These are
extremely distressing times for mankind. No one has experienced such a
situation before in their lifetime where one has to worry about their existence
on a daily basis. How safe is it to resume normal life to an extent is always
pondering in our heads. And when you see the news, we tend up only get fed with
the inevitable and lots of grief and worry.
Just about a
few days back, there was a statistic which was extremely hard to digest- 11
Crore employees (unorganized and organised sector) are without a job in India
since the lockdown was imposed. This number just in a span of 40-50 days. It’s
equally as bad elsewhere especially in bigger countries like USA, UK.
From a
personal point of view, my day begins and ends with Cricket. It’s a very small
event in the larger context with people’s lives at stake and many going jobless
etc but for someone who lives and breathes the game and for all these years has
been privileged enough to watch some form of the game in some part of the world
happening on a daily basis, the toughest pill to swallow is the eventuality of
us not seeing the sport being played in any form for the next 5-6 months at
least.
So on behalf
of all those whose lives revolve around Cricket in some form or the other, I
have penned down a heartfelt note to the beautiful game-Cricket:
Cricket- I will miss you
I will miss
waking up in the mornings and watching highlights of games. I will miss staying
up late on many days to watch live games of Cricket in any form.
I will miss
watching the exuberance of David Warner, Chris Gayle, Rohit Sharma and ABD.
I will miss
the magnitude of the brilliance of the fab four- Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane
Williamson and Joe Root.
I will miss
the frustrating flamboyance and talent that Windies possess, especially their
limited overs side.
I will miss
watching the finishers like Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Glen Maxwell in action.
I will miss
the joy of seeing leg spinners like Rashid Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal and even Adil
Rashid control ODIs and T20Is.
I will miss
watching the speed and accuracy of Kagiso Rabada, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins
and Trent Boult.
I will miss
the consistent growth of the current Indian bowling unit under Jasprit Bumrah.
I will miss
watching the Test match specialists in action who pop up occasionally amidst
all the T20Is and ODIs.
I will miss
watching games on iconic grounds like Lords, MCG, Newlands in Cape town or Eden
Gardens, Kolkata.
I will miss
the consistently inconsistent performances of Sri Lanka, South Africa and
Pakistan.
I will miss
the never-ending debate on whether MSD should retire or continue playing.
I will miss
voices like Mark Nicholas, Ian Bishop, Nasser Hussain and Ian Smith who bring
unending joy through their voice.
I will miss
all the talk and noise around topics like the role DRS plays in the modern
game.
I will miss
the beauty of seeing the ball beat the bat; the see-saw battle between bat and
ball which makes the game so special!
I will miss
the obvious reality of how batsmen friendly the game has become- bigger bats,
flat pitches and smaller boundaries.
I will miss
the sheer brilliance of the expectation of a new, upcoming cricket series
especially the ones that are talked about a lot- IPL and ICC World T20.
On the other
hand, keeping the fact that we have got a forced break from the sport, all
cricketers nearing retirement or with severe injuries can actually completely
recover and come back fresh. This break could add probably a year extra to
their playing career- especially for the likes of MS Dhoni, James Anderson,
Stuart Broad, ABD, Chris Gayle to name a few.
And also for
many people who felt there was too much cricket being played and there were far
too many irrelevant series being played in recent times, the sincere hope is
that when there could be possibly no cricket of any sort in the near future,
they are able to reignite their lost fondness for the game and that the game
through that gets back some of it’s fans that it lost.
Hopefully,
things would reach a stage in the world where one can expect sporting activity
in the next few months. It could either be the IPL 2020 or the ICC World
T20 as per the original schedule. Cricket fans, tragics and followers would
sincerely hope for that day to come as soon as possible. Even if they are able to start off
playing in closed doors it would be any day better than not watching a game of
live cricket at all.
You could
call me selfish but if the situation improves globally, I would want the sport
to be played following all norms so that the players and administrators
involved are safe. Playing in closed doors is a good alternative for the sport
to come back into action. Many people would feel their fears, worry evaporate
slowly if there is a pleasant distraction of seeing their favourite players
play the game as nothing unites a nation like India like Cricket and Movies.
Personally,
a five Test series between India and Australia later in the year played amidst
closed doors would be a perfect comeback for the sport after the forced break
owing to the deadly COVID-19. Until then, all of us like me would have to hold
on dearly to the replays shown of old games on Star Sports and Sony Six and of
course we have YouTube where we can revisit the games and players that defined
and shaped our love for the game!
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