Finest Cricket at Ladies Park
Being punctual in modern times is nothing less than a curse! Despite living 28 kilometers away from the Cricket Ground, I was sitting outside a Subway on a typical foggy, cold morning of December. The time allocated for the cricket match to begin was half-past nine and the clock was almost striking ten, yet there were no signs of a possible cricket match on the horizon. Why was I sitting outside a Subway and not with my friends? Well, my friend Umar was, as expected, not picking up my calls, indirectly letting me know that he will be late. Reluctantly, I informed the Careem driver to stop outside the restaurant rather than heading to my friend’s place in Askari X and was eagerly awaiting further communications. Despite the heavy layer of clothing to prevent the cold from penetrating my body, I was shivering as the unexpected gale made the weather turn into a deadly war machine, slowly weakening its opponents with its beam of frost accompanied by a gush of the cold breeze. Around quarter-past-ten, I got a call from my friend Ahmad Bilal, who was captaining the other side.
Ahmad: Yar yeh Cheema Kitna ajeeb hay saroon ko uthwa Kar khud phone nahi sun Raha. Do you know where he is?
Me: Jaani I have no idea. I am waiting for him and sitting outside Subway.
Ahmad: Hain? Main pick kar doon tumhain?
Me: Yes, please!
After ten minutes, Ahmad finally arrived to pick me up. Won’t be wrong to claim I believed at that particular moment that he was an angel for helping me escape the unfavorable hostile freezing environment, straight to a cozy car where the heating was fairly soothing. Once together, we both spent good quality time back-biting Umar for his unprofessional ethics. Nevertheless, we picked up the remaining players of his team and headed to the E-Sector Park-the venue of our match. The fun part of playing here was the fact that it was a ‘Ladies Park’ where we weren’t meant to enter but by now, the ladies accepted the bitter truth that some barbarous ‘parhay likhay jahil’ would continue to occupy the cricket field right in the middle of the park.
It was almost eleven and Ahmad’s whole team was present. Initially, I thought I was the only one pissed at my unpunctual friend but over here, we had a whole ‘Anti-Umar Club’ where everyone recalled the numerous times he ditched plans or showed up late. Sensing the hostility, I openly lied that I wasn’t his team member and enthusiastically jumped up with 2–3 stories of Umar being late just to get a sense of validation from the opposition. Meanwhile, Umar Farooq Cheema finally arrived at the ground, along with two other lads (much younger than us) whom I hadn’t seen before. TIME TO RETURN TO THE REAL SIDE!!!! With a sense of eagerness, I rushed towards my captain for the day, and innocently asked, “Baki players Kahan hain?” With a sly smile, expressing embarrassment, he replied, “Yehi team hay bus Kuch Kar lain gay”. Although it is hard to differentiate when he’s serious, sarcastic or joking but right then, I believed him and stared down at the two other teammates and back at Cheema with a sense of puzzlement.
Umar was greeted by a member of Ahmad’s team and he abruptly instigated the idea of pooling money (betting) if they were to have a match. Personally, the idea of involving money in this beautiful game is seen as a crime in my eyes but the world is a cruel place where sometimes you are forced to do things you never really want to live. Despite Umar’s initial persistence that involving money only sours the game and sportsman-spirit, reluctantly, he handed over a five-hundred Rupees note for play to begin. Looking back at this incident and how the game panned out, I would like to advocate we should have backed out of the bet and refused to play as money serves as a parasite for the game, poisoning the whole process and the joy you gain from it.
Next, we had the toss and after winning it, Umar and I went to open the batting. I wasn’t familiar with the Test format about to be played but was fairly at ease as Umar had a reputation of being the most suited for this format with his impenetrable defense. On the other hand, ‘plain chaos’ is the best way to describe my batting exploits as I intend to smash every ball for a boundary. The change in format was going to prove to be a challenge but we never should shy away from challenges. The cemented pitch, overcast conditions, and slight breeze across the bowler made the conditions an ideal scenario for fast-bowlers to come up and cause havoc, and even before the first ball, I started to doubt our decision.
The sheer elegance and class of Umar’s defense made me let go of such thoughts as he was not taking any of those things into consideration. The excellent foot-movement, shift in balance, and anticipation of the bowler’s trajectory made it seem like a kid’s play as not only was his timing spot on but also every ball kissed the middle of his bat. For a second, my mind unintentionally started comparing him to Rahul Dravid a.k.a “THE WALL”. But you see, the universe is quick to give a reality check as a counter for all of my day-dreaming. The fifth ball of the over was a fairly average one. A full ball, aimed at the middle stump. On any other day, it would have been bread and butter for Umar but not today. His footwork was on-point, the hands coming down and the bat angled at the leg-side. He ticked all the prerequisites for negotiating with this delivery but somehow the ball escaped the bat, only to rattle the woodwork behind him. BOOM!!!! There goes our star-batsman and captain. The fault? Let’s just say he should’ve worn his shoes according to his size as his bat struck his foot and left a hole large enough to let a baby elephant pass through let alone the small tennis ball.
