From the diary of a cricketer

Jonty Rhodes is the greatest fielder the world has ever seen. From the current lot of players i suppose AB de Villiers, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and maybe even Suresh Raina are up there, but deinitely not in the same league as Rhodes. I've grown up watching the man dive and slide his way to greatness. He made fielding an art at a time when it was one of the most neglected areas of the sport. Only more recently with the rise of T20 cricket and close finishes in the 50 over format have players and coaches begun to emphasise more on fielding as the third area of specialization. As a youngster who began playing cricket on the terrace with her father, fielding was one of my favorite parts of the game. We had 'catching practice' everyday where i would dive on the concrete, oblivious to the fact that i could cause serious damage to my body; the reason being-- I thought Jonty Rhodes would be proud of me! When i began playing 'serious' cricket I was always first ta...

All through life you meet different people... Many of whom become friends, and some who remain acquaintances. As you move on with life some of these friendships last, and some don't. In sport, more often than not, these relationships last for life- you make friends that you never lose. In June, earlier this year, I met 31 such people who I believe have become (my) friends for life. Guntur, ACA Women's Cricket Academy, JKC College- the venue of our ZCA South Zone camp. It was there that I met some special people- players, coaches, support staff and groundsmen alike- who made the experience all the more enjoyable. Whether it was during a fitness session/ skills session/ quiz/ lecture/ meal we had an absolute blast. Unknowingly we grew closer as the days zoomed by. It took a week or so for everyone to settle in and become comfortable. I remember, during our first fitness session, I was sitting with Sunitha Anand and everyone was sitting in little groups- each state together- ...

Over the past week or so there’s been continuous talk of how five unlucky girls from Hyderabad may miss out on playing in this year’s Under 19 tournament. Why? Because of some silly rule that is applicable to the boys and therefore should be applicable to the girls as well. I believe it’s absolute nonsense! What is this rule, you ask? It is that a player may not be allowed to represent her Under 19 state team for more than four seasons. Again you may ask- Why? It’s quite simple really—there are around 500 boys vying for 15 spots in the state team… The 4 year rule was introduced to give everyone an equal opportunity and make sure boys were not pushed too early into a level they are not ready for. I suppose it’s a pretty good rule if you consider the amount of competition in boy’s cricket, but for the girls… It just won’t work! As I mentioned in an earlier post, women’s cricket in India is not very popular, which means that there aren’t too many players. Each state (ba...

It’s been 3 years, but I still haven’t gotten over the fact that I won’t see my grandfather again… Whenever I come back from practice or have done particularly well in a match I think of Thatha and how much of a support he was. When I first started playing, every time we played a match, Thatha would come and watch, no matter how far the ground was from home. He watched me first score my first runs for my club and for the state. He saw me take my first catch. The only thing he missed was my first wicket for the state, which only came in my second tournament! What I miss most about Thatha was our trips to the station before every tour. He made it a point to speak to every member of the team—find out their name, what they were (batswoman/ bowler/ keeper, etc)—and he would say good luck to each one individually (WITH the name). After one meeting Thatha knew all my teammates! It was rather amazing… The year Thatha passed away I had what I believe was my ‘breakthrough’ season. I scored my ...

A few days ago a 16 year old boy named Naresh asked me whether there was no competition in girls cricket. I couldn't help but laugh when he asked me... Women's cricket may have made progress in terms of facilities and exposure, but the number of players remains the same. In state teams you find 25 girls fighting for 15 spots. On the other hand, in boys teams, almost 200 boys fight it out for a place in the selected 15. Like I told Naresh, in comparison to men's cricket, women's cricket is far behind, not in terms of facilities, but in terms of competition. Boys start playing cricket in school, when they're 10 or 11, whereas girls have no such opportunity.  The boys have many more categories as well- under 12, under 14, under 16, under 19, under 22 and ranji. The girls have two categories-  under 19 and seniors (open category). Not only that, but boys have more of an opportunity to play just for fun. They have inter-school matches, inter-college matches, corporat...

Today, I think all of India finally saw the rebirth of Yuvraj Singh! Yes, he scored a hundred against the West Indies, and guided India home in tricky situations against Ireland and Netherlands, but the innings he played today was special. He held it together when the team was under the pump. He had been involved in a few terrible mix ups with Gautam Gambhir (one of which finally resulted in his run out), and just as he was getting a partnership going with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, he saw the latter fall. India needed 89 runs in 15 overs, and in walked Suresh Raina. His inclusion in the side must have been highly debated, after all Yusuf Pathan does bring in the option of another off spinner, but I think Raina’s ability in the field and the fact that he has a slightly more rational head on his shoulders (PLUS the fact that he plays with Dhoni for CSK) was what played in his favour—and boy did he come to the party! 34 vital runs at an extremely brisk pace, when the hopes of the country wer...

