My cricketing career

Being born and brought up in India, I had no choice but to love Cricket. Cricket, I must admit is the most popular sport in India. Indians do follow cricket religiously and I was no exception. Besides the demographic profile, my blood also had it. My dad was a cricketer and played for his bank and various clubs. So were my uncles and my grandfather. All played for their banks/companies. My elder cousin brother also played first level domestic cricket. So now you know, there was no escape for me.

I used to play cricket along with my friends near my house. It was only after my 5th grade that I started playing for school. My school, St. Francis D'Assisi High School, Borivali, India did not have a very talented team but at the same time we played decent cricket. I started by joining a summer camp and was selected for the school's team. We had a small corner for cricket practice in our very big school playground. Major part of the ground was utilised for football and athletics(these were the sports which our school invested in). We used to practice two times a day in summers and winters. In the rainy season, we used to continue our fitness training.

In the summer vacations, we used to go to Azad Maidan, Churchgate for cricket practice. Our school team coach used to call us there to practice on his ground. There we used to get all those resources which our school never bothered to provide. We were contented with our school since they allowed us to enter in inter school cricket tournaments. During our classes, we used to practice in the morning and go to college only after bunking a couple of lectures. Till my 9th grade, I could not think of anything other than cricket and studies.

I was a pure batsman in my early days of cricket. Then I transformed into an all rounder as I sharpened my bowling skills. This transformation was purely due to the requirements of my school team. I got to represent my school cricket team for Under14 (Giles Shield), Under16 (Harris Shield), and an array of school level tournaments. I was the captain of my school team for couple of years. I performed well but never up to the mark. My efforts sought some newspaper cuttings under my name but nothing more than it. I didn't play good enough to be selected for the state team.

After 10th grade, I had to decide between Cricket and Science stream and I chose the latter. By then I was sure that my cricketing skills would not take me anywhere in life. I wanted to be an engineer and I decided to concentrate on my studies. That posed an end to my short but a memorable chapter of my life - Cricket. I do follow International Cricket and keep practicing my drives at home. However I feel sad for not making it big in the field of cricket.

Nevertheless, this sport has cultivated discipline and leadership qualities in me. It has also helped me to increase my stamina and keep me healthy. I would be more than happy if I again get a chance to think about cricket more seriously.

[Note: Of the many newspaper cuttings, I could retrieve the following from the web: 3-47, 5-22, 35*(with a mention in a paragraph), 4-48, 43]