I am so out of the loop of every kind, that it was only when Pakistan won the cricket world cup that I found out that the world cup had been in progress. But then I was just confused. World Cup? We won the world cup? Not the world cup? So after a trip to cricinfo.com I found out it was actually the 20/20 world cup. Twenty Twenty? Seriously? What happened to the 50/50 world cup? And when did 20/20 get promoted to international status? Wasn't 20/20 the format we used while playing cricket on the streets? I say we because I was once a star pinch-hitter. Of course I was eventually banned from participation by the neighborhood kids. I repeatedly refused to retrieve the ball that I hit into neighboring houses, while also refusing to Field or bowl. The kids were fed up and formed a committee to ban me from the local cricket scene. Of course I was crushed but since I was 22 at the time and they were mere middle schoolers, I bullied them into lifting the ban. Eventually they disappeared into a neighboring cricket scene and I turned my nervous energies to tennis. But I digress.
I was annoyed by the 20/20 cricket scene right from the beginning. I am one of those crazy people who still love the 5-day test matches. To me it is the true test of a team's caliber. Hence the name TEST. One day cricket is still enjoyable, but what is with the new human obsession of abbreviating everything. I guess people are running out of time and patience. Players like other professionals want to earn as much money as they can, in the shortest time possible. People are evolving and so is everything associated with them. The way they live, see, feel, think, co-habituate, work, eat, function, their tools, their lifestyles, their priorities, everything is on the change. Then why shouldn't the way they entertain themselves undergo some modifications as well? Of course which cricket enthusiast from my part of the world has ever considered the game as a form of entertainment? I was just as cricket crazy as my next compatriot for the longest time possible. In fact, it was the fact that I was so crazy that made me quit following the game so closely. The ups and downs that plague our team were enough to give me a stroke and so I just gave up.
Anyway, the point of this little rant is that good news in our country is so rare and happy occasions are so few and so far apart, especially of late that whether the latest evolution of my beloved game gets my approval or not, I am happy that my people got a reason to rejoice and our terrorist plagued cricket scene got a much needed break.
Of course the way we kicked Sri Lanka's butt is only icing on the cake. Because even though Sri Lanka and Pakistan are not great rivals, it gave me a reason to stick my tongue out at Guruji and go "looser, looser" lol.
Congratulations Pakistan, may you have more reasons to celebrate :-)
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