Here comes Cricketing moments three. The final version of ‘My favorite cricketing moments’.

I don’t know if you know Mary, but just like you always leave the best for the last, so do I. And that’s the reason why I left fielding part of my cricketing abilities for the end.

Let go back to when I started playing cricket.

I was around 7-8 when I started having interest in cricket. I never had too many friends back then, so I used to play by myself. And the best game was to throw the ball into the wall and catch it.

I remember the first spectacular catch I took clearly even today. And I remember how happy I felt back then. Throwing the ball into the wall and catching it was easy, so then came the next step. I stuck a 10inch by 10inch white paper on the wall, and tried to hit the paper and catch it on the way back. Hitting the paper was easy, and catching it was even easier. Then suddenly I though, lets see if I can hit and catch 3 balls on the trot. (my thought are in italics)
1st ball: Hit the target and a simple stomach height return catch. (If I keep throwing like this, I’ll easily take 10 catches. Harman make the catches a bit difficult)
2nd ball (threw the ball a little harder): Hit the target and a catch above my head but well within the reach (ok now this is better, but I can still take a tougher catch)
3rd ball (by this time I was a bit nervous): Again hit the target and omg, I hit it too hard. (Damn, its gonna go way over my head. Run Back…Oh no I’m gonna still miss it…but I cant, I have to take the Hat-trick…Jump…and I jumped backward. While in Mid air – man I’m gonna miss it…spat- the ball hits my hand, and I’m still in air…hey wow I caught it, I did it…wow…bang…ouch..) My head hit the edge of the metal gutter and the concrete floor really really hard. But surprisingly, it hurt just for a few mins as I was so excited to take the catch .

Now catching off the flat wall was a piece of cake. I got bored of it pretty soon. Taking spectacular catches was now common for me. Next step was try to catch the ball not knowing which way it would go. For that, I had just the perfect innovative idea.

Our backyard wasn’t the biggest of the backyards but it had enough space for me to play cricket. The floor was made of bricks, which was unique to our house only. And one of the walls had those designs where they just spat small stones on the wall. So naturally the surface was really rough and a plastic ball after hitting it would go in any directions. That’s where I started really doing well. Now taking 3 consecutive catches was really difficult. They would require me to dive almost every ball. So the rules of my game changed. I was supposed to get the ‘Opponent Team’ out 10 times (one for each player). I had rules for all that I missed. Hitting the other wall was 4/6, and the number of bounces the ball took before I reached it was the runs ‘run’ by the opponent. So that’s where I actually learned how to dive in the air for catches.

Then came the big step. I had made some friends with the rest of the kids in my ‘Gali’ (street), so we used to play Gali Cricket. And since I was the youngest and the newest member, I was always doing the fielding, and sometimes got to bat a bit. I hadn’t started bowling Leg spin back then so, I never got to bowl as I chucked while bowling fast.

So it was I think my first or second day at gali cricket, when the best batsman hit the ball high in the air. And it was coming straight at me. Now we used to play with a rubber ball which would bounce off the hand even more than a tennis ball. And the height that this ball took, was so much that catching that was not even expected of the big guys. But somehow, I managed to catch it and not let it fall. That surprised a lot of the senior and soon I was playing regularly with them.

Then came the next step. The Indians under Azar went on the tour to South Africa. I think it was in 1995. And the series was not covered on the local channel. So since we didn’t have cable TV back then, I never got to watch that series. I used to hear my friends talk about the matches a lot. One day I heard them talking of a guy named Jonty Rhodes. Apparently he was the best fielder in the world. The elder guys were laughing and saying, “He doesn’t let the ball go beyond him even if its 3 mts wide of him. And look at us, we cant stop the ball even as the ball goes under our legs”. That’s when I thought “I can stop it too. I don’t let the ball go through my legs” But I never said those words, I was a shy guy back then. But that did led me to the next step. Ground fielding.

Now our our house had a narrow 1.5 mtr wide gully which ran from the front of our house to the end. And this gully was totally cemented and thus pretty slippery. I used to roll the ball from 1 end, and try to run and stop it before it got off the cemented area at the other end. That’s where I learned to slide along the ground to stop the ball. Later on I was joined by my new neighbor Romsy, who was 4-5 years younger than me. We would roll the ball for each other, and see who stopped the most. By that time I had turned around 12, and now I was cricket crazy just around the time the world cup came to India. I also made some friends of my age and now we started playing at our backyard. I hadn’t met Sandy yet, but when I met him, I made the next big transition. We shifted from playing in my backyard to playing in the ground, and that’s where my fielding really improved.

Now I don’t remember all the god catches that I took, but there are some pieces of fielding that I don’t forget.

