I Retire ...

Ah, what a day of eye-opener I had today, all the so called stamina and other technical skills I had on one of my passionate game Cricket has been proved wrong, when I tried to compete with my next generation. I had an opportunity to play cricket with folks who are 8 to 9 years younger than me and I was bubbling with all confidence and I was feeling pride of the great innings I have played for my company and other teams, in short if I have to put this, I walked into the stadium as if I am Sachin Tendulkar and the other boys were juniors to me. I know it has been years since I have touched the bat and ball, and I was having my own pride of being a fantastic fielder, so all these motivated this 32 year old man to go and play a game and this is what unfolded in front of my eyes and I decided to put this as a post in my blog, so that whenever I get another chance to play cricket, I will open my blog and read this post ....

Game 1:

Satish chose to bowl first as he was always an opening bowler for his team, and the score at the end of the over is 22. 3 fours, 1 six and 2 double. I told myself that it was just a warm-up over and I can prove my skills in the next over, this being a 6 over per side game and I am sure I will get the 5th over as there were only 4 bowlers in my team. 5th over, no change other than the runs I gave 24 runs this time, 4 fours, 1 six and one double. This time I am not ready to believe that it is another over of warm-up, I told myself, you young man, you are getting old and you have absolutely no pace or accuracy in your bowling. I was pitching all half volleys and it was more than a "one more time" for the batsmen. I being the eldest in the entire gang, took it on my stride and then planned to show my mettle on batting, once again the flashback screen revolved in front of me and I remembered one of the face saving innings I played for Oracle, where we won by 1 wicket. There goes Satish with his bat and swinging arms and a bumpy walk to the pitch, looked around where the field placement is, adjusted my pads and concentrated very hard on the bowlers arm and the cherry, with complete concentration on the cherry, Satish swings his bat in the exact direction where the ball came and there he heard a sound, "ptaaankk", one of my stump had gone for a long walk and there Satish walks back to the pavilion with a golden duck.

Game 2:

Satish decided to take the second spell and did not want to take the first over, and there came over number 4 and Satish had already formed a strategy of how to attack the batsmen who has already scored 26 in two over’s. First ball, wowww, that was a blinder to the fellow, and Satish was proud of that delivery and the Andy Robert's and Malcom Marshals's and Bret Lee's came to my imaginary mind and gave me a pat and the very next ball was smashed for a 6, next one, another 6, next one, another 6, next one, another 6, next one, another 6, unfortunately it looks like Stuart Broad too came into me and made me to bowl. So there walks a dejected great bowler back to his fielding position and told himself that he is going to prove his worth to his team by making some stunning saves and catches, so I moved one young guy from a short mid-wicket position to long on and said, I will take care, he actually did not want to go and gave me a stare as if "Are you sure, you can stand here you old man ??", I took guard on my position and before the bowler bowled the next ball, he called me and gave me a sign like "that’s the place you are gonna get the next ball, ready to catch it", I returned a sign back to him like a "thumbs-up" and that guy actually kept his word and bowled the ball at the right slot and it came straight in my direction like a tracer bullet, and before me mentally preparing myself to take that catch, that ball was in the boundary.

So what do these incidents mean ? Satish though looks like a youth for his age, internally the body has taken its toll and it refuses to co-operate and made me feel like a dead pig. I am no fit for that young chap’s game anymore and I think I have to retire and not even claim that I have played cricket in my life. I know my fellow blogger "Chan" is an excellent cricketer and I have admired his game a lot, I still remember the finals we played for our office, though we lost it by 1 run, it was a memorable match. Chan do you remember that catch I took by banging straight on you, as we both ran together to take that one, without me calling "Its mine". Today is a day which proved to me a fact that, I am getting old and I can never be a youth and I am not fit for such games in my life anymore :( with a very heavy heart, I have to say that I am retiring from all forms of CRICKET w.e.f today and I will not touch the bat and ball anymore. *sob* *sob* *sob*