Well folks, I had developed a lot of my skills- fielding, bowling etc. However, I hadn't produced a performance that cried out "I have arrived, fear me!". The day wasn't far from the last memorable moment, I soon found out.
It was a day after I had had a gross injustice committed to me. I had been totally snubbed by Sundar, who was the team captain, while he threw the ball to supposed heavyweights like Santhosh and Ramkumar who were unrestrained in their profligacy. The thing that struck me most was the fact that Santhosh had been given the first oved of the innings, and he went for 12 runs. Yet, he was given the over without even a slight hesitation by Sundar.
If I had given away so many runs in my over, even due to my misfortune, I would have shunned for an entire semester, keeping in mind that single over.
The gross injustice of it all fueled my fire that had been raging for quite a long time. It had already been lit ablaze a long time back when silly idiots used to comment about my bowling. What do these people know about cricket or spin bowling to teach me my job, let alone talk about it?
Anyway, I decided it was time to unleash the fire (maybe instincts slogan was inspired from this moment) in me. The next match I got the opportunity.
I was given an over, with strict warning not to give away runs, with a balanced field. The batsmen at the crease were Vijay and Raghavan- no two heavyweights, yet no pushovers. I went around the wicket for the first few deliveries and found that I had remarkeable spin. Pitching on middle or off I spun the ball way outside off stump that it was immediately termed a wide. I tried my best to control my line or spin, by angling it more towards middle or leg stump, or trying to reduce the spin, all to no avail.
Just then, Vijay had a brainwave. He jokingly told me try bowling around the stumps. It was a casual comment, yet I saw the wisdom in it. The immediately changed to around the stumps, to miraculous effects. From that angle, my balls pitched just on or outside leg stump and spun far away from off stump.
Every ball was speared in at the same spot with the accuracy of a sniper or Glenn Mcgrath (whichever side of the globe you are) and every time the ball spun, bounced and evaded all efforts of Raghavan, Vijay, later Sundar and some others' desperate grasp. It seemed they had no idea of where the ball was heading. I had thought (a few matches before) my heydays as a great legspinner ala Warne had ended, and that I had forgotten the deep leg spin.
Not even in my wildest dreams had I imagined that I would recover my pomp so soon, and at this match. Maybe it was the pitch, or perhaps it was the conditions (sunny day), or perhaps it was just my day; whatever it was I took top honours that day as a bowler.
However, we lost the match- due to Vijay's good fortune, who got more than 3 lives, one of which was a dropped catch of mine ().
Showing posts with label SSN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SSN. Show all posts
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Memorable Moments of Cricket in SSN V
I had last left the story when I had learned to judge deep catches and had taken 3 successfully. Today I continue from the last line of the previous chapter- fickleness of fortunes in the cricket pitch. I have two other instances of catches that came my way that I must mention here.Though I didn’t catch either of these two, due to totally different reasons, I learned valuable lessons from both.
The first was when I had just been to the pitch to celebrate a wonderful castling by some bowler I can’t remember, and was jogging back to my place. I reached it at a leisurely pace, and turned and saw to my horror the ball flying towards me, and I knew that it was going to fall short of me. And it sure did. But what happened next was what that made the moment more special. The ball fell short and bounced in front of me. In a moment of extremely fast reflexive actions, I threw my hands in an effort to stop its journey, and sure enough it was successful. The ball was heading to the boundary, if not for that effort, and I had saved two runs. The fact that a lot of wickets had fallen already, and that I had tried my best and saved two runs impressed my friends. They understood that the ball had been bowled with me not being ready. Nobody even mentioned my missing of the catch, but I felt guilty. If I had been at my place at the time of delivery, this would have been another catch in my bag, However, I looked at the brighter side of it- if I had been at the place and fluffed it, and then all my good work in the day would have been forgotten. So it was God’s way of saving me from disgrace. So this wasn’t a miss actually- it was not my catch at all.
