There are thousands of games people play around the world. Every game has its peculiarities. What sets Cricket apart? What is so unique about Cricket that makes it shine amongst other games.
The first thing that always strikes me about cricket is how the most little and completely unrelated things can affect the game and its course. For example, a small duration of little cloudy weather can turn the game on its head. A little patch of grass on the pitch is enough to get a bowler going. Even the smallest movement around the sight screen can get 'Sachin' distracted. A tiny bit of seam if goes out of shape on a ball can result in such nasty deliveries that umpires have to carry scissors.
Wow ! I have not seen a single other game which is so... if I may say so ...'delicate'. Do you agree?
We are just getting started... next thing, umpiring ! Now this is very interesting. Do you know any other game where umpires or referees have to judge so many complex decisions in a split second? The ball has to be over the shoulder and below the head height to be adjudged as the one bouncer per over... In the first second umpire needs to check whether the bowler's front foot is not crossing the front crease and in the next second ... well the next second is a hell's visit for the umpire. Next second has to decide anything among 'whether the ball is within the batsman's reach' or 'did batsman nick the ball' or it needs to check 'whether the ball crossed boundary or it bounced before that' All of this before he can blink. Can you blame the guy if he takes an early retirement :)
next thing, weird rules ! Just now we talked about decisions that umpires have to dish out in seconds. What's the root cause? Its because the game was designed by a computer programmer. Don't believe it? What other explanation is there for the LBW rule ?
If the batsman intended to hit the ball but missed it and the ball pitched exactly in line with the stumps; not too high as to go over the stumps, not too wide as to miss the stumps then he can be deemed out protecting his wicket with his legs.
But wait, what if batsman didn't intend to hit the ball at all ? well, in that case, the ball doesn't have to be inline with the stumps but it needs to be concluded that the ball would hit the stumps if the batsman was not in the middle of the ball and the stumps. That's just one rule ! There's a whole book full of such weird rules. I hear its bigger than income tax rule book.
Now one last thing before I rest my case ! the pre-game setup; We have to have a huge ground, that's a starter. Then we have to have a specially made strip which has to be guarded like a bucket of water in the desert. We have to have some grass on it; but not too much; few cracks are allowed but it shouldn't be like a cracked glass either. Then we talk about various gears that players need to wear. Shin guard, chest guard, elbow guard, pads, gloves, talk about protecting yourself !! I wonder why we don't call it Rich gentleman's game :)
Now there are many more such things that make the game that it is, and one little article is not nearly enough to cover all of them; but one thing is sure. All these little quirks, little uncertainties make our beloved game so much more interesting, so much more unpredictable and that is a big reason why we love it. Can we imagine if all the grounds, all pitches in the world behaved exactly same ? Would we like the game if every ball that got bowled ended up in the same place. No we won't like it; we have baseball for that ;) And baseball or any other game for that matter is not Cricket. And that's what Cricket is 'A truly unique sport'
Cheers !
The first thing that always strikes me about cricket is how the most little and completely unrelated things can affect the game and its course. For example, a small duration of little cloudy weather can turn the game on its head. A little patch of grass on the pitch is enough to get a bowler going. Even the smallest movement around the sight screen can get 'Sachin' distracted. A tiny bit of seam if goes out of shape on a ball can result in such nasty deliveries that umpires have to carry scissors.
Wow ! I have not seen a single other game which is so... if I may say so ...'delicate'. Do you agree?
We are just getting started... next thing, umpiring ! Now this is very interesting. Do you know any other game where umpires or referees have to judge so many complex decisions in a split second? The ball has to be over the shoulder and below the head height to be adjudged as the one bouncer per over... In the first second umpire needs to check whether the bowler's front foot is not crossing the front crease and in the next second ... well the next second is a hell's visit for the umpire. Next second has to decide anything among 'whether the ball is within the batsman's reach' or 'did batsman nick the ball' or it needs to check 'whether the ball crossed boundary or it bounced before that' All of this before he can blink. Can you blame the guy if he takes an early retirement :)
next thing, weird rules ! Just now we talked about decisions that umpires have to dish out in seconds. What's the root cause? Its because the game was designed by a computer programmer. Don't believe it? What other explanation is there for the LBW rule ?
If the batsman intended to hit the ball but missed it and the ball pitched exactly in line with the stumps; not too high as to go over the stumps, not too wide as to miss the stumps then he can be deemed out protecting his wicket with his legs.
But wait, what if batsman didn't intend to hit the ball at all ? well, in that case, the ball doesn't have to be inline with the stumps but it needs to be concluded that the ball would hit the stumps if the batsman was not in the middle of the ball and the stumps. That's just one rule ! There's a whole book full of such weird rules. I hear its bigger than income tax rule book.
Now one last thing before I rest my case ! the pre-game setup; We have to have a huge ground, that's a starter. Then we have to have a specially made strip which has to be guarded like a bucket of water in the desert. We have to have some grass on it; but not too much; few cracks are allowed but it shouldn't be like a cracked glass either. Then we talk about various gears that players need to wear. Shin guard, chest guard, elbow guard, pads, gloves, talk about protecting yourself !! I wonder why we don't call it Rich gentleman's game :)
Now there are many more such things that make the game that it is, and one little article is not nearly enough to cover all of them; but one thing is sure. All these little quirks, little uncertainties make our beloved game so much more interesting, so much more unpredictable and that is a big reason why we love it. Can we imagine if all the grounds, all pitches in the world behaved exactly same ? Would we like the game if every ball that got bowled ended up in the same place. No we won't like it; we have baseball for that ;) And baseball or any other game for that matter is not Cricket. And that's what Cricket is 'A truly unique sport'
Cheers !
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