The Whole 22 Yards

Just like 99% of Indian men, I love cricket & everything associated with it. The remaining are those who say things like "I stopped watching cricket after the 1996 world cup" which just shows how hurt they were after that fateful night.

In my house there are as many classes of cricket enthusiasts as there are people (3). My mother, who will watch a match depending on the number of movie celebs in the stadium and hates it when the players dirty their clothes, pitying the poor souls who will have to wash, dry, blue, starch & steam-iron their uniforms to crisp chamakti Wheel safedi.

And then there's my father who will calculate & re-calculate the current & reqd. run rates after every 3 balls accurately to the second decimal & then look at me & smirk. He has also mastered the art of completely failing to distinguish a replay from the real-time pictures & therefore every time they show the replay of someone getting out, he'll yell "Aii Ayyyo!!! innu obba hoda!!!" (OMG another one gone!)

And then there's me. Good ol' me. I started watching cricket since the 96 WC & have been hooked ever since. Neither have I inherited the mathematical acumen of my father(a fact well established in class 10) nor the street smart savvyness of my mom(a fact well established when as a 5 year old I refused to eat street food in Delhi's Bengali market citing ideological reasons. What was I thinking?). I just lap up everything thrown at me by the Tube. And I've lapped up so much that its beginning to feel very repetitive now.

Every single time Ravi Shastri does the presentation ceremony, he starts with one of the following:

1. Ladies & Gentlemen, what an absorbing day's play it has been...or
2. What a cracker of a match we've had today...or
3. We've witnessed a spectacular game of cricket today.

My ears keep ringing with "Its been a quiet period, I just get the feeling something is about to happen" or the extremely prophetic "the last thing India need now is to lose a wicket". How they manage to lose a wicket immediately when anyone, especially Ravi Shastri says it, is a mystery.

But despite all that I remain a loyal, dumb, couch potato cricket fan who is no different from the million others out there. If I'm at work during a match, there will be a Cricinfo browser tab open & will be refreshed like crazy. If I'm driving, my avg speed betn home & office will be at least 5 kmph more than non-match periods. Every morning, the first page I read in the newspaper is the last sports page. I still don't move an inch when India is 102/4 needing 110 from 20 overs. And I will pump my fist every time India wins.

Last year I had gone to an IPL match with friends where we sat next to an old man probably in his seventies who had come alone & would stand up & dance & cheer in his own inimitable style. Something tells me I'll be no different. I just hope I'm not alone even then!

Cheers!