An Indian cricket fan's memoirs

An Indian cricket fan's memoirs

Inspired by this very emotional and nostalgic article on Cricinfo today, I decided to try my hand at writing a similar account of my memories of Cricket and the Fab five.

Born 27 summers ago, The earliest memory of mine, watching a cricket match, was when my Chithappa took me to one of the India-West Indies test matches held at Chennai during 1983-84. I was just 2.5 years old then and my younger brother was around 6 months old, so I alone had the privilege of watching the match at the ground with my Chithappa, I think, I slept for most of the match. However, I can recollect two West Indies bowlers (Marshall and Holding?) bowling from either sides of the pavilion. I couldn't much about the game then, However I was very much excited about the new cap that I was given at the stadium and also the placard reading 4/6!! I was fond of these very much that I remember treasuring them for few days after the match.

In 1986 we moved on to a new house at Kasturba Nagar, Adayar and this is where I remember playing the first game of Cricket. I can't say it is a game really, because as in all Gully Cricket, the owner of the bat is the captain, umpire and match refree of the game!! Since I didn't have a bat, the only thing I remember doing was bowling under-arms to a boy from a the neighbourhood (as you would have rightly inferred, he owned the bat). I remember my dad watching me bowl underarms and reprimanded me for doing so. He said when you bowl under-arm, its not cricket. I don't recollect much of watching cricket at that time.

I have very vague memories of the 1987 World Cup. We were in Bangalore then and I remember my dad and Grandpa discussing India's fortunes in the matches and how every one in the house would get disappointed as soon as Srikanth got out. I hardly knew any of the cricketer's names then, Srikanth, Kapil and Gavaskar were the names that usually cropped up in their discussions, but majority of the discussion at home was on Srikanth. He being from Tamil Nadu and also being an Iyengar, quite a few people at my home liked him (apart from him stroke play of course!). By this time, I did have a bat as well as quite a number of playmates (including my younger brother, who was 4 years old then) to play cricket.

I seriously started following cricket since 1988 Sharjah cup. We were visiting my uncle at Kanchipuram then. My cousin, brother and I watched the first match of the Sharjah cup, India vs West Indies. West Indies was a formidable team back then and my cousin was saying that India would have a tough time lasting their entire quota of overs. This was the first match and one of the very few matches that I remember seeing Srikanth bat. I think he scored a century that day and managed to win that game with Hirwani taking few wickets at the end. My cousin was virtually jumping on his sofa when India won. Although India went on to lose that series due to consecutive defeats against both West Indies and Pakistan, my interest in Cricket had grown. It was definitely my favourite sport and probably the only sport that I understood completely then.

Fast forward another year, I was introduced to "Sachin Tendulkar" and I as many of my age then went crazy!!! He spoilt us, We were rooted to our televisions, refused to do our schoolwork when he played. Hell, we refused even to go to schools when there was a match!! I don't remember seeing any of India's matches in Sachin's debut series at Pakistan, however I do remember the many Sharjah Cups that India featured in.

Year 1991 - The elation of watching India steamroll themselves to the final and then dejection of seeing Aaqib Javed destroying India in the finals . Many of this generation do not understand or feel the pressure of India-Pakistan encounters, Even as a child you could feel it then, the streets were deserted during any India Pakistan match then and given that we never had a media that hyped such games then, you can certainly appreciate the importance of such matches. Winning against Pakistan then was treasured by all the Indian fans given that it didn't happen that frequently then. (I pity the state of Pakistan cricket now, its really unfortunate that we don't get to see the mother of all encounters these days....). I vividly remember that all India Pakistan matches were scheduled on a Friday and India were routinely on the losing side whenever this happened, this led to many weird discussions in class rooms.

(to be continued)................