Cricket. Or Kirkit or Bat ball. In the leagues of gully cricket it
goes by many names, but the spirit of the game remains high. Its not just a
sport in India, its actually a way of life. From our grandfathers to our
fathers to us, everybody has played the game at some level or the other. While
in the developed countries the sport is played with proper kits on idyllic
cricket grounds complete with specially rolled turf pitches & with full
rules in force, in India the game can be seen played pretty much everywhere
from stadiums to parks to gullies to roads to memorials to parking lots to
office complexes to classrooms with anything even remotely resembling a bat and
any round object similar to a ball.
This isn’t a national sport but it’s a national obsession. Some may
even call it a religion with Sachin Tendulkar revered as the Almighty GOD. Here
the fans are not just mere fans but dedicated disciples. Fans have made temples
for their Gods (players) and spend their lives in sincere devotion. Cricket
unites the whole nation where boundaries created by religion, caste, region,
status etc. seems to vanish in the event of a mesmerizing contest going on in
the cricket field. People from all walks of life come together to a
neighborhood park to play from dawn to dusk for no other purpose other than for
the mere joy of the game.
The much hyped, newest version of the game, Twenty20 Cricket, has its
roots in the gully cricket played all across India, where matches of 5 overs a
side or 10 overs a side are the norm. Batsmen are ever so eager to swing the
bat on every delivery to hit the maximum and run for their lives at each opportunity
of a run. Bowlers attack the stumps bowling Yorkers to get the batsmen out.
Fielders dive around grassless surfaces, getting bruised all over in the
process, just to stop each ball coming in their direction. Motormouths of the
neighborhood would start their own version of fast paced commentary, calling
fielders names as amusing as they would get. And oldies who come for their
evening stroll pray for their goddamn lives and women in their homes brace
themselves from balls flying about, shattering the odd window pane here &
there.
So friends it’s about being unashamed about our version of Cricket,
being able to enjoy it as a sport or fun or hobby or pastime and bringing joy
to the hidden child in us who longs to hold a bat and whack the ball or try
different variations of dusra with ball or imitate Murali or Sachin. Here, it
is a sport of the masses and it will continue to capture the fancy of
generations to come. “Oye mera bat hai, main nai khelta aur, bye”.
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