Have you ever known someone whose guts you hate but can't deny he is extremely enviable? That hot girl in your college who scares the shit out of any boy who tries to talk to her. That brilliant, obnoxious guy who solves Integral Calculus mentally. That cool guitarist you wanted to meet at the end of the show but couldn't coz he's an ass-hole! Kind of the same were my feelings for Shoaib Akhtar and Ricky Ponting.
You see, growing up in the early 2000s, two things were certain- that you need to cram your asses to become doctors or engineers and that Sachin Tendulkar was the best batsman in the world.
These two were like an abridged version of the 10 Commandments. Questioning them was out of the question. So when Ponting challenged Sachin for the title of the 'best batsman in the world', you hated him. And when Shoaib Akhtar bowled Sachin Tendulkar for a golden duck at Eden Gardens in 1999, you fucking hated him. You fucking hated their fucking guts! Coz Sachin was God and they were the devils and the devils couldn't win!
Why this hate was so reserved for these two individuals perhaps also had to do with their personalities. Both brash, belligerent, maybe even arrogant. Shaoib's pre-World Cup 2003 comments on targeting Sachin didn't win him any fans in India. Neither did Ponting when he barked at Javagal Srinath after being hit on the helmet.
But to me, one additional reason was that they had the two talents that Indian cricketers didn't have- the ability to bowl fast and the ability to play the pull shot. Indian fans were sick and tired of being told that their players suck at these two skills. How they wished to have a bowler who could blow away batsmen with his pace or a batsman who hit the crap out of anyone who dared to bowl to his head! And it was perhaps out of this jingoistic thought that I decided to do exactly that. All of a sudden, the 12-year old me didn't wanna bowl line and length, he wanted to bowl fast, really fast! All of a sudden, all that I would shadow-practice would be the hook and the pull shots. And ironically, in doing that I started copying their manners.
I started imitating Shoaib Akhtar's long run-up and that unmistakable slingy action, so much so, that people started noticing. While I once took pride in my ability to mimic Tendulkar, I now put that aside to play like Ponting. And I loved it! I used to love it when I uprooted the stumps after a fast yorker. I even started sending off batsmen Akhtar-style! And I used to love it when I hooked fast bowlers, many much older to me. And that is when I truly fell in love with the game.
However, while they indeed changed my perspective towards cricket, my feelings didn't necessarily change for them. Only on select occasions have I been happier than when Sachin played that magical knock of 98 against Shoaib & Co in WC 2003. And boy, did I hate Ponting for smashing the Indian bowlers in the final of the same tournament!
Over the years, I have grown up from being the obsessive teenager I was. I have now watched countless videos of Shoaib's bowling and Ponting's batting. Have followed many of their interviews and tried to know more about them. And I think I have truly learned a lot from them. Afterall, I modeled my game after them! I believe they have played a major role in me becoming a 'cricket lover' from a 'Sachin fan'.
But while I was extremely sad when Shoaib and Ponting bid adieu to the game, their retirements didn't make me weep like a child. They were not the ones I thought about when I was thinking about my first car's license plate. Their videos don't have the ability to transport me right back to my childhood. Only Sachin can do that.
And this is very strange, right? Even though it may be more virtuous, but being a 'cricket lover' may not overwhelm you with emotions while being a 'fan' can. Maybe it's the personal connect. Maybe it's the sheer incapacity of the human brain that it can't love the abstract as it can a person. Maybe it is because my ego comes in the way when I look at Shoaib or Ponting but not when I see Sachin.
But while this may sound like a loss for the 'cricket lover', I think it's not. Perhaps I'll forever picture Sachin with a halo and them as the devils, but the fact that I, as a 24 year-old, still wants to bowl like Shoaib and bat like Ponting, is perhaps a bigger tribute than that 'SRT-100' license plate.
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| Shoaib Akhtar in the '99 World Cup |
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| Ricky Ponting in the 2003 World Cup |
You see, growing up in the early 2000s, two things were certain- that you need to cram your asses to become doctors or engineers and that Sachin Tendulkar was the best batsman in the world.
These two were like an abridged version of the 10 Commandments. Questioning them was out of the question. So when Ponting challenged Sachin for the title of the 'best batsman in the world', you hated him. And when Shoaib Akhtar bowled Sachin Tendulkar for a golden duck at Eden Gardens in 1999, you fucking hated him. You fucking hated their fucking guts! Coz Sachin was God and they were the devils and the devils couldn't win!
Why this hate was so reserved for these two individuals perhaps also had to do with their personalities. Both brash, belligerent, maybe even arrogant. Shaoib's pre-World Cup 2003 comments on targeting Sachin didn't win him any fans in India. Neither did Ponting when he barked at Javagal Srinath after being hit on the helmet.
But to me, one additional reason was that they had the two talents that Indian cricketers didn't have- the ability to bowl fast and the ability to play the pull shot. Indian fans were sick and tired of being told that their players suck at these two skills. How they wished to have a bowler who could blow away batsmen with his pace or a batsman who hit the crap out of anyone who dared to bowl to his head! And it was perhaps out of this jingoistic thought that I decided to do exactly that. All of a sudden, the 12-year old me didn't wanna bowl line and length, he wanted to bowl fast, really fast! All of a sudden, all that I would shadow-practice would be the hook and the pull shots. And ironically, in doing that I started copying their manners.
I started imitating Shoaib Akhtar's long run-up and that unmistakable slingy action, so much so, that people started noticing. While I once took pride in my ability to mimic Tendulkar, I now put that aside to play like Ponting. And I loved it! I used to love it when I uprooted the stumps after a fast yorker. I even started sending off batsmen Akhtar-style! And I used to love it when I hooked fast bowlers, many much older to me. And that is when I truly fell in love with the game.
However, while they indeed changed my perspective towards cricket, my feelings didn't necessarily change for them. Only on select occasions have I been happier than when Sachin played that magical knock of 98 against Shoaib & Co in WC 2003. And boy, did I hate Ponting for smashing the Indian bowlers in the final of the same tournament!
Over the years, I have grown up from being the obsessive teenager I was. I have now watched countless videos of Shoaib's bowling and Ponting's batting. Have followed many of their interviews and tried to know more about them. And I think I have truly learned a lot from them. Afterall, I modeled my game after them! I believe they have played a major role in me becoming a 'cricket lover' from a 'Sachin fan'.
But while I was extremely sad when Shoaib and Ponting bid adieu to the game, their retirements didn't make me weep like a child. They were not the ones I thought about when I was thinking about my first car's license plate. Their videos don't have the ability to transport me right back to my childhood. Only Sachin can do that.
And this is very strange, right? Even though it may be more virtuous, but being a 'cricket lover' may not overwhelm you with emotions while being a 'fan' can. Maybe it's the personal connect. Maybe it's the sheer incapacity of the human brain that it can't love the abstract as it can a person. Maybe it is because my ego comes in the way when I look at Shoaib or Ponting but not when I see Sachin.
But while this may sound like a loss for the 'cricket lover', I think it's not. Perhaps I'll forever picture Sachin with a halo and them as the devils, but the fact that I, as a 24 year-old, still wants to bowl like Shoaib and bat like Ponting, is perhaps a bigger tribute than that 'SRT-100' license plate.