The last of the catches was a simple one, by my standards then- surprising how high standards can rise in the space of just one day. I was at sweeper cover now (the offside equivalent of square leg), and the wind was blowing from my right to the left. So when the ball was heading to me from a top edged square cut, I did all my known basics right, but forgot that the wind would have its part to play. I had also forgotten to see the ball until the last moment. I judged with an air of presumption that I had assumed after having caught so well till then, and placed my palms at a position where according to me the ball would land. If not for the wind, the ball was heading nowhere else. However, the wind pushed the ball further leftwards and it just grazed my fingertips, as my palms closed and fell to the ground, to my horror. That was one of the many lives Vijay would get, in a match where fortune helped in their victory- extras, especially from an over by Shankar, were the hero here, and good old lady luck for Vijay, whose top edges either dropped short, fell in no man’s land, or (in this case) were dropped. Puli (Senthil Kumar) could not believe I had dropped this. I told him what had happened, and he immediately reprimanded me for forgetting the basics. If I had my eyes on the ball, my palms would have moved towards it in a reflexive action. I felt like having been slapped.
I felt my pride melting away. Indeed- if you don’t follow the basics with hard concentration, you only stand to lose, however good a catcher you are.
That’s about my experiences with deep catching. Next in the series comes my exploits in close-in fielding. Keep tuning.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Memorable Moments of Cricket in SSN IV
Well, I’m back with more memories. The funny thing about memories is that you have got to keep remembering them for them so stay put. Else they’ll be replaced by new ones in the fresh category.
Anyway, I had last left story at the point where I had come to a nadir with respect to my fielding. Although my bowling had improved quite well- not quite as well as I would’ve liked, my fielding was fast unbecoming.
So, a few months later, when we began to play cricket (in our last semester in college), I was determined to set the record right. We were now playing in a different place- in the barren lands adjoining the sports block. So I thought- a new place, a new day.
Indeed it was, I was asked to open, and played quite well. However I tried to loft a fast half volley on my legs when I must have just flicked it away with my strong wrists, and holed out to long on. I guess I need more batting practice to start using the full range of my strokes, and make judgments as to choose which stroke for which ball. The fact that I’ve learnt it is a different story- narrated later in this series.
Anyway, after having given a good start to the innings, it was propelled to a good finish by the other batsmen, and we had a good score to defend. I was asked to field at long on this time- quite a new position for me, which is usually kept for bowlers who can easily change after overs during a spell. I was asking God- please give me a chance to prove myself.
And give it He did very soon. Early into the innings, Vijay pulled a short one; got the top edge and the ball flew in my direction. I quickly focused on in it like a hawk focuses on its prey, unwavering from the ball, and my feet started to move all by themselves in the right direction. I moved like in a trance truly and I felt the ball dying, thought it might fall before me so I leaned forward at the last moment and pouched it comfortably, close to my thigh, with both hands.
My joy knew no bounds that I threw the ball high up in delight, while still continuing the run towards the bowler’s end. My first catch in the deep! The fact that I had caught this ball fielding at long on, while my own demise was by holing out to the same place was poetic justice to me.
And there was more to come on the same day.
Later in the innings I had been shifted to long off and another top edge sailed straight to me. This time I was confident. I followed the ball like a missile homes in on its target. I knew I didn’t have to move at all for this. I just steadied my position, bent my knees slightly without moving an inch, and pocketed the gift right down my throat with my palms in the protective posture. It was a catch as cool as it gets- in fact I was calmness personified (true to my name Prashanth), and my technique seemed so perfect that I had even taken care to not prevent my palms from hiding the ball from my eyes even at the last moment. Sadly, the ball was a no-ball. I had seen it the moment the bowler (Shankar) had overstepped, but I didn’t allow thoughts that this was going to be a useless catch to bother me. In fact, I told myself the umpire wouldn’t have noticed the overstepping, but it was going to be a futile prayer. He had crossed the line by a large distance, and it would take a blind man not to see that.
Anyway, I was happy I hadn’t spilled any of the catches so far. If the first made me happy, the second made me delightful.
