And this Saturday was a special one. After almost five or six years, i was entering the Parade Grounds in Secunderabad to watch a dear friend and his team 'Sunshine' play a cricket match.
The expansive ground had close to twenty teams playing matches against one another at the same time. As i sat down to watch 18 year olds and 20 something year old play the Gentleman's game, i was filled with a sense of curiosity and wonder at the passion these guys had towards the sport.
Every year, dozens of C-Division league matches are played, my friend and captain of team Phalguna informed me. And most teams work hard, practice hard and take these matches seriously. And boy do they take them seriously! I watched, a mute spectator, as the Sunshine team cheered when their captain took wickets; screamed hard as another team mate dropped a catch and appreciated another team mate for wonderful bowling. The sentiments were the same as that portrayed by our national team. The same sense of anguish, pride, anxiety, happiness and ecstasy.
And then you wonder-what pushed them to play cricket in the first place; what pushes to take the sport so seriously, knowing well enough that you wont be earning big bucks like those in the spotlight? The friend had this to say "At the end of the day one gets immense satisfaction from winning a game. And its for that satisfaction that we play". Here are young, talented people who perhaps held a dream once-to make it big, to play for the nation and hoping to be noticed. And for many, it will just remain a dream.
These youngsters pool in money to register as a team, to use the grounds with the HCA. The one's working in the team contribute a little more than the others to play 10 matches a season. When my friend was telling me this, i wondered why the Cricket Association needs to take money from these teams? why not simply let them utilise the grounds? Isn't it these small teams that are keeping the real spirit of the game alive? Apolitical and non-commercial, I found the real spirit of the game, for the game and team spirit among the Sunshine team.
Here was a team that was playing to win. Here was a Captain who was asking his opening batsmen to keep wickets and play calmly, and play to win. Here were other team mates and capable batsmen, cheering as their star batsmen Lokesh hit fours and sixes (though it was quite hard to determine what a six and a four was in the parade ground).
They weren't jealous that someone else got an opportunity to bat longer. They weren't here to get great scores. But they were there on that Saturday morning to simply play cricket in its rightful sense.
And it was this team spirit that pushed them to win their first match of the season. And that's when i felt that the real game of cricket was still alive. Not on television. Not among the sensational IPL matches or test matches. But here among the C-Division league was the true spirit alive and kicking...
