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Cricket: The Religion of India

Cricket is a religion in India, more sacrosanct than any other. And with the ongoing World Cup fever, I can't help stop thinking of a 13 year old kid who was totally immersed in the screen of a television set. Another school term had just ended and it was a usual day, except for the fact that it was India vs Australia 2003 Cricket World Cup finale!! The kid was never much interested in cricket and never bothered to watch a full eight hours cricket match. But this time was different, India hadn't lost any match in that world cup, except against Australia, the team looked confident and he was sure that they will definitely win that day. Australians started with a bang, announcing to the world that they were in no mood to give up their numero uno position. Kudos to an awesome innings by Ponting, they left a target of 360 for India to chase. An impossible target, as some had described it, but the kid was hopeful that Sachin can do much the same, or may be even better, and lead his team to victory.

India started and with Sachin gone in the very first over, the faith had started to shake. The hope was all lost gradually as the match progressed, and India suffered a crushing defeat of 125 runs at the hands of Aussies. A shameful feat for the Indian team which left many fans very upset. But for the kid, who was not a very great fan of cricket, it was the end of following cricket. He had decided that Indian team is not worthy of the World Cup and our players need to spend more time on field rather than in front of the camera. The 2007 world cup was like a validation for the belief with India not even able to reach to the Super 8 stage.

During these eight years, the kid never saw any cricket match, not even a T20 one and used to mock the statistics which declared Indian team at number one position in ODIs.

It's march 2011 and we are approaching the climax of yet another cricket world cup. India did fairly well in the league stage having lost only to South Africa, a very unpredictable tie with England and comfortably defeating all the other teams. But the next enemy was Australia, and this one was not going to be easy. The kid was skeptical of the ability of the Indian team to win against such a formidable foe. Although, some had said that Australia is not the same team it used to be once and started planning about the India vs South Africa finals (assuming India defeated Australia in quarters and Pakistan in semis), the kid did not want to believe that India could win. Maybe he did not want his hopes to be shattered once again.

But, to the surprise of many, Indian team did win the match. They finally defeated the Aussies and the kid who had lost all hopes of Indian team holding a world cup ever again, has again submitted himself to the game.

He can feel the butterflies inside him, whenever anyone nearby talks of the coming semi-final against Pakistan. He can't stop thinking about the moment when Dhoni holds the World Cup trophy and how much happy Sachin Tendulkar will feel having finally been able to win a world cup for his team. And also, he can't stop thinking that how much proud he will feel being an Indian and how much glad he will feel having been able to witness that very moment.

He is surprised at the contrast that he sees between him, now and him, from eight years ago. He used to think that he has learnt his lesson and he won't fall for it again. But now, his team wins one big match and he is all dreamy again.

May be the hope was never gone, but just lost somewhere waiting to be discovered once again. Maybe the faith was always there, and all that mocking was a way to hide the true feelings. And may be the dreams were always seen, but he simply chose not to remember them after waking up in the morning.

Cricket is a religion in India, more sacrosanct than any other. When I look back at my journey from that 13 year old to now, eight years later, I realize that all the way I was just worshiping cricket. I earnestly prayed for my team, I became angry with it when my favorite team did not win and started following it again as soon as something good happened.

Now that I have realized it, I can just hope that the God of Cricket will listen to my (and millions of other 13 year olds' like I used to be) prayers and India WINS the cricket world cup-2011!!
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Location: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

Comments

  1. RamdasMarch 30, 2011 at 1:40 AM

    "May be the hope was never gone, but just lost somewhere waiting to be found. Maybe the faith was always there, and all that mocking was a way to hide the true feelings. And may be the dreams were always seen, but he simply chose not to remember them after waking up in the morning."

    U deserve an applause for this piece.
    It connects

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tanishq GoyalMarch 30, 2011 at 1:41 AM

    thnx Ramdas.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownMarch 30, 2011 at 3:16 AM

    Nice pos....it seriously connects :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. RobinMarch 30, 2011 at 8:39 AM

    Kab tak KID rahega. Grow up man :P
    Liked the post and way in which its written, it forms a synchronous post.
    Are you sure you wrote it ??

    ReplyDelete
  5. Tanishq GoyalMarch 30, 2011 at 8:47 AM

    thnx Ankush.. :)
    Robin: yes I did, ur surprise means a lott..thnx man!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dr NishaMarch 30, 2011 at 10:05 AM

    very nicely written bro..simply loved the way u have expressed urself..it was incredible!!

    "And may be the dreams were always seen, but he simply chose not to remember them after waking up in the morning."

    ReplyDelete
  7. Tanishq GoyalMarch 30, 2011 at 4:58 PM

    Thnx didi.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownMarch 31, 2011 at 3:46 PM

    just loved the initial description and the concluding lines.. good work.. a serious nice post.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. KetakiApril 2, 2011 at 10:38 PM

    @Ramdas: +1
    Nice one Tanishq! :)

    ReplyDelete

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