Beyond Cricket…..

It’s always a sweet sight. The swing of the bat, the ball scuttling across the earth or arching through the air, human figures moving purposefully, gracefully, at speed, across a vast green lawn. No cricket fan could resist it.

Palace Grounds has a great record of getting cricket to children all over the Bangalore through their schools or coaching schemes and their holiday coaching.

Last Sunday I visited with my aunt to Palace Grounds where her son Sai Madhav was playing a cricket match. I thought I will spend some time and come back home. As the match progress, it was really a good sight to see the youngsters are playing with so much of enthusiasm and clever cricket; I could not resist seeing the match till the end.

Team was chasing 225 runs. When Bharath Sr. (since there are two Bharth in that team middle order batsman called as Bharath Sr. I believe) entered the crease, Team already lost four early wickets. Bharath Sr. was stabilized the team score with his beautiful square drives, square cuts, cover drives and on drives. One the other side it was elegant left hand batsman Tilak was playing sheer anchor role. Tilak was taking singles, two’s and sometimes hitting for a boundary. Bharath Sr. was run out for 40. Then the hard hitting batsman Bharath Jr. started towards the crease. I was impressed the way he started his innings. Such a hitter, oh boy he started hitting all over the ground. He scored 32. In his knock, he sent ball twice out of the ground for a six.

Here we should appreciate them how best they have played. Not only the winning team but also loosing side played in a good sprit and also with lot of enthusiasm. We should appreciate the coach who organizes these matches regularly. Parents should come and watch. I personally observed most of the parents just come here drop their child and go back. Again they come in the evening and pickup. This should not happen. After all it’s our child. We should encourage them.