Aham Brahmasmi

If they ever tell my story, let them say I beheld one man obliterating the best fast bowler in the world for 25 runs in an over in a World Cup Semi-Final. Let them say I witnessed the moment when a captain gave his fast bowler three slips, a gully and a point in the 21 st  over of an ODI match. Let them say I breathed in the aura of a man who could attack, swing, crash, burn, dazzle, exult, deceive, soar, collapse with the same roguish grin on his face. Let them say I had tears in my eyes when a warrior looked into the camera and said “ This is the greatest time of our lives ” like he truly meant it. Let them say I lived in the time of McCullum.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  We all know – have read about or heard of i.e. – this famous quote that is most often attributed to Einstein. But there’s something in it, isn’t there? The hoping against hope, the doomed foreknowledge and yet the vehement willing oneself on against the imminent inevitability. Over the last couple of seasons, I’ve often wondered if that’s the reason I still tune in to Federer’s matches towards the business end of major tournaments. There is something deep inside me – as it almost indubitably is in all of his fans – that warns of the fatal-stumble-at-the-very-end that has become an almost unavoidable part of Federer’s tournament progresses. And yet, I hope. And yet, Shaunak da hopes. And yet, Saibal da hopes. After yet another defeat, yet another heartbreak, we tell one another that we won’t get so involved again, that we’ll start out on the process of accepting that another Slam is too much to hope...

“Dravid didn’t fit into the rudimentary templates that the great art of coarse cricket writing has invented for batsmen. Here a sound technique always implies “compact defence”. Well, Dravid’s defence wasn’t compact: it was extravagant. His wrists twirled, his bat looped before the fall was disciplined into the ground.   Dravid was a great batsman who could do everything: he hooked, pulled, cut, swept, flicked and drove, but his entire technique was centred on the need to make sure the ball hit the ground first.” -     Mukul Kesavan, ‘ Extravagantly sound ’