My first lessons in Cricket

"I want to join the cricket coaching this year"

 I had my answer ready even before Dad could ask me, his perennial question, “What will you learn this summer?"

Cricket is nothing less than a religion in India and at my home, it’s loved and hated equally. My mom inherited the love for cricket from her father and Dad has a one line philosophy for cricket, ‘They play, they win, they earn, what do you get?’

I never had the answer for that but Dad never stopped me from following cricket. My craze for cricket began at an age when I could not even spell it. My mom used to take me to Shivaji Park on weekend evenings where a sea of crowd used to play cricket, from adolescents to adults, everyone in their cricket gear playing the wonderful game. My mom used to tell me, this was the ground where Vengsarkar, Gavaskar and Tendulkar have practiced and that was when I was super proud of my surname, Satanekar:-P

Cut to 2007, my Dad took me to the sports shop to buy the cricket kit. 13 years of my life and I had never been so excited for any shopping. Carefully selecting every accessory, I was ready to play season cricket the next day.

 On our way back home, Dad told me,

“Sports teach you a lot my dear son. Do enjoy the game but learn the lesson as well.”

 My excitement didn’t allow me to digest this heavy philosophical dose.

The next morning, as I reached the ground, not the greatest of welcome awaited me. 5 rounds of the entire ground, followed by stretching! Our coach, Om Prakash alias OP ,  a 6 ft. tall burly giant, few inches taller and a shade darker, and he would have qualified to be a part of the West Indies cricket team.

After an hour or so, we were asked to prepare for batting practice. Yes, that was I wanted. As the coach started sharing bating tips, I learnt the first acronym for SAP in my life: Stance, Approach and Play.

We were asked to repeat this, not 10, not 20 but for an irritating 75 times! I never understood why we were forced to do this. I had my answer few minutes later.

The first ball I faced in nets, I hit it out hard. I expected a compliment, what I got was a season ball thrown ferociously at me by the coach. It hurt me pretty badly on my elbow. The coach taunted that if it is hurting much, I could join the girls playing basketball.

I got up and faced the next one. During the SAP drills, we were taught how to play the ball which was outside the off stump. This time the bowler pitched it near my leg and I played the same off drive. It was a clear case of leg before wicket.

This time I immediately turned towards my coach who was visibly furious and picked up another ball to throw at me. He threw and instinctively I brought my bat forward. A loud sound followed. I had my eyes closed, sensed for any broken bones. None.

I looked back at the stumps, all the three intact. When I looked forward, I saw the ball rolling out swiftly towards him and when I observed, I had the perfect batting stance, according to his coaching manual.

The next 60 minutes he let me bat, to the extent of my joy. There were few stern looks when I missed a ball but no more balls were thrown at me. At the end of the day, I had a bruise on my elbow but a wide smile on my face.

As I was leaving, my coach called me and apologized for the bruise.

He began, 

“Son, the first ball you faced, and you ignored the hour long lesson and played carelessly. That’s what shall happen often in your life. You may know the right method to solve the problem, but you will choose the glitteriest path, which shall not always be the right one.”

“The second ball, you expected a ball on the off stump and got one on your legs. You expected the problem for which you know a solution and are comfortable with. Life does not offer you nuts all the time. I agree I didn’t teach you that shot, but hey I can’t teach you everything about life and cricket:-D”

“The first two balls had hurt your conscience and damaged self respect and that was when you had learnt the lesson and played it rightly. The same shall happen in your life, but make sure you learn the lesson before you get hurt more. Good luck for the rest of the camp.”

As I walked back home, I was engaged in my thoughts, and amazed that my first lessons in Cricket could be turned into a philosophical life mantra. In evening when Dad asked me about my first day at cricket camp, I smiled at him and said, 

“You were right Baba, Sports really teaches us a lot”🙂

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