Published: Feb 19, 2011, 09:57 AM (IST)
Edited: Jul 02, 2014, 11:27 AM (IST)
Indian cricket triggers all kinds of emotions and reactions – happiness, celebration, sadness, prayers and much more. What will you say of a game that is an extension of our life? It’s our heart beat.
In the days bygone, parents told their children: “Padhoge likhoge, banoge nawab, kheloge, kudoge banoge kharab.” But that has changed. Sports have now become lucrative career options. If you will ask a small boy what he want to be, he is likely to reply, “Sachin Tendulkar.” The mania for cricket in India cuts across social strata, geography, age and even gender.
Cricket is a religion in India – a religion that unifies Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs Christians and every other community.
Mention the word “cricket” and what comes immediately to mind is India. It’s a sport that has become synonymous with the country. At a global level, we cannot talk of cricket without India. It’s superpower.
Cricket evokes the kind of passion no other sports in India generates. Every team India plays against becomes our ‘enemy’ and on every six and four energizes us. Moments that is etched in our memory.
Cricket has given us Indians a lot of happy moments to savour. The players are our heroes and Sachin Tendulkar is God. We watch cricket not with our eyes but with our heart! That is why when our heroes or our team underperforms, we take it to our heart.
Cricket is not a sport in India. It’s the heartbeat of a nation.
Salaam, Indian cricket.
(Amar Nath Singh is a Jamshedpur-based cricket freak who is pursuing PGDM from Udai Institute of Management Studies, Jaipur)