October 16, 2008—Hyderabad U-19 v/s Andhra U-19-- it was one of the most amazing matches I’ve played in my career so far. It had its share of ups and downs, and the match was in itself was a roller coaster ride. Leading up to the match, we had won only 2 out of our four previous games, which meant we were out of contention for a place in the All India nationals. We had come back strongly after losing our first two matches, by beating Tamil Nadu and Goa quite comprehensively. The team had shown a lot of character to come back the way it did. We proved to everyone that we were no pushovers, that we’d give them a run for their money. That side had players who in a couple of years became match-winners, but were at that stage ‘ bachas ’ (as they all like to call themselves). We had only one real ‘established’ player in the side, and that was captain/ wicket-keeper, Sindhuja Reddy. Sindhu was an extremely good captain. She had the ability to get the best out of her players, no matter wha...

‘To walk?’ or ‘Not to walk?’ The debate has been raging for a long time, and I’ve finally decided to have my say. It was only yesterday, that Sachin Tendulkar ‘walked’ after he was given ‘not out’ by umpire Steve Davis when he was caught behind of Ravi Rampaul. The edge was so thin, it wasn’t even picked up on the replay, and there was hardly a noise too—but the Master still walked! Had Sachin stood his ground, and had the West Indians called for a review, I’m assuming they would have lost one (and thus, Steve Davis’ record of 100% correct decisions, this World Cup, would’ve remained). In contrast, two days ago, Ricky Ponting clearly nicked one and was caught by Kamran Akmal- he was given ‘not out’ by Umpire Erasmus. (I personally believe that umpire Erasmus was so shocked that Akmal took the catch he was unable to make a decision!) The Pakistanis reviewed the decision, and replays clearly showed that there was a healthy edge, and Ponting was made to look quite the fool. He justified...

Ever Sunday, at the Keyes High School Cricket Camp, two ‘special’ things happened. We would play a practice match (that varied between 25 to 40 overs),    Mithali Raj (former Indian captain/ India’s highest run scorer in ODI’s) and Nooshin-al-Khadeer (India’s off spinner/ third highest wicket taker in ODI’s for India) would play with us! This was one of those Sundays. We were going to play a 40 over match and I was picked in Mithali di’s team. I was slated to bat at No.3 (if a wicket fell in the first 8 overs); otherwise I’d walk in at No.5 after the likes of Sravanthi Naidu, Sowjanya Nath and M.Shalini. Mithali di and Aruna were all set to open the innings, and almost immediately, I began to pray that Aruna would get out in the first 5 overs—and guess what, she fell off the 5 th ball of the first over! I was excited...Couldn’t hide my smile, even though the team had gotten off to a bad start. My dream had come true. (Well, at least partially—I was batting with MITAHLI RAJ ...

This is something my friend, Ritu, and I did when we were highly inspired/ extremely jobless... Date: 8/3/2011 Place: Deli 9 (lifestyle) Time: 12:03 PM Subject: Political Science Mission: To create a Political Science question paper that does not involve rewriting everything that KK Ghai says! Concept: Ritu Gopal and Ananya Upendran I. Long Answers: Question 1. a) Write a short fiction story on Unit 1. (Caste, Region, Community and Language problems in Indian Politics)                                                                 OR b) Create a comic strip on Unit 3 showing how electoral trends have changed over the years. Question 2. a) On an outline map o...

Here's something i wrote a couple of years ago when i had to take a break from playing because of my 12th class board exams... I stare at my books… Try to read… ‘Supply is directly proportional to the price of a commodity’… It doesn’t register. I continue to read… ‘Law of supply states the relationship…’- it still doesn’t register. I shake myself, jump around and sit down again, hoping it made a difference, but knowing deep down that nothing can change the way I feel. “Give it one more shot”, I tell myself. For the twenty-third time I open my Economics book hoping I will finally understand ‘the law of supply’ and all that’s related to it, and for the twenty-third time in a row, I fail. “Why?” I ask myself. “Why can’t you concentrate? Even for five minutes.” “You’re disturbed”, my mind tells me, “and you know that.” Finally I give in. I accept defeat. Yes, I am disturbed, but it’s just because and essential part of my life seems to be missing. “SEEMS to be?” I question angrily...