And there was to be a third as well. This one made me delirious. This time I was back at my stock position; yes you guessed it- square leg. We had just finished a high scoring match which we had won, and we expected to see more fireworks by the end of the day. Right in the first over of the match there were signs. A boundary had been hit, fine off the leg side. Later in the over, Ramkumar (Rockram) pulled a short one, and the ball was heading to me at square leg. This time, I had no issues; nothing at all. I just watched the ball, followed the basics and pocketed another catch- 3 on 3! That catch started a slide, and wickets tumbled. The match was at a stark contrast to the previous one where wickets were at a premium, Prakash and I were amazed at the fickleness of fortunes in the cricket pitch.
Anyway, I had last left story at the point where I had come to a nadir with respect to my fielding. Although my bowling had improved quite well- not quite as well as I would’ve liked, my fielding was fast unbecoming.
So, a few months later, when we began to play cricket (in our last semester in college), I was determined to set the record right. We were now playing in a different place- in the barren lands adjoining the sports block. So I thought- a new place, a new day.
Indeed it was, I was asked to open, and played quite well. However I tried to loft a fast half volley on my legs when I must have just flicked it away with my strong wrists, and holed out to long on. I guess I need more batting practice to start using the full range of my strokes, and make judgments as to choose which stroke for which ball. The fact that I’ve learnt it is a different story- narrated later in this series.
Anyway, after having given a good start to the innings, it was propelled to a good finish by the other batsmen, and we had a good score to defend. I was asked to field at long on this time- quite a new position for me, which is usually kept for bowlers who can easily change after overs during a spell. I was asking God- please give me a chance to prove myself.
And give it He did very soon. Early into the innings, Vijay pulled a short one; got the top edge and the ball flew in my direction. I quickly focused on in it like a hawk focuses on its prey, unwavering from the ball, and my feet started to move all by themselves in the right direction. I moved like in a trance truly and I felt the ball dying, thought it might fall before me so I leaned forward at the last moment and pouched it comfortably, close to my thigh, with both hands.
My joy knew no bounds that I threw the ball high up in delight, while still continuing the run towards the bowler’s end. My first catch in the deep! The fact that I had caught this ball fielding at long on, while my own demise was by holing out to the same place was poetic justice to me.
And there was more to come on the same day.
Later in the innings I had been shifted to long off and another top edge sailed straight to me. This time I was confident. I followed the ball like a missile homes in on its target. I knew I didn’t have to move at all for this. I just steadied my position, bent my knees slightly without moving an inch, and pocketed the gift right down my throat with my palms in the protective posture. It was a catch as cool as it gets- in fact I was calmness personified (true to my name Prashanth), and my technique seemed so perfect that I had even taken care to not prevent my palms from hiding the ball from my eyes even at the last moment. Sadly, the ball was a no-ball. I had seen it the moment the bowler (Shankar) had overstepped, but I didn’t allow thoughts that this was going to be a useless catch to bother me. In fact, I told myself the umpire wouldn’t have noticed the overstepping, but it was going to be a futile prayer. He had crossed the line by a large distance, and it would take a blind man not to see that.
Anyway, I was happy I hadn’t spilled any of the catches so far. If the first made me happy, the second made me delightful.
And there was to be a third as well. This one made me delirious. This time I was back at my stock position; yes you guessed it- square leg. We had just finished a high scoring match which we had won, and we expected to see more fireworks by the end of the day. Right in the first over of the match there were signs. A boundary had been hit, fine off the leg side. Later in the over, Ramkumar (Rockram) pulled a short one, and the ball was heading to me at square leg. This time, I had no issues; nothing at all. I just watched the ball, followed the basics and pocketed another catch- 3 on 3! That catch started a slide, and wickets tumbled. The match was at a stark contrast to the previous one where wickets were at a premium, Prakash and I were amazed at the fickleness of fortunes in the cricket pitch.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Memorable Moments of cricket in SSN III
Well, its been quite some time since I last updated this series that one starts to think I make up all these memories and that I haven't had any new ideas as of late. I must say to all these non-believers that these are authentic experiences I have been part of in my colorful life.
