INDIAN TEST CRICKET - A FADING ART?
When people say “The Gentlemen’s Game”, we obviously envisage the men in white gears or the men playing test cricket. With the sudden burgeoning of T20 cricket and the extravaganza it has given us, I am sure most of the cricket lovers have lost the interest and patience in watching the test cricket ball by ball. When you have just lost the interest in watching the test cricket even in the television for that sake, no wonder test cricket has indeed lost its luster, charm and grace for which it was meant to be. The indelible fact is that, the recent Indian test cricket has been constantly failing to entice and captivate the crowd just because the “FAMOUS FIVE” (Sachin, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman, Sehwag) as few say, and the mighty “FABULOUS FOUR” (Excluding Sehwag) as many say, have already hung their boots up and the very few in fact just two are on the verge of calling it quits very soon.
PULLING PEOPLE IN:
Despite Legendary Anil Kumble and speedster Javagal srinath’s poignant efforts to abate the ticket fares for the test cricket in Bangalore, I and my friend Sathish had to take a humungous effort in convincing my other friends to witness the second day of test cricket between India and New Zealand on September 1st 2012. The Ticket price was freaking nominal for just 50 Rupees which ploughed some sort of interest and eagerness amidst all of us to see our entire favorite Indian cricket stars live in action.
FIDGETY EVE:
The previous night before the second days play, all my friends were fast asleep, I was tossing and turning and was wide- Awake with an exorbitant enthusiasm and excitement while my friend Sathish was burning all his midnight oil mutating himself into a nocturnal brux in the office the other night. With my gang of 8 (Mukunth, Gokul, Sathish, Balaji, Raja, Hari, Debin and Omar) I was of the jejune intuition that these 8 guys are going to resurrect and rejuvenate the very interest in Indian test cricket as if we were there just to steady the fumbling KSCA board. There was a huge sigh of relief when my friend Sathish turned out early morning from the office.
OFF TO CHINNASWAMY:
Guys then turned hare footed and we reached the Chinnaswamy Stadium much before the anticipated time with the help of “Namma Metro”. As we were nearing the “D Lower” and Gate 18, the adrenaline rush emanated up than ever before. The Stadium was under a serious bomb threat it seems, so we were all acutely scrutinized as if we were from Al-Qaeda or Al-Ummah. Once the checking got over we all shouted and ran inside the stadium like a bunch of guys who had got their Eye vision just quite some time back for the very first time in our lives .The Ground was indeed a visual delight and you can very well call it lush green .We entered the ground when the kiwis got bowled out by Ojha’s heroics.
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We took some time and got settled quite near to the deep backward or Deep-Midwicket positions as and when the bowling end and batting end changes respectively. The Crowd went blatant and deafening when the Indian openers Gauti and Viru entered the ground. The Crowd was Ear-Popping and so I was not able to hear even the phone calls I was receiving from my friends. Much to my excitement my colleague and Good friend Praveen Bamane was just few rows above me. It would have been more fun if Imran Bhai, My office cohort had been with me, so that we both could have discussed some good cricketing statistics as we usually do in the office hours, but he was seated somewhere else with his gang. There were a plenty of hair-raising moments during the match, one was when the crowd went berserk when sehwag smashed the first boundary of the Indian innings. The Mexican waves made by the crowd were really a happening hullabaloo and a visual treat as well.
GOD’S ARRIVAL AND EARLY EGRESS:
There was a sort of awed hush amidst the crowd when Gambhir was bamboozled by Southee. Then came in Pujara who faltered for a meager sum playing a poorly calculated hook shot. This time we weren’t booing or there wasn’t a pin drop silence for a change when an Indian wicket went down. Yes the crowd ruptured, erupted, turned boisterous, went berserk for a while with a deafening noise as if someone was raising the roof, it was all happening out there at the Chinnaswamy stadium just because the little man who usually comes in at two down for saving India is already padded up and is about to enter the ground. Here comes in the cricketing God for millions, my impetus, inspiration, Role Model and what not? “Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar”. We the spectators exploded in joy shouting out loud “S A C H I NNN ……… SACHINNNNNNNN.... The Moment I saw him at the crease, I just veritably forgot the enormous amount of bleakness, anguish and the dismal dumps that were accumulated in my mind. The Master took some time to execute his shots to perfection. The first and the only phenomenal straight drive came after an hour or so from the god’s willow, that was his 2000th test boundary to add to his flurry of records. Sachin wasn’t playing his natural game that day (I wonder whether it was just because I deliberately burdened him with all my sorrows, agonies and stresses) A sudden chill went down the spine and everyone Indian out there went traumatized when sachin was castled by Bracewell. Then came in the in-form, rampant Virat kohli who timed each and every ball flawlessly along with the reposing Suresh Raina whose timber sounded as sweet as honey every time the red ball met his willow. Kohli and Raina went on to reach a century partnership with their individual fifties as well. Raina then got out to a blinder of a catch by Van Wyk. Then came in captain cool MSD for whom the plot was a fitting one and a cake walk to show his flamboyancy and elegance. Mahi did play his natural game although he took some time to read the pitch conditions earlier. It was half past two when the crowd went for a short nap during the tea time. Bang… Bang….Bang….it was the usual trademark helicopter shot from Dhoni which had woken the spirit depleted crowd up this time. Kohli started piling up his scores silently on the other side.
BAD LIGHT CALLS IT A DAY:
It was fifteen past five and we still had 9 more over’s left for the day, Kohli went in to his 90’s and Dhoni neatly crafted an artistic 45. Bad light couldn’t lit up the spirits of the players and the umpires and it even ended up in playing spoil sport when kohli and Dhoni were about to make their personal milestones of a ton and half a ton respectively. An eventful and a spirited day halted to a standstill end when the umpires called it stumps for the day due to bad light. At the end of the day I must agree that I witnessed a splendid day of test cricket, an indelible one amidst the busy corporate life and the monotonous and melancholic personal life.
PS: I swear, it was not a combined effort from me and my friends to have just gone there to rejuvenate or resurrect the lack luster Indian test cricket or to see the entire Indian cricketing heroes play live in front of us, On the contrary, I hereby confess that I went there to Chinnaswamy only to witness one man called “SACHIN ” padding up and walk into the centre stage so that I shall salute and bow down for all that he has done to make me and the millions of Indians happy all throughout our lives .
