For the love of the game!
Hello friends,
After my last post 'Time' matters, the next topic I was planning and still in my books is something on 'Kerala Temples.' But like unplanned visitors, the instinct to write this one is sudden. So let me put some thoughts here.
Cricket is something which I used to follow with interest from my childhood and for a long time which included even test matches. By the time the cricket reduced from 50 overs to 20 overs i.e T-20 matches, my interest had gone down south. But I still watch T20 and IPL matches if not regularly. Be it T20 world cup or ICC world cup, our national team fighting against other countries' teams unites all Indians and stirs the patriotic feelings. If it is any match against Pakistan, it is like watching a war fought between two countries, though that is not how a sport should be looked at. The IPL matches are more for entertainment purposes than for the real sport and also they are great regional dividers. It has become a huge success and a money-minting machine. They are like football league matches, and the audience here are louder and boisterous and with added attraction/irritation of cheerleaders to cheer the team, the constant sounding of trumpets throughout the match. Like all the league matches and in other popular sporting events like tennis grand slams, we do not know how many of these matches are fixed. The finals of the IPL tournament between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings still appear to be fixed.
The arrival of the ICC world cup matches suddenly triggered the dormant enthusiasm in me to watch every match between any two nations. I thought it will be boring to watch a 50-over match after getting used to 20-over matches. On contrary, each match is interesting and peaceful to watch as compared to the IPL games. Of course, it depends on the teams also. The only thinking different from what I used to have earlier is that I am not too emotional or sentimental when our team plays. At the end of the day, the better team wins. What should have been a nail-biting match between India and Pakistan turned out to be a tame affair with Pakistan losing wickets early. What should have been breezy for team India turned out to be the match in which our men in blue barely scraped through against another 'lower' team of men in blue. The pitch appeared to be slow and the middle order Indian batsmen were looking more defensive which resulted in lots of dot balls. What we got to see was the lowest ever score in the current world cup up to now. The Afghan bowlers made use of the bowling pitch very well and contained a score which looked laughable. Meanwhile, I used to check Facebook when the match was going on just observe the reactions from Indians. One person's reaction (who is not in my friends list) was interesting to watch as it kept changing. She started by putting emojis of shock, nervousness, disappointment. The others in the comment section expressing their own fears about India losing and the match becoming to be biggest upset. There was a comment that let Afghanistan win at least 1 match here. And the host reacted by saying 'let them win, but not against us please'. This was sounding quite self-centered! One can argue that it is out of love for our nation, but still! Nobody acknowledged here that Afghanistan was playing good cricket, but everyone was just hoping India should scrap through somehow or suffer embarrassment! And of course, India did manage to sail through that stormy match with brilliant performances from our bowlers like Jaspreet Gumraah, Mohammad Shami whose hattrick in the end was like icing on the cake.There is a vast difference in watching cricket or in fact any game out of emotions or for the love of the game! A strong team will sail through any match any day. Though we won the match with a nail-biting finish, the day also belonged to Afghans though they lost! We need to give them some brownie points for making the match very interesting and not a tepid affair. I felt Mohammad Shami have been considered for the man of the match award as he got out the crucial batsman Nabi out and successive 2 batsmen and thus becoming the 2nd only bowler to earn a hat trick in the world cup after Mr Chethan Sharma.
As I finish writing this, the match between England and Australia is going on. With Ben Stokes being bowled out by Starc, it is clear that the game will belong to Aussies. Being the fans of the cricket game, let us learn to enjoy each and every match without getting too attached or emotional when our team plays. Let the best team take the cup home. These are nothing but just a few games in the game of life!
Deepa.
After my last post 'Time' matters, the next topic I was planning and still in my books is something on 'Kerala Temples.' But like unplanned visitors, the instinct to write this one is sudden. So let me put some thoughts here.
Cricket is something which I used to follow with interest from my childhood and for a long time which included even test matches. By the time the cricket reduced from 50 overs to 20 overs i.e T-20 matches, my interest had gone down south. But I still watch T20 and IPL matches if not regularly. Be it T20 world cup or ICC world cup, our national team fighting against other countries' teams unites all Indians and stirs the patriotic feelings. If it is any match against Pakistan, it is like watching a war fought between two countries, though that is not how a sport should be looked at. The IPL matches are more for entertainment purposes than for the real sport and also they are great regional dividers. It has become a huge success and a money-minting machine. They are like football league matches, and the audience here are louder and boisterous and with added attraction/irritation of cheerleaders to cheer the team, the constant sounding of trumpets throughout the match. Like all the league matches and in other popular sporting events like tennis grand slams, we do not know how many of these matches are fixed. The finals of the IPL tournament between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings still appear to be fixed.
The arrival of the ICC world cup matches suddenly triggered the dormant enthusiasm in me to watch every match between any two nations. I thought it will be boring to watch a 50-over match after getting used to 20-over matches. On contrary, each match is interesting and peaceful to watch as compared to the IPL games. Of course, it depends on the teams also. The only thinking different from what I used to have earlier is that I am not too emotional or sentimental when our team plays. At the end of the day, the better team wins. What should have been a nail-biting match between India and Pakistan turned out to be a tame affair with Pakistan losing wickets early. What should have been breezy for team India turned out to be the match in which our men in blue barely scraped through against another 'lower' team of men in blue. The pitch appeared to be slow and the middle order Indian batsmen were looking more defensive which resulted in lots of dot balls. What we got to see was the lowest ever score in the current world cup up to now. The Afghan bowlers made use of the bowling pitch very well and contained a score which looked laughable. Meanwhile, I used to check Facebook when the match was going on just observe the reactions from Indians. One person's reaction (who is not in my friends list) was interesting to watch as it kept changing. She started by putting emojis of shock, nervousness, disappointment. The others in the comment section expressing their own fears about India losing and the match becoming to be biggest upset. There was a comment that let Afghanistan win at least 1 match here. And the host reacted by saying 'let them win, but not against us please'. This was sounding quite self-centered! One can argue that it is out of love for our nation, but still! Nobody acknowledged here that Afghanistan was playing good cricket, but everyone was just hoping India should scrap through somehow or suffer embarrassment! And of course, India did manage to sail through that stormy match with brilliant performances from our bowlers like Jaspreet Gumraah, Mohammad Shami whose hattrick in the end was like icing on the cake.There is a vast difference in watching cricket or in fact any game out of emotions or for the love of the game! A strong team will sail through any match any day. Though we won the match with a nail-biting finish, the day also belonged to Afghans though they lost! We need to give them some brownie points for making the match very interesting and not a tepid affair. I felt Mohammad Shami have been considered for the man of the match award as he got out the crucial batsman Nabi out and successive 2 batsmen and thus becoming the 2nd only bowler to earn a hat trick in the world cup after Mr Chethan Sharma.
As I finish writing this, the match between England and Australia is going on. With Ben Stokes being bowled out by Starc, it is clear that the game will belong to Aussies. Being the fans of the cricket game, let us learn to enjoy each and every match without getting too attached or emotional when our team plays. Let the best team take the cup home. These are nothing but just a few games in the game of life!
Deepa.
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