Crazy for Cricket

I don’t think I can set the scene for our first cricket match better than Bobilli Vijay Kumar did in his Sunday column in The Times of India:

As evening cast its shadow on the perpetually-in-a-frenzy city, it gathered even more pace; as if lured by some mysterious centripetal force, everything seemed to be converging, moving slowly but steadfastly towards the heart of the metropolis.

Well, it was Kolkata Knight Riders’ last game at home and, surely, nobody wanted to miss it; the traffic had already come to a standstill and the drive had become tedious a long time earlier. Worse, you could smell a thunderstorm and the day had become warmer, and the air stickier.

But then, the view changed almost along with the next moment; the pale sky suddenly came alive, sparkling as if lit by a million diamonds. The magnificent Eden Gardens loomed over you and, almost on cue, a roar emanated from within. We knew that KKR were bowling so it could only mean one thing: a wicket.

Tell me that’s not the finest piece of sports journalism you’ve ever read.

Cricket is a religion in India. On my first trip here, my Indian coworkers bought me a cricket bat that they all signed, and that I’ve kept on a shelf at our house. On this trip, the Kolkata Knight Riders of the India Premiere League were playing their final home game of the season at Calcutta’s famed Eden Gardens, a rocking 90,000-seat stadium just a 10-minute walk from our guesthouse. We snapped up two tickets in the cheap seats and joined the face-painted, flag-waving throngs to watch KKR take on the Rajasthan Royals in a must-win game for a shot at the IPL playoffs.

Jordan’s Quick Explanation of Cricket for Dummies / Fellow Americans:

The field is circular with a narrow rectangular field of play (analogous to baseball’s infield) in the middle. At any one time, only two players from one team will be up batting and running and all of the opposing team will be on the field either throwing (or “bowling”) to the batter or fielding their hits. When the batter hits the ball (and it can go in any direction), both batters will run up and down the rectangle to accumulate points. Each hit generally results in at least 1 point. Balls that bounce over the outer boundary are 4 points and balls that fly over like a home run in baseball are 6 points. Cricket is really high scorning. One team sends all of their batters up to bat until 10 of them are declared out or until the full roster has reached a maximum number of “attempts” (sort of like at-bats). Then the other team attempts to beat their run total before they are all declared out or reach their maximum number of attempts. What I’m describing is a relatively new version of cricket designed for primetime TV called Twenty20 cricket. Traditional matches (“test matches”) can last a week and include afternoon breaks for tea!

Back to Eden Gardens

The atmosphere that night was electric. Walking into the stadium felt more like walking into the Swamp than into any baseball game I’ve ever attended. After each wicket (the equivalent of an out in baseball) the crowd went berserk – teenagers gyrating to the Hindi pop blasting from the stadium speakers, their parents waving purple and gold flags, and everyone screaming.

The stadium was at its loudest, though, when KKR’s owner, Shahrukh Khan, stepped out of his luxury box just beside our seats and waved to the crowd. The second he appeared, the crowd went nuts, screaming “SHAHRUUUUUUUKH!” Shahrukh Khan is the biggest movie star you’ve never heard of — a Bollywood actor who’s maybe the most famous person in India, perhaps the most widely recognized actor in the world. We’ve been here just a couple of weeks so far and we’ve seen his face in ads for everything from underwear to juice boxes. Bollywood actors and cricket stars are like demi-gods in India, and Shahrukh’s at the top of the heap.

An hour or so into the match, we were joined in the empty seat next to ours by the affable Alvin. Alvin is the embodiment of the modern, young, upwardly mobile Indian. He lives in Calcutta and works as a call center agent for United Healthcare, using his personal interest in horoscopes as an icebreaker with the American nurses he chats with at work and these two American travelers sitting next to him at the cricket match. Alvin was super friendly and fun to talk to for the remainder of the match, explaining the rules of cricket to us along with the dynamic of a Libra-Cancer marriage. (Our outlook is good, according to Alvin, a Gemini).

 

The match was barely controlled chaos – so many people from different backgrounds all crazy for cricket, the smells of fragrant food, and the sounds of Hindi music. No “We Will Rock You” here. It was confusing and overwhelming at times, yet warm and welcoming thanks to friendly locals like Alvin. As the lady behind us exclaimed as we all laughed at the hip-thrusting teenagers celebrating another wicket, “this is India, incredible India.”