Epiphany in a Cricket Match
I am writing this after a week of watching a cricket match at a stadium. I wanted to measure myself if it is just an after-match euphoria or is it an epiphany.
Quick context. I travelled to a nearby city, Bangalore, to watch a cricket match in Indian Premier League between two arch rivals, Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bangalore. It was a family summer vacation trip combined with my son’s recent obsession with cricket. It is summer holidays time, and he spends all the time playing cricket under the scorching sun of Chennai.
Bangalore is a city that is very close to my heart and brings a lot of fond memories, as I spent a decade of my life there. The Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore is really pleasant and fantastically nice.
After watching a few overs of a match in the stadium, I realise that television amplifies and messes up the whole experience of watching a match. In the stadium, you can see the players who are doing the superhuman-like feats on TV are people like you and me. Some are short, some are plumpy, and some are sloppy too. It is just that their heroic acts of athletic feats are something possible with disciplined practice and training.
Another thing that I realised was simplicity. At the end of the day, cricket is just a game where a bowler throws a ball at a batter to get them out, and the batter defends it. There are a few basics of the game and laws of physics that needs to be in the players’ mind. It is all common sense after that. But our sports broadcasters can hype the hell out it, with minute analysis-paralysis and expert commentary. I couldn’t stop myself from comparing it with running a business. The goal of a business is to get a customer’s job done and make money in a sustainable manner. But many times we forget the big picture and zoom in with a microscope. It may be gross or beautiful, but it is important we realise the depth we are in to appreciate it.
Watching the match with a polarizing set of a crowd is a surreal experience. There are strangers sitting near rooting for your team and cheering for your heroes. When the match is nail-bitingly close and thrilling, to high-five with them or scream along, is a really cathartic and intoxicatingly high experience.