161. Cricket Superstitions

While watching cricket, many people have different superstitions, including the players themselves.  Why not, after all they too are humans😊! If you have sat at a particular place while an Indian partnership is taking place, you are prone to be there only as long as the partnership lasts!  Of course, what happens in the cricket field can never be “governed” by your antics, but such antics are followed very frequently without acknowledging the merits or demerits of the same!!

I used to do the above-mentioned antics earlier and when the Indian team started doing well, I stopped doing such antics.  However, during the recent series in Australia, I started it again😊!!  I had to see the suffering of us completing our innings at 36 for 9 at Adelaide.  I sat through the entire session hoping for a miracle that there would be someone who will stay the course and score runs.  However, it was not to be and I was reminded of the “antics”.  When the Sydney Test entered the last day, I stopped getting up early to see the match.  Every 1 hour or so, I would just open www.cricinfo.com and will be very happy to see the score and heave a sigh of relief.  When the partnership of Ashwin and Vihari was going on, I was out shopping for groceries.  While standing in the grocery payment line also, I checked the score on the site.  When there were just 5 overs remaining, I became bold and saw the last 4 overs while driving back home😊.  And, thanks to my antics, India saved the day😊!!

Last day of Brisbane, I kept the alarm for 525am.  The match was supposed to start at 5am.  I thought I will see the score at 525am and decide if I want to watch it or go to sleep again.  When I checked the score, India were 18 for no loss.  Since India had fought back in the last 2 Tests, I thought I could be a witness to another epic save!  Since they had been at the crease for 25 minutes, since morning, I thought the “save” was on!  I got up and switched the TV on.  By the time it took me to get up and start the laptop (connected to TV), Rohit Sharma got out😊.  I was then in 2 minds as to continue watching or going to sleep.  As I thought Rohit was one batsman who will score quickly and get us to a “safe” place without worrying about the defeat.

Luckily it turned out to be a good day for us.  I continuously watched the match even while going to washroom, brushing my teeth and having breakfast (thanks to Airtel Xtream app on my mobile!).  I did not speak to anyone during the whole match.  Just when 10 runs were required, I told my wife that we were going to win.  Immediately after my saying this, Washington Sundar got out😊.  I kept quiet and when 3 runs were required, a thought came to call one of my ex-boss who lives in Pune, who is also a die-hard cricket enthusiast.  Immediately, Shardul got out😊!!  Still 3 runs were required and there were just 3 tail enders along with Pant to get us to cross the score.  I banished all thoughts of calling anyone else and just concentrated on the match.  Luckily at the fall of Shardul’s wicket, Pant had crossed over to take strike and he did not wait for the next over to come and finished the game in the same over!!

Now I don’t know if I had played an “important” part in the Indian victory or not, but it definitely makes me feel great😊!!

During the match, there were also a couple of occasions when Sanjay Manjrekar started praising the players’ partnerships.  I just fell like calling him to stop saying such things as he had been known to have wrecked so many partnerships earlier😊, just by praising them at the wrong time while commentating on air!!  Luckily, this time, nothing untoward happened and we were able to achieve a victory!!

I am still not sure whether to watch the series with England full-time or just see the scores regularly.  But that is for another day!! Today was for celebration of a well-won series!

At the end, I close with these 2 jokes going on in WhatsApp!!

With this performance, Team India had given Virat Kohli the confidence to have more children😊😊!

Rahane won this match with 3 RCB Bowlers.  Captaincy matters😊😊!!

(The 3 RCB bowlers being Siraj, Saini and Sundar!)

Cheers till next time!!

Today’s Observation

One who never asks, knows either everything or nothing😊!!

PS. The jinx seems to have entered Badminton also.  I missed one Saina match and she won.  I saw Sindhu’s and Saina’s next matches live, and both got defeated😊!!