Humans of the Cricket World Cup

Humans of the Cricket World Cup -1 

Afghanistan vs England , 15 Oct 2023, Delhi 

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Amongst the maze of Afghan fans at the cricket stadium in Delhi for the Afghanistan-England world cup match is Ali Ahmed. He is 40. Ali is of Afghan origin, from Jalalabad. He has been living in Delhi for six years. Ali works at a restaurant close to the Jamia Millia Islamia university. Ali's family lives with him in Delhi. Ali's parents live with him as well. Ali has come to the cricket match, like thousands of other Afghans. Like most of them, he is a cricket fanatic. He has watched Afghanistan play on a few earlier occasions. When the Afghan team was playing in Dehra Dun, he went there to watch them as well.

Today is a special day for Ali, something that sets him apart from most of the other fans in the stadium. Unlike most other fans, Ali has got his father Mustafa Ahmed with him to watch the match. Mustafa is now 67, and has had a tough life. The past six years, his family has been rebuilding their life in Delhi, bit by bit, drop by drop. It is Mustafa's first time at a cricket match in the stadium and he is super excited with the sights, the sounds and the vibrance. While they are excitedly looking around, the screen on the stadium shows Mustafa and Ali. Ali notices it, and asks daddy Mustafa to look at the screen. Daddy Mustafa takes a second to adjust, and is all smiles when he sees himself. Noticing that they are still on the screen, Ali hugs his father and kisses him on the cheek. Daddy Mustafa hugs Ali back.  

 

 

Not far from where the father son duo is in the stands is Hamid Khan. Hamid is 30 year old. He is from Kabul. He has been living in Delhi for over seven years now. He stays in the locality of Malviya Nagar. He does odd jobs to makes ends meet, and to send money back home to his family, who are still in Afghanistan. He manages to meet his expenses in Delhi within 12,000 rupees a month and sends about twice that amount back home to his family. For the cricket match, he splurged over a thousand rupees to buy a ticket to watch his country play world champions England in the Cricket World Cup. "In our tough lives, cricket is the one thing that gives us joy and hope. It makes me forget my troubles", says Hamid.

 

 

On the field, Rashid Khan, the great leg spinner, has the ball. Rashid is the crowd favorite. Everyone adores him. He is a hugely popular figure all over India. His exploits in the IPL are well known. Not just the Afghan fans, Indian fans also cheer for him loudly. The crowd is happy just to see Rashid. Everything else they treat as a bonus. When Rashid balances the cricket ball from one leg to another as if it was a football, the stadium goes into delirium. The crowd  invents slogans. the most popular one is - Dus Rupaiye ki Pepsi, Rashid bhai sexy.

 

The mood in the stands is upbeat. during the break, the DJ plays the song 'London Thumakda' . It is another matter that the guys from London are in deep trouble on the pitch. They are missing the services of Big Ben ( stokes). 

When Naveen Ul Haq, the Afghanistan medium pacer, clean bowled England Captain Jos Butler with a beautiful inswinger , the crowd goes delirious. Gurpreet singh, a sardar ji from Lajpat Nagar, gets into a Bhangra. Many people join in. Mohit, from Noida, who is in the stands, puts up a banner for the English. It says, "Kohinoor wapis karo" (Return the Kohinoor).

 

The extraordinary delivery results in a complete turnaround for Naveen Ul Haq, the bowler. In the 2023 IPL, Naveen had a tiff with Virat Kohli, and things had become ugly. The Delhi crowd had not forgiven him, and whenever the ball would go to him, they would chant 'Kohli, Kohli' and troll him. But here, Naveen had done something extraordinary. Having got the English captain out, Naveen made Afghanistan sniff at the possibility of an improbable outcome. A victory against the reigning world champions.

 

Afghanistan continue to peg wickets at regular intervals, keeping the pressure on England. My worry at that time is that they should not allow the situation to get ahead of themselves and distract their focus. Rashid Khan is bowling to his namesake, Adil Rashid of England. This is the second time it is Rashid versus Rashid in the match. The first was when Adil Rashid bowled to Rashid Khan, in Afghanistan's innings. Leg spinner to Leg spinner.

"A leg spinner would never want to get out to a leg spinner, it would hurt his ego very badly", says the articulate lady in the commentary box. The lady reeling off statistics and analysing technical details such as the degree of spin is one of the world's greatest woman cricketers. Her name is Lisa Sthalekar. Lisa was the Australia women's cricket captain, and has won the Women's world cup four times, a feat achieved by no other cricketer on the planet. Lisa was born in Pune in India. A few days after her birth, she was abandoned by her biological parents and left outside an orphanage adjacent to the Sassoon hospital in Pune. At the age of three weeks, Lisa, who was known as Laila then, was adopted by Haren Sthalekar and Sue Sthalekar, her adoptive parents, who lived in Michigan in the United States. In a few weeks, Laila was renamed Lisa by her new set of parents, and her life shifted from the orphanage in Pune to a loving family in Michigan. A few years later, the family moved to Sydney and it was in the backyard of their Sydney house that Lisa first played cricket with her father, Haren. She had a natural flair for cricket, and started playing with the boys in the neighborhood. One day, her father took her to the North Sydney Oval ground, where a women's cricket test match was underway between Australia and England. That's where little Lisa realized that women play competitive cricket as well, and thereon dedicated her life  to becoming one of the greatest cricketers the world has ever produced.

