In India cricket is religion and for
most people it is rather a sport to talk about than play. As I mentioned earlier
I was never a sportsman. For me, I preferred talking about cricket than
playing.
We started a cricket tournament
in our company and I was part of one of the cricket teams. The boys were
gracious enough to accept me as part of team as I am 43 and have never shown
any signs of being a sportsman. I brought up the average age of my team which
otherwise would have been well below 30!
Today we had our match. My wife
and son were to join the audience to watch me play. I had told them to be on
time otherwise I was sure that I would be back in the pavilion even if they
came 5 minutes after starting the match. After all I had not played the full
over-arm cricket on a proper cricket ground for last 20 years!
We were to bat first and my wife
and son were nowhere to be seen. I was asked to open the batting. I pleaded to
my captain to send me after a wicket or two so that at least my family can see
me on the pitch with a bat in hand. My captain told me “I need to shield our
better batsmen from their best bowlers who would bowl first” How helpful! I realized
that my role was more like a sacrificial goat!
As I walked to the pitch, my wife
and son were not in sight. Then something happened. I was determined to play in
front of them and decided come what may, I am not going to throw my wicket
easily! I focused all my concentration and middled the first ball to take a
single! Felt such a joy! It was just a six-over-a-side match. I came to open
the batting and remained unbeaten as we scored 67 in six overs! I personally
did not score much but did not waste any deliveries and rotated the strike by
running like a mad dog between the wickets!
My son and wife could see me play
and remain unbeaten. As I walked back, I was really happy and proud. God knows
for some reason it meant a lot to me!
I definitely don’t have any
sports skill but played on sheer will! I realized that I can go to any extent
to impress my family. Family means so much to us and it is good to have them
around so that one can stretch beyond normal limits. That’s the role of the
family in our lives – family brings our best intent and best behavior!
As I massaged my tired limbs,
another thing struck me! My son is just 6 years old but even my wife had never
seen me play in our college days as I was never a sportsman! Well – age no bar for impressing your
girlfriend!!
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