It was the year 2009. When the year started, I knew it was going to be one of the defining years of my life, but I didn’t know it would be one of the best ever. It started badly of course. This was my final year of engineering, the no one cares what you do until you pass days were coming to an end and the pressure to get a job during campus placements was more than ever thanks to the US recession. I didn’t even clear the aptitude test in my first interview. When the second company came along I was through to the final round but choked like (let me stop it right there). I passed the final exams but didn’t have a job – tagline for majority of the engineers since time immemorial. Even the guys who got placed weren’t given a joining date. So, we had plenty of time to think of other things to do. That’s when one of us decided we can give real cricket a go by forming a club and giving entry to tournaments. After all, we were jobless after spending lakhs for graduation and it only felt right to ask our parents for more money to make use of our time well.

We stayed clear of the high end tournaments and found an affordable one. Since the games were during the weekend and we were a cricket club, we named it as Weekend Cricket Club (we were efficient and succinct that way).

As we were gearing up for our first game, my mind flew back to the first ever competitive cricket ball game I played representing my school. Any reason to get out of school is a good day if you ask me, if that is for playing cricket the whole day – you can lure me into a windowless van and kidnap me with that line. We all had only one thing in mind, if we win the toss, we were going to bowl. No no no, we were not the pioneers of always chase, not even close. Our only goal was to stay outside the entire day. We knew our batting sucked, it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone as we had zero infrastructure in our school for proper cricket. So, if we bat first we wouldn’t last even 10 overs and the game would be over before lunch, which would mean we had to return back to school to attend the post lunch classes. We might be poor cricketers but we were not idiots.

The game was in MAC ‘B’, the name might sound a little underwhelming, but that was the ground just outside the M.A.Chidambaram stadium (Chepauk), but in the same compound (now it has been changed into a training ground with nets). We reached early and found a side entrance through one of the stands to the centre pitch (the pitch where one little fellow scored 155 and another little fellow saw that live from the stands and fell in love with that fellow and the game). There was no one to be seen, so I started walking towards the middle, slowly but steadily I reached there, I stood there and imagined myself with a bat in hand and I visualized a forty thousand people shouting that sent chills through my body. I was standing in a place where an international match has happened, that feeling you get when- and I got yelled at for going near the pitch by my PT sir and the groundsmen, who were running towards me and waving at me to move away from the pitch. Thankfully I escaped punishment and was let of with a stern warning.

So, luckily we won the toss and decided to do what we had planned, that is to concede lots of runs, not that we were good enough to do anything on purpose. Those guys were from one of the well known schools in the city (who also happened to have the son of a famous international cricketer play for them). Naturally they didn’t show any mercy and scored 300+ in a 30 overs game. I got myself injured while fielding and spent the final few overs outside the field. This meant I was pushed down the batting order, but that didn’t mean I had to wait long for my turn. Think we faced around 12-15 overs and got bowled out for 40 odd. I went in with a by-runner and scored a grand total of 2 runs. But in the end, the goal was achieved, by the time the game got over, it was time to go home and not to school. This was one of the first of the many losses I would face as a school kid. I had never won (fairly – story for another day) a competitive cricket ball game till date, that is till I played the first game for WCC.

We won the first game for WCC, quite easily too. Bit of an anti climax given that out of the 11, only one player had actual match experience in recent past. After all those losses, this felt very different. But, little did I know it’s more harmful than a loss. All those days, I didn’t care if I won or lost because mostly we lost. I used to move on to the next game or the next thing. But a win changes everything, it gives you the confidence that you can win again, it fools you into thinking you are better than what you think you are.

Since then, the entire feeling of playing cricket just for the fun of it changed for me and I started to think I need to be the best I can, so that I am always prepared to play to win. That feeling has not changed till date. Is that feeling better than playing for fun? Absolutely NO! Is winning fun? Absolutely YES! Did playing for fun feel better than playing for the win? HELL YEAH. But like many, I lost that feeling and now I play cricket because I want to, I like to and the entire fun factor depends upon whether I win or not, whether I contribute to the team or not. It has changed, it has changed forever.

Next up –

– That match with R.Ashwin.
– First Man of the Match award – a week after an important event in my life.

To be Continued…