Aug 17, 2021
Indians love cricket. I love cricket.
Cricket runs deep in India. Cue the categorization of cricket as an Indian religion. Win or lose, Indians will unite when their side is playing a game on and around the cricket pitch.
It binds us. It moves us. It holds us in a trance.
But today, I am going to talk today about what it means to an Indian — to me — when India wins at cricket. This is when cricket in India transcends from the realms of spirituality to a national feeling of hope.
Cricket is not a sport.
It is national pride.
It is an economy.
It is, in the times of hopelessness, a reprieve.
India’s 2021 victories in Test Match Cricket at the Gabba and Lord’s offer hope — to a nation ravaged. The stories of these victories will be whispered at those fabled cricketing grounds for the foreseeable future.
But the whispers at Gabba and Lord’s are rooted in echos of 1983 and Sharjah.
1983 and Sharjah
⏳ Wind the clock back to 1983: Color televisions and live broadcasts are not yet common in Indian households. And yet, when India defeated England in the semi-finals of the Cricket World Cup, you better believe that folks like my father — then young — found a color television to watch the 1983 Cricket World Cup final against the West Indies — Live!
India almost lost that match. But I can always hear my father’s excitement and joy when he narrates the story of how Kapil Dev ran half way across the cricket field at Lord’s — Cricket’s own Mecca — to catch the cricket ball, and get Viv Richards’ wicket. When I hear that story, it is clear that Dev’s catch and Richards getting out, turned the tide of the game, and enabled India to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.
India was an underdog team in that tournament. India was never supposed to reach the finals, let alone doing so by defeating England in their backyard. And India was never supposed to win. But we won.
I would not be born for 6 more years. But every time I see the grainy footage of Kapil Dev hoisting the World Cup, my heart beats a little bit faster. Pride.
India became only the second country to win the Cricket World Cup. The West Indies won the first two editions of the tournament. Here was a former British colony, winning in Britain, at a sport invented by the Brits.
⌛️Turn the clock forward to the early 90s: India is struggling economically after decades of socialistic policies when it came to national economics. Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar is giving Shane Warne nightmares.
In this era, Tendulkar becomes the first Indian cricketer to publicly sign up with sports sponsorships, and creates a revenue stream that is independent from the money that he makes from playing cricket matches. In his own words, he does this to attain financial stability given that his lifespan as a sportsman is limited. This seems natural today, but it was nothing short of revolutionary back in the day. Of course, sponsorship would only work if he were to perform.
And Tendulkar performed.
Describing him as a run machine is a disservice. He scored so many runs that in the mind of an Indian, anything short of a 100 runs in a single innings from a batsman was deemed ‘poor’.
He carried the team. India lost a lot back then. But when it did win Tendulkar was at the helm. In fact, it would not matter if we won or lost — as long as Tendulkar scored a 100 runs, it was good enough.
“It’s dancing around on the roof!”
The best example of that was the 1998 “Desert Storm” Coca Cola Cup at Sharjah. Tendulkar scores back-to-back centuries to win a tri-nation cricket tournament between India, Australia and New Zealand.
After a series of matches, Australia qualified for the finals. India faced off Australia before the tournament final. India had to score runs at a very rapid run rate to qualify for the finals, because it had not won enough matches in the series so far. No one really expected India to be able to do this. Australia sets a daunting total of 284 runs for India to chase down. But India didn’t just need to win, it had to win quickly. In fact, India could actually lose the game entirely, but as long as it scored enough runs at a very fast rate it would qualify for the finals.
India scored 250 runs in that match. Tendulkar scored 143 of those runs in 131 balls. He scored those runs so fast and made the ball disappear out of Sharjah so many times that Tony Greg — the game’s commentator — became famous for shouting “It’s on the roof! It’s dancing around on the roof!” till he was out of breath — he was talking about the ball, of course. Yes, Australia won that match. But Tendulkar got India into the finals.
And then, he repeats the act in the finals. 134 runs this time in 131 balls. This time, it was enough for the rest of the team to rally around him — and win! Against the Aussies!
Here was one Indian, taking on the best in the world, on foreign lands, consistently scoring runs, and wining matches for India — even as everyone else in the team would fail to perform.
Tendulkar did not become the God of cricket just because he was a good cricketer. He is the God of Cricket because he showed Indians that we can be the very best in the world, without excuses. He showed an economically weak nation that we can become a global benchmark of excellence and financial success with skill, hard work and dedication.
Gabba and Lord’s
🦠 It is now 2020/2021, and COVID-19 keeps slamming the world: India like most other countries is under a crippling lockdown. Businesses are abruptly uprooted. Migrations away from urban centers — and back to rural areas — are happening at an unprecedented scale, because jobs have dried up in the cities. Those migrations likely killed just as many people as COVID-19 itself. In a moment of collective, national conscience, we all witnessed Death becoming us.
December 2020: the Indian Cricket Team arrives in India for a long Aussie Winter (or would it be Summer down under?). A ODI tournament, a T20 tournament and a Test series. Amidst COVID restrictions and questions around the utility of Test Cricket, India and Australia proceed with the ODI and T20 cricket matches. Australia wins more ODI games. India wins more T20 games. Here come the series of 5 Test Matches — each lasting 5 days a piece.
It is important to understand that no one is really paying attention — fine, some people are paying attention. But in the middle of a soul crushing, economically devastating, life threatening pandemic, very few have the time for Cricket, leave alone 5-day long Test Cricket matches.
