Play Ball

Monday 16th Feb. 2015, the newspaper arrived with a nice headline "India hits Pakistan for a 6" (at the ICC World Cup in Australia). Yup, in this cricket war (more than rivalry) with our neighbour; India is ahead 6-0 as far as encounters at the World Cup stage is concerned. It came as a big surprise. India finished behind Australia and Britain in the triangular series that ended last month. The performance even prior to that was not that great. The punt view was that Indian batting stood no chance against the vastly superior Pakistani pace bowling attack; and Indian bowling attack - less said the better. Unless it was a pre planned strategy by the Indian side to not give their real game away - ( or they were setting the punters up for a change); the "blue" team thrashed the "green" boys by a very comfortable margin. Sachin Tendulkar's heir apparent in the team, and Ricky Ponting's Indian clone - Virat Kohli's ton, assisted by some fabulous performances by the almost dropped (from the team squad) team mates S. Dhawan, S. Raina, and Ashwin played a decisive part in the victory. Guess Captain "Trusting" Dhoni knows his players and knows what to expect from them when it matters. Credit to the under rated Indian seamer trio of U. Yadav, M. Samhi and M. Sharma; they may have lacked the ferocious pace of the neighbours - but made it up with some intelligent and at times fiery bowling. For most Indians, beating Pakistan at the world cup tournament is akin to winning the world cup itself. Thankfully the new team does not think that way based on what Virat had to say after the win - "I love to win and I fight to win". Great to see this positive aggression in our boys in "Blue".

Unfortunately for my own boy in "Blue"; a day earlier; his school team lost the pre-quarter final softball match in an intrastate championship tournament. India does not play much of baseball or softball; the game of choice played in the United States of America. It came as a surprise to learn that the championship attracted 24 teams from across Maharashtra including many from tier 2 and 3 towns. I was quite surprised that such a tournament existed for a game that is virtually non existent in India. For the Mumbai school boys, participation may have meant getting the certificate that would help them later in getting admitted to good Universities in the US; as sports (specially those popular in that Country) plays an important part in student selection as much as a scholastic aptitude. But; for the participants from  the smaller towns winning and loosing meant everything. So committed were they to the game that one would have thought that the sport was native to India as well and each of the boys were trying to get the selector's eye for a place in the National squad.

For a State level championship, the organizers had done a super bad job; but then that is generally the same story will all tourneys held of lesser known sports including athletics. Pictures are worth more 1000 words so judge for yourself.

 
A Baseball field for Minor League Games in America Vs

The Tournament Ground in Aurangabad.

The first match was delayed by an hour as the marking and field preparations were not done the previous day as the local politician who would also preside as the Chief Guest wanted to make sure that the viewing area where he would sit was comfortable for him and his entourage.

The 24 playing teams braving the afternoon sun (37 deg.C.) at the inauguration ceremony where the greatness of the organizers and Chief Guest was being made known to the boys. No water, food, sun shelter, toilet facilities available at the selected ground for the players.

It is said when there is no one to turn to, then turn to God. This little temple by the side of the playing field served as the shelter and resting area for the playing teams. The blessings received probably helped them get through to the Pre-quarter finals after trashing host Aurangabad 10-0.

Each of the  school teams had to arrange its own accommodation; which was good in a way as if it was left to the organizers - the boys would have slept in some cow shed.  Sportingly; despite the hardship the teams enjoyed the tournament. The boys from Cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Aurangabad watched the professionalism displayed by teams from smaller towns like Sholapur, Akola, Beed, and were heard promising their respective coaches that they would work harder and better at the game. Unlike the very popular game of cricket and for that matter even hockey and football; there are no great training or playing facilities available for this sport in India. It's hard to find places that sell gear and equipment associated with this sport. Kids taking up this sport even voluntarily are labeled as cricket rejects; so imagine what the coaches who brave into this sport are called? Last year, a Hollywood movie called "The Million Dollar Arm" caught a lot of attention in India. An adaption of a true event where a down and out sports agent comes to India to discover and nurture baseball talent from here to play in the major leagues in USA; based on the premise that in this cricket loving population of 1 billion - he could surely find a couple of boys who would fit the bill. I did some "netvestingation" and tracked the actual assistant coach portrayed in the film and even got him to agree to set up a coaching camp for the school team. But the school itself did not respond for reasons best known to its management.

Historically, cricket was not as much the favoured sport in India back in the 60's and 70's. It was a British legacy from our point of view and our team usually ended up as the whipping boys in the test matches played at home and overseas. Those were the days when we took pride in field hockey, and it was called our "National Game" - again based on the successive Olympic medals India won. With time, the new western playing techniques that relied more on team play (as compared to Asian mastery of the dribble stick), along with a much faster and high endurance "astro turf" game (as compared to an evenly paced game on "grass") changed the equation;  and, with the rise in the number of our growing game losses, the sport started to see an equal decline in this Country. The matter was compounded by the growing popularity of  the new "one-day" cricket format. After India's surprising world cup win in 1983 and follow up titles at various international meets; it became the new "National Game". Higher TV viewership meant higher sponsorship meant higher advertising meant higher money. In short Cricket bloomed and Field hockey was doomed. By the turn of the century it was one of the several unimportant games played in India.

Ironically, the sport that slayed it is also responsible for its revival as it is for other lesser played sports like tennis, football and "Kabaddi". The rising popularity of cricket's Indian Premier League (IPL) that was started to discover hidden Indian talent and improve the quality of sport (and of course also make oodles of money for the team owners) made a lot of people think that the same formula for success could be applied to other sports as well. As a result, the HIL (Hockey India League), ISL (Indian Super League - Football), PKL (Pro Kabaddi League), have started doing quite well in the last couple of years. It's only a matter of time before the "American Cricket" fever catches on in India and there may just be a day when it matches the popularity enjoyed by cricket today. Why will it happen is quite obvious. If not, one has to just read the sign up amounts being paid to talented rookies in any of the league sports being played and the reason will stare in the face.

I am not saying it's a bad thing; and who knows maybe my son too ends up taking up this sport professionally. But until such a day happens; his school team will have to practice this sport at the Beach. So Let's Play Ball. Better still - Enjoy!