Cricket my first love in sports. Review on Cricket

I wonder whether I should have continued playing cricket. Maybe I too could have become a celebrity like Sachin Tendulkar, Waugh, Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Kumble, Srikkanth, Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrasekhar,Nawab of Pataudi, Clive Lloyd, Kirsten, Kallis, Imran, Muralitharan, Jayasuriya, Border, Don Bradman…the list is endless.

I started playing cricket when I was an infant in the arms. My father was very fond of the game and I am told that I first watched a test match when I was an infant at the Green Park in Kanpur.My father loved cricket and watching the matches. He told us about the exploits of the three Vijay’s of Indian cricket-Merchant, Hazare and Mankad. He talked with great excitement about the three ‘W’s of West Indian cricket Worrel, Weekes and……..

It was in Kanpur that I first really played cricket with a real cricket bat and ball not the toy ones.Even as a child I would have nothing to do with the fakes. I wanted the real stuff. The first memories are of the green grassy lawn outside our government house in Patthar College.

I still remember the new red, shiny leather cricket ball and the real English willow (wood) cricket bat. My father bowled to me and I hit the ball with the bat The sound of the bat on the ball was sweet .I watched as the ball sped away on the green grassy lawn and it thrilled me.

But after a long break I could play some cricket but with a rubber ball in the hills of Siml,a in small grounds and with the constant fear of the ball being lost in the valleys or ‘khuds’.Those were the days of the radio cricket commentary.How could anyone interested in cricket not listen to the commentary. The excitement used to be high even when we were not watching the match as there was no TV then. Normally very studious and ‘brilliant’ in studies (that’s what my Principal thought) I would be glued to the radio during the test match days. (There were no heady one dayer’s then)

I played some cricket in school but the real part of my life when I played some good cricket came later in the plains. I got coaching from my school coach and soon became a good all-rounder (no need to be jealous-I was not in the test team at that age of 13 or 14). I only played in the school, club and home ground and then was called for the college cricket tournaments. Many players in the club and college were playing for the state and the east zone then. Maybe if I had not chosen to concentrate on my B.Sc.Honours, I might have got into some higher level side. But the conditions then were awful. Monetary benefits were almost nil. There were no endorsements or advertisements. There was also no certainty as to how long one could retain one’s place in the teams.

After I started studying for my graduation I stopped playing cricket and also stopped listening to the commentary except for asking someone else about the score and who had done what.

After a gap of almost eleven years I went to the Maidan in Calcutta and to a tent. On an impulse I joined the cricket practice and was promptly included in the sixteen and immediately thereafter played in the city division league and was also helpful in my office. The strong urge was there to go and play but it was subdued in the interest of work.

I did have the satisfaction though of seeing some of the great Indian players of that time play in the test matches at the Eden Gardens (even for a day or half a day, as all five days was out of the question with heavy office loads of work).

I have also had the satisfaction of playing for my office at the Sub-Zonal and Zonal level in Kanpur and jaipur and also captained a team in Rajkot and took teams to Kanpur and Delhi.

I have also had the opportunity of watching many of the later day Indian great players at Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Rajkot and Pune.

I was the Officer on Special duty in the radio commentary box during the 2nd Unofficial Cricket match between India and Sri Lanka at Ahmedabad in 1975-76.

I did play little cricket in Kolhapur and Pune but very friendly type and bagged the man of the match award in one and missed it in another where the person who bowled me became the man of the match.

I had the satisfaction of being called to bowl to the under 15 players when their coach saw me bowling to my team in the adjoining practice pitch at the Rajkot Municipal Cricket grounds. I was also invited to witness the Ranji matches by Shri Niranjan Shah.

In Pune I once attended a dinner with the Indian and Sri Lankan cricket teams.

I was made Honorary Member by the Deccan Gymkhana

Cricket Club but could play there very little due to many other official engagements.

I still love the game and have all the best wishes to all cricketers and cricket lovers and especially to my own country’s team and all the upcoming players. They need to be motivated and dedicated and to get the best of modern scientific, mental and physiological, nutritional, health and fitness regimes coupled with yoga. Meditation techniques and correct techniques and practice correctly.

May they raise the flag of our victory, but with the best sportsmanship spirit and heroic deeds?

The people of India love cricket and cricketers are our heroes and hence they have to be loyal to the game and the country as the people of India always want to win with their cricket team.