India loses the first Test match in three days. It was a batting collapse of epic proportions. Cricket Pundits from all over the world predict a clean sweep for Australia in the remaining four Test matches — all through Zoom windows. Soon after, India’s captain departs for home because he just became a father. Most of the players are tired with the bio-bubbles, and injured from the ODIs, T20s and now the first Test. They need to sit out the rest of the Test matches.
Players from India’s B-team are called upon to play the next game, with a stand-in captain for the rest of the tour.
🎁 Melbourne Boxing Day Test — India wins with its B-team players, riding on a captain’s knock by Rahane. But it loses more players to injuries. Those Zoom predictions are now looking silly. Even I started paying attention — all while working from home. A few days later Jan 6th happens. It is a stress time for me personally. But, India just won a test match in Melbourne! With injured and inexperienced players! Against a formidable Australian side!
🎟 Sidney Pink Test — India clinches a draw from the jaws of defeat with R. Ashwin and Rishabh Pant “playing the role of a batting rear guard never seen before” — in the words of my father. Ashwin had a back ache so bad that he was struggling to stand upright. But he stood guard. He and Pant held off Australia from winning. They were going so strong on Day 5, that at one point Australia was actually in danger of loosing the match. the game is drawn, but the injuries continue. It was now effectively a combination of B-team and C-team players in the Indian national side, with a stand-in captain.
🦘The Gabba — This is Australia’s Test Cricket stronghold. Very few teams in the world actually navigate the pitch on this ground. The ball bounces unevenly here, making it difficult for the batsman to gauge the height at which they will face the ball. It requires great skill and batting technique to be good at the Gabba. The last time Australia lost here was in the 1980s — when I learned this I realized that age was catching up to me.
India was not supposed to win. The Series was leveled at 1–1. Australia was going to win this match and win the Series, against India’s C-team. Easy peasy. That was actually the consensus on the morning of Day 5 — even I thought so.
Enter Shubhman Gil, Chateshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant. This was gold dust.
They batted. And batted. And batted.
Gil was sublime, with his easy-going thumbs up’s and 90-odd runs which put things in motion for India. Pujara was getting hit all over his body by the cricket ball — and let me tell you something: a cricket ball hurts. But all through that pain, he maybe flinched once. And he kept on ticking the scorecard with evermore runs, without loosing his wicket.
And Pant was like a man possessed. His was a brave innings. He had just played a 5th day knock in the Pink Test that avoided a loss for India. But he was not playing safe to avoid a loss in that game. He played like he wanted to win. In the Pink Test he lost his wicket, which slowed India’s chase for a victory.
But at the Gabba, he was repeating that same feat again, without loosing his wicket.
He just kept going.
It reminded me of Tendulkar’s back-to-back 100’s in Sharjah.
Pant scored the winning runs for India.
India won a Test Series 2–1 in Australia, against a formidable Australian side, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, without its regular captain or any of its seasoned, experienced players.
India’s C-team, brought an A-game to win!
They provided an entire nation, ravaged in a pandemic, a much needed reprieve. They distracted some of us, even if for a moment, from death and chaos. It reminded us — we can win, in adversity, with very little. Hope.
𝝙 May-June 2021, the Delta Variant has collapsed India’s supply of Oxygen: People are dying on the streets because hospitals have now run out of medical-grade oxygen. The official — underreported — counts of daily new cases hits a high of 450,00. Personally, witnessing this — even from afar — was an emotional time for me. And it has continued to be that way all through July and August.
2021 was supposed to be better — but not quite.
🆓 Day 4. August 15, 2021
India celebrated its Day of Independence for the 75th time on August 15, 2021. It gained its Independence from the British in 1947, and became as self-governing country.
August 15, 2021 was also the the 4th day of India’s second test against England, at Lord’s. Yes, the very same Mecca of Cricket, where India won its first ever World Cup in 1983.
No one really predicted that India would be able to win on Day 5. It was a statistical improbability. England were all set to win. India could hope to fight for a draw.
India was 150-something for the loss of 7 wickets at the end of Day 4.
India’s #7 and #8 batsmen — bowlers who may know how to hold a bat — added 89 more runs, and got India’s total to 298 runs (and India declared). England needed 270-odd runs to win. I am glossing over the exact figures here because it is the 17th of August, and it still feels like a blur.
India’s quartet of fast bowlers — Sharma, Shami, Bumrah, Shiraz — seemed to know the task at hand.
It took them less than 60 overs to take all 10 English wickets. They were freakishly clinical. I have never seen India’s fast bowlers be able to take 10 wickets that confidently and efficiently. These wickets were not based on luck. They were engineered.
This was an Indian team that clinched a victory from the jaws of defeat in Test Cricket, second time in 2021. This time in England.
And, they did this the day after India celebrated its independence from Britain for the 75th time.
Rabindranath Tagore could not have been more poetic himself.
Roars of Hope
Cricket in India is a religion, but it is also so much more!
The victories at the Gabba earlier this year, and now at Lord’s were at the strongholds of Australia and England respectively — two very formidable cricketing nations.
They make Indians hopeful. They make me hopeful.
1983 and Sharjah echo through these victories in 2021 at Gabba and Lord’s.
And while these victories will be whispered around these grounds for years to come, for an entire nation, these were roars of hope.
Winter Rant 
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