With the captain back in the stands, the opposition tightened their grip on the match, mounting pressure on us. Constantly blocking the ball for no reward was more frustrating as psychologically, the opposition’s belief that the wicket is around the corner increased substantially. Finally, it was time to show them what I can do. I went ballistic! Smashing sixes outside the ground, astonishing the opposition. Within two overs, our scorecard peaked with the opposition deploying people on the boundaries rather than close to the batsman like before. Eventually, even I got out in the unluckiest ways as we posted a dismal target of 66 runs on a track where 150 runs were expected to be easily chased down. But cricket is a game which isn’t over until the very last ball and you need only 10 balls to win even a professional match.
Our fourth player was called home and we requested the opposition to lend us a fielder as their team comprised of nine players while we were now left with three. Honestly, I expected us to be given an extra batting too because they had double the number of batsmen for themselves but they brushed away my proposal by claiming “It’s your fault you couldn’t get more players for yourself”. The abrupt and aggressive manner in which they replied to my polite request, triggered a fire inside me as now I was desperate to show them who was the BOSS. With two fielders covering the whole ground and Ahmad as keeper (he volunteered to field for us), we began our bowling attack. Right from the word go, the opposition was caught off-guard with the lethal pace attack they encountered. A left-armed Faaiz and a right-armed Umar caused havoc as the batsman had no answer for the pace attack running at them. Most of them gave in to the excessive pressure, going for a massive slog, only to be caught on the boundaries. Simultaneously, our brutal Yorkers also did the trick, rattling the stumps as the batsmen failed to negotiate with it. Credit goes to Ahmad too, as despite being a member of the opposition, he fielded with complete honesty, taking a couple of exceptionally beautiful catches.
One of the most beautiful moments of the match, in my opinion, was when the over concluded and Umar started jogging towards me and said while taking the ball from my hands, “Stand exactly at the stop where I am pointing at, near the boundary and wait for the catch that you will get”. Wasn’t in a mood to ask questions, therefore, obeyed his command and stood exactly where he instructed at long-off. The very next ball, the batsman stupidly attempted a six, and the ball skied into the air. From the boundary, I could only admire the cricketing intelligence of the lad bowling this over. Just a ball ago he told me a catch is coming my way and look where we all ended up at. Inside my breath, I whispered, “Uff he’s a Genius” and let out a big smile while extending my arms. The ball took an eternity to arrive, straight into my hands. I didn’t even have to move in any other direction. After completing the catch, I ran towards Umar and he was coming to me and after our celebrations, he asked, “Itna smile kar rahay thay dar hi lag Raha tha drop ho Jana hay”. To which I replied, “You’re a Cricketing Genius!”
The numeric advantage the opposition had finally come into play as they dabbed the balls for easy singles and the extra battings helped them edge closer to the target. With two runs needed with one wicket remaining, nerves playing a major role in determining our fate, I accidentally bowled a wide down the leg side, leveling the scores. Their batsman, who was playing since he arrived after the dismissal of the opener flexed that now he will show me who the real player is. As you may already know, every challenge is welcomed as I gripped the ball and intended to bowl my heart out.
With a longer run-up than usual, I intended to channel all of my energy to bowl this ball of my 12th over. I banged in a bouncer, aimed at the batsman’s face. The batsman went for an overly audacious lofted pull shot, top-edging the ball. The ball swirled into the air, directly above the batsman. Sensing that it probably may prove to be the last ball of the match, the batsman began running to complete a single, hoping against all odds the fielder drops the catch. But his efforts may be in vain as it is one of the simplest catches, with no excessive speed or uncomfortable catching positions.
Umar wouldn’t let go of me. I was screaming at the top of my voice! Ahmad was also there to restrain my advancements. The rest watched the fiasco as they knew what just happened. Such hypocrisy? All for bloody Rs.500? I wanted to serve him punches square of the jaw but was being held back by my friends who tried to act rationally. Remember that we took 1 volunteer fielder from the opposition team? HE WAS OUR WICKET-KEEPER! HE NEVER ATTEMPTED THE CATCH! THEY WON! If the match ended as a draw, they never would’ve earned the money and for the sake of Rs.500, he betrayed us? I wasn’t having any of this nonsense and hurled insults and abuses on the keeper who looked for his teammates to save him. They may have won the match but in our hearts, we knew who the real winners were.
And to cheer up my mood, Cheema took me to Gourmet where he treated us with Chicken Jalfaraizi and Rogni Naan as food helped me get over my anger!
