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The partnership that started it off...

Ever Sunday, at the Keyes High School Cricket Camp, two ‘special’ things happened.
  1. We would play a practice match (that varied between 25 to 40 overs),  
  2. 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 5th 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 at the age of 14)! I walked in quite confidently. The only thing she said to me was, “Play straight and run hard.” I faced my first ball from Nikitha and played a flawless cover-drive- straight into the hands of cover. Not a bad start!
Between the overs Nooshin di walked up to us and said (to me), “You’re batting with Mithali, must be a dream come true. Good luck!” She patted me on the head and walked off to mid-wicket… Mithali di and I stitched together an unbroken 168 run stand- she was unbeaten on 103, while I was on 47! It was rather surreal. Every time we had a mid-wicket conference she would say the same thing, “Play straight and run hard”, and then we’d do the ‘glove punch’ 3 times (a routine I later developed).
I don’t even remember what I was thinking during that innings; in fact I don’t even think I was thinking at all. I was just so happy to be batting with her. It was like everything else just came naturally. Of course, when you’re batting with someone of her class you never really match up to their standard, but that day I felt like I could pull off anything.
It’s amazing how things always seem to go your way when you start something new. I guess that’s why they call it beginner’s luck! 4 years after that particular partnership, I batted with Mithali di again. We had a 50 run partnership, in which I only scored 5! I didn’t have much luck that day, but I’ll cherish the text Nooshin di sent me that evening. It said, “Well played! At that stage we needed you to play like that. Continue the good work tomorrow as well.” – Ironically I was out off the 5th ball the next morning!  (We were playing a 2 day game and I was sent in ahead of Sowjanya and Nooshin di as ‘night watchman’).
These were big steps in my ‘career’. They were huge learning experiences. Just watching Mithali di bat from the non-strikers end was amazing… I had the best seat in the house, and I’m quite thrilled that on both occasions I didn’t let go of it easily!
People are right when they say you learn a lot by just watching. That was certainly the case with me… Mithali Raj taught me a lot simply by being Mithali Raj, the class act; and I can’t thank her enough for guiding me through that partnership (“Play straight and run hard.”)- One that kick-started my career!

Comments

  1. Shebani12 March 2011 at 10:56

    Mithali Raj- Truly a class act... Lucky you... Got to bat with Mithali di... Nice one... Yet again...

    ReplyDelete
  2. sacshi17 March 2011 at 00:48

    nice:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anuja11 January 2012 at 18:39

    Nice one...

    ReplyDelete

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