My Journey to become a Match Winner in Cricket: Part 1
Cricket and My Childhood
Cricket has always been a passion since childhood. Most of my memorable memories would include Cricket. I played almost on a daily basis in my colony’s park. We would play with tennis ball and on occasions with a cork ball. That was the only sport we played as kids. I also joined a Cricket club when I was 13 and would go daily for practice. I would come back from school at 2, eat my lunch and would be at the cricket ground by 330, jogging and warming up in the sun.
I would say that I was a good batsman and good bowler with a tennis ball, but with a leather ball, at best I was average. This was due to the fact that in leather ball cricket, technique matters a lot, while in tennis ball cricket, your power and bat swing matters a lot. Also in tennis ball, since most batsman rely on power, they don’t develop a good defence, and thus a smart bowler who is accurate could prove to be lethal. And I was that smart bowler. But in leather ball, you need much more than smartness. You need a good technique.
I could never improve much on the technical aspect, as the club which I attended was poor in terms of coaching. I didn't realise it back then but now it is abundantly clear that the club ran on endowments from government and thus only wanted to show a healthy attendance of kids. They would favour only a few handful of cricket players, rest were royally ignore. They however needed fielders and net bowlers which they got in form of kids like me. But never was there a scenario where they were focusing on players and teaching them technical stuff.
Fielding however remained an exception. There were daily drills on fielding and catching. There was also emphasis on fitness and for a bulky kids like me, I was reminded of the same often. I would give my best in the fielding drills and worked on my fitness. The results paid off very well. I would proudly call myself a great fielder and that is still valid even today.
Cricket made me the man I am today
When I was preparing for IIT JEE, I was finding it difficult to find motivation to study hard. I have always found it difficult to stay disciplined and keep on working consistently. My achievements always came form a short burst of an effort and were back by my natural talents.
But getting in to IIT wasn’t easy at all. I knew the hardship as only a few (0.01% to be precise) students would make it to the IITs every year from the millions who appeared for the exam.
I was searching for motivation, and one day I came across a book on IIT JEE. I thought this book would motivate me. It was written by an ex-IITian who had an All India Rank(AIR) of 37. He would talk about how his main motivation was to impress his girlfriend and that kept him going.
For me, there was no girl in my life at that point. The culture and the setting of my hometown didn’t allow it. And I couldn’t find anything else in my life which could be considered as a motivation. But then I thought of Cricket. I had read in that book that IITs have a very good ecosystem and facilities for sports. This idea struck me deep. I now knew what my motivation was.
I wanted to play for the Cricket team of IIT. That was my motivation to study for IIT JEE.
In hindsight, it was a good idea to adopt, for it kept me on my path towards clearing the very difficult IIT JEE. Later I would go on to clear IIT JEE and would join IIT Bombay. It has been 18 year since I first stepped into IIT Bombay. It was Cricket, my motivation, which took me there!
And yes, I did go on to play for the Cricket team of IIT Bombay. So yes, I can say with experience that dreams do come true.
Dreams do come True. You just need to believe!!
And getting in to IIT Bombay was the start of my journey in life. It was that one big factor which would shape my life in the future. It still does even today. It made me the man I am today. And I am proud of the fact.
Thus I am proud to say that Cricket made me that man I am today!
More on cricket, in later chapters..Stay tuned!!
