The IPL is meandering on and this constant exposure to Cricket on Television brought back memories of childhood – thought I would share an interesting Cricket related moment with you.
During our summer vacations at Thirumuppam (then a sleepy village an hour’s drive from Ernakulam) we used to play cricket in the late afternoons. There were two small teams in the ‘League’. On one side were my first cousin and me (we were around 14 at the time). The opposition team had a couple of younger first cousins and 2-3 other kids (distant cousins) from the neighbourhood (average age around 10).
Though outnumbered, we were bigger and stronger than our opponents and always insisted on the same team. Naturally they were no match for us and the results were almost always a foregone conclusion. It was like a matchup between India and Bermuda!
Whenever the opposition would raise their voice against the injustice in team formation, we would pacify them with the carrot of ‘double batting’ – each of their batsmen could bat twice. Not that this made much of a difference – it just delayed the inevitable.
Things changed with the induction of an ‘overseas player’. This kid (roughly our age) was the son of the brother of the pujari of the nearby temple. He had never played cricket before and wanted to join us. We – the ‘League commissioners’ - said why not? It was deemed that he could join the ‘chottas’. We were sure our dominance would continue.
What happened next knocked the wind out of us - the favourites. This kid who had never held a bat in his life before turned out to be a cross between Srikanth, Sehwag and Pathan. He had the recklessness of Srikanth, the hand-eye coordination of Sehwag and the power of Pathan. He could not hold the bat properly and had only one shot (expansive swing of the arms) in his armoury. But that was enough – each delivery we bowled disappeared. If he favoured the top of the coconut tree the first time, the next time it was targeted at the ‘Moovandan’ mango tree. If Shastri were there he would have said that it was raining ‘DLF maximums’. There was no way we could even hope for a ‘Karbon Kamaal catch’.
My cousin and I took a ‘Maxx mobile strategic time out’ and discussed the options. Those days we used to listen to radio commentary quite a lot and prided ourselves in our knowledge of Cricket. It was decided that one of us would bowl ‘fast in-swingers’ while the other would focus on ‘orthodox left arm spin’. Unfortunately for us the ‘overseas player’ was not knowledgeable in ‘in-swingers’ or ‘orthodox spin’!! He treated every ball the same way, same shot, same result. We were completely demoralised.
The hiding continued over the next few days (our attempts to change the teams were met with stiff resistance from the ‘chottas’ – even the offer of double batting did not work). Respite came after a couple of weeks in the form of the ‘overseas player recalled for national duty’ – the kid left Thirumuppam to spend the rest of vacation at his maternal grandparent’s place.
Thankfully next summer there was no sign of the ‘overseas player’ – not that we were particularly eager to check on his availability!
During our summer vacations at Thirumuppam (then a sleepy village an hour’s drive from Ernakulam) we used to play cricket in the late afternoons. There were two small teams in the ‘League’. On one side were my first cousin and me (we were around 14 at the time). The opposition team had a couple of younger first cousins and 2-3 other kids (distant cousins) from the neighbourhood (average age around 10).
Though outnumbered, we were bigger and stronger than our opponents and always insisted on the same team. Naturally they were no match for us and the results were almost always a foregone conclusion. It was like a matchup between India and Bermuda!
Whenever the opposition would raise their voice against the injustice in team formation, we would pacify them with the carrot of ‘double batting’ – each of their batsmen could bat twice. Not that this made much of a difference – it just delayed the inevitable.
Things changed with the induction of an ‘overseas player’. This kid (roughly our age) was the son of the brother of the pujari of the nearby temple. He had never played cricket before and wanted to join us. We – the ‘League commissioners’ - said why not? It was deemed that he could join the ‘chottas’. We were sure our dominance would continue.
What happened next knocked the wind out of us - the favourites. This kid who had never held a bat in his life before turned out to be a cross between Srikanth, Sehwag and Pathan. He had the recklessness of Srikanth, the hand-eye coordination of Sehwag and the power of Pathan. He could not hold the bat properly and had only one shot (expansive swing of the arms) in his armoury. But that was enough – each delivery we bowled disappeared. If he favoured the top of the coconut tree the first time, the next time it was targeted at the ‘Moovandan’ mango tree. If Shastri were there he would have said that it was raining ‘DLF maximums’. There was no way we could even hope for a ‘Karbon Kamaal catch’.
My cousin and I took a ‘Maxx mobile strategic time out’ and discussed the options. Those days we used to listen to radio commentary quite a lot and prided ourselves in our knowledge of Cricket. It was decided that one of us would bowl ‘fast in-swingers’ while the other would focus on ‘orthodox left arm spin’. Unfortunately for us the ‘overseas player’ was not knowledgeable in ‘in-swingers’ or ‘orthodox spin’!! He treated every ball the same way, same shot, same result. We were completely demoralised.
The hiding continued over the next few days (our attempts to change the teams were met with stiff resistance from the ‘chottas’ – even the offer of double batting did not work). Respite came after a couple of weeks in the form of the ‘overseas player recalled for national duty’ – the kid left Thirumuppam to spend the rest of vacation at his maternal grandparent’s place.
Thankfully next summer there was no sign of the ‘overseas player’ – not that we were particularly eager to check on his availability!
that was too good warrier..write more regularly..cheers...watched IPL yday..it was fun..try it once
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