i

My Brewing Romance

with Cricket

Better than any Love Story

X

Shashank Kumar

IDEA PUBLISHING WWW.ideapublishing.in

ii

Publishing-in-support-of,

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Printed in India

iii

About the Author

X Shashank hails from Patna in

Bihar. He holds a B.Tech in

Electronics & Instrumentation

from Vellore Institute of

Technology, Vellore. He is

currently into Business

Operations/Analytics working

with ZS Associates, Pune as an Associate

Consultant.

The enormous love he has for Cricket – a game that

he has worshipped since advent has pushed him to

pen down his first book.

Cricket holds a sacred space in his life and has been

a source of optimism for him in tough situations. It

has kept him grounded and stable in various

scenarios life has thrown him into.

You can reach out to him on:

Email: krshashank1312@gmail.com

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/shashankkumar13

Twitter: @tweetsshashank

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About the Book

X This book depicts the life of every 2nd kid who has

grown up watching and playing cricket. The book

appeals to the psychology and mindset of a cricket

fan and provokes him to create an analogy between

characters in real life versus the happenings in

cricket.

This book is a prime time example of a person who

has grown up devoting much of his time to his

favorite sport. As a kid, he has been fascinated

wildly towards this game and has managed to carry

forward his zeal till date.

He has been able to connect his dots of life with the

bits happening in the cricketing world. He sees

cricket as a source of energy which has kept him

aloft in tricky situations of life.

He has depicted each event which has left an impact

– small or big in this book.

v

CONTENTS

X 1. The Onset 1

2. The Emotional Connect And the

Teacher

7

3. The Defining Moments 15

4. The Dhoni Saga 31

5. The Biggest Sources of Inspiration 57

6. IPL – A dream Getting Realized

for Many

83

7. The Undying Romance 89

8. A Thank You Note 105

Shashank kumar

1

E

1

The Onset

X

The saga between the cherry and the willow

ver since childhood, you dream big. Your

dream revolves around the various dots

trying to connect in your surroundings. You see

the aircraft flying high up in the sky and you

dream of becoming a pilot. You watch a 90s

Bollywood movie and you figure out in your

My Brewing Romance with Cricket – Better than Any Love Story

2

mind that you have to become the lead hero.

There are “n” number of things which you see

transpiring and your dream keeps fidgeting

between them. As a child, there is something

special which fascinates him so much that he

carries forth the passion as he grows up and

pushes himself into the rigors and ordeals of the

world.

Cricket has played that part in my

upbringing. It has an essence attached which has

always pulled my chin up in various aspects of

life. May be it has something to do with being in

our cricket crazy nation. A toddler picks up a

plastic bat facing throw downs from his father

and that is where the journey begins. As a kid,

there was always an aura of excitement around

any cricket match India played. From school to

the other people around you, the match day had

more freshness embedded than any other

normal routine day. These were the times when

most of the people you met were seen inquisitive

about the match. These were the times when we

had so much time that we used to sit back an

hour before the TV just to listen to pre-match

show and wait for the toss to happen.

India has always been a crowd puller for

this game. Our economy might not be the best in

the world; still we have managed to fill in the

Shashank kumar

3

seats every time India has played at home. One of

the major reasons for our love towards this game

was also that we were not doing well in any

other sport. I might be wrong but it also can be

attributed to the publicity other games were

unable to garner. Hockey, as our main sport was

on a path downhill. In those days, Olympics

featured once in 4 years and all we could manage

was a bronze medal. Naturally, you follow

something which gives you tinge of happiness

every now and then.

As a kid, fascination was not limited to the

technicalities of the game. It was not just about

sixes being hit or wickets tumbling. It was about

the Indian tricolor fluttering all across. It was

about crazy folks sitting in the crowd cheering

up for their country with the loudest ever human

pitch. It was about various cultures coming as

one to support one cause. It was about the

emotions attached to each victory and defeat. It

was about the fire crackers going on after each

special victory. Cricket gave us reasons to

celebrate Diwali at any time of the year.

It gave us a sense of patriotism. Those

were the times when we did not have the

internet. We did not have our own personal

computers to play video games. Social media

platforms did not exist. All we had was the

My Brewing Romance with Cricket – Better than Any Love Story

4

television. We had time to play our favorite

sport. This also paved way for the integration of

my love for cricket.

We watched our heroes play and tried to

ape their batting stance. As a kid, we all have

aped Sachin’s stance at least once. We have aped

the bowling actions of most of the fiery bowlers

in the world. We all thought ourselves as one of

the best in the business. We were not batsmen or

bowlers. We were all-rounders. We touted

ourselves as someone who could hit centuries

and at the same time take a five for in every

single game. We all had a run up equivalent to

that of a Shoaib Akhtar. We had a self-belief that

for fast bowling you got to run in and deliver. It

has nothing to do with the arm strength and the

body position. We all used to count in and tally

the magnitude of runs and wickets we have had

so far in our kitty. I swear, each one of us must

have hit at least five double tons as a child. Yes,

matches played on terrace count in as well.

The “Britannia” or the “MRF” sticker on

our bats gave us a sense of happiness which

most materialistic things in the world failed to

offer. We all used to collect those playing cards

coming as freebies with the chewing gums which

existed during that part of the century. I think

the entire revenue of “Big Fun” was not because

Shashank kumar

5

of the chewing gum but the playing card which

came along with it.

Happiness was buying a brand new tennis

bowl with the green fluffy skin. Mind you, each

ball was made to suffer until and unless its skin

got peeled off and till the time it developed

cracks and stopped bouncing.

We all have collected the biscuit wrappers

during world cups for the scratch card that could

have paved way for something big during World

Cups. Unfortunately, it did not. The most it gave

me as a kid was another pack of biscuit. The

hope did not die and the cycle used to repeat.

We all have dreamt to represent India.

Sadly, for most of us the dreams died down as we

grew up. This was the age when it was more

about cricket and us. It was more than the stars

of the game. It was a relationship that we shared

with the game. Of course, we were always there

to support our team. I would say more about us

as individuals and cricket because at that point

of time not much cricket was played. It did not

have a jam packed schedule. This added spice to

the love we had for this game. The dosage was

just perfect enough to keep up the passion for

the game.

My Brewing Romance with Cricket – Better than Any Love Story

6

Over the years, I have seen myself shift

gears from being a high school/college brat to

moving towards the formal shirts and trousers

with polished shoes. Somewhere the energy has

drained. Routine has etched into the daily

ordeals of the life. Somewhere somehow I miss

those days, those evenings. Checking scores on

“Cricinfo” has become the penchant to follow

your passion. There were times a decade back

when sitting back and watching each delivery of

the game was a ritual. The advent of T20 has also

been responsible for emptying the glass which

was full of passion – the passion to watch and

play.

Somewhere inside the deepest corners of

my heart the dream remains with heart beats

offering it the life line to survive.

X

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