Bharath Kumar

Drama Classics Inspirational

4  

Bharath Kumar

Drama Classics Inspirational

Cricket Is Just A Game

Cricket Is Just A Game

7 mins
378


Rishi flew to Adelaide from India to witness the mouthwatering clash between India and England in the world cup semi-finals. Being a die-hard Indian fan he desperately wanted to see India trounce England in the high-pressure game. In the back of witnessing all the knockout matches, India played and choked in the last nine years, he had a strong feeling in one corner of his mind that India would lose but he curbed that thought which only rubbed salts to his wounds. Cricket fans proliferated across the stadium. The rain God had taken a break so the clear sky indicated the rain wouldn't sabotage the game. The clamour descended upon the Adelaide cricket stadium to kill the eerie silence. All players seemed to be engrossed in their practice session and they certainly knew the significance of the match, winning would mean a ticket to Melbourne to play the finals. 


The coin was tossed up in the air and England won the toss and decided to field first which surprised many. Immediately, someone next to Rishi said, whoever wins the toss in Adelaide has never won a T20 match so India will win for sure. Rishi wondered how can one extrapolate a match result based on some useless records. Records are meant to be broken. It's just a rudimentary guess. The best-playing team will win the match. Indian openers walked to the middle of the crease all set to bamboozle England bowlers with their skills. Their plan was only privy to their team so we had no idea about their approach today. An electrifying atmosphere in the stadium reinforced the energy of the players and the match began without any delay. The crowd thrust itself into an agonizing silence as of mourning the death of an important person when a wicket fell in the very first over. In the next none overs, India lost another wicket but the score never accelerated. It looked like the boundaries receded to oblivion. Rishi wondered why have they adopted a safety approach in an all-important knockout game, especially against a fearless England. Deploying such a timid tactic especially when you have played fearless cricket over the year to counter the timid approach was unacceptable. It was painful for Rishi and other Indian fans to see India struggling to score runs on what was a conducive pitch tailor-made for batsmen. Did the old demons start to haunt India again? The timid approach was heavily criticized and it resulted in their downfall over many years but today yet again they have gotten back into their shell playing timid cricket. 


Rishi secretly filed a petition to God to save India in this match because he desperately wanted to see India vs Pakistan final. Just when it seemed like India would end up scoring low score magic was conjured up. At the back end of the innings, India did accelerate the scoring pace to finally end with a competitive score on the board. Rishi still believed India was short of ten or fifteen runs owing to their pathetic start. Will England lose? Are they going to choke as they always do? Will they come out all guns blazing? Can India win? Tons of questions sprang up in Rishi's mind during that fifteen-minute break. Based on the score of India, we can certainly not deduce the result of the match because anything was possible. England had depth in their batting and they have adopted a fearless approach which may not always work but if executed well, will indeed work.


Rishi had a placard in his hand which read, "India will be the champions" and a dummy world cup that he clutched to his chest.

Being an avid cricket fan, he always supported and cheered India despite them not winning any major trophy over the last few years. Fifteen minutes flew by and the English openers took strides towards the crease. Both looked serious as if they were unhappy about leaking plenty of runs in death overs. The very first over yielded three boundaries and their strategy was crystal clear, "Do or die"

No timidity, no safety, go bonkers come what may. Just like that, they gained upper hand in the powerplay and everything they had planned fell into place. Indian bowlers looked clueless as if they had already admitted a defeat. Rishi's intuition stirred stating India would eat a loss here but he killed that by cheering India. He still believed, if openers throw their wicket away, then the inexperienced middle order will succumb to the pressure thereby allowing India to gain the upper hand. But the openers had answers to all the questions fired by the Indian bowlers. They already stitched a hundred-run partnership and looked like vampires who would choke your throat. Slowly, but surely the match slipped away from Indian fans and to make matters worse, they dropped catches, and resorted to poor fielding which reflected their inability to handle pressure in high-pressure games. Rishi already had tears welling up in his eyes about to explode in a while. Many Indian fans left the stadium unable to see the embarrassing defeat which seemed inevitable. The onslaught didn't the case as the openers turned Indian bowlers into jokers with their relentless power hitting. Rishi couldn't fathom what he was seeing with his tears drenching the placard he was holding. Just like that, a gigantic six was struck to seal the fate of the match. India had received a ten-wicket hammering in the hands of England in a knockout game. Perhaps, even English players didn't expect to win with such ease. The match had turned into a lopsided affair with Indian bowlers having no answers to the ruthless onslaught. The hapless face of Rishi bereft of joy said it all. Someone, who had placed a bet in India's favour slowly, retreated away from the place after seeing the mayhem unleashed by English openers. The mouth-watering clash between India and Pakistan was neutralized by the mighty English who deservedly stepped their foot into the finals. India's bowling was a major worry going into the tournament but they performed well against all the odds in the group stage, their weakness was fully exposed in the semi-finals. India never boasted of a fiery pace attack. India's batting was their strength coming into the tournament but they heavily relied on few players and English bowlers exposed their shortcomings today. They leveraged the form of their openers to book a ticket to the finale at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Perhaps the timid approach of Indian players yet again proved to be their undoing. The English team is a perfect amalgamation of power-hitting and fearlessness. They never run out of steam under any circumstances so they are rewarded with a victory.

The entire stadium predominated with Indian fans slipped into a desolated ocean. Many broke into tears unable to come to terms with the grim reality. Indian fans left the stadium blaming the players for their timid approach while the English fans left the stadium praising their openers. The knockout choke continued to persist. Rishi glanced at the twinkling stars that seemed to mock him beside his tears that continued to pour out. He buckled as his knees gave away. In a jiffy, he blacked out much to the fear of the fans next to him. His dummy world cup broke into pieces taking with it his sorrow. It was indeed a double whammy for them. Firstly, they had a hard time digesting the bitter defeat and now one of their fellow Indian fans has lost consciousness. They tried to stir his consciousness back but to no avail, subsequently, a stretcher transported him to the hospital. What happened to him? Why did he turn that defeat into immense sorrow? Rishi regained his consciousness back after a checkup and got the advice not to take the defeat to his heart which would only worsen his physical and mental condition. "Rishi, rishi, rishi" people cheered him up.


There was a storm of memes on Twitter to express their anguish and disappointment over India's performance in the semis. #BoycottIPL trended loud and clear sending a message that India had never won a T20 world cup following the inception of a cash-rich league. Some blamed batsmen for the slow start; some blamed bowlers for their ineffectiveness; some supported the cricket team. People with wisdom charted a plan for Team India going forward. Some demanded immediate retirements, and some questioned players' contributions to India in ICC events. The imminent blame game had been aroused to action.


Cricket is a sport and let's not make it our life. Some fans break objects, get into unnecessary fights, send out vicious messages, and slip into depression. Let us see sport as a sport. Losing and winning are part of a game. Certainly, India will break the jinx and win a major trophy one day. India's defeat should not become the reason for our vexation, fights, depression or disinterest in life. Let us not create unnecessary hatred and violence.



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