Anyway, back to my memories.I have always been a sharp fielder especially in the close in position which I developed in my childhood by playing my cricket in confined spaces. There you needed extremely to be extremely watchful to stop the lusty blows from batsmen standing not more than ten metres from you. You had to look, move and grab all at the span of milliseconds. There was no question of deflecting the ball- you either stopped it completely or not at all, as the ball would still reach the boundary even if you got a hand to it.
And direct hits were a must if you wanted to remove wickets regularly. Come to think of it- what with small grounds (you couldn't call my backyard a ground in the actual sense) capable batsmen with powerful hitting, under-arm bowling, no wicket-keeper dismissal (the wall was the stump) and no lbw rule, the only ways to remove a batsman was to bowl him with a fast ball, a very wily one, a catch- all of which were highly unlikely, or a run out. With short boundaries, runs were fetched in the stand-and-deliver manner more often. And with the pitches being short too, you would say there's little chance of a run-out. However you would find it surprising that quite q few important dismissals were run-outs. A sharp fielder who grabs the ball and returns in the nick of time can effect more dismissals than any wily bowler.
Anyway, I learned the art of direct hits there- I don't miss many even now. However the skills I
couldn't learn fielding in the heat of that arena were- naturally those learned in large expansive
spaces- long distance catches and throws. My fielding in the deep was underdeveloped to say the
least.
I was never a good judge of catches and my limitations were blatantly exposed in one fateful match.
I was standing in deep square leg- my usual fielding position then. The batsman pulled a short ball and the ball sped in my direction, in a beautiful parabolic trajectory and I rushed forward in an attempt to prove myself, only to find, in horror, the ball sailing way over my head. It was a misjudgment like no other! The ball would have been right down my throat if I had only stood my ground in the first place.
The guys shrugged it off as a one-off incident. Little did they, or I knew that more was in the
pipeline! The next ball was similarly short and consequently the shot and trajectory no different.
However, this time I was ready- or so I thought. I stood there rooted to my spot expecting the ball like a girl waiting for her estranged lover, but the ball swerved from its purported path, and fell down out of exhaustion not more than half way before its destination! I realized too late that the ball didn't have enough in it to reach me.
I was repeatedly reprimanded by my team-mates for not reading the ball through the air, and was moved to square cover with a strict warning. I was happy now that I was in my favorite position and felt I had seen the last of my misfortunes for the day.
Sadly, it was not to be! In my position you need to look for catches on both sides by stretching your arms far and wide. Its the exact position Yuvraj used to be and where Rohit Sharma is now.
The next ball (of course, it was not the next ball chronologically- its just the next ball of
importance in my story. Perhaps I must add the prefix "later". In fact, it was the last over of the
innings) was short and wide (again!) and it was duly slashed with a horizontal bat. The intention
was to execute a fiery square cut, however the batsman looked with horror as the ball ballooned,
rather launched itself in the vertical direction, stayed afloat for an eternity, and after a vain
attempt to reach the heavens, it began to descend towards me after its lengthy sojourn.
The fact that I was the only one who could go for the catch made me feel naked, however I reassured myself saying this was my chance for redemption, and such chances don't come easier. I didn't move this time- keeping my eyes on the ball all the time, and rightly so- as the ball didn't move from its laser-straight path. It was bound to end up in my hands. It was as certain as the Sun would set soon that day, and everyday. The ball came down, I clutched it, and... botched the catch!
The ball slipped out of my hands as if it had a mind of its own. I had dropped the mother of all simple catches! I couldn't believe what had just happened. How many ever times I try to look at it I don't know what went wrong. Everything had been perfect- my technique had been flawless.
It was the last incident to cap an already rotten day. I had to end the day apologizing to all and sundry. The catch itself had no bearing in the match- they just took one run and it was the last over of the match. However, I couldn't bear the ignominy of such a deed.
I had determined myself to improve on this very important area of my cricket. How I did and came out with flying colors is what the next episode is about!
