Impact of cricket in my life cannot be explained in words...but this post would do its part in unfolding atleast some part of it.

1. Cricket not just a part of my life, but MY LIFE!!
India a country known for its prodigious diversity of religions with people often
bickering among each other, is also known for how a game called Cricket binds
these people in unison. It is even believed to be seen that cricket is considered a
religion of its own kind in this country. And it is righteous that many kids in India
grow up knowing and following only this religion.
Like many other kids, cricket for me has been the entirety of the 22 years of my
life and I am gratified of being committed to the game. Back in 1998, when I was a
6 year old kid, it was on the 22nd of the April when I first watch a cricket match
with sense of zest and alacrity. With my father’s succorI could get through the
basic ruling, and then went on to watch many such matches and could perceive and
grasp subtle points from those matches.
Within no time I had a new avocation in watching cricket and had a cricket bat of
my own and in no time this avocation turned into a one of playing cricket. Like
many others, I started playing the game in my neighborhood, and it was not until
the February of 2002 that I could get into a cricket academy and play the game
with a sense of professionalism and seriousness. I joined Sarojini Cricket Academy
in the city of Hyderabad, it was a fine Thursday morning with a cold and gentle
wind drifting across the ground, this season in Hyderabad generally hits low
mercury levels.
There was a bit of first day excitement along with some jitters, to start of there
were a bit of warm up sessions in which we were asked to jog around the ground
followed by sprints and then finally it was time for some cricket. As a newbie you
generally are not entitled to go and start playing in the nets, so you generally set
things moving with some throw downs from the coachwhere you get the feel of
the cricket ball, which was an unfamiliar entity until then. This continued for the
next 4-6 weeks and things were getting mundane until when we were finally
permitted to get into the nets.
When I first went to watch an India Zimbabwe match in Hyderabad, all the players
were practicing in some kind of a rectangle shaped meshwork with the bowlers
bowling with their usual run ups from one end and the batsman at the other. That

2. seemed a bit strange at that moment as we as kids have never got a chance to catch
a glimpse of players practice in that style until then. So entering into those identical
rectangular meshwork with all the cricket gear on was something to be animated
about. Anxiety got the better of me for the first few days, and then gradually it
went from good to some high quality cricket where I went onto play the premier
League cricket in Hyderabad city organized by the HCA (Hyderabad Cricket
Association) for the next few years. Not that successfulin my short league cricket
career but I am definitely proud of some my performances in those few years. One
of the notable achievements in those years which still makes me feel rewarding is
that till date I am the youngest player to make a debut for Howard Public School, it
was in my 6th standard. And then went on to captain the schoolteam in my 8th
standard but speaking of my captaincy brings me embarrassment, as I was removed
as the captain after a dismal performance both with the bat and as a captain in the
only tournament that I captained.
In Indian middle class households studies are everything once you get into the high
schooland it was the same in my case as well, my father told me that there was no
more going to Cricket academy and that I should focus on my studies. Fortunately,
my schoolgave equal importance for education and sports and so I could continue
playing the game for the next two years at the schoollevel. It was after my 10th
that there was a long break of 2 years where I could hardly get a grip of my bat
which was heart breaking for me but I could do not much as those two years were
very important in my educational career.
Once I got through those 2 years and got into graduation school, I was overly
excited as the grad schoolwhich I got admitted was known for its Cricketing
prowess and boasted ofone of the best grounds for any grad schoolin Hyderabad
back in 2010, now many schools have made advancements in that field. I was told
by many seniors in my neighborhood that it would be difficult for me to get into
that College cricket team, but after some decent performances in the inter-branch
matches conducted during my 1st year I was the only one selected into the college
team from my batch. After 2 years of cessation I could finally rejuvenate my
cricketing career which was euphoric, and then continued to play for the next 3
years under some exceptional captains. I was offered the captaincy in my final
year, my second stint as a captain was very successfulin comparison with the first
one, as I hardly lost any matches and could even perform well with the bat but the
only black spotbeing that I could not manage to bring home any trophies. After a
successfulfinale to college life and moving on to my professional life, cricket

3. seems to have distanced from my life yet again. Hopefully in the near future I get
an opportunity to go back on the field holding a bat with all the gear on and have
whack!!