 

Lisa's remarkable story from the orphanage to being a four time world champion is much more than the stuff of dreams. It is a similar dream that the Afghans in the stands and on the field are nurturing. No, not to be a four time world champion, not yet. Rather, to revel in the sheer joy of being able to play sport. For a country ravaged by violence and political turmoil, consistently ranked amongst the lowest in the world on most human and developmental indices, cricket is one of the very few things that brings everyone together. Not only does it bring everyone together, it also gives them immense joy.

 

That's why, for the majority of the players in the Afghan team, being on a world stage was more than they had ever imagined. To top it all,  the opportunity of being able to bring joy to thousands of their fans at the stadium, and millions on TV, was reason enough to celebrate, irrespective of the outcome. And finally, when Afghanistan won their most famous victory, they renewed faith, renewed hope, renewed optimism , not just for themselves , but for every person who believes in the power of dreams.

India, Pakistan and sport’s ability to transcend boundaries

 Today is the 14th of October 2023. In a few hours, India play Pakistan in the cricket World Cup. In Ahmedabad. 

I am writing this from  Hyderabad. 

Hyderabad is the city where the Pakistan cricket team spent the past two weeks for their practice matches and the two World Cup matches before moving to Ahmedabad , for the match of the World Cup on the 14th of October . India vs Pakistan.

From the moment they stepped in , the people of Hyderabad cheered for them. At the airport , on the bus to the hotel, at the nets , in the restaurant, and , in the cricket match .

Pakistan played four matches in Hyderabad . There were no spectators allowed for the first match as it coincided with Ganesh Visarjan, a festival  celebrated all over the city . The second practice match saw Pakistan put up a good batting performance, but eventually lost.

In between , the team visited Jewel of Nizam,  a restaurant overlooking the Osman Sagar lake , and had Hyderabadi cuisine for dinner. Another evening, the team visited Peshawar, a restaurant serving cuisine from the north west frontier.

The World Cup started with the match against the Netherlands , and there was expectancy in the air. The Netherlands  team had three of players of Indian origin - Sai Teja  Nidamamuru, born in nearby Vijaywada and speaking Telugu, was one of them. His extended family had come over to support him. The stands were not full.

Of the people who were there, most were looking for exciting cricket and hence, cheering for Pakistan. They wanted to see a big hundred from Babar Azam, and real fast bowling from Shaheen Shah Afridi. Pakistan won quite easily in the end and everyone was happy.

Then came the most anticipated match for all of us in Hyderabad - Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka. Hyderabad does not have any India match in the World Cup and this was perhaps the most competitive game scheduled here.

And what a game it turned out to be . Sri Lanka scoring 344, and Pakistan knocking it right back and setting a World Cup record for the highest chase .

During the game , the crowd was fully supportive of good cricket . When the Sri Lankan charge was led by Mendis, the crowd was happy. When Pakistan fought back with good bowling in the final overs of the Sri Lankan innings  , the crowd was happy as well.

It was in the second innings that things got even more exciting. Everyone was happy when Imam Ul Haq was dismissed, because it got Babar Azam to the crease. Huge chants of Babar, Babar rent the air. He started off in style, but soon got out. Babar Azam’s wicket was a huge disappointment for the crowd. Some said - Kya Babar Bhai, hum century dekhna chahte they (What Babar, we wanted to see a century from you).

Pakistan fought back , with Abdullah and then Rizwan. When Rizwan carried on despite his injury and cramps, he got the whole crowd rooting for him .

When the match was evenly poised in the middle overs , The DJ in the stadium said - Jeetega bhai Jeetega, letting the crowd to complete the rest. A loud roar went up- Pakistan jeetega.

It was a surreal moment . A crowd in India chanting Pakistan jeetega .

All four centuries in the match were cheered. Rizwan’s century met with the loudest cheers . In the over break, the DJ played the song ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’. The crowd loved the beats.

Many people in the Indian blue jersey were dancing to Rizwan ‘s sixes . Most had Virat 18 printed on their T-shirts, some had Rohit 45, and a few Hardik 33. They were all loving the fabulous cricket put up by Rizwan and co.

When the match ended with Pakistan Pulling off a record chase , the crowd went into a delirium. The Pakistan players were also taken overcome with this kind of reception.

I was transported back to 2004, Lahore. The time I was at the Gaddafi stadium , for the India- Pakistan series . I was in the blue India t-shirt. India won, we cheered . In spite of Pakistan losing,  many Pakistanis at the stadium came up and congratulated us . India was cheered everywhere. People came up, wanted to talk to us, invited us for dinner, wanted to talk to get an understanding of life in India

Something similar was on display here. Sri Lanka played good cricket. They were appreciated. Pakistan did  one better. They were absolutely adored.