Anyway, back to my memories.I have always been a sharp fielder especially in the close in position which I developed in my childhood by playing my cricket in confined spaces. There you needed extremely to be extremely watchful to stop the lusty blows from batsmen standing not more than ten metres from you. You had to look, move and grab all at the span of milliseconds. There was no question of deflecting the ball- you either stopped it completely or not at all, as the ball would still reach the boundary even if you got a hand to it.
And direct hits were a must if you wanted to remove wickets regularly. Come to think of it- what with small grounds (you couldn't call my backyard a ground in the actual sense) capable batsmen with powerful hitting, under-arm bowling, no wicket-keeper dismissal (the wall was the stump) and no lbw rule, the only ways to remove a batsman was to bowl him with a fast ball, a very wily one, a catch- all of which were highly unlikely, or a run out. With short boundaries, runs were fetched in the stand-and-deliver manner more often. And with the pitches being short too, you would say there's little chance of a run-out. However you would find it surprising that quite q few important dismissals were run-outs. A sharp fielder who grabs the ball and returns in the nick of time can effect more dismissals than any wily bowler.
Anyway, I learned the art of direct hits there- I don't miss many even now. However the skills I
couldn't learn fielding in the heat of that arena were- naturally those learned in large expansive
spaces- long distance catches and throws. My fielding in the deep was underdeveloped to say the
least.
I was never a good judge of catches and my limitations were blatantly exposed in one fateful match.
I was standing in deep square leg- my usual fielding position then. The batsman pulled a short ball and the ball sped in my direction, in a beautiful parabolic trajectory and I rushed forward in an attempt to prove myself, only to find, in horror, the ball sailing way over my head. It was a misjudgment like no other! The ball would have been right down my throat if I had only stood my ground in the first place.
The guys shrugged it off as a one-off incident. Little did they, or I knew that more was in the
pipeline! The next ball was similarly short and consequently the shot and trajectory no different.
However, this time I was ready- or so I thought. I stood there rooted to my spot expecting the ball like a girl waiting for her estranged lover, but the ball swerved from its purported path, and fell down out of exhaustion not more than half way before its destination! I realized too late that the ball didn't have enough in it to reach me.
I was repeatedly reprimanded by my team-mates for not reading the ball through the air, and was moved to square cover with a strict warning. I was happy now that I was in my favorite position and felt I had seen the last of my misfortunes for the day.
Sadly, it was not to be! In my position you need to look for catches on both sides by stretching your arms far and wide. Its the exact position Yuvraj used to be and where Rohit Sharma is now.
The next ball (of course, it was not the next ball chronologically- its just the next ball of
importance in my story. Perhaps I must add the prefix "later". In fact, it was the last over of the
innings) was short and wide (again!) and it was duly slashed with a horizontal bat. The intention
was to execute a fiery square cut, however the batsman looked with horror as the ball ballooned,
rather launched itself in the vertical direction, stayed afloat for an eternity, and after a vain
attempt to reach the heavens, it began to descend towards me after its lengthy sojourn.
The fact that I was the only one who could go for the catch made me feel naked, however I reassured myself saying this was my chance for redemption, and such chances don't come easier. I didn't move this time- keeping my eyes on the ball all the time, and rightly so- as the ball didn't move from its laser-straight path. It was bound to end up in my hands. It was as certain as the Sun would set soon that day, and everyday. The ball came down, I clutched it, and... botched the catch!
The ball slipped out of my hands as if it had a mind of its own. I had dropped the mother of all simple catches! I couldn't believe what had just happened. How many ever times I try to look at it I don't know what went wrong. Everything had been perfect- my technique had been flawless.
It was the last incident to cap an already rotten day. I had to end the day apologizing to all and sundry. The catch itself had no bearing in the match- they just took one run and it was the last over of the match. However, I couldn't bear the ignominy of such a deed.
I had determined myself to improve on this very important area of my cricket. How I did and came out with flying colors is what the next episode is about!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Memorable Moments of cricket in SSN II
I've bowled a lot of overs in my time, and successfully too. Now I have a reputation of being a wily leg spinner who can spin the ball both ways, and turn the ball tremendously. But none of them have been more nerve wracking than this one I'm gonna talk about.
