Cricket in Our Backyard

Cricket has officially arrived in the US. The jaw-dropping moment was not scripted. It did not happen when the announcement of the country as one of the T20 World cup venues was made. It did not happen when a temporary cricket stadium sprung up in Nassau county, New York. It did not happen when the cricket royalty started descending on the country without any visa hassles. But the moment the US cricket team beat an established Pakistan team—in a closely contested group game involving a rare tie-breaking super over to decide the winner—it went viral and garnered over 50 million views on TikTok. The game loved by millions seems to have found its new footing. I was one of those who watched it live.

My fascination for the game of cricket is decades old, from back when five-day test matches used to have a rest day. Cricket is an obsession for many from the Asian sub-continent. My own love affair with the game started when an underdog Indian team won its first one-day world cup in 1983. The unending celebrations are still fresh in memory. Thereafter, not having a TV at home could not deter me from catching the game in some neighbor’s house. Sundays spent watching a good game of cricket would not be complete without watching replays of the winning matches. That was pure joy.

I might have hardly wielded the cricket bat a few times in my childhood for fun. But I definitely knew who the stalwarts of the game were. Kapil Dev was high on my list of people to meet in my lifetime. Then came Virat Kohli. I admired Jonty Rhodes—if you know, you know—for his amazing athleticism on the field. My close friend used to go gaga over Azharuddin. Not surprisingly, I can still recall some of the deadly bowlers of the erstwhile colossal West Indies team. Those were the days of day-long, patient, and time-defying viewing habits involving no scrolling.

After Twenty20 cricket made its official debut in 2003 it took a very short time to become popular. Several T20 leagues started after the popularity of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20.  

Shortened games attracted more people. As with anything drastically new, there are older generations who are slow to accept change. Initially I found T20 cricket unappealing. But it grew on me. Same with the highly popular franchise cricket in India called Indian Premier League (IPL). Seeing so many teams, umpteen number of matches with players playing whichever team owner bought them, irrespective of their countries or regions, I would say “What’s the point?” Recently it started growing on me. The absolute joy on the faces of thousands of spectators is something to behold. That is one money-making, joy-spreading, world-uniting stuff. The best thing is that it brings different generations together. Forget test matches ever doing that now.

Get ready to enjoy the beautiful game in the ongoing T20 world cup with or without cricket vocabulary in tow. You may end up either bowling a Yorker, hitting it over the fence, or taking an outstanding catch!

(Travis Head of Australia. This is the only picture I captured from the last one-day cricket world cup in Nov 23, because he caused many heartbreaks in the world. As a redeeming factor, he played for Hyderabad in IPL. Now I love-hate him!)