Cricket and laughter go together in India
Cricket and laughter co-exist… at least sometimes. Yes, we have seen the famous yawn behind the wickets in CWC 2019 and Sarfaraz was trolled like mad for days. The televised matches make sure that every yawning gap between a ball rushing towards the boundary and a fielder diving valiantly to miss it by millimeters, the...
Revitalising cricketing instincts
Revitalising cricketing instincts It is not everyone who gets to ask the cricketing legend M S Dhoni questions that are incisive and help understand what goes on inside his mind. So when I got this opportunity, I simply asked, ‘What revitalises your cricketing instincts: audience reactions, a great batting pitch, or bowling that succumbs to...
By the fans, for the fans
By the fans, for the fans We are a cricket crazy country and I remember being glued to the transistor listening to commentary for days together. That was years back of course… much before the TV made its entry to our home and certainly much before smartphones and apps appeared. Even a visit to the...
The India vs WI match in tweeted rhymes
A blazing start to the IndvsWI match Rohit Sharma has got over his bad patch! Two run-out moments in a single ball But hey, Virat isn’t destined to yet fall! Looking back he stares at the fallen bails Gayle knows this match isn’t for his gales! Gayle fails, the bails wail The crowd hails, hopes...
You see, I don’t like to miss it all!
You see, I am not the sort who will run to my neighbour’s house to watch the replay of the shot that I missed on my browser or my mobile. This is because I fear my neighbour will bang into me as it is he who rushes to my house every time there is a...
Stop flirting and get back to cricket
The favourite refrain of the purists inside and outside the game has been: ‘Stop flirting and get back to cricket!’ Believe me, the refrain hasn’t always been particularly directed towards the introduction of technology… as, from the ‘Sharmila’ days of Pataudi to the ‘Anushka’ days of Virat, the refrain has also stepped out of the...
Turning point
The pundits have always called cricket a game of glorious uncertainties and go to the extent of saying that one match can have several ‘turning points’. This game is such a complex flip-flop between exhilaration and stress that if you’re one of those who watch a match on the television, it is the faces of...
Battle for the remote
‘Lies!’ she shouted, ‘all lies! The dog simply couldn’t have swallowed the remote. Not possible.’ I said, ‘I’m sure he has. Just look at his smug face. He obviously doesn’t like watching the serial that you like. So he’s just gone and swallowed the remote.’ ‘But why in the name of…’ she paused to choose...
Cage opened… will the parrot fly?
No, I’m not Panda from the Biju Janta Dal… and this article isn’t about the SC ruling allowing CBI to go after top bureaucrats without waiting for a nod from the Government. So, obviously, there will be no politics and thus no tummy-aches because of uninterrupted bouts of laughter. I’m going to talk about cricket…...
Kirkit
The place where I grew up was Bundelkhund… and the people of this region are lazy with their pronunciation. So for many years even I played ‘kirkit’, listened to ‘kirkit’ commentary, and didn’t know that there was an insect too that went by the same name. It was when I was well past the junior...
Cheers, jeers, and fears
I know hundreds of cricket fans who know nothing about the technicalities of the game and yet they look forward to watching every match and also have strong favourites… and I know yet another set of hundreds of fans who talk intelligently about the game, watch every game, but have no favourites. They divide their...
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...
