Cricket at Delhi: from dawn to dusk !

The IPL fever is in full intensity in India these days. But the team in Noida and Rithala got addicted to this fever last January itself. It was the time when a cricketer from across the border had the temerity ‘the himmat’ to say a few rude things about the national icon – Sachin Tendulkar. Tauba ! Tauba ! But these two teams of Tata Power wanted to make a distinctive allusion to the country that the sky would not fall on such a small remark. Our cow is sacred.

It was 18th of January 2012 when the two teams decided to meet over a cricket match. In India, we consider cricket to be a religion but on that day, we considered it to be a celebration. A week before the match teams started to practice at their locations because each of them wanted the other to lose. Finally the verdict day arrived.

It was still an early morning when both the teams arrived at the Modern School Ground at Barakhamba Road in Delhi. The players were accompanied by their family members to cheer them up. The organizing team didn’t leave a stone unturned when it came to arrangements. It was a gala amalgamation of family, culture, exuberance and cricket. A little warm-up at the field made the players more energetic. They were all set to run an extra mile.

The umpires called both the captains for the toss and it was Noida Team which was asked to bat first. The openers couldn’t impress the spectators but it was middle order which showed a sense of calmness and the maturity to stay till the end as the wicket was slow. The way the top order collapsed reminded me of the cycle stands in front of the cinema hall – one falls and everything else falls. They could manage to set a target of 68 runs in 20 overs and it looked a competitive score because of the slow outfield.

Now it was the chance for the Rithala team to prove themselves but even their batsman couldn’t make an impactful performance. At the end the game became quite close. But it was poor fielding and a few poor deliveries which took the game away from Team Noida.

Both the team members congratulated each other for an abnormal (above-normal) performance. The cricket match which was held was more than a colonial past time because all these players won more friends than matches. The memories of this cricket match has now become everyone’s darling.