The scene at the stadium once again reinforced the power of sport , the power of its ability to transcend boundaries, to transcend politics. Sport enabled thousands of people to cheer for courageous performance, for going beyond the ordinary.

All of it was In full display at Hyderabad.

Next stop for the world cup, for both India and Pakistan, is Ahmedabad. It is India vs Pakistan on the 14th of October.  Today. 

May we have a great game, with every player doing their best and spectators getting full entertainment .

And may India win

Sumimasen, Araigato and the magic of Japanese politeness

I have been interacting with Japanese people for more than a decade. In this period, I have been to Japan multiple times and also hosted the Japanese in India.

While there are many big and unique things about Japan, it is in the small, day to day experiences in interacting with the people that a whole new world unfolds. 

Many times in Japan, I have asked people for directions  ; on most occasions , people have responded as if it is their sacred duty to not only help with directions , but also walk along till I navigate things the right way. Sometimes, people have come all the way to walk along upto my destination .  

Does this happen elsewhere, outside japan ? Yes it does , occasionally. There are nice and helpful all over the world. However , the number of times this happens in Japan, and the way people in japan consider it to be a duty to help a stranger , nowhere else have I seen that magnitude . 

Obsession with time is another aspect, which also manifests in the respect for time of others. Some years ago, a Japanese friend was visiting India. I had invited him for dinner at 8 pm. 

Sure enough, he turned up at 8 PM. I asked him whether he had any trouble locating the place or coming over as he was visiting India and might not be familiar with the surroundings. He said he was mindful that he was coming to a new location,  so he started early and arrived around 7.30 PM, half an hour before the invitation time. “Arrived half an hour before, then why did you not come inside ”, I ask him , surprised. 

“Oh Deepak San, I didn’t want to disturb you as you might be busy with something else”, was the reply . 

“What were you doing for the past half hour ?”, I ask him, feeling guilty. “I was waiting outside ”, he replied. 

A friend of mine is part of a local badminton team in Tokyo. They had a to play a tournament and assemble at the match venue at 9 AM . However, as a team, they agreed to meet at 8.30AM. All but two of the team members turned up by 8.30 AM. The two who did not turn up at 8.30, reached at 8.35. A time that was a good 25 minutes before the scheduled assembly time at 9 AM; however, it was 5 minutes later than what their team had , amongst themselves, agreed for. They profusely apologized to the rest of the team for this ‘lapse’. 

Next day, back at their home venue for practice, the two who had turned up at 8.35 the previous day , punished ‘themselves’ by not playing , but rather cleaning the badminton court and helping others. They also ran rounds of the nearby field to atone for the previous day’s delay. 

Remember , no one told them. They punished themselves. 

An extreme example of the way people hold themselves accountable for time, and the respect for time of others. 

People around the world took note of the Japanese football team’s creditable performance in the 2022 football World Cup a few months ago in Qatar. After every match, the team made headlines when they stayed behind to clean the entire changing room. They left thank-you notes. The Japanese fans in the stadium did something similar . They cleared the trash, and cleaned up the stands. The Japanese coach bent almost 90 degrees and bowed in front of the fans to express his gratitude to them. Back home in Tokyo, fans celebrated their team’s performance . They came out on the streets after Japan defeated Germany in a spectacular performance. They would are celebrate on the road on the red signal, leave the road when the signal turned green for the traffic to flow, and come back again to celebrate when it turned red. While this sounds extreme to the rest of the world , to the Japanese it is simply a regular act of politeness and respect for others.  

The two words I most often hear in Japan are Sumimasen and Araigato.   Sumimasen can mean anything from a polite ‘Excuse me’ to an apology for disturbing you. Araigato is a thank you. In formal settings , these are almost always accompanied by the gesture of bowing. 

With politeness and respect comes mindfulness. It is about the awareness of surroundings , the season, the time of the day, the awareness of the people around you, an understanding of the feeling of others . This shows in the minutest of details, the little pouch for disposing trash, the little button to slide the window, the seat warmer in car seats,  the long wooden shoe horn outside of traditional places where one needs to take off shoes. This shows in the design of toilet seats,  the bidet, and the cleaning options, which have adjustable buttons for the flow of water, the temperature ,  the option to have accompanying music while you do your stuff. 

This politeness, respect and mindfulness enables tens of millions of people to navigate densely crowded cities such as Tokyo with an unbelievable sense of order . Whether it is the queues to get into public transport , or the manner in which People buy stuff from supermarkets , or navigate through crises such as supply shortages during Tsunami , this deep rooted and imbibed sense of empathy allows Japanese to navigate these situations in a manner that is not just unique, it is magical. The magic that the tiny little  things create , when everyone does them, is big. 

For sure, every place has its challenges. So does Japan. And it has many. There are many socio-economic and demographic  aspects that are manifested in these challenges. Japan is trying to solve some of these challenges. For some others, it is still trying to figure out what might be a good solution. 

The intent here is to share that if each one of us were to imbibe more of the Japanese characteristics of empathy, politeness, respect and mindfulness in our day to day life, we can make things better for ourselves, and for those around us. And maybe, even create magic in the world.