Remembering Cricket Fever......
Playing cricket in the courtyards, roadsides, or small playgrounds is quite an exciting recreation to most people who love to 'watch and try' cricket. A plastic ball, a wooden bat, a few kids, shouting, running are the general characteristics. As we grew up, we noticed that such a scene was prevalent widespread during the period 1992-94 (I don't know of the present case though). That was the time, when any small ground with a hurriedly prepared pitch in the middle tried to attract the cricket fever by holding plastic/tennis ball cricket tournament with cash prize awards. Tournaments were stormed by teams with very weird names such as Apollo 11, World 11, Strikers, Bizarre, Rolling Stone etc. Every youngster in the Imphal area, perhaps in other parts of the state as well, was bowled over by this fever. I was not different. After coming back from college, I used to hurry myself from tiffin/nasta (charawanba) to hit a few knocks or rotate my arms for a 'good spin'. In the process, we broke a few window glass panes, received a few harsh words from elders…. so what!!! It didn't really bother us too much. We carried on!
During such a fertile period of cricket fever,
once there was a cricket (plastic ball) cricket
tourney held at our local ground, with an
attractive cash prize of 2000/- bucks. I had a
few words regarding this with similar crazy guys
during the off-period classes in our colleges.
Sure enough, everybody was enthusiastic of
participating such a tourney. “Never mind a win or
loss, but we must participate” was the
general agreement amongst us. No sooner did we
register, we started going for ‘match practice’ at
Pishum Hao Ground every morning. Friends who could
afford would bring ‘beautiful’ bats. We
contributed some money for the running cost of
the practice (ball, refreshments etc). We realised
soon that we were not that good to last long
enough in the tourney, for we were good neither
in batting nor bowling. But good thing was, we
were from the same batch, the same college,
and hence we were quite accommodating in sharing
thoughts and adjustments.“Straight ball then
front foot, and defend; loose ball then go for a
four/six according to the situation; keep cool;
protect wickets” such were the words ofwisdom and
the ‘game plan’ strategically generated by the
‘star’ players. In addition to this, we also took
extra management by hiring some ‘regular’ players
(regular means those who used to play leather
ball cricket J), who could bowl good length and
line. So was formed our team! We called it
‘Challenger’ – good idea, can challenge any team
regardless of the result!
We chose our‘Mamang Sangoi’ as the pre and post
match camp. My mother could not protest anymore
much by then. Rather she herself offered the
service of giving tea during such camp sessions.
Then the fixture came! It was a bouncer! I had to
protest to the organisers. Because, we were given
a tough opponent on the first inauguration match.
How could they? I cursed the local organisers by
bringing down all their ancestors. “We
have invested so much effort, time and money. But
at least allow us to play a few games. But by
George, they had put us against a strong team
with many regular players. This is not done!” But
our protest did not work. It was the fixture made
by a lottery system. “Okay, guys, relax! So what?
Our team is known as ‘Challenger’”, a very
courageous reply from a friend who played behind
the wickets.
That cricket is such an uncertain game was proved
then and there, in front of the local crowd and
the chief guest. We beat the ‘regular’ opponent
by 16 runs in an exciting match. We could not
believe ourselves. We bowled well, fielded well
and our hired ‘regulars’ bowled good length and
line. I was the vice captain, believe it or not.
So ‘had to play with a cool head’ was my
resolution ‘and to protect wickets when they start
falling’. I think I did that job, and
with-not-so-bad 16 additional runs on the board. I
got out cleaned bowled through front foot! – the
only good lesson I learned. But I had an
embarrassment on such a wonderful match. I broke
the etiquette. I was very naïve to chew gums,
killing time opening the package and putting it
my mouth, preparing myself in front of the wicket
in the crease. Later I was warned for such an
awkward time killing behavior in front of the
crowd and decent opponents. I of course apologised
later to the organisers as well as to the rival
captain who happened to be my friend. As a matter
of fact, I wrote a formal letter to him for an
apology regarding that matter (I was told
recently that he still keeps that letter).
We got motivation and a lot of encouragement from
that match onwards. We won the following match
quite comfortably. Later we had two thrilling
matches awaiting us, with lady luck on our side.
One with a single run over a team thought
by pundits as minnows in terms of age and game
plan, and the other team by a wicket. The later
came off with a great performance from one of our
regular bowlers.
Believe it or not, we won the tournament.
Interestingly we beat the opponent team in
the final quite convincingly.
However, a few intricate emotional issues could
not be avoided much. For instance, choosing the
eleven players was such a difficulty. Because we
were actually more than 11, thirteen to be precise
and were therefore in a dilemma whether to test
a new one or keep the winning combination –
because as the game progressed, we felt like
leaving no chance for any crisis, and the 12th
and 13th players were really bad to be tested,
though their involvement and encouragement were as
much as anyone else in the team.
We somehow solved that problem by holding a grand
feast in typical Manipuri ishtyle at our very
own mamang sangoi with contributions from the
members and the winning cash prize. We also
invited the rival captain of the first match. The
regulars must have been familiar with such
occasion, I guess. They smelt ‘Shekmai’ when they
came back from a‘pre-lunch disappearance’.
It was a great moment in most of our lives.
Whenever we happen meet we keep talking about
it. We love to cherish that moment.
Contributed by: Ibotombi S. Longjam
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