All throughout the day, I switched back and fro from my work desk to the television set. The shouts of joy from the neighborhood indicated a welcome boundary and similarly curses and stunned silence meant the fall of another of Team Bangladesh’s batsman.
It seems only yesterday that Bangladesh won the One Day International Status by beating Kenya in Malaysia, and me – being the enthusiastic 7 year old and being brought up in a household where 2 of my uncles played First Class cricket – shouting at the top of my voice, and banging steel plates with spoons to make as much noise as possible. That day the whole nation cried out. To let the world know – We are here. And we are here to stay.
15 years have passed since that day, and during this one and a half decade, the team has given us a lot of memories to cherish, a lot of reasons to don the red and green, a lot of reasons to roar out and a lot of reasons to be down…and at times even to moisten our eyes.
22nd March 2012 was one such day. A day when the rickshaw pullers gathered around the tea stalls to check out the scores, when the shops with television on them were full of people, the shopkeeper not bothered about business at all. All eyes glued to the screen.
I had to attend a wedding, so I left home as late as I could. Even at the wedding, the guests were all agitated for any news of the match. I was sitting with a friend, when someone shouted out, ‘It’s the last over of the match!’ I excused myself, and literally ran towards the place where almost half of the guests were crowded (and the groom looking baffled). I won’t get into details but it was a nail-biting experience, and when the last ball was about to be bowled, I looked away. A second later, the exasperated sighs of disappointment confirmed my worst fear. We lost.
But I would like to take a moment to thank our National Cricket Team. Thank you for the countless moments of joy, whenever the bowlers shattered the opponent’s stumps or one of our batsmen came down the ground to hit a massive six.
Thank you for making us dream and for teaching us to hope.
Best of luck for the future.
I am sure, God won’t let 160 million prayers go unanswered.
Photo Courtesy: Cricinfo
From the City of Mosques 