Gardens on May 27, 1997 for the second final of the Indian Independence Cup, I had to call Kakabhai at his work (his office was at the famous Tata Center) and ask him to take me to the match. So pampered was I, that Kakabhai came home from there and took me to Eden Gardens!!
.JPG) |
| That gate and block our annual members tickets took us to |
I played some cricket in school and barely some in college. It's a pity that girls' cricket is not even 10% popular compared to the men's. However, I had the chance to experience women's world cup at Eden Gardens. That was in '97 as well, at the end of December. Bundling up in the morning, I went to see the match with my mom. That day, only women were allowed at the stadium! I saw the legendary Belinda Clark in action....what a woman!!! The only person so far to score 227 in a match.
A friend of my dad suggested I should take up cricket. He said I could play club cricket as a hobby. (Perhaps he was impressed at my knowledge, I don't know), but with my school leaving and engineering entrance (HS-JEE) exams round the corner, cricket was not an option to be considered. That's my only regret in this life - I wanted to play cricket on the lush green grounds with a real willow and leather!
Even though I watch super bowl and (sometimes) stop by the TV at our office break room to see Seattle Mariners or Sounders at play, the snow white clad cricket players with typical V-necked sweaters, bright read leather ball and seasoned willows have got instilled somewhere deep. If I am not too attentive, the occasional stroke of a Mariner player suddenly reminds me of cricket, a couple of days back Arnab and I were discussing about top spin, googly and doosra....it stays on, somewhere.
3 comments:
Bhalo lekha as usual, tobe ami ekta point add korte chai jeta miss kore gecho.
Day cricket theke day and night cricket-e "HUGE" change. School-er dine India'r cricket match puro miss hoye jeto, jeta pore onek enjoy korechi. Porte hoto na school theke fire jedin India'r khela thakto... match jetar tension.. hoihoi kora.. sob mile khub memorable protyekta match :)
Jedin India jitto, khub moja hoto porer din school-e giye. Bhalo shot gulo niye golpo hoto. Tobe jedin harto tar besh kichudin por obdi mon kharap thakto.
Tobe result jai hok khelata Cricket chilo jeta ekhon puro business hoye geche. Sei charm nei aar.... RIP Cricket
tora bolchhis bote charm chole gechhe.. ami to tar kono lokhhon ekhane dekhte paina.. KKR jetar celebration to kono ongshe India r World cup jetar theke kom holona!!jodio ami cricket bishesh bujhi na tai otar technical aspect nie kono comment korte chaina.. IPL er FOR e ektai kotha mone hoy khate je manusher entertainment dorkar in all forms...eta Sports form e entertainment.. as simple as that...it is also patronising many rising cricketers....
tobe eta mone korar kono karon nei je aami IPL fan karon 1.5 month dhore TV puro occupied chhilo.. how cud I support that?
Charm chole geche amar kache, kintu jara IPL dekhe tader kache je jayeni se to Facebook dekhlei bojha jaye. Eto scam ar jochhurir poreo to manush hajar hajar taka khorcha kore IPL dekhche, sei niye lafachheo. Tobe cricket-otto ki ar thake 20 overs er match e? Batsman specific game hoye geche egulo. Loke batting dekhte bhalobashe tai batsman der subidhe kore dao.
Tachhara ei industrialist ar film star der involvement ar takar khela, to be more precise kalo takar khela amar motei bhalo lage na.
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