Hi There!
I welcome you all to my blog again. If this blog even entertains one person in the entire world, I would have made a worthy investment in writing so much interesting stuff.
I come today after finishing my medicals for the insurance I believe I have done something worthy in life. I am so proud of my fitness and the amount of running on the treadmill. The examiner was touched and moved by my enthusiasm to get onto the treadmill. He was shocked that a large body frame, I had, could overcome the cardiac tests. I ran hard and easy sometimes. I was sweating but not tired. Lastly the report came and I had to sign on it and it said, I am normal. I am glad.
I want to write about me as a sportsperson. Not one in this world that I am sportsman. I am sports enthusiast. Largely because I had a fatty figure, a huge pot belly and I could hardly move my body and run like other people. But when I got on with the game, some of my reflexes stun even the pilots of the F-16s. And so very true.
I remember very well, I played my first cricket game when I was 6 years old. It was a Sunday and all my dad's colleagues wanted to encourage the kids in the colony with a game of cricket. Stanley was the eldest in the entire kids gang. Everyone could believe, he was from the Caribbean and bowled real fast. I didnt even know how to hold the bat. My team was batting second and we had to chase down 20 odd runs and all the guys were out. At the crease were Ravi and myself. We both started to bat, kinda okay stuff. I still the recount the shot which got us the winning runs. It was semi hearted pull and the ball flew to mid off and towards the boundary and I was staring at the ball, lazy as I was, hoping that the ball would reach the boundary. Out came some very furious and frustrated screams from my team mates, it turned out that the ball would not race to the boundary and we needed 2 to win the game. I started to pull my fat body for 2 and before I could realize I have completed 2 runs, there were some angry pats on the back. Thats how I started my cricket. Since then I have been playing with my heart out in each and every game, but not really a star of sorts. I have so much fun.
I ran out of some kids company as early as 9 and since then I was stuck to either books or encyclopaedia or some TV shows. Cricket only started when we moved to Hyderabad. I had so many friends and we used to play the game every evening. I still remember Prasad who would induct a match or two on every Sunday. The Jyothi theatre ground is where I learnt how to play the game. Untill 1996/1997 I was an average guy who could hold the bat and ball and help with a run or two in the end and who could stop the ball by virtue of the hands and the big body I had. I would never allow a ball to pass through my hands and several times in that period I had the appreciation of my team mates at the ability to stop or pull an awesome catch. Next year, in 1997, I discoverd how hard I could hit the ball. I didnt even so many calories existed in my body and so much so that I could send Ravinder's bowling to way behind the ground and usually it would end up on some terrace which is 80-90 meters away. The terrace of Jyothi theatre is wher I usually ended by batting ability. I must admit that none of these attributes apply now to my game of cricket, today. There is an occasional brilliance to the way I play these days and never consistent.
In one of the games we played in the BHEL grounds, our team got out to a paltry score and we had to defend really hard to save the game. I was put at Short Mid wicket position (reasons, obvious, I could not run fast in the boundary positions). Prasad was bowling really well and we had to complement his efforts and I resolved that I will have to do well if I have to earn my next game. I picked up 3 catches, and 1 run out. All the catches, and I still recount have been a result of some eye enticing reflexive actions. I held one catch in between my legs. The other, to the left, a stretch of my hand and the ball stood glued to my palm and a run out a sharp shooter to the bowlers end. There have umpteen reflex catches in the years to come, but this was the beginning.
I wanted to be known to everyone of my friends as a good cricketer. And I did all that which will support my cause. But no results. I wasnt too practical. But in one of those games, I wanted to make a mark and become a regular in the squad and I literally begged the captain to allow me a chance to bat up the order. His girl friend must have kissed him in the morning and he obliged my request. I played with Revanth as my partner. I played several shots and when I got out and Rewanth was the first to applaud. He commented loudly that I played the shots that made me look like Mark Waugh. Listening to that, I was probably an inch away from Paradise. Mark Waugh and Steve Waugh are GODS to me and I would do anything possible to play/look like them. From that day on, I would always play a cricket game with my sun glasses, a white sweat band worn on the left wrist and a cricketer's hat. All of these were attributed that only associated with Mark Waugh. I became to be known as Mark Waugh's fav son. I still remember the best accolade that came to me, was from Sanjay Khunger in California. He watched me play a game at the Toronto Cricket Club and he commented saying I was the lost twin of Mark and Steve. I hung Sanjay's picture on one of my walls and what he said about me in my apartment in Toronto.
I have played 100s of games but the one that stays on top is the one we played after our grade 12. Sunil was the captain of our grade 12 team and we wanted to beat the commerce guys badly because we have been at the receiving end from them most of the time during grade 12 days. We wanted to beat them at any cost and we played this game right after our final examinations. All of us were early, I was adhering to the advise from Sunil and he was in a rather pensive mood asking me to do well. We were fielding first and I dropped probably the simplest catch of my career. Sunil was furious that I let off an easy chance which could have been a huge boost for us. The next ball, again was towards me and I leapt so hard that I held the ball on one bounce and had a shy at the stumps and the guy whom I let off was awe struck as I ran him out. Sunil came hugging to me and apologized for his rude stuff a ball before that. He offered me to put me in to bat at the top of the order and I did have some divine intervention, I batted like hell. I was whacking the ball frequently into the nearby lake every time and before I realized, I made 32 runs in form of 4-4s and 2-6s. While the opposite team never receieved this treatment from me all through these 2 years and before they could realize that the game was already over, Sunil was dumb struck. He could not believe what I did to them. I was humble and modest every way possible and came home. We still recount that game and have a beer.
I want to wriet about my cricket in my next post. Its simply not enough on one page and I have so much to talk about.
I am going to post more interesting stuff about our graduation cricket days and my days as a cricketer in Canada.
Cheers!
Rajesh
aka Mark Waugh
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