“Misbah bhaijaan pe bharosa rakho! India ko phir se wahi jeetayega”

For long I kept getting dejected at the sight of television showrooms. People don’t flood them any longer during cricket matches. The frequency of ‘Bhaisaab, score kya hai?’ has also come down.

By Aayush Puthran

For long I kept getting dejected at the sight of television showrooms. People don’t flood them any longer during cricket matches. The frequency of ‘Bhaisaab, score kya hai?’ has also come down. Maybe it has to do with the decline in popularity of the game or the easy access of it to a large number of people via internet and mobile phones.

“Do you have the fixtures list of the World Cup?,” a street-food seller asked me, stopping me on my way. What caught me by surprise there was not the interruption, but the fact that he could speak extremely fluent English, devoid of local accent. He also happened to know the company I worked for and my department. The only reason I wasn’t creeped out then was that such unusual encounters aren’t bizarre around the World Cup time. You find all sorts of random strangers engaging in conversations.

A Bengali by birth, brought up in Mumbai, his outlet is just four square feet big. He sells omlette and bhurji  (a popular Indian egg preparation). He rarely has customers during afternoons; they flood his stall in the evening. He was taking a good leisure break on his broken plastic chair, figuring out on how to make his fantasy team in one of the websites.

He doesn’t know me by my name, nor do I know his. We recognise each other in the capacity of me being a regular customer at his small outlet. Sensing a good occasion, I strike a cricket conversation with him.

He is no expert on the game, but he isn’t short of opinions. He knows the game pretty well. That is the best way you can introduce someone who knows of a venue named Lincoln. He loves the ground at Auckland for its scenic beauty and is convinced that Adelaide is the perfect venue for India when they take on Pakistan in their opening encounter.

Speaking on India’s chances against the arch-rivals, he is convinced that they are going to win ‘since they have never lost against Pakistan in the World Cup’. He knows I’m not convinced with his argument and he will have to come up with a wittier defense. “Misbah bhaijaan pe bharosa rakho! India ko phir se wahi jeetayega.” (Trust our brother Misbah, he will help India win again!)

He was referring to the three World Cup encounters against India when Misbah-ul-Haq lost the match for Pakistan after they were cruising towards victory — Twice in the ICC World T20 2007 and once in ICC World Cup 2011. While in the first two occasions he failed to put a clean, finishing touch, in the last one he lost the game for them with his slow batting, famously prompting Shahid Afridi’s young daughter to be critical of his batting approach.

The street vendor’s suggestion still lacked any cricketing sense, but he continued with his inputs on each game.  By the end of a five-minute long analysis, he came to a conclusion that India will find it tough to make it through to the semis. He blames the lack of application of Indian batsmen in the bouncy conditions and fast pitches of Australia. He picked South Africa as his favourite to win the World Cup with Australia being their biggest threat.

“Australia ki team achi hai, par ab woh baat nahi” (Australia has a good team, but they don’t have the mettle of their predecessors)

I’m never too attracted to such random cricket conversations. There are too many commentators on the game in the country. As much as they lack an unbiased eye towards the game, they tend to show an undiluted passion for it.

This time the vendor kept me engaged, beating my perceptions and prejudices to shreds. I walked away absent-minded, still not knowing his name. He reminded me to get him a printout of the fixtures. Technology or the lack of it, dirty administration or not, cricket continues to thrive in its true essence in the lives of the common Indian man.

(Aayush Puthran is currently a reporter with India.com. He has previously worked as a cricket journalist with CricketCountry and as an Associate Producer with Sony Six. Mercurially jovial, pseudo pompous, perpetually curious and occasionally confused, he is always up for a light-hearted chat over a few cups of filter kaapi!)