BC, AM, and the Cricket Premier league

We can keep going into the past if we wish to but the one truth that I have always believed in is that there was no life ‘Before Cricket’ or BC. You can be from the ‘Before Streaming’ era or the ‘Before TV’ phase or even from the ‘Before Transistor’ age… but I’m sure there was no real ‘Before Cricket’ time. I mean, even the pre-historic man, I’m sure, had access to drift-wood that had taken the shape of a bat and dried fruit to work as a ball.

Now that we’re clear about BC, let us talk about AM. Before AM all you ever see is darkness. Right? Now, to my cricket-soaked mind this sounds purrfect… because before Amit Mishra, there was no dynamism in bowling. Mishra is the sort of bowler for whom Douglas Adams could never possibly have said: ‘The bowler approached the wicket at a lope, a trot, and then a run. He suddenly exploded in a flurry of arms and legs, out of which flew a ball.’ Amit Mishra is never a flurry of arms and legs… he is calm and bowls without spending any extra energy. This is probably why he ends up getting all his hat-tricks! Look at the way this lad confounds the statisticians with hat-tricks… almost like Shikhar Dhawan who literally balances boundaries on the tip of his pointed moustaches! And lest we forget, this left-hand opening batsman played for Team Delhi in CPL 2008 and was their third-highest run-getter with 340 runs in 14 matches at an average of 37.77. Then there is the batman’s worst nightmare, Dale Steyn. Why forget the great pinch-hitter Irfan Pathan?

Before you get confused by my random name dropping, let me tell you that I am talking about an CPL team that has neither Orange Cap winners nor Purple cap winners walking up to the crease under its banner. I was checking the stats that listed some general or miscellaneous records, and this team wasn’t there too… so they have no fancy for highest ducks, highest 100s, highest 50s, highest partnerships and most runs in a season. And yet, this is the team that has the maximum potential to lift the IPL Cup this year. The truth is that if you want to know the artist, look at his art… and standing tall amongst the real cricketing artists today are Amit Mishra and Shikhar Dhawan! It is their art that makes me go all out for Team Hyderabad.

Yes, for me it is Team Hyderabad.

No, it isn’t Team Delhi… for in my eyes they are the ones who have literally thrown away all the chances that the Gods had gifted them in the years past. They are like the blind heroes who walked past accolades, cheers, and kisses and fell into the abyss of anonymity that losers generally get. No, Team Delhi has been rather reckless with their fortune… and so I have decided to go with the team that has players who keep their eyes open when they are playing!

So yes, for me it is Team Hyderabad.

The season has just begun… and one sees more and more mind-sets from the BC (Before Cricket) era trooping in to get hooked to this game. The TV TRPs have enough figures to show us all that the IPL has finally managed to weave a magic carpet that simply gets bigger and bigger and seats all the people who keep joining its fan list year after year. Very soon, there will remain no minds from the BC era… and once you’re out of that era, you are awake and are an AM-man.

‘Now what is this AM-man all about?’

Well, if you haven’t watched Amit Mishra bowl, you’re obviously in the dark ages of cricket. Wake up! Get mesmerised by Amit Mishra and start calling yourself an AM-man. This is the shortest way to become a genuine CPL fan!

‘But then, Team Hyderabad hasn’t set any records yet, nor have they been applauded for memorable performances?’

Ah! I know they aren’t there in the record books. They are not there even the ‘most catches’ records… and yet I know this is the team to watch out for. And I say this because as the darkness slowly fades away, in comes the sunrise! It is this sunrise that I associate with Team Hyderabad.

Team Hyderabad is synonymous with a glorious sunrise!

This Cricket Season, look no further than your mobile to capture the best Cricket fun. Get scores on the go with @cri, catch up on cricketing action with @highlights, enjoy latest cricket news with @crinews, be your own cricket star with @superover and LOL with Navjot Singh Siddhu on @sidhu.

To use any of these services just SMS @keyword to 51115. Valid on Airtel, Vodafone, Idea & Tata. Upto Re 1/SMS 

Arvind Passey
01 May 2014

Contest results announced… and this post won a prize:

For those who need more details on txtWeb Cricket Services, here they are:

In a Cricket Crazy country like India, did you know that only 10% have Internet Access? That means that roughly 800 Million people have never experienced the internet until txtWeb. True to their mission of democratizing the spread of information, txtWeb brings millions of Indian users the joy of the Internet on SMS with a great suite of cricketing apps. These are the popular ones:

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For the Cricket Premier League, txtWeb released a new set of cricket apps!

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