9) Well there is one piece of fielding I remember. And this wasn’t actually a catch but a run out which I did several times. We used to have a total of 4 stumps. So 3 would make up the wickets at one end and the single stump would be the bowling end. So this happened a day when we decided to play a small game before the rest of the guys came. We were four, so team of 2 were made. I was bowling and my teammate was at square leg. We almost always kept the runs on the leg side only. The batsman hit the ball to the mid on position. Now the ball wasn’t too far away from me, but the batsman still decided to run a single cause chances of hitting the single stump were rare. But I hit ad he was out. Two days later, the same batsman was batting, and I was field at mid on. Again he was out to my direct hit. Some days later, I was bowling again, and again he was batting and again the mid on was empty and again he hit it there, and again he decided to run and again I got a direct hit and ran him out. It was the ‘Again’ thing that makes this run out special but the comment that the batsman passed “How can he hit the single stump everytime”
Next I would like to share one of my first diving catches in the big ground. My good friend ‘Lali’ was batting and I was at deepish short leg. He fended a delivery (which I always found amusing- people fending off a tennis ball), and the ball popped up in the air. It was clearly going to fall on the ground as I was pretty far off. I had decided before the ball was delivered, that any ball slightly in the air, I’ll go for it. So I dived forward, but didn’t have to stretch full length. Infact after taking the catch just 6 inches from the cround, my momentum made me land on top of my hands and my arm got twisted pretty badly. Infact it still starts to hurt sometimes even as of today.
7) Ok, this was one incident when I was bowling medium pace with the tennis ball again. The batsman tried to pull a short ball from me, but swung the bat way to early. The spongy ball hit the bottom of the bat and came straight back toward the bowling wickets. I was in my follow through and falling to my left. The bowl was toward my right foot which was still in the air. I half heartedly put my right hand towards my right foot aiming for the ball, and my body in order to maintain the balance made my right leg to lift. What resulted was the ball getting stuck between my boot and my hand and the batsman fuming angrily at my consistence at taking good catches.
6) Then there is this freak catch I want to tell you about. Oh man I still laugh out aloud when I remember that catch. Me and my friend Jatin were fielding very close to each other in a congested area. We were more of chatting than fielding. Suddenly the ball came in our direction and we ran toward it like kids run for candies. Anyways, he was in front of me, so I left the ball for him, although I was just a 1 arms distance behind him. Now the ball went through his hands, hit my right boot and bounced back to get stuck in Jatin’s right armpit. It was such a freak catch that we didn’t realize it for a minute. And when we did realize, we both were lying down on the floor and laughing….pity the catch wasn’t counted.
5) Then one day we decided to play with the leather ball. I was standing on the boundary and the ball was hit straight at me but a little towards my left. The sun was in my eyes, so I couldn’t exactly see where the ball was. I went to the edge of the boundary, and at the last moment saw the ball just over my left shoulder. I didn’t jump, but stuck my left hand out. Smack! The ball for the first time made that noise which sounded so god because I stopped a six and didn’t drop the catch either.
4) This catch was very similar to the one which gave me confidence in my fielding abilities (the skier with rubber ball when I used to play gully cricket). I was in Amritsar playing cricket with my cousin Sweety’s friends. Now they all were very old and were bowling chuck fast. I was in Sweety’s team, but was fielding because of the lack of fielders. We were also playing with a really heavy plastic ball which did hurt when we got hit. Sweety hit a huge shot but straight in the air. This shot must have gone atleast over 50 mtrs high. And the plastic ball was wobbling with me underneath it. The fielders around me gathered to take the catch but than gave up the idea with the fear of getting hurt. It must have taken atleate 15 sec for the ball to come down, and when it did, I heard for the first time a plastic ball making a splat noise on my hand. But I managed to hold on to the catch although my whole right hand was red by the impact. People around me were surprised and surprisingly Sweety was smiling (the reasons I still don’t know). The praises I got that day made me concentrate harder on my fielding.
3) Hmm. This catch is special not because I loved taking it but because it was so very difficult. Gurbir, the best batsman in our group was batting and I was fielding at mid wicket. Behind me was 6 feet tall wild grass. Gurbir tried to pull a short ball but the ball lobbed up in the air and was about to fall behind me in the tall grass. I turned around, and with my back towards the wicket and the ball still behind me, started running into the grass. I still remember, I was more running to see where the ball would land rather than trying to catch it (cause it was difficult to find the ball in that grass). Now all this time I was looking at the ball behind me and running into the grass, which was so difficult because my neck was in an awkward position. And when the ball came down I realized that I had actually come pretty close to the ball. I held out my hands in front of me and the catch was completed.
2) The top two catches were taken on the same day and in the same innings. This was the day we decided to change everything. Firstly, we kept the runs on the off side for a change, and Sandy was in the opponent team with Gurbir. Well with Gurbir and Sandy on the same team, our loosing was a pre-gone conclusion. But I still gave it a try. I had just taken the best catch of my life to dismiss Gurbir, and now Sandy was batting. I was standing at his favorite spot, long off. As expected, Sandy hit the ball towards long off and the ball was sailing over my head, just to my right. I kept my eyes on the ball, and soon realized that the ball had gone more high than long, but would still go over for a 6. I started running right and turned around to face the boundary, and was on the edge of it. As the ball came down I leaned outwards and took the catch beyond the boundary, but my feet inside the ground. And that was the first time I saw Sandy frustrated at me taking a good catch ..ha ha
1) Ok here comes the big one. The top catch which even Jonty would feel proud of. I was again fielding at straightish long off and Gurbir hit the ball to me left, widish long off. The ball was going to bounce just 2 mtrs before the rope and Gurbir had even stopped running. Even I knew that the shot was a sure 4 but I still started running towards the ball. The place where the ball was to land was the rare batch of the ground with lush green grass on it. Suddenly, I found myself jumping full length in the air. I remember that even I was surprised that I jumped for the catch. And while I was fully horizontal toward my left side, the ball came and landed right in between both my hands, with the back side of my hands touching the ground. When I started diving, I was about 3 meters away from the place where the ball was about to land. And when the catch was completed, I got so excited, that I ran up to Gurbir and jumped into his lap. Everyone in the ground including me were shocked at that catch. And I was running around like crazy.

Well that concludes my Cricketing moments 3. After the wonderful 3 years I played in that ground I never got a chance to play proper cricket in ground again. But still fielding happens to be the area I still am good in. no matter how fat I get, I always manage to take diving catches. Soon I’ll be in Australia and then we will take diving Gilly catches on the beach Mary. What do you say?