Cricket talk and the brouhaha

I knew I was in wrong company when I heard “Don’t worry his Jupiter is weak these days, he will bounce back in no time” while discussing Virender Sehwag’s batting form. I knew I was definitely in wrong company when the reply came “Since the time he has married that girl his planets have gone against him, his parents must not have matched their kundali before marriage. I’m telling you Mrs. Sharma parents these days know nothing of what is good for their children.” I quickly decided to excuse myself from my grandmother and her friends and went looking for my cousins.

Passing my sister’s room I saw posters of V.V.S. Laxman plastered on its walls. I remember once when I told her that I field at gully while representing my state team, the same spot where Laxman stands, she let me know- very rudely- that she doesn’t think Laxman was ever thrown out of the field and forced to play on the streets like I am and I shouldn’t speak lies. So much for trying to teach her cricket.

I finally found my cousin brother sitting in front of the television screen, all padded up and helmeted for the match, the match that was happening in West Indies, yes he like many others likes to think that his being padded is going to help us win. Apparently we were 5 down and my cousin was in a state of utter disappointment bordering on depression, I decided to leave him alone. What is it with these fanatics!

I am a cricket fan, I play cricket for my state but I fail to understand all the brouhaha and the cricket gossip that surrounds this game. People who hardly know the difference between a beautiful Dravid leg glance and an Afridi cross bat hoick deem the Dravid standard to be ‘soft’ and the Afridi hooliganism to be the most dazzling shot we Indians can credit to a Pakistani.

What people have stopped noticing that there is a beauty that surrounds this game. Brilliant cricketers are craftsmen and artists who play their shots with a delicacy that only a Dravid, Lara or a Laxman can now emulate. The old masters like Hutton, Laker or Ranji are hard to come by and the new formats of ‘exciting’ cricket like twenty-20 will never encourage classy players to be its leaders.

This change is mainly because of the want for more exciting and short games by the audience. People have started following fast paced games of football and basketball as they find five day cricket too boring and one day too predictable. The ICC has been sitting to serve the interests of its audience and make money out of it hence they proceed to butcher down the game and make it more 'exciting'. And unfortunately the brains era of cricket has started dying and the brawny era is just beginning. Tony Greg “Jonty’s very quick between the wickets” to which the host of a cricket talk show Ruby Bhatia replied “Yes and he runs very fast.”