c r i c k e t

Some men like Jack and some like Jill
I'm glad I like them both but still
I wonder if this freewheeling
Really is an enlightened thing,
Or is its greater scope a sign
Of deviance from some party line?
In the strict ranks of Gay and Straight
What is my status: Stray? Or Great?
Vikram Seth, Dubious

I heard about a match coming up the other day. Apparently India and Australia were going to play in Bombay. I’m barely aware of how many players there are per team. I find it infuriating that trainloads of people will discuss nothing else. It’s only a game for heavens sake. I dislike games, especially monopoly, which seems especially silly. Everyone plays monopoly.

And then this lawyer friend of mine calls me up at noon & says that he has a pass (meant for high court judges) for the match, would I like to come? So before I know it I’m off to see a match, a couple of days after learning of its existence. There’s a traffic jam from the stadium at Church Gate to Opera House, and a line of people till Marine Lines. The entire Marine Drive pavement is a parking lot. You could hear a dull ROAR from outside. You aren't allowed cell phones and paper inside the stadium. I didn’t even bother trying to get in one SLR, 3 lenses (one very big), one rather impressive looking speedlight (fancy Nikon term for flash), film, batteries, extra battery compartment.

Although Wankhede stadium doesn’t look as big from the inside, it was incredible, packed to capacity, 40,000 people. They did the Mexican wave, cheered the Aussies too (this changed very quickly) and, because no one can think of enough reasons to hate Australians, began cursing Pakistan (and its mother, whoever that may be). They cursed Sehwag's mother too.

We couldn't see the scoreboard from where we were sitting so the match went by without us ever knowing exactly what the score was, and how many overs had gotten over. It was too far away to read player's names on their shirts, but a few stood out. Sachin Tendulkar because he was short, Zaheer Khan because he was tall, Harbhajan Singh because he wears a turban (over which he wore a hat for some time.. this was very confusing) and Sehwag because he got out on the first ball. The rest looked pretty generic from a distance. Aussies are much bigger than Indians and their faces are very red. They also play better, and won the match.

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