Doesn't matter!

Non-cricketers please disperse to the next blog.

So what does it take to become a cricketer? Not much, I guess. When you come into this world just make sure that the country you're born in is India. Indian and male and not liking cricket?! That's an endangered spieces but certainly not worth saving!

It doesn't matter if you've played-
in your own verandah where getting a hat-trick is no less difficult, or
in front of your neighbors' broken-as-a-result-of-lofted-cover-drive-and-you-had-to-pay-for-it glass window, or
in open 'maidans' where you share your run up area, at the same time, with another bowler from a different on going match, or
on the road, dodging the to-and-fro traffic as you try to concentrate on your cricket, or
in your school games, feilding at fine-leg, because the only similarity between you and Jonty Rhodes is that you both suffer from epilepsy, or
exploding on the Ranji trophy scene but never to make it on the Indian side or
at Lords getting initiated in the big league while sweating at the short-leg as Flintoff thrashes his bat.

Doesn't matter.

And it doesn't matter if it's -
a plastic ball which skids in the parking lot where you play because it's raining outside, or
a rubber ball which bounces more than required (can't figure out how Ganguly got through 'gali' cricket with such a ball), or
a hard tennis ball which becomes a lot quicker when wet, or
the real red cherry, which is more visible than any other ball and still the hardest to connect, thrash, catch, grab, grip, swing, skid, bounce and aim depending on your confidence, pitch and weather conditions.

Doesn't matter.

And it doesn't matter if you've felt -
burdened because you couldn't hold your strike and lost for a run with 3 overs to go, or
ecstatic after getting the batsman to make the mistake you wanted him to make, or
proud when you got under the opposition's skin forcing him to blunder, or
perfect when you found the gap that made the sweeper cover and long off converge, a moment before the ball touched the rope, or
stupid not to have warmed up only to stretch your hamstring and miss 3 games in a row.

Doesn't matter.

If you've have experienced any of the above, need I say more!!