They say in India, cricket is not just a game—it’s a culture, a way of life, and the very air we breathe. It landed in India just more than a couple of centuries back. How did it gain popularity so fast? A game meant for lords and played at a leisurely pace, how did it suit the busy Indians? In England, it was played in cold conditions. And here? Frankly, I do not know when hockey became a popular game and a passion and a game that won us laurels. Maybe one day, I will Google Search.

So, like all Indian kids, cricket came naturally to me. Despite taxing my brain to its narrow limits, it fails me. Which age? 5, 6, 7? When I further dig deep, I zero in on 9, sometime when we moved away from lively Pahar Ganj. There was a small group of boys led by a tall boy, a couple of years older than me, whom I saw playing this game. And I right away fitted into the game, like Dhoni’s hands into his gloves. Most of the boys liked batting—why run and throw and exert? The age-old laziness and lethargy. But in spite of my thick glasses and short squat features, I took to bowling. Fast bowling was a rarity even at the national level. Maybe now and then, someone who could bowl a little fast appeared. To my mind, it was Ramakant Desai and later Kapil Dev who let the thought of bowling fast and successfully infest the local populace. And now, our country is teeming with such bowlers. Only yesterday, I saw almost a kid bowling at over 156 kmph! So proud, so happy and contented.

But was I also not an inspiration for the kids of India to wake up and jump into the bandwagon of people who hurled a tiny thick ball at a furious pace at an unprotected individual?

I was, indeed. What in me compelled me to take to bowling fast? Most probably my aggressive and street-fighting mind ruled firmly over and compensated for the lack of power in my physique. I did bowl fast when comparing myself to the thousands of gully cricketers/bowlers. Suffice it to say, in those days, whoever ran a couple of meters or yards to be true to that age and bowled was a fast bowler. But I unashamedly aver I was a tiny bit faster than these guys. A smooth action, side-on, good shoulders, and the use of wrist did generate some pace.

After we moved into another flat within the same locality, I managed to get a cricket kit out of my reluctant parents. How to convince them that mentally, I was already in the Indian National Team and creating waves? And what did the kit consist of? Not totally typical of gully cricket of those days. A wide range by the then standards. Four stumps—four real stumps!—a tennis ball to start with, and a bat. The kit was satisfyingly complete. Not ordinary gully stumps of misshapen sticks or bricks or charcoal lines mimicking stumps on walls. And as I had written somewhere earlier, I was given some special privileges because I owned a deeply coveted kit.

If I was batting, which never came naturally to me, or the gifts of batting that did not even touch the periphery of my being, I was my own umpire on if I was out or not. Since my innings rarely lasted beyond a few balls, frequently I had to take the easy decision of ruling myself not out. And the other kids accepted with forced grace and equanimity.

And thus, my cricketing career was taking its deepest roots...

To be continued... 68 - My Test with Cricket - Limited Days Exploits - Part 2