Cricket Made in INDIA

T he above title best sums my comprehension of the game of cricket in India just as the lines Football made In German. If you read between these lines, you get the impression the ball was made in German. However, the way football lovers understood it then, the Germans were the best at the game. This was also the title of the television program on German football that we used to watch as kids.

Intriguingly, the kids we saw were way younger than us and they used to juggle the ball with any part of their bodies. The Germans had also won the football World Cup on several occasions. Wasn’t that enough to make us believe that the Germans were the best at the game? But on second thought, if you compare the way Germans and the Brazilians play their football, you may be forced to change make some adjustments.

The lines ‘football made in German’ automatically change to ‘football made in Brazil ’ for a simple reason. The latter are not only best at the game but also their success at the most prestigious event in the world – the world cup continues to mesmerize people. The way Brazilians blend the beautiful game of football with skill and artistry makes them a cut above the rest.

The question of how the Brazilians have managed to be the best at the game cannot be restricted to a particular place or ground. They play football anywhere, on the streets and not forget the beaches from a very tender age. In fact, if one carefully sat down to watch all the games the Brazilians are involved in, he or she may be tempted to imagine they play football even when they are still in their mothers’ wombs.

Having written so much about football, one can easily gauge the passion and interest I have for the game. However, realistically speaking, in the world of sports, there certain games that one also tends to hate with passion. And most of these are games that are not popular in the world.

These are the games a person shuffling through TV channels will skip without wasting any time. If asked why we hate certain games, we find ourselves speechless or have no particular reasons. Isn’t that being so mean and unfair to such games? Not that they would feel the injustice but we have got to be fair. However, if we sit down and watch other games -hockey, volleyball, cricket and many others – and get to learn the rules of these games, I think in the long run, we can understand and even develop interest gradually. That is from my personal experience. Let me not beat about the bush but rather preach the gospel according to my title.

I have been nurturing the worst regard for cricket but surprisingly one of my friends was so passionate about the game. Like they say, “among the blind the oneeyed man is king”, I was so blind to cricket but this guy understood the game so well. Some of my friends from Sri Lanka invited him to watch a cricket match and I happened to tag along. Anyhow, I took advantage of the saying “opportunity knocks once at everyman’s door” to go and get a few tips about the game.

I started watching the game or rather they started watching the game and they were making comments. Poor me which comments could I make yet I couldn’t even understand the game. I was so bored from the word go. My friend tried to explain to me what was going on in the game but all I could see was a bunch of men standing around the field under the scotching sunshine doing nothing. Instead, I began to feel pity on them. To my rescue, I had brought along someone a companion who kept me entertained me for sometime. I started watching music videos on my laptop. With football, people don’t stand on the field to wait for the ball. They are kept busy by running around to get that ball and put it in net unlike cricket where people stand around the field with the possibility of not getting the ball. Now, that is the kind of attitude I had towards cricket but all that changed when the T20 World Cup started. Suddenly, all my friends started watching cricket even those who shared my apathy. Fearing to be the odd man out, I followed suit.

Usually, when we do something in a group, or watch a game in a group, that game begins to interest because of the jokes and the different ideas shared unknowingly. Before the T20 World Cup started, the cricket world cup had just ended and Australia had emerged as the victors so I didn’t have to look around for a team to support. My heart went for Australia in the T20. Not being a true fan of cricket, how could I not support South Africa , a country I share so much in common?

Gradually, I began understanding a few simple rules like the person who throws the ball is the bowler and the one at the receiving end is the batsman. And when that person throws the ball and hits the sticks, the umpire puts his finger up and the batsman is out of the game. With a few more rules I learnt, the game of cricket started getting interesting.

As the tournament went on, India ‘caught my eye’ because they had forgotten whatever had happened in the world cup and they were smashing any team that crossed their way in the T20. Miraculously, India and Australia reached the finals and of course my money was on Australia .

India had lined up a team of young men against the big guns of Australia. I watched the whole final in agony as the young boys of India demolished the great and mighty Australians. The saying “the old broom knows all corners” seemed fruitless for the aging team of Australia. All I could read on the faces of the Indian players was determination and hope to propel them to greater heights in the future.

Young talent has continued to surface from India and this has been evident in the Indian Premier League. The likes of Ishant Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth and many others can now rub shoulders with the greats of the game like Adam Gilchrist, Ricky Ponting, Graeme Smith and Hearschile Gibbs.

However, despite the fact that India is playing the best cricket so far, lets not take credit away from the mighty Australians. They will always be seeded number one in the world only that the young talent that is rising In the Indian cricket team should be a signal to the Australians to step up their game else they lose their top spot. This also helps me relate the statement I made in the beginning that the way the Aussies played cricket and won the world cup back to back continuously, one may believe that ‘cricket was made in Australia’. However, currently the way Indians are playing cricket, I’m forced to irrationally believe that ‘cricket was made in India’. The message is, before you hate any game for no reasons, at least take time to understand the game, learn its rules and then from there you can give a fair judgment.For me, I can sit down and watch a cricket match joyfully.

Joseph Katumba, BCA