There was a period where my parents were worried that their son is not involved in any sporting activity and always being glued into the TV screen watching Doraemon. Every other cousin in the family were interested either in singing or dancing except me.
Then came a random evening when my dad came home early and was watching the TV all night. It was the 2010 IPL Final between CSK & MI. When Dhoni was lifting the trophy, he said “Chennai has won let’s celebrate”. But this is not the moment where I was attracted. It was not love at first sight.
A year later, during my 5th standard final exam study holiday, everyone in my family were talking about India vs Pakistan. I had no idea about what was going on. Everyone said “go and watch DD National”, I did so. I was finding it hard to add each alphabet shown in the screen and pronounce the names of the players. And my uncle gave me some mathematical equations to solve (6 x 500 and 275/6)
The few things I can remember from that day is everyone shouting INDIA WIN!!! INDIA WIN!!! and some crackers. It all started from that day. I started to follow the game from that day, and it took me many months to somewhat understand the rules of the game. Each and every new scenario in the game made me to learn new things and the biggest satisfaction is explaining those rules to my friends & cousins.
With respect to all my teachers, Cricket has taught me more things than anyone.
- I learnt English from Harsha Bhogle & Ian Bishop.
- I learnt Mathematics by calculating CRR & RRR.
- I learnt Geography via the terms SENA & Sub-Continent.
- Most acquired the greatest quality called Sportsmanship.
This relationship also has breakups. I can’t deny the fact that Cricket has given me some (many) heartbreaks. Especially in last 10 years when India loses a knockout game, I decide not to take this game close to my heart. But it lasts only till the next series starts. On the whole, cricket had a 10 year old kid who was not interested in any sports to be somewhat good at something.