I had just been mugged by Sundar for 4 sixes off an over a few matches before- That was my first over after a very long time, and so I had lost my pace and had totally forgotten to control my flight. Without those I was just feeding him slow balls right on the slot for hitting- on leg stump line, at a full length. No wonder I had been mauled!
So this over was a make-or-break over for me. I had to impress my fellows to demand, or even ask for more overs in following matches. I was determined, or maybe desperate.
Saisriram was the batsman. He mocked me by standing to right of the off stump- exposing all three of them with a stance pointing towards square leg. He was reminding me of the way Sundar hit all those sixes, and that I was cannon fodder to him anyday.
The first ball I bowled was even fuller than I had wanted it to be- had Sai been in his normal stance that would've been a full toss outside off. But with this stance he missed it- the ball was faster than he expected.
Everyone cheered, or maybe sneered, at both of us- the crowd didn't know whom to mock and whom to cheer. In their eyes both of us creatures of ridicule (in a funny way of course). The next ball was very full- in fact it was a full toss. It rose high from my hand, floated past Sai's bat that met with air (again) and crashed onto the stumps- sucker punch!
I couldn't believe my good fortune! The crowd went wild, and Sai was looking like a dunce! Sai sheepishly walked off the pitch while Raghavan took his bat.
The interview wasn't over for me yet, but I had got my confidence back- I knew had it in me to perform my exploits against these fellas as I had done with my street and school buddies.
I just breezed past the rest of the over, conceding just two runs, and showing samples of my prodigious spin with a ball outside off stump that beat Raghavan's bat.
There had been no hat-trick, not even a wicket earned with a beauty, but the over silenced all my critics (everyone congratulated me) and had signalled to one and all- I had arrived.
It would take about 2 semesters until I would bowl my best spell- which I did recently, which everyone remarked was unplayable except for the wides, (About that spell later on in this series)
however, this was the over that started it all- acting as the tonic that invigorated me back after a career wrenching drubbing.
I had just been mugged by Sundar for 4 sixes off an over a few matches before- That was my first over after a very long time, and so I had lost my pace and had totally forgotten to control my flight. Without those I was just feeding him slow balls right on the slot for hitting- on leg stump line, at a full length. No wonder I had been mauled!
So this over was a make-or-break over for me. I had to impress my fellows to demand, or even ask for more overs in following matches. I was determined, or maybe desperate.
Saisriram was the batsman. He mocked me by standing to right of the off stump- exposing all three of them with a stance pointing towards square leg. He was reminding me of the way Sundar hit all those sixes, and that I was cannon fodder to him anyday.
The first ball I bowled was even fuller than I had wanted it to be- had Sai been in his normal stance that would've been a full toss outside off. But with this stance he missed it- the ball was faster than he expected.
Everyone cheered, or maybe sneered, at both of us- the crowd didn't know whom to mock and whom to cheer. In their eyes both of us creatures of ridicule (in a funny way of course). The next ball was very full- in fact it was a full toss. It rose high from my hand, floated past Sai's bat that met with air (again) and crashed onto the stumps- sucker punch!
I couldn't believe my good fortune! The crowd went wild, and Sai was looking like a dunce! Sai sheepishly walked off the pitch while Raghavan took his bat.
The interview wasn't over for me yet, but I had got my confidence back- I knew had it in me to perform my exploits against these fellas as I had done with my street and school buddies.
I just breezed past the rest of the over, conceding just two runs, and showing samples of my prodigious spin with a ball outside off stump that beat Raghavan's bat.
There had been no hat-trick, not even a wicket earned with a beauty, but the over silenced all my critics (everyone congratulated me) and had signalled to one and all- I had arrived.
It would take about 2 semesters until I would bowl my best spell- which I did recently, which everyone remarked was unplayable except for the wides, (About that spell later on in this series)
however, this was the over that started it all- acting as the tonic that invigorated me back after a career wrenching drubbing.
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